#literally put that thing away. show me real sets & props & costuming

[binch-i-might-be]

NO more cgi. I've seen ENOUGH

[gaykarstaagforever]

FREE ON YOUTUBE

Cabin Boy (1994)

"Come on over here, honey. You've managed to charm me with your moronic innocence."

I was 12 when this...whatever it is...came out. My parents were real sticklers for the whole 13 part of the PG-13 rating, so I didn't see it at the time. And because this was 1994, the Internet was just a thing the Pentagon used to send racist memes to itself, so I don't remember even hearing about this thing.

...Or about how, at the time, it was a giant bomb, and widely considered one of the "worst movies EVAR" by that era's smug hipsters who had found a way to get paid to compile those lists.

(Yes, we had them back then, too. They even got away with being called "journalists" back then, like the thing they were doing was some kind of public service. It was not, by any stretch of the concept. But they published it in newspapers alongside actual headline news, so we didn't think about it and let that happen.)

Speaking of people letting things happen to them - so, point is, I had no idea what the hell Cabin Boy was before I watched it. If I had, would I have watched it? I don't automatically trust the opinions of anyone who isn't me. But I also don't seek out media that has an overwhelming reputation for being frustrating and stupid, because that often means I too will find it frustrating and stupid. So I don't know if the critical consensus would have warned me off.

What I do know is, the first 40 minutes of this 80 minute movie (with extended credit sequences) plays host to some of the most unbearably unfunny anti-jokes I have ever endured.

Nothing works in the first half of this. They don't follow through whatsoever on their already idiotic premise (a 'Fancy Lad' accidentally ends up on a rough fishing ship). The only tone is "and then THAT happened!" The cast acts like they're from at least three very different movies. David Letterman has a cameo where he is David Letterman for a scene, and it doesn't help anything in any way (star / writer Chris Elliot and his writing partner got Tim Burton to produce this mess with $10 million of someone else's money, specifically because Chris and the other guy were staff writers for Letterman's show).

There is exactly one joke that lands in the first half, and it is when Andy Richter, playing "a big stupid guy" (brilliant) does what he thinks is a hulu dance. Andy Richter silently wiggling is literally as good as it gets. I was ready to give up.

....But then came the weird puppets. While the first half of this experiment is an exhausting array of sitcom situations almost completely devoid of humor or anything else, it at one point suddenly becomes a vulgar children's adventure movie, if directed by Terry Gilliam. The fantastical costumes and props and puppets and matte paintings and sets are all great, with a specific and distinctive painted storybook style, and the filming and staging of them is as good as Hollywood gets. There are ice giants; a heroic shark-man; the Hindu goddess Kali, who lives in a cave and has sex with wrecked sailors, while her giant husband is out selling appliances (I think) to other fantasy creatures. All of this is ridiculous, but in the fun, good way. Some real professionals worked hard on these aspects of the film, and that is perhaps the Tim Burton production shining through?

What a shame it is all in service of this particular movie. Truly, no one has ever put in this much work for so little.

The rest of the movie also improves in the second half. While there are no believable character arcs to speak of, at some point the titular Cabin Boy and the crew of fishermen who hate him settle in to a begrudging respect for each-other, and their interactions after this point are, besides the production design, the best part of the movie. The Cabin Boy, weekly defined at the start as a pampered naive jackass, becomes the standard Chris Elliot ensemble character, an eccentric dope with a heart of gold. Chris Elliot is good at that character, which is why he always plays that character. And I like him as that character. Even when he's given nothing to do but bounce from one nonsensical mess to another. And this group of skilled character actors do the best they can to give depth to this razor-thin material.

The jokes get better, too. The story of where the shark-man came from is solid. As is the Cabin Boy using his swimmer love-interest as a rideable watercraft. These are the kind of charmingly over-the-top things a movie like this should be filled with. Unfortunately, there's just not a lot of them.

In looking up how and why this movie happened, I found this retrospective from The Ringer from 2018, aligned with the 25th anniversary Blu-ray rerelease. The premise of that piece is that Cabin Boy is an underrated, ahead-of-its-time anti-comedy that paved the way for Adult Swim and what people used to do on YouTube 10 years ago, and that you'd get it if you were cool.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with that stupid bullshit, you idiot. I appreciate that Elliot was aiming for the kind of snide, winkingly-ironic, piss-take-of-everything comedy that Gen X just couldn't get enough of in 1994. And that can be done in a way that transcends that specific mode and era of media and delights a general audience: think Weird Al, and the early seasons of The Simpsons. But it is also possible to try for that and just completely fuck it up. And I think that is, for the most part, what happened here.

If you are of a type that finds whatever the first part of this movie is trying to do funny and effective, great. Maybe you saw it as a kid, and as a kid who has no standards and missed all the random stupid sex jokes, it really connected with you. Fine. Comedy, and how we come to it, is subjective. But you were / are clearly part of a niche audience, because this thing made back $4 million of a $10 million budget. Why make a general release movie of this at all, if you're not interested in appealing to anyone who doesn't already think David Letterman's dickholery was the height of comedy? I realize he was popular as a latenight host. But that style doesn't translate into a good comedy movie on its own. You have to balance it out with wit and heart and gleefulness, and make an easy-to-follow narrative out of all that.

I know that, because in 1994 they tried to avoid having to do that for 40 minutes, and it fell so flat that even they stopped and made a better fantasy action movie with the rest of the budget.

Cabin Boy is certainly worth seeing, if you can make it through the first half. There is a fun and inventive kids' adventure movie floating around in here, like a delicious hotdog spinning around in an overflowing toilet. In that, it is certainly a one-of-a-kind piece of art. Because why would anyone ever make something like this, ever again?

Holy hell.

[handsomelyhiddleston]

The Nanny - Tom Hiddleston x Curvy Reader - PART 2 (smut)

“How long has this been going on?” Elsa asked, the two of you lounging on the couch while the kids were napping.

“I wasn’t aware anything was going on until yesterday” you answered, blushing as you told Hemsworth’s wife about your plans to stay with Tom over the short break.

“Well, if you ask Chris he’ll tell you he’s always known, but I was the first one to call it.” She gave you a smug look.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?!” you threw your arms up. “Would have been nice to know I actually had a chance.”

“You didn’t tell me you fancied him!” Elsa laughed. You both heard India start scooting down the stairs one by one.

“Doesn’t everybody?” you smirked, standing to go grab India. “Half the time I’m certain your husband has a crush on him.”

“Oh, he does.” Elsa laughed, following you up the stairs.

You and Elsa got the kids fed and dressed so she could visit Chris with the kids on set.

“You may as well bring your bag now” she suggested. “You can just go home with him when he’s done filming.”

You took a deep breath, thinking through what you should even pack.

“Are you nervous?” she asked, telling India to put her shoes on.

“I’m…I don’t know. This doesn’t feel real.” You laughed, shaking your head.

“I’ve been watching it happen for over a year, Y/n. It’s real. Now, living with someone makes you privy to certain details about each other that you otherwise wouldn’t know…I don’t snoop, but our laundry has crossed paths a few times…so when I tell you to wear the black lace lingerie, take my advice.” She winked, going to put India’s shoes on the correct feet.

When you all arrived at the set, the guys were in the middle of filming. You and Elsa sat back and watched them work through the choreography of a scene for about 20 minutes before a break was called.

“Do you mind watching the boys while I take India over to Chris?” Elsa asked.

“Not at all” you smiled and waved her off. You were sat on a bench and the twins were sat on the floor at your feet, so they could play with their blocks.

When Chris saw Elsa, his face lit up like a child’s. He ran off of the sound stage to meet her halfway. You spotted Tom looking around the room until he made eye contact with you, smiling and waving. When he passed Elsa and Chris, Elsa pulled him into a hug. It was obvious she was talking about you because she literally pointed while Tom ducked his head like they were teasing him. Tom continued towards you, joining you on the bench by the boys.  

“How is filming going?” you asked, resting your hand on his thigh.

“Today has actually been a lot of fun” he answered, putting his arm around your shoulders. “I am, however, incredibly sore from all of the choreography. We’ve been shooting fight scenes all day and I think every bit of me has been whacked or stepped on at least once.”

You ran your hand up and down his thigh, looking up at him. “You sound like you need a massage.”

“Are you offering, darling?” Tom’s voice sounded a tad husky and his eyes dropped to your lips for a split second.

“Oh, I would love to get my hands on you” you teased before he dipped down to press a slow, lingering kiss to your lips.

“Come on, boys” Elsa called as she walked towards her twins.

Chris teased the two of you. “Really? In front of the children?”

“Be nice” Elsa scolded him.

“Or what?” he laughed, throwing the boys blocks into their bag and picking up Sasha. Elsa turned and gave him a knowing look. Chris nodded and replied, “Yes ma’am.”

“You are officially off duty” Elsa said, picking Tristan up.

You snuggled into Tom’s side a bit and sighed before hearing him say “I’ll take good care of her, I promise.”

When it was time for Tom to head to the make-up trailer to get out of costume, he grabbed your hand and took you with him. When they removed his wig and handed him make-up wipes, you started pulling out the bobby pins and combing your fingers through his hair. Dragging your nails gently over his scalp had him practically purring in your hands. “Better?”

“That feels amazing” he replied, his eyes shut and the make-up wipes forgotten.

“Finish up” you said, kissing his temple and grabbing the dirty make-up wipes from him to throw them in the trash.

“Eager, are we?” he teased, continuing to remove the stage make-up after the make-up artist left the trailer.

You watched him scrub the last bits of Loki away, a soft fond smile on your face. “For you?” He turned to face you. “Let’s just say I’ve probably been thinking about it a lot longer than you have.”

Tom stood up and threw the rest of the dirty face wipes away. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“I don’t know, I think everyone fell in love with you in Thor.” You replied.

“It doesn’t count if I hadn’t met you yet.” He laughed, gathering his things.

Picking up your bag, you turned to leave the trailer. “We met like, what? A year later?”

“That Christmas, actually.” Tom answered, following you out of the trailer. “You had already moved in with Chris and Elsa. She was just starting to really show her baby bump.”

“The party.” You said, nodding in agreement. “I remember. I felt like a massive fangirl when Chris introduced us.”

“Far from it” Tom answered, pulling your bag’s strap off your shoulder to carry your bag. “First, you looked incredible. You had on black and burgundy and I’m certain I spent an inappropriate amount of time looking at your ass.”

You laughed, remembering the dress. You felt like Morticia Addams with more cushion for the pushin’.

“Second, you were so confident. Every other person I met that night just wanted to talk about gossip or getting Botox or they’d ask me to do an impersonation. You asked me questions. Meaningful questions. You actually had opinions of your own when I asked about your favorite writers and films and such.”

You could feel yourself falling more and more the longer he went on. “I didn’t know you had such a high opinion of me.” You said, watching Tom put the bags in his car.

“Admittedly, I should have told you sooner.” He replied, coming around the car to open your door for you. When he climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled up, he continued. “But I am absolutely looking forward to making up for lost time” he said, leaning across the console to kiss you.

You stopped and grabbed food to take back to Tom’s. The two of you ate and had a few beers while lounging on his couch. It all felt very…normal? Comfortable. You were snuggled into his chest listening to him talk about how Hemsworth had broken three separate props today when you remembered what he had said about being sore.

When you went to pull away from Tom, he tightened his arm. “Darling, if you’re standing up to clean up the dinner mess, I will personally see to it that I find some way of punishing you during your stay.” You watched Tom lick his lips as he awaited your reply.

“While I know that I would enjoy every second of whatever you consider punishment, I was actually going to tell you to take your clothes off.” You smirked, watching his lips part and his eyes widen.

You stood and grabbed the trash from dinner, swaying your hips as you walked towards the kitchen trash can. “Hey!” Tom laughed, sitting upright on the couch. “Were you just trying to distract me?”

You walked back in the room with a bottle of lotion in your hands. “Why are you still dressed?” you teased him.

“I’d be at a disadvantage if I were the only one undressed” he replied, slowly unbuttoning his shirt.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get me naked soon enough” you laughed, kneeling by the couch. “Lose the pants and lay down on your stomach.”

“I’m never going to catch up if you keep spoiling me.” Tom stood and unbuttoned his jeans.

“What is that supposed to mean?” you asked, your eyes glued to Tom’s body.

Tom loved that you seemed to get just as distracted by him as he was by you. “Y/n, you’re always the one taking care of everybody. Constantly.” He tossed his jeans to the side, standing in front of your kneeling form.

“Well, isn’t that just the pot calling the kettle black” you said, patting the couch and telling him to lay down. After warming some lotion in your hands, you ran them slowly but firmly up Tom’s back. “Tom, you’re always the first person to help.” Tom moaned, pressing his face into the cushion to quiet the noise. “You are always checking on me or helping with the kids or…”

“Well, I’ve been trying to show you how I feel, but it’s hard when you don’t need anything, and you don’t accept anyone’s help.” Tom interrupted you. “Oh, fuck me” he moaned, turning and laughing into the cushion. You were working on a knot in his muscles near his shoulder and you just got it to loosen up. “It’s really hard to have a serious conversation while you’re eliciting very sexual noises from me.”

“I’m actually enjoying this.” You smirked, starting to work on another knot.

“Well, what I’m trying to say…*moan*…is that I don’t want you feeling like you HAVE to do anything for me…*Oh god, whatever you just did felt amazing*…I want you to feel taken care of too.” Tom’s very heartfelt sentiment was spoken between groans, moans, and swear words.

“Sweetheart, I do things for people because I want to” you said, moving down his back towards his ass. “Just like you do and just like Elsa and Chris do. It’s not a competition. I’m not keeping score.” You were kneading your thumbs into Tom’s hip and thigh muscles.

Tom tried to sneakily adjust his growing issue between himself and the couch, but you saw. With your hands all over him, he was having a hard time not letting his mind wander. “If that’s true then you just have to accept that I want to do things for you too.”

“I think I can allow it.” You started working your way back up his thighs, when he reached back and grabbed one of your hands.

“This feels incredible, but if you keep touching me, I’m just going to get more and more turned on.” He turned to sit on the couch with a throw pillow covering his lap.

“And?” you said, still kneeling by the couch. You ran your hands up Tom’s thighs, your finger teasing at the band of his briefs.

Chucking the pillow to the floor, he leaned forward and pulled you into a rough kiss. “Take your clothes off.”

“Gladly.” You stood, pulling your shirt off and unbuttoning your jeans. Turning around so that Tom got a great view, you bent over and slid your jeans down your legs. When you turned around, you saw Tom palming himself as his eyes took in the black lace bralette and thong.

“Wherever you bought that set…we’re getting more of them.” Tom said, stripping off his last item of clothing before leaning forward and slipping his fingers into the waist of your thong. “You look unbelievably sexy.”

Tom made you feel like a goddess. He dragged your panties down your legs, letting you step out of them. When he leaned back you saw just how endowed Tom was. He saw you lick your lips and smirked.

Leaning back on the couch with his legs spread, Tom patted his thighs and started stroking his manhood. “Come here, gorgeous. That is, if you can handle me.”

While you were slipping out of your bralette, you teased back. “Are you sure you can handle me?”

“Sweetheart, I know that you’re a lot of woman…I know what I’m getting myself into” he said, still admiring your body… “and I am going to lick, touch, or suck every part of you before you leave this apartment.”

Placing your knees on the outside of Tom’s legs, you straddled his lap, letting him pull you into a rough kiss. His hands found their way to your ass, and then your breasts, and then your hips as he pulled you tight against his torso. “There is a condom in that drawer” he pointed to the small table by the couch.

“I’m on birth control…” you said, waiting for his response.

“Then it’s up to you” Tom answered, still wanting you to set that boundary.

You connected your lips in another kiss. “We don’t need it.”

Tom slid his hand between you two and ran the tip of his hardness up and down your dripping slit. “Jesus Christ, Y/n.” Tom brought his wet fingers to his mouth and sucked them clean. “Mmm, so sweet. Glad to know I’ve got you as hot and bothered as you have me.”

You dragged your tongue along Tom’s bottom lip, asking permission to deepen the kiss. When his tongue ran over yours you could taste yourself in the kiss.

“I can’t wait anymore. Please.” You said, your hands roaming Tom’s perfect chest.

Tom pushed into you in one smooth motion, digging his fingers into your hips, “Ride me.”

You put your hands on the back of the couch and started moving, feeling him move his hips in rhythm with you. “Oh, fuck” you moaned, throwing your head back.

Tom buried his face in your chest, sucking love marks into the tender skin there. “God, you feel incredible.”

When Tom shifted a bit and hit your G spot, you could have sworn you saw stars. You grabbed his face and begged him to do it again.

Tom looked cocky, absolutely obsessed with making you fall apart. “Like this?” he said, roughly hitting the same spot a few times in a row.

“Tom!” you moaned his name, your fingers finding their way into his hair as you crashed your lips against his.

Tom could feel you clenching around him, your legs starting to shake. “Can you cum for me, baby?” He was ready to burst, himself.

You couldn’t form words. Your hands moved to your breasts, absentmindedly playing with your nipples as your orgasm built.

“You look luscious, y/n.” Tom gripped your hips, holding you in place as he franticly thrusted into you. “I’m gonna…”

Tom’s snap into overdrive tipped you right over the edge. Your bodies glistened with sweat and Tom’s hair was mussed from your idle hands. As you came down from your temporary highs, Tom kept running his hands up and down your sides, kissing your temple and then your shoulder and then your cheek.

When he pulled out of you, you groaned and tucked your face into his neck.

“Don’t worry, my sweet. There’s plenty more where that came from.” Tom held you against his chest, feeling both of your breathing level back out.

When you thought you could actually move again, you sat up and pulled him into a gentle kiss. “Mmm…thank you.” You said against his lips.

“Let’s go get cleaned up, darling.” Tom held your hands as you stood.

“Lead the way.” You smirked, waiting for Tom to walk ahead of you. When he did, you couldn’t help but smack his amazing ass.

“Is that your way of telling me you want to be spanked?” Tom quipped, grabbing a stack of towels and taking them to the bathroom.

You laughed and then stood there thinking about what he had asked. *mmm Tom’s hands* *I mean, he did tell me he would punish me for cleaning up dinner* *Oh god, thinking about him being rough is turning me on all over again*

You were thinking it through when he popped his head back around the corner. “Might I suggest you have your dirty thoughts in the shower so we don’t run out of hot water.”

You shook your head, ending your daydream and looking at the adorable face staring back at you. You walked towards him, going on your tip-toes to give him a quick kiss. “Spanking is a yes.”

Tom laughed, walking with you to the shower. “We should probably try a bit of everything, if I’m being honest. It’s good to try new things.”

Your eyes went wide. “You only have two days off work.”

Tom pulled you to his chest, under the water. “My sweet, we’ve got the rest of our lives.”

[razorblade180]

More Actor AU

The previous one <-

Ruby:Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful- *pie to the face* Ahhhh! Nora!

Nora:HAHAHAHAHA! I couldn’t resist!

xxxx

Yang:Do you think she thinks less of me?

Jaune:You and Ruby are sisters. You may fight but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care.

Yang:Yeah, Ruby...

Jaune:.....Wait are you talking about Blake?

Yang:*caught of guard* Uhhhhh

Jaune:Because why would she think less of you for choosing to act like a first responder?

.......

Ren:*outside* He has a point!

Director:Stick to the script!

xxxx

Raven:Does she have it?

Qrow:You’re going to have be a little bit more specific.

Raven:*slams hand and leans* Does. Salem. Have. The Tape?

Qrow:Tape?

Raven:Yeah the sex tape, it was in the vault.

Qrow:Whaaat? Who’s on it?

Raven:*smirks* Who isn’t on it?

Qrow:Oh shit....*downs whiskey* Tai is gonna kill me!

xxxxx

Apathy:*roaming*

Ruby:Quick, the door!

Weiss:*shakes it* They’re locked!

Yang:Let me-*trips up stairs* agh! My face!

Weiss:Yang! *snickering* Oh gods, are...are you okay?

Yang:Uuuuugggghh. Imma just lie here. Guess we die. *raise head*

Weiss:Uh oh, bloody nose. Time out.

Apathy:*shuffling backwards*

Blake:*on the ground* Imagine, asking grimm just to leave?

xxxxx

Nora:Psst camera man. Pan to Penny.

Penny:*getting make up done* Yo!

Nora:Ready to die a second time!?

Penny:Hell yeah! Gonna make the people cry twice! *puts in red contacts*

xxxxx

Cinder:*chokes Raven* I’m taking what’s mine.

Raven:Last time I checked your name isn’t Tai. So get your hands off my throat. *looks off set*

Tai:*face palming*

Yang:*red* Mom!!

Raven:Someone was thinking it.

xxxxx

Fiona:*reading lines*

Robyn:She’s very focused right now. I think she’s nervous. *grabs megaphone* Cameras go live in five minutes.

Fiona:*tearing up*

Robyn:No wait! I was lying! Please dry those tears!

Fiona:Stop stressing me out! I’m new here.

Robyn:*hugging her* Ssssshhh I’ll rehearse with you.

xxxxx

[Volume 3]

Blake:*getting first aid*

Adam:*staring at camera* Funny thing about Blake Belladonna, she hates reshoots.

Blake:Do not...

Adam:She hates them so much in fact that she’ll do whatever it takes make the first take an absolute masterpiece. Blake Belladonna however also does about half of her stunts. Good stunts too. All those flips and hand to hand, that’s just her being cool. *puts hands together* I’ve worked with her since day one. I’m in most of those actions scenes. So let me tell how insane this girl is.

Blake:Oh geez...

Adam:Ten minute ago, we’re just shooting the scene where her character and my character are fighting. The plan was I “backhand” her and she falls on the ground. Now we’re not perfect. We’ve accidentally grazed each other before. But when I tell you Blake literally just sat there and watched as my hand swung at her....

Blake:Man, I don’t know what happened! *snorting* I knew it was coming, but then the next minute I had no time to go with it.

Adam:Now normally, a sane person would yell cut, but not Blake. I’m looking at her shocked as she’s staring back mouthing “roll with it.” And against judgment, I did.

Blake:It doesn’t get more authentic than that! Plus it only stung.

Yang:Until we finished the scene! We look at you and this red mark is appearing and you’re like “yeah, Adam knocked the hell out of me.”

Adam:And now I feel bad!

Blake:Nah man, perfect scene. Way to improvise.

Yang:Blake Belladonna everyone.

xxxx

Fennec: *dies*

Corsac: Corsac no!!!

Ilia:Wait, your Corsac.

Corsac:Shit, really? Damn, read the long lines all volume.

Ilia:W..wait...*smiling* d..did switch roles? Has no caught that?

Blake:N...no? *looks around* We didn’t right?

Sun:*containg laughter* Please...please tell me we haven’t mixed the roles all season? You audition for...?

Corsec:Fennec. I’m playing Fennec right? *snickering*

Blake:I...uh..how’d we-

Corsec:I’m just fucking with you.

Blake:Oh my god! Dude, I thought we messed up so much shit! My heart!

Crew:*laughing*

Blake:Y’all are jerks. I type the credits don’t scare me like that!

xxxxx

Ghira:*tears cloak off*

Tyrian and Salem: Dayuuuuuum! Look at that man!

Ghira:Pfft, god damn it. You ruined my roar! Hahaha.

xxxxx

Director:Alright Jaune. So in this scene you punch the wall because you just learned about Salem being immortal. Remember to hit hard enough get a good bang for the mic, but we don’t want you breaking your hand or anything.

Jaune:Got it!

Director:And action!

Jaune:*cracks wall*

Everyone:......

Jaune:......

Nora:Welp, he didn’t say anything about breaking the wall.

xxxxxx

Cinder:*holding sister* Diva in the building yall. Introducing mini me.

Ember:I get paid!

Cinder:Yeah you do!

Everyone:(The resemblance is uncanny.)

xxxxxx

Interviewer: Has it feel to work with distinguished talents like Tyrian.

Mercury:There isn’t a moment that man lets me rest. I could have one scene and that guy is offset staring at me and shimming or wearing a prop just throw me off-he’s doing it now! *smiles*

Tyrian:*in Salem’s costume* I don’t know what you mean Mercury? Are you...*props leg up* distracted?

Mercury:Serious doesn’t exist with that man on set.

xxxxx

Interview:Adam, how’s it feel to be the most hated character.

Adam:It’s hilarious. I go the store to get a coffee and the cashier is doing a double take as they stare at me wearing a shirt with Pumpkin Pete on it. Before they process who I am exactly I’m just like, “please tell me you have pumpkin spice?” And their perception is ruined immediately.

Interviewer:Ever get hate at events.

Adam:Oh it’s a game now! Not by my choice. This was Yang’s idea.

Yang:*pokes in* Y’all talking about the game where I make people upset? *sits in his lap* excuse me.

Adam:Against my will...*snickers* anytime I go to a convention with Yang, she enters the room from the opposite door and let the people gather to her while haters gather to me.

Yang:By the time I reach him I see about a dozen people glaring at him while my fans are following me until I get where I need to go. Right before I do, I walk up to Adam as if I didn’t know he’d be there, then jump into his arms happily. Everyone shuts up. They don’t know how to cope.

Adam:That’s with almost any hero in this show. I’m minding my own business and then they cling to me for shock value. Yang and Blake are the worst though.

Yang:I’ve sat in his lap like I am now at a Q&A before because people booed when he showed up. The beef isn’t real people! My arm is fine!

xxxxx

Jaune:*staring at Pyrrha’s statue*.....

*foot steps approach*

Jaune:*looks left* !?

Pyrrha:*holding flowers* A tragedy, this person’s death. You knew them?

Jaune:I...y...no. Just heard of her.

Pyrrha:Really? Cool. Reall strong person. Her people were heartbroken when she chose Beacon. But it was the place she dreamed of. Ashamed she died. Gone, never to be seen.

Jaune:She may be gone, but I know she had no regrets. Pyrrha was a huntress through and through, and I believe she fought like one until the end.

Pyrrha:*nods* Yeah, I think so too. *containg joy*

.........

Pyrrha:This isn’t the real scene by the way.

Jaune:I was about to say! Like, what the hell is happening!? I read the script and missed this part!

Pyrrha:Hahahaha! Good improvising. *claps* way to roll with the nonsense. I can’t believe you said no though! That’s how you get haunted.

Jaune:*laughing* I thought I was! Ghost Pyrrha walking with flowers saying “oh you know her?” I thought I did until you showed up!

Ren:We just shoot random scenes of you talking to Pyrrha and never address it. Jaune is just crazy now.

Pyrrha:I’m down for that!

Director:No! Well....no! Stop trying to get more lines!

Pyrrha:Awww.

xxxxxx

Ozpin:You know originally I brought my kid here so we can bond and he was like “awesome!”

Cameraman pans over to Oscar and Penny sitting on a bench eating together, laughing.

Ozpin:*smirking* I was played, but I respect it.

xxxxxx

[Volume 6]

Jaune:*walks up to Ruby* Promise that you’ll meet us there.

Ruby:I promise. *smiles*

..... *both lean in*

Ruby:......*kisses him*

Everyone:!?!?

Nora:Woah! Cut!

Ruby:Huh? What’s up?

Nora:There’s no kiss!

Ruby:Really? Feels like a kiss should be here. Huh, my bad. Thought it was written in.

xxxxxx

Ruby:*posed up in chair* They had to cut out me kissing Jaune. That’s fine, still kissed him.

xxxxxx

Nora:All I’m saying is maybe I should get a kiss with him.

Director:Nora, just ask him out on your own time.

Nora:Pffft what? Me, into Jaune? No..... I just think it would make good narrative sense.

Director:How!?

Nora:......*walks away* It just would!

[svtskneecaps]

crew and cast

(gender neutral) reader x jihoon

genre: fluff + some?? angst? listen i tried lmao; words: 2.8k

well howdy @toxicsocial​ tis i, your tct secret santa. so uh, i can’t actually make people cry in a timely manner and i didn’t figure most people would be down to read like 9k of buildup, so!! the angst is minimal!!! but i tried really hard and i hope you like it i love you so much also i forgot to title it again until right now so don’t look at it too hard

You loved your high school’s theatre crew. From freshman year they’d been a staple in your life. It was refreshingly stable to be able to walk into the tech room anytime and reliably know what would be going on. Except, there was one thing about theatre you couldn’t stand: Lee Jihoon. You’d avoided him since freshman year, but unfortunately for you, you’d taken over the position of Run Crew Head and Prop Master, and he was the Student Director. You were forced to sit through every production meeting with him.

Which, fine. You’d do anything for the show to run well. But that didn’t change the fact that he made you want to commit a crime.

Or three.

“Great news guys!” you yelled, sweeping into the tech room. “The crutches still aren’t right and Jihoon wants us to repaint the brickwork on the platforms to be less ‘garish’ and the typewriter is from the 1940s when it should be from the 1890s and I’m going to set something on fire!”

Chan slammed his head against the nearest cabinet. “This is the third time he’s rejected the brickwork, oh my god.”

“Fourth time he’s hated the crutches too, and I’ve told him that the only period accurate typewriter in the basement is literally one wrong keystroke from breaking onstage but I guess he’s willing to take that risk for a typewriter that’s going to be in one scene.” You massaged your forehead. “I’m gonna stay late Wednesday so we can have our shit together by Hell Week.”

“I’ll have to join.” Chan peeled his head off the cabinet, cracking his knuckles. “You think Mingyu’s got time to spare? I might get him to help; there’s way too much platform for me to do in time.”

“Dunno, he’s pretty busy.” Vernon scooped a loose screw out of a sawdust pile and swept the whole thing into the dustpan. “Makeup’s been working hard to get the ‘ragged urchin’ look right.”

“I’ll con Soonyoung into it then, I don’t think they’re rehearsing the dance numbers tomorrow so he might be free.”

“I wish you luck with that, dude.” You scooped the crutch off the floor. “I gotta go beg costumes to let me into the basement storage and see if there’s another goddamn piece of fabric I can use for the crutches.”

“You have fun.”

You ended up getting lucky; Minghao already needed to go down there so you wouldn’t have to fight for cell signal to make sure you were allowed to deface the cloth scraps you’d found.

“You seem stressed,” he noted as he unlocked the basement door.

You snorted. “Stressed is an understatement.”

“Jihoon again?”

“If he tells me to redo the damn crutches again I’m going to nail him to the wall.”

Minghao lead the way down the stairs. “I really thought you had it that time.”

“Nothing is good enough for that guy.”

He shrugged. “He just wants the show to go well.”

“Yeah, well, so do I. He doesn’t have to get up everybody’s ass sticking his opinions where they don’t belong. He’s never been crew, why does he get to make us repaint the entire damn set anyway?”

“He’s the director.”

“Everyone else thought the bricks looked fine!”

Minghao looked at you sideways. “What’s your deal with Jihoon?”

“Like I said, poking his nose where it doesn’t--”

“No, you had beef before he got appointed Student Director.”

You sighed. “I don’t know. He’s always kind of been a pain even when he was ensemble.” You drove your finger into your temple. “And he broke a crucial prop that wasn’t his the night before the show opened and didn’t tell me.”

“You did props?”

“Buddy I was Prop Master. I literally didn’t find out until the Stage Manager tried to run that scene before school.” You glared absently at the shelves of typewriters to one side of the walkway. “I literally had to skip my last three classes and dinner to get a replacement and he never even apologized for it.”

Minghao whistled. “That’s unforgivable.”

“Tell me about it.” You waded through the costume racks to get to the bins of scraps in the back.

“And you’ve never considered forgiving and forgetting? I mean, it’s been two years.”

You sighed, leaning the crutch against a shelf. “I mean. . .”

He snickered. “Come on, it’s just you and me and the ghosts down here, you can say it.”

“I mean. . . he just makes me so mad!” You yanked the lid off a tote with a snap that echoed across the basement. “Like, every time I start thinking maybe he’s not so bad he pulls some other shit on me and I slam right back into hating his goddamn guts.”

“You’re on the same team,” Minghao called down the row. “You’re just trying to make the show better.”

“Making the show better shouldn’t involve painting the entire set three times.”

“I’m just saying, it’d put at least three years back on your lifespan.”

“Yeah yeah.”

You managed to update the crutches by the end of the day, and repainted the entire set on Wednesday--although you had to sacrifice your lunch and free periods and several hours after school to get it all done. Thursday left you with a finished set and another production meeting.

He didn’t like the bricks.

You saw red.

In the hallway, you pulled him aside.

“What don’t you like about the bricks?”

He frowned. “They detract attention from the actors.”

You wanted to seize him by the shoulders and shake him like a maraca. “It’s gray! It is the darkest most nondescript color we have in the buckets and you’re telling me it detracts attention from the actors? You haven’t even seen them rehearse with it!”

“It’s gonna be too much,” he argued. “It’s the same color as half the costumes--”

“I have seen every single costume in the show, it’s not even close to the same pigment!”

“Even still--”

“Listen,” you snapped, your heartbeat pounding in your ears, “if you want the set redone in time for Hell Week then I expect to see you in the goddamn tech room tomorrow after school wearing something you don’t mind getting paint on because I’m not going to make Chan and Vernon repaint the entire damn set by themselves for the fifth time and I have to figure out how to keep that 1890s typewriter from falling apart, do I make myself clear?”

He looked almost disgusted at the prospect, but he nodded stiffly. “Crystal.”

You turned on your heel just as stiffly, striding away before you lost all composure.

To your complete surprise, Jihoon actually showed up the next day, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a shirt so faded that whatever decal had been on the front had long washed away.

“So he arrives!” Chan yelled from his perch on the desk, where he’d been watching you wrestle with the typewriter.

Jihoon looked distinctly uncomfortable, but he squared his shoulders. “Where do you need me?”

“We gotta move all the set pieces in before we start,” Chan said. “Then I’ll probably have you start on the legs. We gotta wait for Vernon before we can move the tall stuff. One sec, I’ll--” he bolted into the hallway.

Jihoon stared after him, then looked to you. “Where is he going?”

“To tell Vernon we’re actually doing the repaint.” You shrugged. “Honestly I’m surprised you showed up.”

“I said I would.”

“Actually you just said you understood the ultimatum; we had no idea if you’d show or not.”

“Oh.”

You shrugged. “Good to have you anyway.”

Chan returned with Vernon before the silence could get too awkward, and you helped them move all the platforms back into the tech room. From there, Vernon set up his speaker and the real work began.

Jihoon helped choose the color of the bricks (and Chan threatened to really break his leg if he changed his mind about it later), and they got to laying down the base coat. You went back to glaring at the typewriter and reading through every antiques article you could find online.

After trying seven different methods to no avail, you shoved your chair away from the desk. “Typewriters are hellspawn created by the Devil himself to punish unfortunate Prop Masters.”

Vernon snickered. “That good, huh?”

“I’m going to put a screwdriver through the keyboard,” you said mildly.

“Okay maybe don’t do that.” Chan paused to pull a clean paintbrush out of his pocket and throw it at you. “You know where the overalls are; come take a break.”

“Why do you just have that?” Jihoon asked.

“A painter is always prepared.”

Jihoon glanced at you. You shrugged. “I don’t question it.”

Between the four of you, you managed to finish all but one platform by the time Chan and Vernon had to go. Being older, you had infinite time, so you cracked your knuckles and sat back at the typewriter. Jihoon lingered in the doorway.

“You need any help?”

You looked up. “Nah, I think I got it. Thank you, though.”

He shifted. “Listen, I know we didn’t really get off on the right foot but, I’m sorry. I know I never really apologized for the prop, and I’m sorry for how long it took, too.”

You sighed. “It’s fine. It’s kind of unfair of me to hold it against you this long anyway, so, I’m sorry too.” It wasn’t the only reason he made you so angry, but that chip on your shoulder made a lot of other offenses you would have normally overlooked seem larger.

“Can we maybe start over?” he asked. “Freshman year all over again?”

You actually found yourself nodding. “As long as you don’t make us repaint the set ever again.”

He laughed, running a paint-stained hand through his hair. “No, I won’t. I can’t do that to your crew again.”

“Good. Cause we weren’t kidding about breaking your legs.”

“I will keep that in mind.” He hiked up his backpack. “I’ll see you on Monday, then?”

“Happy Hell Week.”

Hell Week was hell (and the sky is blue).

Three of the actors lost their voices four days before Opening Night. One of the glasses for the restaurant scene shattered during the dance number--even though it was supposed to be offstage already--and the third lead got very close to twisting her ankle after landing a jump wrong. The actors could never manage to find their light, there were technical glitches with the backstage mics, and you were so on edge that if you heard the word standby you’d jump so bad you’d bruise your knee on the table.

The typewriter gave you more anxiety than it was worth. The actress using it had strict instructions not to actually touch the keys, because the only thing holding it together was gaff tape. You’d put Jun and Wonwoo in charge of bringing the desk it sat on onstage, because you trusted them to have it under control and keep it from tipping, because if it tipped at an angle any more than about 30 degrees, the keys would get out of alignment and that required time and experience to fix, of which you had neither.

Needless to say, you were two steps away from tearing your hair out.

At least you weren’t fighting with Jihoon, though. You’d even gone out to grab takeout with him for dinner, once, and yelling about all the problems in the car was really cathartic and you came back refreshed and relaxed, for once (only for every muscle in your back to clench at once because an actor bumped the prop table in their hurry to get in costume and one of the glasses fell over).

But it was Opening Night, and you were wound tighter than a spring waiting for everything to go wrong.

And it did.

Jihoon was in the hallway behind the stage, giving Joshua a few final notes about his big solo, and he didn’t check his surroundings closely enough. In his wild gesturing to demonstrate the level of enthusiasm, his arm clipped the typewriter.

And it fell.

He stared at it. Joshua stared at it. You could not tear your eyes from it.

The keys had tilted out of alignment. The bar holding the paper was skewed. The decorative paneling to one side had cracked down the middle. You didn’t have time to fix it before it went on. Maybe you couldn’t fix it at all.

“I am so sorry--” Jihoon started, but you stopped him with a hand, balling the other into a fist.

“Don’t,” you forced through your teeth, because you didn’t want to start yelling at him; it was an honest mistake and it was your fault for not resettling it on the desk after the last run. You were just seething with rage, at yourself, at the typewriter--you didn’t want to project it.

“Ten minutes to go!” someone yelled down the hall. You forced yourself to exhale, gingerly picking it up, flinching with every shift of the keys.

“Is there anything I can--”

“Get to the booth. Tell Seungcheol what happened, just-- be in your place. Jun!” you yelled into the tech room. His head jerked up. “I need you to take over headset for me, can you do that?”

His mouth fell open seeing the typewriter and he nodded, wordlessly, leaping to his feet and hurrying backstage.

Jihoon still stood there, looking between the typewriter and you with an anguished expression. “You’re sure you don’t--”

“I got it,” you said again, clipped. “I can handle it. I can-- just get to the booth, Jihoon!”

You hadn’t yelled. You knew enough not to yell when the audience was already in their seats. But your words had the same effect, because he flinched, and he nodded, and he turned the other way and ran.

Your rage was turning inward as fast as it was dulling, but you had a show to put on, so you placed the broken typewriter carefully on a counter in the tech room and sprinted for the basement.

You managed to get the 1970s typewriter back upstairs and on the desk before it went on, and the show went on without a hitch. The actors hit their marks, all the props found their way back to the prop table, and the pit orchestra didn’t have to loop a section for a missed cue even once.

You waited until everyone was gone before you let yourself cry.

“I really am sorry.”

You looked up.

Jihoon stood in the doorway, twisting his hands.

“It’s fine,” you said. “It’s partially my fault for not making sure it was centered right.” You rubbed your eyes with the palms of your hands, hoping to disguise the redness. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Do you want help?”

“I don’t know if it can even be fixed,” you said, staring blankly at the remains of the typewriter in front of you. “It might-- it might be beyond my help.”

For a long moment, you stared at it, mind spiralling.

You pushed yourself up. “They’ll want to lock up.” You slung your backpack over your shoulders. “I’ll just come in before the show and work on it. Maybe get Jun to grab me some McDonald’s or something and eat during the intermission.”

Jihoon’s brow furrowed. “That’s not healthy.”

“I’ve done it before.” You waved him off. “The show must go on, you know?” You slung your backpack over your shoulders. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The day came by in flashes as you researched the typewriter with a renewed vigor. You could probably use hot glue and some kind of putty to hide the crack in the paneling, you could probably put the keys back or at the very least tape them to look like they were back, from a distance. The bar at the top would be much harder but you hadn’t really inspected it the night before so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as you thought it was?

You didn’t feel particularly hopeful when you stopped by the tech room to pick up the typewriter.

Until you saw the typewriter.

“What the fuck.” It was fixed. The keys aligned, the crack sealed, the bar sitting on top just as it was supposed to be. It looked exactly like it had when you’d first set it on that desk.

Jihoon came around the corner, dried putty staining his hands. “Hey,” he said, seeming tired but absolutely beaming at you.

“Did you do this?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. I didn’t want you putting your health on the line.”

“Oh my god, thank you. I can’t-- this is incredible!” You kept tracing your fingers over the ridge formed by the sealed crack, but you couldn’t see it.

“I did a good job, then?” He put his hands in his pockets, grinning.

“Better than good, oh my god I could kiss you!”

Your cheeks burned when you realized what you’d said, but he laughed. “Whoa, buy me dinner first.”

“Bet,” you said, accepting it like a challenge. “You pick the place, I’ll pay.”

“Okay,” he said, and then lifted his hands. “I gotta wash up.”

“Meet you by the front door in five?”

“It’s a date.”

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Riverdale//without you i’d be nothing

Request: Reader plays a Northsider River Vixen on Riverdale and when the show’s on hiatus the cast takes a trip to New Orleans and her boyfriend Douglas Booth invites them to see him film a scene as Nikki Sixx for the Netflix movie The Dirt and he and reader are super cute after he finishes the scene and the cast totally ships them. The scene is from the YouTube video The Dirt - Shout at the Devil/with backstage (Turkish subtitle). Nikki’s bass guitar in the opening of the scene is really cool.

hey! i really hope you like this!! and i also hope you’re having a good day! 

“Hey guys! It’s me, Madelaine and welcome to the last day of shooting before our hiatus!” Madelaine beams into the camera and you lift your head up from your phone to watch her talk excitedly at the camera. 

“I’m sort of sad because I’m gonna miss all of these.” She does a twirl to show off the rest of the cast sat waiting to start filming and they all take a break from talking to wave and smile at the camera. “But I am very excited for the break. Plus, we won’t really be away from each other for long because in a few days we’re going on holiday!! Aren’t we guys!” She asks and zooms in on Charles while he scrolls through his phone. 

“Huh?” He asks when he feels everyone looking at him. You all stifle a laugh before looking back at Madelaine again. 

“Okay, let’s see what everyone is doing.” She smiles playfully and wiggles her eyebrows before flipping the camera and choosing who to annoy first. “KJ. What are you doing?” 

“Eating.” He replies through a mouthful of food before glaring at the red-head. 

“Vanessa?” 

“Ignoring you.” She replies, not bothering to look up from her phone. 

“You know, you all think that Vanessa is lovely, but this is what I have to put up with.” Madelaine frowns. “What about you Y/n?” She asks and you glance at her before sending your text. 

“She’s texting her boyfriend.” Jordan teases as he looks over your shoulder and you roll your eyes at his childishness. “Aww, they’re sending each other kisses. And now she’s opening Instagram and liking a picture of him-wait, that’s not his real hair is it?” He asks and you send him a look. 

“Of course not.” You laugh. “It’s his costume, for the Mötley Crüe movie.” 

“Ohh.” He replies. “Okay.” He starts again, faking a British accent and you roll your eyes again. “Now, she is liking the photo of her boyfriend and his cast members. She’s typing something and now she’s going into her notes and typing something else. It’s for me, and it says Jordan...fuck off.” He trails off and a playful pout replaces his smile. 

“Somebody please send help.” Madelaine deadpans as she flips the camera back. “I’m gonna have to put up with all of this for another week.” 

“Holy shit.” Madelaine mouths as she shoves the camera in her backpack. The rest of the cast are just as mesmerised with the stage set up in front of them. 

The stage is more light than actual stage and for a while you can’t really decipher between the lights and the many, many speakers they have. Four microphones are dotted around the black stage, just waiting for sound. The guitar amps wait to be plugged in and you remember watching Douglas walk in and out of your bedroom as he tried to master the way Nickki Sixx would walk on stage. Tommy Lee’s drum sits at the back of the stage and the pentagram really brings the whole dark aesthetic together. 

It genuinely looks like one of their shows. After Doug was offered the role, the two of you sat and watched countless videos of their shows together, just so he could really get into his role.

Normally you’d join them in staring wide-eyed at the bright set, but you’re too excited to see Doug that you can barely take in anything surrounding you other than him. Your eyes scan the countless people passing by. Crew members carrying large speakers and microphones back and forth, and hundreds of extra’s mill about around you, making you feel like you’ve just walked through a time machine. 

You feel eyes on you and it’s only when you look back at them do you realize you were bouncing slightly. 

“Be cool.” Jordan shakes his head and you flip him off making him feign offence. 

“Can I help you guys?” A woman asks and you quickly direct your attention to her. 

“Hi!” You beam. “Douglas Booth invited us to watch him. He said he got the okay from the director. I’m Y/n, his girlfriend. Nice to meet you!” You smile and stick your hand out in front of her. She blinks, trying to process what you’ve just said in the short space of time before a small smile twitches at her lips and she introduces herself. 

“I’m Amy.” She replies. “And I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you in person instead of being shown countless of pictures of you.” She teases and your cheeks heat up.

Cami and Lili share a look before nudging you and you stare at the floor, too embarrassed to look at them again. 

“Come with me.” She tells the rest of the group. “And help yourself to snacks and drinks.” She says and everyone’s head’s perk up at the mention of food. “We’re just about to film, they’re putting the final touches to everything, but if I see Doug I’ll let him know you’re here.” 

“Thank you!” You grin and sit down. Behind the camera’s are a bunch of seats, none of which match and it’s a race between the ten of you to get the comfiest seats first. It ends in KJ and Casey standing and they grumble quietly to each other while the rest of you smile sarcastically back at them. 

“Okay. Quiet on set!” Someone shouts and you stand up to crane your neck over the camera’s. For a second everything’s quiet, and then the lights go up and everyone screams. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, from Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe!”

Douglas looks out into the crowd and your sure he’s seen you, despite the room full of people. Then the lights come up and the spark machines go off leaving all you to stare in awe at what is happening. 

The sound of drums pound along with your heart while you watch your boyfriend transform into somebody else in front of your very eyes. He strums the guitar in time and hops backwards while looking out into the darkened crowd and you follow his gaze, wanting to see what he’s seeing. 

You watch as the camera zooms in on Douglas’ strumming and you nudge Cami excitledy as you point proudly at him. She stifles a laugh before the two of you continuing watching. 

“Title track is from our up and coming album. We call it ‘Shout At The Devil’” Danny shouts and the crowd goes wild. The camera zooms in on Iwan playing guitar.  

‘Shout, shout, shout!” They sing, the camera zooming into each of them, focusing longer on Colson as he twirls the drum sticks around in his fingers.  “Shout, shout, shout! Shout at the devil.” Danny kicks his leg out and does a spin before starting to sing again and you can’t believe what you’re seeing. 

They all look so cool! Especially Douglas and you can understand why bands back in the day had so many groupies if they did stuff like this on the stage. The atmosphere is electric and it’s not even a real concert, so you can only dream of what it would feel like to be at a real one.  “He's the wolf screaming lonely in the night. He's the blood stain on the stage.” Danny points out into the crowd and you hear a few screams and squeals making you laugh. “He's the tear in your eye. Been tempted by his lie.” Douglas rocks back and forth, and despite your earlier teasing through texts about the wig, it does look good when he’s up there head banging. “He's the knife in your back, he's rage!” Colson raises a hand in the air before banging the drums again. 

Danny leans forward, his voice going up an octave and you watch impressed. “He's the razor to the knife. Oh, lonely is our lives. My head's spinning 'round and 'round.” He points out into the crowd again and you catch Pete Davidson’s eye. 

Colson throws a drumstick in the air again before drumming, and you don’t know where to look anymore. There’s so many incredible things happening and you wish you could film this or take a picture or something so you can remember. It’s going to be amazing when you see it in the actual film, but to see it being recorded in real life, that’s something you don’t think any movie theatre will be able to live up to. 

“But in the seasons of wither, we'll stand and deliver. Be strong and laugh and-” 

“Shout, shout, shout. Shout at the devil! Shout, shout, shout!” Flames erupt from the stage during each beat and all ten of your eyes widen when you see someone flash the band. They head bang and jump around and your eyes widen each second that passes. 

But it’s over far sooner than you’d like it to be. You could spent forever watching your boyfriend pretend to be a famous rockstar, and you’re surprised at how at home he looks up on stage. 

The band shout and cheer, before the director shouts cut and they suddenly all erupt into laughter. Douglas and Iwan high five before they disappear off stage and previously still crew members start moving again. They hurry past you, with props, costumes and coffee in hand. 

And you wait excitedly for Douglas to appear. 

“So, we’re on the set of a super important Netflix movie. We’ve just watched them film literally the best thing ever. Like I have goosebumps, look. Anyway, I’m not gonna show you much, but I am going to show you this.” Madelaine whispers, a soft smile lighting up her face before she flips the camera and zooms in on you and Douglas. 

You wrap your arms around him and he picks you up, twirling you around making you squeal. He puts you back on the floor and wastes no time in capturing your lips in a kiss. You’ve been waiting months to kiss him again and it was definitely worth it, even if he is wearing that ridiculously large wig. 

“I’ve missed you so much baby.” You mumble against his lips. 

“Me too.” He replies and kisses you again. 

Madelaine flips the camera back to her and she pouts in response to how cute the two of you are. 

“She hasn’t shut up about him since he invited us out here.” She says and rolls her eyes. “It’s been the only thing we’ve heard. Hasn’t it V?” She asks the shorter girl as she walks behind her. 

“What?” Vanessa asks and takes a sip of the coffee Cole stole for her from the snack table. 

“Y/n and Doug.” It’s only three words, but it sets Vanessa off into a whole ramble about how excited you’ve been to see him. 

“It’s a good job they’re cute.” She replies making Vanessa giggle and the two of them watch as you and Doug catch up with each other. You move his wig from his face and he smiles thankfully, before kissing your cheek. “Something that isn’t cute though is these two.” Madelaine interrupts her own vlog by swapping the camera again and zooming in on Jordan and Drew taking pictures of each other with badly put on wigs. 

Her and Vanessa shake their head and watch as they laugh loudly and try to knock the other ones off their head. However their laughter soon dies down when a crew member comes over and scolds them for tampering with props, and now it’s Vanessa and Madelaine’s’s turn to laugh. 

“I can’t wait for the internet to see that.” Vanessa giggles before sending a disapproving look at the two men now pouting sadly in the corner. 

“Knowing them, it’ll just make more people love them.” Madelaine rolls her eyes. She turns the camera off and lets Vanessa lead her to where the majority of the cast are. 

“Hi guys.” Douglas introduces himself nervously and the conversations slowly die out. You stand beside Doug, your hand in his to keep him calm and a reassuring smile on your face. 

He’s never normally nervous when meeting new people, however he’s only ever met a few of these people a handful of times and he knows how important they are to you so he wants to make the best impression he possibly can. 

Although, you’re pretty sure he already has done with that they’ve just watched. You’re sure that could turn even the most cynical and hard to impress people, so you’re not worried. 

“Hi!” They all reply, each of them moving to shake his hand first. 

“Can I just say, that was great. I’ve never seen anything like it!” Drew gushes and Doug waves him off bashfully. 

“Seriously. Y/n is very lucky.” Jordan replies making you shove him lightly. 

“I’m definitely the lucky one.” Doug replies and kisses you gently. Your friends roll their eyes and gag in response, but you know they’re doing it out of love. 

“So, how are you all enjoying New Orleans?” He changes the subject.

“We haven’t really seen much of it. We got here yesterday and we spent the majority of it sleeping.” Casey explains making him frown. 

“Why don’t we go sightseeing.” He smiles. “Before you guys get kicked out.” He adds and looks at Jordan and Drew who smile back awkwardly. 

“You guys go ahead.” You interrupt. “We’ll catch up with you.” 

“Ooo.” KJ teases and you flip him off making him laugh loudly. “Get out.” You shove him and Lili grabs his arm pulling him towards the exit. The rest of the gang follow until it’s just you and Doug standing in an empty room. You’re only company is the very large snack table and various chairs dotted around the room. 

“I’ve missed you so fucking much.” You admit and wrap him into a tight hug. He wheezes at the force but hugs you back and warmth fills your chest. “You were also amazing up there. I mean, it was like I was at a proper concert!” You ramble proudly and he rolls his eyes. “You are so talented.” 

“Nah.” He shakes his head and you send him a glare. “It was all you, you’re my good luck charm.” 

---

March 18, 2019, ArcLight, Hollywood. 

The fabric of your dress, bunches and un-bunches in your clammy palm. The pale blue silk is soft against your skin and it’s quite a comforting feeling, it’s good to know that you can still feel something, even if the rest of you does feel numb. 

Camera’s flash outside the tinted windows of the black car, and you can hear hundreds of people shouting and screaming. The last time you were at a movie premiere, it didn’t feel anything like this, and it’s not even your movie. You wonder if you maybe need to do more than two acting jobs to get used to stuff like this, maybe you never get used to it. 

The more you think of it, the weirder it feels. All of those people lining the streets and wanting to take pictures of you. Riverdale premiers feel a whole lot less scary than movie ones. You thought it was because you always have your friends around you, or maybe because you’ve been to every single one of them since the show started, you kind of know what to expect as they’re all the same. 

But then you glance at Doug and you feel a whole new set of nerves creep up on you. He looks so good in his suit, and you watch his fingers tap anxiously against his knee as the two of you wait for the door to opened. 

Maybe you’re more nervous because it’s him. You have no reason to be though, the small part that you saw being filmed was amazing, and if the whole film is like that, then he’s got nothing to worry about. But you know he’s nervous and maybe that’s what’s making you feel the same. 

“Doug?” You place a gentle hand over his, stilling the movements of his fingers and he looks back at you, his expression softening as he takes you in. 

“You look beautiful.” He smiles and presses a kiss to the back of your hand. 

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” You reply and he rolls his eyes. “Are you okay?” You ask and the question seems to take him by surprise.

“Yeah-I. Why wouldn’t I be?” He stutters and you send him a look. He knows you can read him like a book, it’s something you seemed to have mastered by the first day you met him. 

“You just seem a little nervous.” You shrug and give his hand a squeeze. 

“I’m okay.” He shakes his head. “Maybe just a little bit. But nerves are good.” He finishes and you look at him unsure. “Why? Are you nervous?” 

“A little bit.” You admit and drop his gaze. His finger hooks under your chin and pulls it up again so you can look at him. His hazel eyes seem to see straight through you and the way he’s looking at you makes your heartbeat increase. For a few seconds, it just feels like the two of you sitting in the tiny cab. 

The rest of the world disappears, it’s just you and him, and that’s all you could ever really need.  

“Come on, you’ve done scarier things. Remember when you found out you had to do that British accent. I’m pretty sure you told me, you’d considered dropping out of the film.” He says and you nod your head. 

“I suppose, yeah.” You agree. “That was very nerve-racking. Especially when I had to do it in front of the cutest British boy I’d ever met.” You add and he rolls his eyes playfully. The two of you giggle quietly to yourselves

“We’re ready for you.” A tall man dressed all in black tells you once opening the door. You look at Doug and the two of you take a deep breath. 

“Are you ready?” You ask and he nods slowly. 

“As I’ll ever be.” He grins and you mirror it. The nerves turning to excitement when you think about how proud you are of him. “Wait!” He shouts and you freeze, dropping your purse in fright. “Sorry.” He apologises awkwardly and you roll your eyes at him. “I just wanted to get a picture with you before we’re both whisked off by our adorning fans. I want to show off how lucky I am, and I want Danny to see what he’s missing.”

“Where did you say he was again?” 

“He’s off filming some other film. But I think he did a video message or something, basically thanking everyone.” He replies. 

“Oh, that’s sweet.” You nod. “Anyway, adorning fans?” You repeat and he nods, a playful smile tugging at his lips. “You know this is a premier for a film that you’re in right? I’ve got nothing to do with this.” 

“One. We all know that the majority of the people here, are here for you because they just assume you’re coming with me.” 

“They assumed correctly.” You nod and cross your arms. You raise an eyebrow as you wait for him to continue with this point that you know is going to be stupid. 

“And two. You have everything to do with this.” He says and your roll your eyes, pushing him bashfully. “I’m being serious Y/n.” He says, making you look at him. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to say yes to all the offers I got, I wouldn’t have been able to recover from the many no’s. I wouldn’t have been able to learn my scripts and come to you for advice and support and just for a hug. This has everything to do with you, and the way you looked at me when you watched me film, gave me all the confidence I needed to keep going, even when the hours were long and I missed you like crazy.” 

“Douglas Booth, you’re going to make me cry and my makeup is perfect.” 

“And you look beautiful.” He replies and wipes a stray tear away. A curl falls in front of your face and he tucks it behind your ear, his fingers leaving a trail of heat along your jawline. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” You laugh and wipe away another tear. 

He gives you one last smile before grabbing your hand. You step out of the cab and into the bright flashing lights and the overwhelming sound of your names being shouted. He looks back at you, concern growing in his eyes but you grin back at him and he mirrors it. 

The two of you make your way up the red carpet, posing together and separately as people shout your name from all angles. The camera’s always disorient you, but as soon as you’re back beside Douglas and he wraps an arm around you waist, you feel yourself become more comfortable with the sheer amount of press. 

Douglas talks to a few of his co-stars and you take the few minutes of zero attention to really take in the moment. There’s so many people here, all of them to see your talented boyfriend and his friends and you feel like your heart is going to burst with pride. 

Your gaze catches Jordan, Drew and KJ, all three of which are staring wide eyed as the real Mötley Crüe walk the red carpet. You watch as they try their hardest not to implode and a chuckle escapes your lips when they finally realize that you’re watching them. 

“Holy shit!” Jordan mouths and you roll your eyes. Drew points awkwardly at them and KJ makes small talk with Tommy Lee before he stares at you in shock. 

“Be cool!” You mouth back and roll your eyes at your friends. The three of them just stare back at you in shock before they notice Vanessa and Madelaine having a full on conversation with all four members. 

It looks like they’ve just bumped into each at the grocery store with the way they’re talking to each other, and even you must look a little surprised. 

“I’ve seen you’re show!” Nikki says and your jaw drops. “It’s fucking weird.” He adds making the girls laugh. 

“Yeah.” Madelaine nods. “It sure is.” She adds before they walk away to get their pictures taken. Madelaine and Vanessa stare at each other, frozen for a few seconds before they grab each others arms and squeal. 

“Your friends sure are weird.” Vince says and it takes you a few seconds to realise he’s talking to you. 

“Oh yeah. There are.” You laugh awkwardly and the rest of the band greet you. You take a second to glance back at your friends who are all staring at you with varying degrees of shock on their face. 

“Are you ready to go in?” Doug pulls your attention away from the silent conversation you’re trying to have with Vanessa, and a soft smile graces your lips. 

“More than ready.” You nod excitedly. “I’m so proud of you baby.” You whisper in his ear and a blush creeps up his neck. 

“Not as proud as I am of you.” He replies and nudges your arm. The two of you take a deep breath before stepping through the door, ready for whatever adventure is waiting for you next. 

support my writing! if you want! 

[elsewhereuniversity]

When I first started here, I called myself Ada, because my wordpress as a teen was adamantiumhalfdragonx523 and it was the first thing I thought of when they said I should pick a nickname.

...I know, it’s kinda ridiculous, and I was hoping to present a somewhat more mature persona at college. But at least Ada is an actual name, and I could claim it was after Ada Lovelace instead of my RP blog.

Anyway, I dove into class quickly. Engineering, with an accidental minor in physics: I liked the required courses so I took a few electives, then realized I was only like nine credits away from qualifying for a minor so I went for it. Got immediately bogged down by homework as usual, barely scraping C minuses through humanities requirements and getting extensions wherever I could. I’ve never been good with time management? It’s the adhd.

There were always rumours of strange things happening on campus, but I mean, it’s college. You get drunk larpers and people hallucinating moving shadows from lack of sleep and old buildings with confusing layouts and it’s enough for weird rumours to be spread for months.

There was this weird girl who moved in a couple doors down from me: she turned up around March, I think she was a transfer? Her roommate literally burst into tears and ran away down the hall when I mentioned her, so I didn’t push it. It was a bit weird but I guess they were close with their previous roommate? Don’t know why they left, maybe they dropped out. Anyway, near the end of the semester the girl — she went by hazelnut, I think — invited me to this pre-finals rager out in the woods. I think it was late April, maybe the first of May? Mysty (my roomie) said not to go but I was feeling pretty prepared for my exam so I figured I’d go check it out. She kept, like, tutting at me, and made a big show of pouring salt lines at the window and door and around her bed? I don’t know how you can pour salt sarcastically, but she managed.

It was a pretty decent party, honestly, all through the woods. There was obviously much wilder stuff happening deeper, bright lights and screams and music and stuff, but I met up with a group I vaguely recognized from some class or other, spent a good couple hours playing, like, a music-based chase game around this awesome spiderweb of a slackline rope course someone had set up in the trees, falling off laughingly as we got progressively drunker. Also Cuttlefish (trans dude, marine bio major) with the Bluetooth speaker started skipping erratically between songs with dramatically different genres and beat structures until we all ended up tackling him to make him stop. I was just thinking of heading back to dorm when this girl with really cool dark-fantasy makeup stumbled out of the trees, obviously in distress.

She was dressed in this kinda ragged-but-flowing translucent robe thing over incongruous muddy cargo shorts, barefoot, exhausted-looking, and screaming about being chased. Lark (short girl, I think geology major?) immediately grabbed some big hoola hoops I’d been ignoring (I mean, when there’s a huge multi-tiered rope course with ladders and slack lines and trapezes, hoola hoops don’t stand out) and threw one over Spider-makeup-girl immediately, who kinda collapsed to the ground sobbing in apparent relief, and Lark yelled for everyone else to sit in one as well. Something something salt circles? So we did, kinda bemusedly, two to a hoop.

Spider-girl’s chasers burst out of the trees a moment later, and, like, I had figured Elsewhere must have a pretty substantial cosplay community, considering the larping I’d heard people talking about, but damn these guys’ costumes were good. One had to have been like six and a half feet tall, but they were on tall digitigrade stilts that raised them closer to eight, if you included the mask, and the other had this really clean 4-arm rig and I swear the arms were moving separately. Like, I’m an engineer and I couldn’t figure out how either had put the costumes together, the movements were so smooth they looked practically natural. I hope they get into whatever film studio or props company they want, the prosthetics were definitely movie quality.

Anyway, they came bursting out of the woods, making growling sounds, but they both stopped abruptly when they saw the probably-ridiculous sight of nine twenty-somethings sitting in plastic circles on the grass. I expected them to start laughing, but they were really deep in character.

They kinda circled around us for a moment, sniffing the air. I wanted to comment on their costumes, but everything seemed super serious all of a sudden. Then one of them spoke.

“Have they trapped you, weaver? Do you take salt chains over calm oblivion? Do you think they can hold you against the hunt?”

Their voice was kinda deep and raspy, oddly resonant in the chill night air, like I was only hearing part of it. This was obviously part of some scene, but I dunno. Spider-girl was curled into a ball, shaking, and I felt these guys were taking it too far.

There were a couple moments of tense silence, then Lark spoke up.

“Our bargain is with her, not with you. Leave, or wait out the dark. We aren’t moving.”

The four-armed one literally hissed at that, raising up this ragged crest along their back and flexing all four of their clawed hands.

“If you take her, human, then you take her debts. How certain are you, that you believe yourself capable of filling them? Do you think her gifts worth the cost of her entrapment?”

I still couldn’t tell how the rig was working, there wasn’t much space in their costume for complex pneumatics or anything, which was kinda annoyingly obscure. Was it just puppetry? How the fuck did they get the arms to DO that? And the tall one’s mask, were those articulated eyelids AND ears?

“She is ours, human, hunted and caught. You mettle in affairs of what you know not.”

The big one was circling faster now, striding long-limbed on those stilts. They sounded ominous, but I saw a loophole there, so I spoke up.

“You obviously didn’t catch her? She escaped long enough to find us, and if I understand the setting of your game well enough, we count as scenery or props, not players on the same level as you. So it sounds like she got away on her own and found a hiding place she can wait out the sun, which means you lost and she’s free. Go bug someone else.”

They both roared at that, making charging motions towards us, but thy kept pulling up short about two feet away from the hoola hoops. I’m not gonna lie, it was super intimidating, but they didn’t seem like they were going to get any closer? After like five minutes of this, the tall one broke and ran into the trees and the four-armed one followed, both shrieking.

We stayed in the hoola hoops after that. I would have liked to go back to the dorms, but any time any of us moved Lark started shrieking at us to stay still because it was “dangerous” or whatever. Cuttlefish turned the music back on and we ended up playing a trivia game someone had on their phone. It was super uncomfortable but it could have been worse, especially since I was still pretty drunk, so it was all a kinda pleasant foggyness. I must have dozed off at some point because next thing I knew it was a bit brighter and spider-girl was standing over me.

Her makeup was even better in the twilight, extra eyes and weirdly-textured skin and everything.

“If you are, as you said, merely scenery in which I have found my own escape, then I owe you nothing.”

She looked around at all of us, then at Lark, who was getting up with a murderous expression, then back to me. Up close, I could see my reflection in her eyes, including the six fake ones. They looked intimately real.

“Your words unwind me altogether, even from your would-be friend,” she whispered, just to me, “and I owe you, gift for gift.”

Then, suddenly, she was gone. I saw her bolt to the rope course and up one of the support ropes, much further up than I’d noticed it went, until she disappeared into the treetops. It was impressive.

Lark yelled at me a bit, something something she could have made us all rich? I don’t know, I don’t understand the larp setting well enough to understand the context. And then I went back to my dorm and collapsed into bed. I only got three hours of sleep before I had to get up and take my exam, but I did pretty well on it anyway, got a solid 83%.

Couple days later I heard a sound at the window, and when I went to investigate I found a bundle of fabric on the sill. Unwrapping it, i found a hooded knee-length asymmetrical vest thingy with this really cool greyscale-geometric pattern on it, made from the same flowing material as spider-girl’s robe. It fits perfectly. Mysty made a bit of a fuss when she saw it, but calmed down a bit when I told her the context. I’ve been wearing it ever since, it looks really good over jeans.

Anyway, yeah. Probably the weirdest story I have, though there are some solid contenders, actually....College, you know. Stuff happens.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751201 (wrote this back in December, forgot to submit it)

[longitudinalwaveme]

Longitudinalwaveme Reviews Old Comics, Part 7

Today, I will be reviewing Flash #307.

The Flash #307 (1982): “Prey for the Piper”, was written by Carey Bates, drawn by the legendary Carmine Infantino, and inked by Bob Smith. 

The story stars the Barry Allen Flash as the protagonist and, as the title suggests, the Pied Piper as the main antagonist. This story is also historically important for the Piper-it’s the first issue to give him an origin story. That’s right. Despite having debuted in Flash #106 in 1959, the Piper wasn’t given a backstory (or a real name!) for 22 years! 

The story opens with two guys in a helicopter flying a giant gong across the city. Evidently, it’s going to be a new display at the Centrex Museum and...why in the world did they decide to transport the thing by helicopter? Couldn’t they have used a truck? That seems safer. 

Regardless, the Pied Piper, who is in a nearby skyscraper, uses his pipe to hypnotize the pilots and get them to fly the gong into a building that’s under construction. Barry Allen, who is nearby buying what I believe is a newspaper but could also be a magazine or, knowing Barry, a comic book, notices the collision that’s about to happen and springs into action as the Flash. 

The pilots release the giant gong and it cashes into the building, making a horrible noise but surprisingly not causing any structural damage. Barry stops the gong’s descent and goes to ask the helicopter pilots what’s happening. We then cut to Piper (who, as usual for this time period, looks like a demented elf), who notes that he only needs one more really loud sound to put “Operation Sound-Off” (I’m sure that sounded awesome in his head) into action and defeat the Flash. 

Meanwhile, Barry is puzzling over why the helicopter pilots suddenly dropped the gong into the building, as when questioned about what happened, they had no idea. He knows that someone must have hypnotized them, but isn’t sure who or why. Meanwhile, in the police department’s record room, a young officer named Morty, who has been giving a reporter information about some as yet unrevealed story, walks the reporter (who works for Picture News just like Iris did) to her car...only for him to be whacked over the head and her to be kidnapped! We also see that the files she was interested in involve the Pied Piper, who is operating under the alleged name of Henry Darrow.

Barry comes outside just as Morty comes to, and the younger man tells him about what happened. Barry thinks that someone kidnapped her because of the story she was working on, and, because it was about the Pied Piper, Barry assumes that it was the Piper who had her kidnapped. In speaking of the demented elf, he’s in a state park fifty miles outside Central City, known as Summit Canyon, creating an avalanche in order to gather the final decibels needed to enact his evil plan. He notes that, once it’s complete, he’ll “finally be able to rid myself of the two curses which have plagued my life with the most pain and misery: my arch-enemy the Flash-and my despicable family!” 

Meanwhile, in his apartment, Barry is trying to work out the details of the kidnapping (which he still thinks the Piper is responsible for), noting that the man’s past has always been a mystery. We then cut to “the posh Ridgeway Hills community easy of the city”, where one of the kidnappers wonder why someone so rich hired them. The other one basically tells him “who cares, we’re getting paid a ton of money and now we can go to Vegas!” 

Inside a mansion, the people who paid the kidnappers note that the reporter is waking up, addressing each other as “Osgood” (snicker) and “Rachel”. The reporter tells them that they won’t get away with this, to which they basically respond that they totally will, because they’ve got tons of money to bribe her with. We then see that she’s tied up at one end of a ridiculously long table. The reporter, whose name is Marcy Dunphy, exclaims that she’s seen the people who had her kidnapped in the society pages. The man then introduces himself and his wife as “Hazel and Osgood Rathaway”, which, as this is only two panels after the use of the “Rachel” name, may hold the record for the least amount of time passing before Cary Bates forgot a character’s name. The reporter identifies them as the heads of the Rathaway Publishing Empire and is completely bewildered as to why such wealthy people would have her kidnapped. Their response? She’s uncovered a very embarrassing family secret, and they want it to stay hidden. Which does raise the question of why they decided to have her kidnap before trying to bribe her. Wouldn’t she be more amenable to the idea if you hadn’t had her kidnapped? 

While the Flash races to stop the Pied Piper from robbing a museum, the Rathaways for some reason decide to tell Macy the whole story. Their son, Hartley Rathaway, was born deaf, so they spent a ton of money to ‘cure’ his deafness, and because this is comic books, they actually found a doctor who could do it. Hartley subsequently became obsessed with music. Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway had big plans for their son, but, as time went by, it became clear that Hartley wasn’t interested in excelling in anything or in “upholding the prestige of the Rathaway name”. Instead of addressing the problem (or, alternatively, not attempting to force their son to become famous), Osgood decided to start bribing the heck out of people. He bought Hartley’s way into the best colleges and then bribed them into giving him good grades he hadn’t earned. After Hartley graduated, Osgood paid his way into an executive position at a major firm and...seriously, just how rich are these people? 

Meanwhile, the Flash manages to get through the sonic barrier that the Piper set up around the museum, only to be attacked by the Piper and his “Sonic  Boomatron” which is in the shape of bagpipes because of reasons. The stupidly-named device hits Flash with the equivalent of 50,000 decibels, before we cut back to the Rathaways’ explanation of how awesome bribery is. They apparently gave Hartley a silver-plated flute for his sixteenth birthday (in case it wasn’t clear that they’re made of money yet, I guess), and they tell Macy that their son had always liked tinkering with musical instruments. Somehow, they completely missed that their son was a super genius who created hypnotic and weaponized music until he actually put on the costume and became the Pied Piper. HOW DID THEY NOT NOTICE THAT? It clearly started when he was still a teenager, as he used it to hypnotize his tutor into getting out of a test. 

Now with the power to hypnotize people, his life was even easier than it had been before, and Hartley was bored out of his mind. So bored, apparently, that he decided that white-collar crime was overrated and decided to go into the “robbing banks in costume” type of crime. I also find it amusing at how shocked the Rathaways were that Hartley became a criminal. What, do nonstop bribery and literal kidnapping not count? Because they were bribing people left, right, and center LONG before he became the Piper. 

Meanwhile, Piper’s weapon somehow turns the Flash into sound, because this is comics and comics don’t have to make sense. He proceeds to walk off with his loot, surrounded by a sonic barrier that protects him from police gunfire. 

So yes, the Pied Piper is Hartley Rathaway, his family is rich, and he became the Piper because, at least according to his parents, he was an “emotionally disturbed” child who got bored. Apparently the elder Rathaways have kept the secret through EVEN MORE BRIBERY, giving money to everyone from the local police chief to the FBI to keep things quiet. The FBI were the ones who created the identity of Henry Darrow. By the way, Mrs. Rathaway is back to being Rachel again. Rachel reiterates the fact that kidnapping and then bribing the reporter to also keep things quiet was the only logical solution to the problem...at which point the Piper himself shows up! 

Meanwhile, Barry uses his mental control over all his molecules to reassemble himself while the Piper tells his parents that he’s paid his debt to them. Apparently, he turns over most of his loot to his parents in order to pay “back every Rathaway dollar my parents spent on trying to mold me into something I could never be.” The elder Rathaways had to keep all of it because doing anything else would reveal the secret. Osgood tells his son that he and his wife only wanted what was best for Hartley, to which Hartley replies “Not quite, Pop. You wanted what was best for the Rathaway name! What I wanted never really matter much to either one of you.” According to Hartley, then, it seems that he became the Piper not so much because he was bored...but rather because he feels that his parents were more concerned with their reputations than with loving him. 

Then the Flash pops up, punches him out, and rescues Macy, who says that they should give the Rathaways a few minutes alone with their son. I guess that we can assume that the Rathaways never got arrested because they’re made of money. Or something. (Could that be why we also rarely saw the Piper in prison during the Silver and Bronze Age?) 

Well, it may have taken Piper 22 years to get an origin (and a name), but in this case, I think it was worth it. With the possible exception of the Golden Glider, the Pied Piper has what is by far the most interesting Silver/Bronze Age origin of any of the Rogues, and I’m glad it’s stuck around. Props to Carey Bates for giving the Piper an incredibly memorable origin story. 

[elsanna-shenanigans]

April Contest Submission #14: Break A Leg

Words: ca. 1,400 Setting: Modern AU (Musical Theatre/Broadway AU) Lemon: No CW: Injuries (Not Ankle Injuries), mild angst

xXx

To Elsa, there was nothing more exhilarating for her than the sensation she felt while on stage. Singing, acting, performing for a massive crowd and a loving fanbase. She adored every moment of it and felt it was her duty to go out there and please her public.

She had performed the lead in many broadway performances and her latest had certainly helped contribute to her growing fame, as the lead in a musical adapted from the classic fairy tale “The Snow Queen.”

Of course, Elsa had been cast as the Snow Queen herself and she had even contributed to some of the dialogue. She had truly made the role her own and she felt an obligation that she was the one who had to portray the Snow Queen in all her majesty.

Tonight, however, things had taken a rather dire turn, as rather than preparing for the show and being dressed in her rather gorgeous sparkling blue costume… Elsa was instead sat in the dressing room, with her knee propped up on another chair wrapped in bandages.

A few nights earlier, Elsa had twisted her knee during a dance routine on stage. The injury hadn’t been bad right away, only after the performance had the pain gotten worse. By tonight, it had only gotten worse, but Elsa was determined to go out there.

Her director Kristoff had suggested she take the night off and let her understudy cover for her for a change, but Elsa was having none of it. She’d gotten through worse injuries before, but this one was different. No matter how much she wanted to, at that moment, Elsa couldn’t even stand on her own two feet.

She heard voices outside the dressing room, slightly muffled. She knew people were concerned since the show was about to start in an hour or so.

“She’s still in there?” One voice asked.

“Yup and she still intends to go out there tonight,” another replied.

“She’s insane,” the first voice bemoaned. “There is no way she’ll be able to do the show in her condition.”

“You tell Elsa that,” a third voice spoke up. “You know how stubborn she is.”

“Oh I know,” the first voice responded. “Alright, I’ll go and talk to her. I’ll let you know if I can convince her of the error of her ways.”

“Good luck, Anna,” said the third voice, before two people left.

Elsa sighed. Of course it was Anna. Her beautiful, but very headstrong girlfriend. The two of them were co-stars in the musical, Anna playing the role of the Princess, the Snow Queen’s younger sister. There was an irony in the fact that the two sisters in the story were played by lovers in real life.

She and Anna had met not long after Anna was cast and they’d bonded during rehearsals. They hadn’t made their relationship public yet, since Elsa was worried about exposing their relationship to the no doubt dozens of journalists who’d want to pry into every detail of their lives. Damned tabloids.

The door to the room was then barged open, Anna storming inside. She was already in her costume, a poofy green ball gown reminiscent of those worn during the Victorian period, although her hair hadn’t been styled yet. She glared at Elsa, frustrated with her girlfriend’s attitude.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Anna demanded. “Do you seriously think you can go up on stage like this?”

“Anna, leave it, I’ll be fine,” Elsa insisted. “I just bust my leg up, that’s all.”

“Bust it up so bad you can’t even walk,” Anna remarked. “And you really think you can put on a show tonight in your position?”

“I have no choice,” Elsa argued back. “This entire production depends on it.”

Anna sighed, rubbing her forehead. As much as she loved Elsa, wanted nothing more than to one day spend the rest of her life with her, she hated how at times Elsa felt the weight of the entire world rested on her shoulders. Anna assumed it was her fame going to her head a little, or her deep anxiety issues.

She knew how that felt. In one of their early performances, she’d actually suffered a massive anxiety attack in the middle of the performance. Fortunately, Elsa had been able to help her through it and now, in return, Anna was going to take care of Elsa. She reached over to Elsa and put a hand on her shoulder.

“You and I both know that it doesn’t,” Anna said softly, trying to reach the real Elsa.

But Elsa just looked away. “No. It does.”

“But Elsa-”

“No. I’m going to go on stage tonight and I won’t let you try and stop me!” She tried to stand up, but only felt the pain shoot up her leg. “Agh!”

“Oh my goodness… are you seriously trying this?!” Anna said in disbelief. “Elsa, you can’t even stand up! Are you really so much of a stubborn bitch that you won’t even consider your own health?!”

“I’m the leading lady!” Elsa shouted in response, gritting her teeth in pain as she tried to move her leg. “If I’m not out there, people will get worried. I have an image, I’ve never missed a performance in my career!”

“And if you go out there, you falling flat on your face is gonna be plastered all over Youtube!” Anna remarked. “That’ll really do well for your so-called image.”

Elsa scowled, giving Anna an icy glare that wouldn’t be out of place on the Snow Queen herself. “I thought you of all people would understand, Anna!”

“Of course I understand, Elsa!” Anna argued. “I love you for god’s sake. I wouldn’t have met you if I hadn’t auditioned for this in the first place! Hell, I want to spend the rest of my life with you!”

“Wait… what?!”

Anna looked away. “Just… fine, if you wanna kill yourself on stage, I’m not coming to your funeral.”

Elsa sighed. She knew at that moment that for as stubborn as she was, Anna was ten times more stubborn. And… perhaps she was indeed right. There was no way she was going to be able to stand, let alone sing and dance in front of a crowd of hundreds. For the first time in her career… she had to take a break.

“You’re right…” Elsa whispered.

“Huh?”

Elsa looked at her girlfriend. “I said you’re right, Anna. My health comes before everything else. I’ll…. I’ll take a rest for a while, let my leg heal up.”

For a moment, Anna thought she believed Elsa, but then a thought at the back of her mind made her wonder if Elsa was actually being honest right now. “Are you saying that seriously or just so I’ll shut up and leave you be?”

“I’m being serious,” Elsa replied, taking her girlfriend’s hand. “I’ve never met anyone as caring as you and you always speak the truth. I’ll… I’ll get Kristoff to drive me home. You sure Cass will be alright filling in for me until I’m better?”

“Duh, she’s an understudy,” Anna remarked. “That’s her job.”

“Well, I’ve never had to trust things to an understudy before,” Elsa reminded her. “Sorry, you know I worry.”

“I know,” Anna replied, leaning and giving Elsa a kiss. “I’ll send Kristoff to get you and tell Cass she better go put that blonde wig on.”

“Alright,” Elsa responded, sighing in relief. All was well and she knew that she needed to hear what Anna had said, that she needed to take care of herself and put her health before her career. As Anna got up to leave the room, Elsa spoke to her one last time.

“Oh and Anna?”

“Yes?”

Elsa smiled. “Thank you for being here for me… and for talking sense into me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Grinning, Anna skipped over to Elsa, gently planting a loving kiss on her lips. “You’re here for me and I’ll be here for you. I’d be a terrible girlfriend if I didn’t stop you.”

Elsa beamed. “Break a leg.”

“Not literally, I hope.”

“Of course not… oh you know what I mean,” Elsa replied, giggling. “Just get going.”

As Anna started to leave, Elsa then remembered what Anna had said, about wanting to spend the rest of her life with her. She looked over at Anna, calling to her again. “Anna?” But Anna was already gone. Elsa sighed, chuckling to herself. It was probably best to leave that question unanswered.

But if Anna was going to ask that question, Elsa would definitely be saying yes.

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Stork Job

leverage 1.06

Joe: Where is he? What have you done with him?

Dana: Why haven't you returned our calls?

Joe: Did you think we'd just go away?

Dana: We’ve given you the money. What else do you want? (approaches Irena) What have you done with Luca?!

(thug grabs Dana and pushes her aside)

Joe: Dana!

(Joe goes to help Dana and is stopped by the thug. Joe punches the thug, who then beats him into the ground as Irena and Nicolas walk away. Thug leaves, and Dana crawls to his side)

yo can we take a moment to respect and love these parents??? like technically luca was just a kid they were going to adopt but these two were ready to THROW DOWN for him because even though they didn’t really know each other, he was going to be their kid if that’s the last thing they did

- - - - -

Dana: $120,000. We had to take a second mortgage out on the house.

Nate: Well, we can get the money back.

Dana: We don't want the money. All we want is Luca.

Nate: Right. (looks at picture of Luca)

we love to see the clients being noble as hell

- - - - -

Eliot: Are we seriously considering this, huh? Swiping a kid?

Nate: Yeah, well -- What happened to you?

Eliot (scrapes on his face): Well, how was I supposed to know it was a lesbian bar?

...I bet it was from something fucking stupid

eliot “distinctive” spencer would have known it was a lesbian bar

(edit: I heard that on the commentary for that episode CK got the injury from trying to play football while wearing cowboy boots and honestly what a chaotic fav)

- - - - -

Eliot: How do we even know this kid is an orphan?

Parker: See him pocketing those cookies? He’s hoarding food. That bag on the table -- he keeps his essentials light and portable. He knows he's gonna be taken away at any moment. And there, when she goes to touch him, he flinches. He’s expecting… for her to... Trust me. He’s an orphan.

parker’s Tragic Backstory™ is about to be told in 40 minutes, let’s go

- - - - -

Sophie: Hey, can we -- can we stop off in Paris on the way?

Nate: Uh... maybe on the way back.

Sophie: Cool

sophie loves paris and was so happy and excited im-

- - - - -

Parker: Yes. And she's with someone.

Eliot: That’s never stopped me before

parker, rolling her eyes: bruh

- - - - -

sophie being “princess magda of slovenia” rb if u agree

- - - - -

Nate: You know, just hurry up.

Hardison: It’s not so fun working in the crappy command center, is it? No, see, you're usually off doing your European spy thing. Well, welcome to my world.

(Computer shows facial recognition program working on picture Eliot sent. Hardison offers Sophie a bottle of pop)

Hardison: Orangescu?

even in a foreign country hardison manages to get something akin to orange soda

- - - - -

Sophie: Who was it? -- Dagmar from the car-rental place was a lovely girl, but listen, Irina’s a professional grifter. She's gonna see straight through your moves. She does this for a living. You know, gets people to like her and trust her, even to fall in love with her. She doesn't do this for sport.

Nate: Mm. Sounds like someone I know.

s a v a g e

- - - - -

Nicolas: Beautiful name for a beautiful lady. Tell me, Hardison, what brings you to Serbia?

Hardison: Oh, do my fangs and cape frighten you

hardison being Done™ with a skeevy guy hitting on parker and making jokes to ease the tension 🥰

- - - - -

parker says that sleeping is one of her hobbies and honestly bitch me too

- - - - -

Parker: It’s amazing how far Serbia’s come, but the scars must still be there. I mean, all the families who suffered during the war.

Nicolas: Yes, but history always has its casualties.

Parker: Yes, but those families and those children.

Nicolas: It’s tragic, yes. But the strong, the smart, the... the beautiful, they survive.

[Flashback]

(Joe, Dana and Luca on home move.)

Joe: Smile!

Dana: Smile.

(A young Parker swinging, cuts to Luca sitting in the car that will take him away, cuts to young Parker on a merry-go-round, cuts to Luca being driven away)

Woman: What’s wrong?

(a young Parker in a car holding her bunny, cuts to Nicolas driving the car that takes Luca away)

Nicolas: It’s time to go.

[American Embassy]

Nicolas: Not everyone is worth saving.

(Parker gropes behind her and grabs a fork from the table, stabbing Nicolas with it. Everyone in the room looks in their direction)

parker’s past is developed a lot in this episode and we love to see it + bby you can stab anyone you want

- - - - -

parker fucking yeeting out the window is me after I do anything remotely embarrassing

- - - - -

Eliot: I’m lucky to have you on such a short notice. (takes paper from man) Zhavaliti. Is that right? Zhavaliti? Thank you? See? Yeah? No? Welcome to the set.

Hardison: Fire in the hole!

(Hardison sets off explosion of flame behind them)

Eliot: Yeah, it's exciting, isn’t it?

Irena: yes.

Eliot: That guy's our special-effects guy. He ain't all there.

friendship means gently bullying each other

- - - - -

Parker (sits down near prop truck): This is ridiculous.

Hardison (sits down next to her with fake gun): Tell me about it. We’re supposed to believe these are real?

Parker: This is what he expects me to do, fetch scripts and water?

Hardison: No, it's a trust thing. He just needs to know that you’re gonna go along with the game plan.

Parker: Yeah, yeah. I get it; we're a team.

Hardison: A little more than a team. I’m just saying

this was such a big episode for parker and her opening up to the team (hardison in specific)

- - - - -

Hardison (picks up papers): Sophie, are you -- seriously, Sophie. It was supposed to be a two-page scene between Irina and a boy.

(Eliot grabs pages)

Sophie: That’s still the heart of it.

Eliot: "The heart of it"? There’s like 10 pages here! You have a stunt. You have special effects.

Parker: "Sister Magda crosses and gets a loaf of bread." Wait, who's sister Magda?

(Sophie rolls out dramatically wearing a nun’s costume while ethereal music is playing)

Hardison: Tell me you didn't see that coming.

(Eliot grabs the pages and walks away)

sophie: is dramatic

eliot: surprised pikachu face

hardison: ??? were you expecting something else

- - - - -

Sophie: Listen. All right, look, look -- look at all this. This is my world, okay? You need -- you need someone to, I don't know, crawl through an air duct, you call Parker. Bash her head in - Eliot. Internet porn -- Hardison. If you need someone to take over a movie, then...

Nate: yes, an -- an actor. Right

sOpHiE bRuH

poor hardison, he never gets enough credit

- - - - -

Nate: And... cut!

(everyone claps, Sophie sits up, smiling)

Eliot: She can't act.

Nate: She can act when it's an act.

Eliot (going to Sophie): Unbelievable.

Sophie Really?! Really?!

Eliot: Yeah, really. It was great.

eliot is such a supportive friend because literally his jaw dropped at her acting and literally the first thing he did when they said cut was rush over to her and compliment her

eliot is secretly a hype man disguised in many layers of gruff

- - - - -

Hardison: Just take it slow until she leads you to Luca.

Parker: I can't believe they sent you to babysit me.

Hardison: I’m here on my own

hardison cares about her so quickly I’m soft

- - - - -

parker’s haunted look and glassy eyes when she stumbles into the room with all the children? her heavy breathing? how she has to brace herself on a bed frame so that she doesn’t fall over? heartbreaking

- - - - -

[Harbor]

(van pulls to a stop and Parker and Hardison get out, Parker pacing nervously)

Parker: This isn't just an adoption scam.

Hardison: I know. I already called Nate.

Parker: These are arms dealers, and they're using the orphanage for cover.

Hardison: I already called Nate. Now, look, we can go over this with the others back at the hotel.

Parker: We have to bail.

Hardison: No. no, no, no. What about Luca and the others? We can't leave them like that.

Parker: Why not?

Hardison: You don't mean that.

Parker: You think this is the only crappy orphanage in this place? This is a country full of orphans, okay? We can't save them all.

Hardison: No, but we can save this one. Parker, we can -- we can save this one. Look, I know growing up was tough. I-I know that you -- you grew up in the system. It was -- it was bad. I know. It was, it was worse than bad, but that doesn't mean that all foster parents are monsters. Mine wasn't.

Parker: You grew up with your grandmother.

Hardison: We called her "nana," but she was our foster mom. She, uh... she -- she would cuss like a sailor. The old girl would tan your ass just as soon as look at you. But -- but she fed us, she bathed us, she put a roof over our head. And, oh, she would raise hell if you so much as looked at us crooked.

Parker: Yeah?

Hardison: Yeah.

Parker: Well, you were lucky. No. We’ll put these kids in the system, and odds are, they're gonna -- they're gonna... (trying not to cry) they're gonna turn out like me.

Hardison: I like how you turned out.

(Parker breathes hard, getting control of herself)

Hardison: Let’s go

this whole conversation was a lot meta wise but also this was one of the real defining moments in their relationship in s1. it’s also one of the first times parker starts to open up to the team for real, even if it’s only hardison

also, I personally will never get over the “I like how you turned out”

- - - - -

Hardison: I ran humpty and dumpty through the usual databases. Chechen separatists. Seriously bad dudes.

(Eliot chuckles)

Hardison: After reading their bios, I don't think I’m ever gonna sleep again.

Eliot: Never tell a Chechen his sister has a nice smile. Trust me

eliot is an idiot

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, let's go. (leads Luca forward)

Sophie (in Serbian): Everything’s going to be okay. Do you understand?

Eliot: Maybe this will help.

(Eliot leads Luca over to the Mortons)

Dana: Hi, Luca. Do you remember us?

(Luca smiles, Dana hugs him)

Dana: Thank you.

Joe: Thank you so much. Come on.

(The Mortons and Luca get in their car)

Eliot: I got to tell you, I had my doubts at first, this feels pretty good

and the eliot-being-soft-around-kids saga B E G I N S

- - - - -

parker trying her best to translate but just making the kids giggle

“men will sadden you” same

and what gets the kids up and going? Haagen-Dazs

- - - - -

fierce, determined parker beating up scumbags is my sexuality

+

parker isn’t violent a lot in terms of being anywhere close to the team’s fighter/hitter, but she fights so hard for the kids in this episode and it’s one of the only times we see her fight fight and that shows just how much she cares

- - - - -

Parker: Shh, shh, be quiet, they have armed guards at that door.

(door bursts open and a man falls through. Eliot stands in the doorway, looking angry)

Sophie: No, they don't

her team always has her back, even if they’re angry at her trying to go at it alone

- - - - -

parker spreading herself out to cover as much space as possible, bracing herself to get shot over and over with the hopes that at least none of the kids will im-

she’s so selfless sksjdnnsns

- - - - -

eliot being all gruff that things happened the way they did but smiling at the exploding building because they did it and the kids were safe

- - - - -

THE FUCKING PROP TRUCK PLAYING SPOOKY AND WEREWOLF NOISES AS THEY DRIVE AWAY JUST TO MOCK THEM

+

bonus: nate’s “anD CUT”

- - - - -

Parker: Hey, how did you know I’d be at the orphanage?

Nate: Thank Hardison for that. (follows Eliot)

Hardison: You know you could have gotten killed. Did -- did you even have an exit strategy?

Parker: I didn't really think that far ahead.

Hardison: You don't work alone anymore. You know that, right?

Parker: I know.

Hardison: We're a team…?

Parker: We're a little more than a team.

this important conversation but also HARDISONS SMILE

- - - - -

Parker: (gets on the van) Hey, Nate. I have to tell you something.

Nate: What is it?

Parker: We have to stop at Hagen Daaz.

Children: Hagen Daaz!!!

after all that they deserve like a billion pints of ice cream

[thewritewolf]

In Due Time Chapter 1: Witch AU

Hello and welcome to my entry for Marichat May 2020 - In Due Time! Figuring out an idea for this fic was an exhausting journey and I must've gone through nine or ten different ideas before inspiration struck and I ended up with this one. I've very excited to tell this story, and I hope you will like reading it just as much as I did writing it.

@marichatmay

Enjoy!

Summary: For eight years, Chat Noir and Red Beetle have been fighting to bring Hawkmoth to justice. But after so many years with no progress to show for their efforts, there are rumors that the Red Beetle has given up crime fighting.

Alone and without even a partner to rely on and all the while facing increasingly more dangerous akumas, Chat Noir has to find someone worthy of taking up the ladybug miraculous.

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 

Read on Ao3

Marinette stood in the bus with a handful of strangers, most of whom were sending her curious glances. That didn’t surprise her too much and she couldn’t blame them, even if it was making her a little self conscious. Paris might be a large, cosmopolitan city, but even so, someone dressed like a witch at sundown was sure to attract attention.

As she clenched her hands against her heavy skirt, Marinette was glad she’d at least designed her outfit to be practical. Having to endure all this scrutiny while freezing in the late October weather might have caused her to just head right back home before even reaching the party. And having to keep track of a purse while holding onto her prop broomstick would’ve been just awful. Another benefit to being a designer - she could add pockets to whatever she wanted.

It came as a huge relief when she got off the bus and started seeing more people in costume. At least she wasn’t sticking out in the crowd any more. Although now she was wondering just how many people were going to be showing up to Alya’s party. For all that talk about how Marinette went overboard with things, Alya could certainly keep up with the craziest that Marinete could pull and then some.

Maybe it was because of all the traffic the Cat Chat had been seeing. It had never really died down since those early years in lycee - the opposite, actually. The longer Hawkmoth’s war on Paris dragged on, the more that Chat Noir and Red Beetle were put into the spotlight and lauded. Or critiqued, Marinette admitted with a frown. That last article she had read had been scathing, but Alya had been quick to rip it to shreds on the Cat Chat.

As she stepped into the building after flashing her VIP ticket to the doorman, there was no doubt in her mind that the now infamous article was why there were so many people wearing costumes of Paris’s heroes today. Well - wearing costumes of Chat Noir, that is.

“Girl!”

Marinette looked around, clutching her broomstick tightly. She smiled when she saw Alya, wearing a female version of the Chat Noir costume, bulldoze her way through the crowded floor.

“Alya!” The two women kissed cheeks and hugged. “It’s been a few days, how have you been?”

“Crazy and frantic,” Alya said with a laugh. “But you know I wouldn’t have it any other way, girl.” She took a step back and walked around Marinette. “And look at you! You really went all out with this costume, huh?”

“What was I gonna do?” Marinette said with a smirk. “Not splurge for my bestie’s Halloween party?”

“I appreciate it, M. It helps the atmosphere.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “Especially with how tacky some of these costumes are. But hey!” Her voice returned to her usual volume again. “I can’t expect everyone to have a snazzy outfit for the first annual Cat Chat Halloween party.”

“You’re obsessed.” Marinette giggled.

“Why shouldn’t we get to have some Halloween fun too? Trust me, this is the start of something great.” Alya glanced behind her and cursed. “Or at least it would if people would stop trashing things. Sorry for bailing, but foods over there,” she jerked a thumb over her shoulder as she started edging away from Marinette. “Have fun! Socialize!”

And just like that Marinette was alone again.

Now, Marinette wasn’t a shy wallflower by any stretch of the imagination. But this was a perfect storm of eroded confidence that she had emerged into. The lingering stares on the bus. The press of people all around her. The fact that she knew literally no one here except for Alya. Which was surprising, at least until she remembered that Nino was busy today with a gig on the other side of town. He may not understand his girlfriend’s obsession, but at least he was supportive.

Regardless, it all piled up on her until she found herself floating at the edges of the party, using the big buffet table and the wall at her back as a buffer against the giant throng of people.

“Pretty big turn out, isn’t it?”

Marinette just about jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice just behind her, causing her pointy black hat to fall over her eyes. As she fumbled her broomstick and drink to try and fix it, she felt it be lifted and placed carefully back on top of her head.

“Sorry about that, little witch,” came the voice again and now she could see vibrant green eyes like shining emeralds looking down at her. Down because the person they belonged to was so tall, even lounging against the wall like he was. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No sweat,” she replied mechanically, her designer eyes already at work sweeping over his outfit. It turned out to be the sixth Chat Noir costume of the night, but she could hardly complain. It was leaps and bounds better than the usual cheap stuff that she’d been seeing all night.

“See something you like?” There was a teasing lilt in his voice. Her eyes rose back to his and she saw the flirty smirk he was wearing.

“Sorry, I was just admiring your costume. It is definitely the most accurate one I’ve seen all night.”

“Are you something of a Chat Noir expert?” He asked, an amused glint in his eyes.

“Well, I’m a designer so I have an eye for those sorts of things. Everyone remembers the ears and tail, and most people remember the bell,” she flicked his, delighted that it had a pleasant metallic ring. “Getting the size of the bell, the leather-like quality of the ears and tail - those are common mistakes.”

“Well, if I’m going to be Chat Noir, I may as well go the full distance, right?” Again there was a playful look in his expression, like there was a joke he wasn’t sharing.

“Yeah, but most people don’t even realize that the super suits are made up of tiny hexagons,” she said, pointing at the miniscule figures making up his costume. “How do they even do that? Heck, how did you?”

Chuckling, he shook his head. “You must be a really big fan then, huh? Like you said, most people don’t know that trivia.”

“It helps that my best friend runs the Cat Chat,” she said with a smirk, expecting him to be impressed. Instead, he snorted.

“Yeah that makes sense. If you’re Alya’s closest friend, you probably get sent all the articles before they’re published.” He patted her shoulder. “My condolences. Even I can’t keep up with everything she puts out.”

“Which reminds me-”

“Witch reminds you?” He said, looking very pleased with his pun.

Marinette chuckled, shaking her head. “Sure. Anyway, you haven’t given me your name?”

His smile widened. “You can just call me Chat Noir.”

“You might have to be more specific there,” she said with a glance to a couple of Chat Noirs nearby.

“Ah, trying to rely on my good manners to figure out my true identity. Very clever, but no, you’ll have to make due with just Chat Noir.”

“You really are playing the part, aren’t you?” Marinette rolled her eyes. “That’s fine, I suppose. But seriously, what’s your costume made out of?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Well, I’ve always been curious about the real deal since I’m an up and coming designer-”

“In my experience,” Chat Noir interrupted with a grin. “‘Up and coming’ usually means ‘down and out at the moment.’”

She glares at him for a moment before turning away. Intending to get a refill of punch and some distance away from ‘Chat Noir’, she started walking away. He snagged her elbow - not tightly, but just enough to make her pause.

“Wait! Sorry, that was rude of me. This is the longest I’ve gone talking to a pretty lady for a while, please excuse me.” When she turned back around, he breathed a sigh of relief. “So, you’re a designer?”

“Yes,” she said, still feeling a little miffed but also feeling a boost to her ego from the pretty lady comment. “I actually made my costume for this party.”

“Really?” Chat said, surprised. “I thought it looked a cut above what everyone else was wearing. Do you mind if I take a look?” He smirked, but it lacked some of the cockiness from before. There was a slight shyness that was endearing. “I don’t want to just… oogle you without permission.”

She giggled. “Sure! I’d love for someone to actually appreciate the work that went into this.”

Setting down her drink, she held her broom and spun around slow enough that he could get a good look. When she was facing him again, he was wearing an impressed look.

“Its even better than I thought it was. Naturally, I realized it was excellent quality, but not many designers today would remember to balance comfort and practicality in addition to appearance. Plus,” he added as he ran a claw along a seam, “these stitches are expertly done. I bet you’ve been practicing sewing for a long time.”

“Since before lycee! I was making clothes and accessories even back then. In fact…”

Their conversation wore on for the next couple hours and it turned out ‘Chat Noir’ had more than just a cute face and a flirty tongue. He had a surprisingly good knowledge of fashion and the industry, even gave her a few tips for how to break into it.

As much as she tried to steer the conversation toward him and what he did, he always managed to expertly get her back into talking about her. It was almost as if he had plenty of practice doing it, but she was just glad to have someone new to talk to. All her work recently had left her without many friends to casually talk to. Which was no doubt another reason Alya had gone out of her way to give her a VIP invite.

Eventually, though, ‘Chat Noir’ left. It was only a few moments later that she realized she had forgotten to ask his name again, or at least ask for his number (he was a cutie after all). But by the time she turned around to look for him, he’d vanished without a trace.

Not that she had long to dwell on it. Just as she was frowning and searching the crowd, Alya stormed over to her. Her eyes were wide and she had that manic energy around her that Marinette had rightly learned to dread over the years.

“Girl! Do you know who you were just talking to?!”

“Some guy that wouldn’t give me his name and insisted I called him Chat Noir,” she said with a sigh. “Which sucks, but-”

“That’s because that was Chat Noir!”

“I get why you think that - it was a super impressive costume - but-”

“No, girl. Listen to me.” She put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders and stared her in the eye. “I’ve spent eight years running a blog with a cat pun in the name because of that furry. Eight years of studying Chat Noir and Red Beetle. I’ve interviewed him! If anyone can point out the real Chat Noir out of a bunch of lookalikes, its me.”

Alya shook Marinette in her excitement. “You just spent the evening flirting with Chat Noir, you amazing minx!”

Marinette smiled as Alya babbled excitedly, but in the comfort of her own mind she frowned. That wasn’t at all what she expected the bombastic, energetic hero she always saw on television to be like. With the party dying down, she headed back to Alya’s place to spend the night, still trying to merge the image of the larger-than-life hero of Paris and the shy boy asking her if she’d let him look at her costume.

There seemed to be more to Chat Noir than she had ever given him credit for.

[bisexual-horror-fan]

You Missed Your Cue. Metal Killer X Reader.

I watched the movie Stage Fright, I LOVED IT! It was so good and we both agree the killer from it is amazing and there is literally NOTHING written for him. Unacceptable. The idea for this hit me at work today, so here we are. 

Anyway, even if you do not know this boy, you should get to know him! This movie is great, check it out, ENJOY THE SMUT!

----

Rating: Explicit. (Again, it me.)

Warnings: Gore and violence, slight dirty talk, semi public sex. 

Length; 1.5K

----

You were a theater kid, through and through, you had been going to Center Stage for the past few summers. You were getting a little old for it to be honest, you love theater, of course you do but there was a wide age range and you were for sure on the higher end of the age bracket.

The show this summer was The Haunting Of The Opera, you didn’t land a part so you were instead back stage. You weren’t mad about it, you actually liked it, sure acting was great and all but the people behind the scenes are the ones who make the real magic of theater happen, helping with sets and quick changes and prop handling, working to make sure every little thing on opening night would go as smooth as possible.

It was a few weeks into camp, things were going good, it was all exciting, being here really reminded you just how much you loved theater. You were staying late, putting away some costumes that were finished up that day, once the last one was hung up you got ready to head out for the night, you started to get changed before going back to your cabin.

Then you heard it. A noise, someone else was back here, you were still half dressed when you turned around quickly to see the Opera Ghost standing there. You put your hand to your chest and let out a sigh of relief saying,

“Jesus. Sam you scared me. Why are you still wearing that?”

You paused for a moment, the costume looked...Different? A little off from the one you had seen, ugh the director couldn’t even decide on a leading lady, him not being able to decide on a version of the Opera Ghost costume wasn’t that surprising.

“Seriously. Get it off.”

He shook his head and you scoffed,

“I know you are all method and really into the role but you know you can’t take that out of the theater, you have to leave it here.”

You turned back around to get a hanger to give to him so he could hang it up, your hand closed on the wire of the hanger when you felt it, hands on your hips and him leaning into your back. You were still half dressed but as a theater kid you were used to changing in front of other people and being in varying states of undress backstage, him touching you reminded you just how little you had on though.

“Sam?”

“That’s not my name.”

Oh wow.

What was he doing with his voice? So deep, it sounded good, very unlike him, an interesting character choice, and one that was strangely a turn on. His hands were running up your sides and you realized what he wanted, you had liked him for a while, you were very okay if he wanted to do this, plus any girl in camp would kill to be the one hooking up with the leading man of the summer show. One thing you hadn’t expected was he wanted to do it in character but oh my God were you into it. You let out a moan when he ground his hard clothed cock on your ass and he laughed, his grip on your tightened ,

“God all you theater girls are such sluts.”

That voice, the way he said it, damn was it good. He had you.

“What should I call you?”

You breathed it out when his hands found your breasts through your shirt and he ground down on you again.

That was how it started, the two of you hooked up backstage that night, he didn’t take off the costume or break character and it was so good, it became a naughty little secret between the two of you. It was so fun, the role play and the dirty talk he would spit at you making you drip and get so excited. You would hang back more and more and were rewarded with visits from your costumed dirty little secret, it was rough and fun and so damn thrilling every time.

You two wouldn’t talk about it, sure Sam was as nice and polite as ever, you guys laughed and joked but nothing else changed and you kind of loved that even more. Doing this in secret, not acknowledging what was between you, it just happening behind the curtain and sets when he was in costume. It got bolder and bolder too, once some of the set designers were staying late, repainting some backgrounds on the directors request and the two of you hooked up on the walk ways above the stage, the ones that gave access to the lights, it was a little dangerous and you had to be quiet and you ended up coming so fucking hard that your legs almost gave out. You would have been caught if he hadn’t had his hand covering your mouth while he took you from behind.

Another time a rehearsal ran late, people were still around, filtering in and out, doing things, wrapping stuff up and you were hidden behind a rolling set piece, some grinding and fondling ended up with him between your thighs. You were so damn hot when he told you to close your eyes, he fell between your legs. Your skirt was pushed up and panties pulled to the side and he ate you out right there, mask pulled up just enough to allow him to do so and you bit your lip so hard it almost bled, your thighs wouldn’t stop shaking, not even ten minutes after he had finished with you and left you there. The walk back to your cabin was slow going with how unsteady you were on your feet.

And soon it was finally time, opening night, all the hard work and effort finally coming together. The show was going great so far, you were watching from your usual spot, you had this little place, this small corner that could be stood on on top of one of the sets. You could overlook the whole stage and be out of sight, it was out of the way and it seems like no one knew about it.

Well no one but you and him of course.

Speaking of him, he came to visit, you were already gushing about how great he was doing and how wonderful the show was when his hand covered your mouth. He put a finger to the lips of his mask, signaling you to be quiet, his other hand grabbed yours and he brought it down-

Oh he was so hard.

He wanted a quickie now?

During the show? 

In-between cues where he was needed on stage?

Fuck that got you so hot.

You agreed quickly, this had to be fast, hands roaming, helping free each other just enough to get at each other. Soon you were gripping the metal support bar, he was behind you, taking you roughly, fuck, you had to be quiet, one moan too loud and everyone down there would hear you.

Then you heard it.

That music cue meant he needed to be back on stage, his grip tighter, thrusts harder, you were close, so was he, you urged him.

“H-Hurry!”

You loved doing this but didn’t want to be responsible for the show getting messed up by him not being where he needed to be. His hand came around, gloved fingers finding your clit, you bit back a gasp, it was too good, him inside of you, fingers working you, the situation of doing it like this, you ended up reaching your peak just a hair before him, coming hard around him, he started to fill you, halfway through your orgasm. You had barely started to come down, grip loosening on the bar in front of you, panting softly, your eyes opened again to see it.

He was on stage?

But he was still inside of you, hands still on you, the one on stage in that original costume.

“Wha-”

Before the word could leave your mouth, his hand was on your jaw, forcing your head back, then you felt it.

Icy, cold, unrelenting steel dragged over your throat, cutting deeply, blood spilling forth.

It was so quick there was nothing you could do. Blood spilled from your mouth along with wet sounds of confusion and pain. You were looking at the Opera Ghost on stage as this different one, this one that was decidedly not Sam was holding you, hurting you, killing you, your vision was blurring,  then that rough voice in your ear,

“Oh no. I missed my cue.”

You would have laughed if you weren’t dying in his arms. Both arms were around you now, you weren’t struggling, weren’t fighting, his cum was spilling out of you just as fast as the blood was, the world was starting to fall away, you were fading fast.

The last thing you registered was him holding you tighter and that voice again, softer, different, familiar, didn’t you know who this was? It wasn’t Sam but-someone you knew, who was it?

“Too bad you are one of them. I really did like you.”

His name was on the tip of your tongue when the curtain on your life finally fell.

[jisungsmochi]

shining star - chenle

literally came up with this idea at 2am and just kept writing so i’m posting it bc it’s my first chenle imagine and i am pretty proud of it hehe, hope you all enjoy, idk how long this is but its very fluffy and has some angst in you squint. 

prompt(?):

“you have detention?” you question the boy.

“and you’re in a musical?” he strikes back, followed by a small grin.

highschool!au , friends to lovers?, musical themed hehe

————-

“all students who are taking part in the next musical production, please meet in the theatre after school for your first meeting” the announcement over the speakers echoed through the halls and in classrooms.

“imagine being in the school musical” you heard boys behind you tease, followed by obnoxious laughter. you turned around to see who they were, not to your surprise it was chenle, and his group. chenle’s eyes met yours, he saw the expression on your face and instantly stopped smiling.

what a jerk, you thought to yourself.

you turned back around and resumed listening to the lesson, taking down notes before placing a reminder on your phone that you had a meeting for the musical. you weren’t the lead, this time. but you were hoping that in the next production, you will be. you were happy with playing the supporting role, just as long as you had some lines. the musicals at school were a safe haven for you. you were supported by people who had the same passion and the activities your drama teacher allowed you guys to participate in, made you enjoy lessons even more. although most of the school focused on the sporting teams, you were pleased with the theatre group. aside from occasional teasing, such as from chenle and his friends, you adored being in musicals.

“you haven’t handed in your assignment from two weeks ago, despite the extension. i have to put you in detention” your english teacher shook his head in disappointment as chenle groaned. you weren’t sure if he was annoyed or upset that he was in detention. you could never really tell.

your eyes met his again, he immediately broke the contact and made his way back to his seat.

the bell rang, signalling the end of school. your phone dinged with the reminder for the meeting. you rushed to the theatre, placing your bag in the designated spot and focusing on your teacher’s instructions.

“okay, today will be quite an easy day since it is our first meeting. i will be going over the opening scene with the leads so all other crew members, please begin to brainstorm costume ideas and set designs!” your teacher ordered, and immediately everyone dispersed into their designated roles. you decided you were going to read over your lines and highlight them in some pretty pastel colours. you situated yourself near the steps on the stage, legs crossed and focusing on reading.

after a few scenes, you decided to take a break, something caught your sight on your left. you furrowed your eyebrows and followed your senses. before you knew it, you were met with chenle towering over you, with a blank expression on his face.

“what are you doing here?” you spoke.

“what do you think?” he crossed his arms and looked at his feet.

“you have detention?” you questioned the boy.

“and you’re in a musical” he strikes back, followed by a small grin. you couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

“so what? you’re here to help with the sets?” you questioned him further, honestly trying to pass time.

“i’m more of just a stage hand i guess.” he shrugged, finally looking you in the eyes.

it wasn’t like you hated him. you didn’t really hate people. but sometimes, the things he said just got on your nerves.

“are you the lead, in the musical?” he loosened up, standing more comfortably in front of you as you continued this casual conversation.

“um no i’m not. i’m the supporting lead, it’s still something!” you smiled shyly, afraid he might tease you.

“what? you’re not the lead?? and soojin is? but you’re a great singer” his face was contorted in a confused expression.

“how would you know that?” you perked up, while smiling.

“i’ve heard you at the talent show, and you do know that you post singing videos on instagram?” he chuckled softly, making you pout.

“oh right, well i don’t know, maybe she’s just better at acting!” you tried to excuse, but he wasn’t convinced.

“possibly, well um, while we’re talking, do you mind if we just chill during these meetings? until my detention is lifted and all, i literally have no one” chenle proposed, which made you quite flattered that he enjoyed your company.

“oh yeah sure! i’ll teach you about stage directions and stuff, just so you’re not confused and all” you offered, which caused him to smile widely and nod.

“thankyou so much” he held his hands in a prayer pose.

“my pleasure” you laughed before telling him where to move certain objects.

——————

two weeks passed by and you’d say that chenle had picked up the theatre terms pretty quickly.

“you sure you don’t wanna be in the musical?” you joked as he was playing around with the microphone settings.

“oh yeah for sure, can’t believe i missed auditions” he joked in return, shaking his head before handing you the microphone.

“should be good to go” he smiled before giving you a thumbs up. you mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ before facing your teacher. you began singing your duet with the supporting male lead. it was going smoothly until you completely blanked and forgot the next lines. the music automatically stopped,

“y/n! what’s going on? you’ve had 2 weeks to prepare so far” your teacher sounded disappointed and slightly annoyed. you sighed quietly before apologising and running off stage. chenle was about to stop you before you shoved past him, tears leaking from your eyes. he heard your sniffles and ran after you. you stopped running as you left the theatre, backing yourself against the wall. chenle caught up and faced you.

“i can’t do it” you sobbed. your chest was heavy and your breathing was irregular. he noticed and placed a hand on your arm.

“look at me, just calm down first okay? breathe with me. in.... and out” chenle tried his best to help you.

you followed his orders before speaking again.

“i can’t freeze up like that in the real show. i just can’t. i need to keep singing. even if i fuck it up” you sighed to yourself, sliding down the wall to sit on the ground. he copied you and sat next to you, your shoulders touching.

“hey, at least this was rehearsal. you’ve kicked ass, all the way up to now. don’t let this scare you!” he spoke to you in such a lovely manner, it eased your worries.

“i know i know. i just can’t help but feel this way” you look at him. your face stained with tears, but you still gave him a small smile. he wiped some of the tears with his thumbs, before saying,

“let’s cut this rehearsal short. you deserve some ice cream” he pulled you up from the ground and pulled you in for an embrace. you would admit that you had come to a liking of chenle. he was so helpful as a stage hand, and always showed up on time. he always gave you a small thumbs up before you were about to sing, and always waited for you when rehearsal was finished to catch the bus home. you nodded at his offer, grabbing your bag you had placed in your locker and walked out of school with chenle by your side.

—————-

chenle had served his detention, but still remained as a stage hand, in which your teacher didn’t mind as he was genuinely helpful with the props and tech equipment. it was two weeks before opening night. after almost every rehearsal, chenle would be right by your side when going home. the entire time you both had been working together, he hadn’t said one negative thing about musicals. he had become accustomed to the quick paced yet laid back nature of the theatre. but what he wouldn’t admit, is that he enjoyed watching you on stage. you smiled so brightly, you sang like an angel. he couldn’t get enough. his friends often teased him for wanting to remain a stage hand, but he ignored them, knowing it was worth it.

after this particular rehearsal, you ran up to chenle and hugged him tightly. he was taken aback, slowly placing his arms around you and patting your back softly.

“i didn’t make any mistakes today!!” you cheered, pulling away from him, still leaving your hands around his forearm.

“i know! you were great, as usual” he complimented, which made you blush. you shook your head before speaking,

“thankyou for always having my back. i’ll treat you to an early dinner. what do you want?” you offered kindly.

“actually, i have to get back home, but how about, this weekend? we can go out for lunch or something” chenle crossed his fingers in his mind that you would agree. you nodded immediately,

“yeah sure!! message me when you’re free!” you smiled before completely letting go of him and leaving the theatre.

he couldn’t control himself, as he fisted the air and cheered quietly.

————-

saturday afternoon, you had agreed to meet with chenle at your local bowling alley, as the onion rings were to die for there.

you were onto the eighth bowl, chenle leading by 40 points.

“this isn’t fair! you’re too good!” you complain, poking his sides.

“am not! just know where to focus that’s all!” he defends before taking a bite of an onion ring. you giggled before taking your turn.

“here i’ll show you” he came up behind you, helping you position yourself properly.

you felt his fingers touch yours and you couldn’t help but blush.

“okay so you see that middle pin? just try your best to aim there and keep your arm steady!” he looked at you for assurance as you nodded in response. he left your side to watch, as you did exactly what he had said. you both watched as the ball rolled right towards the middle pin, although you did not get a strike you still managed to known down nine pins. you ran over to chenle, arms wide as he embraced you warmly and spun you around shortly.

“did you see that?!” you were ecstatic, he admired your excitement.

“i know!! you’re a pro already” he smiled.

“ah you’re too kind!” you complimented.

on the way back to your house, chenle had been walking close to you, where your shoulder touched and at any moment your fingers would link.

“thank you so much for today!! only a week or so until opening night!! this really helped calm my nerves. i appreciate your support over these past few weeks. i hope we still stay friends after this” you didn’t know why that last sentence felt so uncomfortable to say. you didn’t want to be just friends.

“oh yeah no problem!! you really kept me sane. i’m sorry for talking bad about musicals before, i just never really paid attention to them! you’ll smash it on opening night! i’ll be cheering! and yeah, we will be friends” a part of him felt hurt to finish off that sentence as well.

you gave him one last hug, which lingered for longer than your normal hugs.

“see you next week” you waved before entering your house, watching as he returned the action. what did you get yourself into?

—————-

it was the afternoon of opening night, everyone was running around everywhere. you had just finished the final rehearsal and were currently resting. you sat with chenle outside of the theatre again.

“you nervous?” he questioned, looking over at you.

“a little, i just don’t want to make any mistakes!” you sighed.

“and you won’t! here’s something to make you feel better” he pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket. you raised your eyebrows before opening the box, it was a key ring that had a star hanging from it.

“you didn’t have to get me something oh my god, flowers would have been perfectly fine!” you pulled him closer to you, listening as his laugh filled your ears.

“it’s okay! you deserve it. you’ll still be a star, even if you mess up. you’re such a good performer i can’t stress that enough” he avoided your eyes. you tried to gain his attention again, in which he complied.

“can i tell you something?” your stomach was going so many flips, you couldn’t contain yourself. he nodded slowly, allowing you to continue.

“without you, i would have probably given up by now. thank you for staying by my side. i can’t thank you enough for how nice you’ve been to me. and i think it would be a good time to say that, i really like you. like a lot. like i think about you after every small positive thing that happens to me because you are just such a positive person! and this gift is just so meaningful. you are such an amazing guy, and i hope you like me too” you blurted out , watching as his face became stunned. words refused to leave his mouth. you pouted softly, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“i was going to tell you that i liked you after the musical but you beat me to it. if it weren’t for you, i would have quit being a stage hand after my detention. but i really wanted you to see how amazing you are. i’ve known how amazing you were since the talent show. i was surprised to see that you were a supporting role. you deserve so much more. i admire all of your confidence, and i can’t get enough of you” he spoke with such admiration you began tearing up. you hugged him tightly, refusing to let go, mumbling ‘i like you so much’ in his chest. he softly giggled, “i like you too cutie”.

———

opening night was a success. as the final bows were being taken, you looked over at chenle and ushered him to join you on stage. he quickly shuffled to you and took a bow with the rest of the crew.

“congrats on everything” he whispered to you.

“you’re adorable” you mumbled before placing a quick peck on his cheek. he looked over to you in shock. you were unpredictable, quick witted and he was completely whipped for you.

musicals weren’t so bad after all.

[lesbians4shaynetopp]

Smosh Theatre AU

Actors

• Shayne- Baritone

• Courtney- Soprano

• Noah- Tenor

• Keith- Baritenor

• Damien- Baritenor

• Olivia- Alto/Mezzo

• Sarah- Mezzo/Sop

• Kimmy- Alto/Mezzo

• Ian (but mostly assi. director)- Bass

Crew

• Matt- stage manager

• Mari- assi. stage manager

• Joven- set head

• Lasercorn- set head

• Wes- sound head

• Boze- costume/makeup head

• Flitz- props head/choreographer

• Sohinki- lights head

Directors- Rhett and Link

The Musicals

Little Shop Of Horrors

Seymour- Noah

Audrey- Courtney

Audrey II- Keith

Orin Scrivello- Damien

Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon- Kimmy, Olivia, and Sarah

Mr. Mushnik- Shayne

Falsettos

Marvin- Damien

Whizzer- Shayne

Trina- Kimmy

Mendel- Keith

Jason- Noah

Charlotte- Olivia

Cordelia- Courtney

Waitress

Jenna- Courtney

Dawn- Olivia

Becky- Kimmy

Dr. Pomatter- Damien

Earl- Ian

Ogie- Noah

Cal- Shayne

Joe- Keith

Headcanons

Actors

Damien

• Damien is the star of the program

• He has a lot of range as an actor

• He has singing range up to a F#4 belt

• He had so much fun as Orin in little shop

• Dark Damien popped off honestly

• And then with falsettos he went off with it all. Bitch’ll make you cry

• Though he had a harder time staying in character with him

• Just because it’s hard to do Thrill Of First Love with your best friend (if you know you know)

• He didn’t think he was going to be Dr. Pomatter but that’s how it ended up

• It was a little harder on his voice, but he loved every second

Keith

• Keith has RANGE BABYY He goes up to an A4 and down to a C3

• His favorite role he’s every done was Audrey II.

• He says it’s because he didn’t have to worry about blocking

• But it’s really bc he got to play with it a lot

• Mendel was harder for him bc he’s used to over the top characters

• He was so excited to work with Noah a lot

• Bc ya know bffs

• Being Joe in Waitress wasn’t his favorite role, but he can play old really well

• He was the sweetest old man and he made Courtney cry on stage during Take It From An Old Man

Noah

• Then Noah is a NATURAL tenor. He can go to a B4 but he can’t go very low

• He’s a phenomenal with body language on stage

• Also he gets main roles bc he can sing so high

• But also bc he’s just fucken talented

• Seymour was he best role. Like- he was perfect for the role.

• He burst out laughing when he saw the cast list for falsettos bc OF COURSE he was cast as the little Jewish kid

• But that also meant Damien, Keith, Shayne, and Kimmy got to be his parents 🥰🥰

• The CHEMISTRY he and Keith had on stage during falsettos tho

• In Waitress he was lowkey confused about being Ogie and not Dr. Pomatter bc he thought Damien was gonna be Ogie

• But he ended up really liking Ogie

• He basically had the comedic relief and two solo songs sooo

Courtney

• Courtney?? She’s a hella soprano. Belts a F5 and amazing falsetto.

• She will usually get the main roles bc she a soprano and blonde

• So of course she got Audrey

• Doing the accent was really fun for her

• The entire character was very over the top and fun for her

• Tho she honestly thought she was going to be Trina, but she accepted the fact that she has been overthrown by Kimmy

• And she loved being a lesbian with Olivia

• Bc that was just everyday for them

• Jenna in Waitress was her best role

• It was the most vulnerable she’s ever felt on stage

• She loved working with Damien too

• Bad Idea? So much fun.

Shayne

• Shayne is more into the straight plays but he does like to do the musicals.

• He’s truly a baritone, but for falsettos he was able to stretch it and build his falsetto (haha)

• It did take a little bit of a toll on his voice

• But it was SO worth it making people cry during The Games I Play and You Gotta Die Sometime

• It was the most work he’s ever put into a show character-wise

• He usually plays the homophobic assholes and now he’s playing the boyfriend of the homophobic asshole (haha oops 🤭🤭)

• Honestly he did fall a little more in love with Damien (in a friend way obviously) during the entire process

• Being mean to Noah in Little Shop? Best thing

• The dancing in Mushnik & Son was a lot of work for him

• But it was a really fun song too

Kimmy

• Kimmy was a newbie for Little Shop and blew everyone away with her powerful alto belt

• They didn’t think twice about her for Trina

• And she fucking KILLED IT

• She thought Courtney hated her for a little bit, but she realized that’s it wasn’t the case

• Everyone accepted her in immediately

• She got closer to everyone really quick because of falsettos since it was a smaller cast and more relationship building

• Working with Keith was a lot of fun for her

• He brought a lot to the table, comedy-wise and it was just a blast for her

• Then with Waitress she REALLY got to connect with the girls which was amazing

• And she got to really belt out those alto notes as Becky

Olivia

• Olivia was never a naturally good singer, but she really wanted to do theatre (especially musical theatre) so she did A LOT of voice lessons

• She’s a great dancer and actor though

• But she usually doesn’t get the biggest roles in the musicals

• Except for Waitress which was a great experience for her

• It was such a perfect role for her character-wise

• With falsettos though, she had a hard time with it all

• The character was really anything she’s done before

• And the singing was VERY belt-y

• But by the end it was great

Sarah

• Sarah isn’t the best out of the other actors, but it doesn’t really bother her

• Anything is good for her

• She likes supporting the actors

• And she got to be assistant director for Waitress!

• When she’s not in the shows, she usually helps Boze with costumes and makeup or set with the design aspects

• She’s sort of a jack of all trades around there

Ian

• He’s been apart of the program for a WHILE

• He started out as an actor, but as more people kept coming he started doing more assistant director stuff

• Which is fine for him

• He likes doing the more director-y things

• Since he IS a bass, it’s harder for him to get musical roles since broadway is FULL of tenors

• He was ecstatic when he saw he got to be in Waitress

• Of course as Earl

• Rock vocals are his thing

• Also acting as a creep

Crew

Matt

• He is THE stage manager

• He’s super organized and very on top of everything

• He works a lot with sound and lights

• The focus is REAL during shows bc he be calling cues like a madman

• If you look at his script, it’s very messy though

• All different colors and notes jammed into the margins

• He’s not afraid to yell at the crew if they screw something up

• But they all still love him

Mari

• She’s also super organized so she and Matt are a super team

• She works more closely with the more tangible aspects of the show like set and props

• She’s also not afraid to yell at them

• She takes more organized notes so the directors are actually able to read them

Joven and Lasercorn

• they’re like an old married couple when it comes to the set

• Joven dreams big, while Lasercorn thinks more practically

• Mostly because Lasercorn does the bulk of the actual building and inventory

• Joven does the blueprints

• In the end, they’re a dream team and are there to make the shows look awesome

• And they Do

Wes

• Sound is no easy task that requires a lot of patience with the directors and focus

• There have been multiple instances that Matt has YELLED at him because of missed cues, a cue being too quiet, etc.

• And on performance night, literally sweat is dripping from his forehead bc of the stress

• They joke that it’s where his silver hair comes from

• And it may seem like the worst thing ever to be on sound, but Wes loves the thrill of it all

Boze

• She loves theatre and always wished to be apart of it somehow

• She’s never been able to act, dance, or sing very well, so she applied to the local regional theatre to do the things she CAN do: thrift, sew, and do makeup

• She loves helping with quick changes and putting makeup on the men

• ESPECIALLY Damien since he hates makeup

Flitz

• He’s always loved dance, but he’s not really a singer or an actor

• Also loves antiques

• So the program put him head of props because they were low on staff at that time

• The theatre doesn’t usually do super dance heavy musicals, so any songs that do have dance numbers, he will choreograph

• He did all of the choreo for Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette in Little Shop, Mushnik & Son, the smaller stuff in Falsettos, Never Ever Getting Rid Of Me, and Bad Idea in Waitress

Sohinki

• He had experience in lighting for a small concert venue and then he came to the theatre bc he needed a job very bad

• And the theatre needed techies, so it was a perfect match

• He had to admit, doing lights for shows is so much better than concerts

• There’s more of a thrill to it

[junionigiri]

Todochako Week 2019 - Day 1 - Mythology

for @todochaco

Rating: G

Notes: This fic (and all the others for Todochako week!) are collaborations with safri_riri from Twitter :) she did the wonderful fanart while I wrote the words. we hope u like this! btw their costume designs are inspired heavily by Hades and Persephone’s design in the LINE webcomic Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe (highly recommended pls read its so good!!!)

Ochako walks on fields filled with flowers of pink and gold. The sun kisses the bare skin of her shoulders. In the distance, a lazy river flows; pretty nymphs bathing in its cool waters, giggling and cracking jokes and just enjoying life.

The world above the ground is bright and sunny and beautiful; this is the only type of world she’d ever known ever since she was created. She breathes in the spring air, revels in the feel of it filling her lungs.

“Darling.” A goddess walks beside her. Regal; wheat-colored hair, dazzling purple eyes, every bit sparkling and intimidating. “Do not tell me you mean to go back to that wretched place.”

“Beloved mother,” Ochako says, trying to keep the smile on her face from showing. She regains her composure and faces him. “You know that I have to.”

Aoyama’s mouth twitches in disdain. “Awful and unforgivable, that’s what this whole arrangement is! Why must you agree to it? I can’t believe that I have to lose my one and only daughter just because of a bloody pomegranate!”

He twirls in his royal robes of white and gold, with sympathetic and angry red flowers sprouting beside him as he does. His royal subjects bathing in the river are compelled to stare at him in wonder. Ochako merely tries to keep it together as she keeps her eyes on her beloved queen mother.

“Still, promises are promises,” she manages to say quietly. “I must go back underneath the earth. My husband waits for me.”

Her chest twinges a bit saying that.  

“Humph! To have to return my pure daughter to the Dead King causes me such grief!” says Aoyama, turning to face her once more. Her mother always has such a difficult face to read, so Ochako wonders why there’s a knowing smile on his mouth when he looks at her cheeks, one after the other, and speaks to her again. “Tell the king of Hell, that terrible abductor, that I hope his kingdom freezes over!”

“Mother!” Ochako looks at him despairingly, begging for some reprieve. “Please do not judge him unfairly! He isn’t cold and terrible! He is good and just and kind, and--”

That smile on Mother’s face again. For someone who’s supposedly grieving, he’s looking awfully smug. This forces a waver in Ochako’s voice, especially when she thinks of the next thing she has to say.

“... and he tells me, he will never love anyone, like he does me,” she finishes. She feels her cheeks glow under the weight of his amused stare.

Aoyama sighs. “Words are wind, my love, and so are Hades’. No matter how sweet they sound. Do not trust him.”

A chasm appears in the earth to literally swallow Ochako whole. She gazes into it, and back to Mother, who tears up as he prepares to say goodbye once more.

She turns before she sees his grandiose and dramatic despairing, the wrath of the earth floating around him as he does. Ochako’s barely had her foot in the chasm when spring turns into fall, and the nymphs in the river begin to slip into quiet hibernation.

She jumps into the darkness and faces the ferryman, Deku--a fellow that’s probably too bright and sunny for his job, but one he takes seriously anyway. Ochako puts a coin in his hand and rides the boat through the mystic river.

“It’s, um, good to see you again, your highness,” Deku chirps a little too cheerily than he ought to be doing, in a river full of the dead. One of them glares at him from underwater, making him blush and force a grim look on his face. “So the land above is cold once more?”

“Yes. Such is the wrath of my queen mother.” She looks fearfully around the darkness, where ghosts and ghouls and such float. “The Underworld is doing well, it seems.”

“Yup! Our King works pretty hard to keep things in order! You know, judging the dead, punishing them, fixing the irrigation systems, things like that!”

“I see. It’s good to see that his highness managed well while I was gone.”

He seems to have completely given up being grim as they sail along the river, despite getting another pointed glare from the dead. With another bright smile incompatible with the setting, he says, “Oh, but don’t be down, my queen! His majesty thinks of you often as he governs us here!”

“Has he?” Ochako sighs dramatically. “I wonder if my king loves me as he says he does! My mother has warned me as much--”

They reach the end of the river. Deku alights and helps her off the boat. “Believe in our King. He waits for you to take his place by his side.”

Ochako nods, albeit uneasily, and leaves the ferryman at the edge of the river.

The Underworld is dark and grim and orderly. But she is the goddess of spring, and so flowers of all bright colors grow where her feet land. Fearlessly she makes her way through the mist and convoluted pathways, until she faces a great glass door, shining midnight blue.

Beyond which, her husband awaits.

And as she pushes the glass aside, she sees him. Tall, pale skin with blue scars and mismatched eyes, frost all around him. A sharp dark suit, a crown of twisted black metal on top of his pure silver hair. A mountain of scrolls and folders on his desk, the files of the dead souls awaiting judgment.  

He turns to her quite naturally. A genuine smile on his face, one that makes disembodied voices gasp and swoon all around him. “Persephone.”

Ochako stutters in her steps a bit, face frozen in a smile that feels unnatural. She shakes herself back to her senses subtly and steps forward and bows deeply. “Your highness. I have returned as promised.”

Amusement glints in his eyes as he watches her stand to her full height again. “It’s good to see you again, my love. Winter on earth cannot come soon enough.”

Someone from afar chokes--Ochako hears something that sounds suspiciously like dreeamy boy!!! in the voice of Bakugou the god of war, from far away. She tries not to lose her focus and dares herself to look up at the face of her, um… her husband. “It has been a long year indeed, my King.”

He pauses and regards her, an unreadable look in his eyes. “Is there anything wrong?”

With his doubt comes the cold; Ochako rubs the skin of her bare arms as the frost encompasses the room. “No, not at all, my King. I just… think of my mother.”

“Queen Demeter,” he says flatly with a huff. “What has my sister told you?”

She looks up at him fearfully. His eyes have become dark, his demeanor intimidating. Shadows seem to dance around him as he steps closer.

It’s hard to be dishonest, and so she closes her eyes and answers. “My mother has told me… she told me that words are wind, and so are yours, so… I cannot possibly trust--”

A cold hand clasps around her wrist. She is terrified and is powerless to open her eyes, but then she feels warmth around her, and hears him shift in front of her.

When she opens her eyes, she finds her small frame enveloped in his coat. He’s kneeling in front of her, eyes shining in the darkness.

He takes a deep breath and says, quite clearly. “Please, believe in me, my queen. Without you, my kingdom remains dark and my heart, as dead and empty as those I serve. I have loved no-one but you, and will love no-one else.”

Ochako is having a really hard time looking straight into his eyes. “H-Hades… I…”

He doesn’t move, staring right into her eyes, waiting patiently. To hear her affirmation, or perhaps to break his heart is to be determined.  

She bites her lower lip and swallows. “I… forgot my line…”

The air around them fills with groans in the next moment. “Really, Ochako-chan?! Just when it was getting good!”

“Sorry guys,” she whimpers as the lights switch on one by one. All around her, her classmates who have been pretending to be corpses at the edge of the stage get up and stretch.

From beyond the stage, Mina looks up at her, sighing as she fans herself with the script. “Anything wrong there, babe? You two are doing great so far, but you seem extra off just now? Kinda looking overheated there.”

Ochako sputters and shakes her head vehemently. “Wh-why would I be overheated, Mina-chan? It’s the opposite! It’s really cold up here!”

It is. They had Todoroki use his real ice instead of having the props team make imitation ones. The shivering parts of her acting were 100% real.

“You tell me, Ochako-chan. I’m just calling it as I see it,” Mina says with a wink that doesn’t make her feel any better. “In any case, I guess we can take a break for now. The two of you have been acting all morning, after all.”

With that, everyone disperses. Ochako takes a deep breath and releases it and begins to walk off the stage, trying not to slip on ice.

“Uraraka.”

“Todoroki-kun.” As distracting as the patch of blue that the make-up team placed over his scar is, she doesn’t miss the look of concern on his face as he walks beside her. “What is it? Oh--wait, I’m sorry, your coat…”

She begins to shrug off the coat, but he holds up two hands to stop her. “You can keep wearing it if you need to.”

“But…”

“You said you were cold. We aren’t doing our scenes in a while, anyway.”

“Oh,” she says with a bashful smile. “Yeah… Um, sorry for messing up the scene back there, Todoroki-kun. We should have been done for the day if I got it right.”

It’s hard to keep the feelings of embarrassment at bay, considering how many big mistakes she made in the past rehearsals despite her spending so many hours memorizing all the lines in Mina’s Greek mythology script. Compared to Todoroki-kun, who unexpectedly got into it very early on and delivers all his lines, angsty and lovey-dovey and everything else, without an ounce of hesitation. It’s unfair how talented Todoroki-kun is in many things without trying too hard!

Speaking of which, why was she cast in this role anyway? No-one was able to stop Mina-chan when they chose her idea for the cultural festival presentation, and no-one was also able to stop her from writing a script and consequently casting everyone in class. She doesn’t know what possessed her friend to cast Ochako in such a major role, and with Todoroki-kun as her leading man, and no-one bothered to give her a proper explanation for it.

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Todoroki tells her as they walk out of the classroom and towards the nearby vending machine. “I think you did well in your other scenes.”

… just not the ones with Todoroki-kun as Hades the King of the Underworld declaring his love for her and such, was the eventual conclusion. She groans and leans her head against the cool glass of the vending machine. “Urgh, I’m sorry you had to be cast with me, Todoroki-kun! I am so not good at romantic scenes! I don’t usually think of lovey-dovey stuff or anything like that…”

Sure you don’t, her brain snarks. She hits her forehead lightly against the machine in retaliation.

“I understand what you mean,” Todoroki agrees. “I don’t think about romance a lot, either.”

She puffs her cheeks. “But… you’re good at this. That makes it more unfair…”

Todoroki hums, a neither here nor there sound that doesn’t really sound like he’s agreeing. “Do you want anything?”

She shrugs, and gestures for him to pick for her. He presses a button near her ear, and she feels the cold of his fingertips against it. She should be recoiling at the feel of it, but she feels her cheeks warm up at the action instead.

Stupid! Why is she getting worked up about pretending to be his wife and hearing his fake proclamations of love up close? She’s inconveniencing Todoroki-kun and the rest of her class by being so iffy about acting when she should just suck it up and be a goddamn professional about this.

She tries to straighten up and look at her leading man just as the machine drops two bottles for pick-up. “So… Todoroki-kun. If you don’t think about romance that often, how are you able to say those cheesy lines from the script so easily?”

“... was my acting cheesy?” His eyebrows shoot up in mild concern.

She actually doesn’t know. It probably was by the way Bakugou was reacting, but everyone else including her was too mesmerized by him saying those lines at all to notice. “No, you were fine,” she finally manages.

Taking note of her odd answer, Todoroki instead mulls over her question seriously. It takes him a while and a bit of staring at Ochako that makes her feel out of sorts.

After a few more beats of silence, he begins speaking. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m good at pretending either, but when I have to, I try to mean what I say when I’m saying the lines.”

Ochako stares at him dumbly. “Ah… y-you mean… like… even those lovey-dovey lines?”

He nods, not looking the least bit embarrassed about the things he said.

“You’re kidding, Todoroki-kun! I’m sure you’re super good at pretending, just that you didn’t realize it until now…”

He shrugs. “Maybe. But it’s not hard pretending to care about you, Uraraka.”

His eyes aren’t as intense as they were on the stage, with all the shadows and lighting effects making blue and onyx shimmer so intimately, but his gaze and simple words paralyze her all the same.

To her silence, he looks right into her eyes and smiles, much like a scoundrel. “In fact, most of the time, it’s surprisingly easy. Even the parts where I talk about how dark and empty my heart is without you and all that.”

In utter disbelief, she flushes a deep red and has to look away from his teasing gaze before she melts in an incoherent puddle on the floor. What kind of guy just says these things without blinking? It’s hard to force herself not to turn away to say, “I change my mind, Todoroki-kun. You’re a ham. An utter cheeseball. You’re horrible.”

He huffs in amusement. “You said I wasn’t.”

“Well you are, and you’re the worst,” Uraraka says, finally turning away and puffing her cheeks in annoyance. No way is she going to survive this conversation if she allows him to look at her like that.

She hears him chuckle, and feels something cool being pushed into her hands. She looks down at the drink he’s bought her, and ends up gaping right at it.

“This is--”

The door to the classroom opens, Mina’s bright pink head popping out from within. “Ah, here’s my gorgeous loveteam is at. You guys ready for another rehearsal?”

Ochako’s jaw is still hanging open as Todoroki tells her, “Yeah, we’ll be there.”

“All righty~ better get to it, then,” she says. She gives them both a cheesy grin and disappears back into the classroom.

Todoroki walks ahead and looks back at her, that little smile still on his infuriating pretty mouth. “That’s my treat, by the way. Please finish it before you go back.”

He leaves, and Ochako is left to stare incredulously at the bottle of pomegranate green tea in her hand.

Yeah… he’s an utter cheeseball.

Before she can stop herself, she’s smiling all giddy and stupid and she has to straighten herself out to get back to a semblance of functionality. She puffs her cheeks, chugs down the drink in pure determination, and heads back to the rehearsal space, where the director and her leading man are waiting for her.

[frisbee-camp]

What’s Hidden Can Be Found|Tyrus Summer Camp AU (complete!)

AO3 link/Wattpad link

Camp Lowland sleepaway camp is an hour drive from Shadyside, where tensions and disagreements have been left for time to mend. But what will Tj and Cyrus do when the past comes chasing after them? Follow the Good Hair Crew and The Good Boys through their annual two-month stay in the wilderness where nature does not care for petty arguments and time has only worsened their situation.

Chapter 4: Forecast

They sunk like a ton of rocks, Cyrus closed his eyes and let the water surround him. The unknown was freezing alright, but it was serene, quiet, gentle. Cyrus thought being reincarnated into a fish wouldn't be half bad. When he came up for air, he saw TJ's hair hanging in his eyes. He was laughing his warm laugh that Cyrus missed so much.

"That was exhilarating!" Cyrus said shaking his own hair out of his eyes. The crowd had gathered on the dock and was whooping and hollering. He saw a couple of them take off their camp T-shirts and jump in with them. Cyrus laughed and smiled as everyone jumped in one by one. His friends splashed and swam and laughed together in the water. For the first time in a long time, Cyrus loved Camp Lowland.

Cyrus could only hope to keep his head afloat but it was impossible to float without bumping into anyone. He didn't know how TJ was able to avoid campers as he calmly floated on his back, Cyrus thought that either he was avoiding people or people maneuvered themselves around him. He was absolutely serene, at one with the surrounding water. He looked like he was sleeping. Cyrus had nearly forgotten about their past, or how he was bruised because of the fall not too long ago. He knew it wasn't his fault, that he slipped and Cyrus just happened to fall. But even after that, they were back to their weird tension-filled longing glances and lingering looks.  He suddenly felt angry at TJ for floating so calmly, how could he just ignore everything? Cyrus splashed water on his face in revenge.

"HEY!" Tj sprang into the water and looked around, "Did you do that?" he said with a laugh and a smile.

Cyrus said, "Who me?" Which landed him getting him splashed in return. Soon it turned into and all around splashing war between TJ, Cyrus, and the other campers.

As the sun started setting, more and more campers crawled onto the beach and close to the fires to warm up. By then, Cyrus started feeling like he was dying. Yes, dying. His arms weren't working how he wanted them to, time had slowed down dramatically, and he felt like making a marshmallow waffle with chocolate syrup and tons of whipped cream. He let himself be led back to the beach by TJ who seemed to be dancing to music he couldn't hear. Tj plopped onto the ground and patted the space next to him. Cyrus thought that was the best idea ever and giggled, actually giggled, which led them both into a laughing fit. Now that he thought about it, Cyrus noticed that a lot of the campers were dancing and laughing more than usual.

Tj laid on his back while Cyrus laid on his stomach closely inspecting a rock in his hands. That rock was very very interesting to Cyrus, it felt like it was giving him superpowers.

"Mcjagger," Cyrus said to TJ as he put the rock in his hand, "this rock-" Cyrus was cut off by his own incessant laughter. He hadn't called TJ Mcjagger for years. Since Tj didn't want him calling him Thelonious Jagger, Cyrus decided that Mcjagger was close enough to lovingly annoy him. He had no idea what was happening to him, "Oh god I-," more laughter this time from TJ, "I'm dyingggg."

"NO Cyrus," TJ said seriously and took his face into his hands, "You're high." They thought it was the funniest thing in the world. But it was suddenly important that Cyrus laid his head on Tjs chest. "What? OMG Cyrus are you okay?" Tj said omg how you spell omg or lol.

"Tj I'm dying," Cyrus said again.

"No no well yeah we're all dying, but you called me Mcjagger, you haven't called me that in a million trillion billion trillion years," Tj lifted his arms to elaborate on how long it had been.

"Whatever whatever," Cyrus didn't want to talk but he also wanted to talk to TJ for the rest of his life. TJ then started singing Whenever Wherever by Shakira to a giggling Cyrus. He joined his horrible rendition.

"Why am I high?" Cyrus asked.

"Because of the bears, the bears, they ruin everything we should rename them jaggers," Tj said to no one in particular.

"The bears?? Oh, shit the bears." Cyrus frowned. He didn't remember smoking the bears, but then he remembered, "T! The gummy bears? You tried to kill me with your own two hands!"

"The gummy bears," Tj repeated.

"I'm dying and you're talking about gummy bears," Cyrus mumbled and sat up, "there's something on your shoulder." A tiny green gecko had crawled onto Tj's shoulder. When Tj saw it he screamed at the top of his lungs, stood up quickly, and ran around in circles to try to get it off.

"AHHHHHHH!!! CYRUS!! A DINOSAUR IS ON MEEEEE!" TJ yelled.

Cyrus knew he was the only one to take care of the job. He stopped Tj and cupped the tiny creature in his hands and left it on a nearby tree. Tj hugged him, "You saved my fucking life," he said as he cupped his face in his hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Cyrus was suddenly grounded, the last couple of weeks of complicated feelings melted away. He let himself be held by Tj for a long time by the lake's shore.

Later, they sat in the shade of the forest. They were both still stoned, but the sunset was nice, it stretched out orange and pink and the clouds reflected the light show.  Cyrus cried. It was so beautiful he couldn't handle it.

"I'm so happy I could die," Tj turned and said to him. Cyrus blinked. The light made Tj look angelic, Cyrus was sure he was sent to make him lose all of his senses. Cyrus kissed him.

It was short, but it got the point across.

"Cyrus," Tj said.

"No, don't say anything. Let me have this moment," he replied as he took Tj's hand. Cyrus didn't know what he was doing. Everything was so weird, nothing made sense, his actions were sporadic and his blood was made of lead. But it didn't matter, he was there sitting with TJ in the middle of the fucking woods. Nothing was real, nothing here could hurt him. If he had his heart broken again, he would just be able to throw it into lake Redwood and go back home.

They laid down in the soft pebbles until the moon was high in the sky. Tj rubbed circles into Cyrus' hands.

Cyrus pointed out the stars for Tj, "That's Capricorn see?" he pointed to stars that almost looked like an arrowhead.

"Yeah I see it," Tj grinned.

"And Ursa major," Cyrus continued, "Corvus, Andromeda," Cyrus listed all the constellations he knew, they weren't many but they still made Tj smile. He didn't even know if he was pointing the right way, the gummies had made him lazy. "And there's Ursa minor, and Orion obviously and why did you ignore me?"

Tj didn't expect the question, he was trying to follow along with Cyrus' astronomy lesson. "I-," he stammered, "I don't know, I thought you didn't want to be around me." Tj was quiet now.

"Who said that?" Cyrus turned onto his side and stared at him.

"No one I just, I don't know. Things have been weird. You act like nothing happened," Tj said to the starry night sky. "I just followed your lead you know. I gave you space. I didn't know what I did. You just said you weren't ready and needed more time. If it felt like it was weird then I just...I don't know, sulked I guess. And I gave you space, like how you wanted." Tj closed his eyes as he said this, "But I never gave up the hope that you'd come back. I never even looked at anyone else, you were the only one."

Cyrus thought about this and felt guilty. That day two years ago, after they had dated for only two months, Cyrus had told Tj that he wasn't ready for a boyfriend. He told him that one day he would, but not now not when school was so hard, his friends were so distant, and he was having panic attacks almost every day. He could only handle so much pressure, he didn't want to risk hurting TJ in the process.

"I'm sorry," Cyrus said quietly.

"I'm serious Cyrus, I waited for you and I'm still waiting for you," Tj said as he looked up.

Cyrus blinked back tears and propped himself up on an elbow, "Fuck you TJ." Tj looked over at Cyrus and frowned. Cyrus felt two years of stress crawl up his throat, "Yeah, that's what I said. Fuck you for being so ughh" Cyrus groaned and sat up all the way, Tj followed. "You're just so unpredictable I hate you."

"You hate me? You literally just kissed me Cy," Tj gave a small smile and raised his eyebrow.

He was right of course, his actions hadn't made any sense, he was going in circles, "I hate that you know me," Cyrus said as he grabbed at bunches of grass, "And it's not the weed okay, fuck. I just! It's everything okay! We break up and I tell you to move on and you don't, you ignore my request and then tell me you'll always be waiting for me? You're just so nice it hurts okay. And! Costume day with Kira, of all people!"

"Cyrus," Tj said concerned as he gently patted his back, "How long has that been brewing?"

"Did you expect me to just brush everything off? Ignore my feelings? I can't fix everyone TJ. I have feelings too," Cyrus ripped up grass and weeds furious at himself for nothing and everything. Not knowing what the hell was wrong with him and not wanting to hurt TJ forced Cyrus to hurt himself instead. He wanted to scream in TJ's face and kick down doors and he didn't know why. He had never felt like that before, and it wasn't the weed's fault. He closed himself off after the breakup and never opened back up, now he was spilling all over the place and he hated it.

"It's not fair," Cyrus continued, "It's not fair, it's not fair." Cyrus sobbed. TJ held him until he stopped.

"Why didn't you tell me all this Cy," Tj said softly.

"I don't know, I didn't know how to fix it so I left it broken," Cyrus said.

"That's okay, not everything needs fixing. Things are allowed to be messy Cy," Tj said kindly. Cyrus shook his head. He had never thought about it like that, he was so focused on having the perfect relationship, that he didn't realize how imperfect relationships actually are. They're messy and erratic and all over the place but that's the fun of it. Loving someone enough to overcome all the insecurities and troubles, TJ knew this. Cyrus looked into his eyes.

"You're right," Cyrus whispered.

"Do you think we could try again?" Tj said as he gently picked the broken grass off of Cyrus' hands.

Try again. Try again? Try what again? Loving Tj? That had never changed. He had never stopped loving him. Everything about Tj was just so perfect for Cyrus that he couldn't handle it. From the perfect hair that always seemed to have one strand hanging in his eyes, how he always defended him, how he'd protect him, how he had the entire school in his palm, Cyrus couldn't even list all the things he loved about TJ. He'd have to talk until the end of time. He decided to open up.

"Yes," Cyrus finally said.

TJ's eyes glittered as he laced their fingers together, "Can I kiss you? Will you let me have this moment?" Cyrus gave an airy laugh in response.

"Yes," Cyrus said.

This kiss was different than the one Cyrus had hastily given him today. This kiss reminded him of how much TJ loved him, Cyrus then knew that his heart had always been with Tj. Tj pulled away far too early for Cyrus' taste.

TJ and Cyrus had been so entranced by one another that they hadn't noticed that the at first sprinkle of rain turned into a downpour. By the time they noticed, the rain had flattened the top of TJ's hair.

"Oh seriously?" Tj said squinting up, "that is so cliche."

Cyrus stood up and dragged TJ up with him as they laughed, "My rom-com dreams are coming true!" Cyrus said. He stood up on his tiptoes and gave Tj another kiss, "But I really don't want to get a cold." The ran was coming down now, fast and cold. Cyrus was shivering.

"Yeah, me neither," Tj said and looked towards the nearby Redwood cabin as other campers raced past them to get out of the rain. "Come on," Tj said and held his hand as they ran towards the cabin.

Cyrus sat on the extra bed in Tj, Marty's and Jonah's room. Tj had given him a hoodie to sleep him. It was about a million sizes too big, but it made Cyrus' heart flutter. It was his Bash Mitzvah hoodie, Cyrus couldn't believe he kept it.

"Where's Marty?" Cyrus whispered to Tj when he came back from doing rounds to make sure no one was lost or killed by a forest creature.

"He's with Buffy, I called on the landline to tell her you were here," Tj laid down on his bed on the bottom bunk. Jonah was snoring on the top bunk, Cyrus had a feeling he'd been asleep for a long time.

"Oh thank you," Cyrus said. The extra mattress didn't have any covers since no one had claimed it.

"Hey, I have something for you," Tj suddenly stood up and rummaged in his bags. He sat back on his bed and opened his palm. It was an intricate green and yellow bracelet. Cyrus came and sat next to him.

"For me?" Cyrus said. Cyrus couldn't remember the last time someone had given him a gift that wasn't on his birthday.

"Yeah," TJ said and placed it in Cyrus' hands. "I made it like three years ago and never gave it to you." Upon further inspection, he saw that read TJK+CG. Cyrus let out a breath and looked over at TJ who was blushing.

"TJ this is so sweet I love it," Cyrus said right away.

"Really?" TJ looked relieved.

"Yes, now help me put it on," Cyrus said.

TJ and Cyrus squeezed into TJ's twin bed for the rest of the night, Cyrus lightly running his fingers through Tj's hair and smiling like a kid in a candy store. He had forgotten how nice it was to have someone who knew you inside and out. He felt like he didn't have to hide around him.

"Right, but we'll live in Malibu obviously," Tj continued. They were now discussing their future together.

"Well yeah duh, I'll have at least five Oscars by the time I'm 40 and you'll be a celebrity physical therapist-"

"And we'll have a dog named Whiskers," Tj added.

"Whiskers? Now that's cliche Tj," Cyrus scoffed.

"Well considering we'll have at least three dogs, I think the odds are pretty high that at least one will be Whiskers," Tj smiled. They were on their sides facing each other with their legs interlaced in the small space, the moonlight dripping over the room and coating them both in a soft glow.

"Fine, but the other two will be named by me," Cyrus said. They were both whispering, it must have been at least midnight and the other campers were asleep.

"Whatever you want," TJ said sweetly, "I'll give you anything you want."

Cyrus' eyes fluttered, "I love you," he said as he traced along TJ's cheekbone.

"You already told me that," Tj laughed a bit.

"When?" Cyrus said, confused.

"When you were on pain meds," Tj laughed a bit.

"Whe-, The pain meds that you caused me to be on?" Cyrus joked and lovingly shoved TJ.

"Look I'm really really sorry you have no idea how sorry I am," Tj said.

Cyrus kissed him to shut him up, "TJ, it's no big deal, you just traumatized me and now I can never go around another river." TJ rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I love you too," TJ said as he looked into Cyrus' eyes, "And I have for a long time."

The next few weeks went by too quickly. Cyrus' new routine now involved following around TJ and cheering him on as he played sports Cyrus didn't know the name of. They spent most of the day whispering to each other and holding hands. TJ was fond of the wildflowers around the willow tree and would bring Cyrus a bunch every morning before breakfast. Cyrus would proudly wear a couple behind his ears as they held hands and went to different camp activities.

None of their friends were surprised when they got back together, not even Jonah who apparently didn't know they had broken up.

Finally, it was time for the last CC, the obstacle course. For some ungodly reason, Buffy had placed Cyrus in the game. There were six stations at the obstacle course; a balance beam, a bean bag toss, a tunnel of some sort, a jump rope, a climbing thing Cyrus didn't know the name of, and a single Rubik's cube on a table. The rules were simple, explained Counselour Moose, whoever finished first won.

"Buffy, I can't do it. I'm not good with pressure involving athletism," He had told Buffy, his cabin leader.

"Yes you can Cyrus, now go," she placed him by the table with the Rubik's cube. Cyrus looked around the field. The four other teams were assembled. TJ gave him a wave from his obstacle course, Cyrus smiled and gave a wave back. Cyrus was bouncing his leg as soon as Counselour Moose blew the whistle. From down the line, Cyrus saw his team members finish their part of the game and tag the person in front of them. He didn't dare look over at the other teams, he had a  feeling that if he did he would surely feel 100% more nervous. Why did Buffy give him the last part of the course? Why did she hate him so?

And then, to Cyrus' horror, Natalie climbed over the climbing thing and tagged him on the shoulder, "Go Cyrus!" she said to a motionless Cyrus. He then clambered to the table and picked up the rube. Suddenly, he forgot what colors go with which.

"What does blue look like?" Cyrus murmured to himself as he moved the little cubes around and around. The crowd was now screaming white noise, he forced himself to take a deep breath. After what seemed like forever, Cyrus finally figured out the cube and ran to ring the bell.

"Done!" Cyrus yelled out, just as TJ said: "Finished!" Cyrus looked around confused as the crowd mobbed them. Oak and Aspen were still trying to figure out the cube, but TJ and Cyrus had tied. Tied. That never happens.

Buffy lifted him as she and the others surrounded him and congratulated him. Cyrus was giddy, he had never won anything sports-related in his entire life. The feeling was new and exciting. He hadn't lost!

"Tied!" Buffy and Andi told him! "You did so good Cy!" Buffy praised.

"Do you know what that means?" Andi said.

"That I didn't lose?" Cyrus asked.

"Yes!" Andi and Buffy both hugged him. Cyrus looked over at TJ who also had a smile on his face and was being greeted by his cabin members.

Later, during the End of Camp Ceremony, Tj and Cyrus sat shoulder to shoulder holding hands as Counselour Moose tallied off the points. Iris' cabin had won over Amber's by 300 points. But it turned out that the tie meant Redwood and Willow tied exactly. They both had won. There would be three trees planted in their honor named Iris, Buffy, and TJ.

"Cyrus! D'you hear that?! We both won!" Tj shook with joy as he took Cyrus' face in his hands and kissed him in front of everyone. Cyrus instantly loved camp.

As soon as camp began, it ended. Cyrus had to say goodbye to his plain roommates, the forest with its freaky animals, the cool waters, even the cat he called Sigmund. For the first time ever, Cyrus felt like he would miss Camp Lowland. Maybe he'd miss it because TJ would miss it. He didn't know, but it didn't matter.

He'd have to go back to Shadyside, with its deadlines and stress, but at least he wouldn't be so alone this time.

"You ready?" TJ said as he took Cyrus' bag for him and held out his hand. Cyrus gave a soft nod and met TJ's hand with his. Cyrus had a yellow flower behind his ear as they walked away from Camp Lowland.

THE END