#originally i wanted to draw a random dude but my hand slipped

[maxyvert]

👻 GhostBon 👻 Watercolor, anilinky, ink with white gel pen and colored pencils on watercolor paper.

Small process image under the cut

[elliewritessometimes]

hello! me n @mattieswheelers wrote another fic!! tiff is the most incredible writing partner and i- i just love them???? thanky so much for writing with me you are a stunning writer aaaa (y'all there will be a second chapter stay tuned fdhhddh aLSO we are posting this on ao3 it will be there at some point)

in other news: this was originally a request!! @notsomightymightytiger it may have taken me uh- a good couple of months but here is your fic!!!

for reference, these numbers apply to these tropes: first kiss/flowers of romance/blind date

LOVE YOU KIERA AND TIFF AAAAA HOPE YOU LIKE

tw: swearing, alcohol and drunkenness but not in an angsty farrah way just in a silly oops first date way, as per usual if there's anything at all you want me to tag let me know :D

---

Eva thought she was doing perfectly fine without a romantic partner. Her life was normal, one filled with work and friends and scrolling through Pinterest.

Apparently, in the eyes of her best friend, this was not a normal life. Farrah had always been a bit extra, that one kid in highschool who always seemed to know where the best parties were, or who was known by name to the baristas at the local Starbucks, and by the ripe old age of 22, she believed that a romantic partner was crucial to living a fulfilling life.

Or, at least, that you should at least try romance once before becoming a hermit in the woods, especially if your name was Eva Sanchez.

(“Look, normally I wouldn’t be like this,” Farrah drawled, leaning against a counter, “But deep inside  you are nothing but a useless gay at heart-”

Her phone buzzed.

“-and you haven’t dated anyone, like, ever, and if I have to be the only one constantly dragging you out to social gatherings, I’m going to die early. So do me a solid, will you?”

“Hey-!”)

Eva did not agree.

But, she was a loyal friend, and that was how she found herself sitting in an overly posh restaurant on some random blind date with some random person that she’d never even seen before. It would be an understatement to say she was a little bit nervous, but then again, whenever Farrah was involved, that was normal.

***********: hi sorry i got your number from the blind date place thing but uh are you the person at the table in the corner

***********: ???denim jacket ?? pride pin??

Eva smiled, glancing up at the door. There was another person looking a little lost in the entrance, very obviously trying not to draw attention to themselves, their phone held close to their face as they squinted around at the restaurant. They were pretty, dark hair pulled up into a loose ponytail, obviously not dressed for a restaurant as upper class as this one. Eva liked them immediately. Raising a hand, she waved in their direction, laughing as her date gasped dramatically, hurrying over and nearly overturning a tray of drinks on their way.

“Hello.”

“Look-” Eva’s date slumped in the seat opposite, one hand awkwardly held behind their back. “I dunno about you, but I certainly did not willingly sign up for this. You see, my friend wanted me to apparently live a more interesting life and stop relying on Tumblr as my only source of interaction with anyone, and my friend is very persuasive, so here I am.”

Eva raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, so I wanted to get that out of the way before we even introduce ourselves. I am here out of spite only, so, uh, I hope you’re not too desperate.” They paused, finally taking a breath. “Right. The more I think about this, the more embarrassed I get.”

“It’s okay.” Eva gave a noise which sounded suspiciously like a snort. “Let’s not think about it then. I’m Eva. She/her. It’s nice to meet you, unwilling datemate.”

They grinned. “Kate. She/they.” She gasped a little like she’d forgotten something. “Oh! I brought flowers. Chess said it would be romantic.”

Eva accepted the offered flowers with a blush. This date was going better than expected. Farrah was going to lose her shit when she heard about it. “Wait- You have a friend called Chess?? Like, the game???”

Kate rolled their eyes, casually snatching a bright pink cocktail off a passing waiter’s tray. “Duh. You didn’t really see me walk in this fucking posh ass restaurant in my flannel and converse and think I’d be normal, right?”

Eva laughed then, properly. It had only been a few short, chaotic minutes, but she was already warming to this mystery person and, God, they had good taste in flowers. Even if Eva’s nerd hermit brain did helpfully choose that moment to remind her that this particular bunch of flowers presented a meaning that translated almost exactly to ‘fuck you’. She wondered if Kate was aware of that. However, perhaps that was a fun fact for the second date.

-

“Hey, Eva?” Kate was slightly tipsy. Only a little bit! Really not that bad. Not at all. Definitely not too drunk for a first date. Shut up. “Hey! You’re- so cool.”

Eva giggled - she was equally as drunk, but not quite so intoxicated as to stop wondering why the restaurant hadn’t thrown them out yet. “Noooooo. ‘m a nerd.”

“Yeah, but a cool nerd.” Kate twirled the decorative candle between her fingers, drawing stares from disapproving patrons. The flame reflected in Eva’s glasses, making her just a little bit more smitten by the second. They enclosed their hand around the candle holder as best they could, standing up just a little shakily. “Eva-” It was like they got a rush from just saying her name. Eva thought it was endearing. “Hey- we- we should go…”

“Why?” She narrowed her eyes, also standing up, her long-discarded denim jacket slung over one arm, the other naturally slipping to link arms with Kate.

“....Arson.” Kate sounded entirely serious, still twizzling the candle in one hand. Eva blinked dumbly at her, mouth slightly open. They pressed a gentle kiss to the side of Eva’s mouth, giggling uncharacteristically at the motion. “I’m jokingggg! Don’t look so shook, my dude.”

Eva stuttered a little, letting Kate pull her finally out of the restaurant, marvelling at the fact she’d only known this incredible, crazy person for a matter of hours. Who knew where tonight would take them?

-

They found themselves in a park, gazing up at the stars, now dim in the reflections of the city lights. Kate’s phone flashed 11:46 in the dark, the lock screen filled with notifications from a contact who’s name consisted only of a chess piece.

Eva lay down on the grass, spreading her arms out towards the stars. “Do you ever think about life?”

“Sure. All the time. I’m alive, and so are you, and I think you’re really pretty. Does that count?” Kate flopped down beside her.

“I- I mean, yeah- um,” Eva tried not to sound flustered, thankful for the darkness that hid the color rising in her cheeks. “But like, life. Scientifically. Relatively.”

“Uh-huh. Yeah, I totally do. Um. Do I?”

Eva laughed, turning her head slightly to gaze at Kate. Under the light of the stars, they looked… ethereal. And really, really, really beautiful. And-

Eva coughed slightly, turning back towards the night sky. “Just… think about it. I’m lying here beside you, on a giant marble that hurtles through space. Relatively speaking, our orbit and path are unique, and all around us, the other planets are… swirling in harmony, and we’re just. We’re just here to see it.”

Kate hummed. “You sound like those philosophical people, all ‘if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, did it really fall?’ and ‘relatively speaking I am relatively here, and I’m relatively certain… blah blah blah.’”

“Huh. Do I?” Eva shrugged, putting her hands behind her head. “I dunno. I’m drunk. I think. Oh, no, I’m relatively drunk, ha ha- okay no, I’m just drunk.”

“You are,” Kate nodded wisely. “We both are.”

“Do you know what Albert Einstein said once?” Eva asked abruptly, closing her eyes. “He said, ‘When you’re courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.’ And if that isn’t the most relatable thing he’s ever said, then, well- okay yeah I’ve lost my train of thought.”

“Wow,” said Kate. “Did Albert Einstein court lots of nice girls?”

“Pfft.” Eva rolled onto her side, laughing openly in Kate’s face. “Sure. Why not.”

They rolled to face Eva, curling up into a ball, softer than the 22-year-old had seen her all evening. “Not as nice as the one I’m courting right now.”

“Even though neither of us really wanted to be here earlier?”

“Yeah. Y’know, I’m fucking glad our best friends basically set us up. It’s very pog of them.”

“You did not just say ‘pog’. You did not.” Eva groaned into the slightly damp, slightly disgusting grass, listening to Kate cackle next to her.

“Shit, dude, my secret’s out. I’m just as much of a nerd as you.” She leant their head on Eva’s outstretched arm, burrowing into her side.

Eva paused then, draping her other arm around Kate, thinking quietly. It was stupid, really, that they were cuddling in the openness of a park at almost midnight. Dangerous, definitely, especially when you took in the candle still flickering far too close to Kate’s now loose hair. Some more sensible people, maybe Farrah’s sister, would say that it was stupid how close they’d grown in so few hours. But Kate and Eva weren’t sensible people, not really, and maybe this was completely normal for them. Nerds lived life differently. “We’re not like other girls… we’re nerds.”

Kate barked out a laugh again, pressing yet another small kiss to the top of Eva’s head.

Eva thought she might melt into a puddle right then and there.

God, she was so in love.

Kate looked up at the sky. “Y’know, for all your philosophical talk, you should be an inspirational speaker. Be on goddamn TedTalks or something, blow the crowd away with all that ‘the future’s in the palm of my hand!!’ bullshit.”

“Well,” Eva said, trying to sound completely sober (and failing), “I think all I could ever want is in the palm of my hand, right now.”

Kate paused for a moment, registering the fact that Eva had just cupped her hands around their face. “Wow. That was smooth.”

“Right?? I’m honestly impressed and I was the one who said it. Wait, is that hubris? Oh shoot, am I developing an ego? Or maybe I’m just drunk?” Eva’s head was seriously starting to hurt.

“You deserve an ego,” Kate nodded sagely. “You are so amazing. Seriously. You should have an ego. Dab on the haters and all that jazz, right? Right.”

Eva giggled, unable to take her eyes away from Kate’s. “What the shit?”

“Dude! Dab on the haters. ‘m fuckin’ right, and you know I am.”

“Mkay.”

“Lit.” Kate dragged her gaze from Eva’s, instead staring up at the stars. “If we weren’t drunk right now, I’d be kissing the hell out of you.”

Eva pouted. Apparently Drunk-Eva was limited to the facial expressions of a twelve year old. “Who’s to say you can’t kiss me now.”

“We’re drunk, Eva.” They waved their hands, casually flipping off the moon. “Consent.”

“If you think about drunk...ness. Drunkenness? Drunkness. Whatever.” She coughed. “If you think about it like maths, then because we’re both drunk, it cancels out, right? Like, drunk you minus drunk me equals zero drunks overall, yeah?” Pausing, she ran a hand over her face, watching Kate smirk and wriggle closer out of the corner of her eye. “What I’m saying is, yes, I give you permission to kiss me-” Kate leaned closer and Eva laid a gentle finger on their lips. “But only if I get to kiss you back.”

The two met in the middle, naturally coming together. Some might describe them as magnets, two poles attracted, unable to stay away from each other. Others might say soulmates, meant to find each other from birth. Or, just maybe, stars, gravitationally pulled together, ready to explode into another plane of existence, one so different from our reality that we can’t even begin to imagine the wonders that they’ll find.

However, this is reality, and somehow Kate and Eva are still grounded on our Earth, stars maybe, but ones made of ancient stardust no longer free to travel the universe. They found themselves pulling apart after two worlds collided, an unknown period of time passing as it happened. Eva’s fingers didn’t untangle themselves from their comfortable seat amongst Kate’s hair, the closeness making their noses brush, spouting giggles from both young adults.

“Well, that was fun.” Kate brushed hair out of Eva’s face, one arm still wrapped tight around her waist, pulling her closer as she shivered in the night air.

“Yeah?” Eva pressed her forehead to theirs. “Why don’t we try it again, huh?”

---

“I told you so,” Farrah smirked, picking at a freshly baked blueberry muffin. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Eva huffed, failing to come up with an argument.

Over by the kitchen counter, Mattie snorted. “I find it kinda funny that the single girl insists that love is the answer to anything.”

“Well- it’s not like I’ve never dated!”

“Suuuuure,” Mattie rolled her eyes, hopping off the counter and snatching a muffin. “Anyways, at least Eva has a significant other now. That’s the biggest victory, right? Other than the celebratory muffins, of course.”

Eva sighed. “Is it really that big of a deal that Farrah’s plan worked?”

“Yep!” Farrah grinned, taking a bite of muffin.

“Technically, my plan, but okay,” Mattie shrugged.

Eva almost dropped her muffin. “What.”

Mattie grinned, a devilish glint appearing in her eye. “Believe it or not, I am also friends with none other than the amazing Chess, and since her friend Kate- who is also my friend, by the way- was being a mopey mess around the same time as you, I just had to take it upon myself to play matchmaker! So I’d like at least 50% of the credit and reward, please and thank you.”

“I- what-” Eva sputtered, trying to come to terms with the new information. “Mattie- you- oh my God.”

“Oh my God indeed,” Mattie bit into her muffin and swallowed. “So anyways, you’re welcome for getting you a girlfriend.”

Eva stared at the younger girl, mouth slightly open and muffin hanging loosely in her hand. Farrah clapped a hand over her mouth as she wheezed through a mess of sugar and blueberries, earning herself a death stare from Eva. Phone in one hand, Mattie continued eating her muffin as though nothing had happened, the teasing look on her face only exaggerating as her phone pinged with a message. “Oh! Speaking of, Chess is outside-”

She was cut off as the door burst open, the handle crashing into Eva’s bookcase, knocking her alarm clock to the ground and presenting two dishevelled figures in the doorway. One of them, a tall student probably in their last year of uni, puffed out a breath, a hand tightly clinging to a much shorter student squirming angrily. “Before you say anything, I tried to prevent any of this happening. Wheeler, I’m blaming you entirely for this.”

Mattie only laughed, offering Chess a muffin with her free hand, “Dude, it was totally your idea.”

Eva tried very hard not to stare as Kate finally freed herself from Chess’ grasp with an indignant yelp. “Fuck off! Eva, babe, sweetheart, love of my life, tell me you didn’t fucking know about this beforehand or I will break up with you.”

“No! God, no! You know I didn’t want to be there just as much as you did.” She rested her head gently on top of Kate’s, arms draped over their shoulders. “Believe you me, I’ve also been sorely betrayed today.”

Farrah gagged across the kitchen. “Ew. We should never have set you two up.”

“Bitch.” Eva grinned affectionately at her best friend, batting Kate’s hand down as they sent a middle finger in Farrah’s direction. Conversations carried on for a while, Chess finally being introduced to Farrah, with a muffin being forcefully placed into her hand. Kate whispered to Eva for a second before going out to take a call. Eva smiled knowingly, leaning on the counter to address Mattie, “So…”

Mattie made a face as Eva raised an eyebrow in her direction. “What are you thinking, Sanchez, I don’t like that face.”

“I don’t know…” She feigned thinking, sticking her tongue out as Kate re-entered the room. “Maybe, a little thank-you gift?? Y’know, me and Kate were thinking just now… Seeing as you set us up so nicely, how about you try a blind date yourself?”

Chess and Farrah stifled a laugh in unison, choking a little on their muffins as Mattie’s eyes got wider in horror. “You didn’t.”

Kate smiled sweetly. “Yup! Tonight, seven thirty. It’s payback time, kid.”

“I hate you.”

[obscureoperations]

Martin x Reader who own's a boutique? With a little spice ☻️

Dude, something's hella wrong with my brain recently. I can barely string two sentences together! Call it writer's block or lack of inspiration. I'm trying fam! So here we go!

You owned the small curiosity shop located in the very last lot of the strip mall. Tucked away in the far corner close to the back door that led to the parking lot. You sold handmade candles and trinkets, polished stones, crystals and the like. You didn’t expect much when you first opened, but was soon pleasantly surprised. Most of your customers came there with a purpose, and returned for the quality product and good vibes. You never considered yourself to be a business minded person..you honestly just knew how to sell.

Being that it was such a niche topic on interest, you never had to worry about being overwhelmed. It was more of a side gig..you opened on the weekends, and every Wednesday from eleven to five. This happened to be one of those Wednesdays, you had no idea why the place was so busy. Sure business had picked up over the last couple months, mostly due to word of mouth. You had originally planned to work on inventory, and considered phoning one of your friends to help out. Deciding against it, you put on a cheery smile and made your way over to the couple that entered. 

“Hey.. what’s happenin… Can I help you guys find anything?”

~

Martin slips in undetectected,eyes trained on you as you busy yourself at the register. Fingers lightly ghosting over the display of candles and tiny jars filled to the brim with herbs. He takes a moment to inspect one of the candles, briefly bringing it up to his nose. Vanilla, some type of spice and brown sugar…it honestly reminded him of a bakery. He picks up one of the jars of herbs, shaking it briefly before setting it back on the counter. The scent of the bag in his hand caused him to feel a bit inconspicuous. It clashed with the heady smell of frankincense. As another customer enters the shop, he ducks around the corner before you could spot him.

Lunch from your favorite spot in the food court, Sam’s deli. It wasn’t much, but you were always in such a rush. He had been working more hours than usual at the grocery store, so it was rare that he got the chance to surprise you.

He bites down on the insides of his cheeks as you brush the bangs away from your eyes--swiftly bagging up the customer’s purchase. He watches as you release a deep breath, awkwardly toying with one of your rings. As an outside observer, it was clear that you were an introvert. Martin hated to admit it, but he loved to watch you work… he wanted to see you the way other people got the chance. In real life..kind of like when he first spotted you on the street. You were his, but at times he had to stop and wonder.

They’re so perfect… 

With a sigh, Martin picks up a random trinket. A bracelet with a small tiger's eye crystal in the middle. He could vaguely remember watching you string one together as he sat across from you on the couch. One of those lazy afternoons in your shared apartment, he found himself mesmerized by your hands as you’d work.He steps in line, cautiously eying the other customers. He allows a young woman to step in front of him in the queue. Meticulously eying her basket, she bought some of the candles, a few packages of incense, and a small bottle of something called protection spray.

He briefly wondered why she was buying the spray. What was she actually protecting herself from? Numerous images of the woman, and her day to day life sprung into his mind… she seemed extremely clean cut and put together. Not one to judge but the shop seemed to draw a certain demographic…the woman stood out like a sore thumb. He was tempted to peek over her shoulder as she went to pay, but the glittering diamond caught his attention. He was only curious…did she live here in town? Suddenly his attention snapped back towards you.

As the queue continues to wind down, Martin’s heartbeat hammers against his ribs, he had no idea why he was so nervous. He came to visit you on your lunch break so many times..but you were just heavy on his mind all day. He really wanted to see you, the brief peck on the cheek before you left wasn’t nearly enough. He wanted to sit with you a while and talk.. Perhaps steal a few moments away in the tiny storage room. 

You barely finished handing your customer their receipt as Martin steps up to the counter. He places the bracelet on the glass, pushing the tinted glasses up his nose. You seem to momentarily glitch  before stifling a grin. He watches you begin to  fumble beneath the counter, attempting to replace the roll of receipt tape. Knocking over a few small objects along the way…glancing up to smile at him sweetly. You were nervous, though he had no idea why. Did you figure out that he had been watching you?

“Will this be all for you sir?”

He gives a brief nod before setting the bag of food next to the register--eyes skimming over you  briefly. Your hair was mussed, a slight flush spread across your cheeks, he could see you anxiously clicking away at your pen. He could tell you were anxious, but the look of relief that washed over your face was enough.

 You lean in whispering under your breath

“I’ll be heading to lunch soon. Martin…just stick around”

He intended to stick around until you wanted him to leave..when he glanced towards the break room the images began to sink in. He saw you propped against one of the tables as he awkwardly fumble with the front of his jeans. He saw you, pressed against the wall as his teeth sunk into the delicate flesh of your neck. You always seemed so animated then.

As you place the change into his open palm, he immediately draws your hand in for a kiss. Lips ghosting over the top of your hand, he regards you with a curious expression. More heat washes over your face.

“Please meet me in the breakroom then.. I have something else that I want to show you,”

[racingtowardsaredlight]

Mind My Manners

Author’s Note: Okay so this wasn’t a request, my thirsty ass just thought this up so pls enjoy

Pairing: Joe Mazzello x Reader (FWB), Ben Hardy x Reader (platonic-ish)

Warnings: Smut, swearing, hot dudes

Title Creds: Mind My Manners - Ashnikko 

“It’s Joe isn’t it?” Ben asked, a smirk present on his face while he awaited your answered. “What? No!,” You replied while smacking his arm with his couch pillow, Ben trying to dodge you as best as he could without dropping his beer. “Joe was a one time thing and even if it were to happen again, there is no way I could catch feelings for him. He’s basically my boss Ben!” The blonde just laughed at you, putting his hands up in defense.

“Okay okay, but I’m going to figure out what guy you’ve got a thing for and then I’m-”

“I DON’T HAVE A THING FOR ANYONE BEN” you shout, staring at the ceiling and laughing half in frustration, half in actual amusement at your best friend’s attempts. 

“Whatever.” He said, taking a swig out of his beer before turning his head to where he could hear his front door opening.

Looking in the same direction as Ben, you saw Joe slip through the apartment’s entrance. He waved quickly as he shut the door and then moved to place the beer he brought with him into the fridge, pulling one out for himself and using Ben’s counter to pop the top off of it. Taking his place between you and Ben, Joe made himself comfortable and slung an arm over your shoulder. Not being one to resist a Joe cuddle you snuggled closer, ignoring the wiggle of Ben’s eyebrow and enjoying the smell of his aftershave and the cool night air still on him from his walk to Ben’s place. 

“So Joseph were your ears burning?” He asked, earning a glare from you and a confused look from Joe. “Why would my ears be burning, Benji? You talking about my arms again?” Joe winked at Ben while you loudly laughed, leaving Ben to roll his eyes at the both of you. “Oh my God that was one time!” he shouted, covering his hands with his face while the two of you continued to tease him. “Yeah but you talked for a long time and then you asked if you could squeeze them. And then you did. For like half an hour.” You added, Ben arguing about how he did not do that for that long and he was so drunk so it didn’t matter anyways.

“Moving on, Y/N here has a crush on someone and I’m trying to get her to admit that you guys are totally in love with each other.” Ben said bluntly as he changed the subject back to his original topic. You and Joe both gave Ben a “woah” before staring at each other and then back at Ben. Joe was the first to speak, trying his best to break the tension.

“Look what happened between us was not- is not- I don’t- like I’m not-” 

“Joe I’m not into you like that either calm down. Ben is just being an asshole” You said, giving Ben an actual glare as Joe’s cheeks started to lose their redness, sighing in relief as he snuggled you closer to him once again. Ben drank from his bottle again before speaking, “I really am just kidding dude. But she’s trying to tell me there’s no one she’s crushing on and I am not believing it.” 

“Oh who she’s crushing on? It’s Duke for sure. She stares at him all day long during their scenes together which is great considering their characters are in love but usually that stops for other actors when when I call cut. Y/N however just keeps on staring.” Joe said nonchalantly, your cheeks getting red as you gawked at the auburn haired man in front of you. 

It was completely true. When Joe announced that his movie, Undrafted, got the green light for a series on Netflix, you basically begged him to consider you for a part. You loved the movie and had gushed about to Joe on many occasions so of course you were jumping the chance to be in the series. He said yes and ended up casting you as Ty’s girlfriend, where you would have to work alongside Duke Davis Roberts every day. It was great at first and you guys had great chemistry but lately you had been feeling uneasy. You were developing a huge crush on Duke and had tried your best to keep it lowkey but clearly Joe saw right through your efforts. You were left dumbfounded at Joe’s words and had no way to pretend you had no clue what he was saying. 

“What I- how did you- Huh?” You tried to say anything that resembled a question but were failing miserably, an attempt that made Joe chuckle. 

“Oh come on Y/N, I might fuck around on set but I do actually pay attention. Don’t worry though, Duke thinks you’re cute too. I bet you anything he’s waiting till we wrap to ask you out. He’s a gentleman like that.” Joe shrugged, drinking from his bottle while you processed his words. You’d entirely forgotten about Ben until he gave a meek “told you so”, him not realizing that you really did have a crush on anyone, 

After the love life conversations you guys transitioned into some more lighthearted subjects, mostly Ben and Joe talking sports while you poked in with random memes you pulled up on your phone every now and again. The evening started to draw to a close, Ben remarking something about going for a run early in the morning as he stood and walked to his room, giving the both of you a goodnight. Joe checked his phone to see the time; realizing he stayed past his self-given curfew of midnight, Joe asked if he could crash with you in Ben’s guest room. Agreeing with a wink, you both got up and headed for the extra room next door to Ben’s room. You changed into some pajamas while Joe stripped down to his boxers and undershirt, the two of you climbing into the bed and wasting no time in cuddling up to each other. Joe gave your forehead a light kiss, you reciprocating with one just below his ear right on his sweet spot. 

“I seem to remember a similar situation like this except with a lot less clothing.” He quipped while you gave a small chuckle. You hooked your leg over his waist, lifting yourself onto his lap. Placing both hands on his chest, rubbing lightly around his nipples while Joe gave a soft moan you replied, “Wanna do it again?” you asked. Joe sighed out a “yes please”, pulling you down to crash his lips to yours. You made out for a little while before you moved to kiss his jaw, then his neck, eventually making your way to his sweet spot once again, sucking a hickey into it while he moaned louder than he anticipated. You shushed him with a laugh, pointing in the direction of Ben’s room while he nodded.

Flipping the two of you over, Joe ground his hips against yours, a soft moan escaping your lips. It was his turn to mark you, leaving a few hickies from your sweet spot to your collarbone, biting down while thrusting against you. You moaned loudly at his actions, Joe clasping his hands over your mouth while he continued his assault on your neck. Lifting himself up, Joe removed his shirt while you did the same. You hooked your fingers into his boxers, tugging at the material until he sat up further to remove them completely. Reaching your hands down, you grasped his cock in your hand and gave him a few slow pumps. Joe’s head fell back with a groan as you pumped him, his hips thrusting in time with your movements. “Oh fuck right there” he moaned as you focused on his tip, rubbing your thumb just under the head of his dick. 

Not wanting to neglect you, Joe pushed your panties to the side and started to rub your clit, his middle finger teasing at your entrance. You whined as he pushed his finger inside you, crying out as his long finger deftly found your g-spot. He shushed you once more before he sped of his movements, the hand that wasn’t pleasuring you coming up to rest against your mouth again. After a few more moments of both of your movements, you stilled your hand on Joe’s cock and reached down to stop his hand as it worked on you; the both of you whining at the loss of contact. Pulling him in for another kiss, you gasped out “I need you right now”. “Say no more” he said, removing your panties before lining up with your entrance and pushing into you. 

You couldn’t help the load moan that escaped you as Joe pulled himself out and slammed back in, hitting your g-spot right away. He paused his movements as the two of stayed silent, waiting to hear Ben’s footsteps coming to yell at you or hear him shouting from the other room. Hearing nothing at all, Joe slowly started thrusting again, the both of you trying to keep it down, the pleasure almost too much for either of you to control your noises. You were brought back to reality by the sound of your ringtone for Ben. Shit you though he knows and we’re fucked. Stopping Joe’s movements you signaled for him to be quiet while you accepted the call. 

Ben’s heavy breathing greeted you on the other end while you tried to keep yours down. “What’s up?” you asked, remaining as cool as possible. You could hear Ben scoff on the other end of the line, he did know what was up and there was no way he wasn’t going to get something out of this. “My two best friends are fucking right next door to me and are doing very poorly at hiding it.” He stated. “I-I’m sorry we’ll stop. It’s not  -” “No no, don’t stop on my account. But at least give me something to work with.” He said, you’re confusion blocking your words, the only thing coming from your lips was “Huh?”. 

“I said give me something to work with. Either be louder or put me on speaker. I’ve heard enough that I’m insanely hard and I need to get off and this is way hotter than the porn I usually go to.” He breathed out, you finally understanding while Joe sat above you bathed in confusion and sexual frustration while he tried not thrust into you. You gave Ben an okay and clicked your phone to speaker, setting it next to you while you asked Joe if this was okay with him as well. Replying with a moan, you took that as a yes and pulled his lips to yours once again. He kissed you sloppily, tongues fighting for dominance until his won over as he caught you off guard with a moan. Joe’s hips thrust his cock in and out of you at a quick and punishing pace. As he picked up speed, his fingers moved to run at your clit once more. He was close to his orgasm and wanted you to be the first one to cum, mostly because he knew it would make Ben lose his mind if he heard what Joe could do to you.

Speaking of the blonde, Ben’s moans could be heard through the speaker of your phone loud and clear even though they were pretty quiet considering how turned on this was making him. Joe noticed that Ben’s moans increased in tone whenever you would moan out, and they’d get even more prominent when you spoke Joe’s name. Slowing his pace to catch your attention, Joe mouthed to you say his name before returning once more to the pace he had set. You nodded, mouth opening on a moan as Joe continued to hit your sweet spot.

“Oh fuck,” you cried out as he hit you incredibly deep, your head thrown back against the pillow as you clawed at Joe’s sides, “Oh fuck Ben you feel so good”

The moan that rang through your phone could be heard from Ben’s room as well, your voice gaining the loudest reaction you’d heard from him yet. Joe’s hips faltered at your words, something about you moaning another man’s name, his best friends name, turning him on even more and threatening to bring him to his conclusion before you.

“God you’re hot” Joe moaned as his pace began to quicken. He was so close and he knew you were too. His fingers on your clit sped up slightly as he leaned down to kiss from your neck to your chest, leaving a few bites on and between your breasts. You were lost in pleasure, panting and moaning as Joe worked his magic on you, your orgasm on the brink of crashing into you. While Joe was doing it all for you, Ben was the one to drive you home. He’d collected himself a little from hearing his name fall from your lips, but he was so overly turned on that he couldn’t last any longer.

Joe managed to hit a spot so deep in you while his fingers just slightly brushed over your clit that you couldn’t help the desperate, loud moan that left you. Ben heard it over the phone, but it was so loud that he was surprised his door didn’t shake at the intensity of it. That did him in. While a whimpered “oh fuck Y/N I’m cumming”, Ben released all over his torso, moans falling from his lips soon replaced with pants of exhaustion. That did you in for good. You cried out, back arching off the bed as you repeatedly spoke both Ben and Joe’s names. Joe was quick to follow you, collapsing onto your tired body as he tried to catch his breath.

A few moments - maybe minutes - later, a tired laugh came through the speaker. “Jesus if I knew that was going to be as hot as it was I would have called you a lot sooner” You laughed at your best friend as Joe did as well. “You’re welcome any time Jonesy” you replied, earning a chuckle from the Brit as you used his nickname. “Gonna have to second that one bud, shit was crazy” Joe said, voice muffled by where his head was buried in the pillow.

“All right I’m going to bed for real this time but uh, wake me up if you fuck buddies need an audience.” The phone beeped as Ben ended the call. You made sure it was plugged in and charging before you rolled on your side; resting your head on Joe’s back, listening to his even breathing as he fell into a deep sleep with you following just moments behind him.

[sadwsocc]

Kenma x Reader soulmate au

an au where whatever they wrote/ drew on their skin would show up on their soulmates skin too

word count: 3,473 words

genre: fluff??? idk

a/n: i really liked writing this one because kenma is actually my fav lmao but i think i wrote his name too many times so it might be a tad bit weird

Kenma was partially annoyed by how often his soulmate would doodle on their body, more specifically their left hand and knees, yes, knees. And he would be annoyed by the amount of questions he got from his teammates about the doodles on his body whenever they had practice. there were always a bunch of stars tethered on his knees in colourful ink (mostly green, purple, black and blue) Whoever his soulmate was, he was definitely annoyed yet intrigued by them.

Kenma didn't know why his soulmate would be up at 2 in the morning while he was playing video games but during those times, a bunch of smiley faces and random doodles would appear. yet, Kenma never made an effort to do make it known that he knew those doodles were there as they would rub it off after awhile. Kenma had no intentions of contacting his soulmate anytime soon.

That was until one fateful midnight, he noticed that there wasn't any doodles appearing on his skin, he assumed his soulmate fell asleep, finally. he decided it would be fun if he took initiative and doodles something, pausing his game he went over to his desk and grabbed a pen.

right when the tip of his pen was about to touch on Kenma's skin, it stopped. Kenma thought long and hard about what to draw or write since he didn't think he could be par with his soulmates clean and neat doodles. deciding on writing a small message, he proceeded to write on his forearm "took you long enough to sleep". he hoped that he would get a reply by morning when she awoke but to his surprise, a new message popped up on his right knee, "im not asleep yet".

"oh" he spoke aloud even though there wasn't anyone in his room. grabbing his pen, he wrote again, "oh". 'Very original' he thought to himself. he waited for a few moments and got an answer back on his other knee, "hi" beside it was a smiley face. Kenma was surprised that he would finally get to have a proper chat with his soulmate... at two in the morning— on a school night. Kenma thought about what to reply to her, 'a simple "hello" would be enough' he thought, which was what he wrote below the 'hi' his soulmate wrote.

moments later his soulmate wrote back with three dots, not knowing what else to write to him and continued, "sorry for the constant doodles—i get bored easily". Kenma sighed, at least his soulmate was self aware. he replied with "its fine", to which a smiley face was drawn again by his soulmate as a reply. that was the end of their little rendezvous, life continued onwards. the two of them made no effort to try to find each other, the doodles were still constant, the weird little notes that appeared on Kenmas palm sometimes would still be present, it was as if their short lived chat never occurred.

———

(y/n) liked to draw. a lot.

whenever you saw a piece of paper that was blank, you'd fill it up with doodles and drawings and when there were no paper in sight you would result in drawing on your own skin or your friend's. your friends didn't mind, nor did their soulmates as they all knew the only person who would draw such things was you, if they ever saw stars appear or little cat doodles or just basic characters from shows you had watched, they would know it was you. it was a known fact.

your skin would never be blank, ever. there would always be that one smiley face or that one random quote that would be hidden somewhere that was noticeable. it was fun for you.

you always wondered when you'd meet your soulmate, your friends all met theirs, mainly through telling them their names and what school they went to, it was— as you liked to call it— the easy way out. a good example of that would be your friend, Kaori, she found her soulmate when she wrote her identity and her phone number on her forearm last year, which was also the two of your first year at Nekoma High. Turns out, her soulmate was some kid named Kuroo that was a year older than the two of you. you had met him like once or ten-no-twenty times when he visited you and Kaori's class, his bedhead had never gone unnoticed to you, in fact it left quite an imprint on you, it was just too... unnatural.

from what you heard the way Kaori found Kuroo was when she told you that she once wrote on her hand that she would be going to Nekoma High, which she knew that her soulmate would be there (they keep in touch through writing i guess) and from then on they would write to each other profusely.

the first day of school and you had saw her anxiously walking around trying to find some dude that was drawn on her hand by her soulmate (it didn't look that good and you could hardly tell it was even a person at all until she stated it to you knowingly). you snickered as she tried to tell you how she thinks it's sweet and thought how her soulmate would go as far as to draw a 'self portrait' for her to find him.

you were in awe when a tall dude with hair that kinda fitted the drawing on Kaori's palm showed up and introduced himself to her, they were blushing and all. you remembered seeing a boy with rather long black hair (first year Kenma didn't have pudding hair, author checked) shielding himself behind Kuroo. you paid no mind to him, of course, you weren't really going to school to make friends.

back to present, it was two in the morning and you were up all night reading, what exactly? we don't talk about that. well, you were reading until you felt someone writing something on your hands and saw a few words written on your hand. one led to another but eventually nothing really happened so you never mentioned it to anyone.

———

weeks after that little midnight incident, one day, Kaori dragged you to your school's volleyball gym —you didn't even know your school had volleyball much less a club— to accompany her visiting her boyfriend, Kuroo.

before she started dragging you, you were writing down your day's to-do list intently. Kaori's green pen that you were using to write down on your palm was suddenly dragged out, ruining you beautiful to-do list. you grunted and sighed, clicking the pen to put it in you pockets as she took you hand and hooked it to hers, forcing you to go along with her rendezvous.

Kaori pulled the gym door opened and there stood about a dozen boys in gym clothes staring at the two of you. they all greeted Kaori but not to you as you didn't know any of them, sure you've heard Kaori talk about them here and there, but most conversations about them were about Kuroo.

Kaori promptly introduced you to the volleyball team, "hey guys, this is (y/n), i dragged her along because i wanted you guys to see her drawings that i mentioned before." this earned a stare from you to your cheery friend and you finally spoke, "since when did i agree to this?". Kaori looked at you and simply said, "when i was dragging you here" with a smile.

you sighed and handed her your sketchbook which was inside your school bag. she thanked you and then went over to the crowd of boys who were intrigued by you sketchbook, leaving you on the side.

———

a little before this, while (y/n) was being dragged by Kaori to the gym:

Kenma felt a little tingly feeling from his palm again and assumed that his soulmate started writing something, he looked at his palm and saw a little to do list being written only for it to be ruined by a sudden line being dragged across. confusion arose from the pudding head as his bed headed friend took notice and glanced at his palm.

a little idea popped into Kuroo's mind as he thought about the only person he knew would have that kind of handwriting and would use that type of green pens. he knew for one that his girlfriend always complained about her pens being taken from her by her (h/c) haired friend and knew what (y/n)'s handwriting would be like from the constant borrowing of her notebooks from his girlfriend. Kuroo always has a fleeting suspicion but it never occurred to him that he would notify Kenma.

He also knew that Kenma had a slight interest on the (e/c) eyed girl from the one or two times he saw him glance at her during lunch or walking in the halls, Kuroo also somehow never mentioned that he knew the girl and the thought just kinda slipped through his mind.

"what's with the weird to do list?" Kuroo finally spoke earning a nonchalant glance from Kenma. "i don't know" Kenma said with a slight confused tone. Kuroo thought about how his girlfriend would be dragging her friend here to show off her friends talents to the team and how his girlfriend would drag people by the hand and the dots started connecting.

———

You were left alone while your sketchbook was being the star of the show resulting in you sitting on the sides next to a boy with overgrown blond hair. It was Kenma, the boy you saw on your first day of school and in the halls and everywhere. you constantly thought about him, though you don't know why. Perhaps it was his slightly long hair? Or the way he looked whenever you saw him playing on his handheld gaming console. He always intrigued you and you thought he was quite cute, whenever you walked pass his class or saw him in the halls your heartbeat sped up. Or could it be the soulmate attraction thing you heard rumours about? Part of you hoped he would be your soulmate but the other felt bad if he was due to your constant drawings on your skin.

The two of you were sitting with your legs close to your chests. You felt yourself becoming a bit jittery and anxious from sitting next to the boy you always thought about. Finally, throwing your dignity out of the window you asked, "Why aren't you going over there like the rest of your teammates?". He finally looked at you and said, " I don't like crowds." You gave him a soft smile, nodded and replied, "me neither". you didn't like crowds, you tended to stay away from them, sometimes avoiding them at all costs.

You realised it would be odd if someone you didn't know suddenly came in to the gym, sat down and started talking you so you promptly introduced yourself. "hi... I'm (y/n), (l/n) (y/n)." you paused thinking about what to say next and then continuing, "Kaori's friend" pointing to the energetic and cheerful girl over with the rest of the volleyball team.

Kenma looked at you for a few seconds longer and you started overthinking, 'What if he thinks you're weird?' 'What if he hates you?' 'Why would he hate you?'. You started a debate with yourself as he finally spoke, "Kenma, Kozume Kenma..."

Of course you knew his name already but it would make you sound like a stalker if you said something like, "I'm (y/n)! And you, sir, are Kozume Kenma, Kuroo's friend and a second year setter, whatever a setter is!" you didn't know much about volleyball but your friend told you about the boys volleyball team once and you ought to remember a few roles.

You glanced over to the game he was playing and immediately recognised the art style of the game. Your eyes lit up and blurted out, "hey! isn't that MonHun?" Kenma looked at you with a bewildered expression, "Yes... do you play it too?" he asked in a soft and quiet tone. You grinned and put your left hand on the nape of your neck, awkwardly rubbing it, "ah, umm... no... sorry. I just know a lot about games and I suck at it too to be honest."

Kenma looked at your for a second and went back to his game as you continued to look at his console. Little did you know, the two of your friends were silently gushing about how adorable and shy and awkward you and Kenma were being. One might not know if they weren't close to Kenma but Kuroo knew on an instant that Kenma was actually freaking out on the inside, to an outsider his attitude might not seem to change but to Kuroo, even the slightest difference was noticeable to him. Kenma seemed a bit giddy, his hand movements were quickened, more unstable as if he was panicking —which he was.

With a smirk playing on the bed headed teen's lips, he nudged Kaori with his elbows gently, "how long do you think they'll realise?" Kaori too had a fleeting suspicion about the two of you and now she was almost a hundred percent sure that her suspicions were confirmed. She stared at the two of you and pondered for awhile, with her right hand on her chin she said, "an hour?" Kuroo laughed a bit and ruffled his girlfriends hair, "you're so adorable." This made her blush profusely. Kaori then inquired, "should we tell them?" "Nah"

You realised that the team was taking a bit too long on admiring your sketchbook, you started to wonder if they were still absorbed in your art or they simply acted like they forgot they had practice. Making a small huff, you turned to look at Kenma again, staring intently in his game, he was on level 37. You heard the game was quite hard, you always wanted to play them but due to the fact that you inevitably sucked at it, you never bothered.

Minutes later, boredom got the best of you and you finally decided to ask, "Hey Kenma-san, can I borrow your console?"

"... after this level" he replied. Kuroo stared in awe as he saw you achieve something he was never able to —borrow Kenma's games whilst he was in the middle of a level. The third year captain was so proud of his friend's character development that he nearly teared up, whispering , "he grows up so fast" to Kaori, to which she giggled to.

After Kenma had beaten that level he handed it to you, setting his game level to the very first one. You awkwardly took it and stared fumbling with the controls. "I think I know how to play this" You said, "it's just dodging and attacking, right?" You rhetorically asked.

"Essentially, yeah" Kenma replied. Your heartbeat quickened and you suddenly felt awkward. A few button smashes and frantically waving the console around, you surprisingly passed level 1. You gave Kenma back his gaming console and raised up both your hands to celebrate beating the first level, you weren't expecting to actually win it, you were used to losing and being killed off. Kenma smiled at your cheery sight.

"High five, Kenma-san!" You said enthusiastically. Holding out both your hands towards him and waited for him to return your high five. Pausing his game and looking up from his console, he saw what you had written on your palm. Wide eyed, Kenma raised his hands to high five you, realising that you had the same green ink on your palm. You were too busy celebrating your victory you didn't bother to realise that he too had what you written on you palm. Putting down your hands, you saw that Kenma was still holding his out, you stared at him and then to his palm. It was then realisation hit you.

You lifted up your palm and stared into your hand and then to his, repeating this gesture for a sold three times before one of you spoke out.

"Are you-?" You asked, not bothering to finish your question. You quickly stood up and patted down the invisible dirt and wrinkles on your skirt and ushered him to wait as you ran over to your bag and grabbed out a baby blue pen you 'borrowed' from Kaori and went back over to Kenma. You turned over to show your wrist and started doodling a simple tulip on your wrist, Kenma in turn, turned around his arm and saw that he too had a baby blue inked tulip on his wrist.

Dropping the pen, you both stared at each other intently. "You're my soulmate" you both said quietly in unison. You let out a sigh of relief and immediately thought about the amount of times you've drawn on yourself.

"I'm- uh, sorry for the constant doodles, I get bored easily" you said meekly, covering your mouth with the collar of your shirt to hide the blush that was starting to appear on your cheeks. You smiled at you and told you that he rather enjoyed them and wouldn't mind if you continued to do so.

Kuroo and Kaori high fives each other as the other teammates were finally done looking at your sketchbook. They were now all looking at the two of you quietly sitting next to each other, cheeks tainted pink.

"What's up with Kenma-san?" Lev asked Kuroo. Kuroo smiled and told him, "he found his soulmate." Lev perked up and went over to where Kenma was and shook his hands to congratulate his senpai. "Kenma-san, congratulations! Today must be your lucky day! Your soulmate is very pretty and so are her drawings! You should look at them too!" As he said the last few parts, Lev looked at you. You gave him a shy smile with a faint blush and looked away, over to your short friend, you knew she was the one who had set this up indirectly.

After the whole ordeal, the two of you exchanged emails and talked about little things that had no meaning to it. You felt butterflies in your stomach the whole chat. He decided he would walk you back home along with Kuroo and Kaori, you assured him you would be fine but he insisted that his house was not far from yours so it was nothing.

"You know, Kenma-san, I kind of always liked you, even if you might've not been my soulmate," you said quietly while the four of you were walking back. You and Kenma walked as a pair while your friends walked behind the two of you at an excruciatingly slow pace which made the two of you decide to walk ahead of them.

Part of you hoped that he didn't listen as it would be rather embarrassing by the other half wanted him to know how much you love him as cheesy as it sounds. He heard it and stared down on the pavement you were walking on as did you. The two of you were so awkward together it was just too sweet. "Me too" he returned you a tone as soft and as quiet as yours.

"Do you think I can go over to your house someday, I kinda wanna play those games of yours" you voiced our in a shy tone. Kenma's eyes widen as he stared at you, thinking.

"Yeah".

The doodles never stopped from then on, maybe it even multiplied but Kenma didn't mind. He would sometimes show it to Kuroo and tell him thing like "Look what (y/n) drew," with hints of interest in his voice. It was absolutely adorable every time the two of you walked back home talking about your day. Somedays you would even stay over at his home and play his games, yet you still inevitably sucked.

[thatcomesandstaysfire]

So I know I missed the Catching Fire rewatch (and The Hunger Games rewatch...oops) but I finally have a chance to sit down and watch CF. I’m just gonna put every little thing that pops into my head here...sorry in advance

- That depiction of her ptsd? *chef kiss* 

- It’s kind of dumb that they set that first Gale kiss inside the fence. I just remember my reaction reading when Snow said he knew about the kiss that took place outside the fence. Like, oh shit how much do they know? Is there anywhere that is safe?!

- Haymitch would be good at baseball

- Peeta’s Glow-up yall! Too bad they put him in some of the stupidest outfits

- Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Lawrence are soooo good in the office scene

- I kinda wish they included her mom drawing her bath and adding the dried flowers. 

Peeta: That was nice acting

Katniss: You too

Peeta: bruh

- when that peacekeeper realized the door was open

- seriously what is that sweater, peeta?

- oo yay their favorite colors

- its scenes like ^ this one, or any direct quotes really, that make me disconnect a bit because Jen (especially) and Josh are NOT Katniss and Peeta for me. Idk dude

- district eleven guts me. so well done! and when Haymitch hugs and katniss, and says it will be alright, but all she can see is the older man’s corpse being carried away!! perfectly sets up how helpless and dangerous it all is. 

- “Will you stay with me?” “always” still a little salty we didn’t get this scene after the tour when she injures her foot, and we get the “I didn’t quite catch it.” The pay-off from that in Mockingjay made me flip, it hurt so bad. 

- Honestly still salty about how many Everlark they cut. 

- “Everyone wears [their hair] like this now, Grandpa” Do you think the did this to deliberately call out crazed (superficial) fans by saying they’re just like the capitol. We’ll wear your hairstyle and obsess over your love story while ignoring the real message. 

- Caesars FACE during the proposal! Stanley Tucci was excellent casting

- ooo gales grumpy

- Cant get over that random capitol extra that touches Jen’s shoulder during the party at Snows mansion

- “All mahogany” brilliant

- I wish they’d kept peeta’s original line from the books when they’re told about the liquid that makes you puke. “You go along, thinking you can deal with it, thinking maybe they’re not so bad, and then you-” which leads to the “maybe we were wrong, katniss” It’s such an important moment! But in the movie, Peeta’s line “there are people starving and twelve and here..” doesn’t have the same revelation or same rebelliousness too it.

- Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a great job, but the whole characterization of Plutarch in the movies is way off for me. 

- This movie is really dropping in a bunch of small pieces of fan service that were lacking from the first one. The Hob gets mentioned, and now we see Ripper. Not like only-movie viewers will get that. 

- I wish we had Peeta protecting Katniss from seeing Gales whipping like in the books. Peeta’s kindness and self-less love for Katniss are perfectly communicated through that entire event, and in the movie, we only really get a glimpse. 

- I HATE that they made Ms. Everdeen basically incapable of healing and had Prim take over. I get it, Prim is underdeveloped but you don’t need to take away one of the few things Katniss admires about her mother in order to make Prim more likable

- aw puppy dog peeta 

- oof I am not a fan of Willow Shields acting. It’s so flat. 

Katniss: What do you see

Prim: o_o hope 

- I will never not be mad at haymitch for the “thousand lifetimes” line

- Ugh! I know that gale kiss before the reaping was supposed to communicate (I guess?) that Katniss chose gale and shes saying goodbye or whatever, but ugh i hate it. It is unnecessary

- That one slip of paper in the bowl still kills me. I remember people laughing in the theaters. 

- aw effies face

Prim: o_o Katniss! Katniss

- white t-shirt, black jacket peeta. unf he looks like a greaser. One of the few good outfits they put him in.  

- Sugar cube scene - FLAWLESS. I love Sam Claflin

- Jena Malone is exactly how I pictured johanna

- Also “Katniss’” reaction to Peeta agree to unzip, hilarious, but that is all Jen. 

- Wiress, Beetee, and Mags are also really good casting 

- PEETA WHAT ARE THOSE PANTS?? (you all know they ones I’m talking about)

- The Rue painting? the Seneca beard on the dummy? the bow? Excellent 

- “If it wasn’t for the baby”..... then that smirk! Then haymitch’s lil cheers! its soo good. Also josh’s little trot up the stairs in his little white boots? hilarious.

- Haymtich’s nipples...that is all

- “remember who the real enemy is” 

- Pissed we didn’t get an everlark quick during the breif “see you soon” scene before the quell

Snow: Look at them holding hands. I want them dead

Plutarch: Be Patient

Snow: bitch what did you say to me

- NOOO CINNAAA

- Goddamn that entrance into the arena! the way its shot is so disorienting and overwhelming. Well done Francis. 

- Peeta’s got a kill under belt folks! 

- “Gods it’s hot” yes you are

- Finnick you cheeky bastard

- What i wouldn’t give to be Finnicks elderly backpack

- That snotty kiss after the force field. Katniss trembling. Finnick’s look of realization. I do wish they included the line about “It’s probably her hormones” though. 

- Its a SPILE!!!

- the gasping, moaning and groaning when they’re drinking water/when they’re treating their boils from the fog--- so suggestive, i can’t 

- Peeta ended quite a few monkeys, how can yall say he’s weak

- Peeta easing the morphing while she dies is a very well done scene and it is shot beautifully, but it would’ve been so much better with the direct lines from the book. It's so much gentler and lovelier. 

- Where is the green ointment? Where are the childish shenanigans??

- Katniss and Wiress are CUTE!!

- missed out on yet another everlark moment after the cornucopia spins

- YYOO the jabberjay scene is so intense! And peeta pushing his head against the force field, look so helpless to get to katniss breaks my little heart 

- BEACH SCENE!!!!

- Lol plutarchs little “make yourself comfortable” while we know he’s off to his hovercraft. 

- See you at midnight----So that was a lie 

- Just a comment but Jen’s hair in every scene in the arena looks so good. 

- “REMEMBER WHO THE REAL ENEMY IS” she’s got it folks

- Snow is STUNNED 

- Jesus motif - katniss is legit T-posing in the hovercraft claw

- the scene katniss attacks haymitch and then being subdued is perfection. THE DRAMA

- that extended closeup at the end, where we see the RANGE of emotions that crosses her face, i just, Jen is really talented. 

Verdict: Haymitch’s nipples 

But for real, CF is my favorite movie in the series. It’s not perfect, but as a movie ADAPTATION, it's pretty great. 

[drink-n-watch]

  Let me tell you something, Montreal only exists in wave and snaps. Heat waves and cold snaps. That’s it. OK, here are maybe 4 days in October which are quite nice but the rest of the time… waves and snaps. We are currently in the former although I don’t think I have any right to complain considering what’s happening in Europe. But it’s all good when you have a cool anime to chill with on the weekend! How has your week been Crow? (Crow is bold, like brass!)

  So I’m brassy bold? I like that! I’m going through a wetter than typical Ohio summer, which means 90+ (Fahrenheit — I know, we’re behind the times here in the States!) and humidity that exceeds the theoretical maximum! But your point about Europe is well-taken! No complaints here!

  Let’s jump into it, shall we?

here we go

As you may recall, last week ended on Tanjiro interrupting Boar Boy as he was about to skewer Zenitsu for protecting Nezuko’s box. We got the few last seconds of episode 13 as an opening tag to get us in the mood and I must say, a bloodied Zenitsu desperately holding onto the box may just be my spirit animal!

I love your summary! Great word economy and it got me all caught up!

After the opening credits, we finally get the payoff to Tanjiro’s lunge and it was impressive. You could really feel that impact…for about half a second. Boar Boy is brash and difficult to take. He’s a violent dumb caricature that seems to be played for laughs, but when you are actively attempting to murder most of the main cast (in a series that has not been shy about killing off people), it’s not as funny as it could be. 

This said I liked the fight.

I want to be like him when I grow up

After having a few bones broken by Tanjiro’s punch and listening to a speech about how Demon Slayers don’t draw swords against each other, Boar Boy takes the most direct approach possible and decides to attack Tanjiro bare handed right then and there. There was a slight subversion of expectations at the beginning as Boar Boy seems utterly unphased, even unbothered by the situation, simply switching from one sparring partner to another. This made the character more interesting to me.

Moreover, the fighting choreography was beautiful. Boary has an unorthodox low fighting style that incorporates a lot of leg sweeps, kicks and impressive flexibility. Paired with ufotable’s great animation, it was just fun to watch. Which is good, cause this fight lasted a while. Did you enjoy it as well?

I did, for the same reasons you mentioned. I liked how it showed Tanjiro with a little more inner conflict than usual — he didn’t want to fight, but he was still really steamed about what Boar Boy tried to do to Nezuko. Also, we got another example of Tanjiro analyzing his opponent’s style and trying to adapt. I love those little insights. 

good time to have this type of discussion

Right at the end of the fight we finally get a Boar Boy reveal. We see his face I mean. Everyone in the show says he looks like a girl but I would not have noticed. Did he seem feminine to you Crow?

Honestly, no. Maybe I’ve seen Working!! too many times (remember how Souta Takanashi often had to dress as a woman to keep from triggering the crazy training Mahiru Inami’s dad had given her? Guess I kinda got used to the idea that features aren’t binary!), but he just looked like he had delicate features. I loved Tanjiro’s reaction to Boar Boy’s challenge asking if they had a problem with his face. “”We don’t have a problem with your face! It’s quite petite, fair-skinned, and therefore attractive!”

Could he be any more diplomatic? I think Tanjiro is weaponizing “nice,” which we see several times later in this episode! 

imagine him with a red shag and receiving hairline…face is pretty much the same as Tanjiro’s non?

For all intents and purposes, Tanjirou wins the fight and we have a few quiet moments as Zenitsu, Tanjiro and the kids make good on their promise to bury the victims as Inosuke (Boar Boy) recovers.

I thought it was sweet how both Tanjiro and Zenitsu used their kimonos as makeshift bedding for Inosuke. 

It really showed their character, didn’t it? Despite the beating Inosuke tried to give them, they still didn’t want to leave him lying unprotected on the ground. I’m warming up to Zenitsu more and more in this episode! Of course, we expect that level of consideration from Tanjiro. 

As soon as Inosuke wakes up though, he goes straight back to aggressive jerk mode, demanding to fight everyone. It’s here that we get the origin to what becomes a running joke throughout the episode (and I suspect the series). Namely, Inosuke almost obsessively trying to taunt Tanjiro into lashing out just to have the latter respond with oblivious kindness and compassion.

dude, the kids are worried about YOU

Sure that’s in line with Tanjiro’s character, but when you have small traumatized children and *Zenitsu* embarrassed for you, you may want to take a step back!

Even as I laughed at Tanjiro’s reaction, I had to wonder if nice raised to the level of obliviousness is a self defense mechanism? Or is there a small piece of Tanjiro that realizes how incensed his niceness is to Inosuke?

Since Tanjiro won’t fight him, Inosuke decides to headbutt threes at full speed instead, something else he will be doing for the rest of the episode. I’m not sure if this is a long-standing habit of Boar Boy’s or he is simply trying to toughen up his skull since Tanjiro won by headbutt.

Not sure that fracturing his skull will in any way toughen it! And besides, Tanjiro’s forehead apparently had Legendary Hardness(™). I really don’t think Insouke is going to be able to catch up!

good call!

Before they can finish properly giving their respects to the dead, Tanjro’s crow shows up and tells them it’s time to leave the mountain, which they do. Along the way, the kids decide to head home, leaving the three Demon Slayers on their own and oh boy….

Zenitsu goes back to being overzealous in his fantastic fear of everything, only now, he has a loud obnoxious character in the background. On more than one occasion Tanjiro looked like he just wanted to beat them both up right then and there. With everything that’s happened so far, I think this is the first time Tanjiro truly regretted joining the Demon Slayer corp!

Tanjiro’s expressions reminded me of a day care worker on their 12th hour of the day. Just ready to go home and sleep, but the screaming children still need to be supervised! 

I bet those kids were happy to leave

In a bit of almost ex machina luck, it seemed the three of them had been close to a private estate to serves as a Demon Slayer sanctuary due to an old family debt. And so, our three stoo… slayers now have a place to rest and heal up before continuing their adventures.

I see how you almost slipped there! Kinda thought the same thing myself. One saving grace? I think the Crow was leading there (always trust Crows — we’re innately trustworthy as a matter of professional pride!), so I don’t think it was random. 

However, the Crow leading them somewhere pleasant? I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop!

And that’s pretty much it. A series of shenanigans take place as all three boys show comical extremes of their personalities. It was like an intermission or a random slice of life episode thrown in and I have to admit…I didn’t really like it.

sorry

When you exaggerate them like that Zenitsu is annoying and Inosuke is obnoxious, while Tanjiro is just kind of boring. I wouldn’t call it awful, but it was my least favourite episode so far. And the backstory and development we get on Inosuke were so basic that they could have skipped it all together without much consequence. But you are usually a fountain of positivity, what did you think Crow???

No pressure! If I had to rank these first 14 episodes, this one would likely be at the bottom. What kept Inosuke from being a complete chariature was how Tanjiro’s weaponized politeness gradually wore him down. Before dinner, for example, Boar Boy was on the constant attack. At dinner, he even snatched foot right off of Tanjiro’s plate and obnoxiously chewed it right in his face! When Tanjiro offered him another bowl of food, saying Inosuke must be really hungry, I expected Boar Boy to slap away the food. Instead, he just glowered. That’s progress!

The TL;DR version: Tanjiro’s Legendary Kindness(™) might just transform Inosuke.

we got some fanservice though…

It’s really the last minutes that brought what I’ve been waiting for, for a few weeks now. Nezuko’s glorious and adorable return. I was so thrilled to see her. And just before she got back, there was a quiet and touching moment between Tanjiro and Zenitsu. It was lining up to be the best scene in the episode and… Zenitsu completely ruined it again.

He wasn’t very easy to follow but I think he was implying that Tanjiro joined the Demon Slayer Corp so that he could get a cute demon girlfriend and carry her around with him which is a weird conclusion to jump to, at best… 

But it’s the kind of conclusion a male of Zenitsu’s temperament would jump to! In high school, within my group of friends, if one of them managed to get a girlfriend, the rest would hassle him about it. Heck, look at Issei Hyoudou’s friends from High School DxD! They caught one glimpse of him with Rias Gremory and threatened him with bodily harm!

But you’re absolutely right: Seeing Nezuko emerge from the box was a beautiful moment. Given how terrified Zenitsu was of the opening box, when she emerged looking all adorable and stuff, all I could think was “Behold the terrifying demon! Tremble in her presence!”

In a wildly sarcastic way, of course.

boys are weird…

As it stands my favourite scene is the opening tag, which was a recap of the last episode so that should tell you something. I’m going to pretend that was a recap episode and just move on to the next one. On the upside, it still looked great!

Reviews of the Other Episodes

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 01: Cruelty

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 02: Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 03: Sabito and Makomo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 04: Final Selection

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 05: My Own Steel

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 06: A Friend fo All Humans

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 07: Muzan Kibutsuji

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 08: The Smell of Enchanting Blood

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 09: Temari Demon and Arrow Demon

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 10: Together Forever

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 11: Tsuzumi Mansion

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 12: The Boar Bears Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 13: Writers are A Pain

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I’m liking slideshows lately…

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 14: You Need To Calm Down! Let me tell you something, Montreal only exists in wave and snaps. Heat waves and cold snaps.

[thestudyof5sos]

Cryptic Messages (michievous!michael)

Summary: Charlie’s flying home for a last minute trip but she’s completely sleep deprived. To keep her self awake until boarding, she spends a few hours in the airport totally jamming to an album her best friend made her download at the last minute, 5SOS Meet You There Tour Live. She’s not super familiar with the band and wouldn’t recognize any of the guys if she was seated next to them. But wait, that’s what happens. Enjoy Charlie’s flight, Michael’s spy-antics, and a dash of Luke. Author: 🐾 @larryologymajor Fandon/Pairing: 5SOS /  Michael x original female character (platonic) Warnings/Tags: fluff, mischievous Michael on a plane Word count: ~2.4k

Cryptic Message

Charlie swung her backpack over her shoulder and stepped forward to scan her mobile boarding pass. As she waited, she hopped her head and swiveled her hips to the beat of the music in her wireless earbuds. She smiled at the gate attendant, said thank you, then danced her way into the jet bridge. She rearranged her chestnut and caramel topknot and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

She was listening to a 5 Seconds of Summer album that her friend Bianca made her download while she was packing last night. Bianca said that she got access to an advanced copy of their new live album, recorded in London on their Meet You There Tour that just wrapped up. Bianca guaranteed Charlie would LOVE the band and the album. While the band had been around for a while and Charlie enjoyed the few singles she’d heard on the radio, she didn’t consider herself anything more than a casual fan and she’d never gone out of her way to look them up or check out their videos.

Charlie was dead tired on her feet. She’d been a walking zombie since her second double shift of the week three days ago. After work she rushed home to pack for a last minute trip back home to Chicago to visit her family. With a 3am wake up call, Charlie didn’t even bother going to bed the night before. She didn’t trust herself to wake up on time, so she stayed up all night packing and cleaning her apartment. She was mega grateful for Bianca making her download the album. The album was upbeat, face-paced, enough pop and rock, and the band members’ comedic antics on stage kept her awake and happy.

As she continued to groove her way down the jetbridge corridor, she peeked at the seat number on her screen before she slid her phone into her pocket. 27 Charlie. 27 Charlie. Charlie repeated the number in her head to the rhythm in her ears. That should be easy, she thought. Her birthday was on the 27th and Charlie has been a family nickname forever, short for Charlotte.

The line moved forward and a flight attended greeted Charlie as she stepped from the jet bridge into the plane. She walked down the narrow corridor and carefully tracked the rows, noting the main cabin was essentially packed and her randomly assigned seat was an aisle seat like she preferred. The aisle, she thought, allowed her greater freedom to get up and stretch or use the bathroom during the flight, which she would undoubtedly do at least once.

Still grooving and bopping to the music, she noticed an attractive guy a half dozen rows away from her, he too was seated in a aisle seat. He was eyeing her. Charlie caught him looking at her and made eye contact with him but continued to dance anyway. He smirked then quickly looked away.

Seconds before she reached her row, she reached around her bag to snag the rest of her her in-flight essentials from the front pocket and transferred them to her purse. Kindle: check. Phone charging cable: check. Backup phone battery: check.

She approached her row and frowned. Someone was in her seat. Not just someone but the cute guy who watched her dancing was in her seat.

While Charlotte tossed her backpack in the overhead bin she made brief eye contact with the guy sitting in her seat. For half a second too long she gazed into his green eyes before busting out her sassy attitude. “Excuse me, I believe you’re sitting in my seat. I should be 27C.” She watched the guy pull a crinkled up boarding pass from the seat pocket and study it. “Oops, I’m 27B.” He pushed his beanie back from his eyes. Charlotte rolled her eyes and watched the guy scoot into the seat to his left. She wanted a peaceful, non-hostile flight so she smiled at him, studying his face. “Thanks, 27B.” She lowered herself into the aisle seat. He chuckled and smiled. “I’m Michael.” Charlie nodded and returned the introduction. “Charlie. Nice to meet you.” She smiled again. As she carefully slid her kindle, phone battery, and USB cable in the seat back pocket, Michael engaged in conversation with a guy across the aisle from Charlie. She assumed they knew each other and thought that she should have taken the middle seat and let Michael take her aisle seat. Charlie didn’t have any clue that she was sitting next to the guitarist from the band she’d spent all morning listening to while dancing her way through the airport. She popped her earbuds out from her ears and wrapped them around the back of her neck and looped the ear pieces together in the front to form a necklace until she was ready to use them after takeoff. During the safety briefing video, Charlie listened to the boys on both sides of her chat back and forth about a tour and recording. She was so tired that she barely paid attention and didn’t really dwell on what they were saying or who they are. A short while later the plane was in the air making headway at cruising altitude. Michael tried to make small talk with her but Charlotte was tired. She opted for music and a nap instead of reading. She slipped on her earbuds and resumed Meet You There Tour Live. She was easily on her third or fourth iteration through the album today so she was starting to learn the melodies of each song. Charlie didn’t notice herself softly humming the chorus to Why Won’t You Love Me in her trance-like state of sleep. She felt the guy next to her shift but she didn’t hear him quietly call out to his friend across the aisle. She was mostly asleep and completely relaxed so she let the music drown out their chatter. “Luke! LUKE!” Michael whisper yelled across the aisle to his friend and bandmate. “What?!” Luke hissed. “Dude. I think she’s listening to us.” Luke raised an eyebrow. Michael continued, “I swear she’s humming Why Don’t You Love Me. Seriously. What if she‘s listening to Meet You There Tour Live? Ash said the label ���leaked’ the tracks to an exclusive group on Tumblr.” “I highly doubt it,” said Luke shaking his head. “Although that would be dope.” Michael was hopeful. “My vote is yes. I saw her earlier when we were going through security. She was totally jamming to whatever she had playing in her earbuds.” Near the end of the flight, Charlie was still asleep when her phone slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor after bouncing off Michael’s foot. He glanced at her to ensure she was still asleep then grabbed her iPhone off the floor. As he picked it up, he couldn’t help but glance at her screen. The phone’s display lit up, recognizing that it had been moved He held it up towards Luke, grinning, and called out, “Luke! Look!” Luke glanced up and his smile grew wide. Michael was right after all. She was DEFINITELY jamming to MYT Tour Live. Michael was feeling mischievous. He held his pointer finger to lips, shushed Luke, and made a picture taking motion. Luke suppresses a laugh but grinned widely as Michael slid the lock screen over to the camera and flipped to the front facing camera. He carefully framed a selfie of him, Luke, and sleeping Charlie and snapped a picture for her to discover later. He then snapped the same picture with his phone. He also opened up the Notes app and quickly tapped out: Charlie, thanks for being a fan! We hope you enjoy the live album! Xx Michael & Luke 5SOS Then for good measure, he used the feature to insert a drawing and attempted to draw his signature. He used Charlie’s phone to snap a photo of his screen, then locked both phones. He shoved his into his backpack and wedged hers into the seat pocket in front of her. Michael gently nudged Charlie’s knee with his own. When she didn’t stir, he bumped her shoulder and she responded sleepily with a “Hmmmm” sound. “Sorry to wake you,” Michael started. “We’re starting the final descent soon. You dropped your phone so I picked it up for you. I couldn’t help notice you’re listening to 5 Seconds of Summer. I met them once, they’re so nice!” Charlie was half asleep still. “I don’t know anything about them, really. My best friend makes me download random music all the time. Sometimes I wonder why she likes half the stuff she recommends. However, I actually kinda like 5SOS.” Michael started to mess with her. “I heard their guitarist is super cute, dyes his hair all the time, and loves pranking people.” Charlie looked baffled and shrugged. “I have no idea. Never really seen them before.” The conversation lulled and Charlie enjoyed the quiet for several long minutes, the only sound in her world was coming through her ear buds. She closed her eyes and appreciated the lead singers smooth voice, the power behind each drum beat, the rhythmic way the bass thumped, and the fluid strokes over each guitar string.

The plane continued its descent and safely landed at Chicago O’Hare. Charlie was quiet as the plane taxied to the jetbridge. When the doors open and passengers started to deplane, Charlie gathered up her stuff, wished Michael a safe trip since he had a connecting flight, and shuffled towards baggage claim.

Standing in baggage claim, Charlie texted her best friend, Bianca.

Made it safely to Chicago! Got seated next to this cute guy but passed out and didn’t really talk to him.

Bianca fired back an immediate reply:

Glad you made it, but boo. Should have talked to him and gotten his number.

Charlie agreed.

Ikr. He wanted to chat but I was seriously so tired. After takeoff I passed out. Only woke up when Michael (cute seat neighbor) woke me up. He picked up my phone after I dropped it in my sleep.

Charlie opened her camera app then snapped a quick selfie of herself waiting in baggage claim to send to Bianca. In one swift motion she double tapped her iPhone home button to swipe the camera closed and switch back over to her text messages. Locating Bianca’s message, she clicked the add photo button to insert her selfie and squinted at the thumbnail previews of her recent picture. There were two new photos in her camera roll that she didn’t recognize.

Feeling confused, she sent her selfie to Bianca then launched the Photos app and swiped to the first unrecognizable photo.

The conveyor belt in baggage claim started to move and slowly spewed our luggage. Charlie didn’t notice. She was staring at a picture of herself sleeping, sandwiched between Michael and his friend who was squatted next to her in the aisle. Charlie’s fave furrowed in anger and the invasion of privacy. How dare a stranger use her phone to take her sleeping photo.

Charlie swiped to the next screen and looked at the message Michael left her. She gasped and her fingers instinctively dialed Bianca to FaceTime.

She picked up on the second ring and her face appeared on the screen. “Bee, I think I sat by 5SOS on the plane. And I think one of them used my phone to take a picture of me, well us. While I was sleeping!”

“What? How? No way!” Bianca sputtered.

“Seriously! What does Michael look like?” questioned Charlie.

“Let me check Instagram for the latest. Standby.” Bianca froze on the screen while she minimized FaceTime to check Michael’s social media. “At the moment, he’s wearing his fluffy hair blonde.” Her face unfroze on Charlie’s screen. “He’s usually not clean shaven. His eyes are super green and really pretty. His smile is wide. Usually he has a baseball hat on. And a black hoodie. Oh and his accent is lovely, quite posh sounding. I love it to be honest. Could listen to him talk for hours.

Charlie interrupted her, “How about Luke? Is there a Luke?”

Bianca laughed. “Of course there’s a Luke. He and Michael are the founding members of 5SOS although he’s the youngest of the band. He’s super tall, legs for days, like a baby giraffe. But he denies that he’s tall. He wears skinny jeans, pretty tops, leather jackets and heeled leather boots. I bet his boot collection would rival your Pikolinos collection. Gah, but his face. I love his face,” Bianca gushed. “He’s gorgeous. He has super bright blue eyes. And his dimples will swallow you whole. His dark blonde hair is chin length with unruly curls.”

Now Charlie laughed. “Hold on, Bee. I’m texting you something.” She sent the two photos but continued to talk. “Ummm yeah, your descriptions fit the boys perfectly.”

Bianca’s face froze again on Charlie’s screen as she opened her text. “Oh my God, Char. You totally met Michael and Luke! I am so envious! Although if I were you I probably would have fangirled and then drooled on Michael in my sleep!!”

“Hahaha!! I’m sure you would’ve been fine Bee! 100% put together!” Charlie winked at her best friend.

“Charlie! You need to insta this ASAP and tag Michael!”

Bianca gasped. She didn’t notice that her suitcase was the last one and it was going in circles on the baggage claim conveyor belt. “Bee! But what would I even say in the caption???”

“Well, Michael’s always changing his twitter handle and last week he posted a spy meme so how about something spy or detective related?” Bianca questioned.

“Hmmm,” Charlie was thinking. “What’s his insta handle?”

“It’s @michaelclifford.” Bianca knew it off the top of her head.

“How about ‘Thanks for the super stealth nap time reconnaissance spy photos @michaelclifford! It was a really nice meeting you! (even though I didn’t know who you are lol) I really love the new live album!’?” Charlie asked Bianca.

“Do it! I love it!” Bianca encouraged her.

Charlie paused FaceTime again while she posted the picture.

“I promise I’ll text you if my post goes viral,” she laughed. Charlie grabbed her suitcase and the girls said their goodbyes.

Charlie ordered an Uber and got in, heading to her parents house.

Her phone singer indicating a comment on her Instagram post. It was Michael Clifford. Her heart beat quicker for a minute, but her brow furrowed in confusion. He left a cryptic message that Charlie didn’t understand.

pa dhz tf wslhzbyl! p svclk dhajopun fvb qht av tlla fvb aolyl avby spcl ;) kt tl pm fvb lcly dhua hu hbavnyhwolk jvwf vy apjrlaz av zll bz spcl. ee -Caesar

It took Charlie a few days to decipher Michael’s message, but she finally figured out that it was a Caesar Cipher. Thanks for the clue, dude, she thought.

Michael’s message translated to:

It was my pleasure! I loved watching you jam to Meet You There Tour Live ;) DM me if you ever want an autographed copy or tickets to see us live. Xx -Caesar

And with that, Charlie smiled. She knew this was a story she would be repeating for years.

Tags:

@mycollectionofnuts

​​ Want to be tagged? Let me know!

[houseofvans]

ART SCHOOL | MICHAEL C. HSIUNG | VANS US OPEN 2018

Michael C. Hsiung has a special imagination, one filled with mermen, dragons, creative landscapes and intriguing narratives. His humorous illustrations will evoke your inner child and leave you wanting more. If only everyone could see the world through his eyes, maybe we’d live life a bit more light-heartedly. Now let’s dive into who this creative genius is and what he created on this year’s Vans US Open skate and BMX course.

Photographs courtesy of Ginger Caranto

What is your background? I was born in Chinatown, Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley. My folks emigrated from Taiwan to the US in the mid-late 70’s, and I grew up in Northridge where I discovered art, comic books, fantasy, skateboarding, Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal. Now, I’m a self taught artist who has been lucky enough to draw and show my art to folks who hopefully like a good chuckle or two.

How did you get into art? My childhood was always filled with drawing, scribbling, and coloring books. I was always really stoked on comic book art, Dungeons & Dragons artwork, Pushead, Frazetta, Gorey and anything with skulls or dragons.

How did you start making art / what drives you to continue to do so? I grew up doodling, coloring, and using my imagination to play and have fun. So naturally I always kept a sketchbook or journal to record my thoughts through drawings or doodles. Tried endlessly to draw my own comic to no avail. Eventually I stopped drawing for a long time because I just didn’t think my drawings were good enough. I didn’t think I had the talent for it, so I stopped. Years passed . . .  I didn’t find myself drawing anymore, not until, I moved back to Los Angeles in 2007. I was hanging out with my old skate friends, and one of them was making art (Mike Stilkey - amazing artist), as was my sister, Pearl. They both encouraged me to draw with them while we chilled out from nights out on the town or when we were killing time. It was the perfect window for me to create and revisit drawing.

Eventually with enough encouragement through my friends and various random folks on the internet, I started to draw more and more. This eventually led to me showing work, taking on projects, and ultimately finding a purpose for myself. That was about 10 years ago, and it has been quite the ride. What drives me to continue has changed over the years, as I think it does for most folks who try and make a living doing art or freelance. It isn’t a easy career, though it may seem super fun and exciting, which it is of course. But also there’s what the reality is too– it is a lot of work, sacrifice and constant ups and downs. That being said, drawing is so much a part of who I am that while it has its challenges I know if I stopped, I’d be unsatisfied with life. I draw and make art to keep my sanity, and hopefully bring joy to folks who come across it.  

Who are your biggest influences? Hands down my older sister Pearl who is an amazing artist and painter. She was always drawing me things or painting my door with cool comic characters. Later on in life, she encouraged me to draw again, just for the therapy side of having an outlet.

What does your creative process entail? My process has changed over the years.  I used to just sit down, draw immediately, form ideas, and BOOM – that would continue for many years. Nowadays, I really have to find time and a spark or inspiration, then spend the hours sitting, pondering, sketching, and erasing before I even get to the point of wanting to pen in the lines. Sometimes I chuck things before they have even been half way finished. It is hard not to overthink what you do when you’ve been doing it for a bit, but I try and stay fresh by focusing on ideas and interests that inspire me. I also try and create a fun and relaxed environment in my studio with little to few distractions–almost as if to take me back to when I was a kid drawing just for drawing’s sake.

What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio? My most important artist tool is my imagination. Growing up I was lucky to really have to use my own imagination to play and create worlds, which has helped me as an artist. Imagination and creativity is what gives life to my art.

Many of your drawings feature a hybrid animal. Who is this character and what does he represent to you? I think the first hybrid animals I started drawing were merman. I am fascinated by mythology and old tales, so I wanted to re-imagine what these creatures were like, who they were, and why the mermaids left them. I started to create these stories in my head, so I wanted to draw out my own narrative. I love reading and exploring the origins of mythological creatures such as centaurs, harpies, satyrs and then re-creating my own tales about them in the modern world or with modern vices. They allow me to explore the world in a different way as well as express my passion for cryptozoology, mythology, and fantasy.

Where do you find inspiration for your work? Inspiration is a strange thing, but I get inspired by things I read, strange facts, old books, sometimes movies, adventurers, old tales, friend antics, mythology, fantasy, crystals, nature, skateboarding and the list goes on. I try and let my mind find other interests that can inspire my work in a new direction.

How has your style changed over your career? When I started drawing again in 2007 my art was looser, naive, and more freeform but thematically I was drawing what I touch upon now. I was and am still drawing mermen, weird animals, and strange people. I’ve worked on honing my ideas, drawing with intention, and making my art cleaner, straighter and well executed. That’s what happens when you start to show art with other amazing artists - it makes you up your stuff!

Can you tell us about the mural you created for the Vans Park Series course? This year for the Vans Park Series course I created four different painted illustrated pieces–a bear skating on all his paws, a Slip-On shoe wizard, a mustached dude on a log board, and a bear with a sun hat on one as well.

The bear on the board is a character I’ve been drawing for a few years. She’s kind of a combo of a California State bear, a friend and a reference to my last name, which in Chinese translates to BEAR. Bet you didn’t see that one coming ha.

Well I’m super into wizards and super into Slip-Ons, so it was just a natural thing that came to being hah. I did that piece for my wife Rachel too! I even added some crystals for her since she’s a total rock hound.

The last character is just a rad cruiser dude who I imagine seeing all over town just laying back on his deck with his road soda. Just enjoying life.

What is your favorite part about painting a mural? My favorite part about painting the mural is when you see it getting shredded by all the amazing skateboarders!

What was the painting experience like working with multiple artists on the course? It’s such a great bonding experience when you’re painting a huge skate course in 3 days with other artists. I love seeing everyone’s approach, style and learning about their art and who they are.

It was my first time meeting Benjamn Marasco and Ellen Rutt, and I have to say those are some inspiring folks. They tackled their massive murals within tough conditions and never flinched.  I love that.

It is always fun to work alongside Jack Graydon! He’s the best. You wanna learn about spray paint? Jack’s your man. You need help with a color choice, Jack is the man!

Then it was a special treat to work with artist and bud Phil Morgan. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was real special. We helped keep each other on track and just like always bounce ideas off each other. Lots of time I feel like you’re working out your problems in the bowl with other artists. It’s fun!

Do you have a favorite memory from your time spent at the US Open? So many fun and memorable moments, but my favorite memory from the time in the park was definitely the last day when we were all finished with our murals and sitting together on the spine looking around and checking out each other’s pieces.  I mean you spend most of the time there focusing on your mural and painting that you don’t actually get to see each other’s work before it gets skated - so that end moment is special :)

What was the most challenging part of the mural you created? The most challenging part of the mural really is the weather (super hot in the bowl!) and painting on the transition. You don’t realize how many muscles start working until you wake up the next morning. Standing and balancing while trying to paint a straight line is probably the hardest part, but you learn to get loose and go with the flow. Let it flow!

Do you have any advice for people who have dreams of becoming an artist? My advice to people who have the dream of becoming an artist–if you have a great imagination, feed it with books, music, art, and play a board game once in a while.

Follow Michael on Instagram and check out his online shop here.

[mvjinkz]

Airplane Troubles

Bucky Barnes x Reader

This is originally from my wattpad account (MvJinkz)

Y/n's POV

"Come on Wilson." I taunted Sam as I kicked towards his face. "Maybe if you stop trying to kill me." He ducked underneath it only to be hit by my other leg.

"Where's the fun in that." He tried to go offensive before but that just resulted in him getting hit multiple times.

"Y/n, Fury wants you for a mission ASAP." Natasha walked into the room grabbing some wraps. I nodded towards her before grabbing one of Sam's many punches and flipping him over my back.

"You might want to practice more." I smiled down at him offering my arm. He grabbed it saying, "Maybe I want to find a partner that doesn't try to kill me."

I laughed while walking out of the room, "Don't be so dramatic. If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead." I sent him finger guns before making my way to Fury.

I looked into the room and saw that Bucky was in there. Internally groaning because he would be my mission partner for this. It's not that I didn't like him it's just I highly doubt he likes me.

"What's the mission now?" He briefly explained the mission. Bucky stood and I followed waiting to be dismissed.

"Oh and Agents you will have to get through normal airport security." I raised my hands and did a 'how in the world' type of gesture. Fury just laughed and waved us out.

Bucky walked off in the wrong direction which was weird but I decided to not question it, instead of saying anything I walked off towards my room to gather my stuff. Trying to figure out how we are going to get Bucky's arm through the metal detector.

~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~

Bucky's POV

We arrived at the airport. Y/n walked ahead looking for the guy that was our support to get our stuff on the plane undetected.

He was being very suggestive towards her. It made me want to rip his arm off and beat him with it. Y/n took care of it herself by kneeing him where the sun doesn't shine.

"Well come on we don't want to miss our flight." She grabbed her backpack from the ground and proceeded towards the doors.

"Any brilliant ideas on how to get me on the plain." She scratched the back of her neck, "We'll figure it out as we go." The security guard signaled for her to go through. She got through with no problem.

"Come on man we don't have all day." You could tell that the guard was very board. I walked through and just like I expected it started beeping.

"Sir I'm gonna need you to step over here." He gestured with his small metal detector. Instead, I rolled up my sleeve showing that my arm was metal.

"Wow dude what happened?" He got really close wanting to touch it. Luckily Y/n stepped in,

"You can't just ask someone why they have a metal arm asshole." Y/n glared at the kid and he shrunk away before quickly ushering us to get on the plain.

"Thanks." She just shrugged while laughing to herself. "I told you I would make it up as we go."

We got into our seats and Y/n settled in relatively easily, while I was just tense. The thought of being in a plain brought back memories of Hydra. Y/n must have noticed because she helped me calm down.

I heard the Pilot make the normal spiel, At least I thought it was normal, I felt the airplane start to take off. There wasn't much to do besides look at the skyline.

~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~

Y/n's POV

Bucky was zoning out looking out the window while I was doodling. There was a random guy that got up and started walking towards the pilot. I didn't think anything of it.

"Attention ladies and gentleman, this is not your captain speaking." Immediately Bucky snapped to awareness. We exchanged glances and I looked towards where that man had walked before.

"Bucky look at that man up there." I pointed to him. He looked like one of the targets that we had to take out.

"Did you notice that there are barely any people on the plain." It dawned on me that the flight to LA only had about 10 people including flight staff.

"Do you think it's a setup?" He made a slight huff before thinking. "We need to find a way down to the luggage." Bucky started to look around. Probably trying to see if there were more of them.

"Hey you to stop talking." The target Allister Ryauske waved a gun in our direction. Someone behind us started crying. The man walked up to them and started yelling.

"Shut up. Do you want me to kill you?" That only made the kid cry more. The man reached out to grab him, but I made the stupid decision to confront the man by sucker punching him in the face.

"Leve the kid alone." I was gearing up for another hit but was stopped by the other brother.

"Hands up unless you want a hole through your head." I froze and he walked up pulling my hands behind my back.

"You're going to come with me as some assurance." He started to scold his brother for being too aggressive.

"You get up and come with us. You're going to do the heavy lifting." Fortunately for me, he singled out Bucky to help him out.

"What is your relation to this girl? Why are you flying to LA.?" Alaric Ryauske started to talk, wanting to know more information about us. Bucky tensed up coming up with a quick cover story.

I hoped that he wasn't going to say that he didn't know who I was, but I didn't expect what his story actually was.

"She's my wife, we are traveling for our honeymoon." Alaric started chuckling. "Man this has got to be one of the worst honeymoons in history. She might not be your wife for long." Bucky pretended to look upset, and I can say that he is an amazing actor. If I was looking in I would be convinced that it was real.

"Alright enough with the chit-chat we're here. Open the door." Bucky moved forward sliding the lock over and turning the handle.

My eyes widened when I saw what was inside. It was some sort of genetic science experiment.

"What the hell is that?" The guy just snickered while jerking me forward into the room making Bucky follow us.

"To bad your wife is hot, it's a shame that she won't be leaving here with you." He talked to Bucky before guards came out and restrained him.

"What yah say sweetheart want to be mine?" He creepily whispered in my ear. Bucky was furious and more guards came to hold him. I winked at Bucky signaling that I had a plan.

"Well maybe." He let me go and I turned around. He was smirking like he had just won the lottery. I moved closer to him. "While I've made up my mind." Was all I said before Spartan kicking him into the boxes behind him.

There was a commotion behind me and it was Bucky escaping the hold the guards put him in. I made a break for some of the boxes Bucky hot on my heels.

"What do we do now?" Gunshots started to go off. I continued to look around looking for our bag of weapons

"Okay, in order for us to get out of this, you have to do this wild new thing called trusting me." I looked up at him and before I could think of what I was saying I said,

"Buck I would trust you tell the end of the line." His eyes widened a fraction before footsteps started coming towards us. "Alright time to go." He lifted me up and started running towards another stack or boxes.

"Is that our stuff?" I pointed to one of the boxes that were conveniently on top of science experiment. Bucky continued to run for cover over and over again.

"Get me on top of that cage." "No way, you're not going up there. I told you to trust me didn't I?" He growled out, dodging the gunfire.

"Well, what do you think we should do then because we're running out of boxes?" I pointed out. I knew that for some reason he didn't want to let me do this.

"Fine, but you better not even think about getting anywhere near that thing, and don't worry about them I'll distract them." Bucky started to walk away before I grabbed his arm.

"You better come back in one piece too." He nodded and ran to draw their fire. I made my way towards the sleeping experiment.

"How in the world are you still asleep?" I muttered to myself while climbing the cage silently hoping that it wouldn't wake up. Luckily it didn't at least tell I was on top of the cage reaching for our equipment.

It let out a roar that was odd, to say the least. "Really now you decide to wake up." The cage shook as it rammed the sides. I had to get off there and quickly.

"Sorry Buck." I slipped through the bars at the top down in the cage rolling out of the way before I could be trampled slipping myself through the bars once again hearing Bucky

"Y/n what did I tell you." I rolled my eyes and threw him his gun before shooting mine. "I don't know what you're talking about.

Bucky threw one of the guards into one of his fellow compatriots knocking both of them out. He turned and glared at me.

I saw his eyes widen before a white-hot pain exploded in my shoulder. Bucky reached out to catch me but was stopped by a voice behind me.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT." Bucky raised his hands slowly dropping his gun. I could hear Alaric's footsteps walking around before he stopped next to me.

"You're going to leave us alone." I was fading in and out but I couldn't let myself succumb to shock. My gun was close so I tried to reach towards it. Bucky wasn't moving, so Alaric stomped on my injury causing me to scream out.

I could hear Bucky take a sharp inhale before backing up. I proceeded to grab the gun. Finally getting my hands on it. Looking up making eye contact with Bucky.

"BUCKY!" I tossed it up at him surprising Alaric, but apparently not enough because throwing it towards Bucky resulted in him discharging the gun and hitting me in the back for the second time before being shot square in-between the eyes.

"Y/n! I can't deal with another reckless idiot." He kneeled not knowing what to do. "Well we still have the other two brothers, and one of them is extremely aggressive." I tried to lift myself up but Bucky stopped me.

"You're staying here. I'll go take care of the others." He stood up. "Umm Buck, how exactly are you going to land the plane?" He leaned down and picked me up knowing that leaving me here would leave me in more danger.

"Looks like I'll be improvising, it can't be much harder than a helicopter right." I gave him a disapproving look while checking how many rounds were left in the gun.

"Looks like we have one lucky shot." He made his way towards the door and kicked it down. "You take out Allister, I'll get cockpit." Bucky decided, I figured that it was the best plan of action.

"Took you long enough. Can I fi..." I cut Allister off by shooting him. I became harder and harder to keep my eyes open. Bucky must have noticed because he set me down in one of the seats I felt a brief pressure on my forehead before I heard him whisper,

"Stay with me a little longer." He made his way to the cockpit.

~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~

Bucky's POV

I finished with the debriefing before making my way to the hospital wing. She wasn't there in her bed. I pulled one of the nurses aside.

"Where did Y/n go?" She pointed me off towards the gym. "You've got to be kidding me." I passed Steve on the way.

"How'd the mission go?" I didn't stop, "I have another reckless idiot to stop. I'll tell you about it later." I burst through the doors seeing that Y/n was being an idiot and getting ready to spar with Sam.

I unclicked my arm from its socket and threw it at them hitting Sam in the head and surprising Y/n.

"Did you just hit me with your arm?" Sam said from the floor. I stepped over him glaring at Y/n.

"How's it going, Buck?" Y/n tried to downplay what she was trying to do while also trying to back away. I grabbed her arm not letting her go.

"Don't do that." I glared down and pulled her forward-leaning down towards her face and connecting our lips. She inhaled slightly in surprise before kissing back.

"Aw come on. Why don't you two get a room?" We were cut off by Sam who had been there the entire time.

"Shut it, Wilson." Y/n reached up and pulled me down reconnecting into another kiss. There was something being thrown at us but I caught it before it could hit.

"Did you just through my arm back at me?" Sam ran out of the room probably going to tell the others.

"Should we go after him?" I reattached my arm back on and rested it on her shoulder.

"Nah let him run we can get him later. Also, we really need to talk about your recklessness."

[tessatechaitea]

Black Condor #2

The Sky Pirate is definitely an incel.

I don't want to shit on incels because people who can't get laid aren't the only jerks who turn into monsters when they can't get their way. I also don't want to make it seem like not getting laid is the worst thing that can happen to a person but have you ever not gotten laid when you really, really wanted to fuck? It's the worst! Now think about not being able to get laid for thirty to forty years. Do you think you're going to give one shit about climate change?! Of course not! That's why Sky Pirate is carbon emitting all over the fucking place on the cover! Sky Pirate doesn't need Black Condor to punch him in the face; he needs him to suck his balls. On the other hand, getting laid isn't that great, I bet.

I don't know why the guy isn't coming in his pants too.

Back in 1992, we didn't have incels. We just had guys who understood they were never going to get laid so they memorized all the stats of Fiend Folio monsters no Dungeon Master would ever use, like the achaierai or the umpleby or the tween or the snyad or the twill or the tabaxi or the qullan or the mantari or the gryph. Those are actual monsters but I probably could have just made up a bunch of nonsense words and nobody would have fucking noticed. Fiend Folio had a lot of shitty monsters. You know who wouldn't know that? Somebody who was getting laid in 1992! Something else somebody getting laid in 1992 wouldn't understand? Jerking off to the caryatid column!

I had to steal this image from the Internet because I've packed away all of my D&D manuals.

We really need legalized prostitution in this country. Also, we need to remove any negative stigma for going to a prostitute. Also we need male prostitutes that are good at sex so that women don't have to hook up with random guys who are probably terrible at sex when they want to bust whatever the female version of nuts are. Inside nuts? It's got to be tough being an incel in that even if you think you might finally get the chance to get laid, you know you're going to be awful at it and probably ruin a second chance of getting laid. Because who wants to fuck a guy whose underwear looks like the aftermath of a visit from your friendly neighborhood Spider-man when you go to pull his dick out? True story (I have to preface this story that way so that people actually think it's true even though they should realize I'm an unreliable narrator): when I finally met a woman who wanted desperately to fuck me, I obviously wasn't going to be any good at sex. I had learned to jerk off quickly in the quiet moments nobody was in the house (often to the scene in Return of the Living Dead (on VHS tape) when the punk girl dances naked on the crypt). So when this lovely and accommodating woman pulled my cock out and began kissing and sucking it, I wanted to explode immediately. But I knew I couldn't do that! I had to hold out! So I held out for like ten or fifteen seconds and, in my head, I thought, "That's good enough, right?!" Then I blew my load in her face and she was all, "Whoa. Um. Hey. What the fuck?" Actually, she wanted to fuck me so badly that she didn't care that I was almost certainly going to prematurely ejaculate every time we fucked until I finally decided I wanted to spend more time replaying Ultima IV than fucking poorly. Our sex actually did get better over time (and by "our," I obviously mean "my") but that was only because I'd come in her almost immediately and then, through pure will force rivaling that of Hal Jordan himself, I would just get hard again while trying not to let my flaccid member slip out of her. Luckily she could orgasm through penetration only because just imagine how bad I was at oral sex too! Um, that wasn't really a true story! I just have a great imagination! But then, you knew that because of all the times I mentioned being a virgin. Which was totally a lie too! I've been laid lots! And I was always great at it. Black Condor's grandfather can't get over his grandson not wanting to be a part of his old man secret society so he's sending an army of "shock troopers" out to capture him.

Has nobody told him about airplanes?

I can't stop staring at the look of pure joy on the woman's face in the panel where Black Condor is rescuing the campers. I'm actually fucking jealous of a fictional character in a drawing because how the fuck does she get to be so fucking happy?! Nearly the entire first half of this issue is dedicated to the origin of The Sky Pirate. My guess that he's an incel wasn't too far off the mark. He was a nerdy college kid working in hypersonic flight who desperately wanted to be part of the free love movement. He was eventually let in on the condition that he do all the work and earn them all the money, like how Brian was only allowed to be part of The Breakfast Club if he wrote everybody else's essays while they all hooked up. In the end, he made them all rich while he was a fugitive from the government. They did the thing all of the fucking asshole Boomers did: they gave up their ideals and convictions for wealth beyond measure at the expense of everybody else. So, twenty years later, he's returned to destroy them.

So this guy's a hero! Why is Black Condor trying to stop him on the cover?!

Black Condor is a good guy so I bet he winds up teaming up with Sky Pirate after the initial Marvel misunderstanding. I'm almost positive he does because I purchased the third issue and there's no way I would have kept reading this series if my president The Sky Pirate was beaten and tossed in jail. Even as a randy twenty-one year old spending nearly every night of the week pretending I was a grey elf named Paladine Greystoke, I was completely sympathetic to the underdogs of our fucked up capitalist society. Sky Pirate plans on stealing as much money from The Merry Men (what the asshole Boomers called themselves because they're so unimaginative they had to steal Kesey's groups' name) as he can. But to do so, he needs to use his hypersonic weapons. Black Condor's new senses are so powerful that every time Sky Pirate uses one of his gadgets, Black Condor is overwhelmed by pain. That must be why he needs to beat the shit out of Sky Pirate. It's less about justice and more about getting him to shut the fuck up. I get it! I once had a neighbor who hung up industrial sized wind chimes outside my bedroom window. And every time I snuck over to take them down, the assholes would just put them back up. They're lucky I didn't go Black Condor all over their asses and swoop in with a flurry of uppercuts! Instead I just cut out off the clapper and made the chimes impotent. Black Condor shows up and asks Sky Pirate what he's doing. Sky Pirate is all, "Fuck you. I don't have to answer to you, you nipple exposing weirdo!" And then he flies off. But Black Condor won't let it drop, albeit reluctantly! He flies after him because he's a nosy jerk. Can't he just let it drop? The noise only happened the one time. I get how terrible noises can be; I'm pretty sensitive to a lot of sounds myself (fuck every guy with an acoustic guitar, by the way). But maybe wait to see if it happens again before really confronting this guy. Also, I'm sure he has a reason for blowing a hole in a building! He told Black Condor it was personal business and it's not like Black Condor has been deputized by anybody except maybe Park Ranger Ned. I'm totally on Sky Pirate's side right now! Judging by the cover of Issue #3, Sky Pirate is going to blast Black Condor with more hypersonics and Black Condor is going to plunge into the river in a scary cliffhanger where the reader thinks Black Condor may have drowned.

Okay, I'm torn. I like Sky Pirates revenge on capitalistic Boomer shitheads. But I also empathize with Black Conder's sensitivity to noise!

Since this issue is definitely going to end how I predicted since, as I said, I'm looking at the cover of Issue #3 right now where Black Condor is emerging from the river, I bet Issue #3 sees Sky Pirate and Black Condor quickly finding common ground and working together to defeat the Merry Men. Also, I hope Sky Pirate becomes an occasional Black Condor teammate. Maybe he'll take up residence with Ned and Eileen in the Pine Barrens! And then the issue ends with Black Condor plummeting into the river. But it also ends with possibly my favorite "Next Issue Blurb" of all time!

No wonder I bought issue #3! I had to see if the sun imploded! Spoiler alert: it didn't.

Black Condor #2 Rating: A-! Holy shit! A comic book with a better than average passing grade! I must really be feeling charitable seeing as how it's my 48th birthday. Yes, that's right, assholes. I'm fucking old! But I'm still cool, right? And totally sexually active, like a mythic beast! Oh, before I go, here's the back cover because, yeesh. Put on some make-up, dudes.

I loved my Grandmother with all my heart. She was possibly the most perfect human being to ever walk this planet. She was Catholic but I'm fairly certain she practiced birth control based on the differences in age of her two (only two!) children. Her wedding picture was of her in a beautiful non-wedding dress and my grandfather in a suit standing on some spiral steps at the courthouse (not a church! She also had a church wedding photograph but mostly due to the pressure of social politics and religion (I like to believe, anyway!)). She distanced herself from the Catholic church because of the way church members treated and talked terribly about Jewish people. She was the greatest. But the only time she ever disappointed me was when Gene Simmons was on Donahue and she said, "My, that's a handsome man!"

[httpsung]

ookami baby

pairing: reader x young k (brian)

genre: fantasy, wolf dad au,

word count: 1,457

next: pt.2

note: I sort of drew inspiration for this fic after watching the film wolf children, I am looking to continue this in a drabble series, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

His weeks consisted of wild nights and morning hangovers, days passing by in the blink of an eye, though he didn’t mind. Most evenings he found himself on stage, rocking out to covers of his favorite songs with a few originals melodies in tow, feeling the crowd and downing a variety of liquor until his throat just couldn’t take it anymore. Some evenings he found himself in the beds of strangers, women who left deep scratches and bites along his olive skin, bodies trembling with pleasure underneath his slim frame followed by consistent cries of his name.

Cheap thrills along with the occasional pills is what Brian lived for and not being tied down to anything is what motivated him to keep moving freely. A vagabond without a place to call truly call his own fitted him perfectly, bringing light to the fact that he was a lone wolf both literally and figuratively.

It was when he was six years old that he found out he was a bit different from everyone else, his body changing into that of a pup when he threw a tantrum at his mother. It was then he learned that his father’s blood descendant from Tibetan wolves, leaving him with the ability to transform at will without the mythological presence of a full moon.

He was rare, and there were hardly any of his kind left.

At age ten is when he left home, breaking his attachment from the mother that raised him, giving into his wolfly instincts that voided him of any emotion; though at twenty-three is when that strong muscle buried in the center of his chest, softened for one person who happened to be you.

Brian often recalled the first time his eyes spotted you in a crowd of people on the streets to the second time where you gazed at him in the venue he played in. You seemed shy at first which drew him in to the point where he exchanged numbers, wanting to draw you out of your shell. It only took a few of months of hanging out when he decided to take a chance and reveal everything that he was to you. It was the happiest moment in his life when you didn’t run away  after witnessing his raw transformation, and he thanked you with a kiss when you promised to stay by his side.

You gave yourself to him soon after, your bodies illuminated by the moonlight while his growls echoed through your ears. Not once did you believe the melodic moans he expressed would become a distant melody the moment his fear of being so strongly attached to you kicked in. Brian became cold and he wanted you to escape from the toxicity he began oozing from his heart. Even though it hurt for you to give in, you slowly drifted as if the two of you never happened and the secrets you held never mattered...

A shrill cry jerked him out of his sleep, a cigarette bud falling from his lips as he caught himself from slipping out of his bed. It was an annoying noise that echoed in his ears and seemed to get louder as he exited his room.

“What the hell...?” Brian groaned, slender fingers ruffling his platinum hair. The floorboards of the apartment creaked beneath his feet as he made his way to the front door where the wailing sound was loudest. With furrowed brows and harsh words waiting on the tip of his tongue for whoever was causing the noise, he snatched the door open to see nothing in front of him.

The noise had stop and there was no one there, but he couldn’t have been dreaming. “God, I got up for no reason.” He mumbled, turning to shut the door behind him until he heard a soft coo. Brian’s eyes fell to his feet, noticing an infant staring up at him with wide eyes on the verge of tears. It was strapped in a car seat with a bag by its side, lip trembling as it eyed him.

He was dreaming, there was no way in hell some random baby was at his doorstep and he wasn’t about to test the reality of even approaching it, especially when he didn’t care much for children anyway. Brian shut the door carefully, silently leaning against it until he heard the wailing start again.

“Shit!” He shouted when the realization settled in, it wasn’t his imagination. Instead of opening the door again he ran toward a room that wasn’t his own, banging heavily on the wooden door. “Jaehyung! Get up man there’s some baby on your doorstep!” When his friend didn’t answer, he opened the door himself  to see him passed out with a woman at his side.

“Jae! Get the fuck up dude!” Brian snarled, baring his canines accidentally. Jae woke up immediately but the woman he was with never budged. It was a good thing she didn’t or else she would have suspected a dog to be there when the two had no pets. Jaehyung moved slowly, adjusting his boxers and grabbing his lens-less glasses. “Control your shit wolf boy,” he mumbled as he pushed past Brian to exit his room. He was ready to tell him that he was hearing things in the distance, he was half human after all; but the moment the cries reached his own ears he bolted to open the front door.

Jaehyung turned to look at Brian then the baby stopped crying immediately at the sight of them both.

“Uh...?” He cleared his throat as he reached down to unbuckle the infant and take it into his arms. “Brian… you didn’t happen to knock anyone up recently? Right...?” Jaehyung asked as he examined the features of the child in his arms. The baby seemed familiar, a mix of someone he knew and someone he didn’t, he could tell just from the eyes alone that it possibly belonged to his friend.

Brian scoffed, arms crossing over his chest.

“No…I’m always been careful with who I sleep around with unlike you.”

“You sure?” Jae asked as he turned around, holding the baby out in front of him. “Because if you asked me I would say this kid is definitely yours man, look at the eyes.”  There was a toothless smile from the baby in Jaehyung’s hands that had Brian raising a brow while he stared at it. He couldn’t see it, there was no way he could see himself in the baby before him, but the vagueness of someone he once knew was there and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“It’s not mine.” Brian replied sharply, turning around to head back to his room.

Brian couldn’t go back to sleep no matter how hard he tried. Thanks to Jaehyung the baby would be there until they could figure out what to do with it in the morning. The cries were so ear splitting that it ran the woman who stayed the night off, refusing to help calm the surprise baby. Jaehyung tried his best to calm the infant and Brian didn’t want anything to do with it, glaring as his friend hopped all over the apartment to quiet it.

“Give it food, dude. Isn’t there a bottle in that bag somewhere?” Brian sighed in frustration as he rummaged through the diaper bag, pulling out a couple of empty bottles until he found one halfway full. Brian tossed it in Jaehyung’s direction and he caught it with one hand, popping the top off and slipping the nipple into the baby’s mouth.

A collective sigh of relief escaped both men when the child accepted it, closing its eyes. “Damn, little guy must have been starving.” Jaehyung chuckled as he settled back on his couch, with a smile.

“It’s a boy?” Brian asked, sitting down across the room.

“Well, it’s definitely not a girl, now that I look closely at him. It’s your baby boy.” Jaehyung taunted, earning himself the middle finger from his friend. Once the baby finished the milk Jae sat him down on the floor, amazed at how he could sit up on his own already.

“Dude, how old are babies when they can sit up this well? Three months?” Jae asked curiously, making sure the infant wouldn’t tilt over.

“How the hell am I supposed to know? It’s not my kid.” Brian answered, avoiding the baby’s gaze.  Before Jae could reply the infant sneezed, wolf-like ears sprouting from his head. The two were in awe as they watched the baby clap his hands as if nothing happened. Brian’s heart raced as he gawked at the baby boy who he was starting to believe was his own flesh and blood after all.

What the hell was he going to do...?

[tumblunni]

Baron omatsuri and the secret island traumatizes me yet again, hooray!

Ok wow that was a nostalgia blast! Finally goddamn have a physical copy of this thing to own. Its never been dubbed and the only way to get it was this weird manga UK licensed reprint of a bunch of (i think) hong kong english subtitles. The style of the subtitles looks like that, at least. Its all weird and grainy and very very old fashioned early days of subtitling style, which contrasts completely with the modern dvd menus and box and stuff. And its also a weird combination disc of four different movies, it seems they just bought out a licensing package deal or something? And just baked it onto the disc without checking or editing anything. Its not really a funny sort of bad subtitles though, its just awkward phrasings of thibgs that are hard to understand or random typos or whatever, no legendarily hilarious stuff. I kinda dislike it more when subtitles are like this, when theyre like...actually written by a guy who speaks fluent english but he just never watched the actual movie so theres a bunch of rookie mistakes. Also has a strange case of what you usually only see on fansubs- the obsession with leaving everything in japanese to Sound Cool. Nah we cant call them the Tea Party Pirates we have to say the japanese word for that. Nah we cant have this man say mustache when he's doing the mustache pose and talking about his crew of entirely mustache men who all do this mustache pose NO it has to be Chobehige because its somehow deep and edgy to not understand the word for mustache. Like i feel if i was watching this sub first i would have no idea what was happening! At least its not as bad as that older sub i saw where they insisted on translating friends as "crew", even when it was llike..a singular. This one man is my crew and here are all my other crews! Like i feel like that subber probably originally did that dumb old fandom thing of INSISTING that you had to say Nakama in japanese and Capitalized and it was a Very Important japanese word for specifically pirate friends that was Impossible To Translate. And then they just did a ctrl + F replace on the whole thing and made an incomprehensible mess. Also for some reason sanji just yells DOCTOR out of nowhere (chopper wasnt even in the scene) and baron omatsuri's one syllable "oh" is translated as some long string of what seems to be baseball jargon..?

But ANYWAY the movie is still fuckin awesome and i actually noticed EVEN MORE dark shit and subtle storytelling that i missed when i was a kid! The whole 'small child zombie stares blankly at the place where a sword stabbed through his chest and cant understand why he got back up' scene is EVEN MORE emotionally destructuve than i thought! Cos the subtlety of the voiceacting seems to make the poor kid sound so tired and resigned to it? He's desperately asking and his father figure feeds him the same old lies he's done a million times about how he's totally still alive and everything is fine. Like wow i missed that inplication that this has happened before! And then he kinda sounds like he's actually aware that Baron is lying and he's just pretending to believe him to make him feel better. And then he starts turning back into a corpse and he doesnt panic like muchigoro or not realize whats happening like the grandpas do. He just looks straight at his hand falling apart and tries to lie to Baron to make him feel better. *long shot of him from behind before you see whats happened* "I'm just feeling dizzy again. I've got used to it." *him staring blankly at his body falling apart, not even capable of feeling sad about it anymore* "Don't worry...i've got used to it." *thud*

Like FUCKING HELL this film is the best damn existential horror thing ever and why the FUCK did they market it as a fun happy kids film? it probably would have been way more successful if the twist wasnt kept all twisty, honestly.

And also WOW YEAH theres a lot of stuff thats the subtlest goddamn storytelling in the universe and youd never notice unless you watched this film a million times like i did! Like during the intro when everythibg still seems all fun and cute and normal, the advert for the Totally Innocent Not A Trap Super Secret Island Resort is being read over some random shots of waves and stuff. But then right near the end you see those same shots again and it becomes clear that it was literally the view from Baron's eyes as he was falling from the ship and drowning, desperately trying to keep his head above water and strain his eyes to see if anyone else had survived. All the moments that just looked like camera cuts were actually when his head fell beneath the waves. Thats fuckin amaizng you straight up showed the ending in the beginning and we didnt notice????

Oh and also right before THE FUCKIN TERRIFYING MUCHIGORO DEATH SCENE you see him casually mention being 'sleepy' a few scenes earlier. It just passes by without notice and you think that he's just drunk until he suddenly starts going from comedic slurring to fucking asphixiating and the SKIN ON HIS FINGERS PEELING OFF. Oh hey! Another thing i didnt notice before! FUCKING THAT. A fun game for you on your rewatch! Looking out to find the secret finger horror! Ha ha ha...ha...

Also MAN OH WOW all the subtle signs of Baron getting more desparate throughout the movie and how it seems the time limit for the zombies was almost up and he had to kill these specific pirates right now because he couldnt spare even a few more hours. In retrospect it makes sense how he was slipping up and leaving evidence for the heroes to figure him out. And its just so subtly offputting and strange how he goes from making a big fun performance about the festival early on and then starts subtky rushing through the formalities faster. Like you dont eveb conciously notice the tone is changing until suddenly BAM the full change happens and you realise you missed all those signs! And aaaa its so fuckin sad how you see him come running when muchigoro drops dead and he's like fuckin GET OUT OF THE WAY DAMMIT and kneels down next to the body and theb he just..turns emotionless again and goes ITS TIME FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE. It is time. Its now. Shut the fuck up and do it, i dont have time to deal with this shit, just die so i can bring my friend back. (Tho of course you dont know thats why at the time) And then whats most jarring about the whole scene to me is how he's like "okay fuck it theres no more fun theres no more attractions, if youre not gonna play along then the final game is just i shoot your damn head off" WHILE YKNOW STILL STANDING OVER THE CORPSE OF HIS FRIEND AND STARING DAGGERS INTO THEM LIKE ITS THEIR FAULT FOR DARING TO CLING ONTO LIFE and then a fuckin half finished hapoy fun carnival game sign pops up in the backgroubd and everyone walks past it. Why was that somehow both hilarious and terrifying????? Just fuckin 'whoops we had this thing ready to go but alright its murder time i guess' and everyone IS SUDDENLY PACKING HEAT AND RIDDLING OUR HEROES WITH BULLETS???

And also even more subtly Baron just?? Stays with muchigoro?? Like notice how the entirety of the endgame takes place around where the dude dropped dead. And how when mustache pirate guy saves luffy you see Baron just walking in circles around the same area angrily shooting arrows at nothing in complete desperation even though the dude is gone and itd make more sense to run after him. No he stays standing right there and actually looks really damn relieved when luffy comes back, he's like 'holy shit you really were stupid enough to walk right into my trap jesus christ im so glad but also youre a dumbass'. And he fights entirely using arrows at this point so you might not even notice that he barely walks more than just circling a two meter radius of fuckin DEAD BEST FRIEND CORPSE. Which btw blends intonthe shadows for this entire scene and they only draw attention it again after Baron wibs and muchigoro comes back to life. And UGH MY HEART you see him smile genuinely for the firstvtime and he's like 'im so glad youre okay' and muchigoro is like 'haha im more than okay i can do somersaults!' and generally being a FUCKING TREASURE and this poor fuckin horrible evil man is hugging his buddy and gently leading him away from the battlefield so he doesnt norice he was just fuckin murdering some dudes to ressurect him. God the scariest damn thing about this film is how the zombies dont know theyre zombies and honestky they probably wouldnt even agree with their boss's plan to kill people to keep them alive. They justvthink they live a perfectly normal happy life on hapoy festival island, and he wants them to stay that way and never feel pain again :(

Aaaaand then yeah the infamous scene of revealing this horrifying intestines flower is growing out of the flesh on his back and all the corpses its digesting are pushed against the undulating flesh of its throat like a snake devouring its prey. And its cutesy fake flower face grows infinate eyes as it just keeps laughing and laughing. And then it gets graphically blown apart and the poor goddamn parasite host tries to shove the bloody instestines back into its body, knowing that without this horrifying monster chewing on his goddamn veins all his friends will go back to being dead.

THE END

THE FUCKING END

God it ends so abruptly seriously

I still cry my eyes out every time at the ending monologue of Baron dying and meeting all the souls of his dead friends and theyre crying telling him he shouldnt be here, they wish he'd been able to find another reason to live without him...

And then THE END

JAUNTY MUSIC OVER THE CREDITS

THE FUCKIN END I GUESS

What a great but very oddly executed movie. Seriously i feel it could have worked better if it was given space to breathe and more deeply explore the dark themes rather than the weirdness of trying to fool the audience into thinking it was cheerful and innocent. Like all of this shit happens in the last 30 minutes of the movie! They spend 60 minutes on the fun carnival games! What a strange sense of priorities!!

I WOULD DEVOUR A MILLION HOURS MORE OF DEEP SAD ZOMBIE CONTENT

I am like the Lily of fanfics

Oh yeah btw the horrifying deadly elder god spine parasite thing is named Lily and it looks pretty much exactly like flowey from undertale. This film kinda spoiled me for that game LOL ive never trusted a single talking flower ever since!