#not even joking when i say twitter's reaction exhausted me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

anonquack · 4 years ago

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Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 1858

Warnings: None!

Summary: The twitter trending page brings attention to some feelings you and Quackity had been avoiding, but it also allows you two to admit said feelings.

As a fairly popular streamer, it wasn't uncommon to see your name on the Twitter trending page every once in a while. However, it had never been for something quite like this.

It was currently trending at #6, viewers going crazy over certain interactions that had happened during Quackity's stream.

Now, it wasn't uncommon for you to be on Quackity's streams, and it certainly wasn't uncommon for either of you to act the way you had acted during that night's stream. But something was obviously different this time around.

The trend was regarding a possible relationship between two content creators in the same community, and consisted of people freaking out over certain clips of that night's stream or other people bringing other clips from months prior explaining their theories on how this has been going on for months now.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, seeing the world associate you with Quackity in such a way. I mean, he was funny, and he was certainly attractive. But it didn't make it any less strange.

You had been scrolling through the trending hashtag, looking at the tweets and crazy theories some viewers had come up with, nervously biting at your nails, perhaps a laugh here and there at the tweets that were ridiculously far fetched.

That night's stream was like any other, a casual Jackbox stream with a few other content creators in the same friend group, a rather chill, yet chaotic, stream. It had started perfectly fine until halfway through, the jokes and verses shared didn't seem like jokes anymore, nor did they stop coming. It wasn't weird or uncommon for the viewers to witness you flirting with Quackity or vice versa. But it had never gone to this extent.

It was always a fair balance of "I hate you so much" mixed with flirty remarks here and there. That night's stream had just been nonstop flirting though. And at the moment it didn't seem too bad, it felt natural, you were comfortable behaving that way with Quackity.

After stream ended, everybody had said their goodbyes to each other and you'd gone to lay in bed to use your phone. Only to be slapped in the face with the fact that you and Alex were now trending because people were freaking out over the idea that you two might actually be dating or into each other.

How much of the bullshit you two were saying during the stream was actually real feelings and how much was for a bit? That was Twitter's current Hot Topic.

Watching the clips now made you realize how some were really out of pocket, and things that friends do not say to each other. Your hands moved on their own and soon enough, Bad was on the other end of the line, asking if you were okay.

"Bad," you breathed out after hearing his voice, "The people think Quackity and I are actually dating. Or into each other."

"Mm yeah, I saw on Twitter shortly after the stream ended.." He said, as you gently continued to bite at your nails.

"I.. rewatched the clips and I can kinda see why it was taken that way."

"I mean, it was just for a bit, no?"

"That's the thing."

".. What do you mean, Y/N?"

"It started off as a bit.. but lately it's been happening off stream too and.. I don't know. My feelings are all over the place and I'm just so confused."

Your small ramble was met with silence, Bad trying to do his best with this new information, and scrambling to look for supportive words that could help his friend.

"Oh–" He paused, before continuing, "Have you talked to him? Maybe try and see how he feels about it trending? Or just the fact that people think you guys are dating? His reaction could be telling of how he feels."

Bad's words were ringing against your temple. His suggestion was for you to straight up ask Quackity how he felt about being associated to you romantically. That sounded like an absolute nightmare.

After a few minutes and more reassuring words, the call ended and you felt this sense of courage wash over you. Bad had motivated you enough to feel like you were strong/brave enough to confront Quackity. Before anything could take place, you received a message from none other than Quackity.

Quackity Have you seen?

Y/N

Call me

It didn't take even a few seconds for your phone to start ringing.

"Y/N" He breathed out, it was obvious that this was affecting him as well. How, exactly? You weren't too sure. He could be bothered at the idea of dating, or maybe he was confused as well.

"They think we're dating." You said softly.

"They do."

There was silence for a bit before you spoke up again.

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I don't really mind it."

His words shocked you, but they came out with the same smoothness you had grown to like over the last few months. It was a tone he only used with you, whether it be during a stream where you two were bickering over stupid shit, or off stream just randomly talking and complimenting the other.

It was the tone he used late at night on call, the tone that sent shivers down your spine, interlacing and dripping down like honey, yet you'd shrug it off, claiming the AC was up too high.

After a moment, you finally respond.

"Yeah? How come?"

"They've thought that for several months now."

"But it doesn't bother you? They're shoving you into a relationship with your friend."

"Does it bother you?"

Silence again.

"No.."

"How come?"

"..don't know."

There was a small pause, you could hear your heart beating rapidly in your ears, scared of what he'd think at the small confession. But he didn't say anything, swiftly changing the topic instead.

"I watched the clips."

"Me too."

"I can see where they got those ideas from."

Silence. Before he continued.

"Y/N, there are clips that are months old. Just you and I flirting with each other. Me offering a kiss, you threatening to take my kiss privileges when I take a joke too far. You telling me to shut up, the random 'I miss you's and interactions on other people's streams, the way your voice softens when you join my late night streams just to talk to me.. so many different things."

As he talked, you couldn't help but close your eyes in- almost shame- nervously biting at your nails as multiple thoughts raced through your head, possible feelings that might have been buried in order to avoid any awkward confrontations. His listing continued and it only made you more anxious.

"I saw them. I saw, Quackity. I'm not fucking blind." Perhaps it came out harsher than you wanted, but he certainly wasn't helping.

His voice softened now, noticing the tone in your voice, but continuing to make his point. "And that doesn't even include the things we say off stream, Y/N."

There was silence ringing through the call once again. It was a moment for both of you to process everything that had been said so far. Try to decipher what it could possibly mean for the both of you.

"What does that mean, Alex?" Your voice no longer held that harsh tone to it, instead there was exhaustion. Having so many thoughts was draining.

"It could mean anything we want it to mean. I'm sorry for pushing all of this on you now, but twitter has just.. let's just say it's got me thinking."

His words made a small laugh escape your lips, and at the sound of your laugh, a small laugh left his lips as well.

"No, it's fine. I've been thinking about it too, and this conversation really helped clear up my confusion."

"What were you confused about?"

"My feelings. Y'know, towards you and stuff." The last part came out more as a mumble as you finally gave your nails a rest, letting your hand fall down onto your lap.

A small hum came from the phone's speaker, as if he was humming in agreement. "Then this cleared up my confusions as well."

Looking at the time, you realized that the two of you had been talking for a while now, and you were definitely feeling exhausted. He probably was too.

"Alex."

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I feel a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was.. nice, talking about this with you."

"I should thank you as well, you really.. opened my eyes."

This earned him a small laugh from you, before you sleepily rubbed at your eyes that were now stinging a bit.

"Lets sleep on it, yeah? There doesn't need to be any.. labels, or anything of the sort. We can figure it out along the way." You suggested.

He didn't say anything for a bit before he let out a small sigh. "Yeah, sounds good. But now that I've sort of acknowledged these feelings I was repressing, I'd eventually like to act on them."

"Of course. I do, too. But I'm just saying.. we don't have to do anything about it now. Lets just get some rest, hm? You sound pretty tired."

You lay on your bed, getting comfy with your blankets, half your face smudged into the pillow, phone resting on the pillow, speaker loud enough for you to hear his response.

"I am pretty tired. Are you going to sleep, too?"

"I am."

"Then.. lets fall asleep on call."

This wasn't necessarily strange, or uncommon. It was just that neither of you had really ever said it out loud, it just happened when you two had talked too late into the night and one of you eventually fell asleep. You felt a warmth spread across your chest, nodding before realizing he couldn't see you.

"We could do that."

There was shuffling at the other end of the line, presumably Quackity getting into bed.

After that, you two continued conversation, small talk regarding whether he had eaten today and what he had done prior to the jackbox stream, until eventually the two of you fell asleep.

There didn't have to be any labels yet, or any announcement to the viewers. What mattered was that you and Alex were comfortable, and that you figured out what both of you wanted, and whether or not it was being together.

You were in it for the long haul, as a friend or as a lover, you didn't know, nor did it matter. All you knew was that as long as Alex Quackity was present, everything would be alright. No matter any labels or Twitter trends.

In fact, perhaps the Twitter trends weren't too bad. It had made you realize your feelings for your cute friend that was now sleeping, on call with you, who knows how many miles away. It was a heartwarming thought.

When it comes to Alex Quackity, it is impossible to not give in at some point. Give in to the possibility of love and friendship. At your own paces.

#alex quackity #quackity #quackity x you #quackity x reader #quackity x y/n #gender neutral reader #quackity brainrot #quackity scenario #help pls #streamer #quackity headcannons #quackity imagines #no labels

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loquaciousquark · 4 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E125 (Feb. 16, 2021)

Goooood evening good evening good evening, all! I hope you’re all staying warm and safe and dry in this chilly weather. Tonight’s guests: Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey.

We open tonight with Travis ribbing Brian for his continuous remodel of his office space. Laura demands a second introduction of herself as she wasn’t paying attention during the first one.

Travis: “You’ve gotta love Julianne Moore. She’s the only actress who can cry and show you all her teeth at the same time.” I was listening pretty closely when he said this and I’m still not sure it had any context.

Jester thinks there’s a strong possibility at least half the party will die against the Tombtakers. Fjord doesn’t think the odds are quite that high, but it will be dangerous. Laura points out that most of the M9 are also willing to sacrifice themselves for the rest of the party, so that changes their odds as well. Travis: “The game is not a stress reliever. It is not a stress reliever. I mean, it’s fun as shit, but it is stressful!”

Laura thinks Essek will give them a better chance. Travis: “A plus-one? A powerful plus-one, but a plus-one?” Did you see his reaction when we gave him the lowdown? Let’s be real: we kinda trust Essek. I got $50 that when we come back, he’s gone.” Laura is convinced he is trustworthy & wants to lighten his soul.

Jester spent so much time trying to bring out the Molly side of Lucien that to have him then betray them sucked. She knew that trying to bring the good out of everyone they met would eventually fail, but it stung that it was the most powerful one they encountered to first betray them.

She tries to talk about finger gestures during the answer as a reference to the HBO show “Raised by Wolves,” and Brian and Travis tell her to keep digging this hole she gets herself into about fingering. Travis: “Just get off the interstate at the next exit and turn right.” Laura, of course, immediately mimes turning a hard left, and they spent the next few minutes laughing at her inability to tell right from left and that even now she still has to hold up her hands to tell left from right.

Fjord is furious that they nicked the Bag of Holding. The loss of Vess DeRogna is bad enough, but he is genuinely IRL anxious about the loss of the Cloven Crystal. Laura points out that Fjord has also explicitly talked to Lucien about the deep sea creature patron he used to follow as well. He’s terrified one of Lucien’s scimitars is suddenly going to have a big eye sticking out of it. Laura suggests they’ll just succeed, bring back the city, and wake up Uk’otoa for the heck of it.

It was really rough to go from the Gelidon fight to the Tombtaker fight, especially since the first fight sent so well. Travis felt great that he initiated the dragon fight - he knew they had a far advantage in the numbers and felt that it was an open and shut case.

Laura does boggle that if Caleb hadn’t asked for that item from the Bag of Holding, they might have slept all night before realizing it was gone. They’re both relieved that they now know so much more about how the Tombtakers fight, especially the anti-magic cone. The most anxiety-ridden part was when they were trying to run and the TTs weren’t letting them. “You know when you don’t even have squares, when Matt’s black-tableclothing it, you’re in deep shit.” Laura had no spells left - she was so worried if she dropped the polymorph she would have had nothing left.

Travis: “Thanks for healing me, babe.” Laura: “You’re welcome, baby. It was ultimately a waste, though, because we took a rest immediately and you could just spend your hit dice.” Everyone laughs at Travis’s pain. She does say it was worth it in the moment since they didn’t know if they would be able to get away.

They joke that Laura’s just wearing the Fire Resist ring on a chain around her neck/Sprinkle is wearing it now to keep it safe since she’s not attuned to it anymore. It’s pretty hilarious!

Travis hoped that the TTs were originally actively looking for more acolytes rather than just having Caleb & Beau read the book. Otis needs to die. He’s relieved they have an idea of what all their blood rites do. Laura thought the time with them was fun, but it makes her retroactively wish that she’d dropped Zoran in the lava when they had the chance. Travis wishes they’d put a chime on the door of the tower.

Laura loved the tarot card reading, since Taliesin sent her really detailed breakdowns of the cards & gave her a real deck for Christmas. Taliesin told her she did a great job afterwards which she really appreciated, since she’s not sure what she’s doing. She does wish that she knew why Lucien seemed so nervous when she was talking about rebirth.

Cosplay of the Week! @clever_comics on twitter with a lovely Veth in her snowy lavender-colored outfit and pigtails.

Travis on confessing to Jester: “It FUCKING made me crazy!” He’s never been an instigator of campaign romances in the past, but because he loves Laura and was able to connect to her on that level he felt like it was a good challenge instead. He doesn’t think he could have done it with someone he wasn’t comfortable with. It was also important to him for it to be founded on real-game moments and after real-game time had passed, and he felt it was a very natural progression. Seeing the statues rip five years from her in such a benign situation made him realize that to let the opportunity pass wouldn’t have been worth it. He wishes he’d told Vandran what he meant to Fjord as well.

Laura loves that Fjord is becoming more confident as well. The post-Gelidon smooch took Laura completely by surprise since she’s finding Jester is a little surprisingly awkward with IRL affection, and she was surprised Fjord was the confident one there. “It’s so wonderful. It’s a matter of finding a way to get comfortable with it with her away from the Tombtakers.” Travis thought it was important to continue the “go for it” mantra. He notes that he’s pretty private about his personal life IRL, so it’s been a bit of a shift. It’s slower in a way - not a “you’re my one true love” kind of thing, more of a “let’s see where this goes and act on what you can” thing.

They were all “poopin’ in their pants” to get to go to Emon. The worst part was not getting to explore outside the tower since they had to leave again immediately. Kima is so cool, and Travis was actively trying to get Kima to come with them. Everyone boggles that they got to borrow Allura’s staff.

Laura only was thinking about the item-tuned-to-the-target-plane because she’d been texting with Liam trying to iron out their spell choices. She’s so relieved that they were able to get something tuned to the Sea from Allura.

For the most part, Laura knows what spells are the most useful for Jester, but every now and then she does get caught by major component requirements that she hadn’t noted. She wants to get another chalice for Hero’s Feast before they go into the Sea.

Dani points out that a lot of their allies right now are mages (no Kashaws, no Kimas, no Grogs) and they’re heading to a bad place for mages.

Travis has a sudden brain wave about all the TTs being from the Claret Order and wonders if they should investigate that before they pursue. I don’t even remember what that order is and I feel terrible!

Fanart of the Week! It’s a beautiful card by @crovyne on twitter of the Cree counterspell.

Laura really wants Brian to shave the sides of his hair and do Viking braids in the rest. I didn’t want to say anything out loud, but Brian’s hair is really looking pretty...pandemicky.

This is Dani’s four-year-anniversary of her start for Critical Role! Awww, Dani! You’re so short in real life.

Fjord is stoked that the Star Razor is a Vestige, and more now that he knows in-character what that means. It was great to see Allura react the way she did.

Jester doesn’t think they can really go to Nicodranas - they don’t have anymore time. Even more, Jester’s avoiding going home because she doesn’t want the Ruby to see that she got aged up/hurt on her travels.

Travis honestly assumes that the TTs are spying on them 100% of the time now.

Does Jester feel better now that the crest is away from Lucien? Yes, even though it’s gone off course. She thought dropping the crest where they were was a HORRIBLE idea and was appalled so many people were suggesting it. She saw the city with her own eyes, knows the danger of what’s coming, and if they had dropped it in flight she would have dropped with it and defended it as long as she could if that’s what would have kept them from getting it.

Travis thinks that if they can negotiate with Lucien, they should try. Everyone is super worried about Caleb’s and Beau’s new eyes and are fully anticipating they’re on a clock at this point. They wonder if it’ll drive up their exhaustion, allow Lucien to force them to fight against them, maybe make them willing slaves to the mysterious voice...they need to solve it sooner rather than later.

And that’s all for tonight! New episode this Thursday - usual time, usual place. Stay warm, friends, and is it Thursday yet?

#talks machina #talks machina spoilers #critical role #critical role spoilers #long post for ts

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beevean · 4 years ago

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SEGA and its most recent Sonamy side – more canon than ever

[Translator’s note: this article was originally written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnik]

Hello again! Today we’d like to discuss about something that’s been happening recently, and probably taking Sonic fans by surprise: what is going on with SEGA and its stance about Sonamy?

At the beginning of this year, to celebrate the 200 articles on Seaside Hill Paradise, I finished what I call “the Sonamy trilogy” of articles that I started in 2018 and which cover different themes, such as:

SEGA and the eternal issue of the Sonic-Amy dynamic

“I love you” – Forbidden words in Sonic

SEGA and the eternal issue of “Sonic’s girlfriend”

The idea was to offer a more-or-less complete analysis about the many facets of their dynamic in the last 27 years; a dynamic that, you may have noticed, is not that easy to pin down, and that we’ve been updating almost regularly (although I also intended to investigate on other dynamics, like Knuckles and Rouge’s for example, and write about them). Generally speaking, in these articles I don’t draw objective conclusions about the status of the ship in canon (despite the fact that the available information tends to confirm it in various occasions). I also like to repeat myself and say that shipping is supposed to be for fun, not for tearing each other’s hair in that black hole of misery that is Twitter, but recent events left us slightly perplexed, and this is why we’re here once again.

We left the status of the Sonamy canonicity with these two peculiar instances back in August: Sonic mentioning his “girlfriend” in the Japanese version of Sonic Battle, and the Twitter account of SEGA of Europe saying Sonamy is their “favorite videogame romance”. Now, let’s recap a bit…

Sonamy in Sonic IDW... Round 3

[SPOILERS ALERT FOR IDW SONIC #14-#35]

In 2018, when IDW just started, I decided to study a little how the Sonamy dynamic worked in this new universe. To our surprise, the comic didn’t waste time in dropping its biggest bomb, in one of the cutest scenes we had seen in ages. Since the very beginning, IDW proved that it didn’t intend to deceive those fans that looked for a bit of development of both characters.

I wrote an article about it in June 2019, and it coincided with the beginning of one of the most infamous arc I’ve seen in a Sonic comic for a long time: the Metal Virus Saga. The question is, what has happened since then?

Well, in 2019, with the same accuracy of an aimbot, I said “We’ll probably see some new interactions between Sonic and Amy sometime around IDW #20”. And wouldn’t you know, as misery and tragedy settled in that arc, it was exactly around IDW #20 that we saw some Sonamy interactions: both exhausted, to their limit, with a Sonic that couldn’t even touch Amy to soothe her pain, due to him being infected with the virus.

The arc developed like this in what felt like an eternity, to finally conclude in one the most absurd ways in Sonic history. But it wasn’t a complete disappointment, as, after months and months of asking and discussing on the internet about how much Sonic and Amy deserved a hug at the end of the arc… it actually happened.

Since that moment in IDW #32, we shippers thought that it was what both of them deserved after so much time spent separated and pushed to their limit to survive, but also that after the end of the arc everything would go back to normal. However, what we didn’t know was that the Sonamy train had no intention of stopping, not in IDW, nor anywhere else.

A recurring detail in IDW Sonic is that Amy’s tail starts wagging every time she sees Sonic, as if she was a happy dog. I swear, it happens every time.

Come IDW #35, once again we have some hugs and bits of dialogue between our hedgehogs. For sure, the question here isn’t their relationship itself, as it was for IDW #2, but rather the issues this arc is slowly dealing with. But it’s really nice to see them again, sharing that closeness that they’ve had in the comic since the beginning– be it with some gestures of affection, a wink, a gesture, a private joke.

My favorite image is the first one, Belle’s reaction to seeing Amy hugging Sonic. It’s like she’s thinking “oh, is she his girlfriend?”, and she wouldn’t even be wrong in thinking that.

It can’t be denied that IDW Sonic provided us the conversations and the emotions that the games seldom do. Certainly, the comic has its share of issues and it’s not really a story that I personally follow for its own merits (it’s more because it’s still Sonic, for my interest for things like this, and Belle’s existence… whom I already ship with Tails, sorry not sorry), but what it does well it does really well.

For now, we have to see how IDW Sonic will follow the development of the characters, especially in view of the closure of the current story and beyond. And we may be done with this part of the article, but there is still a lot left.

Sonamy in merchandise

Taking us completely by surprise, recently SEGA launched, in collaboration with Hot Topic, a series of Sonamy-themed t-shirts. No, seriously.

So many people told me this as soon as the voice spread (you know who you are, thank you guys for thinking about me <3), and I can’t help being still surprised that this is actually a thing. T-shirts with lines like “You’re my favorite”, “Love in the fast lane”, and my personal favorite, “S&A Forever”, with drawings of Classic Sonic and Amy… in SEGA-approved products. I don’t know if you realize how much of a big deal this is, even more than “Celebrate the 25 years of Sonic’s girlfriend” from 2018.

One of the things that surprised me the most (aside from how explicit they are in officializing the relationship, and the fact that there are still 2 months left before Valentine’s Day 2021), was the decision to use Classic Sonic and Classic Amy. I tried to understand this decision by analyzing the simplicity and easiness with which the Classic designs convey a message (let’s not forget that Classic Sonic was so iconic because it was specifically designed to convey his expressions without words), besides the fact that they’re inherently cuter than their modern designs. There’s also the controversial aspect of post-Adventure Sonamy, with all the dubbing and weird interpretations that the fandom made over the years… By comparison, the Classic design are a much simpler choice.

What is actually going on?

Well, let’s take a step back and think about what we just saw. The way SEGA has been recently trying to push Sonic and Amy in front view (and for the entirety of 2020, based on the articles I mentioned in the beginning) tells us the harsh truth we all have to accept sooner or later: Sonamy sells, and it sells a lot.

From a strictly business point of view, the ship is so iconic and popular, with fans and detractors alike, that it would be absurd for SEGA to ignore the chance to print these two characters and get a load of money. As I said in my 2018 article, despite the fact that in Japan Sonic isn’t as big of an icon as it is elsewhere, they know pretty well that Sonic + Amy = love, and they have huge amounts of merchandise to back it up. It’s in the West that because of different cultural values, of which we’ve already talked about, along with some internal resistance, left this aspect of the franchise a little on the side. But they’ve been trying to fix it… and how…

Let’s not forget that a decade and a half ago Sonic Team seriously favored Sonamy. They officially said it, Sonic X was their purest view of Sonic they had at the time.

Outside of the business perspective, I believe we’re facing the moment that we’ve been waiting for: it’s time they’ll establish once and for all the dynamic of these two characters, following more closely the original Japanese vision of Sonic. I said many times that, in trying to change canon, the West, especially SEGA of America, did nothing but confuse fans and generate more discussions than needed, by introducing different data and portrayals that contradict the canon established by Sonic Team.

We’ve talked about Unleashed and emotional support, about Sonic X, about the major moments that opened the door to interpreting this dynamic as something more. We don’t threaten at gunpoint those who would rather stay away, but we respond to those declarations that still try to violently discredit the simple fact that Sonic and Amy, who are most of all close friends, form in some measure a couple that, even with its imposed limitations, manages to captivate fans and not fans everywhere in the world. Even the Simpsons used it as a joke, and that says a lot.

What the future has in store for us.

Unless something else happens in this last month of 2020, this is the most complete compilation I can offer at the moment about the status of Sonamy in the fandom and in the official canon. Yes, canon.

It’s impossible to ignore the signals. As you may have noticed, I’ve been considering Sonic and Amy as an official couple, with its clarifications (for example, that at the end it’s more of a friendship, that it’s not a romantic relationship in the most explicit way, that it’s more of a personal perspective to justify a more mature vision of the relationship in the future, not right now), but nowadays I think that SEGA has spoken loud and clear. I think canon is ready to negotiate the idea that Sonic and Amy, apart from being excellent friends who would risk their lives for each other in a heartbeat, have something else on their hands (probably the other’s hand). This won’t automatically translate into a kiss, or a complete love declaration (although Sonic X came close…), or a commitment to a formal relationship like we know them in real life. SEGA canon affirms that Amy is “Sonic’s girlfriend” and nothing more. Outside of that detail, they still pretty much function as friends interacting with a little flirting here, and a little Sonic running away there. It’s the basis of their dynamic, now enhanced by the fact that SEGA is giving us a clearer message.

I think that this all may culminate in a game or an animated series, but I wouldn’t completely count on that. It is good to recognize how far the official position goes on this issue, but at the same time I want to reaffirm that there are things that are better left in the hands of the fandom, and in the meantime that IDW or any other continuity gives us hugs, winks, gestures and words of encouragement, we as the fandom will take care of exploring other avenues and hypothetical scenarios.

This is all I have to say on the matter for now, and I hope you’re happy with this wonderful Sonamy experience we’re going through – I certainly am. See you next time!

#sonic the hedgehog #sonamy #amy rose #translation #long post #whew #this one was a doozy #but super interesting #thanks again latin for writing these long ass sonamy posts

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alwaysbeliev · 4 years ago

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Oh, Arthur

pairing: Arthur x Reader

summary: Reader lives a high society life and is tired of it. When they meet a man so intriguing they can't help but let him steal a place at their dinner table, they start to hope that, maybe, there is something else to their life. Instead, they hurt him more than they may ever know.

word count: 3026

warnings: non-explicit NSFT, vague descriptions of NSFT

notes: I pulled the prompt for this from a list of phrases. I knew the general idea of what I wanted to do with it, and it took on its own life. Congratulations, Reader, you're Mary 2.0.

link on AO3

Noonday sun pierced between the curtains of the front room. The chatter of the small tea party around you was a distant hum, your focus on the spoon you held in your hand. Absentmindedly, you stirred the sugar into your tea, hardly aware of the soft clinking against the cup. Your mind was elsewhere.

Pressed against the wall, chest heaving, he kissed along your jawline and down your neck, pausing to nibble at the soft space where your neck met your shoulders. You couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp, lips parted, hands gripping the sleeves of his shirt. He smiled against your skin and exhaled, making you shiver.

The sound of your name caused your head to snap up to attention.

“Did you hear what Mrs. Hearst asked you?” Your mother stared at you expectantly. The look in her eyes was begging you to not embarrass her, but you had truthfully missed what the woman in question had asked. Heat rushed to your cheeks and you quickly pulled an apologetic smile.

“I’m so sorry,” you said graciously, dipping your head slightly, “my mind is with the clouds today. Would you mind repeating your question?”

“Oh, I do hope we’re not boring you.” Mrs. Hearst pursed her lips, accentuating the creased lines along her face that had no doubt been created solely from this repeat action. “As I was saying, my darling Charlotte has traveled to the West and is already meeting many men. She has already had three suitors calling at the door! Her brother is beside himself with contempt. Perhaps you, too, would like to go west? Unless there is someone here you have not shared with us?”

Her question hung in the air. The room was full of your mother’s friends and their children, though the rest of them were still too young to have to worry about meeting a potential spouse. You hated this conversation topic. It was always bound to come up when you had tea with these people, it was expected now after more than a few months, and you were tempted to start feigning ill when they came around.

Truthfully, you had met someone. He was the reason you were barely paying attention today. But if your family knew the type of man he was, that you were consorting with him, that you were fucking him… It was a subject you could never mention. It would ruin the family, and that was far too important a reputation to destroy. So, instead, with a barely concealed tartness, you replied, “I have not yet met someone, no, but perhaps I will write your Charlotte and help myself to her leftovers.”

A sharp gasp rang collectively around the room. Even the youngest of the children froze in their quiet playing, turning to see what had caused such a reaction among the adults, and your mother looked downright furious. It was rude to say, you knew that, but it was hot in this room and you were tired of being under a microscope once a week. There was someplace else you would much rather be.

“Perhaps you could do with some fresh air,” your mother hissed, her attempt to sound concerned for your sudden outburst not going unnoticed by some of the others. “The heat must be getting to your head.”

You gratefully took her invitation to leave, excusing yourself to the room in general. As you pushed back your chair and stood, you saw the nasty look Mrs. Hearst gave your mother and felt just a twinge of guilt; it wasn’t her fault you misbehaved. You were simply overwhelmed and didn’t appreciate being pushed around.

The air felt better in the hallway, but you carried on to the back door, stepping out onto the modest deck your father had built last summer. “For entertaining,” he had claimed, but it was primarily used for poker games amongst the men. Bright light hit your face and you blinked rapidly for a moment to adjust. It wasn’t much cooler out here, but the air moved and provided a relief from the prying words.

Taking in a deep breath, you closed your eyes and tilted your chin up, soaking in the shade and breathing in the summer air. Birds twittered in the air around you, fluttering from tree to tree. Carriages pulled by horses trundled by in front of the house, the cobblestones making a distinct clattering sound against the carefully designed wheels. Squirrels scrambled up and down tree trunks in the meticulously landscaped yard.

Flat on your back, you hungrily drank in the appearance of the man hanging over you, desperate to take in every detail of his face. His honey brown hair fell over his forehead, almost reaching his eyes as he trapped your wrists on either side of your head. His intense blue-green eyes matched the hunger in yours as he locked gazes with you. He had stubble on his chin that had been scratching your skin deliciously.

“Are you ready?” he asked, voice rough with impatience and need. You couldn’t even muster up the words to answer him, nodding vigorously as he kneeled closer to you.

“I hope you’re happy!”

The shrill sound of your mother’s voice snapped you out of your reverie. You hoped the redness on your cheeks could be excused by the temperature of the air.

“I hope she’s happy, sticking her nose into peoples’ personal business like that,” you rebutted.

“I won’t be hosting next week’s tea,” she snapped back. “And I have been very clearly not invited to the next party at the Clemens’. I don’t know where you got this sharp tongue, but you had better put it back! And quick!” With that, she whirled back inside, no doubt to try and garner sympathy from the remaining stragglers. Knowing her, she would be reinvited to the party just in time to get a new evening gown for it. Your father would be relieved at not having to go, and would grumble to you afterwards about having been forced to go anyway.

The predictability of this life was draining. You were exhausted from the parties, the expectations, the demands. Was it not enough to simply exist? Surely there was more to everything than the finest silks, the most expensive meat, the purest horses.

On an excursion you had enjoyed much more than your mother, you had seen a man outside the grocery in Strawberry. He was tall, rugged, and the most handsome you had ever seen. You had made eye contact and he raised his eyebrows, almost challenging you to approach. It had been difficult to stop yourself from smiling as you ducked your head, attempting to return your focus to the trinkets your mother was pointing out to you. His gaze continued to burn a hole in the back of your head.

Later that evening, you ate dinner in the hotel lodge, listening to your mother tear apart the decor of the room and flavor of the food. It was the cheapest meal you had ever eaten in your life, you were sure, but by far the most filling. She excused herself to bed early, leaving you to finish alone. Out of nowhere, the man from earlier slid into her vacant seat, setting a plate of his own at her place.

“Excuse me--” You tried to sound indignant, but he interrupted you.

“Forgive me if I misread your look earlier,” he drawled, “but I took it as an invitation. And I think it’d be mighty rude of you to decline, seein’ as I already have my food.”

The bluntness caused you to laugh, almost involuntarily, and he had been allowed to stay. You got along almost immediately. He was charming, his laugh deep and hearty, his manners surprising you. Up close, you could see the scars on his face, the dirt and grime of a man who rode a horse most of his days, the tanned skin from being outside for hours. He introduced himself as Arthur, but when you asked for his last name, he refused to give it. There was a strange air of secrecy to him that drew you in and made you lose track of time.

Before you knew it, the lights in the dining room were being extinguished. The waiter approached and apologized, but they were closing up and politely invited you to enjoy wine refreshment in the lobby. Nerves suddenly returned to you and you defaulted to the upstanding citizen of society you knew how to be.

“I’m sorry, my mother must be wondering where I got to.”

“Why? She seemed a lot more interested in getting the hell out of here.”

His lack of a filter surprised you, but you realized he was right. She hadn’t once responded to your fruitless efforts to lighten the mood and find the positives. It was clear she had no interest in remaining here much longer. She was probably already asleep and wouldn’t notice you were missing until she was awake again.

“I got my own room.” It was Arthur’s turn to appear shy. Despite his forward statement, he almost seemed to regret it. “We could, uh, keep talkin’ there. If you wanted.”

Talking, you definitely wanted to do. You agreed, joking lightly about your honor as a single person entering the bedroom of a man, but you found yourself following him. His room was on the opposite end of the hall from yours, your mother’s right beside yours. Neither light was on. The giddiness settled in your chest and you played with the buttons on your sleeve.

Talking, you definitely did. For about five minutes. You barely had a chance to blink when Arthur was suddenly kissing you. And you kissed him back. It wasn’t much longer until neither of you were dressed.

It had been three months since that first meeting. You had since learned much more about Arthur. He was an outlaw, running with Dutch van der Linde’s gang. He had been for a long time, and you found out after seeing a wanted poster with names of gang members listed on it. You had learned his last name, too. Morgan. He spilled everything when you brought it up after your third encounter, clothes piled on the floor, blankets mussed up around your two bare forms on the bed. Despite his appearance, Arthur was well-spoken and kind, and he was always aware of your feelings.

Standing on the porch, you wanted nothing more than to see him again, the itch to get away driving you mad. Torn, you debated running away again. Nobody would question your borrowing of a horse, you knew that wouldn’t be difficult, but you dreaded the interrogation you would have to be submitted to upon your return. The summer heat was starting to get to your head.

“A-Arthur,” you moaned, hands clenched tightly on ruffled sheets, not even caring who might hear. The pace was driving you towards the edge, you could feel the build-up in your core. He showed no signs of slowing down as he thrust. His own pleasure was clear on his face and it only served to push you closer.

You nearly left a cloud of dust behind you as you left the porch for a horse. It would be worth the interrogation.

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

You were barely in the door of the hotel room before you were grabbing at the cowboy’s shirt, tugging him closer to you and kissing him. You felt the chuckle in his chest more than you heard it as he shut the door.

“Slow down, darlin’,” he said between each kiss. “We just got here, there ain’t no rush.”

“Missed you,” you breathed. Your hands pawed desperately, almost like they were trying to uncover some distraction from the turmoil inside. Arthur hadn’t caught on yet; this was the normal interaction. Sex was first, the talking came second. The grin on his face was intoxicating, drawing you in, and you felt your entire body flush.

“I missed you, too.” His hands held either side of your face as his lips came crashing against yours. You couldn’t hold him tight enough, he wasn’t close enough, you wanted so much more. Every place he touched burned, his finger tips at the base of your head, his thumbs brushing your cheeks, it was overwhelming. You fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. He paused, gently grabbing your hands in his. “Slow. Down.”

“I can’t,” you whined, the heat in you bubbling to the surface. “I need this. More. You.”

Arthur hesitated. He studied your face for a moment, looking for...something. With a heart-dropping change in expression, he scoffed, “I’m a goddamn fool. Jesus..” He dropped your hands and stepped away, taking his hat off to run a hand through his hair.

“What..?”

You were still breathing heavily, your body confused by the direction change, hands still searching for something to grab. Brow furrowed, you tried to close the gap between the two of you, but he refused to look at you anymore. You drew a shaky breath to steady yourself.

“Arthur, what is it?”

“I can’t believe this.” The tone of his voice was difficult to place. There was the obvious anger, which you didn’t understand, but there was also a strange touch of sadness. It almost sounded like he was beating himself up about something. “I should’ve known after Mary…”

Mary Linton. You had heard of her, he had mentioned her before, but beyond knowing it was a failed relationship, you had little to no context for her. It had ended on mutual terms, you thought. It still wasn’t enough for you to piece together what was going through his head. You had both been ready to go, this was how it was, you were going to have to wash your underthings when you got home just from the first five minutes.

“Arthur,” you finally snapped, “what’s wrong?”

He stiffened up. You could see his fists clench and unclench before his entire body relaxed and he turned, resigned, to face you. The look of defeat and poorly hidden hurt drove a knife into your chest.

“We can’t keep doing this,” he said. His voice was heavy, laced with context you didn’t know.

“Doing what?”

“This. Sneakin’ off to some hotel, screwing each other, and then going our separate ways like nothin’ matters. Like I don’t matter.”

A pit grew in your gut. Part of you knew what he was saying, but you believed it was deeper than that. Surely, there was more to it than that.

“You do matter,” you managed to say. “You matter to me.”

He laughed, short and derisive, disbelieving. Shaking his head, he made eye contact, gaze sharp.

“All I’m good for is pretending like you’re standing up to your parents.” He shifted his weight, hands coming to rest on his belt, a comfortable position for him. A safe position. “Mommy and Daddy don’t know where you are or what you’re doin’. All you’re doin’ is using me. And I ain’t gonna let it happen again.”

You expected tears to come to your eyes. It was hurtful, what he said, and absolutely not the truth. Instead, anger flared in your chest, rising to your head and making you lightheaded again.

“You’re not just some toy--”

“Oh, I’m not just some toy? How very kind of you to say. Tell me, what did you and Mommy fight about this time? Because you know she’s gonna forget about it before you get home.”

The pattern was suddenly clicking together in your head. Each time you had met up with Arthur was directly after your mother had done something to drive you over the edge. It wasn’t always an argument, but this was your escape. In some secret fashion, this activity was better than just reading a book or meeting with your friends for an hour of gossip time. You were able to let off physical pressure and nobody else knew what you were doing.

Silent for too long, Arthur shook his head and moved to go.

“I hope y’all figure it out,” he told you. “Don’t bother writin’.”

“Wait!” you shouted, much louder than you needed to. He stopped, hand on the doorknob. “It wasn’t-- It wasn’t like that. I care about you, Arthur.”

“Please,” he muttered, a quiet venom lacing his words, “don’t flatter yourself. You’d better get cleaned up before you go home.” A snap of the door was all he left behind.

You felt empty, hollow. There was a strange aching in your chest now, the brief anger gone as quickly as it had arrived, leaving the dull truth of what he had said. You hadn’t wanted to admit it, you had connected so well with him. He was a friend, you rationalized, you had felt more than just a physical connection. You had an understanding. You couldn’t muster up the energy to cry. You had fucked up, you knew that now, but it was too late. Arthur made it very clear he didn’t want anything to do with you anymore.

For a while, you laid on the bed, watching the light shift around the room as the sun descended, eventually bathing the room in an orange glow. You knew the sun would be gone soon, and your mother would raise a huge fuss if you weren’t home for dinner. Gathering your courage, you left the room, thanking the clerk at the desk as you handed back the key. He had a look on his face that you tried to avoid reading into.

You returned to your normal life with a heavy heart that night. Arthur Morgan, the outlaw with a huge bounty on his head, had come into your life like a much needed sunny day. He had invited himself in and you welcomed him with open arms. But you used him as an umbrella, shielding yourself from the storm that was your existence and identity, sure that somehow, this would protect you. You pushed him too far, you realized that now, and, full of holes, he left your life, tired and worn out.

#arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan reader insert #rdr2 reader insert #arthur morgan #rdr2 #angel writes

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florrickandassociates · 3 years ago

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TGF Thoughts-- 5x07: And the fight had a detente...

This episode is a wild ride, so if you haven’t seen it yet and you aren’t spoiled, don’t read this. Just go watch it.

Ave Maria plays over a photo montage of cancelled men, including Kevin Spacey, Louie CK, and Scott Rudin. (Scott Rudin, if you don’t know the name, is a Broadway/Hollywood producer who treated his assistants like absolute shit. He’s the inspiration for the possessed producer episode of Evil—I think it’s the third episode of the series—and Robert King does not like him one bit.)

And then the episode opens with Wackner, Del, and Cord discussing the Armie Hammer cannibalism ordeal. Whew, this is not what I wanted to be thinking about first thing on a Thursday morning. I do not think I can put into words how boring I find debating whether or not someone should have been “cancelled.” Cancellation is usually about rich people facing consequences for shitty actions, and those consequences have never involved anyone’s rights being infringed upon, so why should I care about someone being cancelled? And, while I know that society/people on Twitter don’t always understand nuance, I’d like to think that when it comes to the most notable examples of cancellation... no one is losing their livelihood over false or minor allegations.

There are so, so, so many issues in the world. Cancellation affects a handful of high profile, usually white, straight, male, celebrities. Why should I give a shit about, like, Louie CK not being able to make as much money as he used to? I just do not and cannot find it interesting.

I’m not surprised David Cord and Del Cooper find this topic interesting—Del likely hates worrying that all of his comedians could get cancelled and put him in a financially tricky spot; Cord probably says things like “Woke Mob” unironically. And as for Wackner, he almost certainly has a skewed understanding of what actually happens when someone’s cancelled and sees a place where he can step in and add some order. Blah. It’s just so boring.

"People are getting canceled without a trial, no evidence presented against them,” Wackner says. This is not it, Wackner! This is such a strawman argument. We don’t need the legal system to adjudicate people being assholes to each other, and in cases where a crime is committed or a particular individual can sue for damages, that is what happens. If you act shitty and then your sponsors realize you’re toxic and drop you, like, it is what it is. You can feel free to respond via a Notes App screenshot where half of your apology is actually just whining about cancel culture and then you say “I’m sorry if anyone took offense at what I did” instead of saying “I’m sorry I said/did hurtful things” and when people don’t take that seriously, maybe it’s because you didn’t take it seriously, either.

“There are a lot of reasons these accusations never go to trial. The victims finally get to accuse the victimizer face to face,” Wackner explains. Were the victims asking for this?

Marissa shares my question, noting that if the victims don’t want to speak up, then the victimizer would have the court to himself. This raises a new question: who is even bringing these cases? Are Wackner, Cord, and Del just deciding they want to do things as cases and then getting everyone else on board? This sounds bad!

Apparently, according to Wackner, “if #MeToo relies on mob rule, it’ll exhaust itself.” What... evidence is there for this? I get why people panic about the POSSIBILITY of this happening, even though I don’t share their panic, but is there any actual evidence that #MeToo is losing steam because of false allegations because cancellation isn’t a formal process? I don’t believe there is.

The test case we have the pleasure of seeing this week is about “Louie CK two,” whom I shall refer to as LCK2 instead of learning his name.

Now, suddenly, Marissa is asking one of LCK2’s victims to testify. She doesn’t want to participate because it’s just another way for LCK2 to get his career back. Marissa decides to be idealistic and say this is a real opportunity to confront LCK2 with his crime. I suppose she isn’t wrong, and that is what happens next, but, again, meh.

Apparently David Cord is going to defend LCK2. You know what would get cancelled in five seconds? A David Cord funded show that has David Cord actually on it, railing against cancel culture! Can you IMAGINE the thinkpieces?

God, when is this episode going to move on from this extremely irritating premise?

Marissa decides she wants to be the prosecutor. Wackner says if she prosecutes LCK2, she has to prosecute the academic who used a word that sounds like the n-word and lost her job for it. Marissa thinks the academic shouldn’t have been fired, but Wackner insists she has to take both cases.

“Let’s go into court,” Wackner says, and, thank goodness, we do go into court: REAL court, where we are talking about REAL issues.

In court, Liz and Diane are suing the police over the death of a black girl who was tased by the police. Her friend is on the stand and it’s quite emotional. Also, Diane tries to pass Liz a note and Liz ignores it. Why would you have two name partners on this case if they aren’t even going to try to work together?

You can tell things are tense between two TGF characters when they talk at the same time in court but are on the same side.

Hiiiiii Abernathy! ILY!

The victim had a heart condition, which the police lawyer argues is the actual cause of death. Police lawyer also argues that since this witness posted some ACAB lyrics on Instagram, she must be biased. Eyeroll.

Liz calls the other lawyer racist; the other lawyer tries to make Liz look like she is only on her client’s side because she’s black and that Liz is being absurd.

Cancel culture court happens. We’re dealing with the academic case first. I don’t feel like talking about the cancel culture shit too much, so here is my take on this case as a whole: (1) I don’t think the actual word in question, which isn’t actually the n-word, is enough on its own to get someone fired (2) I also don’t think anyone can use that word, regardless of its meaning or history, without understanding how it will come across. (3) The teacher did not get fired for simply using this word once (4) This teacher believes that anyone who is from a group that’s been marginalized in history should have to confront that marginalization with as little sympathy and respect as possible because it will help them be more resilient. So basically, if you are from the dominant group then you don’t get challenged. She believes it is her job to do this. She is an egotistical asshole who has no business teaching.

Cord wants everyone to have to say the full word in question. He says this pretentiously (though I don’t think saying “Said word” is that pretentious, tbh) and Wackner rules against him and also makes him wear a powdered wig for using “obtuse language.”

Marissa is not trying at all with this case at first, since she doesn’t believe in it. That’s shitty, Marissa. If you want to be a lawyer at a firm like RL you’re going to have to fight for all of your clients.

Marissa makes a Latin joke and ends up in a powdered wig, too.

The prof says, in one sentence, that she didn’t know what she was doing using the word and also that the black student who took offense thinks college is supposed to be warm, cuddly, and unchallenging. So it was a challenge, then, prof?

I like this student. And I love that she calls Marissa out for obviously not trying.

“The optics matter. Racially,” Diane says to Liz, who agrees. Diane, strategically, makes it about gender first (the cop is male, some jurors may react to a woman questioning a man), then makes it about how she should be the one questioning the cop since Liz is black. It would make the jury more “comfortable” (hey, there’s that word again!) Diane says. She says she is being pragmatic.

Diane says that she could be “more dispassionate”. Be or come across as, Diane? Either way, Liz, who knows full well what the optics look like given that this isn’t her first time in court, doesn’t agree with Diane that they need to come across as dispassionate.

Then Diane just changes the subject to the firm drama. “Liz, you’re shoving me out of my name partner position because of my race.” Like that’s the issue!

“I am doing nothing. You are the one who got our racist clients to whine to STR Laurie about us,” Liz counters. “Those clients bring in a great deal of money, and they are not racists,” Diane insists. Yes. Sure. Diane just happened to choose white male clients who were “comfortable” with her to talk to. I have no doubt they’d have reacted poorly to any change in representation, but Diane was counting on those particular clients having some discomfort with their new lawyers.

Liz calls her out and Diane’s still trying to play it like she just had to inform her long-term clients and it just had to be done this way. But, when Liz asks if Diane thinks the clients would’ve had the same reaction if their new representation were to be white, Diane says that maybe her clients are worried about racial grudges. So, what you’re saying is you knew exactly what you were doing, huh, Diane?

I get why Diane doesn’t like being pushed out, because who would, but Diane, this isn’t about you. And if you didn’t want to make it about race, perhaps you shouldn’t have appeared on a panel about how great it is that your firm is majority black? You can’t have it both ways.

Liz notes that Diane felt “entitled” to her name partnership. This is accurate, though based on revenue and stature I don’t think it can be denied that Diane deserves name partner status (generally speaking). Diane went over to RBK, was like, “sure, I’ll be a junior partner, thank you so much for the opportunity, I can’t even pay my capital contribution right now but what if I were name partner in three months?” and that is both entitlement and knowing one’s own worth, but mostly entitlement.

(Liz does not act entitled, but if we want to get into who deserves their partnership more—again generally speaking, not their partnership at a black firm specifically—it is definitely Diane! Liz literally only has this job because her dad was important.)

“I think that Barbara Kolstad was shoved out because you felt entitled to her position,” Liz shouts. OMG, a mention of Barbara?!?!?!??!?!? THANK YOU, WRITERS!!!

(This is a slight bit of revisionist history but I’ll allow it, and I think it’s right in thought even if it’s not right on the details. Barbara wasn’t shoved out—Barbara chose to go to a different firm that offered her a better deal—but I don’t think Barbara would’ve been on that trajectory had it not been for Diane’s presence at the firm. Barbara was in charge of a firm that shared her values when, suddenly, her partner decided that they needed to pursue profit over all else and needed Diane to execute that strategy. Maybe no one made a move directly against her, but Adrian and Diane changed the mission of RBK until it was no longer somewhere Barbara wanted to work.

“We can’t work together if you don’t respect me,” Diane screams at Liz. “No, we can’t work together if you use race cynically,” Liz responds. Diane gets even angrier, swears a bunch, and then says “You want to come after me, you come after me with an honest argument about my lack of competence, my lack of worth.” Diane, you are fighting a completely different battle here! You can be entitled and also correct and also good at your job. This is what you used to accuse Alicia of all the time. The fact you’ve turned this into something about your skill level when it’s about the meaning of having a black firm is only proving Liz’s point.

“Your unworthiness—which you don’t seem to want to acknowledge—is that you can’t be the top dog in a black firm,” Liz says. Exactly. But Diane just storms off.

Now the cop is on the stand. He did not know the victim had a heart condition. Uh, obviously, why would he have known that?

Liz is aggressive in court; Diane thinks this is the wrong strategy. Without knowing who is on the jury, I have no idea which one of them is correct.

The next move is to get the cop’s ex-wife, who he abused, on the stand.

Goodie, it’s cancel culture court. Things go well for Marissa, but Del wants to know why Marissa wasn’t that passionate about the n-word case. Marissa says she feels like it’s not the n-word, like that is a valid reason to not represent your client to the best of your ability. “It is. It always is,” says Del.

Marissa heads back to RL, and as she walks, the camera follows her and moves through the space until we end up in Liz’s office, where she gets a news alert about the cop from the COTW. He’s been killed, seemingly in retaliation for his actions. The news is quick to suggest the trial might’ve encouraged the killing. “Oh, fuck.” Diane says as she watches the news. Aaaand credits (at 20 minutes in!)

From the promos, I thought this was going to be a Very Serious Episode about police brutality. From the opening, I thought it was going to be an insufferable episode about cancel culture. I was wrong! (Though, I suppose, some of the cancel culture stuff is still insufferable.)

Yay for Carrie Preston, who directed this episode. I read an interview with her and she talked about how there’s a “look book” for directing TGF episodes and I have never wanted to see anything as badly as I want to see this look book. (Am I exaggerating? Probably. But I might not be.)

After credits, Marissa finds Carmen and Jay to ask them if “n-word-ly" is offensive. She acknowledges she’s being annoying but they let her continue anyway. Jay finds it offensive. Carmen does not. This seems fitting with their characters, and I love that this scene acknowledges that not every black person is going to have the exact same reaction to everything.

I want Carmen to have more to do! While I’m glad the show isn’t forcing her to have a large role in every plot just because, I feel like she’s gone missing for the middle part of the season. My guess is that their priority with Carmen is setting her up to be an ongoing part of the cast who grows into being someone we want a lot from rather than forcing her plots from the start... but surely we could get a little more of her! I doubt she’s a one-season character like I assume Wackner will be.

The cop’s murder changes the vibe in court. Abernathy calls a moment of silence in his memory. “We’re fucked,” Liz whispers to Diane.

And indeed they are. The cop’s ex no longer wants to talk about how abusive he was—she wants to talk about how great he was. Whose idea was it to still put her on the stand?! Idk about legal procedures but this seems like a really avoidable mistake!

Diane argues that the cop’s death has prejudiced the jury. Abernathy decides to call a “voir dire de novo,” using an obtuse Latin phrase that would not be permitted in Wackner’s court. (Love the little parallels in this episode, like this, the transition between courts earlier, and how much of Marissa being called out on her whiteness feels like a thematic extension of everything going on with Diane.)

Cancel culture court continues. Carmen shows up.

I don’t really get how June, the victim of LCK2, potentially losing a headlining gig for a bad set instead of retaliation from LCK2, scores him a point. One, if she was a rising store, one bad set shouldn’t have damned her career. Two, isn’t it enough to prove that he masturbated in front of women who didn’t want him to do that???????

Having June perform her act with no prep in Wackner’s court so they can judge whether or not she is funny is a wildly bad idea. So now Wackner is an arbiter of humor as well as cancel culture?

This whole system is silly and I reject the whole premise but June should not lose two points for the logic that Wackner + the audience don’t find June funny --> June must’ve had her career derailed because she just isn’t funny (how’d she book the headliner gig, then?) --> LCK2 scores points??? He still masturbated in front of her without her consent!

Using cancel culture to show Wackner’s court is going too far/slipping into bad territory: I’m on board with this. Using Wackner’s court to actually comment on cancel culture: Ugh. The writers seem to be trying to do both.

Lol at Abernathy having Stacey Abrams’ book on his desk.

Marissa argues the n-word case more passionately, because these writers love to make situations that seemed clear cut seem more uncertain. It’s no coincidence they have the sexual harassment case look murkier (though, again, June being bad at comedy does not negate the sexual harassment!) right before they have the n-work case begin to tilt in favor of the professor’s cancellation.

Hahah what bullshit about trying to prepare the students for a world that won’t be kind to them. Do you seriously think your black students need YOU to prepare them?

This lady thinks history classes have to describe rapes in detail to get students to sympathize. No, no they fucking do not.

She also says she’d use the n-word if she were teaching a topic where it might come up. Um, no?

Mr. Elk (this is what I call Ted Willoughby, Idiot Reporter, after he said “things of that elk” in his first appearance) is attacking Diane and Liz on his show. Diane and Liz are, apparently, “Marxist slip-and-fall lawyers” and Mr. Elk plays a clip of Diane saying cops need to be held accountable. Obviously, this was before the cop’s death and meant to be about the legal system, but it looks like Diane’s calling for his murder. I also love how they go out of their way to only pause the clip on unflattering frames of Diane.

Liz wants to use this in court—I forgot that Liz is super sneaky but this tracks; she is always quick to use things to her advantage and we’ve known that about her since her strategy with the DNC in 2x07 (to make outlandish allegations and then drop them before presenting proof). Julius wants to get Liz and Diane security.

That security is, apparently Jay. I think they’ve shown Jay as security before when Lucca went viral. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.

I was, briefly, worried for Liz and Diane’s safety, especially after I saw all the angry cops waiting for them in court. Then I thought, oh, well at least they’re in court, they should be safe from being shot there. Then I remembered 5x15. Then I laughed at myself.

Liz’s new strategy works and Abernathy uses more Latin. But, they can’t get any more jurors thrown. (They’re going for a mistrial.)

Oh, Carmen is back again! She did SO MUCH in that court scene where she appeared and then disappeared! She’s chatting with Marissa and spots LCK2 in the RL offices.

Apparently, LCK2 negotiated a contract with Del, with David Lee’s help. (Why would David Lee be doing entertainment law?) Suddenly everything makes sense to Marissa.

She calls Del to the stand. This—and, honestly, everything after this—makes me wonder how much of this would ever make it to air. Why would Del televise this?

What a shock—Del wants LCK2 back on his streaming service (which I don’t think has a name LOL).

Somehow Marissa’s questions become about Wackner and whether or not Wackner is an impartial judge, which doesn’t seem like the core issue. Wackner has made it pretty clear that his stance is that he doesn’t care if others are corrupt around him or try to use him; he’s going to be impartial no matter what. Why not play that up instead of making the entire show look staged and Wackner look complicit, Marissa?

Like, why is Marissa asking Wackner if he’s prejudged the case?! Why isn’t she just trying to like, get him to declare a mistrial because there is a conflict of interest? She can make a version of this argument without accusing Wackner of PREJUDGING, which she knows—I know, so she knows—will set him off. Wackner truly believe he thinks he is impartial. It’s not smart strategy to question that (even if we all know that Wackner is not impartial!)

Wackner blows up at Marissa and shouts at her. He tells her to get the fuck out of court.

This is certainly dramatic, but again, would Del ever choose to air this? I doubt it.

On her way to work, Diane notices hot pink spray paint in the elevator. When she exits the elevator, the whole firm is gathered in the lobby. Someone has painted COP KILLERS across the elevator bank. “Security doesn’t know how they got in,” Jay says. “Of course they don’t,” Diane responds. “They suggest we call the cops,” Jay says. I love this little exchange. I wasn’t exactly wondering how someone got in, but I like the show making it clear how unprotected Diane and Liz are right now and why.

Julius appears and says that Mr. Elk is saying something new. Diane and Liz sit down to watch and the tone of this episode completely shifts.

I had forgotten completely that Liz’s dad’s assault issues are out in public until Mr. Elk called him “a disgraced civil rights leader.” It doesn’t feel like they’re out in public! Also I would believe Mr. Elk calling him disgraced for no reason at all.

Y’all, when Mr. Elk said the name “Duke Roscoe,” my jaw dropped. WHAT A CALLBACK.

This scene, and really, everything in this plot from here on out, is a delight. It just keeps going and going. It is the best kind of fanservice.

1x11 has been, for no real reason, on my mind since 5x04. It popped out to me as an example of this show’s humor so I talked about it in that recap. I nearly mentioned it in my 5x06 recap when Diane laughed at Julius’s suggestion that they start a firm together. I rewatched 1x11, by complete chance, like two weeks ago. How weird that I'm somehow on the show’s wavelength about this!

Also I made a joke about Mr. Elk last week without knowing he’d be back this episode. I would like to think I conjured this.

(1x11 is a really pivotal episode for TGW, even if it isn’t one of the most notable episodes overall. It's composer David Buckley’s first episode and that ending, with Diane laughing, is one of the earliest moments of TGW showing its sense of humor and playing to its strengths.)

Mr. Elk notes that they “rarely see” Kurt, which is apparently evidence that Diane is a lesbian. Hahahahahahah. Mr. Elk also wouldn’t want to note Kurt, despite his recent controversy, because to his viewers, Kurt’s beliefs would make Diane seem more sympathetic.

GUYS, THE WRITERS DECIDED TO MAKE A CALLBACK TO AN ICONIC MOMENT FROM AN EPISODE THAT AIRED OVER A DECADE AGO AND THEN BUILD ON IT. I cannot express how fucking happy this makes me.

Now, Mr. Elk says, Diane and Liz are an item!

What’s better than Diane laughing hysterically at the original allegations? Diane doing it again, eleven years later, JOINED BY LIZ.

This also works super well to cut the tension between Diane and Liz. I assume this isn’t the end of the name partnership drama, but I think it might be the end of Diane and Liz being pissed at each other. Since the name partnership drama was never really about Diane and Liz (Liz seems to want Diane to stay on...), I’m fine with that.

Because this is an episode full of callbacks that delight me, Del asks Liz when he gets to meet her son! HER SON STILL EXISTS!

It sounds like Liz and Del still aren’t fully official, which clarifies why they don’t seem to be a couple in public.

Del brings up the Diane rumor (jokingly) and Liz jokes along. I love that we get to see this playful side of Liz.

Wackner’s watching his outburst with regret. Del calms him down and notes that this is good TV (why... would Del air this... it makes DEL look worse than anyone!). Wackner calls Marissa to apologize; she picks up and accepts his apology.

Abernathy calls Liz and Diane into chambers. He’s worried he was “insensitive”-- he's noticed the tension between Liz and Diane, but now he thinks it was a lover’s spat.

Diane puts on a poker face and leans in towards Liz. She starts nodding attentively and thanks Abernathy. Liz smiles and doubles down: she’s not just going to play along, she’s going to milk it. She gets a juror kicked for homophobia, which means a mistrial. Shameless. I love it.

Diane and Liz playing off each other as Abernathy tries to look like as much of an ally as possible is comedy gold.

Diane even calls Liz darling. Omg.

LCK2 is on the stand, being charismatic and annoying. Of course he is. This is what happens when you give someone who is known for being able to connect with a crowd... a crowd and the benefit of the doubt.

LCK2 is talking about “stupid women” in his new set. Why... is Del giving that a platform at all? See, the fact that Del thinks it is not only interesting but also somehow essential to let LCK2 make jokes about sexual harassment is why I can’t take this episode seriously. Why should I be more outraged about someone who did something shitty not getting a trial for his shitty but legal behavior than I am about powerful people continuing to offer shitty people platforms? Only one of these seems outrageous to me.

Wackner decides that the professor did something “awful but lawful” and that’s it. So you’re saying that if it isn’t illegal, it doesn’t get decided in your court, either? What was the point of this, then?

The professor says she doesn’t want that—she wants the school to know she’s being punished so she can get her job back. The student storms out, rightfully. Wackner’s job isn’t to offer someone who wants punishment some form of penance, like she can exchange community service hours for offensive remarks. It’s to... well, idk what it is to do, since this whole thing doesn’t really make sense and he makes the rules, but I don’t think his verdict has to be about giving anyone what they want. I’m disappointed that Wackner comes up with a punishment and I don’t think it’s going to get her her job back.

LCK2 loses, too, because he hasn’t made amends. Wackner doesn’t want to fine him because he’s too rich for a fine to matter. Cord argues that LCK2 deserves a second chance. I mean, sure, but is he being denied a second chance? He doesn’t deserve an easy path back to his fame just because he wants it.

Wackner mentions prison. At first I was like, oh, that’s a nice throwaway line that he mentioned prison! This ties into what I was saying a few weeks ago about how Wackner likes the institutions that already exist—he just thinks they’re imperfect! It’s fitting that he’s not a prison abolitionist!

And then the episode actually went there: Wackner, thanks to David Cord’s private prison company, actually sentences LCK2 to prison. This is deeply uncomfortable (and of questionable legality). Wackner’s system is just going to recreate prison? Worse, private prison? He’s creating an unchecked, privatized legal system?! This sounds bad! Kudos to the show for taking this to some place so dark—I knew Wackner’s system would start to show cracks, but I didn’t realize they’d go this far.

And I’m not sure what the end game is with this! All I know is I’m not on board with Wackner sending people to prison (except as a plot—I am very on board with this plot) and neither is Marissa.

I do not think viewers of the reality show will like the prison twist or the fact that Cord is financing a court and prison! Can you imagine the scandal!

And what do the contracts look like that allow Wackner to sentence someone to prison? Can LCK2 leave any time he wants? If so, then how does the prison sentence help? If not, is that legal?

Del wants it to be a 2 week sentence, not 3, because this means LCK2 will have to miss his taping in two weeks. I have many questions. (1) Is Wackner’s show airing live? If not, then why do they need to rush the taping of the special? They could push it quite easily. (2) Why can’t they push the taping? This guy is a huge deal and enough potential $$ that Del wants to rehabilitate his career... so why does the taping have to be on this particular day and time?

Is there really an Exxon Mobile case, I wonder?

I like that we spend a good amount of time watching Marissa’s reactions to this latest addition to Wackner’s court. Combined with the score, Marissa’s facial expression serves to underline that private prisons are not good here! This isn’t Wackner getting legitimate methods of enforcement... this is just opening a pandora’s box of highly questionable extrajudicial practices.

I do love that this episode ends up here: it starts out like it’s going to be about cancel culture silliness and ends up being about the escalation of Wackner’s tactics.

Funny how both of the cancelled people end up being found guilty by Wackner, huh! Almost like they actually did something wrong and faced the consequences!

Liz and Diane get called in to talk to Liz’s favorite department: HR. They’re asked to sign “love contracts” to confirm things are consensual. I find it hilarious that HR gives them the paper before even asking if it’s true.

Liz grabs a pen and signs. Diane follows her lead. They look at each other and smile politely at HR.

I am... not sure how to read this last scene! Is it a fuck-you to HR? A way of easing tensions? A way for Liz to get people to stop talking to her about removing Diane as name partner because no one will want to ask if they’re really involved? Something else? Help me understand!

Curious to see where things go next. I can see LCK2 coming back for another episode but it also wouldn’t surprise me to never see him again. Similarly, I could see some glances/discussion of Diane and Liz’s romantic relationship next week, or I could see it never being mentioned again, or I could see it being mentioned next season out of the blue.

#tgf thoughts #the good fight

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writingtoforgetreality · 4 years ago

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Damage Is Done - Little Movie Star Chapter Three (Jensen Ackles x Daughter!Reader)

[Actors-Masterlist], [Little Movie Star-Masterlist]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: Jensen & Danneel were ready to break the news. Surprisingly, so were you. You should have known better than that. Good feelings disappeared more sooner than later. How stupid of you to think that things were going in the right direction.

Words: 1,761

Warnings: fluff, cyber bullying, panic attack, fake social media posts (picture credits go to their rightful owners)

If you like my work & wanna support me: a coffee would be highly appreciated ❤

~2016~

Things were going slow. And you could tell that the tension built itself whenever you distanced yourself more again. But you were trying, you really were. Jensen & Danneel could tell. They saw you struggling when you took part in their family activities. Your body language gave you away a lot of times. Neither of them commented on it, though. Communication was improving. More often, you spoke up when something happened you did not like & Jensen & Danneel did the same for you. Sometimes, it hurt a bit, when they told you that the way you acted was not appropriate. Sometimes, you stormed off to your room to cool down, only for you to come out a bit later to apologize for your behavior. Danneel was incredibly proud of the change you had been through so far. She could tell that Jensen & you shared a stronger bond but that was one thing Bill had warned them about. Whatever family you were put in, you usually connected faster with the fathers. In her head, she was already planning a girls day with you. Shopping & all that. Maybe that would help your bonding process.

You were eating breakfast when Jensen started a conversation that left you…unsure.

“So, we were thinking about breaking the news to the world. What do you say?” he eyed you carefully, waiting for some sort of reaction. You stopped eating for a second & looked down at your plate.

“For publicity?” the words were quiet but they could hear you crystal clear.

“Do you really think we need publicity?” Danneel joked & you were lucky that she eased the tension. Even a chuckle escaped you & finally, you looked up at them.

“What are you guys thinking? How do you wanna do this?” you asked, now starting to like the idea of them wanting you to be an official part of their family. It was fast but you thought if the world knew you were a part of the Ackles, then you might have an easier time accepting it yourself. They explained that they planned a simple Instagram post. Nothing more, nothing less. A picture with the six of you. The thought scared you but you agreed anyway which earned you two big smiles.

“Hey, Jensen?” walking over to where he was sitting, he turned his attention to you. “Could you help me with something, please?” you felt stupid to ask for help, especially because of something like that but you knew he had more experience than you.

“Sure thing. What is it?” he looked intrigued & then confused when you handed him your phone after sitting down next to him.

“Um… I don’t have any social media accounts but I’d like to get them started? I thought you might know what’s fitting & what isn’t.” Jensen seemed more than happy to help you out. It did not happen every day that you came & asked him something. So when you did, he appreciated it.

The two of you played around for a while. Jensen explained the basics. Even though you had to admit that he was not the pro you believed him to be. It was alright & in the end, you had a twitter & an Instagram account (@iam(Y/N)ackles). At first, you were against the handle. After all, your last name was not Ackles. But Jensen insisted that it was right for you to have these account names. He helped you setting everything up & you started following people you liked, starting with Jensen & Danneel, obviously. Followed by the rest of the Supernatural cast.

At the end of the day, after you took the picture Jensen & Danneel wanted to post, you were very nervous. The picture turned out to be incredibly cute. You were holding Zep in your arms, Arrow had been held by Danneel & JJ was sitting on Jensen’s lap. Immediately, you set this picture as your phone wallpaper, smiling wildly when you did so. All of a sudden, your phone was flooded with notifications. Both, on twitter & Instagram. Annoyed by the dinging sound, you turned them off completely. Jensen & Danneel tagged you in their posts & you were gaining hundred, thousands of followers in a very short time.

“(Y/N)? We posted the pic, just so you know.” but by the way you were looking at your phone, Jensen could tell you already knew this. He told you that it was probably better if you turned off the notifications but you brushed him off, saying you already did.

“Have you looked at it yet?” curiosity was written over his features. Shaking your head as an answer, he nudged you & told you to go on. Taking a deep breath, you opened Instagram & immediately were met with the picture on your timeline. The picture put a smile on your face again. You guys really looked cute. Like a cute little family. Then you went to read the caption.

Scrolling down, you saw Danneel’s post with the same caption & tears threatened to spill. You had not cried in front of other people in so long but right now, you could not hold back anymore. Gratitude was rushing over you & before you knew what was happening, Jensen wrapped his arms around you & pulled you into a hug. This time, you did not reject him, needing the comfort of another person. It felt good to be hugged, you had almost forgotten how much you actually loved it

“Thank you.” you mumbled into his chest. Jensen simply stroked his hands up & down your back. He could tell that this was a huge step. You were hugging, after all, & he was more than thankful to share this special moment with you. When you heard Danneel entering the room, you rushed over to her & gave her a hug, too. You could feel that your body was not reacting the same way when you were wrapping your arms around Jensen but it felt good nevertheless.

The rest of the day, conversation flowed easier. Dinner was filled with laughter & you guys chatted a lot. This act, of them posting you on their social media, showed you that they were not going away anytime soon. They were in for the long haul. Still, there was this awful voice in your head but tonight, it sounded a bit further in the distance, a bit more quiet than usual. That night, you decided to do a movie marathon. You had done them before but this one felt…different. It felt easier. You found yourself enjoying their company more & for a second, you had hope. Hope in the future. Hope in your new…family. Would you ever feel comfortable calling them your family? Maybe, if you kept going forward at this pace, then maybe you would.

Laying in bed, you wanted to check out the posts one more time. By now, you had thousands of followers even though you had zero posts on your account. Maybe you should repost the picture? Yeah, you could do that. Your thoughts were interrupted when you made the big mistake of going through the comment section under Jensen’s picture. Yes, there were a lot of positive responses, especially from his castmates, but when you kept scrolling, you found one hate comment after the other. They were awful to read through.

“really? she’s ugly as hell lmao”

“why would they choose her?”

“probably thinking she’s better than everyone lol”

“she should go back where she came from”

“wtf??? leave our ackles alone, bitch”

Tears were streaming down your face, this time because you were genuinely hurt by their words. One mistake followed the other & you were scrolling through your message requests. One was worse than the other. There were literal death threats people were sending you & you did not understand a thing. Nobody knew you & yet they were already building an opinion about you. Angry at yourself for reading through them & angry that you agreed on making a post for Instagram, you turned your phone off & threw it at the end of the bed. All good feelings had disappeared. Maybe they were right. You knew you were not pretty. You had asked yourself a billion times why they chose you out of everyone. You were sure they would send you back once they read through the comments. No matter how hard you tried to calm down, you could not catch your breath & started hyperventilating. Shit, you were about to have a panic attack. You had suffered from them ever since you were little but the last one had been ages ago. Usually, you would run to Bill & he would talk you through it. But he was hours away & he would most likely be asleep by now. Contemplating if you should go to Jensen & Danneel, you decided against it after the comments were repeating themselves in your head. So you just let the panic overcome you. It was better to let it out than to push it down further, you knew that. But having to go through such a period alone was everything but easy. Telling yourself you were fine & safe over & over again exhausted the shit out of you. It felt like hours but when you were finally at a point where your breaths evened out & your heartrate slowed down, you fell asleep almost immediately. Tomorrow, you had to talk to them, you knew it. Maybe they would be aware of the comments by then & would start the conversation. How were you supposed to start such a conversation anyway? Hi, your fans hate me & send me death threats. Come on, that sounded stupid. But the thing was that it did not feel stupid to you. Their words hurt you & Jensen & Danneel told you to come to them & be open with them if something bothered you. There was enough time for that in the morning, though. For now, sleep seemed like the best option & the best distraction. You just hoped that your dreams would be kinder to you than your family’s “fans”.

~to be continued~

Next Chapter

Published (04/03/2021) by Cathy

Tags: @vicmc624, @imaginationisgrowth, @stoneyggirl, @alyispunk, @thevelvetseries, @multifandomlover121, @samsgirl93, @supernatural3002, @diabetes-03, @prettyybubblesintheair, @originalsoulcollector, @vir-tual, @bellero, @sergantbuckybarnes (let me know if you wanna be tagged <3)

#Jensen Ackles #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles x daughter!reader #daughter reader #daughter!reader #reader insert #reader imagine #danneel ackles #fanfic #fanfiction #SPNFamily #father figure #mother figure #imagine #writing #Little Movie Star Chapter Three #panic #bullying #fluff

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thesoulesscollection · 3 years ago

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(Request) Soft, Fluffy Stickvin

Request: maybe some henry x charles fluff? just something soft and sweet.

Really simple one-shot this time. So I hope it's still good even if I may have slightly rushed this one out. Also, tidbit for anyone curious. In this one-shot, Henry signs and its written down in italics. As well, another fun fact and I just found this out thankfully, the sharp teeth! Charles comes from Twitter user, t455audra since I thought it was an interesting concept for Charles

Even when joining the military at the young age of eighteen, building years experience under his belt to be what he is now a total powerhouse deviously hidden behind a soft, youthful appearance, he still couldn't stop the ex-thief entirely from toppling over them both onto his bed below. As the bed loudly squeaked under their constantly shifting weight though neither weighed all too much to begin with even combined together. Then it stilled in a sudden, dead weight from Henry carelessly plopped on to the shorter man where he witnessed how absolutely exhausted they were from recent events. Always busy on their feet with the constant wave of missions thrown their way by new enemy forces drastically different, worse from the Toppat clan, it left them tired to the bone. Now it was done, over with til the next day where they had to do it all over again yet caught up alone at this moment in his room laying on his old, worn out bed the two men can finally relax at least for Henry who remained unmoving like a heavy lump on Charles.

"Hey? What's that for?"

A sleepy grumble was what the pilot heard being spoken when watching how the gangly man stretched out on him nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

"You do know you weigh a ton?" Charles lightly jokes. "You're suffocating me"

In a short lived relief Henry moved off onto his side, off of Charles, crystal blue eyes rolling in false annoyance.

'Not that heavy. You're just so tiny and soft, that's all' Henry instead signed, a rough, scratchy chuckle slipping past his thin lips thinking it's highly amusing noticing upon moving back, pinning him in the process, the smaller man helplessly squirming underneath him, 'And you look so adorable. Perfect for a nap even'

Breathless chuckles filled the empty room, arms lazily slung over Henry's slumped shoulders drawing them in close, warm breath hitting their faces.

"Uh huh. You're just saying that 'cause it makes you feel all big and strong? What you are is my goofy, dancing nerd"

'Hm. You love me anyways' Sharing a laugh, Henry continued on, 'I do. Quite literally. I really love your lil' reactions to it most of all'

Though Henry knew better than to bring up the man's appearance all too often since one, it can be annoying for his partner to deal with on an almost daily basis and secondly, the pilot was a force to be reckoned with at all.

"You should take me more seriously, Hen. I may be the youngest pilot here but I'm the most experienced?" Lazily nodding with a soft hum, Henry silently did relish in being able to flaunt it over the pilot who tiredly huffed out. "I can easily make you'll regret it"

Immediately Henry interrupted the man's little babbles with a kiss, an amused grin widening upon seeing the soft face flush like a tomato. Attacking the flustered pilot with gentle kisses doting every freckle to scar, Charles didn't fight against it, instead laughing taking its place. When peppering more kisses, Henry didn't regret a thing to be where he was now giving his partner little time to properly react. Only reaction given was warm hands shakily clamping down, dull nails lightly scratching at the surface of his shirt loosely hanging off his frame. Muffled sounds were made, likely the man won't admit to it though obvious it was to the ear.

Soon in a careful effort, Charles nudges himself away, "H-henry. Ssstop it. We need to sleep soon, y'know. And you can be really cranky in the morning"

Henry broke it off moments later with a sigh because exhaustion would surely start to kick in, seeing the wide mouthed yawn from Charles showing off unnaturally sharp teeth and he feels like his work is done to his immense pleasure.

'Okay. Okay. Goodnight'

Another kiss came to be but this time it was given by the pilot, a lopsided grin on his face, now laid out on his side facing Henry, both men huddled up close under the thick blankets calling it a late night.

#Ask Box Is Always Open #Asks Are Always Appreciated #Anon Or Not #Henry Stickmin Collection #The Henry Stickmin Collection #Thsc Charles Calvin #Thsc Henry Stickmin #Henry Stickmin #Charles Calvin #Henrles #StickVin #Fluff #Domestic Fluff #Romance #Romantic Fluff

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slyeposting · 5 years ago

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Rating Marvel’s new New Warriors

(long post)

After seeing the character designs for Marvel’s new series of New Warriors comics as well as watching multiple reaction videos and reading other people’s reviews, I thought I would summarize some basic points and add my ratings/review. Please prepare yourselves for this hot garbage.

Screentime: 3/10

wow starting off strong

looks like Ben 10

basically if Alexa was your obnoxious Fortnite-obsessed younger brother

writers will probably make him say “Ok bOomEr” and unironically floss

got his powers from internet gas????? whatever the fuck that means??????

Superhero name makes him sound like he’s six and his parents are trying to stop him from watching Ninja for 12 hours a day

useless in combat bc other than him having a smartphone for a brain he’s a regular kid (aka: will die in one hit from a villain with actual powers)

only redeeming quality is his visor reminds me of Geordi La Forge

Trailblazer: 3/10

Dora the Exploer if she got really into bad 90s fashion

Backpack looks like Sleeper from the Venom comics

her description says she “she doesn't think of herself as a Super Hero,” which is good because she isn’t one

slightly more useful in combat than Screentime because she could potentially pull an RPG out of her pocket dimension backpack or something

oh wait she can’t even control what comes out of it!!! nevermind!!!!

fucking Percy Jackson did this with Leo and even then he had his own powers as well as this

there were so many fat jokes/fatphobia in all the reviews i saw on youtube and it made me want to smash my head into a wall (not related to the review but I thought it was worth mentioning if anyone wants to look up any reviews after this)

I keep coming back to the color scheme and it’s just. so bad. Neon sucks especially when it is clashing with other neon

apparently she got the backpack from God, but “not the god you’re thinking of...” very cool writers. Real quirky of you. Can you be any more annoying.

fingerless gloves

Snowflake and Safespace: 1/10

oh god

oh sweet jesus

I don’t even know where to begin with these. the names? The costumes? The color scheme? Safespace’s fucking sideburns? help

ok let’s start with the names

it does not matter who you are on the political scale, where you are on the gender spectrum, or how okay you are with “”edgy/dark humor””- nobody who has even the slightest knowledge of 2017-era Twitter language will look at two superheroes named Snowflake and Safespace and think “these characters are reclaiming these otherwise insulting terms and using them as their own.” They will think the characters are a joke. It shows how utterly out of touch the writer is with modern day culture, which is not a good sign considering he’s writing modern-era comic with all teenage characters. Snowflake is an insult. It just is. The idea of a “safespace” has been demolished because of the way it has been used by trolls online. No amount of woke points and “flipping the script” is going to change that. It’s a sad attempt to pander to a very specific audience, and the writers still manage to make it feel like a slap in the face. This is one of the poorest attempts to make a new-age, hyper aware characterization that I have seen in a long time. It fucking sucks.

Also Marvel makes their first nonbinary character and they name them fucking Snowflake? Are you kidding me Marvel? I’m going to scream

Moving on to the costumes, they’re actually shit. It’s like if the Wonder Twins became semi-professional roller skaters who watched Tron once while tripping on LSD. Why do they have vests.

Why is everything Neon??!?!! Does the designer not know how value and complimentary colors work?! Can the saturation not be constantly at 100 please my eyes are suffering

Apparently their characters are just as obnoxious as their hair

“they see their Super Heroics as “a post-ironic meditation on using violence to combat bullying.” They're probably streaming this.” WRITERS HAVE YOU EVER INTERACTED WITH A TEENAGER. THIS READS LIKE A REDDIT POST DO YOU THINK WE TALK LIKE THIS

the best components out of these characters are the powers, and even then the powers aren’t extraordinary. Ice shurikens and force fields? Fine. A little standard, but fine. I just wish their powers weren’t so connotative with their names. I can’t fathom that someone actually approved these characters. This is exhausting.

B-Negative : 6/10

probably the best one out of them all

what every emo kid wanted to look like in 8th grade

a cohesive color scheme that isn’t trying to attack me through the screen

actually has super powers that aren’t googling things or pulling things out of a magical Jansport that not-God found at Target for $30

apparently this is where the creativity ends though because in the end he is literally just a vampire minus the immortality (why, you ask? I don’t fucking know. It’s like the internet gas everything is a shitshow)

“B-Negative ages like a regular person (or does he?) and he definitely drinks blood (or does he?)” I don’t care. (or does he? Jk I don’t fucking care. Stop trying to be quirky, writers. It’s not cute.)

“The world is a vampire…and so am I.” Hi what the FUCK does this mean

fingerless gloves

Final Thoughts

I am very tired

Marvel doesn’t know their audience at all

The creators of these characters tried to make modern characters despite being extremely out of touch, making the concepts already seem dated and unappealing

I’m honestly suprised they didn’t have a Hijabi character for those sweet sweet woke points ™

please for the love of god can I get some neutral colors once in a while. I can’t take this much longer

fingerless gloves

#WOW this was way longer than I planned #thank you to anyone who read the whole thing!#rant #marvel #marvel new warriors #new warriors #trailblazer #marvel trailblazer #screentime #marvel screentime #snowflake and safespace #god i hate that I had to tag that #b-negative #marvel b negative

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vb-hcs · 4 years ago

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haikyuu reacting to stan twitter

(haikyuu spoilers)

hello ^u^ !! if you see this i hope you are doing good !! i decided to write how i think the MSBY Black Jackals would react to their stan twitter ! i don’t know very much about stan twitter for athletes but i tried my best lol. thank you for reading <3

warnings: swearing, stan twitter-ness (?), mentions of sexual harassment

hinata

when he first debuted (?) he didn’t really didn’t know how to respond to stan twitter

it made him really flustered !! he didn’t understand a lot and he wasn’t sure why people were so interested in his team outside of the sport

he warmed up pretty quickly by responding to a lot of tweets and he felt a lot more connected to it all !!

took him a while to warm up to the memes about him tho lol he wasn’t sure if they were in good humor and regardless they can be pretty embarassing >:0

(adding to what i said before) sooo responsive !!! his twitter replies are so full he loves interacting with fans 🥺 theyre like best friends

oh to be a hinata stan. they’re either mutuals with him or have gotten at least one response from him

(idk if i should say social bb or social butterfly 🥺 social caterpillar.)

would be the type to post a bunch of baby photos of himself >:0

in on a lot of the memes !! especially the ones about his teammates hehe

i think he would avoid anything hateful for the most part but sometimes he can’t stop himself from looking at it. not in a bad way but more of a competive way !! he wants to improve on whatever people are talking shit about so that he can prove them wrong

i feel like he’d be the type to respond to a hate tweet with something like you wanna kiss me so bad. i can tell it only happened one time but everyone was like what the fuck it wrong with you ahvsbdbdb

bokuto

warmed up to stan twitter pretty fast actually !! it was a bit to get used to but people showing him unconditional love and hyping him up? yes ma’am

the second most interactive !!!!!!

(might rival hinata for first !! hinata just has conversations tho)

gets called a himbo a lot but doesn’t know what it means. takes it as a compliment

(they all get called himbos constantly)

bokuto stans eat well !!! soo positive and he’s super involved with his fan base !!

gets a lot of comments asking him gets he gets soo thicc !

he loooves sharing is workout routines and regiments !!!!

posts hella workout videos and loves it when people talk to him about how they tried it out (and are completely exhausted)

has saved so many memes of himself !! has so many reaction pictures you’d actually think he’s a narcissist. he’s not he just appreciates people making them he theyre funny 😔

atsumu

didn’t get used to stan twitter incredibly fast but he did assume it came with being kinda famous so he was the most prepared

knows what himbo means and he was kinda upset at first but then thought about it and realized that’s fair

the third most interactive !!! pretty chill but kinda flirty 🤢

his stans a borderline feral (i wonder where they get it from) like for the most part they’re chill but the second he starts acting up it takes them all out 😔

hates memes about him !! they’re are only a couple exceptions that he thinks are actually funny

the rest he finds really embarassing so it’s a miracle if he interacts with one

was so pissed when Onigiri Miya got verified before him (and when HES the reason they blew up so much bc he was constantly tweeting about them >:0) (or so he tells himself hehe)

people made jokes about it for WEEKS (even his teammates joined in). when he finally got verified his stans made a whole event about it (trended hashtags, etc.)

sasuka

is not a fan of stan twitter it makes him uncomfortable

he appreciates the support and all but he like his privacy and does not understand why people are so interested in him he automatically assumes they’re creepy

fourth most interactive !! replies when he can but only to normal comments and compliments. nothing too over the top

(once in awhile he will and it’ll be something like if you could step on me that’d be great and he’ll be like thanks.)

(don’t comment horny stuff on peoples social medias [or in real life] this has been a PSA.)

for the most part he only uses his twitter for promotional stuff but still uses it sometimes

his stans are super laidback and chill !! vv respectful of his boundaries

found out what a himbo was and is deeply offended

pretty well known on twitter for his roasts of his teammates. most of them go viral

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openshearts · 4 years ago

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you and me forever

m!Raleigh x mc (Candace Dorian)

1.2k words

grammy award nominations come out, and there are some suprises

a/n: a couple of things, one I used the grammys here because in my mind in the platinum universe the grammys are a real thing and the vinyls are like the american music awards if that makes any sense and two making up album titles and song titles has turned out to be just as hard as titling fics so apologies in advance

This has to be the most painfully long livestream of all time. As she watches people appear on screen and name off categories and those nominated, she realizes just how long she’s taken for granted just being able to search the nominations after the stream has already taken place. Currently the nominees for best Jazz album are being announced, a respectable category of course but one that the announcer is taking his precious time talking about. The entire thing is very painful, not to mention the fact that Raleigh is a nervous wreck.

He’s not showing it of course, because he’s not the kind of person to sit on the edge of his seat and clench his teeth until they announce his name. He’s spent so long building his up ‘cool guy’ persona that even a possible Grammy nomination will shake it. He sits next to her on the small couch in his apartment, squeezing her hand which is how she knows that he’s a lot more nervous than she even thought he could be.

The room is nearly silent as the nominations come slowly rolling in. The only sounds other than the stream are Fiona in the next room, on the phone again about something that Candace can only assume she’ll start talking about as soon as this is all over. Avery, who also has a very good chance of being nominated is therefore pacing the floor behind the couch. She stops occasionally, just so that the sound of her shoes on the hardwood floor stops but eventually she starts again, most likely recognizing that this whole thing is going at a snail's pace.

PR people from both camps are scattered about the room, typing on phones and refreshing twitter feeds trying to get any hint of how this is going to go. There’s a buzz to the whole room, a kind of hum that breaks through the tense silence, the anxiety in the air is clear, and Candace would be lying if she said it wasn’t getting to her just a little bit. She leans her head on Raleigh's shoulder just as another text from Shane comes in on her phone, which is sitting right next to the computer. He’s on set shadowing a director for school, so he can’t keep up with the news himself but he keeps texting her asking for updates.

She looks at the stream, sees that the R&B category is next and doesn’t even make a move towards the phone, this is it. She’ll update him when Raleigh gets nominated. Avery stops pacing, and glues her eyes to the screen, Fiona finally reenters the room and is suddenly transfixed as well and everything seems to stop as the presenters start speaking. He isn’t nominated for overall performance, which is fine because there are more categories, the stream keeps going and everything is suddenly speeding up.

“The nominees for best R&B song are, I see you by Raleigh Carrera and Candance Dorian,”

Nobody moves, nobody says anything, everyone just lets the stream continue without saying a word. Raleigh is still squeezing Candace’s hand even though as of this moment they are both Grammy nominated songwriters, but he wants more, and everyone in the room knows it. Finally the category comes to R&B album of the year. All the albums are announced but one, and everyone is holding their breath.

“The final nominee for R&B album of the year is About Me, by Raleigh Carrera.”

Cadence stares at the screen for a moment, dumbfounded, and when she turns to look at him she sees that he’s already looking at her. “Dude,” She says, “You’re a fucking grammy nominated artist.”

He smiles, “So are you.”

She rolls her eyes, “You’re entire album was nominated, this is really happening.” She hits him on the shoulder, “Stop being so cool about this! This is the one time you're allowed to go batshit.”

He laughs, “I think you’re the one going batshit.”

One of the press people, Carly, speaks up from across the room. “So we’re going to have to make a video later of you reacting to your nominations, because that is unusable.” She’s half joking but they both know there will have to be a video with both of them later.

“Arguably I think my cursing adds authenticity to the entire situation,” Candace jokes, “Because someone is being scarily calm about this entire thing.”

Suddenly the announcer moves into the next category, pop music and a hush goes over the room again. Avery continues to pace the floor, until finally she’s nominated for best pop performance and best pop song. Then the stream moves into the general categories, but the focus of the room isn't on those. Hums of conversation start to fill the room as Candace finally texts Shane back and immediately gets a flurry of all caps messages back, and outfits and awards performances are being discussed.

All of which changes the second the words, “I see you written by Raleigh Carrera, and Candace Dorian.”

Candace looks up, and sees that the header on the screen is song of the year. Everyone in the room stops talking and stares at Candace and Raleigh, still seated on the couch. The two of them aren't looking at anyone else, they’re just looking at eachother and suddenly they're kissing in the middle of the living room while everyone is looking at them while the rest of the nominations are still being read off. It’s a little embarrassing as Candance will admit later, but getting caught up in the moment of being nominated for an amazing award with the person that you love is a kind of ecstasy that can’t really be described. The kind of ecstasy that makes you make out said person in the middle of a room full of people.

“How was that for a reaction video?”

“I need one thats family friendly.”

The rest of the day is a blur of twitter notifications, interview requests, and phone calls from pretty much everyone they know. Near the end of the day, Candace decides to turn her phone off, and her computer and just try to take it all in without everyone else commenting on it. She’s more excited for Raleigh than herself, because she knows how hard he’s worked on this, and even though he won’t admit it she knows how much he wanted it.

At the end of the day, all the people have finally left the apartment, all the notifications have been turned off, and there's a comfortable silence in between the two people left. Raleigh and Candace lie in the bed, both exhausted from the day. “I’m proud of you,” She says, putting her hand on his chest.

He grasps it again and lets out a sigh, “When you said we were in this together, this was not what I had in mind.”

“To be fair, neither did I,” She smiles. “I’m sorry, I feel like the romance of it all is distracting people from your insane amount of talent.”

He rolls over and just looks at her. He’s enamored with her, like he always has been. If he’s being honest, none of this would mean as much as it does if she wasn’t right there with him, telling him not to give up and reminding him that he needs to stop being in his own head. He doesn’t deserve her. “I don’t want to make music if it’s not with you.”

She smiles and presses a brief kiss to his lips. “You and me forever,” She says and she means it.

They both do.

#platinumweekend #vinylawardschallenge #m!raleigh x mc #raleigh carrera #raleigh x mc #platinum #im proud of this one but the one I have coming on sunday????? 20x better

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prettyboongi · 5 years ago

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BTS Reaction - They React To You Giving Them a Gift

[Note: Hello readers! This is my first BTS fanfic with actual dialogue. I’ve been working on this for awhile and I feel pretty proud of the results. I really hope you all enjoy. Bye!}

Seokjin

“I’m home!,” Seokjin yells as he walks into the living room of the apartment you two share. He has had a long and stressful day at the studio so seeing the sight of you walking towards him wiped away any tiredness he’s been feeling.

“Hey baby,” you greet him. You wrap your arms around his neck and give him a tender kiss. “How was your day?”

“Super exhausting,” he sighs, “I’m just glad I’m finally home though”. Before he goes in for another kiss, you stop his mouth with your manicured hand.

“Wait,” you said as you released yourself from his embrace. “I got something for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

“Oh honey, you didn’t have to give me anything,” he says as he complies with your instructions.

“No peeking!,” you playfully exclaim. You lightly jog to the next room to grab his present and once you return you place the present in Jin’s hands. “Okay, open.”

Jin opens his eyes to see a paperback book in his hands. He lets out a lighthearted laugh as he reads the title: 101 Jokes That Will Make Anyone Laugh Out Loud. “What’s this?”

“I found it when I was out running errands today. It made me think of you, my little comedian”.

To the average person, this gift would come off as weird and cheesy but you knew that how perfect it was for Jin since he was the embodiment of weird and cheesy. And best of all, you loved putting a huge smile on his face.

Jin leans in and lovingly kisses your cheek. “I absolutely love it. Thanks darling, now I can’t wait to unleash these genius jokes on the guys.”

You knew that the guys will come to hate Jin for constantly belting out awful jokes from the book and will hate you for giving Jin the cursed book. Hey, maybe deep down inside, annoying the boys was your intention. But at the end, putting a smile on your man’s face was the true icing on the cake.

Yoongi

Yoongi was held up in his studio, diligently working on some tracks for his mixtape when he got a call from you.

“Hey,” he flatly answers.

“Hey, Yoongi,” you reply in a chipper voice. “I’m heading toward your studio right now. You still working on the mix-tape?”

“Yeah, still working. Why’re you coming over? Did you leave something here?”

“Can’t I just pay my loving and hardworking boyfriend a visit?” you cooed.

On the other side you could hear suck the air through his teeth. “I dunno (Y/N). I still have a lot to work on.”

“I won’t stay for long, just five minutes tops. I promise,” you say reassuringly.

Yoongi hesitates at first but soon agrees to the quick visit. “Sure, come over. You remember the code, right?”

Fifteen minutes later, you finally arrive at Yoongi’s studio. Before punching in the room’s code, you took a moment to make sure you have everything together. Even though it was just going to be a quick visit, you still wanted to look cute for your industrious boyfriend. And most importantly, you made sure that you had the one thing that was the whole point of the visit, which was safely in your tote bag.

You walk into a slightly dim yet warmly lit room. Besides the several energy drink cans and empty Starbucks cups, the studio wasn’t terribly messy. Once he notices your presence, Yoongi swivels his chair to face you.

“Jeez,” you start, “you look like absolute shit.” And you weren’t exaggerating. With his ruffled bleached hair, his bags under his eyes and his skin paler than usual, he looked like a zombie.

Yoongi gives you a tired smile. “You’d look like this if you’ve been working 16 hours straight.” He gets up to give you a quick peck on the lips. “Wish I looked as good as you right now.”

‘Oh I bet,” you respond as you cheekily flip your hair. “Got something for you.” Excitedly, you slip off the tote bag from your shoulder and hand it to Yoongi.

Yoongi takes the bag, utterly surprised and a bit flustered. “Babe, you really shouldn’t have.”

“Go ahead, open it, “ you insisted.

Yoongi gives you a quick smile before looking into the bag. “What?,” he says with his left mouth agape. He pulls out a black fleece blanket, perfectly folded and tied with a silver ribbon.

With glee, you exclaim, “It’s a blanket! I know you’ve been taking nap breaks here and even spend some nights here during times like this. Well, I thought if you’re locking yourself in your studio, you might as well stay nice and cozy. Do you like it?”

“Like it? I absolutely love it,” he answers, showing off his gummy smiles that you adored so much. After setting the blanket down, he gently places his hands on your hips and pulls you into a big hug. “Whenever I get to use it, I’ll always think of you.”

“Hope you’ll let me use the blanket whenever I visit you” you say into his ear.

With a mischievous smile, his says to you, “Well, since you are cute and thoughtful… maybe.”

Hoseok

“Hey, Hobi! Guess what I found?,” you yelled as you barge into your living room. Hoseok was sitting at the kitchen island, scrolling through Twitter, when you surprised him with your abrupt arrival.

“What?” he asks.

“This!”. You pulled out what was behind you and revealed a tall and kitschy pink flamingo lawn stand. It was as if the thing was pulled from a 1950s shopping catalog.

Hoseok smiled but honestly didn’t know how to react. “Uh, why do you have that?”

You set the flamingo between you two, bright pink and standing on one leg with all its glory. “On my way back from my walk, someone in our neighborhood was having a yard sale. And you know me, I don’t pass out on any yard sale I stumble across. And while I was looking at all of the so corny shit they had there, this eventually came to my sight and it called to me: Buy me (Y/N).” You gave the 3ft tall flamingo a friendly slap.

Hoseok couldn’t help but laugh at your spontaneity, one of the reasons he fell for you. “ So I’m guessing you wanna put it out on our front lawn for all to see."

"Nope,” you pushed the pink plastic beauty towards Hoseok. “This is my gift to you and you only."

"Really? Why’s that?”.

“Well when I first noticed this thing, it instantly made me think of you.” Hoseok raises one of his eyebrows as you continue. “I mean, flamingos -this one and real ones- are cool, lively and flamboyant, exactly like you.”

Hoseok quietly examines the flamingo. “This thing,” he thought, “was gaudy as all hell”. It was half your size, the color of it was an obnoxious shade of pink and it was plainly super cheesy. But seeing how happy it made his loving girlfriend and it’s a gift just for him, Hobi had no choice but to love this monstrosity.

He picks up the flamingo and gives you a warm, heart shaped smile. “This is such an awesome gift. I love it, and you, so much."

Namjoon

"Okay no peeking!"

You were leading your boyfriend Namjoon towards the front yard of your home.

"Please don’t tell me you bought me a car,” said Namjoon, trying to his excitement.

You scoff. “Please, on my salary? But I promise it’s just as good and fancy as a car, maybe even better.” Once you reached where you placed his gift, you stopped him with your hands still covering his eyes. “Okay, are you ready?” When he nods his head, you take your hands off. “Open!,” you shout.

Namjoon opens his eyes to see a light gray tandem bike about two feet away from him. He turned to you, with a puzzled look on his face. “A tandem bike?” He’s flashing a huge smile, his adorable dimples included, but is still perplexed over such a random gift. “It isn’t my birthday and I’m definitely certain it isn’t your anniversary either."

You walk over to him and wrap your arms around his waist. "I know but I’ve always wanted to ride a tandem bike with someone and luckily you already like going out on bike rides. I thought it was perfect, something we can share together."

Namjoon had to admit that the gift was super thoughtful and that he was lucky to have someone to share his interests with. He can already anticipate the stares and silent judgment from strangers the moment they take a load of the bike, but he didn’t care. A gift from you, even something as eccentric as this, is something to be cherished.

Namjoon held you from your behind and kissed you on top of your head. He then tilts your head back so you can look up at him, simply to ask, "You wanna go for a ride?"

Jimin

It was Valentine’s Day, your favorite holiday for two reasons. One, because you have always been a sucker for anything romantic and sentimental. And two, because you get to spend it with your sweet boyfriend Jimin. Ever since you two started dating, Valentine’s Day was one of the few holidays where you two splurge and get something special for each other. It wasn’t about whose present was more expensive, it was more about the gesture of buying something with your true love in mind.

And this year, you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself with what you’ve gotten for Jimin. You knew him like the back of your hand, which made gift shopping for him even more easy.

This year, Jimin planned out date night for you two: just a quiet and sensual dinner at home. With candles, rose petals, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, the works. He even took the time to make a delicious meal for two, something he normally doesn’t do. With all of his hard work, you couldn’t help but fall in love with him all over again.

After dinner and a few glasses of champagne, you two found yourselves passionately kissing on the couch in your dimly lit living room. You were so busy distracted by his soft lips and his strong arms, you had almost forgotten about his gift. You playfully push him away from you and say to him, "Before this escalates to something else, I wanna give you your Valentine’s day gift."

"Come on, baby, can we wait until a little be later?” he says in a husky voice as he tries to pull you back in.

You push his chest again. “No, I really wanna give it to you now,” you pout.

“Well me as well but you’re exactly helping."

You give him a look, "Jimin…"

He lets out a quiet laugh all the while cupping your face. "I’m just teasing, honey. Of course you can give your gift."

You then leaned towards the glass coffee table in front of where you two were sitting, grasping at the rectangular box with box hands. The box was plain white that was tied by a dark red ribbon. "Here, Happy Valentine’s Day,” you cheerfully say, placing the gift in on his lap.

With great anticipation, Jimin untied the ribbon and opened the box. He took out and held up what was inside: an extremely soft, cream colored cashmere sweater. Jimin couldn’t help but break out a huge smile on his face, you knew him so well. “Thank you, baby, this is such a sweet gift.” He was about to try it on when you stop him.

“Maybe you should wait until later to try it on,” you say as a confused look appeared on his face. “I mean why put something on when you’re just gonna take it off in the next couple of minutes.

With biting your bottom lips and giving him hungry looks, it was good of an invitation Jimin could take.

Taehyung

It was late afternoon by the time you got to Taehyung’s apartment. Three weeks since the last time you two were together ever since the incident. As you stood in front of Taehyung’s door, memories from that very day flood your mind, as vivid as it happened the other day…

"Hey (Y/N) please put that down!,” Taehyung pleads to you as you picked up his most prized possession: his very first camera, given by his great aunt when he was a child.

You ignore him as you walk around his bedroom, examining the object as if it was your first time seeing it. “Relax Tae, I just wanna take a look at it.”

“You’ve seen it a million times before. I’m not messing around!”

Out of annoyance, you sighed and walked over to hand it to him. However, on your way to Taehyung, you trip over your own shoes like the moron that you are, losing your balance with the camera flying out of your hands. As you fall to the ground, you hear the sound of the camera hitting the wood flooring with a sickening crash. While not totally shattering to pieces, several parts were broken off and scattered across the ground. There’s a brief silence as Taehyung got up then crouched down to his broken camera. He examined his precious gift while you finally stood up.

“Tae, I-,” you opened before Taehyung stopped you with a raised hand.

“I told you to not mess with this. You knew how important this camera is to me,” he says with a steady yet clearly angry tone. He looks at you, his expression looks like he’s about to explode.

“I know, I’m so sorry,” you attempt to help him pick up the scattered pieces but it stops you again.

“Just… please leave."

"Tae-"

"Leave! I mean it!"

You grimace as you remember him raising his voice at you, something he has never done with you. You and Taehyung have been best friends for years, and sure there’s been plenty of times when your foolishness has caused him grief, you knew that you really fucked up this time. Seeing him so angry and hurt broke your heart and him icing you out ever since hasn’t helped at all. You tried calling and texting him a hundred times but of course he hasn’t responded to any. The only reason you knew that he was home was because you wouldn’t quit badgering Jimin for information.

"I really hope it works out, (Y/N),” Jimin said to you earlier today.

I hope so as well, you thought to yourself. You gave a few loud knocks on his door and waited patiently. On the other side, Taehyung looked through the eye hole and sighed. Once you opened the door, you were instantly happy to see his face but that quickly changes when you notice the stoic look on his own.

“What are you doing here, (Y/N)?, he asks with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

You nervously chuckled. "Just came to pay a visit to my best friend.” You see him raise his eyebrow in disbelief and sighed. “Can I please come in? I just wanna talk”.

Taehyung was still furious at you and frankly wasn’t ready to see you, let alone speak to you. But the sad but hopeful look in your eyes weakened him inside. He moves aside and gestures to you to come inside his apartment.

As you both sit down on his sofa, you anxiously try to avoid Taehyung eye contact. He was staring right into you, waiting for you to speak. “Well?"

You clear your throat before you begin to speak. "First things first, I just wanna say that I’m so sorry for not listening to you and breaking your camera. I’ve been feeling terrible ever since then-"

"Yeah, imagine how I felt,” he interjected.

“Right,” you gave out a nervous chuckle. Wow he is not gonna make this easy for me, you thought to yourself.“

"Also,” you began again, “this time apart has got me thinking. About how much our friendship truly means to me. And that I’m truly lost without you.” Taehyung’s eyes widened a bit while you felt your face getting hot from embarrassment. It was true; Taehyung was the sunshine of your life. You loved how comfortable you were with him. Every text and phone called lifted your spirits. He was alway available whenever you needed a shoulder to cry on. You loved how much of a caring and friendly guy he was. You, in every sense of the word, loved him. "Um I got your something,” you said as you reached in your bag.

Taehyung, whose expression has softened, wasn’t expecting you to get you anything. Or to say you were lost without. “You really didn’t need to buy anything…” He stops once you take out his present from your bag. A camera, nothing like the vintage one his great aunt gave him but rather one of those cute mini instant cameras you’d see on some Tumblr aesthetic blog. Okay, Taehyung really wasn’t expecting that.

“I know it isn’t the same camera your aunt gave you and I can’t afford to buy a fancier one,” you said in a rush, “but I hope this makes up for what I did. Even by a little bit”.

Taehyung takes the package and takes a look at it. After a moment, he burst into a fit of laughter.

Flustered again, you said, “Yeah I know its dumb but I thought it was kinda cool, so…” You trailed off as you couldn’t find the words to finish. It was only when Taehyung finally stopped laughing he took your hand and tenderly held it in his. Jolting a bit, you looked up at him. He was smiling at you.

“Thank you, (Y/N). This really means a lot."

You couldn’t help but break out a happy smile. "So, you’re not angry at me anymore?,” you ask.

Taehyung caresses the back of your hand before answering. “After getting a present like this, from someone like you, how can I be?”

Jungkook

It was Jungkook’s birthday and tonight you, him and the boys were spending an intimate dinner party at your home. Even though you two have been together for only 4 months, you knew you were hopelessly in love with Jungkook and wanted to throw an amazing birthday dinner. You spent the entire day cleaning up your home, running last minute errands, cooking up a fabulous (or at least edible meal), and made sure you looked drop dead gorgeous by the time everyone arrived.

Dinner was heartily eaten, drinks were drank, jokes were made, everyone was having a great time. And to make things even better, Jungkook looked like he was having a fantastic time. He’d give you quick, loving glances throughout and occasionally squeezed your thigh from time to time. “You look so good tonight, babe” he whispered to you at one point, “I can’t wait when these fools leave and we move this party to the bedroom.” While not the most romantic thing to say but honestly what’s not to love about that?

Once dinner and dessert was finished, it was time for the finale to this shindig. “Time to open presents!”, you squealed enthusiastically. You suggested that the order of the present giving should go from oldest of the group and ended with you being last. You anxiously wait as each person presented their gifts to Jungkook. You even had to rush some people who decided to break out in a speech (looking at you Jin and Namjoon). Once Taehyung’s turn was over, you were finally up.

“Wow, you really are excited, (Y/N),” says Jimin

“I actually can’t wait to see myself,” Hoseok follows with.

You hand a perfectly wrapped box to your boyfriend, “I hope you love it, Kookiepants.” You give him a quick peck on his cheek as he carefully unwraps his gift. The whole room is silent in anticipation once Jungkook opens the box and looks inside. He holds up a black t-shirt while studying the front side.

“A plain t-shirt?” Namjoon asks quizzically, “Doesn’t he already have enough of those?”

Jungkook silently shakes his head and turns the front side of the shirt to face the boys. It turns out to be not just a shirt but a shirt with the picture from their dates early in their relationship; a day spent at Disneyland. The picture showed Jungkook holding by the waist as you take a selfie of the both of you.

“How…” Taehyung begins

“Nauseatingly cheesy,” Yoongi finishes.

“Come on, Yoongi,” Jin says, “I think it’s pretty adorable”.

“Coming from the king of cheesiness himself,” Yoongi fires back.

You ignore the other’s banter and turn to Jungkook. “So,” you start, “do you like it?"

Jungkook stares at the image on the shirt before turning his eyes to you. Suddenly, he cups your face and crashes his lips to yours. This abrupt action surprises you initially but you soon relaxed into his embrace, passionately kissing him back.

This was such a very romantic moment for the two of you that you two haven’t noticed the awkwardness you two caused amongst the members.

Jin tried to loudly clear their throat to break your heavy makeout session but you two wouldn’t budge.

Namjoon then says quietly, "I guess it’s our time to leave”. The others silently filled out of the apartment, all the while you and Jungkook were lost in your own little world. What the boys didn’t know was that after they left, two finally broke away from each other. Still holding on to you, Jungkook tells you he loves you for the first time. And of course, you said it back to him.

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babygirlgalitzine · 4 years ago

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i can’t get over the way (you love me like you do) - chapter five

read the chapter on ao3

Sun breaks through the curtains, a beam of light illuminating the wall, and then falling down onto the bed in a long line. Callum's arms are around Ben's body, holding their bodies taut together. Ben's head is resting on Callum's chest, sleeping soundly, his breath exhaling softly onto Callum's bare skin. He looks so peaceful, sleeping there. Like Callum was made solely for Ben to rest his head on him. Clothes have been long since forgotten, sitting on the floor in a slump, creases most definitely having formed on them overnight. It would be relaxing for Callum, if there wasn't a sick feeling eating away in the pit of his stomach. Last night was fun. It was good - amazing, even. Callum let all his inhibitions fade away with every kiss that Ben pressed to his skin, with every touch of his fingers on Callum. They had sex, and it was glorious. It was all soft touches and soft kisses and quiet moans in the dead of night, the arching of backs and mouths gaping open as they worked their way through orgasms. Last night, it was perfect. But now, it's almost sickening.

Callum looks down at Ben's body resting on him. He's stirring in his sleep, and Callum knows that he's close to waking up. There's a red mark on his neck, small but certainly visible, even with Callum's bleary eyes of the morning. He's got no idea when that happened exactly, but he knows he's the perpetrator. His fingers trace over it lightly, trembling against Ben's skin. It's warm, homely. Their legs are together, under the covers, linking together as one. The feel of Ben's skin against his own is one that he never wants to forget. Callum's fingers are still tracing the mark on Ben's neck, and he must be able to feel it, because his breath hitches in the last moments of his slumber. He turns his head, nose burrowing into Callum's skin, right next to his nipple. There's the warmth of his open mouth against his skin, and it instantly reminds Callum of the previous night, Ben leaving searing open mouthed kiss all over his body.

"What time is it?" Ben groans, and Callum's fingers trace faint patterns over his back and down his spine now. His voice is deep and husky and it sets Callum aflame.

"Early." Callum says. "The suns only just come up."

Ben melts even further into Callum, stretching his legs out as best he can, until there's a faint sound of a crack in the bedroom, and his legs start to shake. "I'm tired." He mumbles, and Callum chuckles out softly into the abyss.

"That's what you get for keeping me awake." Callum jokes, and instantly regrets it, feeling his heart plummet down to his stomach, like he's on a rollercoaster and half his body has been left at the top, and the rest goes with him on the descent.

Ben looks up, resting his chin on Callum's chest, and there's a small grin finding its way onto his lips. He stretches up, balancing on his elbows and presses a kiss to Callum's lips, a tingling sensation being shared between them. It's soft, no heat or pressure. It's just them, and the twittering of the early morning birds in the trees outside. "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it." Ben teases, when he pulls back from the kiss.

Callum shakes his head, a laugh bubbling out from his lips. Ben sits up, the covers falling down around him, exposing his body. "Are you leaving?" Callum asks, hands making their way to Ben's waist.

"Do you want me to?" Ben asks in retaliation, voice deep with lust. He licks his lips, and untangles his legs with Callum's, freeing them both. He puts his legs at either side of Callum's waist, and his arms match up with that position further up Callum's body.

"No." Callum says, but it's barely above a whisper.

"No?" Ben repeats, raising an eyebrow as he sinks down, his face merely centimetres away from Callum's now. The tone of his voice matches Callum's perfectly, soft and delicate and breathless. "Well then. I reckon I could stay." He finally presses his lips to Callum's, the elder mans arms moving from their position at his waist to now covering the expanse of his back. It's slow. They're taking their time. Yes, the sun has risen and people are waking up for their breakfast before a commute to work or to school, but right now it's just them, alone. The rest of the world doesn't matter, as long as they hold each other.

Callum's hands fall, fingers fumbling as they trace down Ben's already arching back, right down his spine, and eventually landing on the curve of his bottom. Ben pulls away from the kiss only slightly, aiming to catch his breath. Callum uses the release to speak. "Do you want this again?" He asks, because he has to be sure, he doesn't want to ruin anything.

Ben hums, and stretches out to the bedside table, picking up the bottle of lube and a condom that they left there last night. He passes them to Callum, and resumes their kiss, mumbling out "More than anything." against Callum's lips.

Callum grins, because how could he not? He drizzles lube onto his fingers and suddenly he's overwhelmed, because this is happening again, but this time they aren't fueled by sleep deprivation or a few drinks. This is happening because they both want it to happen. He works Ben open, at first with only one finger. Ben is floating above him, pulling away from the kiss as he feels the pressure of Callum. His mouth gapes open, and he loses all the saliva from his mouth, his mouth suddenly becoming barren dry. "More." He groans, letting his head fall forward, already exhausted. Sweat drips over his forehead, hair falling down to stick to it. Callum, with his free hand, brushes the hair away from Ben's eyes, and lets his thumb rest against his cheek, skin staining a shade of pink. Ben leans down once more, and kisses Callum again, a smile growing on his lips as he can feel Callum moving his hand again. He presses two fingers inside, and Ben groans one more, biting down on Callum's bottom lip in reaction. Callum chuckles, and stretches out his fingers, widening Ben. The younger man retracts, pulling away from the kiss as he arches his back, needing - wanting - to feel more, to feel everything. Callum pulls out his fingers, almost entirely, before he puts them back in again, filling Ben up. A wail escapes from Ben's lips, and his body jerks.

"Yeah?" Callum breathes out, his voice heavy. He doesn't have to explain what he means for Ben to understand fully.

Ben nods and rocks back on Callum's fingers. He finds the condom, and tears open the packet, rolling down on Callum's dick. Callum himself moans at the touch, feeling Ben's hand wrapping around him. Ben grins, knowing he can elicit such a guttural sound from Callum at just the slightest of motions. That's good to know. Ben moves, lining himself up with Callum, and he pushes down. He felt this in the night previously, but something just feels different now. It feels otherworldly, almost. Callum's hands are on his hips, and Ben's head is tilting back, facing the ceiling, though his eyes are screwed tightly shut so he can't actually see anything. He's stationary for a moment, feeling everything. The heat from Callum, feeling completely full, the touch of his fingers on Ben's skin. It's everything.

He presses his hands to Callum's chest, and leans down to take Callum's bottom lip between his. He doesn't usually do this, not during sex. He's not someone who enjoys the added bonus of those feelings, but with Callum he wants all of that and more. He takes his time, spreading his fingers out across the expanse of his chest, and then he starts to move. He lifts up with a roll of his body, so that just the tip of Callum's penis is still inside him, and then pushes back down. Their lips are tangled together in an embrace, with soft moans pouring out between them. Callum spreads out his legs, and tightens his hold on Ben, pushing into him, and helping Ben push down. It's wordless, apart from soft whispers and moans. Ben expertly rolls his body, knowing exactly what buttons to press, and Callum laps it up. He watches as Ben's face flushes pink, and his hair falls in front of his eyes, strays getting caught up on his eyelashes. The sun from the cracks in the curtains flood over Ben, painting him in the light, and to Callum he looks almost ethereal. He falls forward, curling around Callum's body, bones aching. He looks so innocent, and Callum lets out a soft chuckle, pressing a swift kiss to his temple, before he twists their connected bodies, not once escaping from Ben. The younger man is now pressing against the mattress, and Callum is covering him. Ben's legs hook around Callum's body, holding them together, though Callum doesn't want to let go either. His lips are against Ben's neck, back in the same position as last night, lips and teeth clashing against the red patch on his neck that Callum spent the morning admiring. He's adding to the collection, and Ben loves it. He loves something else too - or someone, but he can't say that, can't throw all of this away. Callum takes over the movements, and he loves it. He loves being able to make Ben huff out little moans with each breath he takes. With his lips against Ben's neck, he can hear it all, and even feel the noises bubbling away in his throat. Callum grins, and moves his body, pushing in and then pulling out in a rhythmic tempo, feeling Ben tighten around him. There's a shortness of breath that comes from Ben, and his legs push Callum into his body even further, needing him there.

"Callum." He breathes out, fingers threading through Callum's hair, pulling just a little bit. Callum moves his head so he can see Ben's face, and its contorted, beads of sweat forming from his brows. "I'm close." He hums.

Callum smiles, and traps Ben's lips with his own. He speeds the tempo up, and swallows Ben's groans, letting them mingle with his own. There's a guttural sound and a tug on Callum's hair as Ben comes, feeling a weight in his pelvic area, and then the stickiness against his stomach. Callum slows himself down, pleasure overcoming him too as he spills into the condom, moving his lower body as he works them through it all. Ben's legs become loose and jelly-like, and he relaxes, running his fingers lightly up and down Callum's spine. Callum pulls out, and ties the condom in a knot, placing it inside a tissue. Ben wipes himself down, though he has no energy for it. Their legs are entwining once more, and Callum finds himself being held by Ben this time.

The sun is still prominent, and now even brighter, lighting up as much of the room as possible from the small gaps in the curtains. Ben's almost falling asleep again, and Callum chuckles softly, pressing two fingers to his cheek and turning his face so that he's facing Callum now. Callum kisses Ben softly, slowly. There's no heat to it, it's just relaxing, peaceful.

"Don't let me sleep." Ben says, breaking the silence of the room. "I've got work. Jay'll kill me if I don't show up."

Callum chuckles, and kisses Ben one last time. "Get up then. I'll make us breakfast. Bacon sarnie do ya?"

Ben hums, but makes no move to get up out of bed. "Maybe five more minutes?" He asks cheekily.

"And then in five minutes, it'll be another five? Come on, I'm not being responsible for you not shifting any cars today." Callum says, tapping Ben's side. He clambers over Ben, and gets out of bed, standing as naked as the day he was born, until he searches for boxers in his bedside drawer. He turns to face Ben, once he's partially clothed, or at least covering his manhood, and he holds his hands out for Ben to take, dragging him up.

It's lunch now, the sun flying high in the sky, beaming right down on Walford. There's a crispness to the air, threatening to get colder as the day progresses, but the sun remains a figure of warming people up when it's not hidden by the clouds. Ben locks the door to the car lot, and pockets the key, walking over to the cafe. It's been a successful morning, by all counts. Contracts signed, meetings scheduled, and a car bought already. He pushes open the door to the cafe, and sees his mum at the till, handing some change into Callum's hand.

"Hi love." Kathy smiles. "Didn't hear you leave this morning?"

Ben smiles shyly at Callum, who's standing there with a takeaway cup of tea in his hands. "I stayed out." Ben explains. "Tea and full English, please mum."

She writes down his order, and hums. "Staying in?" She asks, looking back up at him.

Ben looks at Callum, and raises an eyebrow, questioning him silently. Callum nods, and Ben speaks again. "Yeah. Staying in."

They walk towards the back of the cafe, sitting in the corner so they’re partially hiding from the view of Kathy. Callum feels guilty instantly, because he just knows she can read between the lines and see the looks he and Ben share. It’s not just a joke being played on their friends anymore, not if Kathy thinks they’re together. Ben doesn’t seem to care much though, because his legs are soon entwining with Callum’s underneath the table, as he sits back with a smile on his face.

“Good morning?” Callum asks.

Ben nods earnestly. “You know it was.” He grins.

Callum looks away, suddenly taking an interest in the people around them. He shakes his head with a soft look of appreciation on his face, and a chuckle threatening to bubble out of him. “I actually meant at work.” He explains.

“Well.” Ben says, leaning back in his seat, using his foot under the table to nudge Callum’s thighs open. “Not quite as good as early this morning, but I’ve sold a car and sorted out things that needed sorting.”

“Guess I don’t have to be blamed for you not shifting any cars then.” Callum teases.

Kathy walks over to them, putting a plate and a mug in front of Ben. She looks between them, her eyebrows furrowed only slightly, but there's a smile on her face. When she leaves again, without a word, Ben chuckles lowly, shaking his head from side to side.

Callum contorts his face in confusion, raising an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes in Ben's direction. That just makes Ben laugh more. He reaches over the table, and locks his pinky finger with Callum's. It's grounding. A soft touch that Callum doesn't expect at all. "I think she's just figured out where I stayed last night." Ben explains.

"Oh." Callum says. "Do you mind?"

Ben takes a sip of his tea, and closes his eyes momentarily. "No. Do you?"

Callum thinks for a moment, because this is only happening because they are playing a joke on Jay and Lola. But now it's real. Kind of, anyway. He has real feelings, and they're getting more and more prominent with every sunrise that comes around. They've had sex now - twice. It's not a prank any more, not to Callum. But Kathy isn't aware of the origins of them. She doesn't know that they're aren't together. All she sees, is Ben holding Callum's hand, the looks being shared between them. All she knows, is that her son didn't come home last night, and that he definitely stayed at Callum's. "No." He says, eventually, though there's something inside of him screaming out that he's lying to himself.

Ben smiles, and tightens his hold on Callum's hand for a moment, before he lets go so that he's able to eat.

Callum waits, and there's a calmness between them. It's quiet, though the cafe is busy, and everyone's talking, but he somehow manages to drown them all out. His heart beats fast, and he's petrified Ben can hear it, because he certainly can. "I need to go anyway." He says, and he feels light headed all of a sudden. "I'm meant to be working through lunch. Stock taking." He stands, and Ben's eyeline follows him.

He moves to walk away, but Ben's hand flies out and grabs hold of his hand, their fingers entwining for a second. He pulls away slowly, his hand on Callum's for as long as he can possibly drag out. "No goodbye kiss?" He asks, teasingly. "Come on, we haven't kissed for...four hours."

Callum chuckles softly. He's ridiculous. This situation is ridiculous. He leans down, hooking his pointer finger under Ben's chin, and pressing his thumb lightly just underneath his bottom lip. Swiftly, he presses a kiss to Ben's lips. Short, but sweet, and leaving him wanting more. "I'll see you later, yeah?" Callum asks, when he stands back up and straightens himself out.

"Yeah." Ben whispers out softly, watching as Callum walks away.

Ben's sitting alone for only a few short moments after he hears the door to the cafe shutting behind Callum. He's eating a slice of toast, when his mum slides out the chair Callum was previously sitting on, and sits down herself. "Yes mother?" He asks, looking across the table at her.

"When were you planning on telling me about you and Callum?" She enquires, putting a tea towel on the table to free her hands, though she rests them on top of it.

"Nothing to tell you about." Ben says, but there's a growing smile that's threatening to expose him.

Kathy raises an eyebrow, and slaps at Ben's hand. "You let him kiss you in public. That ain't nothing, Ben. I haven't seen you like this in a long time."

Ben smiles softly. "I think we're just seeing where it goes." He explains, but he's not even sure himself, not now. "And yes, before you ask. I did stay at his last night."

Kathy smiles, and holds on to Ben's hand. "As long as you're both happy." She says. "And you can let him know, that he can come around for dinner tonight. I'll cook."

"Is that an official invitation?" Ben chuckles.

"Yes." Kathy says, standing up. She puts her hand on Ben's shoulder, and squeezes. "I'm happy for you love."

---

Callum's pacing outside. It's later in the day now, and the sky is fading to a navy blue as the day turns into the evening. His phone is in his hand, a text conversation with Ben lighting up the screen. He's already sent him a text, letting him know that he's standing outside and that he can't possibly knock on the door, or even ring the bell. He's anxious, and possibly ready to strangle Ben for agreeing to this stupid meal. Guilt swarms through him, and he's ready to walk away, but the door cracks open, and Ben's grinning stupidly at him.

"Hey." Ben smiles and Callum hates, hates that hearing Ben's voice makes him so fuzzy and warm inside. "You could've just come in."

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Callum says, narrowing his eye in Ben's direction.

Ben steps outside, and shuts the door behind him, so that nobody inside will be able to hear them. "She saw us. I can hardly deny it, can I? How would that look to Jay and Lola?"

Callum tilts his head back and looks up to the sky, exhaling a breath and watching it materialise and swirl out into the atmosphere above him. "Who's inside?" He asks, hoping it's not the entire extended family.

"Just my mum." Ben says. "Everyone else is out, at the Vic. I told her I didn't want a big fuss, and it was fine being just us. Please, Cal."

Callum sighs. "Fine. But you're the one sorting out any mess if it all goes wrong."

Ben grins, and nods, accepting his fate. "Come on then." He says, holding out his hand for Callum to take, wrapping their fingers together in a warm embrace. They walk into the house together, and Callum puts his arm around Ben's shoulder, a smile on his face as he's instantly hit with the smell of home cooked food, nostalgia running through him.

Kathy's lovely, she really is. She puts Callum at ease, and makes him laugh until he's red in the face, telling him stories of Ben as a child, how he loved to dance in her high heels, and how she once caught him putting red lipstick on all over his face, wearing her pearl necklace and smiling at himself in the mirror. It's surprisingly easy, fitting into the family setting. Callum's arm is placed protectively over the back of Ben's chair, occasionally moving his hand so that his fingers are massaging the nape of Ben's neck. Ben looks at Callum with a softness in his eyes and a bright smile on his face. It's normal. Shockingly normal.

But that makes it worse for Callum. By the end of the evening, there's a dim buzzing noise incessant in his head, and he feels like nothing but a fraud. He never wanted it to go this far. It was only supposed to be a joke between friends, but now families and feelings are involved and he's regretting ever agreeing to it. He's standing at the door, having already kissed Kathy on the cheek, thanking her for a lovely evening and telling her to enjoy her night. He can hear Ben's laughter, and can just about make out Kathy telling him to "Keep your Callum around." If Ben hadn't already offered to walk Callum back over to his flat in front of Kathy, he probably would've left already.

"Ready to go?" Ben asks, walking into the corridor and shrugging his leather jacket on over his shoulders.

Callum nods, and winces because his head is already banging. "Yeah."

"Told you that wine'd go straight to your head." Ben laughs. He opens the door and lets Callum leave into the night first.

Callum turns and faces Ben, his hands are shoved in his trouser pockets. "I don't know how you're both perfectly fine after it. I think I've already started the hangover."

Ben laughs. "We'll probably feel it tomorrow." He watches Callum, and notices that his smile doesn't light up his face like it usually does. They're nearing Callum's flat now, and Callum gets his keys out of his pocket, hooking his finger through the loop of the key ring, so the metal is dangling and clashing together making a tinny sound. "What's wrong?" He asks, barely metres away from Callum's front door.

"Nothing." Callum says, leaning against the concrete bricks of his front garden wall with folded arms. They both know that's a lie.

Ben scoffs out a laugh, and mimics Callum's stance. "Come on." He says, nudging Callum's arm with his own elbow. "I'm your boyfriend, you have to tell me."

And that was it. Something within Callum snaps, and he lets out the most incredulous laugh, eyes shooting daggers at Ben. He pushes himself off of the concrete wall, and unfolds his arms, freeing himself from his own constraints. The alcohol in his system only acts as an accelerant to the fury that burns deep inside him. Words bubble up inside him, until he explodes, tears welling up in his eyes. "Expect you're not my boyfriend." He venomously spits. "You're not my boyfriend, and I am not yours. We're pretending. This whole fucking thing is make believe. And now we're not only lying to our best friends, we're lying to your mum. Your own flesh and blood. Or does that not bother you at all?" A tear falls down from his eye and marks his skin. He quickly wipes it away, not wanting to show Ben that he's at the point of actually crying, and he turns away from him. He unlocks the door with a click, and slams it shut behind him, blocking out all the shouts from Ben.

There's silence once again, and Ben's left alone with only solitude as a friend. He looks up at the night sky, and notices a scattering of stars hanging up there, looking so small in the vastness of the above. He puts his hands over his face, and muffles a scream into them, needing to let it out. Ben sighs eventually and turns away, walking back towards his house, back in the direction he's just come from, with the intention of getting drunk and forgetting any of this even happened.

He's ruined everything, all because he's gone and fallen in love with Callum.

#ballum #ben x callum #ben mitchell x callum highway #ben mitchell #callum highway #myfic

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