Currently thinking about a reader who, while having a full-time job and playing the part of a “real adult” pretty well for the most part, is still kind of lost and pathetic. It feels less like they’re living and more like they’re surviving, getting by on their own with just a cat for company.
Enter John Price, who’s currently on medical leave and just itching for a project. Maybe reader works at a store near his home that he shops at almost every other day, or works at the library where he goes when he needs to get out of the house. Either way, he spots this pretty little thing who clearly needs some love and guidance, preferably from a strong, gentle hand - and who better to do that than him?
Anyways, save me bossy and demanding Price with a savior complex, save me
he says i hate everyone except you and that is addictive and that is kind of romantic and beautiful because you're young and you're kind of a sarcastic asshole too and you don't like bad boys, per say, but you don't really like good ones either. and you like that you were the exception, it felt like winning.
except life is not a romance book, and he was kind of being honest. he doesn't learn to be nice to your friends. he only tolerates your family. you have to beg him to come with you to birthday parties, he complains the whole time. you want to go on a date but - people are often there, wherever you're going. he's just so angry. about everything, is the thing. in the romance book, doesn't he eventually soften? can't you teach him, through your own sense of whimsy and comfort?
at first - you know introverts often need smaller friend groups, and honestly, you're fine staying at home too. you like the small, tidy life you occupy. you're not going to punish him for his personality type.
except: he really does hate everyone but you. which means he doesn't get along with his therapist. which means he has no one to talk to except for you. which means you take care of him constantly, since he otherwise has no one. which means you sometimes have to apologize for him. which means he keeps you home from seeing your friends because he hates them. you're the single exception.
about a decade from this experience, you'll type into google: how to know if a relationship is codependent.
he wraps an arm around you. i hate everyone except you. these days, you're learning what he's actually confessing is i have very little practice being kind.
love that the doctor's spent so much time around jack & river that they can now speedrun the whole seducing a morally grey rogue into becoming a self sacrificing hero thing
Moments in Charles Leclerc that are so insane I wish I made it up but can't, because this stuff can only happen to him
- When his watch got stolen and he decided to CHASE the guy with his custom ferrari 488 pista
- When his former girlfriend got locked out of the apartment and he wasn't answering his phone so she had to subscribe to his Twitch channel to tell him to open the door (please watch his former streams I beg)
- When he crashed Niki Lauda's 1974 ferrari during the Monaco historic grand Prix (his luck I swear)
- Every Monaco Grand Prix ever (the infamous charles leclerc curse)
- When he went to dinner with a guy, posted the picture on Instagram and it turns out it was an international criminal wanted by the Interpol
- He went to a restaurant once, handed his car to the valet and the car was out of fuel
- When he went for a run, took some photos with fans and this couple started to fight in front of him
- When he didn't realized his tiktok likes were open to the public (it was mostly fan edits of himself, baby goats, babies but mostly fan videos about himself)
- Recently, he dropped his airpods in the airport floor and decided to use this gigantic clamp to get it back
- Or just his babygirl esque nature (i love him <3)
- He accepted a ride from two strangers just because he couldn't find a cab (Arthur was also in the car!!!)
(Also, feel free to add more, please, and every time he does something so charles, i will uptade the list)
I like the idea that Cross realised Killer was touchstarved (he didn't have the words for it but he noticed how much Killer would settle down from it) and started giving him very small basic affection. Pat on the back, hand on the shoulder, maybe a quick friendly hug, all things he probably learned through royal guard training and thinks of as normal friend/coworker stuff.
But as they both got more comfortable in the routine of it, Killer started instigating touches and he was not shy about it (like not just leaning into Cross's side during movie night, he looks like he's trying to get into Cross's jacket with him)
And that this more intense affection made Cross realise he might also be just a little bit touchstarved
religion is one of the most prominent recurring themes on the album, and it has been present in some capacity for quite a few records now. taylor previously compared love to religion: her saving grace, her belief system, and a fated divine intervention (false god, cornelia street, and cruel summer are the best examples of this). ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ and ‘we’d still worship this love even if it’s a false god’ are two of the defining statements about her philosophy on the lover album.
taylor doesn’t want to leave all of that behind on ttpd, at least not at the beginning. the first supernatural force she mentions is the spaceship on down bad, which she compares to a skylight of freedom in the epilogue. *something* has finally come to save her from her life of suffering. she doesn’t care if it’s a force of good at first; if anything, she’s just fine being taken away by aliens. she views this man as her destiny. it isn’t until guilty as sin? that taylor starts to ponder the moral implications of what she’s doing. is she guilty as sin for wanting to leave her previous religion and relationship behind? she comes to the conclusion that, even if she rolls the stone away and gets resurrected/redeemed, she cannot avoid the fallout. she is okay with the thought of having to wait, as long as both lovers vow to be together forever, just as she once did with someone else in false god. ‘I choose you and me religiously’ finishes the bridge of the song in a direct callback to cornelia street.
the next mention of religion has murkier imagery. she claims that she does not need the Lord’s help to save this man. she sees the halo that he has, and she can fix him herself. now that she feels free of her prior cage, she isn’t looking for divine intervention anymore. she wants control. she is their route to salvation.
when the relationship falls apart, she retreats back into the position of a believer rather than a divine figure. she compares him to a Holy Ghost who promised to save her and take her to heaven. instead, she is in hell in every sense of the word: she’s down bad and feels guilty for digging up the grave. he was a jehovah’s witness who promised that she could break free of the cage imposed by love without changing her religion altogether; she would’ve just had to switch denominations. she could still have a marriage and kids! she could still have a blue tortured poet! the man was different, but not the dreams they had together. the story of the first part of the album ends here. her faith has been broken, and she has only found any semblance of sanity by refusing to mention these belief systems altogether.
side b/the anthology blends the christian imagery of side a with goddesses, sorcerers, and prophecies. she bargains with these powers to let her have the future she wants (the prophecy). she doesn’t sound like someone believing in salvation. if anything, she feels cursed. she decides that the concept of divinely ordained timing will never work in certain relationships (‘the goddess of timing once found us beguiling / she said she was trying / peter, was she lying?’). this disdain extends onto her perception of other people’s faith (‘bet they never spared a prayer for my soul’). she does position herself as a prophet in cassandra, but even then, she admits that the role has hurt her. perhaps the pain in thank you aimee was meant to be, or perhaps she was just strong enough to build a legacy in spite of it, boulder by boulder. is she a martyr? does she want to be? or did she save herself?
the only real love song on this half of the album makes no mention of fate or any divine forces. it wasn’t meant to be. it’s not a supernatural invisible string or lightning in a bottle. she is just in love.
the album ends with the manuscript, which revisits an old story of a defining, formative heartbreak. as she sings ‘at last, she knew what the agony had been for’ while describing the legacy of her writing, she seems to revert to thinking about the purpose of trauma. the only exception is that, in this case, she is the one who found meaning in her pain by turning it into a manuscript. writing is her belief system now, and she proselytizes by telling her stories and thus giving up the manuscript.
ultimately, her belief in destiny has chewed her up and spat her out. she so desperately clung to her existing belief systems that she was fooled by a conman, which left her feeling cursed. religion is supposed to be with someone even in their darkest moments, but the album explains that taylor often felt abandoned. the only constant in her life was, well, herself. she’ll be okay, but her pen will be her saving grace.
Summary: Billy Butcher and the reader with the Shrek and Donkey dynamic. Basically Butcher is a grumpy old man and you are like a cute puppy yapping and following him everywhere and no matter how much he tries to get you off of his ass you just can't seem to get a hint.
(Recently rewatched Shrek and he reminded me of Butcher lol. I thought a dynamic like that would be so funny with him so I gave butch a sweet yapping friend who he cannot get rid of)
Billy Butcher was no stranger to solitude. In fact, he preferred it that way—peace and quiet, no one to answer to, no one to bother him. But that all went out the window the day you stumbled into his life, a young, bright-eyed, relentlessly cheerful force of nature that had somehow decided he was your new best friend.
He didn’t know how it happened. One moment he was alone, enjoying a quiet pint at his favorite dingy pub, and the next, there you were, plopping down beside him like you belonged there, chatting away like you’d known him for years.
“You look like someone who could use a friend,” you’d said with a grin, as if that explained everything.Butcher had glared at you, silently willing you to leave. But you didn’t take the hint—in fact, you didn’t seem to notice the hint at all.
And from that moment on, it was like you’d attached yourself to him with some sort of invisible leash, following him everywhere, talking his ear off, and generally driving him up the wall.
“Oi, Butcher! You ever think about getting a pet?” you asked one day as the two of you wandered through the city, your voice as bubbly as ever. “I bet you’d be great with a dog! Or maybe a cat—they’re more independent, like you. But then again, cats can be kinda grumpy, and you’re already grumpy enough…”
Butcher stopped in his tracks, spinning around to face you. “Will you just shut it for five bloody minutes?”You blinked at him, your smile never wavering.
“Sure! But can I just say one more thing?”
He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re gonna say it anyway, aren’t you?” “Yep!” you chirped. “I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be fun if we had a secret handshake? Like, something really complicated with lots of fist bumps and twirls—oh, and maybe a little dance at the end! It’d be our thing, you know?”
Butcher stared at you, wondering how in the hell you’d managed to survive this long. “A secret handshake? You’re serious?”
“As serious as a heart attack!” you replied, nodding eagerly. “Come on, let’s come up with one right now!”
Butcher rubbed his face, feeling the last of his patience slipping away. “Listen, I ain’t got time for handshakes or dances or any of this bollocks. I’ve got a job to do, and you’re just in the way.”
You frowned for the first time, looking genuinely confused. “In the way? But I’m helping, aren’t I? I mean, who else is gonna keep you company while you do… whatever it is you do?”
Butcher opened his mouth to retort, but the words died on his tongue. You were right—well, sort of. He didn’t need company, but for some reason, you’d stuck around longer than anyone else ever had. And despite himself, he couldn’t completely hate it. Not that he’d ever admit that, of course.
“Look,” he said, trying to sound as stern as possible. “I’m a dangerous bloke, alright? People who get close to me end up gettin’ hurt. You’d do well to bugger off while you still can.”
You just grinned at him, completely unfazed. “Dangerous, shmangerous! I’m not going anywhere, Best friends stick together, Butcher!”
Butcher let out a long, suffering sigh. “Christ, you’re like a bloody tick…”
But despite his grumbling, he found himself continuing down the street, with you happily tagging along beside him, yapping away about something or other.
And as much as he tried to tune you out, he couldn’t help but catch bits and pieces of your chatter.
“—and then we could get matching jackets! Maybe something with skulls on the back, or flaming swords! Oh, and we definitely need a cool team name. How about ‘Butcher’s Team’? Or maybe ‘The Butcher Bunch’? No, wait! I’ve got it—‘The Grump and The Pup’!”
Butcher shook his head, half-amused despite himself. “You’re a right pain in the arse, you know that?”
“Yep!” you replied cheerfully. “But you love me anyway.”He scoffed, but there was no heat behind it.