#like. actually. I looked up and saw pretty boy and started to quote romeo and juliet to myself and went. wow im gay

[expolikestoart]

Before they were together....

Oh..

But soft, what light from yonder window breaks.

It is the East, and they are the Sun.

@anaroceitweek

[the-modernmary]

when you gonna take me out? || derek morgan x GN!reader

Summary: You and Derek have been flirting pretty heavily for the past few weeks. So when his first time asking you out doesn't go as well as planned, he's determined to get you to say yes.

Warnings: mentions of getting shot, allusions to smut

A/N: Chapter title taken from Aly & AJ's "Take Me Out". This was inspired by a scene from the show community, and also because derek morgan deserves more love

~~~~~~~

“No, no, you see, asking somebody out is an art,” Derek explained to a very frustrated Spencer Reid. “And I think with a little practice, pretty boy, you could become a bit of a player.”

Prentiss, who had been listening to Derek trying to convince Spencer to let him be his wingman for the better part of an hour, scoffed from her desk. “Using a cheesy pickup line is an art now?”

“There is nothing wrong with a line!” Derek argued, leaning back in his desk chair. “It’s a knock at the door. And once they let you in, that’s when you strike.”

Spencer scrunched up his nose at Derek’s phrasing. “I think I’m going to leave the whole player thing to you.”

“Come on, Reid, it’s easy.”

“If it’s so easy, then why don’t you show us?” Prentiss shot.

Right at that moment, Garcia and JJ walked back into the bullpen, coffees in hand. “Show us what?” JJ questioned.

“Derek is trying to teach Reid how to flirt,” Prentiss explained. “But I think he’s just all talk. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Morgan with a significant other.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Hey, I don’t pry into your personal life?”

Garcia put a comforting hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Nobody can resist my chocolate thunder. I mean, look at him. He literally looks like he was sculpted by Michaelangelo.”

“I’m with Emily,” JJ chimed in. “I kind of want to see the Derek Morgan in action.”

Derek’s eyes scanned the bullpen until he landed on you, standing in the kitchen area and making yourself a cup of coffee. You were also a profiler, just on a different team that primarily focused on cold cases. It was no secret that you and Derek Morgan had been flirting pretty heavily the past few weeks — longing glances, pet names, and kisses on cheeks were just the start — and you both had a sneaking suspicion that there was an office pool betting on whether or not the two of you had already hooked up.

“Fine,” Derek said, standing up. “Watch and learn, Pretty Ricky.”

Derek sauntered over to the kitchen and leaned against the counter while reaching for a wooden stirrer. “Let me help you with that,” he offered.

You turned to look at him, a smile on your face. “Wow, what a gentleman,” you teased, but you handed your cup of coffee to him anyways. “I didn’t realize you knew how I take my coffee?”

“You learn a lot about somebody when you can’t take your eyes off them,” he pointed out. “Especially with the way you look right now. I mean, wow. Got a hot date tonight? Because he is one very lucky man.”

You arched an eyebrow in his direction. “Nope, no date.”

“Well, you do now, baby,” Derek grinned. “I’ll pick you up at 8:30.”

You stared at Derek, part amused and part incredulous. “Did you really think that would work?” you asked through a breathy chuckle.

Derek’s confident grin fell slightly as his eyes narrowed in confusion. “Wait, what?” he asked, unable to form any other words.

“Derek Morgan, I expected so much more from you,” you mused, snatching your coffee cup from his hand. “I know you can sweet talk better than that.”

It was Derek’s turn to raise his eyebrows, and he tried his best to ignore the barely-suppressed giggles from his teammates. “So is that a no?” he clarified, not used to the feeling of rejection. Although, it didn’t feel quite like a rejection, especially when you were smiling at him with just a hint of your tongue peaking out from between your teeth.

“It’s a… ‘better luck next time’,” you explained, taking a sip of your coffee.

Derek’s normal, confident grin returned to his face. “You’re saying I can ask you out again?” he clarified, because he did not want to be the guy who didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

You walked backwards to your desk, never taking your eyes off Derek. “Sure. It could be fun. But you’ll have to bring your A-game if you want me to say yes,” you told him, and oh, Derek Morgan loved a good challenge.

Derek walked back to his desk, feeling the stares of his teammates the whole way back.

“Like a knock on the door...” Prentiss quoted back to Derek. “So did you just get the door slammed in your face, or was nobody home?”

Derek scoffed and sat down in his chair, already coming up with all the new ways he could ask you out. He had been wanting to for a while, but the timing was always off. But now…

“Oh no, I’m in,” Derek promised, and his eyes were immediately drawn to you. He hadn’t been lying when he said that he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. “But I’m playing the long game.”

~~~~~~~

Derek and the rest of his team got pulled into a case shortly after, so you didn’t hear from him for about a week except for the occasional “how is it going?” text. They got back to the BAU in the middle of the day, but instead of heading straight home like the rest of his team, Derek made a beeline to your desk.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” he greeted, dropping a quick kiss to your temple. “Hope you didn’t miss me too much.”

A soft blush rose to your cheeks as you shut the file you were looking at, spinning your chair so that you could face him. “I missed you tons, as always. But you knew that.”

Derek’s eyes trailed up and down your body, and there was a softness to his gaze that you rarely ever saw from him. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

“Sore eyes?” you questioned. “I don’t know about that. Wasn’t there a meteor shower where you guys were at?”

“Yeah, but no meteor shower can compare to how beautifully your eyes sparkle.”

You tried really, really hard to hold in your laughter. You pressed your lips into a thin line and you bit the insides of your cheeks, but you were only so strong, and even Derek looked like he realized how cheesy and awful that line was.

You broke down into a fit of laughter. “I’m sorry,” you giggled, covering your mouth as you did. “I just — Did you google a top ten best pickup lines list on the plane ride back?”

Derek winced, but nodded in agreement. “That’s fair. Not my best work.”

“No, it was not, Romeo,” you said, patting his cheek. “But we’ll chalk it up to post-case sleep deprivation.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Derek grinned. “When the time comes, you won’t be able to say no.”

You laughed, throwing your head back as you did. “And I am eagerly awaiting that day.”

~~~~~~~

Two days later, Derek all but ambushed you at the elevator. As soon as you stepped out onto the 6th floor, Derek slung his arm around your shoulders, and used his free hand to carry your bag for you.

“Oh, this is exciting,” you mused. You reached your hand up to interlace your fingers with the hand that was draped over your shoulder. “What do you have for me today, baby?”

“I’ve been thinking,” Derek explained. “And you’re a modern, progressive, independent person. I think I’ve been going about this all wrong.”

You nodded in encouragement. He was so close, you just knew it. All he had to do was ask you.

“You don’t want to be dragged down by a bunch of strings. So how about you come over tonight, I’ll put on some mood music, light some candles, and you and I can have one perfect night of pure bliss.”

Or maybe he wasn’t as close as you thought.

“Nope,” you said, moving his arm off of your shoulders. You liked Derek Morgan, but you were not going to be another one of his one night stands. “Not gonna happen.”

“Better or worse than before?” Derek asked, already knowing the answer, and he handed your bag back to you.

“Worse. Much worse.” You paused and turned so that you were facing him. “But I like how forward you were. Keep that up.”

Derek smirked and leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets. “Yeah? So should I keep those candles just in case?”

You pretended to think about it for a few seconds. “With your current track record, baby boy, the only place you’ll be using those candles is in your dreams.”

“You’re already in my dreams, hot stuff,” he promised you. “Every. Single. Night.”

Oh god, that was a very welcome image you would think about forever. You knew that Derek liked you, and you had had your fair share of fantasies involving him in some pretty explicit situations, but him fantasizing about you? It was almost enough to convince you to drag him into the nearest empty room.

Almost. Because if he wanted a chance with you, he was going to have to actually ask you on a date.

Instead, you blew him a kiss and left him with: “And I bet I’m even better than you can imagine.”

Needless to say, the both of you spent the rest of the day incredibly distracted.

~~~~~~~

By that point, pretty everybody on the 6th floor knew what was going on, and they were all invested. More betting pools sprouted up, and even some of the more reserved agents were putting in their two cents, albeit under the guise of disapproval.

That’s why, when a bouquet of flowers appeared on your desk one morning, it was all anybody could talk about as they waited for you to get to work. Even Rossi and Hotch had found an excuse to get themselves out of their offices and into the main part of the bullpen.

“They’re going to say yes today,” Penelope guessed. “They have to. Everybody likes flowers, and this shows the sweet side of my chocolate thunder.”

Prentiss scoffed. “I hope they don’t. I have twenty bucks on at least two more rejections.”

Rossi, who was sitting on the edge of a desk, shook his head. “These are your friends. Don’t you guys feel bad about betting on their love lives?”

“Says the guy who has fifty dollars on ‘they get drunk and leave the bar together’,” Hotch said, not even looking up at the file he was skimming through. Hotch was one of the only ones who hadn’t put money into this whole thing, but he was still very well informed. “You all should really hide the whiteboard the bets are on a little bit better.”

Rossi was about to defend himself when you walked through the glass doors of the BAU. A hush fell over the room and they watched as your smile melted into realization and then nervousness.

You walked over to the bouquet and gingerly took the card, but you didn’t even get to read it when the first sneeze came. Then the next and the next, and pretty soon your eyes were watery, your nose running, and your throat was so scratchy that you sounded like you smoked four packs a day.

You tried to focus on your work, but the constant sneezing and needing to get up to blow your nose was seriously disrupting your productivity. You could barely focus because it felt like a head cold that just wouldn’t go away. Your pollen allergy was something you’d had your whole life, and when they hit, they hit bad.

The flowers were gorgeous and such a sweet gesture, but you didn’t even have the chance to really appreciate them while you could barely breathe through your nose. You were sure you were just a distraction

A hand on your shoulder made you jump, and you whipped around to see Hotch looking down at you with concern. You sighed. “I’m sorry, Agent Hotchner,” you said, your voice nasally. “I usually keep allergy meds in my bag, but it’s not pollen season and I—”

“Go home, agent,” Hotch interrupted you gently. “Get some rest. You can come back tomorrow when you feel better.”

“No, m’fine I just need to—” You cut yourself off this time with another sneeze, and then all you could do was agree with Hotch. “Yeah, I’m gonna go home. Thank you.”

You took the bouquet and walked over to Penelope, handing the glass vase over to her. “Will you please tell Derek that these are beautiful and that I’m so sorry—” You sneezed three times in a row, and by then you were too exhausted to even try talking anymore, so you just groaned and waved goodbye to the rest of Derek’s friends before dragging yourself out of the bullpen.

The next thirty minutes went on as usual, until Derek walked into the bullpen. He had been gone all morning doing a profiling seminar for academy recruits, so he had missed your quick descent into your allergic reaction.

His face fell slightly when he saw your empty desk, and it fell even more when he saw the flowers he had bought sitting on the corner of Prentiss’s desk and his entire team talking amongst themselves.

Derek walked up to them, a frown etched on his face. “Did they not show up for work today?” he asked.

“I sent them home,” Hotch explained, and if Derek didn’t know any better, he could have sworn that he saw the hint of a smirk on the corner of Hotch’s mouth.

Spencer’s smirk, on the other hand, was not even close to being hidden. “Hey Morgan, did you know that pollen allergies affect up to 20 million adults? And sunflowers and flowers in the aster family are considered some of the worst flowers for people who suffer with pollen allergies, since the pollen is so easily dispersed by the wind.”

Realization set in Derek and he cursed under his breath. You had mentioned once in passing that you liked the look of sunflowers, so he had assumed that those were the best flowers to get you. Clearly, he was wrong.

Noticing his dejected look, Garcia quickly interjected. “But they said that they’re beautiful and they looked like they really loved them,” she comforted. “And they wanted me to tell you that they’re sorry.”

Derek shook his head. How did he not know that you were allergic? That seemed like a pretty big thing. “No, they have nothing to be sorry for. I’m going to go wipe down their desk, make sure that it’s clean for them tomorrow.”

The team watched as Derek went over to your desk, taking his time to make sure that there was no flower residue left. They all quickly went back to discussing the bet, changing up their predictions now that they had more evidence to go off of.

Surprisingly, instead of going back to his office, Hotch spoke up. “Morgan isn’t used to being told no. He’s going to break down and beg.”

The team looked at Hotch incredulously. “I’ve never seen Morgan beg for anything,” JJ pointed out, and Hotch just shrugged.

“Well, are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?” Prentiss pressed.

Hotch sighed and shut the file he was holding. “I try not to make a habit out of betting on my subordinates' love lives.”

Rossi rolled his eyes. “He knows he’s wrong, he just wants to be a contrarian,” he told the team, baiting Hotch.

Hotch narrowed his eyes slightly. If anybody else had said that, he would have been able to walk away, but this was Rossi. So Hotch reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty from his wallet.

“None of this goes on any sort of record.”

~~~~~~~

“Derek Morgan, you got shot?”

You stood up from your desk as soon as you saw Derek and his team walk through the glass doors. It was way after hours, but the news of a shoot out at their last crime scene got back to you, and there was no way you were going to be able to go home knowing that Derek got hurt.

The rest of the team all shared a glance and quickly dispersed, giving you and Derek as much privacy as possible.

Derek made his way over to you, trying to look like he was in less pain than he actually was. “Don’t worry, hot stuff,” he told you, slumping down into his seat. “It just hit my vest.”

You stormed over to where he was sitting, worry evident on your face. “Yeah, I’ve been shot in the vest before!” you reminded him. “It still hurts like hell! What were you thinking?”

Derek forced a smile and held your hand in one of his own. “Baby, I’m okay. Really. I could even show you, if you wanted proof. Then you can stare at my abs without feeling guilty.” He took his free hand and started to lift up his shirt, and you quickly yanked your hand away from his.

“Oh my god,” you groaned, already in the process of storming away from him. “I cannot believe that you are seriously hitting on my right now. You just got shot and you’re asking me out? Agh!”

You started to walk away but Derek caught your hand just in time, laughing as he did. “Okay, don’t go, I’m sorry. I just…” he trailed off, suddenly getting serious. “I just really needed to see your smile.”

You mustered up the best smile you could. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Derek let out a long, audible exhale. “So am I,” he admitted. “I’ve never been more glad to be here doing paperwork.”

You rubbed your hands on the tops of your thighs. “I have some leftover takeout that I had for lunch. How about I heat that up and we can share it while I help you with your work?”

“You don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine.”

You shook your head. “No, I’ll stay. I have nothing else to do.”

Derek grinned and kissed the top of your hand. “You’re too good to me.”

You smirked. “I know.”

Pretty soon, the two of you were hunched over his desk, sharing bites of dinner and chatting easily as you trudged through paperwork.

You quickly learned that he liked to read Kurt Vonnegut and that his eagle tattoo was because of a nickname he had gotten in college. You told him about your fear of the ocean and the time you accidentally set off your high school’s fire sprinkler system during chemistry.

It was nice to be able to just talk to him. It felt like you and him had been friends for years and years, not just the past two months. This Derek Morgan was different from any other version of him, and you loved it. If you didn’t already have the biggest crush on him, this just solidified it. You really, really liked him, and you really, really wanted him to just ask you on a date already.

As the night went on, the two of you had moved closer and closer, until your shoulders bumped and your legs were pressed up against each other. If you both turned your faces to look at each other, your noses would brush. And from there, it would only be a few centimeters until your lips would be on each other…

“Thank you for helping me with this,” he said suddenly, breaking you out of your fantasy. He turned towards you, and you could feel his hot breath on your neck, sending shivers down your spine. “You didn’t have to stay, but… it meant a lot that you did.”

You smiled and tried to control your erratic heartbeat. “It was no problem. I’m happy to do it, anytime. Are you feeling any better?”

“A little,” he admitted. “But do you know what would make me feel even better?”

You finally turned to look at him, and his face was so much closer than you expected. “What is that?” you whispered, unable to force yourself to speak any louder.

Derek’s lips quirked up in a smile and he moved impossibly closer to you. His lips were brushing against yours, and all you had to do was lean in just a little bit. Then he met your eyes, and they really did sparkle, and for the first time in his adult life, Derek lost all of his nerve.

“You could kiss it better,” he suggested. “Because you are much hotter than any of the EMTs at the scene.” Derek grimaced internally, knowing that he came off sounding like an asshole. All he had to do was ask you on a date. It should have been easy. So why couldn’t he?

You closed your eyes and sighed exasperatedly, pulling away. “Wow, fumbled at the five yard line,” you teased, trying to hide your disappointment. You had thought that Derek and you were really having a moment, but maybe he really just didn’t want strings attached.

Derek frowned slightly, but tried to laugh it off. It was the first time that he thought he actually had a chance with you, and he blew it. “Yeah, I guess I did, huh?”

You fought a smile as you stood up out of your chair. “Mhm. But there’s always tomorrow. And since you’ve had such a rough past few days…”

You spun Derek’s chair around so that he was facing you, and you placed your hands on the arms of his chair, leaning over him. The two of you kept eye contact for what felt like ten years, and his cologne was making you dizzy. Slowly, you pressed a lingering kiss right on the corner of his lips. Derek’s breath got caught in his throat as you pulled yourself away, albeit on shaky legs.

“And that’s all the lovin’ you’re getting from me tonight,” you teased.

Derek leaned back in his chair, his hand over his heart in what looked to be a dramatic display of affection. In truth, he was trying to calm his rapid heartbeat however he could. “Oh, light of my life,” he cooed. “That’s more than enough. It’s the only win I’ve gotten all week.”

~~~~~~~

It had been a few days since your night in the office with Derek, and he hadn’t tried anything, which worried you. He wasn’t avoiding you, and the two of you still exchanged pleasantries throughout the day, but he wasn’t flirting with you anymore.

Part of you wondered if you were too harsh with him that night, if you should have just kissed him and gone home with him. But within the past few weeks, your infatuation with Derek Morgan had turned into a full blown crush, as juvenile as it sounded, and you did not want to be another notch in his bedpost. So you were willing to wait it out, to see if you would actually say the words: “Do you want to go out with me?”.

As if you had summoned him, Derek Morgan wheeled his chair over to your desk and put down a coffee cup from your favorite little cafe in front of you.

“Iced vanilla latte with oat milk?”

“You know both of my coffee orders?” you grinned. “I’m impressed.”

“Consider it a bribe,” Derek said, and you raised your eyebrow as a response.

“A bribe?”

“Please go out with me,” Derek asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt. “Pretty please. This was fun for a while, but now you are the only thing I think about. I can’t do my job, and I can barely sleep. I feel like I’m going crazy. You are so hot and so smart and so funny. Please let me take you on a date.”

The smile that grew on your face was so big that your cheeks started to hurt. “I’d love that.”

Derek seemed shocked that his attempt actually worked, and he blinked a few times just to make sure he heard you correctly. “Seriously? It’s a yes?”

“Mhm,” you nodded, taking a sip of the coffee Derek got you. “You finally asked me. Of course I said yes.”

“All I’ve been doing the past few weeks has been asking you,” he pointed out.

You hummed to yourself as you scrunched up your nose. “No. You told me that we were going on a date, asked me to have sex with you twice, and the rest of the times, you just used pick up lines. This is the first time you ever actually asked.”

Derek stared at your wordlessly, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out what to say. Finally, he landed on: “That’s all it took?”

“Yup,” you replied, popping the ‘p’. “Although, I do want to hear more about my eyes and the meteor shower.”

Derek let out a breathy chuckle, shaking his head as he did. “I will be sure to tell you all about it. And more. I’ll pick you up at 8?”

You were practically beaming as you watched Derek stand back up. “That sounds perfect. Oh, and Derek? I hope you still have those candles out and ready to use.”

“Baby, I never put them away.” Derek winked at you before walking back to his desk. Prentiss was mumbling something about owing Hotch money, but Derek was so high up on cloud 9 that he couldn’t be bothered to care.

“See Reid,” Derek said as he took his seat at his desk. “That’s what we call ‘playing the long game’.”

“Finally,” Spencer grumbled, his nose buried in some book Derek didn’t recognize. “Took you long enough to realize.”

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed together. “You knew?”

Spencer scoffed, flipping the page of the book he was reading. “I knew from the first time they rejected you.”

Derek leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk. “Man, why didn’t you tell me?”

Spencer finally looked up from his book, his eyebrow quirked up. “You were ‘playing the long game’,” he quoted in a bad impression of Derek’s voice. “And since I’m running it, I get a cut of the entire betting pool, no matter who won, so it was in my best interest to keep it going as long as possible.”

Derek shook his head in disbelief. “I see. That pretty face of yours is hiding an evil genius.”

Spencer hummed in agreement and went back to his book. There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. “They want you to take them to that Mediterranean place two blocks down.”

“Okay, there is no way you know that,” Derek groaned, rolling his eyes.

“You don’t have to take my advice, but you should. Clearly, you’re helpless,” Spencer shrugged, and Derek laughed as he threw a crumpled piece of paper at him.

When Derek picked you up that night, he made sure that the flowers he brought you were hypoallergenic, and the Mediterranean place ended up being the right choice, not that he would ever admit that to Spencer.

And he did, for the record, make sure to set out those candles he promised, but at the end of the night, the two of you were too busy tearing off each other’s clothes to even bother lighting them.

[sunjaesol]

“The simple act of being in love with you is enough for me.”

jiara | post-s2 | pining idiots | title: quote by Pacey from Dawson's Creek

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

“Kie.”

“Hm?” The girl’s mop of curls obscured her face as she mumbled out some vowels, clearly still buzzed from the night before. An amused smile ticked up his lips and slapped her calf again. She sighed. “What?”

“Leggo,” he pushed, “we gotta get to Pope’s place.”

“Why?”

Even if everyone else would deny it, JJ swore Kie was as bad as he was: slow and fucking lethargic before eleven in the morning. Sure, she had better grades in school, but he wasn’t gonna give her more credit than that. Speaking of, “Helping him with that new scholarship, remember?”

The girl groaned and rolled over to face him, droopy eyes cracking open to scowl at him. She slept where he used to crash whenever his dad’s place became too much, but since the old man fucked off to Yucatán, he found peace in the quiet walls and cracked windows. Regardless, it was weird seeing her sprawled on this mattress, the boy almost able to envision himself beside her. A dangerous fantasy to linger on, so he pushed it aside and kept on trucking.

“C’mon, Kie.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered and sat upright. “How did you even get in the Château?”

JJ grinned and snagged a key chain from his shorts. “Spare key. Duh.”

She rolled her eyes, uttering, “John B’s stupid,” and then pushed him out the guest room, telling him she’d get ready. His mouth opened to make the joke if he couldn’t stay and watch, but the door slammed in his face and that was that.

Having a crush on Kiara was the freakiest thing ever. First of all, JJ and emotions didn’t mesh well — it only led to trouble, a perfect example being his dad and him with the most fucked up dynamic to boot. He preferred to not even think about the man, though one glance in the mirror often betrayed his mind and brought a rush of memories to the forefront, whether it was a shiner against his eye, or the fact that he resembled his father when he was young.

So yeah, he didn’t like anything ‘love’ related. It was stupid. It was more reckless than buying a jacuzzi or trying to steal a golden cross from a boat with dozens of armed men. Friendship, however, was easy. He told the Pogues just that: they were ‘it’ for him, he’d go through fire for them, through hell and fucking back.

But he didn’t think he’d actually die for them, which almost happened when he tried saving Kie on the Coastal Venture — to which she ended up saving him. (A vision illuminated by a golden sun, hovering over him. He’d never forget it.)

While he inspected the contents of the fridge, embarrassingly filled with only beer, eggs, milk and junk food, the door creaked open and revealed a dressed and less-wrecked Kiara. His gaze flicked up and down her frame, quick, and then averted it back to the fridge.

“You got no food, man.”

She chuckled. “I know. It’s not exactly The Wreck type of food…”

“You haven’t gone back?”

“Nope,” she replied, curt, and moved past him to shove a container of sausages aside to grab a bottle of almond milk. Even if she wasn’t with her parents, she still somehow kept up her ‘no dairy’ principles.

Also, Kiara was hella beautiful. He hadn’t let it register when she walked in, but it was true. Her soft-looking, shiny skin, sporting the prettiest smile in all of the OBX, and she was just hot. Especially when she propped herself on the kitchen counter, to which he settled beside her to not look at her legs.

“How many scholarships are there?” she asked. “Like, I’m obviously proud of him, but…”

“He told us last night,” JJ laughed. “You were that fucking high?”

She giggled, “Yeah! You were there, I was just on my ass.” And then, quieter, “And… I don’t know, I guess I’ve been kind of distracted.”

He perked up, surprised. Though the Pogues were family, openly talking about emotions when it wasn’t prompted by anything, remained rare. They were better at talking shit and smoking and napping on boats. Whatever, he took the bait.

“Why?”

She shook her head. “It’s stupid, JJ.”

“Kie, you’re talking to me,” he nudged her shoulder, “throw me a bone here. Is it Pope? You got the hots for our favourite nerd again?”

Taking a sip from the bottle, her brow quirked up as though that was the stupidest thing he ever said, and retorted with, “Why’re you always doing that?”

His hands raised instantly, defensive. “Doing what?”

“You’re always digging, like, when I was with Pope you got all weird.”

“I don’t dig.”

“You do.”

“I don’t. Kie, what’s up?” He kept it moving before she found the core of his problem, and bounced back to the original issue. “Before I start saying shit to Pope.”

She scoffed. “You're full of shit.”

“Oh, Kie,” he drawled with a smirk. “You can do better than that.”

Silence fell. He waited, fiddling with his fingers, and quietly hoped Pope wouldn't be too annoyed when they arrived late — then again, they were begrudgingly coined 'tortoise and tortoise' by the group anyway.

She placed the bottle back in the fridge and sent him a rueful smile, one he often saw her showing Sarah before they went aside and had a private talk. Their eyes locked and she finally spoke.

“Sometimes, I… I miss my parents. And it's like, I don't get how they don't just accept that I'm a Pogue, that I'm friends with you guys, you know? But I still miss them.” She looked down at her feet, crossing at the ankles like a little girl waiting to be reprimanded by the teacher. “I miss my dad's hugs.”

Instantly, his arm swung around her for a gentle side hug, a grateful smile pulling on her lips as she leaned into him. Both knew they should savour a moment like this, as hugging with a twitchy JJ and often irritated Kie happened once every blue moon.

Ignoring the guilty look in her eye — yeah, he didn't understand missing a paternal embrace, rather used to a blow in the stomach or a crude remark, but that didn't mean he lacked empathy — he resisted the urge to encourage her to reconnect with them. Knowing her, she'd just close up and glare at him for the rest of the day.

So no, he wasn't going to ask her. And no, she shouldn't feel guilty. P4L 'til the end, baby.

“Thanks, JJ,” she whispered.

He snickered and pushed her off. “You can't tell the guys I'm becoming soft, dude. Theyʼll give me so much shit for it.”

“They know you're soft,” she teased, “don't even try.”

“I'm tough,” he tried.

“Like Play-Doh.”

“Whatever,” he mumbled and motioned at the kitchen door. “Let's go, Carrera. Before John B and Sarah come back and act all married.”

Now that was fucking annoying. After John B and Sarah faked their death, they got married by a bandana strip and hadn't let that notion go after returning. Sure, there was that small blip when they were fighting the crazy religious chick, but that was old news.

John B made him swear he wouldn't tell a soul, but the guy waxed poetry about Sarah whenever they were drunk and alone. It was hilariously sad. Another man lost to a girl.

(“She wants a beach wedding,” JB sighed a couple nights ago. “Nice, right?”

“I– yeah, I really don't care about this, man.”)

JJ knew that when he got a girlfriend (Kiara unintentionally but also very intentionally crossed his mind), he'd act normal. No mushy shit. No poetry. Definitely no creepy Romeo and Juliet references thrown in as if that shouldn't freak the Pogues out. Their behaviour better not be infectious.

Expectedly, Pope's scowl reached them all the way from the car, Kie and JJ sharing a sheepish look before stepping out.

“Gee, guys,” the boy deadpanned, “thanks for making haste. Really appreciate it.”

JJ's wide grin hoped to salvage it. Slapping his friend on the shoulder, he pushed past him and yelled, “Kie was dead, dude!”

Pope grimaced. “Don't joke about that.”

He watched as Kie stopped beside Pope with an apologetic expression, telling him she overslept and was sorry and that he knew how JJ was — “Always joking.”

His chapped lips pursed, a familiar punch hitting his chest with him then pretending it didn't hurt. She always did this. Even if she claimed she didn't, she always took Pope's side. Relationship or not. JJ knew she didn't owe him her 'side', but it'd be a nice change of pace either way.

Whatever. This wasn't the JJ Pining For Kiara Show. Pope needed their help.

A state-wide scholarship competition gave Pope another shot at winning a huge chunk of money (no gold type of rich though) and getting his ass out of OBX, hopefully launching himself into some fancy college when he revealed to be of Denmark Tanny's lineage. Those hibrow assholes loved a good sob story.

All Pope had to do was score hella high on some test — easy — and impress the panel — not so easy — and he'd be the luckiest Pogue of all.

But that did mean Kie and him had to sit on his creaky bed with a freaky amount of flashcards while a stressed out Pope paced around his room. He was pretty sure the floor was eroding.

Also, he had no fucking clue what any of the flashcards meant. Did Pope's smarts really attracted Kie that much? Was it the brain? Brain over brawl? But where was the fun in that? JJ loved Pope to death, but the guy had to be fully medicated or high before his brain shut off and he acted carefree.

“Pope, do you even know what this all means?” Kie bemoaned, flipping the cards around.

“You got a dictionary somewhere?” added JJ, squinting at the word aberration. It sounded like some weird disease. He showed him the word.

Pope dismissed it. “It means: different from the norm.”

“Dude, why not write that then?”

“Because they want aberration.”

He didn't get it. “No one uses it though.”

“JJ, that's just the way it is,” Pope pressed.

“Guys, stop,” Kiara interrupted. “But honestly Pope, it's so, like, elitist. None of these questions are important to the world, or the well-being of the people.”

“Sorry, Kiara, but unfortunately not everyone cares that much,” he sighed. JJ could tell they were starting to annoy their friend, their tortoise bullshit bleeding through.

Her nose scrunched up, peeved. “Right. Because there's a planet B just waiting to be used by us. Duh.”

“Ooh,” JJ drawled, nudging her arm. “Are there donkeys shitting money?”

Kie laughed. “Yes. All beaches, clean air, no Kooks, and money-shitting donkeys.”

“Nah, I want it to be hella Kooky,” he joked, gesturing wildly. “I want a yacht and tell people someone else does my laundry, or something.”

“You don't even do your laundry anyway,” she bounced back with a roll of the eye. “I know you force John B.”

“He's already playing House with Sarah, might as well wash my underwear, too.”

Oh, man. He could do this all day. Talking shit with Kiara went as smooth as fishing for him. Each time he thought he one-upped her, she threw more on top and kept it going 'til neither knew what the point even was anymore. Sarah dubbed it as 'banter' which he believed was a rich way of saying 'talking smack.'

“I don't believe you even know how to do it,” she challenged.

JJ huffed and crossed his arms. “I can do it.”

A smirk bloomed on her lips as she kept jabbing. “It's kinda cute, how you need John B to be your mom.”

“I don't.”

“You literally said it five seconds ago.”

“Guys,” Pope groaned, followed by an exhausted sigh eerily similar to Heyward. “Can we get back to the flashcards?”

Kie and JJ were too far into their discussion though, jabbing at each other at rapid speed. Then she threw her cards at him and all bets were off. He yelled she should make a goal with her hands, to which he folded up a flashcard and shot it straight between her fingers.

And that was when Pope kicked them out. JJ presumed it was a victory they lasted as long as they did. Kie kept apologising over her shoulder, prompting Pope to ask Cleo for help instead.

For a beat, they were silent stepping out of his place and back into the car. JJ felt a stab of guilt for fucking up Pope's study time, but it was hard to dial his brain to school when his friends surrounded him. Just when he wanted to ask if she felt bad too, she went off about the climate — as usual.

“It's so dumb how there were no questions about the environment or human rights or, or anything like that! It's all science and lit, like, there's more to life than fucking chemistry formulas!”

“I skipped those cards. Didn't get them.”

“It's so fucked,” she hummed. “And I'm obviously glad that you drove to the Château to wake me up and all—”

“Yeah?”

“—but I really wish those questions would matter. We almost died, JJ!”

“No, shit,” he grumbled, quickly starting to lose his patience with the ranting girl. She didn't even realise what the fuck she was saying anymore — what she did to his heart, skipping like some elemtary school girl on the playground, when she slipped some nice words in.

“Died!” she pressed. “Why even care about stuff like that?”

“Fucks sake, Kie—”

“And I didn't want to say it, but did you see how many flashcards there were? How many trees were cut for that? It's like, hello, Quizlet exists!”

“Kie, shut up!” he yelled.

Her mouth fell slack, gobsmacked, gawking at him like his interruption was a slap in the face.

Gesturing wildly with one hand, he exclaimed, “You know, you can just go on and on and I hear you talking and it's like, yeah, we get it, Mother Earth needs to be saved, we're fucked, you don't gotta repeat it twenty-four seven.”

“What the hell, JJ!”

“You have an opinion about everything! A man gets tired!”

“A man?” She scoffed. “You're not even eighteen.”

“Point is you don't gotta act all preachy all the time.” He turned the corner, hands tightening around the steering wheel.

Kie scowled. “Where is this coming from? I'm not preachy, I'm educating you.”

Now that was just fucking with his head. Incredulous, he exclaimed, “You think I don't listen? Kie, I'm the only one that does. JB is on Planet Sarah all the damn time and Pope only did shit 'cause—"

"That!” she yelled, throwing her hands up with frustration. “That's what I mean! You're doing it again! You dig!”

“What?!”

“Every time you mention Pope and I, you dig. You needle!” Twisting in her seat, his gaze flickered to catch her disgruntled expression. “Why do you do that? It's so… sus.”

JJ laughed. “Sus?”

“You don't ask John B about Sarah.”

“'Cause they're fucking obvious.”

“Still,” she pressed. “Did I do something to piss you off? Is that it? Is it me constantly asking you to recycle and yet — shocker! — you never do?!”

“Fucking God,” he grumbled under his breath.

With frazzled thoughts and shaking hands, adrenaline coursed through him as he swerved to the side of the road and stopped the car. If he fought with Kie any longer to this degree of fuckery, they were gonna crash.

She frowned. “What're you doing?”

“You, Carrera, are driving me insane,” he deadpanned, matter-of-fact. Then he slammed the door open and stepped out, desperate to catch his breath.

In the back of his mind, he had an inkling as to why he was so keyed up. Kiara would call him a Neandethal, but fuck it, here was the truth: Kiara was hot as hell when she argued with him.

Following his lead, she got out, her sneakers stomping against the asphalt. The sun steeped low on the horizon, the light hitting the hood and reflecting onto her face; her curls shifting from dark brown to gold. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was so fucked. He almost missed the start of her spiel, too enthralled.

“I'm driving you insane? I'm always getting you out of trouble, because you never think things through! You never see the bigger picture!”

He rolled his eyes. “Bigger picture? The only thing I see, Kie, is you going on about nature. That easy.” And then, before he could stop himself, he spewed out, “And you don't have to do that.”

“What?”

“Getting me out of trouble,” he said, pursing his lips. “That's not your responsibility.”

“Right. Duh. Because after everything we've been through, I can't care about you,” she exclaimed, face twisting up in pure fury. She got in his space, shoving his shoulder, but when he didn't budge, it only seemed to anger her more.

JJ didn't know what was going on anymore. Why was she so mad? Even if she didn't want to admit it, he was telling the truth. Of course all the Pogues had each other's back, but Kiara doted over him more than was necessary. The constant checking of injuries, limiting his day drinking, all that. Like he was some child!

He leaned in and mumbled, “I can take care of myself.”

Kie smirked. “Then do your own laundry.”

It happened naturally. One second he stared at her furious eyes and thought about how much he loved arguing with her despite the bullshit, the next his fingers curled into her hair and pulled her in a fierce kiss.

At first, her hands laid frozen on his shoulders, surprised, but the moment he realised his impulsive decision was a mistake, they slid around his neck and kept him close.

JJ sighed in relief and deepened the kiss he'd been craving ever since they were fourteen and Kie went from gangly to statuesque. Her lips were warm and soft and her hands were soft and she hadn't let go and holy shit — he was kissing Kiara Carrera.

The kiss lessened when her mouth quirked into a smile, their grins pressing flush together, and JJ shivered from delight. Oh, man. He was gone.

“You drive me damn crazy, Kie,” he murmured, voice dropped to an undeniably soft tone.

She bit back her silly grin and whispered, “Good.”

Taking a deep breath, he tried focusing up, but all he could do was stare at her face. A shy hand grabbed hers.

He had to get it out of the way now, or else he'd kick himself later. “I'm… really into you. I'm– oh, fuck, uh–”

“Maybe we can talk about it not on the side of the road?” she suggested, amused.

JJ grinned, elated (What was the word he saw on the flashcards? Exalted!), and kissed her again, because he could.

On the ride back to the Château, he confessed to seeing her in a different light for years, while she couldn't really pinpoint a time or moment, that it just happened. It didn't matter, though he was in utter disbelief that he and Kie were having this conversation. No jokes, no BS, all seriousness. Tomorrow, he'd wake up and it wouldn't be some sick dream. Kie liked him back.

JJ was sure he'd doubt himself or overthink it in the future, but today, he'd bask in the certainty and the major ego boost.

“Okay, but did you ever legit like Pope then?”

A sheepish smile crawled up her cheeks as her gaze averted to the window. “I thought I did. But we have, like, no chemistry, so…” She shook her head. “I was confused.”

“That's okay,” he uttered. He couldn't give her shit for it. Even if he did torture himself with their short-lived relationship, he understood.

How would he react though? John B and Sarah wouldn't care, or Cleo, but Pope? He didn't want one of his brothers hating him. Being iced out by the guy fucking sucked, as it meant he was truly hurt and therefore meant JJ truly fucked up. He couldn't handle disappointing him.

Kie read his mind. “He'll be fine with it.”

“I dunno, man…”

“He will,” she repeated. “We're Pogues. We've all narrowly survived death. And besides…” She turned back to him with a secretive grin. “I think he has a thing for Cleo.”

Whoa. He did not see that coming. His brows shot up to his hairline, mentally kicking himself for being so focused on Kie that he didn't even notice the shift of interest between Pope and Cleo. They made sense, too. Know-it-all's, but well-meaning, and only speaking when needed.

If the idea didn't relief him of worries, he'd be concerned as to why they were all seamlessly coupled up like in some 90s sitcom Big John had on VHS.

“What a player,” he joked.

“Tell me about it.”

They arrived at the house, the Twinkie and Sarah's bike sprawled on the overgrown front lawn. JJ frowned. He had hoped to have some alone time with Kie, not to jump her bones and fulfill a regular dream of his, but to talk. To figure it out. He wanted to do this right. Because after everything, they deserved to have good things, to start on a high note — he deserved it.

Kie noticed it, too. Puckering her lips on contemplation, her gaze trailed from him to the rest of the property, ending on the trusty ol' hammock. She jabbed her thumb at it.

“Let's sit there.”

Normally, they laid on opposite ends on the hammock, if they even shared one to begin with. But now, she pressed herself right beside him and he felt like heaven dropped down on them in the best way possible. He suddenly understood what John B was lamenting about — the company, intimacy, the ease. Nerves rippled through his body like a summer storm, but he figured that was what it cost to lose one's mind over a girl.

He didn't know what to say, so Kiara spoke instead.

“I don't want us, the way we are around each other, to change, you know?” she said. “Like, I don't want you to think you have to act like some mellow ass boyfriend all of a sudden.”

He smirked. “Who said anything about boyfriend?”

“Bye.”

“Hey, wait,” he grinned, latching onto her arm before she pushed herself out. “C'mon, Kie.”

Her nose scrunched up. “I don't do this usually, okay?”

“You think I do?” he asked. His hand softly slid down to wrap around hers, to which she hooked their fingers together. Okay. Wow. It felt so damn nice that it propelled him to say, “I wanna be your boyfriend, Kie.”

The girl smiled and then surprised him by leaning in herself, pressing a gentle kiss on his chapped lips. It was overwhelming having her instigate it, his gut twisting up in excitement like when he was about to backflip from a boat, or cliff dive, or something similar like that.

He let go of her hand to cup her cheeks, only to whisper, “That's a yes, yeah? Gotta get a yes.”

“Yes, JJ,” she uttered back. “Here's to not fucking this up.”

“Cheers, baby.”

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

[multiplefandomsblog]

Kazuichi, Byakuya, Gundham, Rantaro, Gonta, Leon, and Toko with an ultimate Broadway actress s/o

Desc; headcanons of kazuichi, byakuya, gundham, rantaro, gonta, leon, toko with an ultimate broadway actress s/o

Warnings; i tried to make this spoiler free, fem!reader, reader uses female pronouns, i guess this takes place at hope’s peak academy? pre-tragedy?? i dont really know about the v3 boys, haven’t finished the game lmao-

Gundham:

◊ He already knows a bunch about Musicals; especially the darker ones.

◊ He thinks your Ultimate is amazing, he loves all your plays.

◊ Neither of you know which between the two of you is more dramatic.

◊ Your dramatic personalities often intertwined, merging the two of you and making you both into one huge drama queen.

◊ It gives everyone a headache as you both scream, “My toe hurts!-” “My king’s toe hurts! Someone bring an ambulance, stat!”

◊ “Someone get the fucking chlorofoam-” “Hiyoko no-”

◊ This is a bad example, but you get my point-

◊ He enjoys Shakespeare and dark love story plays/musicals.

◊ So he would definitely enjoy acting one with you on stage, if you let him.

◊ He’ll somehow incorporate his Dark Devas into the play just for an excuse to bring them with him on-stage.

◊ Once he was playing Romeo and abandoned Juliet to save Cham-P after he ran offstage to eat a sunflower seed someone dropped on the floor.

◊ Fuck Juliet, mans knows his priorities.

◊ He’s kind of a musical theatre nerd, he enjoys discussing the message behind musicals you’ve played.

◊ Throwing in some compliments about how well you perceived the character, and how pretty you looked.

◊ He is always extremely proud and amazed at your ability to sing, dance and act so well all at the same time.

◊ He believes you don’t get enough credit for doing what you do, so he makes sure you know how proud he is of you.

◊ He sometimes quotes Shakespeare or some other dark musical while you two hung out, it was kinda cute seeing him geek out like that.

◊ “As said in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’, Better three hours too soon than a minute too late." Gundham quoted, pride laced in his words as he was proud of remembering that. “Gundham... it’s literally 5 am in the morning, the party starts at 12 pm. Go back to sleep.” Gundham blinks and nearly falls asleep where he stood. “Mmkay.”

◊ If he saw you dress up as the witch in Wicked, he would be whipped.

◊ His evil queen? In an evil costume? A dream come true!

◊ He thinks you look absolutely fabulous and praises you a bunch after the show, telling you how pretty you looked while you acted.

Kazuichi

◊ He wouldn’t know much about musical theatre, since he’s more into machines.

◊ But when you told him to come to a play you were going to star in, he jumped at the offer.

◊ 90 minutes of you? He must be the luckiest guy in the world!(Nagito would be proud)

◊ After watching his first play, he decides he is obsessed with musical theatre now, going to all your shows.

◊ He loves all the romance based musicals, he’s a sucker for romance what can he say?

◊ He’d obsess over all your plays, going into a lot of detail about his favourtite parts.

◊ He’s kinda like, your #1 fan.

◊ He has posters of musicals you’ve starred posted around his dorm room, just a bunch of merch of you and all the musicals you starred in.

◊ When you tell him he has a backstage pass because he’s your boyfriend, he is overjoyed. 

◊ He actually trained a bit to be one of the backstage crew members.

◊ He learned how to fix your make up during intermissions, fix a loose stitch on your costume, all that good stuff.

◊ Though every time he sees your face up close for make up, he goes speechless.

◊ He wonders every time, how the hell did he get someone like you?

◊ Though his hands are shaking from how nervous he was, he still managed to make you look absolutely amazing.

◊ He’d blast a bunch of musical soundtracks while he works on his machines, screwing on and unscrewing things with a bop.

◊ I can imagine Kazuichi jamming with you in the car. The car moving violently as you two bounced to the rhythm like mad men.

◊ I think he’d get pretty insecure if he saw you with a love interest, he would think that when you two shared a staged kiss or scene, that it was actually full of love and not fake

◊ But when you cheer him up and tell him how much you love him, he realizes he was being silly over nothing.

◊ After watching many many romance musicals, you notice he gets more romantic; most likely mimicking the love interests.

◊ He is still a bit insecure, but if he does more romantic things, you’ll love him right?

◊ You enjoy the silly grand gestures of love, but you try and assure him constantly that you don’t need any of it.

◊ You only need him <3

Rantaro:

◊ w o a h

◊ He’d love the fact that you’re an actress

◊ He thinks it’s so cool like-

◊ constant fanboying after shows

◊ He’s always bringing you flowers once you’re off the stage, showering you with praises and affections

◊ He’s literally so proud of you wtf??

◊ i think he’d be the type to show you off a lot

◊ “Hey you!” He points at a naked passerby(this is an inside joke, i am so sorry), “Guess what? My girlfriend’s a Broadway actress!” “Rantaro stop, people are staring-” “Are they? hEY YOU! YEAH, YOU STARING!! MY GIR-”

◊ if you ever started spitting out hamilton raps, he’d be the one beatboxing in the back ground for you.

◊  “Pshh, packow, psshh psshh, packow!” “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a-” 

◊ you two would jam out to musical soundtracks in your dorm, dancing dramatically as you did.

◊ you two kinda become like a duo of musical theatre kids.

◊ if you stood on a table and started belting lyrics, he would hop on and join you

◊ unless it was a solo, he would never steal your thunder.

◊ if you ever felt a bit nervous before a big show, he would assure you that’d you’d do great and tell you how much he believed in you until you felt better.

◊ he’s your charger before and after a big show.

◊ if you felt exhausted from acting and dancing around the stage, he’s always there to give you what you need most.

◊ whether it’s water, food, flowers, or just him and his cuddles, he always has it ready for you.

◊ the most recent musical soundtrack that you’ve played will be stuck in his head.

◊ For example, if you recently played in Hairspray, ‘Mama, I’m a big girl now!’ will be stuck in his head until the next play he watches.

◊ you’d catch him humming it during everything he does, 

◊ and it’s actually so fricking adorable.

◊ if you heard him sing a familiar tune, you would hum along with him.

◊ “Hmm, mmwhen I was, just a kid ♪” 

◊ Your ears perked up at the familiar tune, slowly you turned around to face him.

◊ “♪....You never let me do just what the older kids did…♪” You joined in quietly, Rantaro whipped his head towards you, a rising smile on his face.

◊ “♪ But lose that laundry list of what you won't allow ♪,” His voice rose slowly in excitement, pointing at you with a big grin across his face.

◊ And at the same time, you both sang obnoxiously loud, as if it was rehearsed, “♪ 'Cause mama, I'm a big girl now! ♪” Running to each other with excitement, 

◊ You let out a fit of giggles as Rantaro picked you up, “MY WIFE, PLEASE BE MY WIFE!” 

◊ This is how you two met and you can’t tell me otherwise-

Gonta:

◊ Gonta wouldn’t know much about Broadway musicals- which to you, a broadway actress, was unacceptable!

◊ so you made it your mission to get him to watch as many musicals as he possibly can.

◊ You’d tell him to come to all your plays, him excitedly agreeing despite not knowing what a play is.

◊ You’d do extra good knowing that Gonta was in the crowd watching you, wanting to give him the best first experience with musicals.

◊ He’d applaud at the end of every scene, trying to show his support the best he can.

◊ for his first play he watches, he ends up clapping a bit too early.

◊ he cheered and applauded super loud when he saw you on stage, but stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him.

◊ Though it was a bit embarrassing for both you and him, you felt your heart flutter at how his first instinct was to clap for you when you walked in stage.

◊ You’d introduce him to various musicals, beauty and the beast being his favourite.

◊ He definitely starts to obsess over the more ‘gentlemanly’ characters.

◊ his first impressions of the beast were bad; Denying that old lady shelter? How ungentlemanly!!

◊ so when the dude got cursed, he cheered lmao

◊ but as he kept watching, he could see the beast wasn’t too bad. 

◊ The beast had some flaws, but he obviously cared for belle, he thought.

◊ Oh but he hated Gaston, he really really hated him.

◊ If you acted with someone who played Gaston(and you as belle), he would have to hold back and not rip his face off every time Gaston said something idiotic or sexist.

◊ He had to keep reminding himself that, that Gaston wasn’t real(and thank god for that, real gaston would’ve been torn to shreds.)

◊ the dancing scene was his favourite part for sure.

◊ He’s sad he doesn’t get to play beast with you, but he still enjoys the scene nonetheless.

◊ something cute I can imagine him doing is surprising you by dressing up in a prince costume from the musical and asking you for a dance. 

◊ It’s the cutest thing ever oml-

◊ It’s such a beautiful moment, you two just dancing together in a random room with no care in the world.

◊ Your arms wrapped his extravagant costume and his arms wrapped around your pj’s.

◊ He’s a bit shy to be so close to you, but he tries his best to be confident and as princely as he could so he pushes his anxiety aside.

◊ As his stomach fills with butterflies, he becomes slightly confused and concerned, ‘Did Gonta eat butterflies??’ He slightly panics-

◊ ‘Those poor butterflies!!’

◊ He’d watch a lot of videos on how to ballroom dance in advance for this moment.

◊ He’s actually not that bad!

◊ Well- as long as you dance with your feet on his, so he doesn’t crush your toes.

◊ If you ever did some beauty and the beast scenes for him, he would be so happy. 

◊ He’d be even happier if you let him play the beast with you.

◊ He’d be smiling the entire time during a fight/sad/serious practice scene.

◊ *almost gets stabbed* “Haha oh no!” 

◊ When you sing during one of the scenes, he kinda just-

◊ becomes a puddle of a gentleman.

◊ his heart melts and disintegrates(haha what) of love for you. 

◊ he absolutely loves your voice, and would beg for you to sing him one of the soundtracks from beauty and the beast before bed.

◊ He’s really proud of all your plays, and is extremely happy that you–of all people–are his girlfriend.

Byakuya Togami

◊ In all honesty, he thinks your ultimate isn’t all that great.

◊ But as he watches one of your plays, his mind ultimately(see what i did there?) changes.

◊ He becomes impressed and dazzled from how passionate you look when you act, not noticing how you had him sitting on the edge of his seat.

◊ After watching you act, he literally cannot watch another play unless you are in it, finding it unworthy of his time and money.

◊^^this is before you two got together,

◊ you two got together after you found him in your crowd, applauding like the rest of them with the same bewildered expression on his face.

◊ You confronted him and he attempted to compliment your acting, but he accidentally let his feelings for you slip out instead, “I find you truly captivating- Wait no, I-I meant your plays. Your plays, they are truly captivating.” You watched in amusement as he stumbled with his words, eventually interrupting him with an, “Are you available right now?”

◊ So yeah, eventually you two get together, and good for Togami! Because now he doesn’t have to secretly applaud you as a fan, he can applaud you whenever and as your lover.

◊ After shows, he’d give you a single rose as a congrats or applause (so romantic!)

◊ If you ever decided to be chaotic and start belting out lyrics, he would just sigh and let you finish.

◊ Very rarely, you would catch him humming a small tune of a musical song you sang.

◊ But very very rarely. If you ever catch him and confront him about it, he will deny it completely.

◊ I think he’d probably like the more serious plays, he enjoys the meanings and emotions of them more than the sillier and playful ones.

◊ If he ever watched Mean Girls, he would start to slightly mimic Regina George.

◊ “Byakuya wha-” “Get in peasant, we’re going shopping.” 

◊ It’d be lowkey hot when you hear him sass you like Regina George tho-

◊ He’d have more big dick energy after watching Mean Girls, emitting his dominance to everyone.

◊ Makoto during a class trial: “So we know that she was at the scene of the crime, right?” “Shut up.” Byakuya flipped his imaginary long hair as Makoto stares at him in confusion, silence filling the room. “Shut up!” “I didn’t even say anything-”

◊ “The new motive is going to be-!” “Whatever, I’m getting cheese fries a book.” Byakuya sighed, turning on his heels and catwalking away.

◊ ...

◊ “IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME-!” “MONOKUMA WAIT NO-”

Leon

◊ Would go to every one of your shows.

◊ Would act like an absolute mom in the crowd.

◊*holding a video camera* You’re doing great sweetie!.

◊”That’s my girl!”

◊ You’d get embarrassed every time he does that.

◊ Hypes you up when you get nervous before going on stage.

◊ In back stage, he’d praise you and give you a bouquet of flowers.

◊ Where did they come from? When did he have time to get flowers when he was yelling in the crowed??

◊ Helps you rehearse lines even if he has no idea what they’re about.

◊ Will fight anyone that makes mean comments towards you.

◊ Even if it’s just constructive criticism, he will take it as an insult.

◊ “Hey s/o! You did great! Maybe next time you could-”

◊ Leon: “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY PUNK!? DO YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS?! I HAVE FRICKING ARMS OF STEEL, I WILL-”

◊ Will take every chance to pick you up and call you a queen.

◊ When you guys watch other plays together, he always says how you’d play a better role or that you’d do so much better.

◊ He is pretty jealous of your talent, he has always wanted to be a singer instead of a baseball star, but his ultimate wouldn’t allow that.

◊ So if you let him sing some musical song duets with you, his heart will be so full.

◊ You make him so happy, he almost breaks into cries.

◊ You two of weekly karoake nights, always singing some Heather’s duet together.

◊ One time, you, Sayaka and Leon sang the Candy Store song, Leon being Heather Chandler, Sayaka as Heather Duke, and you as Heather McNamara.

◊ It was... amazing.

◊ Everyone was cheering, clapping and it praising all of you.

◊ You made Leon feel alive, and he really, really loves you for that.

Toko

◊ She loves your ultimate, and fangirls over you a bunch.

◊ She’s amazed at your confidence to go up in stage, knowing she could never do that.

◊ She thinks your confidence is kinda hot, and decides she is in love.

◊ Likes to add a character in her books that are a lot like you, maybe making them a broadway actress-

◊ She thinks about you a lot, sometimes accidentally blurting out how pretty you were in your last performance in front of everybody.

◊ You confronted her for it, and she almost passed out.

◊ “W-w-why d-do you think t-t-that? D-d-do you th-think you’re b-better than m-me or so-something?” 

◊ You already know her and her inferiority complex, so you don’t take offence to what she said, simply replying with, “I think you’re really cute.”

◊ Toko goes silent, except for a few “!??!??” noises that came out of her.

◊ “... U-uh, a-are you j-joking, be-because that isn’t f-funny!” She flushes, denying that you complimented her.

◊ “I’m not joking, here’s my number! Call me, kay?” You grinned before turning on your heel.

◊ She’s kinda dumbfounded, did her crush just ask her out??

◊ She denies it hard at first, not believing that you asked her out.

◊ Thus, not calling you.

◊ Well, I mean, she kinda did.

◊ She dialed your number one day, feeling a bit lonely.

◊ But as she heard your morning voice, she squeaked and hung up quickly.

◊ She felt her face turn into a fireball, her thoughts going into overdrive from how attractive your voice sounded.

◊ Your voice, she was attracted to your voice.

◊ The next day, when you ask her about what that call was about, she denies it and calls you stupid.

◊ Sprinting away while she screamed, “I-i-idiot!!”

◊ Acts like an absolute tsundere around you.

◊ You constantly flirt with her, trying to get her to accept a date with you.

◊ Being the dramatic hoe you are, you try and give her a declaration of your love.

◊ Knowing she is the Ultimate Writer, and into poems, you write one for her.

◊ You declared your love during one of your plays, knowing she sat in the crowd somewhere.

◊ You interrupted a scene and jumped off stage, “Toko Fukawa!”

◊ Her head perked up in surprise, eyes widening as she saw you on one knee for her.

◊ “W-what are you d-doing!?” She yelped, moving her legs away from you. 

◊ “I am in love with you. Completely and utterly in love with you, everyday when I see you so immersed in writing a book, I believe I am looking at an angel.”

◊ The crowd stared at the both of you, gasps and aws filling the air.

◊ Toko flushed, you watched her while she wrote?

◊ “For every time you’ve told me I was a fool, an idiot, you weren’t wrong. Because I am a fool, a fool in love with you.” You had one had on your chest, looking into her eyes sincerely.

◊ Her eyes glossed over so slightly you couldn’t see, looking around at the crowd before uttering out, “Y-y-you r-really love m-me, h-huh?” Her face contorting into a lopsided smirk, watching as you giggled.

◊ You laughed out, “Absolutely.” 

◊ WHY DID THIS TURN INTO A ONESHOT WHAT WHY WHAT WHYYY

note; thank you so much for reading and sorry for the wait!! we tried our best to finish these together, thank you so much for your patience.

[when-they-write-stuff]

SterekWeek2020: Day Five (Lyrics/Quotes)

~

The other night dear, 

as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms 

But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken 

So I hung my head and I cried

-

Twelve hours ago, Stiles had seen the night ending much differently.

He was at the loft when the alarm came on. 

The betas had gone out long ago and Stiles had quickly claimed the rest of the night as ‘Derek and Stiles time’ to which the Alpha had immediately made a face. But Stiles was determined, dammit. They never got any alone time anymore, with the betas getting all up in their personal space whenever Stiles wanted some ‘Sourwolf time’.

And Derek always refused to get all soft and squishy if anyone else was around to see.

So Stiles had threatened the betas with bodily harm, Boyd had decided it was best to take the others out for the night, and Stiles had immediately pounced on Derek, who still looked confused. But what was he expected to do, honestly? It had been too long since they’d been left alone in the same room together.

“Tonight,” Stiles had said, already wrapped around the Alpha. “We’re ordering pizza and watching movies together until the sun comes up. Capiche?”

Derek had just rolled his eyes. Stiles grinned.

“Good, I’m glad we’ve got that all figured out. So, I’m thinking we should start with—”

And then the alarm went off.

Looking back now, Stiles supposed they had been a little too relaxed. But it was the summer after the pack’s first year of college and honestly, none of them could be blamed. The threats weren’t coming weekly anymore and sometimes, Stiles got a full night’s sleep without nightmares. He found himself slacking off more and more often, and he knew the others were doing the same.

Which might’ve been the problem.

Because when the loft alarm went off, alerting them of intruders, Stiles wasn’t nearly as ready as he used to have been.

Derek was on his feet first, claws out and eyes flashing red. But then the hunters came in the numbers tripling their own and Stiles didn’t even have the chance to stand before there was a tranq dart embedded in his neck. He half-remembered fumbling at it, half-remembered Derek roaring, and then man was catching him before he fell.

The rest was mostly black. There was another howl that had struck the air, Stiles remembered faintly. One calling for the rest of the pack. But then all Stiles had known was unconsciousness.

Some part of him had been panicked, if only for a moment. Another part had murmured ‘I told you so’ and Stiles knew he never should have sent the pack away.

It was all his fault.

He didn’t even hear Derek collapse beside him.

-

You are my sunshine, 

my only sunshine 

You make me happy when skies are gray 

You'll never know dear, 

how much I love you 

Please don't take my sunshine away

-

Derek had been captured by hunters a fair amount of times in his life. It never ended well on the hunters' side, except this time was different. He realized that the moment he’d woken up.

Because Stiles had never been taken alongside him before.

Years ago, Derek might not have cared. When Stiles was just that thorn in his side, some teenage hyperactive sidekick that he could barely stand. When Derek had kept the kid around only because Scott followed wherever Stiles went. 

Years ago, he might not have cared.

But this time, Derek felt himself start to panic the moment he saw Stiles unconscious on the other side of the cell. Because he cared so much now.

Stiles groaned as he stirred back to life. Derek’s heart skipped a beat.

“Stiles—”

“Der?”

The boy was still in the red sweatshirt he’d been wearing earlier. There were a few tears in it now and a splatter of blood on Stiles’s neck where the dart had been pulled out. But other than that, he looked okay. More than okay, actually.

Derek could have melted into the floor.

He half-realized then, moving forward to gather the boy in his arms, that he was still a little woozy himself. The hunters had hit him with more than one dart and Derek was pretty sure the venom had been enough to knock out an elephant. And, judging by the reeling of his stomach, there had been some sort of wolfsbane mixed in.

Of course, there was. Derek should have known better than to put anything past hunters.

Some part of him felt like this was his fault.

Because it was his job to take care of the pack. Once upon a time, Derek had done everything he could to make sure they were prepared to face any threat. Once upon a time, it hadn’t mattered what the others thought of his preparations. Just as long as they were all fit enough to be able to handle anything that came. Any risk that threatened their lives.

But then he’d gotten lax.

Derek had forgotten how many things existed to hunt him and his pack down.

Pulling Stiles close, Derek didn’t even realize the apologies he was murmuring until the teen pushed at his chest weakly. Stiles groaned, one hand reaching up to rub at the bloodstained mark on his neck, while the other nudged Derek away a little bit.

“Dude, what is—”

“Hunters.”

“No,” Stiles said, groaning again. “No, I know that. But what are you—?”

“I’m sorry.”

Stiles blinked, looking confused. Then he grunted something intelligible and buried his face in Derek’s neck, pulling him even closer. And it was a reaction that always brought Derek’s guard down, no matter how prepared he was for it.

A growl built up at the back of his throat as he pulled Stiles even closer.

Derek could still remember the first time he’d told Stiles about the meaning of certain touches to werewolves. The one along the back of the neck; scenting. The one along the front; threatening. And then that of complete and utter claiming, when Derek could still feel the mating bite on his shoulder and Stiles had stayed nestled against his neck for hours, making sure their scents were mixed enough to be basically inseparable.

Derek found himself relaxing unconsciously into Stiles’s warm breaths against his skin. 

And then their cell door opened.

-

I'll always love you and make you happy 

If you will only say the same 

But if you leave me and love another 

You'll regret it all some day

-

When Scott and Allison had first gotten together, Stiles decided he was never going to be like them.

Not because he didn’t support their relationship or whatever. Of course, he did, Stiles had been the third wheel for long enough to basically be part of the relationship. But they were so soft and gooey, he sometimes felt the need to vomit when they were together.

In the beginning, Stiles had vowed he’d never be like them. He didn’t plan to be Romeo or Juliet. The whole shebang made him queasy.

But then one night, Derek Hale had kissed him.

There was something about nicknames that used to get underneath Stiles’s skin. Well, nicknames, inside jokes, and all those cute little couple things. He thought it might have been because he just was single and annoyed, but then again, maybe some people were just more frustrating than others.

Before Derek came along, Stiles decided he’d never be called babe, or have some stupid joke/song/cutsey moment that made everyone else groan. Because that was just a cliche.

But then Derek Hale came along.

There were these nights they’d faced, when Stiles couldn’t sleep. When every time he closed his eyes, he’d be haunted by the memories. The memories, the monsters, and the horrid things that he couldn’t escape.

Those were nights that Derek would hold him close. Hold him close and whisper soft, comforting things. Gentle reinforcements. Quiet lullabies. Stories that they’d told each other over and over again when the nights got rough.

There were the little things. The little things that made Stiles wonder when he’d become one of those couples.

But this time was different.

He’d been kidnapped plenty of times. In the years before, Stiles used to be prime pack bait. He’d faced witches, warlocks, and monsters aplenty. He’d gotten comfortable in the tiniest of cells because he’d always known that somehow, somehow the rest of the pack was going to find him.

This time was different.

It kind of scared him more than anything.

Stiles didn’t even have a chance to get his bearings before the door to their cell opened up. Flinching back, he felt Derek’s grip tighten, and the light that poured in burned his eyes, making him look away.

The footsteps moved closer and someone grabbed him by the arms, hauling him up. Stiles yelped and tried to jerk loose as Derek let loose a loud, murderous roar.

Then for the second time that— day? Maybe?— there was a needle jabbed into his neck and Stiles groaned. Because the last time he’d felt this drugged up and woozy, he’d been on meds in the hospital after an unfortunate wendigo run-in. And that had been bad enough.

Derek was still snarling, but Stiles found himself going limp in the grip of his captors. As everything went dark, some part of him felt like he was used to this. Used to being the pack bait. The one knocked out and lugged around.

Another part of him was panicking.

Stiles thought if the last thing he did was hold Derek close, maybe this all wouldn’t be so bad.

-

You are my sunshine, 

my only sunshine 

You make me happy when skies are gray 

You'll never know dear, 

how much I love you 

Please don't take my sunshine away

-

When Derek had first kissed him, it was the day after graduation.

Stiles didn’t think he’d ever forget that. Of course, he’d been so startled when Derek had shoved up his window, he’d nailed the man in the face with the reading light he kept next to his bed. But that totally hadn’t been his fault. Three years and counting, and Derek still hadn’t figured out how to use the front door.

The man had gotten over it eventually, though there had been an angry red mark on his forehead for a good fifteen minutes afterward. In fact, it was still there when Stiles had gone off on a rant about werewolves never knocking and Derek had pulled him in close, one kiss promptly shutting Stiles up for an hour.

It was all fine and dandy except Stiles had also accidentally hit him in the face in surprise.

But that’s what they did. Derek was constantly taking Stiles off guard and he sure as hell hoped he was doing the same. It was what they did. 

Sometimes, it was the little things. Like the very first night Derek had been waiting in Stiles’s room after lacrosse practice and he’d nearly had a heart attack at seeing the man. And then there were the other times, like when Stiles had taken a dive into the pool to save an angry-browed werewolf that he’d accidentally dropped there in the first place.

So, Derek kissed him the day after Stiles’s graduation. Then he proceeded to vanish for a week and Stiles had to track the man down, knocking some sense into him before kissing Derek long and hard again.

Things had been a little less stressful since. Depending on the day, that is.

Stiles had spent a enough time pining after the Sourwolf that he took no time jumping Derek’s bones. One night in the same bed was Stiles’s best night of sleep since he first learned about werewolves and then Derek continued to show up in his bedroom almost every night after that.

It proved to be a very interesting conversation the one morning Stiles’s dad walked in.

The first big threat they faced after graduation was a coven of witches who kidnapped Stiles to be their virgin sacrifice. Because apparently, word hadn't spread yet that one particular Alpha had made sure that wasn’t the case anymore.

Stiles had only felt slightly bad when Derek tore them apart.

Then the first summer ended, he went off to Stanford, and even the miles between them didn’t stop Derek— or the betas, for that matter— from showing up randomly. Eventually, a rumor was started that Stiles was either part of a gang or in an open relationship with a bunch of models. He didn’t dispute either of those.

Stiles told Derek he loved him first. He figured the werewolf had initiated the first kiss, so he might as well have some leverage in the relationship.

Stiles never should have shown Derek Star Wars , though, because the man had replied with ‘I know’ and proceeded to smirk like a bastard when Stiles hit him over the head.

And the funny thing was, Stiles didn’t see them as one of ‘those couples’ until the first night Derek had sung him to sleep after a particularly bad nightmare. He woke up the next morning realizing that he would go to the literal end of the world for the man if he asked, and then that was it. He would do anything for Derek Hale.

It was all funny at one point.

Not so much anymore.

-

You told me once, dear, you really loved me

And no one else could come between

But now you've left me and love another

You have shattered all of my dreams

-

When the hunters came back with Stiles, Derek felt like he knew what it was like to be on the verge of going feral. 

He thought the waiting had been the worst. Because some part of him had kept waiting, kept wondering if he was going to suddenly feel their bonds being broken. It was like losing a limb, Peter had once warned. But Derek thought it would be so much more if he lost Stiles.

If he lost Stiles—

Derek caught the boy’s scent seconds before the cell door opened up. That of cinnamon, spice, and blood. It made him both terrified and feral at the same time, and if the hunters would’ve had any idea what was going on in Derek’s head, they might have turned heel right there and fled.

But all they saw was a red-eyed werewolf, still half drugged.

When they’d taken Stiles, they’d injected more wolfsbane into his system. Enough to make Derek still for a moment too long as the door opened, wondering if it was some sort of hallucination, even though he knew it wasn’t. And then Stiles was dumped back into the cell.

Derek moved forward, gathering the boy up in his arms before his mind had even caught up.

Injuries were a common occurrence when someone dealt with supernatural threats as often as Derek and his pack did. But it never got any easier when he caught the faintest hint of blood on the boy. And this— this—

Fuck.

The first time Derek had seen Stiles hurt enough for it to be concerning, he’d finally realized the difference between the human and the wolf inside of him. Because one was terrified. And the other was downright murderous.

Derek hadn’t felt this bloodthirsty in a long time.

The black lines moving up his arms weren’t nearly moving fast enough as he cupped Stiles’s face. The teen groaned softly, stirring a little, and Derek could hear the spike of pain in the boy’s heartbeat. He hated himself for every moment that he couldn’t take all the pain away at once.

When Stiles finally opened his eyes, smiling tiredly with blood-stained teeth, Derek nearly broke down.

“Dammit, Stiles—”

“Hey, there, Sourwolf,” Stiles slurred, a hand reaching up and touching his cheek. There was dried blood on his fingertips too. Derek swallowed hard and turned his face into the touch, hating himself even more for how powerless he felt. 

“I’m so sorry.”

Stiles huffed, then broke into a coughing fit. And some traitorous part of Derek’s mind realized that the last time Stiles had been hurt bad enough for it to be concerning, it wasn’t nearly as bad as this. It wasn’t nearly as bad.

Stiles’s forehead was hot to touch, but his fingers were ice cold.

“Okay,” Derek said, forcing himself out of his head. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”

Somehow, even in the darkness, even reflecting obvious pain, Stiles’s eyes danced. “You’ve got a plan, Sourwolf?”

Derek didn’t. He didn’t have the slightest idea.

But smirking, he just raised an eyebrow and hoped it looked more convincing than he felt. “I’m the Alpha.”

“That’s so not a good plan, dude.”

Glancing back up at the cell door, Derek wondered for a moment if they’d come for him soon, too. That’s what he’d expected in the beginning. He’d expected to be the one they took. Because he could heal, dammit. He could put himself back together.

But Stiles was just human.

Clenching his jaw, Derek turned his eyes back down to Stiles. The boy’s gaze was hazy, but he was still awake. “Can you tell me what they wanted?”

“What hunters always want,” Stiles said, coughing again. The blood speckled his lips now. “Something to go after.”

“Stiles…”

“I didn’t give anything to them,” Stiles said, eyes glinting a little. And that bloody smirk was so damn proud, it made Derek’s heart skip a beat. “I told them to go fuck themselves, at least. But we’ll be fine. The pack will be here soon.”

Once more, Derek’s throat tightened. He forced himself to nod. “Yeah.”

“I mean, I totally believe in Boyd.”

Derek huffed and Stiles closed his eyes for a moment, taking a few sharp breaths. Quickly, Derek caught the hand still touching his cheek and lowered it across the boy’s chest, squeezing gently. Stiles made a small noise at the back of his throat and Derek realized it was a laugh.

“I don’t believe in the others so much, though.”

“No.”

“But don’t tell them I said that.”

“Never.”

When Stiles finally opened his eyes again, there was nothing but fondness in his gaze. It broke Derek’s heart. “Hey, Der?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re mine, you know that?”

Derek swallowed. “I know, Stiles.”

“You’re my sunshine.”

“I— I know.”

“The only one I ever needed.”

Derek looked down at him quietly. Stiles’s eyes fluttered closed again after a moment, and the boy turned his face into Derek’s chest, thumb brushing against the back of Derek’s hand. Taking a shuddering breath, Derek closed his eyes too, squeezing a little tighter. He almost didn’t want to hold onto those last few words.

Because they couldn’t be Stiles's last. 

They couldn’t.

-

You are my sunshine, 

my only sunshine 

You make me happy when skies are gray 

You'll never know dear, 

how much I love you 

Please don't take my sunshine away

-

In the hours that stretched on, the hunters didn’t come back.

Stiles felt a little bit like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his everything and a little bit like the drugs in his system had done something to his brain, the world moving sluggishly as he drifted in and out of sleep.

When the faint light coming from underneath the cell door dimmed, Stiles figured it was nighttime. That’s when the temperature dropped. Derek hadn’t seemed to notice right away, though, arms wrapped around Stiles’s shoulders. But the moment he shivered, Stiles felt the grip tighten, and then Derek was maneuvering him carefully, so Stiles was even more enveloped in the werewolf’s body heat, feeling like he was curled right up against a heater.

He chuckled hoarsely into the man’s chest, faintly noticing it was speckled with blood. His blood, Stiles realized after a moment too long.

“It’s the middle of summer, Sourwolf,” Stiles said, turning his gaze upward a little. “Why the hell is it so cold?”

Derek looked pained. Stiles stared at him for a moment longer and then blinked, dropping his gaze again.

“It’s not, is it?”

“You’re going to be alright, Stiles.”

Stiles was the master at bullshit answers. And that one wouldn’t have even hit his top ten list. “You’re a terrible liar, Der.”

The man didn’t answer. Stiles blinked hard again, realizing for the first time how tight his throat had gotten.

“I don’t feel bad,” he said. “A little sore, but that’s all.”

Once more, Derek stayed silent. But Stiles felt his arms tighten around him just a little, before quickly loosening again. As if Derek couldn’t figure out how tight to hold on. 

“I don’t feel bad,” Stiles said again. Derek pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

“Okay, Stiles.”

“Really.”

“That’s good.”

Stiles sniffed, leaning further into the werewolf’s body head and closing his eyes. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine it was just another night. One of those when Stiles woke up trembling and Derek was wrapped around him in a second, whispering soft nothings in his ear as Stiles came down from the edge and stopped panicking.

He swallowed hard. “Can you sing to me, Sourwolf?”

As close as he was, Stiles could hear Derek’s heartbeat in his chest. He could hear how it skipped a beat and the man took a sharp breath before one hand moved up and traced through his hair. “Of course.”

There were things he could say, Stiles figured. Ways he could reassure the man once more.

He felt guilty, staying silent as his entire body ached.

The first time Derek had sung to him, it was after a nightmare. And the man had been quiet for what felt like hours afterward, before telling him that Laura used to sing back in New York. Mostly after nightmares, sometimes just because.

Sometimes, because she needed it more than him.

Stiles thought he was the one who needed it right now. But when Derek’s fingers traced down over the back of his neck and Stiles realized they were trembling slightly, he was no longer so sure.

“You’re my sunshine,” Derek murmured, the words more of a whisper than anything else. And it felt private. 

Safe. 

“My only sunshine.”

-

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me

When I awake my poor heart pains

So when you come back and make me happy

I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame

-

Derek hated the silence.

Stiles’s heart didn’t skip a beat until what felt like hours later. It skipped just one beat, Derek told himself, half-asleep with Stiles in his lap. One quick beat, pausing right underneath the boy’s skin. So soft, he might not have felt it if the silence and stillness around them wasn’t so heavy.

But it was just a skip. One skip.

It wasn’t until Derek was nearly fully unconscious that he realized one skip was taking much too long.

When was one skip supposed to start again?

-

“Please don’t take my sunshine away.” 

-

Tagging @furrypersonheart​ to take some blame for this fic because they suggested this be written

[shawnmendesbuddy]

Boyfriend‘s Brother

Summary: Y/N’s boyfriend is Peter. Shawn is Peter’s brother. Shawn likes Y/N, but has a terrible way of showing it. Warnings: Swearing! PeterxReader (at first)

“Oh my gosh, look who it is? The school’s know-it-all. What a beeyotch,” Shawn said laughing with his friends at Y/N as she grabbed her books out of her locker.

“Yeah I heard she was only with your brother for your family’s money. What a pig!” Shawn chuckled at his friend’s comment.

Y/N kept her head down as she started to quickly walk away, but Shawn grabbed her wrist and pulled her into him. She dropped her books on the ground and cried out in shock at her proximity to Shawn’s face. His warm breath fanned onto her cheeks and she shuddered, cringing slightly.

He looked very similar to his brother, Peter, Y/N’s boyfriend to be exact. They had the same dark brown eyes and curly hair. As she stared into Shawn’s harsh eyes, she saw a flicker of what she thought to be regret, before he pushed her to the ground laughing with his friends as she crumpled to the floor.

Y/N started to gather up the books scattering the floor when Shawn kicked a book she was reaching for, out of her reach. She watched in horror as the book skidded across the floor.

A foot stomped on the book and she stared up into her boyfriend’s worried face. He made eye contact with her and sent her a sad smile. “Leave her the hell alone! The hell are you doing Shawn?!” Peter yelled at his brother, a dark look in his eyes.

“Nothing,” Shawn said shooting Y/N one last glance before following after his friends towards his class.

Peter helped pick up some of Y/N’s books and sighed. “I don’t understand why he he acts like that. He’s such a dick, I’m so sorry.” Peter shoved Y/N’s books into her bag and zipped up it up. He flipped her around and pulled her into a tight hug.

“You look tired, did you have a tough night?”

Y/N nodded. “I was up late studying for that math test.”

Peter nodded. “Sorry I couldn’t pick you up today, Shawn and I had early morning hockey practice.”

Most mornings Y/N would catch a ride with Peter to school because she didn’t have a car of her own. On the rare occasions where he couldn’t bring her, like today, she would ride with a friend.

“It’s alright.” Peter pulled away and left his hands resting on Y/N’s shoulders.

“K so my parents want you over for dinner on Saturday, do you think you can make it there?” Peter asked.

Y/N felt her head spin. Peter was amazing and fantastic and the guy everybody in school wanted. Y/N had met Peter through Shawn when she was a Freshman and he was a Sophomore.

Shawn and her had been partnered up to do a group project on Romeo and Juliet for English. Shawn had invited Y/N over to his house because he said to Y/N, and I quote, “Why would we go to your house? You definitely live in a dump and I’m not getting my clothes dirty.”

Y/N and Shawn had been arguing if Romeo and Juliet were in love, or if they had an obsession with each other.

“They’re definitely obsessed with each other in an unhealthy way. I mean come on, who threatens to kill themselves if their wife is sad? That’s disgusting!” Y/N said.

“Well I think they’re in love. I think it’s romantic that Romeo and Juliet don’t care what their parents think, they just want to be with each other. And plus, Romeo couldn’t live without Juliet just like Juliet couldn’t live without him. They were definitely in love! And I’m surprised, most girls our age fawn over how beautiful and romantic the death scene was, how come you don’t?” Shawn had argued back.

Peter had been walking past the kitchen when he heard the argument going on. He slowly cracked the kitchen door open and peeked his head in.

His mouth gaped open as he saw a beautiful girl sitting across from his brother. She had the kindest smile and the prettiest colored eyes. And her face was full of life and light. Peter felt butterflies flutter around in his stomach.

“I agree with her, they were definitely obsessed with each other!” Peter said intervening.

Shawn shot Peter a look that said ‘back off’ but Peter continued. “I mean, sure they had some sort of attraction towards each other but they had just met two nights before and they are already killing themselves for the other person? It’s ridiculous Shawn!” Peter said taking a seat next to the pretty girl.

She blushed and Peter sent her a small smile. “What’s you’re name?”

“I’m Y/N. You’re Shawn’s brother, Peter right?” Peter nodded.

Peter hardly saw Y/N after that day, but he still would wave at her in the hallways and he still thought she was gorgeous.

At the beginning of his senior year, Y/N’s junior year, him and Y/N were put in the same P. E. class and he finally worked up the courage to ask her out on a date. The rest is history.

Y/N was still stunned that the most wanted boy in the school—next to his brother—wanted her. It wasn’t that Y/N wasn’t popular or pretty, because she was. She was smart and intelligent and lots of guys liked her—with the exception of Shawn and his friends—and Peter felt as though he was the lucky one.

However, there was a slight problem with them dating each other. Well actually three problems. 1) Shawn despised her with every bone in his body 2) Y/N despised Shawn with every bone in her body 3) Peter’s parents hated that Y/N was middle class and not rich like them.

Actually, the third one might’ve been the biggest problem. Sure she could deal with occasional hate from Shawn—granted it was only occasional because Peter would usually whoop Shawn’s ass before he got a chance to say something mean—but receiving hate from Peter’s parents was a slap in the face. She just wanted them to love her, especially because family’s opinions mattered most in her eyes.

But Peter always reassured her that no matter what his brother or his parents thought, it wouldn’t change his opinion on her.

“Are you sure that going over to your house for dinner is the best idea? I feel like your parents hate me more each time.”

The bell rang over head and she sighed. “I’ll walk you to class. And hey, it’s Friday, you still have a day to decide. And I’ll tell them to play nice.” He said as he put his hand on Y/N’s lower back and guided her down the hall towards her chemistry class, which of course she had with Shawn.

“I don’t think Shawn or your parents are going to play nice but if you really want me there, I’ll do it for you.” Peter’s smile stretched across his face. As long as she could see that smile, she would say yes to anything he asked. “Alright, I’ll be there. What time?”

“6:00, I’ll pick you up.” He said. They reached her chemistry classroom and Peter swooped in planting a long and passionate kiss on Y/N’s mouth.

“Oh my hell! Get your mouth off of that ugly bitch!” Shawn yelled as he walked into the chemistry classroom.

Peter pulled away and shoved Shawn into the classroom causing him to trip over the doorway and fall on his face. Peter chuckled as did Y/N.

“Don’t listen to him, you’re beautiful babe. I got to get to class but I’m taking you out for lunch today,”

Peter said slowly backing away.

“Alright, see you then.”

***

Y/N had just finished curling the last strand of her hair when she heard the doorbell ring. “Honey! It’s Peter!” Her mom yelled up the stairs.

Y/N took one last look at her outfit—a black and white striped shirt with a denim jacket over it and dark blue ripped skinny jeans—before heading downstairs.

Peter was dressed in a white shirt and black skinny jeans. His mouth widened a little and his breath left his lungs. He always got this way around Y/N.

“You look fantastic babe, you ready?” Peter questioned.

Y/N nodded and grabbed onto Peter’s hand.

***

“Y/N I’m sure Peter has told you, but isn’t it wonderful that he got accepted to NYU? He’s only going to be 4 hours away, of course by plane. We can go visit him anytime we want in our private jet. Distance won’t be any issue at all. What do you think about him going to NYU Y/N?”

Y/N sighed. It had been a topic her and Peter had talked about for a while now. They both agreed that they wanted their relationship to last through college even if it was long distance. Peter promised to fly out to Y/N as much as possible, but Y/N didn’t have enough money to fly out to him as often as they both liked. Peter had tried to tell her that his parents would probably let her use the jet but she told him she wasn’t so sure about that.

“Well, I was thinking that Y/N would fly out with you guys when you used the private jet.”

Shawn scoffed. “Why would we bring that bitch with us in our,” he put an emphasis on the word our “private jet?

Y/N felt her face turn red. “He’s got a point Peter. I mean Y/N should have to provide for herself. After all we worked our way to the top and so can Y/N.”

Y/N thought she saw a twinge of regret in Shawn’s eyes but it was gone before she could even register it. She waited—the whole table waited in silence—for Peter to do something. To stick up for her. But he didn’t. He sat there stunned that his family would act this way towards the girl he loved.

Y/N felt tears prick her eyes. He was her boyfriend but how were they supposed to make this work if he couldn’t even stand up for her in front of his parents. Y/N stood from the table and ran out of the kitchen.

No one came after her. Not even Peter.

***

Y/N was crying into her hands when she heard the voice. “Will you stop the dramatics? What the hell was that in there?! You don’t think Peter’s already upset enough that our parents hate you? And you go and make it worse by running out and causing a scene! Peter’s a wreck and it’s all your fault,” Shawn said to her.

Y/N stood up quickly and slapped him hard across the face. “You insolent jerk! You douche! You son of a bit—“

A soft pair of lips cut Y/N off from her sentence. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist keeping her steady as she threaded her fingers through Shawn’s hair and pulled him closer—if that was even possible—to her. She didn’t know why she was kissing him back. He had brought her nothing but hell! But it felt so right, so different from when she kissed Peter.

Y/N finally gained the strength to push him away. He pressed his forehead against hers and smiled a genuine smile at her. And she couldn’t help smiling back a little too.

“What just happened?” She whispered.

He chuckled. “I finally got to kiss the girl I’ve liked since Freshman year.”

Y/N’s mouth gaped open and she pushed him away from her. “You’re such a liar! You hate me!”

Shawn shook his head. “I never hated you. I was just embarrassed that I had feelings for someone who wasn’t upper class like me, which is really shallow. I mean, coming from an upbringing like that though,” Shawn pointed his thumb back at the door,”I mean my parents discourage liking anyone below us. Not that your status matters to me,” Shawn said quickly. “Look I know it’s ridiculous, but I needed a way to push you out of my life and I thought by being mean to you, you would back off. But you hardly ever took my crap—well except for this morning—and I liked you more each day. And then Peter started dating you and...”

“You were jealous,” Y/N concluded. Shawn nodded.

“I’m the worst. I called you terrible things and I’m really sorry.”

Y/N nodded. She looked up to see Peter standing in the doorway dumbfounded. “What the hell’s going on out here?! One minute you two hate other and the next Shawn’s confessing his undying love for my girlfriend. Unbelievable! You’re joking Shawn, right?”

Shawn glared at Peter. “The hell I am! You knew I liked her and you asked her out!”

“Because you dodo brain couldn’t get it through you’re thick skull how to treat someone with respect!” Peter yelled.

“Well I guess I must have some sort of sense of respect because you’re girlfriend was just kissing me!” Shawn yelled back.

Peter’s face fell. “It’s that true Y/N.”

Y/N looked down at the ground and nodded. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Peter looked beyond hurt. ”After everything I’ve done to protect you from him? And you choose him? He…he,” Peter sighed. “I just don’t understand!” A single tear dropped down his face.

Y/N wanted to comfort him, but she also didn’t want to send the wrong message. Yes she did like Peter, but the thrill of the chase with Shawn was exhilarating. But now that the chase was done, would their relationship be as exciting?

And Peter had treated her so well. How had she gone and betrayed him?! He was so good to her.

“Look Y/N, I love you. All I want is for you to be happy. And I know that I’m going off to college but we could still make this work. I…forgive you for kissing Shawn. But if you do want to be with him—if he makes you happy—I’m not going to stop you. It’s your choice.”

Y/N stared at both boys, contemplating the pros and cons of each one. Before sighing and making her choice. “I choose…”

A/N: This is a choose your own ending story. I know it’s crappy, but like, I’m trying here 😂. Also please send in requests.

Peter’s Ending

Shawn’s Ending

[inkribbon796]

Backstage Blues

Summary: Roman is determined to plan out the greatest wedding in history, if only he could get some help on that front.

A/N: I have decided that for the sake of the narrative that Tubbo and Ranboo’s marriage is a lot more common knowledge, Michael’s existence is still not, but whether Techno knows about that marriage is up in the air because he’s Techno. He focuses on weird stuff.

Things were strangely quiet in Egoton. Especially for the amount of people trying to actively kill each other these days.

The heroes had some of their usual problems to deal with: robberies, press talks, superhero activity; things that the heroes usually had to take care of.

The press wanted interviews with the heroes’ new “apprentices” and they were counting three of them, despite the fact that the Coalition had only two currently on record: Bomble Bee, Big Man . . . and Enderwalk, as Tubbo liked to introduce Ranboo.

With Tubbo’s husband almost acting like an apprentice, and the city absolutely loved the idea of a new trio of apprentices. Tommy loved being on TV, screaming and cursing when Ethan didn’t try to distract him from something else. And Tubbo who would ask overly invasive questions on camera about the most population-dense area of the city. Ranboo often helped Logan with Tubbo so that he didn’t accidentally give out bomb threats on live news feeds. Ranboo between his more demonic appearances and skittish nature the news could get close to him without putting themselves in harm’s way.

Despite Logan and the rest of the more senior heroes’ efforts, Ranboo was starting to become more and more an attachment onto the Sides. Mostly because Ranboo liked to come over and talk to Tubbo, and other times he liked to bring little snacks and trinkets. He wasn’t an apprentice yet, but with two of his little trio in the Coalition, a lot of people figured it was only a matter of time.

And occasionally he actually remembered to wear that identity-obscuring outfit Tubbo had made him a week ago.

Roman was really coming around to Tubbo, mostly because he and Tommy liked to listen to music and quote random musicals. Which was really all the requirement that Roman needed to like someone.

Today Logan, Tubbo, and Ranboo had accompanied Roman on a very important mission. Mostly because Roman was meeting with Illinois and Eric to help finalize some final touches on what Roman was sure was going to be the most glorious wedding in all of existence.

The couple met Roman in an outdoor café, taking advantage of the nice, warm summer weather. Roman was at one table with Eric and Illinois, while Logan was two tables over with Tubbo and Ranboo. Everyone except for Illinois were in superhero outfits, mostly because Illinois didn’t care about his own identity and he wasn’t a hero.

Any errant press that wanted a picture of “Egoton’s own Romeo and Juliet” because one was a hero and the other worked in Dark’s network — to which Illinois originally shouted when he first heard that “at least pick a couple with a chance” — and the sight of them always made Eric extremely jumpy. After Illinois caught sight of them it usually took a second or two for them to suddenly get pulled into a portal and dumped somewhere else to give the couple a little bit of privacy.

After another ameteur “reporter” had been dealt with, Roman looked over to the trio over in the other table. Tubbo and Logan were working on some equipment while “watching” Illinois. Ranboo’s lanky legs were pulled up in his chair and he was folded up in his seat.

Honestly Roman was pretty sure you could shove a bus under their noses and they wouldn’t notice. Which was a disappointment because he needed a third party to help give his ideas a little positive gratification because Illinois was letting Dark completely plan the entire affair with no consideration for what Roman suggested except for “paltry concessions”. Roman needed Patton to back him up, but Illinois drew the line at two Sides being part of his wedding planning at any one time.

“It’ll be a wonderful experience,” Roman promised, looking back from his failed check for Logan’s support. Then he looked over to Tubbo. “Bomble, you’re married, tell him.”

“Huh?” Tubbo snapped to look at him, clearly distracted by what he was working on. Ranboo put his feet down.

“You’re married,” Roman urged. “Explosion Boy needs a little bit of confidence for the wedding. How’d you and your husband get married? I’m sure it was beautiful.”

Tubbo snorted, “I got married fer[1] tax benefits.”

Roman blinked at him, “What?”

Tubbo chuckled to himself, looking positively pleased with himself. “Yeah, bonded pairs in the SMP get a bit of an aura break if yer linked with an empath. I got sick an’ tired ‘a havin’ ta pay that extremely pricey piper an’ Ranboo had just joined so when I saw him I went “that’s the one” an’ we were already kinda friends so BAM! We’ve been married fer almost six months now.”[2]

“What?” Roman repeated in complete, astonished confusion.

“Sides,”[3] Tubbo added, “yer older than I am, shouldn’t you have changed yer apprentice name ta somethin’ like, I don’t know? Concussion? Explosive Decompression. Or Combust-ION?”[4]

Tubbo paused, thinking, “That last one’s not half bad, I probably should have gone with that one.”

Another pause from the young arsonist passed, “Okay if you don’t take that one I want it after I stop bein’[5] an apprentice.”

“I, uh, I,” Eric stalled nervously.

“If he likes the name it stays,” Illinois dismissed. “If he wants to change it, he’ll get around to it.”

Tubbo shrugged, turning back to his projects with his usual dismissive but chipper demeanor.

“There must have been some romantic aspect of your engagement,” Roman demanded in exasperation.

“Nah, man,” Tubbo chuckled. “You are talkin’ ta the wrong person. You should talk ta my sister an’ her girlfriend. Or Karl’s fiancés. That would probably make yer argument work.”[6]

“So if you got married for taxes, which, okay, I get that, how did you two actually decide to get married to each other?” Illinois looked confused but intrigued at the same time.

“Well Tubbo was already making jokes that we were already married and divorced so I just proposed,” Ranboo answered. “I kinda looked online how to do it and Tubbo had been mentioning the thing so I gave him some jewelry and I said “do you wanna get married for tax benefits” and to my amazement he said yes.”

“I was smitten,” Tubbo joked. “Certainly helped that he was throwin’[7] necklaces an’[8] gemstones at me.”

“Man you two aren’t just a can of worms, you’re a whole boat of ‘em[9] aren’t you?” Illinois asked.

“Neat trick I didn’t realize until afterward is that tax benefits count in the human world too,” Tubbo grinned.

“You are an absolute menace,” Logan told Tubbo, and the teen just startled cackling in laughter.

“Isn’t it great?” Tubbo grinned before looking back at Eric. “I’m sure yer weddin’ will be nice an’ pretty an’ stuff. Yer in love an’ shit, it’ll be great.”[10]

“I’m,” Eric hummed, making the word sound more like a smushed “m” in his nervousness. “Nervous.”

He was gripping onto his knees, “I-I’ll trip over my . . . stupid legs or—”

Illinois slowly and gently placed his hand over one of Eric’s. “Dulcito,[11] if you’re worried about it we can get you a wheelchair or I can just carry you down to the altar.”

Eric’s face went red, he started twitching a bit, “But . . . I’m supposed to walk down the aisle.”

“Fuck that,” Illinois told him, leaning in. “You’ll look lovely whatever you do, even impossibly lovelier if you’re happy. I don’t want you to hurt yourself over this, or be so worried you’re not enjoying it. It’s our day. Your day. We’re doing a huge ceremony because a bunch of people want to be there. But I could grab Host and my dad and we could go down today to the closest courthouse and be out in an hour flat.”

Roman twitched uncomfortably.

“We did that,” Ranboo cut in, looking back at Tubbo. “We had what? Six people?”

Tubbo started quickly counting on his fingers, “Puffy, Foolish, FJ, me, you, Niki, Eret, Michael . . . Yeah six, not includin’[12] us. Eight, if you do.”

“It was a nice little ceremony.” Ranboo reminisced with a smile on his face. “Eret married us, your sister walked me down the aisle.”

“You tripped on the stairs,” Tubbo chuckled, before turning to the engaged couple, “do yourselves a favor an’[8] make a ramp. Boo here is all legs like a mad giraffe an’[8] he ripped his dress when he tripped. Almost knockin’[13] Puffy over and you can’t do much worse than that, let me tell you.”

That didn’t seem to calm Eric’s nerves.

“Already been planned,” Illinois reassured.

“We’ll get back to that, just excuse me,” Roman cut in, “so your best friend didn’t even show up to your wedding?”

“No, he couldn’t have, he . . .” Tubbo paused, clearly thinking about something. “Big Man couldn’t be there, talk ta[14] him about it, it’s really not my place ta[14] bring it up. It wasn’t his fault, Dream just . . . like I said, it’s not my place ta[14] talk about it.”

“I,” Logan stalled, something in Logan’s brain didn’t like how that had been worded. “I see.”

“Yeah so Big Man wasn’t there,” Tubbo shrugged, a distant look hidden behind his domed helmet. “He’s around now an’ it is nice ta kinda have him back ta normal again. Wish he didn’t try ta set Boo on fire, but no one’s perfect.”[15]

“That is very concerning,” Logan commented. “When was the last time he tried that?”

“Tried or just threatened it?” Ranboo asked.

“Both,” Logan’s tone was as dry as a bone.

“Attempted, it’s been a couple months,” Ranboo admitted, “ he threatens it once every couple of weeks though.”

“We need to have a conversation about constructive behavior then,” Logan decided. “We’ll talk with him when we get back because death threats are unacceptable.”

“No, I’m pretty sure he’s joking,” Ranboo tried to deny. “The furthest he’s ever gone is pull out a knife on me. It’s alright, he’s just like that.”

“You know the more I see you heroes, the more I’m sure that if you’d ever actually met the Author, he would have cut through all of you like wet tissue paper.” Illinois spoke up, looking at Ranboo like a particularly accident-prone toddler. “You all really lucked out, didn’t you?”

Ranboo nervously ducked his head so he didn’t accidentally look Illinois in the eyes.

“Yoo-hoo! We have the world’s perfect wedding to plan.” Roman reminded, trying to refocus the attention. Inadvertently saving Ranboo from the stand-off. “Hey, while I have both of you here: what’s on the menu, what’s the number of chairs, seems like it should be higher.”

“Max of fifty,” Illinois reported. “None of Dark’s business contacts are invited, we figured you guys might arrest them.”

“Depends on the person,” Logan admitted.

Roman rolled his eyes, cutting back into the conversation, “I just wanted to know how we should just group people, is there any extended family we need to separate from each other?”

“My . . . siblings were all I had,” Eric whispered quietly.

“Well let’s see, Yan’s parents were part of a demon murder cult, they’re dead. Yancy’s folks are dead and he’s still not on speaking terms with his uncle for obvious reasons. King’s parents are dead. We literally all live with Bim’s dads. Fuck if the Host ever talks about Artie’s folks. And all we’ve got are shitty foster parents, who if they show up are getting exorcised back to hell and then killed again.” Illinois scoffed dismissively. “And even if I wanted someone who threw me away the instant they saw me, I would have gone looking for ‘em[9] years ago.”

“Didn’t you,” Eric started timidly before looking away, his mouth still open but not sound was coming out anymore. “Uh, get a, uhm . . .”

“Some asshat might have tried calling me at assfuck O’clock in the morning, but I blocked him,” Illinois sounded like he wanted to punch his mystery caller, Eric nervously looked away. “Dark’s my dad and I don’t care about anyone trying to get money or use me to cozy up close to Dark.”

The other two were quiet for a bit as Illinois mentally calmed down. He did reach out and lightly stroke the side of Eric’s face. Which helped Eric relax and by extension calm Illinois down.

“You could have just said no,” Roman finally commented in a tone that might as well have been saying: “I think you need therapy” and went back to his planner. “So we make a safe plan for sixty people?”

“Sounds good to me,” Illinois agreed, his tone brisk and forced.

He did take Eric’s hand in his own and smiled, “Don’t worry, my dear, I will make sure everything’s perfect for you. It’ll be the most amazing day of your life. I promised that I’d make sure you never regret saying yes to me. I meant it, it’ll be the most beautiful day of our lives and you will look amazing.”

That got Eric to tear up a little and after some minor note taking on Roman’s part, the couple left. Eric left with Roman, Logan, and the two apprentices, while the adventurer returned to Dark to run a couple “errands”.

Roman for his part was in a better mood, he’d gotten a couple more “concessions” and the wedding planning was coming along smoothly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post A/N: Also I would like to draw to everyone’s attention to the canon fact that Tubbo and Ranboo got married at an emotionally turbulent time for Tubbo. Tubbo doesn’t handle those moments well. Impulsive marriage to escape how he felt about what happened to Tommy? . . . It’s more likely than you might think.

Accessibility Translations:

1. for

2. Yeah, bonded pairs in the SMP get a bit of an aura break if you’re linked with an empath. I got sick and tired of having to pay that extremely pricey piper and Ranboo had just joined so when I saw him I went “that’s the one” and we were already kinda friends so BAM! We’ve been married for almost six months now.

3. Besides

4. you’re older than I am, shouldn’t you have changed your apprentice name to something like, I don’t know? Concussion? Explosive Decompression. Or Combust-ION?

5. being

6. You are talking to the wrong person. You should talk to my sister and her girlfriend. Or Karl’s fiancés. That would probably make your argument work.

7. throwing

8. and

9. them

10. I’m sure your wedding will be nice and pretty and stuff. You’re in love and shit, it’ll be great.

11. Sweetheart

12. including

13. knocking

14. to

15. He’s around now and it is nice to kind of have him back to normal again. Wish he didn’t try to set Boo on fire, but no one’s perfect.

[gotmilk5101520]

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia Watch Episode 5 Waka Chaka!

Honestly, coming up with things to say here was way easier in my ML Rewatch.

UPS, FedEx, or Amazon?

And now we get these little fuckers.

“Ola-mola!” I guess that means “Coast is clear”?

Goblin with a mustache count: 1

“Over here! I found it!”

“It won’t open!”

“He’s coming!”

“He’s here!”

“What’s he doing?”

“What?”

“Ha-ha!”

That was pretty graphic.

Goblin with a mustache count: 2

“Waka chaka!” “He shall be avenged!”

“Always be afraid”

“Fear heightens your senses”

“Fear keeps you alive”

“Arrogance gets you killed” Never be arrogant.

“You know, i think being afraid is the one rule that i- Oh!”

“I excel at” I excel at being afraid too. No wonder i’m still alive.

“I assure you, the truth is far more interesting, and there’s no better place to start than Renaissance Era pottery”

Only one of them is interested. The rest? Sleep.

Nothing important here, just move on.

“Wait a minute. You’re a monster fucker?” “Yes i am” “If you’re a monster fucker, than i’m an alien fucker” “Steve, everyone knows you’re an alien fucker” “Wait they do?” “Yes. You have sign that says “I Heart Alien” on your locker. Then again makes sense given you’re also Keith from Voltron-” “No, no. Never bring up that series again” “Fair enough”

“Hey, Steve! Did you hear about the Neanderthal exhibit?”

“Topless”

“Nice” They really got away with this? There’s a bunch of Getting Crap Past the Radar in this series, but they’re not on the level of Star vs the Forces of Evil.

“What about you? What’s calling you, Jim Lake Junior? Oh wait that calling is Trollhunting. And i’m not suppose to know that yet”

Wait. How was Eli the only one to see this? How did no one else see that when they pass by? It’s still there when Jim, Toby, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh got there. No one else took a picture and posted it online?

“If you weren’t going to show up for rehearsals, why even try out”

“Honestly, i kind of auditioned by accident” Yeah.

“I believe auditions end in five minutes”

By accident.

“Where there is one, there is many”

“And, as for the unfortunate soul who ran over this small fellow”

“May Skaargen’s swift blade have mercy”

Pray for the poor unfortunate soul. In pain, in need.

“It appears the only thing being delivered is failed expectations” This quote is true. Why don’t we use it more? Voltron, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Marvel, Supernatural. You name it.

“War Hammer to Trollhunter, the package has arrived” That was fast. They just said it wasn’t here.

The Trump Supporters going to raid the- No i’m not going to do that. That is an insult to the goblins.

“Yes! My spy gear has arrived!”

“Unassembled!” That was Amazon’s fault. Not the employees.

“He shall be avenged!”

Honestly, goblins are scary, but the fact that they’ll always avenge one their own is actually kinda sweet. Scary, but sweet.

“Whoa... Where’s my truck?” He got fired the next day, did he?

“Thank gosh for Nana’s anti-burglar mania” Those lights keeps us safe from burglars, and goblins.

“Wa-cha-ka!” “We’ll be back”

“I find stress eating calms me down” Eating always calms us down.

“Great Gronka Morka!”

“What is the gnome doing in this dollhouse?” This is a high priority.

“Toby-pie? I don’t recognize that voice. Who is that?”

“It’s a friend, Nana! I do have more than one!”

“No, you don’t” Savage Nana.

“Aaarrrgghh and i will seek out this den, wherever it may be”

“You just focus on your studies”

“It seems life has thrown enough at you for one day”

“But a gnome in a dollhouse?” Don’t let this be anyway to get away from the fact that a gnome lives in a dollhouse.

“Hey, come on! You gonna your head in the game, Tobes. You know like that High School Musical song”

“My gronk-nuks” Always hit them in the gronk-nuks.

“Pretty good, Romeo”

“But kiss your Juliet goodbye”

“Leave Claire out of this. And how do you even know i like her?” “Everyone knows” “Steve, you’re stupid, You couldn’t figure this out yourself” “I did figure this out myself!” “...” “Fine. Eli told me” “Sorry Jim”

“Pucker up, Steve, and kiss this!”

“Whoa!”

“NO!”

“Oh, snap!”

“Why is everything and everyone talking in slow motion?” “To make it more dramatic” “Okay, can we speed this up so the ball can hit me in the face, and you guys can go to the museum and then go to jail?” “Fine”

“Nunez, why didn’t you DODGE?!”

“So, she has a fat lip. People pay good money for that sort of look” Wait.

She took a dodge ball to the face, and she only got a fat lip? Claire, i love you, and you’re my favorite character and everything, but bullshit (Or as Draal would say: Bushigal!) that should’ve given you a black eye. Actually looking more closely, she should’ve gotten a broken nose. And Claire, again, i love you.

I paused and got this. Enjoy it.

“It was better when you could see the Neanderthals”

How the fuck do you not look up?!

What the fuck?!

“She’s a monster, Jim! I saw her face! it wasn’t natural!”

“She’s, like, some sort of troll-

“What?”

“...but one of us. Like a weird half-breed thing, man”

“Maybe it was just the lighting”

“The lighting?” It’s always the lighting’s fault.

“But a human Trollhunter”

“That i’ve never tasted”

“Then let’s see how you like the taste of Daylight”

“That was a good one, Jimbo” That was a good one.

“You... Give it back!”

“You’ll die for that”

Truth be told i actually recognize that song playing in the background. Don’t know the name, but i heard it before. It was on a Miraculous Ladybug crack video on YouTube. It was so funny.

“All that fancy armor and you’re just a scared little boy”

“Fear heightens your senses”

“Fear keeps you alive”

“Arrogance gets you killed”

“Arrogance gets you killed!”

Arrogance will be your downfall.

Goblin with a mustache count: 3

“No, it wasn’t me! No! No!”

And she somehow survives this.

“They’re walking among us, Tobes! Anyone could be an Imposter!”

“Hands up!”

“On the ground, now!”

“Dispatch, we have the teens that match the description of the museum break-in. You’re coming with us” 5 episodes in and they’re already going to jail.

Shapeshifting beings walking among us? Who could be an imposter?

And tomorrow is a battle to the death!

[kaypeace21]

i LOVE your analysis especially byler ones so please don't take this as hate, it's the last thing i want to do. but while i love the byler theories do you actually think the duffers are smart enough to realize the potential/brave enough to follow through on the relationship. bc tbh i think our viewpoint is skewed i don't think anyone but byler shippers see the canon possibility. and also it really seems like m/leven is going to be endgame? just wanted to know more of your thought process

Even if byler never happens- I’m 100% sure mileven won’t be endgame XD. Regardless of byler, Mike and El are just not going to happen. (Even if they’re ‘dating’ in s4). I could try to explain the reasons why I think byler will be endgame though. I’ll give the cliffnotes version. This will probably be a mess- because focusing on all the reasons isn’t as good as analyzing , each reason as it’s own separate post, in depth). 

Why mileven isn’t endgame

- The duffers said, while filming ST, El was supposed to die in s1 (glad that didn’t happen). And this was also their plan when pitching their show ‘Montauk’ (later retitled ST), saying that the hypothetical  s2 sequel would be about the boys returning to their town 10 years later. Mileven was never ‘planned end-game’. They also describe mileven kissing but never mention the word ‘love’ like how Jancy was described in the Montauk pitch. Nancy’s bio says “ she will experience love for the first time.”  But when they describe mileven, they say, “If Mike is the Elliot of our show, Eleven is our “E.T.” Like that’s … not romantic, Duffers. And if it was supposed to be … WTF did you guys watch the same film? 0-O

- In the byler centric s2, the Duffers kept mileven separated. And the mileven kiss wasn’t written in the show. Millie pretty much said “they had to do it.” Much to Matt’s confusion but then the Duffers agreed. And used ‘every breath you take’ (a song about divorce), and just by coincidence their 2nd back-up  song was also a song about a divorce? Nah, they were trolling.

- Most of the women (Nancy & Max) in the show critique Mileven saying Mike treats her as if she’s stupid, can’t take care of herself, or as she is a possession. 

-in the first ep of s3 almost all the guys (who had/have gfs) Hopper, Lucas, and Dustin all criticize the mileven relationship and think it’s unhealthy.

Hopper says “ They’re spending entirely too much time together… It is constant.It is constant! Okay? That is not normal, that is not healthy! ”

Lucas mocks Mike, saying “ Oh El, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends.”

Dustin says when they flake on him, “It’s bullshit, I just got home!” (insert Nancy calling Stancy ‘bullshit’)

and before this  Dustin talks about Romeo & Juliet (while mileven is out of frame). R&J is all about the dangers of not knowing the difference between love and infatuation. Juliet after Romeo is banished just complains about how in love/sad she is but never pursues looking for him (sound familiar)? R&J claimed that they were in love with each other after knowing each for a few days and deciding to get married-sabotaging the closest relationships they had with their friends/family (all in the name of ‘true love’) . Similarly Mileven thought they were in love after only a week of knowing each other, and the second they are reunited they start dating and spend all their time with each other. El is allowed out of the house (and her friends are allowed to visit), but El hasn’t interacted with Max nor Will? They spend almost everyday in her room just making out. Mike puts very little effort into integrating her into his life or as part of the group. The only time they go out- is for Mike to show off El to Dustin like a possession- then before El can even do the boding activity with the group (with the radio tower)- Mike convinces her to leave to make out. They are both complicit in this and they both bring out the worst in each other and they make each other blinded to their loved ones’ feelings.

- El literally asks Max “How do I know what I like?” Do I have to explain why this could be problematic? She even says “I don’t know”, when Max asks if Mike is a good kisser.You can call me ‘ableist’ my abused-autistic ass will disagree. But El is not ready for a romantic relationship! it makes perfect sense for El to be confused by the distinctions of romantic, platonic, and familial love- when the first 12 years of her life she didn’t receive any form of love , PERIOD! And she is not like normal abuse victims (she has never had proper socialization with peers her own age or even adults).All she had was television. She latches herself on to anyone who is kind to her (something I used to do). Without Mike she used Max as a replacement almost immediately, and even starts repeating/mirroring the things she says (specifically coping phrases from her …over 6 times!). She’s also susceptible to doing what others say or want her to do, “dumping his ass” (with Max’s validation and encouragement). El might love Mike but I don’t think it’s romantic, she latched on to the first person that was kind to her. Before their first kiss she asked Mike “Will you be like my brother?” And she’s hurt when he says “no”, asking “Why not?”. He then kisses her (she watches a lot of soap operas and she assumes it must be ‘romantic love’). You’re telling me that if she was ‘in love’ with Mike she would have been that happy over dumping him? I’m not saying El is dumb for not being able to discern these things (I think people without such backgrounds may still struggle with this concept). But it makes perfect sense for El to be confused by the distinctions of various loves or even the differences between ‘crushes’ , ‘physical attraction’ and ‘romantic love’ 

- In the last ep El asks about what he said at the cabin to Max, specifying “you talked about your feelings?”. He says and I QUOTE “Oh! Oh, yeah that.Man, that was so long ago. Um…”  and starts to scratch his head. Then he excuses what he said at the cabin, saying it was “in the heat of the moment stuff and we were arguing… I don’t actually remember. What did I say exactly?”  

Now either he legitimately forgot! Or he lied! You know the thing that broke them up in the first place! The one thing that El holds as her most important value in life- honesty. And he lied- about something as important as his romantic feelings?!  Make up any excuse (about being shy/character flaws all you want), but this isn’t real life- it’s fiction (everything is done for a narrative purpose). That wasn’t an accident ( mileven wasn’t “written out of character”- like milevens claim,  the duffers were criticizing the ship on purpose) .And the fact he lied again! Wouldn’t bode well for a long term relation with each other. The whole season, criticized their romantic relationship ! That wasn’t a coincidence neither was the fact he looked confused by her confession, and kept his eyes open the whole time and didn’t kiss her back . 

And as she smiled and walked away, he looked confused. That wasn’t a directing mistake, like so many milevens are claiming! You really think they wouldn’t make sure their ‘fav ship’ didn’t have a good final kiss? 

 Especially since it was right after a romantic Jancy scene (which was directed amazingly)- where Nancy even mentions Mileven- to make us compare the 2 pairings romantic scenes even more. 

* I know I sound like an assh*le but I’m just annoyed. I’ve always censored my byler posts trying not to offend/criticize mileven. I never cross tagged my byler meta with the hashtag mileven (never will, cause it’s rude). But (without sounding pompous) my byler posts generally gets reblogged a lot- and now the milevens have seen my posts (and are sending lots of hate my way) and worst of all they’ve invaded the byler tag. Today I saw 2 posts in the byler tag saying. “We’re delusional” and “stupid”- and also in the same posts they say they “feel attacked” by us.Um… there’s a difference between byler shippers privately criticizing a ship without bothering mileven shippers (and only tagging it byler) . Versus Mileven shippers  tagging things byler (and ranting about the ship and it’s shippers). Loved the comment about how Mike can’t be bi cause “he loves El too much”.I think Mike is probably gay and in denial. But, um that’s not how being bi works- didn’t know  bi people love women and men ½ as much as the gays/straights. Thanks for informing me (rolls eyes for eternity).So kid-gloves off, nothing left to lose! Time to compare the ships.

‘The breakup’ vs ‘fight’ parallel

comedic vs dramatic! The casual sunny day vs the dramatic framing of the storm (a romantic trope) . The ‘break-up’ being a scene with multiple onlookers vs the fight being with Will and Mike only (making it more personal/intimate).  ‘Cold as ice’ playing after the mileven breakup vs the sad instrumentals playing during the byler fight. The comedic after-math at the mall. El and Max laughing, and another joke being made as the bus leaves.El’s happiness vs Will’s heartbreak.

Mike’s drastically different expressions after their fights. He looks regretful with Will, and almost annoyed with El dumping him.  The fact Mike apologized right away more than once to Will, and ran into a storm to apologize a 2nd time. But with El he just lies to cover up the first lie, and then after the break-up he just complains/lounges on the couch (not taking any responsibility). He literally says about El “Why is she treating me this way? What did I do to deserve this? What did I do wrong?”.( He lied and made her feel “like garbage”!) Then he burps and laughs about chips- and makes sexist comments. Neither EL nor Mike are heartbroken by the breakup.

But when he angers Will (by him trying to finish the game early), he immediately tries to de-escalate saying softly “I was just joking- c’mon, let’s finish the game”. But when Will just yells back (much to Mike’s confusion) he doesn’t dismiss his feelings as irrational (like he wrongfully did to El) but chases him to the garage-  and begs him to stay since it’s raining.

In the garage, Mike immediately apologizes saying “I said I was sorry, alright. It was a cool campaign.” But after this, they fight and Mike runs into a storm to apologize a second time , and says to Will’s door “ WILL! I’m sorry I was being an asshole. Can you just come outside and we’ll talk? WILL!” He immediately takes responsibility and apologizes. And he’s desperate to resolve things. And when they find him outside castle Byers he just asks  (Mike’s catchphrase) “Will, Are you ok?”

Shed scene ( “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “the most important thing in the world to me”) parallel

When Mike says to El  “you’re most important thing to me” in the pool shed. El doesn’t even acknowledge the comment (and neither should the audience- cause the words were empty). She completely ignores his words, and responds by asking him about his previous comments. Asking whether Hopper was right about them spending too much time together.

I didn’t edit (or delete any scene after his proclamation) this is how fast it was delivered ! The framing of this mileven scene was not cinematic or heartfelt, and neither was the delivery from Mike. He’s not crying, trying to reach her with proclamations of his genuine feelings. There’s no dramatic music, framing, lighting or shot composition. And El just responds and cuts his supposed ‘true feelings’ off- only to agree with Hopper and says “ she should spend time with her own species.” And if this ‘romantic moment’ wasn’t already undermined enough. This is when Mike realizes she was spying on him , and feels wrongfully violated (something she doesn’t apologize for,  saying “I make my own rules” . He even brings this up in a later episode (this clearly bothered him)!

Juxtaposed to the MUCH longer byler scene. A literal single tear falling down his cheek as Mike , recounts the first day they met. Mike being in the back drop of darkness only his face being illuminated (having him appear like a guiding light to Will). Saying “ I felt so alone and  so scared… but you were alone too” (alone together/crazy together) .  He then talks about asking Will to be his friend, and then he pauses and breaks eye contact , before looking him in the eye and smiling (lost in the memory) saying softly “you said yes, you said yes.” (cough like saying yes at a wedding).

So, after he says “you said yes, you said yes.” It’s important to mention that he takes a deep breath and breaks eye contact again, (looking down and to the side) as he says this line. Subconsciously, I believe he knows this line is romantic and he’s too afraid to say it to his face. Only flicking his eyes up to look at Will  after he finishes the entire sentence, and to gauge Will’s reaction.

This whole monologue is only of tight shots of just their faces (their bodies aren’t shown like in the pool shed scene). This is a personal moment between them and them alone- and the fact we zoom in on their faces (expresses this to be important emotionally) . And when we see Will’s reaction to Mike saying “it was the best thing I’ve ever done”. We just see Will’s face only- no music is playing and all we hear is  Will’s whimpers and Mike crying in the background.

“ Blank makes you Crazy” vs “ Crazy Together parallel

When Mike tries to confess his “love” to El he says “Well they do say it makes you crazy”… much to El’s confusion.He has to try to explain it a second time to El- who just gets even more confused, by his ‘confession’. Saying “you never heard that expression? Like blank makes you crazy … like the word (love)?”

But when Mike says he “feels like he’s going crazy” Will immediately responds with “Me too”. Mike even smiles at the comment. So that moment in s2 means more than we think, when Mike (with tears in his eyes) smiles at Will’s comment and asks them to go “crazy together”.And when Will responds back “yeah, crazy together” (who also has tears in his eyes). They even linger on the moment as they just smile and stare at each other.

Mike is in denial, and may not even realize he loves Will, but he knows subconsciously that he does. He heard the phrase “love makes you crazy and that damn stupid”, 100′s of times and that’s why he said that phrase to Will. And why it made him so happy when Will reciprocated , by saying “ yeah. crazy together.” In addition to why we see them both go from happy, to immediately upset over the conversation.The scene was already romantically coded in s2 (but the scene in s3 re-contextualizes the whole thing) . Mike thinks “love makes you crazy” , and he asked Will to go ‘crazy together’ with him. And When Will is at castle byers looking at the Halloween pic of the 2 the day Mike said that, Will cries and calls himself “stupid” (4x). Can’t get more obvious… Like look what the duffers did! 

El and Will’s opinions on Mike (Parallels)

-When asked if Mike was a good kisser,  she just said “I don’t know he’s my 1st boyfriend.” (implying she’s thinking, at least subconsciously, of having other boyfriends ,who are not Mike in the future).  But when Mike pretty much asks’ if Will thought they’d never get girlfriends, and spend the rest of their lives with each other’.Will just sadly responds “yeah, I guess I did. I really did!” Unlike, El, Will always saw Mike as his future, his forever.

-And when Mike says “it’s just a break” , Max says “No it’s not!”, and we see El laugh along with Max’s comment. She is not heartbroken at the idea of never getting back together with him, romantically. Right after they break up she was laughing, reading comics, and playing games with Max.

But Will is devastated over the fight! And out of all the memories in Castle Byers it’s the Ghostbusters photo from Halloween that causes Will to pick up the bat and start destroying everything. That was the night that Mike agreed to go “crazy together” with him. He tears it in ½ right in the center where Mike and Will are. He was so stupid to think it meant anything. The “crazy together” scene, that Mike initiated in s2 was always meant to be romantic. Not only because of Will’s reaction to the photo in s3, but because Mike in s3 says “They do say it makes you crazy…blank makes you crazy.”  Which is exactly what happens to Will, as he has his breakdown.Castle byers was built on a rainy night , the same day Will’s dad left, when Will was 5 (the same age he met Mike). And lonnie called him a “queer” and a “f*g” and forced him to do “normal things” like baseball to have him “be more of a man”. And then on a rainy night, after Mike says “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls”… what does Will destroy castle byers with? A baseball bat! The fact Will has a baseball bat (despite in s1 saying he does not like baseball) in Castle Byers, surrounded by things he loves: drawings, d&d, art supplies, a microscope, comics- just shows what an impact Lonnie’s problematic conditioning and abandonment had on him. He used a baseball bat to destroy something he loves -castle Byers, and symbolically he was trying to reject his feelings for Mike using Lonnie’s old tactics of fixing him.

- Also, El doesn’t even seem to appreciate when Mike acts like his true self (goofy/like a kid). She laughs when Max complains he talks too much. Rolls his at his jokes with the cpr-dummy, covers his mouth and tells him to stop when he tries to joke and sing, ignores him when he gets excited about talking about dinosaurs. Which relates to my next point

The only characters who’s character bios focus on ‘escaping’ through d&d is Mike and Will.

Will in the Montauk pitch was described as having “sexual identity issues… LIKE MIKE , Will ESCAPES through fantasy gaming where he can be himself, uninhibited.” Like what is Mike escaping from… being a nerd? Because they could of said ‘like his friends’. And no it’s not because they’re best friends- they even specifIed in Lucas bio he’s “ Mike’s best friend” (which was even mentioned in s1).

.In Mike’s character description it says “ bullying and near-crippling insecurity. He has never had a first kiss, much less a girlfriend.He ESCAPES his insecurities through reading fantasy novels … retreating into his own vivid imagination. The Dungeon Master of his Dungeons and Dragons group, he writes sprawling adventures with fantastical monsters.When he finds himself on a real adventure, facing real monsters, he will discover a courage he didn’t know he had. By the end, he will even kiss a girl.”

*Interesting that Mike uses D&D  to escape his insecurities about not having a gf (retreating into his imagination). While Will (who is somewhat aware of his sexuality) uses d&d to escape and be himself uninhibited. They’re foils in a sense- using d&d for opposing reasons.

So the s3 fight about d&d games has a lot more meaning 

Mike equates heterosexual romance with ‘growing up’ and his feeling for Will as something childish he has to grow out of.When they fight over d&d. Mike says “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”, then he tries to ½ apologize only to say, “I’m not trying to be a jerk. Ok? But We’re not kids anymore.” He pretty much explains, this is just the way things are-boys fall in love with girls, get girlfriends, and that’s just a part of growing up (heteronormativity).  And tells Will “I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” And poor Will who is probably more aware of his feelings just responds. “Yeah. I guess I did. I really did.” And after this Mike rushes to Will’s house and apologizes saying he was an “asshole.”When he tries to say he loves El . It was very forced. He can’t even use the world love or explain his feelings, “A feeling … yeah, like, something… like OLD PEOPLE say it sometimes”.

He can’t even describe love and what his “feelings” entail for El , he then says  “Yeah, like something , like old people say it some times. He doesn’t even say it back in the last ep, when she confesses. It’s all talk, but no feeling, it’s just a part of becoming an adult in Mike’s mind.

In the last ep before the mileven kiss, he even invites both El and Will over for Christmas saying “ And Will too… we could all have new presents to play with and… *scoffs* Sorry, that made me sound like a 7 year old...  ”

And it’s implied in the last ep (before the mileven kiss),  because of the 3 month breakup Mike is back to liking d &d. When Mike sees Will put his own d&d book in the donation box he stops him.

Mike: “WHOA, dude that’s the donation box.”

Will: “ I know, I’ll just use yours,  when I come back. (pause) if WE still want to play?”

So then Mike asks, shyly …

Mike : “Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?” (cough- girls , the other ‘species’, or just someone else: girl, guy or otherwise)

Will: “Not possible.” (Will will always love Mike- insert Mikes immediate heart-eye reaction to this comment).

I think people don’t notice what the subtext is here- regardless of his intentions, Mike broke Will’s heart. He made him feel “stupid” for ever thinking he ever had a chance with Mike. He always saw Mike as his forever, but Mike shot any hopes of that down in the garage. Will doesn’t trust his own instincts. Mike could straight up flirt with him in s4/5- and Will would dismiss it as his imagination. He essentially said ‘he’ll always love Mike- but if something is going to happen. It’s up to Mike to initiate it’.

Mike was queer coded since ep 1 (and he’s more queer coded than Will)!

 I LITERALLY thought (in s1) Mike was queer before Will!

- 3 rainbow references. Mike in s1 in his basement has a red heart being propelled by a rainbow sign. We see this again in s3 as a drawing. Mike also stands next to Will behind a rainbow apple poster in s2. Forbidden fruit + rainbow = queer forbidden romance. Also the apple poster was in the AV Club and at that time the rainbow apple-mac sign was suspected to be in reference to for Alan Turning (the gay ‘father of computers’).

In s1:

- 4 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. When El loses her wig , Troy said “she doesn’t even look like a girl” to the cops. But Mike just calls her “really pretty”

-Nancy says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve … Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

- Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns when talking about crushes using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrassing himself because he can’t articulate the difference between friendship and romance. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’.

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone.

You know someone that you like”

El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh … uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

-Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just … want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide”  (which is heavily queer coded)

- when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,   “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded . And how such a lyric is oddly romantic- if we’re supposed to see their bond as nothing but platonic XD

-his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”.

- when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea (for the first time) that Will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is THE ONLY ONE physically assaulted as they cause him to fall face first into a rock (like a gay-bashing) .  They leave Lucas and Dustin unharmed. Even though Lucas just proposed to another guy- which should have gotten him a beating by the homophobic bullies.

It’s supposed to subconsciously hint Mike is queer like Will, and likes Will. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El and have a guy propose to Mike. Mike says to “ignore them” ( the homophobic remarks) but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed .

2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront, unlike his straight friends who are in the background . But this time Mike initiates the confrontation), as the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier , telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally/wanted to defend Will).

The framing of Mike once again being in the front and snapping at the homophobic remarks ( gifs don’t do it justice, just rewatch the scene -Mike eyes water at the remarks). Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” (like Troy said) thanks to El . Troy at the police station even uses the word “fly” not levitate.

-Mike sneaking out to find Will, as Steve sneaks in to Nancy’s. They both even make eye contact (and pretend not to have seen each other).

- they share dinosaur toys , in s1 and 2 they appear to be the only ones with dinosaur toys.

- The s1 mom hug scene where Mike feels he lost Will is paralleled in s3 - signifying how he lost him a 2nd time.

- Mike in the 1st ep being the one to insist on looking for Will in the rain (callback to s3). But he never went looking for El when he saw her through his window? Even when Mike saw Will’s dead body, the second he heard his voice he convinced his friends to help rescue him!

- You remember the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings, and how he caresses the drawing after thinking Will was dead. That’s totes platonic.

- Mike in s1 proclaiming “I’m the only one who cares about Will!” Seems like something a kid with a crush might say ( because obviously his other friends care about Will). But he thinks he cares the most. He was even the first to worry about Will not showing up to school, the first to suggest looking for him while speaking to Hopper, and when Hopper and his parents say ‘no’ he sneaks out anyway (and is the first to suggest forming a search party). The first to believe he was alive after seeing his dead body.The only boy to have a scene dedicated solely to him mourning Will.  Mike being the only boy to stay awake at the hospital, and the first boy to see and hug Will. The only one to have a private one on one talk before Will goes missing. The only one who was literally given 100s of Will’s drawings. And yet Dustin says Lucas’ is Mike’s best friend? So what does that make Mike and Will?

In s2:

- Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard. But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d. Paladins have similar healing powers to clerics, but clerics have stronger healing abilities - which is interesting since Mike has always been viewed as the protector. But to Mike Will has helped him (maybe deal with the loss of El and other trauma) , just by being there. And if Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will. It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a healing presence and his moral compass.

“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”

“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.”

This proves Mike knows he treats Will special/different than his other friends- and unlike a relationship with El (they are still individuals who are not dependent on each other). And Mike thinks being with Will quite literally makes him a better person. Juxtaposed with how him being in a romantic relationship with El made him blind and apathetic to those closest to him .

- All the mileven s1 parallels vs byler s2 parallels were ALL initiated by Mike. If the parallels were meant to show a one sided love triangle (on Mike’s end). They would of made Will the instigator not Mike! Parallels can be watched here , start at 6:50)

-Mike initiated the “crazy together’ line- and in s3 he said ‘blank makes you crazy’. So subconsciously he knew the line had romantic connotations.

-Mike initiating the hand hold (with a zoom in shot) and in the show this is only done for romantic pairings. Also Mike being the one to initiate the ‘arm thing’ which is generally romantic. But in s3 , Lucas also does this, saying “I am spending quality time with my girlfriend’

-Mike saying, asking him to be his friend was the “best thing I’ve ever done”

-Mike constantly following Will around, asking if he’s okay or biking to his house to check on him in s2 . In s3 running out to chase Will to the garage and apologizing, and running into a storm to apologize a 2nd time.

YOU SEE A PATTERN! Mike is whipped! And is the one constantly chasing and pursuing Will, not the other way around! Before s3, people always portrayed Will as the (stereotypical- problematic trope of a) sad-pinning-gay in a one sided love with Mike. It’s like people didn’t even watch the show (and just assigned tropes/stereotypes they wanted, that weren’t actually there). Will (probably too shy or scared to- because of homophobic taunts) never initiated a single byler moment- it was ALWAYS Mike!!! If people were actually objective, they would of thought it was Mike who was the one pinning!

- Which brings me to Mike literally pinning! Mike forcing Will to dance with a girl (who has a rainbow hairclip), but you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what,why’d I do that ?’ And after this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these last 2 shots.

the cannon Spotify playlists-called ‘Mike’s basement beats’- These are character playlists that Spotify and St worked on together after s2.

-his first song is “small town boy” an 80s LGBT anthem about living in a small town and being queer and bullied. Every band member was openly gay.

-his 11th song is ‘don’t you want me’ from a “celebrate your gay pride” album

* But queer people are “delusional” for thinking Mike isn’t straight? And are told to “open your eyes and watch the show” (that was an actual quote in the byler tag). Ok? Take your own advice, then! XD

One of the Duffers cited inspirations for ST is SUPER GAY (and what they based the byler dynamic off of).

In the Will comic, Will throws an old 1970s book called “house of stairs” at the demorgorgan. And in a later chapter Mike and Will just read together at the library (just silently reading together, enjoying each others’ company-totally not a romantic cliche).And Mike warns Will the book ‘could have spoilers’ for the d&d campaign. Also look at this byler-centric cover :)

  Peter (Will) is shy, quiet ,initially a pushover, and gay-coded.  And as a coping mechanism he has psychological-breaks with reality where he thinks of his best friend from the orphanage, Jasper (Mike) . Another kidnapped boy, named Oliver (who looks just like Jasper/Mike) is also queer-coded (but a violent-sociopath). And, unlike Jasper who actually wanted to protect/take care of Peter -Oliver starts to gets a sick thrill out of making Peter dependent on him (which Peter catches on to pretty quickly). Oliver was insistent on being the only one to ‘wake’ Peter from his episodes (just like how Mike did for Will, in s2), except Oliver calls him pet-names like “sweetheart, baby, etc.” 

And again to prove it’s queer-coded I’ll read some of the (shortened) quotes, in the order they were written. These are quotes from Peter (Will’s) pov talking about his childhood best-friend Jasper (Mike) .  

-“his room. His and jaspers room.  Jasper looking up from his desk, smiling glad to see him. Jasper saying . Something very important. The most important message, the secret message.  He couldn’t hear him . But jasper keeps smiling , keeps talking . What was the message, jasper? What was the message? The dream had been beautiful at the beginning, terrible at the end, but he longed  to be in it again. If only he hadn’t awakened.”  

-“Jasper sitting on the bed and taking off his shoes ,smiling, ‘you’re okay pete, you’re better than a hundered of those slobs put together. Tomorrow I’ll tell them so myself‘ jasper’s strong, hard body as he got into bed ,so different from peter’s. Strong, to protect him to take care of him. Jasper, who always took care of him”.

-“He wanted to think about oliver it  it was like having Jasper back again. It would disturb him to see Oliver go off with Abigail… the rejection quite painful. It had never been like that with Jasper…jasper.

-The room they shared with rainbow colors, murmuring comforting words to him , enclosing and protecting him. He let himself drift into it, the rainbow hues dimness.”

-“No one ever depended on him. It was he who always depended on others, on Jasper. jasper, who had always taken care of him. Jasper…”

later he admits his feelings for Jasper to Lola/el. Lola and Pete are plantonic soulmates. The only reason why they survive and don’t succumb to their dark and violent urges/psychological brainwashing is because of each other. Lola has  brown hair and eyes and has a buzzcut and is heavily implied to be a lesbian (as she is the only girl in the group who is not fooled by Oliver’s ‘nice guy act’. Which makes the other girls ‘suspicious’ and alienate her). Also this was written in the 70s… she has a buzzcut and is said to “look like a boy”. It’s not that subtle! There was a reason that the author whose first name was WILLIAM (was suspected to be gay/bi when he was alive)!  XD

-Peter says “ he was my friend we were always together . Jasper his name was jasper .in the dream he’s taking care of me’. Now he was beginning to cry, his throat constricting and tears welling up in his eyes .’taking care of me … he always took care of me… taking care of me, and , and … and loving me’. ‘”It was the best time in your life’ she murmured’. ‘Yes’ “

* cough protective childhood friend, rainbows, ‘best time of your life = best thing I ever did.

S3 ending (byler centric ending)

When we first see Mike during the Hopper mologue, the moving truck leaves. “Like you’re pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”…  (the last thing they talked about was Will visiting to play d&d and their fight this season started because of a disagreement about d&d.)

Then Mike looks back at the Byers house (just lingers there and looks back as his friends leave) like how Will did seeing Mike hold hands with El and leave .  “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”Mike , like Will “doesn’t want things things to change”. He doesn’t want his  his feelings of friendship to become romantic in regards to Will,  it “scares” him (especially in rural 80s Indiana). Right after Will cries,  it immediately switches to Mike hugging his mom- to mirror the time he thought Will died in s1 “So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.” He goes back to his mother for comfort, like he did the 1st time he lost Will. But also to reverse back time, to s1, before he realized his feelings for Will were romantic.  When things were simpler. 

“But I know that’s naive. It’s just not how life works. It’s moving, always moving, whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad. And sometimes, it’s surprising. Happy.” (byler endgame)

Will (in s2) even says everyone treats him like ‘freak/ that something is wrong with him’ (purposely leaving out Mike from the discussion). And then when Will disparages himself as a freak,and Jonathan agrees but asks Will, ‘who would he rather be friends with-  David Bowie (who was openly bi since the 70s) or Kenny Rogers’? And when Will says Bowie, Jonathan agrees saying “see, it’s no contest”.

So,  it’s just another coincidence that when Will ‘dies’ (in s1) a David Bowie song (‘we can be heroes’) plays. And as Mike hugs his mom, mourning Will -  a romantic lyric from the song plays during the hug?“And we kiss, as though nothing could fall. And the shame”  (which is heavily queer coded)?

And then in the last ep (in s3) Mike mirrors this scene in s1, hugging his mom, since he feels like he’s losing Will all over again. And right after the hug (‘we can be heroes’) plays again!?  I’m not saying byler is endgame. But- WAIT THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M SAYING! XD

These men literally invented ‘hetero-baiting’ (with Robin & Steve) and you think they’re going to queer bait?!

Also, if Will was a girl named ‘Willow” no one would call byler ‘delusional’ ! Even the most casual viewer would say it’s obvious they’d end up together in the end!

If the witness said about El in s1 , “ same height… it could be the Byers girl”, instead of ‘boy’ (pointing out the resemblance).  Mike only meeting El cause he was looking for Willow. Proclaiming “i’m the only one who cares about Willow!” . Mike getting into fights and getting upset (almost crying) about the bullies insulting Willow. Mike only getting angry at El when he thinks she lied about Willow being alive. Mike being the only boy who has a scene dedicated to his loss of her (with the same romantic lyrics playing). Mike having a whole binder of her drawings and caressing one of the drawings, after he thinks she died.  Mike being the only one of her friends to stay awake at the hospital, waiting for her to wake up- so he can see her and hug her first. People probably would of started shipping it the second Willow stared at him and was the only one who didn’t lie to him, in the first ep! Another parallel to El!

If Will was Willow, the majority of the fandom would be byler shippers. Think about it! . Mike having s2 byler scenes that are identical to s1 mileven scenes, and then additional unique byler scenes. Mike staying by Willow’s side 24 hours a day for several days (not even changing clothes), carrying her out of the hospital, grabbing her hand (with a zoom in shot),constantly asking her if she’s okay at least 5-7 times, putting his arm around her twice, being the only one who could tell something was off with her (and it wasn’t her normal type of quiet). Calling and running all the way to her house and banging on the door to check on her, desperate. Watching her sleep cause he’s so worried. That shed scene reminiscing about how they first met in perfect detail, saying “I asked, I asked if you wanted to be my friend. You said yes, you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. (like a marriage proposal)”  The “crazy together” scene. Them being close since they were 5 vs the girl he knew for a week (but is somehow in love with?). In s2 if Mike sadly watched Willow dance with another guy , while Dustin does the same to Max. Forget it- everyone would already know mileven would be doomed to fail.

And again think about s3 if Will was a girl.They parallel the (comedic) mileven breakup vs (the sad/serious) byler breakup. Then Mike just complains and burps on the couch vs apologizing to Willlow multiple times/even going into a storm to apologize a 2nd time (and to ‘talk’). Willow having a breakdown over the fight vs El laughing and high five-ing Max after.The shed vs the pool shed scene- “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”, “blank makes you crazy’ (as El stares confused) vs “crazy together’ (where Willow says ‘yeah, crazy together’). Mike going on ‘movie dates with Willlow all the time’ right after making out with El. The last mileven kiss where Mike has his eyes open the whole time,  and doesn’t kiss back. And saying he doesn’t remember saying  “I love” you to El (and doesn’t say ‘I love you’ back). Right after having a talk with Willow about playing games when she comes back (the crux of their fight). Mike getting excited that he’ll be able to visit El and Willow on Thanksgiving and them visiting him on Christmas (those are holidays where family usually introduces their S.O.) Having the last scene of Mike,  be him looking back at Willow’s house, and have that whole monologue about “feelings changing”, and then he goes to hug his mom like the s1 byler scene where he thought Willow was dead, signifying he lost her again. And that’s not even all the scenes- and every time byler won by a landslide. If Will was a girl, we wouldn’t be ‘delusional’! It would be obvious writing on the wall, that Mike would eventually choose Willow over El by the end of the series.

But since they are 2 boys, we’re delusional, because queer kids don’t exist … apparently.

*S3-I’m not repeating my literal essays but they’re probably better than this post so here are the links to pretty much all my s3 byler meta.  (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

gif credit: 1st few have the name stark in the gifs, 2nd byler gif (found on wheheart.com- user dream_daisy, not sure if they also have a Tumblr , 3rd livelovecaliforniadreams, 4th &10th Cath-avery, 5& 6th unknown, 7-9 eggogorgon . Tell me if you know the unknown one so I can give credit , please.

[scottishoctopus]

Day 1: favourite ship (pairing).

Okay! Let's get started because I've been so excited for this week to come and now it's finally here and I get to share all the stuff I love about this awesome franchise.

My favourite ship/pairing?

That would be Captain Jack Sparrow with the jar of dirt, and Captain Barbossa with an apple.

There. I'm done.

Okay so obviously not! Though that ship is one of my favourites, but my all time loved one would be Davy Jones and Calypso/Tia Dalma.

You probably saw that one coming because after all, I am a Davy Jones fan account! And I love everything about that character. But I'm not here to talk about how great he is, that speech will come on another day.

Why do I love this couple? Well lemme just type out all the reasons why this ship is my OTP in the POTC franchise!

Firstly, it's such a tragic mythical love story, kind of like Romeo and Juliet but just 100x more sadder and it also rips your heart out your chest and stabs it afterwards. I mean seriously, I love this god damn fictional couple to death!

A pirate falls in love with a goddess of the sea, and that's ironic because he loves the sea and it turns out that the sea loves him back. And because that goddess loves him so much, she gives him the task to help the people who died at sea and aid them to the afterlife. It does come with a cost and that is he can only see her once for a day after ten years.

And then on one particular day that the two would never forget, she does not show up to see him, and we get that explanation in the future when they meet again. "It's my nature." And the pirate feels betrayed, tricked into becoming a servant for her, and that snaps his heart into two (not literally but you get my point).

And he wants revenge...by betraying her in return.

The pirate decides to tell the Brethren Court of her secrets, of how they can control the sea by binding the goddess to a human form. And he persuades them to do just that. And the goddess becomes stranded on the shores, stripped of her power and disconnected from the sea.

The pirate thinks it was the right thing to do, but he still has that agonising pain in his chest, radiating from his heart. And he could not cope with the pain after what she had done, and after what he did in return.

"The pain that cause him was too much to live with, but not enough to cause him to die."

He removed the pain, by removing his heart from his chest.

And that turned him into a monster. The pirate never aided the lost souls to the afterlife anymore. Instead, he collected them. Forcing them to serve on his ship for the rest of their life, their humanity vanishing as time passed.

Eventually the pirate and goddess meet once again, one final time. Both are separated from eachother by iron bars that contained the goddess bound to a human form. And on the other side, the pirate who transformed into a monster. He wants to express hatred for that betrayal that had happened so many years ago, the pain in his chest was still there next to the empty space where his heart should be. But he still loves her, and so does she.

"And what of your fate, Davy Jones?"

~ ~ ~

Sorry for the long paragraph of sadness and heartache. I love how it started with me saying that's ironic that he loved the sea and it loves him back, and then it all turns into that crying mess. I loved including all the little quotes too. I would of made gifs, but it turns out that I am actually crappy at making them! I literally tried making that scene from At World's End but it ended up being too dark and pixelated.

Um, anyway back to why I love this couple.

The two only interact in one scene, and it's that scene in At World's End. And it is such perfect ness! Even though, I would of liked it if there were flashbacks to a younger Davy Jones without the tentacles, the movie is pretty long and it gets much hate for being that.

(Disney please make a prequel movie that's about Davy Jones and Calypso I am begging you)

The scene starts with Davy Jones expressing his hatred of her betrayal, and it ends with him telling Calypso/Tia Dalma that his heart belonged to her. And honestly, I wanna scream so much everytime that scene comes on. HE STILL LOVES HER AND SHE LOVES HIM AND THEY WERE GONNA BE TOGETHER WHEN ALL THIS BECKETT SHENANIGANS WAS OVER BUT NOPE, HE HAD TO BE KILLED OFF.

But at least they could finally be together, right? Even though I really didn't want him to die, and he just goes and does it anyway.

Hopefully Disney does make another POTC movie, I think they definitely will be because they are wanting Johnny Depp back as Jack. (And they also need to send a damn apology to him while they're at it too.)

And it turns out that Davy Jones might of been resurrected judging by that post credit scene in DMTNT! I mean come on, Calypso/Tia Dalma resurrected Captain Barbossa so she definitely could of done the same to Davy boy too! Yes, I'm calling Davy Jones by that name now. Maybe she did that for a reason as well. Maybe there's gonna be some over powerful god and Captain Jack Sparrow is gonna have to team up with Davy Jones to take down said god! I think Davy Jones will also be wanting his ship back, Will.

I mean the Flying Dutchman by that. Not an OTP. I don't know what couple he would ship.

I'm getting curious now...

Okay. I think I've ranted on long enough now. Because this is just turning into a Film Theory at this point. I hope this was enough to make you guys happy! My fingers are hurting so much for typing all this down on my phone. Hope you guys enjoy #pirates of the quarantinean , and I am really excited to start this week off! I'm going off to look at everyone else's OTPs now, hopefully somebody ships Barbossa with an apple too.

Stay safe you guys, and see you on the next day which will be about your favourite actual pirate ship!

Edit: So I've tried posting this a hundred times and it never comes up on my profile. It started off with GIFS and it wouldn't work, then I tried posting off my laptop and it still wouldn't work. I'm trying to post off my phone again, this time without the GIFS.

Edit 2: Okay it successfully posted finally! Sorry for getting all annoyed!

[xmagicxshopx]

😈 Secret Admirer 😈 Epilogue

Genre: fantasy adventure, romance, angst Rating: PG-13 bordering M Warnings: brief but graphic violence, temporary deaths, angst Pairing: Jungkook x reader Notes: demon!jungkook au. Private Investigator Jungkook. Not idol!jungkook. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: This gets pretty emotional really quick. But I promise you, this is a happy ending~

Tagging: @sebastianshoe @fortunexkookie

Summary: All you’ve ever known is struggle. You fight to survive every day and you’re grateful for the little things. But one night, when you make a wish at 11:11pm on the 11th day of the 11th month…….your whole world gets turned upside down.

“Kookie.....Is this trip necessary???”

“Of course it is. Absolutely.”

“But what if they’re in there???”

“My beautiful angel.....that’s what we want.”

It had been three days since you discovered that your mysterious secret admirer was actually your coworker who turned out to be under cover as a private investigator. Not confusing at all, right? How about we throw in the fact that he’s a demon too. Yeah. That would explain the red eyes you had nicknamed him for.

You weren’t going to lie, it was quite the shock. Even more so when he explained to you how you had been in a coma for nearly six months. It didn’t even feel like that much time had passed. It just felt like you had fainted and woken up a few minutes afterward. How wrong you were.

It had all happened so fast. You woke up from your coma, discovered what Jungkook was, accepted him for what he was, and then you had blacked out. Only from Jungkook’s point of view, you had flat lined. He sat there frozen with confusion and fear as he watched the line on your monitor and the straight beep ringing in his ears.

You were dead.......

“No.....No.......No no no no no no no no. Human! Don’t do this! Don’t go! Don’t leave me! Come back!”

The demon had never ever lost his cool. It was just something he was good at. But having dealt with your absence for so long and to finally have you awaken only to be taken away from him a few minutes later......it broke him. He was in hysterics as he started sobbing over your motionless form; even going as far as trying to shake you back to life.

You were gone. You were on your way to Heaven.....

Wait......

That’s it.

He had to stop you.

Thinking fast and knowing time was short, the male climbed into bed with you and instantly fabricated a large kitchen knife with the snap of his fingers. As he positioned the tip of the knife to the spot over his chest where his black heart beat, he mumbled to himself,

“Probably overkill but nothing like making sure I don’t miss.”

Closing his eyes and calming himself enough to focus, Jungkook swiftly pushed the knife forward and ended up letting out a small choke before allowing himself to fall backward onto the bed; arms falling limp at his sides.

To any outsider, it would be like watching a modern play of Romeo and his beloved Juliet. There the two of you lay on his grand king sized bed. You with your lips blue and skin ashen gray. The demon motionless as black liquid poured from his self-inflicted wound; a small trickle of the same substance crawling its way down from the corner of his lips.

Jungkook woke up in a foggy field full of wild flowers. It was so peaceful as he sat up and gently rubbed the back of his head. Looking around, he took notice of a stream nearby with a few wild animals refreshing themselves with the crystal clear liquid. Looking down at himself, he realized his chest was completely free of injury and he was dressed in white.

“Little Human!”

That’s right. He was on a mission. Scrambling to his feet, the demon looked all around for some sort of path or directory that would tell him where you might be. Did Heaven even have a directory??? Just when he was about to say screw it and start running in a random direction, it was like his thoughts were being read as a stone pathway suddenly formed right in front of him.

Not even questioning it, Jungkook started into a sprint as he followed the newly laid path. He could only hope this path would lead him to you. The demon obviously wasn’t one to pray, but for the first time that he could recall, he was praying you hadn’t walked through the pearly white gates yet. He prayed that he was going to make it in time to stop you.

Honestly, it was a miracle the demon hadn’t burst into flames yet. He wasn’t exactly welcome here. Now that he thought about it, how had he even made it here??? Of course every one of God’s children were to be judged at their time of death, but one would think a demon would automatically be sent to hell, right? Hmm.....

And there you were; standing in front of the famous gates to Heaven. A paradise for all of God’s children who stay faithful to Him and His word. The perfect home for an angel like you.

But a place he could not follow.

You were absolutely beautiful. Stunning, even. Standing there looking the healthiest you had ever been with an excited smile on your face. Your skin had a radiant glow and the sundress you wore hugged your body perfectly. You were gorgeous. The angel to his demon. The light to his darkness. You were his other half.

And he couldn’t let you go through those gates.

“Wait! Don’t do it!”

‘Huh?’

You recognized that voice. Quickly turning around, you were shocked to find the male that had quickly become your whole world running right towards you. Within seconds, he had you wrapped up in his strong arms and was pulling you away from the entrance to Heaven. Confusion filled you as you tried to calm the frazzled boy down.

“Jungkook---What are you doing here??”

“You can’t go in there. You can’t.”

There the two of you stood with your arms around him rubbing his back and his face stuffed in the crook of your neck. Honestly if you weren’t already dead, you’d guess he was squeezing the life out of you with how strong he clung to you. Trying to get him to understand while still soothing him with back rubs, you spoke softly.

“Kookie. It’s my time to go. God told me I don’t have to struggle anymore. It’s time for me to go home.”

That only seemed to make things worse as you felt his towering form begin to shake against your smaller frame. If it were possible, it only made him cling to you tighter. With audible tears soaking your shoulder, he shook his head against your neck and managed to wail through his tears,

“No! I refuse to believe that! It’s not your time! Not yet!”

It broke your heart seeing him like this. He seemed like too good of a person to be a demon but the red eyes don’t lie. God his tears were making you cry now. Sniffling and whimpering, you clung to him just as tightly. Perhaps there was a part of you that didn’t want to leave if it meant being without him. You had grown quite close over your time together in the storage room of the department store.

You enjoyed his cheesy corny jokes and of course he always made sure you were eating and drinking plenty of water. Jungkook took care of you. Your secret admirer had been taking care of you all this time and you didn’t even know it. The repairs to the apartment, the new shoes, the sticky notes. Everything. It was all Jungkook. The big bad demon who was supposed to have a black heart.

But then it hit you......If you were here......and he was here......then that meant---

“Jungkook----You’re----”

“Dead. Yeah.”

You stared up at him wide-eyed while he smiled a bit sheepishly but sadly. He had finally stopped crying. Reaching up to tuck some hair behind your ear, the demon explained in a soft voice,

“I had to stop you somehow. This was the only way I knew how.”

Before you could respond, he continued.

“I’ve witnessed a lot of deaths, little human. Deaths that were well deserved. Souls that resembled rotten apples. Hearts blacker than the ace of spades. They deserved to die. But you......”

Your eyes began to water once more as you knew where this was going. You whimpered as he lovingly tried to wipe your tears before they could fall from your eyes; a sad smile on his face.

“You don’t. You deserve to live. A soul as pure as yours deserves a second chance. Take it. Live the life you were meant to live. You can have my apartment and my funds. While you were in a coma, I made up a will and put everything in your name should something happen to me.”

“Jungkook stop.”

But he just kept going.

“I’m a demon. A dark soul. A follower of Hades. I belong in hell. I deserve to die. But not without making sure you’re taken care of first. My precious little human. My angel. Please don’t cry.”

“Ahem.”

The two of you broke apart from your desperate clinging to each other only to turn around and see a young man dressed in a white robe with the hood up. He was standing by the gates with a warm smile on his face. His skin was the most beautiful tan you had ever seen and you were pretty sure those were dimples you saw coming from his smile.

“Hello, my children.”

You instantly recognized that voice. It was the voice of God Himself! Your eyes widened as you immediately gave a 90 degree bow to which the male only chuckled softly while waving a hand gently in the air.

“No need for formalities, my child. Please rise and face me as an equal.”

You felt Jungkook rest his large, warm hand on the small of your back as you straightened up once more to stare at the man Himself. Swallowing hard, you watched His smile widen a bit; a twinkle of amusement in His warm brown eyes.

“I see you are reconsidering your choice to come home.”

Eyes watering all over again, you sniffled to help stop your nose from running and making your face look even worse than it already was. Swallowing hard, you spoke in a begging voice,

“Please, Father, let Jungkook come with me.”

“Forgive me, my child. But Jungkook is not like you and I. He does not belong here. Where you and I go, he cannot follow.”

This only made you sob harder with your eyes screwed shut and your face twisting in emotional pain. Just when the demon himself was about to reach out and comfort you, he was shocked by the next words that came flying out of your mouth.

“Then let me take him with me back to Earth! If I go back, so does he! I’m not leaving him! I love him! We’re a package deal!”

Whoa. Okay. That definitely wasn’t what Jungkook was expecting. Did he hear you right? Did you just say that you.......that you loved him? All he could do was stare at you in shock while you stared firmly at the Heavenly Father Himself; a stubborn pout on your face the entire time.

Meanwhile, God was smiling fondly at the two of you. Things were going exactly as He had planned. It was true what they say, God has a plan for all of His children. That included you and your little demon boyfriend here. With soft chuckles, the pure male spoke with amusement in His voice.

“I thought you might say as much, my child. Fortunately for you, I came prepared for such a demand.”

And that was how you now found yourself three days later back on Earth standing in front of the department store you and Jungkook worked at for all those months. Hand-in-hand with you sporting a nervous expression while he was grinning like the cat who ate the canary. Letting out a shaky breath, you watched the small cloud leave your mouth from how cold it was outside. It was November after all.

“Do we have to go in there? What if they recognize me???”

“Babe---again---that’s what we want. We want them to recognize you.”

You chewed on your bottom lip in extreme nervousness while the male simply glowed with giddiness and opened the door for you; gently nudging you in first before following close behind you. No longer were you shivering from the cold, but from nerves.

This was the first time you were back in the clothing store since your coma. It had been six months since you were last here. Surly they had replaced you already, right? Perhaps it had been so long that no one would recognize you. However, your persistent boyfriend was about to make sure they didn’t.

“Hello. Welcome to----”

Dang. So much for being forgotten. The two snooty girls who always stayed on register duty definitely recognized you as both you and Jungkook approached them. Good lord you really didn’t want to have this conversation. Your instincts drove you to cling against the male’s side like lint on his designer dress coat. Not able to find your voice, your boyfriend spoke for you in a chipper tone.

“Hello, ladies. My girlfriend and I are hoping to find her a new winter coat. Only the best for my angel, after all.”

Dear god he was laying it on thick, wasn’t he? You nearly squeaked in shock when you felt him press a kiss to the top of your head with his arm wrapped around you lovingly. Any other time, you would have mewled and cooed at the display of affection. However, right now, all you wanted was to hide in the nearest clothes rack and never come out.

The two girls stared on in shock as they tried to process what they were seeing. How could a handsome man like Jungkook be with a scrawny, poor peasant like you??? It didn’t make sense. However, upon seeing the male raise a curious eyebrow with an expression that clearly stated he was waiting for their assistance, the two girls immediately started to scramble and stumble over their words; trying to explain where the best coats were in the store and such.

“Thanks, ladies. My angel and I can take it from here.”

Needless to say, Jungkook pulled one last prank on the two witches before he strolled out of the store with a brand new coat for you; whistling as if he hadn’t just totally caused the two females to fall flat on their faces as their shoelaces had become mysteriously tied together sometime between ringing up the new winter item and handing the large bag to your boyfriend.

“That’s not what God meant by using your powers to right wrongs, Kookie. You know He’s watching, right?”

You pouted cutely as your boyfriend simply winked at you and replied casually, gently swinging the bag that contained your new winter fur coat,

“I’m sure He’ll let this one slide, babe. Think of it as karma. No worries. Now---Let’s go to the diner and have some lunch. I’m starving and you need to keep eating so that you stay glowing and beautiful.”

Meanwhile, just across the street from the diner watching the two lovebirds taking a seat at a booth perched against the window, stood two young men wearing trench coats along with hats to cover their faces. One wore a gorgeous white coat while the other wore a pitch black one.

“Told you he’d prank them. You owe me a drink, Joon.”

Joon. Kim Namjoon. Also known as God Himself. The tanned male smiled in amusement as he watched the young couple happily chatting in the diner. You would occasionally giggle over something the young ex demon would say; hand covering your lips in an attempt to stay decent and respectful to others trying to enjoy their meal in peace.

“Fair and square, Tae. But I still have faith the boy will keep his end of the deal. He’s not all bad.”

Tae. Kim Taehyung. Also known as Hades himself. The blonde male sported a boxy smile as he too watched the scene from across the street. Taehyung had taught Jungkook everything he knew about being a demon. However, ever since you had stepped into the picture, Jungkook’s performance was more than lacking. With a soft bark of laughter, the evil male said coolly,

“Eh. You can have him. He was turning sloppy anyway. Hasn’t handed me a soul in months.”

On the other side of the street, you sat there staring out the window with a clear view of the two males leaning against a wall opposite the diner. Your smile was warm and loving as you instantly recognized God Himself. Hoping that He could see you, you couldn’t help but say out loud in your head,

‘Thank you.’

Life was rough sometimes.

But with a little faith......

Things could always turn around for the better.

[jack-kellys]

woulda look at that! it’s PART TWO of the thanksgiving fic!!! right on time!!! scroll down on my blog for part 1 gang

alright!

————

warnings: ha steam YEET, like steam enough that qualifies for NSFW ohohoho but nothing Happens dw, more cursing, yeah

words: more than last time? yeah

woo

————

As much as Albert wasn’t confused as to why he was called to this occasion, he knew Crutchie would regret it. Everyone would. Something would go wrong—that was just how it was.

He, Race, Romeo, and Elmer were all going to be cooking in one kitchen together. If someone didn’t fucking kill themselves it’d be a goddamn miracle. Team Brain had evacuated the entire floor, leaving the group alone.

“Sis, why are we even making pumpkin pie? I hate that shit,” Romeo whined, reluctantly unwrapping the plastic on the crust.

“A few things on what you just said to me,” Albert started, not even looking at the boy.

“Oooh man. Here we go,” Race interjected with a giddy smile. “He always does this.”

“First,” Al spoke louder to be heard over Race. “First, do not ever call me sis, or sister, or whateverthefuck. Second, we are making pumpkin pie because it is fucking thanksgiving and you do that shit. And third, shut up. I don’t need your goddamn opinions.”

“Awww, SHIT!” Elmer cheered. “Get fucked, Ro.”

“‘That’s just my opinion!’” Romeo quoted, doing the distorted voice as well and earning a laugh from Albert. Dammit, Vine.

“Got you!” Romeo taunted. “I made’ja laugh!”

“Go peel me some fuckin’ potatoes, you heathen,” Race ordered. Romeo sighed dramatically, passing Albert the crust and going through drawers searching for a peeler.

“Hey, I brought a speaker. Y’all want music?” Elmer asked, holding up his Bluetooth speaker. Albert looked up for a moment, seeing it only briefly before Race snatched it up and was syncing it up to his own phone.

“Goddammit, Race,” Albert sighed, but kept stirring the condensed milk into the bowl he was using. “Sorry, guys, I gotta go up two stories and throw myself out the window.”

“My fault,” El shrugged. “Sorry, Al.”

“It’s okay, El, I’ll just die. It’s fine,” Albert assured him. Elmer smiled brightly in response, nodding, and the two burst out laughing.

“Date?” Race asked, Taylor Swift coming in through the speaker as he looked between Elmer and Albert.

Albert deadpanned. “Race. I have been dating you since we were fifteen and gross.”

“Yeah, um...why?” Romeo asked. Reasonable question.

“I like...couldn’t tell you, sorry,” Albert shrugged, but regretted his words as soon as he saw Race’s smirk.

“That’s not what you’d say in be—“

Before Race could finish, Albert scooped a small amount of pie mixture out of the bowl with his spoon and flung it at Race without a second thought.

“‘Stop! I could’ve dropped my croissant!’” Race screeched, ducking around the glob and waving the speaker around.

“Actually, that’s my croissant,” Elmer added. This time, Romeo burst out laughing.

“Shit, this kid is on fire tonight,” Albert chuckled. “Race who?”

“Again,” Race said, pointer finger in the air as if to make a point, “that’s not what you say in be-ed.” Oh, great. He finished his sentence this time.

“Jesus Christ, shut up and stop exposing me,” Albert muttered, trying to focus on how the mix in his bowl was getting stiffer, which was good. Romeo had peeled more than a few potatoes, Elmer had chopped up all the sweet potatoes, and even Race had gotten more than halfway through with whatever Italian crazy thing he was making for tomorrow. They had made real, actual progress.

So when Race said “make me” with a sparkle in his blue eyes and a smirk pulling on his lips, Elmer and Romeo wiggling their eyebrows at Albert in return, Al only took a moment of hesitation before he marched up to Race and locked his lips with his, Elmer managing to catch his beloved speaker as it dropped out of Race’s hand when he went to wrap his arms around Albert’s neck, pulling at his red hair. Albert’s hands found their way around their usual place at Race’s hips, squeezing lightly.

“Give us a few minutes, boys,” Albert mumbled around Race’s mouth, then hiked Race up against his body, grabbing under his thighs.

He heard Romeo whistle. “Hell yeah! Get the hell outta here!” Romeo cheered, Elmer shushing him jokingly and turning up the music a bit more after changing it.

Albert walked he and Race into the closest room, pressing Race against the wall as his lips latched onto Race’s neck, trailing kisses down it. Al felt Race give his forehead a quick kiss before he let out a small moan.

“Why do we always get hot at shitty times?” Race breathed out, squeezing his thighs tighter around Albert's hips.

“Y’kinda fuckin’ asked for it, Sunshine,” Al murmured against Race’s skin, feeling the other boy shiver. He felt Race try to trace through Albert’s shirt to his chest, making the redhead whine slightly, a poor attempt at stifling it. Race laughed lightly at his expense.

“An’ you are fuckin’ needy,” Race taunted, leaning his hips closer into Albert’s and laughing again when Albert let out a hum. Suddenly Race grabbed Albert’s chin and tilted it up towards him, blue eyes now narrowed. “Not like I’m complaining,” Race whispered, and Albert swore his heart started to beat fifty miles a minute. Albert quickly closed the distance between them, kissing Race bruisingly hard as he squeezed the boy’s thighs, resisting the urge to run his hands over Race’s body.

After a couple of minutes, Race attempted to speak. “Would—“ Albert stopped his sentence, kissing him again before letting him speak for real. “Would Kath kill us if we fucked in her house?”

Al leaned away from Race’s face a moment, actually considering the idea and biting his swollen lip in thought. “Well…” He pursed his lips, “wouldn’t it be, like, a literal ‘fuck you’ to her dad?”

Race laughed. “Sex in protest!”

Albert grinned. “A fuck—but for the good of the people.”

Race cracked up at that, and Albert tore Race off the wall in search of a bedroom as Race giggled against the hickey he was trying to give.

•••

Thanksgiving day had finally come, and now everyone was over decorating the mansion or finalizing food. Sniper had Smalls sitting on her shoulders to tape something up, Jack was arguing with Buttons about what color was better for the tablecloth, Specs and Henry were in the kitchen double checking things, and most everyone else was laughing and talking or absently putting up more decorations. Kath clasped her hands together in excitement just watching her friends all working together and enjoying themselves. It was just how she had pictured, and it truly warmed her heart.

“Kinda cute, right?” Sarah said, putting an arm around Kath’s waist and watching their friends as well. “Pretty impressive they got it together for this one day.”

“If only they could get it together, period,” Kath joked while Sarah nodded vigorously.

“But seriously,” Katherine said, “it’s kind of…really nice that this is that important to everyone.”

“Hey!” Specs called to the room. “Food’s ready!”

A few whoops went up as most people made their way to the long table. Spot, Albert, and Jack helped to take all the platters to the table.

“You really outdid yaself, Kath,” Jack complimented, nudging Katherine as he passed her. “Thanks for this.”

She gave him an earnest smile, heading to her seat with Sarah. Once she got there, fire she even sat down, she was startled by Race yelling “S P E E C H!” at the top of his lungs. Although anyone sitting in a two foot radius of him told him to shut the fuck up, everyone else looked like they wanted a goddamn speech, and some started chanting it.

Which Katherine, even while expecting this to happen a little, had definitely not prepared.

“Okay, okay,” she laughed before their chanting would break any glass. “You want a speech? Fine. Alright.

“This day is normally not a very special day for me. Yeah, okay, I go to a fancy other mansion upstate every year, but it’s not..special. Even if I’m seeing family and people I haven’t seen in a year, those people there are mostly just that to me—people.

“I don’t know them. Not like I know all of you, or you knowing all of me. This is what thanksgiving should be, right? Spending it with people you actually know and talk to and keep in touch with. People who really make a difference in your life.

All of you? Are what thanksgiving is supposed to mean. Family, and friends, and people that in turn have made me a better person for knowing them. So I just…” Kath wiped her face quickly, laughing at herself a little. “Thank you, you know? For actually making this year’s holiday important to me again.”

A chorus of ‘aww’s filled the air while some boys clapped. Katherine finally sat down, blushing, and Sarah kissed her cheek gently.

“Honey, that was so sweet,” she whispered. “They gotta be honored you feel that way.” Katherine saw Davey nod on her other side and felt him squeeze her shoulder, but then saw Jack stand up next to him.

“As a matter of fact—“ He barely started before getting booed by nearly everyone. Katherine cackled in laugher while Jack whapped her arm. “Hey! We can all agree I somewhat speak for us, right? C’mon!” he finished, eyes wide.

Most of the booing died down, and Kath snorted as Spot started to protest and Race & Albert both smacked a hand over his mouth at the same time.

“Alright,” Jack restarted, eyes sweeping the massive table before continuing. “I just wanted to voice what all of us are probably thinking, which is that we should be thanking you. You let our crazyass group not only into your father’s mansion—which, every time you do that, holy shit thank you—but let us cook actual food in your kitchen, let us decorate your whole house, let us buy what we wanted for today, I mean...to any one of us, that is really somethin’. You gotta know this ain’t just special for you, but us too, cause there really ain’t any other place big enough to fit all of us.” A few laughs chorused, but Jack shushed the room once more. “We usually gotta split up for thanksgiving, I dunno if you knew that Kath. So this is a first time for us too, so, thanks. More than you know.” He shrugged, giving Katherine a smile as he sat back down.

“I guess that was pretty valid,” Smalls sighed, and everyone else begrudgingly agreed.

“Well, thank you, all of you, for also thinking that today is special. It means a lot to me,” Katherine smiled. “Now! Let’s eat, ‘cause we worked way too hard on this goddamn food for it to get cold!”

More cheering this time as everyone dug in at last. People laughed as they talked, everyone looked to be liking the food. They looked…happy. Really, really happy.

And so was Katherine, finally, on a day she never thought she would be.

———

happy thanksgiving everyone, not to be romantic and cheesy an bullshit but I’m grateful that all y’all read my shit it’s really cool of you! thanks so much!

TAG LIST

@suddenly-im-respecsable

@cream--rises

@bencookisagod

@thatpoorguysheadisspinning

@spot-conlon-king-of-brooklyn

@stopthe-presses

@newsies-of-nyc

@papesdontsellthemselves

@seasickdolphin

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@the-newsies-justice-for-zas-blog

@thomasbeingthomas

@the-king-of-brooklyn

@sunshine-e-cigarettes

@thebroadwayaesthetic

[sunlitblue]

Sigh Not So

this was not requested, but i missed my boy race, so here’s a (long) fic based on my favourite scene from much ado about nothing, which is my favourite shakespeare play. it’s also heavily inspired by a modern re-imagining of the play, which i am in love with, called nothing much to do. 10/10 would recommend watching, even if you’re not an english lit nerd like me. enjoy! <3 (PS if u can spot the quote from the original that i squeezed in near the end, then you’re legally required to marry me, sorry i don’t make the rules) (also the title is a ref to a quote from the play, i’m a nerd sorry)

It felt a bit melodramatic to call Race Higgins your enemy, but it was near enough to the truth. The truth was that you had liked him, once, maybe even more-than-liked him, but, as you grew older, the qualities you had once liked in him became obnoxious. It used to loosen you up when he made stupid jokes about whatever was happening, but now he was little more than a class clown who couldn’t take anything seriously. As you grew up, friendly roasts began to sound a little more serious, and, by the end of high school, he was the nearest thing you had to a sworn enemy.

You managed to fight with him about anything, from the correct translation of your Latin homework to the DC and Marvel cinematic universes. It was fun, sometimes, but mostly just exhausting. Sometimes, you wondered if it wouldn’t just be easier to get along, for your friends’ sake, if not for your own, but then he would make some ridiculous comment about how Parks and Rec was better than The Office and you would remember that he was the worst.  

He was annoying at track practices, when his hair was impossibly curly, and his eyes glittered with happiness, and he insisted that his team needed half of your soccer pitch to practice for field events. He was annoying in class, when he argued with the teacher about the underlying racism in Anthony and Cleopatra and, sure, he may have been right, but who cared about correctness when you went about an argument in the completely wrong way.

(“You,” Katherine would say every time that you brought this up. “You care about correctness, especially when it’s opposing Shakespeare.”

You ignored her. What mattered was that it was Race arguing with the teacher, and he was always wrong, even when he was right.)

He was especially annoying at parties, when he’d flirt with anyone who breathed – except you, of course. The way he nonchalantly joked with everyone else, and pretty much ignored your existence, except to tease you about your hair or something you had said, made your blood positively boil.

(And, Davey was wrong: you weren’t jealous of anyone, not even a little bit.)

He annoyed you at parties, but his absence from Jack Kelly’s annual Halloween party left a gaping hole. You were dressed as Jim Kirk, from Star Trek, and you had expected him to tease you as soon as you got to the party, insist that you had yourself pegged wrong and that you were definitely more of an expendable red shirt, than a royal yellow. You would respond in kind, with a snarky comment about how he had less personality than a Vulcan commander and all would be right in the world.

But, he didn’t show. Or, if he did, he managed to keep quiet the entire night which, considering who you were dealing with, just made the former more likely. Towards the end of the night, you found yourself leaning against a wall in the living room, talking to a girl that you kind of knew, dressed as Wednesday Addams, and a boy that you didn’t recognise, in a full Batman costume, face-covering cowl, and everything. Maybe, you had had a little too much of the definitely not kid-friendly punch that Romeo had whipped up, or maybe you were just tired, but, when the conversation lulled, Race popped into your mind.

“Hey, you haven’t seen Higgins around tonight, have you?”

“No,” the boy answered, clearing his throat. “I mean, no, I haven’t. Why?”

Maybe it was the alcohol, but you were almost certain that his voice was pitched a little lower than it had been earlier in the conversation. You frowned, it was probably the alcohol.

“No reason, I just feel like everyone’s here and he’s, like, not. It’s weird. And, it’s so uncharacteristic of him to let a night go by where he’s not the centre of attention.”

You winced a little at the harshness in your tone, and the boy must have picked up on it, too.

“You’re being kind of hard on him, don’t you think?”

You rolled your eyes.

“No, I’m giving him the same treatment he gives me, all the time. And, besides, it’s not like I haven’t tried to get to know him – it’s not my fault he’s the biggest douche canoe this side of Canada.”

You couldn’t see the boy’s face in his costume, but you thought that he might have been frowning.

“What do you mean ‘tried to get to know him’? From what I’ve heard he’s a pretty dope guy.”

You scoffed. Did people still say dope?

“Dude, I think I would know. We used to be really good friends, like, maybe even best friends when we were in middle school, and then I guess he just lost interest, like he always does. He’s got the attention span of a studious gold fish, I swear.”

“Well, did you ever talk to him about it? Maybe, it was just a miscommunication kind of thing.”

“Ugh, as if. If he stopped talking to me, it isn’t my job to figure out what his issue is. I just,” you huffed in frustration. “We’re all here, having a good time and making fools of ourselves and he’s just missing in action. Although, I bet if he did come to this party, he’d be dressed as Peter Pan, the boy who never fucking grows up.”

The boy flinched, and you wondered for a second if you had gone too far.

“That’s harsh. You should try to give him a chance, maybe he actually wants to try to get to know you, again,” he said, before drifting off like some mysterious faerie. You weren’t sure when during the conversation the girl had left, but, soon, you were standing alone. You stood there for a moment longer, wondering idly about who that guy thought he was, anyway. You finished the drink in your cup and sauntered off to find some more of that magic punch, not giving the boy in the Batman costume a second thought.

The conversation only drifted through your mind again the next morning, when you woke up, groggy and confused, on Jack’s couch. Maybe you were a little harsh, but you had given Race the benefit of the doubt, once upon a time. He had been one of your closest friends, once upon a time.

You still remembered the last proper conversation that you had had with him. You were twelve, sitting in your bedroom and playing video games, when he paused the screen and turned to you with an oddly determined look on his face. He asked if you had heard the rumour that someone was spreading around school, that you and he were dating. You said you had, still a little confused,  and he gave you this intense, unforgettable look, before asking what you thought of it all. You laughed at the idea, telling him, perhaps a little dishonestly, that it was super gross. He was like your brother, you said. You didn’t think much of it, at all. Why would he care, anyway? He had that pretty girl, Zoey. Finch had said that he had seen them holding hands at Sarah J’s party, so you didn’t want to ruin anything for him by admitting that you sometimes wished that the rumours were true. You pressed play and kicked his ass in Tekken. 

The next Monday, at school, he acted like nothing was wrong, but, after that, the pair of you started to drift apart. You stopped playing video games together, playful barbs became antagonism and, by the time you reached high school, you had nothing left of the friendship that you had once shared. It was sad, sure, but you weren’t a chaser. If Race didn’t want to be your friend, then so be it.

You didn’t think again about the conversation with Batman boy, or what you might have done wrong to get Race to hate you, until a few nights later, when you were sitting at home alone. You were trying to convince yourself to get up and get something done, maybe cook dinner or do your homework, for once, but, instead you were scrolling through your unexciting Instagram feed. You idly double tapped on a few photos, exhaled out of your nose in lieu of laughter at some stupid memes, and then you reached a picture that Albert had posted, from the weekend’s party. It was him and a couple of other boys grinning at the camera and you were about to scroll past, when you saw a familiar costume. It was yellow and black, with the tell-tale Batman logo on the front, but, this time, the wearer had the hood off. Shit. Shitshitshit. There, in the Batman costume was Anthony Higgins. You had accidentally complained about him to him. Sure, you and Race weren’t the best of friends, but you didn’t want him to think you were an asshole.

You fumbled to your contacts app and called Katherine. She’d know what to do, you were sure of it. After she had got done laughing at you, she offered you a solution: Talk to Race and apologise for what you had said. You knew, logically, that that was your only option, but you really wished that the world would end before you had to apologise to Race Higgins. You couldn’t stomach texting him and figured that you could just grab him after school the next day.

The day went by a little too fast, and, before you knew it, the bell had rung to signal the end of your last lesson. You resigned yourself to your fate and made you way to Race’s locker, which was just a few doors down from yours. He was alone, thankfully, and looked more than a little surprised to see you heading his way.

“Hey,” you tried to smile when you reached him, but you were sure it came across as more of a grimace.

“Hi,” he answered, barely looking at you as he moved books from his locker to his bag.

“Race,” you tried again, putting a hand on his forearm to stop his fairly violent rifling. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” He glanced down at where your hand touched his arm and sighed, turning to you, looking a little deflated.

“Fine. What’s up?”

You took a deep breath.

“Look, I didn’t know it was you that I was saying that shit to at Jack’s. And, I know it was shitty of me to be saying that to anyone, but I didn’t mean most of it. You’re on my nerves half the time, and making fun of me the other half, but that was mean. I’m sorry.”

He looked shocked, and a little pensive.

“It’s, um. It’s okay, Y/N. It just made me kind of sad that we aren’t friends anymore. I mean, we were good together.”

He met your eyes, and you were struck by how much you had missed the way they shined when he was being sincere.

“Yeah, uh, me too. We made a good team. I miss that.”

He looked like he was going to say something else, when Albert came up behind him and put two hands on his shoulders.

“Race and Y/N? Having a civil conversation? I’m entering the lottery on the way home, because today is a day for miracles.”

Race rolled his eyes at you and you laughed.

“Fuck off, DaSilva, you’re not even old enough to get a ticket,” he said jerking the boy’s hands off his shoulders.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “And you waste enough money buying coffee to flirt with Elmer at Jacobi’s.”

“Nice,” Race laughed high-fiving you, and Albert stuck his tongue out at you, before stalking off because he didn’t have a good comeback to dispute the truth.

There was a beat of silence, and before it started to get awkward, Race spoke again.

“Uh, if you’re serious about being friends again, we should hang out some time, maybe go to the arcade?”

You smiled at him, brightly.

“You sure that’s a good idea, Higgins? I’ll smoke you in ice hockey, like I always used to.”

“Uh, you wish. I’m the ice hockey king, baby.”

You punched him in the shoulder and made plans for that weekend. That had gone better than you had expected.

It wouldn’t have been true to say that you had changed your mind about Race right away. You had fun with him, from that first day at the arcade, onwards. It was still a little awkward and there was always a little tension in the room, but you worked through it. You were seniors, you could be mature, if you tried.

(Although maturity certainly seemed to be in short supply when you and Race giggled, together, at the matching sixty-nines that you got on your history pop quizzes, or when he whispered “that’s what she said” in your ear at almost every sentence that came out of Mr Bunsen’s mouth in bio.)

You didn’t hate him, not that you ever really had. You hated that, now, his stupid jokes made you laugh, because you were included in them. You hated the warmth you felt in your chest when you said something that made him laugh, and you especially hated that crinkle at the corner of his eyes when he smiled at you, sincere and earnest.

You, realised, gradually, that you and Race had never been enemies – you just responded to what you thought was his hate in kind. It was easier to keep roasting one another, when neither one of you broke the cycle. That conversation at the party had been a turning point, for both of you.

Although, you still seemed unable to talk about the elephant in the room. You and Race never discussed how the animosity had begun between the two of you. Bringing it up would force you both to admit how stupid you had been, and neither of you were very skilled at admitting fault. It was easier to ignore it, to dance around it, than it was to deal with it. It was on your mind more often, now.

You wondered what had really happened, because something had to have happened, right? The more you thought about it, the more it made sense. People don’t just stop being friends and turn to enemies, like flicking a switch, especially not two fiercely loyal people, like you and Race. You didn’t mention it, though, for fear that you would slip back into old habits.

You liked Race, you realised, even if the two of you were incapable of having a conversation about emotions. You grinned at one another in private moments of understanding, warm with that feeling you get when you spend time with someone who has the exact same sense of humour as you. It was really good to be his friend again, until it wasn’t.

The argument had started by accident. Race was coming over on a Thursday, after school to work on a project for history. You were determined to get better than a sixty-nine for this one, even if that was the golden number. When Race had rung the doorbell, your mum had welcomed him in, pleasantly surprised to see him. You always had a feeling that she was sadder about your losing Race than you were. She was convinced that the two of you were soulmates, even when you were kids in the playground. She called it a mum’s intuition. You called it heteronormativity, but, anyway.

She chatted his ear off as she waited for you to come downstairs, talking about how much she had missed having a boy around, and how glad she was that the two of you had patched everything up. You caught the tail end of the conversation as you made your way down the stairs.

“What ever happened between you two, anyway?” your mum had asked, innocently enough.

Race laughed uncomfortably.

“Oh, I guess she just got too busy for me. I’m glad we’re friends again, now, though.”

Your mum agreed, and you fumed. Almost as soon as you had pulled your bedroom shut behind you, you gave him A Look. He was alarmed.

“What?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘what’? Do you seriously think it’s my fault that we stopped being friends?”

He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“Oh, about what I said to your mom? I mean, yeah, it kind of was. You stopped inviting me over or replying to my texts, so I just figured you were busy,” he sounded unsure of himself.

“You stopped talking to me, Race. Was I supposed to be super nice to you when you always acted like you’d rather be anywhere else when I was in the same room as you?”

He scoffed.

“Are you being for real? We were fine, we were doing great, and then you started hanging out with Katherine or Davey instead of me, which is fine, but it was so not my fault.”

“You pretty much begged for space that day when you asked me about the stupid rumours about us dating, or whatever!”

He ran a hand through his hair.

“I cannot believe we’re talking about this. We were twelve, we were stupid!”

“And, now, you’re deflecting,” you replied. “We were best friends, Race. I just wanna know what happened between us.”

He sighed and flopped on your bed like a petulant child. His blue eyes were stormy, and they looked familiarly intense.

“Fine, it was kind of my fault, I guess.”

You kept yourself from fist pumping.

“It’s just, I felt so stupid!” he continued.

“What do you mean?” you asked, gently, this time, sitting at his feet on the bed.

“So, that day? When I asked you about the stupid middle school rumours?”

You nodded, motioning for him to go on.

“I had the biggest crush on you, and I figured that that was your way of letting me down easy. I was like your brother, right? It sucked. And, whenever we hung out, after that, I just felt so frustrated. I was mad at me, for being stupid and catching feelings and making everything weird between us, but I guess it was easier to just lash out at you. It was dumb, but I don’t think I like anything in the world as much as I like you, you were the first person that I ever felt any anything for. It sucked.”

He scrunched his eyes shut and looked ready to disappear.

“Wait,” you said, still processing his words. “’Like’, as in, present tense?”

He sat up straight.

“I – what?”

“You said like, like present tense like, like currently like.”

He cleared his throat and his eyes scanned the room, as he searched the walls for something.

“Uh, slip of the tongue, whatever. You said like way too many times just then.”

You waved your hand. Semantics.

“Do you, um, like me, as in like-like me, present tense like me, Race?”

He sputtered for a moment, and then swallowed drily.

“I guess, it’s stupid. It kind of never went away, if you can believe it.”

You could believe it. It wasn’t hard to believe, since you could relate. He was waiting, nervously, for you to say something, but your words didn’t seem to be working. Instead of speaking, you moved across the bed, so that you were sitting next to him, both of your heads leaning against the wall.

“I, um,” you took a deep breath. “Uh, same.”

His head snapped to yours and he searched your eyes for humour. He sighed, shakily, and then let out a soft laugh.

“’Same?’ I practically confess my love to you and all you’ve got is ‘same’?”

His eyes twinkled with mirth.

“Well, what else do you want me to say?” you protested. “That I don’t hate you? That I never wanted to hate you? I just figured that you didn’t want to be my friend, anymore.”

“God. We are idiots.”

“Yep,” you agreed.

You sat in silence for a moment, letting the realisation of what you had just admitted wash over you. Race suddenly turned to you.

“So, what happens now?”

You shrugged, still not meeting his eyes. You weren’t sure what you were nervous about now, but the tumble of feelings in your stomach insisted that looking at Race’s eyes would ruin you, so you stared at the white wall in front you.

“Because,” he said, putting a hand on your knee like he was bracing himself. “I kinda wanna make out with you, like, romantically?”

A laugh bubbled out of you and you turned to him, finally. You had been wrong, before, about the consequences of meeting his eyes. They weren’t storm-blue anymore. They were blue like the sky on a sunny a day. They were blue like the ocean, when you’ve spent months away from the sea. They were a sight to behold.

You turned your whole body to face him and gently slipped a hand to the back of his neck, playing with the blonde curls there. You leaned into him, and just before your lips met his, you muttered a word, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Same.”

You leaned in and kissed him, with years’ worth of hidden feelings, and he smiled against your lips. You pulled away after a bit and looked at his eyes. His pupils were blown wide, but they were as blue as ever. You wondered how you had ever pretended to dislike eyes as beautiful as his.

 TAGLIST: @bencookisagod @broadwayandbookblog @theygivesyawhateveryouwant @crazymecjc

[that-curly-haired-lesbian]

Analyze love story from a queer view?

Hianon!

Surething, one analysis of Love Story comingright up!

Before we startlooking at the lyrics though,we need to talk about Shakespeare real quick, everyone knows who that is,right? Writer dude that was kind of a big deal in the 1500’s (and interestinglyhad quite a few gay rumors surrounding him.) Anyway old Billy wrote this famousplay called Romeo & Juliet and it’salmost impossible to talk about Taylor Swift’s Love Story without constantly referring to this play so lemme breakdown the plot.

These two kids (she’s14 he’s 17, creepy right?) meet at a ball that Juliet’s family is throwing.

Juliet doesn’t knowwho Romeo is when she first meets him at the ball, but later (when he comes toher bedroom window and gets her attention by throwing pebbles at said window) shefinds out that he’s a Montague. A member of the family that’s having agenerations-long feud with Juliet’s family thus making it difficult for them tobe together even though they’re very in love.

Oh and also, whilethe goal of these analyses isn’t to tell you who a certain song of Taylor’s is orisn’t about I cannot quite help but attribute Love Story to Emily Poe. You know, Taylor’s first semi-publicgirlfriend? The girl who played the violin for Taylor in her early career onlyto then be fired on vague grounds somehow connected to the “negative influence”she was supposedly having on Taylor’s image.

This song is on thesame album as Breathe a song withmore than a few queer elements that Taylor has all but publicly stated waswritten for Emily. (Here’s a Taymily master post by @karlieskupkake for anyonewho’s interested)

Anyway, I just wantedto point that out since I may mention Taymily in the analysis. As always though,any interpretation of the song I offer below is nothing but my own speculationand I’m obviously not claiming it to be fact.

Okay now let’s lookat Taylor’s song, one of her most popular ones in fact. On the surface we havea song that’s using references to one of the world’s most famous hetero lovestories to tell its own hetero love story, fairly unoriginal really. But if wedig a little deeper we have a queer retelling of Romeo & Juliet with SPOILER ALERT: a happy ending! Pretty cool,right?

Lyrics cred onceagain goes to AZLyrics, this time with no edits from me.

–

We were both young when I first saw you.

I close my eyes and the flashback starts:

I’m standing there on a balcony in summer air.

–

These opening lines almost immediately lay out the Romeo & Juliet narrative by invokingimages of a girl on a balcony which is a clear reference to the source materialas her balcony is the first place Juliet has a proper conversation with herlove interest Romeo in Shakespeare’s play. Romeo and Juliet are also bothindeed very young when the events of the play unfolds, but the fact that Taylorthinks back on the events in her own life (the “flashback” part) that she’schosen to explore with the help of Romeo& Juliet suggests one key difference between Shakespeare’s story andthe story Taylor is telling. Unlike Romeo (the character I’d argue she plays inthis narrative, despite what she tries to tell us) she’s alive to think back onher time spent with “Juliet.”  

–

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.

See you make your way through the crowd

And say, “Hello.”

Little did I know…

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles

–

So, like I said, Tay- I mean Romeo is thinking back onher time spent with Emi- I mean Juliet. Just like the characters in the play it’splainly stated that the lovers from the song met at a ball and had a briefinteraction there, not knowing what they’d later come to mean to each other.

I think the party part (no pun intended) is mostlythere to keep the references to the play going, it’s probably not suggestingthat Taylor and her girlfriend met at an actual ball, but perhaps they also metfor the first time briefly and in a formal setting and a room full of people,not knowing they’d come to be important to each other in a personal way?

–

And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet.”

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you, “Please don’t go.”

–

If we’re to believe the hetero narrative the song istrying to put forth Taylor is playing the role of Juliet and her MALE loveinterest is Romeo, right? Well, in these lines she tries to point this out tous as to #NoHomo-proof the song. She’s now explicitly stating thather lover is Romeo and then she implies that her father tells Romeo to leaveand stay the hell away from his daughter.

However these lines always struck me as a little weird…It’salmost as if Taylor’s dad is telling HER to stay away from Juliet, don’t youthink?

It’s unspecified who the dad is talking to when hesays to stay away from Juliet and then Taylor is immediately telling us what she’s doing, not what the male love isdoing. As if those words are directed at her,not him. She’s only saying she was upset by them, but not specifying how theyimpacted the male who they were supposedly spoken to.

Additionally, when she begs the love interest not togo Taylor’s doing what she usually does, despite having just told us that thelove interest is Romeo she’s now having them be gender neutral, not calling him“him” she’s done #NoHomo-proofing for now.

So to summarize,with our queer googles on the scene Taylor is painting looks something likethis: Taylor is told by her “father,” or perhaps more likely, label or managementthat she can no longer see her girlfriend. This upsets Taylor and reduces herto tears as she begs “Juliet” not to leave her.

–

And I said…Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.

I’ll be waiting; all that’s left to do is run.

You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess,

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

After that daring little “you” in place of “him”Taylor takes us to the chorus by once again reminding us that the other person inthis story is a BOY named ROMEO. Just in case we got confused by all thatgender-neutrality and started wondering which lover is playing which part.

Anyway, after once again shouting “NO, HOMO, GUYS!!”At us Taylor is saying she’d very much like to be alone with her love so thatthey can have a private and perfect love story. She’s suggesting they run awaytogether and begging for her girl to say yes to the idea (Call It What You Want, anyone?)

She also throws in some more#NoHomo for good measure, this time by referring to herself as a princess andto her BOYFRIEND as a prince.

Remember in my analysisof Angelina when I said Taylor was using “princess” as a metaphor fora heterosexual girl? Yeah, she’s doing that again, but this time she’s describingherself as the “typical princess” that in Angelinashe said she’d never be. 🤔

–

So I sneak out to the garden to see you.

We keep quiet ‘cause we’re dead if they knew

So close your eyes,

Escape this town for a little while.

–

Here Taylor’s talking about a secret relationship andhaving to hide the love, wishing they could just be far away from where theyare so that they could love openly, pretty queer, right? Interestingly a famousquote from Taylor about Love Story statesthat while she choose to tell the story by relating it to Romeo & Juliet she relates more to the song as being about “alove that you cannot really elaborate on — a love that maybe society wouldn’taccept or maybe your friends wouldn’t accept.“ (x) Once again, pretty damnqueer!

–

‘Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter,

And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet.”

But you were everything to me,

I was begging you, “Please don’t go.”

–

Something interesting happens here, Taylor refers toherself (or perhaps her girlfriend, if we’re sticking with the idea that Taylorherself is Romeo) as a “scarlet letter” this is another literary reference asit alludes to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel TheScarlet Letter from 1850. In the novel this girl Hester falls in love withthis dude named Dimmesdale and they have a kid together out of wedlock which wasa big no-no in those days. To make everyone aware of Hester’s “crime” she hasto wear the letter A in bold scarlet on her chest at all times. Many litprofessors and such agree that the letter in the context of the novel symbolizessin. (Ha, I KNEW that lit degree I’m in the process of getting would be goodfor something!)

Many homophobes consider homosexuality a sin and so I thinkthat line is simply Taylor warning everyone involved that if she and hergirlfriend were to publicly date it’d be societal suicide. In the sense that alot of society would look at them as “sinners” or mark them as odd or out ofthe norm, just as if they were wearing a giant red A on them at all times, they’llalways stand out and society would always be aware of it.  

She may also be talking about how being in a publicrelationship with another girl would “mark” her a “gay artist” and limit hercareer, as if she was wearing a giant L for lesbian everywhere she went. To stop this from happening “daddy” (or Taylor’s management/label) isstepping in to stop the girls from going down the path of being publiclytogether. 

With the you were everything tome, I was begging you please don’t go-line though Taylor is, at least for amoment suggesting she doesn’t care about the consequences of being with hergirlfriend, professional OR personal ones, the girl is worth it all.

–

(Chorus)

–

Romeo, save me. They’re trying to tell me how to feel.

This love is difficult but it’s real.

Don’t be afraid, we’ll make it out of this mess.

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

Interesting fact: the original lyrics here was allegedly“This love is DIFFERENT, but it’s real” 🌈🌈🌈  

Anyway, with these lines Ibelieve that Taylor is trying to reassure her love that while management orother various outside forces are trying to tell them how to feel (aka “don’t begay, it’s bad” again, teaching children internalized homophobia is fun, right? 🤢) or advising them to break up for the benefit of Taylor’scareer etc. that’s not what she wants and she wants them to fight for theirlove and she’s encouraging “Juliet” to agree that they’ll try to stick togetherthroughout all of this, closeted if they have to.

–

I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around.

My faith in you was fading

–

This is the part of Romeo & Juliet where Juliet is waiting for Romeo to sneak backto see her so that they can work out an escape plan and be together far awayfrom their feuding families, but she’s starting to fear he won’t actually showup. If we assume this song is about Taymily this is where their story would’ve ended,right? Emily is fired and they give in to the pressure from management and breakthe relationship off never to associate with each other ever again…Meanwhile inthe play Romeo and Juliet both die, everything is super upsetting, but THEN…

–

When I met you on the outskirts of town.

And I said…Romeo, save me. I’ve been feeling so alone.

I keep waiting for you, but you never come.

Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think.

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring andsaid…

–

Taylor decides to go against both the canon of theplay and her own reality by giving the star-crossed lovers a happy ending. It’seven implied that perhaps this last part is imagined (is this in my head? I don’t know what to think) but regardless,just when she’s given up hope Taylor is reunited with her lover and proceeds to tell “Juliet” all about how lonely her “Romeo” has been without her, Then suddenlyshe decides to use a pronoun for her love interest for the first time in thesong and of course it’s a “him” and now “he’s” proposing. This is (almost) Taylor’slast desperate attempt to #NoHomo-proof this queer af song.

–

Marry me, Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone.

I love you, and that’s all I really know.

I talked to your dad – go pick out a white dress

It’s a love story, baby, just say “Yes”.

–

Hi, thanks for sticking with me so far and um, welcometo the best part of the song! You see, it turns out Taylor was #NoHomo:ing like crazy in this song for a REASON. In what is perhaps her gayest lyrics ever to date Taylor finally fully steps into her rightfulrole as Romeo and proposes to her Juliet. This isn’t the first time Taylor hasstepped into the shoes of “the guy” in her songs in order to sing about a girlin a #NoHomo way. (She does this in Mine andOur Song among others) Taylor istelling Juliet that she loves her and that none of them should have to bealone, that they’ll figure out the rest as they go along. She then continuesthe proposal by stating she’s talked to Juliet’s dad (#NoHomo) or as we’vechosen to look at it management/the label and managed to convince theseopposing forces that the lovers should indeed be allowed to be together. With the white dress line Taylor is begging “Juliet”to take her back and say yes to being together once more so that their lovestory can get the ending it deserves.

–

Thanks for gettingall the way to the end! This song was considerably longer and more complex thanAngelina, but I hope you all enjoyedthe read and if you want me to look at another one of Taylor’s songs from aqueer perspective, don’t hesitate to send me an ask! 😊

[volumes2lo-gan]

Romantic prinxiety Where Roman and Virgil don't get along but the theater needs another singer for there musical legally blonde ( if you haven't seen it before you can change it I just love that musical ) Virgil does it because he needs his grades up in theatre class. Virgil winds up playing Emmett and Roman plays Elle ( he's the only one who can hit the right notes and they don't care he's a boy ) they have to rehearse the kiss and turns out that they like it more than they thought they would

I love this prompt and it took a while to get enough time to sit down and write this, but I like how it turned out.  My school put on Legally Blonde last year, so I was familiar with it, but still needed a little refresher.  I also changed up the prompt a tad, but hope you enjoy!

Stick to the Script

Fandom: Sanders SidesPairing: Prinxiety, platonic Moxiety and LoginceWarnings: physical injury (nothing graphic)

Summary: Someone must’ve said Macbeth because they’re going to need a new Emmett.  Virgil is volunteered for the role and neither he nor Roman are too happy about it.

Tagged: @existental-crises @jordisama @here-to-vent @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @novagalaxy4real @thomas-must-get-to-sleep @emo-space-trash @evanisonfire @lollingtothemax @all-the-fand0mz

The stage was crazy this time of year, it wasn’t quite tech week yet, but the theater was bustling with students learning their lines and dance numbers. Virgil watched from behind a curtain on side stage as Roman and Logan performed their lines.

“Oh, and getting one of Stromwell’s daily quotes right is almost as important as acing the mid-term,” Logan recited.

“But you didn’t hear it from me.” Virgil finished under his breath.

“I still don’t get why you didn’t try out.” Virgil jumped and turned to face Patton, his heart racing. Damn, they really ought to get that kid a cowbell.

“Trust me, you don’t want to see me on stage,” Virgil said, crossing his arms. “I’m better back here as SM where there’s order and no surprises.”

As if on cue, there was a loud crash from the stage followed by a long, agonizing moan.

“Logan!” Roman yelled, jumping off his bench and running forward to kneel next to Logan.  It looked as though he’d tripped over a loose cable when he’d gone to move to the front of the stage.  There was another low moan as Virgil met Roman and the other students starting to swarm around the injured student.  Logan’s arm was bent underneath him at a peculiar angle.

“You see?” he said, pain barely masked in his voice, “This is why I need to wear my glasses in this role.”

Thomas, their theater teacher and director, finally got to Logan’s side and tried helping him up, motioning for the other students to give them some space. “Ookay, take it easy there, Logan, I think your arm is broken.”

“You think?” He retorted.  He was still trying to cradle his arm as Thomas steadied him and called 911.

“An ambulance is on its way,” he said, tucking his phone away.  “Roman, can you please bring him to the front of the school? His parents can meet him there.” Roman nodded and helped his friend leave the auditorium.

Once the doors had closed, Thomas turned to the rest of the students who were still standing in awkward silence. “So I know that it’s really close to tech week, but Logan won’t be able to perform with his arm broken like that. We’re going to need a new Emmett since Logan’s understudy has the flu." Patton’s hand shot up.

“Virgil can do it!”  Virgil’s heart froze.

No.

“Virgil?”

This can’t be happening.

“Yeah!” Patton beamed, “He knows all the lines and everything. He’s a really good singer too!”

Patton shut up.

“Well, Virgil, if that’s something you’d be up for, you would really be doing us a huge favor.” Thomas said, eyes quietly pleading with that look that had gotten him a decent budget for this year’s play.

“I…” I can’t believe I’m doing this… “I can… I can do it, yeah.” Virgil finally managed, feeling like his chest was about to concave.

“Great!” Thomas said, relieved to be saved from at least one disaster. The doors swung open and Roman came sauntering back in. Uhg, Virgil thought, immediately regretting his decision.

“What’s great?” Roman asked, hopping back on stage nonchalantly as though his best friend’s arm hadn’t just been broken.

“Virgil has volunteered to be our new Emmett!” Thomas said, gesturing to the new actor in question. Roman’s eyes widened and he shot Virgil a bewildered look.

“Wh– Virgil? He’s SM, he can’t be Emmett,” he reasoned hastily. Patton stepped forward a little.

“Well I can take over as set manager, I was already doing a lot of work with Virgil anyways, it shouldn’t be that different. Anyways,” he added, “Virgil will be a great Emmett!”

Virgil scuffed his shoe on the stage whilst actively avoiding eye-contact with every living being in the room. Of course Roman would have a problem with it. Mr. I’m A Perfect Prince couldn’t handle sharing stage with a techie, but whatever.  If anything, Virgil would do an amazing job just to spite him. Heck, maybe he’d even upstage him in the process. Virgil crossed his arms and steeled himself to look Roman in the eye.

“I’m going to try my best, so let’s put our best foot forward, shall we?”

Roman’s eye twitched. This was going to be a long musical.

It was finally tech week and everyone was scrambling to pull their pieces together.  The pit was rehearsing with them every night till eleven, the cast kept going after that until midnight, and the crew stayed till upwards of two in the morning ensuring that everything was perfect.  They’d gone through the show multiple times already and were about ready for a full run-through.  There was just one problem- the leads hadn’t practiced their kiss.

Virgil was playing Emmett flawlessly and Roman was pleasantly surprised, though he would never admit it.  However, every time they got to the kiss scene, Virgil would make up some excuse to skip to a later line.  It was crunch time and he was really starting to test Roman’s patience.

“It’s not the end of the world, Romeo.  It’s just one stage kiss, that’s it.”  Roman was glaring at Virgil who was, once again, avoiding eye-contact.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes.  “If it’s just a kiss, then why do we have to rehearse it?  We’ll just throw it in at the end.”

“It is at the end!”  Roman exclaimed.  “That’s the whole point!”

“Well, then we’ll get to it at the end,” Virgil replied flatly.  He knew he was pushing Roman’s buttons, but this was just the icing on the spite cake.  He genuinely enjoyed the play and all, but if he saw a chance to annoy that wannabe Broadway star, then he’d be remised not to take it.

Thomas came down the center aisle with his arms raised.  “Okay, you two.  We’re going to need some order on stage.  We’re getting into crunch time, people, and we can’t risk this scene going wrong by being unprepared.  Virgil?  I need you to hold out for at least one scene please.  And Roman, that goes for you too.  We don’t need anyone stepping on toes here, but we do need to actually practice this scene before Friday.”  He was now standing in the front row, arms crossed expectantly.  Virgil huffed.

“Okay, fine.  But just once tonight, got it?”  

“Pretty sure I’m the director here, but sure.  If that’s what it’ll take to get a run of this scene, then go for it.”  Thomas said, heading back to the sound booth.

Virgil exhaled and looked over at Roman.  The kid was straightening out his outfit and checking the floor for his marks.  It’s just one kiss, Virgil thought, how bad can it be?

Thomas called out for them to start and the scene began.  Virgil kept up the banter of the scene they’d gone through so many times before.  His heart pounded in his chest, dread growing exponentially as the lines continued.

“Then, forget it.  Besides, I have an early class tomorrow.”  Roman said, jokingly.

“So Friday at eight?”  Virgil asked, barely able to hear himself over his own heartbeat.

“Perfect.”  Roman began his exit for side stage before his cue to turn and dart back towards Virgil.  Roman was about an inch from his face when Virgil finally steeled himself and kissed him.  

Roman froze and Virgil wasn’t sure why, but he felt the sense of dread carving deeper into his stomach.  And then he was being kissed back, warm and soft, a hand pulling his waist closer.  This definitely wasn’t in their script, but surprisingly, Virgil wasn’t complaining.  

After a few more seconds, they both pulled away and– Shit.  Virgil couldn’t remember his next line and looking at Roman’s flushed face and dazed expression wasn’t helping.  He stood there, trying to will himself to remember what he was supposed to do next, but nothing was coming to him.  

He let out a groan and quickly darted backstage, embarrassment washing over him as he remembered there were no more lines, Patton was supposed to fade them to black.  His shadow slowly melted away as the stage darkened behind him.  He hadn’t realized that Roman had followed him until he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.  His heart leapt to his throat as he jumped in surprise.

“Virgil… that was… wow.”  He finished eloquently.  Virgil could even see Roman’s blush in the dim light of the side stage.

He cleared his throat.  “I- Well, Thomas said we needed to run through the scene, I just ran the script.”  He said, looking away at the prop table beside them.  Roman made a choked sound and Virgil looked up to see his expression of something between shock and amusement.

“W-wait.  You didn’t… you didn’t know it was supposed to be a stage kiss?”  Virgil froze, mind backtracking to figure out what he meant by that.

“A… stage kiss?”  He asked hesitantly.  Roman laughed and Virgil cringed away.

“Virgil,” he said, smiling as he put his hands on his shoulders for reassurance, “I’m not laughing at you, I’m just… I just can’t believe that no one’s explained it to you before.  A stage kiss… a stage kiss is like this.”  Roman leaned in and Virgil’s heart nearly stopped.  However, as he got closer, Roman’s hands reached up and cupped his face, thumbs ever-so-slightly covering his lips.  When Virgil felt the pressure of the kiss, it was from Roman’s thumbs pressing against his lips.  As Roman pulled away, Virgil flushed scarlet in embarrassment.  

“Oh my god,” he said, mortified.  “Wow I can’t believe I’m such an idiot.  Okay, well I’m going to see myself out and throw myself off a cliff now, BRB.”  He started for the door and made it one step before Roman grabbed his hand.

“No, it’s fine!”  He exclaimed, walking around to face Virgil.  “I… I kind of liked it…”  He rubbed the back of his neck as a flush crept down it.  Virgil couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You did?”  He asked, not really sure whether to believe him or not.

“Yeah,” he smiled, “yeah I did.  Do you think… I mean… would it be okay if I…” he was getting closer and Virgil’s heart started hammering in his chest.  He took a deep breath to calm himself.

“It’d be great, actually,” Virgil said before reaching up and pulling Roman into another kiss.  He held him close as their kiss deepened, heat coursing through their veins.  After a long moment, Virgil finally pulled away, leaving Roman a disheveled mess in front of him.  

“Holy hell,” Roman said after finally composing himself.  “Well that was… I… would you wanna get dinner after this?”  Virgil chuckled.

“Dude, it’s like eleven o’clock, dinner time’s over.”

“Well then how about breakfast if this thing goes really late?” he asked hopefully.

Virgil rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.  “Yeah, breakfast sounds good.”

“Great!  We should probably get back to stage, it looks like they’re setting up the next scene.”  Roman walked back on stage and Virgil paused for a moment.  He could’ve sworn he saw–

“See!!  I told you you’d make a great Emmett!”  Patton exclaimed, jumping out from the curtain’s shadow.  Virgil choked in surprise and Patton ran forward to help him.  “Oh, sorry, sorry!  I didn’t mean to scare you!”  

Virgil waved him off.  “How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long,” he said with a smile, “Thomas wanted someone to check in and see what was wrong.  I just saw the tail end of… that, but don’t worry, I won’t tell.”  Virgil wanted to sink down into the shadows he was so embarrassed.  It was bad enough that he was starting to have a crush on his annoying co-star, but his best friend had to witness it?  High school was officially the worst.  

“Please don’t,” he said, backing towards the stage.

Patton made the zipping his lips motion and tossed out the key with a smile.  God, what did Virgil do to deserve such a great friend?  He turned to the stage and walked back into the flood of lights to see Roman looking at him from center stage.  He was trying to hide a smile and Virgil felt butterflies flutter to life in his stomach.  If tech week didn’t kill him, this crush surely would.

[aplaceforrtprompts]

could you possibly write "i was on my balcony and you started loudly quoting romeo and juliet at me” with a certain miles luna?? i love my boy and i love bad flirting lmao. thank youuuu!!! love you ❤️

Word Count: 1,094

You took a deep breath as stepped out onto the back balcony of the house. You slid the door just and the instant sound of the loud pop remix was instantly muted. You walked to the edge of the small patio, taking a sip from your red solo cup.

There wasn’t any furniture so you leaned against the wall just enjoying the moonlit backyard. Everyone was inside from what you could see. It was pretty late so the part had wound down quite a bit but there was still enough to make noise and make the living room feel overcrowded.

You could see little lightning bugs floating around near the bushes, setting a nearly romantic feeling. You laughed to yourself at the thought and the juxtaposition of how it was inside.

Down below a very intoxicated Miles stumbled out into the backyard, the door sliding closed behind him. He looked at his empty cup then around to the quiet. He was really confused how he was outside and not in the kitchen that he was pretty sure he walked into.

He turned but a flash of gold caught his eye. He looked up seeing first the bracelet he bought you for your last birthday. He could have honestly kicked himself when he blurted it was a friendship bracelet. He took you to a fancy dinner and got you jewelry. The only thing missing was his actual confession of the feelings he had been nursing for you since he had met you several years ago.

Miles had plenty of moments to tell you but because he always chickened out you never knew how he felt. Drunk Miles was here though and he was going to finally settle things tonight.

“Hey!” Miles slurred loudly. As you looked around confused he shouted again “Down here!”

“Miles?” you laughed as you caught sight of your best friend stumbling to get a better view of you.

“The one and only,” he stood proudly, hands on hips, wobbling slightly.

“I see someone is enjoying themselves,” you noted with a smirk. He pointed to himself in a questioning manner. You chuckled, “Yes. You.”

He frowned and set his empty cup down. As he stood back up he asked, “Are you not having a good time?”

“It’s okay. More people than I prefer hence me taking a breather. To be honest, I’d rather be back at one of our apartments just watching stupid anime,” you confessed though Miles already knew you weren’t a party person.

“It’s not stupid! Not the point,” he mumbled the second sentence to himself so you didn’t even catch it. “Then let’s go! I got a new one to show you!”

You looked down at Miles with a big grin, shaking your head. You knew as soon as you got back to his place and him in pjs under a blanket he would be out like a light but that honestly sounded ideal. “I’ll be down in a second.”

You turned to leave but he quickly called, “No! Wait!”

You turned back around and leaned over to see him with his hands up. “Yes?” you raised an eyebrow.

“But soft light through the window. Juliet is the sun! Arise sun! And uh…” Miles trailed off and looked lost in thought.

“Are you trying to recite Shakespeare?” you held back a giggle.

“She speaks!” he suddenly jumped back into the act, “An angel. You’re an angel. Juliet, um, dammit! I should have paid attention more in theater,” Miles sighed.

“Okay, you dork. I’m coming down. If you’re coherent enough call an Uber,” you told him unsure if he even heard you as he was mumbling to himself.

You downed the rest of your drink and made your way back inside. You tossed your cup in the trash and let Barbara know you and Miles were leaving though you weren’t sure if she even heard you over the music. You found the backyard and Miles was there still but now sitting in the grass.

“Hey, stranger,” you smiled, walking over.

He seemed to brighten up, “Uber will be here in seven minutes.”

You nodded helping Miles up before the two of you walked to the front of the house. You wrapped an arm around him to steady him before he laid his head on his shoulder.

“Sorry I fucked up Romeo and Juliet,” Miles said after a moment of silence.

You smiled and leaned your cheek against his head, “It’s okay I still love you.”

Miles was quiet a little too long then he replied, “I love you too.”

Silence.

Miles lifted his head as he could see the Uber about to pull up.

“Hey, Y/N?” he turned to you.

“Yeah?” you looked at him as the car stopped in front of the two of you.

“I actually love you,” he confessed before hopping in the car.

You blinked unsure if you heard him correctly but you were pretty sure he just told you he had more than friendly feelings for you. You took a deep breath and got into the car. Miles was already in deep conversation with the driver, you weren’t sure if it was his normal friendliness or if he was trying to avoid you. Either way, you were left with only your thoughts on the way to Miles’ apartment.

When you got to the place you apologized and thanked your driver and helped Miles to his place, using the key he gave you. He didn’t say anything as he headed to his bedroom to change. You kicked off your shoes and locked the door before going to the spare bedroom and digging out some of the pajamas you kept there for occasions like this, Your head was still swimming as you came out and the room and saw Miles already tucked away on the couch, turning on the television.

“I forget the name of the anime I wanted to show you so I figured we’d watch one of the usuals,” he explained as you took the spot next to him.

“Hey, Miles?” you finally spoke up.

“Yeah?” he looked over at you.

You leaned in, cupping his cheeks, and kissed him softly. As you pulled back he looked surprised and melted into a dreamy smile.

“Oh, man. Please don’t tell me I’m dreaming again,” he sighed.

You shook your head, “It’s real.”

“Then please do not let me forget that in the morning,” he smiled.

The two of you still needed to talk but that could wait for the morning when you were both sober.