#okay that one's not exactly earth-shattering but i love thinking about the resulting film

[darchildre]

Do you ever think about what our media landscape would be like if Tod Browning had managed to cast Lon Chaney as Dracula (like he originally wanted) instead of Bela Lugosi?

Like, does the (fucked up and erotic-but-not-sexy) film that would have produced do as well? Does it become the franchise-spawning media juggernaut that our Dracula became, or is it like Freaks - too weird and gross for mainstream success?

If it did catch on, what did the rest of the vampires of the 20th century look like? Was there a Lon Chaney-inspired Dark Shadows equivalent? What about Anne Rice - does she still write about sexy vampires? What is Lon Chaney-esque Twilight like?

And if it didn't catch on, did Universal still make Frankenstein? Or did Laemmle Sr decide "No more horror", James Whale keeps making war pictures, and Boris Karloff spends his whole life playing minor roles in gangster movies?

I don't know, man, this question haunts me sometimes.

[ivy-stjames]

AND THE PLANETS OF THE UNIVERSE GO THEIR WAY → ivy + leo

𝚆𝙷𝙾:  @leo-mccarthy​ && @ivystjamess​ 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽:  the evening of saturday, july the eighteenth 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴:  mccarthy residence, basement / leo’s room 𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃: in attempt to feel more herself again, ivy goes over to leo’s, things don’t exactly go as either of them planned.

possible tws: mention of abortion, breaking up

IVY:  TO PUT IT SIMPLY, IVY WAS HAVING A ROUGH WEEK. after crying to julien, lemon, and her big sister, she still sort of just felt like a shell of herself. no matter how hard she attempted to train her eye to the movie playing on the screen leo had hanging on the wall at the foot of his bed, she found herself eyeing him with an odd culpability. she laid on his chest, his arm around her in their usual way, but his touch burned, and not in the good way. no longer did his fingers brushing across her hip leave her breathless, nor did his kisses against her skin make her swoon. she felt empty, shattered even, held together by encouraging words of her friends and the lingering sensation of a hug from her sister. every passing second the knot in her stomach unraveled and tightened with each breath she took. what she had done yesterday was irreversible, her and leo wouldn’t be having a child, and no matter how hard she tried to remind herself she loved him, she was blinded with resentment. all ivy wanted to do was cry, but she couldn’t. in a lame attempt to soothe herself, she nuzzled closer into her boyfriend, taking his free hand and kissing his knuckles. still, only a lonely nauseous feeling lingered. tossing about slightly to try and get comfortable, once again she just couldn’t. getting fed up, ivy sat up, hair falling in her eyes as she was illuminated only by flashing images of the movie. . . “leo,” she began softly, a certain fear in her voice. anxiously, she grabbed his hand and played with his fingers as if things didn’t feel resoundingly off. they had always walked to a beat of different drums, but now it felt like they couldn’t even hear each other’s. whether it be from avoidant glances, silent treatment, or arguing, they just weren’t settling back into the usual pace of things. sure, it had only been a day. but this? this wasn’t love. this was unbearable, “i think like. . . i think we like might need to talk about things.”

LEO:  Leo felt like he’d just been going through the motions ever since Ivy told him she’d booked an appointment at planned parenthood. He felt like a shell of himself, not because he had regrets, but because he knew she was suffering. His silver lining in this mess of a situation was that he was confident they had done the right thing. When Ivy told him she was pregnant, or…no…when he guessed she was, it was clear that she was in a highly emotional state. In Leo’s opinion, she had seemed too emotional to make a logical decision. Her idealistic rambling about them starting a family together probably would’ve sent any other person who didn’t want to be a teen parent into a spiral, but he had been confident in his ability to reason and rationalize with her—to get her to come back down to earth. At least that was what he told himself as they laid cuddled up next to each other, watching an obscure arthouse film in his bedroom one day after her abortion. For the first time in a long time, it felt like they just couldn’t get comfortable. Leo kept his eyes fixed on the projector screen, trying desperately to pay attention despite Ivy’s fidgeting beside him, but his mind was elsewhere. There was a very clear elephant in the room and quite frankly, he didn’t know how to address it. He wanted to talk to Ivy about what had happened and how she felt, but he also knew he had to tread lightly. His silence was his attempt at respecting her space. So he sat there, biting his tongue with a soft smile as she took his hand and kissed it. He tightened his grip around her as she nuzzled into him, quickly kissing the top of her head and doing his best to maintain some sense of normalcy. The only way out of this empty feeling was through, so he was prepared to weather this. He would do his best to be strong for both of them. However, the second Ivy sat up and said his name, his instincts told him to run. But there was nowhere to go. So he took a deep breath, pulled his hand out of hers, and reached over to his desk to grab the remote and pause the movie they were clearly not invested in. “Okay,” he responded quietly, feeling a knot form in his stomach as his heart rushed to put up its defenses once again, “we can talk. What do you want to say?”

IVY: AT HIS QUESTION, IVY FELL MUTE. what did she want to say? while she might not of actually spoke, her eyes did a whole lot of talking. there was a heavy sadness laced with a confusion that had never graced her lively blue hues prior to this moment. her mouth opened and closed a couple of different times to speak, but over and over she couldn’t gather her thoughts. the past week had blurred together in a nightmare of emotions and numbness tipping the scale in way or another. still silent, ivy brought her hand up to leo’s cheek with a certain longing and tenderness. her heart guiding her actions before she could even think about why she was making them. in the quiet ivy brought a hand to run through leo’s hair, as if for the last time. tears noticeably welled in her eyes. in a final movement, ivy scooted close to leo, pressing her forehead to his own as if getting their brains physically close would put them on the same page. at the action, the tears began to spill down her cheeks and ivy was in a place where she felt like she knew. “leo, i think that like. . . you are so great. . .” she began, still leading with her unpredictable heart. “and i love you like i’ve loved nothing or no one before. . .” these were unmistakably the beginnings of a break up speech. where ivy had gotten the idea this was the solution had come from a place deep within herself that her heart lead her towards. part of her wished she wasn’t crying and the room was lighter, so she could admire her boyfriend’s features for what she was beginning to think would be the final time unobscured by the glassiness of her eyes or the darkness of a room. “you are my first love.” ivy choked out, bringing shaking hands to either side of his face. she felt probably just as scared as he did the more and more her heart used her tongue to enact it’s will. “but this just like. . .” a sniffle, “i-i don’t know if this is like a good fit for us anymore.”after the words spilled out of her mouth, ivy knew there was no taking them back which resulted in her gasping and choking back sobs much like she had the last time her and leo opened themselves up to one another in his bed. she loved leo, there was no doubt about that, but being with him this past day was painful. their interactions were like navigating a minefield or a beach with far too many burs. it was difficult, and the effort no longer felt worth it. they had always struggled, but this didn’t feel like a bump they could get over without losing hold of one another. “i just. . .” ivy said, pulling her forehead away from leo’s and looking at him. a dull aching was added to the pile of other achings living in her chest currently. “i love you, i can’t tell you that enough this is just like . . .” she shook her head, grasping anywhere she could think of for a feeling that was indescribable. “awful, it’s so awful. i feel like, part of my soul has been totally torn from me.” ivy cried out to him, continuing on her near hysterical ramble. “and i just like look at you and it hurts me, leo. like it hurts.” she vocalized, before crying into her hands. her heart had brought her to this point with no warning and the weight of what she had been saying was clearly starting to settle. “and like i don’t want it to be like this, but it is, so like maybe it’s time to throw in the towel.”

LEO:  Leo had seen Ivy sad before, he’d even been the root of that sadness before, but he’d never been on the receiving end of this particular look. He felt himself crumbling under her stare. She was struggling to speak, but if he was being honest, she didn’t have to say anything. He could tell what was coming. As he watched her open and close her mouth time and time again, he felt himself wanting to speak too. But the words never came. Time slowed when she put a hand on his cheek, then ran another through his hair. What had once been a comfort now felt like wound. Leo could see her tears starting to form and almost instantly felt himself shutting down. He closed his eyes as Ivy pressed her forehead against his. He couldn’t look at her. When Ivy started to speak, all Leo could focus on was how dry his throat suddenly was. He couldn’t stop swallowing. He wanted so badly to reach up and touch her face and run his fingers through her hair and pull her close, but he was stone. No part of him could enjoy or bask in Ivy’s words because he knew there was an inevitable ‘but’ waiting for him at the end of her ‘I love you.’ His breathing became shallow as she let herself really start to cry and he was grateful for the darkness. The last thing he wanted was for Ivy to see him looking so dejected and lost. He couldn’t bear it.’You are my first love.’ Leo felt the skin on the back of his neck and the tips of his ears burning as he sat there, close to Ivy, listening to what felt like a goodbye. The memory of Ivy passing him a note backstage during RENT rehearsals intrusively entered his mind. He hadn’t known back then that Ivy St. James, some sophomore girl he’d only heard of and admired from a distance, was going to enter his life like a hurricane. He hadn’t known back then that one kiss by the lockers would turn into months and months of sleeping next to each other and sharing secrets and taking pictures and arguing over who got to control the music in the car. Leo kind of felt like he couldn’t breathe. When Ivy said what he knew she was going to say, he nodded slowly, still unable to speak. What was he supposed to say anyway? He should’ve seen this coming. People always left. Nothing good ever stayed. Even as she sobbed and gasped through her words, all Leo could do was stare. Had he known that pushing her towards the right decision regarding their unexpected pregnancy would result in this, maybe he would’ve done things differently. Maybe they could’ve had their baby. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. But what use was it to dwell on that now? As Ivy pulled away from him and insisted again that she loved him, he found it in him to speak. “You can stop saying that.” It was curt and possibly cruel, but he felt powerless. He didn’t know what to do. If she really loved him, she wouldn’t be leaving him. If she really loved him, she would try to work this out. She would give them a chance, like he had time and time again when she had fucked up. As Ivy started rambling and crying harder than before into her hands, Leo was at a loss. He was burdened with guilt and with each passing statement, he knew he’d carry the weight of this feeling for the rest of his life. ’I just like look at you and it hurts me, Leo. Like it hurts.’ He’d never meant to cause her this much pain. “I’m sorry,” his words came out strained and hoarse, “I’m really fucking sorry.” This whole time he hadn’t moved. He remained sat in the same spot he had been when Ivy was cuddled into him and pressing their foreheads together. But suddenly he needed to move. He cleared his throat and got up quickly, headed straight for his doorway. He flipped the light switch so they were now illuminated. No more hiding in the darkness. For a long while he just stood there, one arm around his torso to hold himself together while the hand on his other arm covered the bottom half of his face. He stared at the ground as he tried to formalize his scattered thoughts.“You’re breaking my heart,” he mumbled, feeling choked up for the first time but quickly swallowing down those emotions and refusing to speak again until he had them in check. Earning Leo’s trust was a lot like pulling an elastic band. Ivy had pulled it and stretched it farther than anyone else had, but by deciding to throw in the towel, she had released the band and it had snapped back to where it started. All that progress—all for nothing. “I’m—“ I’m in love with you. Please don’t do this. Please don’t go. “not going to beg you to stay.” He sniffled, took a deep breath, and dropped his arms to his sides in defeat. “If you want to give up, then there’s nothing I can do.” He stepped aside a little, leaning back against the wall by his doorway and not so subtly unlocking the door. If she wanted to go, then she was free to go.

IVY:  IVY KNEW HER AND LEO WERE DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT. they were moon and sun, winter and summer, oil and water, but ivy liked that. she liked that they worked against all odds. but she certainly didn’t think her candid admission on this scale would be met with such a lack of reaction. she thought there would at least be some talking, some goodbye, not ‘im sorry’s’ or ‘stop saying that’s’. launched out of her excessive crying by anger, ivy followed leo out of bed and looked up at him. a dangerous look settled over her expression and in an instant her heartache about having broken up with leo was momentarily snuffed out by the fury his response had spurred. as he stood, covering half of his face in silence, ivy waited, seething until he dropped his arm. had their relationship meant nothing to him? how could leo say she was giving up when he wouldn’t even fight? guilt thickly coated her throat, leaving ivy speechless for a moment when leo insisted she was breaking his heart. it took her a moment to find her footing, but once she did, her blunt and brutal rage was unleashed. “speak like an adult leo, quit mumbling.” she demanded, cold. “i thought we were supposed to be mature?” ivy jabbed, though the tremors in her chin made it clear this outrage was rooted in a place of hurt. “i’m fucking sorry, too leo.” she continued, her voice raspy from all the crying, but her volume loud. not giving him time to respond, she continued, “i’m sorry that you’re a scared child who can’t even own up to his emotions and i’m sorry that i have always been open with someone who can’t even like articulate that he loves me one more time, and i’m so sorry for breaking your heart, but maybe, just maybe if you weren’t selfish about our future you wouldn’t have broken mine first!” any trace of tenderness was gone and the tears started coming once again in her angry rant about things that she wasn’t really sorry for. ivy rapidly tried to wipe her eyes, feeling like leo no longer deserved to see her cry. it was no use though and her anger rapidly took a turn towards a full meltdown. “i got an abortion for you and you can’t even have a mature break up with me?” ivy asked rhetorically through gritted teeth before adding, “fuck you, leo mccarthy. you broke my heart and i hope you’re miserable forever for it!” she cried out before pushing past him, up the steps, out of the basement, and eventually out of the house. though it was dramatic, ivy weirdly felt a weight off her chest the moment she crossed the threshold of the mccarthy home and ran to the haven that was her car. it was about a half an hour of crying and trying to uselessly make sense of what had happened before she even moved her car from being parked out front. part of her entertained the idea of giving another her a piece of her mind, another part toyed with forgiving him and making up, but the third part just hated him and wanted to be at home with her sister. so, once she got the tears under control, ivy started the car, and set her course for home, trying (and struggling) to leave her love for leo mccarthy behind her.

END

[byunbaemaxkhyun-blog]

Promise // Baekhyun

|Inspired by the song Promise by EXO|

Pairing: Reader x Baekhyun

Word count: 1215

Description: You, Baekhyun’s girlfriend are unable to see EXO off at the airport because you're ill, but he thinks that for you ‘work’ is more important than him...

Genre: Angsty, Fluff

Y/N’s POV // It felt like hell, a pounding headache, a blocked nose, a fever, the list could go on and on. You lay in bed, shivering, crouching yourself into a tiny ball, you had a really bad flu, and as a result had taken the day off work, hoping that with lots of rest you’d start to feel better soon.

Suddenly your phone buzzed, and you groaned as you reached over to get it off the bed side table. It was your boyfriend, Baekhyun. You cursed loudly remembering that you told him that you would be at the airport to see him off as EXO were going to Japan for a week for a small event, and you hadn’t been able to spend much time with him recently as you were both busy. You felt your heart sink; you had completely forgotten because during the past couple of days, stress and pain had consumed you. The messages read: ‘Jagi, when are you coming?’ ‘There are so many people here at the airport y/n-ie where are you??’ ‘???’ You tried ringing Baekhyun, but the phone call wouldn’t connect, you barely had the energy to get out of bed let alone go to the airport, but you were still adamant to see your boyfriend off, especially knowing how whiny he was, like a little child. But above all, you missed him like crazy, and your heart ached knowing that you would be unable to see him for another week. After trying several more times, you gave up, and called EXO’s manager to find out whereabouts they were exactly, whilst the phone was ringing, you slowly got out of bed to get your coat. “Hello, (exo’s manager’s name), it’s me y/n” “Hi y/n, what is it?” he said sounding like he was struggling to hear you, a little annoyed, busy obviously. “Erm, where are you, I wanted to come and see Baekhyun, and see the rest of the boys off” “Wait..why do you sound like that, are you ill y/n?” “Y..yeah, I have the flu” you barely managed to speak out. “y/n-ie, don’t come here, it’s snowing outside, it’s freezing cold, and besides I don’t want to sound rude, but I can’t afford the boys catching the flu, I hope you understand” At that moment you felt your heart shatter into a million pieces, but you managed to let out “that’s fine, please don’t tell Baek I’m ill though” before he cut it off. You dived into bed again, feeling a lot worse than before,  you really wanted to see him before he went, but you simultaneously knew that their manager was right, you didn’t want any of the boys to catch the flu. Your phone started ringing, and you quickly grabbed it, only to see it was Baekhyun, and you hesitantly answered it. “Jagi where on earth are you?” he said, out of breath slightly. “Er..Baek..I” “What’s wrong y/n?” he said, his voice full of concern, making your heart ache even more. “Baekhyun I’m really busy with work, I can’t make it, I’m sorry” you lied, a huge lump in your throat appeared, you didn’t want him to unnecessarily worry about you. There was a long pause, before he finally let out: “okay that’s fine”, he sounded so extremely hurt, and tears fell, staining your cheeks, you really didn’t want to be in this situation. Without saying anything else, he abruptly cut the phone off, making you cry even harder, making the tormenting headache you had even worse.

Baekhyun’s POV // I felt so annoyed with y/n, as soon as I cut the phone off I felt all the energy drain from my body. Was her work really more important than me? I was in disbelief that she didn’t even come to say bye, I just wanted to see her beautiful face before I went, my lips missed hers, I know it was only another week without her, but every second without her was like torture. I dejectedly walked to find the other members; they were crowded around our manager. He was on the phone, pacing back and forth, looking extremely stressed, he angrily ran his hand through his hair. “What’s wrong hyung?” I asked Suho. “The flights been delayed by 8 hours because of the bad snow, he’s seeing if he can arrange something” Suho explained, although his words went straight through me, as I was unable to process anything at that moment, I was feeling too upset, disappointed, and angry. I thought about all the times I’d cancelled my plans with the boys, dance practices, meetings, and other things, just so that I could spend time with y/n. But she couldn’t even free a couple of hours just to say bye.

All the noise, commotion, and over thinking was making me feel so dizzy, so I went to sit on the huge window ledge, it was already dark outside because it was winter, but the strong lighting outside illuminated the snow falling, laying a soft sheet across the ground. It reminded me of y/n, how she loved the snow so much, how this time last year we were out having snowball fights without a care in the world. Tears fell down my cheek as I longed for y/n’s embrace so much, it hurt. “Hyung?” I felt Sehun’s hand rest firmly on my shoulder, “Manager hyung said the flight’s cancelled, we can go home”. I wiped my tears, what was the point in going home? It’s not like y/n was going to be there anyway.

~

After a long drive I finally arrived back home, once I was running to open the door and find y/n, but now I was walking as slow as humanly possible. I lazily opened the door to our shared apartment, I just wanted to sleep, for the longest time possible, I was so exhausted with everything. I reached our bedroom, and as I entered, I saw y/n in bed. I was so confused, she was crouched, I lifted the duvet slightly to see she was asleep, but she was shivering, I felt her forehead and it was so hot. “y/n?” I said shaking her slightly, I was so worried about her, her face looked completely washed out, she looked so ill. She slowly opened her swollen eyes, but immediately clutched her head in pain. I held her hands, “Jagi are you okay what’s wrong?” “Baek?” she said, finally fully awake, and then she engulfed me into the tightest hug, her body against mine was shivering like crazy; I rubbed her back to try and calm her down. “I..I thought you said you we busy with work?” I asked, confused. She pulled away slightly and looked into my eyes “It’s just that I’m ill, and I didn’t want you, or the rest of the boys to worry” she almost whispered, and then I felt guilt strike through my body, I was blaming her for no reason at all. “Jagi, our flights been cancelled, and I want to look after you until you get fully better” I said, one hand on her chin, a small smile formed on her lips.

She nuzzled into my shoulder, and I whispered in her ear, “Everything will get better, I promise”.

I went to get her favourite food, some medicine, and put on her favourite films, which we watched until she drifted asleep…