#only to open the comments and the first one was about the musical trilogy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tarisilmarwen · 2 years ago

Text

Rebels Rewatch: "Twin Suns"

In which the end of the Malachor arc is profoundly beautiful.

First off, obligatory live reaction version from 2017.

Second, I would be remiss if I did not link back to this close read of "Twin Suns" (by greenreticule here on Tumblr), from which I draw quite a bit of my own analysis and opinions about the themes and messages of the episode. Check it out sometime, there's ten parts (technically eleven but the last post in the series is more of a memoir/personal reflection by the author and therefore not as relevant to our meta purposes) and it is a loooooong read but worth it, in my opinion. I don't always agree with every single point of the analysis (the stuff about the Sequel Trilogy, for example) but there's a lot of things that resonate and that I incorporate into my own interpretation of the episode so I figured I'd mention the source.

Onwards!

Rather appropriately we open on a shot of the titular twin suns themselves.

The next series of shots are stark and empty, nothing but the vast white desert, emphasizing the loneliness and isolation of both Tatooine itself, and Maul in particular.

And he is not, ah... taking Ezra's rejection or the long wanderings out in the desert well. To say the least.

From this first opening monologue we can already tell that Maul is fraying. He spent ten years in the depths of madness and it seems like he's descending into madness once again. Even his clothing reflects this, sandblasted and torn, a ragged hood recalling the one he wore at the beginning of Malachor as he feigned being weak and decrepit, and uneven wrappings circling his arms, asymmetrically.

His mood swings from "Visions and Voices" are more pronounced, one moment warbling pitifully about being lost, about being so close to his target, the next shrieking Obi-Wan's name skyward like an obscenity.

Obi-Wan has managed to elude him all this time since Dathomir, and Maul is beginning to get desperate.

RIGHT, SO THIS IS THE PART WHERE I GET BACK INTO MY BLUBBERING KENOBI SHOW FEELINGS BECAUSE "JEDI CANNOT HELP WHAT THEY ARE. THEIR COMPASSION LEAVES A TRAIL. THE JEDI CODE IS LIKE AN ITCH. [THEY] CANNOT HELP IT." AND SOB FOREVER ABOUT HOW WHOEVER IT WAS ON THE WRITING TEAM THAT CAME UP WITH THAT RAW-ASS LINE, THEY UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT.

So not only is this a callback to the previous times Maul lured Obi-Wan out to him in TCW, this now also a call-forward to Kenobi and I just want y'all to appreciate for a moment that Maul is using the exact same tactic on two different Jedi, simultaneously.

Maul is luring Ezra and taking advantage of Ezra's compassion, hero complex, guilt complex, and sense of hyper-responsibility, in order to then exploit Obi-Wan's compassion and protector-guardian streak, so that he can kill Obi-Wan when Obi-Wan comes to Ezra's rescue.

Because that's what Jedi do, that's what Jedi are, the Jedi Code is like an itch they cannot help it--frick man, I'm already emotional and we're not even two minutes in.

A general overview of the music this episode, and I'll comment on specific cues as they happen, but I mostly want to point out the frequent lack of music, actually. This episode is very stripped down in terms of theme and instrumentation and there are long stretches of utter silence, to help us absorb the atmosphere. It's very effective in making Tatooine feel utterly desolate, like we're alone on this journey with the characters.

This episode had originally been very ambitious, we've been told from behind-the-scenes commentary, longer, more complex, a lot more plot points, but as it was coming together they very wisely pared it way down to the barebone tacks, cutting out all the excesses and stripping things down to a simple character journey narrative, making the resulting story that much more profound and intimate.

(Plus the saved budget allowed us to get some absolutely gorgeous animation and new pajamas for Ezra. XD)

He looks so comfy in them.

This sequence is heavily styled after the cold open in "Legacy", camera movement and shot choice almost exactly matching. This is not a coincidence, as the basic premise of both episodes is the same: Ezra receives a vision through the Force, and it moves him to action.

Unlike in "Legacy", however, when the Force itself was moving to comfort Ezra and connect him to the voices and images of his parents one last time before their death, this vision is artificially constructed, sent to him by Maul--like the ones in "Visions and Voices"--to deliberately manipulate him, pull him away from his support network, make him act out of fear.

A false Call To Action, in an artificial Hero's Journey narrative that Maul has constructed for Ezra to follow. (More on that later.)

Side note, completely unrelated to all this meta, but an observation I just want to point out: It's the middle of the night and Kanan is not in his room on the Ghost. Where exactly was he eh? Perhaps a certain Twi'lek pilot's room? *eyebrow waggle*

Anyway, after Ezra's Weird Force Tele-Distance Holocron Call we move to a scene that is a bit heavy in the exposition department, by virtue of it having to hold the burden of the extra plotlines they pared down. It's maybe not quite as effective as it could have been but it serves its purpose: It establishes that they identified the "desert planet with two suns" as Tatooine sometime offscreen, and that they asked about Obi-Wan and Bail Organa lied through his teeth about the man being dead. So therefore they must have decided to give the matter up, and let Maul chase ghosts in the Tatooine sands.

Rex being clearly distraught at Obi-Wan's assumed death. :(

Kanan also reminds Ezra that the last visions he got from and about Maul were a trick designed to manipulate him.

Ezra's insistent though, as he always tends to be whenever the notion of being able to obtain "the key to destroying the Sith" pops up. So Hera takes him aside for a moment.

Her face and how often she touches Ezra's arms and shoulders in this scene hurts. :( And the strain in her voice when she asserts that if Obi-Wan were alive he wouldn't be hiding in the desert, he'd be helping them, Hera understands Jedi nature too, she just hasn't gotten the full picture, doesn't know the reason why Obi-Wan is doing... well... exactly that.

This is where the story beat parallels to "Legacy" end, because this time, Ezra does not receive Hera's blessing to go. Instead she reminds him, rather sternly, that he is supposed to be there with them, planning the attack on Lothal, she needs him and his focus here.

Recall Yoda's line about Luke: "Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing." Since all the way back in Season Two, when his mere presence started to become a danger to the safety of his friends, Ezra has been growing more and more obsessed with finding a way to kill the Sith, whenever Maul turns up more distracted. It ties straight back into his motivation for becoming a Jedi in the first place that he told Yoda in "Path of the Jedi".

"I just want to protect myself and my friends. And not just them, everyone. I'll protect everyone."

Ezra has an abundance of that natural Jedi urge to protect (planted by his parents, nurtured by Hera), the itch inside him intermingles with his clingyness and attachment to his Ghost family in particular. When everything went wrong on Malachor he internalized that failure severely, and his natural Jedi compulsions went overdrive into a crippling sense of hyper-responsibility, magnified by his guilt and leading him down the same path Anakin walked--seeking more power, from dubious and deceitful sources, in order to prevent another personal tragedy from happening to him again.

His desire to protect got twisted into attachment, into a clingy possessiveness, into a fear of more potential loss. In this way his flirtations with the Dark Side mirrored Anakin's, though ultimately Ezra never went far enough that he wasn't able to come back, the disaster at Reklam and his reconciliation with Kanan enough of a kick in the head from the Force for him to be all, "NOPE, I REGRET EVERYTHING, I'M NOT DOING THAT AGAIN."

But even though Ezra came to his senses and rejected the Dark Side, he was still not on the right path. The aftereffects of Malachor remained and he kept letting that Sisyphean unattainable goal of defeating the Sith--himself, personally, or else personally enabling it to happen--pull him away. Kept letting it move him out of place in the narrative.

He was supposed to be here, Hera needed him here. "You're in the wrong place, Ezra Bridger," Obi-Wan tells him gently, later. Ezra lets Maul, lets his obsession with destroying the Sith, yank him out of order in the cosmic destiny of things.

The Force has a place for him. But it is here and not there.

But he kind of has to go on this perilous journey for it to finally kick in.

(One of the scenes I do kind of wish they had kept from the original extended plot is the one where Hera and Kanan and Zeb all kind of commiserate about how "the kids", meaning Ezra and Sabine, are growing up and leaving home, and how they have to let them go, even if they might make bad choices, really playing into that whole parental angle and explaining why they didn't immediately rush off after Ezra.)

Despite Ezra's half-hearted assurance to Hera, it's clear he has no intention of obeying her order to stay put. His sense of impulsive hyper-responsibility is too strong, he's following the same instincts that led him to obsess over and misinterpret his other two major Force visions.

So he swipes a training A-wing.

He's such a little shit I love him. <3

This is the point of no return and Ezra is unwittingly drawn into Maul's trap, which mimics the beats of a classic Campbell Hero's Journey.

Joseph Campbell, for reference, is a writer and philosopher who purported the idea of the monomyth, that in all stories and all mythologies across cultures there are similar patterns and cycles. His Hero's Journey is often styled as a closed circle ("It ends where it began."), with a dividing line between the Known and Unknown worlds and various stops and characters and plot elements mentioned along the sides. The Hero's Journey monomyth, incidentally, was one of George Lucas's major inspirations for writing Star Wars, wanting to create one such classic mythological narrative.

So we have all the elements in place here. We have the Call To Adventure (the distorted holocron message). We have the Refusal Of The Call (Hera ordering Ezra to stay and him initially not fighting her). We have the Supernatural Aid (the pieces of the holocron that function as some kind of magic compass). We've outmaneuvered the Threshold Guardian and crossed over into the Unknown (Ezra swiping the A-wing from under the technician's nose). Along the way we'll pick up the Ally or Helper (it's revealed Chopper snuck along and went with him). And we will be facing Trials, Tests, and Tribulations (everything from the initial Tusken attack to braving the harsh elements of Tatooine's unforgiving sand and heat).

...But it's all wrong.

See, Ezra has already answered the Call to his own Hero's Journey, the one that started for him all the way back in the pilot, when he returned Kanan's lightsaber and crossed the Threshold into the Unknown world of being a Rebel and a Jedi Padawan. This falsely constructed cycle Maul has drawn him into is not his narrative. It was never intended to bring him enlightenment, never intended to complete, only to be used to further Maul's selfish ends.

That Ezra manages to find enlightenment and complete the cycle anyway is something that happens in spite of Maul, and not because of him, and takes some severe course-correcting from Obi-Wan. Over and over this episode we'll hear this idea repeated, that this was not where Ezra was supposed to be in the story, it's not his job or responsibility to deal with Maul, he is where "[he] should never have been".

We'll table that for now and come back to it, have a moment to enjoy some pretty caps.

Thus far, music-wise, we've had a couple ominous cues, and a bouncy jaunt full of Rebellion flutes and brass as Ezra made his escape, in between a couple of the aforementioned long bouts of silence. There's a bubbly little bit when Chopper is discovered. (And I can't even tell you how much I love the touch with Ezra startling so bad he smacks the A-wing cockpit window and bumps the steering column so that the ship swerves out of place--PART OF THE METAPHOR MUCH?) Soft vocals filter in as Ezra consults the holocron shards, holding in long, mystical notes. A lone viola sounds, mournfully. Higher strings sound with spiritual reverence as Ezra gets out of the A-wing, as if to suggest his goal, his enlightenment, is just up ahead.

Then, darker notes like a pulsing heartbeat. The voices go discordant.

Then the Tuskens attack and hell breaks loose.

One of the underlying threads this episode is Ezra and Chopper's devotion and loyalty to each other so I really like how, even though Ezra told him to find cover, Chopper doesn't and charges in to get a Tusken off Ezra instead. Ezra in turn shields him with his own body when the Tuskens score hits that make the A-wing explode.

And that's Ezra's, "I'm in so much trouble." look lol.

Maul, meanwhile, decides to go ahead and murder all the Tuskens and I would not fault you for thinking back to another lightsaber-fueled Tusken massacre.

In fact, probably any parallel or allusion you think of during this episode is in all likelihood deliberate. Frankly I'd argue that this is one of the most important episodes of the show, with how integral it is to Ezra's character arc.

Which is why it was so annoying and asinine that people complained that Ezra took up most of the episode's focus and whined that it should have been only about Maul. Hello, do you understand the concept of a protagonist?!

Speaking of allusions though, we get some lovely call backs to "Visions And Voices" with Maul once again letting Ezra hear him inside his head and catch fleeting glimpses of him, this time in order to lure him further out into the desert. Maul is still trying to keep him in the false cycle, tempting him away from escape.

And Ezra's sense of hyper-responsibility, of This is all my fault and I have to fix it, leads him right down Maul's preordained path.

"I have to help Master Kenobi, if I can." As if Obi-Wan needs any help dealing with Maul, ha ha.

Another moment of pure heartwarming loyalty from Chopper here, he has the opportunity to keep going along the path to safety, but begrudgingly chooses instead to stay with Ezra, through thick and thin.

Ezra once again returns the favor by refusing to leave his side when he runs out of power.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra staggers, looking completely exhausted. Also the sandblasting in his hair and clothes kjhfkasjfha.

Taylor's acting here is heartbreaking, he makes Ezra sound SO lost and scared. :(((((((

Maul decides to rub things in a bit and oh hey some mirror dialogue here, eerily similar to a certain exchange in "Gathering Forces". :D

Grand Inquisitor: The Darkness is too strong for you, orphan. It'll swallow you up even now. Ezra: No. Grand Inquisitor: Your master will die. Ezra: No! Grand Inquisitor: Your friends will die, and everything you've hoped for will be lost. This is the way the story ends. Ezra: NO!

And in comparison:

Maul: He is dead... He is dead. Ezra: No... Maul: You led me to him. Ezra: No. Maul: You failed your friends. Ezra: No! Maul: You will DIE!" Ezra: NOOOO!

~It's like poetry, it rhymes.~

Also this is terrifying.

So I've legitimately teared up like... twice watching this show. This was one of the times. This moment right here where Obi-Wan's feet step softly into frame.

Yeah it got me.

Cut to... Night. A quiet campfire. Ezra comes to and things are suddenly put into perspective.

"You're in the wrong place, Ezra Bridger."

(The voice they got for Obi-Wan is perfect btw, sounds just like Alec Guinness.)

Obi-Wan explains gently that he is not "the key to defeating the Sith". He never was. Maul's desires muddied the holocron vision, he used Ezra to get his own answers and left Ezra with only partial answers. Because Obi-Wan is associated with the key to defeating the Sith but he's not the Chosen One.

And neither is Ezra.

He is a narrative "chosen one", a key player picked by the Force, imbued with purpose, but defeating Vader, killing the Emperor... that was never his task to take. After the loss he suffered in "Legacy" Ezra had been letting himself get obsessed with the idea that he could fix that problem--the problem of the Sith--himself.

But that is not his role in the story.

It is not yet sunrise (Luke and Leia). So the moon (Ezra) must endure.

"You win by killing an Inquisitor." "No, you win by surviving."

Ever since before Malachor, Ezra has been stepping outside his station, trying to do things he was never meant to do, instead of what he was supposed to do, which was to help the people in front of him, right now, do what good he can in the moment. (Something that he'd gain clarity on via a falling out with Saw in Season Four.)

"What you need, you already have."

Ezra lost sight of that in the grief over his parents, in his guilt over Malachor. He was never going to be the one to defeat the Sith. Yoda and Obi-Wan both knew the only ones who even stood a chance... would be Vader's children. Maybe Ahsoka. Perhaps that was even why Yoda advised going to Malachor, to test and see if Vader could be saved, or killed, by his former padawan. Someone who he might have had a strong enough attachment to that it would cloud his judgement. (Just as Obi-Wan's mere presence would drive Vader mad with irrational murderous rage and yet, paradoxically, a cloying need to have him back.)

"We asked for a chance to destroy the Sith... and we failed."

Vader has no connection to Ezra, therefore Ezra will not be the one to end him.

His task is to endure, keep the darkness back, and hold the line until the narrative chosen one who will do that task (Luke) is ready to take up the sword. This is not Ezra's role in the story. He has his own destiny, his own part to play in the Rebellion.

And he needs to return to it.

Obi-Wan closes the broken cycle for Ezra, rescuing him from The Ordeal or Abyss, and sending him back to the Known world with the Boon (his sage wisdom) irregardless of how false the path there to him was. Ezra is freed from the obligations, responsibilities, and burdens he wrongly took on himself... to return home, and rejoin his own Hero Cycle.

And then all that's left is to "mend this old wound". (Maul)

Maul has what he wanted, or so he thinks. His old enemy, his past, ready for the killing. His future and legacy, his apprentice, within reach for taking.

But things have changed. Obi-Wan is older, wiser, more serene and at peace with himself and with the Force, in spite of all he's suffered. He has grown from his failures, let go of the past, and found balance, while Maul has regressed, repeated the same mistakes, clung to the hurt and pain in his past and deteriorated, been sucked almost dry by the Dark Side.

And Obi-Wan pities him.

Maul is scalded by this, upset that after everything he's endured, Obi-Wan seems to have taken no ill effect. And it's not like Order 66 and Anakin's betrayal didn't hurt him (hell we have all of the Kenobi show to demonstrate otherwise) but that he's processed those emotions and feelings and traumas, and returned to a settled baseline. He is more a Jedi now than ever, and revenge is not the Jedi way.

And can I flail a little bit inarticulately for a moment about the dichotomy between Obi-Wan's "I had no intention of fighting him, though that seems inevitable now." and Thrawn's "It was not my intention to utterly destroy Lothal but that is inevitable now."?

So Maul digs for something to bait Obi-Wan with, touching about the reason he's there on Tatooine to begin with, discerning that there is someone that Obi-Wan is protecting. Notes of Sith vocals creep into the music here, a sequence that sounds like Maul's arrival on Tatooine from Phantom Menace ("It ends where it began.").

And with this implicit threat towards Luke, Obi-Wan ignites his saber.

SO much ink has been spilled about this duel. I was surprised at how short it was at first too, but it makes perfect thematic sense in hindsight. The way Obi-Wan slowly baits Maul, drawing Maul's mental frame of mind back to Naboo, because he knows that Maul is stuck in the past, constantly reliving that moment of triumph and defeat over and over again, fixated on it as the shatterpoint where things in his life first went wrong. He can't let it go. He can't move on. He has to keep going back to that moment over and over to make things "correct" and kill the one he pins the blame on for his pain. (But this will not fix him, even if he accomplishes it.)

An entire story is told solely through foot placement and stances. Maul moves through the stances he's used in duels with Obi-Wan before. Obi-Wan shifts through his classic New Hope lightsaber grip, to his iconic Soresu.

And then he switches to Ataru, to the same stance Qui-Gon used.

The music has been tense throughout, but now the Force Theme creeps in. There's a flare of recognition in Maul's eyes; He knows this, this is familiar.

So he lunges, using the same lightsaber trick that he used to kill Qui-Gon...

...except it doesn't work.

I love the look of quiet realization and acceptance in Maul's expression. It's just like, "......Oh."

Maul submits and falls in defeat, into his enemy's arms, yet another parallel to Phantom Menace, to the start of everything between these two men. And then he asks something heartbreaking: Is Obi-Wan protecting the Chosen One? The one who would defeat the Sith?

And because Obi-Wan no longer believes that Vader can be saved, he answers yes. (Amazing how well this scene fits with the later Kenobi show.)

With his dying breath, Maul finally recognizes his true enemy, accepts and forgives Obi-Wan as his brother, as a fellow victim of Palpatine, and declares with almost prophetic insight, "He... will avenge us."

Not take revenge, avenge. As Trilla Sundari would admonish Cal Kestis in the Jedi Fallen Order video game, Maul also asks for restitution and justice with his last words.

(I do kind of wish we got one brief reaction shot from Ezra as he sensed Maul passing, just for confirmation that he knows. It's inferred but still.)

Back with Ezra as he returns home with the Boon, and he's also claimed the prize of Maul's ship, the Mandalorian gauntlet. (Again, just the briefest scene of him finding it, that would have been nice.)

"I was wrong. This is where I'm supposed to be. You're my family. And we should go home."

Ezra has finally forgiven himself for Malachor, completed the arc he started in "Legacy" (or maybe even earlier), and returned to his proper place. His family accepts him back with the laying of hands like a benediction.

And meanwhile, just to wring your heart one last time, we return to Tatooine, to watch Obi-Wan watch over Luke from a distance, a scene drenched in OT nostalgia, from using the exact audio of Aunt Beru calling Luke to closing us out with Luke's Theme and Binary Sunset for the credits, reminding us that the shadow will not hold sway forever.

Eventually, the sun will rise. And a new hope will emerge.

Trust in the Force.

Man, there aren't enough words to tell you how much I love this episode. It's so beautiful and poetic and thematic. It's the lynchpin of Ezra's character development, he needed to be in this episode, to go on this journey. It's gorgeously animated and there are so many many layers of parallels and themes, motifs and archetypes, that tie into the monomyth in general and Star Wars in particular. I'm astonished how well it melds with later canon material (JFO and Kenobi), but I guess that just speaks to how true to the spirit and essence of Star Wars it is.

It's just beautiful.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #obi-wan #kenobi #rebels rewatch #liveblog #meta rambling #long post #music #soundtracks #this is a pro jedi blog #i love rebellion era jedi they come pre traumatized #rebels rambles

61 notes · View notes

allthecastlesonclouds · 3 months ago

Note

I've been addicted to your hatchetfield d20 au, so I have to finally ask. How does one get into hatchetfield? I've heard it's a musical, but it seems a but confusing since I think there's more than one part?? How and where do I start?

start with The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals! it's the first musical in the Hatchetfield Trilogy and is referenced throughout the rest of the material– it also very much sets the tone for the rest of the material, so if it's not your vibe you can switch off! (though later musicals have much more variation in people singing, because the singing isn't diegetic)

past there, there are two more musicals– Black Friday and Nerdy Prudes Must Die– and a two season web series that you don't have to watch to understand the musicals called Nightmare Time! everything is released on youtube, so don't worry about paying for it :)

also because i'm very normal about this au i'm gonna start talking about specific episodes under the cut that are mentioned in the au. don't open it, it's very long; i just wanted to :)

ALRIGHT let's say each time adaine references her age is a new timeline :) (the last seven sections are the same timeline, however, as she is "still" eighteen) referenced means anything from a throwaway comment to the section just being the plot :-| but i wanted to make a chart. as a treat to myself

TGWDLM is referenced in timelines 1 and 14– though the plot is only laid out in timeline 1.

Black Friday is referenced or was the inspiration for, timelines 2, 4, 7, and 11. 4 is a similar set-up, but in this one Fabian has a gun so it plays out very differently than the others (everyone dies before they get blown up)

Nerdy Prudes Must Die is timeline 9.

Watcher World is referenced in timelines 3 and 13.

Forever and Always is referenced in timeline 8; Time Bastard is also referenced in this timeline– though any Riz fuckery is explained by this shit (so 3, 8, and 12 technically)

The Witch In The Web is referenced in timeline 5, though only through the death– however, this episode is where we meet Webby, and also where the title of the fic comes from!

Honey Queen is referenced in timelines 6 and 15– six is the plot of HQ up til the deaths, and then it turns to an original plot :) 15 is if Fabian survives that shit :)

Yellow Jacket is referenced through the vision Adaine gets in timeline 9 and "Otho," the priest in timeline 10.

and much of timeline 10 is from an unreleased episode called Miss Holloween (read in this stream)

Timeline 12 did not take any inspiration from anywhere! i was just having a good time torturing them.

#hi if u haven't opened the cut– it's not worth it. don't do it #i'm so sorry u asked a simple question and i expanded. a LOT.#but yeah watch Guy and go from there!#neutrality <3 #hatchetfield au #questionnn!#working boys and hey melissa also exist but i had not watched either of them at the point of writing this fic.#hey melissa is for the straight horror fans and working boys is oddly close to my fig plot. i cannot stress enough how much i #wrote that plot with my own thoughts. i was very thrown off by the similarity of it all

3 notes · View notes

selenityshiroi · 2 years ago

Text

Final Fantasy XVI: Some slightly more coherent Post Game thoughts and a kind of long ass reviewish type thing

GAMEPLAY:

First off, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this game. When it was announced to be action based I was horrifyed. I don't play action games and I fell in love with the Final Fantasy series for the RPG elements. So I was so, so afraid that I would hate the gameplay and not even manage to get through the game.

The first trailer, the announcement trailer, looked amazing and I was super excited. But then my interest waned into cautious wait and see apathy. I didn't even preorder the game until after I saw someone play the demo.

I knew very little about the marketing of the game, very little about the plot. I'd seen a few images on the SE twitter and a few mentions around about trying to appeal to a Western Mainstream Audience. None of which really excited me.

No traditional parties, no RPG elements, a gameplay style I have VERY LITTLE experience with, appealing to an audience I don't share much in the way of taste with. And starring a main character who seemed to be gruff, mean and angtsy from his images (an archetype that isn't my favourite).

So I watched the demo, the opening section of story intrigued me, the glimpse of gameplay didn't seem too complicated and I gathered some excitement. It looked gorgeous, the music was stunning and the best thing? Clive was nothing like I'd imagined.

Sure, I knew he wasn't going to be that teenage boy for the rest of the game and he might change, but that first look at him (caring, compassionate, loving, brave...) surprised me and made me want to see what the opening events would bring.

So I got the game, booted it up and dove in.

And I loved it.

The gameplay that I had so feared was perfectly accessible. Was I the best at it? no. Did I experiment anywhere as near as much as I should have? Absolutely not. But I learned the controls pretty easily, learned move patterns, worked out dodges and parrys and counters and staggers and combos. It was mostly fun, occasionally a bit frustrating, sometimes slightly anxiety inducing.

But, after beating the game, I realised that some of that anxiety was fearing that I would reach a point where my skills wouldn't be enough. That I would find myself stuck behind my inexperience and end up giving up. And I think part of that was actually BECAUSE of my RPG preference. Where I'm used to just being able to grab a few more levels if I'm worried. Where there are armours and weapons and spells you can equip to mitigate and target certain enemies.

Without that I felt like the only thing I had to fight against the bosses were my own skills and coordination and not my brain. And I prefer to rely on the latter!

But I managed just fine. The game taught me to fight very well, guided me on how to challenge bigger enemies, gave me the practice I needed in putting dodge and the other essential skills to use.

Am I chomping at the bit to try a harder mode? Absolutely not. But I made it through the entire game on Action Orientated mode and with only using the one assist ring (pet assist, because I knew I wouldn't be able to manage Torgal on top of my own moves). And, for me, that was impressive. I was so tempted to start in Story Mode but I held out. I told myself 'you can try the rings if you can't do it'. I even made it all the way to the final boss and thought 'if you can't beat him you can always try one of the rings' but then didn't have to consider it.

I have no idea if people who like action games think this gameplay is good or not. And I certainly don't speak for all non-action gameplay people. But the gameplay did surprise and impress me. And I feel like if/when I replay it I will be much more confident in trying new moves and Eikons.

STORY:

I've seen people comment on the influcences on other FF titles in this game. But, to me, the biggest influence is the FFXIII Trilogy (which gets a lot of hate but is actually one of my favourite FF titles along with FFIX and FFVII). I'm not sure if it isn't mentioned as much because some people just aren't familiar with the FULL trilogy but, my god...some things are direct one to one comparisons. Some DIALOGUE is almost copy and pasted. There are complete character arcs replicated.

Obviously, the journey and the characters involved are very unique and make the story it's own. But Ultima and his actions are pretty derivative. And I'm not sure it worked for the best in this story. I've seen a few comments on how the first half of the game, which focused more on politics and the struggles of the people, was stronger than the second half. Which was more about Ultima and his plot. And I agree. Because the characters were SO GOOD and the world building so interesting that taking the focus away was a bit disappointing. And then Ultima's motives were just not as interesting as the human motives thast had been driving other aspects of the game.

But some of the story themes were so good throughout. Changing the world and it's order, fighting to live on your own terms.

The sidequests, too, were so much more than simple fetch quests. They all focused around groups of people that gave areas and towns and individuals entire storyarcs. And they grounded the game so much and made you care about the world and the people.

The story has it's flaws. But it still sucked me in. It still made me care. I still drove me forward to find out what happened next. I made me complete 77 hours of gameplay in one week. I loved the world and the characters and wanted to see so much more.

CHARACTERS:

I FUCKING LOVE THIS CAST.

Clive. Clive, my beloved. Oh how I misjudged you from the promos and oh how you surprised me the most. I was expecting an embittered, gruff, wounded man who cared about nothing but his revenge. And I was given an embittered, gruff, wounded man who was actually also still that kind, compassionate, loving, humble and gentle teen we met in the demo. Who was enveloped in a group of people who wanted to make the world a better place and pulled him away from the brink of despair. Who gave him a cause and a purpose and let the real Clive live again. Who found someone he loved from his past and instantly grabbed her and was willing to sacrifice everything to protect her (we would have died, his revenge for Joshua incomplete, in that valley protecting Jill if Cid hadn't turned up). He joined a group he barely trusted and was willing to wait tables for them because he knew that no task was above or below a man. He was open and honest with those he cared about. He raged and cried and hugged and held people when needed. He told his beloved that he loved her in front of everyone, because he saw no weakness in bonds. He was a deadly fighter who mudered his enemies...and yet he also still deeply loved his brother, he cherished Jill with love and devotion and a tenderness we rarely see in this sort of character. He could pet his dog :)

Jill, oh Jill. I love her. I love her I love her I love her. Hurt in a similar way to Clive (used, forced to kill, hates herself for her actions) but never runs away from it. She fights, even though it hurts her. She risks herself to save those she loves but is also willing to take a step back and live for those she loves. She was raised as a lady, speaks softly and beautifully, has a delicate touch when it comes to politics and diplomacy (Clive is also actually pretty good at acting like a lord thanks to HIS upbringing but more so in command and leadership) but yet she never shys away from the path her and Clive chose to walk. Silk over steel, I believe the phrase goes. But, at the same time, I really...really wish the game had just given her more. Jill is probably the character who suffers most from this being a non-party game. Despite her being a companion for most of the game the fact that she is optional for some content and deliberately removed from others gives her less presence. And when Joshua reappears they have to share Clive's story and she gets the shorter end of the stick because of Joshua's role as the Phoenix.

As for Jill and Clive's romance, it is one of the (if not THE) best onscreen depictions of romance we've seen in the series, in my opinion. I'm a sucker for romance, a self declared shipper. I have my ships for every FF game. Some I'm actually super passionate about. But Jill and Clive have such a lovely dynamic, a natural progression and just communicate so wonderfully. From the moment they are reunited they open up to each other, even about the toughest subjects. They share and they support one another. And even before their relationship was consumated they were gentle and affectionate with one another. They are allowed to love one another in a way we don't normally see in a FF romance (and they are allowed to do so long before the final few scenes).

Joshua. My sweet, baby bird. I worked out he was still alive the moment we saw 'Margrace' and I wasn't sure how I would feel about him when he reappeared. Why did he stay away so long, what was he doing, how did he know so much. We eventually get most of those answers, but the moment Clive grabbed him and Joshua was sobbing apologies it felt like it barely mattered. He has a kindness like his brother but fights with his mind more than his body. He plans and puts them into action. But a part of me always felt he was doomed and spent most of the game swaying back and forth on whether or not he would survive. By the time the endgame rolled around I desperately wanted him to live. To carry on his father's legacy and help rebuild a new world order.

TORGAL. WHO'S A GOOD BOY??? THE BEST BOY!!! I LOVE HIM. I'm not even a dog person. I'm a cat person all the way. I LOVE THIS DOG. I PREORDERED THE PUPPY PLUSH. I WILL CHERISH THIS PUPPER FOREVER. BEST FENRIR.

The rest of the cast is just so numerous and to describe my adoration would make this post so much longer. So many of them are wonderful and have such significance. Cid, Gav, Otto, Mid, Charon, Goetz, Tarja, Martha, Isabelle, Dion, L'ubor, Byron and other...all so great and loveable and the sidequests and missions make you so invested in them all. It is truly the whole cast of characters that hooked my attention in this game and drove me through every single green marker I could get my hands on.

The antagonists were slightly less well presented. Benedikta and Kupka felt more real and like you could understand them and their reasons. Anabelle and Sylvester on the other hand felt evil for the sake of it (and, with the possibility that Ultima was fucking with them maybe even from the moment Clive was born it's possible that they WERE just evil for the sake of it because it wasn't truly them). And Barnabas felt like a hot mess. His backstory was just so complicated and yet also barely touched upon. So it felt like we couldn't understand him at all. As for Ultima...he is Walmart Brand Bhunivelze in my opinion. Bhunivelze (in the Japanese version, anyway) had depth in that he didn't actually KNOW he was fucking humans over. He thought he was doing them a favour by purifying them of their hearts so they could be reborn in his new world without pain and suffering. Ultima knew and didn't care. Humans were a means to an end. Ultima did Bhunivelze things for Pulse/Lindzei reasons and they even reused a lot of the terminology (ark, vessel etc) so it felt like a rehash. I still enjoyed fighting and beating them all, but I felt the endgame plot was weaker. Basically, I prefered it the first time round in the XIII Trilogy :)

LEVEL DESIGN AND EXPLORATION:

Oh boy. This is EASILY the weakest part of the game. The levels LOOK beautiful. The art design, the lighting, the graphics...this game is STUNNING. But there is no reason to actually spend time LOOKING at it. The areas are empty, the rewards insignificant. In some ways this is a good thing because it keeps you focused on the plot and helps keep the pace and momentum of the game. But it's also super disappointing. They could have done so much more with the areas and the towns.

MUSIC:

HOLY SHIT. I put my headphones for this game and never took them off. Soken went OFF. The grand and powerful boss music, the subtle reinterpretations of the traditional themes, the sweeping area music, the gentle emotional pieces. There is a piece in Ash that just pulses and gets louder and faster and makes your heart race and the tension build even when you are just walking down a path. Chef's kiss.

Voice Acting/Animation:

Just. Bravo. My hugest congratulations and appreciation to everyone involved. The VA work is stunning. The main cast is perfection itself and even the extras and random NPCs sound wonderful. And the animation is so beautifully done. The body language, the movement, the cinematography...they made the characters feel so real. I cannot fault anything when it comes to the acting and character animation. (Not even some clipping issues because they are so minor compared to that rest of the perfection we see)

and then we come to

THE ENDING:

Welp. On my playthrough I was PROFOUNDLY disappointed. My initial interpretation of the ending was that Clive failed to save Joshua and then sacrificed himself to purge magic from the world. That Joshua and Clive are both dead and we watched Jill and Torgal crying for Clive on that dock. And I could accept Joshua's death...had been pretty prepared for that. Dion, too, had seemed inevitable even from his Bahamut fight. But Clive? The narrative had left so many hint and promises to his survival. His multiple promises to Jill, the continuation of his work (both for Cid and for his father), the plans and teases for the future (exploring the world with Jill,wiritng a book etc.) that his death felt like a betrayal.

But then I saw other interpretations. That there are hints that Clive survived. That there are clues that Joshua survived. That there are clues BOTH of them survived. Or that, indeed, they both died. And that it seems to be DELIBERATELY ambiguous.

And I fucking hate that. I hate that ambiguity.

The ending initially made me want to never have anything to do with the game again. I was about to cancel my preorders for the Torgal Puppy Plush and the artbooks (that I'd ordered the moment I fell in love with the characters and the game). It was only the hope of the alternative interpretations that stayed my hand.

But I don't want this to be a vague thing that the fandom fights over for years to come. I don't want to feel like I'm grasping at straws. I want to see Clive and Jill reunited and get to finally live on their own terms. It would be nice to maybe see Joshua writing that book. I don't care about a distant future where humanity managed to pull through. I care about the characters I spent 77 hours falling in love with.

OVERALL:

Without the ending, I came out of this game feeling like it was a 9.5/10. Even with the weaknesses the game more than made up for it in the way it made me feel as I played it. The ending dropped my score to like 4/10. Now that I've managed to resolve my feelings over the ending to COPIUM optimism I've probably gone back up to 8.5/10

I would love to see a DLC for this game. My top choice would be for a confirmation of what happened at the fucking end. But since the end kind of prevents any sort of playable post game (since the main battle mechanic has been removed) I think it's more likely that we would get additional content. I would love to explore some things that were mentioned but never explored. LEVIATHAN, for one. The Northern Territory. The outer continents.

I also think this will be a strong contender for game of the year. I previously thought TOTK would be a shoe in for that (and for the sheer volume of gameplay and exploration and experimentation you can do in TOTK I think it still has a shot) but I think the presentation, acting, gameplay appeal, characters, music and story (even with the mentioned weaknesses) will earn them a lot of well deserved praise.

Because, despite the flaws, this game is still great. It's fun and exciting to play. The story still grabs you and drives you through it. The characters are phenominal. And it looks and sounds beautiful.

I'm a long term FF fan. I have played at least a little of pretty much every mainline game except V and the Tactics series. I've devoted hundreds of hours to several of the titles and have loved them deeply for years. This title is joining my favourites.

#ffxvi #spoilers #ffxvi spoilers #long post

5 notes · View notes

averyvmontgomery-archive · 2 years ago

Text

Avery raised a brow at the thought of Sabe. “To be honest, I didn’t think much about shipping her with anyone else. Frankly, the entire first two trilogies were a bit of a turn off for me since there was only one meaningful female character in the entire galactic universe apparently.” Admittedly, Avery watched Star Wars later in life so she didn’t have that same nostalgic connection that made most people such huge fans. They were just another set of movies that happen to have fascinating world-building. “But now that you mention it, I can’t resist a good story about a Queen and her handmaiden.”

By the time her comment was done, they had arrived at the house and Avery walked towards the door, quickly opening it and welcoming Ophelia in. “Sorry it looks abandoned. I haven’t removed the furniture covers or anything yet since I just got here a few days ago and it’s just me so I didn’t really need the rest of this space and just cleared out my room.” Space was an understatement. The house was massive and Avery was just too lazy to maintain it. She didn’t intend on having people over often so was there really a need to use any other room but her bedroom and the kitchen?

She led Ophelia to the second floor and quickly grabbed some clean towels out of the linen closet. “Lets go to my room and find you something to fit in,” she explained. When she flicked on the lights, the first thing anyone would notice was the shelves of trophies and ribbons on one end of her room. Her parents positioned it perfectly for house tours to show off their daughter’s achievements and while Avery couldn’t remember where half of them were from, she wasn’t going to move it because it didn’t really matter to her. The other shelves were lined with books of sheet music all the way to the corner of her room where a few violins were mounted on the wall.

The entire room itself was relatively plain and showed about as much personality as an orchestra. The only hint of colour were a few pictures of her and Elizabeth together on a board and the pride flag pinned next to it. “Make yourself at home,” she offered before walking towards the drawers and pulling out an x-men t-shirt and some workout shorts, figuring they were the only thing that would really fit the smaller girl’s body. “I’m going to hunt down some of the take-out menus and I’ll be right back.” She dropped the clothes and towels on her bed before leaving the room.

@pirouetteinthedark

“It’s the least I could do considering I nearly killed you,” she responded, dismissing Ophelia’s thanks. Avery was happy to have the company since her house was too big for just her. It had to be large enough for her parents to host guests and parties in which only made her feel more lonely when it was dead quiet.

When Ophelia suddenly talked about sand, Avery stopped walking for a second. In fact, she stopped breathing for a second in the futile effort to stop herself from laughing. Unfortunately, try as she might, she couldn’t and burst into laughter. “Poetry. Absolute poetry. I can definitely see why Padme fell in love. I’m practically swooning,” Avery joked, letting Ophelia know she completely understood the reference. “Oh gosh, I never knew what she saw in him. She was a Queen and Senator. What did he have to bring to the table? Clearly not words,” she added, hoping Ophelia would recognize that she wasn’t laughing at her referencing Star Wars, but that the character himself was a bit laughable.

#ophelia

2 notes · View notes

foreveralwaysanauthor · 2 years ago

Text

Under The Surface

December 19, 2022

Prompt - No Pressure

Notes - The final and longest installment of this trilogy, coming in at 21 pages! I had a lot of fun with this, but I didn’t finish it until last night because the ending was giving me trouble. Also, I know I mention it being 2023 in this, but I gave up trying to make it take place in the future after I started writing my novel version of this story, so we’re in modern times now, lmao.

Cars and minivans lined the parking lot of the Myrtle Beach Sports Center, people young and old alike filling the area as they waited for the doors to open. The Snowflake Championship was a very selective competition, few skaters would have gotten an acceptance letter, but Vivien severely underestimated just how many people would be attending in support of someone they knew even if they hadn’t been accepted themselves. As the Birch family’s rental van rolled into an empty space at the back of the lot, Vivien got a good look around at the other skaters she would be going up against and felt a wave of anxiety hit her. She wasn’t used to this. The championships she usually competed in were local - other small-town skate companies duking it out for a shoddily made trophy to put in their glass cases by the check-in desks. This was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

The doors of the van opened and everyone began exiting the vehicle, shoving things they had taken from the old Murphy house back into the van since they wouldn’t be needing them. Vivien slowly made her way onto the tarmac, looking around at the other cars in the area until she spotted Riven leaning against a sports car that had probably cost his dad quite a bit to rent. He was on the phone with someone while his dad talked with someone else from their rink just a few feet away. A hand on Vivien’s arm distracted her from her skating partner and brought her attention to Carrie as the blonde held out the black bag that contained Vivien’s costumes for the competition. After thanking the older girl and turning toward the building across the lot, Vivien froze, a sense of dread settling in her chest as she spotted a familiar, raven-haired girl talking with her entourage by the front door - her friend and skating rival from Maine, Naomi Sato.

Naomi Sato was the ideal figure skater in the eyes of many. She skated only to classical music, her jumps always landed flawlessly, she just barely scraped five feet tall, and she had the body type of a toothpick. On the other hand, Vivien preferred skating to whatever she felt made her movements come alive, she excelled in spins while her jumps were more to fill in elements than they were to impress anyone, she towered over most of her competition despite being five-foot-eight, and she was the first to admit she had curves, but at least she liked that about herself. Naomi had multiple gold medals under her belt and had plans of going to the Olympics whereas Vivien was perfectly fine without having the spotlight on her skates and a heavy Olympic medal around her neck. The girls had known each other for a while and considered themselves friends, texting on Instagram and leaving comments on each other’s TikToks all the time, but Vivien knew that if Naomi was competing, she wouldn’t have much of a chance at seeing a gold medal at all, let alone having one to bring home.

A hand on Vivien’s arm brought her out of her thoughts and, as she took in Bentley’s concerned eyes, she shook her head and sent him a smile, “I’m fine, Beemer.”

“You don’t look fine,” he replied.

“Gee, thanks,” Vivien said sarcastically.

Bentley rolled his eyes as he sighed, “You know what I mean, Viv.”

“I do,” Vivien nodded, allowing Bentley to lead her away from the vehicle they’d arrived in. “I’m still going to say that I’m fine.”

Bentley turned to Vivien, stopping the girl mid-step. “So you’re lying to me?”

Vivien sighed, “I’m not lying. It’s just some pre-comp jitters. It happens all the time and I’m used to it at this point.”

Steel blue eyes searched Vivien’s emerald ones in search of any trace of a lie but found none. With a sigh, Bentley relented and turned back in the direction of the building, “Alright, but I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“You and everyone else once this all hits Youtube,” Vivien breathed, hauling her bag further onto her shoulder as she began walking once again.

A large group of skaters and their coaches were waiting by the doors, ready to be allowed inside to practice before the competition, but they would have more than enough time to get on the ice before the weekend. Just as the group inched their way under the building’s extended awning, a sharp squeal made everyone freeze, “Vivien!”

Turning toward the voice seemed to have been a mistake as a head of pin-straight, jet-black hair slammed into Vivien’s chest, nearly sending both girls to the ground from the sheer force the shorter skater exuded. Vivien’s arms came around the girl with a laugh as they swayed from one side to the other, “Naomi, it’s so good to see you.”

“You too!” Naomi exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were coming to this competition.”

“I didn’t know you were either,” Vivien explained with a smile as the two separated. “You here to snatch another gold for Knox Academy?”

Knox Ice Academy was a skating company in Rockport, Maine that was renowned for producing professional skaters. From their three-year-old beginners to their oldest, pro-level skaters, they had trainers and choreographers that outranked many other skating companies in New England. Naomi and most of her friends had skated there since they were little and had been loyal to the company since they were first strapped into a pair of little skates. To Vivien’s confusion, however, the raven-haired girl shook her head with a heavy sigh, “I left Knox over the summer after it was discovered that they were putting drugs in some of the workout drinks.”

“Holy shit,” Vivien gasped. “That’s insane!”

“Oh yeah,” Naomi breathed. “Thankfully, I was one of the few who tested negative, but they’re under investigation now, so I moved to Limelight in Dover-Foxcroft.”

“That’s a long drive from Rockport, isn’t it?”

“Two hours,” Naomi sighed. “Thankfully, we’re moving soon, so the commute won’t be too bad.” There was a brief pause as the girls nodded, but Naomi’s dark, almost black eyes widened as she excitedly slapped Vivien’s arm with a squeaky giggle. “That reminds me, I have someone you need to meet!”

“Okay, yeah,” Vivien chuckled before watching the girl take off to the gaggle of skaters she had been talking with earlier. “Ow,” she muttered, rubbing her arm until she saw Naomi turn back toward her and approach with a curly-haired girl trailing behind her.

“Vivien O’Brian,” Naomi began with a bright smile, gesturing to the girl she had pulled next to her, “this is Lexi Warren.”

While Naomi rambled on about how Lexi was a skater that had taken her in when she first started training at her new rink, Vivien was trying to think of a way to tell the excited girl that she already knew Lexi. She’d known Lexi for a long time. Lexi had been a skater at Vivien’s Purple Finch rink for years before her family moved north. They had been close since they were both very young, spending as much time together as possible and even taking time out of their already busy schedules for each other. Their relationship practically dissolved a few weeks before Lexi left for Maine, but very few people knew why.

“-so I thought the two of you would be good friends,” Naomi finished, clearly not noticing the stare the other two girls shared.

Vivien tore her gaze from Lexi’s and smiled at Naomi, “We actually used to skate together when we were kids. We were good friends back then.”

Lexi scoffed, her arms crossing over her chest, “Is that what we were?”

“Lex,” Vivien sighed, “can we not do this right now?”

“Why not?” Lexi pressed. “I don’t see a reason why we can’t.”

A fire ignited in Vivien’s eyes as she readied herself to list all of the reasons she could think of, but a hand on her back stopped her. “There you are, Pip,” Riven said with a faint smirk. “You ready to go inside?”

“Yeah,” she huffed, allowing Riven to pull her toward the doors that had opened at some point during the conversation. Making sure the rest of the people she arrived with were following them, Vivien took in a deep breath, turned to Naomi, and said, “See you inside.”

The bewildered girl raised a hand and waved as Riven led her friend into the building and away from the conversation. Naomi turned to Lexi with an eyebrow raised, “What was that all about?”

Undeterred, Lexi rolled her eyes and tugged her bag further up her arm, “I’ll tell you later. Let’s just go.” Lexi took off, leaving Naomi standing by herself in the middle of the walkway. Naomi watched as a few other skaters joined the line of people filing into the building before heading inside with a sigh. She’d find out what was going on one way or another.

Almost as soon as they entered the building, Vivien split off from the group she had arrived with, telling her boyfriend and his family to wait in the stands for her family to arrive while she and Riven went to get changed into their practice clothes and hit the ice. Royce’s concern for his girlfriend only grew as he watched Riven put an arm around Vivien’s shoulders and guide her toward the other side of the building where most of the other skaters were gathering; whoever the girls outside were, they made Vivien uncomfortable. He wanted to know why so that he could help her deal with it the way she helped him deal with everything. Royce watched Vivien leave, rooted to the padded floor until Miles pried him away and moved him toward the bleachers.

“Any idea what that was all about?” Bentley asked as he and Royce found seats near the middle of the ice and claimed them for themselves.

Royce slowly shook his head, “Not a clue.”

“Maybe she’ll tell you later,” Lela offered from her seat behind the brothers. “You three tell each other everything, after all.”

“Yeah,” Royce agreed with a shrug. However, as he glanced over at where Vivien had disappeared with her mountainous skating partner, an unnerving pit began to form in his stomach, and all of a sudden, he wasn’t so sure of his own words. Taking a deep breath, Royce apprehensively muttered, “Yeah.”

After having changed into the matching outfits they usually wore on the ice during practice, Riven pulled Vivien down one of the halls, past a basketball gymnasium, and into an empty locker room. Once they were alone, he asked, “What was that about?”

Vivien was quick to fire back, “What was what about?”

Riven’s gaze was firm as he growled, “Don’t give me that shit, Vivien. You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to talk about it.”

“You need to.”

“Still don’t want to.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Riven sighed, “Vivien, I know you and Lexi didn’t end on the greatest of terms-”

A scoff left Vivien as she dropped onto a nearby bench, “That’s putting it lightly.”

“-but it would be best if we just ignored her while we’re here.” Riven watched Vivien’s expression as her gaze fell to the floor. Riven crouched in front of his partner and took her hands in his. ��I don’t mean to upset you, Pip, but at least try to think of the positives.”

“What positives?” Vivien choked out as she met Riven’s gaze. “I was hoping I’d never see her again. Now she’s here as a competitor and it terrifies me.”

“Lexi never skates with a partner,” Riven tried reassuringly. “We don’t have to worry about her there.”

“No,” Vivien agreed, “but I still have to worry about her when it comes to the singles. With her and Naomi working together, I’m off of the podium before I’ve even stepped on the ice.”

Riven’s chuckle delivered a direct, but painfully honest statement, “Lexi hasn’t seen a podium since she broke her leg. The chances of her landing any of her jumps properly are slim to none.”

“She could still mess with my head,” Vivien insisted. “Or my single programs.”

Riven’s grip moved to Vivien’s arms as he sent her an adamantly firm stare, “Don’t let her. If you think she’s messing with you, tell me, tell your boyfriend, tell someone.”

“I’ll tell you,” Vivien breathed, her gaze falling again before returning to Riven’s. “I’ll tell you, but I can’t tell Royce and neither can you.”

Riven’s eyebrows furrowed as he questioned, “Why not?”

Vivien glanced toward the door anxiously before turning back to Riven and muttering, “He doesn’t know about me and Lexi.”

“You never told him?” Riven asked, his eyes widening incredulously.

“It never came up!” Vivien exclaimed softly. “He knows I dated someone before and I know he did too, but I never told him who I dated.”

“He deserves to know, Viv.”

“I know he does.”

“Then tell him,” Riven pleaded. “Rip off the bandage before someone else does.”

Vivien froze, her gaze locking with Riven’s hazel eyes. “What do you mean?”

Riven sighed, “Think about it, Pip. I’m not the only one here who knows that you and Lexi dated. The chances of Lexi telling Royce or him finding out from someone else she told are high.”

As she thought over Riven’s words, Vivien let out a prolonged groan, her fingers twisting knots in her hair as she ran her hands over her scalp. “I’m fucked.”

“And not in a good way,” Riven chuckled.

“Riven,” Vivien barked, “this is serious!”

“I know!” Riven yelped, backing away and raising his hands in surrender. At Vivien’s whine of frustration, Riven sighed, “How about this: if you don’t tell Royce before we do our free skate program tomorrow afternoon, I’ll tell him for you.”

Green eyes widened in horror, a fleeting glance at the clock making them sink in fear. “That only gives me a little over a day to come up with something to tell him.”

“That should be more than enough time,” Riven said with a shrug. “You’re taking this all too seriously. It’s twenty-twenty-three, not nineteen-fifty-two; your past dating life shouldn’t matter.”

Vivien sighed, rubbing the sweat from her palms on her pants, “His family is old-fashioned and he values his family over everything. Our relationship could end over this.”

The auburn-haired male shook his head, “From what you’ve told me, you two have been together through a lot together; I highly doubt that your relationship would fall apart because of something that happened years ago.”

Although she still seemed hesitant to agree that Riven was right, Vivien slowly nodded, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I am,” Riven teased. Once Vivien let out a soft laugh and shook her head, Riven smirked and added, “So, do we have a deal?”

It took Vivien a while to think about her answer. She knew she would have to tell Royce about everything sooner or later, but she had been hoping to keep it as far on the “later” side as she could. Even though she wanted nothing more than to tell Riven she wasn’t up for the challenge, she knew she couldn’t turn him away. Besides, Riven wasn’t one to be pushy or rude, so Vivien knew that, even if she didn’t meet the deadline he had set for her, he would be gentle in telling Royce the same thing she had confided in him so many years prior. Finding nothing but sincerity and warmth in Riven’s eyes, Vivien sighed, “We have a deal.”

“That’s my girl,” Riven beamed. Pushing himself to his feet again, Riven offered Vivien a hand and asked, “You ready to go practice now?”

Vivien placed her hand in Riven’s, a small smile appearing on her face as she agreed, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Good,” Riven said as he hauled Vivien off of the bench she had perched herself on. “Let’s get some time on the ice before our short program and your solo.”

Vivien laughed, allowing Riven to drag her toward the door and through the hallways. As they neared the ice and made their way to the padded area lining the outside of the rink, Vivien spared a wave at her family and friends. As though the surging, crashing ocean waves had been let loose inside her stomach, the seventeen-year-old felt a wave of anxiety-riddled nausea flood her system once she spotted Royce beaming at her with enough love and adoration in his eyes to make Aphrodite sick. After sending a small grin in his direction, Vivien turned her back to her boyfriend and swallowed thickly as she gripped Riven’s hand just a fraction tighter. How on earth was she going to make it through their routines if she could barely think of anything other than her promise with Riven and the looming threat of Lexi sending her relationship with Royce down the drain over something that had happened ages ago?

The brunette was pulled from her thoughts as Riven returned her tight squeeze. Upon turning to her partner, Vivien felt little relief at his supposedly calming smile. He muttered something to her that she just couldn’t make out over the ringing in her ears, but his laugh was heard above the screeching noise. After asking him to repeat himself, Vivien let out a strained breath as Riven said, “Deep breaths, Pip. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

As she spared a look over her shoulder at Royce, she realized Riven was probably right. Sending him a smile and a wave, Vivien felt relieved to see him grinning right back at her. As Royce’s hand lifted into the air, Vivien caught a pair of golden eyes that distracted her. The glimmering glare Lexi’s eyes held as she watched Royce wave fondly back at Vivien made green-eyed brunette feel at least a hundred times worse than she had mere moments before. She had just unintentionally redirected Lexi’s anger toward her, onto Royce, the one person she wanted to protect from this mess. Looking back at Royce, Vivien found his head tipped to the side and an eyebrow raised as he glanced between her and Lexi. Once he discovered Vivien was watching him, he sent her a confused shrug and she shook her head in return, waving her free hand to show her brushing off the interaction before sending him a smile and turning back toward the ice. As she watched some of the junior skaters practice, Vivien took in a deep breath and sighed. What had she just gotten herself into?

No other skating competition had ever gone by so fast, in Vivien’s opinion. Her solo short program had gone by so quickly that she was sure the person in control of the music had put Florence and The Machine’s “Lover To Lover” on three times its normal speed and she had still managed to find a spot in the top three for the day. Then, the short program she shared with Riven had flown by, literally in a few spots, and by the time they were in the ever-so-aptly named “kiss and cry” seat, awaiting their scores, Vivien’s anxiety had been replaced with adrenaline. A score of 75.19 had been given to the pair, setting them in the highest place for the short program, sliding the teams from Georgia and New York into second and third place for the time being. As soon as they were allowed to return to their families for a brief intermission, Vivien found Royce and Bentley attached to her sides.

“That was amazing,” Bentley commended into Vivien’s shoulder before allowing Royce to fill his space.

“I knew you could do it,” Royce muttered, his breath fluttering a few baby hairs that curled at the nape of Vivien’s neck, sending a shiver down her spine. “You two were incredible.”

“I’m just glad I landed that throw,” she breathed as they parted, his hand sliding down her arm to lace their fingers together. “I still have my individual free program and our free skate tomorrow both of which would’ve been insanely difficult with an injured leg.”

“You feel alright, though?” Royce asked.

Vivien nodded, but before she could voice her answer, a voice from behind her cut in, “I sure hope she is.” Vivien turned to find Naomi and Lexi approaching them, Naomi’s arms outstretched for a hug as she scurried over. “I want a fair fight tomorrow.”

With a chuckle, Vivien brought the shorter girl in for a hug, “And a fair fight you shall get.”

“Good,” Naomi smiled as she backed away. Looking around at the group that now had their eyes locked on her, the raven-haired girl smiled nervously and waved. “Hello, people I don’t know.”

Vivien gestured to everyone as she said, “Naomi, this is my boyfriend and his family. Guys, this is Naomi Sato, one of my biggest rivals in the individual skate competitions.”

“Ah, well, I hope to see you all tomorrow,” Naomi greeted with a small bow toward the group. Turning to Vivien, she placed a hand on the brunette’s arm and beamed, “And I will see you on the ice!”

“That you will,” Vivien smiled as her hand searched blindly for Royce’s, latching onto his warm fingers as soon as she grazed them, a faint electric shock telling her she had found the right person.

As Naomi waved goodbye and headed for the people who were off to the side, waiting for her, Lexi remained, staring blankly at Vivien and her entourage. “Vivien.”

Vivien's posture turned rigid as she raised her head just enough for it to be noticed. “Lexi.”

Lexi’s arms crossed over her chest, “Didn’t know you were dating again.”

Royce’s grip on Vivien’s hand tightened for a second as he leaned over his girlfriend’s shoulder from the bleacher behind her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “We’ve been together for almost a year now” Royce proudly stated.

A look of disgust flashed across Lexi’s features, but it was quickly replaced with a clearly forced, saccharine smile. “Lucky. I bet you two are madly in love by now.”

Carrie, who had noticed the girl’s expression in the split-second it had been present, settled a glare on the opposing skater as she stepped off of the bleachers next to Vivien and snipped, “They are.”

Lexi’s gaze flickered to Carrie before searching the group on the bleachers behind the happy couple, finding matching glares coming from some of Royce and Vivien’s family members. With a scoff, Lexi said, “And they need their little guard dogs to prove that?”

Miles quickly wrapped an arm around Carrie’s middle, barely preventing her from launching at the curly-haired skater. As Bentley called Lexi a few colorful French words he had unintentionally learned from Miles, Riven marched over from where he and his dad had been walking, making his way between Lexi and Vivien with a scowl. “Leave,” he ordered, the darkness in his tone like a shadow looming from a skyscraper to the ants below.

“I don’t see why I should,” Lexi hissed, clearly undeterred by Riven’s intimidating demeanor. “I’m just conversing with an old friend.”

“Good to know you still consider harassment a way of having a conversation,” Vivien scoffed.

“Shut it, O’Brian,” Lexi snapped.

“You first, Warren.”

“Enough!” Riven snapped. In the silence that settled around them, Riven took in a deep breath to calm himself and said, “We’re meant to act like professionals here. Settle it on the ice tomorrow like any professional skater would.”

Without more than a roll of her eyes and a scoff, Lexi turned on her heel and headed for the door. As soon as the girl was out of sight, Vivien took in a deep, shaky breath and allowed herself to relax at least a little. Royce’s grip on his girlfriend tightened as he stepped off of the bleachers and pulled her into a hug. “What was that all about?” he questioned softly.

“Who was that?” Bentley asked. Instead of answering, Vivien wrapped an arm around her boyfriend and Bentley as the young blond joined them in an attempt at comforting his friend.

Riven shook his head at Vivien’s silence and sighed, “Lexi Warren. She was once a close friend of ours and a skater Vivien grew up with. She moved away a few years ago and…” Riven glanced in the direction Lexi had left in. “Well, let’s just say it wasn’t the nicest of endings.”

The hotel everyone was staying at was within walking distance from the sports center and had beautifully made rooms, but after Abby tossed her suitcase on one of the two beds in the room and jumped into the shower before her older sister could do more than look into the room, Vivien didn’t have the desire to stay for long. At first, she thought of going down to the pool and sinking into the hot tub for a while, but the idea of running into Lexi or Royce or both of them was enough to deter her. She didn’t want confrontation and she certainly wasn’t ready to tell Royce about her past just yet.

As she slid bobby pins out of her hair and tossed them onto the dresser she wouldn’t even bother using during her stay, Vivien came to the conclusion that she needed advice on how to handle everything. She instantly ruled out going to her parents and Mick’s parents since they already knew her situation and would probably tell her the same thing Riven had - to tell Royce and save herself the stress. Mick and Butchy were a close second, but after remembering that the couple had decided to go to the beach for a while, she ruled them out as well. She needed advice now and the only people in the hotel who could give her that were Carrie and Miles. After brushing out her hair and grabbing a few elastics, the seventeen-year-old left the room she shared with her sister and headed down the hallway to where she knew Miles and Carrie were staying. It didn’t take long for Carrie to open the door, allowing Vivien inside once the younger girl held up her elastics with a hopeful grin.

Perching herself on the end of the bed, Vivien sighed, “You know, I actually need a little help with something important and it’s not just about needing one of you to braid my hair.”

Miles, who had been flicking through the TV channels to find something entertaining, stopped what he was doing to take a look at the girl and ask, “What’s wrong, kiddo?”

“I’ve never really told a lot of people before,” Vivien chuckled nervously, allowing Carrie to split her hair down the middle of her head. “Can we keep this between us for now?”

As Miles wheeled the desk chair over so he could see Vivien while she talked, he nodded, “Of course.”

Carrie took the elastics from Vivien and set them aside, telling the girl, “You can tell us anything.”

Vivien nodded, taking in a deep breath before asking, “You know that girl that was harassing us earlier?” While Carrie scoffed, Miles rolled his eyes and nodded. “Well, I think I know why she’s bothering us.”

“You do?” Carrie asked, threading her fingers through Vivien’s hair as she began braiding it.

“Think she’s doing it to mess with your head?” Miles asked. “Mess with you so that you’ll screw up your skating - that kind of thing?”

“I think that’s part of it,” Vivien said, trying not to move her head as she shrugged. “But I think it has more to do with the fact that she was my girlfriend a few years ago.”

Vivien tried to gauge their reaction, but as Miles eyed her silently and Carrie’s hands stilled against her scalp, she had a sinking feeling she should have kept her mouth shut and never told them in the first place. The nerves that had begun building since she entered the room only seemed to grow as the silence in the room took over and nobody said a word. Miles watched the teenager, seeing her expression change ever so minutely and a panic settle in her eyes as the room remained silent. She looked like a scared baby deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle - wide-eyed and ready to run. Miles was almost sure she would’ve taken off if Carrie didn’t have a firm grasp on her hair. It didn’t take much for Miles’ brotherly instincts to kick in and the desire to help the child in front of him hit him full-force. He reached a hand out and Vivien hesitantly took hold of it as he lightly redirected the topic and slowly asked, “So, when Riven said that things didn’t end well with her…?”

Vivien looked away, tracing the design on the carpet with her eyes. “I broke up with her before she moved away and she didn’t take it nicely.”

“How did she take it?” Carrie asked softly.

“She went into a rage,” Vivien breathed. “We argued for a while and she threw a pair of skates at me, but the last time we saw each other, she slapped me. Riven came into the room and separated us before she could do anything worse, but she had to be escorted out of the skating rink afterward.”

Miles’ grip tightened on Vivien’s hand as he wheeled his chair closer to the teenager. “Is that why you looked so tense when she was around?”

Vivien nodded, “Looking back on it now, she wasn’t the best person to be around, but we had dated since I was eleven and I thought that’s how all relationships were.”

Carrie’s hands began moving once again, threading Vivien’s hair into a braid on one side as she said, “Well, I’m glad you’ve gotten out of that mindset.”

“I think we all are,” Miles agreed.

Vivien hummed her agreement. “You know, we had been together for two years and I never once felt loved.”

“How come?” Carrie questioned.

“I don’t know. I guess it just felt like she was telling me what to do and how to feel all the time.” After a pause, a small smile appeared on Vivien’s face as she said, “Being with Royce is so different. It feels so surreal.”

“In a good way, I hope,” Miles chuckled.

Vivien laughed, “Yeah. It feels sort of like what Mick told me her relationship with Butchy was like in the beginning.”

Miles smiled, “Just wait until you realize you’ve fallen in love.”

“I already did,” Vivien confided, a fond look in her eyes that Miles didn’t need to work hard to decipher. “I fell in love with him a long time ago.”

Miles glanced over Vivien at Carrie, finding his girlfriend’s signature smile beaming back at him. There was a glint in her sapphire eyes that told Miles that she knew something he didn’t, but he wasn’t about to ask her what it was while Vivien was present. “Have you told Royce this?” he asked.

“No,” Vivien replied quickly, trying her best not to shake her head and disrupt Carrie’s quick fingers as they moved further away from her scalp. “He doesn’t know about any of it. Not me loving him, not me dating Lexi, nothing.”

“You should tell him,” Carrie suggested. “If not about loving him, then at least about the whole Lexi ordeal. I’m sure he would appreciate knowing.”

“I know,” Vivien sighed. “I want to tell him, but I’m just not sure how he would react to me having dated a girl before.”

Miles nodded thoughtfully, squeezing Vivien’s hand reassuringly before saying, “I don’t think it would matter all that much to him. It’s a part of who you are and he cares about you more than anything. I bet, if anything, he’d be grateful that you felt confident enough in your relationship to tell him something you hardly tell anyone.”

As Vivien felt Carrie tie off one braid and move to the other side of her head, she began thinking about Miles’ words. He had a good point. She knew Royce cared about her just as much as she cared about him. He showed her how much he cared about her every chance he got. The chances of him turning her away just because of who she had liked in the past were slim to none. The only thing holding her back from telling him anything was fear and she would just have to find a way to overcome that. She could do that for Royce. He deserved to know. Giving Miles’ hand a tight squeeze, Vivien smiled his way and said, “I guess you’re right.”

Vivien awoke the next morning with sore legs, a mild headache, and the desire to down a bottle of Tylenol and crash like the Titanic meeting the iceberg. With the stress of seeing Lexi for the first time in years, the waking nightmares of breaking a limb or forgetting her entire routine on the ice, and trying to come up with a plan to tell Royce about her previous relationship before Riven did, she had gotten little sleep. Knowing she had two routines that needed to be rehearsed later in the day, Vivien slipped out of the hotel bed and crept over to the suitcase she had left on the floor by the dresser, pulling out her practice outfit and heading for the bathroom to change without the risk of waking her sister who snored noisily in the next bed over.

Once she was changed and had her sneakers laced, Vivien grabbed her skates and her room key, wrote out a quick note that she put on the nightstand between the beds she and her sister slept on, and slipped out of the room unnoticed. The hotel was only about a five-minute walk from the sports center and, as she passed the room she knew Riven and his dad were sharing, Vivien knew at least one of them would be up already, waiting anxiously for the other to get up so they could head to the rink for practice. However, Vivien wasn’t about to tell Riven she was already awake. She wanted time to herself on the ice - time to think and relax before everyone else showed up and the hectic parts of the day could begin. With her keycard tucked into her wallet and her skates dangling around her neck, Vivien waved goodbye to the person sitting at the front desk and headed down the street toward the sports center.

The walk was quiet apart from the soft music playing from Vivien’s earbuds and it wasn’t long until Vivien was pulling open the doors of the sports center, the warmth from the building’s heat system taking the chill out of her skin as she made her way inside. As opposed to what she had done the day prior, Vivien set her skates aside and stretched the way her ancient ballet teacher would have vaguely praised her for. Once she felt ready, Vivien sat on the nearest bench and laced up her skates, only ditching her blade guards before stepping onto the ice. With her phone securely zipped in her pocket and her earbuds tucked into her ears, Vivien allowed her playlist to control her movements, gliding across the ice to some of her favorite songs.

As the music changed, so did Vivien’s energy on the ice. Once her playlist switched to a new song once again, I Hear A Symphony by Cody Fry, Vivien allowed the familiar tune to take over. She had watched Riven perform the song many times in practices, so often that she could probably do most of it in her sleep if given the chance, but she couldn’t perform it herself due to a cantilever that Riven had perfected over the years that Vivien could never get to look the way his did. The song was one of Riven’s more lyrical-style performances, a style Vivien loved to use for her free skate programs. However, as she glided to a stop and listened to the song fade out, Vivien heard someone clapping in the supposedly empty skating rink.

Eventually, she found Lexi leaning against the wall, clapping sarcastically. Vivien sighed as she pulled an earbud from her ear, “What do you want?”

“I was coming to get in some early skate time, but I guess you got here first,” Lexi claimed. “Was that your program for the free program?”

“No,” Vivien said, preferring to keep the conversation as brief as possible as she headed back to the gate she had entered through.

“Well, it must have meant something to you if you made it look that passionate,” Lexi pressed as she stalked her way toward Vivien.

“It’s an old program Riven used to do, that’s all,” Vivien insisted as she sat down and began taking her skates off.

Lexi laughed as she neared Vivien, taking the brown-and-purple-haired girl’s jaw in her grasp and forcing Vivien to meet her gaze. “And what if I don’t believe you?”

Not one to be pushed around anymore, Vivien wrapped a hand around Lexi’s wrist, the fingernails Carrie had taken the time to paint the day before digging into the skin on the older girl’s arm. Once Lexi had released her, Vivien said, “Believe what you want, just leave me the hell alone.”

Rubbing the crescent-shaped marks out of her wrists, Lexi scoffed, “That’s no way to treat a friend.”

“You made it clear a long time ago that we aren’t friends, Lexi,” Vivien grumbled, sending an empty glare at the older girl. “Why do you feel the need to be such a bitch just because I moved on?”

“I never wanted you to move on,” Lexi argued. “I wanted us to stay together.”

“It never would have worked out!” Vivien exclaimed incredulously.

“You don’t know that!”

“Yes, I do,” Vivien laughed, but it lacked any real humor. “We were awful for each other.”

“Says who?”

“Says anyone who looked at us for more than two minutes,” Vivien claimed as she pulled her sneakers on and laced them. “You were always telling me what to do and who I could or couldn’t hang out with and I got sick of your bullshit.”

A rage burned in Lexi’s golden eyes that nearly made Vivien flinch away, but the younger skater remained defiant. “You would’ve been lost without me telling you what to do all the time.”

As Vivien rose to her feet, she stepped closer to Lexi and lowly snarled, “You moving away was the best thing to happen to me.”

The next thing Vivien knew, her head was snapped to the right, a stinging throb gracing her left cheek as she stared blankly ahead. Her skin burned, her eyes watered so much she worried that her contacts would fall out, and just as though a switch had been flipped deep inside of her, Vivien felt an almost eerie calm pass through her body as the urge to return the gesture to the older girl bubbled inside of her like a pot of water boiling over. It wasn’t the first time Lexi had slapped her, but Vivien decided in that moment that it would certainly be the last. Vivien’s head slowly turned back toward Lexi, dark green eyes piercing through furrowed brows as she unclenched the fist she’d been squeezing and rallied all of her pent-up emotions into the single blow she delivered to the girl’s face.

Lexi’s face didn’t burn nearly as red as Vivien’s did, most likely due to her darker skin, but the shock in her eyes was more than enough to satiate the urge Vivien had to knock the girl flat on her ass. “You fucking slapped me!” Lexi screeched.

“And I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Vivien said so easily that it almost worried her. “However, there are plenty of cameras in here, just like there are in every arena. They’ll all show - very clearly, might I add - that you started this.” Lexi’s eyes flitted around the room, finding multiple cameras pointing in their general direction. Vivien felt a smirk tugging at her lips at the sight, but fought it back in order to remain composed. “Now, if you have nothing better to say, I’ll be leaving.”

Vivien grabbed her skates by the laces and began making her way to the hallway so she could grab something to eat from the vending machines before heading back to the hotel to shower, but Lexi wasn’t done just yet. “I bet your boyfriend just loves being with such a bitchy little freak.”

Despite the spiked bundle of nerves that settled in her stomach, Vivien was determined to act as though Lexi’s words meant nothing as she flipped the girl off over her shoulder and said, “It’s one of the many things he loves about me.”

When Lexi said nothing more, Vivien assumed the girl was done and quickly made her way through the hallways to the front door as soon as she was out of the girl’s sight, forgoing the vending machines as she knew nothing in them would stay down even if she forced herself to eat something small. As soon as the cold morning air hit her face, Vivien felt a shaky breath leave her. Silently making her way back to the hotel, Vivien felt a wave of determination rising within her. With every step she took, the urge to go straight to the room she knew Royce and Bentley were sharing with her brother grew stronger. She was done with the fear and stress Lexi continuously caused her just by existing. After Vivien arrived back at the overly large, ritzy hotel, she made her way through the groups of people at the check-out desk who were only there for the junior skate competitions and wouldn’t need to spend another night once the day was done. Once she finally reached the elevator, she pressed the floor she was staying on. Instead of turning toward her end of the long hall, she turned to the left and made her way to the second-to-last room on the right side of the hallway.

Vivien raised a fist to knock on the door, but it swung open before she got the chance. Much to her surprise, Abby stood in the doorway, her bewildered stare turning relieved as she said, “Mom’s been looking for you.”

“I left you a note telling you I was going to the rink,” Vivien sighed.

Abby rolled her eyes, “I realize that, but you weren’t answering your phone when she called you, so she was just about ready to call in the SWAT team.”

Vivien shook her head - of course, her mother had overreacted. “I turned my ringer off before I hit the ice.”

“Thought so,” Abby said with a smirk. “Olly and I were just getting ready to head over to the rink and drag you back to Mom.”

With a sigh, Vivien glanced into the room past her sister to see if she could spot her boyfriend, “I just need to talk to Royce for a bit before-”

“Don’t you think we should tell Mom that you’re back first?” Abby questioned.

“It’ll only take a few minutes for me to talk with him,” Vivien insisted, trying to step around her sister and into the room. “You two can go tell her and I’ll meet you in their room in a few.”

“No can do, Viv,” Oliver said as he came from a room off to the side that Vivien couldn’t see, presumably the bathroom. “Mom said to bring you to her once we found you and we don’t want to get in trouble.”

Before Vivien got the chance to argue her case, Royce stepped up behind Oliver with a small smile, “Hey, Vivien Leigh.”

Vivien felt herself relax as she smiled back at her boyfriend, “Hey, Rolls. Look, I need to tell you something, and-”

“Vivien Harley!” a voice hollered from the other end of the hall. Vivien deflated as she saw her mom marching down the hall toward them. “Why weren’t you answering your phone?”

Royce chuckled as the siblings moved out into the hallway, collectively shrinking under their mother’s firm stare. Vivien glanced back into the room and Royce held the door open as he suggested, “We can talk later if you want?”

Vivien felt ready to argue that, no, she didn’t want to talk later, she wanted to talk then and there, but after taking a glance back at her mother, she knew that wouldn’t be possible until she was done getting reprimanded. “Yeah,” she reluctantly agreed. “Yeah, that would be great.” Royce nodded and sent his girlfriend a reassuring grin before slowly closing the room door as Chelsea O’Brian closed the distance between herself and her children, ready to tell them off for something or another. Vivien sighed - their conversation would just have to wait for later.

As the day went by, Vivien barely had a second to spend away from her family, her coach, or Riven, let alone have the chance to be alone with her boyfriend. Her practice with Riven was early and closed to the public, so she couldn’t sneak any talk with Royce then and, when she got the chance to leave the rink for the first time, her boyfriend was surrounded by his family and she only had a few moments to say hello to them all and answer their questions as to what had happened with her mother in the morning before she was dragged off to her private practice for her solo short program. With Riven as her choreographer, Vivien was grateful to be able to talk with him while she was practicing, but his topic of the day continued to circle around her relationship which didn’t do anything to keep Vivien's ricocheting nerves at bay.

“Have you talked to him yet?” he asked, skating alongside Vivien as she went through the end of her routine.

“Does it look like I’ve had the chance to?” Vivien sassed in return as she skated into a spin combination.

Riven watched her, reminding her to keep one of her turns tight before sighing, “Do you want me to put an extension on our little deal?”

Once Vivien ended her practice with her finishing pose, she answered, “No, I plan on doing it as soon as we’re out of here.”

“Do you want help?” Riven questioned, watching as the girl cleared her blades of shaved ice and tugged her leg warmers further over her skates.

Vivien stretched her arms over her head and sighed as Riven led her toward the rink gate, “Probably.”

A smirk appeared on Riven’s face as he handed Vivien her blade guards and said, “After you then, Pip.”

Vivien slid her guards into place, replaced her skates with her sneakers, and took a deep breath as she and Riven headed for the hallway. Once they found their way to the gymnasium where every other skater and their family were waiting to be let in, the intercom system called the next skater to practice and Vivien found her way through the masses of people to where her family, Riven’s dad, and Royce’s family were sitting and conversing. Before getting close enough to be pestered by their questions, Vivien glanced at Riven - who seemed almost excited about his role in her plan - and nodded to him, “Go ahead.”

As Royce stood to ask Vivien how her practice went, Riven ducked down in front of the teenager, wrapped an arm around his legs, and hauled him over his shoulder as he stood, earning a noise of shock from Royce who suddenly found himself facing Riven’s glorious backside instead of his girlfriend. “We’ll be back in a bit,” Vivien claimed to those who only watched the interaction in confused amusement.

Royce used his arms as a brace against Riven’s spine as he watched his girlfriend follow Riven back into the hallway. “Where are we going?” he asked warily.

“To talk,” she told him with a small smile. “I’m sick of everything else getting in the way, so I asked Riven to help.”

With a confused nod, Royce chuckled softly, “And I couldn’t walk myself to wherever he’s bringing me?”

“That wasn’t part of my plan,” Vivien claimed, a faintly amused smirk appearing on her lips, “but I admire his enthusiasm, don’t you?”

Royce shook his head, a smile splitting his features, “I guess so.”

Without so much as a word coming from him, Riven pushed open a heavy door and set Royce back on the ground before nodding to himself and leaving the room. Before Vivien could close the door, she thanked Riven for his services and he nodded before heading to the vending machines at the end of the hallway. Vivien twisted the lock on the door into place to prevent any interruptions before glancing around at the locker room Riven had brought them to. She sat on one of the benches and gestured for Royce to join her before sighing, “I bet you’re wondering why I’m doing this.”

“I am,” Royce admitted with a hesitant nod. He took a moment to examine the seriousness on Vivien’s face before asking, “You’re not... you're not breaking up with me, are you?”

“What? No, of course not!” After a pause of hesitance, Vivien asked, “Why? Are you breaking up with me?”

“No, never,” Royce stated firmly. “Besides, you’re the one who brought me here, not the other way around.”

Vivien chuckled airily at the reminder, “Yeah, I guess I did.”

A silence fell over them and Royce watched as Vivien’s fingers mindlessly wove into the laces of her sneakers, twisting them around and tugging on them as she stared blankly into space. Not wanting to let her mind wander into, no doubt, negative territory, Royce took one of her hands in his and softly said, “If it’s too much, we can do it another time.”

Before Vivien could say anything, Riven’s voice came through the door - the older skater presumably leaning against the door, playing bodyguard for them, “No, she can’t!”

With a roll of her eyes, Vivien agreed, “He’s right. It’s something that I actually should have told you a long time ago. I was just worried that it would change things with us.”

“Whatever it is,” Royce began, “just know that nothing - and I mean nothing - could possibly change how I feel about you.”

The sincerity in Royce’s caramel eyes gave Vivien the validation that she was making the right decision. “Well,” she said after taking in a sharp breath, “you know that girl that’s been bothering us? Lexi?” Vivien waited for Royce to nod - a welcome roll of his eyes coming with it - before she said, “She was my girlfriend a few years before I met you.”

Vivien watched Royce’s expression change so quickly that she struggled to define each emotion that flashed across his face. She wondered what was going on inside his head. It was hard to tell how he was feeling or what he was thinking as he processed what he had been told, but Vivien tried her hardest to brace for whatever it was that he was going to tell her - good or bad. However, what came out as his response was nowhere on the list of potential things she thought he would say. “Is that why she acts like that? She’s jealous?”

Vivien took a moment to register what he said before asking, “What?”

Royce shrugged, “I mean, I could understand why she would be. You’re an incredible person and-”

“Woah, woah, wait,” Vivien sputtered, her brain struggling to catch up with Royce’s train of thought. “You’re not even going to react to what I said?”

An eyebrow raised as Royce tilted his head to the side, “What - about you and her being together before we met?” Vivien nodded slowly. A smile formed on Royce’s face once again as he reached up and took Vivien’s face in his hands, leaning closer until their foreheads touched. “I told you that nothing could change the way I feel about you and I meant that. Just because you had a girlfriend before doesn’t mean that you don’t love me now just as much as I love you.”

Vivien’s eyes snapped open at his words. He had never said something like that before - neither of them had. “You love me?” she muttered.

Royce’s eyes fluttered open as he backed away just enough to see her face properly, a shade of pale scarlet flushing his face as he meekly nodded, “I have for a long time now.”

All of the fear and stress Vivien had let build up inside of her washed away in an instant, a bubbling happiness spreading through her veins like liquid gold as she allowed herself to smile like an idiot at the boy sitting in front of her. While Vivien giggled like a spoiled child on Christmas morning, Royce watched her in nervous silence, waiting for her to say something, anything, in response to his words. Vivien didn’t leave him waiting for long and a blissfully idiotic, ridiculously huge smile spread across Royce's face as his girlfriend wrapped her arms around his shoulders, held him close, and softly said, “I love you too.”

Royce’s arms locked around Vivien’s middle, holding her as close as physically possible on the uncomfortable metal bench they were still perched on. It wasn’t the most romantic place they could’ve chosen to confess their love, but they didn’t need someplace over-the-top or romantic. They just needed each other. The pair stayed like that, perfectly content in one another's arms until a solid thump on the door reminded them that they weren’t totally alone.

“You two better not be going at it in there,” Riven warned through the door. “We have to be on the ice within an hour and I’m not covering for either of your asses if we get disqualified for being late.”

Vivien backed away from Royce with a huff, standing and unlocking the door before pulling it open and telling Riven, “Just because you’d do it with someone in a dingy locker room, doesn’t mean we would, you ass.”

“Love you too, Pip,” Riven said with a smirk. “Now, let’s go, lovebirds. If we take any longer, your family will think you two eloped or something.”

As Riven turned and stalked off down the hall, Vivien turned to Royce with a sigh and held out a hand for him to take. “You ready to go?”

“With you?” Royce asked rhetorically as he stood and laced his fingers with Vivien’s. He brought their joined hands up and placed a kiss on the back of her hand before swinging them back down between them. “Always.”

#Nelle's Christmas Prompts 2022 #writing #writing prompt

9 notes · View notes

askaceattorney · 3 years ago

Text

(These three letters)

Dear Draph91,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: First off, I must apologize for missing this letter. There’s a reason why I ask to place comments on all errors in the comment section. Because of how many letters get sent into the inbox, it’s easy for me to miss one or two mod letters. It doesn’t help that not all of them are titled “Dear Mods” or the likes.

In any case, I did fix all the errors you pointed out. Again, my apologies and can I ask for you to report any errors I did to any letters in the comment section. It’s easier for me to take notice of them.

Dear Anonymous,

Mod Franziska: Maybee, but who doesn’t, also she was just the first character who came to mind.

(Linked Video)

Dear Dawsongfg,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: No, but I love the video.

(Referenced Letter)

(Referenced Video)

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth:

Actually, I have never watched a single episode of Lucky Star in my life. I only saw a video of the opening and I’m like.

This was answered by Co-Mod because I wrote that letter and can’t answer my own letters. So.... I’ll let him speak on this one.

Co-Mod: That opening is what hooked me, believe it or not. Normally, I wouldn’t be into a slice-of-life show about high school girls who look more like grade schoolers, but the fancy style of the dance, the catchiness of the music, and the adorableness of the characters led me to wonder if the story was just as good and, lo and behold, I found it most enjoyable! The main character is also voiced by Wendee Lee (the same actor who voiced Athena), so that’s a big plus.

(Please link the essay you’re referencing next time please)

Chief Mod Edgeworth: That’s the issue. We don’t know why Manfred von Karma would WANT to incriminate Edgeworth. There is the theory it’s to beat the dead horse that is Gregory Edgeworth, except he’s already dead, Manfred von Karma believing in spirits is never brought up and he had all the ample time to do so from the time he took in Edgeworth as his student. Had it not been for Rise From the Ashes, it could’ve worked but that episode proved that he’d just need two years before the evidence transferal would happen and that would be the end of all the evidence. All Manfred von Karma had to do was have Edgeworth confess to his father’s murder at an early age then wait two years afterwards.

The live action movie worked because it connected Manfred von Karma to Redd White, thus the reason why he was so desperate to cover up DL-6 to the point of throwing Edgeworth under the bus. There’s also the fact Phoenix and Mia were more involved with investigating DL-6 in the live action movie. Yes, I’m shamelessly promoting a low budget movie. It made a better adaptation of Phoenix Wright than the anime imo.

The black psyche-locks were activated when Phoenix asks the question why he killed Zak Gramarye during the first case of the game. That means whatever reason they exist has to do with the incident of him murdering the man during the first case. So, it had little to do with his past.

The thing about Phoenix is that when he makes friends, his relationships with them are always genuine. He is absolutely 100% against nongenuine friendships. When Edgeworth wrote that death note, Phoenix was livid because the friend he worked his butt off for his badge to save him just up and abandoned him. The trilogy made it clear just how much Phoenix hates betrayal. It’s one of the two things that he considers unforgivable. So, it makes no sense why he would have any nongenuine friendships with anyone. I had wondered if this was just a character assassination but he called Kristoph to defend him because of his “kindness.” Does that sound like something a nongenuine friend would do?

I have to also disagree about Manfred von Karma being more sympathetic in AAI and AAI2, because he’s no more sympathetic than he is in Turnabout Goodbyes. I’d argue that the was much more sympathetic in the live action movie. If I had to name any issues with Manfred von Karma, most of it likely is from the changes they made in the localization. The localization often exaggerates the characters and changing the sprites for that reason. As a result, characters like Larry Butz often become much more annoying than comic relief. It’s the same with Manfred von Karma unfortunately. In the comics, plays and live action movie, he was much more subtle in how evil he was, coming off more as a strict mentor that acted like he cared for his students and family but his actions didn’t follow through. Had Turnabout Goodbyes from the localization not exaggerated Manfred von Karma’s cruelty it would’ve translated better when the AAI games came out.

I do agree that AJ left so many unanswered questions that it’s hard to follow. It’d also be nice to see more development between Kristoph and Klavier or even Apollo for that matter. Though, I could say the same about Manfred von Karma’s relationship with Edgeworth, which unfortunately we never get unless we read the mangas and watch the live action movie.

Dear Dawsongfg,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I don’t know. Ask Tumblr.

(Referenced Letter)

Chief Mod Edgeworth: Too bad. I’m the Chief now, so more cookies for me.

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I don’t know what you’re talking about. It has been slowly decreasing but not that much. We have an estimate of 12,068 followers as of now.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Anonymous,

Chief Mod Edgeworth:

I took another look at it and both of you are right about him not studying law at first. Though, this was his second year and it doesn’t mean he wasn’t studying or doing other things. He did take Archery and mentioned about knowing marshal arts. What it does mean is that he didn’t major in anything else at this point in time. He only had one full year of college and was on his second year. That’s not enough to major in anything. Phoenix at least had one or so years of studying Art and took it alongside studying in law.

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Miraz van Nohrr,

Chief Mod Edgeworth: I didn’t have a lot of ideas, but I decided to have it slightly more Great Ace Attorney focused. I’m glad you liked it.

I’m getting used to using the blending animation in GIMP.

- The Mods

#Mod Post #draph91 #Co-Mod #Chief Mod Edgeworth #Mod Franziska

7 notes · View notes

shutupanddance · 4 years ago

Text

Master Post

If you’re looking for my Master List, check out this link:

https://shutupanddance.tumblr.com/masterlist

Okay cool cats and kittens, I’m creating this master post to help you navigate my page and stay updated :) It will be pinned to my blog, and it will have my fandom list, my prompt list, my to-do list, any current events, and a few frequently asked questions. So, looking for information about requesting? Suggestions for requests? Or wondering what I’m currently working on? Don’t know if I’ve received your request? This is the place to look! Just keep on reading <3

Current Events

None!

Fandoms

Here are the fandoms I write for!!

+ Marvel (MCU)

+ DC (DCU)

+ Sherlock

+ Star Wars (trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian)

+ Star Trek (reboots, original series)*

+ Pacific Rim

+ Knives Out

+ Night at the Museum

+ LOTR / The Hobbit

+ Jurassic Park/World

+ The West Wing*

+ NCIS*

*fandoms that you will see the most of on my blog.

Prompt List

(Does not include prompts from any current events) Here are some prompts that you can use for your request, or for your own writing! As a reminder, not all of these prompts are properly credited. Please let me know if you have the original creator’s @!

#1: “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”

#2: “Should I ask why you have a knife in your purse?”

”It’s a dagger, actually, and no you shouldn’t.”

#3: “Close your eyes and listen. And trust me.”

#4: Rosemary, broken glass, and an old gun.

#5: “Do you remember when I loved you?”

”No.”

”Good, because I never did.”

#6: “He saw the notice in the paper.”

”Why would you let him see the paper?”

”What was I supposed to do, eat it?”

#7: “I didn’t catch your name!”

”I didn’t throw it.”

#8: “I’m not better than you, but at least I’m not you. And right now, that’s worth a whole lot.”

#9: Romantic dinner, but something is wrong.

#10: Forehead kisses during an apocalypse

#11: “This isn’t BBC Sherlock! You can’t just run around administering justice as you see fit!

#12: Trying to get a smoke detector to shut up

#13: Falling out of a closet during Hide N Seek

#14: Revealing a dark secret, but it turns out that they already know

#15: Once upon a midnight dreary

#16: The odds were never in our favor

#17: If I should die, think only this of me

#18: Attack hugs

#19: Afraid of ladybugs

#20: The dumb*ss God couldn’t stop

#21: “There’s a rumor going around that you’re the one to ask if someone needs to acquire rare and dangerous objects.”

”There’s a rumor going around that you’re an undercover cop.”

#22: A parking lot, a coroner, and snails

#23: “You’re the only person I know who calls me that.”

#24: This is not a drill.

#25: It’s the price we pay to feel

#26: A character is cleaning/sweeping the floor when someone walks by with dirty shoes (via @writingprompts365 )

#27: “I’m back from my mission!”

““You failed it.”

““How’d you know?”

They point at the TV.

#28: A character is pushed into some bushes/plants/flowers (via @writingprompts365 )

#29: A character picks up a very shiny rock (same @)

#30: A character combs another character’s hair (same)

#31: A character is forced to have a conversation with someone they don’t like (same)

#32: Laughing hysterically at their own joke

#33: Stuck under the same umbrella

#34: ““Well, this is a nice change of scenery!”

““It’s a jail cell.”

““I was being sarcastic.”

#35: ““Let me just be perfectly clear that this was not my fault.”

#36: ““Can I buy you coffee? For old times sake?”

#37: Fake dating

#38: Huddling for warmth

#39: Being high on painkillers and confessing undying love to everyone

#40: “That’s starting to get annoying.”

#41: “I fell asleep on the bus and woke up here.”

#42: “It’s freaking cold.”

#43: “You’re not exactly known for your great ideas.”

#44: ““Can you keep a secret?”

#45: Character A lives above character B, and always drives B insane with how much stomping they do. One day, A’s foot goes right through the floor, into B’s apartment.

#45: Character A and Character B, sworn enemies, are chosen to prepare the company Christmas Party.

#46: you’re a security guard at an art gallery and you held the door for me so I left you a note in the door where we met I hope you read it

#47: Person A and Person B both trying to break into the same place on the same night by accident, only to be chased by the police upon meeting and having to hide in a closet/cupboard/safe together until they leave.

#48: the first and the last word they said to each other

#49: your kid hates my kid

#50: ‘picking them up’ hugs

#51: an incredibly loud and painful high-five

#52: "Let me fix that for you."

#53: “Can’t we listen to something else? We’ve been listening to this CD for three hours now.”

“You know, I would but the CD slot is broken so it’s either this or talk to each other.”

“I wouldn’t mind talking.”

“[turns up the music louder]”

#54: "My kiss quota for the day hasn't been filled. I need a thousand more."

#55: Person A making fun of Person B's bed head

#56: Squeeze three times for “I love you”

#57: writing a love letter but keeping it to themselves

#58: Messing around in IKEA

#59: “Hey - what’re you hiding behind your back?”

#60: going to a bookshop and selecting books for each other

#61: smiling at each other from across the room

#62: arms wrapping around your waist from behind while you’re on a phone call

#63: “ rich coming from the guy who tried to kill me three days ago. “

#64: message in a bottle

#65: becoming the parents of the friend group as soon as they start dating

#66: “I love you.”

“Ouch.”

#67: “We...we did it. We did it! Oh my God, I could kiss you.”

“Well, don’t be shy.”

My To-Do List

Here is everything that I’m currently working on! If you’ve sent a request in, and I see it, it should pop up here!

REQUEST SLOTS: FULL

+ Sherlock / Reader (not requested) undetermined topic

+ Rusty Ryan / Reader (not requested) #4

+ Sam Seaborn / Reader (requested) slow dancing

*anything with an asterisks has already been started.

Tag List

@girloncorneliastreet for The West Wing

@wolviesbabes for Gibbs / Reader

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I submit a request? When you look at my blog, there is a link titled “Asks/Requests”. Click that, and submit something!

How specific does my request have to be? More detail is always better if you’re looking for something specific, but if you’re not picky, it’s no big deal! Even if you just say “could I have some more Spock content please?” I’ll answer it!

Do you write smut? Nope! Not for me.

Are your requests open? Not at the moment! They will be soon, though.

What do I do if your requests are closed? Send it later, when they’re open again!

Do you have a master list? I do! I also have a tag called #masterlist, which all of my work is under. You can access the master list itself by navigating to the page on my blog, or just clicking the link at the top of this post!

What’s your name? You can call me C :)

Why didn’t you reblog my post about social justice? In order to avoid burnout for myself and my followers, I am doing my best to keep this blog free of anything other than fan content. This does not mean that I disagree or agree with you, it just means that I’m not commenting. I do not need to participate in internet social justice activity when I am already an activist on other platforms, including real life.

What can I send asks or messages about? Anything!! Life updates, random questions, whatever! I love to hear from you <3

That’s all, folks!

54 notes · View notes

wits-writing · 4 years ago

Text

What’s so Funny About Vengeance, the Night, and Batman? – Two Superhero Parodies in Conversation

Back in 2016, the first trailers for Director Chris McKay’s The Lego Batman Movie hit. A spinoff of the take on the iconic hero, voiced by Will Arnett, from 2014’s The Lego Movie. Those trailers spelled out a plot covering how Batman’s life of crimefighting is turned upside down when Robin unexpectedly enters the picture. It was a funny trailer, promising another insightful comedy from the crew behind The Lego Movie. A promise it handily delivered on when it came out in February 2017 with an animated feature steeped wall-to-wall jokes for the sake of mocking Bruce Wayne’s angst filled crusade that can only come from understanding what’s made the character withstand the test of time.

But there was a thought I and others had from seeing that trailer up to watching the actual movie:

“This seems… familiar.”

Holy Musical B@man! is a 2012 fan-made stage production parody of DC Comics’ biggest cash cow. It was produced as the fifth musical from YouTube-based cult phenomenon Starkid Productions, from a book by Matt and Nick Lang, music by Nick Gage and Scott Lamp with lyrics by Gage. The story of the musical details how Robin’s unexpected entrance ends up turning Batman’s (Joe Walker) life of crimefighting upside down. Among Starkids’ fandom derived projects in their early existence, as they’ve mainly moved on to well-received original material in recent years, Holy Musical B@man! is my personal favorite. I go back to it frequently, appreciating it as a fan of both superheroes and musicals. (Especially since good material that touches on both of those isn’t exactly easy to come by. Right, Spider-Man?)

While I glibly summarized the similarities between them by oversimplifying their plots, there’s a lot in the details, both major and minor, that separates how they explore themes like solitude, friendship, love, and what superhero stories mean. It’s something I’ve wanted to dig into for a while and I found a lot in both of them I hadn’t considered before by putting them in conversation. I definitely recommend watching both of them, because of how in-depth this piece goes including discussing their endings. However, nothing I can say will replace the experience of watching them and if I had included everything I could’ve commented on in both of them, this already massive piece would easily be twice as long minimum.

Up front, I want to say this isn’t about comparing The Lego Batman Movie and Holy Musical B@man in terms of quality. Not only are they shaped for vastly different mediums with different needs/expectations, animation versus stagecraft, but they also had different resources at their disposal. Even if both are in some ways riffing on the aesthetic of the 1990s Batman movies and the Adam West TV show, Lego Batman does it with the ability to make gorgeously animated frames packed to the brim with detail while Holy Musical often leans into its low-fi aesthetic of characters miming props and sets to add extra humor. They’re also for different audiences, Lego Batman clearly for all-ages while Holy Musical has the characters cursing for emphasis on a regular basis. On top of those factors, after picking through each of these for everything worth commenting on that I could find, I can’t say which I wholly prefer thanks in part to these fundamental differences.

This piece is more about digging through the details to explore the commonalities, differences, and what makes them effective mocking love letters to one of the biggest superheroes in existence.

(Also, since I’m going to be using the word “Batman” a lot, I’ll be calling Lego Batman just “Batman” and referring to the version from Holy Musical as “B@man”, with the exception of quoted dialogue.)

[Full Piece Under the Cut]

Setting the Tone

The beginning is, in fact, a very good place to start when discussing how these parodies frame their versions of the caped crusader. Each one uses a song about lavishing their respective Batmen with praise about how they are the best superheroes ever and play over sequences of the title hero kicking wholesale ass. A key distinction comes in who’s singing each song. Holy Musical B@man’s self-titled opening number is sung from the perspective of an omniscient narrator recounting B@man’s origin and later a chorus made up of the Gotham citizenry. Meanwhile, “Who’s the (Bat) Man” from Lego Batman is a brag-tacular song written by Batman about himself, even playing diegetically for all his villains to hear as he beats them up.

youtube

Holy Musical opens on a quick recap of Batman’s origin:

“One shot, Two shots in the night and they’re gone And he’s all left alone He’s just one boy Two dead at his feet and their blood stains the street And there’s nothing, no there’s nothing he can do!”

We then get a Bat-dance break as the music goes from slow and moody to energetic to reflect Batman turning that tragedy into the driving force behind his one-man war on crime. Assured by the narrator that he’s “the baddest man that there’s ever been!” and “Now there’s nothing, no there’s nothing he can’t do!” flipping the last lyric of the first verse. For the rest of the opening scene the lyrics matter less than what’s happening to establish both this fan-parody’s version of Batman and how the people of Gotham (“he’ll never refuse ‘em”) view him.

Lego Batman skips the origin recap, and in general talks around the death of the Waynes to keep the light tone going since it’s still a kids movie about a popular toy even if there are deeper themes at play. Instead, it continues a trend The Lego Movie began for this version of the character writing music about how he’s an edgy, dark, awesome, cool guy. While that movie kept it to Batman angry-whiteboy-rapping about “Darkness! NO PARENTS!”, this one expands to more elaborate boasts in the song “Who’s the (Bat) Man” by Patrick Stump:

youtube

“In the darkest night I make the bad guys fall There’s a million heroes But I’m the best of them all!”

Batman singing this song about himself, as opposed to having it sung by others aims the crosshairs of parody squarely on the hero’s ego. His abilities make fighting his villains effortless, like this opening battle is more an opportunity to perform the song than a life-or-death struggle. Even Joker’s aware of that as he shouts, “Stop him before he starts singing!” This Batman doesn’t see himself as missing out on anything in life, even if he still feels that deep down. Being Batman is the coolest thing in the world that anyone would envy. He’s Batman, therefore everyone should envy him.

The songs aren’t only part of the equation for how these two works’ opening scenes establish their leading hero. While both songs are about Batman being cool, they’re separated by the accompanying scenes. Lego Batman keep the opening within the Joker’s perspective until Batman shows up and the action kicks in. Once it does, we’re shown a Batman at the top of his solo-hero game. Meanwhile, Holy Musical’s opening is about B@man building his reputation and by the end of the song he has all the citizens of Gotham singing his praises with the titular lyrics. Both are about being in awe of the title hero, one framed by Joker’s frustration at Batman’s ease in foiling his schemes yet again and the other about the people of Gotham growing to love their city’s hero (probably against their better judgement.)

That’s woven into the fabric of what kind of schemes Batman is foiling in each of these. Joker’s plan to bomb Gotham with the help of every supervillain in Batman’s Rogues Gallery is hilariously high stakes and the type of plan most Batman stories, even parodies, would save for the climax. Neatly exemplified by how that’s almost the exact structure of Holy Musical’s final showdown. Starting with these stakes works as an extension of this Batman’s nature as a living children’s toy and therefore the embodiment of a child’s idea of what makes Batman cool, his ability to wipe the floor with anyone that gets in his way “because he’s Batman.” It also emphasizes Joker as the only member of the Rogues Gallery that matters to Lego Batman’s story, every other Bat-villain is either a purely visual cameo or only gets a couple lines maximum.

The crime’s being stopped by B@man are more in the “Year One” gangster/organized crime category rather than anything spectacle heavy. Though said crimes are comically exaggerated:

Gangster 1: Take these here drugs, put ‘em into them there guns, and then hand ‘em out to those gamblin’ prostitutes! Gangster 2: Should we really be doing these illegal activities? In a children’s hospital for orphans?

These fit into that model of crime the Dark Knight fights in his early days and add tiny humanizing moments between the crooks (“Oh, Matches! You make me laugh like nobody else!”) in turn making the arrival of B@man and the violence he deals out a stronger punchline. Further emphasized by the hero calling out the exact physical damage he does with each hit before warning them to never do crime again saying, “Support your families like the rest of us! Be born billionaires!” Later in the song his techniques get more extreme and violence more indiscriminate, as he uses his Bat-plane to patrol and gun down whoever he sees as a criminal, including a storeowner accidentally taking a single dollar from his own register. (“God’s not up here! Only Batman!”)

A commonality between these two openings is how Commissioner Jim Gordon gets portrayed. Both are hapless goofs at their core, playing more on the portrayal of the character in the 60s TV show and 90s Burton/Schumacher movies than the serious-minded character present in comics, Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, and other adaptations. Lauren Lopez’s portrayal in Holy Musical gets overwhelmed by everything thrown at him, eventually giving up and getting out of B@man’s way (“I’m not gonna tell Batman what to do! He’s Batman!”) Hector Elizondo’s Gordon in Lego Batman clearly reached the “stay out of Batman’s way” point a long time ago, happy to have “the guy who flips on the Bat-signal” be his sole defining trait. While the characterizations are close, their roles do end up differing. Lopez’s Gordon sticks around to have a few more comedic scenes as the play goes on, where Elizondo’s exist to set up a contrast with his daughter Barbara and her way of approaching Batman when she becomes Police Commissioner.

These opening sequences both end in similar manners as well; the citizens of Gotham lavishing praise on their respective Batmen and a confrontation between Batman and the Joker. Praise from the citizenry in Holy Musical comes on the heels of a letter from B@man read out on the news about how much they and the city of Gotham suck. They praise B@man for his angsty nature as a “dark hero” and how they “wouldn’t want him any other way!”, establishing the motif of Gotham’s citizens in Holy Musical as stand-ins for the Batman fandom. Lego Batman uses the praise of the Gotham citizens after Batman’s victory in the opening scene as a lead in to contrast their certainty that Batman must have an exciting private life with the reality we’re shown. Which makes sense since Lego-Batman’s relationship to the people of Gotham is never presented as something at stake.

Greater contrast comes in how the confrontations with the Joker are handled, Lego Batman has an argument between the hero and villain that’s intentionally coded as relationship drama, Batman saying “There is no ‘us’” when Joker declares himself Batman’s greatest enemy. The confrontation in Holy Musical gets purposefully underplayed as an offstage encounter narrated to the audience as a Vicki Vale news report. This takes Joker off the board for the rest of the play in contrast to the Batman/Joker relationship drama that forms one of Lego Batman’s key pillars. While they take different forms, the respective citizenry praise and villain confrontation parts of these openings lead directly into the number one common thematic element between these Bat-parodies: Batman’s loneliness.

One is the Darkest, Saddest, Loneliest Number

Batman as an isolated hero forms one of the core tenants of the most popular understanding of the character. Each of these parodies picks at that beyond the broody posturing. There’s no dedicated segment in this piece about how these works’ versions of the title character function bleeds into every other aspect of them, but each starts from the idea of Batman as a man-child with trouble communicating his emotions. Time’s taken to give the audience a view of where their attitudes have left them early in the story.

Both heroes show their loneliness through interactions with their respective Alfreds. Holy Musical has the stalwart butler, played by Chris Allen, try to comfort B@man by asking if he has any friends he enjoys being around. When B@man cites Lucius Fox as a friend he calls him right away, only to discover Lucius Fox is Alfred’s true identity and Alfred Pennyworth was an elaborate ruse he came up with to protect Bruce on his father’s wishes. Ironically, finding out his closest friend was living a double life causes Bruce to push Alfred away (the play keeps referring to him as Alfred after this, so that’s what I’m going to do as well.) After he’s fired he immediately comes back in a new disguise as “O’Malley the Irish Butler” (same outfit he wore before but with a Party City Leprechaun hat.) That’s unfortunately the start of a running gag in Holy Musical that ends up at the worst joke in the play, when Alfred disguises himself as “Quon Li the Chinese Butler” doing an incredibly cringeworthy “substituting L’s for R’s” bit with his voice. It’s been my least favorite bit in the play since I first saw it in 2012 and legitimately makes me hesitate at times to recommend it. Even if it’s relatively small bit and the rest holds ups.

That disclaimer out of the way, that conversation between B@man and Alfred leads into the title hero reflecting on his sadness through the musical’s I Want Song, “Dark, Sad, Lonely Knight.” The song’s split into two halves, the first Alfred reflecting on whether he played a part in Bruce’s current condition and the second B@man longing for a connection. The song does a good job balancing between the sincerity over the hero’s sadness and getting good laughs out of it:

“Think of the children Next time you gun down the mama and papa Their only mama and papa Because they probably don’t have another mama and papa!”

The “I Want” portion of the song coming in the end with the repetition of the lryics “I want to be somebody’s buddy.”

Rather than another song number, Lego Batman covers Batman’s sadness through a pair of montages and visual humor. The first comes after the opening battle, where we see Batman taking off all his costume except for the mask hanging out alone in Wayne Manor, showing how little separation he puts between identities. Compared to Holy Musical where the equivalent scene is the first we see of Bruce without the mask on, which may come down to practicality since anyone who’s worn a mask like that knows they get hot and sweaty fast. Batman is constantly made to appear small among the giant empty rooms of his estate as he eats dinner, jams on his guitar, and watches romantic movies alone.

Ralph Fienne’s Alfred coming in at the end of this sequence witnessing Batman looking at a photo of himself as a boy with his parents for the last time. Alfred outlines Batman’s fear of being part of a family again only to be met with Batman denying he has any feelings ever. Pennyworth’s role as a surrogate father gets put into greater focus here than in Holy Musical, as we get glimpses of Alfred reading a book titled “How to Deal with Your Out-of-Control Child.” Also shown in smaller scenes of Alfred dealing with Batman’s insistent terminology for his crime fighting equipment, like calling his cowl an “armored face disguise.”

Batman’s denial of his pain contrasts how B@man wallows in it. Though he’s forced to confront it a little as the Joker’s plan ends up leaving him with no crimefighting to fall back on to ignore his issues. This montage gets set to the song “One” by Harry Nilsson and details Batman, unable to express his true feelings, eventually letting them out in the form of tempter tantrums. There’s also some humor through juxtaposition as Batman walks solemnly through the streets of Gotham City, rendered black and white, as the citizens chant “No more crime!” in celebration, while flipping over cars and firing guns into the air.

A disruption to their loneliness eventually comes in the form of a sensational character find.

Robin – The Son/BFF Wonder

Between both Bat-parodies, the two Robins’ characterizations are as close as anyone’s between them. Each is nominally Dick Grayson but are ultimately more representative of the idea of Robin as the original superhero sidekick and his influence on Batman’s life. The play and movie also both make the obvious jokes about Dick’s name and the classic Robin costume’s lack of pants at different points. Dick’s origin also gets sidestepped in each version to skip ahead to the part where he starts being an influence in Batman’s life.

Robin’s introduction to the comics in Detective Comics #38 in 1940, marking the start of Batman’s literal “Year Two” as a character, predating the introduction of Joker, Catwoman, and Alfred, among others. Making him Batman’s longest lasting ally in the character’s history. His presence and acrobatics shift the tone by adding a dash of swashbuckling to Batman’s adventures, inspired by the character’s namesake Robin Hood, though both parodies take a page out of Batman Forever and associate the name with the bird for the sake of a joke. Robin is as core to Batman as his origin, but more self-serious adaptations (i.e., the mainstream cinematic ones that were happening around the times both Holy Musical and Lego Batman came out) tend to avoid the character’s inclusion. These two works being parody, therefore anything but self-serious, give themselves permission to examine why Robin matters and how different characters react to his presence. Rejection of Robin as a character and concept comes out in some form in each of these works, from Batman himself in Lego Batman and the Gotham citizens in Holy Musical.

The chain of events that lead to Dick becoming Robin in Lego Batman are a string of consequences for Batman’s self-absorption. A scene of Bruce barely listening as Dick asks for advice on getting adopted escalating to absentmindedly signing the adoption paperwork. Batman doesn’t realize he has a son until after his sadness montage. Alfred forces Batman to start interacting with Dick against his will. The broody loner wanting nothing to do with the cheery kid, played to “golly gee gosh” perfection by Michael Cera, until he sees the utility of him. Batman doesn’t even have the idea to give Robin a costume or codename because he clearly views the sidekick’s presence as a temporary measure for breaking into Superman’s fortress, made clear by how he lists “expendable” as a quality Dick needs if he wants to go on a mission.

This makes Robin the catalyst for Batman’s shifting perspective throughout Lego Batman. When Robin succeeds in his first mission, the Dark Knight is hesitant to truly compliment him and chalks up his ward’s feats to “unbelievable obeying.” Other moments have Robin’s presence poke holes in Batman’s tough guy demeanor, like the first time Batman and Robin ride in the Bat-mobile together, Robin asks where the seatbelts are and Batman growls “Life doesn’t give you seatbelts!”, only for Batman to make a sudden stop causing Robin to hit his head on the windshield and Batman genuinely apologizes. They share more genuine moments together as the film goes, like Batman suggesting they beatbox together to keeps their spirits up after they’ve been imprisoned for breaking into Arkham Asylum. Robin’s representative of Batman gradually letting people in throughout these moments.

On the exact opposite end of the spectrum, B@man needs zero extra prompting to let Robin into his life. Nick Lang’s Robin (henceforth called “Rob!n” to keep with this arbitrary naming scheme I’ve concocted) does get brought into his life by Alfred thanks to a personal ad (“‘Dog for sale’? No… ‘Orphan for sale’! Even better!”) but it’s a short path to B@man deciding to let Dick fight alongside him. The briefest hesitance on the hero’s part, “To be Batman… is to be alone”, is quelled by Rob!n saying “We could be alone… together.” Their first scene together quickly establishing the absurd sincerity exemplified by this incarnation of the Dynamic Duo. An energy carried directly into the Act 1 closing number, “The Dynamic Duet”, a joyful ode between the heroes about how they’re “Long lost brothers who found each other” sung as they beat up supervillains (and the occasional random civilian.)

That song also ties into the contrast between the Batman/Robin dynamic and the B@man/Rob!n one. While Holy Musical is portraying a brotherly/BFF bond between the two heroes, Lego Batman leans into the surrogate son angle. While both are mainly about their stories’ Batman being able to connect with others, the son angle of Lego Batman adds an additional layer of “Batman needs to take responsibility for himself and others” and a parallel to Alfred as Batman’s own surrogate father. It also adds to the queer-coding of Batman in Lego Batman as Batman’s excuse to Robin for why he can go on missions is that Bruce and he are sharing custody, Robin even calling Batman’s dual identities “dads” before he knows the truth.

In the absence of the accepting personal responsibility through fatherhood element, the conflict Rob!n brings out in Holy Musical forms between B@man and the citizens of Gotham. “Citizens as stand-ins for fandom” is at it’s clearest here as the Act 2 opener is called “Robin Sucks!” featuring the citizens singing about how… well, you read the title. Their objections to Rob!n’s existence has nothing to do with what the young hero has done or failed to do, but come from arguments purely about the aesthetic of Rob!n fighting alongside B@man. Most blatantly shown by one of the citizens wearing a Heath Ledger Joker t-shirt saying Rob!n’s presence “ruins the gritty realism of a man who fights crime dressed as a bat.” It works as the Act 2 opener by establishing that B@man and the citizens conflicting opinions on his sidekick end up driving that half of the story, exemplified in B@man’s complete confusion about why people hate Rob!n (“Robin ruined Batman? But that’s not true… Robin make Batman happy.”)

Both Robins play into the internal conflict their respective mentors are going through, but what would a superhero story, even a parody, be without some colorful characters to provide that sweet external conflict.

Going Rogue

Both works have the threat comes from an army of villains assembled under a ringleader, Zach Galifianakis’s Joker in Lego Batman and Jeff Blim as Sweet Tooth in Holy Musical. Both lead the full ensemble of Batman’s classic (and not so classic) Rogues at different points. As mentioned before Joker starts Lego Batman with “assemble the Rogues, blow up Gotham” as his plan, while Sweet Tooth with his candy prop comedy becoming the ringleader of Gotham’s villains is a key turning point in Act 1 of the play. Part of this comes down to how their connections to their respective heroes and environments are framed, Sweet Tooth as a new player on the scene and Joker as Batman’s romantic foil.

Lego Batman demonstrates Batman and Joker are on “finishing each other’s sentences” levels of intimate that Batman refuses to acknowledge. Shown best in how Joker’s plan only works because he can predict exactly how Batman will act once he starts playing hard to get. When he surrenders the entire Rogues Gallery (without telling them) and himself to police custody, he describes it as him being “off the market.” He knows Batman won’t settle for things ending on these terms and tricks the hero into stealing Superman’s Phantom Zone projector so he can recruit a new, better team of villains for a take two of his masterplan from the start. Going through all this trouble to get Batman to say those three magic words; “I love hate you.” Joker as the significant other wanting his partner to finally reciprocate his feelings and commit works both as a play on how the Batman/Joker relationship often gets approached and an extension of the central theme. Batman is so closed off to interpersonal connections he can’t even properly hate his villains.

Sweet Tooth, while clearly being a riff Heath Ledger and Caesar Romero’s Jokers fused with a dash of Willy Wonka, doesn’t have that kind of connection with B@man. Though there are hints that B@man and his recently deceased Joker may have had one on that level. He laments “[Joker]’s in heaven with mom and dad. Making them laugh, I know it!” when recalling how the Clown Prince of Crime was the one person he enjoyed being around. This makes Joker’s death one of the key triggers to B@man reflecting on his solitude at the start of the play.

What Sweet Tooth provides the story is a threat to B@man’s new bond with Rob!n. Disrupting that connection forms the delicious center of the Candy King of Crime’s plan in Act 2. He holds Rob!n and Gotham’s people hostage and asks the citizens to decide via Facebook poll if the sidekick lives or dies (in reference to the infamous phone hotline vote from the comic book story A Death in the Family where readers could decide the Jason Todd Robin’s fate.)

With the rest of the villains under the leadership of the respective works’ main antagonists, there’s commentary on their perceived quality as threats. When Holy Musical has Superman talking to Green Lantern about how much B@man’s popularity frustrates him, he comes down especially hard on the Caped Crusader’s villains. Talking about how they all coast by on simple gimmicks with especially harsh attention given to Two Face’s being “the number two.” Saying they’re only famous because B@man screws up and they get to do more damage. Which he compares to his own relationship with his villains:

Superman: You ever heard of Mr. Mxyzptlk? Green Lantern: No. Superman: No, that’s right! That’s because I do my job!

Lego Batman has commentary on the other villains come from Joker, recognizing that even all together they can never beat Batman, because that’s how a Batman story goes. The other villains get portrayed as generally buffoonish, struggling to even build a couch together and described by Joker as “losers dressed in cosplay.” Tricking Batman into sending him to the Phantom Zone provides him the opportunity to gather villains from outside Batman’s mythos and outside DC Comics in general. Recruiting the likes of Sauron, King Kong, Daleks, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and the Wicked Witch of the West, among others. When I first saw and reviewed The Lego Batman Movie, this bugged me because it felt like a missed opportunity to feature lesser-known villains from other DC heroes’ Rogues Galleries. Now, considering the whole movie as meta-commentary on the status of this Batman as a children’s toy, it makes perfect sense that Joker would need to go outside of comics to break the rules of a typical Batman story and have a shot at winning.

The Rogues of Holy Musical get slightly more of a chance to shine, if only because their song “Rogues are We” is one of the catchier tracks from the play. They’re all still more cameo than character when all’s said and done, but Sweet Tooth entering the picture is about him recognizing their potential to operate as a unit, takeover Gotham, and kill B@man. The candy-pun flinging villain wants all of them together, no matter their perceived quality.

Sweet Tooth: “We need every villain in Gotham. Cool themes, lame themes, themes that don’t match their powers, even the villains that take their names from public domain stories.” (Two Face’s “broke ass” still being the exception.)

Both Joker and Sweet Tooth provide extensions of the shared theme of Batman dealing with the new connections in his life, especially with regards to Robin. However, Robin isn’t the only other ally (or potential ally) these Dark Knights have on their side.

Super Friends(?)

The internal crisis of these Caped Crusaders come as much from how they react to other heroic figures as it does from supervillainous machinations. In both cases how Batman views and is viewed by fellow heroes gets centered on a specific figure, Superman in Holy Musical and Commissioner Barbara Gordon (later Batgirl) in Lego Batman. Each serves a vastly different purpose in the larger picture of their stories and relationship to their respective Batmen. Superman reflecting B@man’s loneliness and Barbara symbolizing a new path forward for Batman’s hero work.

Superman’s role in Holy Musical runs more parallel to Lego Batman’s Joker than Barbara. Brian Holden’s performance as the Man of Tomorrow plays into a projected confidence covering anxiety that nobody likes him. Besting the Bat-plane in a race during B@man’s Key to the City ceremony establishes a one upmanship between the two heroes, like Joker’s description of his relationship with Batman at the end of Lego Batman’s opening battle. Though instead of that romantically coded relationship from Lego Batman, this relationship is more connected to childish jealousy. (But if you do want to read the former into Holy Musical B@man, neither hero has an onstage relationship with any woman and part of their eventual fight consist of spanking each other.)

B@man and Superman’s first real interaction is arguing over who’s the cooler hero until it degrades into yelling “Fuck you!” at each other. B@man storming off in the aftermath of that gets topped off by Superman suggesting he should get the Key to the City instead, citing his strength and longer tenure as a hero (“The first hero, by the way”) as justifications. This only results in the Gotham citizens turning on him for suggesting their city’s hero is anything less than the best, which serves both as a Sam Raimi Spider-Man reference (“You mess with one of us! You mess with all of us!”) and another example of the citizens as stand-ins for fandom. Superman’s veil of cocksureness comes off quickly after that and stays off for the rest of the play. Starting with his conversation with Green Lantern where a civilian comes across them, but barely acts like Superman’s there.

One of the play’s running gags is Superman calling B@man’s number and leaving messages, showing a desperation to reach out and connect with his fellow hero despite initial smugness. Even before the first phone call scene, we see Superman joining B@man to sing “I want to be somebody’s buddy” during “Dark, Sad, Lonely Knight” hinting at what’s to come. The note it consistently comes back to is that Superman’s jealousy stems from Batman’s popularity over him. This is a complete flip of what Lego Batman does with the glimpse at a Batman/Superman dynamic we see when Batman goes to the Superman’s fortress to steal the Phantom Zone projector. The rivalry dynamic there exists solely in Batman’s head, Lego-Superman quickly saying “I would crush you” when Batman suggests the idea of them fighting. Superman’s status among the other DC heroes is also night and day between these works. Where Lego-Superman’s only scene in the movie shows him hosting the Justice League Anniversary Party and explaining he “forgot” to invite Batman, Superman in Holy Musical consistently lies about having friends over (“All night long I’m busy partying with my friends at the Fortress… of Solitude.”)

Superman’s relationship to B@man in Holy Musical develops into larger antagonism thanks to lack of communication with B@man brushing off Supes’ invitations to hang out and fight bad guys (“Where were you for the Solomon Grundy thing? Ended up smaller than I thought, just a couple of cool guys. Me and… Solomon Grundy.”) His own loneliness gets put into stronger focus when he sees the news of Rob!n’s debut as a crimefighter, which makes him reflect on how he misses having Krypto the Super-Dog around. (The explanation for why he doesn’t have his dog anymore is one of my favorite jokes in the play and I won’t ruin it here.)

Where Superman’s a reflection of B@man’s loneliness, Rosario Dawson as Barbara in Lego Batman is a confrontation of Batman’s go it alone attitude. Her job in the story is to be the one poking holes in the foundation of Batman as an idea, starting with her speech at Jim Gordon’s retirement banquet and her instatement as commissioner. She has a by-the-book outlook on crimefighting with the omnicompetence to back it up, thanks to her training at “Harvard for Police.” Babs sees Batman’s current way of operating as ineffectual and wants him to be an official agent of the law. An idea that dumps a bucket of cold water on Batman’s crush he developed immediately upon seeing her, though that never fully goes away.

Her main point is that Batman “karate chopping poor people” hasn’t made Gotham better in his 80 years of operating. A contrast to Holy Musical’s Jim Gordon announcing that B@man has brought Gotham’s crime rates to an all-time low (“Still the highest in the world, but we’re working on it.”) She wants to see a Batman willing to work with other people. A hope dashed constantly dealing with his childish stubbornness as he tries to foil Joker’s schemes on his own, culminating in her arresting Batman and Robin for breaking into Arkham to send Joker to the Phantom Zone.

Barbara’s role as the one bringing grown-up attitudes and reality into Batman’s world does leave her in the role of comedic straight woman. Humor in her scenes comes from how she reacts to everyone else’s absurdity rather than anything she does to be funny. This works for the role she plays in Lego Batman, since she’s not there to have an arc the way Superman does in Holy Musical. She’s another catalyst for Batman’s to start letting people in as another character he grows to care about. Which starts after she lets the Dynamic Duo out of prison to fight Joker’s new army of Phantom Zone villains on the condition that he plays it by her rules. Leading to a stronger bond between Batman, Robin, Alfred, and her as they start working together.

The two Batmen’s relationships to other heroes, their villains, Robin, and their own solitude each culminate in their own way as their stories reach their conclusions.

Dark Knights & Dawning Realizations

As everything comes down to the final showdowns in these Bat-parodies, the two Caped Crusaders each confront their failures to be there for others and allow themselves to be vulnerable to someone they’ve been antagonizing throughout the story. Each climax has all of Gotham threatened by a bomb and the main villains’ plans coming to fruition only to come undone.

Holy Musical has Sweet Tooth’s kidnapping of Rob!n and forcing Gotham to choose themselves or the sidekick they hate sends B@man into his most exaggerated state in the entire play. It’s the classic superhero movie climax conundrum, duty as a hero versus personal attachment. Alfred, having revealed himself as the “other butlers”, even lampshades how these stories usually go only for that possibility to get shot down by Bruce:

Alfred: A true hero, Master Wayne, finds a way to choose both. B@man: You’re right, Alfred. I know what I have to do… Fuck Gotham, I’m saving Robin!

B@man’s selfishness effectively makes him the real villain of Holy Musical’s second act. Lego Batman has shades of that aspect as well, where Batman gets sent to the Phantom Zone by Joker for his repeated refusal to acknowledge their relationship. Where the AI running the interdimensional prison, Phyllis voiced by Ellie Kemper, confronts him with the way he’s treated Robin, Alfred, Barbara, and even Joker:

Phyllis: You’re not a traditional bad guy, but you’re not exactly a good guy either. You even abandoned your friends. Batman: No! I was trying to protect them! Phyllis: By pushing them away? Batman: Well… yeah. Phyllis: Are they really the ones you’re protecting?

Batman watches what’s happening back in Gotham and sees Robin emulate his grim and gritty tendencies to save the day in his absence makes him desperately scream, “Don’t do what I would do!” It’s the universe rubbing what a jerk he’s been in his face. He’s forced to take a look at himself and make a change. B@man’s not made to do that kind of self-reflection until after he’s defeated Sweet Tooth but failed to stop the villain’s bomb. He’s ready to give up on Gotham forever and leave with Rob!n, until his sidekick pulls up Sweet Tooth’s poll and it shows the unanimous result in favor of saving the Boy Wonder. Despite everything they said at the start of Act 2, the people want to help their hero in return for all the times he helped them. All of them calling back to the Raimi Spider-Man reference from Act 1, “You mess with one of us. You mess with all of us.”

Both heroes’ chance at redemption and self-improvement comes from opening themselves up to the people they pushed out and dismissed earlier in their stories. Batman takes on the role he reduced the Commissioner down to at the beginning of the movie and flips on signals for Barbara, Alfred, and Robin to show how he’s truly prepared to work as a team, not just with his friends and family but with the villains of Gotham the Joker pushed aside as well. Teamwork makes the dream work and they’re all able to work together to get Joker’s army back into the Phantom Zone but like in Holy Musical they fail to stop the bomb threatening Gotham. Which he can only prevent from destroying the city by confessing his true feeling to Joker

Batman: If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have learned how connected I am with all of these people and you. So, if you help me save Gotham, you’ll help me save us. Joker: You just said “us?” Batman: Yeah, Batman and the Joker. So, what do you say? Joker: You had me at “shut up!”

The equivalent moment from Holy Musical comes from B@man needing to put aside his pride and encourage a disheartened Superman to save Gotham for him. This happens in the aftermath of a fight the two heroes had where Superman tried to stop B@man before he faced Sweet Tooth, B@man winning out through use of kryptonite. That fight doesn’t fit into any direct parallel with Lego Batman, but it is important context for how Superman’s feeling about B@man before Superman finally gets his long-awaited phone call from the Dark Knight. Also, the song accompanying the fight, “To Be a Man”, is one of the funniest scenes in the play. What this speech from B@man does is bring the idea of Holy Musical B@man as a commentary on fandom full circle:

B@man: I forgot what it means to be a superhero. But we’re really not that different, you and me, at our heart. I mean really all superheroes are pretty much the same… Something bad happened to us once when we were young, so we dedicated our whole lives to doing a little bit of good. That’s why we got into this crazy superhero business. Not to be the most popular, or even the most powerful. Because if that were the case, hell, you’d have the rest of us put out of a job!

This speech extends into an exchange between the heroes about how superheroes are cool, not despite anything superficially silly but because of it. Bringing it back to the “Robin Sucks!” theme that started Act 2, saying “Some people think Robin is stupid. But those people are pretentious douchebags. Because, literally, the only difference between Robin and me is our costumes.” The speech culminates in what I genuinely think is one of the best Batman lines ever written, as B@man’s final plea to Superman is “Where’s that man who’s faster than a gun?” calling back to the trauma that created Batman across all versions and what he can see in someone like Superman. So, B@man sacrificing his pride and fully trusting in another hero saves Gotham, the way Batman letting Joker know what their relationship means to him did in Lego Batman.

Each of these parodies ends by delivering a Batman willing to open himself up to a new team of heroes fighting at his side, the newly minted Bat-Family in Lego Batman and the league for justice known as the Super Friends in Holy Musical. Putting them side by side like this shows how creators don’t need the resources of a Hollywood studio to make something exactly as meaningful and how the best parodies come from love of the material no matter who’s behind them.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

108 notes · View notes

peaches-writes · 5 years ago

Text

before one a.m.

description: bang chan, college of music, friend of a friend who surprisingly offers to share a workplace in a cafe on this busy friday night member: chan genre: fluff, college au, strangers to friends au, reader is a fine arts student word count: 7.4k warning: explicit language note: inspired by the before trilogy but it kinda feels like i didn’t do it justice i rlly cant do strangers to anything lmao im a clown + this took rlly long but it’s not that good sldkfjkdsl :(

6:30 PM

You hurriedly skip up the steps of the campus library’s entrance staircase, backpack slung over one shoulder and your laptop, tucked in its own bag, and a sketchbook pressed to your chest. Entering through the double doors, you breathlessly sigh in disappointment at seeing most of the working tables full. I run from Fine Arts across the oval to a full library, you huff at scanning the floor from the entrance one last time before proceeding to run up the staircase by the reception desk, skipping the steps again in an attempt to cross the distance faster.

On the second to the last step, as you focus on not missing the steps you hop onto, your shoulders accidentally bump into someone rushing down from the opposite side, almost making you slip if not for the stranger who quickly steadies you by your upper arm in time. “Woah there.” A familiar voice mutters under his breath as you regain composure. “I’m so sorry, I’m sorry!”

You look up from almost dropping your laptop and sketchbook on the staircase, meeting eyes with an apologetic Bang Chan who has moved a step above you with a messenger bag and his infamous laptop.

“Are you okay?” He prods on, going down one step again so you’re on the same level now.

Though he’s in a different college, you know him by name and face from similar social circles, hence the slight embarrassment you felt at recognizing him after almost slipping right in front of him. “I’m okay.” You muse, eyes then flitting over to the second floor entrance. “Is it full too?”

Chan nods once, fixing his messenger bag with one hand as it starts to feel heavy. “Y-yeah, it’s finals week in the College of Sciences, I think.”

“Oh.” You frown. “Well, that’s too bad.”

The two of you stand in silence for a moment, you slowly alternating your gaze between the second floor and the staircase leading back to the first, contemplating on what to do now, while Chan strangely waits for you to say something again.

When you don’t speak, he speaks up again, “Do you want to...” He trails off until you avert your gaze back to him. “I’m going to Block 325 to work. Do you want to come and share a table with me?”

Your eyes widen, surprised at a fellow college student being generous enough to share a study spot with you, but Chan misinterprets, thinking you don’t remember him from when you were introduced in Seungmin’s birthday party. “I’m sorry.” He quickly apologizes again, scratching the nape of his neck sheepishly. “It’s just that I thought you’d—now I sound like a creep. I’m so sorry, that’s not my intention at all.”

Simultaneously, you respond, “O-Oh, I was just surprised. College students aren’t really that generous with work areas—what?”

Chan takes a step backward, leaning close to the railings. “W-What?”

You chuckle, amused by the small miscommunication that suddenly made the atmosphere lighter. “Why did you think you sounded like a creep? I just said it’s a nice offer, not everyone here offers to share work spaces.”

“Well, I thought you didn’t recognize me,” He answers honestly. “we were introduced at Seungmin’s party?”

You shake your head, your smile growing at how cute he looks when he’s flustered. “Bang Chan, right? College of Music.” You smile when he nods innocently. “See? I’m more worried you didn’t recognize me, CB97.”

Chan blushes in embarrassment, but even more in the way his Soundcloud rapper name rolls off your lips almost teasingly. “So...” He changes the topic immediately. “Do you want to go with me, Y/N?”

You nod, noting the way he mimicked the tone you used in referring to him by his stage name. “Of course, thank you for offering to share a workspace.”

“No problem, any friend of Seungmin’s my friend too.” He waves his free hand dismissively before leading you down the staircase. “Come on, let’s go.”

You leave the library together, the feeling of the building’s cold air conditioning leaving escaping your skin making you sweat slightly. You don’t skip down the stairs this time since Chan doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get to Block 325 cafe, North of the campus oval.

“Look.” Chan points up as the two of you reach the sidewalk. You follow his gaze as you continue walking, seeing the sunset’s sky move with the crown shyness of trees forming a canopy over the road. “Careful when you’re walking.”

You deliberately ignore his last comment, musing, “Wow, it’s so beautiful.” Your mouth falls agape and your eyes widen. “The canopy shape makes it look so magical, don’t you think?”

“You don’t stay late out here much?” Chan asks when you turn your eyes back to the sidewalk ahead.

You return his gaze with a shrug, “Only on hell weeks like this...but even then, I usually stay in our department building so I don’t get out much at this hour.”

“So why aren’t you working in your building tonight?”

“The floor where I usually work overnight is under renovation. I can’t work at my dorm too since we don’t really have that much space for studying,” Your eyes move down to his laptop bag, noticing how it’s bulkier than yours. “What about you? Don’t they have studios in the College of Music?”

“They’re full tonight since a lot of seniors are starting their thesis proposals.” He points out. “I’m actually not out making a school project, this one’s for a gig.”

“And in your dorms?”

“It’s movie night so everyone’s going to be really noisy.”

“Oh, then lucky you didn’t get a table in the library,” You point out with a giggle. “the entire College of Sciences would’ve been pissed at you.”

Chan scoffs lightheartedly, “And you? If you got a table, the entire library would’ve gotten annoyed by you making a mess.”

“I’m organized when I work outside the studio, thank you very much.” You roll your eyes, chuckling towards the end. “But yeah, I guess it’s better that we’re going to a cafe since I’m working with watercolor.”

At this, you arrive in front of Block 325 cafe, Chan courteously opening the door for you.

7:30 PM

You settle in a booth by the window, illuminated by a white paper lantern and one of the cafe’s neon signs that reads, “COFFEE,” in a metallic color. Chan sits across from you and takes the half of the table near the window, his laptop blocking his face and his headphones covering his ears, while you sit near the aisle, occasionally mistaking your open cup of latte for the small bowls you brought with you containing tap water as you work on your plate due on Monday.

Chan glances over to your work space whenever he reviews his work every 15 minutes, propping an elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his palm, and you take rests from your own work by trying to catch him in the act, giggling when you do and shaking your head when you don’t.

As an hour passes by, you put your brush down to let your plate dry and look up at Chan as he tests out melodies on his synthesizer, taking a long sip of your latte before asking, “How’s your song?”

Chan’s eyes widen at the faint hint of your voice, hands traveling up to his headphones and taking them off. “Hm?”

“I asked how’s it going.” You repeat patiently over your latte. The sweet taste of the coffee brew reminds you of Chan’s coffee order, finding the cappuccino only half-empty in the hour you’ve been in the cafe.

“Oh, it’s going well.” He answers proudly, eyes alternating between your expectant eyes and his laptop’s screen. “I’m just fixing some mixing issues.”

You nod, looking around the surprisingly organized table. Before Chan could wear his headphones again, you gesture to the counter, “I’m ordering. Do you want anything?”

He shakes his head in response, wearing his headphones again. “No, thank you, I’ll order later.”

You purse your lips, standing up from your seat and briefly stretching your arms upwards. “Okay.” You then adjust your denim jacket as it loosely falls on your right shoulder before walking over to the counter.

“Hello, is there anything you need?” The barista on duty politely asks from brewing an Americano behind the counter. Though the cafe is full today, like you and Chan, most of the customers are only here for the wifi and the work space.

You skim through the menu once before leaning over the counter and responding, “I’ll have two slices of strawberry shortcake, a banana bread, and the chocolate glazed doughnut, please.” The barista immediately acknowledges it, moving over to the cashier to input your order. “Thank you!”

You then pay when the she tells you the price, moving over to the display case of desserts and pastries where she then carefully takes your orders.

You survey the other desserts, pastries, and bottled drinks before your eyes return to Chan across the cafe, catching him leaning over the table and trying to take a peek at your work from his angle, making you giggle once again.

And as if he heard you, he turns to you, eyes widening briefly at getting caught before awkwardly waving at you. You decide on waving back until the barista presents your order next to the counter, neatly organized on a tray.

“Thank you again!” You say politely before taking the tray and going back to your table, Chan eyeing all the delicacies the entire time.

“Stressed much?” He asks, pointing at the two slices of strawberry shortcake. When you look down, only then do you realize that the two slices were placed in one plate with a pair of forks and napkins. “Not that it’s bad to eat a lot, it’s just...a lot of sweets.”

“The other one’s supposed to be for you but I guess the barista thought we’re sharing a plate.” You hand him the chocolate glazed doughnut, thrusting it into his hands when he initially refuses. “You need to eat on time even when it’s just a small amount.”

“I’ll pay you later,” Chan says after thanking you for the doughnut, reluctantly unwrapping the plastic cover and taking a big bite. “And you can have the cake, it’s fine.”

“I can’t finish the cake on my own.” You sit down now, taking a bite of the banana bread with one hand while pushing the cake at the center of the table with the other. Chan then politely helps you by placing the tray on the empty space of his share of the table. “Just take the other slice, you don’t have to pay me”

“But—“

“It’s for offering me a table tonight.” You immediately interject reassuringly. “Please, have the other slice of cake.”

Chan ends up smiling appreciatively at you, picking up one of the forks and cutting a forkful. “...Thank you.”

You nod, moving your banana bread to your non-dominant hand to pick up your brush and go back to work. “No problem.” You muse, smiling unconsciously at watching Chan stop working altogether to eat. “Like you said, ‘any friend of Seungmin’s a friend of mine too.’”

As you turn back to painting, returning to your unfinished Winter wonderland, you look at Chan again, asking, “Anyway, what do you think?”

He looks up immediately, his slice of cake almost gone. You quickly clarify, “My plate, I mean.”

“Oh,” His eyes flicker down to your work again once. “It’s really beautiful. Akita, right?” You nod at his question, letting him continue. “I love the details and the colors—they seem so whimsical and nostalgic, like a childhood memory.”

You feel heat rise to your cheeks by the genuine tone of his voice, “Thank you. I hope the professor feels the same way when he sees it.”

“Why Akita?"

“We’re supposed to make a study on nature but I didn’t want to just make something that’s so common around here so I chose this, from a winter trip I won in an art competition last year.” You look down on your work, a flood of memories making your smile wider. “It was the first time I went on a trip alone and it’s abroad so it was a little scary at first but I had a lot of fun.”

“Really? That sounds cool.” He comments enthusiastically. “It must be fun to travel on your own. I mean, I do too but, sort of; only until I arrive in Australia when I visit my family.”

Simultaneously, you nod, “It is fun, like it’s one of the things you have to do at one point in your life.”

“Right, right!” He replies with a chuckle, nodding along still. “I don’t know a lot of people who think the same way so I’m weirdly glad.”

You spare a glance at Chan, your gaze softening at his genuine expression. When he gives you a questioning look, you answer, “I’m surprised, too; you just seem more like the crowd-type of person.”

He shrugs. “It’s always fun to be with friends but I think you can enjoy the company of others the best when you’re already comfortable with being on your own.”

“And are you?” You prod, reaching over for the unused fork and and taking a small piece of your strawberry cake. “Already comfortable with being on your own?”

He nods with a confident grin. “Yeah, I invited you over, didn’t I?”

You smile back. “I guess so.”

8:30 PM

An hour later, you catch Chan stretching his arms upward, leaning back on the seat cushions. You momentarily stop touching up your work, looking up at him with a raised brow, “Break?”

He nods, stifling a yawn as he brings his hand back down to close his laptop. “Just for 10 minutes.” He gestures over to your work, leaning close to the table. “You should, too, you’ve been working for an hour straight.”

You glance down at your work, contemplating for a moment before carefully placing your brush to the side and leaning back to your seat as well. “Okay, but just for 10 minutes.”

You then finish what remains of your latte while Chan organizes the table by gathering all the empty wrappers and your shared plate and cutlery to the tray you used a while back. In response, you take his empty glass.

“I can take that.” He gestures over to the glasses in your hand with your empty plate while scooting over to the aisle. “Just sit down.”

You shake your head but place the glass on the tray, standing up almost simultaneously as he does. You then pick up your bowls of paint waiter, holding them up to him. “I’m going to go and change my water.”

“Oh...okay, then.” The two of you then proceed to the counter where the barista happily takes the tray from Chan’s hands while you dump your dirty paint water in their service sink and replace it with cleaner tap water.

“Thank you for letting me use your water, again.” You told the barista after Chan offered to carry one of your bowls.

“It’s no problem!” The barista replies with a dismissive wave and a smile.

You and Chan then carefully return to your table, placing your bowls on your half of the table.

Chan checks the time on his phone as he sits down, 8:34 PM. “We still have six minutes, what do you want to talk about?”

“You’re really keeping check?” You ask in disbelief to Chan who nods with his lips in pursed and his arms folded to his chest as he slides down his seat. “So responsible.”

“I just thought you might be wary of the time,” He shrugs nonchalantly. “so you can go home early and all, it’s Friday anyway.”

You shake your head, scrunching up your nose, “I don’t have to be somewhere this weekend. All my friends are all busy studying and catching deadlines and Seungmin’s tutoring someone for the entire weekend.”

You decide on busying yourself by scrolling through your Instagram on your phone, glancing over at Chan occasionally as he contemplates on what else to say while opening his laptop again.

“How do you know Seungmin by the way? If I may ask...?” He settles for such a question when his eyes trail over the customized keychain on your backpack, a photo of you, Seungmin, and your other best friend, Sooyoung, in a Mickey Mouse-shaped frame. “I mean, he talks about you a lot when we hang out but didn’t introduce us until recently so I thought you were dating but he said you aren’t so I’m just...curious.”

When you look up at him, you follow his gaze to your keychain, an amused smile taking over your features. “We’re not dating, just childhood friends but not really close to the point that we know all of the other’s friends.” Unconsciously, your hand finds their way to the keychain, fiddling with them lightly before turning to Chan. “Anyway, even if we just met recently, I’m really happy it’s you and the others he specifically befriended.”

Chan nods with a hum. When he doesn’t speak, you ask him back his question, “How about you? I’m guessing you met through Felix and Jeongin?”

“Yeah,” He agrees with another nod. “I toured them around campus last year during their orientation.”

“Aw, you’re in the Orientation Committee?” You coo. Even though it suits his personality, hearing him say it out loud made it somehow more adorable. “That’s so cute! That’s probably why I always hear the Freshmen gossip about you in our studios.”

His eyes widen at this, pink dusting his cheeks. “W-what?” He stammers, making you laugh.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.” You shake your head in feign disapproval, crossing your arms for emphasis. “You’re very popular on campus: music major, radio DJ, performs in a rap trio, and I just find out that you’re in the Orientation Committee touring Freshman on the first week? If I was any batch lower, I would’ve swooned over you in my first months here too. Oh? You’re blushing!”

Chan scoffs, rolling his eyes in an attempt to hide the now prominent blush on his cheeks. “I’m not, I’m not!” He waves his hand dismissively to distract you from the clearly seeing his face.

“You definitely are!” You point out in between chuckles, sitting up properly when you unconsciously slide down the booth. “Are you not used to getting compliments? Seriously, this is why I didn’t think you’d remember me from earlier: you’re too charming and popular with other students.”

Internally, he briefly wonders if you’d still swoon over him even when you’re in the same batch but quickly pushes the thought away. “I really don’t think I’m that popular. I’m pretty sure people like Jisung and Changbin more.” He shrugs. “And popular or not, I can remember you anywhere.”

The last sentence immediately makes you stop laughing, your heart skipping a beat at what you think is just a casual statement from him, You come up with a retort, only to be interrupted by a sound alert from Chan’s phone, reminding the two of you that it’s already 8:40 PM.

“Okay, break’s done!” He exclaims happily, relieved that he can finally get out of this embarrassing conversation.

You tsk playfully, picking up your brush while Chan opens his laptop again. “I still think you’re very charming and popular, CB97.” You comment before he can tune you out with his music again. “In fact, if someone asked, I’ll have to say that you’re my favorite 3racha member.”

Chan pretends to increase the volume on his laptop in his flustered state. You catch this, an amused smile forming on your lips. You conclude to yourself that you feel more casual and comfortable around him now that you made him flustered.

Cute.

9:30 PM

You’ve been done for quite a while now, having busied yourself in the past 5 minutes in disposing the paint water, cleaning your brushes, and packing your things while your work completely dries. Chan looks up at you from his own work when you return with clean bowls and brushes, his headphones falling down his shoulders. Hesitantly, he asks, “Are you leaving?”

You sit down first, contemplating on the question as you carefully place your bowls and brushes inside your bag, before opting for a shrug and answering, “I’m too lazy to leave yet.” You then briefly break eye contact to check your phone for the time. “Besides, it’s too early. I can stick around, right?”

He nods once, lifting his headphones up to his ears again. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

You give him an appreciative smile, leaning back in your seat and opening your phone to Instagram. Blindly, you reach your backpack pockets for your earphones as well, managing to find them after a while.

Simultaneously, Chan lifts another glance over to you just as you’re connecting your earphones to your phone. A thought then passes over him, “Do you want to...” He trails off again, just until you return his gaze with a raised eyebrow. “Do you want to listen with me?”

“Wouldn’t we bother everyone else studying?” You ask back in response, your forehead crinkling in confusion as you gesture over to the other remaining customers in the vicinity.

He quickly pauses his music and takes out what seems to be an adapter that splits into two ports on one end, holding it between the two of you. “You can connect your earphones here, I’ll do the same, then I’ll plug it on my laptop.” He motions to his laptop while taking out his headphones’ audio jack towards the end. “It’s an earphone splitter—for sharing music from one device, basically.”

“Oh.” You nod along in fascination. You then disconnect your earphones from your phone, plugging it on one of the two ports of the splitter. “Okay, if it’s okay to listen.”

He shrugs reassuringly. “Well, it’s an unreleased track but it’s okay since everyone’s going to hear anyway—just don’t tell Changbin I let you listen to it first before him.” His eyes then widen and his mouth falls slightly agape when you get up from your seat, leaving your earphones on the table, and move to the empty space next to him, picking up your earphones again and placing the buds on your ears.

You look to your side, raising an eyebrow at his surprised expression, “What?”

“N-Nothing.” He stammers out, casting his eyes downward to connect his headphones to the splitter’s other port then connecting the splitter itself to his computer.

You giggle. “I can’t stay in my seat, I’ll get cramps from leaning over the table.”

He pretends to ignore your comment in his flustered state, his mouse hovering over to the very start of the track before pressing play. “Playing now.”

You slide down the booth comfortably, shoulders jumping slightly at the soft drums and bass that flows into your earphones instead of the usual aggressive percussion and beat that everyone associates with Chan’s rap group. Next to you, Chan props his elbow on the table and rests his cheek on the palm of his hand, pretending to watch the stacked and overlapping tracks’ wavelengths move with the music’s progression while stealing glances in your direction, trying to catch a reaction.

“What’s the name of this track?” You ask over the music, your voice coming out louder against Changbin’s rap. “Does it have a name already?”

He unconsciously grasps the fabric of his hoodie with his free hand, holding it up to you. “Hoodie season?”

You chuckle, a little skeptical. “You sound unsure. Did you come up with that on the spot?”

But he shakes his head, gesturing over to the file name. “It’s the name of the track, seriously.” Internally, he also wonders why he seemed to have hesitated.

"It’s a fitting name, I guess.” You end up nodding with a hum, eyes lighting up when Jisung begins to sing. “Perfect for the incoming Winter.”

Jisung then starts rapping after the chorus, surprising you once again. “As expected of Han Jisung.” You clap lightly in satisfaction, a proud smile on your face. “Changbin’s verse was also great. Ah, I can’t wait to hear this live.”

Chan starts feeling visibly anxious next to you as his verse nears, leg bouncing up and down under the table and his fingers poking into his cheek to the beat of the song, that he blurts out, “We’re performing here before break.”

You look up from the laptop screen to him expectantly. “Really? When? What time?” You ask hurriedly, not wanting to speak over the music in case Chan’s part comes up next.

“On the Saturday before break, I think?” He answers, eyes glancing back and forth between you and the track. “Saturday night, from what I can remember.”

The chorus then plays again after Jisung’s verse, making you sit up properly in your seat once again in anticipation for Chan’s verse. “Tickets?” You ask him to the already familiar tune of the chorus.

“It’s free admission.” He answers, the most anxious now. Why did they have to say I’m their favorite member? He sighs in his head at the very cause of his sudden anxiousness.

Chan’s verse then plays, your tight-lipped smile turning into a satisfied grin. You don’t say anything more, leaving Chan internally lingering over the question of whether or not you’ll attend the gig.

“Hey, baby, I’ll make you my lover, ay. I’m thankful that I’m warm in the Autumn, ooh ah, ooh ah, I’ll hold you wherever we go.”

You chuckle somewhere between the lyrics, looking over at Chan in amusement who returns your gaze with a confused look. “You make hoodies sound so romantic.” You comment, answering his unspoken question. “Not that it can’t be, it’s just that you made it sound witty and funny somehow.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” He asks with genuine concern. The song now ends but you don’t take your earphones out of the splitter and he doesn’t bother as well.

“It’s a good thing.” You comment, careful of your tone in case you let it slip that you’re totally swooning over him right now. “Plus, this sounds fresh—it’s so different from the songs you usually put out.”

“Really? Thanks.” He heaves a sigh of relief, smiling more carefree now.

The two of you don’t speak for a while, not even bothering to take out your earphones. Sitting closer to Chan now, you feel even more lazy to get up and move back to your seat, much less leave and walk to your dorm right outside campus.

After a while, Chan speaks up again. “Want to listen to something else?”

You motion over to the track, “Are you done already? I might be interrupting your work.”

He tilts his head to the side, placing his propped up arm on the table back on his lap as he sits up properly. “It’s pretty much done, just needs a little tweaking on the mixing. I can do that later.” For emphasis, he saves the track and exits the software, the screen displaying his files folder. “Come on, choose a song.”

You scoot closer to him, your leg brushing against his now as you lean closer to the screen while he slowly scrolls down the files for you. “Oh, play WOW, that one’s funny.”

Chan frowns. “Not that one, please.”

In retaliation, you quickly swipe the mouse from him and play the track, laughing maniacally as the familiar intro skit begins to play.

“Oh God.” Chan groans in embarrassment, hiding his face in his hands.

But he lets the music anyway. Though he’s feeling very embarrassed, all these feelings are immediately forgotten with seeing you enjoying yourself.

10:40 PM

The barista passes by your table to remind you kindly that the cafe is closing in a while. Only then do you realize that, besides her, it’s just you and Chan in the cafe now, having spent the last hour going through Chan’s laptop.

“Ah, time passed by really quickly.” Chan muses as he finishes packing up his laptop then slings his backpack on his shoulder. You stand on the aisle, backpack on one shoulder while your laptop and sketchbook are tucked neatly on one arm reminiscent of when you came in, as you watch and wait for him quietly.

“It sure did.” You nod when he turns to face you, walking you to the door now. He opens the door for you again, chuckling when you tried beating him to it. “Oh, that reminds me, we only ate sweets a while ago.”

Chan hums in acknowledgement, catching up to you after closing the door behind him. Now, the campus oval is illuminated by yellow street lights, white building lights, and the occasional passing car against the dark night sky, a complete contrast from when you were outside hours ago. Besides the two of you, there’s barely any people outside anymore as well.

“Chan?” You tilt your head so that you have a better view of his face while walking, catching him off-guard in his dazed state.

“Yeah?” He blinks twice, embarrassed that he accidentally drowned you out. “Sorry, I zoned out.”

“You look like you fell asleep for a second there. I asked if you wanted to get a late dinner.” You repeat your question with a chuckle, facing the sidewalk ahead now. You see the library still open at this time from up ahead, half-empty from the view on the clear windows now that it’s nearing midnight. “My dorm’s across the West entrance and there’s a 24-hour grill on the corner of our street.”

“Oh...sure, sure,” Chan replies, suddenly realizing that he’s hungry again. “We can just eat at my dorm up ahead on the South side, though, it’s nearer.”

“In your dorm?” You raise an eyebrow teasingly.

“Yeah?” He replies back in an unsure manner before quickly realizing how he seemed to have come off. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that! We have a common area with a kitchen. I’ll cook for you, don’t worry!”

You nod in agreement just as you pass the intersection leading to the East entrance, laughing at the way his eyes crinkle in embarrassment. “I was just joking, sure, let’s go to your dorm.”

Chan sighs next to you, awkwardly rubbing the nape of his neck with his free hand. Such a tease. “Our pantry’s just ramen and canned food, though, so don’t raise your expectations too much.” He warns you lightly once he’s recovered from being a flustered mess.

“Seungmin says you cook fine, though,” You counter.��“so I’m still having these expectations.”

You reach his dorm after 10 more minutes, Chan walking ahead as you walk up the steps of the entrance so he can open the door for you for the third time this evening and lead you into the common area kitchen. You catch sight of a few familiar faces in the dim light of the lounge area, mostly younger students from your department raving over an action movie playing on the big flat screen and Jisung and Changbin who greet you with knowing smiles on their faces before you disappeared into the kitchen.

“Are they always glad to see people?” You gesture over to Jisung and Changbin behind you from the wide open doorway as you and Chan leave your things by an empty bench. You briefly turn around to look at them once again, catching them wiggling their eyebrows at Chan before they notice you looking and waving at you with sarcastically sweet smiles in return. “It’s just that...they’re smiling really weird.”

You then turn back around to see Chan a few steps ahead of you shoot the two younger boys an annoyed look, shooing them away with his hand when they lean over the lounge sofa they occupy to have a better look of you and Chan, before turning to you again and laughing nervously, “They’re just being weird, ignore them.”

“Okay?” You nod, quickly dismissing the thought, before sitting down on the dining table as Chan proceeds to open the nearby refrigerator, passing you a pitcher of water and two glasses.

He then moves over to the overhead cabinets to your left, examining its contents once before turning to you, “Chicken, beef, or jajangmyeon?”

“Jajangmyeon, please.” You answer happily as you pour water on the two glasses in front of you. “I can’t believe Bang Chan of 3racha is making me ramen on a Friday night.”

“Stop teasing me.” He scoffs playfully, taking out four packets of jajangmyeon and opening another cabinet for a clean pot and ladle. He glances over to you slyly over his shoulder, looking away immediately when he catches you taking off your denim jacket to place on your chair behind you.

You take a sip of the cold water, the sensation making you feel refreshed after hours of working. “Bang Chan of 3racha offered me a work table, called my art pretty, let me listen to an unreleased song, and is now cooking for me—and this is the first time we talked without our mutual friend Seungmin.” You continue teasing him anyway, more as an attempt to distract yourself from the fact that he does look very handsome cooking even with your limited view. “I take back what I said a while ago, I’m definitely swooning right now.”

Though your tone is casual and playful, Chan can’t find it in himself to fight the blush creeping up his cheeks and the way his hands shake slightly while cooking jajangmyeon. “I’ll burn your share of the jajangmyeon.”

He hears you laugh behind him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

11:30 PM

You’re presented with a steaming bowl of jajangmyeon along with a few quick side dishes after 10 minutes of scrolling through your Twitter with the dorm’s guest wifi. You thank Chan as you pick up your chopsticks, eating when he does as he sits right across from you.

“Oh, this is really really good!” You comment after a bite, eyes bright and hands clasping together in satisfaction once again. “I don’t usually trust Seungmin but he is right, you cook well.”

Chan narrows his eyes at you, his lips unconsciously forming a pout as he chews. “You tease me then turns out you’ve been doubting my cooking skills this whole time.”

His expression makes you laugh in between big bites of your late dinner. “I meant to say after that what Seungmin said was an understatement, you’re not just fine you’re great so stop pouting!” You take a sip of water after swallowing your fourth bite, your gaze softening to a more sincere expression now. “Anyway, thank you for making me dinner.”

He smiles shyly now, quickly eating his food to reply, “You bought me cake and a doughnut and kept me company tonight so thank you, too.”

You take more sips of water as you slowly finish half your bowl before replying, “If I thank you again for offering me a table then we’d go on thanking each other the whole night.”

He laughs, nodding wholeheartedly in agreement. “Let’s just say thank you at the same time and be done with it.”

“Right.” You agree. “So, thank you for everything tonight.”

“Same...thank you for tonight.” He then takes a sip of water before suddenly standing up, catching your attention. “There’s more jajangmyeon in the pot, do you want some more?”

“Yes, thank you!”

12:20 AM

You hold your used silverware tightly as you walk over to the sink, making sure Chan doesn’t snatch them from you and accidentally break them or wash them on his own.

“Just let me do this since you cooked.” You argue for the fifth time since your conversation shifted from the most random of topics to determining who washes the plates, successfully placing the silverware on the sink almost at the same time as Chan does so. When he tries to gently move you out of the way, you stay firmly on your spot by holding the kitchen counter. “Besides, it’s just one set of plates.”

“You’re in my dorm so let me wash the plates.” He protests for the second time as well while trying to swat your hands away. After two tries, he successfully moves you to the side, passing you a random packet of biscuits from the overhead cabinet to occupy yourself with. “You don’t have to make things even with us, we’re just hanging out casually.”

You frown, opening the packet and eating a biscuit anyway. “Still, if someone cooked the other should wash the plates, that’s how it goes.”

“That’s how it goes only when it’s a date.” He mumbles under his breath, not really expecting that you would catch it.

“A date?”

Quickly, he waves his hand dismissively at you. "Nothing. Seriously, it’s fine.” He smiles at you reassuringly, eventually feeling relieved when you don’t tease him further. “Anyway, it’s been a long night and you still have to walk back to your dorm after this so just rest over there.”

You look down on your biscuits, a thought suddenly coming into mind. “Have a biscuit, then.”

“No, just eat it.”

“Come on.” You hold up a biscuit to his face as he busies himself with scrubbing the plates and glasses. When he look your way or open his mouth, you poke his lips with the end of the biscuit. “Seriously, eat the biscuit!”

You see him trying to stifle a laugh as you continue poking around his lips with the biscuit, making you laugh as well. Moving away so you don’t take it as an opportunity, he replies, “If I eat this biscuit, will you let me walk you to the West gate? It’s late and dark out.”

You contemplate on this for a moment, your hand stopping in midair. Chan takes this as an opportunity to take a small bite of the biscuit, “Hey, you bit it already!”

He nods, leaning his head to your hand when you try retracting it then taking another bite. “Yeah, so can I walk you home then call it finally even.”

You sigh, letting him eat the whole biscuit in your hand. “Okay.”

“You wouldn’t feel like you need to repay me again after, okay?”

“Only if you don’t.”

“Deal.” He concludes, finally turning to look at you while he rinses the soap off the glasses. “Can I have another one?”

You take out another biscuit, initially extending it over to him before quickly putting it in your mouth before he can even take a bite. “Just kidding, you get the next one.” You mumble while taking out another biscuit, giving it to him this time when he’s done drying his hands, frowning.

“You’re so mean.” He comments, taking the biscuit from your hand.

“That’s what you signed up for when you decided on befriending me tonight.” You point out with a laugh, crumpling the wrapper and throwing it in the proper trash bin.

“Anyway, aren’t you tired? Should we go now?” He changes the topic after a while, walking over to the bench where you left your things.

You follow him, taking your jacket from the chair you previously occupied on the way. “Yeah before the RA kills me.”

He laughs. “Strict?”

“Not used to me staying out at this hour.” You correct, pointing at your bag when he picks it up and slings it over his shoulder. “You don’t have to.”

“This is what you signed up for when you agreed to let me walk you back.” He throws your comeback at you this time as he takes your laptop and sketchbook. “Come on, before your RA kills you.”

With a defeated sigh, you follow Chan out, almost missing the way Jisung and Changbin follow the two of you with curious eyes as you pass by the lounge once again.

“Do you think...” Jisung asks Changbin, not even needing to finish his question to get it across as Changbin fervently nods.

“I think so too.” Changbin replies, taking out his phone. “Should we tell Seungmin?”

12:50 AM

Eventually you reach the West gate. You stop on the side of the overpass, making Chan stop walking as well.

“I can walk on my own from here, it’s okay.” You smile reassuringly up at him. “Thanks for walking me all the way here again.”

He shakes his head, not showing any hint of letting go of your things. “I can walk you to your dorm entrance, though.”

You gesture over to your dorm building with an amused laugh, “It’s literally right next to the other end of the overpass. I don’t want you walking back with an extra distance.” When his skeptical look doesn’t fade away, you sigh but with an appreciative smile. “If you’re worried so much, you can just watch me from here then I’ll wave at you from the other side.”

After a moment, he finally gives in, handing you your belongings then stepping back so you can go up the overpass stairs. “Okay, okay.”

Such a gentleman, you muse internally to yourself as you take a step up the stairs, still facing him. “Goodnight, Chan.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He returns the greeting to you, hesitating on the last minute to give you a hug like he would do with his close friends. That’s too weird you just talked today, he reminds himself.

You pretend not to notice the way he almost extended his arms out for a hug, secretly feeling shy yourself. “I’ll see you when I see you?”

“How about the gig before break?” He asks, another question lingering in his mind but he decides on not asking it as a follow-up.

You nod in agreement, “I’ll be there, of course, you mentioned it a while ago.”

You’re about to turn around and walk up the overpass at noticing that he doesn’t show any sign of wanting to say anything else when you suddenly hear him ask behind you, “How about on a nearer date?” which makes you turn back around to face him. “How about—tomorrow?”

Shrugging as if nonchalantly, you ask back, “What about it?”

He hesitates again for a while before taking a small step forward so he’s looking up at you now from the bottom of the stairs. “Do you want to hang out tomorrow, if you’re free that is.”

You feel your heart flutter ever so slightly at this but you quickly force yourself to ignore it. “That doesn’t sound too fun.”

“What?” He frowns in genuine disappointment, almost making your teasing gaze soften.

“I meant where’s the fun in tonight if we meet again soon?” You clarify. “Just wait until your gig next week!”

He opens his mouth to speak but you’re already walking backwards up the stairs, adding, “And don’t try looking for me in the Fine Arts building, you should know I hide around there well! Goodnight, Chan! Thank you for tonight!”

With a final smile his way, you finally turn around and walk up the overpass, glancing over to him again when you reach the very top and begin crossing the bridge. As the two of you agreed, he remained by the side of the overpass, watching you carefully even when there’s barely any people on the bridge anymore.

In under a minute, you’ve reached the halfway mark of the other stairway where you can still see Chan clearly amidst the never-ending flow of cars. You raise a hand above your head, waving to him until he waves back.

Since you’re so far away, you miss the way Chan sighs before sending a dimpled smile your way. He contemplates on asking Seungmin more about you later.

With that, you then proceed back to your dorms, disappearing from Chan’s sight when you enter your dorm building. He takes that as his cue to head back to his own dorm.

“Next Saturday’s too far.” He huffs in frustration, sparing one last glance in the direction of your dorm building before passing through the West gate once again.

Nevertheless, he can’t help but feel excited at the prospect of talking to you again.

1:00 AM

Chan arrives back in the dorm building, immediately bombarded by Jisung and Changbin who hold his belongings with teasing looks.

“So you were with Y/N, huh?” Jisung starts, hugging Chan’s laptop to his chest tightly. “Why were you two together?”

Chan raises an eyebrow, not really knowing where this ‘interrogation’ is going. “I bumped into them at the library when it was full so I offered we share a table at 325.”

“That’s all?” Changbin asks this time, his arms crossed in front of his chest while Chan’s backpack hangs loosely on his shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s all,” Chan nods slowly, eyebrows furrowing now. “Why? And why do you have my backpack.”

The two younger boys shake their head at the same time.

“Oh, nothing.” Jisung dissmises with a small wave. “Just curious.”

As if on cue, Chan’s phone rings its message alert.

seungmin: SO I HEARD U WENT OUT ON A DATE W Y/N [sent 1:04 AM]

405 notes · View notes

elizabeth-mitchells · 4 years ago

Link

five times Deena and Sam met in secret (and one time they didn’t) - Chapter 5

Chapters: 5/6 Fandom: Fear Street Trilogy (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Fraser/Deena Johnson Characters: Deena Johnson, Samantha "Sam" Fraser (Fear Street) Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon, High School, Cheerleaders, Band, Teenagers, Teen Romance, First Meetings, First Love, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst

Secrets.

Deena and Sam met by accident. They fell in love in secret.

But how long can they last together like that?

Chapter 5 - secret heartbreak:

The following weeks were a real rollercoaster for Deena and Sam. When they were up, dizzy with love, on top of the world, they were blind to the dangers ahead of them. When they were down, a thin line away from rock-bottom, in moods so dark they could barely find each other, no matter how hard they craned their necks they couldn’t catch sight of what it was like when they were up in the clouds. Objectively, they were kids living under genuinely difficult circumstances already, and the fact that they loved each other tragically turned out to bring on more obstacles. However, if anybody dared to even hint at the fact they were possibly acting as traditionally dramatic teenagers in love… that person was aggressively ignored. If in a couple of months the two girls would find themselves involved in much more dangerous, seemingly inexplicable, deadly situations, well, they had no way of knowing that. At the time, every moment they spent together, the good and the bad, felt like a life or death situation.

Of course, there were still good moments. Those memories would last them a lifetime. Those moments would inspire them to fight back against evil forces beyond their imagination. Those memories would warm them in the cold and lonely nights they’d have to spend separately. There were big, unforgettable nights. The two of them going to a party with Kate and Simon, just so the four of them could end up ditching the party and driving Deena’s car around Shadyside in the middle of the night, music blasting from the speakers, the four of them signing at the top of their lungs, at one point breaking one of the car’s windows. Then there were a hundred simple experiences, nearly identical, but all unique and magical on their own. Three girls stopping by the Grab n´ Bag when Simon was working to cheer him up, hanging around the store as if it was a second home, making a mess and helping him clean up, laughing the entire time. Movie nights in the Johnson’s house, Kate spilling her drink during a scary movie picked by Sam, Josh adorably flustered while trying to help her, Simon waking up the next day with marker scrawls on his face, Deena and Sam sneaking away from them for some time for themselves with little to no shame in their smiling faces. Skipping classes together, bus drives to football games, hanging out at the mall, a perfect hundred years.

Looking back, in their separate houses, Deena and Sam would one day feel it was almost infuriating how perfectly Sam used to fit in with them, all of them.

Because she quickly became Kate’s right-hand woman on the cheerleading team. Kate’s commanding frown was always accompanied by a soft “she’s right” from Sam, a combination that could convince anybody of anything to the point the team looked like a small mafia of blue skirts and perfect ponytails. Kate’s razor-sharp wit was surprisingly matched by soft-spoken Sam with quiet, clever, and perfectly timed comments. The two girls used to go shopping together while waiting for Deena and Simon to get out of detention, they would be the ones in charge of cooking on the rare occasion the group chose to prepare something at home instead of ordering pizza. Deena found out only months later that Sam had approached cheer captain Kate and blushed vehemently asking her about Deena. Sam had always been too scared to call Kate her best friend, knowing Deena would always be Kate’s favorite, but that didn’t make it any less true. Kate joked so many times about how Sam “could do so much better than Deena'', not knowing Sam believed it was the entire opposite. Neither of them even suspected that in a matter of weeks Kate would be comforting a heartbroken Deena and furiously taking her side.

Then there was Simon. Walking away from him hurt Sam almost as much as leaving Deena. Simon had been the first one to call her Sam, the best at cheering her up, the one to encourage her to express every part of her that could be considered out of the norm. Sam used to be the one to paint Simon’s nails, he would be painfully slow attending Sam’s mom at the store just to annoy her and amuse Sam. He would be the one to go with her to the movies to rewatch for the third time her latest favorite horror movie, and she was the only of the girls who didn’t fight back his brotherly affection of bear hugs and occasionally picking her up. Deena had no idea that Simon had gotten the number of Sam’s house in Sunnyvale. He called her twice a week, every two weeks, once a month, and then never again. Sam deeply regretted not calling him her best more often, and she still kept the black nail polish that she didn’t even use.

Every loss that Sam was going to experience upon leaving Shadyside hurt a different way. Josh wasn’t the exception. Because Sam was an only child. She felt like she hadn't known the meaning of family until she found herself eating pizza in the Johnson’s basement with Deena, Josh, Kate, and Simon. Josh didn’t feel like a little brother to her, not exactly, but he inevitably became something very similar. Just as she knew that she couldn’t be a sister to him, not exactly, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t know she’d been a good friend to him. They could relate to each other. They were both introverted, guarded, still keeping their interest safely to themselves and the best parts of who they were hidden behind brick walls. But Sam felt more like herself whenever she was in that house, where she had received nothing but kindness and open arms. The least she could do was return the favor. The least she could do was smile and cheerfully greet him every time they crossed paths, regardless of his apparent fear of cheerleaders. She could ask about his day, about the latest videogame she didn’t really understand, about his current favorite record, listen to his rants on conspiracy theories even if Deena was rolling her eyes and trying to pull her away toward her room. Sam liked to think that if she’d known her absence would actually take a toll on him, that he’d retreat further into himself, no longer talk about his real interests to anybody in person anymore, end up resenting her and Deena as one, maybe she would’ve done things differently.

Something.

Anything.

She would’ve done everything differently if she’d known Kate would hate her, Simon would forget her, Josh would blame her, and Deena…

Deena.

Goddammit, weren’t there good moments with Deena? More than enough to make up for the bad ones? Why should Sam have to give up all that? Skipping class to run away with Deena, eating cheeseburgers in the hood of her car, helping her clean up her house to ease that weight from her shoulders, fall asleep in her arms, wake up with Deena’s head on her chest, stealing her girlfriend’s jacket, laughing with her, kissing her, dancing with her, talking for hours, counting her freckles, just the pleasure of seeing her smile… Who really cared about the bad stuff? Maybe Deena was wrong in pressuring her to come out, and maybe it was true that Sam refused to even talk about the future. So what if Deena’s negativity could be too much at times, so what if Sam’s idea of “better” was other people's thoughts and not her own. But what if it really could hurt when Deena’s temperament got the worst of her, and Sam went out of her way to outmatch her? Maybe they actually cared and suffered because of Deena misdirecting her anger at the world toward her vulnerable girlfriend, and Sam resenting Deena for issues that only Sam could solve but wouldn’t.

In the end, it hardly mattered if they knew that they were worth the fight. They didn’t find in time the motivation to fight against their problems, not even the ones they could have solved. Because if they would’ve just taken a step back they could have seen. The people around them, the ones that truly loved them, had been right when they suggested these were common struggles with teenagers handling feelings bigger than themselves. They could have seen most of their issues weren’t so severe, they were things they could have easily worked on. They had been so close to make it, they were meant to get better and get over those obstacles. And someday, they would. But first, they had to face the chapter in their lives when Deena got tired of being a secret and Sam had one last secret that would change everything.

On the last day, Deena drove as fast as she could to their high school. Her car’s tires screeched on the pavement as she parked hastily, and she was out of the car in the blink of an eye. She practically ran all the way to their spot under the bleachers to find Sam. She was waiting for her right on the spot where they met, arms wrapped around herself and eyes swollen red.

“Sam,” Deena whispered her name as soon as she was close enough and after a couple more steps, she threw her arms around her girlfriend. Sam was nearly thrown off balance, she was so dejected she barely reacted. “Tell me it isn’t true,” Deena begged through gritted teeth. “Sam,” she called her name more desperately now. “Talk to me, please. It’s me.”

That seemed to be enough to break the spell of sorrow that had fallen over Sam. All at once, the blonde wrapped her arms around Deena, grabbing fistfuls of the familiar green jacket and holding on tightly, she started sobbing, she pressed her face against Deena’s shoulder, and her entire body trembled as she cried.

“Don’t go,” Deena choked, holding the girl she loved as tight as she could. “You don’t have to go, Sam,” Deena breathed out. She was trying harder than ever to keep her cool. She bit her bottom lip hard, to avoid crying. “Please, don’t leave me,” Deena said, finally breaking down and starting to cry, “I love you.”

Deena’s heart and mind were racing, trying to make sense of what was happening. The divorce was done. Sam’s mother was moving to Sunnyvale, and taking her daughter with her. Sam was moving away. Not to a neighboring town, to an enemy town. Not a few minutes away, but a poisoned ocean away. She was leaving Deena, she was leaving her behind, and that was the loudest thought resonating in the brunette’s mind.

For a while, all they could do was hold each other. Eventually, Sam’s sobs subsided, their tears stopped coming, and their breathing evened out, so their hearts were once again beating in unison. Sam eased her hold on Deena and pulled away just enough to rest their foreheads together. She looked at the pair of eyes that had become her one true home, and she said, “I love you too, you know?”

Deena gave her a watery smile and moved her hand to delicately wipe away the tears that fell on Sam’s cheeks. “Why are you making it sound like a goodbye?” she wondered. As her only response, Sam closed her eyes, but continued to hold her. “When do you leave, Sam?” was Deena’s next question, but again, she only received silence in response. She saw no option but to pull back so she could properly look at Sam, and she repeated her question. “When do you leave, Sam?”

The blonde nearly started trembling again, but she didn’t cry. She took a deep breath, opened her watery blue eyes, and looked at Deena as she replied, “Next week.”

“Are you serious?” Deena flinched. That was a genuine question, and when the other girl nodded, she frowned. “And you’re only telling me now?”

“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered, looking down again.

“Sam, that’s fucked up,” Deena seethed. Her arms fell from her girlfriend’s frame as she took a step back. Sam reached out just in time so at least their hands would stay linked.

“I didn’t,” Sam sniffled, “want to do this.”

“Do what?” Deena tilted her head. “Break up with me?”

“Don’t do this,” Sam closed her eyes again, tightly.

“Oh, excuse me for being shocked at the fact that my fucking girlfriend tells me she’s moving away one day before leaving!”

“It’s not one day, it’s one week!” Sam protested. “This is exactly what I was avoiding.”

Deena let go of Sam’s hands then. She took a step back, but she bit her tongue to keep her next accusation from spilling out. “I’m sorry,” she finally grumbled.

Sam looked at her with a small spark of hope in her eyes. “Me too. Really.”

There was a pause in their conversation. Sam couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable if she’d tried. Deena was clenching her jaw and looking at the ground. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her pants and when she trusted her voice to be sufficiently steady, she said. “Sunnyvale, Sam? Really?”

The blonde let out a sad chuckle. “My mom’s choice. But… you know…”

Her words made Deena frown. “Know what?” She inquired. “Know what, Sam?”

In response, Sam scoffed. “Nothing,” she shook her head, “Nothing. I just, uh, have to go.” She shrugged, and looked away.

“Holy shit,” Deena breathed out, as something important clicked in her mind. “You actually want to go…”

“I don’t. My mom’s making me go.”

“Bullshit,” Deena snapped. “One, you hate your mom. Two, you’re lying to me right now, Sam.”

“She’s my mom, Deena.”

“You also have a dad,” Deena pointed out.

The comment made Sam roll her eyes. “You know my dad’s not doing much better than yours.”

“Don’t fucking get my dad involved in this.”

“Fine,” it was Sam’s turn to snap. “I’m just saying, it might not be such a bad thing.”

“Not a bad thing?!” Deena laughed darkly. “Babe, you’re moving to Sunnyvale. That goes against everything you are.”

“You don’t know that,” Sam’s frown deepened.

Once again, Deena exhaled a bitter laugh. “Oh, this again?”

“What?”

Sam had taken a step closer, and Deena imitated her, not even realizing when they had moved so far away from each other in the first place. “You think you can move to Sunnyvale and it’ll fix all your problems, huh?” Deena willed herself to smile through the pain she was feeling.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, but I’m right,” Deena continued to smirk, even if her heart broke repeatedly watching Sam’s eyes fill with tears again. “You think that if you follow your mom blindly to Sunnyvale she will suddenly like you? Is that it? You think that you can change your house, the color of your cheer uniform, and it’ll change what’s inside you? Take away all your problems?”

“Deena, stop,” Sam attempted to put an end to the attack, her voice shaking.

“Tell me, Sam,” Deena continued, ruthless, “does she know you came here to break up with me? Or is that a secret too?”

“I’m not breaking up with you.”

“Might as well do it.”

“Deena.”

At that point, both girls shut up. They were hit by the realization of what Deena had just said, what she had hinted at, not very delicately. Deena was horrified by her own words, but Sam was only getting angrier.

She took a deep, steadying breath and said, “Deena, if you really loved me you’d want what’s best for me.”

“How is this good for you?!” Deena hissed. “It’s a lie!”

“It’s an improvement.”

Another bitter chuckle from Deena came. “Nice.” As conflicted as she felt, she couldn’t take her eyes off Sam. The blonde girl was visibly furious, standing painfully straight, her hands tightened into fists, taking deep breaths to hold on to her anger. But she looked beautiful. And Deena knew her, and knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on for longer, and knew, too, that part of her needed Sam to break too.

“In Sunnyvale, there’s hope, Deena,” Sam explained slowly through gritted teeth, “I could have a better future there.”

“A future without me,” Deena added. All at once, without even her expecting it, her voice took a sad and resigned tone, instead of the blazing anger from before.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It’s what you’ll have.”

“It doesn’t have to be!” Sam’s voice was trembling worse than before, “Deena… I still love you.”

Deena roughly wiped tears off her cheeks and clenched her jaw. “Well, that’s inconvenient for you,” she said, “You’re a Sunnyvaler now, aren’t you?”

“Deena!” Sam yelled. She covered her face with her hands.

“How could you not tell me, Sam?!” Deena yelled too. And she got exactly what she had been waiting for.

“I was avoiding this!” Sam replied, face flushed with rage. “I knew you would freak out, I knew you wouldn't understand, I knew you would blame me!”

“What?” Deena breathed out.

“Deena! Look around you!” Sam continued to yell, moving her arms around her now. “Your life is a mess, and you want to keep it that way! You are way too damn comfortable at your rock bottom you refuse to see any other option. Even worse, you want to drag me down with you! You drag everyone down with you, Deena. Your chaos, your anger, your hate. It doesn’t help you, it doesn’t help anybody, and it’ll get you nowhere! And I’m tired of that!”

There was a tear falling over Deena’s cheek, and her lips were parted in surprise, but an incredulous smile was tugging at her lips. She was trembling as much as Sam, they were both breathing heavily, and they hadn’t felt pain like that ever before.

“Is that really what you think of me?” Deena whispered.

“No…” Sam weakly shook her head, but she couldn’t meet Deena’s eyes as she replied.

That earned the worst laugh from Deena so far. Sam took a couple of steps forward. But when she reached out for Deena, the brunette flinched away. That was one of the worst parts for Sam, because it made her feel like there was really no turning back from this now.

“It’s not the end of the world, you know?” Sam sniffled, looking as sad as she ever did, but trying her hardest to hold on to her anger. “I’m only thirty minutes away.”

Deena thought about it for a moment, she was looking down, lightly kicking the ground with the tip of her boot.

“Hey, if I’m not worth staying for, then you’re not chasing. Are you, Sam?”

Sam pretty much gasped when she heard those words. In the blink of an eye, Deena pictured what would happen if Sam burst into tears again and she wouldn’t be able to not reach out and comfort her, so they would cry together, and kiss, and make up, and solve it all. But, of course, that wasn’t what happened. Because Deena had hurt Sam just as badly.

In the end, Sam only frowned, gritted her teeth, and yelled, “Fine!”

Which, Deena thought, was sort of okay. Because as she started walking away, if she was being honest with herself, this was the only way this could have ended up like. “Have fun living your fake ass life, Sam,” she said, before turning away completely and slowly walking toward her badly parked car.

“Deena!” Sam called out her name one last time.

Sam was frozen and crying in the spot where Deena left her, while Deena drove away heartbroken in the cursed town where Sam left her.

#oh god why is angst a thing and why did i do it #fear street #deena x sam #sameena #fear street fanfic #sam x deena #fear street fanfiction #deena johnson #sam fraser #my fic

21 notes · View notes

bookishofalder · 4 years ago

Text

Just Breathe

Pairing: Adam Driver X Reader (GN!Reader)

A/N-In this fic, AD is single. Inspired by my own love for makeup and the alternate life I’d have enjoyed as a film makeup artist. I also think this ended up with the reader being gender neutral!

Warnings: Mutual pinning. Kissing. Caffeine addiction.

——————

You took a long, deep breath, focusing on clearing your mind and settling yourself into professional mode. This was a routine, which used to simply be automatic for you, until you started working this new movie trilogy and your world flipped.

Just breathe.

You had been ecstatic when you got the call-key makeup artist for the new Star Wars movies! It was an absolute dream come true, after years working hard as a makeup artist for smaller films and television shows, building your experience. Now you were the lead, which meant you were going to be working with main character actors, a chance to really prove yourself, under the direction of the production designer. You would get to design concepts for their appearances and execute the approved designs.

And not to mention, you were a huge Star Wars geek, having grown up watching the films with your dad, who was an original geek. You would watch them every year on his birthday together, a tradition that you carried out regardless of where in the world you were working from on set, you would stay up all night and video call him while watching, if you had to. You never missed a single year.

But now, it was years later and you were working on set of the final instalment, which was bittersweet in so many ways. You just needed to breath.

Because since day one of production on these movies, you’ve been in love with the lead actor, and it’s been chipping away at your soul. Because it’s one thing to imagine being with someone unattainable for fun, but when you spend a lot of time in that persons presence and over time realize how perfect they are to you, it can drive you up the wall.

Adam Driver was kind, funny and serious. He and you hit it off really well when you met, he was always keen to hear your thoughts on his characters appearance, and he’d even asked you recently to join him on the next press tour as his stylist and makeup artist. That in itself was an amazing opportunity, one that would continue to launch your career into orbit. You adored working with him, and spent a lot of your down time missing him, his corny jokes and soft looks and overall presence. Because that man took up a lot of space, which seemed to affect you in many ways, all good.

You felt like that character in Love Actually, played by Laura Linney, who was in love with Carl. Except, you were sure you hid it well, and you were always the most professional colleague. However, pining over a celebrity felt too ridiculous, too common, and you were hard on yourself constantly for it. You convinced yourself every morning that it was simply a crush, one that would fade if you kept yourself focused and reminded yourself daily of the type of person he could date, if he wanted to.

Yet, here you were, needing to breath, because he was on his way to the makeup trailer for end of day cleanup and you needed to get your head in the game, figuratively shoving your feelings down. Daisy had finished and left already, while your makeup assistant Bailey was hurrying about tidying the trailer, avoiding your station, and moving some of the equipment into the storage area. Soft classical music was playing on the Bluetooth speakers, and the smell of peppermint tea you had brewed was calming you somewhat.

Glancing in the mirror, you adjusted your hair, smoothed down your apron and internally chastised yourself for bothering to check. Setting down your tea, you looked over your set up, ensuring you had everything needed, though end of day was always the easier part on this set for you. You didn’t exactly envy the hard work that the SFX make up team had on both sides of the day, but you were always beyond impressed with their beautiful work.

The door to the trailer opened and immediately, you felt his presence. Adam stepped inside, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, his hair and face still fully set to Kylo Ren’s appearance, which always made you smile, as the contrast was hilarious.

“Evening, y/n, Bailey.” He said, nodding to you both before sitting down heavily into his chair. He smiled at you warmly, looking tired. You quickly set a headband on his head, pushing all the hair from his face carefully.

“How are you, Adam?” You briefly met his soft eyes, which were fixed on your own. If you didn’t spend so much timing beating yourself up for liking him, you might have noticed his eyes often following you, or his soft smiles, or the way he sometimes stiffened when your hands ran through his hair or down his face as you worked on him.

But you never did seem to notice. “I’m good, tired today, this week’s caught up with me.” He rumbled. You hoped he couldn’t hear your heart rate pick up every time he spoke. Although, it had been like this for years and he hadn’t complained yet. Or he’d grown used to it. ‘Shut up, brain’, you thought.

“I’m not surprised, after the fiftieth take of this scene I got tired watching you!” It was true too, having to be on set at all times during filming meant a lot of time spent watching the actors at work, and since Adam insisted on doing his own stunts, a lot of the scenes he was in were physically gruelling. You didn’t know how he did it, and despite his words you knew if he was called back to set for any retakes, he’d spring from the chair full of energy and ready to work.

His dedication was an astounding trait that impressed you from the start, never wavering. His serious, hardworking personality only had you falling harder.

He chuckled at your words, his eyes closing automatically as you spritzed his face with a gentle solution you liked for removing the prosthetic scar. He kept them closed as you worked, peeling off the wound with delicate fingers. You didn’t know that he kept them closed because when you were really focused on something, you bit your lip in a way that made his blood warm, in a way that gave him trouble with tearing his gaze away.

“I saw Bailey sneak you a latte, though, which I’m pretty sure means I’ve won our bet.” Your hands stilled at his words, and he peaked up at you, a devilish grin quickly spreading across his face freckled, handsome face.

You faked offence, scoffing “I don’t know what you mean, it was decaf.” Adam gave a bark of a laugh at your lie, shaking his head.

“Just admit it, you’re a caffeine addict.” He’d been teasing you for years for constantly having caffeinated beverages within reach, and you’d recently, stupidly, agreed to a bet where you would stick to one a day for a month. If you won, he had to forever leave you alone about it, and if he won he could continue to tease you for infinity.

“I believe the terms of our bet allowed for one slip up, actually.” You pouted, jutting your chin out slightly. You continued working, getting his skin cleaned and recovered from the makeup, pretending to be unbothered by the fact that he had noticed Bailey sneak you the latte on set. And you tried not to overthink why he would have been looking at you in the first place.

Adam considered your words for a moment, “Yes,” he said slowly, “But today is only day two of this bet, and you’ve already slipped up.” You were smiling now, the joy evident in his tone was contagious. Still, you rolled your eyes.

“I’m only human, you know, but I am competitive.” You hoped you sounded convincing. You weren’t sure you cared about winning the bet, really.

He continued to grin at you, but made no response. You settled into a comfortable silence together as you made your way through the end of day skin care routine you developed for Adam during the first movie. You had one for each of the main actors, and they’d all impressed you with their dedication in following them. You weren’t good at giving yourself credit, though. Everyone knew a skin care routine curated by you was priceless.

“You need me to stick around, y/n?” Bailey asked, popping out from the back of the trailer where the storage area was. She gave you a pointed look, which you promptly ignored.

“No, go on ahead and start your weekend, Bailey, I’m almost done here, thank you.”

“Night, Bailey!” Adam waved. Bailey bid them both goodnight and left, leaving you alone with Adam. You cursed yourself, feeling foolish. You meant to be genuinely nice to Bailey, who worked hard and deserved the break, but usually you kept her around at times like this to ensure you weren’t left alone with the object of your daydreams. When no one else was around, you had no witnesses to any comments that Adam made that you might consider flirtatious. And while you assumed handsome celebrities like him would probably inherently flirt with others as second nature, you never understood why he would flirt with you. It confused you entirely.

You felt your nerves suddenly rear up, and your hands shook very slightly as you removed the calming sheet mask you had placed on Adam. His eyes followed your hands, but he said nothing. You’d been alone plenty of times before, but every time you would turn into a nervous, silly mess, overanalyzing every comment he made and every word you managed to sputter.

You didn’t know it, but Adam always wished for more time alone with you. He knew you well, and could recognize your nerves and always wondered why being alone with him made you nervous. He hoped it was because you liked him, but he was helpless at flirting, and didn’t know how let you know how he felt. He didn’t want to overstep, or make you uncomfortable. You were both technically working, and he felt you probably had much more appealing options for partners outside of work.

Tonight, though, for the first time, you were both exhausted, under caffeinated and, though neither of you would openly admit it, lonely. Years of longing the other, feeling hopeful, was going to catch up to you both tonight.

“Okay, head froward for me please,” He complied, and you expertly ran your hands into his hair, pulling smoothing serum through the thick locks with gentle care. As you focused, applying liberal amounts, you noticed Adam’s hands clench the chairs arms. “Is that okay?” You worried you’d hurt him.

He tilted his head back and met your eyes. He was so tall that even sitting in his makeup chair, his eyes were level with yours. It was nice not needing to adjust his seat, as you needed to do constantly for most of the actors, but it also meant a lot of time face to face, learning to read one another. Your hands were still in his hair. Somewhere in the back of your mind, a voice of reason was telling you to calmly remove your hands and step back. But the look he was giving you had you frozen to the spot. You’d never read that expression on his face before, his eyes were dark, serious.

His eyes searched yours for a moment longer, “Yeah, y/n.” His voice came out quiet, soft. You think maybe your heart would stop working, because he wasn’t looking away. You couldn’t understand his expression, he seemed to be searching for something in your own.

Finally, you managed to pull your gaze away. Quickly removing your hands, you stepped back, smoothing down your apron nervously, “I-I mean, you’re all set, Adam, unless you need anything else from me?” Why was your voice so quiet? And your face, it felt hot.

You needed to get out of this trailer, away from this man-he was having such a strong affect on you. You rationalized that it was simply because you were tired, you really had cut down significantly on caffeine and this was the result, your sleepiness was lowering your defences and he was noticing you were acting strange. That was all it was.

Adam stood, frowning slightly, but didn’t move away from you. Now, he was right in front of you and you had to tilt your head back just to see beyond his chest. You glanced up at him, and his eyes seemed to soften.

“You’ve really been cutting back on coffee, haven’t you?”

You nodded, “Told you, I’m competitive.” Your voice was breathy, like you’d been running. What the hell was wrong with you, you wondered.

Adam smiled, “I know, I love that about you.” You thought maybe you were now hearing things, and simply stared up at him in surprise, his words genuine, warm.

“Thank-um, thank you, Adam, that means a lot, coming from you.” Now, you were basically whispering. Yet your voice sounded much too loud.

He tilted his head, took a careful step closer, the gap between you nearly gone now. His overall hugeness as he stood over you made you feel safe, and a jolt ran through to your core. “I love a lot of things about you, y/n. Like, how you’re face gives what you’re thinking away, if the person knows you well enough, and you know that about yourself so you try to hide it. You look away, before someone reads you-but I’ve gotten pretty good at catching your expressions,” The low timbre of his voice was doing things to you, and you couldn’t look away from Adam now, “And right now, I think I do know what you’re thinking. Can I test my theory?”

He was asking permission, for what you didn’t know, but at this point you’d have given it no matter what. So you nodded, “S-sure.” You saw the look in his eyes shift, his gaze moving to your lips.

Despite noticing this, it still caught you entirely off guard when Adam leaned down, his hands moving to your face, gently, and caught your lips with his own. So off guard, that you immediately moaned in surprise. You felt Adam freeze, and wondered if you’d messed up, but before you could open your eyes to check, he pressed you against the wall behind you and resumed kissing you with renewed fervour. You felt yourself returning the kiss, mirroring his movements, entirely caught up in him. His tongue ran across your lips and you parted them, allowing him to taste you as he deepened the kiss.

And you tasted him, his breath minty and overwhelmingly him, you felt drunk, dizzy. You moaned again, and he pulled away, still holding your face, “Sweetheart, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” He breathed, his pupils blown, face flushed. His gaze was intensely affectionate.

You had to catch your breath, “I didn’t think...I’m just a makeup artist, Adam, I-“

But he cut you off, shaking his head, “Don’t do that, how do you not realize how amazing you are, y/n? You take my breath away every time I see you, and it’s not just because you’re beautiful,” He punctuated his words with a peppering of kiss along your cheeks, “It’s how funny you are, how hardworking, your talent and vision, the way you take care of me and the others, how kind and sweet and goofy you are-I’ve been in love with you for a long time, for a million different reasons.”

Tears threatened at his words, and you had to work to blink them back, “I think I’m dreaming.” You breathed, feeling silly, but he grinned, and shook his head. You returned the smile, gazing up at Adam in wonder, before reaching up with both hands to caress his face, the gesture so much more intimate than it had been when you worked on his skin. His eyes closed briefly, but opened again when you spoke, “I love you too, you know, always have.”

In an instant, his lips were on yours again, this time the intensity was burning, smouldering. Entirely too much and yet no where near enough. You pushed your hands into his hair and he groaned against you, his hands gripping your face and it felt like you couldn’t get close enough to him. He dropped one hand to your waist, pulling your body flush to his, then slid his other into your hair. You weren’t sure how long you stayed like this, fully ablaze in each others arms, but you never wanted it to stop.

When you did break apart, breathless and flushed, Adam was the first to speak, his deep voice sending shivers down your spine, “Would you like to come over to my hotel?”

You nodded, still standing close against him, “I’d really love that.” And you leaned up, on your tip toes, to plant a chaste kiss on his nose, unable to stop smiling.

Adam hugged you close again, planting a few affectionate kisses to your cheeks and hair, before stepping back, watching you as you gathered your things quickly. He took your bag from you as you pulled off your apron and threw on your coat, and you followed him out, feeling giddy.

“We might have to end our bet, by the way.” Adam held open the passenger door for you, when you reached his car, and watched your confusion at his words.

“Why’s that?”

He leaned down, his eyes dark in a way that had you mesmerized, “You’re going to need a lot of caffeine when I’m done with you, sweetheart.” He murmured softly, his voice laced with cheek, and yet you shivered.

You met his gaze, grinning, while internally you had to remind yourself to breath.

Just breath.

#adam driver x reader #adam driver #reader insert #oneshot #first post #romance #star wars #constructive critism welcome #new to the community

135 notes · View notes

angelicamerlinbarnes · 4 years ago

Text

TUA ENTERTAINER AU

(friendly reminder to remember that celebrities are people too! be respectful of and kind to them, both online and in person! ^-^)

(Talk Show Host) Vanya Blues is the host of a late night talk show called The Sleepy Show with Vanya Blues. She does what typical talk show hosts do - talks to her guests, makes up fun games, and brings attention to social issues. The staple of her show is that she plays violin for the last seven minutes, lulling her audience to sleep. Beyond her own show, she’s hosted events like the Emmys and the Oscars throughout the years, and often works with mental health support services, as her traumatic past of childhood isolation and abuse is well-known. She’s had a couple bouts of scandals, as her anger getting the best of her often leads to violence, but while these scandals tend to put her on hiatus for awhile, she always comes back stronger than ever. Though she’s not known to have many friends in the celebrity world, her favorite guests have her personal number: Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben. As for her personal life, she keeps it intensely private - it’s known that she has a wife and a son, but nothing else. At least, not until Leonard, one of Vanya’s abusive ex-boyfriends and a paparazzi nut, manages to get some photos of Vanya with her kindergarten teacher wife Sissy and their son Harlan, whom they won in a court case against Sissy’s abusive ex-husband Carl. It would’ve been fine, if he hadn’t released them to the entire world - but he did, and now no one in Vanya’s family is safe.

(Rockstar) Diego Towblaerman is professionally known as “Batman”, a rockstar and teenage heartthrob beloved by the media. (He’s not a teenager, but all the people who wanna sleep with him are.) He always wears leather and black, except around pride month, when he can commonly be seen wearing shirts, jackets, pins, and other materials sporting his bisexual pride, as he’s been out since the beginning of his career. He’s rebellious and intense, but also pretty laid back and incredibly kind, known for conversing easily with any fans he comes across and helping out in the small places where he can. He plays guitar, plenty of different types and models, and also the drums and piano, though those spots in his band are filled by other people. Eudora is his pianist and second guitarist, and his adopted sister. She helps produce his music and manage his behavior, and their relationship and dynamic is well-loved by the public, especially as Diego often brings Eudora as his plus-one to award shows. Also in his family is his mother, Grace, who he often has lunch with and shouts out on social media, mostly about the orphanage she runs that he grew up in. (Unbeknownst to him or most of the others, all of the other six passed through that orphanage at some point in their tumultuous childhoods.) There’s also Lila, his girlfriend of a few years and his band’s awesome drummer. She’s as badass as Diego - she rides a motorcycle, can pack a punch, and heads a lot of organizations against sexual assault, since she grew up in a bad home in a bad neighborhood. (What people don’t know is that their relationship is a PR thing for both their benefits, and that Lila and Eudora have been together for nine years and Diego is married with two children. Best be keeping that out of the media, me thinks.) Lastly, though, is the mystery member of Diego’s posse - someone they only know as “Séance”, from the countless number of songs Diego has written about him. Love songs. All happy ones, too, and listed as tracks two and four on his albums. Now, there are only two clues as to who this person might be. One: Diego is rather impatient when it comes to assholes, and there are plenty of videos out there of him punching and cussing out people who harass him or his friends - but most notably is the viral, dark and blurry video of him having to be pulled off a guy by a bunch of shouting people, only one of whom’s voice is clear: a soft, sweet, scared, Gogo. No one saw who it was he was defending - Diego made sure to drape them in his own scarves and jackets and go out the back way, but there’s a soundbite from the same night of what sounds like two people sharing a kiss, Diego’s voice smiling around the words I’ll see you at home, baby, and the sound of a car door slamming. Lila, when asked, only smirked and answered that she was probably too wasted to remember this. The second clue, and perhaps the most interesting, is the sheer number of quote tattoos Diego has, none of which he will explain. Only a few people in the entire world know what the quotes are from - a shipping cult of fans on tumblr, only about a hundred of them, who all found and liked a post that pointed out that all of the quotes only have one thing in common, besides being forever embedded in Diego’s skin: they’re all the words of beloved comedian Klaus Hellbyes.

(Actress) Allison Charmors is known for being so kind and charming that no one has ever said no to her. She’s also a bit of media darling and nightmare simultaneously: they adore her, and all of her work with human rights organizations, but they’ve also had to deal with more of her troubles than anyone else they document. She’s often labelled a “maneater”, as her on-and-off relationship with Luther Monkman still follows her around, she and her first husband Patrick divorced and he got full custody of their daughter, and then she bounced around with a couple of other men. (And women too, but nobody else knows that. She wears pan pride colors sometimes, but has never outright stated or implied it beyond a couple of unfiltered jokes in interviews. She dated Natalie Portman once, if anyone cares.) Allison never settled down with anyone until Ray Chestnut came along - a BLM leader and proud LGBTQIA+ and Me Too ally. They met when Allison helped out at one of his demonstrations, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. The media is fascinated with their easy-going relationship and relentless work and support for and of minority groups, their most recent project being a protest against Islamaphobia. Everyone keeps waiting for them to fall apart, but it’s been five years and they haven’t yet. Also in Allison’s lane are Klaus and Vanya, the latter of whom she had a huge falling out with a couple years ago, though nobody knows what about. The two of them often cameo in the films she helps direct, most of them winning a multitude of awards. They’ve also been caught on video with her a couple hundred times, especially in all the scandals she’s been involved with where she’s assaulted someone for their racist and sexist behavior. But even with her history of assault, serial dating, and bribery, the public still adores Allison beyond belief - and so does her family, even if nobody really knows who that is. Most curious, though, is her history of film - she’ll only ever participate in trilogies.

(Comedian) Klaus Hellbyes is the comedian of his generation, and probably of the generation below his too. He’s famous for his dark morbid humor and NSFW improv jokes, and also for swearing consistently in live interviews on shows where you’re not allowed to swear. He has an odd fashion sense and rejects any and all gender roles, mouthing off at anyone who dares to comment on it. (He only ever paints four out of his ten nails, for some reason?) He’s known for his witty comebacks and scathing sarcasm on social media, and for being incredibly protective of others, especially teenagers who are targeted by trolls on online platforms. He runs a staggering number of pride organizations and does anti-racist work, often organizing pride events across the country for people who can’t be out to their families or communities. Beyond his social justice work, Klaus works to bring attention to mental disorders and trauma, especially in youth. He’s open about his own childhood, running from foster home to foster home and never being adopted, though he makes it clear that he made himself a family with a few very special kids along the way. He speaks publicly and often about his own struggles with anxiety, depression, anorexia, self-harm, PTSD, and suicidal ideation, always addressing any videos or accounts of him having panic attacks onstage, going out in short sleeves with fresh bandages on his wrists, and his ribs showing through his skin when he goes swimming. He’s taken hiatuses and spoken out in support and defense of other celebrities and people going through the same sorts of things, and makes it clear that his self-healing comedy has never been about the fame for him. He’s a good friend of Taylor Swift’s and once got drunk with Ed Sheeran, and he often goes on Vanya’s show to discuss mental health with her. While he often makes fun of the other six, he’s incredibly respectful in his comedy, as it’s never about his hatred of a person but rather his love for them. Whenever he speaks about social justice issues, he makes it clear that he speaks for his love of humanity as a whole rather than his hatred of any one individual. He’s admitted to being a huge fan of Diego, and has disclosed that they’ve met a few times, but is frustratingly vague about the circumstances of their friendship. Most people suspect they became friends at one of the many foster homes each is known to have been in. As well as his well-known friendships with Allison and Vanya, Klaus is known to hang around with Luther and Five, usually by getting ice cream and riding trains. Klaus’ two most famous relationships are complicated - there’s Ben, and there’s Dave. Ben is who Klaus has mostly lived with for the past eight or something years, the two of them open about being queerplatonic partners, though Klaus keeps having to explain what exactly that means to them and to the community as a whole, knowing that it differs for everybody. Dave, however, is who brought him into the public eye - Klaus met him in the army, and they were married in between tours. On one of those tours Dave was shot and killed, and Klaus has been open about his struggle with grief ever since, using Youtube as a platform for coping with his pain. He wrote a book about two characters based on them falling in love during the Vietnam War, which became a bestseller, and, on the third anniversary of Dave’s death, released the special that launched him to fame, an in-depth look at grief through a lens of comedy and appreciation for all the good moments shared between them. It’s become a staple of pop culture, and is still often quoted and referenced today, making Klaus one of the media’s most frequent topics of conversation.

(Author / Artist) Five di Sappears is known for his work across multiple genres, and the mystery that is everything about him as a person. His family, including his parents, is an incredibly well-kept secret, the only person known to be related to him being his sister Aidy, who Five has proven he will protect with violence if necessary. As a thirteen-year-old genius psychopath (not ACTUALLY), he’s a controversial figure, though his talent will never be denied. While he’s violent and aggressive, his horror and thriller novels have never failed to top the charts. While his sanity is questionable, his art is beautifully crazy and nonsensical without a single metaphor within it. While he’s proudly asexual aromantic and has gotten into physical and verbal altercations defending that, his romance novels published under the pseudonym Evipha Murdress are hailed as some of the most honest portrayals of love that literature has to offer. He can sing like fucking hell too, and is considered a trans icon, though he keeps his chosen name as much of a secret as his dead one, offering only the explanation that he fears for the safety and privacy of his family should it be released to the public. (His name is Aidan Alone, off the record.) Agnes is his kind and well-loved publisher (owner and founder of Donut Publishings! Books guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face!), and Dolores is his best friend/partner/comfort mannequin, which greatly confuses the public but doesn’t concern Five. She travels everywhere with him, and often cameos in the movies made off his books, and he’s gotten into plenty of fistfights over her. He doesn’t care if you don’t understand her importance, you don’t touch her. Hazel is his bodyguard and Cha-Cha is the main actress in his horror and thriller films, all of which are directed by the Handler, who produces his movies and likes to change the details behind his back no matter how hard he tries to make her adhere to what he’s written. Unfortunately, he can’t report or remove her, because she’s offered Hazel and Cha-Cha handsome salaries to hand over whatever information they know, including photos they’ve taken of when Five’s parents come to see how his projects are coming along. They blackmail him into silent fuming, but that all backfires soon enough - Five gets into a car accident in which he takes the brunt of the impact for Aidy, alerting the world to Klaus and Diego’s relationship and Five’s parentage when they come screaming from their cancelled events and into his hospital room, without concern for the millions of photos taken and only worry for their beloved son. No matter. Five will just kill anyone who dares to say a word. After all - those rumors that he writes his novels based on his own murders are not exactly unfounded.

(Influencer) Ben Deadengon is one of the most subscribed-to Youtubers out there, famous for his videos about human rights, kindess, and positivity. He often features Klaus as a guest, since they’ve lived together for a long, long time and are committed partners who like to help each other out, but those videos usually dissolve into them dressing up as pirates and princesses and improving stupid skits. (Not that anybody has any complaints.) He runs a lot of charities, which means that he has indeed met the President, and he’s one of the most beloved and scandal-free people on the Internet, though he’s often involved himself in Klaus’ controversial shit in defense of his partner. He’s been on Broadway and travelled the world, but his main claim to fame is that he was in an accident in which he died for six minutes before coming back to life, therefore earning him the moniker Six. Curiously, the moment he gasped out his second first breath happened exactly as Klaus touched him, prompting a lot of conversations and theories about them being soulmates or some shit, despite soulmates not actually existing (as far as they know…). But Ben’s happy with his life, as it is - he has an at-home butterfly garden (seriously, his windows are all screens and there’s plants and butterflies fucking everywhere, I’m not kidding) and a lovely(?) niece and nephew he gets to babysit when his beloved partner is out. That’s the good life, baby. Plus, ya know - he’s not dead. So that’s automatically awesome.

(Athlete) Luther Monkman is one of the largest men in existence, all of his muscle earned in his rigorous training for the Olympics. He’s won one gold medal every time the tournament comes around, and he plans to keep on doing so. So does Reginald - his abusive trainer and professional cheater. Luther also works with Pogo, a kinder coach who tells him to always believe in himself, but is also frustratingly defensive of Reginald’s horrifying practices. But Luther himself is well-loved - he’s awkward and handsome enough to be a teenage heartthrob, and he’s been single since Allison left him for the last time, though they’re still good friends. He’s known as a gentle giant, having lunch with Klaus and Vanya often and enjoying a bickering and competitive yet loving relationship with Diego. He’s completely free of media scandals, a complete sweetheart - until he’s caught on video choking a guy against the wall, and shit hits the fan. (Nobody cares about Five in the background of the video, standing behind Luther with his fists clenched and his Adam’s apple bobbing under bruises.)

Welcome to my world, bitches.

10 notes · View notes