#loved her in the first season and im only on the third season so idk how she acts later but rn i can't with her

[rinsoap]

me when im writing a drabble and then i realize its just the plot of jess and rory's relationship

[bucketbueckers]

I'D RATHER PRETEND

CHAPTER NINE

tags: @angryflowerwitch @avvwritesstufff @melpthatsme @rebecca-woso @bueckersg1rl @l0verl4ne @clouded-whispers @dolliest-thena @katemartinlvr @numberonepartyanth3m @glamourdaya @pbbucks @unadulteratedcyclepaper @paiges-1vur thelightknight21 wc: 9.9k notes: with the 1st pick in the 2025 wnba draft, the dallas wings select... the IRP masterlist, lee university! cringe i know but it's the last chapter, let me be happy. i wrote the first half of this chap before the providence game, felt like a witch once the starting lineup dropped, currently manifesting the rest of this chapter ages just as well (my ball knowledge is limited, if the game doesn't make sense just let me be delusional, i dont give a gaf). smut warning, who's surprised. fluffier than chapter 6 methinks. tried to fulfill the nice/gentle P agenda, may have fumbled the bag bc this somehow felt more filfthy? kinda short too idk lmk 😩 not proofread, i'll probably come back later to edit. sorry for yapping (no im not) but i hope you all enjoyed reading irp as much as i enjoyed writing it, thank you for sending in such sweet comments and engaging in the inbox, they were genuinely so motivating and i loved interacting w y'all 🫶 as always i hope we're rocking w this final chapter 🙂‍↕️

‘The Return of Tess Kennedy’

A little over two years ago, college basketball sensation Tess Kennedy tore her ACL in the Final Four matchup between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kennedy, who’d amassed fifteen points close to the end of the third quarter, was a pivotal element to South Carolina’s game – Iowa struggled to lock her down. Kennedy stepped off wrong and collapsed on court. Many knew what had happened long before the news broke. Her recovery was far from easy, but Kennedy did the impossible and recovered just in time for the SEC championship and the March Madness tournament, where she led South Carolina to a redemption win over Iowa with a dominating 30 points. Following the win, Kennedy shared a photo of herself holding the championship trophy, one eye closed in a wink and her lips curled into a smug snarl, and captioned it, “took a year off to cut you bitches some slack, tell a friend to tell a friend tess kennedy’s back.”

Many athletes often need a long period of adjustment after returning from a serious injury. Kennedy, however, played as though that statistic did not apply to her. Kennedy played as though she had something to prove. A loud majority of fans speculated that Kennedy fought so fiercely because her girlfriend, Paige Bueckers, and the UConn Huskies had been eliminated by Iowa in the Final Four match only two days prior to the championship. A smaller few claimed Kennedy holds a grudge against Iowa for her injury – although Kennedy disputed this theory in a presser, linked here.

The simplest truth of the matter is that Kennedy did not play any sort of way for anyone but herself and her team. She proved to herself that she could come back even better from an injury that she thought would uproot her life. She played for her team, who uplifted her during recovery and gave her the tools and the support to show up and show out when the world was watching. Kennedy played the way she did because that’s just what Tess Kennedy does.

During South Carolina’s 2024 Senior Night, Kennedy announced that she would stay at South Carolina for another year of college basketball. She cited her injury as the source of her decision. She explained that there is still more recovery for her to do and that she did not feel comfortable declaring for the draft with only five games post-injury under her belt, especially since she was under a minute restriction during those games. We believe that decision is the best she could have made for herself.

Throughout the 2024-2025 regular season, Kennedy has averaged 26.2 points per game, 4.3 steals per game, 3.7 blocks per game, and 3.2 assists per game. Since her injury, she’s turned into both an offensive and defensive dual threat, leading the South Carolina offense with help from Raven Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and Te-Hina Paopao. Coach Dawn Staley describes Kennedy as “unguardable” from the perimeter and “unstoppable” from the midrange. Coach Staley also notes that Kennedy’s midrange improvements have pleasantly surprised her as Kennedy was usually a reliable three-point specialist. Coach Staley would not elaborate on where Kennedy’s sudden game adjustments have come from, but one basketball analyst noted that Kennedy’s midrange proficiency looks stunningly like girlfriend Paige Bueckers’s. This is not surprising in the slightest as Kennedy and Bueckers spent the offseason together on a joint “world-tour” that evidently included lots and lots of time in the gym.

The SEC tournament has come and gone with, you guessed it, South Carolina as the winner, having defeated Tennessee and LSU back to back. South Carolina dominated the first five rounds of the NCAA tournament. In the Final Four, they defeated UCLA in a convincing 78-71 victory. For the championship match, they’re against UConn, who is fresh off of a hard-fought Final Four victory against Notre Dame.

This is precisely the clash of the titans that basketball fans have been looking forward to since June of 2023. UConn vs. South Carolina. Bueckers vs. Kennedy. This is a rematch for the 2022 championship game wherein UConn fell short, but many are questioning South Carolina’s ability to go back to back, especially since UConn has seen tremendous growth over the past season. With a healthy Azzi Fudd and a healthy Aubrey Griffin, sharpshooters Ashlynn Shade and Allie Ziebell, energetic KK Arnold and Morgan Cheli, imposing Jana El-Alfy, transfer portal weapon Kaitlyn Chen, do-it-all field general Paige Bueckers, and Sarah Strong – no title, Sarah Strong is that girl – UConn is a fan favorite to win. With the final tipoff only an hour away, we are at the edge of our seats in anticipation. Let us know in the comments below – who are you rooting for?

-Penelope Lancaster, Bleacher Report

APRIL 6, 2025

If there’s one thing that Tess knows is true about Paige Bueckers after over a year of dating, it’s that Paige always keeps her promise.

You and me, same time next year?

Tess watches her warm up only a half court away. She’s stunning, donning a UConn sweatshirt and matching sweatpants, her hair up in her gameday braids that Tess has full intention of ruining later after her girlfriend is crowned an NCAA champion. That thought alone shouldn’t excite her as much as it does, but she can’t help herself. Paige and her team have worked incredibly hard to be here – Tess has gotten to witness that first hand. She also can’t help feeling a little smug because she was right. Kaitlyn Chen, transfer portal weapon. Freshmen Morgan Cheli and Allie Ziebell – they both needed a few games to get comfortable, but once they were hot, they were hot. And finally, Sarah fucking Strong, Paige’s freshman menace that honestly needs to declare right now because college basketball will not be safe with her on the court.

Tess has no intention of rolling over and letting them win – Paige would honestly break up with her, which would ruin the entirety of Tess’s five year plan: get drafted. Win some shit. Dunk on Paige Bueckers. Marry Paige Bueckers. Free agency. Simple and easy. But Tess also knows that UConn will be playing with something to lose, a chip to win, and that they were easily the most challenging match-up they’d faced all year with the exception of the final SEC teams. UConn defeated them at home, even after Tess dropped 20 hard fought points – they honestly just had no answer for Sarah Strong, which is becoming a recurring theme as of late.

“Oh my God, not this shit again,” Raven complains. Tess turns just in time to catch the ball that Raven had definitely aimed at her ass.

“Stop throwing balls at me!” Tess exclaims, chucking the ball back.

“Stop staring at your girlfriend!” Raven retorts. “Like, for real. It’s making me sick. Do you want me throwing up before a natty match?” Tess pauses, tapping her chin dramatically like she has to truly think about it. “I wish you’d declared last year. That way I wouldn’t have had to deal with all of this ‘when will my wife come back from war’ bullshit.”

Tess rolls her eyes. “Where’s Chloe at? I suddenly have an opening in my bridal party.”

“Wait, no!” Raven says quickly, her entire expression shifting. “You can’t kick me out of the wedding. I didn’t even know I was in it!”

“You weren’t,” Tess states bluntly, which makes Raven huff again. “Kam’s my maid of honor, obviously. Then Aliyah’s coming, Bree, Destanni, Zia. Do you think I can get A’ja there?”

Raven looks her up and down, unimpressed. “No,” she says flatly. “You’ll be marrying a Husky.”

Tess lights up. “Oh my God, I can get Stewie there. That’d be cool, too.”

“How about you pump the brakes and lock the fuck in so your girlfriend doesn’t embarass us?” Raven suggests. “Like, did that ever cross your mind?”

She shrugs sheepishly. “I’m locked in,” she says. “Go do your weird pregame rituals, sacrifice a chicken or something.”

Raven rolls her eyes, stalking away with her ball. Tess watches her try to sweet talk an assistant coach into rebounding for her and she can’t help but smile. She’ll miss Raven when she’s in the league – sure, they’ll keep in contact, but it’s different when you’re no longer a few doors down from everyone. She’ll miss all of her girls. Not Ashlyn, though. The charges may have been dropped but assault and battery and kidnapping? Is nobody the least bit concerned? Tess digresses, though. She’s gonna miss her team, especially annoying ass Raven Johnson who likes throwing shit at people.

Before she returns to her own warmups, Tess looks across the court once more. Paige is already staring at her. They share a soft, private smile – and then Paige is grabbing Sarah by the sleeve of her shirt, causing her shot to sail out of bounds as Paige points at her with a proud smile that clearly says look at my freshman! Sarah looks unbelievably confused at first, but levels Paige with a nasty side eye once she realizes that she’s been dragged in as a ploy to tease Tess. She shrugs out of Paige’s grasp to continue shooting which makes Tess laugh and Paige huff dramatically.

The both of them resume their warmups and before they know it, tip off has come around. Paige, Sarah, Azzi, Jana, and Kaitlyn are starting for UConn, whereas Raven, Chloe, Tess, Sania, and Te-Hina are starting for South Carolina. Both teams set up around Chloe and Jana to receive the opening tip, and once the referee throws the ball into the air, Jana knocks it over to the Huskies. Sarah kicks it out to Paige, who begins directing traffic as she brings the ball up court. Tess, tasked with guarding Azzi, sticks on her like glue, trying to not let her get her hands on the ball. Raven’s defense is suffocating, but Sarah gets open and Paige passes it swiftly to her. As Chloe and Sania fold in on her to prevent the shot, Sarah passes to Jana, who gets the easy layup under the bucket. Sania inbounds to Raven. She’s delayed in bringing the ball up due to Kaitlyn’s defensive pressure, and, much to Tess’s surprise, Paige is guarding her and Azzi is on Te-Hina.

Raven dribbles, directing the other four on the court while trying to keep the ball far away from Kaitlyn, but the congestion becomes too much and she passes it to Te-Hina. Azzi’s defense is relentless, too, and eventually, Te-Hina passes to Sania, who passes to Tess on the wing, and she knows she can’t get crafty. She and Paige spent the entire summer in the gym together. Paige knows her moves as well as she knows her own, which is why she keeps pressing her further and further away from the three point line and Jana angles herself to clog her lane to the bucket. The clock is winding down, so she makes the decision to squeeze past Paige, driving to the bucket, but at the last moment, she passes it behind her back to where she knows Sania is waiting. She shoots and it swishes in.

The first quarter is incredibly close. Every time South Carolina gets a defensive stop, UConn responds with one of their own. A two-point jumper is countered by a layup, Azzi and Tess go three for three. Tess steals the ball on one possession, although Chloe gives it right back as she tries to get smart on a pass. By the first media timeout, Tess has five points, two assists, and a steal, although UConn leads them 14-12. Both teams take the time to sub out and let some of the starters rest. Bree, Ashlyn, MiLaysia, and Joyce come in for Tess, Chloe, Te-Hina, and Sania respectively while KK, Aubrey, Ashlynn, and Ice enter for Kaitlyn, Sarah, Azzi, and Jana.

Once play resumes, Tess almost immediately understands the game plan. Raven guards Paige on UConn’s offensive possessions, but when South Carolina has the ball, Paige guards MiLaysia, a high scoring guard just like Tess. Depending on who is on the floor, KK or Kaitlyn defend Raven or whoever is running point for South Carolina at the time. Raven’s defense is suffocating, but most of all, exhausting – tasking someone else with guarding Raven gives Paige more opportunities to score rather than tire herself out, but her own defensive assignments are focused on shutting down South Carolina’s point producing guards. Tess was held to five points with Paige on her, shooting only two out of her five attempted shots. She wasn’t completely useless, though – she held Azzi to six points, congesting two of the four shots she took.

She sits for the rest of the first quarter. The score is up to 25-20 in UConn’s favor and all of the starters are back on the court for the second quarter. It’s hard fought, too. There’s not a lot of foul calls going either way tonight, but the lead is so slim that Tess doesn’t want to overstep on defense and give away points. At 31-24 in favor of UConn, Paige is subbed out for KK, which means Tess finally gets a bit of a breather on defense. KK is unrelenting, but Paige had played a little closer, a much tighter game as she knew Tess so well as a player. She couldn’t even be mad about that, although she did take advantage of two back-to-back threes, pushing the score to 34-30. UConn still has a slight lead, but Paige gets subbed back in. Tess knows she has to play smarter now and take better shots.

Halfway through the second quarter, Raven gets subbed out for a breather, too, and UConn immediately puts the pressure on Maddy, not used to the intensity that the UConn starters were playing with. Kaitlyn forces a turnover, sailing it high to Paige, who lays it in the basket with ease and winks at Tess as she passes her to get back on defense. In response, Tess calls for the ball and Maddy passes it to her. She doesn’t call for a screen or any sort of help as she steps back, shooting for three directly over Paige’s head. They watch it both fall in seamlessly, much to the crowd’s amusement, and Tess sticks up her fingers in an ‘L’ shape as she backpedals for defense. Paige shakes her head, amused, but at 41-38, the both of them know they need to lock back in.

The two teams trade a few more shots and stops before the end of the quarter, entering half with 47-41, UConn leading. Paige also hit a nasty buzzer beater to welcome in halftime, which sent the UConn bench and the crowd into a frenzy, but Tess doesn’t think that’s something important to note. Paige doesn’t need the ego boost and it wasn’t that cool, anyways. If Tess wanted to, she could have had a better buzzer beater.

In the locker room, Coach Staley emphasizes the need for defensive stops while the team catches their breath. Ball movement and being selective with shooting was also important – as a team, they were shooting 39% and taking far too many contested shots when there were wide open players on the wing. Tess honestly couldn’t be doing much more – she’d racked up 16 points. Joyce and Te-Hina were doing their thing too, but UConn was overwhelming. Their points were far more widespread with Aubrey, Sarah, Azzi, and Paige leading the pack. Ashlynn had two crucial three point shots, KK was critical on defense as she was forcing turnovers and fastbreak points, and Tess has never seen anyone hustle for rebounds like Morgan does. UConn was playing a cohesive game and they were struggling to respond in full.

The second half goes similar to the first, although UConn starts to make a concerted effort to break away. They’re playing with a renewed vigor and while Azzi, Paige, and Ashlynn were crucial in the first half, they start scoring a lot more points in the paint. Sarah, Jana, and Aubrey are particularly explosive and Ice holds her own when she subs in halfway through the third to give Jana a break. Defensively, they’re all restless – they’d played so conservatively in the first half while South Carolina tried to wear them out that their energy is overwhelming and is exhausting South Carolina. By the end of the third, UConn had extended the lead to 67-56. Tess is up to 26 points now, but it’s not doing enough to clear the deficit.

All of the starters are back on the floor at the beginning of the fourth for one last push, and for a while, it works. South Carolina holds out UConn and they go on a 9-0 scoring run, evening the score to 67-65 with three minutes left. Paige hits a long three, increasing the lead to five points, Azzi forces Te-Hina to turn the ball over and she sprints for the basket, although she passes behind her to Sarah for the finish, and Tess is a little too strong on her three point jumper and it bounces off the rim directly into Kaitlyn’s hands. She scores, pushing the score to 74-65. One minute, thirty seconds left.

The last bit of the game is frantic. Tess and South Carolina try to get the lead back, but UConn is unrelenting, pushing against them on every possession. Jana scores. Sania scores. Kaitlyn shoots, but Raven blocks it. Chloe scores on the fastbreak, and with twenty seconds left, the game is up to 78-69 with UConn steady in the lead. There’s no coming back from this gap and UConn has the ball. Tess thinks Paige just plans on dribbling it out, but as the clock winds down, five…four…three…two… she shoots from the perimeter, the shot clock expiring, and the last three, the nail on the head, swishes in cleanly as the crowd erupts. UConn had just won the 2025 national championship, and all Tess feels is overwhelming relief.

Confetti pours down, covering every inch of the court as all of the Huskies swarm and pile on one another. Paige’s smile is bright, beaming, and Tess swears she can see the tears streaming from afar. Then, they lock eyes, Paige in the middle of a bunch of jostling, and she has the decency to look a little sad for her, but honestly, Tess doesn’t care. She grins at her girlfriend, making a heart with her hands. The relief is palpable on Paige’s expression but Tess knows she needs the time to celebrate with her teammates, so she turns away, patting her own teammates on the back and murmuring her own congratulations.

Sania and Joyce were explosive in the paint. A vast majority of their points had come from them and Tess, but it just wasn’t enough to beat the deficit. Tess would find the stat sheet later, but she racked up 31 points – 61 in two back to back championship games wasn’t too shabby, and honestly, the 31 points feels more like an accomplishment than the win. She’s a competitor, she lives to win and loathes losing, but tonight doesn’t feel like a loss at all, despite what the box score will say. Looking back at everything she’s accomplished, she’s satisfied where she is. She’s grown as a player, as a person. She went from almost being the cause of her end in her junior year to dragging herself out of the deep end, committing to rehab, and winning the natty on the redemption match. This year, she molded herself into a better basketball player, cementing herself in the Gamecock record books – and while she doesn’t have a natty win this year, she’s not mad about it. It’s difficult to describe but at a certain point, the win just doesn’t matter anymore. It’s the journey, growing with your team, and everything you did leading up to it.

Last year, she said she has everything she’s ever wanted, and that much is still true. She has her rings, she has an excellent collegiate career, she has records that will be damn near impossible to beat until the next Tess Kennedy is recruited to South Carolina. She has the best friends in the world, the best girlfriend in the world, her knee is healed, she’s healed, and in less than two weeks, she’ll be drafted to play professionally wherever the wind takes her. The past two years have been the best and the worst time of her life but never will she ever wish that anything occurred differently. It’s all led her to this – her wins, her losses, to Paige. It’s more than she could have ever wished for.

She showers, zones out during the presser until the questions are directed at her, which she answers robotically, uncaring. When she’s out, she locates Paige in the tunnel, who scoops her up with such unadulterated glee and excitement that Tess giggles like a fucking schoolgirl. Paige is fresh, clean, and fuck it, she’s hers, and sue her if she sounds like a broken record, but she just loves her. “Congrats, baby,” Tess says into her neck, feeling Paige squeeze her around the middle before she lowers her to the ground.

“Thank you,” Paige murmurs as she presses a soft, unhurried kiss to Tess’s lips. “Promise you didn’t sell on purpose?”

Tess scoffs, shoving her away with a hand to her chest as Paige laughs, a sound that’s infectious and far too annoyingly charming. “Paige Madison. I dropped 31 on your ass and you think I sold?”

“Locked you down,” Paige says.

“Maybe romantically but not in basketball,” Tess corrects. Paige’s face brightens and Tess can’t help but lean in to kiss her again. “Congrats though, for real.” Paige’s eyes blink open, tilting her head down slightly to gaze at Tess, her expression full of lingering excitement, love, and unequivocal happiness. “You worked so hard for this. I’m proud of you, you know? 28 points, too? Who you showin’ out for?”

Paige laughs at Tess’s impression of her. “For you, always.” Tess can’t help but soften, grinning in that stupid way Paige always elicits. “We’re goin’ out,” she says. “The team, I mean. Some bar Aubrey found. You wanna come with us? You don’t gotta do nothing you don’t wanna and they’re all keepin’ it lowkey, nothin’ crazy–”

“Paige,” Tess interrupts, watching an adorable flush appear on Paige’s cheeks. “Don’t worry about me. Celebrate with your team, okay?”

“I’m always gonna worry about you,” Paige says, a little indignant. “You’re my girl. S’my job. But I want you there if you wanna be there.”

“You’re amazing, and I love you.”

Paige sighs. “Where’s the ‘but?’”

Tess rolls her eyes. “But you need to spend time with your team. Alone, without your unbelievably sexy girlfriend distracting you. You’re gonna miss them once you’re drafted. I need to chill tonight, so I’m gonna play UNO with my girls and stack +4s on Chloe to get her back for missing a layup that would have made our score look a little less pathetic.” Tess kisses the pout off of Paige’s lips. “I could convince Bree to room with Raven tonight?” she suggests intentionally.

“Okay!” Paige agrees quickly, her voice cracking, squeezing Tess’s hips once more, causing her to laugh lightly. Paige presses her lips to Tess’s forehead, the shorter of the two feeling the curve of her smirk. “I’ll see you later. Don’t fall asleep. I love you.”

Tess huffs, which makes Paige grin. She loves being on Tess’s nerves more than anything else. “I love you, too. Have fun and don’t drink anything KK gives you.”

Paige only shakes her head, their noses brushing slightly. “Not drinking. Wanna remember tonight.” Heat rises to Tess’s cheeks as she’s suddenly aware of what the night holds for them, but Paige just smiles at her, releasing her hips and squeezing her hand one last time before she disappears inside the media room for the presser. Tess exhales, shaking her head like an etch-a-sketch to fix her train of thought before she gathers herself and makes her way out to the team bus.

She slides into the seat next to Bree, placing her bag on the floor. “You’re rooming with Raven tonight,” Tess says to her.

Bree stares at her long and hard before her expression hardens. “You’re a fucking freak,” she gripes. “But you’re buying me breakfast tomorrow morning.” In lieu of a response, Tess pulls her wallet out of her pocket and hands over a $20 bill. Bree wrinkles her nose, her face going through the five stages of grief. Tess can’t even bring herself to feel ashamed as Bree takes the money. “God,” she whispers. “Freaks.”

Tess only smiles.

After a couple hours of music and various games, Tess says her final goodbyes to her teammates before she heads back to her room at the end of the hall. Paige had texted her only moments before that she was on her way back to the hotel, which she took as her cue to go. Her teammates gave her knowing looks, but Tess couldn’t find it in herself to be any sort of embarrassed.

Bree had cleared out most of her stuff before they all gathered in Raven’s room for games, but Tess just makes the conscious effort to clean up a little. She knew Paige wouldn’t care. Whether or not Bree’s bed was made would be the last thing on Paige’s mind if Tess had anything to say about it. Despite that, she just wanted it to look nicer for her. Paige had just won a championship, damn it, and she deserves something a little more fitting of that.

Tess isn’t nervous, but she’s almost giddy with anticipation and excitement. The last time she and Paige saw each other was when they played each other in February. They were unable to synchronize their schedules for spring break, so Tess is reasonably going through girlfriend withdrawals. She just wants to be close to Paige – nothing inherently sexual about it, but she misses their intimacy now that they’re always hundreds of miles apart. It will be the same situation when they get drafted – Tess watched the lottery despite everyone’s recommendations not to, but they’ll have a little bit more money and freedom to make the distance work once they’re in the league. But the league is the last thing she wants to worry about right now.

She checks herself one last time in the mirror, satisfied, but she pulls off her South Carolina hoodie, shivering a little at the chill in the room, and rummages through her suitcase until she finds the white jersey tucked underneath the rest of her clothes. A large 5 is emblazoned on the front and the back, the Big East logo on the collar, just a size too big for her – she’d stolen it directly from Paige’s bag when they played each other in February and they hung out after the game, but she supposes her lie was just convincing enough because Paige genuinely thought she left it in the locker room. She pulls the hoodie over her head, not bothering to tuck it into her sleep shorts, and gives herself one last look before smiling.

A knock at the door draws her attention. Finding her resolve, she walks over and opens it, coming face to face with Paige, whose cheeks are slightly flushed from the Tampa heat. “Hey – oh.” Paige stops in her tracks immediately, her eyes wide as she takes in Tess’s attire. Her jaw hangs open slightly as she leans against the door.

Tess laughs, reaching for Paige’s hands and pulling her inside. Paige lets herself be dragged, but she remembers where they are and closes the door, setting the lock without looking away from Tess. “You like?” Tess asks, tugging on the hem of the jersey to showcase Paige’s number. She smiles at Paige, a little smug but also a little breathless. Paige isn’t sure where to look – her face, her jersey, her legs, long and lithe and bare with the exception of a pair of shorts that would otherwise be indecent. “Figured I’d try something new.”

“Do I like?” Paige repeats, sounding a little incredulous. Her voice is rough and Tess shivers, feeling the heat pool low in her belly as Paige rests her hands on her hips, her fingertips brushing the swell of her ass. She pulls Tess into her until there’s barely an inch of space in between them – Tess can feel Paige breathing against her, her breath minty and fresh, her cologne so prominent and heady in the air that Tess’s head spins. “Like doesn’t even begin to cover it,” she murmurs, her lips dragging across the line of Tess’s jaw. Tess tilts her head back, giving Paige more access as she sighs softly. Paige’s fingers bunch in the fabric of her jersey as she noses her way down her neck, pressing wet kisses to her skin. A groan builds low in the back of her throat as she pulls away, her eyes blown wide and slightly out of breath. “D’you have any idea what this does to me?”

Tess chuckles, letting Paige lead her towards the bed, trusting her to not let her fall over. “I think I’m starting to understand,” she says. Paige smiles at her, softening the heat of the moment. Tess can’t help the grin that covers her face as she pulls Paige on top of her, sliding her zip up UConn jacket off of her shoulders. Paige situates herself in the gap created by Tess’s outstretched legs, leaning down to finally press their lips together. Their kiss is tender, lingering, and slow; Paige is deliberate in the way her hand slips under Tess’s jersey, her fingers brushing against her skin, and Tess sighs against her. They part and the expression on Paige’s face is so soft, blissed out like she has everything she’s ever wanted right in front of her. That thought alone fills Tess with an overwhelming amount of love and appreciation that she can’t help her starstruck smile. “You played really well today,” she whispers, working her fingers against Paige’s hair tie as she loosens her braids.

Paige hums, her eyes closing when Tess’s fingers drag across her scalp. “Says you,” she retorts, her head dropping to Tess’s shoulder. Her lips find her neck again, nipping gently and soothing the bite with a pass of her tongue. “31 fuckin’ points?” Paige emphasizes her words with an emphatic groan, her hands pushing up Tess’s jersey and her fingertips just barely breaching under her bra strap. “You tryna go to Dallas?”

Tess laughs, tangling her fingers through Paige’s hair as the blonde hides her smile against her neck. “Nah. That’s all you. I’m very happy going number two.”

Paige scoffs. “Yeah, ‘cause you get Cam and Rickea.”

Tess smiles knowingly, rolling her eyes. “Your hand is literally under my shirt and you wanna talk about other people right now?” Paige glances down, her brows raising and her eyes lingering on just how far the jersey is bunched up, miles upon miles of Tess’s tanned skin on display.

“Take this shit off,” she says, hands reaching for the hem of the jersey. Tess raises her arms compliantly and Paige pulls it over her head, throwing it to the side before leaning down and connecting their lips again. Tess relaxes immediately, circling her arms around Paige’s neck, drawing her in closer and closer until the space between them is negligible. Paige’s hands are warm against her bare skin. One leaves her chest to cup her jaw, her lips slowing, controlling the pace. Every motion is purposeful, deep and lingering, until Paige pulls back just enough that her nose brushes against Tess’s. “Wanna take my time with you.”

“You won,” Tess reminds her, fighting through the burn on her cheeks as Paige presses open-mouthed kisses to her neck, her jaw. “Tonight’s for you.”

“Yeah,” Paige agrees, her mind clearly elsewhere as she pulls her shirt over her head. Tess’s mouth dries instantly, her gaze unashamed as she takes in Paige’s toned figure, the definition of her abs despite the softness of her stomach. She’s equal parts sinew and grace, beautiful beyond any human measurement – Tess would never be able to put Paige’s beauty into words. She transcends language and meaning and Tess is so irrevocably in love that it should scare her; her feelings are overwhelming in the best way possible and Paige doesn’t even know the extent of it.

“Paige,” Tess tries again, her hands reaching up to push Paige’s hair out of her face.

She shakes her head, her hand returning to Tess’s jaw as she kisses her again, taking the very breath from her lungs and relishing in the sigh that she pulls from her throat. Her hand slips lower, her thumb brushing the apple of her throat while her index finger rests on her pulse point, feeling the spike in her heart rate. “Wanna take care of you,” Paige murmurs, the plea evident in her expression when she pulls away. “Want this to last, wanna feel you. Please?” She dips lower, her lips pressing against her skin, and Tess doesn’t have any choice but to let Paige have her way. She nods, her hands finding purchase on Paige’s shoulder blades as Paige descends further, her lips leaving marks over her clavicles.

Paige undresses the both of them with a deliberate slowness. Her hands roam like she’s trying to commit every inch of Tess’s body to memory, her eyes wide in wonder. Paige stares at her like it’s the first time all over again and it makes Tess shiver, feeling warmth all over. They spent the entire offseason together, late nights in hotel rooms much like this one as they travelled. They’re far from the first time, but the fact that Paige still handles her with the utmost care, respect, and devotion only makes her needier.

When they’re both bare, the first press of Paige’s skin against her own is electrifying. She draws Paige in again, connecting their lips, relishing in the soft, unhurried push and pull as Paige’s hands roam. They’re firm around her hips, her thumbs brushing the area where her thighs meet her pelvis. Then they’re trailing up, brushing against her navel, gripping her love handles and the parts of her stomach where she’s more skin than muscle. Further up, Paige’s hands splay out across the lower end of her ribcage. The amount of skin that her hands cover makes Tess ache, but Paige keeps wandering, her hands cupping her breasts, thumbs tweaking her nipples. Tess sighs at the contact and Paige immediately takes advantage of the way her jaw drops, deepening their kiss as Tess holds on to her shoulders for stability.

She can feel the flex of Paige’s muscle, see the way her shoulder blades jut out slightly – it shouldn’t excite her, but it does. She’s firm, solid, soft, and human, a paradox and a myriad of different feelings. Tess can’t help but be attracted to every single thing she does and every single thing she is. God took his time creating Paige, that much Tess was sure of; the fact that Paige is hers, for better, for worse, forever, makes her feel like she needs to be far more thankful than she already is.

Paige pulls back. Tess nearly whines at the loss of contact until she takes in the blown out and messy look on Paige’s face. Her lips are swollen, spit-slick, covered in the lingering smear of Tess’s lip gloss. “Okay?” she asks, her voice rough. The check-in is just a reminder of how much Paige loves her. It never fails to make her heart beat out of her chest.

Tess nods, her hands coming up to smooth out the baby hairs at the back of Paige’s neck, damp with sweat. “Keep going,” she requests, closing her eyes when she feels Paige kiss her cheek, her jaw, the spot under her ear that makes her shiver.

“Wanna try something with you,” she murmurs, squeezing her around the hips, and Tess blinks her eyes open to stare at her. A new, shy sort of flush creeps up her neck and Tess gives her a reassuring kiss.

“Anything,” she says, her voice soft, albeit a little breathless. “You know I trust you.”

Paige glances up, searching her eyes for any hint of falsehood. When she finds none, she leans in, kissing Tess one last time before pulling back. “Tell me to stop and I will,” she says. Tess nods again, waiting with a bated breath as Paige pulls back completely, much to her chagrin, but her hands find her knees, spreading her legs wider, slotting her own legs under and over Tess’s thighs like puzzle pieces, and – Oh. They haven’t even made full contact but her entire body burns. Paige is just as red, her chest rising and falling with uneven breaths. “Okay?” she asks again, her words sounding a little choked.

Tess nods rapidly, not trusting herself to speak, but her words spill out anyway. “Please,” she says, looping her arms around her neck again. Paige nods, too, her breath a little shaky, but she connects their lips, swallowing the greedy sound that Tess makes when their cores finally align. Her fingers dig into Paige’s shoulders, eliciting a groan from the blonde as she rolls her hips experimentally. Paige is warm against her, slick against her skin, and the brush of her clit against her own nearly makes her soul leave her body.

Her head tilts back, overcome with euphoria and pleasure, and Paige takes advantage immediately. Her lips are on her neck before she has the chance to react, sucking dark, purple marks on her skin, soothing the sting with her tongue. Tess pushes her hips into Paige’s, causing her rhythm to falter and a whine to fall from her lips. Tess really likes that sound, when Paige succumbs to the feelings and lets her hear it. “Fuck,” Paige whimpers. “That’s it.”

That sends a wave of heat directly to Tess’s core. She ruts up again, relishing in Paige’s exhaled moan, the way her elbows shake as she tries to hold herself up. Each and every roll of her hips adds to the tightening band in her stomach, threatening to snap as her pleasure builds – but it feels like she’s reached a plateau. She pushes against her a little faster, trying to chase the high, which forces more of those sounds to tumble from Paige’s mouth. The feel of her skin against hers, sticky with sweat, is intoxicating in the best way possible; the roll of her hips sets her nerves on fire; and when she glances down, her eyes honing in on where their bodies connect, Tess grips her shoulders a little tighter as she cries out, her nails leaving marks in their wake. “Paige,” she gasps, feeling Paige’s nose brush against her collarbone, licking the salt off of her skin. “Talk, please.”

“Yeah?” she asks, her voice a little broken and high-pitched as she holds out, trying to make Tess reach her peak first. The sound of her so wrecked, so destroyed makes Tess tremble beneath her. “Wanted you to – fuck, wanted you to come with me earlier,” she babbles. Tess barely registers that she means the bar. “Wanted to show you off. Tell everyone you’re mine. Wanted to kiss you in front of everyone, take you back here – fuck, Tess, right there – take you back here and show you how much I want you.”

“Keep going, please,” she begs. Tears of pleasure bead at her waterline. The brush of their cunts and the whine in Paige’s voice makes her dizzy with desire.

Paige sighs, the sound getting trapped in her throat as her lips find her ear, her ruts becoming a little more desperate. And when Tess’s hips jump up again, seeking out that pleasure, Paige’s breath catches. She leans her head against Tess’s shoulder, her body tense with the effort of trying to stay composed. “God, there you go,” she murmurs, her breath fanning against the shell of her ear. “Take it, baby, whatever you need – gonna give it to you, I promise.”

Tess whimpers, her grip tightening as she rolls her hips against Paige’s, her pleasure building and nearing the peak as she confesses, “Paige, I’m gonna–”

“That’s it,” Paige whimpers, meeting Tess’s hips with more purpose, more intensity, guiding her closer and closer. When Paige keens into her ear, her voice cracking, “Fuck, I love you – so perfect for me,” Tess falls apart completely, clutching onto Paige as her orgasm washes over her. Paige is right behind her; Tess can feel her release, her body shuddering against her own. They rock together as they ease through the aftershocks, drawing back when the sensitivity becomes too much.

Carefully, Paige extracts herself from Tess, the both of them exhaling when they disconnect. Paige rolls onto the bed next to her, her head finding home on Tess’s chest as she slings an arm across her stomach. Neither of them say anything for a while, sitting in a satisfied silence as they try to catch their breaths. It’s Tess who finally breaks the quiet when she says, “I think you ruined me.”

That makes Paige laugh, still breathless. She cocks her head, meeting Tess’s eyes. Gingerly, she wipes away the tears on her cheeks, smooths out the hair at the crown of her head. “Good,” she murmurs, leaning up to press a sweet kiss to Tess’s lips, a stark contrast from the moment prior. “Gotta trap you so you stay with me forever.”

Tess snorts, brushing her nails against Paige’s jaw and cheek gently. “Trust me, you don’t have to worry about that.” Paige hums, her fingertips tracing patterns against her ribcage as their breathing finally evens out. A few moments pass. “Are you sleeping?” Tess asks, a little shy.

“Yes,” Paige deadpans, but she turns her head again, smiling up at Tess. Her expression is soft, relaxed, blissed out. “What’s up?”

Tess can’t help the smile that breaks out across her face. “I love you,” she says simply.

Paige’s entire demeanor brightens. She tightens her grip around Tess’s middle, drawing in closer and pressing her lips to her chest, directly over her heart. “I love you, too.”

Tess tangles her fingers in Paige’s hair, smoothing out the flyaway strands near her temple. Paige smiles against her, her face tranquil, happy. In a little over a week from now, they’ll be in Brooklyn together for the 2025 draft. They’ll be selected to play in the professional league, which is everything they’ve dreamed of and more, although their dreams have expanded to include each other. Tess has everything she’s ever wanted in life – an outstanding college career, a promising future, Paige, and she can’t wait for the rest of their lives together.

APRIL 14, 2025

Tess can’t believe this is her life right now.

She, her parents, and Bree and Raven are sitting at a table in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the selected venue for the 2025 WNBA Draft. The energy in the atmosphere is electric – there’s muted chatter, excited hopefuls trying not to freak out about which team will be selecting them. Tess is a mixture of anticipation and nerves. She’s been the predicted number two draft pick for months now, only second to Paige, which she can’t even be upset by. She has a pretty good idea of where she’s going, but she can’t help being worried about dropping in the rankings – the 2025 draft class is full of young talent. She wouldn’t mind Chicago. Playing with Kam again would be amazing, and Washington isn’t bad, either. She is really interested in the Liberty, mostly because they made such a good impression on her during rehab and that’s not something she would ever forget. Unfortunately, the Liberty decided to do the worst possible thing ever and win a championship, which means they’re nowhere close to getting Tess unless they want to trade up and Tess highly doubts they’d be willing to part with their entire roster just for her.

Tess can’t keep her eyes off of Paige. It’s slowly becoming a recurring theme as of late, much to the chagrin of everyone around her, but she can’t help it. She sits only a table away, surrounded by Bob, Amy, Drew, Lauren, and Ryan. The happiness is evident on her face, her hair done up in a ponytail with two loose strands framing her face, and her make-up natural. The real nail on the coffin is the tailored suit she’s wearing. It’s a dark purple in color, nearly black; several buttons on the blazer are undone to reveal the sharp lines of her clavicle and the dark shades of her undershirt. A chain glimmers around her neck, rings adorning her fingers, including the rose thumb ring Tess had gifted her for their first Christmas, before they knew they loved each other. Tess is honestly too much of an overachiever – she picked the finest person in the world to be her girlfriend and now the repercussions of that are coming back to bite her in the ass.

Her stylist – well, Paige’s stylist, Brittany Hampton is the goat – did her big one, too. Brittany has her decked out in a rich, dark, glossy, blue satin dress. Much like Paige’s suit, the shade is dark enough that it almost appears black, but the blue hue sticks out, complementing her complexion perfectly. Her heels match (and most importantly, they’re tall enough that she and Paige are finally eye level). Her jewelry is minimalist, donning her signature bracelet and their charms, along with a gorgeous necklace Paige had bought her for their second Christmas together – the first as an official couple. The both of them look good, probably too good, and Tess is preparing herself to cut someone if they stare at Paige for too long.

Her family and friends try to make small talk to distract her from the looming draft, but her heart isn’t in the conversation. Her mind runs a mile a minute; she’s thinking about all of the iterations of the mock draft – honestly, she should have listened to Paige when she told her not to watch the draft lottery or get too invested in the draft talk, anyhow. She’s thinking about Paige, how she looks so gorgeous at her table; she’s thinking about how Paige’s dreams are coming true right before her and that chokes her up a little bit. Paige was a little kid once, just like her, dribbling a ball that was nearly as big as she was – now she’s here, the predicted number one pick and it just feels like everything’s coming into fruition. They’ve both worked incredibly hard for this, all of the trials and tribulations and injuries and miscommunication – they’re here, together, and Tess couldn’t dream of anything better than that.

Finally, the beginning of the draft rolls around as the WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, steps up to the podium for opening remarks. Tess motions to wipe her sweaty hands on her dress, but Bree’s gripping her wrists and pushing a small handcloth into her waiting palms. Bree knows her so well and Tess gives her a silent nod of thanks, a small smile. She doesn’t think she’s quite made her peace with the fact she’s leaving her girls behind after today. Training camps and final roster deliberations and the preseason all await, but Bree’s rubbing her shoulder and murmuring, “Soak it in, babe, we’re so proud of you,” and she thinks that maybe she’s on the right track.

Cathy leaves the podium to await the official first pick. Tess glances at Paige again, who is clearly dissociated as she tries to not look at the cameras that are obviously pointing at her. Then, she glances over, her eyes finding Tess’s. Her entire demeanor shifts and a bright smile spreads across her face. It’s scrunchy, somehow both soft and mischievous, but Tess knows her well enough by now to understand that smile is reserved for her only. KK called it her “Tess smile” which was a little ridiculous, but when Tess returns her grin, the love clear as day in her expression, she knows that KK’s observation had a little merit.

Cathy returns with the pick in hand. The entire room falls silent, waiting with a bated breath as the older woman leans into the microphone. “With the first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Dallas Wings select…Paige Bueckers, University of Connecticut.”

The room breaks into applause immediately as the tears spring to Tess’s eyes, overcome with emotion and appreciation for her girlfriend. Paige stands, embracing her parents, her siblings, and then she’s stepping towards Tess’s table, her expression so grateful and a little awestruck. Tess reminds herself that they’re in front of thousands of people, in front of prominent WNBA players and coaches as she molds herself into Paige’s arms, keeping it classy as Paige squeezes her tightly around her waist. “God, I’m so proud of you,” Tess murmurs, feeling Paige’s shoulders shake a little bit with her emotions. “I love you. Go get your jersey.”

Paige huffs out a laugh, releasing Tess as she wipes at her waterline. “I love you. See you soon,” she says, winking at her, which makes Tess chuckle, taking a seat and watching Paige make her way to the stage. Tess pulls out her phone, taking photo after photo as Paige poses with the commissioner and the Wings jersey.

Holly Rowe talks her through a couple of interview questions, her responses making the crowd aww or applaud, and soon enough, she’s returning to her table, embracing her family once more and smiling gently at Tess. Cathy returns to the podium after allowing the allotted time for the next selection.

“With the second pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Los Angeles Sparks select…Tess Kennedy, University of South Carolina.”

Tess doesn’t register it at first until her family and friends are cheering, their applause loud, and Tess finally snaps back into reality as she stands with an elated, shocked laugh. She pulls Raven and Bree into her arms, her teammates whispering their congratulations before her parents pull her into bone-crushing embraces. And finally, she makes her way to Paige’s table – she was polite for Paige’s pick, but this is different now; it’s hers and after what she’s been through, she can’t find it in herself to care much for what’s proper. She throws herself into Paige’s arms, squeezing tight enough that anyone else would have complained, but Paige holds onto her with the same intensity as she murmurs, “So proud of you, baby. You and me, huh?”

Tess laughs, the sound tearful. “You and me,” she affirms, releasing her girlfriend, and she makes her way up to the podium where Cathy holds out the yellow and purple jersey to her. She takes it, her fingers trembling a little.

When she makes it down, the reporter waiting for her isn’t Holly Rowe. She’s blonde, radiant, and shorter than Tess, but Tess gets the strangest feeling like she knows her. She glances down at the lanyard around her neck, the media pass reading P. LANCASTER. Tess grins. “Tess, you were just selected number two overall for the 2025 WNBA Draft. Can you tell me what was going through your mind leading up to the pick?”

“Um, ‘don’t throw up,’” she answers honestly. Her candor makes the crowd laugh. She chuckles, feeling some of the pressure ease off of her as she gives a proper answer, the usual ‘I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid,’ and ‘I’m so grateful to be here and this is an honor that I don’t take lightly.’

The reporter talks her through a few more questions, such as how excited she is to be working with the Sparks. Between Cameron and Rickea, Tess feels like she’s in good hands, and knowing that Lynne Roberts, the new head coach, is a huge fan of three-point shooting, she feels like there’s a lot she can bring to the team. The reporter asks a fluff question about getting used to the Los Angeles heat, to which Tess jokingly responds with, “Well, I hear Dallas is hotter.” That makes a small smile appear on the reporter’s face.

“Speaking of Dallas,” she segues, which makes a knowing smile spread across Tess’s face. “Your girlfriend, Paige Bueckers, was just drafted there. The two of you met twice in national championships in college – can we expect some exciting match-ups between the two of you in the W?”

“Of course,” Tess says coyly. “We’re 1-1 on championship wins right now. I’m looking to add a couple more of those to my resume, and if that means beating my girlfriend? Even better.”

Penelope Lancaster thanks her for her time as the crowd applauds once more. Tess makes her way back to her table, smiling smugly at Paige, who rolls her eyes, but the love in her expression is hard to hide. The rest of the draft passes in a blur, as does the afterparty they’re both invited to afterwards. It’s well past midnight when they leave the club, their hair a mess from dancing and Paige’s blazer settled over Tess’s shoulders to stave off the late night chill. Paige already has an Uber called to take them back to Tess’s parents’ house and she pulls Tess into her side as they wait outside.

There’s something so magical about the night, about the energy in the atmosphere. The bass from the music reverberates and Paige sings along to whatever rap song is playing from inside, her body warm against Tess’s, and she finds that she suddenly can’t take it anymore. The overwhelming emotion in her chest, ready to burst at the seams, the sheer happiness and hope and gratitude that seeps from every pore in her body. She wraps both of her arms around Paige’s waist, resting her head over her chest, listening to the steady beat of her heart. Paige quiets down, a little confused, but she melts into their embrace until there’s no air left between them.

Tess doesn’t know how to put it into words – she doesn’t think she ever will. She’s so in love, even after a year together officially. There was a point in her life where she didn’t think she’d be here. She didn’t think she would be able to heal, that she would be able to play basketball again, that she would be drafted to pursue her dream professionally. She never thought romance was in the cards for her, that she would ever find someone like Paige – that she would find Paige herself; she never thought she would be in love or that someone would be in love with her, too. It’s surreal, encompassing, and call her cheesy or down bad or whatever, but she can’t wait to live life with Paige.

“You okay?” Paige asks softly, her fingers trailing up and down Tess’s back soothingly.

“I’m perfect,” Tess responds, smiling against Paige’s skin. “I just love you.”

Paige’s hand leaves her back, but it’s not long before she’s cupping Tess’s cheek and drawing her closer to her until their lips touch. It’s soft, unhurried, a promise. It’s just as electric as the first time, as warm, as perfect. Paige breaks away long enough to whisper “I love you, too,” and then she’s sweeping back in, kissing Tess with the vow of forever. When she first met Paige, almost two years ago, she’d told her that home was a feeling. Right here, wrapped up in Paige’s arms, kissing her under the streetlight as they get ready to walk into what is the beginning of their life together, Tess knows in her heart that she’s finally made it home.

‘Happily Ever Draft-er’

In April of 2025, the Dallas Wings and the Los Angeles Sparks drafted Paige Bueckers and Tess Kennedy first and second overall. Every basketball fan knew that Bueckers and Kennedy were sure bets for the top two picks. If there was one thing that the WNBA season could promise us, it was the match-ups between Bueckers and Kennedy – they certainly came around more often than they did when Bueckers and Kennedy were in college. They sold out arenas with many fans vying to see their clash, and they did not disappoint. Each game was intense, hard fought until the very last second.

In their rookie year, Bueckers and Kennedy helped lead their teams to the playoffs, although they both fell short – the Wings lost 2-0 to the Aces, while the Sparks lost 2-1 to the Liberty. In their second year, the Wings forged ahead to the semi-finals where they lost 3-2 to the Fever whereas the Sparks were defeated by the Sun 2-0 in the first round. Their third year was the complete opposite – the Wings lost to the Valkyries 2-1 in the first round, although the Sparks lost 3-1 to the Lynx in the semi-finals.

Their fourth year, the last of their rookie contracts, was long anticipated. In the first round of the playoffs, the Wings defeated the Storm in a clean 2-0 sweep. Similarly, the Sparks sent the Dream packing 2-0. Then, in the semi-finals, the Wings plowed through the Lynx 3-2 while the Sparks dominated the Fever 3-1. The finals match that everyone had been waiting for – the Wings versus the Sparks was underway. This would be the first year that the WNBA implemented a 7 game series.

The WNBA finals were back and forth. The Sparks took home the first win, the Wings took home the second and the third, although the Sparks bounced back with the fourth and the fifth. The Wings beat the Sparks on their sixth game in an overtime thriller, tying the series 3-3 and forcing a game seven. Bueckers and Kennedy were electric on the court, averaging 30 points in the postseason, but ultimately, the Sparks won the WNBA championship.

When approached for a comment, Kennedy stated, “Well, Paige won Rookie of the Year, so I think it’s fitting that I get a ring first.” Bueckers, who was standing next to her, rolled her eyes, but she seemed smug, as though she had another trick up her sleeve. Kennedy continued, “We’re free agents, so who knows who’s winning the chip after this.”

Bueckers did, in fact, have another trick up her sleeve as it was announced early in the offseason that she and Kennedy had gotten engaged in Italy, close to Kennedy’s hometown. Bueckers shared their engagement photos on her Instagram, captioning it, “Her favorite ring of them all 💍”. Shortly after, Bueckers and Kennedy shared their free agency picks – they’d both landed with the Golden State Valkyries alongside 2026 Rookie of the Year Azzi Fudd.

We’re eagerly awaiting the tipoff for the 2029 WNBA season. Bueckers and Kennedy have been rivals for nine years, falling in love despite it all. Finally, for the first time ever, we get to witness the union of the titans rather than their clash. We get to witness a team where Bueckers and Kennedy combine their strengths, and all we have to say is good luck to the rest of the league. The Golden State Valkyries will be a name that we will be hearing for a very long time, especially now that Paige Bueckers and Tess Kennedy have settled down in the Bay and have made San Francisco their home.

-Penelope Lancaster, Bleacher Report

[variousqueerthings]

hi hello the exorcist show for the ask game please!!! (hope you are well!)

AHHH HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO

awwyeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (also known as: the show of all fucking time that nobody watched before it was too late, including my good self but lbr they were never giving it a third season but does it matter???? we got two seasons of some of the most beautiful narrative you can imagine. chill im chill you know im chill gosh im so happy you watched this show still!)

my favorite female character ooh, this is interesting, because I never had a Fave fave out of all of them, but i think a toss-up between Angela Rance (duh, perhaps, my beloved Geena Davis), Mother Bernadette (i miss u babe), and Rose Cooper (head solidly on her shoulders as she navigates the utterly bizarre, adopts all the kids 😭😭😭)

my favorite male character YOU KNOW! HOW DIFFICULT! THIS IS! YOU KNOW I HAVE TO GO MARCUS BUT THEN TOMAS WOULD ALSO SAY MARCUS (but then Marcus would say Tomas, so forwards and backwards we go) - my midlands orphan who was groomed and abused by the Church to become an object/weapon, who has somehow maintained an inherent belief in People, in Goodness, and above all who will never ever let another child suffer on his watch!!!! who sees abused children and wants to save them!!!!!!!!! who is queer and deeply repressed (canonically this time, we say this about many a character, but Canonically!!!!) and working through it!!!! played by the beauteous and yet rugged Ben Daniels!!!! This character Did Things to my psyche forever and always, he is nestled softly in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my favorite book/season/etc Mmmmmmm there's only two to go for... I think........ argh. hm. ok. no. i can't do it. coward's way out. soz babe

my favorite episode (if its a tv show) me like, damn it's so episodic, what happened wheeen but ok in terms of Moments in the story: s1: when we properly discover who Angela is. the rug pull is so so good for me and pulls everything into focus as a Story! s2: toss up between "Marcus makes out with a sexy fisherman (called Peter!!) while Tomas embarks on The Horrors alone," and the finale............. gosh that s2 finale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my favorite cast member I've seen Ben Daniels onstage and it absolutely rocked my whole world, but I cannot go without shouting out Alfonso Herrera (yes, he of Sense8 fame to anyone reading this trying to connect the dots!) Geena Davis, and John Cho!!!! like!!!! this cast is fucking Stacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my favorite ship Tomas/Marcus. whatever they are, they are everything to one another! which is the whole core of the show

a character I’d die defending Father Devon Bennett!!!!! I don't know if he needs defending from fandom, but holy cow the way we leave him is so so bleak it hurts my soul!!!!! can someone come save my baby boy 😭😭😭

a character I just can’t sympathize with Idk man. the demons? OH NO WAIT I KNOW FUCKN! MARIA WALTERS!!!! Truly a "ok sob story, still evil" kinda thing (which is the point, this woman!!! this fucking woman!!!!!!!) -- i do like how absolutely pathetic she was in a particular way I usually see in these powerhungry guys! girlboss! cancer killed the demon inside of her (lol)

a character I grew to love I'd say Mouse. I think the thing about Mouse is simply that we didn't get to the next part of her story, so she's In Potentia permanently. I also think it was a slight misstep to ground her in a past will-they-won't-they with Marcus, because it puts her into that fatal position of "oh so she's just a love interest after all" vs giving her her own journey, BUT! HOWEVER! She does have her own journey! very much so in fact! it's just that that wig Ben Daniels had in the flashbacks was fucking atrocious and you were maybe more interested in the current-day stuff on first watch but then on second watch she really came into her own for me, especially everything she was doing with Bennett! I wish we'd had more of them doing Stuff together! I wish we could have seen her and Tomas properly bonding!!!!!!!!!

my anti otp um. dunno really. Marcus and the wig. I wasn't necessarily compelled by Marcus and Mouse romantically either, I will say, but her hero-worshipping him and misreading it a certain way (she was a young nun, he was a mysterious exorcist), that I can get behind, especially since present-day Mouse is so Capable and Jaded, we like that journey for her

Anyway... that fucking show. forever in my mind. forever hurting my soul. forever waiting for a third season. forever recommending it because even without a full ending it's so so satisfying!

sry needed to add gifs of marcus touching tomas like he's precious

[olisephaa]

Arcane act 3 spoilers under the cut. Just ramblings to get my thoughts out until my friends catch up

Im somewhat conflicted abt the ending. The character development, especially of jinx was really well done imo. In season 1, her personality felt very unstable (obviously) and I didn't know how they would make her an actual character but they really did. She feels solid, fully rounded. The sisters together was so nice. Though the death at the end? Kinda unnecessary imo. Don't like the trope of "villain" redeem themselves through heroic act that leads to death.

With viktor, I'm SO GLAD he didn't stay that kind of machine herald. I would've flipped my shit if that became canon. He had been so different from his original personality and felt so stripped of agency in season 2, that I would've been super mad. The organic metal type deal was a fun idea, but man, the hexclaw not really being one at all?? Just like, a third arm that probably only lol players connect to the hexclaw? Kinda whack. The cool saviour design is nice and all, but it didn't really feel like Viktor doing it at all. And him implied to go through hundreds of time lines where he saves Jayce, what, like suddenly coming to his senses and becoming a mage?? How does that make sense? He can't retain his memory all the time if he's truly reliving these events (bc then he wouldn't make some mistakes in the first place) so.. What, he blips in like Ekko into a parallel universe? Idk it felt weird that it's Viktor who's the mysterious mage from season 1

Related but on a more positive note, I'm insane about Jayce being the one to remind Viktor of his humanity. The one constant Viktor can't rationalise away. The doomed yaoi fighting each other turning to embracing in the astral plane to save the world? Incredible. Jayce would love Viktor if he was a worm, as long as he was still Viktor. I genuinely expected him to drop an "I love you" or something on the nose like that, but ig their whole thing is "partners". Also the floating around a fixed point together, the parallel to their very first success with hextech mirroring their last, in the end with them finally reaching each other? We love to see it. Even if it's barely explained

The Caitlyn and Mel vs Ambessa fight was so cool. I couldn't stop myself from making jokes tho like "the botlane duo vs the Toplane otp" bc. With Mel having shields and having been hinted at that she'll be a champion too, it'd be cool if she's a support mage. I'd love another one for my arsenal. I don't quite get her whole storyline with the black rose and the blood or whatever, but that one is left mystical enough that I can appreciate what we got.

Sevika being on the council at the end was Super cool (ZAUN RIGHTS) but also leaves me with way more questions. She's the only Zaunite on the council, and as we can tell still not trusted by a lot of them. I don't know how that would work out, but ig it's a good first step?

NO FR WHERE THE FUCK DID VIKTOR AND JAYCE GO?????

The rest are shorter thoughts, more random

Also SWAIN'S RAVEN CAMEO AT THE END local Swain Main overjoyed

I can't believe Vi and Cait fucked in a prison cell, hours (?) after Vi went through Another traumatic event. Godspeed lesbians

Orianna real!!!! I don't get How Singed did it but the cameo was nice

I do love this new jinx. The characterisation is so nice. The Arcane champs deserved a more rounded character take and I think by and large they got it (we ignore Viktor's weird corruption arc)

Anyway. I hope the viktor VGU won't make Arcane machine herald the base canon bc he sucks. Would make a cool skin tho.

[ceedaryaps]

Bridgerton Season 3 Spoilers!!!!!!!

So I finally had a day off and could wacth season 3 of Bridgerton and oh.my.god. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.So three things before I get into the meat of it. First of all, I sincerely hope that Violet and Lady Danburys brother get a chance to connect more MAMA VIOLET DESERVES LOVE TOO! Seecond the fact that Anthony cannottt keep his hands off Kate is so hilarious to me like get awf that lady and let her breathe. And third Francesa being a subtle autism rep is so amazing to me, as an autizzy person myself seeing someone with the same mannerisms as me within a romance setting is so refreshing like it truly puts joy in my heart. And also the sign language in the first episode???? love itttttt, they truly perfected diversity without shoehorning it.

Now to the meattttttt of it.

Now friends to lovers has never personally been my thing and in terms of each bridgerton show im gonna rank this leason my second least favorite but thats NOT to say I dont like it I very much enjoyed this season but i do have my critiques.

1

While I get a giggle out of Pen's sisters I cannot stand her family as a whole, for the simple fact that they treat her as if no one would EVER want her just because she plus sized and has "odd interest" in their words, it infuriated me how her mother wanted Pen to say yes not because she was happy for her but because she truly thought this would be Pen's only chance. Despite my disliking her family it was a good plot point for her to finally decide to make a change and put herself out there. I feel like in her previous two seaons for her she didnt put herself out there because, as weve seen, she has a huge lack of confidence that it was more than likely the work of her mothers and her sisters doing. I also loveeee the wardrobe change from bright gaudy colors and patterns to more Bridgerton esqe colors in her wardrobe. The wardrobe in Bridgerton has always amazed me but putting Pen in that light blue was amazinggg she was gorgeous and glowing. Even her sisters were eating this season like props to wardrobe and makeup bc they ate. Im so worried to see whats going to happen when Collin eventually finds out shes lady whistle down like omgggg.

2

I don't hate Eloise and Cressida NOW HEAR ME OUT OKAY. Cressida is still not a good person at all but I'm so glad we got to see more of her character bc it definitely shed light into why she acts that way. It would be completely ignorant to sit there and believe that the pressures of the ton to be perfect and find husbands quickly and avoid scandal WOULDNT make the girls get a little nasty with each other. The pressure from her parents specifically made me go "Oh girl I think id get nasty too if those were my folks." In no way does it excuse her treatment of Pen tho!! I also liked that it was Cressida who clocked Eloise's tea about her pointing fingers immediately at her when Pen got exsposed. Not to mention when the girlies came to Cressida for tea SISTA DID NOT FOLD!!!! She politely said naur and kept it pushing. Like I understand Cressida was neverrr the nicest and was a gossip but if Eloise decided to hang around her then she shoulda had faith in the girl. Like Eloise I love you but doooo betterrrr. Don't get me wrong at all yall Eloise is my fav but I'm glad people are clocking her for her shittt. I hope Cressida and Elosie stay friends but they constantly build off of each other to be better bc I loved how Eloise made her dislike of Cressida's treatment towards Pen known.

2.5

This is so unrelated but i love bennedict BAD hes sooooo idk yall I need him.

3

COLLIN BRIDGERTON IM HERE TO CLOCK YOUR TEA.

Imma be real I might be bitter bc I feel like Pen shoulda made that man grovel. After what he said about her to his friends in the previous season he should have been on his hands and knees BEGGING for her forgiveness she let him off too easy. Also I don't really appreciate that it took another man giving Pen attention for his stupid ass to finally be like "Oh shed kinda bad actually." I ALSO don't like how when he described how he liked Pen as a friend it wasn't because of her actual qualities it was how she made HIM feel. "You're always here to listen to me and give me a new perspective!" Sir you could have just said she was very insightful, you enjoy her company SOMETHING other than a service she has done for you. That why Im glad he was suffering so bad every time he saw them together he was SICK to his stomach and I'm here for it.

All in all I cant wait to see how things go down next bc I think everyine is gonna reap what they sow Pen, Collin, Eloise EVERYONE. bc the sneak peak looked crazyyyyyy.

Anyways the next thing I should post will be the Finnal Gambit the last book in the trilogy of the hawthorn legacy series.

See yall later!

[theonlyadawong]

was tagged by beloved mutual @devilbrakers in this tag game :D

01. a character you love.

i shant go on about ada wong, the evil resident so instead i will talk aboooooooooooooouuuuut ummmm lucie jurin! from martyrs (2008) she murdered the family that abused her as a child and i think that's wonderful. she is also living with intense survivors guilt and she has a friend who is a girl (girlfriend?) who is by her side (for the most part)

02. your favourite food from your culture.

BAKED SWEET POTATOES MMM MM MM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DELICOUS!!!!!!! also carne guisada ❤️

03. what your dream apartment / room / house is like.

🤔 well, it has to have lots of open space. i absolutely HATE when my living quarters feels cramped. i would also like it to have greenery (even though i can't take care of a plant to save my life), and i would like some green walls and nice brown wooden decor. and all my decorations and knick knacks would probably be nature themed. oh!!!! and also, i would have a papasan :)

04. your personal style or aesthetic.

i wear lots of overalls, tank tops, turtlenecks, skirts, boots, and sneakers, and it's all neutral colors. not a very interesting answer but idk how else to describe it

05. a happy memory.

one time when i was a kid, i won the jackpot on that wheel of fortune game at a putt putt! it was especially cool because i didn't even know what i was doing, i was just pressing the buttons. also one time i won a minor prize playing the stacker arcade machine and it glitched, and it gave me all the carabiners inside.

06. your favourite way(s) to spend time.

drawing (digitally) which ive only been doing since october 2020!!!! aaaaaaaand also watching TV and movies. i recently watched the movie martyrs (2008)for the third time in a month and i just love it. the love between anna and lucie is so palpable and the actors are just stellar. i also love thr sopranos and i have the box set!! I've watched it all the way through 3 times over the course of last year (and a little bit into this year) and it's just so good (though i will day the racism grates at me lmfao.) i also love futurama but ONLY the first 7 seasons. but for the past month ive been playing re4r (which im sure my followers know by now lol) and im having lots of fun!

07. story behind your url / title / quote / description / icon.

obviously, my url is a reference to THEE ada wong buy it specifically comes from me being absolutely positive ada made some reference to her saying she was, "the only ada wong," in re6 but alas she says, "the real ada wong." so i was wrong.(fake fan moment 😔) but once i realized this, i didn't want to change my url bc it stuck with me. and my icon is canceled ada because i get such a kick out of it. it's so funny

08. something that comforts you or brings you joy.

SHELL COLLECTION!!!!! SHELL COLLECTION OF REAL SHELLS FROM REAL BEACHES THAT I REALLY PICKED UP!

09. what you’re looking forward to.

ik this is a tiny thing in the grand scheme of life but i just bought the infinite rocket launcher in 4r so im really excited to play a whole game with that! >:)

10. something else that’s important to you.

THEATRE! im sadly not much into it now but i love every single aspect of live theatre so much you don't even know. a chorus line, hair, and shuffle along are my favorite shows EVER!!!

uhhhhmmm idk who to tag! but it you see this and you want to do it, then pretend i tagged you!!! :D

[thewordsinthevoid]

Alright this is my THIRD time relistening to 5.1, lets dump ALL my thoughts then:

-first of all, one of the best opening story sequences. I love when unwell does this framing, and it is always well done. "We may be going home soon" is a line that disturbs the shit out of me, and once again unwell's sound design is absolutely incredible with all that the dogs do. I do also want to see silas get his teeth punched out.

-i could talk for hours about chester this episode. But i just want to say both the writing and pat kings performance were perfect for him. The way he aporoaches the house practicing what to say, and specifically stumbling through all their namea, then is immediately thrown off by the house being casual is so comedic and him. I really want to know how pat king manages to sound that pathetic, its amazing. Hes also amazing later in the episode where hes freaking out over norah and wes.

-"come in!" "Mrs. Harper? Its me? Chester Warren?" "What of me yelling come in didnt you understand?" The way the cast acts is so fhdjsjjdjdbsjs seeing dot tentatively accept chester is so nice, while she still keeps bullying him a bit throughout the episode. Its such a good dynamic on full display.

-abbie is a bastard. Its perfect.

-"lily-an"

-"i can eavesdrop from here!" "Tell him to speak up!" AND THEN CHESTER ACTUALLY TALKING LOUDER IS FHDJDKSKNFNDA. Once again character dynamics are shining this entire episode, and having chester play the straight man to their antics is a good role for him.

-"i dont know how to proceed!" Have you ever met a man so pathetic-

-chester is a 24/7 mental breakdown at this point. Yeah this is what i wanted from season 5.

-i should write a fic where chester reads rudys will and all that-

-When you arent exactly a found family because you fell apart and didnt know each other long enough but in the end your the only person left to stand over their body-

-Abbie getting their character development shown off this ENTIRE EPISODE we're so proud of them learning to handle their own emotions.

-also lily WES IS A KID TF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???? Like yeah hes a ghost but come on. Tinee.

-chester refusing to enter the house is such a good character detail. My guy needs help.

-and now we're at the norah scene where she needs SO MUCH THERAPY

-once again applause for the sound design making Norahs voice have an interesting echo that isnt distracting!

-dot immediately asking Norah to stay there in rudys room absolutely made me and my friend start screaming at her. Im glad it turned out well but we both kind of just had a spittake

-btw dot actually sticking to joking about norah being her daughter is cute and hilarious. Like yee girl you got found familied

-wes being the only one to grive the way chester knows how to handle is so fucking funny to me actually-

-now this is the point of the episode for me that i freak out for. Chester not remembering ghosts or wes. I have a lot of general thoughts about this episode regarding it and 4.12s status, but i will say this specific scene mightve been good to include at the start of the new season rather than the end of last because i genuinely dont remember if wes and chester know each other. Im sure they should, and im sure chester does know about ghosts, but its been months since i heard the last few episodes, so i start to question my own knowledge. Its so unsettling and uncomfortable and i think seems like a good point of tying an audience effect to the plot. Like, its good metatextualy. And if im completely wrong and chester wasnt meant to know these things then. Idk. Bully me in my askbox

-regardless, once again im applauding pat king for the best, most pathetic performance ive ever seen

-chester and abbie getting into a theological debate is the type of content i need while im being forced to take a terrible theology class

-the mugs as a joke in this episode are goddamn hilarious. Its also nice how they manage to make some history with it, despite the audience not seeing it, its more in the little things of dot and lily joing its bc "shes fancy" in such a way it feels like they both know the joke. Its nice. Also wes getting fenwood house!!!!

-the way they manage to audibly convey dot walking over, snatching the alcohol of chesters hand, and drowning it is fucking skillfull and hilarious

-lily and norah getting the final mourning scene broke me. Norah crying broke me. I have nothing really to say about that scene other than it was good and made me wanna cry.

-the rain beginning is terrifying me. I am so ready for this season i am so hyped.

-FINAL THOUGHTS:

- if i could start season 5 in any way, it would be like this. This is all i wanted and more. The character dynamics and cast performances that (for me) are the pinnacle of unwell are on full display, its acknowledging a life changing event from the last season, and everything that happens in the episode is incredibly gripping on a character level

-the episode i think masterfully balances both a tone of mourning and humor, often getting into some darkly humorous places, and seems to be a concerted effort by the entire team to balance it. The writing, acting, design, all really make this tone work.

-can i keep mentioning the acting? The actors are incredible

-i get the feeling this might be chesters last appearance. I dont want it to be, but this feels like it could also be a send off to his character, and i wouldnt blame the writers if they did so, just so they had a smaller cast to focus on in the finale. I hope chester returns though, hes somehow become a bright spot in the show for me, and i blame his actor

-im also very concerned for what will happen to lily this season. Shes definitely struggling a lot with guilt, and i dont think shes going to be making the best choices. Regardless, i love her and norahs friendship, and she and chester also got a weird friendship that i think should lead the two to try to kill silas together.

-for my final thoughts, i deleted what i wrote about this and 4.12, but to summarize, i just hope the writers didnt feel pressured to write this episode, but that this episode serves as a good leadin to the rest of the season.

-i loved this episode, and it has already become one of my favorite. Unwell season 5 is delivering!

[its-all-honey]

The Umbrella Academy Season 3 ☂️

i last week finished watching the third season woo !! i used to be so obsessed with tua after watching season 1 that i even ended up getting all the volumes of the comics 😅 after watching season 3 i also reread all the comics back to back in like one sitting lol (spoilers for both the show and the comics coming up 🫣)

im gonna try my best to not make this sound super confusing when i talk about both season 3 of the show and volume 3 of the comics lol ------------------------------- the comic ---------------------------------so i went into season 3 having not previously read the 3rd volume of the comics meaning i had no idea what would happen, though i did know that the idea of hotel obsidian/oblivion was based off the comics BUT!! i found that the 3rd season of the show practically had nothing to do with the comics other than the title 😭 the plots of the show and comics across all seasons and volumes are both very different and season 3 was the most unlike its corresponding comic. one of the main differences being that the sparrow academy are only introduced at the end of volume 3 of the comics so i honestly dont know where the whole storyline for the 3rd season of the show came from i personally found the plot of the 3rd volume of the comic quite confusing and hard to follow as the perspectives and locations kept changing a lot so im actually rather glad that they chose not to portray the events of this comic in the show. that being said, i did like how each of umbrella siblings had their own storylines/adventures that they were on. probably my favourite storyline in the comics is vanya's ongoing recovery from volume one of the comics and also the pairing of five and allison which happens throughout the comics. i also like that luther and diego's rivalry is present across the comics. ------------------------------- the show --------------------------------- in the show, i find the characters to be much more likeable and more full of personality compared to the comics so season 3 did not disappoint in that respect. it was cool to see aspects of the comics continue to be translated into the show for example allison's reluctance to use her powers is a big thing in both medias AND IM SO GLAD THAT KLAUS FINALLY GOT TO USE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF HIS POWERS IN THE SHOW 😭😭😭 all the other character progression among the umbrella siblings is great as well!!! (we love senior citizen five) i liked the sparrows though some of them did not get much screen time and a few of their powers were a bit lame in my opinion 💀 (marcus and alphonso i am looking at you, sorry not sorry) i love love LOVE fei tho she is sooooo coool and christopher being just a random floating cube is so silly to me plus if you think about it, um some woman gave birth to that?!?!?!?! seeing sparrow ben just get subtly accepted by the umbrella siblings was so sweet like they were lowkey all just so happy to see ben again even if he's different. OH AND SPEAKING OF ACCEPTING!!!!! VIKTOR HARGREEVES 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 madddd props to the producers/writers of the show for giving elliot page a trans character and doing it in such a good way ❤️❤️❤️❤️ im so obsessed with all the different sibling reactions to viktor (also vanya in the comics has short hair sooooooo) ok so a few things i didnt like so much was first of all, luther and sloane romance felt really forced to me and a bittttt weird but ive seen people say that luther was in his himbo era during season 3 so honestly i'll let it slide. secondly there's lila who i disliked in season 2 but then she shows up with stan and i loved stan he was so silly!!!! BUT THEN lila is suddenly actually pregnant😭???? idk man, it gotta hella crazy. um thirdly (this is gonna be a really hot take but hear me out), i know its the whole point of the show and its a reoccurring thing that happens but all this end of the world/apocalypse business is kindaaa boring now 🧍 i guess it does happen differently in each season so its not completely repetitive everytime and i must say that this time was actually my favourite end of the world lol hopefully, the finally season will resolve everything nicely but only time will tell i suppose 👁️👁️. im actually gonna shut up now though because this is getting so long and while i could go on and on about tua im gonna have to stop 😭

[beachesgetpeaches]

my only problem w mandalorian season 3 is that it all feels like it should have been season 4

rushed is one word that might describe it but it's not rven that. it isn't rushed as much as it never gives audience the chance to connect with what is happening.

din giving bo the darksaber is fine, BUT watching just this show there is NO explanation as to why he would want to do this. we do not get din struggling with it, we are not given a reason within this series that makes him giving it to bo a fulfilling yay experience.

one way this would have "felt" better would have been if there was a "season 3" (lets call it season 2.5 here) where we see din struggle with it. where we see him talk about it and try to make sense of it. and a season in which we get to connect better with bo and want to root for her. a season which establishes that she is now the best fit to unite all mandalorians instead of being told so by the armorer.

there is a season missing in which din deals with finding his purpose after grogu leaves to train with luke. and then mid that season we could have a proper BoBF cross over in which one mandalorian episode sets up din helping out in BoBF episode and grogus return.

the season doesnt work because it doesn't give us payoff for two most important events of s2 finale: darksabre and grogu leaving. we dont get to see din (the protagonist of the first two seasons, and the character we have all been rooting for) handle the consequences of these two events. instead we get bits of it in another show (BoBF), and resolution for grogus departure in that same show. completely outaide of the mandalorian narrative, and with no character consequence or development coming from these.

it also does not address the point of helmet removal which is something i assume din has struggled with during/after s2.

which is frustrating. very much so. especially with how wonderful s2 was with addressing the creed and din removing his helmet. we dont even get much of him working through that - that he removed his helmet three times since meeting grogu: once on the brink of death, second time to get vital information to save grogu, third time to say goodbye.

all of these OUT OF LOVE (i am soft!!)

either way, we do not address these specifically. we dont see him think on it more than him doing what he must to redeem himself.

im not asking for an insanely character driven plot. but the plot did not even accommodate for any of this. idk if it was because pedro could not be present on set so they had to do a rewrite but even in that case this just seems to be the wrong focus for this season.

[ladyimaginarium]

1. Favorite Anime? Naruto, GANGSTA., Black Lagoon, Michiko to Hatchin, Ergo Proxy, Death Note, No.6, Shingeki no Kyojin would've made this list if it was written by Jewish writers bc my& mixed native jewish ass is conflicted w/ this one, Deadman Wonderland, I& haven't finished Tokyo Ghoul yet but it's really good, I& didn't finish Kuroshitsuji either but i& rly vibed w/ the aesthetic, BNHA was... ehhhh, okay, didn't really vibe w/ the whole ableist trope of "disabled coded character magically gets new powers or becomes abled" so I& dropped it, I& know for a fact that the animated ASOIAF stuff coming up is gonna make me& reverse shit myself&. all i& know is that if the books were animated that would fix me&. 2. Your Worst Anime? Can't rly think of any tbh, I'm& picky, the closest I& could think of was the Boruto series. Mostly bc it basically destroyed any kind of development in Shippuden & shit just doesn't make sense & not to mention it slaughters Sasuke's character & just the entire female cast as a whole which im& not even gonna get into for the sake of my& own sanity. lmao 3. Do you read the Manga that go with the Anime you watch? Usually yeah but I like to keep these separate tbh. I read the manga only if I know that the anime won’t get a second season and I’m still interested in what happens next. Anyway, in short, I bother with the manga only if I really love the anime ie gangsta & naruto but I& can't watch or read long series anymore due to adhd & spoonie reasons lmao 4. Favorite Genres? action, supernatural, fantasy, science fiction, comedy, horror, psychological. 5. Least Favorite Genres? Harem mostly bc the dudes are so lame & basic lmao 6. Favorite Character? Erica ( GANGSTA. ), Beretta ( GANGSTA. ), the Benriya trio ( GANGSTA. ), basically the entire Second & Third Destroyers regiments ( GANGSTA. ), basically the entire Akatsuki ( Naruto ), basically any of the founders ( Naruto ), any of the jinchuriki & tailed beasts/bijuu ( my& plural ass vibed w/ them so hard & i& didnt even know i& was plural at the time lmao ), Michiko Malandro ( what do u think lmao ), Nezumi ( No.6 ), Uchiha Madara ( Naruto; he really is That Black Air Force Energy Icon ) Eren Jaeger (snk; LISTEN HE'S MY& INSYS BF IM& CHEATING OKAY ), Mihael Kheel / Mello ( Death Note; g-d he's so fucking iconic ), Misa Amane ( Death Note ), L Lawliet ( Death Note; aro autistic mf represent ) Marco Adriano ( GANGSTA. ), Rebecca Lee / Revy ( Black Lagoon; she could beat my& ass & i'd& thank her lmao ), Eda ( Black Lagoon; smth about a nun w/ a gun who dresses up like a bimbo at night but is actually a cia agent makes me& go WOOF WOOF BARK BARK ). others im& def forgetting lmao 7. Least Favorite Character? bitch idk 8. Qualities you like in a Character? Kindhearted, caring, badass, strong-willed, cheeky, has deadpan sense of humor. women who can beat my& ass. poor little meow meows. 9. Short or Long anime? Short these days. I& litcherally Cannot watch longer anime. naruto was my& first long anime & it'll likely be my& last lmao 10. Anime or Manga? I procrastinate both but I guess manga, mostly because I can read it without fearing that the plot will go to shit  11. How do you choose the anime you watch? If it has pretty art, if the aesthetic is pretty, if my& friends watch it 12. Skip or listen to Intros/Outros? I usually always listen. I& literally never skip Naruto, Black Lagoon or the GANGSTA. openings & EDs 13. How do you cope if your friends or family don’t like you watching anime? most ppl around me& like anime but if they don't i& dont give a fuck?? like. why the fuck should i& care what other ppl think lmfao 14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it? I& sometimes drop anime for no reason whatsoever. lmao It’s a waste of time if it doesn’t hold your attention, let alone if you don’t like it. it's somewhat what happened w/ bnha as explained above. i& just really dislike that trope as a disabled & neurodivergent system lmao 15. Who are you tagging to do this? @librastrai @dethqveen @abri-chan & whoever else wants to do this !!

[kxmikomrade]

oh ho ho

why hello there

I just read through a bunch of the stuff you have about yourself, and now you have to deal with me <3

so first of all: i saw that you really liked blue period, and I was wondering how you'd recommend it? I keep on wanting to watch it but my mind goes "but you have this thing" and "what about the other three animes you're watching" but who cares! It looks really pretty tho. Also me and my partner are going to watch Bungo Stray Dogs together (eventually-) bc it's his favorite anime lol.

ok next point: WATERMELON IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS I LOVE WATERMELON. MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM IS THE BEST. and i agree, winter and autumn are the best seasons. rain. rain is nice :).

third and i think final thing: you're learning japanese, you say? ok, i have a few questions for you. what are you learning it on? (i'm learning it on the demon bird app, aka duolingo). what words have you learned? what do you know about the grammar/word structure? and the scary one: have you started learning the terror that is katakana? (if no, it's just another alphabet with the same order and sounds, except different characters. i hate katakana :,>) because i can't type in japanese on my chromebook, i'll just use the romanji. But expect me to send you random hiragana and have you say what it is!

Kimu-san, yahho! Anata ga kakkoii to karai desu yo! (i promise you it's a compliment <3)

try to tell me what that means, and expect more random japanese in your future :)

anyways have a lovely day byeee <3

when i saw the 'oh ho ho' i heard french venti LMAOOO 💀💀

omg new moot guys NEW MOOT !! u match my vibe so <3

BLUE PERIOD IS SO SHHEHEHEHHE esp if ur an artist like myself, it gives u a different and probably more professional view of art ^^ For wat i like abt it, i'd say da characters and how theyre written. The main character is pretty relatable. Theres another character who has family issues and may be trans (or genderfluid? it isnt confirmed but she was born male, currently dresses feminine and hates it when people uses her dead name). Another one who was born a 'Genius' but doesnt really understand art, hes only doing it bcs its basically wat he can only do. Another character who'm gets compared to her older sister and so on. Even minor characters have well written stories I suggest u watch da anime THEN read da manga from da beginning :>> Sanaol may partner- jkjk ur prob fil but imagien having a partner 😭 my lonely ass could never U SHOULDD WATCH BSD!! I LOVEEE DA ENDINGS ITS SUCH A VIBE AND DA OPS R BANGERS UGH THE CHARACTER DESIGNS AND PLOT I WANNA 👊 ITS INTERESTING BUT I SUGGEST ALSO READING THE MANGA FROM THE BEGINNING SINCE THE ANIME SKIPS ALOT OF THINGS AND IT MIGHT GET U CONFUSED 😭😭 Also, hes so true for that, hes DEF a keeper 💪 unless hes a mori/fukuchi stan then ew no

YESSS WATERMELON AND MINT CHOCO CHIP ICECREAM LOVERSS <333 Honestly, cold weathers >>>>>>

Im currently just memorizing da basics; hiragana and katakana before i continue off where i left off in grammar and vocab (i'll most likely start over since its been arounf half a year and i have goldfish memory 🥲) Ive already memorized hiragana, now im going with katakana but im focusing on art lately since i just got my stylus back so im prob not gonna do it for awhile but i'll try to before may >:DD I currently only use 'Write it Japanese!' app on mobile, its REALLY useful, idk anything to help with grammar but my jp speaking friend recommends da book 'Minna no nihongo'. She used to be my jp study buddy but shes been VERY busy with uni lately so :'''D AND YES BBG (can i call u dat??) LETS PRACTICE TOGETHER <33 tbh it would be better if we use hiragana/katakana/kanji (i literally dont know kanji SOBS) since it helps us learn!! AND DAT WOULD BE FUNN

From just my understanding: 'Kim-san, Yahoo/hello! Youre a cool person [smth smth]'

from google: 'Kimu, Yahoo! It hurts to think you're cool' (pls get ur shit together google 😭😭i couldnt call my friends bitches lovingly bcs of u)

YES I'LL BE EXPECTING THEM <33 I HOPE U HAVE A LOVELY DAY TOO HON

LMAO WAT DO I CALL U?? I WANNA ADD UR MOOT TAG

[strititty]

per my last reblog i decided to ramble in about nerds aint got shit, my most popular fic.

well, ostensibly i’m rambling about that but honestly i have 3 am motormouth and i took an edible so im just in that sort of mood, you know. all philosophical like. more under the cut

i wrote that fic in 2015 for drone season, when i was living in - and i cannot stress this enough - the MIDDLE OF FUCKING NOWHERE, though not as much as i would be the year afterward. my internet was shitty cornfield hotspot net and it was the summer after my first year of college so i had a helluva lot on my mind already.

the original document was just a little notepad file with word wrap turned on cuz that’s how i used to write all my shit, and i’d send people wips via pastebin. can you even imagine? PASTEBIN? i use google docs now but sometimes i wonder if i should go back to notepad lmao. smaller size, less evil google involved. when i was a kid i used word, though i can’t remember when that stopped being a thing. might have been during high school.

since i wrote nerds aint got shit so shortly after i had graduated high school i had a very clear picture of my OWN high school in my head, which probably lends itself to some weird stylistic quirks. my high school was very very small. i shan’t name it, of course, lmao, what am i some sort of fool? but it was tiny as hell and that tends to infect any sort of high school adjacent au i write. rereading it i can so clearly picture MY high school that it’s frankly a little funny.

fortunately my high school only had one creepy teacher and it wasnt the PE teacher + we got his ass fired, but fiction makes for a much more fun place to explore these sorts of ideas for me. idk why i have such a thing about age differences & teacher/student fics but i SURE DO.

i can still remember the summer days writing this fic, kind of, in a hazy way. i remember my phone being the only way i could connect with my friends and loved ones, and the sun beating down, and the way things were far too hot in my little room. my cat had gotten out and gotten pregnant by a farm cat, so i had to cough up money to get her fixed - she should have been already but the people i lived with were less concerned about that sort of thing and i’d been at college so i hadn’t been able to make my case. the kittens were cute but tiny and stunted b/c my cat was very young and small & only two of them survived. i think the third one was stillborn and that my cat ate that one, but since i wasn’t there when they were born i didn’t get a lot of the details.

i still think about this fic sometimes for the memories it draws up and the plans i have to revamp and add on to it--my initial idea was a sort of 7 day format where dave goes back to bro every day of the week, but that was a plot for when i was a more prolific writer with a clearer grasp of smut. now im lucky if i can get a coherent smutty fic down in a few weeks god save me lmao. i don’t know if it’s because i’m older or just a little more burned out.

it was a fun idea though and i do semi frequently consider revisiting it, especially when i get the energy and inspiration to write strider stuff. right now that energy is being conserved for certain other works but hey you never know.

i feel like there’s also a hundred points i could make about how my most popular fic is also my oldest homestuck fic, like. yeah, okay, homestuck was more popular back then, so it makes sense that it would have more kudos and what not. hs fanfic is a much quieter affair now, between the fandom controversy, the natural drop that happens after something ends, and how half of all fandom seems to be girlbossing too close to the hayes code. brodave used to get you 200 kudos and now you get like 20!

and you know i don’t like. hate that. i do post for engagement but i never really expected to be POPULAR you know what i mean? more like sharing this thing i wrote about something i’m interested in-- “i wrote this for me but you can read it too, please enjoy!” energies. but i think that it’s so interesting that something that is now approaching its eighth birthday (What The Fuck) had its biggest surge of participants ages ago. i wonder what they’re doing now and actually whatever theyre doing i hope theyre having fun with it but i don’t need to know because i’ve been burned before okay. ppl turning into fancops or whatever. shitty as hell.

the hour grows late so i shall return to the actual topic at hand:

nerds aint got shit’s ill-begotten romance. that shit was gonna be so toxic. i was definitely gonna write dave growing to sympathize with bro, kind of, with his crush fueled by terror kicked into overdrive. bro’s kind of a sad and pathetic weirdo even though to dave (and this is real, not imagined, dave’s not making it up) he is a significant threat. and dave was going to start to pick up those sad jerk vibes in addition to the horny vibes and start to, in an almost lalondian fashion, romanticize the shit out of it.

in a manner of speaking, anyway. im not sure if that was my full plan or what but there’s also just the gremlin brain breathing heavily going “god this is my favorite dynamic” which back then was fairly true. i had also written almost 20k of original teacher/student fiction so romanticizing that was not a new concept to me. i think there’s a part of me that does want to be in that place, you know, but from a safe distance where it’s also just fun and games.

that’s why fics are fun! that’s why trashy romance is fun :) insert something about ace kink here. i do not want to actually touch it but mentally touching it is ok.

nowadays i don’t write so much teacher/student fic tho im still hells of deep in my love of age differences. more often than not i find myself kind of drawn to a cougar/kid in their late teens dynamic nowadays for original fiction, tho i also love ancient vampire/regular human and just minor age and experience differences.

(jotting down ‘rose lalonde as a cougar’ for a future fic idea thanks)

i think ive grown away from this fic mostly, but it feels like a wild time capsule to me, and maybe one day i will unearth it to add more. maybe in 2025 for the a ten year anniversary.

[variousqueerthings]

the ask meme for due south cause yeah! and cobra kai

thaaanks -- will do cobra kai separately!

DUE SOUTH! I'VE ONLY HAD YOU FOR (checks) TWO MONTHS? NOW? AND I HAVENT EVEN WATCHED PASSED SEASON TWO BECAUSE I AM TAKING MY SWEET TIME!!!!! BUT OHHHHHH OKOKOKOK

my favorite female character Meg!!! doubly so because I feel she's probably not popular because she's designated The Love Interest. but she's sooo "puts her under a microscope." - she's so very autism flat voice/resting bitch face coded - add to this she canonically has had issues with male superiors in the past and so her trust in men is Lowww means people around her read her as a bitch (and she is, bless her) - her interactions with fraser, especially once they begin to acknowledge there's mutual smthin going on there, are so fucking funny, because neither of them can just have conversations, it's gotta be a mix of powerplay/who-knows-what-this-is/wants to step on/wants to be stepped on nonsense and so often it's in public!!!! - she was introduced as an authority figure and pretty much has remained so all season, so a lot of her scenes aren't only about love-interest stuff, which is often where female characters fail to get fleshed out -- she's doing her own thing, and if anything, liking fraser is very very annoying to her because she's got shit to do dammit!

my favorite male character fraser and rayv come as such a set pair, argh. the things i like about fraser are the things that rayv corresponds to, the whole martyr-and-guy-who-refuses-to-let-him-be-martyr, the need to give everything and the guy who takes some of the strain, but... i do think fraser edges him out Just (not that kind of edging, stop), because in my heart of hearts, i am always drawn the most to characters who want to be used, characters who want to give every piece of themselves, and within that, characters who are very capable -- AND he fulfills the criteria for another one of my favourite character archetypes, the not-so-talked about butterfly-under-the-wheel (as i first heard @gjdraws call it) he's an atypical version of it, because usually the butterfly-under-the-wheel is partially defined by their inability, that is, they exist to create wonderment/beauty/hope in the world around them, but they don't actually have very many skills and would probably die without the far more pragmatic other characters around them. they do sometimes have a skill (see, lito in sense8) and where fraser fits is that while he has many skills, they're often impractical for survival in the specific world he's in (chicago, capitalism, Society) and his alienation with the world, his unique way of looking at it, constantly makes said world dangerous for him in ways ray has to help him with. he also sucks with money (very common in this type), is considered almost unreal in terms of attractiveness, and ofc... suffers a lot. my sweet sweet butterfly-on-the-wheel

my favorite book/season/etc feels unfair between two seasons -- i will say, i called s2 a denouement the first time i watched it and i think now im watching it slower i am far more able to see it on its own merits, without s1 hanging over it if i do a favourite amount of episodes divided by the amount of episodes in the season however and don't count the Pilot [i leave to calculate] think s2 has more of my very favourite episodes, but i think s1 is more evenly placed in quality overall. what does that tell you? idk, the Pilot's the favourite, shall we say?

my favorite episode (if its a tv show) lol um. toss up. (not counting Pilot) in no particular order: some like it red, mask, vault, north, letting go, the deal, a hawk and a handsaw

my favorite cast member going by amount of other things ive watched, it must be PG, but i have tried to mostly stay away from the cast in interviews and the like

my favorite ship relationship generally (romantic, platonic, third thing, you know the deal) is fraser and ray. like i said, they're thematically a pair, that's just what they are. but i have a reaaal need to explore meg and fraser and ray, considering the shenanigans of two people who feel various kinds of unhinged things about one emotionally somewhat oblivious (but very caring) man

a character I’d die defending gosh, this'd probably go to meg too. specifically her relevance! i think her addition in s2 is incredibly welcome and changes up the dynamics in interesting ways and if you take in her actual personality -- that is, look beyond her "just" as a love interest, she's got a whole lot of interesting foundation, fascinating speech patterns and behaviours, and chemistry with fraser (whether one wants that chemistry to be romantic/sexual is obvs subjective, but their scenes together are Good and tell us a whole lot about both of them in my opinion) i'd also defend victoria As A Scheming No-Good Villainous Person, because I think there's no need to soften her in order to make her cool, idk if that is being done, but i would die on the "her being absolutely terrible" hill is great actually (maybe i'm defending her from some of the writing not wanting to commit, despite... literally all the atrocities... she shot dief!!!??? she burnt down his dad's cabin????? she framed him and tried to send his most important person to jail??????? murder????? and you're telling me that despite all of that she wasn't manipulating him by batting her big beautiful eyes and pretending to be the victim! i desire cruel women in my life dammit!)

a character I just can’t sympathize with i mean... looks above. victoria? but i think she shouldn't be sympathetic anyway. she needs to be a bit vile, a bit fucked up, a bit possessive and destructive for my taste oh and fuck frank zuko of course

a character I grew to love 1. irene! i struggled with her on my first watch and now she's in so many of the private discussions i have about this show -- she does sadly fall right into "fridged woman for man angst" but there are more than enough bits in there + carrie anne moss' performance is absolutely stellar, that you can really feel her as a character as well -- someone trapped, searching for freedom, and nostalgic for something that was probably never going to work out even if they had been able to try it and bitter and stronger than people in the story give her credit for (and ohhhh where's that fic you wrote about her and fraser talking!) 2. frannie. i needed until s2, because s1 just... kept making her weird and stalkery and shallow in ways that i had to just, at times, mentally rewrite (her total lack of situational awareness whilst her brother is drowning in front of her only to be put upon when he's been saved and needs "her good blanket" to keep him warm is like. i simply do not see that scene). but after heaven and earth, beginning with that scene between her and ray, she changes! and you can buy someone building a fantasy and refusing to step out of it because of pain until jolted back into reality and it being a very subtly tragic thing, only to bounce back and take it on the chin. that's frannie!

my anti otp um. i guess fraser and allosexuality/alloromance. that man's relationship to these things is not normative -- he may be analysed to enjoy sex or to want romance, but textually he is so fucking leftfield with these things that if those underpinnings don't exist i can't understand him. my man was canonically asking people to describe what love is supposed to feel like as a 30+ year old man, and had had sex like... possibly once in his 20s (and the consensual aspects to it are vague) and then that same woman at one point in his 30s, who first severely emotionally blackmailed/coerced him and later threatened his life and the lives of his friends that and like. whatever happens to him whenever someone (meg, usually) pushes him around/grabs him/orders him about

hon. mention to elaine, who i feel has been slowly given less to do in s2 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[dckweed]

okay babes, y'all asked for it and as a people pleaser i can't help but to deliver..idk if y'all are ready for this no, no...y'all are ready,but are y'all deserving? everybody say 'thank you kara' bc this has been literally the only thing on my mind for days, and if im being quite honest with you, i 100% have plans for part three and four already. y'all im doing a whole series lmao.

p.s. bob newby did not deserve that death. also i am officially on stranger things 3 as of last night!! also omg tumblr in dark mode?? so much better! also p.s. my whole family is sick, started with my one year old, then she took out her daddy, my sister, my brother and myself. my mom is the last one standing. we're 95% sure it's covid for the third time (me and her have extremely weak immune systems). also i love this gif of him dacre is literally so pretty.

warnings: MINORS DO NOT OPEN! sexual plot, meet the family plot, dad!hopper, honestly ngl billy is 100% about to be super 'i want to make love to you' bc he is 100% lovesick for reader. please use condoms, this is for fictional pleasure only. definitely AU where all the weird freaky shit doesn't happen after the first and second seasons bc idk what's going on in the third yet. reminder that i don't usually edit/proofread.

PART ONE. part three

'..SIR, THATS MY FUTURE WIFE..' billy hargrove x female!hopper!reader

It had been a few weeks now since everyone had found out about you and Billy, you had decided that you would let everything cool down about the situation. The two of you weren't the only thing that the entire student body of Hawkins High could talk about anymore, and you felt like your father could finally look you in the eyes again. You were trying to plan a nice family dinner between you, your sister and your father. It wasn't quite going according to plan, somehow, you had managed to burn the pasta noodles just a tad.

"Um, Y/N," Your dad said after taking a bite of his plate, he was wearing his work uniform, about to do another night shift. "I think you bu-" You glare at him and he shuts up. "Nevermind, it tastes great."

"Thank you, dad." You say, taking a chunk out of your garlic bread. You gave Eleven a smile, she was eating across from you without a complaint but you could tell that it must have tasted bad by the look on her face. "..is it really that bad?"

"No-" The girl had started to say, though your father's voice interrupted her. "How about I order a pizza instead?" You sigh, slumping back in your chair, closing your eyes for a brief moment before you got up to clear the table, washing the dishes and disposing of the burnt mess you had accidentally concocted.

After a while you heard the doorbell ring and you heard your father's heavy footsteps on his way to answer it. You faintly heard a brief conversation and turned off the kitchen sink just as the door closes, finishing drying the last dish just as he makes it to the table, two boxes of pizza in his hand. One for him and El to split, one for you because he always remembered your favorite, just like Billy.

You sit wordlessly, giving the two of them clean plates for their slices before you open your box, your mouth watering. If you were being honest, this was definitely more appealing than what you had made. You had been stressed the past few days, trying to work your dad up into a really big step in both of your guys' lives and you couldn't help but crave one of your comfort foods as a way to help ease your overwhelming discomfort with this new part of your life.

After a while, and just as your dad sits back in his chair, arms stretching behind his head in a way that you knew to mean that he was stuffed, you decide that now is as good a time as any. With a shakey breath you drop your pizza crust into the box and turn in your seat to face him.

"Dad, can I ask you something?" You ask, head cocked to the side, what you hope is a charming smile on your face. El continues to eat her pizza, curious as to what was about to happen, though secretly she was ready to get to her sleep over with Max at the Byers' house, you had made the arrangements, wanting an evening to yourself and she had readily agreed, tired of hearing about you go on and on about how in love with Billy you were.

The chief looks at you almost suspiciously, his mustache damn near twitching in nervousness, because that was what you did hear lately, make him nervous. God, he knew you were a teenager, hell he knew you were an adult now really, but you terrified him now that you were out in the world experiencing..things. "Yes?" He replies tentatively, almost as if he was unsure of his own answer.

You close your eyes taking a deep breath and you can almost feel him tense, and you can practically feel his dad brain yelling at him run away, to abort mission and go straight to work.

"It's been a few weeks now, and I know you're not exactly fond of the idea of him," You say, and fuck you were ready to run away yourself, abort mission and hide under your bed for the rest of your life, but you don't, you just cringe and shoulder on. "but i would really appreciate it if you would please let me have Billy over for dinner tomorrow night."

Your father is silent and you look up at him, his mouth is working but no sound comes out. You can see the red in his face, just underneath the stubble on his face and god you knew your face was just as red.

Eleven looked between the two of you, eyes wide and confused, what the hell was going on? He was never this awkward about Mike coming over, and why were you suddenly so awkward? Her pizza was abandoned at this point as she took mental notes to ask Max and Joyce later this evening.

"Daddy, please." You beg, turning to face him completely in your chair. You give him the big, begging doe eyes that used to get you everything you wanted as a child and he can't look away from you, though he still wears the pained expression. "I don't ask you for anything, ever, i take care of you and El and i cook and i clean and i don't ask you for a thing, except for this..would it really be so bad for you to meet him face to face? Man to man? He's really not so bad dad, I think you might actually get along." Okay so maybe you were really laying it on thick, but you knew you were making a valid point, you took care of three of you, and you kept up your grades at school, you were a good girl and you never asked for too much, so why couldn't he just give you this one thing?

You seem him make an almost angry face and he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face as he lets out a loud, almost terrified groan. "Okay, okay, dinner, tomorrow." He says and you squeal excitedly, though he holds his hand up to stop you. "His ass is here by five-thirty or he isn't allowed inside. Understood?"

You nod vigorously, standing from your chair and wrapping your arms around your dad, hugging him tightly. You feel him pat your back and you give him a kiss on the cheek and you feel him smile. "Thank you, thank you!" You say, jumping up and down. "I love you!" You look up at the clock on the kitchen wall. "Shit, you guys better get going."

You see them both out, giving El a hug and your father another kiss to his cheek, you watch them drive off before happily closing the door, headed towards the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

After an hour or so you settle yourself into your bathrobe, putting your hair up and away from your face as you put on a facial cleansing mask, all of the stress of the past few weeks had made you break out in a string of pimples and you wanted to get rid of them before they became so much of a problem that you needed makeup to cover all of them.

You hummed to yourself in the bathroom mirror, the shower water heating up behind you. There was nothing better than a self care night, and personally you had gotten used to doing them with your sister but you did enjoy having the evening alone.

You're so engrossed in what you're doing that you don't even notice the front door opening and closing, because stupidly, you hadn't locked it. It was Hawkins, what really went wrong here? And you certainly don't notice the sound of boots coming down the hallway, your the man humming along to a tune, finishing off a piece of your pizza crust.

He finds you in the bathroom and leans against the doorway, watching you for a moment. He couldn't help the small smile on his face, just something about watching you doing something so simple as putting whatever the hell that was on your face brought him so much happiness he didn't know how to describe it. Honestly, he knew he was in love with you, he was one hundred percent gone for you. He knew that weeks ago, hell, he knew it over a month ago when he had just looked at you and wanted nothing more than to tuck up into his arms and never let you go. He knew it when you had taken him into your arms and held him, letting him know that you were there for him, taking care of him and the bruises his father had left silently, though he could see the hurt in your eyes that it brought you, the sadness. He knew he was done for right then and there because he had felt safe, he had felt safe and loved and protected.

"You really should lock your door, sweetheart, you never know what kind of creep could just wonder in." He sees you jump, but immediately relax as you recognize his voice. He can't keep the chuckle from coming out.

"Says the creep that walked into my house." You say, turning around to face him. You lean against the counter, taking him in. You smiled, happy to see him, no visible bruises either, and he seemed like he was in good spirits by the grin he wore on his devilishly handsome face, it was one that you absolutely adored, the kind of grin that reached his eyes and lit up the whole room, the kind that looked like pure unfiltered happiness. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugs, moving from the doorframe to make his way to you. "Well, I dropped Maxine off at the same time your dad dropped off El, i thought I'd come by and see my girl while she was alone.." He says, before gesturing towards your face. "What's going on here?" He pokes your forehead, and you roll your eyes batting his hand away as he rubs some of the substance between his thumb and forefinger, curious.

"I have stress pimples, I need to make them go away, face masks help." You say turning back to the sink. You were just getting ready to wipe it away when he startled you. You reach over to get a clean rag, wetting it with warm water.

"What's got you stressed,?" He asks, actually curious as he comes up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he settles his chin on your shoulder, watching you. "hmm, baby?"

"My dad. I finally asked him to meet you." You say, wiping your face off as you lean back into his embrace, totally relaxed in his presence. He raises an eyebrow at you in the mirror. "He says you better be here tomorrow night for dinner, five-thirty and not a minute later or he won't let you in."

Billy chuckles, kissing your neck gently. "I'll be here at five then, surprise him." He says and you hum happily, finishing with your face before you sef the rag down, turning around in his arms before placing a slow, gentle kiss to his lips. He hums, his arms tightening around you, resting his forehead against yours when you finally pull away. "I missed you.."

You give him a love dopey grin at his words, suddenly remembering the shower running behind you guys. "Want to get in with me?" You ask, wiggling your eyebrows playfully.

Billy laughs, but happily shrugs off his jacket and slips his skin tight tshirt over his head, watching as you take your robe off, already completely naked. He can't help but watch you, admiring your body as you step in to the tub, the water already the perfect temperature.

After a minute or two he gets in after you, his arms going back around you as you let the warm water run over you, and now him as he stands behind you, your body pressed against his, erection he didn't even realize he had pressing against your ass.

You hum appreciatively at the feeling, turning around a small smirk on your face. "You really did miss me, huh?" The two of you hadn't had much time for each other, your dad had briefly grounded you for sneaking out, and though you'd seen Billy throughout the school day, you couldnt risk getting in trouble again, though that didn't stop you two from sneaking in a quickie in the back of his car again, and a few days ago the two of you had fucked in the boys locker room, Steve had almost caught you guys too, though thankfully he was completely oblivious and just needed to grab something from his locker that was one row over from where you two were. It didn't stop Billy from fucking you the whole time he was there though, your back pressed against the lockers, his hand over your mouth as his cock slid in and out of your sopping wet pussy.

God the memory had you fucking squirming.

"Baby, just looking at you gets me hard." He sighs, running his hand through your hair, tilting your head back so it would get wet. "But to answer your question, I miss you to the point that I crave you..I want nothing more than to have my cock buried deep in your pretty fucking cunt," He says, his voice that husky low sound that you just loved so much. You rubbed your thighs together at his words, feeling your face flush in response. "but im not going to fuck you in the shower, infact im not going to fuck you at all tonight.." You whine almost sadly at his words, pouting up at him. "tonight i want to make love to you, slow and sweet in your bed, wrap you up in my arms and let you know how much i care about you, let you feel how deeply in fucking love with you i am, because i am so very, very in love with you, y/n.." He didn't feel scared to say it, admit it out loud, because he already knew so deep down in his soul, he knew it and so did Maxine because as much as the little shit annoyed him, she knew him too well.

You're taken aback by his words, looking up at him. Of all the things that had ever come out of his mouth, that was not at all what you were expecting to hear in that moment. You knew he loved you, you had known it for a while now in the way that he listened to you, and let you talk, in the way that you unabashedly had all of his attention twenty four fucking seven, but god, to hear him say it? Fuck, you didn't think you'd ever been more turned on by him.

"Billy," You say, voice soft, he looks almost scared of you in that moment, of what you're going to say. He looks like a child that knows they're about to be told that they couldn't have the candy they wanted. "baby, i love you too, ive loved you from the moment you first smiled at me.." You say, standing up on your tip toes to plant a sweet, loving kiss on his lips.

He relaxed at your words, your touch, and melts into your kiss, letting it become one of passion and heat. Before you know it he's reaching behind you and turning off the water, his hands going to the back of your thighs, squeezing as a way to tell you to jump, you do so immediately mouth still moving against his.

Billy carefully steps out of the tub with you, planting his feet firmly on the floor, grabbing your towel off of the hook before wrapping it around you, drying off your back as he starts walking out of the bathroom and do the room across the hall, he had known it was yours by the two beds, and he knew that yours was the farthest closest to the wall in the back of the room, the bigger bed.

He lays you down gently, breaking the kiss to slowly climb on top of you, reattaching his lips to the skin of your jaw and working his way down, leaving soft, gentle hickies below your collarbone, even going so far as to plant one above each of your breasts, which he then subsequently spent time sucking on, taking each nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around them, biting them ever so gently with his teeth.

He watched you, the way that you bucked up against him, your hands grasping onto any part of his skin that you could get to. He felt his cock grow somehow even harder as he heard your soft, breathless moans and met your eyes, he winks at you, making his way even farther downwards as he spreads your legs, both hands planted on the insides of your thighs as he dipped his head down to your glistening pussy.

He hums at the sight, letting his thumb rub up and down over your folds, groaning as it comes away glistening in your arousal. "Always so fucking wet for me baby girl.." He groans out, voice deep and husky. "So fucking perfect for me.."

You moan at his words, his touch, bucking your hips up ever so slightly towards his face, begging him to give you something, anything to release the pressure building up inside of you, fuck you just wanted to feel him. "Please, baby, please..do something.." You groan out, your voice embarrassingly whiny, but he seems to love it as a smirk crosses his lips.

It must be what he had wanted to hear because almost immediately his mouth is on your pussy, his long tongue running up and down, circling your clit before sipping inside of you, it was agonizingly pleasurable, your toes curling, hands gripping his curly hair tightly as he suddenly takes your clit into his mouth, sucking on it with fervor.

Your hips buck against him wildly and he tightens his grip in your thighs, digging his fingers in before he lets one side go, bringing one of his arms up to rest across your lower belly, holding you in place as he uses his free hand to push one of his fingers into you, moving it in and out slowly.

You let out a string of moans, each one becoming louder and louder, each chant of words becoming a little less understandable as he added a other finger, and then another, curling them inside of you as finger fucked you, still sucking on your clit with a passion.

Within moments he has you cuming, your body shuddering against him as he holds you in place, groaning as your yank on his hair harshly because fuck he did love it when you played with his hair.

Once you're settled he crawls back up towards you, hovering above you. He takes your face in one hand, bringing the other one up to your mouth. "Open." His voice is gruff, but eagerly you do as told, taking his fingers into your mouth, sucking and swirling your tongue around them as if they were his cock. He has to close his eyes, keep himself from cuming all over you right then and there because fucking hell he hadn't ever seen a sexier sight than that before. "Taste good princess?"

You nod your head, looking at him. "So fucking good, baby." You say, your voice throaty from moaning like you had been. He moans, the hand that's gripping your face tightening as he leans down to kiss you, moving so that he's between your legs again, though this time you feel his cock brush against your still throbbing pussy, and involuntarily you moan, your body pressing up against him. "Please, Billy, I want to feel you..please baby.." You beg again, though you knew you didn't really have to.

He's quick to oblige, his own need to feel you around him, to fuck you until he can't anymore taking over. Though he keeps to his word, he's not rough like normal, he glides in and out of you with short, deep thrusts shifting so one of his arms is wrapped around your body, holding him into his chest. You cling to him, legs wrapped his waist and arms wrapped around his torso, a moaning mess under him once more.

You moan his name repeatedly and he can't take his eyes off of you because you just looks so fucking beautiful underneath him like that, your face flushed, relaxed, you look like you're in total fucking bliss with that dumb little smile you get and he can't help but to fall in love with you more, after a good while he feels you start to come undone again, your legs tightening around him as your hips meet his with each thrust.

You groan a string of words as he rides you through it, his pace steady and unwavering, though three words from you is suddenly all it takes for him. You look up at him, eyes meeting his, your hands in his hair and fucking hell you really do look beautiful. "I love you, Billy.." It was a whisper, but fuck within a second of it leaving your lips his pace faltered and he was cuming inside of you, hot thick spurts hitting you so hard that you could feel it start to drip out of you before he had even pulled out.

He lays on top of you for a few minutes, wrapped in your embrace as you both calm yourselves down. He plants slow, sweet kisses to your cheeks, slowly moving all over your face as he tells you he loves you over and over again..

You woke the next morning to a pounding on your door, scaring you awake, Billy even jumping next to you, lifting his head up to look around wildly. He had slept hard with you wrapped up tightly in his arms, pressed against his chest, and at some point during the night you had gotten up to get his things from the bathroom and to close and lock your door, hoping your father would be so exhausted that you'd be able to sneak Billy out without him noticing in the morning.

Clearly you had been wrong.

He pounds again and Billy gives you a panicked, wide eyed look.

"Y/N Hopper, you've got five minuets to get your ass up out of that bed, out of this room and get it into the kitchen, am i understood?" You heard him say, his voice thick with some kind of emotion. You weren't quite sure if it was anger or something else. "You too, Billy!" He gives one last pound to the door and the two of you share a wide eyed, terrified look.

Quickly you throw Billy his Tshirt that you had thrown on last night, and he catches it, shrugging it on before pulling his pants up over his boxers. You shrug one of your night gowns on over your head, before pulling your robe over top, trying to make it look as if you hadn't been doing anything, though you knew he was too smart to fall for that.

You give Billy a quick kiss before opening your door and leading him out to the kitchen. Your father sits in his chair at the table, arms crossed as he stares at the two of you, you feel his eyes boring into yours for a few minutes, the silence radiating off of him terrifying you to your core, and you could tell Billy was nervous too. Your father's gaze moves to him next, and after another moment he finally speaks.

"Go get dressed, Y/N, give us a few minutes together." He says, dismissing you with a stern look. You give Billy's hand a reassuring squeeze, and do as told, not wanting to cross him any farther.

He waits until he hears your bedroom door shut before gesturing to the chair closest to him, your chair. "Sit down, Billy." He says. Billy does as told, not wanting to fuck this up and end up even farther on his bad side. "Now look, I wasn't exactly expecting to see you until this evening and boy was I surprised to find your car in my driveway and my daughter's bedroom door locked." He stayed quiet, not wanting to yell because he had gotten the sense from you that Billy's home life was a constant battle, and he knew that yelling would most likely make him defensive. He wanted to speak to Billy like a man, like you had asked him to. "The whole time I was working I was thinking about what I was going to ask you, and i had it all figured out finally..I figure now is as good a time as any.."

Billy looks up at him, nervously, quietly.

"Now look, my daughter hasn't come out and said it yet, but she is head over heels in love with you, Hargrove, and that's fine and all, but you seem like the type of boy who likes to break little girls' heart's.." He says, and Billy's eye go wide, he didn't think the man would know his reputation, boy word really traveled, huh? "So, Billy, are you planning on breaking my little girls heart?" Your father knew at the end of the day that he couldn't stop you from being with him, he had raised you too head strong for that, but he wanted to know what he was going to deal with if or when this thing went sideways.

Billy shakes his head, looking at him. He shifts in his seat, trying to think of the words to say. "Sir, I know what my reputation says about me," He says, keeping his voice quiet so you wouldn't hear. "but only I know how I truly feel, and as far as im concerned, that is my future wife in that bedroom back there." He sees a change in Hopper's face, he hadn't expected that level of an answer at all. "I know it's sounds crazy, and I know that we're young, but when im with her, it's like..it's like i feel like an entirely different person, a better person and i want to be a better person in every fucking way because i want to be everything that she wants me to be and more." Billy says, the truth just spewing out of him in ways that he didn't even know, but he knew that he meant every word. "And when I'm not with her? It's like i can't even breathe properly, like very part of me is being broken down bone by agonizing bone until I see her again, even if it's just passing in the school halls and she gives me that beautiful little smile of hers, it's enough to breathe life back into me until the next time that I see her or until I get to hold her in my arms again..sir, with all do respect, I am completely, irrevocably in love with your daughter..and i will never, ever break her heart, infact she could break mine and i would still feel the same way about her at the end of the day."

Hop is silent for a moment, and Billy continues on. "And if I do mess up, if i do hurt her in some stupid way, i will gladly let you beat my ass to a bloody pulp, I would welcome you with open arms and a smile on my face because i would probably fucking deserve it for doing something so stupid as to ruin what I have with her." He finishes, glancing back towards the hallway. He meant every word of what he said, he could feel it in his soul.

Hop stares at him for a moment longer before nodding in approval, sticking his hand out for him to shake. "Then I guess we have an agreement." He says, Billy grips his hand firmly, nodding. "Sweetheart, come in here please!"

You come within a moment, staring at the two of them. "Yeah?" You ask, fidgeting with your hands as you stare at him, unable to read either of their expressions, but you can feel the emotions in the room and if made to nervous.

"Billy here is going to spend the day since it's the weekend," He says, giving him a look that says he has no choice. Billy breathes a sigh of relief, shooting you a small smile that makes you visibly relax. "He's going to help me clean the junk out of the spare room, if he's going to be staying over I'd prefer you have your own privacy away from your sister."

You had told your dad in few details about what was going on at Billy's house, and you knew that this was stemming from that, and the fact that he seemed to like him, you could tell your father was more at ease than he had been in weeks, you knew this was an open invitation for Billy to stay as often as he wanted, and you wondered if he was taking it as such.

"We'll leave your old bed in there, I'm sure Max will want to spend the night with El eventually.." He stands from his chair, tossing you his keys. "Speaking of, why don't you go they the two of them, bring them back here, she can stay for dinner too, I'll call your parents, I'm sure they won't mind hearing from me."

@dakotazzzzz @annoyingexboyfriend @ttsbaby01 @rainwritesworld @angelbbygrl @peakascum @meltedcandiedacid

[dubsteplevi]

I just finished watch season 2 of Dead End: Paranormal Park (aka just dead end) and OMFG IT WAS SO GOOD. Literally left me in tears, excuse me while I ramble: (Spoilers for Season 2, duh, please go watch it if you haven't already before reading)

First off, the character Fingers???? So well executed!! At the beginning I was like, "something's up with him" but I couldn't put my FINGER on him (get it?? Yes pun intended). With that, what's up with the master?? He said he had a deal with him and it's almosy like Fingers was afraid of disappointing him! (I mean probably because he would/did get killed but still makes me wonder what made him like that to start with and how their relationship came to be. Hope we can see some backstory in a hopefully season 3) Also Fingers character design and personality is so good!! He's got this creepy vibe to him that immediately caught my attention and sjshdu. Not to mention Im gonna make either a cosplay or overall humanoid version of him simply cause I think it would be AMAZING seriously I know I'm supposed to hate him and stuff but I can't get over how well his character is made!!!

Second, PUGSLEY! NO! That entire scene of him "dying" (putting that in quotations but I don't think he's actually dead with that whole shot at the very end of the episode) with the other Pugsley (The Watcher? Idk mate) was also very well executed and did not disappoint and when they did that whole head nod thing towards each other I was like, "what are they- oh. oh no" I was literally screaming, kind of happy I was home alone while watching this.

Third, all of the callbacks to the first season in the last episode we're amazing!! Not to mention all the new characters and Norma coming out as bi to her mom!!! The whole gym sequence and Asmodeus (seriously if I had a nickel for every time Alex Brightman was in a show with someone else as Asmodeus I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it's happened twice, right?) ALSO ALSO NORMA ADMITTING HER CRUSH TO BADYAH?? THEN BADYAH REJECTING HER??? IT HURT TO WATCH BUT THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT TO SHOW THAT YOUR NOT ALWAYS GONNA GET THE PERSON YOU LIKE AND SUCH! And then Badyah saying something along the lines of her never experiencing romantic feelings? That left me wondering if she was aroace and just didn't realize yet! Not to mention it would be wonderful representation as if this show didn't have enough of that! Oh yeah, if you haven't watched the show and are still reading this, it has wonderful representation! Not only LGBTQ+ but also people who are hispanic and different religions too!! Please watch it it's so good I can not emphasize enough how much I love it!!

Overall VERY well made and I am very much hoping for a season 3 or at least a mini series to tie up what we saw at the end. If you have any extra things to add to this post PLEASE I would love to hear them!!!!

[ahhhhhhh-e-i-e-i-o]

Ok im always lost when it comes to OUAT timelines, but this particular post is about Will Scarlet and OUATIW and where OUATIW goes on the OUAT timeline:

Ok so like when does OUATIW take place like?? In Season 4 of OUAT, he is not with Ana at all, but he and Robin talk about when he runs off with her, which implies that OUATIW is after Season 4 of OUAT, but I keep hearing it takes place right after season 2?? but like also how and why does Will go back to Storybrooke after Ana leaves him is this ever explained?

ok i can live with that, but then there's also the fact that he is affected by the spell of shattered sight which would mean his heart is back in his chest (as Mr. Gold explains that people without their hearts are not affected by it) BUT if his heart is back then that means season 4 is AFTER OUATIW which creates many more plotholes like why he is in storybrooke ALONE, and why he dates belle at one point cause that would be cheating on Ana.

i will say that if we assume that OUATIW is just after season 4 of OUAT (once we stop seeing Will), then that means there's only one plothole between the two shows (Will's heart, which we don't even know for sure that he was affected by the spell, maybe he just decided to try to beat up Hook) which is honestly pretty good given the amount of potential there was for plotholes with having the spin-off series.

Ok so it would make perfect sense if we just have OUATIW right after season 4 EXCEPT in the last episode of OUATIW we see Alice writing the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the same book that Will gets arrested for stealing in season 4, making all of this more complicated. With this information, we can also add one other part, his reaction to the book. That would entail that he had already had his adventures with Alice (assisting in the idea that OUATIW was BEFORE season 4). However, in that same scene (where Will and Emma are talking about the book), Will starts crying implying his sadness for the loss of Anastasia (since idk what else he’d really be crying about), implying that OUATIW is AFTER season 4. I’m literally gonna cry.

So, to reiterate our evidence for each side (OUATIW being BEFORE or AFTER OUAT season 4):

-BEFORE:

—I’m cannon it’s supposed to be during/right after season 2

—He’s effected by the spell of shattered sight meaning he has his heart

—The book that Alice literally WROTE can’t exist before she writes it??

—Also his reaction to the Emma talking about the book would make more sense if the adventures already happened

-AFTER

—Anna’s not with him during season 4

—He literally dates Belle

—He cries about losing Ana

Even though the before side has more facts, just the sheer fact that he dates Belle (and seems to have his same “heartless” personality we only see from him without his heart) is so relevant (since it would make absolutely zero sense for him to cheat in his one true love) that I’m just going to say that OUATIW takes place directly after the end of season 4.

Also for those who care, this is Will’s history of inter dimensional travel:

-Enchanted Forest (birth)

-Oz (where he meets Robin)

-Enchanted Forest (joins the merry men)

-Wonderland (with Ana)

-Enchanted Forest (after Ana become Queen)

-Storybrooke (the first curse)

-Enchanted Forest (second curse)

-Storybrooke (third curse)

-Wonderland (most of OUATIW)

-Victorian England (very briefly for Cyrus and Alice’s wedding. It counts as it’s own realm because it’s happening while modern day is in Storybrooke so it is it’s own realm)

-Wonderland (where he marries Ana and become king)

-United Realms (seventh curse)

I’m pretty sure this bitch traveled between realms more time than the fucking savior literally I-