#like think about their little christmas dinner in s1

[a-shade-of-green]

do you think it was weird for mike to go to california and experience his first byers family dinner in months just for it to be far too similar to wheeler family dinners

[starghost-fics]

fanfic master post

this is new era only; anything not listed here is likely on my AO3 as a historical curiosity from the olden days.

sometimes i use the actual summary from AO3, sometimes that's too long or I don't want to use it here. no rules, only fic

under the cut: OCTOPATH TRAVELER OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH TED LASSO DEEP SPACE NINE

OCTOPATH TRAVELER

As a preface, I would personally like to invite you to play this video game because I found it delightful, but also because I'm inordinately proud of some of this fic, and it's a little fandom.

in the near-dark

AO3

length: 3 chapters, 9100 words

summary: The group travels through Orsterra, and Therion is bad at sleeping, except when he isn't.

my favorite tag: oh no tenderness

tumblr tag

a little sleight of hand

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 1500 words

summary: Therion has a strange habit of squirreling away food when he thinks no one is looking. Tressa worries about it.

my favorite tag: even my fluff has class issues

tumblr post

the stars above

AO3

length: 4 chapters, 9100 words

summary: After their journeys are complete, Therion moves to Atlasdam, and discovers Cyrus's new (and dangerous) avenue of study.

my favorite tag: someone is pining

tumblr tag

untitled octopath fanfic

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 900 words

summary: It is a wretched day in Bolderfall, and Therion is a horrible goose. (of course it's a crossover with untitled goose game!)

my favorite tag: no beta we honk like geese

tumblr post - to come?

series: divine intervention (god shit)

series summary: in which I spend nearly 100k words exploring Cyrus and Therion's relationship, among other things.

if the gods should touch you

AO3

length: 13 chapters, 60,000 words

summary: Spanning roughly from various chapter 2s to chapter 4s, the group travels, changes partners, faces fears, gets blessed, and oh also the scholar and the thief kiss.

my favorite tag: get in loser we're healing from past trauma and changing our negative coping mechanisms

tumblr tag

as shadows gather and gods move

AO3

length: 7 chapters, 32,000 words

summary: time loop? time loop. time loop!!! only Cyrus is aware and the solution is not what he thinks it is.

my favorite tag: the powers of a god are inexplicable but also annoying

tumblr tag

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

not a fic: a two-part essay/analysis on character weakness and desire

part one: stede bonnet and self-doubt

part two: edward teach and self-loathing and also applying this to writing

not made of glass but flesh and bone, which is worse

AO3

length: 6 chapters, 10,000 words

summary: Post s01e05, in which we diverge from canon so that Ed and Stede can go spend a night on a deserted island.

my favorite tag: a little light blasphemy

tumblr tag

what's a stab wound good for, anyway

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 1500 words

summary: After the (s1) duel, Ed has several thoughts, then ignores most of them.

my favorite tag: love a stabbing

tumblr post

TED LASSO

And the Songbirds Keep Singing

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 4700 words

summary: Trent has a bad day and then Ted makes him dinner and they listen to records.

my favorite tag: Princess Grim Reaper (the cat)

tumblr post

The Closest You Can Get to Flying

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 3600 words

summary: Trent learns to ride a bike, then he scrapes his knee and definitely needs someone to play doctor.

my favorite tag: biking is so great

tumblr post

someday soon we all will be together

AO3

length: 2500 words

summary: Everyone is at Rebecca's Christmas party, and I do mean everyone. Also: heavily influenced by that one scene in The West Wing when Danny comes back.

my favorite tag: fancy pens as flirting

tumblr post

real long distance

AO3

length: tk words (6 chapters total)

summary: Ted gets a land line, calls Trent more than anyone else. All-dialog, all the time.

tumblr tag

SERIES: a work excuse

in which i overwrote the main fic and felt like posting the other bits.

Lafayette Comes to America

AO3

length: 24 chapters, 53,000 words

summary: Trent goes to America with a tenuous work excuse and has a lot of Tension with Ted Lasso. Then he goes home and has a lot of moping, before everyone comes to their senses.

my favorite tag: warning: i love a loooooong paragraph

tumblr tag

beverages and conversation

AO3

length: 3 chapters, 3900 words

summary: Ted has one or two conversations that he is not entirely prepared for over a beverage. (Ted's side of things during a few of the later chapters.)

my favorite tag: give me the slightest provocation and i WILL sketch out a midwestern life for you

the intolerable evocation of emotion via art

AO3

length: 1 chapter, 363 words

summary: Texts between Trent and his ex-wife about a playlist she made him. (Makes no sense divorced from Chapter 18 of Lafayette Comes to America, probably.)

DEEP SPACE NINE

keep a bower quiet for us

AO3

length: 11 chapters, 20,000 words

summary: Julian Bashir goes on vacation, and ends up stuck on Earth, in the past, with Elim Garak. Things could be worse, probably.

my favorite tag: we run on vibes not plot

tumblr commentary: to come!?!

[lesbiancolumbo]

🐻 anon here!

So I watched the rest of the season and I confirm my episode 1's thoughts: the story is on the nose!

Even in season 2, I found the Christmas dinner unnecessary: we know already that the berzotti are fucked up and the mother is a nightmare. We don't need to see her driving into her home. Also I am tired of seeing abusive mothers on tv behaving so loudly while the fathers can be all icyly and cool. Maybe it's bc the dinner scene recalls me hundreds of dinners my own mother prepared and she has always been awful while she is cooking, but she has always been collected about it, bc the show must go on and guests are at a distance of a wall.

This kind of situation repeated itself in season 3: the episode 8 was just a 40 minutes long therapy session. People don't talk like that and wow I am glad Donna worked on herself and was there for Sugar but it's a sterotype, it gives "when you will be a mother you will know", "mother and daughter bonding bc daughter is pregnant so she is an adult now".

Re using parts of past episodes cannot used for every goddamn episode, bc it becomes stale. We know from the beginning Carmy worked in a bad environment, we don't need to see it again with the same scene. Show me something else.

Also I don't care if Carmy and Sydney get together, if it is a warrior bond or whatever. Personally i love a good slow burn, an ambiguous messy situation and all but that relationship is going nowhere. He is going down and she with him, but it feels obliged. She is staying bc she is grateful but that special bond they had even in s2 is gone. I would have loved to see her so loyal she cares only about having that star as he wants.

I know we have all a fucked up relationship with food, but if in the previous seasons Carmy seemed to have some kind of interest on it, no more, here it's like he doesn't care about it at all. He could do whatever else and it would be the same. We see Richie loving serving well people and we see him so taken by this environment that he almost forgets about how much he loves his job and he regrets it, but Carmy? He could do professional card castles for how much he cares about food. He doesn't eat. How can you know if your food is good if you don't taste it?

Also the last episodes drag Sooo much. I love slow but why do I have to watch people talk about nothing when I could make my own small talk with my neighbour?

Also this is a personal consideration but in these years many shows had a very good s1 and then went downhill. It's a hubris thing? It's a "I didnt think it would have a s2 and it made me lose my mind" thing? It's a business thing? Idk

What do you think?

i'm glad you brought up the fishes episode from season two, because i got a lot of flak at the time for hating that episode lol. it, to me, felt very symbolic of the the larger issues with the show that i have (which i've already elaborated on elsewhere and won't rehash here). that episode gives us no new information, really, especially since the season doesn't even follow up on the donna plot thread anyway. it's spectacle for the sake of spectacle and casting all those stars for the sake of saying hey, look at who we can afford now that people care about our little indie show!

admittedly i've decided to not continue finishing s3 after the first episode - i just don't want to, i live one life, i'm sick and miserable and it's a holiday weekend and i'd rather watch iron chef america, etc. so i can't really speak to a lot of what s3 does, but it sounds to me like it's retreading a lot of familiar ground from seasons one and two and not really propelling the ship forward. i can't say this surprises me! i don't think chris & co are interested in creating a cohesive season.... they want every episode to be like fishes: a one-off that will grip you and make you forget how poorly structured the rest of it is. this is working on a lot of people, so i have to respect the grift lol. but i digress.

i will say re: the carmy and his relationship to food point you make that there's definitely a not-small group of chefs who actually have that kind of relationship to food lol.... they don't cook at home! they eat garbage! the other day i was watching an episode of alex vs. america on food network and it was being judged by two professional chefs with multiple restaurants, and one of them mentioned that the dish they were eating was similar to something she would cook at home. the other judge, a chef who is very well-known in LA and has many italian restaurants, is known for being a pasta master and cooks IN HIS RESTAURANT, replies in shock, "you cook at home?" now, i guess my question would be is this intentional or not lol..... i don't have a high opinion of the showrunner/writer so i won't answer that question. tbh i really don't think they know what to do with carmy, which is why his character arc/the story as a whole seems to constantly just.... come to a halt or go back to the beginning.

you bring up a lot of great points, and while again, i can't speak to most of s3 because i'm just not interested in going further with this show, i'm not shocked they seem to once again sideline the characters and relationships that got us on board with this show in the first place! and for what! to film in copenhagen and cast daniel boulud? ok. i am very neutral on syd and carmy (as in, i don't care if they go the romance route or not) but i liked their dynamic a lot in season one and i felt that it was lacking in season two. and from what i've read about season three, it feels like again it's lacking and once again carmy is doing the thing where he just totally disrespects her and sidelines here.... sydney! name-twin... if you can hear me: get out of there! leave this loser behind i am so serious.

[failed-version-of-both]

s2 rewatch notes because I simply can't shut up about this show

I didn't notice the first time because I was having so many feelings, but there were just. SO many reminders to call the fucking fridge guy

Once you know what's coming you appreciate the humour a lot more

Everyone who knows the story and still calls her Sugar is an asshole. Point blank

On a related note, when will Nat finally get to scream? Just yell at all of them because they deserve it and she's been going through it

Syd cleaning a tiny stain because everything needs to be perfect vs. Carmy cleaning a stubborn stain in s1 because the place was gross

They made us go through the absolute horror that is Fishes and then gave us Richie's arc right after. As a treat

Obviously there are parallels between Christmas dinner in Fishes and Friends & Family at The Bear, but for some reason what drove it home for me was that little "Michelle and Stevie can't come"

Much like Donna, they are all trying to create beautiful experiences for their guests, but this time it's not tarnished by paranoia and self-hatred (unless we're talking about Carmy)

Carmy getting stuck in the walk-in (stationary, confined) vs. Donna driving the car into the house (dynamic, imposing, literally breaking the wall)

Carmy being so dramatic is a bit funny tbh. "I failed you all" ok buddy, but you're stuck in there, we're actually doing fine out here

That being said he is obviously dealing with a lot of shit and I think it's GOOD. It's not that he's a bad person or that he doesn't have character development, it's that trauma is pervasive and messy and having no trace of it after only two seasons would honestly have been a shit move

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Any Richie and his aunt/uncle/various family headcanons from his crossover list? 🥺👀

(it took so much restraint to not just make a giant list of Kirsty headcanons but all of these are with the vague hc that the twins share a universe because I can't separate them)

Annabel (shit she needs a new last name now that she's Hope's granddaughter 😅)

Richie finds out that they're related on his first day at Yale, they're in the same class and a professor goes "oh, you must be Richard and Emily's niece" and Richie's brain explodes

Things would definitely be very tense and awkward for a while but then I feel like they'd get along

Charles

Delicate-verse, Charles is a very good uncle and decides not to tell Richie that he's definitely slept with his boyfriends before

Richie asks Lottie if they can designate a room for Charles/if he can maybe move in

He goes to all of Charles' plays and is one of the first people to read his scripts

Charles is one of the first people that he comes out to because he knows that Charles is also queer

Charles loves yelling at Charleston for the twins

Charles also always went to New York with Kirsty and Emily for Christmas, s1 he shows up the first day of christmas break (the year Emily decides she's not going anymore) and asks if the twins are ready to go

When Richie decides to start spicing up his wardrobe, Charles insists on taking him on a Gilmore Boys shopping spree in New York and insists on paying for all of it

Charles punches Christopher for the twins at least once

Charles has a separate phone line in his room so at the last Christmas pre-twins-at-chilton, he gave them both that number so they could talk without their parents knowing?

He's also the first person to know about Kirsty's party year (sorry to steal your moment Troy but maybe at The Party, he found Kirsty and freaked out a bit that his little niece was there and so fucked up so called Richie and then drove her home himself?

"Accidentally" spills wine on Francine and Straub during the Hayden dinner, and on Christopher and Emily at the debutante ball

Richie isn’t really sure what to make of Charles when they start seeing each other more often; the Charles that he saw at Christmas every year and the Charles he sees at school and Friday Night Dinners are very different people

Charles loves to kidnap the twins to go on trips with him

(baby Charlotte is named after Lottie but also Charles?)

When Richard has his heart attack in s1, Richie insists on bringing Charles back to the Donahue house with he and Kirsty and the three of them end up all falling asleep in a pile on Kirsty's bed

Dani

I feel like Dani and Richie & Kirsty have probably always been a bit closer than Dani and Rory (Rory loves her aunt and they get along well but they never quite Click™ in large part because of Lorelai being weird about Dani all the time)

Richie has sometimes suspected that Dani isn’t his aunt for a while because he picks up on all the weirdness but at the same time he’s like “no but mom would have said something… right??”

but anyways so I feel like growing up they probably got along well but only saw each other a few times a year! 

Dani is a year ahead of them at Chilton and is so protective when they transfer

And once the “holy shit wait” reveal happens, I think they’d get closer! 

I can see Richie being the one to try to reach out and make sure that she knows that no matter what’s up with the whole family drama, she’s his sister and he loves her! 

And like I def think that they’d get closer over the seasons, but idk I feel like they’d start off close as aunt/nephew, stumble a bit over being siblings, and then become best friends!

Before Dani moves in with Luke, Richie asks Lottie if she could stay with them for a while because she needs to be away from Emily

Ilsa

jock siblings jock siblings jock siblings

Ilsa's love of sports is definitely influenced by Richie, and even for sports that he doesn't play, he always helps her prepare for tryouts

In her canon her coaches all call her Danes because they used to be Luke's coaches, but in crossovers they all call her Gilmore because of Richie

Ilsa feels like she's letting down Richie & Kirsty when she decides on going to Harvard and just gets the most proud, supportive big sibling speech instead

Aside from post-S2, whenever Richie and Kirsty are spending a weekend or a break or the summer in New York, they always bring Ilsa with them

Luke put bunk beds in Ilsa's room since she mostly lives with him and he wanted to make sure that Richie and Kirsty could stay with her

Either Kirsty or Richie has a trundle bed so they can pull it out and have a bed for Ilsa when she wants to stay at Lorelai's house, and then they either have the same at Lottie's or Lottie designates a specific guest room for her

One of Richie's biggest pre-Chilton issues with Emily (aside from the Kirsty stuff) is how awful she's always been to Ilsa — crossover Ilsa's relationship with her wouldn't improve as much as it does solo verse but Richie still at least appreciates that she finally started trying to be better

Emily offers to pay for Ilsa to go to Chilton, Richie talks to all of the sports coaches about scholarship possibilities and then helps Ilsa apply for them so that Emily won't have control over her the way she does the rest of them

Richie is the first person to know that Ilsa wants to be a writer and the first person to read everything she writes

(bonus: Ilsa-crossover, Victoria's name is Victoria Ilsa instead of Victoria Patty?)

Jocelyn

Jocelyn isn't super present in their lives but they do visit her in California every summer

Once she moves to New York, she invites the kids to visit more often

If/when she learns about the party year and how they celebrate Kirsty's sobriety, she would also help with getting them really good and discounted (or free, depending on the show) tickets to shows

Either Jocelyn is already out to Richie, or she comes out to him after hearing about the Hayden dinner

(makes sure he knows that she loves him and that even though she doesn't have much relationship with their family, her apartment is always a safe space for him if he needs it)

Lili

Not super close growing up (I feel like Kirsty & Lili would be a very weird vibe and Richie is just protective of Kirsty) but when she gets sent to Stars Hollow High, Richie makes sure to still introduce her to all of his friends and show her around town a bit

has a lot lot lot of concerns about her wild child nature because of Kirsty's party year

I don't have a lot of thoughts here yet but I feel like they'd be fun

Lorrie (ft Jamey)

BEST BROTHER RICHIE!!!!  

Richie is so excited to have a new baby sister even though he and Lorelai don't actually talk

he and Kirsty replace the jess & rory group chat with her that’s entirely dedicated to “mom and dad/mom and grandma are fighting again pls pick me up”

Lorrie has a room in the New York apartment, in each of their New Haven apartments, when FirstHusbands get their own apartment in New York, and in the white house, and Richie always drops everything to pick her up from stars hollow

Also listen Richie is 20 years older than her, you know that he regularly gets mistaken for her dad!!

But seriously Lorrie would absolutely idolize Richie and Richie would be the world’s softest big brother! 

And maybe when he finds out that there’s going to be another Lorelai, he’s the one who suggests calling her Lorrie

one of the rare times he talks to Lorelai (especially in s7) is to yell at her about abandoning Lorrie to marry Christopher

Richie tries to make it to as many of Lorrie's competitions & dance shows as he possibly can

He's always so supportive of her interests and like with Ilsa, always helps her prepare for sports tryouts

Kirsty & Richie were both there for her first crawling, first words, and first steps but Lorelai wasn't

Lorrie thinks that Richie is the coolest person ever she's obsessed

Lucas

I don't have as much for them because we talk about them more 😅

They've never been Richie-Kirsty close but they've definitely always been close

Richie is loyal to Luke's but when he doesn't want to deal with Lorelai, he'll hang out at Weston's while Lucas is working

he and Kirsty are the first people that Lucas and Willow talk to when they inherit Weston's & the Dragonfly

Lucas goes to every sports game to cheer for Richie (bonus that Kirsty & Willow are cheerleaders together? 🥺)

Richie (and Kirsty) has always had a standing invitation to sleepover at Willow's whenever they need it

Lucas ends up with his own room at Lottie's but the invitation is extended to Willow too

Lucas is the first person other than Richie (and maybe Luke?) to drive the truck

Lucas is the only other person that Richie and Kirsty will let in the kitchen when one of them is cooking/baking and they're the only non-Willow people that he'll let in the kitchen when he is

Lucas is in the same quad as Richie at Yale

Lucas is more likely to eat Rory & Lorelai's junk food than Richie and Kirsty, but most of the time still chooses to have dinner with the two of them instead

When Lucas is in Hep Alien briefly, Richie and Kirsty go to all of their concerts (if he's ever in another band, they'd go to all of those concerts too)

Pippi

Richie goes to all of her soccer games

I don't know enough about her to have a lot of vibes yet

but also Richie will absolutely fight Emily anytime she blames Pippi for Christopher leaving the second time

Preston

Like Jocelyn, if/when he learns about the party year and how they celebrate Kirsty's sobriety, he would also help with getting them really good and discounted (or free, depending on the show) tickets to shows

As soon as he finds out about the party year he offers to pay for rehab if Kirsty needs it, and for therapy for both of them

He's one of the first people that Richie comes out to (Richie & Kirsty know he's bi and also know that Emily still doesn't know, so he feels safe)

Preston surprises them by completely redecorating one of his guest rooms to be a room for them

Along with spoiling them on birthdays/christmas, Preston always gets them each a train voucher each year (birthday & christmas) so that if they need to get to him/New York in an emergency, they can (in a non-emergency he'd tell them to call him and he'd sort out the tickets right away)

Lottie is also there of course but he helps them move into Yale (maybe stuck around in Hartford for the summer to help out with Kirsty & the babies and offered then)

Offers to pay their tuition without hesitation (and for Chilton so that they aren't under Emily's control)

Can't make it to all of Richie's games or Kirsty's recitals/competitions but tries to make it to the big ones

In the post S2 summer, Kirsty didn't reach out to Preston because she was embarrassed by how much she was struggling, but Richie gets him involved? He goes to every medical appointment, pays for all of it, half moves into the apartment to take care of Kirsty, and makes sure that on top of Kirsty calling Richie every day, he does too to update him on everything health wise

Tommy

Tommy absolutely doesn't understand Richie's whole jock thing but still goes to his games

Richie is usually one of the first people to hear the band's new music

...I need to figure out more about Tommy

[kulliare]

timeline anon back again! Omg I feel the same the whole of 2×06 I was watching it thinking. That's just John mulaney and Sarah Paulton. What're they doing here? It was wacky

I think you're right about the writers retconning or straight up forgetting their own details lol..but my timeline idea is so rough it's basically. Carmy moves out at 19 or 20, goes to New York or somewhere first for a few years -> (but not the s1 nightmare New York stuff) -> goes to Copenhagen -> 2×06 Christmas Dinner is the same year as copenhagen (w luca! I did really like that detail hehe. Amazed Carmy had any friends 💀) -> afterwards he dives back to New York to escape his family and works at the scary Chef Joel place all the way up until Mikeys death and then he returns to The Beef. Hm. Sort of a rough mess but that's the way it makes sense in my head

Hope you're having a nice soup day too!

it honestly took me out of it a little bit. i don't know sarah but whenever john was on screen i was like... huh.. what.. but i was still too confused by the chaos to really care and it still was an a+ ep

agree with carmy leaving around that age-- i think he does go to culinary school during that time (he's worked at the bear for awhile so he would be considered a good option, might be able to get scholarship bc of that? im so sorry to the ppl who actually work in kitchens i feel like an academic trying to talk abt something on my high horse and getting all the details wrong) but with his like emphasis on learning fundamentals in kitchens it makes sense.

tbh i imagine w luca its like. linkedin friends but it counts for carmy he needs a W wherever he can get lol. and it really was nice to hear people did have good impressions of carmy like.. i wish he could've heard that too but i guess it would've also fed into his idea that work is the only way he can get any value like. ugh nasty boy. i kind of like that he ended up being a bit more nasty this season but i think it's bc i like unlikeable protags in small doses

WHAT I REALLY wonder is how they're going to handle s3-- i think i'd actually be happy for it to end at s3 bc i'm terrified of shows generally losing the plot and main character ideas as the show goes on. i liked s2 but in my brain i'm still treating s1 as main canon and s2 a possibility of what might've happened because of the Fear.

my wants for carmy are for him to actually get more into therapy, but i doubt that's going to happen before he has a final breakdown that finally gets him to finally realize he can't live like this. one interesting detail that i don't think will come up in the show is that noma is actually closing due to similar issues that the bear brings up-- if they bring it up i think it'll be interesting but at the same time i want carmy to actually break down and not too worked up over minor interesting facts

[raincitygirl76]

Extremely relevant tags from @kikikiwi27498

Addressing the first part of the excellent tags by @kikikiwi27498 first, re there being fewer opportunities in S2 for Wilhelm to get drunk and/or high than in S1.

There were actually more opportunities to get drunk and possibly high in Season 2 than Season 1, I think. No actually, the exact same number: 3. In S1 there was Wilhelm’s initiation party in 1.01, the parents lunch in 1.03, and the Society party in 1.04.

I honestly can’t remember if Wilhelm had any wine with lunch in 1.03. He certainly didn’t get drunk, but there was a wine bottle on the table. In the other 2 Season 1 opportunities, Wilhelm partook liberally, while we didn’t see him touch a drop on any of the 3 occasions in S2.

In 2.01 the third years had a party which Wilhelm and the other first year Forest Ridge boys gate crashed. Plenty of booze flowing there, although no evidence of drugs. A drunken Sara also gate crashed the party as part of her Manor House boarder initiation. So the Palace was not the only place students were drinking that night.

In 2.04 the pink stuff served in champagne glasses at the masquerade ball must be a non-alcoholic punch of some kind. Since this is a party hosted by the Hillerska administration, and at least two-thirds of the student body are below the legal drinking age. But we see various students pre-gaming upstairs in their dorm rooms right before coming down for the ball.

So there was clearly alcohol in the dorms, if Wilhelm had wanted any. I doubt anybody at Forest Ridge would’ve turned the Crown Prince down, if he wanted to pre-game with them. And we see August in his room, waiting for Sara with candles and a bottle of champagne, for a romantic pre-gaming experience just for two. Too bad she didn’t show.

Once the students are downstairs at the ball, they’re drinking the pink stuff in champagne glasses, which we already established must be non-alcoholic. That said, Stella has a flask with which to (consensually) spike the drinks of her friends. I highly doubt she was the only student with a flask of hard liquor hidden in it under their 18th century costume. There was booze available both before and at the ball. Wilhelm just didn’t drink any.

The final S2 opportunity is in 2.06. Wilhelm is having a private dinner with his parents the night before the jubilee, presumably catered by the Hillerska staff. There is a bottle on the dining table, and 3 wineglasses, all bearing liquid of the same colour.

According to someone with sharper eyes than me, the label on the bottle is for a well-regarded brand of cider. The alcoholic kind of cider. Clearly the school doesn’t care if Wilhelm drinks while underage when he’s with her majesty. Wilhelm’s wineglass is full of cider, and it doesn’t look like he’s touched it. Kristina and Ludvig’s glasses of cider are neither empty nor full, suggesting they have both partaken of the cider.

The fact that his parents served him a glass of cider suggests they have zero problem with him drinking an alcoholic beverage with dinner, just as they do. But Wilhelm’s glass remains full. Even though it’s an intensely stressful family dinner, and you’d think he’d be happy to take the edge off with a little booze.

In fact, all 3 of the Season 2 opportunities for Wilhelm to get drunk are intensely stressful occasions. The third year party in 2.01 is Wilhelm’s first encounter with both August (whom he deliberately antagonizes) and Simon, since before Christmas. Right before the ball in 2.04, Wilhelm has made up his mind to stop chasing after Simon, who is apparently happy with his new boyfriend.

Also right before the ball, Wilhelm cried as he got into his costume and put on his makeup. So safe to say he’s sad and anxious about seeing Simon with Marcus at the ball, and letting him go. Again, Wilhelm doesn’t touch a drop, even though it’s a stressful time. And even though we see other students pre-gaming in the dorms, and/or adding the contents of flasks to whatever the school was serving.

For whatever reason, on all 3 of those occasions in S2, Wilhelm did not consume any alcohol. Despite the opportunity being there. When in 1.01 at the initiation party and in 1.04 at the Society party, he drinks to excess, and in 1.04 he also takes drugs.

On both occasion he is pretty stressed out. His initiation must have been terrifying, so at the party after he passes, he gets drunk. At the party in 1.04 he’s just buried his only sibling, and is grief-stricken. Again, he drink and takes drugs in the wake of something that badly shook him up.

YR is a show that cares about the details. I’m pretty sure Wilhelm not drinking in S2, and the foregrounding of his multiple opportunities to do so, are not a coincidence. In S1, Wilhelm drinks to relieve negative emotions. In S2, he doesn’t.

I’m running out of time and energy to address the other points in the tags from @kikikiwi27498 so I’ll have to do that another time.

One thing I can't stop thinking about is how Wille canonically has not consumed alcohol or any substances since when Simon had to come and rescue him from the football field scene. He didn't consumed anything in the Hillerska parties and even denied booze offered by Vincent. Like, either he swore them off after he realised that how much trouble he caused to Simon and then all the Alexander debacle, or he didn't like it anyways and he took them only because he is "supposed" to and that incident was the last straw for Wille. Either way, it's just so fascinating to me because Wille isn't even aware about Simon's trauma associated with substances because of Micke, and yet he subconsciously did the exact thing Simon was expecting Micke to do since years. Like, we all know that this boy is ready to give up his position to be with Simon, but he is also unknowingly making choices for Simon's well-being. They are just so perfect for each other.

[kwikquik]

I think there are some really bad takes out there about Jonathan, Jancy, Stancy and inflating Steve so I just have to say all this…

Jonathan is not weak and passive. S1 he is basically a parent that is cooking, making $ for the family, being a primary caregiver to Will and his mom in all ways. He confronts his clearly abusive and dangerous father head on (Lonnie says, “you’ve gotten stronger” and Jonathan checks Lonnie’s trunk for Will, implying just how bad he might be) and later he beats up Steve— proxy for his family’s bullies. He’s basically described as a pacifist (the rabbit story) but tough when he has to be. He single-handedly plans his brother’s funeral and he plans/acts to kill the monster including stealing his dangerous dad’s gun. S2, I mean, first he is strong enough to put Nancy and Steve’s relationship completely above his own feelings (party/car scene) and then, of course, he takes part in seemingly torturing his brother to oust the monster although he is clearly emotionally tortured himself. S3 he confronts all the monsters head on including the one in El’s leg….

Chemistry. The only time I viewed Stancy as maybe having good chemistry is S1 Christmas scene and maybe also on his bed, mostly. Oh and I think he was a really good bf at Barb’s parents dinner. But nearly every other scene S1-S2 is Steve pushing boundaries with Nancy or not listening to her - which despite his sometimes puppy dog look is not cute and endearing to me. He negates her desire to study, directs how she should spend her time, she routinely wants to stop kissing before he does, he shows up at her bedroom window 2x not explicitly invited (after one of which he slut shames her), he and his friends are interested in weekday partying, drinking, sex while she is not but gets pressured into. Even before she knows Barb went missing, she clearly looks a little conflicted about the fact that she slept with Steve after the fact. By the time she’s drinking too much at the S2 party and he is right to suggest that she stop and they go home, she’s been dismissed so much by him that she no longer listens to what he has to say and then blows up about it all. Which, yes, was shitty for Steve. (Also, for those not paying attention, he absolutely did NOT tell Jonathan to take her home. Also I don’t know whether they definitely were broken up by Murray’s - they certainly both called each other bullshit - but Tommy does say they were broken up in the shower scene.) Anyway, and then the S3 end scene is the most blatant difference between N&J and N&S- Nancy never, ever showed even a fraction of that much care and love for Steve.

Re “a creep.” Creep is the bullies’ stereotype of Jonathan that some fans perpetuate, which is really sad. Like, the Duffers really said, here are bullied nerds and loners and downtrodden who deserve to be loved, and yet the fans are out here acting like Tommy & Carol about Jonathan. Did he take secret photos? Yes. Is that the only creepy thing he’s shown to ever have done? Yes. Was his brother/best friend missing and likely presumed dead at the time and his mother seemingly having another nervous breakdown and canon that they are all victims of abuse and bullying? Yes. Is Jonathan portrayed as focused on sexual things at that time? Absolutely not. Based on other Jonathan characterization, were the photos of Nancy likely sexually motivated (also the facts are that he stopped at shirtless Nancy, not ‘them having sex’ which fandom perpetuates), or instead were they super bad idea artsy snapshots of an interesting life that he’s an outsider to? The latter. Steve and friends think it’s sexual because it’s all they think about. Anyway, it was wrong but there’s context. And maybe Nancy would be more distraught about them if she wasn’t so laser focused on the fact that Barb is missing and she knows that, hey, so is this guy’s brother, who is also her brother’s best friend whose family is not as bad as she hears people say. Who else gives us clues about Jonathan? Well, the kids, who portray Jonathan as safe/responsible (contrasted to Steve as a “douchebag”), Joyce- same, and Mrs. Wheeler- same.

Re Communication. Are N and J having communications problems in S4? Yes. But at least Nancy shares with Jonathan. She has no interest (or ability sometimes) to share with Steve. It’s shown that it’s partly because Steve doesn’t listen to her and/or unconsciously disrespects what she has to say. Which continues into S4 when he doesn’t say anything like, ‘hey, I know you said 6 kids sounded like a nightmare but I wanted you to know, you are also in my dream.’ No, as usual, it’s all about him, his opinion, what he wants to do. (Also, facts, Steve has never ‘babysat’ Will or El so don’t count them in the 6…). Anyway, Nancy gets no words in edgewise and never has and stops trying pretty early on. She doesn’t show that she wants to talk to him much, really. Contrast that with Jonathan, who she is already having deep conversations about life with in the darkroom, when she is way way way less close to him than she’s supposed to be with Steve. She and J fight because they have deep conversations about things and, up til now, they’ve resolved and grown from those conflicts.

Intellectual compatibility. I don’t see this brought up very often but Nancy does not suffer fools gladly and Steve, sorry to say, is not shown to be intellectually compatible with her. She enjoys deep convos with J from early on. When she says J will be home reading Vonnegut on Halloween, she wants him to have more teenage fun, yes, but she actually respects that he reads and reads challenging stuff. She’s turned off by Steve’s simplistic college essay. She and J finish each other’s ideas while Steve confuses Germans with Nazis and various other little things like that. Can you really see Nancy excited to have conversations about “boobies!” like Robin tolerates? No. My read on Nancy meeting Robin was that Nancy was annoyed while Robin acted like a blundering idiot and then started liking her when she proved she was, in fact, quite savvy and intelligent which started when Robin found the Creel info at the library from suggesting the alternative news source (this is right after Robin says she isn’t dating Steve— leaving the audience to think it might’ve been that that turned Nancy). Nancy hangs out with the nerdy newspaper kids. Nancy says Dustin is her favorite of Mike’s friends- and it’s pretty clear that Dustin is the smartest of all of them (and bullied for being conventionally different). She says that girls Dustin’s age are too immature to realize it but that he’ll drive them crazy (aka they’ll love him) one day. Yup - just like she matured and realized that an intellectually curious, different guy like Jonathan was what she actually loved.

In S5, if J and N don’t communicate better like they have in the past and if Jonathan reverts to being a listless stoner (which, facts, he wasn’t once the Cali mission actually started), then he’s not really the guy she fell in love with anymore and it wouldn’t work out. But, Steve is shown to just not be her type beyond the surface, as much as she might even want him to be. It would be really disappointing for the Duffers to negate all that.

[castlecult]

bro im desperate for any franks fics there hasn't been any new ones so can i pls request a male reader. His a single dad, he met frank and they hit it off well at some point frank met the readers child and they're just being domestic af-

I kinda just came with it on spot so it's shitty- just ignore if u dont wanna write it thankss:))

an : hello there !! sorry it took me so much to answer, but i was trying to chose frank’s look ( idk if that makes sense but like, between s1 or s2 lol ) but we’re finally here (: hope you’ll enjoy it <3

warnings : none, not proofread

word count : 1169

gifs here

“i was thinking you could come for dinner, maybe?” you casually asked, glancing at frank. he offered to come with you to the supermarket, you two were walking side by side. “tonight?” he turned to look at you.

“well, yeah? i mean, if you’re free,” you cleared your throat, looking for maxine’s favourite cereals. “that’s fine with me, but you’re sure?” he smirked, noticing you were getting nervous. “i just… max is good and smart, but sometimes she’s too much curious, i don’t want her to make you feel embarrassed or anything,” you shrugged, finally meeting his eyes.

—

—

“dad, can you help me chose?” max rushed into the kitchen, showing you a pair of scrunchies. you turned towards her and you picked the blue one. “that matches your outfit more,” you smiled and then helped her with her hair.

“thank you!” she run out of the kitchen to go back into he room, so you finished setting the table. you wanted everything to be perfect, you even put on a shirt. “just breathe,” you whispered to yourself, closing your eyes for a second.

you heard the doorbell and were about to go and open the door when max rushed to open it before you. “i got it, daddy!” she said and opened the door, a bit taken aback when she found herself in front of frank’s tall figure. you were right behind her, taking a deep breath.

“hi, frank,” you smiled at him and put a hand on max’s shoulder. “maxine, this is frank… frank this is maxine,” you introduced them and nervously waited for max’s reaction.

“nice to meet you, maxine,” frank smiled at her, then glanced at you for a moment. “friends call me max,” she said, crossing her arms. “are you a friend from work?” she asked quickly. “not exactly,” frank chuckled.

you gently pushed max aside, so frank could walk inside. you closed the door and noticed max was quietly analysing frank appearance.

“i got a bottle of wine,” frank said, showing you the bottle in his hands. “oh, right… thank you,” you smiled and took it from him, walking towards the table.

they followed you and max kept glancing at frank, who tried to not make her notice he was aware of her staring at him.

“you guys can sit, i’ll be right back with the food,” you quickly entered the kitchen and filled the three plates with the pasta.

once you were sitting down, you started eating. frank cleared his throat, glancing at max who decided to sit right in front of him.

“how old are you?” your face quickly turned to max, she was waiting for frank to respond before continuing eating her food. “thirty seven,” he said and kept eating peacefully. “i’m seven,” she told him, confidently. “your dad said so,” frank chuckled, noticing max was a bit surprised. “he said things about me??” max turned to you and you nodded.

“yep, told me you’re a curious little girl and that you like to play guitar, is that true?” max nodded, resuming eating. she was probably trying to get an impression of frank.

“dad bought me one last christmas,” she smiled, more relaxed. “i play it too,” frank replied, max’s face lit up and started talking about guitar lessons and all.

you simply watched them, enjoying the interaction. you were glad max was getting along with frank, you were a bit worried about her finding it strange that he was invited out of nowhere and not really trusting him.

—

“the food was amazing,” frank was helping you clean the dishes. “i was about to order the pizza, because i thought the pasta was bad,” you confessed, feeling your face heat up. “i doubt it,” frank smiled before kissing you, surprising you.

you kissed him back, trying not to wet his t-shirt with your hands. he playfully sucked on your lower lip before gently biting it, making you laugh.

“can we watch a movie now?” max’s voice startled you, you almost dropped a plate. you parted from frank, embarrassed, and met max’s face. she was standing there with one of her dvd in hand.

“baby, i don’t know if frank–” he interrupted you. “sure, i’d be happy to watch something with you,” he smiled at her. “yuppie!” she ran into the living room to get everything ready.

“now, castle… are you enjoying my daughter’s company more than mine?” you asked, faking offence. “maybe?” he laughed before kissing you again. “i’m so happy she accepted you, yeah? asking to watch a movie together is a great sign,” you confessed, before kissing frank’s face.

“i’m happy you wanted me to meet her,” he muttered and seeing him smile so much made your heart swell. you quickly finished the dishes, then reached the living room and sat on the couch to watch the movie together.

maxine was focused on the disney movie, you and frank got easily distracted by each other and he tried to play with your hair multiple times. max was sitting between you two so you couldn’t protest without disturbing her.

you gave in and after a while decided to take his hand into yours, sitting more comfortably to keep holding it for the rest of the movie.

near the movie’s ending, frank noticed max fell asleep against his side, while her legs were resting on your thighs.

“oh, i’m sorry,” you apologised and gently moved and took max into your arms. “about what?” frank chuckled lowly, watching you. “she fell asleep on you,” you whispered and started walking towards her room. “i go get her to bed,” you said.

frank decided to turn off the tv and put away the dvd, while waiting for you to come back.

“daddy,” max called before you could close her door. “yes?” you turned quickly, worried. “i like frank… can we invite him again tomorrow?” she asked with a sleepy face, her eyes half closed. “o-of course, baby. have a goodnight,” you smiled happily, you gave her one last glance and closed the door.

you reached frank and noticed he was waiting by the main door. you hugged him and hid your face against his chest. “god, i’m so glad,” you said, sighing deeply. “i’m frank,” he smirked and caressed your back slowly.

“i mean, i’m glad she likes you,” you met his eyes and smiled widely, noticing he was smiling too.

“she wants you to come again for dinner, so things were smoother than expected,” you explained and he nodded. “well, i already love her so i’ll happily come again,” he said and your heart probably exploded at his confession. “i love you,” you said before kissing him, circling his neck with your arms while frank put his hands on your hips, kissing you back.

an : reblogs & feedback are super appreciated <3 if you wanna share your thoughts about frank hit my inbox !!

[coolmomacchiato]

Auroras, The Course of Empire, and a HUGE Tiger & Bunny 2 realization

Before I begin, let me start out with a brief art history lesson about a series of 5 paintings by English-American painter Thomas Cole of the Hudson River School movement (mid-1800's). The series depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, each taking place at a different time of day to reflect where in its lifecycle it is. The paintings are: "The Savage State" or "Commencement of Empire" (Dawn/sunrise)

The Arcadian/Pastoral State (morning)

The Consummation of Empire (Sun's zenith/Day)

Destruction (Waning day/twilight)

and finally, Desolation (Sunset)

Of course even beyond Cole, the different stages of the day/night cycle has widely been used to symbolize the circle of life: Morning/Sunrise being birth/rebirth, Day for "adulthood"/Consummation (completion), Sunset/Twilight for downfall/aging, and Night for death. The SECOND thing we need to establish is the way "Little Aurora" is constantly equated with " hope" - both literally (as in it says the words right there) and figuratively, since she represents hope for not just NEXT, but society as a whole:

Now - how does this relate to Tiger & Bunny 2, you may ask? If you recall, Sunsets were a visual metaphor in Cour 1, and referenced in the ED AIDA, as well as the OP.

In Cour 2's ED, we see Kotetsu and Barnaby - each alone - standing under a night sky filled with auroras, surrounded by a broken cityscape. As the sun begins to rise over the desolation, Tiger and Barnaby cross a liminal landscape to find each other again, to face a new day together. Indeed, the ED ends with a visual recall to Cour 1, but at dawn:

S2 ends with the destruction of the status quo. The last scene takes place at night: the hero system is no more, society is fractured between NEXT/non-NEXT, Kotetsu has lost his powers, and Kotetsu & Barnaby are no longer "Buddy heroes". Even the two symbols of "justice", Sternbild, and Tiger & Barnaby's partnership as a whole - Justice Tower and Mr. Legend's statue - are destroyed in the fray.

However, as the title of Episode 20 says, The darkest hour is always before dawn. In fact, Episode 25 ends with the hope of a new beginning. The title is "Today is Not Tomorrow's Yesterday", and includes an epilogue scene where we see a snow-flecked museum that looks disturbingly like a mausoleum. The memorial plaque says "The Legend of Buddy Hero", with the starting date of when the first episode of S1 took place - the beginning of their hero partnership - and ending on the day that S2E25 happens on. Underneath that, we see "NEXT". Though this might be the end of the era of Tiger & Bunny as we know it, NEXT is the beginning of a new one.

So what does this mean for the future of the series? I posit that S2 isn't a conclusion - it's a second act that precedes a 3rd act with a drastic change of status quo - and a new beginning.

Staff have repeatedly spoken about "change" around S2, and now I think I understand what they meant. Bringing back the times of day symbolism, we can imagine that the entire story of Tiger & Bunny could be divided into 3 acts (seasons), with 3 "intermissions"(movies). They are: Intermission 1: The Beginning Movie Season 1: Day (Consummation) (this is a recent visual from S2, but I've always found the choice to frame them against a bright day unusual, compared to the historical treatment of key art):

Intermission 2: The Rising Season 2: Sunset/Nightfall (Destruction & Desolation) If so, then perhaps during the live audience viewing of Episode 25, which will air on the infamous T&B day of Christmas Eve (Dec 24, 2022), we will get an announcement of the conclusion: Intermission 3: The Fall? Season 3: Sunrise/Dawn (Rebirth. "Tomorrow is not Yesterday's Today.") As many have noticed, there seemed to be several suspended story and character arcs from S2. Foreshadowed events (such as the dinner/drinks date") don't end up happening, and character journeys don't feel complete. I can go into detail on what specific story aspects feel set up for a 3rd arc, but that will be for another post. For now, I will leave you with this last Easter egg. Thank you for reading!

[cdyssey]

Yes, I already locked in my vote. Yes, I’m going to rewatch the two finalists anyway. 💕 “Holiday Hookah” first, a Christmas episode in June!!

I want more of Zach is S3. He’s so fucking funny SKSJDNS.

God, I adore Janine being inclusive of all her students’ religions when it comes to cookie decorations. I’m reading Quinta’s memoir rn—(it’s so good!!)—and she mentions that she grew up Jehovah’s Witness. So, Janine making an undecorated cookie for her student who’s a JW feels like a nod to that child self.

Gregory letting the kids dress him up as a Christmas tree is so dear to me; he’s grown so much since S1 when he wasn’t sure of how to play with the kids and let loose.

Ava in that Santa suitttttttt. Ma’am, I am looking respectfully. 😵‍💫

“Thinking small’s what got you in a dead-end job in a poorly run school.” WOQOOWJDNS.

Mr. J’s gift to Melissa is so thoughtful ANDJSJDJ, and Barb’s double take is hilarious.

The famous Work Wives talking head. Oh, my God. It’s so gay of them to have a dinner alone to themselves every year at Christmas. <3333

“It’s our own little slice of Heaven.” The line that made it in, like, a gazillion WW fics around the world.

“Well, that sounds fun. Come on, Barb.” / “What in the world?” QKOWQOJEIWIEUD

A cool directing moment—one of the cameras shakily spies on Gregory and Janine’s conversation at the school party behind a bookshelf. Little shots like that make you remember that this is a documentary, and we’re all getting precious insights into these teachers’ lives. Some moments are even stolen by the camera people.

The way Barbara says “wine” and cocks her hip out a little is so WIWIDJSJSJ.

Janine panting is genuinely one of the funniest moments in the episode. KQKWDNS, Quinta is so good at physical comedy.

“Sorry. I don’t speak line.” AQoiqeieiieiwJjw. Ava Coleman, I love you.

Erica about Ava: “Mm, that’s an impressive circle twerk.” Hejiejwjdsjsj.

WW arguing across the table like a married couple. (I’m so delusional. <33)

Melissa is such an ass QKWKDJDJ.

Gregory slowly dancing over to Janine, lmaooooo.

“Is Barbara here? Oh, my God. I’m gonna throw up.” / “No. No, no, no, no. She’s not here. There’s too much sinning going on.” AKQKQOKWOEWONENDKDIDID, okay this is still the line of the episode

“My liquor coat will make it a toasty 42.” AOWKDJDNS.

“Oh, I don’t dance to songs I don’t like. I don’t want the DJ to get the wrong idea.” AIQOSKDJWJ.

Erika’s friendship with Janine is so dear to me!!!!!!!

“They chose frostbite over your withering takes.” SIDJDJWSN. But sincerely, man, I’ve always loved this conversation between Jacob and Mr. J. When Mr. J steps into the mentoring role for the junior teachers, it’s always to great effect, giving them new perspective from his life well-lived.

It’s also one of the first times we’ve gotten some vulnerable candor from Jacob, and I so appreciate and relate to his complicated relationship with Christmas. This is a really good episode for him.

“Okay, next year, we’ll go back to just you and me.” GAY GAY GAY!!!!!!!

“You sure you won’t miss being visited by the ghost of NPR’s past?” FIEIEIEDJS.

Melissa crossing herself and Barb going “that boy” when Jacob almost gets hit by the car. AIWOWKJD

“Not my work husband grinding on my work nemesis. Pour me something cheap so I can spit it out.” AOQOQOEJJDJWJS. She is the funniest fucking personnwiwowjsjsjaj.

Gregory and Janine dancing on each other is sooooooooooooooo 😳😵‍💫😳!!!!!!

“Why you can’t move like that during step practice?” Love little continuity lines like these that let us know the step team is still going.

Ugh, the way Gregory looks at Janine when he says, “Beautiful.”

This almost kiss was so tenderly and delicately done.

God, this Ava and Janine moment!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH, I see the Avanine vision.

“Well, he’s been dating me for five years, but I’ve only been dating him for two.” AKKWIEJWSJ. Her one liners are so fucking insane.

I love this episode with everything in me. It’s an incredible ensemble episode where everyone gets the chance to shine, it’s got some of my favorite WW moments to date in it, and it’s just replete with so many wonderful fandom memories for me. It got my vote for the final round because of those things! If “Teacher Conference” wins, I won’t be disappointed, but “Holiday Hookah” will always be number one in my heart.

ABBOTT BRACKET [FINAL ROUND]

Holiday Hookah (★8.2): Janine is convinced by a friend to go to a popular hookah club where she runs into unexpected colleagues; Jacob crashes Barbara and Melissa's traditional holiday dinner and in the process begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Teacher Conference (★8.7): Staff members head to the Pennsylvania Educational Conference; Gregory reluctantly attends after a disagreement with Amber; Jacob finds himself charmed by the Addington teachers. Abbott S1-2 Bracket

[readinginthereadyroom]

let’s talk about christopher and santa claus for a minute. 

because the thing is. that kid is a national treasure and possibly magic. because he has santa’s ear. direct line to christmas miracles. 

and the best part is. it’s canon. 

but before we get to that. we need to talk about eddie being scared of santa when he was a kid. about the difference in eddie and christopher’s childhoods.

because eddie’s childhood lacked magic. santa wasn’t a right jolly old elf with a red suit and a belly laugh. just a creepy guy with a fake beard who smelled bad. a stranger he was forced to go see. that scared him so much he got sick. twice.

christopher’s childhood tho. filled with magic. when he was little and not feeling well (maybe around one of his surgeries?) and missing eddie. shannon caves. tries to cheer chris up with a giant tree for the backyard. but we didn't have enough ornaments to cover it, so we just loaded it up with lights and ribbon. I got the sleeping bags out, and we laid under it, just staring up at the branches for hours.

which is the most magical thing I’ve ever heard.

so really it’s no surprise that christopher believes in the magic of christmas. the power of santa. miracles and the christmas spirit. 

because christopher only asked for one thing that christmas. one very specific gift. not toys. not candy. he just wants his dad. w-when you were gone, I asked santa for you to come back, and you did.

which makes me wonder what time of year it was when eddie’s helicopter was shot down. did he arrive home in time for the holidays? with his wrist in a cast and his arm in a sling and propped up by a cane. wounded but alive. home for the holidays. which is all that would matter to little christopher. that dad’s back. dad’s staying. forever.

and since christopher’s wish came true before. since santa came thru before. why wouldn’t it work again? because christopher’s got his dad. a new life, in a new city, with a new best friend. and everything is perfect. everything except the lack of shannon. christopher misses his mom. so he forgoes toys and candy once again. goes with eddie and buck to see santa. I asked him to find mom. will he?

the answer is yes. because she’s already back. has been for a while. eddie’s just been reluctant to let shannon see christopher. because he’s scared she’ll break his heart if she decided to leave again. because eddie doesn’t believe in magic. and I think that includes happily ever afters. 

but christopher believes in magic and wishes. and eddie knows that. and he’ll do everything in his power to keep it that way. cause he loves christopher more than himself. loves that he believes in magic and miracles and santa.

because it allows eddie to believe thru christopher. just for a second. but seconds accumulate. grow. build. into something magical all eddie’s own.

so they get another giant tree. cover it in ribbons and lights. turn the floor into a wrapping paper treasure map for christopher to follow into the front yard. where shannon is waiting. mommy! mommy! I missed you so much. I knew Santa could do it again.

and then so much happens. by the time next christmas rolls around shannon has died and christopher’s survived a tsunami. and eddie has to work thru the holiday. buck too. christmas is ruined. 

we don’t see chris talking about santa this year. or to santa. I think that’s probably on purpose. this year is about the absence of christmas spirit. and how that absence radiates out into their lives. chris storming away. giving eddie the silent treatment. buck saying he’s working too.

missing pieces. lack of communication. absent people.

but you cannot convince me that when the holidays go awry. that christopher won’t turn to his old pal santa to fix this particular problem. that he won’t ask for another christmas miracle. that his family can be together for the holidays. christopher and his dad and his buck. it tracks with christopher’s history.

and the thing is. santa comes thru. via buck. who plans a surpise holiday party at the 118. ropes athena and maddie into gathering their friends and family all together. throws the biggest holiday party in the history of the firefam.

and now I’m thinking the s5 holiday episode would be the perfect time for buddie to go canon. buck and eddie have been getting closer since their begins eps. they’ve both grown as people. tried other relationships. neither of which work out. both of which they choose to end. 

actually, yes. I am into this. and here’s how it happens:

the sniper and the blackout puts things in perspective. which leads to eddie to breaking up with ana. buck realizes where his priorities are and he breaks up with taylor soon after. that’s when the shoulder bumps and playful banter starts to ramp up. they’ve always been in each other’s space and at each other’s homes. now it’s just more. buck and eddie become buck&eddie. 

there’s no big declaration or passionate kiss. 911 doesn’t really do that. what we will get is a buddie hug after a too-close call that lingers a little too long. and eddie doing his sustained eye contact thing. and buck reciprocating with his eye flutter thing. then eddie reaching with his hands. then buck’s blinding smile. then...

END CREDITS. because it’ll hurt so good. 

mid-way thru the next ep we’ll get confirmation in the form of carla. she’ll stumble over buck coming out of eddie’s room. there will be a little light teasing. it’s about time interspereced with domestic fluff. they will keep it to themselves for now. 

and then eddie’s parents guilt trip him into going to texas for the holidays. buck has a christmas eve shift, but has christmas day off. and plans with maddie, chim, albert, and the hans for jee-yun’s first christmas. plus holiday dinner with athena and bobby’s family. he’s not going to be alone. 

doesn’t feel that way tho.

and then there’s a scene at the airport that mirrors the end of s1. only instead of abby leaving it’s eddie and christopher. with buck and eddie both pretending to be okay. neither of them are. 

cue eddie in texas. where everything goes wrong. of course it does. helena and ramon keep making jabs about how eddie’s raising christopher. they will never think he’s enough. even worse they don’t treat christopher like an autonomous person. but a consolation prize. a parenthood do-over.

and eddie’s miserable. christopher’s miserable. they both miss buck.

there’s definitely a firefighter santa involved. a lesson about family being who you chose. christopher won’t stop talking about last christmas at the station. about buck.

which is why. when everything comes to a head over christmas eve dinner. eddie makes an executive decision. books a red-eye flight and bundles him and christopher off to the airport. 

buck’s out on a call when eddie and christopher arrive. it was only a 2 hr flight but it’s still really late. they both conk out on the sofas. and that’s where buck spots them when the trucks pull into the station. he’s doesn’t go all the way over to them. just watches them from afar. like he’s always done. 

until eddie wakes up. sees him watching. reaches his hand out to buck and drags him into their space. physically connects the three of them. kisses his hand. merry christmas buck. 

neither buck or eddie notice that chris is also awake. watching them with a mischieveous smile on his face. because christopher believes in magic. the christmas spirit. santa claus. and apparently santa claus believes in christopher because that man has granted each and every one of his wishes.

dad. mom. family. buck. 

christopher has been slowly building his own family. via christmas miracles and the help of his good friend santa claus. 

outside the window it starts snowing.

and it feels like magic. 

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! Hope you’re well :) Do you have a 5+1 rec list? It’s one of my all time favourite tropes and having just found a new one I wondered if you knew of any more? Sorry if you already have one linked somewhere, I’m still not very familiar with tumblr! (The new one I found is works/23857900/chapters/57342538 - sorry I’m not sure how to link properly on asks yet either! 😖

anonymous asked: What’s ur opinion on 5+1 fics?

Hi Lovelies!

Ahhh, sorry for the delay on this one!! I love 5 and Ones!! :D I’ve been tagging them since the beginning 3 years ago so I could more easily find them, just WAITING for people to ask, LOL. I read them a lot on FFNet (it was a BIG fad in the early noughts to have 5+1 fics, just like song fics were a 90′s thing lol)

So here y’all are, plus the one @johnlockedin221b suggested which I haven’t read yet! Please feel free to add your own here! 

I’ve also added some *CLOSE TO* five and ones, so like four and ones, I have a 7 times fic, and just one with 5 times. Hope y’all enjoy!

----

FIVE AND ONES (and SIMILAR FICS)

Once Upon A Time by ProfessorSquirrell (T, 908 w., 1 Ch. || Family, Snippets of Life, Romance, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Implied Drug Use, Angst with Happy Ending) – There is a room in Sherlock's mind palace where nothing gets deleted. And it looks like this...

The Four Incidents by TheGirlWithRedHair22 (K+, 1,064 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, John Whump, Accident, John POV, Hand Holding, Worried Sherlock, Sherlock’s Self Esteem) – The first time John was present when someone insulted Sherlock, he brushed it off as a strange coincidence.

Five Times John Watson Remained Oblivious by thriceandonce (K+, 1,154 w., 1 Ch. || Five and Ones, Romance, Friendship, Asexual Sherlock, Queerplatonic Relationship) – ...And one time he didn't.

Five Times John Didn't Notice Sherlock (and one time he did) by somanyhands (T, 1,369 w., 6 Ch. || Friendship, Five and Ones, 221B Format Oneshots) – Five times out oblivious John Watson didn't notice Sherlock, and one time he really did. A short series of (five plus one) 221B fics, just because.

The 3x John Carried Sherlock, and Once ViceVersa by ShinkonoKokoro (K+, 1,673 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff, Friendship, Three and One, BAMF John, Sherlock Whump, Worried Sherlock, John Gets Shot) – It happens more than he suspects.

The Perfect Place by SilverSmile (K+, 1,955 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Romance, 5 and Ones, Fluff, Experiments, Bed Sharing) – Sherlock attempts to find the perfect place to sleep, but his little experiment proves to be far more difficult than expected.

Like Euphoria and Scotch by FinAmour (M, 1,856 w., 1 Ch. || TSo3 Fix It, Five and One, Alchohol / Drinking, POV Second Person Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock’s Imagination, Armchair Sex, Cracky and Fluff, Happy Ending) – 5 different ways it all could have gone + the one way it actually works itself out.

Five Times Sherlock gave John a Pebble and One Time John Returned the Gesture by grimmfairy (NR, 1,895 w., 1 Ch. || Love Confessions, Fluff, Penguins and Pebbles, Nervous / Pining Sherlock, Oblivious John) – Sherlock isn't good with words, so he decides to tell John his feelings the way penguins do, by bringing him pebbles with different meanings. John catches on.

The Perfect Place by SilverSmile (K+, 1,955 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Romance, 5 and Ones, Fluff, Experiments, Bed Sharing) – Sherlock attempts to find the perfect place to sleep, but his little experiment proves to be far more difficult than expected.

Five Times Sherlock Realized He Was Getting Older by Mildred Graves (T, 9,215 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Old) – . . . And one time it didn't matter.

It Was All Right There In Front of Him (A Five Times Plus One Story) by bees_stories (T, 3,191 w., 1 Ch. || 5+1, Protective Idiots, Grooming, Bed Sharing, Lestrade POV) – DI Greg Lestrade is a good detective. But sometimes he doesn't trust the evidence in front of him, until there's a compelling reason to do so.

Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down by standbygo (M, 3,282 w. || Post-S4, Five Plus One, Missing Scenes, Parenthood, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hurt/Comfort, Declarations of Love, Fluff, Food, John Whump) – Five times when Sherlock and John ate together, and one time they didn't. A history of the boys, in food.

Atrium by kali_asleep (T, 3,460 w., 1 Ch. || 5+1, Valentines Day, Fluff & Schmoop, First Kiss) – Five times Sherlock gave John his heart, and the one time Sherlock got a heart in return (literally)

Because Your Coat is Part of You by camellialice (K, 3,705 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and 1, Canon Compliant, Sherlock’s Coat, Angst, Fluff) – Five times John wore Sherlock's coat and one time he didn't need to.

Five Times John Cooked Something with Peas and One First Kiss by 221b_careful_what_you_wish_for (T, 3,915 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Cooking / Food, Sick Sherlock, Music, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss) – After John cooks five dinners that slowly reveal their hunger for each other, Sherlock and John finally share a first kiss.

Human Body Pillow by Lunavere (K, 4,122 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Five and Ones, Sleepy Johnlock, Bed Sharing) – A story about the five times John fell asleep on Sherlock, and the one time Sherlock fell asleep on him.

What John Doesn't Know (Won't Hurt Him) by blueink3 (NR [T], 4,392 w., 1 Ch, || S3 Fix It, Pining Sherlock, Snippets of Life, Hurt/Comfort, Scars, Fluff and Angst, Five and One, Hopeful Ending, POV Sherlock) – Five people who see Sherlock's scars before John Watson. But Sherlock's secrets were never something he could keep from his blogger for long.

Carry On by Mazarin221b (M, 4,647 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and Ones, H/C, Afghanistan, Frottage, Hand Jobs, First Time) – Five times John didn't want to be carried, and one time he did.

Bed-Sharing Between Flatmates by testosterone_tea (T, 5,053 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Bed Sharing, PTSD John, Science, Whump, Insecure Sherlock) – 5 times Sherlock had an excuse to share John's bed, and the one time he didn't need one.

Storytelling by amythedork (T, 5,126 w., 1 Ch. || John’s Past, Friendship, Humour) – Five times John Watson opens up to Sherlock Holmes, and one time Sherlock Holmes opens up to John Watson. Gen, though could easily be read as pre-slash.

Sociopathy and Other Fibs by kinklock (M, 5,314 w., 1 Ch. || 5+1, Miscommunication, Humour, Friends to Lovers, Post S3, Love Confessions) – Five times John called Sherlock out, and one time Sherlock returned the favour.

five times sherlock holmes lied to john watson (and one time he finally told the truth) by miss_frankenstein (G, 5,948 w., 1 Ch. || TAB Compliant || Homophobia, Pining Sherlock, Oscar Wilde Trials, Happy Ending) – Set in "The Abominable Bride" universe, this piece adopts a familiar format to chronicle Sherlock's quiet suffering in the wake of the 1895 Oscar Wilde trials and the particular way they affect his relationship with (and feelings for) John.

Five Times John Noticed But Didn't Really by ScandalousMinds (T, 6,383 w., 5 Ch. || Domestics, Fluff/Angst, Bratty Sherlock, Idiots, Pre-Slash, Jealous Sherlock, Love Confessions) – 5 times John (thought) he noticed something peculiar about his and Sherlock's relationship but really missed the obvious.

once upon a time by darcylindbergh (M, 6,501 w., 6 Ch. || Fluff and Angst, First Kiss / Time, Love Declarations, Christmas) – It starts with a wish. In the beginning, John comes home. Part 1 of things fairy tales are made of

Five Times by AliuIce0814 (T, 6,667 w., 6 Ch. || Drama, Canon-Compliant S1 & 2, Angst, 5 and Ones, Reunion) – ... Sherlock woke John, and one time John woke Sherlock.

Six Dates by avawtsn (E, 7,421 w., 2 Ch. || 5+1, First Time / Kiss, Post S4-Compliant, POV John) – A rather accidental 5+1 written for the prompt "is this a date?" Hint: it is.

Galapogos by anchors (E, 8,460 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Angst, 5 and 1, John Whump) – Somewhere in the depths of the universe, and somewhere in the middle of Sherlock's chest, a star goes into supernova.

All the Times Something ALMOST Happened by allonsys_girl (T, 9,049 w., 6 Ch. || POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Canon Compliant, Angst, Friendship/Love, UST) – John and Sherlock dancing around what they dance around in canon.

Illogical, even. by magikspell (E, 9,119 w., 1 Ch. || Grey-Ace Sherlock, Character Study, Growing Up, Victor Trevor, Romance, First Time/Kiss, Sherlock-centric) – Five reasons Sherlock never believed in love and one reason he does now.

A Different Kind of Love by Svenja The Strange (T, 12,357 w., 6 Ch. || Fluff, Humour, Romance, Five and One) –  The five times people noticed and the one time John did. A collection of oneshots (some short, some longer) raising the issue of Johns endless dilemma of being deemed for Sherlock’s boyfriend.

A Study in Linguistics by rizandace (T, 12,425 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Canon Compliant/S2 Divergence, Friendship, Slices of Life, Communication, Cranky Sherlock, Hospitals, Sherlock Whump, Pet Cat, Jealous John, Sherlock’s Violin, Anxious Sherlock, John Whump) – Sherlock Holmes and John Watson had their own language. It was a language of few words and minute facial expressions, and John had learned that it was nearly the only way to have an honest conversation with his eccentric flat mate.

First Response by Arwen Jade Kenobi (T, 13,516 w., 8 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Five and Ones, Whump / Injury) – Five times John had to perform first aid on Sherlock and one time Sherlock had to perform it on John.

Never-Ending Cycle by orphan_account (T, 17,211 w., 1 Ch. || Christmas, Est. Rel., Proposal, Fluff) – Or, four times Sherlock Holmes attempted to propose to John Watson, and the Christmas Party at which he finally did. Sherlock thinks he's a miserable failure, John is confused, Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade provide some unsatisfactory advice, and Mummy is, as always, the solution. All in a lovely, fluffy holiday theme.

Just a Kiss by emmagrant01 (E, 19,695 w., 7 Ch. || 5+1, Case Fic) – Five times John and Sherlock kissed because of a case and one time they kissed for real.

EMERGENCY CONTACT: Sherlock Holmes, RELATIONSHIP: n/a by blueink3 (M, 5,533 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt John / John Whump, Five and One, Fluff & Angst, Worried Sherlock) – The first time John Watson’s emergency contact is called is the first time Sherlock Holmes finds out that he has the job. Part 1 of The Emergency Contact Series

EMERGENCY CONTACT: John Watson, RELATIONSHIP: Saint by blueink3 (M, 6,229 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt Sherlock, 5+1, Hurt / Comfort, Caring John, Scars) – The first time Sherlock Holmes realizes he needs an emergency contact is the first time he mentally appoints John Watson with the job. John, of course, does not know this and neither does the local hospital. Part 2 of The Emergency Contact Series

Caught In The Act by ShirleyCarlton (E, 7,009 w. across 6 stories || Est. Rel, Voyeurism, Character POV’s, Masturbation, Switchlock) – This is a series of six scenarios written from the points of view of six different people as they accidentally walk in on Sherlock and John having sex.

Five Times Sherlock Realized He Was Getting Older by Mildred Graves (T, 9,215 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Old) – . . . And one time it didn't matter.

The Five Stages of Mourning, Plus One by SunnyRea (T, 10,557 w., 1 Ch. || MCD, Pining / Grieving Sherlock, URT, Heavy Angst, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Drug Use, Graphic Death, Depression, Unhappy Ending) – Sherlock did not want this, did not want another stalemate with John in the middle, a gun in Jim's hand. This cannot have happened without a sign. There has to be something he missed anything which said today is the day I kill for real.

About Sleep and Coffee and the Existence of Fate by Atiki (E, 17,426 w., 6 Ch. || Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Humour, 5+1) – Naturally, John was startled when suddenly the ultimate solution occurred to him: Marriage. This was, of course, a bit of a fundamental problem rather than an actual solution. One didn't simply use the words “Sherlock” and “marriage” within the same sentence. Not even in a hypothetical context. Five times John kind of wanted to propose to Sherlock, and one time he didn’t have to.

Just a Kiss by emmagrant01 (E, 19,695 w., 7 Ch. || 5+1, Case Fic, Kisses) – Five times John and Sherlock kissed because of a case and one time they kissed for real.

5 Times John Got the Girl (and lost her) and 1 Time John Got the Guy (and kept him) by LiviKate (M, 21,695 w., 6 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Kissing, Oblivious / Awkward Sherlock, BAMF / Sexy / Stud John, Embarrassed John, John’s Scar, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Sherlock) – John has always had good luck with the ladies. He's charming, friendly and funny, not to mention great in bed. However, his usual skill with the opposite sex is constantly being thwarted by Sherlock and his outbursts. How will John ever get a leg over when Sherlock is always cockblocking him?

Five Times: Watching and Waiting by Ira Lea (K+, 23,034 w., 13 Ch. || Friendship, Post-TRF, No Slash) – Five times Sherlock didn't know John was watching, and one time he made sure of it. Five times John didn't know Sherlock was watching, and one time he figured it out. Three years of "he's dead", one moment of "he's alive", and the resulting chase through the streets of London. (Two 5:1s in quick succession and a bonus).

And A Doctor by StillWaters1 (T, 27,393 w., 6 Ch. || Friendship, Doctor John, Whump, Soldier / Doctor Dichotomy, Five and One) – It was only when people actually saw John working as a physician that they began to understand: that it wasn't just about bullets and IEDs and trauma care under fire. That "doctor" actually covered a pretty wide field. And that John was bloody good at covering ground. 5 times Dr. Watson treated others and 1 time he treated himself.

Five Times They Kissed for a Case, and One Time They Kissed for Real by fleetwood_mouse (M, 32,406 w., 6 Ch. || 5+1, Slow Burn, Fluff / Angst, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers) – A stolen ring! An artful blogger! And many more adventures for your enjoyment.

The Case of the Vanishing Pants by SwissMiss (E, 44,025 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, Post-TRF, Case Fic, UST, Homophobia, Friends to Lovers, Pining John, Showering Together, Couple for a Case, Sherlock’s Bum, Fantasies, Jealous Sherlock) – Five times John and Sherlock lost their pants in the course of a case.

MARKED FOR LATER

Five Times Sherlock and John Had Realistic Sex and One Time They Didn't by pennydreadful (E, 1,811 w., 1 Ch. || Five and One, Anal/Oral, Finger Fucking, Hand Jobs) – Reality is a bitch.

A Study in Night Terrors by Dovahlock221 (T, 2,811 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Night Terrors, (Emotional) Hurt/Comfort, PTSD Sherlock, Worried John, Hurt John, Angst with Happy Ending) – Five times Sherlock suffered from night terrors and the one time he had the best dream of his life.

What Every Step Is For by Anyawen (G, 2,921 w., 1 Ch. || Five and One, Bedsharing, Injury, Illness, Cold, Lack of Beds, Fake Relationship, Fluff) – Five times bedsharing occurred due to circumstance, and one time it happened by invitation.

5 Times John Almost Told Sherlock He Loved Him, and 1 Time He Did by wanderlustmind (T, 3,006 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Additional Tags to be added) – As adorable as a box of puppies, I promise.

The Fundamental Things Apply by Raina_at (M, 6,263 w., 1 Ch. || Five and One, Kissing) – "Kisses that are easily obtained are easily forgotten." - Proverb

Five Times Sherlock Fell Asleep in John's Arms by Accident and the One Time He Did It – Accidentally – on Purpose by WillowGrove (T, 7,201 w., 6 Ch, || Five and One, Falling Asleep, Cuddling & Snuggling, Texting, Tea, First Kiss, Dreams, Fever, Comfort, Caretaker John, Love, Humour, Fluff) – Sherlock notices that John keeps cuddling him to sleep and he rather likes it. But then John stops, and Sherlock has to result to schemes to make it happen again. Who falls asleep, who wakes up in who’s arms, and – most importantly – will there be a kiss in the end?

Dinner Conversations, a 5+1 by BakerTumblings (G, 7,559 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Blended Families, Parentlock, Dinner Conversations, Established Relationship, Family Adventures, Five and Ones) – Five times that John had something to say at or about dinnertime, and one time where John was requested to listen. Part 8 of Eyes Wide Open

The Refractive Index by NoStraightLine (E, 10,395 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, BAMF John, Crossdressing, Sherlock is Shot, Oral Fixation, First Time, Hurt/Comfort) – Five times John and Sherlock fuck in a bolt-hole, and one time they don't.

Five Christmases that went wrong and one that didn't by love_in_mind_palace (M, 11,685 w., 6 Ch. || Christmas, Fluff & Smut, Domestics, Est. Rel., 5 and 1′s, Canon Divergence, Tooth-Rotting Fluff) – John isn’t sure about most of the things in his life. Except for the fact that he loves Sherlock, Sherlock loves him back and that after years of bad luck, he is getting the Christmas he always deserved.

In Plain Sight by SilentAuror (E, 18,100 w., 1 Ch. || Post-HLV, 5 and Ones, POV Sherlock, Sex on Trains, Sex During Investigations, Sex in Offices, Unspoken Feelings, Anal, Slight Medical Kink, Public Sex Kink) – Five times that Sherlock and John have sex of some kind without talking about it and one time when they do. Part 1 of the Public Sex Kink

Just Dance by 7PercentSolution (M, 22,784 w., 6 Ch. || Four and One, For a Case, Drug Use, Abusive Boss, Ballroom Dancing, Sherlock Loves Dancing, Blackmail, Unrequited Love, Courtship) – Four dances that Sherlock taught Janine — and one he didn’t. Never mind if it leads him into dangerous territory; how could Sherlock resist a case from Lady Smallwood that lets him use his dancing skills? This is a gift work to Silvergirl, who is an inspiration to us all.

5 times Sherlock got (a) dressed like a woman, plus 1 he did not by Nauss (M, 25,719 w., 6 Ch. || Friendship and Romance, 5 and Ones, French Language Fic) – Ton regard est baissé et ton attitude ne brille pas de son habituel éclat Je-sais-que-tu-considères-que-je-n'aurais-pas-dû-mais-la-science-John. À la place, il y a tous ces petits détails que je ne parviens pas à voir, alors je m'approche de ta silhouette enrobedechambrée. Puis je lève la main, bouche bée. - John rentre en avance du travail et tombe sur un imprévu sherlockien.

Exit- An Ex Files Special by 7PercentSolution (G, 27,148 w., 6 Ch. || Sherlock/Victor Trevor, Angst Like Whoa, TRF-Compliant, Multiple POV’s, Unrequited Love, Whump, TBI and Recovery, Heartbreak, Romance, PTSD, Grieving, Five and One) – The end (or not, as the case may be), covering The Fall and its aftermath. Can be considered both a conclusion to my Fallen Angel series and a coda to Extricate and The Ex. A five plus one.

under the burden of solitude by subtext-is-my-division (E, 27,947 w., 5 Ch. || S3/S4 Fix It/Post TLD, Angst, Grief/Mourning, First Kiss, Mentions of Rape, Hurt/Comfort, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Fantasies, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Suicidal Thoughts Mentions, Five and Ones) – Five times they shared a bed platonically, and one time they didn't.

Caesura by emilycare (M, 36,608 w., 10 Ch. || Five and One, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Friends to Lovers, Past Abuse, Past Drug Use, Angst with Happy Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, Oral Sex, Blow Jobs, Domestic Fluff, Soft Sherlock, Gay Sherlock, Bisexual John) – The violin is a retreat that eases the quiet of Sherlock Holmes' solitude. It also speaks for him when he cannot bridge the gaps his defenses create. Moments when music helps Sherlock reach out or let others in, like his stalwart flatmate and, in time, the doctor's daughter. Five times Sherlock Holmes played the violin, and one time he did not.

Magpies Series by 7PercentSolution (T, 218,813+ w. across 4 works || Series WIP || Post TRF, Drug Withdrawal, References to Torture, Confessions, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Fic, PTSD, Oblivious John) – The Magpies series covers the events of the broadcast series three and four, "translated" into my universe. I wrote a lot of it before the episodes were broadcast and made some of my themes into AU (such as the Holmes parents and the sibling). Darker, more intense and angsty than Game Theory and Fallen Angel, the Magpies stories show the effects of the hiatus on all concerned. When parts five to 8 are completed, the series will bring the Ford saga to a conclusion.

[morganaspendragonss]

holly's august extravaganza day 26: slowly becoming lovers

for sonia (@pragmaticoptimist34)! i have to confess something - i got so caught up in writing this that i actually forgot to include either of the other two prompts you sent me 🙈 i hope you like it anyway!

second confession - it was supposed to be longer and then it kind of got away from me so i had to draw a line somewhere oops

thanks to @ravens-words, @cosmiicmalex, @halsteadmarchs and liz (sorry, i don't know your tumblr!) for enabling me and to @noxsoulmate for beta'ing!

ao3 | 2.9k | falling in love, fluff, tiny, tiny hint of hurt/comfort, soft tarlos, set between s1 and s2

Things don’t get fixed overnight. They agree to give them a shot, but that doesn’t change the fact that TK is still reeling from his break-up and overdose, nor that Carlos is still hesitant and afraid of pushing too hard at once.

But, slowly, they get to know each other. And, slowly, they start to fall in love.

i. food preferences

“You have to be joking.”

“It tastes like soap, Carlos!”

Carlos groans and drops his head into his hands, shaking his head at this latest revelation from his boyfriend. His boyfriend, who has just made his life—or at least his cooking—a hell of a lot more complicated. “My mamá would have a fit if she could hear you now.”

He almost regrets the words as TK’s eyes alight with interest; he’s been dancing around the topic of his parents for a while now, but it’s not like he can deny what he said. His mom would be having a fit, or possibly attempting to kill TK with a wooden spoon, if she found out that Carlos’s boyfriend was not only a gringo, but one who hates coriander.

“I swear, you won’t even taste it when it’s mixed into the food,” he tries, because coriander is a staple of his cooking, and he can’t even fathom not using it.

But TK just levels him with a firm look. “Yes, I will, Carlos. I’ll always taste it.”

Carlos rolls his eyes at his boyfriend’s theatrics, but sighs, relenting. “Fine. I suppose I can���” He doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, as TK throws his arms around him and plants a noisy kiss on his cheek.

“Thanks, babe,” he says, grinning cheekily.

“Yeah, yeah,” Carlos grumbles, but he can’t help but smile.

There’s very little, he’s finding, that he wouldn’t do for TK.

ii. nicknames

It slips out by accident one day.

“TK,” Carlos groans, followed by a gasp as TK moves just right, sending sparks of pleasure down his spine. “TK, Ty—”

TK instantly freezes on top of him and Carlos’s eyes open, concern rising in him as he takes in the pensive look on his boyfriend’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…” TK shakes his head and forces a smile. “It’s nothing. I’m good, I promise.” He ducks down to kiss Carlos again, but the mood is all wrong, and Carlos gently pushes him back, raising an eyebrow. TK holds out a moment longer, then sighs and rolls away, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s stupid.”

Carlos tuts, reaching over to brush a hand through TK’s hair. “Bet you $20 it’s not.”

“Hope you have $20 then, Reyes,” TK says wryly. He looks over at Carlos and sighs again, biting his lip. “It’s just… You called me Ty.”

“Oh.” Carlos’s eyes widen and he props himself up on an elbow. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking; it won’t happen again—”

TK presses a finger against his lips, cutting him off abruptly. He smiles softly, then removes his finger and caresses Carlos’s cheek. “It’s okay,” he says. “More than okay, actually. I… I’ve always hated my name, but, I don’t know, I guess it sounded right? Like, when you said it? I think I’d kill anyone else who tried, but I really liked it coming from you.”

“Are you sure? You’re not just saying that because—”

Carlos is again cut off, this time by TK’s lips on his. TK moves so that he’s straddling Carlos again, hands pressed against his chest. “I’m sure,” he whispers, a grin playing at his mouth. “Now, weren’t we in the middle of something?”

iii. religion

Christmas sneaks up on him that year. Between helping the city recovering from the solar storm, work in general, the pandemic, and building his relationship with TK, Carlos has completely lost track of the months, until it’s a week before the date and he has nothing planned.

Really, it’s never been a big deal for him; he and his family used to attend mass and make an event out of it when he was a kid, but now he’s an adult, he’s often working, and he hasn’t been to church regularly since he was a teenager. But this year is different. This year, he’ll be spending it with TK, their first Christmas together, and he wants to make it special.

But he’s left it too late—nothing he orders online will arrive in time, the shops are becoming a nightmare, and he honestly has no clue where to even start. So Carlos resigns himself to another quiet Christmas, frustration and disappointment welling in him at the thought of telling his boyfriend.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts out one night over dinner, the thought having been gnawing at him for days.

TK raises a brow. “For?”

“Christmas,” Carlos sighs, looking down into his stew. “It’s our first one together and I had all these plans, and then I just sort of… I didn’t forget! But things have been so crazy, and—”

He’s cut off when TK lays a hand on his. When Carlos looks up at him, TK seems to be fighting back laughter, which is confusing at best and potentially mildly insulting at worst.

“Babe,” TK says, grinning, “it’s okay. You might not believe me, but I forgot too. Christmas wasn’t really a thing growing up—my mom’s Jewish, so I used to celebrate Hanukkah on the years I stayed with her, and Dad was working more often than not. I don’t care, I promise.”

Carlos blinks. “You’re Jewish?” Surely he would know if… But they’ve never discussed religion before, and Carlos had kind of assumed TK had the same ideals as him about the church. In hindsight that was stupid and presumptuous, and Carlos can’t quite believe he’d do something like that. An apology is on the tip of his tongue, but TK just shrugs, going back to his stew.

“Half,” he says. “I don’t really practice anymore but I still keep the beliefs with me, if that makes sense?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does.”

TK smiles at him, and Carlos suddenly realises that this holiday season will be special after all, even if they don’t celebrate anything. Because he’s with TK, which is the most special thing in the world.

iv. how they sleep

Carlos has been sleeping alone for a long time. He’s had a couple of short-term boyfriends and the odd hook-up here and there, but he’s never had someone else in his bed regularly—certainly not regularly enough to get used to it.

TK was hesitant at first to stay over, but once he started to be more comfortable, it was almost a given that they’d be sleeping together whenever their shifts allowed.

And it had been an adjustment.

TK had warned him he tended to move around and be clingy in his sleep, but Carlos hadn’t quite understood what that meant, until now. He is, essentially, trapped under TK, his arms pinned to his sides and one leg thrown over his hip. TK’s head is pillowed on Carlos’s shoulder and his breath is fanning in soft puffs over his skin.

The only way he can move is if he wakes TK up, and there’s no way Carlos is going to do that. His boyfriend looks so peaceful, and Carlos is more than happy to be clung onto like a koala to a branch if it keeps that expression on his face.

In fact, he thinks he can get used to this very easily.

v. pda

In private, their days are filled with gentle touches and stolen kisses. Carlos will be cooking breakfast and TK will slip his arms around him, kissing the back of his neck. TK will be doing one chore or another and Carlos will brush a hand over his back or gently nudge him as he walks past.

But in public, it’s a whole other story.

It’s almost reflexive, the way TK reaches for Carlos’s hand as they’re walking down the street. It’s something they do all the time at home, and even with their friends, but this time, Carlos immediately tenses, seemingly automatically pulling his hand away.

“You okay?” he asks, frowning.

Carlos takes a deep breath, then obviously plasters on a smile, retaking TK’s hand—and TK can feel the tension in the gesture. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” TK gently lets go of Carlos and smiles reassuringly up at him. “It’s okay if you’re not comfortable with touching in public.”

“I’m sorry, I just—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. This is all on me; I should have asked.”

“But—”

“But, nothing.” He carefully bumps their soldiers together. “You’re entitled to your boundaries, I’m just sorry for overstepping. Tell me next time, please?”

Carlos hesitates, but nods, a gentle press of their arms a silent acknowledgment of agreement and understanding.

vi. scars

Carlos, TK has noticed, likes to pay extra attention to his bullet scar. Whether it’s pressing a gentle kiss over it when they’re in bed, or brushing it with his fingers when wrapping an arm around him, it happens too often for TK to believe it’s anything but intentional.

He doesn’t understand it at first.

Then he discovers Carlos’s own scars.

“What’s this?” he asks, tracing over the thick raised scarring on Carlos’s side. It stretches along the curve of his waist and round his back, and TK has no idea how he hasn’t noticed it before.

Carlos cranes his neck, letting out a hum when he sees what TK’s looking at. His head flops back down on the pillow and he closes his eyes, absently stroking up and down TK’s sides.

“It was...three years ago, maybe?” he says. “I got stabbed on a call. They told me it was pretty touch-and-go for a while, but they fixed me up and I was back at work in a month.”

His eyes are still closed, body completely relaxed, but TK can’t take his eyes off the scar. He reaches up to his own scar, and he gets it.

Carlos’s eyes crack open. “TK?”

“I’m good,” TK murmurs. He breaks his gaze from Carlos’s abdomen and smiles at him. “We both are.”

And if, after that day, Carlos notices him paying more attention to that scar, he doesn’t say anything.

vii. penguin or panda

“You’re out of your mind!”

In Carlos’s defence, a zoo date had seemed like a good idea. He knows TK loves animals, and he himself grew up around them, so in theory, a trip to Austin Zoo should have been the perfect time to get to know each other better while enjoying the day.

Turns out, TK has some very strong opinions on animals, and is willing to budge for absolutely no-one.

“I can’t believe you think penguins are cuter than pandas! I mean, look at them, Carlos!” He gestures emphatically to the panda enclosure, where one is napping on a log. It’s pretty cute, Carlos has to admit, but…

He shrugs. “But remember when the penguins were all huddling together?”

TK makes a noise of outrage, and Carlos has to laugh, then some more at the wounded pout he gets for it. “Is this really a thing for you?” he asks. “Like, is this going to be the dealbreaker for us?”

TK folds his arms and levels him with a stern look. “That depends,” he says. “Meerkats or koalas?”

And, just because he knows it will rile TK up more, Carlos grins and answers, “Meerkats.”

(They don’t break-up over it, but Carlos isn’t so sure that TK will be forgiving him any time soon.)

viii. special interests

“Say you could go back to a moment in history, but only once,” TK says, out of the blue, breaking the comfortable silence of the front room. Carlos stops carding his fingers through TK’s hair and looks down at him, curious. “Where would you go?”

Carlos opens his mouth, but TK doesn’t give him a second to answer. “Is it cliché if I said I’d go to Stonewall? I mean, I’d really like to see dinosaurs in the flesh, or—oh! I was, like, obsessed with pirates as a kid; I thought they were the coolest things ever, and I pretty much idolised Anne Bonny. But I’m pretty sure I’d die immediately if I went to either of those places, so…”

He trails off, a blush rising on his cheeks. “Sorry, I’m boring you.”

“No!” Carlos rushes to say. “No, you’re not. I love history, I just… What makes you ask?”

“It’s something we got into at the station earlier. Mateo brought it up first, I think?”

Carlos hums, pursing his lips in thought. “I guess…” He sighs and shakes his head. “It’s too hard. There’s so many places I’d want to go and people I’d want to meet.”

“But if you had to pick?” TK pushes, sitting upright and looking at Carlos with interest.

“I really want to meet Eleanor of Aquitaine, but if I could only go to one place…” He hesitates and thinks it over some more, but then his eyes catch on the masks hanging along the stairway, and he’s sure. “Tenochtitlan, but before Cortés arrived. It was a whole society, and I just think it would be so cool to see it up close and to know what it was like first-hand. I mean, I’ve read a lot of books, but we don’t have much from the Mexica people, a lot is from the conquerors, and—”

Carlos stops and huffs a laugh. “Now I’m the one boring you,” he says, but TK shakes his head, eyes bright.

“Tell me more.”

ix. coffee order

TK accepts the coffee without even thinking about it, even taking a sip before he realises he never told Carlos what his order was. He curses himself but resolves to drink it anyway; TK isn’t too much of a coffee snob, and he’s certainly not going to reject anything his boyfriend brings him.

He takes a second sip, and he’s so caught up in making a mental note to tell Carlos next time that it takes a minute for the taste to register. And…

It’s his order.

He looks sharply up at Carlos, who is smiling into his own coffee—therefore dispelling any notion of this being an insanely good guess. “How did you know?” he asks, bewildered.

The tips of Carlos’s ears turn pink, but the smile doesn’t leave his face as he looks up at TK. “Our first real date,” he says. “You mentioned that this was your go-to order.”

And TK can’t do anything but stare, because their first date was weeks ago, and Carlos still remembered, and it’s just…

He thinks—no, he knows—he’s falling in love.

x. fears

“Weirdest fears, go.”

TK has to laugh at the perplexed look Carlos sends him at the question, the straw of his boba hanging out of his mouth. Now that they’ve figured a sort of rhythm out between them, they decided to try the boba place again—there have been no emergencies or disasters so far, so TK is counting it as a win.

“Come on,” he continues. “Last time we were here, you said we barely knew each other—which was true—so now we’re going to fix it.”

Carlos’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “By telling each other our weirdest fears?”

“Exactly!” TK grins. “I’ll go first if you’re too chicken. Mine is slicing my hands open or cutting some fingers off with ice skates.”

“What?” Carlos breathes, disbelief all over his face. “I’ve never been ice skating but I’m pretty sure your hands aren’t supposed to go anywhere near the blades.”

“I didn’t say it was rational.” TK sips his boba, raising an eyebrow at Carlos. “Your turn.”

Carlos swallows, suddenly very interested in the table. “I, uh. When I was a kid, my Tía Lucy had a snake get into her pipes. She only discovered it when she went to the toilet one morning and it was just...sitting there in the bowl. I was terrified for years that the same would happen to us, and it’s kind of become a reflex to check.”

“Oh my god.” TK can’t help but burst out laughing, even though he feels bad for it as Carlos covers his face with his hands. “I’m sorry, I know it’s a real thing for you, I just…”

But Carlos’s shoulders are shaking too and, bizarrely, TK really does feel closer to him now.

It’s a good feeling.

xi. long-term commitments

Carlos is surprised when TK is the one to bring it up first.

“Do you ever think about the future?” he asks one day, head in Carlos’s lap, staring up at the ceiling.

Carlos pauses the show he’s technically supposed to be watching and quirks an eyebrow at his boyfriend. “Sure,” he says. “What about the future exactly?”

TK hesitates, and his voice comes out a lot quieter when he next speaks. “Like…” He sighs, a small flush rising on his cheeks. “The future. Our future. Us. Maybe...marriage, or…”

He trails off, practically whispering by the end of it. His gaze has shifted from the ceiling to the frozen TV screen and he’s chewing on his bottom lip, body stiff with tension. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Forget about it.”

But Carlos is learning to read TK, and he knows he was looking for reassurance. “I mean, yeah,” he says. “I think about it. Do you?”

TK stares up at him, wonder in his eyes. “After New York, I thought… But yeah. Yeah, I do.”

They share a smile as they lock eyes, and Carlos knows that they’re on the same page here. That, distant though they may be, both of them can hear wedding bells in their future.

[iangallagherisadeadman]

correct BUT some things to adress.

was it november? cause yes even though you can not read the month in the calendar S1E1, we can conclude it was november because of the disposition of the days to the weekdays.

fiona puts her finger in the 15 and says to everyone that electrics is due. so, is it nov. 15, 2010?

first day of the episode, at night, Fiona sleeps with JimmySteve.

next scene in the episode it is morning and Fiona takes Liam to work at the motel, and the following scene is Frank at the alibi announcing to Kev it is disability day.

how come? disability day should be the last friday of the month. either theres a lot of days in between the night Fiona slept with JimmySteve and the day of this scene and they decided to jump like 10 days, making it nov. 26, or! it is december and Frank received it earlier cause the last two fridays would be dec. 24 and then dec. 31.

then, in the next scene it's morning and Steve knocks at Fiona's door asking her if she has plans for friday. Lip comes into the scene and says he's not in school cause he had some teeth pulled out.

the first day of the episode, we learn that Lip has/had dentist at monday.

is it monday dec. 20 and Lip went to the dentist and Frank received because of december and there was a jump of like 5 days? but then JimmySteve is a Freak and asked Fiona out chritmas eve? or

is it nov. 22 monday and lip had dentist and theres no explanation as to why Frank received it already?

first episode wasnt nov. 15 monday and they for some reason only god knows wanted to pay the electric bill earlier, hence why this print says "pay electric today!"?

but then! next scene, same day, same clothes, jimmysteve from "the other night". that mean there couldnt be a jump of days from kitchen sex scene and this one?

my theory: Fiona sleeps with JimmySteve dec. 15, we don't see dec. 16, dec. 17 friday Frank receives his check and JimmySteve is a freak who actually wants to know Fiona's plans for that night not christmas eve, Lip rescheduled his dentist, dec. 19 sunday Fiona has dinner with JimmySteve and dec. 20 monday they wake up together, breakfast scene, "15 minutes before school, tops", which would make sense cause S1E2 they got alarmed that Frank didnt showed up for his disability check which comes in the last friday of the month, which would be jan. 28, and thats a match for the rest of the season and so on. and I refuse to acknowledge their calendar and will follow mine always cause S4 happened like three weeks after S3, yet S3 finale is december 23 i think 2012 and every single calendar in S4 says it is 2014.

then, about their birthdays:

Debbie tells Fiona S2E4 that her birthday is in october. then, S4E8, her virginity countdown says her birthday is in july. then, S7E9 Debs tells Monica her birthday is in december. so, whatever your heart says?

my take: S2E4 first fiona sends a text which reveals its aug. 10, wednesday, 2011.

but then, same day, carl is hanging with little hank and

then, same day, theres this dialog:

most public schools in the us start classes in september and in chicago classes start on the first tuesday after labor day. 2011 labor day was on september 5. so this episode is in august, two weeks before sept. 6. that would be aug. 23 tuesday. proving again their calendars are never right and mean shit nothing. anyway!

later, theres this.

so Deb would have be born october 1999.

it also happens with Fiona: S4E10 says in her police file that she was born aug. 12, 1986, but that can't be right cause she says S4E12 that she's 23, and the file says she was arrested on february 24, 2014, but that's wrong cause chronologically she was arrested march 2013, and the day she was arrested was her birthday as Mike came to give her coke and the following episode she says to a cop or her parole officer that "yesterday was my birthday". so again, whenever you want it to be? i like aug. 12, and she was 21 at s1 that is end of 2010/begining of 2011 so she would have been born august 1989.

This is so random but I cant stop thinking about it but what year do guys think the Gallagher siblings were born?

[monstersqueen]

Antigone (!!!!) S1E03, The little death

wow i didn't remember this episode was so soon.

btw herbert is my favorite piffling citizen outside of the extended funns. (madeleine + antigone + rudyard+ georgie + her nana + chapman)

(everyone else can BURN for all i care. except doctor edgeware. he can take a nap. thank you marjorie)

I had to put Mister Allerton back together after his... accident with a ceiling fan.

the thing is i don't know if it's a rudyard-induced accident post death or the actual cause of death. probably the second because the deaths are so bizarre in s1 (thank you marjorie)

Heh heh! Enjoy yourself! ANTIGONE: Don’t you start. HERBERT: Sorry?

Does herbert somehow not know chapman yet. i knew he was my favorite.

HERBERT: Some people... leave the house more than once a week. ANTIGONE: I'm sorry, you're just not making any sense.

I love her so much.

ANTIGONE: Nobody's ever done a nice thing for me before. I mean, father gave me an extra sprout at dinner one Christmas.

....keeping track of the funns parents

HERBERT: What a guy. I wish I were more like him... Then maybe my wife wouldn’t have... flinched at my merest touch-

fucking love how everyone is so thirsty for chapman. and also how he both hates it and craves it as recognition.

GEORGIE: (OFF) Sugar? RUDYARD: No, Georgie, this isn't a brothel.

i love him. also georgie deserves better boss.

GEORGIE: Tea’s up, Rudyard. Milk, no sugar. RUDYARD: Milk? I’m not made of money.

once again, question : is rudyard really stingy of money, or is he truly so broke milk is a luxury ?

yeah.

ERIC: Georgie! GEORGIE: Oh. Hi Eric.

she's so very neutral about him at first. like, open to the idea of getting to know him, but not really invested in it.

HE'S ABOUT TO FUCK THAT UP (a little later this episode)

RUDYARD: Sometimes I think I'll never understand women. Present company excepted, Madeleine. SQUEAK SQUEAK. RUDYARD: Hmm... You like to get out and about, don’t you? SQUEAK. RUDYARD: How would you like to go out for the evening?

aww..

In this life, you never think it will happen to you, do you? Especially when 'it' is ill-advisedly leaping up onto a settee after winning twenty pounds on the EuroMillions and getting caught in the blades of a ceiling fan.

so bizarre death it is.

ERIC: (D) ...I’ve always liked cliffs, they've got that sense of the dramatic about them, haven’t they? GEORGIE: (D) Only if you’re bungee-jumping.

eric has literally no idea how to be genuine. like georgie is trying. waiting for him to stop and drop the persona and reserving judgement until then

and eric is totally not noticing so obsessed with trying to win over someone who is not impressed with him.

(georgie is the most approcheable of the funns - and for now the most normal)

WAVERING: Yes, considering how he died, I thought an open casket was a bit of a gamble. Dreadful way to go but, still, twenty quid, no wonder he was excited. And Antigone's done an incredible job putting his face back together.

...pretty sure everyone on the island is broke.

ERIC: Oh, er, just seeing an old friend... running a few errands... a long time ago... GEORGIE: (BEAT) You always do that.

eh btw chapman used to be a secret agent. how. surprising.

GEORGIE: Watch out! You nearly hit... Madeleine? SQUEAK SQUEAK. ERIC: Who?

:D ! look at that eric is meeting the funn family member he hadn't met yet

TANYA: My God, Jerry! Is that a mouse? JERRY: Well I’ll just look at the floor and – oh my God! DINER GASPS. SHRIEKING, CUPS AND PLATES SPILL. RUDYARD: No! Stop! No need to be alarmed! TANYA: Look at its back! It’s a cyborg mouse! JERRY: It’s an infestation! We’ll all be killed!

fucking piffling vale. no appreciation for madeleine.

as i knew it rudyard is the best of them.

HERBERT: Naturally, my kids were adopted-

seriously i'd like to know more about herbert, his wife, and their marriage. HOW did it happen. why did she marry him if he repulsed her so much?

HERBERT: Yes! Four and a half tickets! We should have always had these on a Friday night!

yeah so everyone's broke on the island.

also i wondered about the half ticket but obviously it's madeleine.

ERIC: Maybe I ought to ask you to do it next time.

my gosh rudyard is right chapman is trying to poach georgie!

ANTIGONE: Don’t tell me you’ve caused chaos again. RUDYARD: OK, I won’t tell you-

i love him so much

GEORGIE: Do you like all these old French films then? ERIC: Yes, I’m quite the fan. You?

....yeah he's flirting with the wrong funn girl here.

ANTIGONE: Oh shut up!! Rudyard, this is my treat! I am a normal person with a normal life, and I deserve treats!

antigone i already told you what i think about the whole normal thing. but also yes! tell him! you absolutely deserve treats and your own life!

ERIC: Rudyard? RUDYARD: Oh blow. GEORGIE: You again! What do you think you’re doing? RUDYARD: Nothing at all. ERIC: You mean you're not watching the film? RUDYARD: No. I mean yes. ERIC: OK, what’s happened so far? RUDYARD: Er. Nothing? ERIC: Well his story checks out.

you'd think only rudyard is unhinged here but chapman is the one trying to be both perfectly-ordinary-nothing-to-see-here and look-at-me-i'm-the-voice-of-reason and i'm-so-humble-but-also-am-i-not-the-best and you know what. in the face of his dysfunction i think rudyard inability to spot a date is actually quite healthy.

GEORGIE: I am not impressionable! ERIC: Worse luck.

and now he's done it. eric! that she's not so impressioned by you IS the appeal admit it! but at the same time he needs her to be! because he's basing his while identity on being loved by everyone! he's not actually looking for someoene impressionable but he's also so not ready to be with someone who can see through it

and somehow with this sentence (and his refusal (his inability) to open up and be genuine for two seconds) he fucked up more than rudyard who spied on her during her off hours.

btw i love georgie.

RUDYARD: Don’t do it! It’s a trap! ERIC: Butt out of this, Rudyard. ANTIGONE: You can’t say that! RUDYARD: Thank you! ANTIGONE: Butt out of this, Rudyard. GEORGIE: You know what, this was a funny experiment and everything, but I think I’m done here. ERIC: No, sure, French films aren’t for you- GEORGIE: I didn’t mean the film, Eric. ERIC: Woah woah woah, look, I think we’re getting worked up over nothing here- ANTIGONE: God, now he’s being reasonable. ERIC: Maybe I should push her around like everyone else, eh? ANTIGONE: Excuse me? GEORGIE: You can’t speak to her like that! ERIC: Well who the bloody Hell can I speak to and how would you like me to do it

oh the podcast has found his tune. funns bonding against chapman and also pushing eric so far he's ACTUALLY GENUINE FOR THE FIRST TIME

RUDYARD: If Georgie can be Chapman's little gal pal, then she'll be the perfect mole in his operation! Yes! We could save their evening – quick, let’s get after them!

i love him so much. but also in two episodes he's going to AGAIN try and sell one of them on a date for profit.

except from now on, she wore headphones, and she never read the subtitles. And, to be honest, it was never really as much... fun.

....yeah this episode was a win for no one.