#max was the first one who led her in that direction

[argentinagp]

in light of #febyuri ... do you have any femslash fic recs?

YES of course!! first things first tho, check the @f1femslashfest collection! everyday 2 fics go up! now the rec list:

R63 RECOMMENDATIONS: with summaries

she's on the tip of my tongue, she's on the top of my thighs (alex/george) by ofmoonsandlight

“This is my roommate George,” Alex says sweetly, and then she introduces the guy. She’s only forgotten a name once, twice at the most, and George is good at knowing when to bat her eyelashes and saccharinely ask for an introduction and a handshake. Finally, when the first well-choreographed steps are completed, Alex stands back up on her own two feet and, with a smile, says, “You don’t mind if she stays for the movie, do you?”

in the centre of this room (charles/lewis) by wisteriagoesvroom (bobaheadshark)

“I don’t think they do 2000s music here. That’s for Thursdays,” Charlie says. Lewis pins her with a stare. “Did you just call me old?” Charlie puts one hand on her chest. “I would never, Ms. Hamilton.”

something in between (charles/sebastian) by @hungriestheidi

For the first time in its long history, Ferrari has a full line up of female drivers. It's momentous, groundbreaking. It’s bound to be a problem.

for the wicked (charles/lando) by @cherrari

Sebastian might be sweet and kind with Charles, but there’s no way he knows how to pull this out of her—the feral, flushed creature currently sprawled beneath Lando.

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (alex/george) by Oceanallaround

The one where George and Alex are chalet girls for the ski season and experience the terrifying ordeal of growing up and falling in love. Featuring try-hard ski flop George, loser-core snowboarder Alex, too many beds, a shared throat infection, lesbian shenanigans, and Susie Wolff as the real mvp.

girl, so confusing (charles/max) by 140445

And there has always been something between her and Max. If not something—then the lack of it. They could be so much to each other—but they are not. Things bled dry from one cancelled dinner. Charles wonders if that thing between them is the fact that Max hates her. Or that Charles hates Max. Or that they both mutually hate each other. Or that Charles is seething with jealousy over the things Max got before she got them—or that there is just nothing between them. Nothing at all.

Black Lace Elderberry Bushes (charles/lewis) by MrStank

The lace veils that adorned Charles' body cast sweet floral shadows on her skin, twisting around her like vines, rising and dying in the areas covered by the embroidered fabric of her lingerie, tongues of fire on an alabaster canvas. Lewis elegantly raised her hand in the Monegasque’s direction as if to invite her to dance, and a few steps away, Charles accepted it, turning once on herself as if the other women had led her in a slow pirouette.

Eiskalt (charles/lewis) by aflowerofwords

Charles was panting so much, she was convinced she was having a heart attack. She could see the finish line, in the stadium, just a measly thirty meters in front of her. Her legs were on fire, every movement, no matter how small, felt like a fresh layer of burning coal was applied directly to her bones. Her arms were not in better shape. She glanced behind her as the cheers of the crowd grew in intensity. Lewis was only fifteen meters behind her. And looked hell-bent on reclaiming her throne.

should have each other with cream (charles/max) by cryystal_m00n

Here she is, crying in a vet clinic, at four in the morning, after having found out that her cat is pregnant and that she needs to focus her life on helping her raise the kids since the dad decided to leave without paying child support, while the vet who told her this is watching her with a concerned look. The tarot reading she watched was right, after all.

lacy black pair (charles/oscar) by @oscarpiastriwdc

“Would you like that, Oscar?” Charles leans in, extends a hand to grip Oscar’s exposed thigh. “For me to dress you?” Oscar nods, doesn’t trust herself not to say something embarrassing if she opens her mouth. “Good,” Charles purrs.

freed from desire (charles/max) by weiwuxian (BreathOfDream)

There are still—those moments. Where Charles is having fun, having a little distraction, a little new friend to play with, and then looks at Max and sees something hungry in her eyes that makes her shiver. They’re friends and they’re not. Something not quite there and might never be. It’s summer anyway, who cares?

grow the apple, keep all the seeds (charles/nico) by @princesscharlesofmonaco

Nico Rosberg, second ever female WDC, visits Charles the day before her first grand prix weekend. And Charles doesn’t talk about Nico in interviews, doesn’t list her as an inspiration the way she’s heard some of the girls in the lower formulae do it. Charles likes to talk about Michael, about Senna. If urged to name a woman she’ll say Niki Lauda. Charles doesn’t really want to be associated with girls who walk away, although she’s much too well-trained to say that out loud.

teach me, walk me, ride me (charles/nico) by @blorbocedes

Nico hadn't meant to take Charles under her wing. In fact, she was fully ready to watch the poor thing flounder and drown in the ruthless and cutting old money Monegasque high society. But Charles was the first female F1 driver since Lewis Hamilton, and that - for better or for worse - intrigued her.

like honey but sweeter (the grass here is greener) (alex/george) by @deafleppard

“Georgie,” she butts in, only half paying attention as she types out a dumb comment on Lando’s latest Instagram post. “Have you ever thought about just dating women?”

fall right into me (lewis/george) by @gaynfl

George's hands are shaking.

my mess, my ball of string (alex/george) by @gaynfl

It happens, for the first time, in the hallway of their apartment. or - alex keeps kissing george.

float away like vapour (alex/george/lando) by peachbellini

“You want to though, right?” Alex continues. “Get with Lando tonight? I’d be up for it.”

square shaped smile, heart shaped mouth (sebastian/nico) by finedae

nico assesses all the suitable prospects for her date to prom: jenson, lewis, mark. seb shows her sometimes the best man for the job is a girl.

i wish you a kinder sea by (charles/max) leafycats

It’s… shockingly tender, is what it is. It’s true that: they are not enemies (they are rivals, it’s a big difference, Charles knows), they have talked more the past six months than that they have in twelve years, and that Max is not a person Charles minds hanging out with. But: they are not friends, let alone close friends. And surely this is something you only do with the people closest to you? Ask her to put your hair into a ponytail? After waiting outside her favorite night club? Max is bold, she’ll give Max that. Maybe that’s why she agreed?

Cherry Wine (charles/max/daniel) by amarynas

“I didn’t order another drink.” The bartender nodded and wiped over the counter next to Charles. “It’s from the lady over there,” he answered, pointing over his shoulder. Charles glanced over his shoulder to the other side of the bar, and was faced with an all too familiar face, brown eyes, brown curls, bright grin. No one else but Daniel, Max’ new girlfriend. What the hell?

happy endings (lewis/nico) by @blorbocedes

“Lewis?” All her years of training flies out of the window in that second, when Lewis’ name – her real name, and not the fake passport name she's staying under - is called. Lewis’ head snaps to the voice, the nasally, high-pitched, almost familiar voice belonging to the blonde woman in front of her. Summer in Greece. Body over body. A docked boat, aimlessly bouncing. The taste of rum. Blue eyes staring into brown, making fantastical promises. The constellation for Hermes. A golden summer with a golden girl. “Nico.”

treat with care (charles/pierre) by arachnidisa

“You know, I’ve never actually-” Charles starts, then stops. Pierre can’t quite figure out what she’s trying to say. “What, had a brownie?” Pierre offers on half a laugh, but Charles shakes her head. If Pierre looks closer she can see the faintest bit of pink in her cheeks, the beginnings of a blush. Charles blushes easily, has always done, and Pierre loves to tease her for it, but she holds back this time. “Had an orgasm,” Charles says, and Pierre’s brain grinds to a halt.

give a kiss, get a cab (alex/charles) by @pipitwrites 

Alex nearly spits out her drink when she spots Charles in a corner by the windows. Charles has more than put in the effort tonight, wearing a glittery tight little mini skirt and strappy sandals that show off the long line of her legs and the pert curve of her ass where it meets her thighs.

Sun, Shoes and Crochet Crop Tops (nico/jenson) by Anonymous

Nico’s ankles are so small she could wrap her hand around them, her feet too really, nails painted a delicate blue, a light brown sandal with crossing straps and a small heel on each foot. Still, she doesn’t move, not yet. Nico is watching her like a hawk, her face frustratingly hard to read, but she’s not shoving Jenson away either. “These are pretty.”

Riding the Wave (nico/jenson) by n_ico_ando

Nico attempts to navigate her failing friendship with Lewis while sleeping with Mark and falling for Jenson.

no stopping it (charles/sebastian) by tetrapod

Charles had never completely gotten over being the weird, almost star-struck girl in the Ferrari paddock. And Seb had always been Seb.

drove me wild (charles/sebastian) by withfeathers

“You know, here’s a life lesson for you, since you seem to be so desperate for them: don’t apologise if you’re not actually sorry,” Seb tells her. She’s fidgeting with the collar of her t-shirt. Charles hates how even in this moment, she can’t help but be drawn to the movement, can’t help but notice how Seb looks, a tendril of want curling in her belly at the sight - her unruly curls, the heat flashing in her blue eyes, the place where her too-large t-shirt is starting to slip off her shoulder, revealing the thick strap of her sports bra.

i look too good to be alone (alex/liam) by dropdeaddeadass

Despite the gruelling embarrassment, Liam is secretly happy the message was sent to Alex.

your other one evaporate (sebastian/nico) by sionisjaune

Sebastian spots the princess on the balcony, a glass of champagne dangling over the railing in her limp grip.

[pinkeoni]

Max might just be the most important character in El’s story arc

[starkwlkr]

american royalty | max verstappen

kennedy!reader

US GRAND PRIX (TIME SKIP)

Max was in panic mode. Little baby Luke did not want to leave his father’s side. Yeah, it was cute, but Max had to be in the car in five minutes.

“I don’t want to leave you either, baby, but papa has to go race.” Max whispered to the seven month old. It amazed y/n and Max how quickly Luke had grown.

Y/n wanted to burst into tears right then and there in Max’s driver’s room, but she held it in. She loved her boys so much.

“You should go, I don’t want you to be late.” Y/n told Max, which made him frown. “You’ll see us after.” She chuckled and grabbed Luke from Max’s arms. Instantly, the boy started to whine.

“It’s okay, Luke, papa is just going to win the race and then he’ll be back for more cuddles.” Max pressed a light kiss to his son’s head.

Y/n and Max kept your relationship very private so no one apart from their families knew about their relationship or baby Luke. When she did attend a race, she watched from Max’s driver’s room. Usually she was alone, but now she had Luke to keep her company. Before y/n could say something, Max turned to her.

“How much longer do you think you and Luke will be watching from here? Don’t get me wrong, I love you both for coming. I think it would be better if my family watches from the garage.” Max waited for you answer. He was sure y/n was going to be mad at him for even suggesting that idea, but she smiled at him.

“You read my mind.” She kissed his lips.

So without hesitation, Max grabbed her hand and together as a family, they walked in the direction of the Red Bull Garage.

When Max saw photographers start to notice y/n, he grabbed Luke from her and took off his Red Bull hat, using it to shield Luke from the cameras. They both agreed to keep their son away from the media. They quickly arrived to the garage just in time.

“Checo’s wife, Carola, is here. You can sit with her so you don’t have to be alone.” Max said as he led her through the garage. “And she has kids so that’s something you both have in common!” He tried to lighten up the mood.

“We’ll be okay, won’t we?” She tickled Luke’s side, which made the boy giggle.

“Max!” His race engineer, Gianpiero, called out. “Who’s this smiley boy?” He waved to Luke.

“My son, Luke, and this is my wife, Y/n.” Max introduced her to the British man. She didn’t correct Max on the term he used for her, it felt right coming from his mouth.

“Welcome to the Red Bull family!” He smiled at y/n.

After talking for a short time, Max had to leave so he gave y/n and Luke a kiss and a hug then left. She was introduced to Carola. It didn’t take long for the two women to get along.

Halfway through the race, the camera was focused on y/n for a few seconds. She was looking at a different monitor so she didn’t even realize she was on tv.

“And we have American royalty in the paddock today. There she is, Miss Y/n Kennedy, daughter to the late JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn. Didn’t know she was a Red Bull fan.” Crofty said.

Immediately, Twitter was having a field day.

Y/n’s phone was flooded with notifications, but she ignored them. Baby Luke and Y/n were about to witness Max win.

As predicted, Max came in first with Checo taking second place. While Carola took her kids to watch their dad on the podium, Y/n stayed behind with Luke. As much as she wanted to watch Max, she didn’t want to expose Luke to everyone.

While the Red Bull team celebrated another win, y/n looked down at her son. “I think dad would’ve loved to be here, don’t you think?” Y/n asked. “Mom on the other hand . . . She would’ve loved Max that’s for sure.”

The topic of her parents made her emotional so she stopped talking. But it was definitely clear that y/n’s parents would’ve loved Max. Even if the media painted him out to be some kind of villain, Max Verstappen was far from it.

Max quickly made his way back to his family after the podium celebrations. He was eager to show his son his trophy, but before he could do that, he was stopped by Charles.

“You’re dating THE y/n kennedy?!”

“How do you even know?” Max wondered.

“Mate, you’re trending all over twitter. The cameras showed her, but what I want to know is why didn’t you tell me? I thought we agreed to tell each other everything!”

“You agreed, I didn’t.” Max corrected him.

“Still! You’re basically important in the eyes of america now. So if you get married, does that mean you’re automatically a US citizen and you can be president?” The Ferrari driver asked.

“I’m pretty sure in order to be president you have to be born in the US— why am I still talking to you? I have to go see my family.” Max said as he ran to the Red Bull garage.

“Congratulations, mr. president!”

Of course calling Max ‘mr. president’ became an inside joke in the paddock.

When Max made it back to the garage, he saw y/n talking with several drivers, one being the only American driver, Logan. At least they were keeping his family company.

“When Max is on break, he sleeps through the night, but he wakes up several times when his dad is gone. He’s such a daddy’s boy.” Y/n explained to Logan, Lando and Oscar.

“Of course he is, I’m the best dad in the world.” Max interrupted.

“Look at you, daddy Max.” Lando joked.

“Oh god, mate. Don’t ever say that again.” Oscar said.

“Anyways . . . How’d you like the race, y/n?” Logan asked the kennedy woman. He felt so at home at the moment. He was so honored to even be talking to someone related to the president of his country.

“It was amazing. Luke and I enjoyed every minute of it. Maybe we’ll just have to come back for another race.” Y/n looked at Max with hopeful eyes. Baby Luke cooed at his father.

“We are going to Mexico next and you love Mexico . . .”

“Great, we’ll be seeing the first family back in the paddock. It was great to meet you, y/n and you too baby Luke.” Lando smiled cheekily at the mom and son.

“You know Charles just called me Mr. President and now this? What else is going to happen?” Max laughed.

“Who knows, maybe you might end up being the president?”

[chanranghaeys]

🎥 chemistry read

in which Junhui’s casting director gets a little bit too jealous during a chemistry read

pairing: actor!junhui x afab!casting director!reader word count: 2.1k+ genre: hurt, comfort, nsfw rating: r-18. nsfw, mdni! tags: established relationship, JEALOUSY, fluffy ending, reader is mentioned to be smaller than jun, i claim no accuracy over the movie industry processes nsfw warnings: heavy makeout, petting, voyeurism (if you squint?) a/n: mainly inspired by lana condor and noah centineo’s chemistry read for “to all the boys i’ve loved before” and it still lives rent-free in my head because it made me feel so, so many things. also my first nsfw-rated fic oh my. took me a while to make sense of where the story was going but it seemed all roads led to this. credits to @strxwberry-skiess, @diamonddaze01, @haologram, and c for beta reading because this took a village to get out!! thank you bless your souls 🫶

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ masterlist . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

“Do you believe in the red string of fate?”

“The what?”

“The red string of fate. Have you seriously not heard of it?”

Jun was pulling out all the stops for this one. He had cranked up his charm to the max level evident in the smiles and subtle glances towards her direction. He knew exactly what he was doing.

It was sickening.

You were sitting on the opposite end of the screen in another room. Yes, you chose to go into a separate room today.

“It’s to see the literal on-screen chemistry,” you said. “We can’t have the face-to-face chemistry not translating well on camera.”

Just as well. You’d had enough of them making heart eyes at each other right in front of you anyway.

Today’s schedule was packed with absolutely no time for breaks in between and no time to even sit for a proper meal which you knew you’d only get by the end of the day.

And no time to actually sit down with the actor you were working with—who you were also lucky enough to call your boyfriend.

If you too were an actor, you’d truly believe that Jun was the perfect fit for you. It was something about his carefree presence and easygoing demeanor that turned shy when praises were directed at him no matter how much he deserved it. It was something that made you want to keep rooting for him.

He saw precisely that in you: your unwavering dedication and quiet support, whether in giving him insider tips and tricks to get ahead or letting him run wild with his character at every casting call. It was something he had never seen so strongly in someone during his time as an actor.

“You remind me of my members,” he told you the very first time you had coffee together—as colleagues who were on the verge of becoming something. “They’re my brothers. And I mean that in the best way possible! Not that you’re my brother in the messing around and crazy kind of way,” he quickly added when you raised your eyebrows in question. “I mean in the ‘always being there to stand by your side no matter what’ kind of way.” He sips from his drink nervously. “Don’t ask me to explain please, because I will not stop rambling until I say something even more stupid than I already have.”

You laughed because he’d already rambled more than he usually did. As a casting director, it was your job to match actors to roles that suited them perfectly. But as people, you both could say you did a mighty good job in matching each other’s quirks and freaks.

Professional mode on during work, you two agreed. And you two did very well on that promise.

But bringing her in for the role made it infinitely difficult for you to keep up your end of this deal.

“She’s an old friend of mine! We worked together on one of my very first projects, the small ones I used to tell you about.” He said this when you asked about her. You knew all that already, of course—it was part of your job.

But when the two finally met again in person, you saw it. As a casting director, your professional instincts felt it. You saw it in the way they instantly gravitated to each other, the way their eyes both sparkled, the way their hands naturally connected even after all those years apart.

They were perfect for the role.

And in your head, a small voice continued the thought you didn’t want to touch.

They were perfect for each other.

It was the same voice nagging in your head throughout the duration of the chemistry read. You knew this scene by heart as if you were the one auditioning for the role. You’ve watched how many callbacks and chemistry reads of this scene. And you knew what came next.

After the back-and-forth dialogue was a moment of silence, followed by a lingering gaze, which was sealed with a kiss that escalated to a bed scene. It was a pivotal moment in the film so it had to be perfect.

You’d almost been desensitized to your boyfriend doing such scenes—professional mode on as always. But all that work crumbled the moment you saw their eyes lock onscreen. Slowly, slowly, their faces inched closer together to meet in a kiss.

Your eyes burned. Your fist clenched as you saw his hand fist in her hair. Your jaw tightened when you saw her lips land in the corner of his jaw. And just as he brought her head down on the couch, the director called “Cut!” and you stood up to walk out of the room, not without feeling a stray tear fall down your cheek.

Jun heard the slam of the door and jerked his head toward the sound. That was all it took for him to know what happened.

He wasn't the only one to notice. Jun found the director’s eyes meeting his with a knowing look. “Alright,” the director started. “Well, they don't call it a chemistry read for nothing!” Scattered laughs filled the small room. “Thank you to both of you, that was absolutely amazing.”

The producers took the actress aside for a few words with other managers and staff. Your presence was notably absent.

Before Jun could slip away, he felt a hand on his shoulder. “That was the best read so far,” the director said.

“I know,” and with his eyebrows raised he continued, “I heard the door.”

The director just gave him a lighthearted laugh. “I’m sure we all did. But you know she would agree.”

Jun knew. So while everyone was preoccupied, he glanced at his manager—who already knew what he’d do—and set off to find you. It wasn’t a hard task because he opened the nearest door to the stairwell and found you leaning against the wall.

You met his eyes when you heard the door open, following him and his slight smile until he ended up a short distance beside you with his shoulder against the wall. You were adamant about not wanting him to see you break. You’re a professional, right?

“You know it’s not real,” he starts.

You scoff. “How is it not real when it was right in front of me?”

“Stop that, green isn’t a good color on you.”

“What?” Jarred, you look down at your staple all-black ensemble. “But green’s my favorite color. You told me you liked me in green.”

“Not when it’s green with jealousy.”

It took you two seconds to register what he said. The corner of your mouth twitched involuntarily at the quip. “I am not jealous.”

Jun barely held in a laugh. “Yeah, sure you aren’t.”

“I’m not!”

“Jealous you’re not the one I was kissing?”

“No, I—”

“Jealous you’re not the one I’m holding?” He reaches out and loops his finger through one of your belt loops to pull you closer, closer, until you’re both joined at the hip. He shifts to effectively pin you against the wall with his height. You shiver against his touch when his fingertips graze the base of your neck.

“Now, you stop that,” you breathily let out.

“Stop what?” He asks oh so innocently.

“This.”

“No. Not until I prove to you how real this is.” He grabs ahold of your hand, and places it somewhere you did not expect it to go: right over his clothed crotch.

He was wearing loose slacks, a piece that could easily hide things that need to be hidden. But if there was one thing you did know about Jun is that he gets hard quick and easy and it takes him a while to calm down. With your hand on it, you could feel it was anything but hard.

“You know me. You tell me if that read did anything remotely close to what you do to me.”

You open your mouth to speak, but before you can let out a reply, his lips land on yours. His actions catch you off-guard and you instinctively clutch onto his arms and your last bits of sanity. Just as quick, he breaks away and grabs your hand again to return it to where it came from.

“Keep it here, love. I need you to have the proof in your hands.” He brushes a stray hair from your face, and you see your own desire in his eyes reflected back to you. He leans in, but stops short of your lips, leaving you to chase after his touch. The smirk that followed was telling of his thoughts. He was teasing you. God.

You had no more patience for his fun and games. You could feel the pent-up frustration building. Whether from anger or sexual arousal, the line has been blurred irrevocably. With your free hand, you latch onto his hair and pull him in aggressively into an open-mouthed kiss.

It was at this moment that you both decided to think “fuck it” to all modes of professionalism.

He takes advantage of your open mouth and wastes no time diving deeper. You find yourself reciprocating his kisses, pulling him in closer as if recreating the scene you watched him do but making sure it was imprinted with your mark on him.

“I love you.” You hear it whispered, feel it muttered against your lips. “I love you, and only you,” he continues in between kisses. “I love you.”

And there it is: the proof you could feel quite literally in your hand, at the crux between his legs. If you weren’t too in the heat of the moment, you could almost laugh. He decided to prove his loyalty to you by showing that he did not get a boner during the chemistry read. It was your lips and your hands, and yours only, that could do this to him. It was peak Junhui.

But now, you were only aroused beyond comprehension, apparent in the pit of your core and the slick pooling in your panties. You squeeze him through his slacks and he moans lewdly in your mouth, echoing in the empty stairwell bearing witness to this obscenity.

He starts kissing and licking down your neck as you feel his hands snake under your blouse and your bra to squeeze in return, earning a gasp from your swollen mouth. You fist the hand you had in his hair tighter, fully aware that you are indeed messing it up and you will very much get a word from his stylist about this.

Your ringtone effectively silenced all other sounds you both made before things could go any further. You both stopped to look at each other with expressions that were hard to decipher whether in alarm or in exhilaration.

“Hello?”

You hear your director on the other end. “So have you two kissed and made up yet? Not literally, I hope.”

From the corner of your eye, Jun chuckled. You cleared your throat, but your voice was still a pitch too high when you replied, “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Alright, now come on back here. We have dinner prepared for everyone, including the new girl. We still need to talk about her.”

“Got it, boss.”

“Now, okay? We’ve been stalling for you two.”

Ah, shit. “Okay. On the way.” You dropped the call and looked at Jun leaning back against the wall, whose hair he managed to salvage and whose clothes were almost presentable. You couldn’t say the same for your half-open jeans and messed-up lipstick.

Wordlessly, he pulls you in and helps tidy you up—fixing your hair as you put your clothes back together and wipe off the stray lipstick from your face.

“For the record,” he says as he tucks your hair behind your ear, “whatever chemistry you see on the screen is only because I have you in my head to draw inspiration from. There’s a reason why people close their eyes when they kiss. It’s you I see every time.”

You usually love it when Junhui rambles like this. You still do now, but you also recall his “green with jealousy” line and it fills you with embarrassment.

“It’s just…it looked so real. It felt so real. That was the best chemistry read out of all of them.”

“So I was told earlier.”

“It made me feel so many things.” The exasperation was evident in your voice.

He takes your hands this time and holds them tight. “I’ll make you feel even more things, I’m sure. But I will not let you forget that I will make you feel loved the most. Okay?”

You sigh. You love him. “I love you, Jun.”

“I love you, too.” He raises a hand to press a kiss on your knuckles.

“Also remind me to call building security. I must tell them to delete that footage from the stairwell.”

Jun gives you a quiet smile, one full of mischief. “Not without securing a copy first. For me. Please?”

“I thought we were professionals!”

“We could add professional rule-breakers to that title, you know.”

Hmm. You reconsider his request. Yep, you could definitely match his freak. Perfect chemistry.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

post a/n: inbox is open for requests or additions to taglists!

[works-of-fanfiction]

Kiss and Make Up || Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Summary: With the couple on a break, it’s hard for Daniel to see Y/N, especially when she’s looking so good in his favourite dress.

Song: Kiss and Make Up - Dua Lipa & BLACKPINK

Warnings: 18+ oral (f receiving), unprotected sex. A little bit of swearing.

Word Count: 3.6k

a/n: I think (???) I’m getting a little better at writing smut. one day I swear I will write one without giggling after every sentence. enjoy!

Daniel's blood boils as he watches her, watches his girl at the centre of attention of his fellow drivers. He wants to be angry at her for entertaining them in the first place, but he's angrier at his so-called friends for gawking at her and passing off their obvious flirting as 'just being nice'. It's annoying because she knows she looks good - incredible, in fact - an emerald green satin dress hanging perfectly on her body, displaying just enough leg to be considered dangerous. It bothered him even more that he chose that particular dress, and now she was parading around in it for everyone to see; for everyone to stare and drool over her. He didn't like it one bit, but he didn't have a choice. 

It was his fault that they were on a break. He'd lashed out, said horrible things. Tension had been brewing between them for a couple of weeks and she could sense he was about to burst. She hadn't done anything wrong; he could see that now. He'd had more than enough time to sit with his thoughts and come to regret everything he'd said, but she hadn't been interested in hearing his apology. At first, in his anger, he'd blamed her friends. He was convinced their influence had led her to her decision, that they'd been whispering in her ear and plotting against him for some time. However, deep down he knew it was nobody's fault but his own. 

The 'will he, won't he' situation at Alpha Tauri had gotten the best of him. His overwhelming desire to race took up all of his attention, leaving Y/N completely on the sidelines. She'd understood, of course she had. Racing was Daniel's dream and she knew how important it was for him to find a seat and get back out on the track, but when things seemed to get difficult and look uncertain, Daniel directed his frustrations towards her. 

"You're a fucking coward, d'you know that? Who are you to stand here and speak to me like that?" 

"Oh, drop the bigger person act, Y/N. It wasn't too long ago that you were going through a rough time and - " 

"Don't you fucking dare. You know that doesn't compare to the way you've been behaving. It is completely different." 

"You know how important this is to me. Sorry, but I think I'm allowed to be a little stressed." He held his hands up in mock surrender which only irritated her further.

"A little stressed, yes. A total asshole? No." 

"Where are you going?" He asked, watching her scoop up her phone and keys from the counter and stuff them into her pocket.

"Anywhere you are not. I can't be around you when you're like this, Daniel." Her voice cracked as she turned away, but she didn't allow him to see her cry. He may not have approved of her being the bigger person, but it's what she had to do. A text a couple of hours later confirmed her need for space, and after spending thirty straight minutes trying to type a response, Daniel realised he had to respect her wishes.

“Here.” Max interrupts, sliding a drink into Daniel’s hand.

“What’s this?”

“I couldn’t stand and watch you stare at her any longer. At least with a drink in your hand you actually look like you’re at this party and not just a creepy stalker.” He chuckles into his glass, the joke going over Daniel’s head, not even bringing the slightest smirk to his lips.

Max gulps, wincing a little at the strength of his drink. “Just go talk to her.” He says, eyes flicking between his friend and Y/N.

“I can’t. She wants space and I have to respect that.”

“Yeah, but anyone can see you’re not okay with that…”

Daniel knew Max had a point. As much as he wanted to give Y/N the space she needed and do everything he could to fix their relationship, he hated being away from her. He hated sitting across the room whilst she pretended he wasn’t there. She hadn’t looked at him once throughout the entire evening and it was starting to aggravate him. He needed to talk to her, even if it was just to find out how she was doing. He didn’t even know if that was a question he had the right to ask, but he wanted to anyway.

Plus, the way she was strutting around in those heels and playfully fixing her hair every few minutes was driving him insane. His eyes couldn’t resist following the trail from her feet, up her legs and to her hips. If she so much as leaned over the bar or stretched to grab something, he’d see beneath the thin green satin and hopefully find out she was wearing tiny, or perhaps no underwear.

He fidgets uncomfortably in his seat, setting his glass down on the table before his knuckles turn white from gripping it so tightly. As Y/N takes Carlos’ hand and twirls beneath his arm, Daniel jumps up from the stool, holding onto the table to steady his feet. “Hey, come on. You know they’re good friends.” Max warns, holding an arm out to try and stop him.

“Make your mind up, Max. You told me to go and talk to her.” He doesn’t even look at Max as he speaks, as his gaze remains fixed on Y/N whilst she dances with the Ferrari driver. There’s nothing suggestive between their dance, and it’s not the first time Daniel has seen them together like this, but he’s suddenly not as comfortable with it as he usually is.

“I think you should calm down a bit first.” Max tries to be stern with the older driver, but he knows his words are going through one ear and straight out the other side. Daniel glances at the Dutchman and gives only a second of thought to his words, then chooses to ignore them entirely.

Stepping past Max’s arm, he makes his way into the crowd and closer to Y/N. Mid-conversation, Charles and Pierre’s heads turn to the Australian as he weaves around clumsy partygoers, almost parting the room in two to get through. The two of them shuffle closer to the bar to get a better view as he reaches Carlos and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Can I cut in?” He asks, once again not bothering to look at who he’s speaking to. Instead he looks down at Y/N, who glares up at him with cold, unblinking eyes.

“Sure.” Carlos mutters, stepping aside, failing to notice Y/N tightening her grip on his hand to try and stop him. Daniel takes his place, his hands awkwardly hovering near her waist.

“Are you going to wrap your arms around me, or just stand there?” She asks abruptly, her tone coming out a lot more aggressively than she’d intended.

Daniel’s hands find her waist and pull her closer, making sure no one else can hear their conversation. Her hands are pressed against his chest awkwardly, all attention concentrating on her feet so she doesn’t fall.

“What do you want, Daniel?” She sighs, exasperation and downright exhaustion evident in her voice. This makes Daniel’s stomach turn and part of him wants to fall to the ground and beg for her forgiveness. He never thought he’d see the day when he’d be the one to make her feel like this. She was disappointed in him, and he was kicking himself for ever uttering a bad word to her.

“I need to apologise - “

“No, you just needed to get me on my own away from the guys.”

Her icy tone catches him off guard, but he feels he deserves it. As much as he’s desperate to finally apologise, he can’t deny that seeing her spending her night with everyone but him was making him jealous. He’d watched her friendships with the drivers blossom over time, especially Carlos and Lance, yet seeing their arms around her and smiles aimed in her direction tonight drove him crazy.

“Am I wrong?” She mocks, reluctantly wrapping her arms around his neck for the sake of her own comfort.

Daniel chooses not to answer, which is an answer in itself. She sniggers, looking off to the side to see the group all engaged in conversation with one another. She knows they’re all putting on an act and pretending not to eavesdrop. Those drivers love a gossip just as much as the next person.

“I don’t like seeing you with them.” Daniel finally admits, his voice low. He doesn’t intend for the entire grid to know his business.

“It’s never bothered you before.”

“Well this time is different.”

“How?”

“Because you’re not speaking to me.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Silence falls between the couple, Y/N’s hold around Daniel’s neck loosening. He reaches up and grabs her hands, readjusting them and holding her wrists tightly. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” She asks, glaring up at him, a devious smile poking at her lips.

“Don’t try to walk away from me.” He lets go of her arms, letting them float down to her sides as he leans in close, lips pressed against her ear. “Especially not when you’re dressed like that.”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes at his words. A poor and sorry attempt at winning her back, yet completely expected from Daniel. “You think sex is going to fix this?”

“Who said anything about sex?” He plays dumb but she sees straight through him. That had always been a thing in their relationship; they were both terrible liars, or rather couldn’t lie to each other as the other could always spot it.

Stepping back, she calls over to Kika who’s stood between Pierre and Charles, tracing circles around the rim of her glass. “Bathroom.” She smiles and Kika nods, slipping away from the table.

Daniel sees this and steps forward, blocking Kika’s path. “Actually, she doesn’t need you to go with her.”

“Daniel - “ Y/N snaps, cut off by his arm linking with hers and pulling her in the direction of the bathrooms.

“Come on.” He barges through the doors, squeezing the two of them into the first stall and turning the lock.

“I can’t believe you just spoke to Kika like that.” She whispers angrily, yanking her arm out of his grasp.

“She’ll get over it.”

“Pierre won’t.”

Y/N folds her arms over her chest, leaning against the flimsy cubicle as Daniel’s eyes wander around the small space. She sighs, heels scraping against the ground as she stands back up straight. “Well you got me here. What do you want?”

“You know what I want.”

“Actually, I don’t. Did you bring me in here to apologise… or was there something else?” There’s a shift in her tone and a look in her eye that Daniel instantly recognises. He knows she’s still angry at him, but sees there’s a part of her that wants him just as much as he wants her.

Sparing her a proper response, he slips a knee between her legs and pushes her against the wall. It shakes a little, encouraging a small smile to appear on her face. “You disappoint me, Ricciardo.” She purrs, running a perfectly manicured finger across his jaw.

“Something tells me you’re not so disappointed.” He grinds his knee upwards, pressing it against her clothed pussy. She groans, body slumping forward in pleasure. He catches her with his chest, pushing her back up, keeping her upright against the wall. “Does that sound like the moans of a disappointed woman?”

“Shut up.” She hisses, delicate fingers wrapping around his throat to pull him in for a kiss. Daniel moans, the sound strangled as her nails dig into his neck. The kiss is entirely in her control as she holds him in place, squeezing his throat just enough to make his breath hitch. She draws back, sucking his tongue between her lips and letting it go with a quiet popping sound.

“If we do this, it doesn’t magically fix anything.” She breathes, releasing her grip on him to rest her hand on his chest.

Daniel is smart enough to know better, and knows that hasty sex in a bathroom stall isn’t going to mend all of their problems, but he’s too turned on and fuelled by liquid courage to care. Running his hand over the top of hers, he links their fingers and flips her around to face the wall, pressing her palm flat against the cold wood. She yelps in surprise as he uses his free hand to hike her dress up. He’s delighted to see the black lace that’s barely covering her, and he hooks his forefinger through the waistband to pull her ass towards him. “Planned on getting lucky tonight, huh?” He taunts, his fingers tracing the patterns in the lace.

“I was hoping one of the guys would take me home.” She quips sarcastically, bending over more and grinding her ass against his hand. Daniel groans, letting go of her hand so he can use both freely. He grabs her ass and spreads her legs, his mouth falling open at the sight of her pussy peeking through her underwear.

Wasting no time, he drops to his knees and pushes the thin string to the side, giving him full access to the part of her he needs the most. Feeling his hot breath against her exposed cunt, she gasps, parting her legs even further. “That’s it.” Daniel hums, taking his middle finger and running it slowly through her folds. Y/N’s legs quiver as he touches her, barely inserting a finger as he concentrates on circling her pussy and feeling just how soaked she is. His finger eventually finds its way to her clit, flicking gently against the swollen bud, making her whole body twitch with arousal.

She moans his name, the word elongated on her tongue. He stops for a second, lying his hand flat against her core. “Shh… You don’t want people hearing us now, do you?” He whispers.

Squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip to suppress any further sounds, Y/N nudges Daniel with her leg, urging him to continue. Instead, he grabs her thighs and pulls her closer to him, her feet sliding along the slippery tiled floor. “Let me taste you, baby.” The sound of his voice disappears between her legs, her thighs almost cupping his cheeks as he finds her clit with his tongue. The tip of his tongue swipes across her clit, slowly then repetitively in a rhythm. His hands hold onto her thighs tightly, his fingers leaving indentations in the supple skin.

Y/N sinks her teeth into the back of her hand, trying her best to stay quiet. Saliva and bite marks cover the spot just above her wrist whilst Daniel buries his head further and laps up her pussy like a starving animal. His nose pokes between her folds, and the newfound friction elicits a heavy exhale from deep within her chest.

Desperate to keep that nose she loves so much as close to her as possible, she reaches behind to grab Daniel’s head and guide him to the perfect spot. Fingers tangling in his hair and clutching at the roots, she rides his face, relishing in the feeling of his tongue flat against her clit, and the tip of his nose pressing into her. Daniel holds his breath as she ruts her hips against his face, gripping her thighs until it hurts. She winces, tensing the muscles as she rests her forehead against the wall, teeth still gnawing on her hand. He grunts, the sound sending a vibration to her clit and throughout her entire body, making her knees buckle beneath her. He catches her, supporting her body with his hands alone as he delves his face deeper to suck her clit into his mouth.

Losing all sense of caring, Y/N lets her hand fall free from her lips, releasing a stifled moan that echoes around the bathroom stall. Her thighs squeeze together involuntarily as she comes, and Daniel has to prize them open to set himself free. He stands, hands fumbling with his jeans as he sloppily lays kisses on the back of her shoulder, his chin still slick with moisture, so much so that Y/N can smell her own scent filling the air.

“What did I tell you about staying quiet?” Daniel whispers, his lips barely touching the back of her ear.

“I’m sort of sick of you telling me what to do.” She retorts, attempting to hide the shakiness in her voice. Daniel rolls his eyes, trying to ignore her words as he pushes his jeans and boxers down his legs, leaving them bunched around his ankles. He knows she’s not just talking about the present, but he’s too desperate to feel her wrapped around his cock to let it bother him. He hasn’t been able to touch her for weeks, and seeing her spread wide for him like this is enough to almost push him to the edge already.

Hands gripping her dress around her waist, he pulls her towards him, sliding his cock inside her effortlessly. Mutual gasps of pleasure and hissed curse words slip off of their tongues as he bottoms out inside of her, his clammy hands losing grip of the satin. Reaching round to grab her arms, he crosses her wrists and holds them behind her back, forcing her cheek against the wall to support her upper body. There’s an aggression to his actions, one hand holding her wrists and another snaking its way into her hair. Tugging her head back, he leans forward, his face beside hers. She looks at him through her peripheral vision, a smug smile on her face as she notices his slack jaw and half-lidded eyes. Daniel was never truly in control when it came to Y/N. The effect she had on him was dangerous and made him want to do things unimaginable. All she had to do was look at him a certain way and he’d literally and figuratively drop to his knees for her.

Daniel’s slow thrusts tell her that he doesn’t plan on lasting very long. Despite his tight hold on her and rough fingers in her hair, his hips roll in leisurely circles, the tip of his cock stroking her g-spot in a deliciously torturous rhythm. The restroom door creaks, a collection of footsteps clattering along the floor outside. With shadows passing the stall and voices filling the space, Daniel drops his hand from Y/N’s hair, instead using it to cover her mouth and keep her quiet. She tilts her head, sucking his forefinger into her mouth, her tongue wet and warm and making Daniel’s cock twinge inside of her. He moans, trying to swallow the sound so nobody will hear.

Daniel’s wet finger trails out of her mouth and down her neck, drawing a line of her own saliva along her throat. Wrapping his arm across her upper body, he holds her close as he fucks her, the heat between them making his shirt stick to his chest. Beads of sweat run down the back of Y/N’s neck and under her dress. Even beneath the harsh bathroom lighting, her skin glistens and looks good enough for Daniel to taste, to lick clean.

Voices gather at the sinks, water running and paper towels unravelling from the holders. Daniel silently prays for them to hurry up and leave, the feeling of Y/N’s pussy clenching around his dick becoming too much to bear. The muffled sounds of the music outside briefly fill the room, before disappearing behind the door. He releases his breath with a long groan, his body slumping against hers. “Finally.” He hisses, stepping back and pulling her ass with him, bending her into a perfect L-shape.

Relieved to be alone again, their pants and moans circle around the stall as Daniel drives his hips back and forth, quickening the pace. His firm grip on her ass cheeks leaves little white outlines around his fingers as he coaxes himself to climax. Hearing the sweet sounds coming from her mouth sends him over the edge, his thighs stiffening as he comes inside her, his body jolting forward in ecstasy. She straightens, resting her body against the wall with Daniel pressed against her back, his sweaty forehead slumped onto her shoulder. He pulls out with a huff, his cock leaking with cum and legs feeling sore.

Y/N readjusts and pulls her dress down, smirking to herself as she feels cum drip out of her and pool inside her underwear. She runs her hands through her hair, hoping she looks presentable as she turns to face Daniel. He zips his jeans and smiles at her, but doesn’t earn a smile back. “I told you, this doesn’t change anything.” She states flatly, reaching for the lock. He stops her, taking her hand in his.

“Come home with me.” He pleads, running his thumb softly over her knuckles, a stark contrast to the way he’d touched her just a few minutes prior.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Daniel’s expression remains serious. He opens his mouth to repeat himself, but she cuts him off with a defeated sigh. “Fine. But we leave now. I don’t need to be dealing with questions.”

“Deal.” He smiles, earning an eye roll from her as she unlocks the door and heads out, her heels clicking against the tile. He follows close behind, the satisfied grin never leaving his face.

[vivwritesfics]

English Love Affair

It started on a weekend in may. She was looking for attention and needed intervention. Felt somebody looking at her. It was Max Verstappen

18+ only!!

Warnings: smut, pwp, size kink (I suppose), BJ, wrap your monkey before you get spunky

1.6K

It started on a weekend in May. It was the Monaco Grand Prix and Y/N Norris was there with her brother. She loved walking through the Paddock on the Sunday, race day, seeing all of the people her brother had considered friends since his karting days.

Celebrities crowded around the garages, several around McLaren and several around the Red Bull garage. Even with all of the celebrities around, including the drivers themselves, Y/N could still find all of the attention she wanted from one man.

Max Emilian Verstappen. Whenever Y/N felt eyes on the back of her head, she knew it was him. She knew he was the one watching her. When he was supposed to be listening to Christian or somebody else on the team.

She could feel it now, the eyes on the back of her head. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Y/N was dressed in a pair of white trousers, with black boots and a white top, made to look like a corset. Max was watching her as she walked through the Paddock, looking for her big brother and his teammate.

If he wasn't surrounded by cameras and people, Max would have been drooling. He would have looked like one of those cartoons that had hearts popping out of his eyes, a mallet hitting the top of his head.

Monaco.

It was a race that had Max not winning by at least twenty full seconds. He was distracted, Christian decided. Nobody knew what had distracted him, but his focus definitely wasn't on the race.

That night they were all out at a bar, and then at a club. At first, Y/N and Max stood on opposite ends of the club. She was with her brother and Carlos, until they abandoned her, following girls into the bathroom.

So, she went over to the bar. It was only when the barman was serving her a drink when she realised who she was standing next to. Max Verstappen, the current world champion. "Cheers," said Y/N and held up her glass.

With a look in her direction, Max lifted his own glass and tapped it against hers.

The night progressed on in this fashion. They drank, tapped their glasses together and drank some more. With every drink they moved closer and closer to each other until they were beside each other, Max's arms slung over her shoulders.

One more drink after that and she had a hesitant hand on his chest. Max's arm moved from around her shoulders to around her back, holding them close. He ordered the both of them a shot of tequila and then they were kissing.

Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him. Eyes shut, his tongue down her throat, body pulled flush against him. Her fingers moved through his once immaculate hair, pushing the strands out of place.

Suddenly they were out of the club, rushing back to Max's apartment. When they had to stop at the crossings, she had him pulled close, kissing him some more until a car beeped for them to move.

Once they had made it into the apartment, Max wasted no time in throwing off her top. He pushed the door shut behind him and led her to his bedroom.

The lights went on when Max dragged Y/N into the bedroom. He had his hands on her hips as he sat down in front of her, onto the end of the bed.

Y/N Norris was in front of him. Max had been thinking about this moment ever since she and Lando began walking around the Paddock. He thought about it late at night, when the lights were out and he was alone in his bed. When he was in the shower, lip pulled between his teeth as he tossed himself off.

Max kissed his way down her chest, past her bra and down to her trousers. His lips were hot, setting fire to her skin. His grip was bruising, addicting and Y/N couldn't get enough.

But Max did let go of her. He took off his own shirt and threw it onto the floor bedside the bed. But then his grip returned to her. Max pulled her closer, sitting her on his lap. There was a clashing of tongue and teeth as they kissed.

He moved his hands from his hips and down to her ass. As he did, Y/N's lips moved from his to neck. "Holy shit," Max groaned when he felt her teeth against his skin, nibbling and sucking.

His hands squeezed.

She let out a gasp, pulling away from his neck. Max moved slowly, slipping his hands inside of her jeans. "Bold," she mumbled and reached down for the front of his jeans. She popped the button and pulled down the zipper, leaving his jeans open.

Max laid back. He pulled Y/N up on top of him, reconnecting their lips. Her knees were on either side of him, hips pressed against his.

His hands travelled up her back, unhooking the latch on her bra. He let it fall away from her chest and threw it onto the floor.

There was a damn near hour of foreplay before they got to the real deal. Max was a thoroughman who liked to do a thorough job. The only time he was quick was in the car.

He worked on covering her with hickies as Y/N shimmied out of her trousers. She dropped them to the floor and climbed back on top of him.

She had to pull him to his feet as he sucked dark bruises into her neck. His jeans were getting in the way and Y/N was sick of it.

With them both in their underwear, Y/N laid back on the white sheets. She used her finger to beckon Max closer and he climbed on top of her, closing the gap once again.

"Can I?" She whispered as her hands found the waistband of his briefs.

Max nodded his head and Y/N tugged. She pulled down his briefs, exposing himself fully to her.

What they revealed was... kind of astonishing. The most noticeable thing was his sheer size. There was a moment where all Y/N could do was stare, a moment that nearly had Max putting his briefs back on.

She reached out and touched it. Max let out a whine as he hands wrapped around it and pumped. Once, twice. "Please," he whined, his knees hitting the edge of his bed.

Y/N got to work. She kept her fingers wrapped around his cock as she moved her hand up and down. When she'd had enough and her arm began growing tired, she leaned down, taking as much of it as she could into her mouth.

It was a pretty site. That was all that was running through Max's head as he watched. Y/N Norris, in nothing but her underwear, on her hands and knees in front of him as she sucked his dick.

Now, Y/N knew when she first saw the monster it was going to be a challenge. It took her a moment to muster the courage before she put her lips on his tip and sucked. Her movement were slow, adjusting to the length. Tears stung her eyes as she pushed herself further.

We all know Max Verstappen isn't a very patient man. He placed his hand on the back of her head, gripped her hair and pushed.

Max took over the situation. Drool dribbled out of Y/Ns mouth as she let Max fuck her mouth. She moaned and whined, gripping Max's hips to keep her upright.

He slowed his thrusts before pulling Y/N from him cock with a pop. "I want you," he whispered and pushed her back, laying her down on the sheets.

There was a moment of anxiety that rushed through her. She was about to sleep with the current world champion.

Max spread her legs and pulled down her underwear. He took a moment to look at her, all of her, naked and spread before him. He had never seen something this beautiful before. "Look at you," he whispered, pushing his tip between her folds. "So lovely."

"Please, Max. I need you!" She cried.

Slowly, he pushed his way through her folds until he was fully sheathed inside of her.

Holding him close, Y/N let out a cry. Her nails dug into his shoulder as he remained still, pushed all the way inside of her. "Are you okay?" Max asked through a whisper.

With her eyes squeezed shut, Y/N nodded her head. "You're so big, Maxie."

Slowly, Max moved his hips. He listened to her body, snapping his hips against hers when her moans grew louder. "Oh holy shit," she cried, eyes shut as she threw her head back.

The bed creaked as his thrusts grew louder and and more erratic. The sound of skin slapping together filled the apartment. "My god, Max, holy shit, holy shit!"

Max leaned down to kiss her. Wrapping her arms around him, Y/N held him close.

Before long, Max's thrusts were growing sloppy and erratic. He let his head rest on her shoulders. His mouth hung open as he gave two more trusts, finishing.

Max panted as he pulled out of her. He wasted no time in moving down her body, fingers prodding at her hole. He pushed past his own mess, trusting his fingers in and out of her. She quivered as he did so, body shaking under him.

Finally she came on his fingers. Her chest rose and fell as Max pulled away from her.

He'd just slept with Lando's little sister. What had he done?

[ladykailitha]

Batshit Soulmates Part 1

Yay! We have finally got to the meat of the story. And oh boy do Steve and Eddie go through it.

In Medias Res| Prologue|

***

Steve wanted nothing to do with Eddie Munson. Never had, never would. But Dustin was like a brother to him, and he would move heaven and earth to make sure the kid was safe. And he knew all too well that if he didn’t tag along, Dustin would get himself and anyone who went with him in trouble. Possibly hurt or worse. So he offered to drive.

They arrived at Reefer Rick’s place and Steve led the way. They tried the house first, but the lights were off and no one seemed to be home.

Steve was close to strangling Dustin as he kept yelling the worst possible things. But they tried the boathouse next.

He looked around but couldn’t see any drug dealing, D&D playing nerds, so he grabbed an oar that was leaning against the wall. The last thing he needed was to touch something and have it rip his arm off. He poked at the tarp.

What happened next, Steve wasn’t sure was a good or a bad thing. But it was certainly the most interesting thing that had happened to him in all of his life. And that was including finding Robin or the monster coming out of the wall at the Byers house.

The tarp ripped open and suddenly he was being slammed into the wall, a broken bottle placed to his throat. He knew that there was no way to get the leverage he needed to swing the oar to defend himself. And that’s when he felt it. He could feel the jagged edge of the bottle piercing his throat, threatening to draw blood. But he could also feel a burning on his forearm.

“Eddie!” Dustin cried out, suddenly afraid. “This is Steve. He isn’t going to hurt you.”

Steve gulped. That was certainly true. At least until they talked, anyway. He looked into Eddie’s frightened eyes and knew that Eddie wouldn’t hurt him either. But he was scared.

“Steve drop the oar!” Dustin instructed.

Steve threw the oar away. “See? I’m not armed anymore. Can you let me go?”

Eddie pushed the bottle further into Steve’s throat.

And Dustin, Robin, and Max all gasped in alarm.

“Hey, Eddie,” Dustin continued to try and soothe the scared boy. “This is Robin, you remember her from band? And this is Max. She the one that doesn’t like D&D, but she still cool.”

But nothing seemed to be working and everyone leaned forward expect the worst, when Steve spoke up.

“Eds, man,” Steve said softly. “Is–is your right arm burning all of sudden?”

“What the hell kind of strategy is that?” Robin squeaked.

But Eddie’s eyes flicked down to the arm that was holding the bottle and then back up to Steve.

He didn’t answer, but that was enough for Steve.

“Just let me pull up my sleeve,” he continued, his eyes still wild with fear. “I’ll show you, I’m safe.”

Max frowned but when she looked over at Robin and Dustin, they didn’t look confused. They looked shocked.

Robin was whispering “Oh my god, oh my god,” over and over. And Dustin was covering his broad smile with both of his hands.

She looked back over at Steve and Eddie and still didn’t understand what was going on.

Steve slowly pulled up the right sleeve of his jacket and tore off his soul patch, throwing it to the ground.

Max gasped. She knew what was happening now and she couldn’t believe it.

Eddie looked down at Steve’s arm. There it was: four stylized bats that were glowing bright red. His eyes flashed up to Steve’s again and said through a clenched jaw, “Why the fuck is mine a nail bat?”

“Oh my god!” Robin squeaked. “Max go get it from the trunk. He needs to see this.”

Steve pulled his keys out of his pocket and tossed her direction, praying it wouldn’t land in the water.

But Max caught them and dashed out of the boathouse. They all waited on baited breath. Because Eddie wasn’t going to let Steve go without knowing the meaning behind his soulmark.

Max came running back inside. “Steve! Catch!”

Eddie turned around to face her, letting the other boy go. Steve caught the bat before it even got close to either of their faces. Eddie’s eyes were wide for a different reason now.

He dropped the bottle and stepped back, everyone else breathing a sigh of relief. “Why the fuck do you have a nail bat, Harrington?”

Steve slumped against the wall and slid down it, holding the nail bat tightly in both hands, it was straight up. Like a knight holding a sword.

Dustin got between them and moved Eddie to sit down on a nearby crate, while Robin was at Steve’s side checking to see if the bottle had cut him.

It hadn’t. But he let her fuss over him, because they both needed the reassurance that he was, in fact, okay.

Eddie pulled off his leather jacket and ripped off his own soul patch. He had a couple of tattoos on his arm. One he had done himself, but the other? The other was a soulmark that throbbed bright red. It was Steve’s nail bat, no doubt.

“Bats,” Steve giggled manically. “Our soulmarks are bats.”

Eddie cocked his head and rolled his eyes. “Just answer the question, Harrington.”

Dustin grimaced. “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”

Robin and Max nodded emphatically.

Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know, not after what I saw. It was horrible.”

Suddenly Steve was on his feet and at Eddie’s side in a heartbeat. “I have a feeling we would be the only ones that would understand, Eds.”

Eddie let out a shuddering breath, but started talking. He told them about Chrissy and the drug deal. He talked about her nightmares and how lost she seemed when he was nice to her. He talked about how scared she had been in her final moments. And how he ran when she started to twist in a horrible, unnatural way. How she died screaming.

“I can’t get her screams out of my head, man,” Eddie whimpered. “Why her? Why me?”

“We don’t know,” Robin said. “But we’ve done this before.”

Eddie stared at her in shock.

Steve nodded. “Three years for Dustin and I, although he has about a week up on me. Two years for Max. And one year for Robin.”

“Three–three years?” Eddie stammered. “What the fuck?”

“Since Will Byers vanished,” Dustin said sadly.

Eddie closed his eyes. Both Wayne and he had volunteered to help look for the boy and Wayne had been among those that found the fake body. He nodded before opening his eyes.

“What am I going to do?” he asked.

Steve knelt in front of him and touched his cheek. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

*

Steve was having a panic attack. That was the only thing he could think of when he started to hyperventilate outside of his house after dropping everyone off at home. They needed to get Eddie some food and explain things properly to him, but all that consumes Steve is the refrain of: He’s my soulmate. He’s my soulmate. He’s my soulmate. Over and over.

Tears threatened to fall from his cheeks. A boy was his soulmate. He didn’t care, but his dad would. Dustin and Max seemed fine with it. Hell, Dustin was practically bouncing in his seat all the way home. Berating Steve for not meeting Eddie sooner. If only Steve had listened to him he wouldn’t have struck out with so many girls.

Steve dropped him off first just to stop the constant stream of his monologue and then Max. As he was pulling away from Forest Hills Robin touched his shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked gently.

He didn’t know if he was ever going be. Because his forearm still burned, still glowed dark red. In fact it was getting darker and more painful the further he got from Eddie.

“I think we’re perfect mates,” Steve ground out through the thick pain lancing through his arm. “A true pair.”

Robin’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit. Like only a hundred of those are born every generation.”

He pulled up his sleeve to show her. She took his arm gingerly and ran her fingers over the dark soul mark.

“I don’t think you could have found a worst time to meet him,” she said softly.

Steve nodded.

Robin kissed his cheek and inside her house, leaving Steve to drive home alone with his thoughts.

So that brought him to where he was now. Having a mental breakdown in front of his empty house. He knew that he was going to have to compartmentalize. Which was something he was pretty damn good at. It just was shit timing. But before he could do that, he knew he had to work through the shock of his soulmate being a boy.

Usually he would talk to Robin about this, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. After all, Vickie was her soulmate, the girl just wasn’t interested in being with Robin. She would rather chase after some boy who had already go off to college and was likely cheating on her with who knows how many girls. So how could Steve gush about his soulmate when hers didn’t want her? He wasn’t an ass. Or at least not anymore.

Steve finally got out of the car and opened the door to his house, half expecting his parents to come storming out of one of the rooms demanding where he’d been. But the house was silent. As it always was these days. He toed off his shoes in front of the door, suddenly not caring if it blocked anyone from coming in. Maybe that was a good thing.

He didn’t want to be disturbed while he wallowed in his misery.

A boy. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever assume his soulmate wasn’t a girl. Not even once did even consider it wouldn’t be someone with soft curves and pouty lips. Steve scoffed. He supposed he got the pouty lips. Just no curves. Only curls. He closed his eyes and threw himself bodily onto the sofa to wallow.

Steve threw his arm over his head and sighed. Was he attracted to boys? He knew that being soulmates didn’t necessarily include sex or whatever, but he always assumed that his soulmate would fill every aspect of his life and not just being someone he could rely on.

And there lied the other crux of the problem. Could he rely on Eddie?

Eddie Munson: metalhead, two-time super senior, drug dealer, goofball. Nothing like the person Steve imagined growing up. Someone who was an equal, who would help him with their kids.

Kids! Shit. There went that, too. They would have to adopt if they even got that far. Steve could taste the bile that rose from his throat. But he forced it down and let out a deep breath. He just had to readjust his thinking is all. Instead of focusing on the negative.

He sat up and really thought about Eddie as his soulmate. He already knew that Eddie got along good with Steve’s little nuggets. Three of them were in his club, for fuck’s sake. And from what Dustin had said was really impressed with Erica. So that was four of his kids that liked Eddie. Or at least tolerated him in Erica’s case. That was something.

That was something else. He had taken in Lucas, Mike, and Dustin when they were lost little freshmen with no clue how to navigate high school. Of course things between Lucas and Eddie may have soured a bit over last night’s game. And while Steve wasn’t in any clubs, he had grown up watching his mother plan party after party.

Rule number one was at least three days notice of canceling unless something had literally come up that day. Which Steve knew wasn’t the case with the championship game. Lucas knew a week in advance what was coming and chickened out telling Eddie. So that situation made for bad blood all around.

But as Steve sat there he could tally up more good things about Eddie then bad. And as for the attraction, well...he had just described the other boy as having pouty lips and soft curls, so maybe he wasn’t as straight as he thought he was.

He thought back to the big brown eyes and quivering hands. And yeah, maybe Steve was more attracted than he thought.

All right crisis...well not averted. Because he was still in the middle of some shit. But managed he supposed. Now all he needed to was make sure his stupid soulmate made it out of this alive. And you know, clear him of a murder charge.

But that was a problem for future Steve, current Steve needed food and god damned nap.

****

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Epilogue

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child @oxidantdreamboat @mogami13 @samsoble @xandriumbat

[apomaro-mellow]

King and Prince 15

Part 14

We have officially begun the second arc of this fic! Arc 1: Enemies Arc 2: Friends? ....Friends.... (<- You are here!) Arc 3: Lovers

The day before the festivities, Eddie was constantly on his feet and on the move. He had barely a moment to himself. But as the sun set, he took a second to check in on his favorite hostage-turned-guest. But Eddie never did these checks in person. Now seemed to be the time to give Steve as much space as he could. Eddie didn’t know in detail what kind of life he led in his old kingdom, but it couldn’t be anything good. A crown prince should be fighting tooth and nail to get back home. Steve hadn’t made any escape attempts since that last one weeks ago.

Eddie stood by the window of his room and held a hand out to beckon the raven that landed. He stroked its feathers in thanks for letting him see Steve. His eyes became the bird’s eyes whenever he wished, allowing him to see how Steve behaved while he was alone. He never intruded for long, but Eddie wasn’t going to fall to a soft heart and let someone untrustworthy roam without suspicion.

His precaution was starting to appear unnecessary in the end. Because Steve had no plans to harm anyone, not even him. As much as he and Dustin had prodded at the prince to see further than his own nose and learn about what was around him, Eddie had to admit that he too had his own assumptions about him. 

He hadn’t imagined the enemy to be an uncontrollable monster like the other side did. But Eddie hadn’t expected someone willingly lending a hand to some kids, who did manual labor with very minimal grumbling. He hadn’t expected Steve to be, well, nice. He might be the first Harrington who Eddie hadn’t wanted to kill on sight.

One thing his little feathered friend reminded him of was the fact that Steve’s wardrobe was severely cut down from what he must be used to. There was certainly a drop of quality as well, though it was comfortable to wear. And Eddie thought he shouldn’t be left out of the fun when it came to new clothes.

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

The next morning, Steve rose with the sun and had breakfast with the children in the kitchen. Afterwards, he figured his job for the day would be helping out wherever he was needed for the activities around the castle. But when he caught Robin in the hallway, she shook her head at him.

“I don’t have you today. You belong to those kids there”, she pointed to the gaggle catching up from behind.

“Them?”, Steve asked. “But they’re going to-” Their plans all involved the action happening in the town just outside the castle gates. A town filled with this kingdom’s people. People who might want to see Steve’s end, if they knew who he was.

Robin just waved with her fingers as Dustin and El grabbed both of his arms and started to pull him towards the main entrance of the castle. Outside, a wagon was already hitched up to a horse, driver at the ready to take them out. Steve tried to keep the apprehension off his face as he watched the kids get on, then followed after. Obviously the townsfolk couldn’t tell who he was just by looking at him. Even so, what if someone let something slip and the wrong thing was overheard?

His charges were unaware, still talking about all the things to do once they were there. They were already dressed in their new finery, surely with a warning not to get them too dirty before the performance. Steve tried not to feel too disappointed by his own clothing. He didn’t need any eyes drawn to him.

“We’re going to the games first”, Lucas said.

“Who said you’re in charge?”, Max challenged.

“I thought we agreed we should see the market first”, Will said.

“I agree that we should go before they run out of strawberries”, Dustin started. “But we can afford some time to go and see the mechanists first.”

Steve was suddenly struck with why he was put on supervising duty. Without an adult, they’d surely run off in a dozen different directions. They were let out right in the thick of it and Steve was overwhelmed but only for a moment as he clapped his hands and called them to attention.

“Hey. Hey! If one of you gets lost or hurt, that’s my neck on the chopping block!” Steve didn’t want to think of how literal that might be. “I’ll decide where we go and when and I swear to the old gods and new if I hear any griping, you can hop right back on the wagon.”

There was definitely some eye rolling. And the start of groans. And crossed arms. But no one directly opposed him. That left Steve to make a decision. He put his hands on his hips, looking at them one by one as they gazed back expectantly.

“So here’s what we’re going to do”, he began. “You all just ate. We don’t need to go and get berries right now. I promise we’ll go before they run out. It makes the most sense to do the games first. You guys are bouncing off the walls and need something to direct all that energy.”

After which, they’d be in a mood for some kind of refreshing pick-me-up, like freshly picked fruit. And maybe even some kind of meal before seeing what else the people of this town had to offer. His plan was met with minimal protests and for a moment Steve got the idea that they might actually like and respect him. There were games for both young and old, separated by skill level.

Lucas decided to try his hand at archery and Steve felt a twinge of pride, especially when he got a near bullseye on the first try. The next few weren’t as great but he hoped Lucas would remember that first near-win. If nothing else, he might remember the impressed look on Max’s face before she wiped it away, glancing around to make sure no one else saw. Even though the others typically weren’t so swayed by feats of athleticism, they congratulated Lucas.

“You almost got it in!”, Will exclaimed.

“Think of the potential. With an archer, we could be unstoppable!”, Dustin said.

Steve didn’t want to think about what sort of potential they were imagining. He’d thought he’d just follow them around and make sure they didn’t get kidnapped but was thrown off when they dragged him to a different field where there were older competitors.

“I think it’s time you show us what you got”, Mike said, arms crossed.

“What?”

“You talk a big game, but no one’s actually seen you do anything serious”, Max said.

“Lucas was there when Nancy tried to chop my head off”, Steve said in his defense.

Mike shrugged. “Yeah, but she was probably going easy on you.”

“You’d probably be good at that”, El pointed to where a bunch of young adults were tossing spears to see who could get it the farthest.

A simple task, especially given his royal training. Steve thought it almost unfair as he stepped up to compete. But he took the other seriously as he stretched and got ready. He wasn’t surprised when he thrust the spear forward and it fell in a graceful arc leagues further than any other. Still, he was glad that he wasn’t getting rusty up in that castle, locked away. Steve figured he’d proven himself, but then he was pointed to hay bale lifting, then the races, and then a child toss.

“Wait, why am I tossing you guys into the water?”, Steve asked while other people were stretching their legs.

Dustin lit up. “The child toss has a rich history that’s actually hotly debated and only because Eddie won’t tell us what really happened because he thinks its funny how many different stories there are-”

“Just lift them up and throw them in the pond as fast as you can”, Max said.

“As fun as it would be to chuck some of you, not in these clothes”, Steve put his foot down.

Thankfully, they moved quickly to the other games. All things that Steve excelled at. For as much as he was trying to keep a low profile, the townsfolk started to be taken with this talented stranger. It didn’t hurt that many of the events gave them glimpses at his physique. As he promised, once they got their fill of watching him compete, he took them to the market where farmers were presenting the bounties of early spring. It was a good preview of things to come in the following months.

Steve popped a berry into his mouth when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw a man he didn’t recognize. For a moment, he thought he’d been seen for who he was, but he read the other man’s body language. There was something a little nervous about it, especially in the way he seemed to want to look at Steve but not meet his gaze.

“Hey uh, so I saw you over at the fields and uh-”

Ah.

Steve licked some of the juice off his fingers and noticed how intensely he was being watched. He had his fair share of bedmates back home and was familiar with the look of desire. It had just been so long since he'd seen it. Before the man could continue, El was calling for him and Max was grabbing him by the elbow. The girls wanted to go and watch the street musicians while the boys wanted to go and visit the mechanists. Steve finally conceded to a split on the condition that they met up for lunch in half an hour.

“Half an hour is barely any time”, Mike complained.

“It’s all you have if you want to eat before seeing the illusionist. You have to be on stage right after that”, Steve reminded them.

Given that time limit, Will and the other boys rushed off to see the new machines and inventions dreamt up during the winter while the girls led Steve towards music playing. Unbeknownst to anyone there, the king was already present, red hood obscuring his face as he sat on a barrel, playing a cheerful tune for his people.

Part 16

Tag Team

@thesuninyaface @only-evanescent @snakeorsquid @ignoremyworld @theclichefortunecookie @goodolefashionedloverboi @just-a-tiny-void @0body0disphoria0 @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @samsoble @jamieweasley13 @y4r3luv @xtkxkrzrizir @un-knownperson @greekgeek24 @justdrugsformethanks @potato-of-the-lord @notaqueenakhaleesi @swimmingbirdrunningrock @queenie-ofthe-void @nebulainajar @lil-gremlin-things @nicememerino @robininblue @hornedqueenofhell @anne-bennett-cosplayer @moomkin77 @here4thetrama @bookworm0690 @autumncrocusandladybug @lil-gremlin-things @littlebluejane

[formula-nyoom]

Stars Racing Past-2

Summary: After managing to escape the phantom on Tatooine, (Y/N), Seb, and Kimi head to Coruscant to meet with the Jedi Council to hopefully allow (Y/N) to become a Jedi and be assigned a teacher.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the support on the first chapter. I'm really glad people liked it and I can't wait for you guys to read what I've got cooking. While I don't really like taglists, I will have one for this series. I think the max I can tag is 50(ish) people so I will have to cut it off at some point. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Series Masterlist

~~~

The ship seemed to remain in one piece as it traveled through lightspeed. And with nothing indicating that the hyperdrive would fail, Kimi switched on the autopilot as he and Seb focused on the girl that was now with them. Now that things were calm, she seemed to be processing everything that just happened as her eyes stared at the light rapidly traveling past the ship

 “(Y/N)...” Seb gently said, drawing the girl’s attention to him. “Can you tell us what happened? Why was this person chasing you?”

 “I don’t know. He had come into the store after closing…he…” The girl trailed off.

“Can you tell us exactly what happened?” Seb quietly asked. (Y/N) took a breath and nodded.

 “I was working on repairing my speeder when I heard Mr (L/N) tell a customer to leave. He mentioned the two of you…I thought you guys had come back to get me or sent someone to come get me. But when I peered in… there was just something about this person that felt wrong.”

 “What did you sense from this person?” Kimi asked.

“Sinister…and dark.” (Y/N) said. “He didn’t feel anything like when you guys had come in earlier.”

 “You said that he killed them…did he kill Mr and Mrs (L/N)?” Seb asked. The girl nodded. Her eyes started to water as the scene of the phantom driving his red lighted blade through their chests replayed in her head. 

 “I ran as soon as he saw me. I jumped on my speeder and took off. I didn’t know where I was going at first, I just knew I had to get far away from this…this phantom.”

 “Lucky you were able to find us then.” Kimi said.

“I don’t think it was luck.” Both Seb and (Y/N) said. Seb looked at the girl perplexed. 

 “What do you mean by that?” He asked

“I..I felt something. I don’t know how to really describe it, but I felt something guiding me in a certain direction. It led me to you guys.”

Seb smiled. 

 “I knew The Force would make our paths cross again.” He said. (Y/N) tried to mirror Seb’s sentiment, but her mind kept going back to the phantom.

“Who…who was that person that chased me. What did he want with me?” (Y/N) asked.

“He was a Sith.” Kimi said. Seb looked at him with concern.

 “Are you sure? The Sith hadn’t been seen in ages.”

“Everything about him screamed Sith, from his lightsaber to the way he fought.” Kimi said. “I don’t think this was a random occurrence.”

 “What do you mean?”

“On a previous mission, I was investigating rumors of potential dark side activity. I didn’t have enough evidence to warrant bringing this matter up to the council. But now I think we should.” Kimi said.

 “What’s a Sith?”(Y/N) asked. 

“Dark side Force users.” Kimi said. (Y/N) still looked confused. Seb kneeled down next to her to be eye level.

 “There are two sides of the Force. There’s the light side that the Jedi use to try and bring peace, and there’s the dark side that the Sith use for conflict and nefarious purposes. Before the age of The High Republic, the Jedi and Sith would fight constantly before most of the Sith were wiped out and hadn’t been seen since.” Seb explained.

 “But it seems like they may be trying to come back or rise to power.” Kimi said.

“What would the Sith want with me?” (Y/N) asked. “I’m…I’m just a slave.”

 “You’re not a slave. You’re so much more than just a person.” Seb said, gently clasping the girl’s hands. “(Y/N)...I believe that you can become an exceptional Jedi. You seem to be well in tune with The Force. I saw you use it in the shop, and you were able to channel it to help you find us. You seem to have a much better grasp on it than any other untrained force sensitive person I’ve come across.”

 The girl was silent for a couple moments.

“Are the stories true? That the Jedi fight for the good of others? Bring peace to the galaxy?” She asked.

 “Yes. The Jedi stand to be guardians of peace and justice. We use the light side of the Force to help protect and fight for others who can’t. And you could be that kind of person…” Seb explained. “But I also don’t want to pressure you into coming with us back to the Jedi Temple.

 “Considering the circumstances, you’re no longer a slave.” Kimi said.

“He’s right. You’re free now to do whatever you want, go wherever you want to go.” Seb said.

 “But that Sith we encountered will still try to come after you.”

“Kimi’s unfortunately right about that too. Whatever the Sith may have wanted with you, it’s not good. You would be safer with us back at The Temple. But again, I leave the decision up to you.” 

(Y/N) looked back towards the flying stars, taking in all that was said. Seb and Kimi were right, she was free. She could make her own choices now.

 “I’ll come with you. I want to train to be a Jedi and fight for those that can’t.” (Y/N) said. Seb smiled.

 “That’s wonderful to hear.” He said. 

(Y/N) smiled. Seb looked like he believed in her. That’s the first time someone has looked at her that way.

 “Don’t get too excited, Seb.” Kimi said. “We still have to meet with The Council about this matter. They may think she’s too old to start training as it goes against The Code.”

Seb didn’t seem deterred by Kimi’s words.

“I have faith that they’ll make the right decision. Besides, we'll have to inform the Council about our encounter with a Sith. I think once they hear about that, they’ll see how important the matter is.” Seb said. 

The time traveling to Coruscant wasn’t long, but it took enough time for (Y/N) to doze off, the events of the past few hours finally catching up to her. When she woke, she was met with blue sky and the sight of city skylines.

 “Have you ever been to a planet like Coruscant?” Seb asked when he noticed the girl was awake. (Y/N) shook her head.

“I’ve lived on Tatooine for most of my life.” She said. 

(Y/N) tried to take in all the new sights as Kimi piloted the SF-16. She watched as other smaller ships flew past various buildings and apartments. There seemed to be so much hustle and bustle in Coruscant. A stark contrast to Tatoonie. Eventually the SF-16 flew towards a giant structure that seemed to stick out compared to everything else in the city. It had various towers while looking very square. (Y/N) could tell that this was The Jedi Temple that Seb and Kimi kept mentioning.

Kimi piloted the ship onto a landing pad and the three began to disembark.

The ship door opened and (Y/N) was hit with a blast of cool air and no humidity as she followed Seb and Kimi off the ship. Now seeing the Temple up close, it was way more imposing with an almost wing-like symbol displayed on banners that hang from the front.

A young man greeted the three of them as they made their way closer to the temple entrance. He wore the same clothes as Seb and Kimi, minus the robe, and had short blonde hair with one long braided strand.

“Master Vettel! You're back! How were the negotiations?” The man said. 

 “We had some complications. Could you alert the Council of our arrival. There are matters we need to discuss with them.” Seb said.

 “Certainly.” The young man said. He turned around and started to hurry off.

(Y/N) followed Seb and Kimi past the entrance and into the temple proper.  Various people greeted Seb and Kimi as they walked past while also giving curious glances towards (Y/N). (Y/N) tried to stick close to Seb, not wanting to draw any attention herself while also trying to take in all her surroundings. The temple was big and open with high arching ceilings and architecture (Y/N) had never seen before. Some of the adults that passed by were accompanied by kids (Y/N)’s age, having the same braid as the young man that greeted them at the entrance. And the atmosphere of everything, it felt the same to (Y/N) as when Seb and Kimi first walked into the repair shop but multiplied by 10.

It felt both safe and suffocating at the same time.

Soon the three of them made it to a set of tall double doors with the same intricate symbol as the ones on the banners. The young man that greeted them when they landed stood in front of the doors and smiled at Seb as they approached. 

 “They’re inside ready to meet you.” He said.

“Thank you Mick. Will you wait out here for me? I need to talk to you about some things regarding your training.” Seb told him. Mick nodded. 

Standing in front of the big doors, (Y/N) suddenly felt very nervous. The idea of having to meet with people only referred to as “The Council” seemed very nerve wracking to the young girl. Seb seemed to notice this as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“I just want to reassure you that there is nothing to worry about. The Council may seem intimidating to you at first, but they aren’t.” Seb said. 

 “I was intimidated by them when I first met them.” The young man, Mick, said. He gave (Y/N) a reassuring smile. (Y/N) tried to give one in return but she was pretty sure that nervousness still showed on her face. 

“You can stand by Kimi while I talk with The Council. I don’t think I’ll have to do much convincing to have them allow you to become part of The Order, but they may ask you a couple questions.” He said. “Are you ready?”

(Y/N) took a deep breath to try and steal her nerves. 

 “Yes.” She said, Seb smiled and nodded his head before opening the door. 

The circular room was much smaller than (Y/N) expected it to be. 

Nine chairs were arranged in a circle that took up most of the room. All of the seats except for two had someone sitting in it: Men dressed in the same attire as Seb and Kimi. 

Most of them greeted Seb with a smile but all of them seemed to look at (Y/N) once she stepped into the room. She moved closer to Kimi, almost trying to hide behind him.

“Master Vettel. It’s good to see both you and Master Räikkönen back in one piece. Master Alonso informed us that the negotiations with the Trade Federation didn’t seem to go well.” Master Webber, one of Seb’s fellow councilmen, spoke. Seb nodded his head.

 “You are correct, Master Webber. The Trade Federation was not up for negotiations in the slightest. We tried to have an open discussion with them but after a couple minutes the Leader left the room and me and Kimi were soon swarmed by battle droids. We had to fight our way out of there and during our ship’s retreat, the hyperdrive ended up being damaged, causing us to crash land on Tatooine.” Seb explained.

 “Seems you may have picked something up while on Tatooine.” Master Ricciardo said, glancing behind Seb at (Y/N). He wore a friendly smile, but (Y/N) couldn’t help but try to make herself seem smaller due to nerves.

“We encountered a member of the Sith while on Tatooine.” Kimi said. Some of the men looked at each other with either confusion or concern.

 “The Sith haven't been seen in ages.” Master Bottas said.

“What was a potential Sith doing on Tatooine.” Master Rosberg asked.

 “That was the other matter I wished to discuss with you. I had mentioned to Master Alonso earlier that me and Master Räikkönen believe that we have found The Chosen.” Seb said. He turned around and gestured to (Y/N) to come join him in the center of the room. (Y/N) quietly walked over and stood next to Seb. The tone in the room seemed to shift once (Y/N) stood before them, as if they could sense something she couldn’t. (Y/N) wished she could be as small as possible with all these sets of eyes on her. 

 “What’s your name, young one?” Master Webber asked the girl. 

“(Y/N).”  She quietly said.

“You’re from Tatoonie?” He asked. (Y/N) shook her head. 

 “No. I was sold on Tatooine. I don’t know what planet I'm originally from.”

 “You were a slave?” A different man asked. He had darker skin and wore his hair in braids. The girl nodded.

“(Y/N) said that the trader who sold her only dealt with Force sensitive. That’s a matter I feel we should discuss as well but at a later time." Seb chimed in. 

 “How old are you?” Master Webber asked her.

“11.” That answer caused some of the men to whisper to each other. (Y/N) tried not to think about what Kimi had said earlier about her possibly being too old to join The Order.

 “How old were you when you were sold?” The man with braids asked.( (Y/N) would learn later he’s addressed as Master Hamilton)

“Five.” She told him. Master Webber took in the girl’s appearance, how she stood and how her hands fidgeted with the hem of her shirt to try and ease her nerves. But (Y/N) felt that he was trying to sense something else.

 “(Y/N), with all that's happened to you in the past hours, you don't seem to be upset about being away from what was your home planet.” He said. (Y/N)’s face seemed to harden at his observation.

 “Tatoonie never felt like home. Neither did the people who owned me.” She said, her voice now at an even and clear volume.

“So you have no attachments to the life that you had on Tatooine?”

(Y/N) didn’t need to think hard about that question. The people she belonged to were dead. She never made any real friends on that planet and besides repairing old speeders, she felt there was nothing to call her back to Tatooine. 

 “No. There’s nothing left for me back on Tatooine.” She said firmly. Master Webber looked to Seb

 “You think she should join the Order.” Master Webber. It didn’t sound like a question, more so like Master Webber already knew Seb’s intentions.

“She’s too old.”Master Rosberg said.  “She hasn’t been taught the proper teachings like every youngling must learn.”

 “I understand that but I’ve seen how she uses The Force and how she’s been able to channel it. I believe if given time, proper training, and a good teacher, she can become a great Jedi.” Seb explained. (Y/N) wanted to smile at Seb’s words, but as she took them in, she also remembered that Seb had referred to as “The Chosen" earlier. (Y/N) wanted to know what he meant by that. It sounded like something with high expectations.

The men broke out into whispers amongst each other as they debated on what decision to make. Seb looked down at (Y/N) and gave her a reassuring smile and her shoulder a gentle squeeze. It comforted her a bit.

“The Council has decided…” Master Webber spoke after a few more moments of hushed whispers. “...that despite her age and considering the circumstances, (Y/N) will be allowed to join The Order and train in the ways of The Jedi.”

Both (Y/N) and Seb seemed to let out a relieved breath.

“Master Räikkönen will be her teacher.” Master Webber said. Kimi cleared his throat, having stayed at the back of the room the whole time.

 “With all due respect, the missions I go on are not fit for a padawan.” He said.

 “I’d be happy to take her on as my padawan.” Seb said.

“You already have a padawan Master Vettel. You can not take on another one.” Master Button said.

 “I believe that Mick is ready to take on the trials to become a Jedi Knight. I’ve trained him for many years and feel he is prepared to handle his own missions.” Seb said. A few of the Council men glanced at each other.

“The Council has seen Padawan Schumacher’s progress. While he has learned and grown over the years with his abilities regarding The Force since becoming your padawan, recent months have cast doubt on if he is ready to become a Knight. Unfortunately we will have to deny your request.” Master Webber said.

 “Not to mention that there are more younger Jedi Knights who are ready to take on padawans. I understand that with you believing that this girl is the Chosen one, that she should have a more experienced teacher, but The Council have not yet seen anything from her that truly proves so. Therefore she will be treated like every new padawan that comes into the Jedi Order.” Master Alonso explained. Seb nodded his head.

 “I understand.” He said, hiding his disappointment inside. “If that is the case…then I believe I may know of a suitable teacher for (Y/N).”

~~~

The sounds of lightsabers clashing echoed throughout the training room as Seb entered. Once the council meeting had ended, Seb had asked Mick to show (Y/N) to what would be her new living quarters while Seb headed to the training room to look for a certain Jedi Knight. One or two people training greeted Seb as he entered, but most were engrossed in the sparring match that was happening in the middle of the room. 

Two young men were engaged in a fierce lightsaber duel. One had dark blonde hair and wielded a blue lightsaber with intensity. His opponent deflected the hits with his own two green lightsabers. They seemed evenly matched, each deflecting hits that came their way. One may suspect that the young man wielding two lightsabers would have the upper hand, but a subtle feint and quick force powered shove from the dark blonde sent the brown haired young man he was fighting down to the ground, dropping one of his sabers. 

“I win this one Charles.” The dark blonde young man said as he held his lightsaber in front, almost as if stopping the brunette from getting up. But the two smiled at each other and the blonde lowered his lightsaber to offer Charles a hand up. Those around that watched the sparring match applauded the two of them. Seb included.

 “Max!” Seb called out. The dark blonde turned and, after giving Charles a pat on the shoulder, walked over to the Jedi Master.

 “Yes, Master Vettel?”

“I know we haven’t spoken about this matter in a while but I wanted to know if you still had your objections about taking on a padawan?”

 “Like I’ve said before Master Vettel, I don’t think it would be fit for me to take on a padawan. I’m-”

 “-not a good teacher. I know, you’ve said that multiple times. However, I’ve just met with the council regarding an important matter.” Seb said. 

 “The Council can’t assign me a padawan. I have to be the one to choose.” Max said.

“I know that, but we think you and her would be a good pairing. You know what it’s like to have high expectations placed upon you.” Seb said. Max gave him a confused look.

 “What do you mean by that exactly?”

“Come with me. I think this matter should be discussed somewhere more private.”

(Y/N) should expect that everything on Coruscant was going to be better than what she had on Tatooine. Yet she was still surprised by the living quarters that Mick showed her. The room had a proper bed with a mattress (Y/N) felt she could sink right into, a window with a view looking out at the Coruscant skyline, and a closet filled with garb like the ones everyone in the temple was wearing. It was all so much more than (Y/N) ever had.

(Y/N) didn’t hesitate in changing from her old, Tatoonie clothing into a fresh set of tunic and pants, throwing her old pair into a trash can without hesitation. The clothes fit perfectly, like they were meant to. She caught a glimpse of herself in the window’s reflection. Her hair was still messy and there was still some dirt and sand left smudged on her face, but everything else she saw looked nice, looked new. 

“This is different.” She thought to herself. “This place feels safe.”

She looked again at her new living quarters. (Y/N) assumed that she was supposed to wait for Seb or someone else to come get her. But after traveling with Seb and Kimi for the past couple hours and having to meet with The Council, (Y/N) finally had some time to herself. And even though (Y/N) could spend hours on end sitting by the window staring at the skyline, there was a whole Temple to explore. And that’s what she was going to do.

~~~

At the moment, (Y/N) had no idea where in the temple she was. Honestly she should have expected this, being in a big and elaborate building she’s never been in before. (Y/N) had managed to find the temple’s library, mess hall, and the same entrance she had entered in with Seb and Kimi. But in trying to find her way back to her living quarters, (Y/N) seemed to have gotten a bit turned around. 

 ‘Maybe if I double back and try and retrace my steps-’

(Y/N)’s thought process was interrupted as she accidentally bumped into the back of someone.

 “Oh, sorry about that.” (Y/N) apologized as the person turned around. It was a boy about her age, with brunette hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t alone, as a blonde boy with blues stood behind. Both of them had the same singular braid in their hair that Mick had.

 “No worries.” The brunette boy said. His voice had the same accent as Master Webber. He looked at (Y/N) with curiosity. “Are you new? I’ve never seen you around The Temple before.” The brunette boy said. 

“Oh, yea I’m new...just arrived today.” (Y/N) told him. The boy smiled. 

“I’m Oscar. This is Logan.” The brunette boy held out one of his hands for (Y/N) to shake. (Y/N) shook it and held out her hand for the blonde boy to shake. He hesitated before shaking her hand with one of his gloved ones. 

 “It’s nice to meet you Oscar, Logan. I’m (Y/N)”. She said, “I was trying to explore around but ended up getting a bit lost.”

 “It is a bit hard to find your way around this place when you first get here.” Logan said.

“Well me and Logan were gonna head to the training ground. Maybe we could show you parts of the temple on the way there, if you want to join us.” Oscar said.

 “Sure. That would be great!” (Y/N) said.

Following the two boys, Oscar and Logan showed (Y/N) parts of the temple she had missed, like some of the teaching rooms and outdoor atrium. Just as she was about to follow Oscar and Logan into the training room, someone called her name.

“(Y/N)!” It was Seb, who walked over with someone in tow. (Y/N) waved goodbye to Oscar and Logan before walking over to meet Seb.

“I was wondering where you may have wandered off to.” Seb said. “I have someone I want you to meet.”

The girl standing before Max wasn’t what he expected. Master Vettel had told him how he thought Max would be the perfect fit to train someone who was expected to become a great Jedi, that there was some prophecy involved with the person he was supposed to train. 

 “Max, this is (Y/N), she just arrived today. (Y/N), this is Jedi Knight Max Verstappen.” Seb said, introducing the two. The girl, (Y/N) as Seb introduced her, had started fidgeting with one of her sleeves as soon as she walked over. But she seemed to steel herself and held out a hand for Max to shake. It had smudges of dirt and a bit of dried oil left on it.

 “It’s nice to meet you.” She said. Max shook his hand.

As soon as their fingers touched, Max felt The Force wrap around him, as if it was trying to tell him something. He tried to steel himself, and hone in on the feeling. And he found that it was coming from the girl in front of him. Did the girl feel it too? Max couldn’t tell as she pulled her hand away. He did the same.

 “I was just discussing with Max on how I think he would be a good teacher for you and that you would make a good padawan for him to train.” Seb said to (Y/N). “However the decision does come down to Max, so I thought it would be best for you two to at least meet before any decisions are made.”

Max didn’t think he was the type of person that would be a good teacher, that he wasn’t fit to train a padawan. He’s admitted multiple times that he’d rather spend his time training and going on missions where he could use his lightsaber a plenty than be in the temple teaching a youngling the ways of The Force.

But there’s something about the girl in front of him. Not only with The Force but with just everything about her. Max looked at (Y/N) and saw his younger self staring back.

 “Now Max, you don’t need to make a decision now, but I advise that you and (Y/N) try to get to know each other before-”

 “I'll do it.” Max said, interrupting Seb. Seb looked at Max with surprise.

“Really? “That’s wonderful to hear!” Seb said, now smiling. “Well my previous suggestion still stands that the two of you should get to know each other before you guys start training. I'll leave you to it.”

Seb gave (Y/N) a reassuring pat on her shoulder and a nod to Max before walking away, leaving the pair alone. The two stared at each other.

“So I assume I address you as Master Verstappen?” (Y/N) asked. Max grimaced.

 “Don't call me that. Max is fine.” He said. (Y/N) could now pick up that Max spoke with an accent, one she had never heard before. “Have you eaten at all since you’ve got here?”

(Y/N) shook her head, now realizing how long it had been since she had last eaten.

 “Well I can show you the dining hall and we can talk, “get to know each other” as Master Vettel said. Is that ok?”

 “Yea, sure. I’m starving.”

Through the windows of the dining hall, (Y/N) could see the sun slowly setting on the Coruscant skyline. After putting various food on her tray, (Y/N) followed Max as he led her to a more secluded part of the dining hall.

As she followed though, (Y/N) couldn’t help but notice the various stares or hushed whispers from people as they passed.

 “Is that Verstappen…with a youngling?”

“Verstappen said he would never take on a padawan.”

 “Do you think The Council forced him to take on one?”

Max took a seat at one of the tables tucked into the corner. (Y/N) sat across from him and looked down at her food.  

“Master Vettel told me you lived on Tatooine. I’ve never been to that planet. What’s it like there?” Max asked. While Max was trying to skirt around the unfortunate circumstance the girl was in before she was found by Sebastian and Kimi, Max still wanted to try and get to know the girl. So he thought asking about the planet where (Y/N) grew up would be a safe question to ask.

 “Hot. Sandy. Hot and Sandy is the only way to really describe it.” (Y/N) said with a neutral face as she poked at the food in front of her.

“What was your favorite thing to do there?” Max asked. (Y/N) took a bite of her food and smiled a bit. 

 “Trying to repair an old speeder that someone left behind.” (Y/N) said. “A bunch of races are held almost every month on Tatooine. I was hoping to get it fixed and enter some of the races. Win enough money to get me off the planet.”

 “I prefer racing ships over speeders. A lot more action and opportunity.” Max said. (Y/N) looked at him curiously.

“Is that what I’ll be able to do at some point? Pilot a ship and race it past the stars?” (Y/N) asked. Piloting was something (Y/N) always wanted to learn. Properly. She learned bits and pieces from the pilots that would come into the shop for parts or repairs, but (Y/N) always wanted to learn how to fly a ship. Probably to better her chances of getting off Tattoonie. But (Y/N) no longer had to worry about that.

 “Maybe. What I’m supposed to do is teach you how to harness The Force.” Max said. “But you are my padawan, so I can teach you things The Council may not want you to learn when you’re just starting out.” Max said, giving the girl a slight mischievous grin. (Y/N) couldn’t help but smile back. 

After the two had finished eating, Max walked (Y/N) back to her living quarters. Whispers and stares seemed to follow them as they walked and (Y/N) tried to brush it off. 

 “We’ll start your training tomorrow morning.” Max said as they stopped at the door to (Y/N)’s living quarters. “I know it may feel strange sleeping in an unfamiliar place but try to get some proper sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

 “Ok. Goodnight.” (Y/N) watched Max walk away. As he passed by a group of younglings with braids in their hairs, they looked at Max with awestruck faces. But he didn’t pay them any attention. (Y/N) remembered what she felt when she and Max first shook hands. Something seemed to pull her towards Max, The Force trying to tell her that something about him was important. She couldn’t help but wonder…who exactly did Seb assign as her teacher?

TAGLIST: @fangirl-dot-com @chasing-liberosis @miarabanana @vicurious28 @mayo-0-o

[ferrariregina]

little black dress pt.1 | mv1 × reader

pairing: max verstappen × reader

warning: alcohol consumption, not proofread, unedited, club scenes

summary: former fear of best friend's brother max turns into unexpected love when you return to town, connecting in your friend's absence, sparking deep feelings.

part 1, part 2

your eyes roamed around the dance floor, looking at the people dancing their nights away. some grinding on each other, some just being themselves.

a smile creeps up on your face as you watch your best friend victoria dancing with her man, having a night away from her precious boys.

sipping on your drink you get occupied with people watching. you've always been the quiet type who loved observing in any setting, even at the club.

"y/n come on! we are here for you today get on here!" vic drags you onto the dance floor. "welcome back babe! I missed you so much!" she screams over the loud music dancing along with it making you break out in your moves.

oh, yes you might be shy but you know your way around the nightlife. throwing your head back, and rolling your hips to the music you let yourself go like no one was watching.

except there max was, leaning against the bar watching you dance in that little black dress of yours.

it took him a while to recognize you. the last time he saw you, you were still a teenager who was dead scared of him from the day his sister first introduced you both.

looking at you now all max could see was the most beautiful woman he ever laid his eyes on. he watched you and his sister dance around, laughing and enjoying the night.

you sat to have a drink leaving vic and tom alone for a while unaware of your best friend's brother's presence in the club.

"still scared of me schatje?" a low voice startled you making you almost stumble off your seat.

"jesus! you scared me!" you screamed looking back at to see max. "i was never scared of you max. stop with it," you playfully hit his chest. although young you were scared of him for some unknown reason you would never admit it.

"glad to see you back in town y/n, vic missed you a lot," he said moving a strand of hair out of your face.

"i missed her too-" your eyes went to the dance floor only to see no sign of the lovebirds. "did they just ditch me?" you let out a laugh looking at max.

"you're surprised?" he asks standing up and gesturing you to follow him. "honestly?no. not like it's the first time." you shrug following him.

your heels clicked on the pavement as you followed him to the parking lot. he led you to his car, opening the door "drop a text to vic, I'm dropping you off at your place."

a/n: brainstormed three nights and came up with this. can't promise that part 2 will come soon butttt I promise it'll be better than this one. enjoy this till then!

xoxo

[thesiltverses]

I don’t know who types up the ask answers on this blog but to whoever’s reading this: how do you all feel about being alive and sentient? What keeps you going, what purpose propels you through this chaotic void? What do you think (or hope) waits for you after your inevitable end? What do you think constitutes a life well lived?

I'm going to answer this in the most wayward and stupidly overlong manner possible, because the previous ask had me thinking about puppets, and I was already mid-way through writing up a book recommendation that's semi-relevant to your questions.

Everyone (but especially people who've enjoyed The Silt Verses and all the folks on Tumblr who loved Piranesi by Susanna Clarke) ought to seek out Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.

Riddley Walker is a wild and woolly story set in post-apocalyptic Kent, where human society has (d)evolved into a Bronze Age collective of hunter-gatherer settlements. Dogs, apparently blaming us for our crimes against the world, have become our predators, hunting us through the trees. Labourers kill themselves unearthing ancient machinery that they cannot possibly understand.

A travelling crowd of thugs led by a Pry Mincer collect taxes and attempt to impose themselves upon those around them with a puppet-show - the closest possible approximation of a TV show - that tells a mangled story of the world's destruction, featuring a Prometheus-esque hero called Eusa who is tempted by the Clevver One into creating the atomic bomb.

Riddley himself, a twelve-year-old folk hero in-the-making surrounded by strange portents, ends up sowing the seeds of rebellion and change by becoming a conduit for the anti-tutelary anarchic madness (one apparently buried in our collective unconscious) of Punch 'n' Judy.

It's a book in love with twisted reinterpretation, the subjectivity of interpretation, buried or forbidden truths coming back to light (the opening quote is a curious allegory about reinvention and cyclical change from the extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas, which is a good joke and mission statement on a couple levels at once) and human beings somehow stumbling into forms of wisdom or insight through clumsy and nonsensical attempts to make sense of a world that is simply beyond them.

It rocks.

The book starts like this:

On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. He dint make the groun shake nor nothing like that when he come on to my spear he wernt all that big plus he lookit poorly. He done the reqwyrt he ternt and stood and clattert his teef and made his rush and there we wer then. Him on 1 end of the spear kicking his life out and me on the other end watching him dy. I said, 'Your tern now my tern later.'

Riddley's devolved language - a trick which has been nicked/homaged by many other works, most notably Cloud Atlas and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome - is a masterwork choice which may seem offputting or overwhelming at first, but which has its own brutal poetry and cadence to it, and ultimately which makes us slow down as readers and unpick the wit, puns, double-meanings and playful themes buried in line after line.

(Even those first five sentences get us thinking about cyclical change, ritual and myth in opposition to the dissatisfactions of reality, and 'tern' to paradoxically indicate a rebellious change in direction but also an obedient acceptance of inevitable death.)

In one of my favourite passages in literature and a statement of thought that means a lot to me, Riddley has been smoking post-coital weed with Lorna, a 'tel-woman', who unexpectedly declares her belief in a kind of irrational, monstrous Logos that lives in us, wears us like clothes, and drives us onwards for its own purpose:

'You know Riddley theres some thing in us it dont have no name.' I said, 'What thing is that?' She said, 'Its some kynd of thing it aint us but yet its in us. Its lookin out thru our eye hoals...it aint you nor it dont even know your name. Its in us lorn and loan and shelterin how it can.' 'Tremmering it is and feart. It puts us on like we put on our cloes. Some times we dont fit. Some times it cant fynd the arm hoals and it tears us a part. I dont think I took all that much noatis of it when I ben yung. Now Im old I noatise it mor. It dont realy like to put me on no mor. Every morning I can feal how its tiret of me and readying to throw me a way. Iwl tel you some thing Riddley and keap this in memberment. What ever it is we dont come naturel to it.' I said, 'Lorna I dont know what you mean.' She said, 'We aint a naturel part of it. We dint begin when it begun we dint begin where it begun. It ben here befor us nor I dont know what we are to it. May be weare jus only sickness and a feaver to it or boyls on the arse of it I dont know. Now lissen what Im going to tel you Riddley. It thinks us but it dont think like us. It dont think the way we think. Plus like I said befor its afeart.' I said, 'Whats it afeart of?' She said, 'Its afeart of being beartht.'

While Hoban is, I think, deeply humanistic to his bones and even something of a wayward optimist, the notion of human beings as helpless and ignorant vessels, individual carriers - puppets, if you like - for an unknowable and awful inhuman power-in-potentia and life-drive that lacks a true shape or intent beyond its own continued survival (even when that means destroying us or visiting us with agonising atrophy in the process) conjures up the pessimism of Thomas Ligotti, another big influence on our work and a dude who was really into his marionettes-as-metaphor.

Let's go to him now for his opinion on the thing that lives beneath our skin. Thomas?

Through the prophylactic of self-deception, we keep hidden what we do not want to let into our heads, as if we will betray to ourselves a secret too terrible to know… …(that the universe is) a play with no plot and no players that were anything more than portions of a master drive of purposeless self-mutilation. Everything tears away at everything else forever. Nothing knows of its embroilment in a festival of massacres… Nothing can know what is going on.

Curiously, both Ligotti and Riddley Walker have appeared in the music of dark folk band Current 93, whose track In The Heart Of The Wood And What I Found There directly homages the novel and ends with the repeated words,

"All shall be well," she said But not for me

These words, in turn, hearken back to Kafka's* famous reported conversation with Max Brod:

'We are,' he said, 'nihilistic thoughts, suicidal thoughts that rise in God's head.' This reminded me of the worldview of the gnostic: God as an evil demiurge, the world as his original sin. 'Oh no', he said, 'our world is only a bad, fretful whim of God, a bad day.' 'So was there - outside of this world that we know - hope?' He smiled: 'Oh, hope - there is plenty. Infinite hope, just not for us."

So, we walk on.

We carry this thing that's riding on our backs, endlessly bonded to it, feeling its weight more and more with every passing day, unable to turn to look at it. Buried truths come briefly to life, and are hidden from us again. Perhaps they weren't truths at all. We couldn't stand to look the truth directly in the eyes in any case.

If there is hope, it's for the thing that looks out from our eyeholes, which thinks us but cannot think like us. We'll never get to where we're going, and the thing will never be born. There's no hope for it. Perhaps we don't want it to win anyway. It's nothing, and the key to everything.

The Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas says:

'When you see your own likeness, you rejoice. But when you see the visions that formed you and existed before you, which do not perish and which do not become visible - how much then will you be able to bear?'

Kafka, writing to his father, begins by expressing the inexpressibility of his own divine terror:

You asked me why I am afraid of you. I did not know how to answer - partly because of my fear, partly because an explanation would require more than I could make coherent in speech…even in writing, the magnitude of the causes exceeds my memory and my understanding.

Kafka concludes that while he cannot ever truly explain himself, and that the accusations in his letter are neat subjectivities that fail to account for the messiness of reality, perhaps 'something that in my opinion so closely resembles the truth…might comfort us both a little and make it easier for us to live and die.'**

It doesn't bring comfort to Kafka, whose diarised remarks both before and after the 1919 letter make it clear that he views his relationship with the things (people) that birthed him as an endless entrapment that prevents him from attaining any kind of self-actualisation or even comfort, since he cannot escape their influence or remember a time before them:

I was defeated by Father as a small boy and have been prevented since by pride from leaving the battleground, despite enduring defeat over and over again.

It's as if I wasn't fully born yet...as if I was dissolubly bound to these repulsive things (my parents).*** The bond is still attached to my feet, preventing them from walking, from escaping the original formless mush. That's how it is sometimes.

Samuel Beckett returns again and again (aptly) to this pursuit of a state of true humanity and final understanding that is at once fled and unrecoverable, yet to be born, never to be born, never-existed, endlessly to be pursued, pointless to pursue. From the astonishing end sequence of The Unnameable:

alone alone, the others are gone, they have been stilled, their voices stilled, their listening stilled, one by one, at each new-com- ing, another will come, I won’t be the last. I’ll be with the others. I’ll be as gone, in the silence, it won’t be I, it’s not I, I’m not there yet. I’ll go there now. I’ll try and go there now, no use trying, I wait for my turn, my turn to go there, my turn to talk there, my turn to listen there, my turn to wait there for my turn to go, to be as gone, it’s unending, it will be unending, gone where,where do you go from there, you must go somewhere else, wait somewhere else, for your turn to go again

I’m not the first, I won’t be the first, it will best me in the end, it has bested better than me, it will tell me what to do, in order to rise, move, act like a body endowed with despair, that’s how I reason, that’s how I hear myself reasoning, all lies, it’s not me they’re calling, not me they’re talking about, it’s not yet my turn, it’s someone else’s turn, that’s why I can’t stir, that’s why I don’t feel a body on me, I’m not suffering enough yet, it’s not yet my turn, not suffering enough to be able to stir, to have a body, complete with head, to be able to understand, to have eyes to light the way

From Thomas' Jesus:

When you make the two one, and you make the inside as the outside and the outside as the inside and the above as the below, and if male and female become a single unity which lacks 'masculine' and 'feminine' action, when you grow eyes where eyes should be and hands where hands should be and feet where feet should stand and the true image in its proper place, then shall you enter heaven.

Tom's Jesus makes a particularly Gnostic habit of both insisting that the hidden will be revealed and demonstrating the impossibility of attaining a state where the hidden ever can be revealed. Contrary to C.S. Lewis, we will never have faces with which to gaze upon the lost divine and the mysteries that shaped us, and crucially, as Christ puts it, we would not be able to bear the sight of ourselves if we did.

We will never become the thing that's riding on our backs.

Jesus again:

The disciples ask Jesus, 'Tell us how our end shall be.' Jesus says, 'Have you found the beginning yet, you who ask after the end? For at the place where the beginning is, there shall be the end.'

The Unnameable:

I’ll recognise it, in the end I’ll recognise it, the story of the silence that he never left, that I should never have left, that I may never find again, that I may find again, then it will be he, it will be I, it will be the place, the silence, the end, the beginning, the beginning again, how can I say it, that’s all words, they’re all I have, and not many of them, the words fail, the voice fails, so be it

The final passage of The Unnameable, which often is hilariously shorn and misinterpreted as an inspirational quote about how if you don't succeed, try again:

all words, there’s nothing else, you must go on, that’s all I know, they’re going to stop, I know that well, I can feel it, they’re going to abandon me, it will be the silence, for a moment, a good few moments, or it will be mine, the lasting one, that didn’t last, that still lasts, it will be I, you must go on, I can't go on, you must go on. I’ll go on, you must say words, as long as there are any, until they find me, until they say me, strange pain, strange sin, you must go on, perhaps it’s done already, perhaps they have said me already, perhaps they have carried me to the threshold of my story, before the door that opens on my story, that would surprise me, if it opens, it will be I, it will be the silence, where I am, I don’t know. I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on. I’ll go on. †

We bear this thing that's riding on our backs. We'll never get to where we're going, and the thing will never be born. If it was born, it'd be too terrible for us to bear. There's nothing riding on our backs.

It will never speak us into being.

We keep on calling out into the silence, we keep trying to explain or understand the thing that's riding on our backs, searching for a way to birth it before we die. Our words about the thing are crucial, and they're meaningless, and they're all we have, and they're nothing at all. We cannot name it and we cannot express it, but we cannot stop trying, and we will keep turning back to our words about the thing, obsessing over them, tearing them to pieces, putting them back together.

I'm fumbling at something I can't think or say, but fumbling is all we're capable of. There could be beauty and meaning and comfort in the fumbling, but it's also vain, and foolish, and pointless, and we're lying to ourselves about the beauty and the meaning and the comfort, and we're indulging ourselves pointlessly by going on and on about the pointlessness of it. Nothing can know what's going on. We will never get close enough to understand without being destroyed.

Thomas' Jesus again, warning those who seek to reveal what's hidden:

He who is near me is near the fire.

Riddley Walker, reflecting on the Punch puppet's inexplicable desire to cook and eat his own child:

Whyis Punch crookit? Why wil he al ways kill the baby if he can? Parbly I wont ever know its jus on me to think on it.

If you got to the end of this, congratulations: but the above is honestly the most appropriate patchwork of what I believe, what propels me, what I feel.

As for what comes after life, I think it's fairly straightforwardly a nothingness we are tragically incapable of fully knowing or accepting - it's Beckett's unimaginable and unattainable silence, a silence that his characters' voices keep on shattering even as they cry out for it.

-Jon‡

*I can't remember if Kafka makes prominent reference to Czech puppets in his work, which is interesting in its own right given the thematic relevance (the protagonist in The Hunger Artist is perhaps a kind of self-directing puppet show?).

However, Gustav Meyrink - who some unsourced Google quotes suggest was pals with Czech puppeteer Richard Teschner - did write a strange little story, The Man On The Bottle, about an audience watching a 'marionette show' who are too wrapped up in performances and masks to interpret the reality that they're actually watching a human being suffocate to death.

**Thomas Ligotti: "Something had happened. They did not know what it was, but they did know it as that which should not be.

Something would have to be done if they were to live with that which should not be.

This would not (be enough); it would only be the best they could do."

***Beckett's Malone Dies actually kicks off with a related sentiment:" I am in my mother’s room. It’s I who live there now. I don’t know how I got there...In any case I have her room. I sleep in her bed. I piss and shit in her pot. I have taken her place. I must resemble her more and more."

† I don't necessarily align myself in humour with Ligotti on a lot of this stuff but I imagine he would recognise both Beckett's writing and Kafka's frustrations re explaining the causes of his hatred for his father as sublimation: finding artistic and philosophical ways of sketching the inexpressible horror and uncertainty of our existence in order to reckon with it at a remove without destroying ourselves. A higher form of self-deception, but self-deception nevertheless.

‡Muna's more of an anarcho-nihilist, I think.

[musicalmoritz]

Idk if anyone has asked for these headcanons before, but ok. Do you have any headcanons about the Yugi family and what the twins' relationship was like back then and with their parents?

Am I finally answering this? I think I am

First off I wanna say I am sooooo sorry that I took so long to get around to this one, as I’ve said before I’m not rly an expert on all the Yugi lore (like I’ve read the Red House arc but I was primarily focused on Kou and Katakuri lol) and I was a bit worried abt mischaracterizing them. But it’s not uncommon for my headcanons to stretch canon, that’s part of what makes headcanons fun. So walk with me here and we’re gonna get silly (actually it will probably be angsty bcuz it’s the Yugis but walk with me nonetheless)

• Starting from the very beginning, I imagine the twins were born prematurely which eventually led to Amane’s health issues

• Tsukasa was able to tough it out but Amane never quite recovered, he came out with more complications and had to be taken into special care immediately

• For children aged 0-2 with chronic health problems, you’re supposed to give them the max amount of attention and reassurance, namely with physical contact

• I like to think this is what led to the twins being so physically affectionate with each other and with their other friends later on. Amane’s parents absolutely smothered him with affection to help him thrive and they naturally did the same with Tsukasa to ensure he stayed healthy, and so he wouldn’t feel left out

• Therefore the twins grew up viewing physical touch as the ultimate way to express love, it’s their love language

• That scene during their third birthday when Tsukasa asks Amane if he loves him was the first time Amane ever told Tsukasa he loves him, he thought it was obvious so it never crossed his mind to say it out loud. Later on, Tsukasa’s need for direct reassurance gave Amane issues with verbally expressing his feelings. It’s much easier for him to show than tell, and his feelings towards Tsukasa became very complicated after The Incident™️, so putting his thoughts into words became a struggle. I am a firm believer in the autistic Amane headcanon so I think that plays a role here, along with him abruptly having to hide his deeper feelings once Tsukasa came back. Even if he were able to verbalize his feelings, it wouldn’t be appropriate to since the situation was so complex and he wasn’t rly decisive on whether this new thing was his brother or not

• I’ve seen the headcanon that their parents were high school sweethearts and I absolutely love that, I also see them as a girlboss x malewife ship (I know I slander that trope a lot but in this case I mean it in a Gomez and Morticia Addams way)

• Amane gets his autism from their father and Tsukasa gets his adhd from their mother

• Their mom would make them homemade donuts a lot which is why they’re Amane’s favorite food

• They never had any proper pets but they did have several yard cats. Unfortunately most of them turned into sacrifices for the entity ://

• Their household became very tense when Tsukasa returned. Their mother began to struggle with mental illness and would lash out a lot, scolding Tsukasa for very basic things (like if she even thought he was looking at her weird she would yell at him)

• Their father tried to make up for this by devoting extra time to bonding with Tsukasa, unfortunately he also had an off-feeling about the whole situation but he tried to push it aside and focus on being a good dad (which caused a lot of arguments between him and Mama Yugi)

• This led to Amane being somewhat ignored, which was an abrupt change as he was the one who used to get all the attention with his illness. His parents would take him out every now and then to do things without Tsukasa but that just made him feel awkward, and most of the time at home the only person to pay him any attention was his brother

• He grew up to be a massive introvert because of this combined with his autism already making it hard to connect with his peers. While Tsukasa gained a lot of popularity for his loud personality, Amane easily fell into the background. He didn’t mind it all that much but it made him very lonely

• They stopped having family dinners around the time the twins hit age 5, after that they only had them for birthdays and holidays and they were very tense and uncomfortable. Amane would always ask to be excused early

• The twins would share a bed a lot up to age three because Tsukasa was very clingy, ofc they couldn’t do it all the time tho bcuz of Amane’s sickness. After Tsukasa came back though, Amane became scared to share a room with him. He would never turn him away, but he’d stay up all night watching Tsukasa to detect any unusual behavior

• As the years went on, Amane’s paranoia became less convenient. He eventually had to give in and just sleep whenever his brother wanted to stay over. Subconsciously, he began to view Tsukasa’s presence as a comfort, and when he became a supernatural he was unable to sleep without his brother in the same building. Seeing as supernaturals don’t need sleep, this went on for decades until Tsukasa returned. Their reunion was terrifying, but Amane slept like a abt that night

• They shared their whole lives together, it would be impossible for Amane not to have some attachment to Tsukasa. But he knows something hasn’t been right with his brother since he came back. Because of this, he feels guilty every time he catches himself laughing too freely at one of Tsukasa’s jokes or stacking up extra pillows for their sleepovers. His love for Tsukasa feels like a betrayal to the brother he lost all those years ago

• With their parents so dysfunctional, it was only natural that the twins clung to each other. They tried to get out of the house a lot to avoid their tense home life, going to festivals and movies (unfortunately Tsukasa and movie theaters do not pair well together)

• I know their dynamic is far from sunshine and roses but on a lighter note, I imagine their more casual moments to look similar to the dynamic of Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls

• Amane: Tsukasa, do you believe in ghosts?

Tsukasa: I believe you’re a huge dork

• Like Amane being very serious and academic while Tsukasa tries to cling to their childhood. Amane just wants to get out of that house but Tsukasa is there to make sure he doesn’t rush the growing up process

• Now picture them with the Peanut Butter & Jelly Halloween costumes

• Yk that little thing Tsukasa does where he tackles Amane with a hug every time he sees him?? Yeah he definitely did that in the hallways at school. It was mortifying for poor Amane

• They strike me as one of those families where the parents have very intense front seat arguments every time they drive while the kids sit in the backseat like 🧍🏻🧍🏻

• Their parents were always very cautious of Amane overexerting himself or getting sick again so they wouldn’t let him go on school field trips or play outside a lot. Tsukasa, however, did NOT hold the same conviction and would regularly drag Amane into dangerous situations. It was kind of nice for Amane to have someone that didn’t treat him like he was made of glass all the time

• The twins never talked abt girls or anything like that growing up bcuz Tsukasa wasn’t rly interested in romance, so when he realized Hanako had smth going on with Nene there was a moment where he pulled him aside to have the very serious “I thought you were gay??” talk

• Tsukasa knew all of Amane’s secret hiding spots at their house and vice versa

• Amane preferred sport related games like soccer and baseball but Tsukasa liked to play with dolls so he could make up really convoluted backstories for them

• Sometimes they would play chef where Tsukasa would make the most disgusting food combinations he could think of and force Amane to eat it

• One of their fonder family memories is when Papa Yugi convinced Mama Yugi to take the twins to a carnival. They all had a blast tho Mama Yugi was a bit on edge. Tsukasa got on a sugar high and dragged Amane onto a rollercoaster

Okay I think this is all I’ve got for now, I know these were mainly abt the twins so I’m sorry if you wanted more for the parents😓 They give me rancid vibes idk how to explain it. At least they're hot tho. Thank you for the ask btw these were fun to make!! :D

[stepmarchen]

do you know if there are any real persons, places or even events that asm plot/characters could be based on ? spice&kitty uses a lot of historical events and characters in her novels (how to get my husband on my side for ex) i did some researches and i found some good similarities between theo and Ludwig II of Bavaria , places such as Neuschwanstein Castle , Nuremberg state.....

there are! they are largely unconfirmed but i have some theories! (i will speak about locations later, i have separate plans for that one!)

It's difficult to be 100% certain whether Spice&Kitty took direct influence from these historical moments but there's some strong implications. I'll put my theories below!

1. Affair of the Necklace (1785): It's the story of Cardinal de Rohan, who was swindled into purchasing a diamond necklace on behalf of Queen Marie Antoinette (unbeknownst to Marie herself). Unable to pay the 1.6M livres, he was tried as a fraudster and punished, but not before exposing the woman he believed was his sponsor, Marie Antoinette. Although she was guilty of plenty other crimes, it was the nail in the coffin that led to her eventual beheading.

There's two connections we could make here: 1. Shuri being put to blame for promiscuity over necklace(s) that she was never connected to in the first place. 2. Corrupt cardinals like Meissner willing to drag royals (Theo) down to hell with them.

2. King Henry VIII and Anna Boleyn (1536): Anna Boleyn was the second wife to King Henry VIII. Despite being in love during their early encounters, Anna was eventually convicted to a majority of charges, including but not limited to treason and incest (w/ her brother), and was sentenced to death.

This one's a little more on the nose. A King executing his own wife after discovering an incestual affair? Sounds about right.

3. Eleanor of Aquitaine and her two Kings (1137-1204): According to historical accounts, Eleanor was a bright and adventurous lady who clashed with first husband, the straight laced King, Louis VII. Eventually their marriage ended and Eleanor found love with King Henry II, Louis' rival, who was massively powerful in France. Seeing his rival and ex get together, Louis became extremely angry and this would be the start of a long-lived rivalry that lasted even with their descendants.

We don't know if Johannes and Max were rivals during their friendship together, but we do know that Ludovika was the girl that managed to catch both of their hearts. Not to mention the similarities in their personalities: Free-spirited Ludovika choosing Max's reign over Johannes' reservations and call to duty. Meanwhile, all this continuing down the line with their children, Theo and Jeremy.

that's all I've got so far, but feel free to share your findings about Theo and Ludwig II!

[cinemaocd]

Jenny's June Movies

Portrait of Jason (1967) Furiosa (2024) Beijing Watermelon (1989) Jubilee (1978) The Player (1989) Oliver Twist (1948) Ugetsu (1953) Mank (2020) Living (2022) The Wonder (2022) Summertime (1955) Don't Look Now (1973) The Elephant Man (1980) Klute (1971) The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Portrait of Jason: (***) Fascinating documentary that is just a talking head interview. Film making doesn't get any simpler than this, but Jason Holliday is such an interesting subject that it doesn't matter. Director Shirley Clarke brings us along for the wild ride of a long conversation with this gay, black hustler and cabaret performer living in the Chelsea Hotel in the 1960s.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (***) My favorite so far in the Mad Max saga, the story is rooted in a terrific performance from a child actor (Ayla Brown) melded digitally with Anna Taylor Joy's portrait of the young Furiosa and her rise to the exalted position of Praetorian in the brutal world of the citadel. Containing Easter eggs from all four of the previous outings as well as a confirmation of the mutability of the Mad Max Universe (narration at the end describes the story as a legend whose telling may change depending on the teller), the biggest joy was the quiet, heartbreaking romance between Furiosa and Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke).

Beijing Watermelon (***): After watching Nobohiko Obayashi's House, earlier this year, I was expecting something far crazier than this relatively quiet portrait of a man consumed by helping a group of Chinese students by feeding them from his market stall, to the detriment of his own family and eventually his own health. A memorable fable about the way in which simple acts of care can transform a community, as well as the ways in which ego can play a part in generosity. The movie only gets as experimental and strange as the director's previous work, toward then end, when filming the ending set in China was impossible due to massacre of student protestors in Tianamen Square. Obayashi turns the story into a meditation of film making with a fourth-wall breaking technique to address the difficulties with the viewer. The movie leaves you feeling an ache of sadness especially when you remember the actual history behind it.

Jubilee (**) Derek Jarman directs this violent, bleak look at dystopian Jubilee Britain, featuring a host of punk icons from Adam Ant to Siouxsie Sioux and the Slits. There is also some nonsense about Queen Elizabeth I time traveling into the film. Honestly the most interesting part of the film for me were the glorious aesthetics, with clothes and make-up by Viivan Westwood, who later disowned her work in the film. Adam Ant is the biggest surprise in the movie, he is always charming and watchable, a stand out among the rest of the cast.

The Player (***) Not my first time through this movie, but another viewing solidified it as the top of the pile for 90s Altman. A wonderfully meta film about film making that is so loaded with jokes about film history and industry insider details that it impossible to catch them all on the first viewing. All of this in a tidy film noir package, led by Tim Robbins who plays a souless film executive being pursued by a disgruntled screenwriter.

Oliver Twist (***1/2) Stands out as the best and most memorable new to me film of the month, with a painful caveat. One of the major milestones in director David Leans estimable career, Oliver Twist is marred by his insistence on keeping the character Fagan as he is depicted in the novel, a hateful Jewish stereotype.. The visual look of this film, with its grimy, slicked cobble streets and rooftops of London nightmare fantasy set, would go on to inspire so many movies, but most notably, Carol Reed's The Third Man which came out the following year. Robert Newton is a standout as a terrifying and nuanced Bill Sykes and John Howard Davies ably carries the film as Oliver. Lean beefed up Oliver's role in the last third of the novel, setting up a chilling and dramatic conclusion to the action.

Ugetsu: (***) Another immediate post war film, that is set is Japan of the past in the time of warlords. A pair of couple navigate the coming of war in different ways, leading to devastating unforeseen consequences. A haunting--quite literally--film about war and the inability to ever fully return from it.

Mank (***) This was my second time through David Fincher's dreamy movie, inspired by real life story of writer Herman Mankiewitz, screenwriter of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, told in a style that closely mimics that classic. While all of it is pretty to look at, and the ensemble cast is up to the task of creating William Randolph Hearst's inner circle, attempts to make real life into too much of a movie, make the whole thing creak at the hinges a bit. Tom Burke stands out as Welles, Amanda Seifreid who I'd previously only seen in Mamma Mia, gives a lovely performance as Marion Davies, Hearsts mistress, while Gary Oldman is transformed through make-up and accent work into Mank. I wish I wasn't so aware of the stage craft, but that too is like the original I suppose and there is enough insider stuff in this movie to make a film nerd like me happy through any number of screenings.

Living (**1/2) a remake of an Akira Kirosawa film, about a dying bureaucrat who does his best to make an impact before he dies, features Bill Nighy in the lead role. Nighy creates a subtle portrait of a man who is practically fossilized in his desk at work, slowly coming to life as he takes on the project of getting a playground built in the post-Blitz London.

The Wonder (**1/2) One can be forgiven for confusing this movie with Lady MacBeth, which also stars Florence Pugh as a young woman in rural Britain, getting involved in a deadly web of intrigue. Like that film, The Wonder features a lot of scenes of Pugh in Victorian dress walking in the windblown landscape, and staring into the camera while she is seated quietly in a room. The setting here is rural Ireland twenty years after the Great Hunger. Pugh plays a nurse who is sent from England to watch a young girl who has supposedly survived months without eating. Hired by the village to either prove or disprove the so called Wonder of the title, the film slowly builds into almost unbearable tension in the final acts. Lovely performance from the whole cast, including, once again, TOM BURKE. (Are you seeing a theme in June Movies????)

Summertime (****): Classic David Lean, classic romance. Is it gay? Well yeah, I think Hepburn's character is a lesbian who has finally met the one dude who does it for her and he fancies her too and it foments a complete crisis of identity. Also it's an ode to women traveling alone and living their best life and having fun and doing walks of shame for the first time and oh I just love seeing this middle aged woman get to be 20 something!. Rosanno Brazzi is so cute and this is the movie that made me fall for him.

Don't Look Now (***): So I watched this and Summertime back to back and wow you could not get two more different views of Venice While Lean's film is more of a straight forward travelogue it's not excessively gritty or excessively pretty. It's balanced and though it is a tourists view it still takes on stuff like throwing garbage in the canal or getting lost. All of those things are present in Don't Look Now but they take on a darker edge. This is a city designed to hypnotize seduce and confuse you and you'd better be careful or lose your life. Features a great twist and absolutely top tier 70s psychological horror with lots of creepy vibes.

The Elephant Man (***): I had not seen this since it was in the theaters and I was so blown away by it. It's every inch a David Lynch film...it's like Eraser head with a big budget in many ways. I seriously can't believe someone watched Eraserhead and said: yeah lets give this guy millions to make our studio film. Even more amazing that the final product is so fucking successful as both a studio film and a distinct piece of Lynchian art. Johnny Gielgud and Wendy HIllier are both in this and both fabulous and Anne Coates is the editor. It's like an ode to British Noir films like Gaslight and The Lodger and especially Oliver Twist--and even a little Pygmalion callback in one scene that HIllier is in. John Hurt plays John Merrick and is heartbreakingly human when those around him can only see a monster. Lynch makes the choice to reveal his face about 45 minutes in and it's so impactful. The makeup is incredible, but also he lets the character exist for a long time so he isn't just the makeup. Anthony Hopkins is amazing playing the Victorian doctor who "rescues" Merrik and ends up exploiting him as well. The real horror of this film is in the realization of his own culpability/responsibility that gets shifted onto the audience.

Klute (***): Part of my Donald Sutherland memorial minifest, this movie really belongs to his female costar. Jane Fonda plays Bree Daniels, a Manhattan sex worker who is being stalked by a former client. There is nothing in The Conversation that isn't done first and frankly better in Klute, using modern technology and paranoia about it to maximum effect. Sutherland plays the titular cop, Klute who has assigned himself to the cause of protecting Daniels. An interesting love story develops between the hardened and wary Daniels and the hardened and wary cop.

The Man Who laughs (***): I got to see this for the first time on the big screen with a new original score performed live, which is the best way to see silent films. Veidt is incredible acting through and over and around this makeup, expressing so much with his eyes. Like The Elephant Man, this is a movie about the way society perceives difference as monstrous. A beautiful love story and a revolutionary social justice vibe tie the room together.

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE → THE COME DOWN

summary: steve harrington x oc | on ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 4.7k || masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

The instant Steve pulled the stolen car into the Byers driveway, every ounce of adrenaline disappeared. It hit him all at once after he threw open the car door and stumbled out, falling to his knees in the grass. The world spun too quickly for him to stomach. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to pass out, throw up, or both. The only thing he could get his body to do was close his eyes. 

A hand shook his shoulder lightly and a soft voice sounded in his ears. “Steve?” Sunshine called his name. 

He swallowed down his nausea and peeled his eyes open. “I’m good. I’m just-” 

“Beat to hell?” Dustin finished Steve's sentence, standing over him with arms crossed. “You look awful, dude.” 

“Thanks, bud,” Steve muttered. With a groan, he struggled to his feet and attempted to move toward the front door, but pain clouded his mind and halted his movements. He swayed forward but was caught by both Sunshine and Dustin.

Before they could walk up the driveway, a loud “Fuck!” echoed through the quiet night, and their attention was pulled back to the car where Mike sat halfway out with one foot in the driveway and the other hovering slightly in the air. 

“What’s wrong?” Sunshine asked. 

The kid, as irritatingly stubborn as the rest of them, shook his head and tried to stand again, but the second he tried to stand on both feet, he fell back into the seat. “It’s my ankle,” he said through gritted teeth. 

“Max, Lucas, help Mike inside and we’ll get Steve,” Sunshine directed. 

They all made it inside. Sunshine and Dustin exchanged words that Steve missed; he was more focused on not falling face-first to the ground. The pain in his face let him know whatever Hargrove had done wasn’t pretty, and he didn’t need to mess himself up anymore. Besides the pain in his face, his knuckles stung, his vision was a little blurry, and he was certain a rib or two was bruised because it hurt every time he inhaled. 

He was led into the bathroom and all but collapsed on top of the closed toilet seat. Dustin left and Sunshine quietly rummaged through the cabinets until she found a small basket of medical supplies. 

He felt terrible, but he didn’t want to admit that. It felt a little unfair of him to do so, when Sunshine saved their asses multiple times that night and also looked beat up because of it. Steve felt like he deserved to mull over his mistakes with the dried blood around his cuts and thundering headache. 

“Sunshine, I’m fine-” 

She shot him a look that cut him off. He pressed his split lips into a thin line as he gazed into her golden eyes. “Just let me help.” 

He was too tired to argue, so he sighed in defeat and stayed quiet as Sunshine wet a washcloth and pressed his against the cuts on his face. She tried to be as gentle as possible, but Steve couldn’t help but wince each time the washcloth touched one of his deep scrapes either from shards of broken glass or Billy’s knuckles. 

The pain was a lot, so he tried to distract himself from it. He focused on Sunshine, who leaned down close to his face. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. Fresh red and purple bruises had grown along the bridge of her nose and spread out across the apples of her cheeks. Blood stained the skin between her nose and upper lip, and it was smeared across the corner of her mouth in a way he hadn’t noticed before. It stared for another moment before he realized the blood had come from a nasty split along the corner of her mouth that he was sure wasn’t there before. 

He wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing before his thumb brushed across the skin just under the split, wiping away some of the dried blood. “What happened?” he asked. It was stupid, in the grand scheme of things. The number of injuries they all had accumulated throughout the past day and night was staggering, but something about the cut didn’t sit right with him. 

Sunshine paused and backed away from him to gaze at herself in the mirror. She was quiet for a moment like she was trying to remember how she managed to get that cut throughout their hellish night. Then, she shook her head and discarded the bloody rag in the sink before she grabbed a box of band-aids. 

“Billy,” she replied, simply, and started to cover his face in the color band-aids that Steve assumed were Will’s because they had pictures of characters Steve didn’t know. 

“He hit you?” He didn’t know what happened after Billy knocked him out; the last thing he remembered was a plate being smashed over his head and then hitting the ground. The next thing he knew, he was in the backseat of a car being driven by a child. But the thought of Billy hurting Sunshine or any one of the kids caused anger and guilt to rise steadily inside of him. 

“Well, I did try to blind him.” There was a light humor to her voice, but Steve didn’t find it funny. He wanted to believe his fight with Jonathan last fall was a fluke; his mind had been all over the place and that threw him off his game. But, failing to stop Billy from getting inside and causing damage just confirmed that he was not a fighter. He got himself beat up, Sunshine got hurt, and who knew what else happened while he was miserably knocked out. 

“I’m sorry," Steve sighed. 

Sunshine stopped what she was doing and peered at him quizzically. “For what?” 

“For not stopping that asshole from getting inside or hurting you. And God only knows what would have happened to the kids if you weren’t there. I…I’m sorry.” 

Steve couldn’t read the expression Sunshine wore, but there was something about the gaze in her eyes that was overwhelming. Her eyes were red, probably from whatever kind of toxic air was inside the tunnels they were in, but the little illuminated flecks of gold intensified her gaze. 

“The kids are okay. I’m okay. You, on the other hand, are not.” 

With a half-hearted shrug, he replied, “I’m just a little banged up.” 

Sunshine dropped what she had been doing and sucked in a shuttered breath. “I thought he was going to kill you.” The lowness of her voice startled him; it was twisted with emotion. It almost sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and he couldn’t wrap his brain around why. “He wouldn’t stop. A-And you just…I was so scared, Steve.” 

Her words took him aback. She stared at him with such an intensity in her eyes that it nearly took his breath away. He was sure no one had ever looked at him like that before; he wasn’t sure anyone had ever seemed to care that much about him before. Steve didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about it, besides confused.  His head hurt too much to think about it. 

Clearing his throat, Steve tried to reel himself back in. “I’m fine. It’s gonna take a lot more than some mullet-wearing-asshole to kill me, okay?” 

A small and tired smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “Promise?” 

Steve returned the smile. “Promise. Unfortunately, that means you're going to be stuck with me for a while.” The world wasn’t going to end that night; they had time. 

“I’m okay with that,” she replied and continued placing band-aids across his face. Once she was done, she leaned back against the wall and let out a breathy sigh. “There’s medicine in the kitchen that should help with the pain. We can-” 

“Yeah, I’ll get some later. But now, it’s your turn.” He stood up, ignoring the pain in his muscles as he moved, and gestured to the seat. “Sit.” 

She looked ready to protest, but he turned away in search of more first aid supplies. He heard her huff before she sat down. Comfortable silence engulfed them. He cleaned the blood off her face and was careful not to disturb the angry bruises from using her powers any more than they already were. There wasn’t much either one of them could do with the supplies Ms. Byers had. In her defense, she probably wasn’t prepared for her home to become the home base for a monster-infested night. 

Steve changed the gauze that covered Sunshine’s tattoo and winced when he saw the bruises the vines left behind. If her wrists were already black and blue, he could only imagine what Mike’s ankle looked like; no wonder the kid could hardly walk on it. 

Once they both were in slightly better-looking shape, voices rose from the living room that indicated the others were back. They wordlessly left the bathroom and found the Byers clan and Nancy in the living room. 

The newly arrived group turned at the sound of Steve and Sunshine’s footsteps. Nancy rushed towards them, sweaty and disheveled. "Jesus! What happened to you guys?"

In the mess of feelings and pain that had a hold of his body and mind, Steve had almost forgotten that he and Nancy had officially broken up just hours prior. Almost. 

“Long story,” Steve said, brushing off her concern. 

Sunshine pushed the attention away from them quickly, not necessarily wanting them to know they did exactly what they were instructed not to do. “How is he?” she asked, looking at Will who was fast asleep in Jonathan’s arms. The kid looked just as bad as he had when they left, but noticeable calmness to his slumber. They had gotten the Mind Flyer out of him, thank God. 

“He’ll be okay, I think,” Jonathan said. 

Joyce approached them after she had checked on the kids, who were scatted around the living room. Dark circles hung under the woman’s eyes, but there was a sense of ease in her shoulders. Steve couldn’t fathom what she felt like after all she and her family had been through. She had nearly lost her son again. Yet, somehow Steve knew Joyce would never give up home on her sons, no matter what kind of otherworldly dangers they had to face. 

Steve wondered what it was like to have a mother as devoted and determined as Joyce. She had fought monsters and entered another dimension to save Will, all while everyone in town called her crazy. Steve loved his mother, but he didn’t believe she’d go through all of that to get him back. Joyce was unlike most parents in Hawkins, as were Sunshine’s parents. Most were shitty, absent, or indifferent. But Steve was glad that the kids who had been through the most had good parents to fall back on. If anyone deserved that, it was them. 

Joyce’s face scrunched up in concern when her eyes landed on him and Sunshine. “What happened? Are you two okay?” 

Steve nodded his head. “We’re okay, Ms. Byers.” 

She didn’t seem to believe his words, but she didn’t say anything else about it. 

“Listen, everyone’s staying here tonight,” she said to everyone. “You can call your parents in the morning, but I don’t want anyone leaving tonight.” 

No one argued. Dustin and Lucas gathered pillows and blankets from around the house and piled them in the living room. Max and Luke finished sweeping the glass up off the floor, and Mike iced his ankle. 

Jonathan put Will to bed, and Joyce followed her boys. 

When they were alone, Nancy turned back to them with her arms crossed over her chest. “Alright, what actually happened? You two look a lot worse than when we left. And don’t say nothing.” 

They didn’t get the chance to say anything before the front door was swung open and a young girl stumbled inside. Leia’s hair was matted to the sides of her head and blood stained underneath her nose in a nearly identical fashion to Sunshine's. Behind her trailed Hopper, who carried a passed-out El in his arms. 

“El!” Mike shouted and tried to stand up from his seat. “Ow,” he grumbled but didn’t let his messed-up ankle keep him from El. He grabbed a hold of her limp hand and squeezed it sweetly. “El?” 

The girl was out cold, though, and didn’t so much as stir in Hopper’s arms. 

Joyce peaked out from Will’s bedroom at the commotion. “You can put her in my room, Hop,” she said. Hopper nodded and headed off in the direction of Joyce’s room, with Mike right behind him. Steve had a feeling that the kid wasn’t going to leave El’s side for the rest of the night, and it didn’t seem like Hopper had the heart to shoo him off. 

Bounding up to Sunshine, Leia smiled up at her sister despite the tiredness that was clear on her pale face. Sunshine was quick to look over Leia for any injuries, but she seemed okay under their circumstances. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Sunshine asked, brushing a couple of knotted pieces of bright blonde hair behind Leia’s ear. 

“I’m sure, just a little tired.” Leia smiled as Hopper and Joyce returned from tucking their kids into bed. “She did it. El closed the Gate!” 

“And she’ll be okay?” Joyce asked the chief. 

He nodded. “She will be. And Will?” 

“I hope so.” 

Just when Steve thought they’d all be free to pass out on Joyce’s floor, Hopper turned to him and Sunshine with furrowed brows. “What the hell happened to you two?” Steve didn’t think they looked that bad. He didn’t think they looked bad enough to warrant so many looks of concern. 

Everyone had gathered together in the living room and all attention was placed on Steve and Sunshine, much to Steve's discomfort. 

Dustin chuckled awkwardly under his breath. “It’s a funny story, actually. Well…okay. It’s not funny, per se, but-” he was cut off by a quick slap on the arm by Lucas. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. Nothing happened here. Nothing…at all.” Subtle, Steve thought. Dustin was about as subtle as an earthquake. 

Hopper was a cop and knew how to see through bullshit better than most. So, when he turned to Steve and Sunshine, Steve knew he couldn’t bullshit his way out of that one. “Somebody talk, now.” If anyone was going to get in trouble, Steve knew he rather it be him than Sunshine, even if both of them were technically kidnapped by the gaggle of middle schoolers. 

He was about to explain what had happened, but Max cut him off, much to his surprise. 

“It’s my fault!” she rushed out. “I sort of snuck out of my house earlier with Lucas, so my mom sent my stepbrother to look for me. But he’s an asshole. He found us here and…” She trailed off for a second and looked over her shoulder at where Lucas stared at her. Max’s face was pinched with guilt that didn’t seem fair. “He tried to hurt Lucas, but Steve and Sunshine stopped him. But then Billy kind of beat the shit out of them.” 

Hopper was quiet for a moment before he raised his brows at the teens. “Is that true?” Steve and Sunshine nodded. With a deep sigh, Hopper ran his hands down the length of his face. “Jesus. Okay, well, where is he now? I can call whoever’s on duty-” 

“No,” Steve cut him off. He didn’t want to explain to the Hawkins P.D. that while, yes, Billy did beat the shit out of them and threatened a child, they did steal his car. “Really, it’s fine. We’re good.” 

“Yeah, besides, Max took care of him,” Dustin said, earning himself a look from Hopper that told him he better elaborate. “He kind of was about to kill them and probably us. So, Max stuck him with whatever was in those syringes you gave to knock Will out.” Steve didn’t know that part. He looked to Max, whose cheeks were tinted red, and eyes were glassy. 

Hopper blinked, probably trying to process that information on top of everything else that had occurred that night. A few curse words were muttered under his breath before he asked, “Where is he now?” 

“It wore off, but he was still pretty out of it and just left. He left his car too.” Lucas was the better liar. It probably was what happened, just while they were away in the tunnels because Billy was gone when they returned, and Steve was grateful for that. 

“Okay, I think that’s more than enough questions for tonight,” Joyce said, much to Steve’s relief. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. Everyone, make yourselves comfortable. And I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee.” Joyce gave Hopper’s arm a light squeeze, prompting him to follow her into the kitchen, and leaving everyone else to make up their sleeping arrangements in the living room. 

“Max,” Steve called out, beckoning the redhead over. She stepped into the hall, just out of earshot of everyone else. “You know Billy and I’s fight wasn’t your fault, right?” 

His words seemed to throw her off. She turned her gaze onto her shoes and shrugged. “I mean, it kind of is. I’m the reason he came here in the first place.” 

Steve felt awful. Not only was Max thrown into an impossibly terrifying situation with monsters that nearly killed them three times over, but she also had to live with that ragging asshole. If Billy was willing to beat up some kid he hardly knew, what did that mean for Max? It was a shitty situation that Steve knew he couldn’t fix, but the least he could do was make sure Max didn’t feel like what had happened was her fault. 

“It’s not your fault. Billy’s been looking for a fight since you guys moved here. We would have fought sooner or later, and that’s not on you.” 

Max was quiet for a moment before she said, "I’m still sorry about your face and stuff.” Her jaw clenched in anger, but her eyes were still glassy. “Billy, he’s just…he’s so angry all of the time, and I-” she cut herself abruptly. “I’m just sorry, okay? I’m sorry he came here. But thanks for at least kicking his ass a little. He deserved it.” 

“Any time, kid. And if he ever tries to mess with you or Lucas again, I’ll let you borrow my bat.” 

A small smile formed on her face, and Steve counted that a win. “Thanks,” she said and tossed a look over her shoulder for a moment before she looked back at him with a little bit of fire back in her eyes. “But I think I’ll just borrow your girlfriend, instead.” With that, she turned on her heel and rejoined the rest of her friends, leaving Steve confused as to what she was talking about. His hurt still hurt, and he thought maybe he had just misheard her. 

He felt heavy on his feet and made his way over to the couch, falling beside Sunshine. She greeted him with a bump of her shoulder. “Everything okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I think so.” 

Sunshine replied with a quiet hum and leaned her head against the back of the couch, closing her eyes. Steve followed suit, letting his exhaustion overtake him. His body sank comfortably into the couch, below the broken window that was hastily covered with a tarp to keep some of the cold air out. Someone spread a blanket across them, and he felt himself begin to drift off, but a weight fell onto his side, and he peered through half-open eyes to see Sunshine’s head resting on his shoulder. 

Sleep was quick to overtake his body, a body that was finally able to rest for what was no doubt the longest night of his life. 

That night, Mike slept on the floor of El’s bedside with his ankle iced and his affection toward the girl overpowering any pain. Nancy sat upright in Will’s desk chair, not daring to close her eyes as she watched over Will and Jonathan’s sleeping figures. Joyce and Hopper shared a cigarette and hushed conversations over hot cups of coffee. Lucas slept curled up on the ground in a sleeping bag he was close to outgrowing, with his lucky bandana still wrapped around his forehead and his wrist rocket within arm's reach. Luke slept in the armchair with his knees pulled into his chest and his face scrunched up. Max and Leia shared an air mattress, too tired to care they were strangers. And Dustin camped out right in front of the couch where two people he had grown a fondness for sleep.

All of Hawkins slept soundly through the night, once again saved by unsung heroes. 

→←

“Should we wake them up?

“I don’t know, they look peaceful. Maybe we should let them sleep?” 

“But what if they can’t wake up? Oh, God! What if they’re dead?” 

“Uh, no. They’re definitely breathing.” 

Sunshine groaned as a swarm of voices assaulted her ears. She rubbed her eyes and winced as her fingers met the settled bruises on her skin. Each little movement of her body ached dully, which she knew was payback for pushing herself. 

“Oh, shit. I think we woke them up.” 

Sunshine forced her eyes open and was met with a series of faces that leaned in too close, startling her into a more awake state. She sat up and yawned. “What’s going on?” 

Dustin smiled at her and pointed toward the kitchen. “Hopper made waffles.” 

Mike rolled his eyes. “Eggos. He put Eggos in the toaster.” 

Beside him, El nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! They are very good.” 

At the sight of her sister, Sunshine’s flooded with relief. “You’re awake.” 

“Yes,” El replied. She narrowed her eyes, which were freed from the dark makeup that covered them before and studied Sunshine for a moment. “Are you okay?” All things considered, Sunshine was fine. She was alive, Will was monster-free, and her three siblings were back in her life. 

“Good!” Leia said, excitedly and loud enough that it woke Steve up. She grabbed Sunshine’s hand and pulled her off the couch. “Because we have so much to tell you!” 

They all took a seat at the table, with a groggy Steve trailing behind them, chuckling softly at the energetic kids. A plate of waffles sat on the table and steaming mugs of coffee were already laid out on the counter for them; Joyce had made them moments ago, according to the kids, before she went to check on Will. 

It wasn’t until Sunshine took a bite that she realized how hungry she was. They all ate waffle after waffle until they were stuffed. 

Once the waffles were gone, coffee was drunk, and certain doom had completely been washed away, they could properly catch up. 

“This isn’t what I thought would be waiting for us back in Hawkins,” Luke said, curled up on one of the chairs with his knees pulled up to his chest, but he seemed a little less tense than he had last night. “I guess the monsters and stuff make sense, but I didn’t think you’d still be here. Why did you stay?” he asked Sunshine. 

The question caught her by surprise. It was crazy how fast her attitude on the town changed. Before she and El escaped, she had been hellbent on running as far away as they could and never looking back. But she had found a home within the people of Hawkins. Her parents remained and so did she. That was her answer, but she felt guilty when she explained it to Luke and Leia. She had a home to return to, and Luke and Leia did not. Maybe they were out there somewhere, and maybe Sunshine could help them find each other. 

Leia smiled brightly with a mouth full of waffles. “Really? You found your parents? That’s awesome! What are they like? Are you nice? Do you have your own room? Oh, man! I wish I had my own room. I had to share with Luke, and he snores.” 

“I don’t snore!” Luke protested. “Would you’ve rather shared a room with Dottie? Or Axel? Hmm? No, I don’t think so.” 

In all of the chaos that had ensured, Sunshine didn’t have much time to think about the fact that there was another child of the Lab out there in the world. “Eight. Kali. Why didn’t she come back with you?” 

A somber look crossed all three kids’ faces. El answered, vaguely, “She said no one here could help us.” Sunshine found that strange. If Kali knew the wonderful people who lived in Hawkins, who had helped her and El, she’d have to change her mind. Kali could have a home with them. But Sunshine did understand the appeal of being anywhere but Hawkins. Without the people she had grown to love, Hawkins was a town packed full of bad memories. The lingering ghost of the Lab shadowed them, and some days were more overwhelming than others. But Sunshine believed Steve when he said no one would let her or her siblings end up back there. 

“She’s scared,” said Luke. “She’ll never admit it, but she’s scared to come back. We were too, but we needed to find you. And we did.”

Leia grabbed a hold of Sunshine’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “And we’re not leaving you, again. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure out a way to stay here. All that matters is that we’re together.” 

“You can live with me and Hopper,” El suggested. Sunshine also hadn’t fully grasped the idea that El had been in Hawkins the whole time, hidden by Hopper who had spent the last year lying to her. She was mad, but she was grateful someone cared for El. It was complicated, too complicated to think about at that moment. 

“You guys could join our party, like El!” Dustin practically bounced up in his seat with enthusiasm a bit too bright for the morning hour. “Of course, we’ll have to ask Will and take a vote, but…oh. First, you guys will have to meet Will, when he feels better. But I think he’ll be cool with it.” 

Under her breath, Max mumbled, “Unbelievable.” 

Beside her, Mike rolled his eyes dramatically. “Relax, Zoomer. You’re in.” 

“Whoa, wait. Really?” She tried to hide the excitement on her face, but it was impossible to miss. 

“Sure, whatever.” Sunshine saw right through Mike’s ‘I don’t care’ attitude. He was morphing back into his old self with his best friend safe and El back in his life. Maybe everything would return to a new normal; Sunshine hoped so. 

“How’s your ankle?” Sunshine asked Mike. His ankle was still wrapped, and she noticed a slight limp in his walk, but he seemed less miserable than last night. 

Mike shrugged. “Fine. It’s not broken, I’m pretty sure. How’re your guys’ faces?” He looked between Sunshine and Steve. The latter had remained quiet, leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in his hands. The colorful band-aids on his face helped make his injuries look less awful, but the bruises started to form overnight, and it would be a while before he was back to normal. Sunshine knew school for Steve would be rough come Monday, but she hoped Billy left him alone, at least. At least she only had to answer her worried parents’ questions, not the whole student body’s. 

“I feel about how I look,” Steve replied. 

“So, awful?” Mike smirked.

A playful glare narrowed in Steve’s eyes. “You’re a little shit, you know that, Wheeler?” 

The kids all erupted in laughter; it was a welcomed sound. After their hellish night, she should almost pretend they all had woken up from a normal sleepover. She glanced over at Steve, who was already looking at her. 

“We’ll be okay,” she said, though it was lost to the kids' ears as they found themselves engrossed in another conversation. 

Steve smiled softly and replied, “Yeah.” 

The air of dread fled, and the sun rose in the cloudless sky above Hawkins. Nothing was normal by any means, but things felt like they were on the right track. Sunshine felt that things would be okay after all; they would be okay after all. 

Tag List. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @echoing-oursong

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: “The Star”/“Jerry”

(Fionna & Cake, Eps. 7–8)

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jacob Winkler, & Sonja von Marensdorff

Directed by: Ryann Shannon (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

It is hard to believe that we are already privy to the penultimate episodes of the Fionna & Cake miniseries. So far, this series has been hit after hit. So do "The Star" and "Jerry" live up to what has come before them? Read on for more...

The plot to "The Star" is deceptively simple: Fionna, Cake, and Simon are transported into a universe where Simon was killed by vampires, which led to Marceline being abducted the ice crown-wielding Vampire King (once again played by the wonderfully sonorous Billy Brown) and turned into his protege, known as "The Star." While the world has been almost entirely overrun by vampires, a Mad Max-esque version of Princess Bubblegum is still putting up a hell of a fight (Mad Max Bubblegum is aided in this task by Peppermint Butler-as-a-Tank, a human[?] version of Huntress Wizard, and a non-psychopathic version of Martin). Cake's shapeshifting impresses Mad Max Bubblegum, and so she decides to enlist Fionna, Cake, and Simon's help in defeating the Vampire King and his evil 'daughter.' Alas, as goes the best-laid plans of mice and men... The episode ends on a purposeful anti-climax: Fionna, recognizing that all is effectively lost, forcibly teleports herself, Cake, and Simon away from Vampire World while Mad Max Bubblegum and The Star struggle in the sky, with neither wanting to land a killing blow. The fate of Vampire World is thus left unresolved.

As a major fan of Stakes, I was delighted to be transported back into the world of vampires in "The Star." And this time, the show does a very solid job showing just how powerful and scary these monsters actually are (despite their Kermit the Frog-meets-Nosferatu appearance). And let us not forget Evil Marceline (oh, where to start)! I quite like that Ooo's Marceline is a heroic anti-anti-Christ, but even I found the titular antagonist of "The Star" to be a terrifying delight. It has been a good long while since Marceline has rightly pranked someone, and while I don't know if killing people or sucking souls count as pranks, it was nonetheless wonderful to see her ornery side return—only this time, turned up to 11. You can tell that Olivia Olson had a lot of fun recording her lines for this episode; her performance is energetic, her tone mocking. When I heard The Star taunt Mad Max Bubblegum and Co., it took me back to when I first heard Olson's voice acting in "Evicted!"

It was a clever move having The Star and Mad Max Bubblegum be sworn enemies, as it allowed the series to explore their dynamic as a couple without focusing on their past or present relationship. In the Vampire World, we learn that the two have never been in a relationship together. But despite this, still found themselves pulled toward one another in an almost preternatural way. Who knows… Just as the souls of Finn and Jake seem to be destined to always find one another, perhaps Marceline and Bubblegum are "soul mates" in a similarly metaphysical sense? Regardless, the hesitancy to kill one another that both characters show at the end of the episode speaks volumes as to how they feel about one another, even in a universe where they are sworn enemies. (Man, I really hope we get a Bubbline spin-off one of these days…)

Ah, I feel like I could talk about the Star for days, but there is more to consider, so let me move on to…

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Jim Campbell, & Jackie Files

Directed by: Steve Wolfhard (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

"Jerry" begins with Fionna, Cake, and Simon finding themselves in a dead and desolate world—humorously dubbed "Crapworld" by Cake—that we later learn was created by the Lich's wish in the season five premiere "Finn the Human." (As a mythological aside, when the Lich made his initial wish, it seems that Prismo did not simply wipe out all life in the Oooniverse; instead, he effectively created a copy of the Oooniverse within the Oooniverse. After killing off all life in this bubble dimension, Prismo then transported the Lich to his new wish-altered reality. Really, it is turtles all the way down…) While searching for the Crapworld ice crown, Simon tries to cheer up an increasingly despondent Fionna by telling him the story of how he and Betty met.

Eventually, our heroes run into Crapworld BMO, who upon learning that Prismo's remote is out of juice, attempts to recharge it with his robot heart. This does not go as planned (it actually results in Crapworld BMO spectacularly exploding, which is somehow both horrifying and funny), and Simon, Fionna, and Cake decide to track down Crapworld BMO's oft-mentioned friend "Jerry" and tell him that BMO has passed. Upon finding Jerry, however, the trio discover that he is actually the Lich… albeit a depressed Lich; it seems that after fulfilling his mission of ending all life, the Lich lost a sense of purpose. (I've been there, dude...) Simon sees this as an opportunity, and using the Crapworld ice crown and the Lich himself as a conduits, he manages to summon GOLB just as Scarab materializes to deliver divine punishment.

To be continued!

"Jerry" is a decidedly bleak episode that more than anything radiates the creative sensibilities of its supervising director, Steve Wolfhard. For those out of loop, Wolfhard was a storyboard artist on the original Adventure Time series, and he helped write some of the show's strongest outings (e.g., "Puhoy," "Lemonhope," "Escape from the Citadel," "Graybles 1000+"). Wolfhard has a unique approach to writing, often using humor/cuteness to paste over more existential horrors, and while he did not storyboard "Jerry," the episode nevertheless feels like the apogee of his "voice," brimming as it does with a darkness that is only lightly covered with a veneer of humor. Indeed, many of the episode's funniest moments (e.g., the scene in which BMO cheerfully, stupidly kills itself, the reveal that the Lich has depression) cannot be described as anything other than gallows humor. Wolfhard often joked in interviews that many of the episodes he pitched involved main characters dying. With "Jerry," he finally got his chance.

Ultimately, what prevents "Jerry" from becoming a bummer-fest is the way the episode is interspersed with flashbacks that tell the story of how Simon and Betty fell in love. Despite their being the emotional heart of the episode, I do not have much to say about these scenes other than they are sweet. They largely expand upon details that we already knew, but in doing so, they enliven those details, infusing them with a sense of affect that exposition or background detailing could never convey. There's a couple easter eggs thrown in for die-hard fans (e.g., several relics from the main series are name-dropped, we see when a photograph of Simon from "I Remember You" was taken), and its all tied-up nicely with a new HALF SHY song, "Everything in You." All in all, these scenes are the sweet, sweet eye bleach we need, given the tone of the episode's other half.

My biggest gripe with these episodes is that they both lean too far into Fionna's failures while somehow not leaning in far enough. The former issue is most noticeable in "The Star," the beginning of which sees Fionna follow up her candy genocide by making a series of increasingly bone-headed decisions, one of which leads to the direct death of a character (although, Mad Max Bubblegum was also quite bone-headed for letting Random New Girl put everyone in danger immediately after introducing them to her few crew members). Put simply, I feel the episode excessively plays up Fionna as a gullible girlfail, which seems a bit much. Paradoxically, in "Jerry," the show did not have Fionna properly, fully, believably consider the ramifications of the mistakes she had made; instead, the episode focuses much of its emotional energy on the story of Simon and Betty's relationship. Yes, Fionna does have a realistic breakdown in the middle of the episode, but almost immediately, the show decides to have Simon distract her with more of his own love story. None of this sinks the episodes, but it does make them less than perfect.

For some, the episodes' bleakness might also be a defect: indeed in both "The Star" and "Jerry," lots of characters die, and the fridge horror is off the charts. But while I have criticized the show for such cruelty in the past (e.g., my review of "Wizard City"), the bleakness in these episodes is not meaningless. Instead, it arguably serves to underscore that without Simon Petrikov existing and doing all that he has in the Ooo Prime universe, the world (any world) quickly goes to hell. (This is perhaps most noticeable in "The Star," given that the big twist of that universe is that Simon was killed by vampires, presumably before he placed the ice crown on his head, thus resulting in Marceline's capture and indoctrination by the Vampire King.) Even in his crazed "Ice King" state, Simon is something like a cosmic lynchpin holding together reality! Considering how much Simon/the Ice King is a woobie in the original series, it is nice to see Fionna & Cake accentuate just how important he actually is.

Final “The Star” Grade: A-

Final “Jerry” Grade: A-