#listen i had to hide my notes okay there was a lot of spoiler-y stuff 😭😭

[linagram]

linagram 2 prisoners beta designs 🎉🎉 just thought these would be fun to post djdkskks

[unwrittenlibrary]

adore you

summary // bucky and alpine enjoy their solitude, but the girl across the hall is slowly creeping into their hearts. (bucky x fem!reader)

words // 7.4k

warnings // diverges from canon & no major spoilers.

notes // just thousands of words of fluff bc that’s all i know how to write. maybe one day i’ll venture into anything else. fluffy bucky has my heart 

reblogs & replies are greatly appreciated!

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The first time you knock on Bucky’s door Alpine wanders over curiously.

Bucky stares at the door silently urging you to go away. You knock again and Alpine begins to paw at the door before meowing loudly, which makes Bucky groan. “I’m coming.” He calls as he stands from the couch. He pauses the movie playing on his television, something ridiculous that Sam had insisted on. Alpine meows again and Bucky can hear you laugh through the door. 

He pulls on a hoodie that’s laying on his counter and stuffs his left hand into the front pocket. When he pulls the door open you smile brightly. “James!” 

The two of you had met briefly when Bucky had originally moved into the building. You had smiled the same bright smile in the elevator and offered up your name easily. Bucky had smiled tightly in return and told you his full name, a habit he had yet to break, and he deeply regretted it. Every time you passed in the hallway you called out a cheery James despite Bucky’s corrections. 

“It’s Bucky.” He mutters. Your eyes move over his shoulder and Bucky watches as you take in his very undecorated and barely furnished apartment. Bucky didn’t mind how seemingly empty his place was. He wasn’t home a lot and nobody but Sam spent time with him. Sam might think it was time to add barstools and a spice rack, but Bucky was content with how things were. 

Your attention is pulled to Alpine as he peeks out from behind Bucky’s legs. “And who are you?” You ask quietly as you squat down to meet his eyes. You hold a cautious hand out and Alpine only stares. You wait for a moment before he turns and moves back into the apartment. 

You don’t seem to take it to heart though. You laugh as you stand up. “He takes after his dad, huh.” There’s a teasing glint in your eyes and Bucky should be offended but the comment actually makes him smirk. 

“His name is Alpine.” Bucky says monotone as he watches you rock back and forth on your feet. “Did you need something?” 

“Oh!” Your eyes light up as if you had completely forgotten your reason for coming here in the first place. “I need salt! Do you have any?” Your eyes move behind him again as if you’re now suddenly worried the answer won’t be yes. 

“I have salt, yes.” He doesn’t move from his spot and only stares down at you. Your eyes flicker around the hallway before you smile nervously. “Can I have some?” You ask quietly. 

Bucky nods and makes his way into his kitchen. He expects you to stay and wait in the doorway, but he hears the door shut behind you.

“Didn’t want him to get out.” You say as you lean against his counter. Bucky’s a little put off by your brazen personality, but you don’t seem to notice his discomfort. “How long have you lived in DC?” You ask as Bucky moves to pull the salt out. 

“How much do you need?” He asks instead of answering. 

“Not much! A couple teaspoons.” Bucky’s stoic attitude doesn’t seem to deter you at all. He glances around the bare kitchen before deciding to just give you the shaker. 

“I don’t have anything to put it in, just make sure to return it eventually.” He shrugs as he slides it over to you. You grasp it in your hand but make no effort to move. Bucky sighs. “And I’ve lived here for a couple years now. I… I moved here after the Blip.” 

He wonders briefly if you know who he is. He’s not sure what happened in the years of the blip, if his name had been marked on one of those memorials. That had been before his pardon, so he assumes not. He wonders if Steve’s exhibit had been changed. He hadn’t been back since before the blip. Was he still in it? Had they changed it or was Bucky Barnes still dead in America’s eyes? His eyes find yours and then he wonders if you did know who he was, were you worried? 

You seemed fine around him. He hadn’t seen any recognition on your face when he had introduced himself all those months ago. A frown tugs at your lips. “Were you…” You trail off but Bucky knows the question. 

Bucky nods tightly and you take a step away and move towards his door, like you know he’s reached the limit on sharing personal details for the night. “Me too.” You finally say when your hand lands on his door knob. You pause. “It’s weird. Right? Coming back to a completely different world?”’

“Yeah.”  He nods. You have no idea, he thinks. He had just begun to figure out how to live free again and then he was gone. And when he came back, he was thrust into battle then lost Steve to a world Bucky was no longer a part of. “It’s weird.” 

You smile apologetically. “Thank you for the salt, James.” You say quietly. His eyes flash to yours but your face doesn’t give much away. 

He nods and the door slams shut. Alpine comes trotting out and rubs against Bucky’s shins. “Yeah, she’s weird.” Bucky reaches down to softly pet Alpine’s back. “Pretty though, huh?” 

Alpine pushes against his hand and Bucky takes that as agreement enough. 

//

Bucky liked helping Sam down at the VA. Handing things out, setting things up, and talking with veterans gave Bucky a sense of something. It gave him something to do when Sam and him weren’t away on missions. 

And he got to spend time with Sam. While it was something he would never admit to the man, he enjoyed his company. Sam had slowly become Bucky’s best friend. Not that Bucky really had any other close friends. 

“Thanks for helping out today.” Sam smiles as Bucky leads him through the hallway towards his apartment. “But you know, you can just come for a meeting. To talk.” 

Bucky nods. He did know that, really. But Bucky was okay with listening for now. Maybe one day he would share some of his story, but helping out now was helping him. 

Bucky stops short in the hall when he notices something sitting outside his door. He throws an arm out that Sam slams into. “Jesus, what…” He trails off when he notices what Bucky had seen. 

There’s a small brown box sitting on the ground. “Stay here.” He murmurs as he begins to move towards the object. Sam gives Bucky a look before following behind him. “Or not.” He glares. Both men kneel down in front of the box. There’s not much that gives anything about what’s in the box away, just his name written in fancy script. 

He reaches a hand out to touch it when the sound of your door opening makes him second guess and pull away. You were a little weird, but he didn’t want to blow you up. 

“James!” Him and Sam look over at you as you lock your door. You’ve got a red apron wrapped around your waist and your bag is slipping off your shoulder. Before Bucky can say anything like be careful, you furrow your brows at the men. “What are you doing? Do you not like cookies?” 

“Cookies?” Bucky asks as he glances down at the box again. Sam has already stood up and straightened out, but he’s still kneeling in front of the door. He can hear Alpine pawing at it, no doubt having heard Bucky’s voice, and he feels a little ridiculous now. “It’s Bucky.” He adds on now that he knows it’s not an explosive sitting in front of him. 

You nod slowly with a confused smile on your face. “Cookies. I made a bunch so I packed up the extra for you. When I knocked nobody answered so I left them, I wasn’t sure if I’d be home when you got back.” 

Bucky feels heat rise to his cheeks. He hastily picks the box up and stands. Sam laughs loudly and Bucky glances at him coldly. “Thanks.” He says quietly. 

You rock back and forth on your feet again. Must be a nervous habit, Bucky thinks. “I also made some cat treats. For Alpine.” Bucky recognizes the nervous tone in your voice as you stare at the box in his hands. “Thank you. For the help.” You say before spinning on your heel. You freeze and turn again, this time your eyes land on Sam. “Nice to meet you, Captain America, sir.” You look like you’re thinking of throwing your hand up in salute, but instead you turn again and rush down the hall. 

Bucky just stares after you until a muffled meow breaks his focus. He shakes his head before shoving the box into Sam’s hands and moving to unlock the door. “So.” Sam says with a poorly contained smirk as he follows Bucky inside. “She seems nice, James.” 

Bucky groans before snatching the box from his hands. “She knows I go by Bucky, she just calls me that to mess with me… I think.”

“And she knows Alpine?” Sam kneels down to pet said cat, but he jumps away and hides behind Bucky’s legs. “Come on, Al. We’ve known each other since you were adopted.” Sam stands up and rolls his eyes at Bucky. 

Bucky laughs softly at the cat. “She asked to borrow salt last night and kind of met him. Alpine didn’t really stick around to hang out with her.” He begins to open the box and notices a small note taped to the inside of the lid. 

He pulls it off hesitantly. “What’s her name?” Sam leans against the counter and pulls a cookie out of the box.

“Y/N.” He says quietly as his eyes skim over the note. 

James, 

Thank you for the salt. And the conversation. I hope you enjoy the cookies. I made some simple tuna treats for Alpine. 

Step One in getting your cat to love me. 

Bucky lays the note on his counter and looks into the box. His shaker is standing in the corner next to a small plate of cookies and a jar of what he assumes are the cat treats. Sam laughs and Bucky glances up to see him reading over the note. “Hey!” Bucky yanks it out of his hand and shoves it into one of the drawers in front of him. 

“Getting Alpine and you to love her, she means.” He laughs again and Bucky rolls his eyes. “That’s cute. I didn’t know you had a little flirtationship going on.” 

Bucky scoffs. “I don’t… What does that even mean? Did you see us in the hall? I don’t flirt with her.” 

Sam reaches for another cookie. “Really? Just felt like that’s how you would flirt. And you blushed so…” He trails off with a smirk. 

“I wasn’t blushing!” Bucky says defensively. He didn’t blush just because a pretty girl gave him cookies. He wasn’t in middle school. When Sam reaches for another cookie, Bucky yanks the box away. “Are you gonna order dinner or stand here and eat all of my cookies?” 

Sam throws his hands up in mock surrender and pulls out his cell phone. “Hey. No need to get defensive. Maybe it was just hot in the hallway.” He moves into the living room and flings himself onto the small couch. 

Bucky scoffs and looks down at Alpine, who has made himself comfortable at Bucky’s feet. “I wasn’t blushing.” He says quietly to the cat. Alpine just blinks. Bucky pulls a treat out of the small jar and holds it out to him. “You know I wasn’t blushing.” 

//

The next time Bucky sees you, it’s him at your door. He’s got a clean plate in his hand and is decidedly not nervous as he waits for you to answer. 

He lifts his hand to knock again when the door swings open. You’re standing in nothing but a sweatshirt and shorts that barely peek out from beneath it. Bucky swallows and forces his eyes up from your legs to your face. 

He gives you an apologetic smile when he sees your raised brows. “James.” You smile kindly as you lean against your door frame. “What can I do for you?” 

“Bucky.” He says automatically. He holds the plate out and notices your eyes catch on his gloved hands. “Figured you might want this back. I washed it.” 

You take the plate from his hands. “Thank you.” Bucky doesn’t move from his spot in the hallway. He’s not really sure why because he’s done what he needed to do. He just wanted to enjoy your presence, he assumes. You had begun to grow on him and your cookies were really good. Or maybe he had always kind of liked you. 

“Do you want to come in?” You ask. There’s an inviting smile on your face and he almost says yes. He wants to say yes. But he didn’t want to leave Alpine alone, he had already been gone for most of the day. 

Bucky gives you an apologetic smile. “I would… But I don’t want to leave Alpine alone.” You nod with a soft smile and Bucky watches for a moment before taking a step back.

“I’ll just…” He points over shoulder at his door. He turns and starts the short walk to his door. 

You laugh quietly. “Have a good night, James.” 

“Bucky.” He corrects. He takes a deep breath and turns to face you again. You’re still standing in your doorway watching him amused. “Do you want to… You can come to mine instead?” 

Your small smile transforms into something bright and excited as you nod. “That would be great. Let me grab my keys.” You hold a finger up and disappear into your apartment. 

As soon as you're out of sight Bucky slumps against the wall. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He thinks. His living room is bare except for the small, shitty couch Sam had persuaded him into buying. That and a lamp on an Ikea side table and his television. 

He imagined your living room was much homier. Probably decorated to fit your aesthetic and cozy. What would you think of his place? What did you think? You couldn’t mind it too much if you agreed to come, right? 

His nervous train of thought is disrupted when he hears your door slam shut. Bucky watches as you lock your door quickly. “Lead the way!” You look at Bucky with teasing eyes. 

Bucky smiles hesitantly as he turns towards his own door. When he opens it, he finds Alpine laying on the back of the couch and he stares confused at Bucky and the new addition to the apartment. 

“You remember Alpine.” Bucky says with a small smile as he beckons you further into the apartment. “It’s not much-“

“-It’s nice.” You cut him off. You’ve got a genuine smile on your face and Bucky begins to wonder why he had ever been nervous. You’d always been kind, he couldn’t imagine you having anything rude to say. “Hi, Alpine.” You say quietly as you step cautiously towards the couch. 

Bucky watches as Alpine looks up at you equally as cautious. “Nice to see you again. I hope you like the treats.” At the word, Alpine perks up and looks at you intrigued. 

Bucky quietly pulls a couple treats out of the jar. He moves as subtly as he can in order to avoid shifting Alpine’s attention. “Here.” He slips a treat into your hand. “See if he comes to you.”

You hold the treat out in front of you and Alpine sniffs the air. You don’t say anything, like you know trying to coax the cat to you might spook him. Alpine seems to appreciate it and moves towards you slowly. He snatches the treat from your hand before dashing away. He disappears down the hallways, but you don’t seem to care because you spin around to face Bucky with a happy smile. 

“Did you see that?” You laugh. Bucky swallows and nods. Briefly he thinks you have a beautiful smile before shaking the thought off. You take a seat on his couch and pull your legs up underneath you. “I’ll be his favorite in no time.”  

Bucky snorts. “I’m sure.” He says sarcastically. He sits next to you on the couch and moves to hand the remote to you. He lets a small smile be directed at you as he watches you make yourself comfortable in his home. It’s not much, but you seem to fit right in. 

When your eyes land on his gloved hands again, he thinks you’re gonna ask for a reasoning behind them. He’d have to come up with a poor excuse, not wanting to share the truth yet. But your eyes move from his hands to his face and you take the remote with a smirk. “You ever seen Legally Blonde?”

And, well. That’s that. 

//

The next time you and Bucky see each other, it’s in passing. He’s going out as you’re coming in. There’s a grease stain on your shirt and your red apron is barely stuffed into your purse.

Bucky hesitates for a moment. “Hey.” He says quietly. You spin around and slam backwards into your door. “Fuck. I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry.” He takes a cautious step towards you. His eyes trail over your face, your eyes are red and he can tell how exhausted you are. 

“It’s okay.” You say quietly. You take a few calming breaths. “I was in my head. It was a rough night.” 

Bucky leans against the wall next to you. “Wanna talk about it?” He’s grown so used to you just stopping to chat that this tense silence feels wrong. Normally he wouldn’t even have to prompt you, he would listen as you just launch into a story easily.

You trail your eyes over his outfit. “You look like you’re headed out.”

Bucky shrugs and doesn’t move from his spot. “Just a recap then. I have time.” He’s not sure what’s inspired him to do this. But he thinks it has something to do with this newfound fondness to your bright personality. He wants it back. 

You take a deep breath and nod. “Come in for a glass of water? Then I’ll let you go.” 

Bucky sighs in relief. “Sounds perfect.” He follows you into the apartment. It’s different from his. Bright, like you. You’ve got posters hanging neatly on the wall your tv is against. Plants sitting by your window. A large couch and soft rug. “Nice place.” He comments as he moves to sit on one of your barstools.

You laugh softly. “Thanks.” You drop your purse onto the counter and turn to pull two glasses out of the cupboard. “Where are you headed? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

Bucky glances at the time on your stove. “Oh… I help my friend out with meetings at the VA. I was headed to help him set up.” 

You slide a glass of water towards him. “You’re a vet?” He takes it with an appreciative smile. “I didn’t…” You shake your head. “Thank you.” 

Bucky shakes his head. “I’m not…” He trails off unsure of how to explain his status to you. Did you really not know who he was? “Tonight's topic is you.”

You roll your eyes and lean back against the counter. “Have you ever just had a bad day? Where nothing seems to go right?” Bucky nods and you sigh. “My master’s thesis, I’ve been working on it for months, I got back my draft today from my advisor and he tore it apart. Had a good cry about that. Got called in early to work, I need the money so I said yes. The diner was busy and we were short staffed. To top it off, my last customer of the night was a douche. He hit on me all night. When I told him no to getting my phone number, he threatened to take my tip away.” You laugh bitterly as Bucky sits in silence, listening intently. “And then when I walked away, he tried to grab me. So… Stellar night over all.” 

“Want me to kill him?” The words are out of Bucky’s mouth before he can think. He couldn’t imagine being forced to be nice to somebody who was just harassing him all night. In fact, he knows he wouldn’t be. And he knows you certainly didn’t deserve treatment like that. 

You let out a shocked laugh that turns into a full blown laughing fit. Bucky lets out an awkward chuckle as he watches you shake. 

“That’s…” You trail off and Bucky notices tears gathering in your eyes. “That’s really sweet.” You say wetly. 

“Hey.” Bucky stands up and takes a step towards you. He pauses, unsure of what to do, but when you start to shake again, this time with tears, his decision is made. “Hey. You’re okay.” 

He pulls you into him and you come easily. You wrap your arms tightly around his waist and rest your head against his chest as you let it out. 

Bucky rubs your back and tries his best to calm his rapidly beating heart. He hopes you can’t hear it because he’s sure it would break any kind of aura of nonchalance he had created. 

He glances at the time again. He really has to go. The meeting was starting soon and he’s sure Sam is worried about where Bucky is. He pulls back slowly, not wanting to let go. 

You look at him with sad eyes. “I’m so sorry. I have to go.” You nod dejectedly and take a step back. You don’t go too far, both of your hands still clinging to his jacket. “Can you watch Alpine?” He rushes the words out and he knows there’s a light blush rising to his cheeks. He just wants to make you feel better and he really does hate leaving his cat alone. 

You furrow your brows. “What?” 

“I mean.” He takes a hurried step back suddenly aware of you still wrapped in his arms. “I hate leaving him alone. And… You look like you could use some furry company.” 

A slow smile spreads across your face. “Are you saying your cat likes me?”

“No.” Bucky laughs. “But you are the only other person he doesn’t completely hate.” 

“I would love to watch Alpine.” You take a few rushed steps out of your kitchen. “I’ll change and head over.” 

Bucky lets out a relieved breath and nods. “Good. Cool. I mean-“ He shakes his head. “-my spare key is on top of my door. You don’t have to do anything but hang out with him. Don’t expect cuddles though, I’m not sure you’re on that level yet. Don’t give him too many treats.” 

You’re nodding like his instructions are even the smallest bit important. “I have to go.” Bucky says ago and takes another step towards the door. “I’ll see you later.” 

You nod and take off down your hall. Bucky lingers by your door for a moment.

“Wait!” You yell and come rushing out again. Bucky freezes and turns to look at you. “Thank you…James.” You smile brightly before spinning around again and disappearing. 

Bucky smiles to himself as he leaves. The bright was back. 

//

When Bucky gets home he’s more nervous than when he left. His palm is sweaty and all that’s on his mind is Sam’s constant teasing. 

Bucky didn’t have a crush. He just… Liked having you around. That didn’t mean he wanted to date you. Maybe he did think you were pretty. And sure when you had let him hug you earlier it had made his heart race. 

But it wasn’t a crush. Bucky was too old to have a crush. He takes a deep breath before opening his door. He can hear a movie playing softly before he even looks up. 

“Hey.” You say quietly from where you’re laying on his couch. You sit up hastily with an embarrassed smile. Alpine is laying on the chair across from you. “We’re friends!” You point to the sleeping cat. 

Bucky nods. “He actually stayed in the same room as you all night?” He asks doubtfully. 

You frown, but there’s a mischievous sparkle in your eyes. “Maybe not all night. But he came out like an hour ago. I think he gave up on waiting for me to leave.” 

You pat the spot next to you on the couch and Bucky moves as quietly as he can. “How was your night? Do you feel better?” He looks you over. You looked less tired and from the blankets piled on his couch it looks like you had taken a nap. 

You nod. “A lot better… Thank you. I really appreciate you letting me hang out with your cat.” You look up at him with a nervous smile. “He’s just like you. You two were made for each other.” 

Bucky glances at Alpine. “What does that mean?” 

You poke Bucky’s leg with your socked foot. “Hard exterior, secretly wants to be best buds with me.” 

Bucky snorts and gently shoves your foot away. “My secret plan has been outed. Make the girl from 4B my best friend.” You laugh and move to tuck your feet under his leg. It’s silent for a moment, and Bucky knows you’re watching him so he busies himself with watching Alpine.

“Hey…” You trail off waiting for Bucky to turn his attention to you. “I don’t want to upset you or anything.” 

“That’s always a good start.” Bucky says nervously as he focuses on you. Your hands are fidgeting in your lap as you watch him. “What’s wrong?” 

You shake your head quickly. “Nothing’s wrong! I just… Promise you won’t be upset with me?” Your eyes are pleading and Bucky can feel himself get anxious. What could you be so nervous about? 

“What’s wrong?” He asks quietly. You don’t say anything, so Bucky swallows hard. “I promise.” He nods slowly. 

“Okay.” You take a deep breath. Bucky watches your eyes shift around the room before landing on his hands clenched together in his lap. “I thought I recognized you. Like, your name is so familiar and then when I saw you with Captain America…” 

Bucky looks down at his hands and nods. He knew where this was going. “I…” He trails off. 

“I looked you up.” You rush the words out. Your voice is small and Bucky feels any hopes he had for this friendship shatter around him. 

“I don’t… I’m not any of those things anymore.” Bucky cringes. His leg is shaking anxiously, but he just can’t get it to stop. He can’t even get himself to look up from his gloved hands, didn’t want to see the fear or disbelief that would be painted across your face. 

Your toes poke at his thigh again and it forces Bucky to look over at you. Your eyebrows are furrowed as you watch him, but there’s no trace of fear or anger, you wear the same kind smile that you always did. 

“I know that.” You whisper softly. Your eyes move past him and Bucky follows your line of vision to Alpine, whose bright eyes are staring at him. Bucky smiles gently at the cat as he stretches out and hops off the chair. Alpine rubs against Bucky’s shins, a welcome distraction from the impending conversation. Your feet curve upward to poke Bucky in the leg again. He looks up hastily at the gesture. “When I asked if you were a vet earlier, why did you say no?” 

Bucky purses his lips to think. The truth was he wasn’t at all sure how to explain everything to you. He didn’t have to explain things to Sam or Steve, they knew. “My war was a long time ago.” He settles on saying. 

“That doesn’t make you any less a veteran.” You say firmly.  “And there’s not much online about the Winter Soldier-“ There’s ringing in Bucky’s ears as the words come out of your mouth. What had you found? And what were you thinking? 

“Hey.” You lean over and place a gentle hand on his shoulder. “There’s not much online, but I didn’t read what there was because I knew that it was your story to tell me. When you’re ready.” 

Bucky inhales sharply as you look at him with curious eyes. “I… I did a lot of bad things. I… I worked on making amends and I… I was pardoned.” He pleads with you like he’s sure you’ll walk out if you know everything. 

“Okay.” The word is quiet and your hand is still resting on his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I just wanted you to know that I’m your friend. Even with your super cool secret identity.” 

Bucky laughs at that. “It’s not a secret if you use your real name.” 

“Ah! You agree? We’re friends?” You say with a smirk. “Does that mean I get to see the super cool metal arm that’s always been covered around me?” 

Bucky shakes his head, but laughs. “Not yet.” You’re watching him carefully so he gives you a small smile. “I would say we’re friends though, yeah.” 

//

Suddenly, you’re always there. 

When Bucky has missions with Sam, you check in on Alpine for him. His spare key has moved from above his door to your keychain. 

You’ll come over with treats when he gets home from the VA. (Bucky likes to think you check for him when you hear the heavy footsteps in the hall and that’s why you’re always there right after he gets home.) 

He’ll bring dishes back whenever he sees you get home. (He does check the peephole when he hears footsteps.) 

You send him pictures of Alpine when he’s away. Alpine who still won't cuddle with you or even touch you, but who lays in the same room and has recently started allowing short pets. He sends you pictures of Sam and cities they’re in. 

And tonight, while he’s in New York, you’ve sent him a picture of you in his bathroom mirror with Alpine sitting pretty on the counter. 

He’s not supposed to be up there. 

All he gets is another picture in return, this time you have a thumbs up and Alpine is still on the counter. Bucky smiles. Sam notices. 

“Your girlfriend texting you?” He teases. 

Bucky scoffs. “She’s not my girlfriend… She just watches Alpine for me sometimes.” He looks back down at his phone. Nice. He sends back before stuffing it into his pocket and looking back at the man. 

Sam nods slowly. “Right. She just watches Alpine sometimes. And hangs out with you when she’s free. Don’t forget the treats she makes you and Alpine.” Sam lists off casually as he looks down at his fingernails. 

Bucky feels an embarrassed heat crawl up the back of his neck and looks down at his feet. “We’re friends. She’s a good friend.” 

When he looks up, Sam doesn’t have a teasing smile, but instead a genuinely happy one. Bucky thinks that this one is somehow worse when Sam grips his shoulder firmly. “I’m glad you have such a good friend, Bucky. Someone outside this super hero business.”

Bucky nods and swallows the lump in his throat. “Yeah. Thanks, Sam.”

“I’m serious, Bucky. You deserve it.” 

Bucky gives him a grateful smile unable to say anything else.

//

Bucky creeps into his apartment at four in the morning. It’s quiet, like usual, but Alpine isn’t sitting on the couch like he normally does when Bucky isn’t home. 

“Al?” He calls out quietly. The logical part of him is aware that Alpine may have fallen asleep in his bedroom, or underneath a piece of furniture. But there’s another part of him that panics at the routine being broken. 

Alpine was always there to greet him. 

Bucky would rather be safe than sorry. “Al.” He whispers again, already reaching for the knife strapped to his ankle. He bends slowly and lifts his pant leg as he scans his eyes under the couch and coffee table in search of the cat. 

He stands with the knife in his hand and moves slowly down his hallway. His bedroom door is ajar, Bucky takes a deep breath before pushing it open all the way. Alpine blinks at him from the edge of his bed. The knife slips from Bucky’s hand as he stands, shocked in the doorway. You’re asleep. Asleep on the bed that he never used. 

The knife clattering against the ground stirs you from your sleep and your eyes widen when you notice Bucky standing there. 

“Hey!” Your voice is raspy and low. You rub your eyes and Bucky can only stare at your half-asleep form. “I… I thought you were going to be gone until tomorrow night.” 

He nods. “Yeah. I mean, we got things done sooner than expected.” He explains. You lean over to flicker the light next to you on. Bucky doesn’t recognize the pillow sitting behind you or the blanket that’s thrown over your legs, he thinks you’ve brought them over from your apartment. You must have because his pillow and blanket was sitting folded in his linen closet waiting for the next time he camped out on the floor or the couch. 

You smile apologetically. “I’m sorry. I… I got tired of falling asleep on the couch.” You whisper. “And Alpine lays with me on the bed.” 

Bucky hastily shakes his head. “No! It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize. I should’ve told you to sleep in the bed. I didn’t even think of it.” I don’t really sleep in the bed. He moves further into the room. 

You scratch nervously at your cheek before freezing in action. He almost laughs at the annoyance that crosses your face. You had mentioned once that touching your face was a bad habit you had been trying to break for months. “I should go.” 

“You don’t have to.” Bucky opens his dresser drawer in search of sweatpants. “Stay here. You’ve already got yourself set up. I’ll crash on the couch.” 

You push the blanket off of your legs and Bucky has to force his eyes to stay on yours when he notices the already short shorts you’re wearing have ridden up your thighs from sleeping. “I can’t make you sleep on the couch, James. I’ll go!” 

“You know it’s Bucky.” He stops you with a hand on your shoulder. “It’s fine.” He stresses. “I… I don’t really sleep in the bed anyways. The couch is better.” 

Your eyes narrow. “You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.” He can tell you’re hesitant, but your rushed movements have paused. “My apartment is across the hall! I feel awful for invading your space like this already.” 

Bucky sits on the edge of the bed and watches curiously as you shift to sit next to him. Both your legs are dangling off, almost brushing his, and Bucky feels warmer than he had all week. “Doll, I’m serious. Beds are weird for me. I haven’t had one in so long that sometimes they’re just too overwhelming for me to sleep in.” 

He almost jumps when your head rests against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t think of that.” 

“It’s good to see somebody getting good use out of this bed.” He leans into you slightly. “My ma would have thrown a fit if she saw how much this bed was. 800 dollars for a mattress... 800 dollars back then is like, thousands now.” 

You laugh softly. Bucky glances down again. Your eyes are closed and he thinks you’re almost asleep until you talk. “Do you… Would someone being there help you sleep in the bed?” 

You don’t open your eyes and Bucky’s almost glad for that because he can’t look away from you. “I… I don’t know. It’s only been Al and I.” His eyes follow the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe slow and calm. 

You finally look up. “You should stay with me. The couch isn’t comfortable to sleep on, I would know.” You elbow his stomach gently. 

He nods before he can even think about it. “If… If you’re comfortable with it.” He whispers. 

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t. I promise.” You move away from him and Bucky already misses the warmth you radiate. “I’ll let you change.” 

He leans against the bathroom door as soon as it’s shut behind him. “It’s okay.” He mumbles to himself. His nightmares had been getting better, but that didn’t mean they were gone entirely. 

They probably never would be. And he knew he couldn’t let himself be afraid of the bed for the rest of his life. He had bought the bed. He just hadn’t expected his attempt at getting over the anxiety to be with you. 

Why had he said yes? He thinks as he shakily slips his jacket off. He looks at himself in the mirror and sighs. It was a good question, why had he said yes? 

He slips into his sweatpants and just stands in the bathroom. He couldn’t change his mind now. 

Well, he could. He knew you would give him a kind smile and reassure him that he didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to. You were just that person. Kind and understanding and holding no judgement. 

“Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “Okay.” He shakes his shoulders out and picks up his discarded clothes. He stops at the linen closet and pulls out his blanket and pillow. 

You’re already wrapped up in your blanket again when Bucky comes back into the room. Alpine has moved to lay the floor in front of his bed. You smile sleepily at Bucky. He feels himself smile back. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

(When his eyes crack open the next morning he finds Alpine curled at his feet and you curled into his side, he knows being with you wouldn’t be bad. It’s the first time he lets himself think maybe this really is a crush.) 

//

So, Bucky has a crush. Which is a little ridiculous because he’s over a century old and having a crush is so high school, but it’s there. When you smile in the hall and butterflies rush through his stomach or when his chest warms at a picture you’ve sent of you and Alpine. It’s so obviously there. 

“What are you staring at?” Your voice shakes him when he realizes he’s been staring at you this entire time. You’re sitting next to him on the couch, so close your legs are touching. “Do I have something on my face?” You reach a hand up to your cheek. 

Bucky shakes his head hastily. “No. Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts.”

“Penny?” You ask softly and Bucky furrows his brows in confusion. “Penny for your thoughts.” You clarify quickly. 

He thinks the smile that appears on your face is bashful and it makes Bucky feel just a little more confident. Maybe he made you as nervous as you made him. 

“You’re really pretty.” He says suddenly. Your eyes widen and you look away nervously. A hand scratches at the back of your neck and Bucky bites down on his lip as he watches you. Not exactly how he hoped that would go. “I mean… I was just looking at… how pretty you were.” He cringes at the words as they come out of his mouth. 

He used to be so much smoother than this, he thinks. He remembered having a new girl on his arm every week and a friend of theirs for Steve. 

Alpine meows loudly and Bucky just knows the cat is laughing at him. “Thank you.” You finally say quietly. “I… I didn’t think you thought that about me.” 

“‘Course I do.” He says equally as quietly. “Always thought you were pretty.” He glances at you and smirks, “Even when I thought you were weird too.” 

You gasp and turn to look at him. “You thought I was weird?” 

Bucky laughs and nods. “After you came in the middle of the night for salt? A little. And the fact that you keep calling me James when I’ve told you it’s Bucky.” He raises an eyebrow. 

You smile brightly. “You introduced yourself as James. Why would I call you anything else?” 

Bucky presses his tongue to his cheek as he tries not to laugh. “Yeah. I’ve regretted that every day since. Nobody’s called me James since the forties.” 

You scoff. “I find that hard to believe.” 

Bucky looks away. “Well for decades I was referred to as soldat.” He glances down at his hands. He’d stop wearing his gloves around you after you’d spent the night, even told you a little of his story the next morning. 

Sam thinks your relationship is weird. You spend the night sometimes and both of you find time to spend together when you can. It’s like you’re dating, but Bucky knows it’s not really like that. He thinks you both bring a sense of calm to one another. 

He’s not sure how to shift that, or if you would even want to, into a relationship. He glances back at you with a tense smile. “Steve always called me Buck. Sam calls me Bucky. Last person to call me James was probably my mother.” 

“I’m sorry… I never meant to-'' You take a deep breath like you’re preparing yourself for what you're going to say next. 

Bucky shakes his head. “It’s fine. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I was just pointing it out.” He tries to smile reassuringly. 

“I was just trying to flirt.” You say so quickly the words sound jumbled together. 

It takes him a moment to comprehend what you’ve said. “With me?” He points to himself. The words make his confidence rise exponentially. “You were trying to flirt with me?” 

“With you.” You confirm with a slow nod. You start laughing, but it’s soft and happy. “Of course I was! I wanted you to remember me! How could I do that if I called you what everybody else does?” 

“I don’t know. Anything else?” He laughs along with you. “I…” He shakes his head with a smile. 

You both settle and Bucky hears you inhale sharply. “The salt to come see you and talk, the cookies and treats for Alpine… I’ve had this huge crush on you since you moved in.” You say softly. 

Bucky nods, he could see it now. Then he starts laughing again. He feels you smack his shoulder. “I’m sorry… You… Sam said that those cookies and treats were you trying to get me and Alpine to like you.” 

You roll your eyes at him. “Keen eye. He saw I was flirting.” You tease gently. “Does it… Does it bother you? Or change anything? The fact that I was flirting?” You ask softly and full of nerves. 

Bucky smiles sweetly. “That depends. Do you still want to flirt with me?” 

You narrow your eyes, but nod. “I don’t ask just any boy to sleep in the same bed as me.” 

“Just me and Alpine?” Bucky nudges your knee with his. You nod softly and he inhales a deep, nervous breath. “It worked.” He says quietly. 

You nudge his knee back. “It did?” 

He turns to look at you again. You’re already looking up at him with hopeful eyes and Bucky feels his heart race. “Yeah. I like you a lot. I don’t... I haven’t felt this way in a long time.” 

A smile breaks out on your face. “I like you a lot too.” You whisper, like you’re afraid anything louder will break the moment. 

“Can I kiss you?” He whispers back. You nod excitedly and lean towards him. Bucky places a gentle hand on your cheek as shuts his eyes and leans in. 

His chest warms when your lips press against his tentatively, like you’re both still nervous it’s not real. Your lips are soft and Bucky knows his own are chapped, but he feels you smile against him and can’t stop his own smile from overtaking his face. 

You pull away, but you’re still close enough that your lips are brushing against his. He’s caught up in the moment staring at you when he feels something rub against his shin. 

It makes you pull apart. Alpine is rubbing himself against both your legs and purring softly. Bucky presses a kiss to your cheek. 

“Think you won both of us over.” 

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

notes // what do you do when your midterm is an essay & gave you a headache? write bucky barnes fanfiction. thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it. ps i’ve seen some spelling mistakes promise to edit those in the morning!

[spikesbimbo]

Drunk in Love

Summary:  Getting drunk and confessing your love for your “boy” friend and fucking him was most definitely not what you expected to go down on the usual night.

Pairing: Issei Matusukawa x Reader

Tags: Timeskip!Tattoed Mattsun, softdom!issei Hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, smut, fluff, virgin!reader, Unptrotected sex, non-penetrative sex, fingering, oral, pussy/thigh job, clit slapping, sweet dirty talk, praise, drunk sex

Word count: 7.2k

A/N: I heard pussy job and I wrote a whole ass novel

18+ Minors DNI

You run your finger over the condensation of your empty drink, drawing shapes (or what you thought to be shapes, you couldn’t tell at this point) waiting for your dear friend, Makki to bring you a refill of your cocktail.  

“Here ya go.” Makki said as he returned with your beloved Malibu Sunset. The smooth coconut rum bringing you back to your first and favorite drink that you ever got drunk on in high school. You smiling at the memory

“Thanks.” you say. Your reply being mumbled by the liquid already in your mouth.

This all started with Iwaizumi calling Mattsun up, you and Makki hearing “You wanna get wasted?” on the other side of the phone. And with pleasure, you two were already packing your stuff up, shoving yalls “pregame” bottles back in the bag. The three of you made your happy way there climbing through the fence of the abandoned skate park you were in. Needles to say it was abandoned for a reason, but what’s life without a little danger.

You three and the rest of the third years have been friends since high school, meeting in freshman year, and now including Oikawa’s girlfriend. You actually didn’t like Oikawa at first, his “pretty boy” demeanor making you internally cringe. But his personality grew quickly on you, being the perfect target to tease you and Iwa clowning him over everything.

Now back to you on your nth drink, complaining about your previous job that fired you because u got injured, even though you know you wouldn’t have lasted long there anyways because you weren’t that academically inclined. Bright? Whatever you wanted to call it.

And as-usual it wasn’t long before your crybaby ass immediately called Makki and Issei and “tried” your best to tell them what happed with your dramatic self-induced tears running down you race, while Makki urged to you to try to calm down and Issei straight up laughing at the state your were in, snot running out of your nose. You recoiling at the thought, hoping they forgot. (Spoiler, they didn’t)

But now you nanny for a rich couple and you get payed good to play with cute babies all day, sounds good to you! Luckily, you had the week off due to them going on a vacation, you think it was France, no, the south of France. Must be nice.

Cue to now, Mattsun chuckling and leaning on you and Iwaizumi; both of you, especially Iwa, being visibly done with his shit. Him reminding you about the times you bought him some random shit, which you went out of your way for since he always payed for you, like that chopper keychain because you said it reminder you of him.

He didn’t know what compelled you to say his 6’2, tattooed built self looked like a tiny reindeer but okay. It still meant a lot to him, hooking it onto his motorcycle keys. But you knew he appreciated it, despite his appearance he’s a softie.

“You wanna try this’” He says gaining his composure offering you one of the shots he got.

You took one of the mini glasses, not being the type to back down and promptly swung the drink to the back of your mouth, quickly coughing before it even reached your throat.

“This shit is fucking gross.” You coughed out bringing the glass down from your lips.

  “Imagine being sober. Can’t relate.” He said taking another shot.

  “I guess I should do that but ive passed the point of giving a fuck” You said sending yall into a giggling fit while somehow Makki was thrown in to support yall from falling over. You two carry on laughing ignoring everyone’s stares at you thinking about how much yall fit perfectly together.  

   Makki rearranges himself to sit back in his chair, far away, from the both of you, whispering “Damn. I’m really third wheeling.” under his breath. Getting a snicker out of Oikawa sitting next to him.

   “When your best friends are ignoring you. Sad times.” He continues bringing his bottle to his mouth getting no response.

  Issei chuckles and gets up shoving his hands in his pocket reaching for the cigarettes. Pulling them out while failing to find his lighter

  “Fuck.” He muttered

  “Any’all got a light?”

  No one responds so you sacrifice yourself “Yeah” you say reaching into your pocket grabbing out your prized possession of a hot pink, bedazzled lighter that you did yourself, reaching out to hand it to him.

  “Don’t lose it” you stated seriously trying not to break a smile.

  “K’ sweet cheeks.” He said smirking into the butt between his lips as he walked away. Your face now burning up, hoping that everyone would think it was because of the alcohol.

  You mind wanders, thinking about the “dates” you two go on, from watching shows you “forcing” him to watch some romantic anime, to going to the skatepark, to playing video games with the rest of the 3rd years (which you don’t really like but you’ll play for him) and him surprising you with takeout, you bringing out candles trying your best to make it cute with him telling u everything you everything about his day.

  And you always tried to remain calm, even though sometimes he deserved to get his ass beat, like that one time he broke one of your favorite pair of heels. It honestly hurt him even more, he wanted you to get mad at him but no, you just acted like nothing happened. Making the guilt rise in him. Let’s just say didn’t have to lift a finger for the next few weeks.

You basically babied him, taking care of all his “chores”, mainly making him food when you were at his place knowing he hated doing it. Makki teasing you for acting like his housewife, leading to you slapping the shit outta him while trying to cover your now red cheeks.

You’ve never been so grateful for your attire at the moment, blessing yourself for not wearing your usual outfits of short skirts and cute tops, defending yourself saying what housewife dresses in beat up vans and baggy clothes. You definitely not imaging yourself in that position for the rest of the day.

 You expressed that you just liked to take care of people, which was true. You always looked out for them, bringing an extra umbrella, to bringing cookies you made at 2 in the morning to school, always carrying band-aids (yes, the paw patrol ones you took from the kids you babysit).

You checked the time on your phone seeing it was late since the sun at last went down, your lock screen being your dogs to their complaint since they have a group photos of you all from high school as theirs. To which you replied “They’re my babies” getting a groan and huff out of them.

  Seeing the notifications of your group chat you grinned at the contact name you and Issei gave each other; yall jokingly call each other pet names, his contact being honeybun and yours being pumpkin, even including Makki in your contacts as pudding bc then it wasn’t weird, right? no.

  “What’re you smiling at y/n?” Oikawa cheekily asks teasing you. You turn to him giving him a dirty look, not having enough energy to deal him right now.

  “Don’t listen to his bullshit.” Oikawa’s girlfriend says. You’re thankful for her. She was always on your side, being the only other girl in your friend group. To be honest you just wanted her and you to hang out most of the time, but of course to your disapproval her boyfriend and his friends had to join in.

  “Fuck this. Fuck you. I’m sleeping.” You say getting up to her objection, the only thing on your mind wanting to retire for the night.

  “You sure you’ll be fine? Let us at least walk you home.” She said already grabbing her boyfriend’s arm.

  “Nah, im good. I live right down the road.” You try to say not slurring. The last thing you want is him teasing you even more, especially in this state, knowing you, you’d probably start crying at the slightest irritation when youre this drunk.

    You started to “walk” towards your house resting  your hand against the brick walls to not lose your balance, leading you to run into Issei. You stopped to watch him lean against the alley holding a cigarette between his index and middle finger.

  “I’m hiding like a bitch” He says noticing you, resting his weight against the wall.

 “Wanna be a bitch with me? He grinned  blowing out the smoke out with his words.

You didn’t reply, just walking over to him, just being around him made you feel warm.

"Fuck its windy.” He says trying to light a new cig.

“C’you make me a house?” He asks.

You go up and put your hands around his cigarette, this not being your first time. Your hands wrap a little tighter to prevent the wind from burning out his flame. He joins you with his free hand helping, finally getting his cig to light.

 “Thanks doll” He smirks.

“No problem princess.” You reply earning a laugh out of him.

He takes his first hit with his and your hands still wrapped around it. He gets an up-close look at your hands, noticing how tiny they were, seeing all the scars that he never noticed, making a mental note to ask you how you got them later.

His head gets close to yours for the first time in a while due to his height. You glance at his face, noticing his features seeing some stubble growing on his face.

“You ain’t shave?” You ask, never seeing it in the past, while he was moving back up, blowing the smoke away from you.

“What, you don’t like my majestic beard? “He jokes. Making you giggle almost losing your balance before catching yourself on the wall.

  “s’too much work.” He starts. “You wanna shave it for me?” he says slightly leaning towards you. Handing you back your lighter knowing you didn’t need him to carry it because your pants actually had pockets in them for once.

You let out a soft laugh not responding again. He catches on, you got quiet when you were tired and he made out that you were walking towards your house.

“You going home?” he asks already knowing the answer.

“Yeah.” You respond more than happy to have him walk you back, him already moving to walk next to you.

He walks you home, you two talking about random shit, both of you forgetting about your skateboards leaving Makki to deal with them. And even though you’re drunk as fuck you’re still in the right state of mind, carrying a normal conversation with him. But just because you’ve built a tolerance doesn’t mean you can do basic tasks, like walk correctly.

When he reaches your house, he types in the keycode, your first dogs birthday, being glad that you, him and Makki have each other’s memorized.

He leads you into you house setting you on the couch, petting your dogs that ran up to him.

“Mommy’s not feeling too good” He said giving them the affection they deserved.

“Yes I am.” You slurred getting them attention on you now.

He walked over to your counter putting on the playlist that you two made together on shuffle, High fashion being the first to play. You didn’t like when it was quiet because too many thoughts would run though your head. You were in no way sad, singing the lyrics while you were laughing barely being able to hold yourself up as proof.

Remembering you were tired, he takes you off the couch and borderline carries you to your room, , setting you on your plush blankets that you had so many of because it was warm and comfy.

 “Easy, there. Try to sit up.”He said, trying to ask you what draws your pj’s were in because he didn’t want to snoop around; neither of you being bothered that you were half naked, what’s the difference between panties and a bikini, he thought remembering the times you’ve been to the beach together.  

Well it was maybe the fact that you were clinging onto him because u stumbled into him and he was closest stable thing around and you wouldn’t let go because it was cold and you couldn’t stop shaking.

 He ignores his thoughts and grabs the shirt he got out figuring you don’t need to change your bra because you told him and Makki that it was normal to keep it on for a few days after they were in awe as you were explaining how expensive they were. You calling Oikawa’s girlfriend to prove your point as she immediately agreed with you…Sometimes you might have got a little too comfortable with them.

You hear the song in the background change to Love Songs, you humming along, “Hope you smile when you listen.”

You were still holding on to him, your boobs squeezing against him, him only being able to put a t-shirt on you, while you looked up at him with your red glossy eyes making him burn up.  

You fidget timidly with your face now in his chest while gripping his sweater. Trying to build up the little courage you had. He tilts your head up making you look at him, wondering what you were thinking about.

  You try to express yourself, but you can’t get the words out him having no idea what is going on in your head at the moment.

“It’s okay to be nervous sometimes. Tell me” He gently says reading your body language. He was intuitive, so there was no way you could hide your feelings from him.

But you knew you could trust him, him having full self-control, always staying collected and following through on what he said he’d do.  He went out of his way to avoid any friction coming between you two, him never raising his voice or starting an argument.

“We need to talk.” You started. “About something important.”

“Ok…What is it?” He questioned rubbing his hands on your back. You were so nervous, were you really about to say this? Confess your feelings that you’ve pushed to the back of your heart for so long?

“I… I l… I love your face. And the stuff in it. and around it.” You spoke, being surprised you did it stutter.

He stood there, hands stopped moving trying to process what you just said.

“Just you, in general…”  You finally confess trying to state three things at once barely getting your words out.

But he understood exactly what you meant, or maybe he was warping what you said to fit what he wanted.

  "I don’t even know when I started liking you, but this shit won't go away." You restated

  Nope. He clearly just heard you say that.

  He doesn’t understand what’s so different about today. Yall have been in this scenario multiple times taking care of each other, sometimes including another into the mix.  

You didn’t understand either. You just felt like the time was right, even though you know it wasn’t the best idea to confess while you were drunk off your ass.

But you couldn’t help it, your feelings overflowing, which you never until this day let get the best of you, being vulnerable and trusting is not your usual . Youve never even had a crush on anyone, him being to only in your whole life to make you blush.

  Who you been vibin' wit and why I can't make you mine?

  You should have seen the signs that you feel for him when he helped that lady that lives down the street from him set up her Christmas lights or when he first met your dog that wasn’t fond of men, but it instantly liked him. And you loved his selflessness it was something you admired and applauded.

  “y/n” He tries talking you down, making sure you weren’t just saying this because of alcohol, deep down knowing he felt the same, you always being in the back of his mind.

You were generous with your time too, always being there for him. You knew he was softer than he appeared, he was tender, sensitive and vulnerable. He tried his hardest to not get into situations where anyone would get hurt, like breakups, arguments, and so on.

Which is why he won’t make the first move. He pushes his feelings to the back of his head. He values your friendship more than anything, but he can see what develops. If love is meant to be, it will happen.

I told you I am down for the worse or the better. But I keep sticking to you cause them four stupid letters

    “You make me so happy. And I’ll always care about you. Okay? He says breaking the silence, trying to reassure you.  

  “You mean so much to me—something I can’t even put into words because nothing can compare- I’ve wanted you since that day you tripped and bust your ass in the school hallway I still want you even though you drive me insane.”

  “Iss-“ You tried to get out only to have him continue talking over you.

  "I love that you can’t leave the house without a jacket. I love the wrinkles that appear on your forehead after you call me crazy. I love that it takes you hours to get ready. I love that you always know how to make me feel better. I love that even when you don’t agree with my decisions you always trust me to make them.  I love that when I spend a day with you, I can still smell you on my clothes; and I love that you are the last person I think of  before I go to sleep at night."

  You stood there awestruck for what feels like eternity until you mustered the bravery to speak “I didn’t expect you to feel the same way-” You said, being dumbfounded because from what you’ve seen treats everyone “nice”, were you really getting special treatment?

  He tilts your chin up, locking his dark eyes with yours. “Baby I don’t know if your notice but you and Makki are my only people that aren’t my family that call me my first name.”

He has a point. You think pushing yourself more into him, trying to fuse your bodies together to hide, not relaxing what you were doing to him. He tries to nudge your legs to the side but you won’t let go still clinging onto him.

“fuck” He groans. You pulling back wondering why until you looked down and noticed. A smirk appeared on your face as you reattached your self to him like velcro. You were feeling bold, the liquid courage still in your system driving you to slide your fingers down his chest, looking him in the eyes before stopping at his waistband.  

He knows what you’re doing, him being in this position multiple times. Does he really want to ruin your friendship like this? He hasn’t even asked you to be his girlfriend. He tries to push you off him already knowing you were gonna complain. But what he didn’t expect was for you to whimper out his name in that pretty voice of yours.

 He tried to keep his calm, blood already rushing down. “You know what you’re doing”

“yeah” You start.

“y’don’t want me?” Giving him your pouty face that you know he’s weak for, hoping that’ll work, insecurity piling up. Was it because your boobs weren’t that big or that fact that you were dressed like man? Was he not attracted to you right now, only liking you when you were dolled up?

“Fuck” You think. You should have worn something cute instead of dressing like a whole ass man even with your makeup fully done. Its not like you were supposed to know you were gonna get fucked today.

His were burning holes into you now, thinking of how to say “No, I would be more that happy to fuck you!” to his best friend, soon regaining his consciousness finally speaking.

“Fuck no doll, ive wanted you for a minute. You know me better than I know myself. How did you not notice my feelings?”

 You got me singing love songs, love songs, love songs

“You’re really hard to read” You replied trying to maintain your seductive act, resting your hands back on his chest.

“So are you.” He said lowering his head, you still looking up at him, taking in your gleaming eyes.

Sex ain't the only thing that's on my mind But you get me so excited, whoa

Your heart was beating so wildly that you could only take little sips of breath. His hands running down your waist stopping at your hips.

“Can I kiss you?" He asks "...yeah” you attempted to say as confidently as you could, nodding your head along with it.

His face bent down, hot mouth breathing over you. His lips slowly moved, brushing over yours, the liquor on his lips that you hated; only choosing fruity drinks even though you got relentlessly teased you for it.  You pushed further into the kiss desperately wanting more. Your teeth clicking his from being impatient, wanting to suck him in. Your hands sliding under his shirt subconscious desires reaching out.

Irreplaceable Tattoos from your neck that drop down to your ankles

“You’re drunk…” he says snapping you out of your trance.

“So are you.”

He dove in for another kiss much more passionate than the previous one, arguably needy, pusing you on the bed to which you more than happily comply. He tugs back not letting his mind get the best of him, disconnecting your spit trial leaving you panting. “You sure this alright?” He says deep down hoping you still say yes.

  You pull him back for your answer, your grabby little hands working their way back up his shirt. He gets the hint and pauses your lips rendezvous, taking off the turtleneck that he looked oh so good in, before seeing his unclothed body.  You’re admiring his body in a new way, before just complimenting him whenever he got a new tattoo, now up under him tracing them like a lovestruck teenager.

“When did you get this one?” You quietly ask, his ears closer to you than they’ve ever been.

“I got it that day you faked sick”

“What! You said were gonna take me!” You sulked, turning your head away from his as much as you could, crossing your arms.

He let out a slight laugh before gently taking your face in his hands, guiding you back into the kiss.

This is not really what he imagined for your first time. He’s an old-fashioned romantic who likes to take one step at a time. But then again nothing was ever normal with you. That said, when he falls in love, he falls deep.

“You’ve done this before?” You uttered.

“Hmm?” He mumbles, unmoving his lips from you kissing you, moving towards your neck.

“You still with that other girl?”

“No. I broke it off her, everything that came out of her mouth was bullshit, and no she wasn’t my girlfriend.”

“You didn’t trust her? You added. Trying to distract him until you could think of a way you could say “hey in my 21 years of life I’ve never got passed kissing a guy.”

“Our relationship was purely built on lies, I’d second guess everything she said. He replied, wondering if you were interrogating him.

“Why’d you wanna know?” He asked bringing his face up from your skin.

“…No one’s ever touched me like this, fuck.” You bashfully admitted, thoughts racing through your head that he didn’t want you anymore because you weren’t experienced.

But he knew what was running through that pretty head of yours, his fingers reaching out to with your hair trying to comfort you.

“You’re a virgin?” He curiously asked dragging his hand to your cheek, you leaning into it.

“y-yeah” you muttered trying to move your eyes away from his looking down at his body.

“I thought you had a boyfriend before” he said, softly turning your jaw to make you look at him. Your eyes diverted from his arms back to his eyes.

“We weren’t actually dating” You quickly say trying to clear up the misunderstanding. “He was my friend and seatmate that pretended to be my fake boyfriend to get me out of some trouble” you spewed out “and I guess I forgot to tell everyone that it was fake.”

“Even if we were that doesn’t mean we fucked.” You sheepishly replied.

“So… what trouble did your fake boyfriend get you out of.” He questioned knowing how much trouble it must have been for you, miss independent, to go to such lengths.

“Umm, well…this guy wouldn’t stop flirting with me even after I told him I don’t like him, even following me to my other classes.”

He wasn’t surprised, you were definitely a sight for sore eyes, in fact the prettiest thing he’s laid his eyes on, your beaming eyes, your dimple when you smiled, your pretty face, your “ugly” laugh, he could go on for days.

“Why are we talking about this” You whined, reaching your hand back out to him.

He took a hint and continued kissing you, bringing you closer to him while you attempted to take you shirt off. His hands helping you seeing as that you were struggling, being lost in his touch, finishing by moving you up more on you bed, pushing your plushies out of the way, to your protested because “they had feelings too.”

He ignored you, bending down to pull your panties off stopping once he saw the slick coming through them.

“Fuck baby you’re wet” He breathed dragging his fingers across your clothed slit earing a whimper from you, leaving his fingers drenched.

 Shawty, you wanna feel good, I wanna feel good too Don't I make you feel good?

“M’always wet.” you responded.

From what? He questions taking off your soaked cotton panties, tossing them to the side.

“From me?” He smirks bringing his hand back towards your heat. You not even comprehending what he just said, just knowing that you’re ashamed of how worked up you were getting.

You were in awe. You’ve always known his hands were big, but in this situation your mind wondered. His fingers were so much bigger than yours knowing you can barely fit two inside your with out it hurting, and not in a good way.

“Do you know how pretty you are? It’s honestly distracting.”. He says kissing down your whole body, stopping at your breasts, licking lazily around and coming back to the nub. The attention on your nipples making you squirm and he finally lets go, you grateful that he stopped or you would have almost cum, how embarrassing.

“I thought you said were gonna get them pierced” He remembered, you going on a whole rant about how cute they were.

“You said u were gnna get em with me” You looked back on, reminding yourself making him promise to get them with you because you were too scared of the pain.

“That was the same day you played sick and I got that tattoo.” He stated lightening the mood, hoping you can calm yourself down before you actually embarrass yourself.

He picks back up and continues kissing all the way down your body, you playing with his hair while biting your lip to muffle your moans and whine until he reaches your entrance.

He parted your legs, your pussy laid out before him, believing you no have reason to be shy about it either. He paused, admiring your swollen cunt and puffy clit, you were beautiful.

The feeling that he didn't want anyone else ever in his position overtook him. He let out a little breath on your clit and you thrashed around. He wasn't going to play. “I’ll take care of you.”

His lips travel over your skin, light and heated before settling himself between your legs, grabbing you by your thighs and dragging you closer. “That tickles.” you giggle, nerves making you kick your legs, almost hitting him in the face before he grabs them. He puts them down locking your legs with his arms, lowering himself until he’s on the ground facing you.

“Does it make you nervous when I stare?” he teases while your covering your face trying to hide the blush he caused.  He puts his mouth on you, quickly gripping your thighs, his hands leaving imprints in your skin dragging you even more into him, deprived kisses taking over your body. 

“yer so pretty” You purred seeing the sight of his big build between your legs, your fingers grabbing onto his curly dark locks, tugging them.

  Issei moans, his voice radiating through your body, forcing out a cry, blessing him with your pretty voice. “I-Issei!” You cry, never feeling like this before, your vibrator and hands doing it no justice.

“Shh, just look at me, doll.”

You can barely make out what he says, so drunk on pleasure. You try your best, doing anything to see the pretty man beneath you. But you get interrupted by your pleasure, your back arching not being able to control your body, grinding down to meet his lips, heat rising in you.

He kisses through your wetness playing with your bud. You choking on your spit, back arching again your body tensing up. “Issei,” You beg, grabbing him knowing what you want but not being able to express it. Luckily he can read you like an open book, knowing what you want, driving you over the edge as he makes you see stars. “Good girl,” he sighs when he feels you let go of his wrist letting him bring you your first orgasm.

“Look at your thighs shaking so much.” He teasingly cooed, wrapping his hands around them, bringing you out of your daze.

Shawty, your body is so exciting

Arching your back into the blankets, letting out a whine “Want your fingers.”.

He lets out a condescending laugh. “You need to learn to be patient. You just came and you’re already so eager for more?”

But by the time he finished your body went limp, you were totally weak, body loose-limbed and pliant. Your mind clouded by lust and deep in your own world. You gasped out a little sob, unable to comprehend anything beyond the discomfort and the need to have it gone. You can’t think straight all you can do is take action, grabbing his arm him easing his fingers into to you.

It’s not too tight, is it?” you ask clenching around his fingers.

 “Just relax… let yourself feel it” He says barely being able to move in you. Fuck so were so tight.

“I love the way you look with my fingers inside you.” He added starting to thrust them inside you, making you let out a string of moans.

“Look how good you take it.”  

“Fuck, you’re so messy.” He groaned feeling the slick running down his hands, before taking them out.

“Issei-i,” You cried when he pulled away, pleasure leaving you, tears coming back.

  He shushes you easily, his fingers wiping your tears. You were so precious to him, your moans music to his ears.  He slows down repositioning his fingers, making you let out a whimper squeezing around them. Your brains so crowded you can’t focus, can’t gather the strength to speak when he thrust them faster inside you.

  Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you fell back, fingers curling inside you, chanting his name over and over, incoherent words coming out of your mouth begging for more. 

You pussy tightens as you cum, unable to breath, letting out gasps and whines. Him still fucking you, fingers not stopping, pushing them in and out relentlessly feeling both pain and pleasure. You lay there, wet in your own cum not giving yourself a break before you went and got what you really wanted, his cock.

His eyes followed the movement of your hands as they pushed down his boxers, revealing the length of his cock, that jutted proudly from his hips. He was so pretty, so virile and handsome. Wondering how lucky you were to be in such a position with him.

You pushed away those thoughts and focused on him, pulling him forward gently, but he followed his encouragement. One of his hands tilted his cock down toward your lips. “Open your mouth for me, baby.”

You parted them instantly, tongue sliding slightly outward, and then you whimpered as the warm weight of his cock slid into your mouth. You let your eyes flutter closed and swirled your tongue around the tip of his cock not knowing exactly what you were doing, but it was working, tasting the salty tang of the precum that wept from his leaking slit. You moved your tongue as the he put his hand into your hair, gripping the strands and pushing deeper into his mouth.

“You look so good on your knees like that. “He says meeting your eyes once again, almost cumming from the picture below him.

“Slowly, baby, I’m not going anywhere.” He says slowing you down by grabbing your hair, making a pace that you follow.

“Yeah, that’s it, baby, just like that.” Seeing that sinful look in your eyes with your redden swollen lips.

You moan feeling yourself drip down your thighs, getting even wetter giving him head. Trying to ease the discomfort by closing your legs, griding them together, trying to find some friction. Your ears hearing “That’s so fucking hot.” watching the scene unfold beneath him.

Your jaw hurts, trying got make him cum faster using your hands and lips together hollowing your cheeks. “Oh fuck, oh, Jesus, fuck yes, there, just like that, fucking Christ" he groans out, his voice sounded beautiful to your ears, knowing he was about to cum.

He finally lets go cumming in your mouth, you swallowing it all, trying not to wince at the taste. “Did I do good” You ask waiting for his reply. Your doll eyes, so red and worn out looking up at him for approval. Fuck he was whipped.

“Yeah…fuck baby”

I love when you get on top and you ride it

You get back under him, his cock resting on you, drenched and clenching around nothing, resting in your cum. You working yourself up against him.

“What makes you think I’m going to fuck you?” He says to your complaint.

“You’re not ready yet.” he mumbles against your whining. Spreading your legs, slapping your clit a few times before letting his cock rest on your folds. Finally getting “seated” he picks up your legs and puts them both on one of his shoulders your thighs warming his cock, your knees touching his cheek not moving, getting a kick out of how desperate your were for him.

“s-stop being mean” You cried reaching out for him to come closer, needing affection after all you’ve been though.

“Aww, poor baby, you want me to take care of it for you? He says leaning into you, reaching your kiss, tasting the remnants of the cum in your mouth.

He plundered your mouth and slowly teased his cock over your entrance, catching it against your clit and making you whimper into the kiss, clearly wanting to be fucked. Your kiss turned you sucking on Issei’s tongue and lips, biting the swollen pout until his lips were red and puffy. He pulled back and looked down at you, a beautiful mess under him.

His fat cock head pushed between your folds. The moan escaping both of your lips was primal. You were turned on beyond imagination and the way he was thrusting forward, spreading his leaking precum on your wet clit was almost too much. He quickly picked up his pace fucking your folds, his warm head brushing against your clit with every movement, but your greedy self wanted more.

The fact that he made you cum so easily made you proud. Just because you’ve never gone this far with someone else doesn’t mean you’ve never cum, you’ve had a lot of practice over the years, being insatiable, the sheets soaked underneath you from your previous orgasms being proof.

“Keep your eyes open, look at me, baby.” He moans getting your attention him.

You tried, you really tried, but the way he was stroking you, imagining what it’d be like to actually sit on his cock, the lewd sounds echoing in the background leaving you unable to focus.

He taps on your cheek eventually getting you look at him, keeping your mind on him by placing his fingers in your mouth you letting him, hazily sucking on them, not being able to close your mouth.

“Oh, baby, you’re drooling everywhere.” He grumbles. Your spit dripping onto his fingers, the friction of your thighs making him feral, moving at an even faster pace. Your body bouncing with every thrust.

“You gonna cum after I cum on your little clit? Come one more time for me, I know you’ve got it in you.” You sob feeling the puddle beneath you, time slowing, fire pooling in your tummy.  Listening to his words you let yourself go. You come with a silent scream as the pleasure ripped through your body, your nails scratching his soft skin. Your vison fading to black feeling him lose his rhythm and moaning a mixture of curse words along with your name, feeling him cum on your tummy before resting his head in your neck while letting your legs go.

“So good for me, look at how much you came.” He says breaking the static. You whining into his shoulder, emotions high, never doing this before.

“I know, baby, I know. I’m right here, just breathe.” He says. You two laying in silence for an unclear amount of time, him rubbing your back while you rest in his chest almost dozing off.

“Are we still…friends?” You croak out trying to hold back your sobs already knowing the answer that you two were defiantly not friends now and never would be just friends again.

“Friends don’t do this type of shit” He maintained grabbing your shoulders to sit you and him up. You were worried, did he only do this with you because he was drunk? You were anxious that you scared him away because you just poured your heart out to him and pushed yourself on him. You left your head down, tears already coming out to your dismay. You moved your hand up to wipe them but he beat you to it.

“Look at me… I love you.” He says holding your cheeks in his palm. You in awe, hoping that you weren’t imagining it, that this was real life.

“R-really” You question making him worry too, preferring to forgive and forget rather than letting this a divide between the two of you in case you went back on your feelings. You were so overwhelmed, never feeling love until this moment, so happy that the person you longed for liked you back. Yours tears running once again.

 “Shh, shh, it’s alright...Don’t cry.”

You don’t even know why you were crying, the hangover already getting to you making you get a headache. You groaning in his arms complaining that your head and throat hurt.

“Ill be back” he says detaching himself from you, letting you know he was coming right back.

He walks to your fridge opening it to see every drink but water, having too dig through all of them, especially the absurd amount of apple juice guessing it was your “once a year craving for it”. He finally got you some cold water, putting It in a cup and waked back to your room.

  “Issei” you whined not picking your head up from the pillow.

  “Shh baby im right here.”

  He sat down beside you on your bed lifting your head up. “Here drink this” he reassured, to which you ignored not wanting anything to go in your mouth, just wanting the day, or night as it was now, to end.

  “It’s just water, honey, look.” You sat yourself up with his help seeing him in just his boxers, you remembering your still naked, not caring enough to cover yourself. He held to glass to your mouth, babying you, tilting it far back enough to where you could drink it. The water hit the back of your mouth feeling like a shot making you cough.

“I know, it hurts. I’m sorry but we have to” He stated. You continued to drink it, feeling the stinging in the back of your throat, him comforting you, calling you “good girl” which was unsurprisingly working.

  He put the cup on your dresser when you finished, climbing back into bed with you leaning your body into his. “Have you ever thought about...us? Y’know, as an...item?” he said causing you to look at him with wide eyes.

 “Call me selfish, but I don’t ever want anyone else to touch you.” He insisted making you cheeks flush. You try to think of a way to respond, not wanting to keep him waiting.

“You’re the best thing that has, and ever will, happen to me. Not only am I deeply in love with you, you’re my best friend.” You stammer out, your shaky hands somehow made there way to his neck, letting them fall slowly before he grabs them dragging you in for a kiss before you got to even see his face.

“Everybody has always thought we’re a couple.” He continued taking his time kissing you all over your face. “Then I guess we should be.” You retort, kissing him back before you could see his reaction, not wanted to be embarrassed anymore today. But he caught you, holding you still “Really “y/n? Like deadass?” He asked.

  “Yes dummy, I want to be your girlfriend” You say causing him to grin swearing you’ve never seen him smile that big, before he gives you one last kiss.

  “I always kiss you on the cheek, why are you blushing now? He teases laying back down, you following along. You just snuggle into him mumbling something along the lines of “m’tired”, he understanding and speaking to you in a soft, gentle voice while helping you to bed, so he doesn’t make it harder for you to sleep by being loud. “I’m here love, I’m not going anywhere.” He whispers into your ear mkanig your heart swoon one last time before you pass out.

  “I l-love you issei.” You sleepily mumble.

“Tell me this when you’re sober.” He says stroking your head.

“Just relax, close your eyes...”He murmurs, your heart beating slower every second. Both of you together, lazy, slow presses. Limbs pressed together, chests heaving, fingers trailing down backs, tracing lazy patterns.

  “Oh!…” He remembers. “If you really wanna get them pierced, we could get matching ones.”

© all content belongs to spikesbimbo. do not alter or repost .

[scripts4dreamers]

Bedside Manner

AN: Lockdown is always hellish but it does leave you a lot of time to think. Characters: Marcus Arguello Pairing(s): Marcus x reader Spoiler(s): None Warning(s): Swearing, unhealthy coping mechanism (Smoking/drinking)

 Prompt: this post I saw from @write-it-motherfuckers

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When the monks rushed in and started pulling people out of class, you weren’t sure if you were terrified or relieved. On one hand, you could hear the fight happening in the corridors, the sound of Saya and Maria yelling at one another, kids cheering something on, and you were scared of what they might do to one another if no one intervened. On the other, the school itself getting involved was almost never a good sign and, as a staff slammed into your back, ushering you forward, you couldn’t help the rising tide of panic in your chest. The corridors were packed with students being pushed and shoved towards their rooms and you searched through the chaos, without much hope, for a familiar face.

“Y/N!” You heard someone call, “Y/N!”

“Marcus?” You shouted back, turning in the direction of the voice, “Marcus where are you?”

“I’m here!” He shouted, closer now.

The kids next to you pushed and shuffled forward, blocking your view and, no matter how much you twisted and turned, you couldn’t see past flashes of navy blazers and anonymous patches of skin. It was horribly claustrophobic but, just as the panic started to get too much, you felt a hand wrap around your wrist and caught sight of a familiar mess of brown curls.

“Got you,” Marcus assured, still several people behind you, “shit Y/N/N I thought-shit, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Maria and Saya?” You asked.

Marcus shook his head, “I’ll explain later. What’re the monks doing?”

You opened your mouth to explain but, before you could, Master Lin did it for you.

“Everybody back to your rooms,” Master Lin’s voice boomed, “We’re officially in lockdown.”

Marcus’ eyes widened. The monk at your back shoved you hard, forcing you forward and through the first available door. You stumbled in, tripping over a backpack on the floor, and just managed to catch yourself before you fell. From behind you you could hear Marcus being pushed into the room and, beyond that, just for a second, the sounds of your fellow students yelling and complaining before the door to your room slammed shut and you heard the lock click into place. Your heart sank and you swore under your breath, turning to face Marcus, who was tugging uselessly on the door handle.

“It’ll be locked from the outside,” you told him, “always is during lockdown.”

Marcus Arguello was almost a friend of yours. Almost. You liked him well enough. He was smart and funny and caring, he was friends with all of your friends, he was helpful and interesting, he respected boundaries and he always knew how to get a smile out of you. All in all, he was an incredible person, but that was kind of the problem; you liked him a lot. Too much. Since his first day at King’s, Marcus had done nothing but make you smile and blush and generally make an idiot out of yourself at every available opportunity, which, at this particular high school, wasn’t just embarrassing, it was dangerous. Trouble followed him like a lovesick puppy, putting your life at risk more than once but, no matter how many times you told yourself to just forget him and move on, you couldn’t. You just kept coming back, every time. You wanted to believe that some part of you was distancing itself from Marcus and that that was why you were hesitant to call him a friend but, if you were honest, you just weren’t keen on lying to yourself. You were in too deep, he meant too much to you.

He sighed, “Fuck.”

You hummed in agreement, trying to hide how nervous the idea of being stuck in a room with Marcus made you feel. There wasn’t much else to say about lockdown anyway. They didn’t happen often, but this was by no means your first, and you knew there was no real point in fighting it.

“This is bullshit,” Marchus continued, “they’re not really just gonna keep us locked in here, are they?”

“Yup,” you answered, collapsing onto the bed and picking up a book, “no leaving except two bathroom breaks a day and meal times. You might as well get comfortable.”

“This isn’t even my room,” Marcus complained, “what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“No, it’s my room,” you explained, gesturing to the other twin sized bed, “you could start by sitting down and telling me what the hell is going on.”

Ever since that trip to Vegas, where everything had gone so horribly wrong, things had been different. Marcus had been different. He was more somber, vacillating between being on edge and being extremely happy and relaxed. He was stressed, of course, you all were but there would be moments when you would look up and catch him just watching you and then, when he saw you looking, he would just smile a bit, like he was sad about something. It always made something in your chest pinch. What made the situation worse was that, outside of those moments, he’d been distant with you. More distant than what was usual for Marcus. As far as you could tell, he was avoiding you in class, sitting next to Petra or Lex at lunch and just generally keeping you at arm’s length. You hadn’t had a real conversation in weeks. You wanted to be indifferent to it but, in reality, it had hurt more than you wanted it to and you wanted an explanation.

He wasn’t smiling at you now. If anything, you noted as Marcus folded himself onto the floor with his back against your roommate’s bed and buried his head in his hands, he looked tired, like he hadn’t slept in days and it was wearing on him. That thing near your heart pinched again and you cursed your own selfishness. Marcus had obviously been dealing with a lot, more than the rest of you combined probably, and all you could do was think about your bruised ego. Typical. Cautiously you swung yourself upright, sitting cross legged on your mattress to face your friend.

“Marcus, are you okay?”

“Hmm?” he answered, his voice thick with exhaustion, “What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine Y/N/N, don’t worry about it.”

You raised an eyebrow in disbelief but didn’t push, knowing he’d open up in his own time.

‘How long do you think we’ll be in here?” he asked.

You shrugged, “Until Lin gets what he wants, I guess.”

“What if-” he paused, “what if he doesn’t though? What happens then?”

You leant forward, “What’s going on, Marcus?” you asked gently, “You can tell me. Maybe I can help.”

Before you’d even finished the question he was shaking his head, “No. No, Y/N/N trust me, you can’t help with this.”

“I can try,” you argued, giving him a small smile, “I’m pretty smart, you know?”

For a second it looked like Marcus wanted to cry. His eyes watered up and you had to fight the instinct to reach down and pull him into a hug.

“Yeah, I know that.” he said softly, sniffing and wiping his eyes to force back the tears, “Okay, Y/N, I’ll tell you.”

Satisfied, you leant back on your bed, waiting expectantly while Marcus collected his thoughts. He sighed again, running his hand through his already messed up hair. His dark eyes darted around your room, taking in every inch of the place like he’d never seen a dorm before. It made you feel strangely unsettled.

“This really your room?” he asked, pulling out a cigarette and sliding it between his lips, “It’s nice.”

You rolled your eyes, “Yes, it’s my room and you,” you started, leaning forward and pulling the cig out of his mouth, “can’t smoke in here.”

“Wha-really?” Marcus complained, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

His hands were fidgety, which meant he was nervous.

“Yes, really, Now stop deflecting and tell me why I’m stuck in my room with no one but you for company, and why you look like you haven’t slept in a month, will you?”

He met your eye and you felt, more than saw, his resistance crumble.

“Well, I should probably start with how I blew up my old roommate at the boy’s home,” Marcus started, leaning back against the bed, “and why he wants to kill me for it.”

----------------------

When Marcus finally fell silent you were shocked. You felt like a tidal wave of information had just knocked you over and you were just drowning in it all. How had so much been happening without your knowledge? Some things you’d known about, of course, like Maria killing Chico and Billy killing his dad but, all this other stuff? Chester and El Diablo? Maria killing Yukio? Juan going after Saya in the middle of the hallway?

“Jesus Christ,” you said.

Marcus snorted, “You can say that again.”

You reached behind your bed and pulled out a bottle of vodka that was still mostly full, left over from some house party or another that you’d managed to smuggle in. In one fluid motion, before you could think better of it, you twisted the cap off and took a deep swig, sloshing a little bit on your uniform by accident. The alcohol burned like fire on the way down and you grimaced as you passed the bottle to Marcus.

“Thank fuck,” said, accepting the bottle gratefully, “Y/N, you’re an angel, if you ever need anything-”

“Yeah, yeah,” you smiled, “shut up and drink, Arguello.”

“If I must,” he joked with a melodramatic sigh, taking a massive gulp.

As he drank, you watched Marcus as inconspicuously as you could. He seemed lighter now, like the act of opening up to you had taken a huge weight off his shoulders. You still weren’t exactly sure how you felt about it all. Were you confused? Angry? Terrified? Did you wish he’d never said anything? Were you happy he’d trusted you? You didn’t know, probably a little bit of all of it but, despite the craziness and confusion, you were glad you’d been able to help, even if it was just by listening. Talking to Marcus had always been one of your favorite things to do and, sadly this was the most genuine conversation you’d had with one another since Vegas. It was nice, in a weird, messed up sort of way.

“Is this why you’ve been so off with me lately?” you eventually asked, “You were trying to keep this all a secret?”

Marcus grimaced, whether from the alcohol or embarrassment you weren’t sure, and passed the bottle back.

“I’ve always been shit at lying to you and, yeah, I wanted to keep you out of it,” he admitted, “I thought if I just waited long enough everything would just sort of die down.”

“But it hasn’t?”

“But it hasn’t,” he agreed.

“So, we’re all basically fucked.” you said simply.

“Unless I can get to Saya, convince her not to gut Maria and explain what happened before anyone else does, yeah.”

“Well,” you sighed, pushing yourself up onto your feet and sliding your secret stash of contraband from its hiding place in the ceiling, “you know, whatever happens I’ll fight by your side when the time comes,” you said, avoiding his eye, “but for now, since this might be one of our last chances, we might as well enjoy the peace and quiet.”

Marcus looked up at the contraband and smiled, “you’re amazing, you know that?”

Blood rose to your cheeks and you broke his gaze, tossing a bag of cheetos at him, “Shut up.” you said fondly, “And don’t ever keep me in the dark like that again.”

The teasing glint in Marcus’ eyes softened and he reached out to catch your hand, forcing you to look back at him from where he sat on the floor.

“Never.” he promised.

You passed the first few hours of lockdown in a bubble of serenity. While you lay on your bed reading and listening to music, Marcus doodled in his journal all the while maintaining an easy conversation with you. You avoided the hard topics, focussing instead on music and comic books and which teachers you thought would win in a fight as you passed the bottle of vodka back and forth. It felt good, easy even, joking with one another like nothing had happened, like nothing had changed. And maybe it hadn’t, you reasoned to yourself, maybe this is how it had always been at King’s; a little bit messy, a little bit terrifying but better than what your life had been before. Maybe this was enough, maybe this was the trade off you made when you agreed to go to a school for assassins and, maybe, you could be okay with that.

At some point Marcus had moved and was now leaning up against your bed instead of your roommates so that you could play with his hair while he drew. It was something you’d discovered that he liked entirely by accident, sitting on the roof together one night when he was still fairly new at King’s. Back then he’d been so touch starved that he’d almost cried the first time he felt your fingers carding through his hair and you’d wondered, not for the first time, what exactly had happened in that boy’s home to make him so afraid. You’d never do it in public of course, people would get the wrong idea and pick on you both if you did but, in private, you’d gotten used to just reaching out and twirling one of his curls around your finger whenever you wanted. As you gently let your fingers scrape against his scalp you could hear Marcus' pencil as it scratched against the paper, and you fought the urge to lean forward and see what he was drawing. Journals were private shit, you reminded yourself, if Marcus wanted to show you what he was doing, he would.

“What’re you reading?” He asked, breaking the comfortable silence you’d fallen into.

“The color purple,” you replied, “my mom sent it to me.”

“I didn’t know you and your mom were close like that,” Marcus said, a note of confusion in his voice, “in fact,” he stopped drawing suddenly and twisted his head to look at you, “I don’t really know anything about your family.”

You shrugged, “There’s not much to know, really. My parents are smugglers and I’m at King’s, end of story.”

“End of story? Just like that?” he retorted, “Come on Y/N/N, you know everything about me and I know almost nothing about you. Tell me something.”

“That’s ‘cause you are a chronic oversharer and a terrible judge of character,” you teased, ruffling his hair and returning to your book. Marcus sighed, all melodrama and betrayal and you could feel his eyes burning a hole through The Color Purple. You swore loudly and sat up, “Fine, whatever, you win,” you conceded, “what do you want to know?”

“Yes!” he sighed, laughing at his own cleverness before continuing, “Okay, do you have any siblings?”

“I had an older sister, she died when I was eight and we’re not going to talk about it,” you answered, “next.”

“Favorite colour?”

“Blue or grey.”

“Where were you born?”

“In a tiny little city you’ve never heard of,” you said.

“Have you ever been arrested?” Marcus pressed on.

“Twice, have you?”

“Never,” he replied.

“Okay square,” you joked, “my turn. What’s your biggest fear?”

“Jesus, alright,” Marcus laughed, reaching for the vodka, “if we’re going there we both need to be like 15% less sober.”

You snatched the bottle back, “How about this, for every question we choose to answer we get to drink. If we pass on a question then the other person gets to ask two more which we then can’t pass on, agreed?”

“A drinking game version of twenty questions? What are we, seven?” Marcus complained, but he shook your hand anyway, “Agreed.”

“Good, so back to my question,” you started, “what, Marcus Lopez Arguello, is your biggest fear?”

Marcus looked at you for a long moment, like he was sizing you up and, instinctively, you fought back the urge to shiver under the weight of his stare. He was, of course, incredibly handsome; the sort of handsome that you couldn’t help but notice, even when you were trying not to, but that wasn’t what made it so difficult to meet his eye. No, what made it difficult was that, despite what he thought, Marcus really knew you. He saw past all the bullshit showboating, all the carefully constructed facades. Every single defense mechanism you had was worthless against him because, at the end of the day, you didn’t really want to keep Marcus out. If anything you wanted him closer and, when he looked at you like that, you felt like he might see right through you, into that secret part of your heart that you kept hidden. So you did what any self respecting coward would do; you looked away. Marcus sighed and reached for the bottle.

“Dying without really having lived,” he admitted, taking a swig from the bottle, “and dying alone I guess. You?”

You wrinkled your nose, “Pass.”

“What?” Marcus laughed incredulously, “You can’t pass! I just bared my soul to you and you’re just gonna opt out? Boooooo! Booooooo Y/N!”

“Fine,” you laughed, “fine I’ll tell you. I uh-I’m afraid that I’ll never find somewhere to belong. Like maybe I’m just always gonna feel like an outsider wherever I am until I die, maybe even after that.”

“You belong with us,” Marcus said, “with me and Billy and Petra and the others.”

You shook your head and drank deep, wincing at the vodka’s burn, “Nah, I don’t. Not really at least, not like you and Billy. I’m sure they all like me just fine but, at the end of the day, I’m nobody’s reason for being there, you know?” Marcus looked thoughtful but, just as he opened his mouth to answer, you cut him off, desperate to avoid hearing whatever kind, pitying lie he’d come up with, “Anyway moving on, it’s your turn Arguello. Hit me with your best question, I’m an open book.”

You traded questions back and forth like that for quite some time, laughing and joking and drinking as you did. Marcus was ruthless in his honesty, laying himself bare in front of you and refusing to pass on even a single question. You passed on many. Not all of them were deep and personal, some were funny or nonsensical, but enough were deep and personal that, by the time the alcohol had started to really kick in, you were feeling a little raw. It was like Marcus was desperate to wrap himself up in his own honesty, clinging to every shred of emotional intimacy he could find like it was a lifeline and flinging himself ever deeper into his own vulnerability. Usually you would have pulled back so fast at the idea of being that open that you’d have given yourself whiplash but now, with the alcohol making you feel warm and light, and Marcus smiling at you like there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be, you revelled in it. There was a sort of tension building too, not exactly something but almost something….very nearly something, and part of you was just excited to see what it was. Marcus laughed at something you said, you didn’t even remember what, and the sound made you so happy that you actually had to stop and catch your breath. He was still leaning against your bed but now his back was to the cupboard next to your headrest so that he could face you while you talked. Unfortunately this also meant that you could study his face more conveniently, mapping every dip and curve and scar like he might vanish if you looked away. Dangerous territory, a voice in your head whispered, sharp turns up ahead.

“Shhh, stop, it’s my turn,” Marcus asserted, still breathless from laughing, “Okay, no shhh-Y/N-listen, here’s my question; have you ever been in love?”

Dangerous territory! Your brain shouted, Abort, abort, abort, abo-

“Nope,” you answered, which felt like a lie even though it technically wasn’t, “have you?”

“Is that your question?” he asked, which some small part of your brain noted was strange since, up until now, you’d both been answering every question.

“No! Well-yes-but I have a different, better question so just answer this one anyway.” you said, pushing the thought away and looking down at Marcus expectantly.

He held your gaze for a second longer, took a deep, deep drink and nodded before saying, like it physically pained him, “I’m in love now.”

Your heart stuttered and dropped into your stomach like a stone, but you kept your face neutral, “Saya?”

Marcus gave you a wry smile that hinged on sadness, “Is that your question?”

You blushed and shook your head, trying to recapture the fun, carefree energy you’d had just moments before. Somehow, your drunk brain noted, you’d made Marcus sad. Or he had made himself sad. Or the question had made him sad, maybe? It was confusing and thinking about it made your chest feel tight so you just pushed forward.

“No, here’s my question-are you ready? It’s a good one-here it is; what is your most precious recent memory and why?”

Marcus frowned, “Most precious memory? What does that mean? Do you mean my best memory?”

You shook your head, “See, that’s why it’s so good; a precious memory is like a good memory, only more. It’s a memory you play over and over in your head whenever things get tough because something important happened there, something you didn’t realize was happening when you were in it. So you have to keep remembering it, you know?” you explained, “So you can figure out what happened and why it was so important.” you continued, “And I say recent because, well, we’ve talked about our families a lot, and the people we’ve lost, but we’re on our own now, and we’ve gotta start making new precious memories.”

“Oh,” Marcus said softly.

“It’s good right?” you continued, distantly aware that Marcus was looking sad again, “Like mine is that day that I tried to stop Viktor from stealing that girl’s kit kat.”

“You mean when he and his goons beat you to a pulp?” he asked dubiously.

“Almost to a pulp,” you corrected, “but while he was wailing on me, the girl got away. I knew when I went in that Vic would beat the shit out of me, but I did it anyway and it worked. It was the day I realised that the choices I make can have some positive effect on the world, so long as I’m willing to take the consequences of them.” you finished, shifting so that your head was resting on your hand, “So, what’s yours and why?”

Marcus shook his head and took another sip from the vodka bottle, “You’re killing me here, Y/N/N. Pass.”

Your jaw dropped, “What!?! NO! You never pass on questions, that’s like your thing.”

“Yeah well I’m passing on this one so just-” he waved his hand, shooing away your berating, “ask me something else.”

“Fine,” you sighed, mulling over the possibilities in your head for a moment, “okay well, since you apparently are in love and I’ve never been in love, what does it feel like?”

“Hmm?”

You met his eye, “Being in love,” you clarified, “what does it feel like?”

In the dim light of your dorm room it was hard to tell, but you were pretty sure you saw Marcus flush deep red.

“It-uh-” he started, fiddling with his hands, “it’s kind of hard to describe.”

“Try,” you encouraged softly, mesmerized by the shift in his demeanour.

“Well I-” Marcus cleared his throat, “for a long while I wasn’t sure it actually was love. I thought maybe it was just general teen stupidness you know? You want what you can’t have, projecting onto someone you admire, that sort of crap but then one day-after Vegas actually-it just,” he shrugged, “changed.” you listened intently as every word burrowed itself into the small secret part of your heart like a knife, and he continued, “Suddenly everything made sense. It’s like my whole damn life was leading me to that moment, like maybe this was why all the shitty stuff happened, so that I could be here, feeling like this.” he explained simply, keeping his gaze focused on his hands, “And now it’s fucking crazy ‘cause all this shit’s going on and all I can think about is keeping-is not losing this. My heart feels like it’s gonna explode half the time, like it’s too damn big for my body and it hurts but it’s a good hurt, like stretching a stiff muscle. I’m not even really worried for myself anymore, but I’m so fucking scared that something I say or do is gonna come back and mess everything up and-” he shook his head, his voice quivering, “and I’m terrified, but I also don’t ever want this feeling to go away. It’s scary having someone hold your heart like this but, at the same time, I think not feeling like this, now that I know what it’s like, would hurt a million times more.” he finished, tensing his jaw and fidgeting like he was nervous, “Sorry, bit of a rambling answer. I owe you another one, don’t I?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah,” you answered, snapping yourself back into focus. It felt like the air itself was heavy with tension now, like all the things you wanted to say were swirling around your head, invisible but always present because you knew that feeling. You knew it all too well and for him to feel that way, to talk that passionately about someone else...you just couldn’t take it. “Okay for my second question;” you continued, “tell me your most precious memory and why.”

This time all the blood leached out of Marcus’ face, like he was becoming a ghost right before your eyes. You felt mean, it was a total bastardisation of the rules and you knew it but there was a little voice in the back of your mind telling you that this was the only question you wanted answered, that this was what you needed to know.

“That’s so against the rules.” Marcus tried, lightening the atmosphere considerably.

“No it’s not,” you argued, “it’s a dick move for sure but there was nothing specifically forbidding it in our original agreement.”

“You suuuuuuuck,” Marcus whined, leaning into your arm where it hung off the bed.

Instinctively you threaded your fingers through his hair, playing with the soft curls like you always did. You felt Marcus arch up into your touch, humming with pleasure as you scraped your fingers through the baby hairs on the back of his neck. He shivered, but the tension slipped out of his muscles and he relaxed with a sigh, resigning himself to his fate.

“Do you really want to know?” He asked softly.

“I really do,” you replied.

“Okay then” he breathed, “honestly, it’s that time on the way back from Vegas when everyone else had gone into the gas station for food, and it was just you and me in the backseat of Willie’s car.” he continued, “You had your hair pinned back and I was telling you some story about my childhood while we waited. You had a red sweater on, and bright blue nails. It was dark out, but the lights from the gas station were shining around your head like a halo.”

“I remember,” you told him, your voice hardly louder than a whisper, “but why? Why that memory?”

Marcus looked up, his dark eyes filed to the brim with the kind of vulnerable sincerity that made you feel breathless and afraid. Slowly, as though he were approaching an injured animal, he reached up and pulled your fingers from his hair and held your palm in both of his. You were frozen, like a deer in headlights, but you still felt the shiver as it ran up your spine at his touch.

“It was the first time I saw you smile, for real, since we’d arrived in Vegas,” he explained, studying your hand, “up until then I was pretty sure I was never gonna see it again but,” he shook his head and shrugged, “I made some awful joke about wishing I’d known then what I knew now and...you laughed. You really laughed and you rested your forehead on my shoulder and-boom-just like that...I knew.”

“Knew what?” you asked, half terrified of the answer.

Marcus gave you that smile, that sad little smile he’d been shooting you for weeks, the one that made your heart hurt just to look at and, before he even said anything, you were already shaking your head.

“Don’t make me say it Y/N,” he whispered, “surely by now you know?”

“No.” you said, pulling your hand away and leaning back, “No, you don’t. You can’t, Marcus.”

“Y/N/N-”

“No, you don’t understand,” you insisted, “it’s not possible. You aren’t-you don’t think of me that way. No one does, I’m not like that. I’m not lovable like you are.”

“Like I-?” Marcus started, following you up and sitting gingerly on your bed, “Y/N you’re infinitely lovable.”

“No I’m not!” You asserted, sure that this had to be some sort of trick, some sort of sick joke, “Who could love me? Who could possibly be fucked up and unlucky enough to love me?”

“I could!” Marcus promised, “I do, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Marcus, you’re the only person I’ve ever felt this way about,” you admitted, “please don’t joke.”

His answering smile was gentle and understanding, like he saw the pain you were in, like he understood. You couldn’t hope for this, you had never let yourself believe for even a second that-

“It’s not a joke, Y/N,” he promised, cupping your face in his hands and forcing you to meet his gaze, “I’m just-I’m in love with you. You were wrong, you’ve never been an outsider, you’ve always belonged with me.”

You searched his eyes, his dark, beautiful eyes, for some trace of deceit, some hint that this was too good to be true and that he was waiting to take it away from you, but found none. Maybe he was right, a small, hopeful voice in your mind chimed in, maybe this was how it was supposed to be. Maybe just this once, you didn’t need to be afraid, maybe you could let yourself want this, want him.

Because looking back, it made sense, didn’t it? All those things you’d written off; months of secret smiles and gentle touches, of seeking one another out when you didn’t need to, this was what they were leading up to. As you looked, Marcus blushed, his cheeks flushing a pale shade of pink as you both realised, for the first time, how close you were, how open and vulnerable you were to each other in that moment.

“Y/N/N,” he started softly, “Y/N/N I don’t want to be an asshole or anything but-” he let out a breathy laugh, “but I really want to kiss you right now. Would it be alright if-”

You were kissing him before he could even finish his sentence.

[katierosefun]

so after one really big latte, a muffin, a run which resulted in a near accident with an oncoming car, and a shower in which i contemplated my own mortality, here’s my thoughts on the adorable me & au podcast, because babe wake up new hyperfixation dropped. very spoiler-y, i’m sorry in advance for how f*cking long this is, this might only have like two people reading this but i have many thoughts please listen to this podcast because it’s so cute and i listened to it all in about 2.5 hours? 

- firstly: the main character is super relatable. like, scary relatable. meet kate “acunningplan” cunningham, a gal about to enter her senior year of college and just kinda,,,lost. she works as a barista and very confused, very...stuck gal by day, fic writer (and still very stuck gal) by.........not barista hours. 

- honestly, i love kate. idk i’m about to enter my senior year of college, and bro i related so hard to her fears of “bro i can’t even think about next week without feeling overwhelmed”. she misses her best friend whitney a lot, who is currently on the other side of the country for an impressive internship. so that can be kinda lonely. 

- but fear not, kate has an escape, like so many other fic writers/fandom people: fanfic. this whole story references tumblr without actually naming tumblr (let’s be real....it’s tumblr, from the “notes” to “this stupid app keeps crashing”), and kate follows this tv show about werewolves and supernatural creatures. very gay. only problem is that there’s not a whole ton of people active in the fandom, since this show is relatively new. 

- however, in this small fandom, kate meets ella: otherwise known as “hella-enchanted”, who is another fic writer. 

- kate is very obsessed with the idea of alternate universes, and for that alone, i love her.

- okay, so even if you’ve never fallen in love with a person online/in fandom circles, i just wanna say that ella and kate’s interactions are still so super relatable. the shooting messages, the starting random conversations and getting a little thrill when you see someone liking your personal post or whatever. it’s very wholesome. 

- also, at the end of episode 1, kate goes on about how “yeah, fanfic is kinda odd, but it led me...to you” and it was so soft and gentle you just know your heart is gonna melt huh 

- at one point, kate decides to be vulnerable via vent post about something that came up on the show (and oh god yeah i feel...things. kate relates very hard to one character in the tv show she’s following, and tbh,,,yeah. i can’t quite word it right now, but i think anyone who feels kinda.....stuck? would relate.) 

- the “EXACTLY ONE PERSON ASKED FOR THIS ESSAY SO HERE IT IS” please

- also oh :’)))) kate talks about ella’s playlists and when i tell you i squeaked a little bit because oh hey--

- anyways lol yes can you relate to like,,,posting a vent post and forgetting to delete it and being mildly horrified (but also mildly touched) when someone actually responds?

- ella’s very sweet, just responds with “seems like one of my favorite fandom people needed a pick-me-up” and :’))) i would die for ella! (i mean, i would die for all the characters) 

- okay yes also all the bits where ella and kate scream at each other about fic. very relatable, very real, you can tell that the writers of this podcast really knew this feeling, and i just :’)))

- THE TWO DEBATE OVER TITLES,,,,,kate keeps sending in crack-y titles and also song lyrics, and ella comments on “well,,,i just read this whole wikipedia page, so i think i’ve lost the high ground”, so if y’all KNOW i started laughing at that 

- also LMAOOOO the moment when conversation diverts from fic and fandom to slightly more personal things! kate being like “oh,,,,,you have an actual job! like,,,you’re an actual adult and.....how’s that?” and then quickly rambling on via message “actually let me change the topic because that’s probably too personal”...

- okay so there’s this bit where ella drops the fact that she’s never read anne of green gables because “listen,,,,you have an ex-girlfriend who sang the anne of green gables musical all the time--” and kate’s “.......ex-girlfriend? you had an ex-girlfriend? girl--” (and BACKSPACING ALL OF THAT because “god i’m such a freak”) 

- much gay disaster

- so much gay disaster

- opportunity for kate and ella to meet irl comes up! at a fan convention! in toronto! (and kate lives in bc). kate’s best friend (remember, internship one?) invited kate over to toronto for this thing anyways, and then ella posts something about “heeeey i’m gonna be in the area so if anyone wants to meet up for the fan convention...” 

- let me just say......kate chucking her phone across the room because she freaked out about that. again. very cool, very nicely done, very relatable, etc. 

- ALSO,,,,i forget if this was one of kate or ella’s fics or if it was the actual tv show, but there’s this tidbit where the characters in the literal fandom has this conversation: 

“don’t waste your time.” 

“what?” 

“don’t waste your time on me.” 

and the way that reflects kate’s feelings-but-she’s-not-trying-to-think-about-it for ella please let me just die here

- okay, so kate does decide to message ella about the meet-up, and let me just tell you, kate’s inner monologue about the worst possibilities for ella’s responses: 

“1. no response. which is terrible. 

2. you find out you’re not wanted after all. :(((((

3. the most terrifying response of all.......” (an enthusiastic “yes i’m so glad we can meet up!!!”) 

- well, of course ella responds with #3. 

- gay disaster kate not knowing how to acknowledge her feelings for ella...she goes on this “you don’t wanna come across as....y’know because if they suspect that....y’know.....and like, i don’t....y’know--” oh my god kate 

- anyways, kate works at a coffeeshop, right? and her co-worker stewart (nonbinary pansexual co-worker! we love to see the rep!!) being like “oh yeah maybe you can bring over your friend!” and kate panicking because “ohhhhh i’m not too sure about that,,,,she’s,,,,,,,,,busy......” (ie. the awkward moment of having to explain that,,,,,,your online friend isn’t exactly someone you’ve met in real life,,,,,,,,and not sure exactly how to explain that so you just,,,,,,“ohhhh uhhh......y’know...............it’s really hard to.......get her out of.....work.....” 

- kate and ella video-chatting for the first time is very cute, very gay. very gay. 

- they swap “how’d you know you were gay / liked girls” stories :’))) 

- “that’s a cute story!” “you’re a cute story” [awkward silence] “please let me hide under the desk now” (have i mentioned that kate’s  a disaster? i love her, but you’re a disaster. we need to be best friends.)

- kate.....describing herself as “irl fanfic disaster waiting to happen” and the whole “i didn’t know we were actually dating until she asked if she could kiss me” lmaoooooooooo (but okay yes this is also a mood? like,,,,,,idk something about heteronormative standards so like,,,,,it’s so stupidly hard to figure out if a girl is flirting with you or if they’re just being nice i am glad kate’s such a disaster) 

- in other news: kate’s “how tf do i write a kiss scene i don’t like the word lips ughhhhHHHHH” (yeah, mood kate) 

- lmao stewart (kate’s co-worker!) just chilling with kate and being like “oh yeah i figured you had a girlfriend? the one you’re talking about? ella?” and kate blanking because “wait you thought ella was my girlfriend? she’s not....uhhh....” and then later drinking with stewart and rambling about ella and panicking because “what if she realizes i can’t talk about anything except this tv show what if she thinks i laugh too loud what if i have horrific body odor what if she realizes i have NOTHING to say what if our meeting goes SO terribly that i need to deactivate and change my name just so i could like her posts at 3 am” and then her small “please forget i said any of that” 

- oh kate :(((( 

- kate :((((((

- k a t e :(((((((((((((((((((

- anyways, kate does go to toronto. 

- meets ella. 

- very cute. 

- ella...........very gay. they go into a coffeeshop and kate doesn’t know what to do. 

- okay but what’s hilarious is that ella,,,,,seems so cool and suave and i too would be kind of intimidated by her but then these two idiots really talk about writing kissing scenes and the build-up and ella’s voice gets all,,,,,,suggestive and there’s this.....awkward gay silence between the two oh my GOD they’re both IDIOTS 

- also okay yes kate and whitney, a irl friend, having a heart-to-heart. good. we love that. also, whitney being like “I MISSED YOU!!! YOU IDIOT!!!! and i’m glad you have a new friend, and you’re happy, but I MISSED YOU!!! I HATE THIS CITY AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!!!” (whitney is also very relatable. ily whitney.) 

- they’re so cute. they hug, and it’s sweet :’)) also, then kate says in a stupidly small voice “i think i’m....kinda in love with [ella]?” and whitney being best supportive friend-- 

- OKAY so we finally get an episode of ella’s perspective 

- listen, you’re gonna think ella’s this cool, suave person who has all her own gayness put together (i mean, she kinda knew since she was 9 or 10 years old? she’s had a girlfriend? she seems like she has her life together? she’s waiting to get into grad school? she has a job? she just seems....cool and knows what she’s doing). 

- but then you realize. ella is just as much a pining mess. (her bullet point list/schedule in her head is so relatable. as someone who uses her notes and reminders app religiously, that was just :’))) 

- ella: reasons why this is not a date. and then....kate sends a message. (ella: reason why this....might be a date....kate keeps saying stuff like...that.) 

- kate rehearsing how to tell ella that she maybe kinda likes her? very cute. (”you know the feeling in your chest when....uh, you know when you feel like you have a frog in your stomach--oh god not the frog NOT the frog”) 

- the love confession is very cute, and also very relatable. “i like you a lot” “i like you too!” “no i mean,,,,like i like you. wait. which like do you mean? wait that’s not english. uh. what did you say?” 

- kate’s “I HAD A WHOLE DRAMATIC FANFIC CONFESSION PLANNED OUT” 

- kate and ella just spilling everything made me :’))) 

- “i like how your brain works” “i made so many posts hoping that you would just talk to me” “you always make me laugh” “you just make me feel...better” “you make me smile” 

- “this whole summer you’ve been making me smile and i guess it kind of freaked me out? ...i don’t know where my life is going but if i have a choice, i want to go in any direction you’re going because you are cute and smart and amazing and i like you a lot, ella. like that. so yeah. that’s what i was thinking i’d say.” 

- i essentially explaine dthe whole plot but 

- i love this podcast a lot

- it was very sweet

- and very cute

- very wlw 

- i don’t even mind that i almost got hit by a car while i was running and listening to this it was worth it 

- idk. just like. anyone who’s ever read or written fic or just like...not necessarily fallen in love with another person? but at least relating to that feeling of “oh god i am not qualified to talk to this person” and “oh god what if they realize i’m actually,,,,a loser” and “oh god wait how to friend” can probably hit a lot of people

- but that said. the romance was very cute, very sweet, makes me :’))) 

- okay i’ll stop talking now but i just. it’s very cute, very relatable, i wish we had a season 2 but i think it’s a limited series. (but they’re living rent free in my head! forever!)

[zodiyack]

Human

Pairing: R x reader

Warnings: Swearing, violence, guns, zombies, death, SPOILERS

Words: 3218

Note: So this is different from the movie in a few ways, one is that R isn’t interested in Julie. He’s interested in the reader who is Julie’s godsister. Also I wrote half of this at like 4 am and I was super tired, and the rest was written today around 12 pm so please excuse any randomness!! Hope you guys enjoy!

masterlist

A pair of eyes were felt on Y/n’s back. It happened a lot recently, but only when she was with Julie outside of the wall. Honestly, it was strange. The only thing with eyes outside of the wall were zombies, and if a zombie was staring at her, wouldn’t it want to eat her instead of just observing her?

The thought could be tested out today. Y/n, Julie, Julie’s boyfriend, and a couple of their other friends were being sent to scavenge by Julie’s father. Guns were brought with them, specific instructions to shoot for the head and not get bitten.

Perry and Nora were the only people Y/n knew besides Julie. Meaning Julie’s boyfriend and best friend. Y/n grew up with Julie, her dad was Y/n’s godfather. They were close and quite similar, but unlike Julie, Y/n preferred staying inside and exploring the house, finding every hiding spot and every hidden thing. She was a rather interesting child.

“Darling? What are you doing on the floor?”

“Hello Father! Mommy told me that I should get used to the house, explore a little since we’ll be staying here for a long time.” 

It wasn’t her fault. Her mother and father moved in with Julie and her father when the apocalypse started. She wasn’t one to prevent anyone from knowing the truth due to their age or innocence, so after her parents went out to scavenge and didn’t come back, she demanded to know what had happened.

Julie’s dad told her that there were monsters and the walls were the only things protecting her now that her mommy and daddy went to go fight them. She knew it was a lie. Her mother told her earlier that day.

“Sweetie...Mommy and Daddy are going to go and get some stuff for us and our group here. We might not come back, so there’s a few things we want you to know. First,” she stroked her daughter’s cheek, then lifting her onto her lap. “Know that we love you, and we always will. Second, talk to Grigio if we don’t come back for a while. And finally. There’s something I need to know you can handle.”

The once innocent little girl nodded quickly, not caring if she could actual handle what was going to be said.

“Good. There are...zombies in the world. Creatures that are undead and feast on the flesh of humans. They have no emotion, no pain, nothing human about them except for the fact that they once were one.”

“Mommy...”

“Yes my darling?”

“Do you think they’ll ever be human again?”

“I don’t know sweetie...hopefully, one day, there will a be a time where humans can be normal again. And the wall will go down, and we won’t have to worry about surviving.”

So that’s what she did. She followed her mother’s instructions, and talked to Julie’s dad. After he had tried to make it seem not very scary, seeing as she was still a young child, she surprised him. She leaned in close to him, the only emotions on her face being sorrow and anger, and she whispered,

“Give me a gun. Teach me how to put a bullet in those fucker’s heads. Let me teach them what happens when you take my family away from me.”

Y/n wiped a tear from her eye, nodding when Julie asked if she was okay. It was no time for memories or feelings. For every year she’s been alive, Y/n got better at her poker face, keeping in her emotions and everything relating to them. She grabbed her gun, sneaking with the group to the small lab.

It was quiet. Safe. They could talk at a normal s-

The “quiet and safe place” was ruined when Nora asked if anyone could hear something. Julie and Y/n said yes, and Julie told Perry that they should bail. If only he listened.

“Oh hey, we can’t just bail, we have orders. Do you have any idea how much medicine the city goes through a month? We need Pharma Salvage to survive, we can’t just abandon our-”

Julie pushed past him, setting her bag on the counter, “You sound just like my dad.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, wasn’t a compliment.”

Nora stepped in, taking a box out of the cupboard and reading it before tossing it to them. “Oh here guys, take some Prozac. Maybe that’ll cheer you up.” She smiled and went back to searching around. However, this time, she stopped and looked over at the window, breathing in. “I told you I heard something.”

Julie and Y/n aimed their guns at the door while Perry walked to it slowly. This made Julie look over to Y/n and exchange looks of confusion. “Perry?” Julie asked.

“We have orders Jules. There’s nothing anyway,” He turned to face the group, making a big mistake and turning his back towards the door. “You’re being paranoid, okay?”

“Perry!”

The door pushed open, a small crowd of the undead beings running in. The one in front tried to attack Perry, only to get smacked in the face with the butt of his gun. Y/n grabbed her stuff and readied herself to rush out, she counted a head count when the zombies first pushed in. There was a very slim chance all of them could make it out.

She knew it was showing fear, but it was the way she could survive and come back to plan a better revenge. That many zombies against a few young adults? That would be a very dumb idea.

Sadly, before she could make it out, someone had shot her. She fell to the ground, bleeding to death. She could hear Julie yelling at whoever shot her, then rushing over to her aid.

“Y/n, come on, don’t do this. Wake up...wake up god damn it!” Y/n felt Julie’s tears drop onto her face. Y/n felt her breath and heart start to slow. Y/n felt herself die.

The light was blinding, yet so inviting...

1 minute.

2 minutes.

5 minutes.

8 minutes.

11 minutes.

Air. Light. Ground. Guns. Guns? Y/n’s eyes snapped open, her head turning quickly to the sound of gunfire and loud groans. She stood up, blinking and observing her body. Arms, legs? Check. Face, feet? Check. Teeth, torso? Che-

She put a hand on her torso, feeling a small item of cold metal in the middle. Was that...a bullet? She lifted her shirt slightly. Not only had she stopped bleeding, but she was moving weird. Wait... didn’t she just die?

“OH MY GOD!!” It was one of the friends Perry had brought along. They screamed at the sight of Y/n.

Y/n was now feeling the urge to pounce on the person who let out the scream. Her eyes turned dark and she gritted her teeth, running at the person and jumping onto them, sinking her teeth into their shoulder. The screams escaped their mouth again, but these ones were full of agony.

Julie yelled a firm, “NO!” when someone aimed a gun at Y/n. She was her childhood friend, and she wouldn’t let her die...again. Not yet. She may have been a zombie, but this decision would be hard on her no matter what choice she made. “Y/n?”

The girl looked up, climbing off the body that had dropped to the floor. She blinked twice, tilting her head and wiping the blood off her chin. ‘I know this girl,’ she thought. ‘Julie?’ She tried to say her friend’s name, but it only came out as moans. Her eyebrows furrowed and she tried to say it again.

Julie hushed her quickly, not wanting to attract any more unwanted attention. The zombies had already left. Julie’s mom died, making Julie and her father’s worlds hurt like hell. Perry was killed, and Julie’s world was broken. Y/n died before Perry, causing Julie’s world to break even more. Now Y/n was part of the undead, trying to eat her old friends. Julie’s world had officially split in two. 

Was this hell? Was this because she was alive at the time where others who didn’t make it into the wall died? Was this her punishment for surviving and not thinking twice about it? Was this the world’s revenge for all the zombies she’s killed?

It didn’t matter now, ‘cause whatever had sparked in Y/n was gone. All she felt was hunger. It was clawing it’s way into her mind. She charged at another one of the people that was brought with them. She ate as if it was a feast. The others took it as a sign to get the hell out of there, leaving Y/n behind with final looks of sadness and guilt.

. . .

She had been wandering. It’s been what felt like hours. She was hungry again, and that kid had some cheesy memories. Y/n discovered the memory thing after eating Perry’s old friend. She wished she could have more, so she could feel whatever it felt like to be human again.

What was her name again? Y/n/n? No... Y/o/n/n? Y/n! That was it! The zombie part of herself was catching up, and she needed to hold on to whatever was left of her memories. There was a reason they were at that lab...Ah yes, to get Grigio those medicines for the city. But why did Y/n run? She couldn’t remember.

Y/n left the lab after she had finished the brain. Now she wanted to either find more, or to find the other zombies. Any one of the two would be fine with her.

Eyes.

Sorry, what I meant was; Y/n felt a strong number of eyes on her back, eyes on her front and eyes just on her in general. This was new. She had only felt eyes on her back before, so this could mean a good or a bad thing. 

Screeching came from above her, whatever had made the noise hopped down. She turned, as quick as she possibly could. A skeleton? When the fuck did those start moving around and talking on their own?

She didn’t have time to answer that question, ‘cause more skeletons were dropping down and nearing towards her. They looked angry, and honestly, Y/n didn’t want to piss off anything that could kill her again. For the first time...she was afraid.

“R-rrun.”

Her head snapped over to the new voice. He was the zombie that had been stalking her, same red hoodie and dark hair. He could talk though, and zombies can’t talk. He dragged out letters with his breath...or what would’ve been breath if he was alive. He stuttered over some of them, not used to speaking human words.

Y/n didn’t move. In response to her choice of action, the zombie leaned in closer to her, whispering a warning that would hopefully change her mind.

“Thhhhhey k-k-kill a-annything in t-their wa-a-ay.” He turned to face her fully, grabbing her jacket sleeve and pulling her away from the area slowly. They sped up the farther they got.

Finally, they arrived at a plane, which the zombie helped Y/n into before he got in himself. He put on a record and sat down, studying Y/n. It was nice to have company in the place he called home. Maybe she was like him?

“M-my naame is R...Cc-an you sppeeeak?”

She only turned to him and let out the lazy moan he was all too used to hearing.

“H-hhmmm...”

Maybe she wasn’t like him then. She was like the other zombies, who could only let out moans and groans. R and his best friend could speak. Well, R’s best friend could speak a little bit, he could say a few words. R and him had conversations. And in the conversations, it was mostly breathing out H’s and other letters. It was the best they could do, they’re zombies for goodness sakes.

There had to be something he could do. Could he teach her? R looked over at Y/n again, she was picking up objects and inspecting them with great curiosity. Yes. That’s what he would do. He would teach her how to be like him. He would teach her whatever she needed to know about zombies and boneys, as well as what he thought would be nice to know.

He knew her name from the lab. He knew stuff about her from Perry’s brain. He knew things about her from watching her whenever she visited the other side of the wall. Y/n L/n was a killing machine who had been killed by someone from her own side. R felt like it was now his responsibility to care for and guide Y/n.

He felt human whenever he saw her. Now, she was dead, like him. R looked back down at his lap. He still had some of Perry’s brain with him... R grabbed out a chunk and looked over to Y/n. She was observing the new environment again, her face making new emotions at different objects. She reminded R of himself when he had first looked at the foreign items.

“Hhh-hherre.” R tossed her the chunk. He watched her eat it quickly, as if she had been starved and was eating the first meal she’s had in weeks. Once she was finished, she looked up at him.

“Thhhak yyyoo-” She couldn’t quite form whole words yet, but it still made R happy. He taught her every day for the two months she’d been with him. They grew closer and closer. Some would say they were in love. 

However, they were undead. They couldn’t feel human emotions.

. . .

“Y/n? You okay?”

Her eyes blinked open slowly, looking around and taking in the oddly normal world. Julie and Nora were at her sides. “Shit. What happened?”

“You and that boyfriend of yours took a nasty fall into that fountain...do you not remember?”

“R!” The boneys were catching up. It was a dead end. They were done for.

The zombies teamed up with the humans after Julie found Y/n and R. She stayed with them for a while, finding the presence of her childhood friend comforting, even if she was a member of the undead. Neither Y/n or R tried to eat or attack Julie. And later, Julie found out that her time with her godsister had done something to her and the other zombie. It made them feel alive, human.

R and Y/n found the rest of the zombies, spreading the warmth into their hearts as well. They were dead, yet alive.

Unfortunately, not all undead things liked the thought of becoming human again. The boneys were angered beyond belief, and now, the zombies just counted as another one of their food sources. Y/n was forced into hiding, she was the one the boneys blamed, so she was the one they wanted to kill first.

R had gone to find Julie, she was their only hope. He found his way through the secret entrance and exit Julie showed them. He made it into the city, finding Julie right away. Nora met R fully that night, and Julie and her gave R a makeover. They taught him how to pronounce words, how to speak the most human-like he could. Then, they brought him to Grigio to inform him of the zombies changing and the boneys plotting.

Y/n saw the door. Their last chance to make it out. It was so high though. There was a chance they could die and not come back. She grabbed onto R’s hoodie, clinging to him with tears forming in her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her head.

“You okay?”

“N-no R. I-I doon’t want tto lose y-yyou.”

“You won’t.”

The boneys got to the door just as R turned around and leaned backwards. Y/n was in his arms, and he was protecting her from the fall. They held onto each other tightly. R’s back hit the bottom of the fountain slowly, and Y/n fell unconscious.

The black out of her mind didn’t last long. She woke up, spitting water out and coughing. She breathed in the air that was much needed. Her heart was... her heart was beating. It was racing. Where was R? She looked around, panicking. He was still underwater.

She dived into the water, reaching for his limp body and pulling him back up to the surface. “R please! Don’t do this to me! Please! Please...”

R’s eyes snapped open and he breathed in heavily. He smiled at Y/n. She smiled back and smashed her lips against his. R responded and kissed back. Their kiss was full of passion, relief, and joy. Pretty good for a first kiss, and that was said for both of them.

After a few more seconds of kissing, Y/n pulled away. She looked into R’s eyes, once grey and dull like her’s and the other zombie’s, now full of color. Her eyes had done the same. R’s eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, and Y/n’s a breathtaking shade of e/c.

Before anything else could be said or done, R was shot in his shoulder. Y/n turned quickly, it was Grigio. Of course it was.

“Get away from my goddaughter.”

Y/n yelped. She clung onto R. She kept asking if he was okay in between glares at her godfather. He was bleeding. Bleeding. “Stop it! Grigio, he’s alive! I am too! We were both...what the...Grigio. Grigio, he’s bleeding! Corpses don’t bleed!”

Grigio lowered his gun slowly. He didn’t know Y/n came back as well, he thought she was hiding from the corpses. Julie had told him that she saw and talked to Y/n, so it wasn’t entirely his fault for thinking so. But now, he had learned the truth of R and the other undead beings, and he was just going to have to live with it. The rest of his team put down their guns as well.

“See he’s...” Dizzy. Y/n felt dizzy. ‘Splash.’

“R?”

“Yes Y/n, your friend R?”

“Boyfriend actually.”

All three of the girl’s heads turned, facing the now bandaged and cleaned R. He put on new clothes and combed his hair. He waved at them and walked closer.

“Look at you, all fancy and stuff.” Nora teased R. “Now, come on Julie, lets leave the lovebirds alone, okay?”

Julie followed Nora after hugging her godsister goodbye. Now that they were gone, R moved over to Y/n, hugging her into his side with one arm. They sat like that for a moment.

“R. Do you think you remember the rest of your name?”

“No...Sadly not.”

“Do you think it was anything like Roy? Richard? Ricky? Riley? You can change your name if you’d like, since this is kind of a fresh start for you.”

R looked over to his girlfriend, he let out a chuckle at her determined expression. “How about just R.”

“Just R?”

“Just R.”

“Well, R, what do you wanna do with your life now?”

“Hm...how about we just be human for now.”

“I like that idea.” So the two humans sat on the rail of the bridge, watching the sunset. Y/n leaned her head on R’s shoulder and smiled. He loved his human, before she was even his. She once loved her zombie and he once loved his zombie. Now, she loved her human and he loved his human again.

[likesomekindofcheese]

Will You Accept This Rose? Chapter Two (Queen/Beatles Bachelorette AU!)

Word Count: 3K

Warnings: some drinking and cursing, but pretty light I think

Episode Two! A first Impression Rose is chosen! And so is the first one on one and group date, but the course of true love never did run smooth. And the drama is just beginning!

A/N: So who should stay? Who should leave? What should the next date be? How can drama be stirred in this pot? Suggest to me in the comments! After all, you ARE our Bachelorette! Any angsty drama ideas you would like to see as well? Also note, since I updated this fic things have...happened. Should I just replace Chris with someone else? What do you think? Would anyone be upset if I kept Chris Harrison as the host?

Also, shout out to actual legend and date idea goddess @freddiesaysalright​

“I have met quite a few gentlemen today, so this decision is hard. You are all so wonderful…” you pick up the rose, turning it coyly. The other men stand straight, but you can hear the palpitations of their hearts as your own pulse races in tandem. “Deaky…” you turn to him “you're so sweet, and showing me your family and your determination to move on shows so much strength…” Your eyes settle on Ringo for a moment. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim huffed “just announce it already!” Miko sat on his lap and began to knead his pants, tiny claws digging into his skin. Not that he minded. Not on Bachelorette night.

“I loved dancing with you, it made me so happy…” Roger’s golden head then flashes off of your eye. “Roger, that was an incredible entrance-I’m still reeling from it! But if I have to choose…I have to go with my gut on this one…” You turn to Brian. He blinks rapidly and looks around, realizing that it’s him. “Brian, will you accept this rose?” Smiling beautifully, he nods, letting out a breathy “yes!” before hugging you with his long, lean body. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Freddie let out a humph before he looked down at his empty popcorn bowl “Hmmm, that was a tough one! I thought she’d never choose! Good for Brian, though!” “I had a feeling it would be him,” Jim shrugged. “That’s what I read on Reality Steve…” “Why didn’t you say anything!” “You hate spoilers!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The men dismiss each other, many of them giving you a hug or a slight kiss on the side of your head goodnight. Martha even waddles up to you. “Martha, shake!” Paul ordered. She extends her paw and you accept it, not caring for a bit of grime on your manicured hands. “Sleep well, Paul…” “I definitely will!” he added with a cute wink. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a week passed, Garden Lodge hummed into normalcy. There was a bit of talk about the episode. By Monday evening, people were done with normalcy. With vegetables and bread. They wanted champagne and cake. They wanted indulgence. They wanted a romance that would sweep their emotions to highs and lows without having to think of their own lives. And so, getting out their ice cream, Jim turned on the television. “Ah, another Tuesday. I love waiting, gives ya something to look forward too-none of the binging!” “Darling, we could binge all the other seasons this summer-shouldn’t we!” “Let’s catch up with the new one, first!” Jim says, popping out the champagne. “Cheers!” he said, he clinked his ice cream bowl with Fred’s.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That next morning, the men sat semi-sleepily around the room. Many blinking their eyes with sleep. John was sipping his coffee, scribbling away in a journal. Brian looked half-dead, his curls in a messy mane but the proud half-smile hidden beneath his hair was undeniable. Paul rubbed the sand out of his eyes and straightened his back as he sat. The others sighed in deeply, tapping their feet or rubbing their hands. Many of them were dressed in the first jeans and shirt they could throw on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Darling, you’re on television, at least take the time to look decent!” -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, there came a ring on the doorbell, which caused them to jump. “I’ll get it,” Paul volunteered. He returned with two cream envelopes, much to the mixed anxiety and excitement of the other men. “What is it?” Roger asked. “Read it! Now!” Paul carefully undid the label and pulled out the first card. “Roger, Deaky, Ringo, John, Paul, Brian…” He flipped it over. “In order to find love, you have to search for it. Love, Y/N.” The others sighed deeply. A few eyes turned to George. His smile grew devilish knowing what that meant. The other card was opened and Paul read out loud: “George…” He let out a sharp exhale that was half a laugh. “It’s showtime, Love Y/N.” The others looked around in curiosity. “It’s showtime, what on earth could that mean?” Ringo asked, crossing his arms. “It means there will be time, and a show!” the recipient said with a cheeky wiggle of his eyebrows. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- George walked up to the location, thrilled for having the first one on one date. His driver took him to a movie theater, large and almost retro seeming with neon colors in the lights. But there you were, in a nice shirt and jeans and a jacket. “Hello George!” you greeted arms coyly behind your back. “Hey Y/N!” He walked over and hugged you, squeezing you tight. He was soft and warm, it felt like you were hugging a Scouse talking teddy bear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “They at least have a bit of chemistry!” Jim commented, finishing the last of his ice cream. Noticing that it was now pure cream with nothing else that would sicken them, he let it on the floor for Delilah to lick up. --------------------------------------------------------------------- “So are we seeing a movie today?” he asked, looking up. “Yup! But not just any move-this one was moving seats!” “What! Then what are we waiting for!?” he asked with a laugh. Gathering as many snacks as he could, both of you settled into your seats. A smiling attendant buckled you both in. George happily shared his large box of popcorn with you. “Aren’t you scared of being sick?” you teased. “It’s movie popcorn, Y/N. That’s the special kind! It’ll be worth it! Oh and these-chocolate crunch!” “Chocolate crunch, that's the best kind of movie candy!” “You think so? What about these lads?” He pulled out a bag of M and M’s. “Pure delicacies, these uns-you’ll ‘ave to stop me from eating it all during the trailers!” he said. As the movie began, the seats whirred up to life. As the movie began, it seemed calm. Like a regular movie. You heard George crunching on his popcorn. He looked over at you and shared his gladly. Your hands were slippery with the butter. There were a couple of scenes where the chairs moved some and you both laughed at that. Then it calmed down, consisting of people talking quietly. “Ey, Y/N-you have the bucket?” “Yes, I do!” “Toss it!” “What?” “Toss the popcorn into me mouth!!” ------------------------------------------------------- “Oh, are we in school darling? You’re not a seal!” --------------------------------------------------- Giggling, you took a kernel. It smacked George in the nose, his jaw clamped to get it. “Let’s try again!” This time, it landed completely in his mouth. You both cheered ad clapped loudly, ignoring the bland dialogue waiting for another car chase. But as the chase began, your seats went into action, lifting up as a character jumped, turning right and left quickly, and circling around. You even applauded at the movement. By the time the credits rolled, you both were out of breath and laughing. George walked out, surprised that his eyes did not have to adjust to the brightness of day as it became evening. Both of you walked outside for a bit before returning back home to the mansion, letting hours pass and your own jeans traded for a form-fitting green dress. George waited for you at the bottom of the stairs in a nice suit. “They’ve got dinner for us-got some room?” you asked. “For dinner? Always!” ------------------------------------------ “Does he never gain a pound? Popcorn fills your stomach full!” Jim shook his head before he poured some whiskey to warm up after the ice cream. -------------------------------------------------------- Both of you got into the limo, making your way out to a nice restaurant. It had tall, pale walls with long, creamy curtains hanging down. Italian food was served with wine so clear it looked like water until you smelled it and had a sip. “Okay George, what moves do you like?” He began to cut up his meatball. “I enjoyed Citizen Kane-“ “Really!” “Yes! Not too boring isn’t it? Like saying Mozart’s your favorite composer or whatever!” he questioned his hands in front of him. “No! What else?” you asked, delicately wiping your lips with your napkin before returning it to your lap. “I love Monty Python’s stuff. Oh god, The Holy Grail, Life of Brian? Masterpieces! Was on the floor the first time I saw em! What about you?” he gushed, his dark eyes large with excitement. You discuss movies, what you saw, what made you laugh, and what made you cry and feel things for a good hour. Who knew how much would be broadcasted? But you didn’t care. You knew how it worked. The drama would arrive. But for now, you wanted to have fun. “What about growing up? Did they…did they mean anything to you? Seeing movies and shows and stuff? I was addicted as a kid…” you started. “They meant a lot. I mean, I love the food, of course, but…things were sometimes tough at home. Only one coal for a cold winter’s day. Things were hard, but me parents loved me, and me siblings. Movies were a place to forget all of that. That and music. Movies made me escape, music made me feel, made me laugh or cry or get it out. Anything to forget about school or things for a bit.” Nodding your head, you told him about your own childhood. He nodded and listened attentively. “Well, George…you’ve told me so much already so…” There was a tall rosebud placed on the platter. It sat there for at least a good hour. George at first was eyeing it nervously, but his eyes stayed on you the darker it got outside and the more you talked. Reaching over, you saw him grin genuinely, not hiding any bit of happiness. “George, will you accept this rose?” you asked, pointing the bloom in his direction. “I will, can I hug you?” “Yes!” He reached over and hugged you. “Can I…can I kiss your cheek?” “…yes…” It was soft and though you smelled a bit of garlic from his breath, it was a sweet peck. He felt soft and you felt his lips curve into a smile. ---------------------------------------------------------------- “I should have known, they always kiss too soon!” Jim laughed. “But it’s love, darling! What if it’s love-then you have to kiss!” “I didn’t know it was love when I met you, what was the first thing I told you!” “Oh yes, that word that begins with f and rhymes with duck!” he joked with a laugh, kissing Jim’s cheek. ------------------------------------------------------------------ “I have one question though…” “Yes?” WAsn’t it soon for marriage? No way he would propose already! You held your breath. “When’s dessert?!?” he asked. Grinning, you then asked for a plate of tiramisu to share.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the gentlemen all get together, they are brought to a garden. It’s scenic and beautiful. Only George is left at home. Though as you walk with them, they surround you, trying to find small excuses to the talk-the wind, the sun, breakfast, the news. Chris Harrison walks out. You arrive in a summery shirt and shorts-comfortable, but cute. Smiling at them. “Hey y/n!!!” they all chirrup, but Chris walks forward, rubbing his hands together. “Good afternoon gentlemen! Are you ready for your first group date! We are here because not only is this a garden this…” he waves dramatically “is a labyrinth! And you must find your way out! The three who manage to get their way out will have extra time with our Bachelorette!” Gliding forward like a bird, you went to Chris’s side. The men eyed the labyrinth and then you with nervous excitement. “Aaaaaand….go!!!” you announce, waving your hands. They run in, and walking with Chris, you go to the side near a lovely Venus statue surrounded by Hydrangeas. There are several tv screens monitoring the inside of the maze. The men run about like squirrels ina park, desperately hunting for something. “Ahhh! Where is it? Should we turn left?” Roger asked Brian. “We just turned left!” “They all look the same!” he said with an added falsetto yelp that made birds flee from trees. “Well, this is entertaining!” Fred commented. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At your desk, you are holding your cool trying not to die laughing from them, but you can’t help yourself. The camera set around shows that the team with John, Brian, and Ringo are well on their way to your spot while the other three are still struggling, all spatting over what’s the right way. Making your way to one spot, you stand in a corner, prepped and ready. Paul arrives at the little green area to find you. “Hells!” you say coyly. “Hello Y/N! Y/N!” they all shout. Paul takes your hand, squeezing it. His cheeks are flushed pink and his hair is messy from the wind. “Am I doin’ alright?” he asks. You nod your head and he lets out a cheer. “You will soon see a little meadow in the center with boxes, choose the right one and you will attend the cocktail party with me.” You instruct. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Just his luck!” Jim complains, taking away the bowl. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Energy renewed, he hurries forward. But as the cameras zoom in, they find that though they reached the clearing, the other group just entered through. “What! What’re you lot doing here?” Roger asks angrily. “What’re you doing here!?” Paul asks incredulously. John only shrugs, “Just found a shortcut, is all.” Deaky walks forward, inspecting the boxes. But he finds various office supplies. Computer mice, staplers, tape, sticky notes, and pens. “Lads, listen to this…” Paul warns, pointing to a sign with a riddle written on it. He reads it out loud: With pointed fangs I sit and wait; with piercing force I crunch out fate; grabbing victims, proclaiming might; physically joining with a single bite. What am I?” For a while, all is quiet, they are not sure what to do. Suddenly Ringo, Brian, John, and Deaky lift up their heads. They yell at once: “The stapler!” At once they ran up, slamming the button. A door swung open, revealing you on the other side laughing and clapping as Ringo, John, and Deaky make their way through. Brian slows down before his stride. He smiles sadly, knowing that rosebud is in his room but that tonight won’t have another extra minute of you. Hugging the boys and high-fiving them, Chris merely folds his hands with his calm, slightly mischievous smile. “Congrats!!! You got it!!!! So this group will go to a special cocktail party…and the rose ceremony…” Chris announced. They cheer and hug you, though the other party huffs, looking on in envy.

The evening falls. There is a slight quiet except for the sounds of a few birds in the distance. In a nice, sparkly dress, you greet the men: John, Ringo, and Deaky, hugging them tightly. “So John, you’re from Liverpool…” you asked. “Yes, I and all the lads are-“ “Oh! And you met each other doing- doing music, right?” “Yes, we did! I needed music it was, well, Ringo can agree it was in our blood, it was.” He nodded, getting his first glass of chardonnay. “Can I steal you, so we can talk some more?” “Of course!” Walking around in the garden, roses bloomed. Their fragrance barely tickled your nose. “Y/N, thanks for this…look at these? Aren’t they lovely!?” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Must be rigged! If you see flowers or fireworks, it’s rigged for you!” Jim says, shaking his head. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “They’re very lovely! So…were you always writing songs? Playing guitar?” “In secret, me uncle taught me…but he died. And me mum encouraged that and…well, she died too.” “Oh John…” “It’s alright,” “ut still!” “Yeah…but still…I want to think I’m strong. That I’m better….” “Grief always hurts, though…” “Well I had me music, I always have it…and me drawings!” He pulled out a notepad. “Oh, let me see them! Please!” you insist. Time passes as you see his personal drawings before Ringo steps up and steals you away. John sits there, staring sadly but with a bit of intensity. He sighs and closes his notepad, returning it to his pocket. “How are you, me dear!” he asks in his deep voice, he pulls your hand to his large, soft lips and kisses your knuckles. “I’m…I’m very good!” you answer, flustered already by the affection. “Ere, let’s sit!” he offers, seeing the blue seats right by the fire pit. “Good! So are you tired?” you ask. You swirl around your wine glass to inspect the inside for a bit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “For a cocktail party, they only drink wine, darling!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Woo! All that runnin’! I would run around on stage to keep up me energy! I still have a bit in me toes-see!” He wiggled his toes and his shoes moved with them. “I have some in mine too!” You wiggled yours in tandem. Both of you giggling like idiots. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Bloody hell!” Jim cursed, groaning as he leaned back on the couch. “I can’t believe she actually likes that! What is that boy-five?! That’s not the way to woo someone!” Freddie insisted, hands flailing in front of the tv screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you finished chatting, you saw Deaky was only sipping his drink quietly. As he breathed in deep, he approached you. “So Y/N, what kind of music do you like?” he asked. “Oh me, I really love rock..” Both of you began walking as the other two sat on the couches to talk. You and Deaky came across a little clearing. There was a pavement floor and the high, grassy walls of the labyrinth from the afternoon. “You can’t go wrong with rock. But I’m fond of some soul stuff and…and disco!” he gushed. “Disco?” “Yes, disco! Have you ever been dancing, Y/N?” he asked, tilting his head. “Me? It’s been a while!” you confess. “Well, imagine we’re at a disco party-you have on some platform shoes….” You show him the ankle of the heels you have on for tonight “These heels might as well be platforms!” “Well then, let’s practice then!” He then dances with you lightly, humming an Earth, Wind, and Fire song, moving your hands in tandem as you sway in tune and then shake. “Dah nah nuh-like that!” Both of you giggle. He then blushes, hiding part of his face in his hands. “Oh-I’m sorry! It’s a different side of me-and Brian and Rog don’t like disco-like me…” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Because they’re idiots! Disco is amazing!” Freddie blurted to the oblivious reality stars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Deaky! No need to apologize-it’s what makes you happy!” He smiled sweetly and you smiled back. You led him back, to where the four of you saw in front of a table, taking the last of your drinks. A platter of cheese and crackers was passed around that everyone nibbled on. Then there was a white plate with only one rose you hadn’t noticed until now. Thinking it over, you took the bloom. The three men sat up straighter. You twirled the rose in your fingers as they froze where they were. But then glanced over with a biting smile. “I thank each of you for your time…Ringo, you make me smile…John, you really opened up but…Deaky, will you accept this group date rose?” Nodding his auburn head, he whispered “absolutely, half hugging you.” Chris Harrison then walked in. “Gentlemen, you may now join the rose ceremony. And there is a chance that if you did not receive that rose, you may be packing tonight…”

[nightowlfandom]

The Kings’ Pet Princess- Royal! BTS x Reader Series Part 3- Jungkook 1

REQUEST FROM PROMPT LIST- RIGHT HERE! (I do anime stuff toooo)

READ PART ONE | READ PART TWO (NAMJOON)

SURPRISE!! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT TOMORROW BUT DECIDED WHAT THE HECK

YOOOO CHECK OUT THIS SICK AF COVER. I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW TO BE HONEST LOL! THIS COVER WAS MADE BY @kpop-ruined-my-social-life 

AAAH thank you thank you THANK YOU. Okay I gotta stop fangirling and get to the writing but AAAH LOOK AT IT IT’S SO COOL I LOVE IT!!!

Leggo!

...

You peeked around the corner, making sure the coast was clear before you bolted down the next hallway. All you had to do was make it to your bedroom then you would be fine.

You could still feel the effects from earlier’s...sequence of events seeping in and all you wanted to do was take a bath and clean the guilt from your body.

You also might need some tea due to all the screaming.

You shut your bedroom door behind you, letting out a harsh exhale. You squeezed your legs together. You were a bit twitchy, off edge. What were you thinking?! You let yourself submit to that...beast!

So what if his finger’s were that of a god, so what if you could still feel his lips burning every area of your body. So what if-

ARGH GET IT TOGETHER.

“I need a bath...or a flamethrower.” you scolded yourself. “From now on, no allowing yourself to get seduced! ...No Matter no good it might feel.” you crossed your arms.

....

The next morning, you awoke not feeling any better. Before you could sit up, there was a knock on the door.

“Who are you and what do you want?!” you groaned.

“It’s me.” you heard Rina’s small voice. Upon hearing her, you sat up. “Good Morning Y/N! I was told to inform you that breakfast starts soon.”

You rolled out of bed, feeling your head pounding as you rubbed the sleep from your eyes. “Great.” you mumbled. You didn’t know how you were gonna face Namjoon, especially after your little activity from yesterday. You had made sure to literally soak yourself in the bathtub for a good while, just to wash away the guilt...not that it worked but it was the thought that counted.

You pulled a sweater over your head, hoping to cover the newly made marks and bruises that were now your new body decor.

You readied yourself to head down to the dining room, crossing your arms and staying completely silent. It looked like you were the first one awake, so you chose the seat closest to the exit where you could book it for your room need anything happen.

One by one they all walked in. It gave you a chance to really study their faces. You looked back down at your fingers, just wanting this to be over.

Curiously, just out of wonder...you looked to your right. Jungkook was staring at you with a smug and wistful look on his face, as if he has an idea. Almost as if he had a plan slowly unraveling in his head. He smirked as soon as your eyes met and gave you a wink, making you look down at your plate. You felt your cheeks heat up. He was really close, so your that if you had moved a little, your leg would brush against his knuckles.

Jungkook had intimidated you and he knew it. Ever since you laid eyes on him, you knew that he had made sure to establish his dominance over the kingdom, especially seeing that he was the youngest king, he had to show out more.  Of course you would be the youngest queen, but also the only queen...with seven villains to call your kings.

You were quiet, you couldn’t be bothered to respond to Hoseok’s snide remarks about the type of queen who would wear jeans shorts as day clothes. Or Seokjin taking some more of your favorite side dish off your plate.

“Y/N...What’s that on your shoulder?” Jungkook got your attention. You had looked down. Your sweater had fallen off your shoulder a little and right there was a bruise. Fuck! Think damnit! You felt his fingertips ghost over your exposed skin, leaning his face in to get close.

“I uh-...er...I tripped?” you trailed off. “Yeah I was walking to my room and I...just fell?” You didn’t believe your own words because you know good and well how you got that bruise.

You could still feel the imprint of Namjoon’s teeth sinking into your flesh, it made your toes curl.

“Is that so?” Namjoon, who had been sitting across from you smirked. “Perhaps you should be more careful next time, you never know what else could happen if you aren’t careful.”

“Thanks for the tip.” you clenched your teeth. “So thoughtful.” you mumbled. “If you guys are finished making fun of me for my clumsiness, can I go now?”

“You may.” they all chorused.

Little did you know, Namjoon had kept your diary, and had passed it along to the next man who wanted a taste of your secrets. (As if the title wasn’t spoiler enough smh) and who planned on using to to his advantage.

...

“I’m sorry what?!” you stared at the horrible eyesore of a dress Rina held up in front of you.

“It’s for your Welcoming Party.” she repeated herself.

“No I know what you said but I refuse to wear that!” you shook your head at the floor length midnight blue gown, “That think doesn’t look like it covers anything!”

Apparently there was a gala tonight to celebrate the merging of your two kingdoms as allies, that part you were fine with, but the dress that was made for you to wear...

“It’s backless, it’s supposed to look like this. “ Rina giggled at you. “It’s definitely dramatic, but it was specially tailored for this event.”

“YOUR POINT BEING?!” You stared at the eyesore. It didn’t look anything like any of your dresses, especially with the unsightly slit going up one of the legs. “Rina I can’t wear this...look at that then look at me.”

“Come over here.” she grabbed your hand and pulled you to the mirror. “Imagine you stand at the edge of the stairs, everyone is waiting for their new queen to arrive, they look up and they see your in your new custom made crown and this bad boy.” she held up the dress. “ With a little bit of jewelry and the crowd won’t be able to resist you.”

“...Are you sure about this?” you sighed, although you admit the dress did look familiar, like you’ve seen it in a dream before.

“Trust me.” she put an arm around you. You and Rina seemed to have already become good friends, and while you thought the idea was crazy, you trusted her. “I may be a maid but my family owns a dress shop, I know what looks good on someone and Midnight Blue is one of those things that any woman and wear and feel amazing in it.” she held it up to your body. “Plus this thing cost almost as much as the room you’re standing in so for you not to wear it would be an insult to the dress maker.”

“Okay then.” you nodded.

...

“Y/N stop moving!” Rina scolded you.

“Listen the earrings I can deal with, but is the choker necessary?” you asked as a thin leather strap was placed around your neck.

“You’re gonna look fine, calm down.” Rina rolled her eyes at you. “Are the people from your kingdom all like this?”

“Well I don’t really wear a lot of dark gowns...I never got the chance to-”

Rina pushed you in front of the mirror. The woman staring back at you was wearing black strappy heels. Your dress was tight around the waist and did and Rina said it was and almost completely backless. Your hair was decorated with a diamond encrusted hairpin that matched the single pendant hanging from four necklace choker.

“Ah! I have just the thing to make this even better.” she grabbed a jar and what looked like a thin paint brush. “This is called magic tattoo ink, it’s almost like henna but instead of waiting and crumbling it off, this goes right into the skin.”

“What are you thinking of doing back there?” you asked in horror as you felt a cold sensation wash over your back.

“Covering up your bruises with flowers.” Rina casually commented. “Flowers are a huge thing here in Bangtan, especially red and black roses. How did you even get so beat up anyways?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.” you shook your head, almost shuddering. “How many people are showing up to this party anyways?”

“More than half of the kingdom and some people from neighboring ones too. Everyone’s dying to see the girl who is going to end this big feud and you...are going to wow them. They’ll be expecting the least of you, so you have to show them way more than you think.” she replied. “This is course is your welcoming party.”

“More like pity party” you mumbled.

...

The men of Bangtan welcomed their guests as men of their stature do. They casually made small chats with their friends from other countries.

“Where do you think Y/N went?” Jimin whispered to Jungkook and the rest of the boys.

‘Probably hiding from us.” Jungkook scoffed, allowing an obnoxious laugh to rip from his throat. “I don’t think these kids of parties are herstyle.

“Do you think she’s not gonna come?” Taehyung whisper. “Maybe she’s hiding under her bed while the maid convinces her to come outside.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Seokjin’s jaw dropped, pointing to the stairs.

The lights dimmed slighted and everyone averted their eyes to the stairs. You stood at the top, gazing over the scouring the room. Rina was right, there were so many people here. They were all looking at you. Rina had done a fantastic job using that ink stuff to cover up the bruises Namjoon had made on your skin. Your hair, neatly styled almost shimmered against the hanging lights. You stood at the bottom of the stairs, not knowing where to go. Everyone was staring at you. They definitely didn’t expect someone, especially from YOUR kingdom of all places to dress as you were dress right now. You shyly walked down the little aisle that was cleared for you. Geez had no one seen you in a dress before?

“Looking for someone?”

You turned around to find Jungkook standing in front of you, a smile etched on his face.

“Not really?” you scratched the back of your neck. You took note of how he was dressed head to toe in a black tuxedo. “I don’t think...”

“Well then will you do me the honor of giving me the first dance?” he held out his hand for you to take. “Come now, I wouldn’t do anything sneaky. We’re in public after all.”

Jungkook led you to the middle of the floor. Other women seemed to stare at you, beating themselves up for not thinking to wear such an eye-catching number. It seemed as you were the only person wearing that very color in the room.

“I think this is a good damn to mention I can’t dance” you narrowed your eyes at Jungkook who placed his hand on the curve at the bottom of your back. “It wasn’t in my studies.”

“Then shut up...and follow me.” he whispered in your ear. Slowly you let Jungkook lead, until it began to feel eerily natural how well you could follow. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

“You sure how how to pick a dress.” you mumbled as Jungkook dipped his head into the crooked of your neck and inhaled, your back froze and you felt a sting shoot up your spine.

“You’re wearing perfume, it’s nice.” he commented, letting his nose linger to inhale your scent even more.

“It’s native to my kingdom.” you replied. “It’s rare amongst my people since only 14 have ever been sold and I just so happen to have six of them.” you chuckled. You were taken aback when Jungkook began kissing up your neck. Since you two were so close, it might have only looked like he was leaned his head on your shoulder. You felt his teeth graze against his skin and you didn’t dare move. His hips hovered over your ear.

“Seeing you look like this makes me wish we could do more, but I’d prefer us be alone when I take you.” he whispered. Your eyes widened and his fingertips traced up your back. His lips traced up and down your neck as you two moved against each other. You tilted your head to the side a little, almost mocking him.

“Oh really, you don’t enjoy PDA.” you said in a joking manner, but you were only referring to his inability to keep his hands off your exposed back. “Are we done here?”

Suddenly you were turned around and your back hit his chest. His arms wrapped around your waist as you two moved. 

“Not really.” he chuckled. Your ass was right up against his groin. “Although,” he began. “I think your fellow kings are a bit jealous...I wonder what would happen if I kissed you right in front of them, do you thing that would driv em crazy?”

“What makes you think I’d let you?” you seethed, glaring at him the best you could.

“You haven’t tried to push me away yet.” he replied.

“I would comment but I’m sure that would cause a minor disturbance.” you shook your head, only wishing you could fire back. “I really wish I could kick you right no-”

Jungkook’s teeth sunk into your neck, making your gasp and shake under his touch. How bold was he?! He tongue glided over your newly formed bruise, making you shut your eyes. You were turned towards him, meeting his dark eyes as he connected his lips with your, sliding his tongu ethrough the gap in your mouth for dominance.

He didn’t care about the stares he received, or the head shakes of disapproval. This was his castle damnit, if anyone had a problem he would kill them without another word.No one dared comment, or try to pull you away. The kings of Bangtan were very territorial and it would only be a matter of time before you were marked by the rest.

“This feels right.” he commented. “You belong here...in this castle, in my arms while everyone stares in envy.” he whispered into your ear, his lips hovering over the shell of your ear.  you could hear a mocking pout in his voice. You could feel the eyes of the other kings on your. Jealousy laced their gazes seeing you melt into Jungkook’s touch so naturally, Lucky bastard, not only did he get the first dance of the night, but you looked like you were enjoying it no less! Jungkook looked up at he friends, making a shrugging motion. 

“I wish I could see the look on your face right now” you almost growled. 

The party didn’t bore you to no end like you thought it would, you actually ended up meeting a few people who seemed nice enough. However the evening was going on and your feet were starting to hurt. You decided to make yourself scarce to avoid being told how ‘brave you were’ for the 27th damn time. You ended up walking into a strange room away from the festivities. As soon as the door closed, it got completely quiet. It felt nice, the silence was relaxing. You could finally sit down and breathe-

“I thought I’d find you here.” a voice made you turn around. Before you could react, your back had found a wall. You looked up and found Jungkook towering over you. “Not having fun?”

“I wouldn’t say th-” you stopped yourself from speaking when you noticed Jungkook getting closer and closer to your face. “i don’t know.” you mumbled.

“Hm, then how can I make tonight exciting for you?” he raised an eyebrow in interest, a smirk teasing his lips as he waited for your answer. He would have to remember to thank Namjoon for loaning him your diary that you seem to love leaving in random places. ”Because I might have an idea” he replied, tilting your head up with his fingertips.

“What are you ta-”

Jungkook kissed your lips, trapping your body against him and he wall. The slit up the side of your dress gave Jungkook the perfect opportunity to slide his hand up your thigh, digging his fingers into your flesh. You leg had hooked around his hip, which caused you to feel the pressure of his groin right up against your stomach. Absentmindedly, you had grinded against him, sending a low groan ripping through his body.

“Hm, while I’d love to rip this dress off you right now, I’m sure people are wondering where we’ve went, but something tells me you wouldn’t mind.” he breathed, pressing himself further against you.

“Um, I can’t confirm nor deny.” you tried to make yourself sound convincing, and Jungkook’s tongue traced down the length of your neck. Jungkook hiked up your dress even more. he gathered the fabric in his fist, his knuckles turning white.

“Since you’ve been so well behaved tonight.” he grabbed you leg and hooked it around his hip. “Why don’t I treat you to something.”

“Like?” you trailed off. To be honest, you were a fool. As if your escapades with Namjoon didn’t teach your anything, you were totally oblivious to Jungkook’s words.

“Hm, well let’s start by-” Jungkook ripped the slit up your dress, making the slit stop at your hip instead of your thigh, once more inch and your dress would be completely opened at the seams. “Getting that out of the way. “

“Umm don’t you have a party to get back to?” You asked, whilst your movements when against everything you were saying.

“Oh Y/N....the party is just getting started between us.”

(It took me a while and I skipped a night of sleep but I DID IT, I am not 100% proud of this, but I plan on redeeming myself in the next part. Also yes, no smut, but only because I am preparing for something and it might make sense later on, it might not, who the fuck knows but just wait for it.

We’re only on part 3 and we have a long way to go.

I’m thinking about making this more than 8 parts, so like two rounds of imagines for each guy in this series, so that gives up 14 parts in all not including the prologue. That good with y’all, great because I was doing it anyways.)

[embrassemoibebe]

being best friends with madison montgomery:

warning(s) ― Mention of child abuse (forced into acting too young), mention of sexual assault, and death.

additional notes ― Spoilers for coven. Madison is a very tough individual due to everything she’s been through (but we love a strong Queen) so I decided to make it childhood friends because I think she’d open up more than she did with Zoe. 

You two met through beauty pageants

At first, Madison didn’t like you because your the competition but after you overhear her mom you comforted her and gave her cupcake

So she was like, fine you can hang out with me

But secretly she was really happy to have a friend who understands the trials she goes through

Your moms getting along so their “yeah, you two can have a sleepover”

Having sleepovers and pillow fights and eating a bunch of sweets then getting in trouble

Eventually, you two compete in duo pageants together

Which made Madison enjoy pageants a lot more and she found herself, shockingly, not getting jealous if the judges preferred you. Because she was having too much fun to not be happy.

But her mom wasn’t happy and tried to turn Madison against you, and forced you two to stop working together. For a while, she isn’t allowed to see you but you do another pageant that she was doing and the two of you hang out again.

Your the only person allowed to call her Maddy and Mads.

You get worried when she becomes a teenager and starts partying

The change is quite obvious to you. While she was a stressed child she still had some joy in her, but it seems nonexistent now. Unless she’s on drugs or drinking.

You try your best to convince her to cut back but she makes it pretty clear she isn’t going to stop. 

Being a good friend though, you try your best to stop paparazzi from embarrassing. And when she gets hungover and throws up the next day you hold back her hair. 

Eventually, though, you get fed up and the two of you fight. And both of you are yelling and Madison upset but then she starts talking about how much pressure is against her and how no one understands and how she just wants to feel something.

So you comfort her and remind her that you had the same childhood, you just didn’t make it to Hollywood and tell her not to close you out again. 

And she doesn’t.

Until her powers surface but she kinda has to hide that.

You find out though because she isn’t at rehab and also Madison probably drops “not so subtle” hints.

Eventually, you find out because Maddy tells you.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Y/N, read between the lines. I’m a witch!”

Being at the party when she gets raped

You and go with Zoe and Kyle to find her. When you see her you immediately run over and push that dick off of her and grab her, cover her up, and get her out of there.

“Wh-What’s happening?”

“It’s gonna be okay, Maddy, I promise.”

When she flips the bus you don’t stop her.

You take her back to the boarding school and get a washrag and try to clean her up. 

She slaps away your hand “I just wanna take a shower.”

“Madison... you know you can talk to me.”

“What’s there to say? I got drugged and then I got raped. Not much to dis-”

“Oh fuck off. I know you, Maddy, that whole ‘nothing bothers me’ act isn’t gonna work. So when you're ready to be honest and talk to me... I’m here.”

She takes her shower and your waiting outside for her. She asks you to stay and before you two fall asleep she reaches over and takes your hand. She opens up to you and you hold her hand and comfort her.

“Y/N/N, thank you. You know I’m not good with the sappy bullshit but... thanks.”

And you nod “Always.”

Being included in the craziness that was reviving Kyle

Que, you attempting to talk sense into Madison about how mixing up body parts as if Kyle is a pie probably isn’t a good idea. But she’s headstrong and is just like “Come help me find a good dick.”

When it doesn’t work you and Madison decide to leave and get some food. 

And then you two find out it did work and he’s practically a zombie and mixing body parts wasn’t a good idea.

“I told you, Montgomery!”

Trying to help rehabilitate him but when he gets angry Madison immiedetly is like ‘you wait outside’ because she isn’t letting you get hurt.

You probably tease her for caring about you and she just glares but does nothing, also she smiles when you look away.

A true testament of her love!

Side note: You guys tease each other and fake fight a lot

Madison loves you but she's still very sarcastic and also refuses to admit her love for you

So expect her to be just as bitchy and sarcastic with you, and people from the outside probably think you hate each but it’s just how you communicate. 

“Bitch, don’t be dumb.”

“That dress - and I’m not saying you - but that dress is hideous. You look like a twelve-year-old boy who is really bad at math and goes on his father's boat every Sunday, and is plotting to kill him.”

“Thanks for the specification, Maddy. I don’t know what I’d do without knowing that.”

“Probably look like shit.”

But also, your her bestie so she constantly compliments you and builds you up

“Your ass looks perfect in that dress, I told you it would!”

“(sigh) You know why we make a perfect team, Y/F/I, we’re both brains and beauty. Unstoppable, really.”

“Don’t cry, alright? They don’t deserve your tears. You are so much better than them. Your pretty, your smart, clever, kind... I wish I was more like you - I know I don’t say it a lot - but I do. You’re the best, Y/N.”

Oh, and if anyone dares to insult you or try to hurt you, Madison will kill them. Like literally, murder them and she isn’t going to feel bad at all because how dare they hurt you. 

Not hearing from her for a while and finding out that she’s dead from Zoe.

Crying and vowing to get her back. So you help Zoe find her body (crying again when you find her body) and being there when they resurrect her.

Staying with her and talking to her about how much changed and telling her how upset you were. Madison opening up about what it was like to die and how it was after.

“Y/N be honest. Do you think I’m a bad person? Do I deserve to go to hell because... I think I do.”

“Madison, listen to me,” you look her in the eyes “You’ve done bad stuff. I’ll admit that, I know that and you two. But everything you’ve been through is why you’ve done it. It doesn’t excuse it but it’s the truth. You are the strongest person I know. You don’t deserve to go to hell - the world has fucked you over too many times to get one in after you die and if you die again and go back there. I will go to hell, raise it, and bring you back up to the surface with me. Because I am with you forever, to hell and back.”

Keeping that promise (and she does too) and being with her through everything, no matter what.

And she’d do it too. 

Because even though sometimes you two fight, don’t talk, or don’t get along. She still loves you no matter what.

Your the only person she doesn’t lash out against when she finds out Kyle and Zoe are falling in love. Because that’s all she really wants - love, and she knows you’ll give it to her.

Then she dies again and your like “what the fuck. i had one job.”

Que you trying to bring her back but then being told everything she did during The Seven Wonders test.

And once again your like “what the fuck. madison, you bitch, you had one job”

So your like, okay maybe we should leave her there for a little, and when she comes back you’ll be right there next to her.

Forever, to hell and back.

This was low key hard to write because she does so much bad shit and so much happens in Coven, then she dies twice. But I think it was good. If you liked this you’d probably like some of the other stuff I’ve write so check out my page.

Request are closed. Taglist is open.

masterlist

[heereandthere]

Best Birthday EVER! (BMC Broadway- May 12th, 2019

So, you remember how I said I was going to see BMC soon? Well, soon meant Sunday! I was surprised with a trip to NYC to see BMC with my family on my birthday!!! I'm officially home now, so I figure it's okay to post about it since I've left NYC already. It was an actual dream come true, and I'm just gonna spend this entire post talking about the trip and this freaking show- (NOTE: If the formatting's weird, I copied and pasted it off of Amino, so have mercy.)

Pre-Show/New York City

-We went on an NYC movie/TV tour and got to go to and learn about a lot of super famous recording places for TV shows and movies, which was AWESOME.

-We went to Ellen's Stardust Diner on the first full day we were there! It's this place where people working towards an acting career on Broadway can work, and the wait staff performs songs and such and they take up donations for vocal and dance lessons!! I wanna work there-

-I got to see the theatres in which "Dear Evan Hansen", "The Book of Mormon", and "Mean Girls: the Musical" are performed!! I didn't go in or anything, but it was still super cool to see where Ben Platt, Andrew Rannells, and Barrett Wilbert Weed worked/work.

-I also saw 54 Below!! Totally by accident, too. We were just walking, and there it was!

-We went to the Lyceum to pick up our tickets the day before the show, and there was a chance I heard THE Stephanie Hsu rehearsing "I Love Play Rehearsal". At first, I thought it was a recording in the lobby, but it seemed too faint for it to be that, though I guess I'll never know!

-If you went and saw this written on the Who's Your Squip wall, that means I was there around the same time!!:

The Show (WARNINGS: Mentions of weed and sexual assault in the show)

-OH MY GOD H O N E Y

-THE SHOW WAS EVERYTHING I'D HOPED FOR AND M O R E

-I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT ALL OF MY FAVORITE PARTS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS PLEASE SKIP AHEAD

-First of all, I was surprised with Squip Zone seats!!!!! I had 0 clue until we were actually at the Lyceum for the show, and suddenly we're just in the very front row??? Holy shit.

-Secondly, Cameron was on for Jake!! He was the only understudy performing that day, but he did an absolutely fantastic job as everyone's favorite jock.

-During MTS, at the point before the second chorus where everyone's in math class, Chloe was trying to argue with Jake and he had his fingers in his ears, mouthing "I'm not listening!"

-Michael's gestures are the best- When Mr. Heere comes in with the "Is that a girl? Are you in here with a girl?", he did this little feminine flaunt thing that I can't even describe to make fun of the fact that he is definitely not a girl. During his and Jeremy's argument in "The Play", he also cheekily hides the Mountain Dew Red behind his back.

-The play rehearsal sign-up sheet has PJO references!! This especially caught my eye because I'm in the middle of "The Last Olympian". The names "Annabeth Chase" and "Luke Castellan" are jotted down on the list, which is especially nice considering George played Grover and Dionysus in the musical adaptation of TLT.

-"Jason Finderman" is also written down!! He was the guy who threw the party and had his house burned down in the original book!!

-I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW JEREMY'S "BOYF" BACKBACK WORKS. IT'S PROBABLY SUPER OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE ELSE, BUT THERE'S TWO BACKPACKS, ONE WITH THE "BOYF", ONE WITHOUT.

-The scene in play rehearsal with Jeremy and Christine is so uncomfortable, but perfectly so. Jeremy throws up in his mouth numerous times, or at least it seems like it, and Will Roland's timing is just,,, tres magnifique.

-I made DIRECT EYE CONTACT with Will Roland multiple times- There was a point where he leaps out of his chair in play rehearsal when Jake shows up, and he kind of skitters into the floor awkwardly. While he was in the floor, his eyes were STRAIGHT ON ME and just?????? God bless.

-While Jake was talking to Christine, Jeremy started picking up his stuff and quietly going "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!"

-GERARD DID THE "IT'S FROM JAPAAAAN" DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME. HE WAS, LIKE, A FOOT AWAY, UP ON STAGE DELIVERING THE "IT'S BETTER THAN DRUGS LINE" AND I WAS PRAYING THAT HE WOULDN'T MOVE. HE DIDN'T.

-Not only does Jeremy say he's heard from his mom "a little" instead of not at all, he also explains a bit more about her other than she's gone. She moved to Long Island with "her high school prom king".

-When the squip said "You might better take instructions from (Batman, Beyoncé) a sexy anime cat girl with a tail," it didn't look angry. It looked... almost impressed?

-George stayed on for much longer than necessary at the end of "Be More Chill- Part 2". He just would not leave the stage. He also had way too much fun with the fan he was given. These sound like complaints, but I assure you they're not.

-Jason Tam throwing confetti into the audience was glorious. One piece landed perfectly on my arm. Another nailed me not-so-perfectly in the eye.

-Kudos to Tiffany Mann for dancing in that godforsaken clown costume because that thing looks like torture to perform in.

-"Do You Wanna Hang?" isn't nearly as bad as it used to be!! Instead of Chloe actively forcing herself onto Jeremy, she's mainly flaunting herself around and trying to convince him to have sex with her on his own accord (though, the way she behaves could still definitely be considered sexual harassment). It's still uncomfortably sexual, but the outright assault aspect of it isn't nearly as prominent.

-Right before the whole bathroom scene, Gingivitis comes through the stage pretending to smoke the blunt he has and I wanna know why??? It's never explained, he's just,,, there suddenly.

-I got emotional during "Michael in the Bathroom" not even because of what was happening, but because it was such a huge song in my life when I first found it and I was finally seeing it live.

-There's also a point where George is entirely alone on-stage, no other actors, no props, nothing. It was... rough. Sad rough. It made everything so much more monumental.

-When Jeremy and Christine are interrupted by Gingivitis during the whole "Weird noises" bit, the monster wasn't trying to make noises and instead was waking up from what was undoubtedly a very wasted nap. The first thing he said before running off-stage was "What the fuck?!" and my brain was immediately like "Mr. Heere's not allowed to say 'fuck',,,"

-Michael both made an entrance and got fucking d e c k e d by Jake right in front of me and my family (note: when people say he bursts through a wall, they're not joking).

-The play is genuinely really freaky?? With everyone so in-sync and all and trying so desperately to mimic happiness they're not getting, it's disturbing.

-THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MICHAEL FUCKED UP, TOO. He straight-up admits that he was willing to let Jeremy ruin his life until Mr. Heere showed up.

-THEY ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT JEREMY WAS WILLING TO SAVE CHRISTINE IF IT MEANT SACRIFICING HIS OWN FREEDOM ("That makes you seem like less of an asshole." -Michael Mell, 2K19).

-Seeing Mr. Heere show up at the hospital with pants on is so heartwarming! I knew it happened, but it still got me.

-Michael listens in at the end of Rich's dialogue in the hospital scene, so he hears the whole "Is he your boyfriend? Is he single?" bit, and just the look of surprise and mild terror on his face is the actual best. He comes in and walks by Rich s l o w l y, goes "Hiiii, Rich", continues to walk slowly, and then goes "Byyyyye, Rich" before taking off towards Jeremy. He's so uncomfortable with the idea of his former bully being totally bi for him-

-There's a point where Michael comes over by (bi heheh) Rich, and Rich starts goodnaturedly (flirtatiously? maybe so) running his fingers along Michael's arm, and Michael laughs, but has the brilliant decision to smack Rich playfully. Rich, who is in a full body cast and covered with gradually healing burns. He does it H A R D, too, so Rich fucking SCREECHES, and the look on Michael's face is priceless.

-RICH PELVIC THRUSTED TO THE BEST OF HIS ABILITIES DURING "EXCITES YOU SEXUALLY"

-After Jeremy and Christine's whole dialogue during "Voices in My Head", Jeremy whooped and awkwardly leaned down and pursed his lips for a kiss- This boy doesn't know how the hell to do this, but it's okay; Christine gave him an adorable little laugh and went in for the kiss.

-Michael and Christine hate each other? I think not. They hugged during "Voices in My Head" and it was the sweetest thing,,,

-Speaking of hugs, Rich grabs Michael and Jeremy and gives them a big one and it's also super sweet.

-The only thing that bugged me a little was that Jake used the house burning down for pity points. There was an exchange with Chloe in which they were arguing, and he went "I broke my legs!"/"My house burned down!" I dunno. I know that Jake is supposed to be an asshole underneath the whole "sensitive dude" motif, but it felt to me like it kind of fucked up the character development they had already established for him.

-"Rich joined the play because he's-" *Dabs* "-my boy." WHO THE HELL IS PAYING CAMERON BOND TO DAB ON A BROADWAY STAGE BECAUSE I WANT THEM TO EMPLOY ME

-"You have to sever your ties, or else you'll both drown." MY HEART- AND THE SQUIP GENUINELY LOOKED SAD ABOUT FORCING JEREMY TO BLOCK MICHAEL?? LIKE, "IT SUCKS BUT IT'S NECESSARY"

-When Chloe says "What kind of a slut do you think I am?", Jeremy and the squip exchanged a doubtful look.

-Chloe leaned on the headboard of Jake's parents' bed and fell-

-THE SQUIP SPEAKING JAPANESE IS SO FLUID AND SMOOTH AND I JUST LOVE HOW JASON TAM TRANSITIONS BETWEEN THAT AND ENGLISH

-People weren't lying when they said the squip flops down on the bed.

-We get to see how Brooke actually reacts to Jeremy and Chloe- Jeremy passes her and she immediately begins sobbing, but then she goes "Chloe?!" Chloe makes a remark about being absolutely shitfaced, and Brooke bolts. We also see her pass Christine and Jeremy while they're on the couch- My poor baby-

-THE SQUIP DEATH SCENE IS S O F U C K I N G G O O D - The discordant Japanese singing is so hauntingly beautiful and creepy, and I love how the squip goes from "Jeremy, please, I just want to help you" to "JEREMY YOU LITTLE SHIT"

-I officially want Chloe to step on me. I used to hate her, but now? I am,,, oddly attracted to her.

-During bows, Katlyn came d a n g e r o u s l y close to kicking my dad in the face.

-Likewise, Jason Tam almost kicked my mom.

-"This one's dreams have died, so he deals with it by spending his days eating ~Hot Pockets~"

-"I'M TIRED OF BEING THE PERSON THAT EVERYONE THINKS THAT I AM" IS SO MUCH MORE INTENSE LIVE

-During LGW, Michael's wearing a vest thing over his sweatshirt and just?? Why?? I don't understand?? Michael, honey, are you okay??

-At the very end, when the squip is calling out to Jeremy, its face is projected at the back of the stage. What I really like about it, however, is that everyone but Jeremy is standing directly in front of it, showing that they're supporting him and keeping him safe from those temptations, whether they know it or not.

-I didn't get the vibe that Michael and Rich were dating at the end, but it did feel to me as though they became really close friends.

-When Rich yells "GAAAAAAY!" in MTS, Michael looks kind of shocked and slightly hurt for a moment before rolling his eyes and walking away in a manner that really showed that he's comfortable with the way Rich treats him and Jeremy, but ONLY because he knows it's just Rich and he's not going to stop anytime soon.

-The bathroom scene (pre-"Squip Song") starts off SO MUCH MORE INTENSE. Jeremy comes in and Rich yells at him, but Jeremy goes, through tears, "Can you please leave me alone? I've had a really bad day." Immediately, Rich gets pissed, runs at him while shouting "You had a bad day?! You don't know what a bad day IS!" before dunking his head in the urinal. It makes Rich seem like a huge ass if you don't know context, but knowing what he's going through at home and hearing how genuinely upset he sounds at Jeremy's complaining? It,,, hurts.

-When Rich freaks out and has, like, a squip-induced seizure in the bathroom, Jeremy looks down at him, shocked for only a second before getting a really pissed off look on his face and trying to walk out without saying a word.

-The soundtrack does NOT do Jason Tam justice. He is A B S O L U T E L Y P H E N O M E N A L live!!!!! The surfer dude voice fits!!!!!

-Tiffany Mann is also a Q U E E N, and I want her operatic "Smartphone Hour" to be the last thing I hear before I die. Thanks.

-There's SO MUCH MORE I could scream about, but I've already taken up,,, so much room in this post.

Stage Door

-It was really tame! I expected it to be a massive crowd, but I guess since it was a Sunday matinee, it just wasn't what it usually is, and thank God for that. I was worried it was going to be utter c h a o s.

-Cameron and George were the only ones to come to the stage door, but that's okay!! I'm a little sad that I didn't get to see Jason Tam or Will Roland, but I'm still totally cool with just these two.

-Cameron didn't stay long, but he was still a pretty chill dude. I got to tell him it was a pleasure to see him in that day's show because it honestly was. Also, from what I can tell, he's literally the only BMC cast member who signs his name even remotely legibly.

-George was super nice! He kept saying that he couldn't stay long because he had to go to a Joe Iconis show at 54 Below, but he still had on a huge smile and took time to sign everyone's playbills and take pictures. What a guy.

-When George went back inside, someone yelled "Michael makes an exit!" If that person is reading this, I love you.

-Even if I didn't see them at the stage door, I still got my gifts for the other actors to a stage door manager!

Overall Impression

It was just... amazing. I know there are some people with doubts about the Broadway version, but I found it to be absolutely stunning and there wasn't a second where I wasn't totally invested in what was going on. I think it's safe to say that seeing this show was a life-changing occasion, and I still can't believe I was blessed with the opportunity.

[haich-slash-cee]

Being Human (UK)

This is a show that I recommend to people... but I add a lot of caveats.

The recommendation: A werewolf, vampire and ghost are flatmates. This show is hilarious! So much macabre and slice of life humor! And horror and whump!? Also, the show was run by a side-channel of BBC (BBC3) and I guess they had no production money, so the actors mostly look human and they just refer to each other as being a 500-year old vampire or ghost or whatever. Which makes it even better. The werewolf is Jewish, recites a Jewish prayer at least once, and hangs out watching “The Real Hustle” with the vampire. They work in a hospital as janitors. The ghost has a habit of making everyone tea to soothe herself and the flat is cluttered with tea mugs everywhere all the time. Also, people do get fang-y or wolf-y or do weird poltergeist stuff. And gore happens.

Longish post, more below the cut.

PS, this is the 2008-2013 UK version of Being Human, which I hear had a cult following. There’s certainly stuff on Tumblr. I found the BBC version through the US remake of Being Human, but I’m much more charmed by the BBC version. (The US version has the vampire and werewolf as hospital doctors? Why?) Also I watched the show maybe 4, 5 years ago, so impressions are from that.

And the caveats: There’s a lot of sexism which was hard to watch. It’s engrained in the premise and plot and occasional gross sexist jokes. And there’s other problematic stuff in the writing. It’s like having glass shards show up the meal you are enjoying, and it’s why I’m not sure I’ll rewatch the series (or not in it’s entirety, anyway). There’s also a limited spinoff web series called Becoming Human which also had some problems for me, including some gross sexism and fatphobia. (John Boyega from Star Wars does show up as a character in that series, for anyone interested.)

Back to Being Human and overall series recommendations. So the 1st season was good. I kind of forgot what happened in the 2nd and 3rd season (I think they got depressing and slow?). The 4th season picked up again, much to my surprise, and I remember liking the 4th and 5th season a lot. Even though [spoilers] there was a complete cast change by this time. But it worked, somehow. The show did go from at least having one woman of color to having an all-white cast at the end, which was not great. And there’s other racism too.

For people who like their happily-ever-after: uhhh so I vaguely recall that a lot of characters don’t really get a happy ending. Granted, half of them are walking around dead already, so...? Overall, the ending of the 5th season is... Is that a happy ever after? Happy for now? The Bonus on the DVD kind of makes it a happy-for-now with a continued possibility? It’s an acceptable HFN?

.....And now, the notes for all the hurt/comfort people and whumpers:

Holy crap people, there is SO much h/c and whump!?

OK first -- George the werewolf. George’s transformation sequence, SUPER whumpy.

Also, George ends up naked often, come to think. And he screams a lot during the show, for various reasons. The actor himself, in the bonus DVD interviews I think, cheerfully says something like, “People really like the way George screams, I do too.” (This is like when David Tennant cheerfully talked about how he enjoys playing a character who is unconscious and sick and gets fussed over by people.) And George is a very sympathetic, nerdy character who is easy to feel for. Who occasionally turns into a SNARLY SCARY WEREWOLF AGAINST HIS WILL. As mentioned, I think I liked season 1 George more than seasons 2 or 3.

Emotional hurt/comfort -- so Annie the Ghost provides a lot of the emotional centering, as I recall. Throughout all 5 seasons, all the characters lean on each other for support and there’s a lot of lovely warm fuzzies from that. Also, one of the later werewolf characters, Tom, is generally a sweet kid. I’m glad they didn’t do too much of the transformation horror with him, honestly. George/Russel Tovey could carry that, but I thought Tom’s strong point was looking puppy-eyed and folorn-eyebrow’d and trying to navigate the world with a mix of naivety and half-feral-ness.

Above: exhausted naps on the couch.

Below: Classic Being Human humor. A review of house rules and vampire stabbing etiquette, between Annie and Tom --

[Spoilers from here on] Okay, so as mentioned, the cast changed over between season 4-5. And to my surprise, I think I loved the new trio as much as, or more than, the original trio. I liked how loud Alex the ghost was. And I liked both Annie and Alex.

Also, I did not expect this either, but I got so interested in Hal! Yo! First of all, Hal is a centuries-old Vampire and speaks/looks like, idk, a Regency Character. And then 19-yr old Tom puts Hal to work at a fast food shop and bosses him around, and Hal’s indignation is hilarious. So already, this is excellent.

And somehow, Hal is very, very whumpy? So: the character of a “vampire who is trying to be good and suffers” is not new, and I’ve encountered versions where I haven’t been interested. (I was lukewarm about Mitchell, the original vampire in the show.) But for whatever reason, I really dug Hal. Maybe, for me, Hal was just the right mix of very serious and earnest but also ridiculous and tragic all at once. (I read some interviews with the actor Damien Molony, who mentioned how he’d done a lot of history and addiction research in to prep for the role. The new trio actors also had a lot of chemistry and fun on sets, it sounds like. So I might be picking up all that.)

Also, Hal is actually two characters -- the ridiculous indignant serious Good Hal who is desperately trying to keep the horrible, rude, murderous, Bad Hal from taking over. But, as one of the show producers, a woman, cheerfully commented in the DVD extras: “And then Bad Hal shows up, which is great, everyone likes a bit of Bad Hal”. 

Honestly, why do we even pretend to hide our fascination with the macabre and the whump, when showrunners and actors are cheerfully not hiding it all.

Here’s clips of Good Hal in Season 4:

Oh, I forgot about this part until I rewatched the last clip -- but at the end of season 4, Hal asks his flatmates to forcibly bind him to a chair, because he’s trying to fight off Bad Hal. Based on my perusing of the whump community, pretty sure that scenario is of interest to someone.

Also notable is the episode “No Care, All Responsibility” (Series 5 ep 3). In one scene in particular, where Natasha has offered Hal a way to control his bloodlust and there’s this mix of vulnerability and power with Hal asking Natasha to put a stake against his heart, I remember thinking -- “I bet a woman wrote this ep and I bet she knew exactly what she wanted”. And I was right, that woman is Sarah Dollard, a queer woman who has also written a lot of other things (including Doctor Who). She also wrote Being Human goofy web extra eps with Alex, Hal and Tom called “Alex’s Unfinished Business” and they are so good ! (Interview). 

Also... the opening 3-minute backstory in “No Care...” made me cry. You get a glimpse of the show’s baddie showing real care and emotion in rescuing this little kid (an important character). When this kind of scene is done well, it just gets me. every. time.

Anyway here’s an appearance of Bad Hal (much later), being completely awful, murdering people and turning them into vampires and singing Broadway tunes during this.

Side note on Vampire narratives. Although Hal’s narrative arc of season 5 was interesting, and I’m aware this is show is urban fantasy, I still have qualms of the show enforcing IRL stigmas/ideas that addition is incurable and addicts are doomed. They’re not. (General overview on NIH page.) Addiction research is a growing field. From listening to NPR and reading articles, my impression is that addiction treatment will change quickly in the next few years. Related to the vampire blood addiction trope, Terry Pratchett covers vampires finding ways to be “dry” (one vampire, Maladict, swaps out blood addiction for coffee addiction) and you can find fanfics about the topic as well. (General link to Being Human Ao3 fanfics, why not.)

Side note on Hal’s dual characters -- recently, I did consider, “Is there overlap with Hal and portrayals of Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD) folks?” IRL DID people have complained about movies with gross portrayals of people with DID. To me, Being Human’s Hal feels removed from that and closer to a fantasy.... but, I’m also not multi, so.

* Update: after having learned more about plural history, I’m even less sure now. (Note: my opinions are of someone who isn’t plural, as far as I know, so note that.) There’s a number of early problematic movies and books that hugely affected the popular narratives of plural people in the west, and still affect how therapists and non-plural people treat plural people even today. These include the movie “The Three Faces of Eve”, which has the narrative of “Good Eve, Bad Even, and later smushed together become ‘Fixed Eve’ or whatever”. There’s practically a whole lecture series on how the books/movies were made with sensationalism and formulas in mind and pretty gross things. Chris Costner Sizemore, the IRL Eve, had to fight the movie studios in court because the studios claimed they owned her life story. (There’s practically a whole lecture series on early plural history in the west, I might link more information later). Like, even today, multi people feel pressured to hide their plurality because they are afraid singlets or other people are gonna say “oh so which one of you is the ax murderer”, or that they are going to be fired from work. So.  

This post turned into a “Being Human seasons 4 + 5 Appreciation Post”. I guess Season 1 and 4, 5 were my favorite. I watched the show through library DVDs, but I think there’s eps of the show on YouTube. The DVD extras are probably on this YouTube playlist?

(Also, there is a pilot episode, with different actors except George/Russel Tovey. I don’t think one needs to watch the pilot to watch the main series; I kind of recall that the main series recycled some of the pilot. There is a funny scene in the pilot where George and Mitchell meet Annie.)

Being Human: a macabre, hilarious, horror-filled, flawed, sometimes dragging, emotional, whumpy, oddball show that I still think about sometimes.

[365daysofmchart]

Reflecting on McHart: 3x01

Long time no see! But just thought I’d make some little (as it turns out) incredibly lengthy remarks about McHart-related things that stood out to me in the season 3 premiere of The Good Fight! May or may not do more of these throughout the season--let me know if you’re feelin’ it. Obviously 3x01 spoilers below!

1. Them holding hands, (and her leg slung over him which we couldn’t really see in the scene but did in the promo) and THAT CHIN GRAB, and him indulging her, oh my! (BUT WHY WOULD HE TEMPT FATE LIKE THAT SAYING “WHAT COULD GO WRONG?” DAMN IT, KURT!)

2. I had been planning to make a clever remark about how I had so been looking forward to seeing what a home/bedroom that was truly both of theirs would look like... and then (once seeing it in the promo/promo pics) that apparently it looks exactly like a Diane bedroom, lol (which is sweet in it’s own right too, I suppose, him just letting her run with it... or perhaps her insisting they do it together but then she vetos like 95% of his ideas so then he just gives up). But then I saw the gun case with more than a dozen firearms in it so actually a Diane/Kurt bedroom seems to be a Diane bedroom with an abundance of guns. ...Which honestly kind of surprises me, especially given that they’re not really locked away. Wondering how those negotiations went between the two of them. ...Are the guns in the bedroom going to become relevant in a later episode??? So many questions. 

But anyway, further on their bedroom, THAT THING IS FREAKING MASSIVE. I know that they want it to function as sort of a catch-all space for the season so that they can get away with shooting every single McHart home scene in that one space and so it has to serve a lot of functions, but good lord, I think an entire apartment could fit in there? And HOW MUCH SEATING DO THEY NEED? They’ve got enough for--no exaggeration--more than ten in there. That’s insane. Are they planning to have a freaking soiree in there??? HA! ...It is gorgeous though, props to Beth!

3. The domesticity of their morning! He’s shaving (with a shaving brush OF COURSE and probably a straight razor) in a towel in the bathroom and her unpacking his stuff as they talk (or holler, rather) back and forth, just kind of hanging out while doing their own things to get ready for the day. THEY’RE MARRIED. My heart! 4. Diane’s increased knowledge of his guns and his preferences despite the fact that he has probably like 50 of them. How much time does he spend talking about guns and she sits there and lets him and listens, probably mostly because she just loves watching him in his element... and also because THEY’RE MARRIED and idk, I guess you do stuff like listening to your spouse talk about things you’re maybe not totally into when you’re married?

5. He called her (at work vs. her cell) while she was on her way to work, after she had just left him, but we never find out why. WHY???

6.HER HELPING HIM PACK. Ans it’s because she “saw airplane tickets on our account.” On “OUR ACCOUNT.” Something tells me they hadn’t merged much of anything before (including their lives), but they have now and it warms my heart!

7. I actually love the way they handled the hairs/her suspicions.To start with, I think it’s natural that after everything, even if they have moved forward and are starting over, even if she has worked though everything and trusts him, I think it’s perfectly realistic that certain feelings might creep up given certain circumstances. Of course exploring this in the show could’ve easily gotten into “drama for the sake of drama” territory and been incredibly messy and destructive, but it wasn’t. 

She wasn’t looking for reasons to be jealous, wasn’t looking to catch him in a trap--they honestly were “just there.” She then handled it so well, asking him reasonable questions, went on with her day, then maturely confronted him about it at home that night. (And honestly, I don’t think she actually thought he cheated, just that he was hiding something perhaps a little less than seemly that had to do with one of his “Fox blonds.”)  And then when she does approach him about it, she starts by telling him she loves him! She’s diving into this situation knowing it could be messy/hurtful but wants to preface with an “I love you” cause they are so IN THIS. Oh, also, ya know, he was being dishonest with her/lying to her, so her suspicions were totally valid. ...And on that note, DID KURT REALLY NOT LEARN HIS LESSON ON BEING HONEST WITH HER?!?!? Like he’s the most honest guy with literally e-ver-y-one else... but his wife. I think it just comes from loving her and not wanting to upset/hurt/lose her, but COME ON, MAN.

8. “I’m being paid. I don’t have a job, I’m hiring myself out...” “They pay me, Diane; it’s money. I’m not doing it because I like them!” “I’m being paid! I’m working!” That. Job. Though. His excuses are such a cop out because they obviously don’t need the money by any means. But I think it really speaks to Kurt and his pride--he loves his wife dearly, loves her strength, will always support her and is genuinely okay with her being the primary breadwinner. ...But he also still feels the need to pull his weight--to have a purpose and to contribute something financially. To “be a man.” (But again, as much as he may feel the need to play a traditional male gender role, he also has zero expectations that Diane do the same!) Because he could always volunteer in some way, take on smaller jobs, wait for the right long-term, paying position... but he’s taken that one. Because pride (which apparently trumps integrity? LOL!). (Throwback to season 2 of TGW!) Oh, Kurt... BUT ALSO SHE SEEMS TO GET THAT, because yes, she’s definitely upset about it and judges him for it, but she doesn’t even begin to try to talk him out of it, just, “Nope, you’re right. You have to do what you have to do.” She knows it’s important to him and respects that it’s something he feels he has to do! (They’ve come so far from 5x06!) As he respects that she has to do what she has to do. Like she just walks out on some kind of vague mission and he just stands there, a little confused, but like, “...Okay? Well, you do you, I guess. I’ll be here.”

9. THEIR TEASING, I LOVE IT SO MUUUUUCH. Honestly it’s been so long since we’ve seen them relaxed and playful together that it almost felt out of character for Diane for a hot minute and then I thought back and was like, “oh yeah, never mind, this is just what they’re like together when they’re not being put through the wringer by the writers!” Gasp! ...But like oh my God, they’re so freaking cute and yes please I’ll take more wise-cracking-sarcastic-sasshole Diane EVERY EPISODE, PLEASE!!! And let’s be honest, Kurt loves it. He looks at her with heart eyes and that little smirk that he can’t quite master because he’s just so in love with her even especially when she teases him. But then “Come on, come on. A little hug, please.” Like it’s not even a kiss or sexual in any way, she’s just missed him and just wants to embrace him for a moment. And given their history in regards to physical intimacy and that we can be quite certain that their sex life is still plenty vibrant, I think that a hug actually means more than tearing into each other, you know? They’ve always had that physical draw, the hug is more a product of an emotional one. (THOUGH I WOULD HAVE ZERO COMPLAINTS ABOUT THEM TEARING INTO EACH OTHER) And then, from the slightest wince she knows something is wrong and presses him on it!

10. The entirety of the “They shot you!” scene was pure GOLD. Every line, every delivery. And then her concern followed by her frantic ire and demand to know who did it, and his trying to calm her but then getting riled himself... UGH. I love it. All of it. Every bit of it. But especially... (And some lines I’ve highlighted at the bottom!)

11. Idk, but I just really love when he shows her the ointment? It just feels SO [OLD?] MARRIED COUPLE. Like, “Yeah, I did go to the hospital and they gave me this stuff to put on it, see? Here it is. Do you want to look at it?”  (And her just automatically taking it from his hand!) Honestly I clearly can’t adequately put words to why this in particular stands out to me, but it just gets me every freaking time.

12. Moment of appreciation for their bathroom (the one room that’s actually lit properly, lol) and alllll of her products and their matching toothbrushes in the middle, then that lil red car on his side (’cause they have sides, guys!). Dying to see their bedroom reasonably well lit at some point during the season (we hope) to see more of these little details! (...Also why are their towels hanging in their washroom area where it would appear that there is only a toilet???)

13. “You’re not fit to kiss my husband’s feet--a truthful man, uncomplaining, never passing the buck, never punching unless he’s punched. When did he become the exception?” After everything, after it all, after the lies and the hurt, she still believes that this man is the greatest man to walk this earth. Perhaps she now knows that he’s not perfect... but I think she believes he’s the closest any man will get. She just loves him SO. DAMN. MUCH. And then just gently resting her arm over his waist while careful to keep her distance from his wound cause she just wants needs that connection... I CAN’T WITH THEMMMMM.

14. Also, ummm... can we please get shirtless Kurt in 3 scenes in every episode??? 15. Diane uttered like 2 “husband”s, 2 “wife”s, and one “married” in this single episode... clearly the writers are as committed to defining them as MARRIED AF as we are.

And just a few other lines that stood out to me:

“I’m happy. ...Am I ridiculous?” “You like narrating your life.”

“But mean it.”

“...And it reeked of cologne, or mousse, or something, and I know that you’d rather die than use girly products...”

“...Then which of you Fox blonds is it?” (”Fox” did not sound like “Fox” upon my first watch/listen, haha!)

“You call him Eric?” “Oh, God...”

“DIANE, you’re scaring me!”

“My God, my poor husband. What have they done to you?”

“That’s why they delayed the trip, they SHOT you!”

“I can do the ointment.” “No you can’t!”

“The most important person in my life...”

Alright, as per usual I got ENTIRELY carried away, but anyway there ya go. Hope at least one of you gets amusement out of it, lol! And feel free to comment/"Ask” your own thoughts!

Happy “More McHart is only 25 hours away!” -E

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E13 Poll Results (Anime Only Viewer Version)

The poll closed with 130 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note this is the anime only viewer version of the poll. Manga readers, please click here for the results of the manga reader poll!

RATE THE EPISODE 120 Responses

With only one person voting negatively about the episode, it’s safe to say that the hype is back up for the next arc of the series!

H Y P E

shinzou wo sasageyo!

RATE THE OP 118 Responses

Overall the new opening is well liked among viewers, although perhaps not everyone’s overall favorite. 

I know the OP teased the basement but I swear to Sina if Season 3 ends with them walking down to the basement or not revealing what was in there I’ll lose it. Like it could be fucking nothing in there and I’ll be (somewhat) okay, JUST GET TO THE DAMN BASEMENT!

RATE THE ED 117 Responses

Similarly to the new opening, the new ending is well liked enough, but doesn’t stand out as an overall favorite as a whole. 

WE GOT A FEW NEW SAWANO TRACKS. HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THEM? 119 Responses

Overall viewers are hyped up for new tracks by the series’ composer Hiroyuki Sawano! A few feel they need to hear more of the new music to decide how they feel. 

godworks

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 118 Responses

The largest group of voters (at 33%) favored the scene which kick started the action-filled cliffhanger when Levi attacked an emerging Reiner on the wall. Followed behind that at nearly 20% was the Beast Titan appearing with a titan army around him. 10% of respondents loved so much of the episode it was hard for them to settle on just one scene to favor. 

ON A SCALE OF ARMIN TO ERWIN, HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT GIVING ORDERS? 118 Responses

The largest group of respondents fell somewhere in the middle between being timid about giving orders to feeling confident in what needs to be done. Although overall respondents lean more toward relating to Armin on this front.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO GO HORSEBACK SURFING? 117 Responses

Honestly, we didn’t expect a serious response to this question. But 32% of voters would be willing to give horse surfing a try, while 29% are in the “hard no” category on that one. 

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ANIMATION QUALITY IN PART TWO SO FAR? 119 Responses

Nearly 70% of voters are feeling good about the animation quality of the first episode (and we hope that WIT keeps it up). 27% fall somewhere in the middle - not great, but not awful. A small amount of respondents don’t think the animation is all that impressive. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CG COLOSSAL TITAN IN THE OPENING? 119 Responses

The majority of respondents don’t care whether the Colossal Titan is in CGI or not. 19% are certain it’s the worst thing WIT could ever do with it, while 16% actually find the CGI effect pretty rad.

WHAT DO YOU THINK DIFFERENTIATES THE TITANS THAT CAN MOVE AROUND AT NIGHT? 115 Responses

61% of respondents, plus one write in, believe that these new types of titans are connected to the Beast Titan in some way or another. 20% feel that they are simply just a new type of titan that the Survey Corps had not discovered previously, and 14% believe that all titans have the ability to move around at night under the right conditions. 

Beast titan can summon these special titans

DO YOU THINK THERE ARE MORE ENEMIES OTHER THAN REINER, BERTOLT, AND THE BEAST TITAN? 117 Responses

The overwhelming majority are certain that there are more enemies involved in this battle than just the three we have seen so far. 6% are unsure about it, and even less are certain that we’ve seen every enemy that will be present. 

WHERE DO YOU THINK BERTOLT IS HIDING? 116 Responses

42% of voters believe that Bertolt is likely hiding in an object somewhere. 20% don’t want to say for certain where he may be. 19% feel confident that Bertolt is in another area of the walls like Reiner was. 

I think Bert is inside the backpack,ready to be thrown and to completly annhilate the scouts

HOW DID REINER SURVIVE LEVI’S ATTACK? 117 Responses

The majority of respondents are confident that Reiner used another titan ability, as Levi suggested, to avoid certain death. 20% believe he just got lucky and wasn’t hit in just the right places. 16% don’t want to say either way. 

WHERE DID ALL THE TITANS COME FROM? 113 Responses

37% of respondents believe that the titans fighting with the Beast Titan are additional forces from beyond the wall. 23% are unsure, while 15% feel that they are more victims from inside of the walled territory. 

SOME PEOPLE NOTICED A TITAN WITH A BACKPACK BEHIND THE BEAST TITAN. THOUGHTS? 115 Responses

At 42%, just under half of responses feel that this strange titan is another intelligent titan like the Beast Titan. 23% are just horrified and believe it’s nightmare fuel. 18% of respondents didn’t even catch this detail at all! 

Backpack Titan was called best girl several times by manga readers, so it's obvious who it is or what's inside it. The only logical character that is called best girl and is not here shinganshina.

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN THIS BATTLE? 114 Responses

43% of voters feel that the Warriors and their titan army are going to have the upper hand in this fight, while 31% believe it will at least be an even match. With the least amount of votes, only 12% feel that the Survey Corps will have more of an advantage this time around. 

I think the Scouts are gonna suffer a fuckton on losses again.  The post credits scene in S3Ep12 is a disagreement over who will use that Titan Turning Serum.  Just a guess

WHO OF THE FOLLOWING, IF ANY, DO YOU THINK HAS A CHANCE OF DYING IN THIS BATTLE? 106 Responses

Erwin being down an arm has the majority of the fandom on edge about his potential fate in this battle. Falling closely behind is Marlowe, likely due to his minor character status. Bertolt is another popular option, with Reiner, Connie and Sasha falling closely behind him. A small 7.5% of optimistic voters are confident that this battle will not have any casualties at all.  

ARE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW QUICKLY THE WALL WAS SEALED BY EREN? 115 Responses

Just as Eren was, the majority of viewers were legitimately thrown off guard at how quickly and easily Eren was able to seal the hole in the wall. Perhaps we should listen to Mikasa and believe in Eren’s strength! 

HOW DID THE CLIFFHANGER MAKE YOU FEEL? 116 Responses

Unsurprisingly, the cliffhanger left viewers feeling hyped and excited for the arc to unfold! 11% were simply just pained that the episode was over and waiting for more. A small amount didn’t care much either way and one person could only scream at us:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE OR THEORIES ABOUT WHERE WE GO FROM HERE?

We know Eren ends up on a beach somehow, so whatever's inside the basement must be reeeally important to make our crew want to venture beyond the Walls afterwards. That or Eren gets kidnapped yet again, business as usual.

Thoughts// Levi is about to go fkn off

We go to the damn basement, then the ocean.

better and longer battle than battle of winterfell

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 109 Responses

We asked manga readers if they had any parting words or advice for the anime only viewers. Here’s what some of them had to say:

You're in the Endgame now.

Good luck make sure you have tissues

Avoid spoilers and don’t over think what others say, enjoy!

They're in for a wild ride, and I really hope they all come to appreciate this story as much as we do ♥

Baseball is an okay sport, I guess.

SUSUMEEEE!!!

Good Luck.

Do you have a glue? My heart condition is about to worsen

stay safe be strong drink water and sasageyo

Do your best to not get spoiled for this season and the future events. What should you do? Avoid using websites that has AOT (especially YouTube, don't check there)? Get yourself an another account for non-AOT related stuff? Whatever you do, don't get spoiled

just ignore it every time a manga reader says "you're not ready for this" because you are ready for this

How have you held back for so long?

Good fucking luck

Like Dead Pool says: everything will go sideways in the most collosal way. Enjoy while this ephimeral "easiness" lasts, because you will suffer. A. LOT.

You may be super stoked for the next episode, and want it all as quickly as possible. but remember, once the 10 episodes are over, they're over, you'll never be able to experience them for the first time again. Enjoy the time you have with the show, rather than getting frustrated over the weekly wait.

Good luck, have fun. It's gonna be a rollercoaster.

This isn't even as wild as it gets. The real Attack on Titan is about to start.

Who do you think the real enemy is?

Good luck. Be glad you will only need to wait a week for a conclusion to each new cliffhanger unlike the many months us ol' manga readers hadda endure.

Have a comfort item nearby

Good luck lmao

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

[jaywrites101]

Jay Reviews: Captain Marvel

Higher, Further, Faster. Emotions are a weakness, or are they? Today at JayWrites101 we're looking into the cinematic adventure that is Captian Marvel. Critics everywhere are pitching in on this one, giving it reviews ranging between Masterpiece and Disaster with very little room for leeway. How accurate are those reviews? Let's find out together.

The purpose of this review is not to promote, nor offend. We're here to break down The Good, The Bad, and The Strange to find out what makes this movie so unique.

Spoilers ahead.

Medium: Movie Genre: Superhero, action, drama Premise: A superpowered woman with amnesia must find out the truth of who she is so she can stop an interstellar war from destroying her homeworld.

My, that's such a simple premise, isn't it? Boy, the context of this premise changes dramatically. Our Protagonist, Vers, starts off as a Kree soldier fighting to protect Halla from the Skrulls, big green aliens with the power to shape-shift into anyone. As more information is revealed, she ends as Carol Danvers (not to be confused with Karra Danvers, DC's Supergirl) a human pilot who absorbed a fraction of power from an infinity stone whose mission is to protect Earth from the Kree as they try to use her to take over the galaxy.

It's funny how the entire plot reverses itself completely, but the basic premise never changed.

Plot: We start off learning about Vers, as she and her team gears up to rescue a spy whose cover has been blown. The mission turns into a complete fiasco when the spy turns out to be a Skrull in disguise. Vers is captured and "interrogated" using some kind of mind-reading technology. Thing is, she's remembering stuff she couldn't possibly have remembered. Things like getting chewed out for crashing a go-kart, or falling while doing a military course. Vers manages to escape her captors and flee to Earth. After contacting her team, she joins forces with Nick Fury, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who's thinking about putting together a task force to protect the Earth from major threats. Not a bad idea, that.

Together they investigate the fragments of memory that Vers recalled from her capture, all while being chased relentlessly by Skrull agents who also made it to Earth. Vers eventually finds a friend who knows the truth and learns that she is, in fact, Carol Dan-vers, a human. Before this revelation has time to sink in, the Skrull offer a flag of truce. They reveal that they're not a military force, just a few survivors trying to hide from the Kree who hunt them relentlessly. As proof, they offer Carol a recording of the incident that robbed her of her memories where it's shown unarguably that her teammates, the Kree, deliberately captured her to find the Tesseract, a device that holds an Infinity Stone, and accidentally gave Carol her powers when she tried to destroy a device that used that energy.

In the end, Carol and her new friends are captured by the Kree and Carol realizes the device she believed was giving her power, was actually suppressing her powers. She destroys the device and becomes Captian Marvel, a superbeing whose massively undefined powers include energy blasts from her hands and flight. Powers that allow her to tear through a Kree spaceship like it was tissue paper. If you've watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. then you know these things are no joke, but Carol destroys one in three seconds flat by flying through it.

Bad guys leave, Carol takes the surviving Skrull to a new planet on the opposite side of the galaxy and Nick Fury begins his Avengers Initiative. Fast forward to the Present and Carol returns in the end-credit scene to a very confused Captain America and demands to know what happened to Fury.

This was one heavy plot. I cut a lot out of it and it still took me thirty minutes to give a summary that wouldn't leave you more confused than you began. You wouldn't think this movie was so plot-dense until you have to try to explain it.

The Good: I just broke down the plot, but what's great about Captain Marvel is that this plot is engaging. I had to go to the bathroom about a third of the way through the movie, but I didn't once consider actually leaving because every second of this movie was filled with something.

I've heard it said before that a good plot structure is "X happened because of Y and causes Z." There are precious few films that encapsulate that principle into the core of it's being better than Captain Marvel. And the nods to future films and plot points were fun to discover as well.

Another thing worth noting is how much of the story is conveyed nonverbally. They spend a lot of effort to say as much as they can, using as little dialogue as possible. This helps the viewer to remember plot details better since they're not just passively listening, but it also means that removing attention away from the screen can cause you to miss things crucial to understanding what's going on. I'm leaving this in The Good because Captain Marvel used this feature well. It's always nice to see a visual medium like film use visual storytelling to great effect instead of having someone constantly dumping exposition all the time.

As a subset of the above, lack of exposition in a movie that is a plot-heavy as this one is always worth noting as praiseworthy.

The use of humor to break up the heavier scenes was a relief, and it often came when I least expected it. Real early in the movie there was this scene where "Vers" was escaping the Skrull's and one of them does this growl at her and she growls back! It was such an absurd little moment of humanity and character that I lost it. And almost anything with that cat! I swear, how they made that monster scratching out Nick Furry's eye out into something hilarious, I'll never know! But they did, and all those little moments made this movie shine.

Real briefly, I'd like to address a common complaint I've heard against this movie, Carol's lack of character. These people are full of fluff. Is that it? Can I just leave it here? Do I really have to explain this? Yes?? *sigh* Okay.

The idea that Carol lacks character is born from her "reserved" personality type. Now, I'm not calling anyone sexist! But this is a personality type that is very often shown in Men ™ , and it doesn't even raise an eyebrow. But to any dude who actually is sexist, and refuses to look at anything other than how large Brie Larson's chest is outside of her superhero suit, this personality type can easily be swapped out with a piece of cardboard and they wouldn't notice.

Now, guys have been pulling off this “kind of quiet, but kind, but I'll seriously kick your ass if you mess with me,” attitude in film for ages. And quite a few even have had success with it. (I'm thinking Resse from Person of Interest, a show that is definitely getting its own review someday.) But it's exceedingly rare for a woman in film to have this personality type.

It's not uncommon in reality, however. And I, personally, like this touch of realism.

The few moments where Carol allowed herself to laugh felt warm and genuine. All her interactions with her niece were heartwarming. Again, some very important people, some of whom I even respect, say that the side characters never got a chance to shine, and Carol never got a chance to have a character arc.

But again, they're full of fluff. If anything, expressing emotion was Carol's character arc. By beating up the man in her life that insists that she never feel emotion, Carol shows that her emotions are her strengths and she does not at all have to prove herself to anyone.

Why?

Because she kept getting back up.

This is a powerful message to tell anyone. Not just women. We heard a variant of the same message in the Dark Knight trilogy. But in this one, it's even more satisfying because the people who kept knocking her down were cheating to begin with.

Now, I'm not going to say that this message was transferred across the eight sexes evenly. I have no doubt that women felt this message more acutely than men. This specific message was made for women. Duh. But there's only one reason why any man could come out of this film feeling attacked.

They saw themselves in Yon-Rogg.

I'm just saying, if you related to the one male character that got attacked in this movie, you prolly need to be offended. Just a little. It's not going to kill you to take a hard look at yourself, even if you eventually discover that you have, in fact, been an ass at some point in your life.

Congratulations. Welcome to the human race. Now, move on.

Before we take our own advice and move on, I'd like to address one more thing Captain Marvel did exceptionally well: The sound design.

This movie sounded wonderful, from the effects to the actual factual background music. Most notably in the third act. There was a point where a character said "The music is a nice touch" and I agreed completely. A lot of these films use similar or recycled music to amp up "the moment" but this movie... well, they didn't turn it up to eleven, but the got it up to ten.

They had music with lyrics, and that's more than 70% of movies these days. Thumbs up.

The Bad: Remember how I said I loved how engaging this plot was? It's still a freakishly dense plot! This whole thing was so tightly edited there was very little time to just unpack the things that happened. Often, you had to try and unpack the thing that just happened while actually doing the next thing.

This helps the movie be engaging. But it hamstrings it when it comes to actually following what’s happening. There is just no way to condense this movie. I've left out tons of stuff just because I have to stop typing this thing eventually!

The Strange: This part of the review is dedicated to the bizarre. To elements or ideas that seem half done, or just really questionable. Not usually bad enough to be constituted as a plot hole, these things are... just... things.

So, for example, the Kree team. What were their names? How many of them were there in the first place?

Don't know? Me neither, and I took notes when I watched this film. I remember Minn-Erva, the sniper, and Yon-Rogg the main villain. And if I'm honest, I actually forgot their names and had to look it up. I didn't even know their group was called "Starforce," until I discovered it looking for the correct way to spell their names.

This is not the best way to set up your main bad guys. Especially if your audience is supposed to care about them at all for any reason.

And while we're at it, the antagonist himself, Yon-Rogg, could do with a little bit extra development too. We don't really know much about him except that he thinks emotions are weaknesses in a fight, and that Carol using her full power is cheating.

We don't really know anything else about him, so there's no real sense of betrayal when Carol turns on him. The "evil all along" trope works best when it's a character you've been with the whole story who's secretly had a plan the whole time. It works because you, the audience, feels betrayed too. Here... it just kinda happened. And, depending on how cynical you are, you probably even saw it coming.

It's like they were going for a sucker punch but aimed it at your forearm; doesn't really hurt, and does little to actually surprise us.

Strongest Scene: When making the strongest scene, I don't mean I look for the scenes with the most meaning packed into them. If I did, the climax or the Intro of a story would win every time. No, what I look for in a strong scene is pure storytelling. How is it shot, who is in it, how does it connect with the rest of the story, and how much does it say.

For Captain Marvel, my subjective vote goes to the bar scene between Nick Fury and "Vers." Even though they've technically met already, the two are really seeing each other for the first time. Nick, newly awakened to the idea of aliens, and Vers, finally respecting Nick's skills as a competent agent despite his comparative backwater setting.

Nick realizes he's in about a mile over his head, and Vers realizes she can't work alone.

They have a nice discussion about their past and aliens, complete with its own little humorous jabs, and there's a very real sense that these two are full partners afterward that carries all along the rest of the movie.

Weakest Scene: As much as it saddens me to say this, I'm going to have to put the introduction to the movie here.

Don't get me wrong, it does a fully competent job of setting up Vers and her amnesia. But we don't get a good sense of anyone else in Halla. To me, it's the things we don't see that really spoil this intro. We don't see any of Carol's friends, and the one guy we do see is in a bit of a mentor position. We don't see how people in this world live, and because of that, we don't get to know if the people of Halla are happy, or miserable. And while this does little for the plot of this movie, it would've done marvels at giving the villains characterization or justifications.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda; didn't.

Luckily, I can gladly say that every other scene in this movie was made stronger than this one.

Conclusion: Captain Marvel is an excellent story from start to finish. Anyone who tells you otherwise is stuffed so full of fluff you can call them Whinee the Poo. And yes, that is my way of saying they're full of crap. 

There's a stigma around female characters that they're almost all considered Mary Sue's, and that being a Mary Sue is the WORST CRIME EVER!! But I never got that from Carol. Mostly because at every opportunity instead of powering her way through her problems, she had to cave and struggle and even fall.

And then she got back up.

[pentakillmaven]

The Nose Knows, Chapter 2 (NaNoWriMo 2018)

I was able to finish the chapter earlier than I expected! Enjoy!

Chapter Rating: T

Chapter warnings: Canon-typical violence, mild language, more gratuitous usage of French language and the French education system. Mild spoilers for the the season 2 episode “Troublemaker.”

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 2

Monday dawned bright and early, as it was wont to do; the halls and classrooms of Lycée Jean-Baptiste Magnier were buzzing with activity. Some students feverishly scribbled the last bits of their weekend assignments, while others caught up with their friends after the weekend before making their way to their respective classrooms.

Marinette walked into her classroom, waving at Nathaniel and Mylène. "Good morning!" she said as she took her seat.

"Good morning, Marinette!" Mylène replied. "How was your Sunday?" Mylène and Ivan had been at the movies with the rest of the group on Saturday. The two had continued to date all through high school, and according to Mylène, they were looking at finding a university they could attend together.

"Ugh, crazy busy," Marinette replied. "I was working until nearly midnight on the Philosophy project for M. Leroux. I had a hard time staying awake; Aristotle is such a bore."

"Yeah, I had to do mine on Socrates, so I feel your pain. At least they're done, though, right?"

"Exactly. And this week should be easy since we have the practice tests for the Bac next week." Marinette sighed and leaned her head on her arms on top of her desk, closing her eyes in an attempt to catch one more wink of sleep before class started.

However, she quickly perked up when she heard a familiar male voice at the doorway. Lifting her head, she smiled when she saw her desk partner saying goodbye to his girlfriend with a quick peck before he stepped into the classroom. "Hey Marinette! Alya wanted me to give this to you." Nino approached their desk and handed Marinette a flash drive with a white and orange color scheme before taking his seat.

"Oh, this must be the notes I asked for! Thanks, Nino, I really appreciate you bringing them."

"No problem, dude!"

Nino, Nathaniel, and Mylène were the only students from her class at Françoise Dupont that had joined her in the Literature track at Lycée Jean-Baptiste Magnier. Thankfully, some of her other friends were in the school with her, just taking different classes. Adrien, Alya, and Ivan were in the Economics and Social Sciences track, while Alix and Rose were in the Science track. The rest of their group of friends had gone on to other high schools throughout the city--Chloé, for instance, was at a prestigious private school full of international students, where she got to rub elbows with the children of ambassadors and celebrities. Max had gone off to a feeder school for one of the most illustrious engineering universities in the country, planning to go into computer science, while Kim, Sabrina, and Juleka were at another local public school. Marc Anciel, Nathaniel's boyfriend, was also at Lycée Jean-Baptiste Magnier, but as he was a year behind them, he and Nathaniel didn't share any classes.

"So Marinette," Nathaniel asked from his seat behind the pig-tailed girl. "With the Bac practice tests next week, do you have any study plans this upcoming weekend? Rose and Alix are coming over on Saturday afternoon after class, you're welcome to come if you want."

"Thanks for the offer, Nathaniel, but I've already got study plans with Alya and Nino. We're making a full day of it at my place on Sunday. Right, Nino?"

Nino nodded in agreement. "Yep! I'm bringing the tunes, Alya's bringing the drinks, and you're providing the snacks. And if Adrien can get away from his dad, he said he'd like to come too, if that's okay."

"Oh, y-yeah, that's fine!" Marinette's voice broke a bit as she replied, a hint of a blush crossing her cheeks. Even after actively trying to get over Adrien by dating Juleka’s brother Luka (which made her realize that the two of them were definitely better suited as friends than in a relationship), she still had feelings for the blond. She might have outgrown the worst of her obsessive crush on the model, but now her feelings were deeper, especially as the two had finally been able to become real friends. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Of course Adrien is welcome to come. I can't imagine he's going to have any problems with the Bac, though, he's so smart."

Nino just shrugged. "I dunno, Marinette, he seemed pretty nervous about it when he asked me to ask you if he could come. He's probably more stressed out about it than he lets on, especially with how busy his schedule's been lately."

"That's fair. I know his dad has been pulling him out of school more recently for work. I'm just glad Alya shares classes with him so she's been able to help him keep up with his assignments and class notes."

"Don't I know it. It seems like every day the two of them are talking about school stuff and she's constantly giving him files. If I didn't know any better I'd think the two of them were planning something behind my back."

Before Marinette had a chance to reply, the History teacher stepped in to start class. Despite her best efforts to force herself to pay attention, Marinette found herself leaning her head on one hand, the other doodling idly in the corner of her paper as her mind wandered. It had been a while since Adrien had been to her house-- she actually couldn't think of any time since collège, when he came over to practice playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III for the video game tournament. (Though he did see her bedroom during the whole Jagged Stone/Troublemaker incident, but that didn't count since he wasn't technically there for it.) When Alya came over to her place to hang out, they usually spent most of the time in her bedroom, but there wasn't exactly a lot of sitting space for four up there. And if they were going to have their books and study materials spread out, the dining room table or living room would make a lot more sense. However, being in a common area would mean more distractions from her mother--or, Lord forbid, her father, as nosy as he was--especially if Adrien did come to the study party. On the other hand, being downstairs would lead to far fewer questions about what they were getting up to, and would make them all more accountable to actually studying for the Bac rather than just goofing off…

A sudden elbow to her ribs caused Marinette to jump, looking around quickly. "Huh?"

"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, did you hear me?" Marinette flushed as she realized her teacher had been speaking to her.

"I'm very sorry, Mme. Chevalier… could you repeat that?"

The History teacher pursed her lips together as she stood at the chalkboard, obviously displeased with Marinette's lack of attention. "If you aren't going to listen to me, you may step outside until the end of class. And no getting notes from any other students," she added with a glare in Nino's direction.

"I'll pay attention, Mme. Chevalier. Again, I am very sorry." Marinette couldn't feel any worse if she tried. She knew that it was a very important time for her to be on top of her studies, as the practice exams were coming up and the Baccalauréat was the one thing that could make or break her chances of getting into university to study fashion design.

"Very well then. Could you explain the reasoning behind Napoléon Bonaparte's decision to invade the Russian empire in 1812?"

"Bonaparte had two goals for the Russian campaign: firstly, his official reasoning for the invasion was that he wanted to liberate Poland from the Russians. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, he wanted to force Tsar Nicholas I to stop trading with the British, which violated the Continental Blockade."

"That's correct." Mme. Chevalier continued on with her lesson on the Russian Campaign, but once again Marinette found she couldn't keep her attention on the teacher despite her best efforts. It came as a blessing when the class period ended without her being called upon again.

"Thank God for free periods," Marinette said as she and Nino left the classroom. "I'm going to go hunt down Alya before next period. You have fun in Music Theory!"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Nino deadpanned. "M. Berlioz has us doing oral presentations this week since the Bac practice tests are all written."

"Ouch. Well, good luck with it!"

"Thanks, Marinette. See you in Philosophy class!"

Marinette ducked into a nearby bathroom on her way to find Alya, waiting for the other girls to filter out before she was left alone as the next class period started. Once Marinette was sure she had the room to herself, she opened her purse to let Tikki out. "Tikki, did you hear what Nino said? Adrien wants to come over to my house on Sunday!"

"That's great, Marinette! I'm sure the four of you will have a lot of fun studying for your test!" Tikki smiled at her holder. "Just make sure you leave me some cookies!"

"Of course," Marinette said with a grin. "In fact, before they come over I'll make sure to bring some up to you, fresh out of the oven."

"Oh, Marinette, that's so nice of you to offer!" Tikki giggled.

Marinette opened her mouth to say something else when a sudden rumble shook the school. "An Akuma? But there hasn't been one in weeks…"

Tikki zipped into Marinette's purse. "You'd better go out and double check. You don't want to transform if it's nothing, but better to be safe than sorry."

Marinette nodded. "You're right." Closing her purse to hide her Kwami, Marinette pushed the door to her stall open, but before she could get out of the bathroom, another sudden shock wave rocked the school, knocking her off her feet and sending her careening head-first into a porcelain sink.

Hearing the thud, Tikki cried out, "Marinette? What happened?" When her holder didn't answer, Tikki phased through the purse. She gasped when she saw Marinette's lifeless body. "Oh no! Marinette, wake up!" She flew up to Marinette's head, checking for her pulse and looking for any signs of injury. There was a bump rapidly coming up on her forehead, but no blood, and her pulse was strong. Unfortunately, with Marinette being unconscious, there was no way for her to call on Tikki's power to transform.

Another rumble shook the school once again, this time accompanied by screams and a roar of pain and anger. Tikki partially phased through the bathroom door to peek outside, seeing a large, hulking form covered in what appeared to be gemstones. "I am Gemocide! Bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir, or I'll turn the whole school into crystals and crush them into dust!" the Akuma cried out.

Past the Akuma, on the other side of the school courtyard, a blonde and a brunette were sneaking away from their classroom, ducking underneath windows to avoid being spotted by anyone inside the other classes. "Come on, Alya, you know it's not safe!" Adrien hissed, following his best friend's headstrong girlfriend as she tried to get closer to the Akuma, cell phone in hand.

"Look, Adrien, you don't have to follow me if you don't want to. I'm going to get this scoop for the Ladyblog! This is the first Akuma we've had in weeks!" Alya gave Adrien her patented "just-try-to-stop-me" look as she crept closer to the courtyard.

Shaking his head, Adrien let Alya get a few steps ahead of him before he ducked down an empty hallway that led to a supply closet. He opened the closet door as quietly as possible in an effort not to catch Alya's attention. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Plagg zipped out of his shirt pocket. "It's about time! I was starting to get really bored," Plagg complained.

"Quit your belly-aching," Adrien muttered. "Plagg, claws out!"

Moments later, after a flash of green light, Chat Noir popped out of the supply closet, launching himself toward the main area of the school. However, before he could even get out of the hallway, he was stopped short by the sight of a tiny red creature with black spots floating in the air in front of him. He felt an odd sense of recognition when he saw the thing, the smell of warm cookies and sugary sweets filling his nostrils. It took him a moment to realize why it looked so familiar.

"You're Ladybug's Kwami, right? What are you doing here? Where is she?"

The tiny pixie-like creature nodded in confirmation. "Yes, my name is Tikki. Ladybug will be here shortly, but I found a student that needs help. She's in danger!"

"All right, I'm here. Lead the way!" Tikki flew back down the way she came, Chat loping along on all fours in an effort to keep up with the surprisingly speedy Kwami. When they came to the women's restroom, Chat stopped just outside the doorway. "Um, Tikki, I don't know if you know this, but I'm not allowed to go in there…"

"I think in this situation it's okay for a superhero to go into the girl's bathroom!" Tikki said, crossing her arms over her chest. "The girl in here is one of Ladybug's close friends and she needs your help!"

"All right! All right, I'm going." Adrien pushed the door open, his eyes darting around but mostly staying near the ceiling until he confirmed that there wasn't anyone screaming at him to get out. When he looked down, he gasped at the sight of Marinette lying unconscious on the floor, a nasty-looking goose egg bruising on her forehead. "Oh god! Marinette!"

"You know her?" Tikki asked curiously.

"Y-yeah, I've-- I mean, there was that incident with the Evillustrator a few years ago, and I've seen her a few times since then…" Chat was thankful that his mask hid his cheeks, otherwise he knew they would be as red as Tikki's skin. He was not going to admit to Ladybug's Kwami how often he stopped by Marinette's balcony just to check in on her. "What happened?"

"It looks like she hit her head while she was in here, probably from the initial tremors from the Akuma. You need to get her out of here before it destroys the whole school! It seems really angry about something here specifically."

"You're right about that. I heard what the Akuma said. It's not likely to leave here any time soon, so I can get Marinette to safety and then come back and keep it busy until Ladybug gets here."

Tikki nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. If Ladybug shows up while you're gone, I'll be sure to tell her where you are."

"Thanks. Her house isn't far from here, so I'm just going to take her straight there and come back." Tikki nodded again in confirmation. "Stand back-- or, well, float back, I guess?" Adrien gently picked up Marinette in his arms before carrying her toward the window. With a cry of "Cataclysm!" he melted the window, giving him a clear exit to get out of the school as quickly as possible. In his focus on getting Marinette out safely, he didn't notice Tikki phasing back through Marinette's purse, returning to her usual hiding spot.

Traveling by rooftop, it took Chat barely two minutes to make it to Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. He landed smoothly on Marinette's balcony, tugging open the trapdoor, which was thankfully unlocked-- he didn't have another charge of his Cataclysm to open it if it had been barred from the inside. He shifted Marinette's body in his arms to get her inside, settling her down on her bed before gently tracing a clawed hand over her face. "I'm just trying to get a better look at her injury," he muttered, as if trying to convince himself that his motives for touching her were entirely pure and not at all driven by his crush.

"Mm… Ad...en..." Marinette let out a soft, pained moan, shifting slightly on the bed, making Chat jump in surprise. Did she just say my name? he thought to himself. His eyes darted around, as if expecting someone to be watching; thankfully, it seemed the coast was clear.

He hopped down out of the loft, digging around on her desk for a pen and paper. He found a piece of drawing paper and a green pen, tracing out a rather crude paw print shape to let Marinette know that he had been the one to bring her home. He climbed back up into the loft, tucking the paper into Marinette's hand, giving her one last quick check to make sure there wasn't anything more serious wrong with her. "You'll feel better once Ladybug's magic has done its work, Princess," he murmured to her. Biting his lip, he reached for her other hand to bring it to his lips… only to be reminded of his imminent de-transformation by an incessant beeping. "Shit." Chat reached up to pull himself out of the skylight, practically flying up onto the roof to release his transformation. "Plagg, claws in."

When Plagg had re-materialized in front of Adrien, he looked angry. "Where are we? Why aren't we fighting the Akuma?"

"Look, Ladybug's Kwami found me"--

"Tikki was at your school? Why wasn't she with Ladybug?"

"She said Ladybug was on her way, but Marinette was hurt, I couldn't just leave her lying in the bathroom unconscious!"

"So you abandoned the Akuma to save your girlfriend?" Plagg accused, crossing his arms in frustration

Adrien had the decency to blush at that. "She's not… Tikki asked me to save Marinette, okay? She told me that Marinette and Ladybug were close friends and that Ladybug would want me to make sure Marinette was safe."  

"That… okay, yeah, that sounds like something Tikki would say. She's always been a bleeding heart."

Adrien pulled a piece of Camembert out of his pocket, handing it to Plagg to recharge his power. "Just eat quick so we can go back to school and take care of that Akuma, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me one thing, kid."

"What is it?"

"Did you feel her up?"

"Oh god-- Plagg, no!" Adrien's face practically went up in flames from his embarrassment. "She's unconscious! I wouldn't do that to her! It wouldn't be right!"

Plagg just gave Adrien a shit-eating grin before eating the piece of stinky cheese. Within moments, Adrien called out his transformation phrase again and Chat Noir was off toward Lycée Jean-Baptiste Magnier.

Down in Marinette's bedroom, the young woman slowly came to consciousness, groaning in pain as she realized her head was throbbing. "What… what hit me?" she mumbled, squinting and rubbing her forehead. She hissed at the tenderness of the goose egg just along her hairline.

"You fell and hit your head on a bathroom sink at school," Tikki explained, floating just inches from Marinette's face. "Luckily, Chat Noir showed up and he was able to bring you home. I made sure the skylight was unlocked so he could get you inside."

"Chat… Noir? He came into my room? Wait, he saw you? Did he"-- Tikki shushed Marinette before she could freak out too much.

"No, no, he doesn't know you're Ladybug. I told him that Ladybug was on her way and would be at the school soon, though, so he's going to be looking for you. We need to hurry."

"Tikki, I don't think I can fight in this condition. My head is killing me-- and if I passed out, what if I have a concussion?" Marinette lifted both of her hands to rub at her face, only to realize she was clutching a piece of paper in one hand. Looking down at it, she saw a green paw print along with a short note:

You're safe, Princess. Feel better!   --C.N.

Marinette flushed red and quickly tucked the piece of paper under her blanket. Nope, not thinking about that right now. She looked up, realizing Tikki was speaking to her, and flushed even more. "Sorry, Tikki, I didn't quite catch that, what did you say?"

"I said, when you transform, the magic will temporarily heal your head, so you will be able to fight. And then your Lucky Charm should do the job permanently, since the injury happened after Hawk Moth created the Akuma."

"Oh! Well, that's a relief. All right then, Tikki, spots on!" Tikki was sucked into Marinette's earrings as she transformed into Ladybug, dashing up onto her roof and swinging her way back to school.

When she dropped onto the roof of the lycée, Ladybug saw Chat Noir dodging blows from an absolutely massive, hulking figure coated with what appeared to be large chunks of raw diamond. As if drawn to Ladybug by some mysterious force, Chat looked up at her, his face breaking out in a wide grin. "There you are, Bugaboo! I was getting worried that you were going to stand me up!"

"I'm sorry, Chaton, I got a little tied up," Ladybug said with a grin, launching her yo-yo at the villain in an effort to restrain him. Rather than winding around him, however, the Akumatized villain grabbed onto the string, pulling Ladybug off the roof toward him instead. Chat launched into action at that moment, distracting the villain with his baton to give Ladybug a chance to land properly and retract her yo-yo. The baton seemed to do nothing against the Akuma's crystalline armor, but the blow did at least distract him long enough to allow Chat and Ladybug to meet up on the ground.

"You seem to be in a paw-fully good mood today, My Lady, if you're cracking jokes like that," Chat commented as the two of them launched into a synchronized attack. Within just a few minutes, the two were on opposite sides of the Akuma, hedging him in and keeping him from escaping past the boundaries of the courtyard.

"I'm just glad to get to spread my wings a bit, you know?" Ladybug replied. "So where do you think the Akuma is at?"

"Right under his head, there's a crystal that's a different color from the rest. It kind of looks like a bow tie?"

"I see it. Lucky Charm!" Throwing her yo-yo high in the air, she was rewarded with a crossbow loaded with a flat-headed bolt. Looking around in confusion, she realized that there was a high ledge that would give her a clean shot at knocking that particular crystal off of the Akuma's body, as long as… "Chat, keep him busy!" Ladybug launched herself into the air using her yo-yo before her partner could respond.

"Of course, Bugaboo!" Chat said, turning his attention fully back to Gemocide. "Now then, it's just you and me, buddy…"

It took Ladybug a minute to figure out how to use the crossbow and another to line everything up properly. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, waiting for just the right moment… there! She squeezed the trigger between breaths; luckily, the bolt fired true, the wide, flat head managing to hit the crystal bow tie just so to send it flying into the air.

"NO!!!" Gemocide screamed as Chat scooped up the piece of crystal. "Give that back! If you don't give that back right now, I'll kill you and take your Miraculous!"

"Cataclysm!" A moment later, a dark butterfly fluttered out of the broken gemstone. Ladybug, who had jumped back down to ground level, swiped at it with her yo-yo, capturing it and purifying it.

"Bye bye, petit papillon," she said as she released the purified butterfly. She tossed the crossbow into the air with a cry of "Miraculous Ladybug!" Within moments, the magical swarm of ladybugs had set everything to rights, repairing the damage to the school and restoring the poor man's bow tie to its proper place at his neck.

"Are you all right, sir?" Ladybug asked the gentleman, a rather scrawny looking fellow with curly hair and over-sized glasses.

"O-oh, yes, I'm fine… thank you for that, I'm so embarrassed…" He looked down, twiddling his thumbs, not wanting to meet Ladybug's eyes.

"If you don't mind us asking, what happened?" Chat asked.

"W-well, you see, I'm a geologist, and, I applied for a job at this school, but I was turned down after my interview... "

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Ladybug said, placing a gentle hand on the man's shoulder. "But I'm sure that if you keep looking, you'll find the right job for you soon!"

"Y-you're right… I just get so nervous… at job interviews… and then I m-mess up… my words…"

Ladybug couldn't help but feel bad for the man. "I know how you feel… Sometimes, you can never figure out the right words to say, and you end up tripping over your own tongue, right?"

"Y-yes! Exactly! How did you overcome your problem?"

"Well… honestly, I still struggle with it sometimes. I just had to remind myself to stay calm, slow down, and not let my mouth move faster than my brain. Writing down what you want to say beforehand helps, too, if you can do that."

"I'll have to remember that." Now that he was relaxing a bit, the man was speaking much more easily. He even smiled at the two teenage superheroes. "Thank you again. You two should get going, though; the police will be here any minute, I'm sure."

"You're right." As if on cue, Chat and Ladybug's Miraculous both beeped in warning. The two of them made their way up onto the roof, planning to depart in opposite directions; but before they could leave, Chat called out, "What really took you, Bugaboo?"

"I had a personal matter I needed to take care of, Chat. Unlike you, I don't lose my Miraculous." Chat flushed at the memory of what Plagg had told him in the aftermath of the Style Queen incident, how he'd used that excuse to explain why Chat couldn't help fight the Akuma. For some reason, he had a sinking feeling in his gut, like Ladybug wasn't telling him the whole truth; but he couldn't very well call her on it without any proof, so he held his tongue for the moment.

"By the way…" Ladybug continued, "thank you for saving Marinette. Tikki told me what you did."

"Of course, My Lady. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine! It was my purr-leasure to be of assistance." He gave Ladybug a grand, sweeping bow, earning a giggle and a soft smile in response. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a very hungry Kwami to take care of. Adieu, My Bugaboo!"

"Adieu, Chaton," Ladybug replied warmly before the two of them went their separate ways.

Both of them ducked into alleyways on opposite sides of the school to de-transform, neither of them the wiser of just how close they were to discovering each other's biggest secrets.

As soon as Marinette made it back into the school and found her class, Nino wrapped his arms around her in a panic. "Marinette! What happened? No one could find you! Someone said they saw you in the bathroom, but there was no trace of you. I texted Alya to see if you were with her but she said she had no idea where you were and you weren't answering your phone. We were freaking out!"

"Sorry Nino! I wasn't feeling well, so I actually went home during my free period… I heard there was an Akuma though!"

"Yeah, it was crazy. He kinda reminded me of"--

Marinette cut him off, replying, "Stoneheart, right? When Ivan was Akumatized?"

"Yeah! The big rock dude! How did you know?" Nino asked.

"O-oh, I just, you know, heard people in the halls talking about it! They said he was covered in crystals or something?"

"Yeah, and he was huge! Like, easily ten feet tall." Nino reached high above his head, waving his hand in an effort to express the comparative size of the villain.

"Wow, that's crazy! I'm glad Ladybug and Chat Noir were able to stop him."

"Definitely." Nino nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around Marinette from behind and a cheek mashed against the back of her head. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Don't scare me like that!" Alya cried out.

"Alya, I'm fine. I wasn't even here for the Akuma attack. I had a free period and I wasn't feeling well so I went home for a bit to rest."

"Oh. Well, you should have told me you were leaving, girl! Then I wouldn't have worried about you."

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Adrien said, walking up behind Alya.

"Yeah, much better actually! I think I just needed a little nap, that's all," Marinette said, plastering a weak smile on her face. "Adrien, did you see the Akuma?"

"Actually, I kinda ended up hiding in a supply closet," he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I was going to follow Alya, but I chickened out…"

"That's probably for the best, dude," Nino pointed out. "You know how your dad gets when you're around Akumas."

"Yeah, fair. Hopefully he won't threaten to make me transfer schools again…" Adrien grimaced at the memory of how three Akumas attacked the school within a week last year and his dad threatened to pull him out if the headmaster didn't do something to improve the negative attitudes of the students and staff.

"Well, just tell him that you kept yourself safe, and that should be fine, right?" Marinette asked.

"Hopefully.. We'll see though. Anyway, we should all be getting back to class."

"Yeah… I'm glad you're all okay," Marinette said, giving Adrien in particular a meaningful look.

"You too, Marinette. I hope you feel better the rest of the day."

"I'll talk to you later, girl!" Alya said. "See you at lunch!"

"See you!" Marinette turned to Nino. "Shall we head on to the dreaded Philosophy class?"

"Yeah, I guess so. God, I'm ready for this class to be over for the year. M. Leroux is a total asswipe."

"Me too!"

[scripts4dreamers]

What the heart wants pt. 4

AN: the reader has to acclimatize to her new life, and try to put her past behind her Characters: Alex Summers, Professor X, Erik Lensherr Pairings: Charles X Erik, Alex X reader Spoilers: none Warnings: slight anxiety, references to abuse Prompt: none

————

The first thing you noticed was how completely safe you felt, like nothing bad would ever touch you again; the second was how warm you were and the third, was that you weren’t in your own bed. The events of yesterday suddenly rushed through you again and you smiled goofily up at the beautiful boy lying next to you. During the night, he’d nuzzled closer to you, burying his head in your hair and pressing you firmly into his chest.

Asleep, Alex looked much younger, with his long blonde eyelashes brushing his cheekbones and his hair all messy and falling across his face. You really were extraordinarily lucky, you realized, to have met Alex when you did and, more than that, to have had him be so kind and understanding towards you. There were still questions that needed answering, things about his past that you didn’t know, but for now you were happy to just lie in his arms for a little while.

Alex huffed gently in his sleep and nuzzled closer as you started running your fingers through his thick hair.

“Five more minutes.” He mumbled.

You chuckled, running your fingers over his forehead to smooth out the creases in his skin.

“It’s morning Alex, we need to get up.” You smiled, noting how normal this was already feeling.

At the sound of your voice, Alex’s eyes flew open and his face broke into a radiant, if not a little sleepy, smile.

“Hey you,” he greeted, his voice rumbling with sleep, “how’d you sleep?”

“Really well.” You answered, “Thank you by the way, for letting me stay here.”

Alex leant up on his hand, his other arm still wrapped firmly around your waist. His face softened with something close to concern and you suddenly remembered your exhaustion fueled confession. Something in your face must’ve given you away because he squeezed your waist gently.

“It’s no problem, this is what soulmates are for right?” He said with a gentle attempt at teasing, “Seriously Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. In fact, I don’t think I’d want you to be anywhere else.”

You gave Alex a small smile, which he returned happily, “Thanks Alex.”

“And if you do ever want to talk about…what you told me last night,” he continued, “I’m here. Okay?”

You nodded, overwhelmed but grateful for your soulmate’s presence in your life, answering, “Okay.”

————

Alex spent the morning showing you around the house, his arm wrapped around your waist as he introduced you to all his favorite places, smiling nostalgically as he told you stories from his adolescence. There was a hint of sadness in his voice when he talked that made you curious, but you didn’t press him, figuring that he’d tell you when he was ready.

At around noon, Alex left to prepare a surprise for you, leaving you alone in the living room with the promise that he’d be back as soon as he could and sprinting off. You sat down awkwardly on the couch, still slightly unsure of your place in this huge house without Alex beside you and waited. Time seemed to inch by, and it was with a certain amount of relief that you heard your phone ring. You checked the caller ID and saw that it was your sister. Suddenly you remembered why you’d left home, and something that felt a lot like anger began to bubble up in your chest. It had been a whole day since your sister had seen you, why hadn’t she called sooner? Why hadn’t she tried to make sure that you were okay? You could’ve been dead for all she knew! “Hello?” You finally answered, your voice monotone with suppressed anger.

“Y/N, hey, it’s me.” Your sister said, “Listen, dad says he’s really sorry about what happened between you. He wants you to come home, he just wants us to be a family, like we used to be before…well before everything happened.”

You snorted, folding your arms over your chest and pressing your phone between your ear and your shoulder, “Before my mutation developed you mean?” Your sister didn’t answer which, you guessed, was an answer in itself, “Honey I know you mean well, but the last time I saw dad he was beating me within an inch of my life. What’s changed? I’m still a mutant, I’m still a freak, I’m still not human. Chances are the second I set foot in that house, things will just blow up again.”

You heard your sister shuffle on the other end of the line, “He swears it won’t happen again Y/N/N. He says that, if you come home, everything will be different. Come on, just come home, this is our chance to be a real family again.”

“You really believe that, don’t you?” You asked, caught somewhere between sadness and disbelief, “You really believe he can be better.”

“Don’t you?” Your sister retorted.

“Quite frankly, no.” You answered, “The man hates mutants, he always has and, unfortunately for me, that happens to be what I am.” You paused, chewing over your words in your mind, “You want me to be safe don’t you?”

“Of course I do! I’m your older sister.”

“Then how can you be defending him?” You shot back.

She sighed, as though it was exhausting talking to you before answering, “Because he’s our father! And listen, he told me that there are places now that can fix people like you, that can make you, you know, normal again.”

You recoiled, almost dropping the phone as your sister’s words burned through you like acid. Everything suddenly became clear. Your sister had never accepted you, not really, she’d just been hiding her prejudice deep down. The thought made you sick.

“Fix people like me?” You spat, venom dripping from your every word, “Fix us? There’s nothing wrong with me Hayle! There’s something wrong with him! There’s something wrong with any man who can beat his own child, with any person who can hurt anyone like that.” Something else clicked in your mind, “Is he the reason you’re phoning me? Because I won’t answer his calls so he made you phone me instead?” Hayle didn’t answer, and you felt the last glimmer of hope you had had for your sister vanish, “Bye Hayle. Don’t phone me again.”

“Y/N if you don’t come home he’s gonna send the cops after you.”

You let out a bark of laughter, “Let him. I’m nineteen, I’m an adult, he has no power over me anymore.”

And with that, you hung up. Your eyes stung with suppressed tears and in a fit of rage you threw your phone as hard as you could, feeling a grim sense of happiness as it shattered against the wall. Never before, had you felt this angry, this betrayed and abandoned. Your own family couldn’t accept you, they thought you were some kind of mistake, a problem that needed to be fixed but; you thought back to everyone you had met in the last day, all the happy children and the well adjusted adults; they were wrong. Your father and your sister were wrong. The thought made you feel strong. They were wrong, you weren’t a mistake, none of you were a mistake, you were people who were brave and strong and had bright futures. You were happy here, and you weren’t going to let those ignorant people take that from you.

Movement made you snap out of your reverie, and you were faced with Erik Lensherr again. He was a strange, distant man, but you felt as though you understood him and, despite everything, you weren’t afraid.

“That’s quite the family you have there.” He said, making you flush with anger as you realized he’d heard your conversation.

“Yeah.” You answered.

Erik nodded, “You’re right you know? There’s nothing wrong with you. Us, mutants, we’re the next step, the next link in the evolutionary chain. You shouldn’t let people like that,” Erik gestured to the shattered phone with his head, “tell you any differently.”

Something like pride swelled in your chest as Erik spoke and, when you nodded back at him, you gave him a genuine smile.

“Thanks Erik, I won’t.”

————-

“Sorry that I took so long,” Alex apologized, his fingers lacing with yours as he led you through the gardens, “the uh-it took longer than I thought it would, setting everything up.”

You squeezed his hand gently, “Don’t worry, Erik and I hung out.”

Alex’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, “Erik? How’d that go?”

“It was actually really nice,” you told him, “he helped me deal with some stuff.”

“I’m glad,” Alex answered, shooting you a smile, “he's…he’s an interesting character.”

You laughed, “That’s certainly true. How’d he end up here anyway?”

Alex didn’t answer for a while as he started chewing on the inside of his cheek, the way he did when he was nervous. It was a quirk of his, you’d noticed, so you didn’t press the issue. Alex’s mind was humming with activity as he tried to figure out how to answer your question. There was a lot he needed to tell you, but nothing he could think to say seemed like enough.

“He’s the professor’s soulmate.” He eventually said, “He was already here when I was recruited.”

“Recruited?” You asked.

Alex gave you an obviously fake smile and pulled you forward, ignoring your question, “Here we are!”

You gasped as Alex’s surprise was revealed to you. It was a picnic! The blanket was laid with every type of food you could think of, and all thoughts of Alex’s past were driven from your mind as you threw your arms around his neck and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

“This is stunning Alex.” You told him truthfully, “Thank you.”

Alex’s cheeks flushed red and he kissed the top of your head gently. He didn’t know how to tell you that this was nothing, that you deserved so much more than a picnic in the garden, that he hoped he’d be able to give you all the things you deserved one day but that this wasn’t it, but he couldn’t, so he kissed your head again instead.

“Come on,” he told you gently, “let’s eat.”

The afternoon passed with jokes and casual touches, with feeding one another jokingly and playing question games to pass the time; mostly though, the day was filled with learning and, the more he was with you, the more Alex realized that he didn’t want to be without you ever again. After years of doubt, Alex Summers finally accepted that this soulmate thing was real, and he was sitting next to the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

“Y/N,” he finally started, picking at a loose seam on the blanket, “do you remember when you asked me what I meant by recruited earlier?”

“You mean three hours ago?” You teased, “Yeah I remember.”

“Well, the thing is, before this was a school, it was a government program.” He blurted out.

Your eyebrows shot up, and you dropped the grape that had been on its way to your mouth, “What?”

Alex gave you a sheepish smile, “Before Professor X decided to open a school here, the CIA used it as a sort of training ground for mutants. There were six of us at first, plus Charles and Erik, and we were kind of a cross between an experiment and a special opps group.” He explained, “We lived here, we trained here, we became kind of like a family.” He said with a hint of nostalgic pride, “Most of us didn’t really have any other families to speak of.”

You nodded, sensing the momentousness of the moment you were sharing, “Where did they recruit you guys from?”

Alex chuckled softly, almost too softly for you to hear, “All over.” He answered, “They got me from a prison in Alabama, Raven and Charles grew up together, they found Hank at a CIA research facility.” He paused, “I don’t know where they found the others.”

“What happened to them?” You asked gently, covering Alex’s hand with your own.

He looked up, his blue eyes filling with tears, “Dead. All of them, dead. Raven, Hank and I are the only ones left.”

You gasped, covering your mouth with your free hand, “Oh Alex.” You pulled him against you, holding him steady as he nuzzled into your hair and sobbed, “I’m so sorry,” you whispered into his ear, “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I’ve been alone for so long,” he admitted, “since then, I’ve never-never let anyone get close enough for me to hurt them.”

“Hey,” you reassured, tilting Alex’s head up so that he had to meet your eyes, “you’re not gonna hurt me Alex.”

“You don’t know that.” He said quietly, admitting his deepest fear, the one that had haunted him for his entire life, “You can’t know that.”

“I do though. I can feel it..” You told him, touching the skin above your heart, “Alex I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. This is the only place I want to be.”

Silence stretched between you as Alex’s eyes searched yours for any signs of fear or uncertainty.

“Really?” He asked, hating himself for the fear that had crept into his voice.

You nodded, stroking his cheek with your hand and giving him a gentle smile, “Really.”

Alex sighed, collapsing into you like the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. He rested his forehead against yours and let his eyes drift shut, breathing in your scent of lemon and vanilla.

“Thank you Y/N.” He whispered, breaking the comfortable silence.

“No, thank you.” You answered.

Slowly, Alex inched his head up, until his lips just barely grazed yours, sending a rush of pure electricity through your skin. As he moved away, looking nervous and apologetic, you pulled him back, pressing your lips firmly against his and sighing at the flood of emotions it sent through you. Alex smiled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around your waist and moving his lips against yours like he never wanted to let go. It felt so right, here with him, feeling the fire he ignited in your blood and the obvious adoration the surrounded you with that you couldn’t imagine ever leaving. This was it, Alex, he was your home.

Finally, you broke apart, both breathless and bright-eyed, staring at each other in complete awe, until you started laughing, which made Alex laugh. Soon enough, you were both crying with laughter, your head buried in Alex’s neck and his hands resting on your lower back.

“Wow,” he eventually said, “that was amazing.”

“Yup,” you agreed, “I could definitely get used to that.”

“Oh could you now?”

You nodded.

“Good,” Alex replied breathlessly, “ ‘cause we’ve got our whole lives.”