#preying on his students is his way of letting it out ig

[jrmblob]

substitute jer…..

“mom, mr h4rringt0n says i should stay after school for tutoring lessons…”

meanwhile hes bending u over his desk n pounding into u like an eager doggy. :]

he feels so gross afterwards and ends up in ur arms crying every time.

"shhh. shhh."

u give him the validation he wishes he had

[nighthaterfrfr]

take a deep breath for me

1st request from @jben073 , grace getting overstimulated and steph comforting!

im no stranger to being overstimulated, but im still not sure how to write it as someone who im pretty sure is neurotypical?

so fair warning if its inaccurate, i tried pulling from peoples experiences and a bit of my own for grace.

anywho, lets get to it! a nighthater tumblr preview ig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If someone had told Stephanie Lauter, reluctant daughter and overall "girl-who-doesn't-give-a-shit" that she'd have to help someone like Grace Chasity with being overstimulated, she'd look at the them confused and laugh in their face.

So how the fuck did she get into a situation like this?

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

Ever since she's been hanging out with Pete, Grace, and the rest of the school's so-called "Nerdiest Prudes," most of them have been safe. Well, because of her and Jägerman. Even then, some people still harass the students often. Especially Grace. Yet today was a little different.

It's a rare occasion when Max Jägerman misses school. The boy rarely got sick, and his father never cared enough to take him anywhere besides school and football games. So whenever he's gone, the rest of the school preys upon the prudes. Today was also a good day to go after Hatchetfield High's resident preacher.

Grace has had a relatively rough day already. Her father ended up dropping her off late for homeroom and she's been behind in completing all of her assignments. Her mind's a mess since the Waylon Place, and it has not been treating her good.

On her way to her AP Biology class, two of Max's football friends had decided to smack the notebook she had held and laughed at her while she picked it up. One of them taunted, "Aww, what's the matter? You gonna cry to Jesus about it?" Usually, Grace would easily refute back at them with the very repetitive, "You will all be going to hell!" speech, but today she just let them continue. One more thing to add onto a massive, unstopping headache that left her agitated.

When she got to AP Bio, some of the cheerleaders were waiting there. They immediately took the notebook again, and tossed it over to the two originally picking on Grace. She was mad, but it felt odd. It felt like it was all too much. The louder they laughed, the more that Grace felt like she needed to get out of there and scream. The loud insults, the sun getting in her eyes, the bell ringing? It was all too much for Grace "Chastity Belt" Chasity.

Somehow, Steph was also in Grace's AP Bio period. She may be a bit misguided, but she's certainly not that stupid. Sure, it's almost a failing grade, but hey, a 63% is all right with the mayor's daughter. As she was once again late to her classes, she saw that people were once again, picking on Grace. Steph knows better, and she knows that Grace Chasity always wards people like that easy. However, seeing her run off, tears rolling down her face and a face that looks like she'll kill someone was a different situation.

The group of people teasing and making fun of Steph quickly left, and Steph went after the crying girl right after they left. Look, she's not one to help comfort people, but seeing one of her closest friends cry is her limit. Following Grace, she ended up in a storage closet in the school. Steph decided not to go in right after Grace, as to give her some time to relax a little.

"Oh gosh darn it!" Grace had been breathing heavily and shaking for quite a bit. She's obviously upset, but for what? She has no idea what in the world is causing this, and it seriously sucks! To be honest, this kind of thing would happen frequently with her, especially when she was younger, but it was never like this. Never where Grace Chasity would have to skip a class to calm down.

The smell of the wood in the room was a familiar sense. Shop Class, from her junior year. She always did like Mr. Houston the best as a teacher. Looking around, Grace's breathing slowing down and her temper cooling, she hears a knock at the door. She quickly backed away and considered hiding, but she knew she'd been caught.

"Chasity? You... you doing better? It's um, Steph. I just wanna check on you, that's all." The voice of Stephanie Lauter soothed her a lot more. Yet, it also scared her. The fact that Steph was also skipping Bio just to see how she was doing? It was charming. And really thoughtful, too.

Grace stood up and walked towards the door, letting Steph in as her notebook dropped on the ground. Steph quickly went to go pick it up as the two of them sat on the floor right by the door. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, the room was silent. Steph had no idea what to do in this situation, so she didn't talk or engage in anything with Grace unless she did it first.

Breaking the silence, Grace had began to ramble, saying, "I'm sorry Stephie, I just kind of freak out sometimes like that. I don't even know why I do this! I mean, I've been doing this since I was young, but I guess I've been repressing like my parents sa-" Steph quickly saw that her breathing got quick and her face was about to cry, so she stopped her, holding out a palm with one of her rings on the inside.

"Just take a deep breath, ok? It's fine, Grace. You're just here in the shop storage room, and- and it's clear that a lot is getting to you."

Steph may haven't been the quietest person, but she's a damn good observer. So much so, she knows that Grace loves to play with a ring whenever she has one on. Steph also knows that Grace frequently taps her foot in a very syncopated rhythm when nervous. She also knows that Chasity repeats the phrase "cool beans" as a way of motivating or calming herself down. Along with biting her nails when nervous, shaking her hands and almost spinning when she gets excited, and biting her tongue when confused.

Steph had quietly noticed all of these traits. Thought it would be no big deal until now. After all, it's just her friend Grace Chasity and all the little things she does.

Grace grabbed the ring, sighing as she puts it on her finger and fidgets with it. "How did you know I liked to do this, Stephie?" Grace asked her, causing Steph to twiddle her thumbs and looking elsewhere. She replied, "Oh, y'know. Just noticed it during AP Calc, I guess." Grace smiled slightly as she put her hands down, mumbling to herself.

"Stephie, do you know what autism is?" Steph looked at her, a bit off guard with the question. "Yeah, I do. How come?" Grace looked a bit nervous, trying to keep eye contact with Steph. "So- uh, I'm on the spectrum? I mean, I was diagnosed when I was younger, but I have just kind of been ignoring. My mommy and daddy says to just pray to God and hope it goes away, y'know. I've prayed and prayed everyday, pleading that I won't be so overwhelmed."

"So why won't it go away?"

Steph looked at Grace, her face filled with concern and a hint of confusion on how to answer a question like this. "Because... it's just a part of you. You've been denying you've been so overstimulated for a while, haven't you?" Steph asked, Grace nodding yes. "Um, I'm not on the spectrum, so I have no idea how you're feeling, Grace. However, I know that, if needed, I'm here for you. If you want, of course." Grace faces Steph fully, her attention on her as she smiles.

"Thanks, Stephie." Grace said, getting her notebook back from the other girl. Standing up, Grace looked around the storage room. SHe didn't want to go to the class, but she also knew that both Steph and herself would be in trouble if caught skipping. Trying to think about the possibilities for trying to hide in the room, Grace walked around.

Weirdly enough, the rows of plywood in the room comforted Grace, letting her think more. Maybe it reminded her of her favorite class, or her favorite class, or her favorite kid to babysit. Nonetheless, she knew that she couldn't be here for long. Breathing in deeply, she walked back to the door, opening it. Steph stood up, peeking out once Grace opened it slightly.

Thankfully, there was never many students that would skip a class so early in Hatchetfield High, so there are rarely any hall monitors in the school. Because of this, Steph and Grace quickly snuck out of the big storage room and returned back to their Biology class in the same hallway they were in. Steph held onto Grace's hand to reassure her and to remind that she has someone to rely on when something like this happens again.

After all that, Steph was still trying to make sure that Grace wasn't too overwhelmed with any of the classes they had together. From giving her one of her airpods to take a break from all the noise and instead listening to Steph's very explicit (and very good) playlist to helping isolate herself during a group activity if it seemed like too much.

Grace was very appreciative of this, and got even closer to Steph. Every time she'd get overwhelmed at school, somehow, Steph was there.

Even then, what's that feeling that Grace gets whenever she's around Steph?

Whatever- she's gotta cool her beans.

Cool, cool beans.

[starcrossed-pharaoh]

Red Crackle Breakdown

Itstalkcartoons recently had a live stream interview with Carmen Sandiego’s showrunner Duane Capizzi, I’ve seen some thoughts on tumblr so after watching the interview I thought I’d drop down some direct quotes and talk about what happened. You can find the interview on Istalkcartoon’s IG page, it’s about an hour and a half long full of other tidbits about the characters and the show so definitely check it out if you’re interested. The post below will have spoilers from season 1 - season 4 so if you haven’t seen it yet, do not read below. 

- Duane confirms that Gray is the most complex character and has the most complex arc of anyone in the show. 

- Gray’s story was meant to be wrapped up in the season 1 pilot. Duane created his story for that episode only. After the pilot, the Writer’s Room was developed and he was blown away by the interest that people had in Gray as a character. It was from there they decided to go with the ‘amnesia’ arc to expand and enrich his character. 

- Duane confirms that in the pilot episode, at that point in time, Gray “was willing to kill her [Carmen] for V.I.L.E on the train”. He says a little earlier to this quote that “we know Gray has good qualities, from his days back at the school protecting Black Sheep, but he’s still a criminal, still a sociopath” and he admits that this is a controversial opinion of the character. “He [Gray] says one of the most awful things to her, that anybody in the series has ever said, something like ‘You proved yourself to V.I.L.E, that’s all you ever wanted, wasn’t it?’ and it’s so demeaning.” By Carmen leaving him gift-wrapped in her coat on the train, Gray “got what he deserved” and Carmen “moved on”. 

So what we do know is that despite Gray and Black Sheep being very close on the island, when Black Sheep defected, no matter how hard Gray could have found this he was still grimly determined to kill Carmen for V.I.L.E. This is heart breaking, not only for their friendship, but because of the successful brainwashing and nurturing of sociopathic tendencies that V.I.L.E did to these barely legal adults. Carmen clearly proved herself unique to this, she had the longest exposure to villains and brainwashing on the island, but her innate empathy for others won over her drive for success. 

I suppose, we don’t know exactly what the lives of the other V.I.L.E members were like. We know from season 4 that Gray’s drive was to be successful, he was a junior technician at the Sydney Opera House and wanted more out of his life. But V.I.L.E is, essentially, a cult. V.I.L.E engages in mind altering practises, cull dissenters, dictate their students’ beliefs, education, social communities. They clearly target and prey on teenagers with specific skill sets, who likely have specific backgrounds that make them more vulnerable in society, or more likely to respond to a vigilante or criminal way of living. They clearly make sure that their students know V.I.L.E is their entire life, their entire community, and if you want that: you need to follow the rules. 

It’s not too surprising to me that Gray is like this in the pilot. He’s a complex character leaning into sociopathic tendencies, he was written to be that way. 

- Gray’s arc changes with his amnesia. Duane confirms Bellum created nice guy Graham Calloway onto Gray, it was a personality “grafted onto him” that opposes his personality in the pilot. Carmen protects Graham Calloway, she recognises that he isn’t the ‘V.I.L.E Gray’ and that he is innocent and has the potential for a do-over. This shows Carmen’s true selflessness, despite her ex-best friend trying to essentially kill her/take her down, she sees he doesn’t remember any of that and believes in his goodness. So much so that she protects it. It’s the opposite of where Gray was in the beginning.

- Tragically, when Gray gets his memories back, he does revert back to V.I.L.E. Duane does not confirm exactly why this is but he does say that Gray was never good enough for Carmen up until the finale. We can theorize and infer a lot from what he’s told us of Gray’s character, despite the good qualities he does have, he struggles with doing the right thing. How much of Gray is because of V.I.L.E’s cult-like brainwashing and how much of it is due to Gray’s own chaotic morality and ambition is up to interpretation. I’m of the belief it’s a strong mix of both. In saying that, I’d like to think Gray’s aware that if he defects with Carmen, he knows he’s as good as dead. Graham Calloway might have believed Professor Maelstrom would let him walk free, but Gray is not so naive. He made his choice a long time ago and taking Carmen’s hand is not just about caring about her, it’s choosing a side and who he wants to be. 

Just because Gray doesn’t join Carmen doesn’t mean his arc is entirely reverted though. In the pilot, he was willing to kill her. After knowing her through the eyes of Graham Calloway, and having the empathy and naivety and kindness of Graham Calloway literally injected into him, Gray truly feels regret and empathy. V.I.L.E unintentionally gave Gray a huge gift they likely never foresaw: a different perspective. He regrets ever hurting Carmen and never wants to do so again. That’s a huge step from where he was at the beginning, but is it enough to leave what he’s familiar and used to? 

There’s a lot to unpack there that I won’t go into because this is long enough. I think it’d be interesting to go more in depth about the psychology of cults and how future Gray and future Carmen would assimilate the personalities they were forced into. Do those personalities go away when the memories come back? Can the trauma of it cause black outs and more memory loss? What does it do to your mental health? Do you assimilate it into who you are? But I digress

- The most important part of Gray’s arc is in the finale. As Duane says, it’s Gray’s “coming of age, when he becomes a real person” and he does so by showing what Carmen stood for: true selflessness. There’s a bitter irony to Gray’s ambitions of success, his desire to work with Carmen as a team, pulling off successful and incredible heists ... all his dreams are coming true. But she takes more risks, he’s shocked by her ruthless and individualistic impulses, he knows it isn’t truly her, and whatever he could excuse before, he knows it’s wrong. He chose to be a criminal, Carmen didn’t. The final thing that gets through to him is what Gray knows she can never take back: killing Shadowsan. He defects and betrays, not for himself, not for success, not for anything except for her. He’ll risk getting killed, imprisoned, he’ll even betray this Carmen, out of a true selflessness for her to be herself again. He proves he has become a person good enough for Carmen Sandiego.

- I also absolutely love that at some point he changed his Crackle Rod to stun mode as a ‘maximum setting’. He didn’t plan for Carmen to be able to use it against him because he thought she couldn’t use it, so for awhile now he’s been ‘stunning’ people instead of killing them. Even though he returned to V.I.L.E, he came back as a changed person.

- His decision in the hospital room was also quite tragic, he didn’t want to complicate her life any further and Duane confirms he felt shame over his actions. That it was the right narrative at the time. I agree with this, though I’m a RedCrackle shipper at heart, the writer in me recognises the parallels of Carmen selflessly staying away from Gray to not ‘complicate’ his new beginning, and now Gray showing the same selflessness is a mirror to me that they’re on equal footing. (But also, please meet up again and talk to each other, because they’re the only ones who have gone through traumatic memory altering and personality grafting and there’s bound to be mental issues with that and they could help each other!)

And now, some talk by Duane on some RedCrackle hints:

- Carmen [on V.I.L.E island] was at an age where she probably didn’t know how to interpret her feelings for him, referencing when she called him a big brother to her. She tells Player she cares about him but doesn’t specifically reference that this is romantic or not

- 100% Graham was flirting with her in Australia

- They absolutely will meet up again in the future.

Anyway, I’ve seen some things circulating about the interview on Tumblr and I just wanted to provide some context and quotes from the interview. It was surprising to me that we were to read Gray as someone ruthless enough to kill Carmen in the pilot, because I didn’t interpret that exactly from my viewing, but I suppose that’s the great thing about art: it’s your interpretation. It also makes sense to me that Gray was written for the pilot and it was the Writer’s Room afterwards that took his character in new ways, just proof of organic storytelling. I also love that in the interview, he doesn’t specify any of the pairings as canon but if we saw things happen between characters or implied by a character, it was intentional, and I love that. 

Definitely check out the interview for yourselves on Itstalkcartoon’s IG, they had a lot more to talk about, particularly with the goodbye to Zack and Ivy and Carulia. 

Special thank you to Duane Capizzi, I doubt he’’ll ever read this, but thank you for your part in bringing this amazing show and its characters to a new narrative. It’s such a shame it only lasted for four seasons, hopefully in the future we get new stories to tell with these characters. As a complete side note, I am a New Zealander and it was so great to see NZ represented in media, even better that it was a Carmen and Gray episode :D To everyone else, thanks for reading this if you have gotten this far :) 

[patandpran]

The question of the Jersey

This is a Sarawatine fic that I wrote back in March that I thought I wore share on here too since Still 2gether is coming up so quickly!

When Sarawat asks Tine to wash his jersey for him, Tine starts to question the implications of what seems like a simple and harmless request.

Featuring: Tine's meddling friends, Oblivious Tine, Pining Sarawat and a sea of jealous #TeamSarawatwives

“Just wash it for me, okay?”

Those has been Sarawat’s simple instructions before leaving his soccer jersey in Tine’s hands. Tine was perplexed at the request but everything going on between him and Sarawat was confusing lately, so this wasn’t exactly an isolated incident.

Before he could object, Sarawat was walking away from Tine shirtless, and returning to his faculties side of the soccer field. Tine watched as Sarawat sauntered across the field, his muscles shifting as he moved. Tine couldn’t help but be somewhat mesmerized by the movement, as if he was watching the statue of David come to life and moving across the turf.

Tine was shaken from his close examination of Sarawat’s shoulder muscles by the screams of his fellow cheerleaders, likely appreciating the same view as he was - but for a different reason, obviously. 

“I hope our faculties play against each more often.” He heard one of the girls say which caused him to roll his eyes.

Sarawat always had that effect on girls, no matter how little effort he put in. Tine had to bend over backward to even get a girl to smile at him and often it was more of a sympathetic smile than an interested one. Tine shook his head in jealousy of Sarawat’s command over the opposite sex.

“Whoa.” One of the cheerleader’s approached Tine and inspected what was cradled in his arms. “Is that Sarawat’s soccer jersey?”

Quickly, Tine was surrounded by a swarm of female cheerleaders. He couldn’t help but love the attention but was disappointed to know that it was, once again, connected back to his ‘fake boyfriend’, Sarawat.

“Uh, yah.” Tine muttered, trying to be as casual as possible. “He just wants me to wash it for him. I owe him a favour for him helping me with my guitar chords.”

Tine felt a hand fall down onto his shoulder, “I’ll give you 2500 baht for it.”

“What?!?” Tine blurted out in complete shock. “Why would you pay money for a dirty soccer jersey? Are you insane?”

“I’ll give you 3000 for it.” One of his senior’s stepped in front of him, a hungry look in her eyes.

Tine suddenly felt very claustrophobic. As much as he would love some extra cash to weigh down his pockets, he wasn’t about to sell of his friend’s jersey just to make some extra coin. What was so great about a soccer jersey anwyay? He knew that Sarawat’s fans were intense but he didn’t quite realize to what lengths they might go to get their hands on one of his possessions.

“Hey! I think I see Sarawat over there!” Tine pointed over the sea of #Teamsarawatwives members that he didn’t realize made up most his cheerleading team. “He looks thirsty. Maybe someone should bring him some water?”

The women surrounding Tine turned suddenly as if on the attack. They moved swiftly across the soccer field, like a swarm of bees, to stalk their prey. Tine took the opportunity to quickly snatch up his things and escape. He would have to apologize to Sarawat later for the sudden ambush.

Clutching the soccer jersey tightly in his hands, Tine made his escape back to his dorm, still dumbfounded as to why a worn soccer jersey had inspired so much hysteria.

*******************

A knock fell upon Tine’s dorm room door and he sat up from his with a panicked gasp. It was the morning after the soccer jersey exchange and he was still on high alert. He eyed Sarawat’s soccer jersey that he had cleaned the evening before and quickly shoved it under his pillow, worrying that word might have spread about the jersey’s whereabouts and that an insane fan might be right outside of his door.

He crept silently toward the door and cursed the fact that none of the dorm’s doors had eyeholes to be able to peek through to see if it was safe to answer it. Tine took a deep breath as another urgent knock fell upon the door.

Tine swung it open and was relieved as his trio of friends stumbled into the room. Phuak, Fong and Ohm entered his room and took up their usual posts around his bed. Ohm, without hesitation, grabbed Tine’s computer and quickly propped it open.

“And to what do I owe this lovely visit so early in the morning?” Tine asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Considering our classes don’t start for hours….”

“Have you not looked at your phone this morning?” Fong asked, flicking Tine in the head.

“I was getting my beauty sleep.” Tine retorted, striking a ‘model’ pose.

“I see that didn’t help improve your ‘beauty’ at all.” Phuak responded quickly, a devilish smirk on his lips. “You’re still ugly.”

Tine grabbed a pillow and chucked it at Phuak’s head but his friend dodged it easily. Ohm clearly his throat to bring his friend’s attention back to the matter at hand. “At 7PM last night, there was a report in the #TeamSarawatwives group that Sarawat’s soccer jersey had changed hands to a ‘average looking cheerleader’ from the law faculty. While efforts had been made by the members of the group, the jersey, in question, disappeared quickly from the scene when a visual distraction was made by the male cheerleader.”

Tine’s head began to hurt. “Why are people so obsessed with this stupid jersey? I really don’t get what the big deal is. I washed it and I’m going to it back to him. He was just trying to tease me and make a scene in front of the cheerleaders to embarrass me.”

Phuak, Ohm and Fong exchanged a look of disappointment and amusement at their friend’s response. Tine didn’t understand why everyone was putting so much weight on such a mundane situation. “Do you seriously not know what it means when a soccer player gives someone their jersey?” Ohm asked, his voice dripping with judgment and pity for his friend.

“It means that they are abusing their fake boyfriend privileges to make someone else do their laundry!” Tine objected, slamming his fists down on his mattress in frustration.

“No, man. You seriously are the most oblivious person I know.” Fong shook his head, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “It’s an old faculty tradition, kind of like when engineering students give people their gears? Soccer players give their jerseys to the people they want to pursue.”

“Pursue?” Tine’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Like, be friends with?”

Phuak groaned and threw the pillow back at Tine’s head. “No, you idiot! Like pursue romantically! Sarawat wants you to wear the jersey so people know that you belong to him. He wants people to know that he likes you.”

Tine’s cheeks started to burn. “I…. no. There’s no way. This must be something he’s doing to throw Green off. It must be part of the plan to get people to think we’re dating. He’s probably going to call me or text me sometime this morning to explain himself.”

“Was Green at the cheerleading practice yesterday?” Fong asked. “Has Green been around at all lately? Why would Sarawat make such a public claim if the very person that you are trying to convince is nowhere in the immediate vicinity? Plus, he’s risking his status with his fans with such a bold move.”

Tine felt his hear rate speeding up as he became increasingly anxious based on his friend’s accusations. “Sarawat probably knew it would blow up on IG. That’s why he made such a big public gesture.”

“You are seriously so blind, aren’t you?” Ohm closed the laptop and set it aside. “Don’t you see how he looks at you? I don’t think I have ever seen him focus that intently on anything before unless its sheet music.”

Tine absentmindedly reaches for the jersey and pulls it into his lap. Again, his three friends share a look between them at the movement as Tine’s mind raced as he silently processed what felt like new information. But as he truly thought about Ohm’s words, Tine wondered if this was something he was forcing himself to be blind to.

“It kind of seems like this is not an entirely foreign possibility to you too.” Fong shared gently and nodded his head toward the jersey in Tine’s grasp. “No matter what is going on, Tine, we are here to support you and help you figure this all out.”

“You might be right.” Tine expressed and was just as surprised as his friends as the words left his lips. “He tried to tell me who he liked the other night and I just got this feeling. I tried to ignore until now but maybe… maybe I shouldn’t.”

“Sarawat is an awesome guy.” Ohm answered enthusiastically. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s taking this whole thing seriously. He’s not trying to make a joke of you… If anything, he’s trying to prove himself to you.”

Tine let out a breath of relief. “Thanks guys. I think I just need some time alone to think through all this.”

Phuak, Fong and Ohm took this as their signal to leave. Each gave their own gesture of farewell before leaving Tine with his thoughts.

*****************

The first irrational thing that Tine did after his conversation with his friend was invite Sarawat over to retrieve his jersey. The second irrational thing that Tine did was put Sarawat’s soccer jersey on underneath the sweater he was wearing. The third irrational thing that Tine did was answer the door as soon as Sarawat knocked on it.

Tine swung the door open, prepared to say the words that he had practiced over and over again fore the past few hours, but as soon as his gaze fellow upon Sarawat’s, the words fell from his mouth and only silence remained.

Sarawat, the man of few words, therefore was forced to fill the silence. “Hey.”

Tine still couldn’t find his rational thought so he just opened the door further and gestured inside his dorm. Sarawat slid past him and Tine couldn’t but feel the urge to pull Sarawat into a hug. Thankfully, he resisted and Sarawat made his way into the door and found his usual post at the edge of Tine’s bed.

“Did you wash the jersey?” Sarawat asked, spying the basket full of folded clean laundry near Tine’s bed.

Tine wandered into the bedroom after Sarawat, feeling his ears burn at the question. Tine kept his distance between them by leaning on the doorframe. He wanted so desperately to play it cool like he usually did around Sarawat but things had changed so quickly over night.

“Helloooo?” Sarawat smirked as he waved in Tine’s direction. “Usually I can never get a word in but you aren’t saying a word.”

Tine swallowed slowly and tried to collect himself, feeling the soccer jersey brush again his chest. Sarawat suddenly stood up from the bed, a look of concern on his face as he advanced toward Tine who breathed in quickly.

Sarawat placed the back of his hand on Tine’s forehead. “Are you not feeling well? Do you have a fever? You feel warm and your cheeks are flushed. I can go get some medicine.”

It suddenly became abundantly clear to Tine how much Sarawat genuinely cared for him. He felt like a complete idiot for not seeing it before now and his heart broke at the look of desperation in Sarawat’s eyes.

“No, no I’m fine.” Tine reached up and grasped Sarawat’s hand in his, moving their hands down so they rested against his chest. “Can you feel that?”

Sarawat looked at Tine with a mix of fascination and confusion. His voice came out as barely a a whisper. “Feel what?”

“My heart.” Tine expressed, unsure of where the words he had planned so meticulously had gone and been replaced by this much more serious script.

“Not really.” Sarawat murmured, looking completely transfixed. Tine shuddered at the realization of how much power he held over Sarawat.

“This might help.” Tine guided Sarawat’s hand underneath the sweater so that it rested upon the smooth material of the soccer jersey.

The intimacy of the gesture did not go unnoticed by both Sarawat and Tine. Sarawat breathed out slowly, “Your heart is racing.”

“I just wanted to share that with you.” Tine moved his face closer to Sarawat’s boldly. “Because of how open you have with me about how you feel…”

Sarawat’s breath hitched suddenly and he pulled away from Tine. He turned away toward the window and Tine hoped that he hand’t just made the biggest mistake of his life. What if his friends were wrong? What if Sarawat didn’t like him? What if he misread all of this and ruined their friendship forever?

Slowly, Sarawat turned back to face Tine. “Sorry. I’m just….”

Tine couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He needed to know. He needed to know if what his heart was telling him was true. He needed to know the truth of how Sarawat felt for him. He needed to know what all this meant.

In one swift move, Tine closed the distance between him and Sarawat and pressed his lips to Sarawat’s.

At first, Sarawat was completely still, as if in shock. Tine quickly began to panic but instead decided to trust his instincts and brought his hands up to cradle the back of Sarawat’s neck and head. He deepened the kiss and the answer of his own feelings was quickly clarified.

If Sarawat wanted him, Tine was his.

Sarawat brought his hands up to Tine’s waist and pulled them flush together so Tine could feel Sarwat’s own heartbeat mirroring his own. The kiss lasted a few more heavy breaths before Sarwat pulled back.

“You’re wearing it.” He said breathlessly, a shy smirk on his deep red lips as he lifted up Tine’s sweater to reveal the soccer jersey.

A blush quickly spread across Tine’s face. “I just wanted to make it clear that I agree… and just so you know, there’s no way you’re getting this back anytime soon.”

“That is just fine with me.” Sarawat dropped a quick peck on Tine’s cheek. “You shouldn’t ever take it off.”

“You never want me to take this off?” A grin spread across Tine’s lips. “I’m surprised that you don’t want to see what’s underneath this…”

“All in good time.” Sarawat responded. “For now, I’m just happy for people to know what is mine.”

And that was all the answer that Tine needed.

[claitynroberts]

Ig-Pay Atin-Lay

Summary: The exorcism falls to y/n during a hunt (her first one ever), however, a miscommunication causes the event to go awry when she recites the incantation in Pig Latin

A/N: This came to me the other day and I cackled so loud I scared the students working in my Library! I hope I was able to do it justice!

Special thanks to @couldabeenamermaid for beta’ing for me! Your reactions always make me happy! (Direct Quote: “Hahahahahahahahahaha!”)

Written for: @spngenrebingo

Square Filled: “First Time”

Warnings: None really, canon level violence. Crack.

Word Count: 2,625

“Hey, Y/n,” Dean’s voice cut through her reverie. The three of them were in the Impala riding down some two-lane road, the blustery wind causing the black car to drift over the line whenever a strong gust hit her broadside.

“Hmm?” She responded, letting him know she had heard him as she was flipping through the lore book on Demons and Demon kind.

“Can you read Latin?” He asked, his eyes punctuating his question in the rear view mirror.

“Latin? Yeah, I can read it. I can speak it, too.” She sent him an incredulous look and went back to her book.

“Really?” Sam asked, half turning to look over the back of the front bench seat at her.

“Yeeeaah… Can’t most hunters?”

Sam’s mouth pulled down in a noncommittal look of ‘meh’ as he bobbled his head back and forth in a ‘so-so’ motion. “I mean, I guess it’s more common than not.” He shrugged. A few minutes later he was rummaging through a small notebook he kept with him. It contained thoughts, hunches, and things that did and did not work when it came to their line of work. He always preferred to write things down, at least if it didn’t help him it may benefit someone else later on.

He ripped a page from the back, then slung his arm over the seat-back offering it to y/n. She looked at his proffered hand, and took the paper from between his fingers. Flipping it over she glanced down at it. “What’s this?” She asked, her brows furrowing.

“It’s the Latin and English translations of a basic exorcism. Dean and I know it, and we thought it may be handy if you memorized it, too. Especially with the case we’ve got.”

“Yeah,” Dean piped up, “A black-eyed bitch who likes to prey on unsuspecting couples and play with the guy while making his girl watch?” His eyebrows had quirked up to his hairline in the mirror again, his tongue licking his bottom lip between his teeth quickly as he glanced at Y/n’s reflection. “Better safe than sorry. There’s no telling what could go down.”

Their rag-tag team had successfully found and saved the latest victims earlier that afternoon, and twenty minutes later, y/n and the boys had pulled up to the derelict house said to be the location of the deaths and disappearances. The house was weathered grey with flakes of white and green paint still clinging desperately to the siding and shutters. Shingles and pieces of the roof had either been blown away or had caved in from the roof, and the front porch was a labyrinth of dangerously molded and rotten boards.

Inside the remaining furniture had sagged to the floor or simply fall apart. Dust covered every inch of flat space, and cobwebs hung from the remnants of the ceiling. The whole property was remniscent of a haunted house from one of those cheap Hollywood thrillers from the eighties. Dean began shoving the rubble aside, as Sam dug through the supply bag for a can of spray paint. A canister of salt was shoved into y/n’s hands as Dean retrieved his own and ordered her to begin salting the windows and doors.

She had been reciting the exorcism incantation under her breath as she went about her appointed duties. When everything was readied, and each hunter had some form of weapon, Dean called out, riling up the demon. Minutes passed, and Dean provoked it once more using language coarse enough to cause even Sam’s face to tinge red.

Everything happened in a blur. A young woman with milky white skin and flame red hair flickered into appearance right in the middle of the pentagram. Windows and doors were flung shut, and anything not bolted down was thrown back against the wall effectively out of the demon’s way.

Cackling she turned to look between y/n and the Winchesters. “Oh, a ménage á trois,” she squealed, “How scandalously delicious!” She clapped her hands together in glee, recognition dawning as she realized just who these men were. “And with the Winchesters, no less. Boy am I going to have some fun with you two.” Her grin turning maniacal.

She began to pace toward Sam, the paint on the floor stopping her as she neared the edge of the circle. She let out a scream of frustration, her fists thumping against the invisible barrier in futility. “Not fair!” Her eyes flashed black and a growl erupted from her chest as she flung out her hand and Sam became airborn.

Sam landed against the wall, an oomph! And a groan leaving him as his head gave a solid thump after making contact with the dry-rotted plaster and lumber. The force knocked him out cold, and he was now laying in a crumpled heap at the base of the wall, the demon knife falling from his grip and skidding across the dusty floorboards.

The demon had Dean pinned against the railing of the staircase, force choking him and pulling him off the ground much like Darth Vader. He kicked his feet and stretched his legs trying to make contact with something in order to relieve the pressure, his hands scrambling at his neck, trying to get a purchase on the invisible force. Y/n watched on in horror from the opposite side of the room where she had been magically pinned to the ground kneeling.

“Y/n!” He managed to gasp out around the crushing of his windpipe. Her attention snapped to him. “La-tin,” he coughed. His mouth falling open in a futile attempt to draw breath.

Right! She thought, of course. The exorcism.

She took a deep breath preparing herself for the moment the demon cut off her air supply as well. Y/n just hoped it may distract the woman long enough to allow her power over Dean to falter so he could finish the incantation. She cast around in her brain, searching for the words Sam had presented her with just before they arrived.

Latching onto the first couple that came to her mind, she began, her voice uncertain and quiet. “E-way exor-yay-ise-cay ou-yay, every-way impure-yay irits-pay,” y/n’s voice crescendoed as the words came back to her, “every-way atanic-say ower-pay, every-way incursion-ay of-yay e-thay infernal-yay evil-day.”

The demon’s head began to turn toward y/n, her attention on Dean lost for the moment. An amused smile lighting her gruesomely beautiful features as she took in what was happening. The demon loosened her hold on Dean’s throat allowing him to breathe properly, though his mouth still hung agape, confusion creasing his features.

“No, y/n!” he coughed. “Latin! Like actual Latin!”

Y/n’s voice ringing in her own ears caused Dean’s to fade to the background. “Every-way ongregation-cay and-yay iabolical-day ect-say, erefore-thay ou-yay also-way ursed-cay ragon-day.” She persisted.

“Oh honey, you are too Ute-cay!” The demon squealed in delight. “You’ll definitely be the last one I kill.” She chuckled as she turned back to Dean where he was knelt on the floor. “Your girlfriend is adorable! Too bad I have to kill you.” She shrugged as she raised her hand to blast him.

“O-say at-thay our-yay urch-chay an-cay erve-say ee-thay,” the Demon’s face began to flash in quick succession between her real appearance and the meat-suit she was wearing. A confused look crossing her features as Dean looked at her bewildered.

“What the hell?” She barked as she began to convulse, black smoke slipping out of the vessel’s nose and mouth. She whirled around, leveling her gaze on y/n. “How,” she coughed, “is this working?” She screamed in annoyance.

The demon threw her power at y/n, knocking her to the side. Her head smacked against the floor, but she groaned through the pain, never letting up on the incantation. “In-yay ecure-say iberty-lay, e-way eseech-bay ee-thay...”

“Y/n!” Dean’s voice was drowned out by the demon’s screaming.

She was poised for another attack, smoke still trickling from her face as y/n kept on, Dean watching in horror.

“As-yay e-way ray-pay…”

The demon unleashed one last attack, blowing y/n into the wall behind her as the demon turned back to the hunter.

“Ear-hay us-yay!” Y/n bellowed to the heavens as she crashed into the wall. The force knocking the rubble down around her and burying her in dust and plaster.

“Aaaarrrgghhhh!” The demon’s head snapped back as a torrent of black smoke and goo was unleashed from the meat-suit’s mouth. Once the abominable force had disappeared through the window, the poor woman left behind dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Dean sat there for long moments, bewilderment and amazement swirling together in his mind.

“Dean?” Sammy’s voice broke him from his consternation.

“Sam,” he walked over to his brother, “You okay man?”

He groaned as he sat up, rubbing the crown of his head. “Yeah, I think so. Maybe a minor concussion,” he mumbled as he felt the goose egg that had sprung up. Another groan slipped from him as he stood. “And a few bruised ribs.” He looked over his brother. “You okay?” He asked, concerned. “Where’s y/n?”

“Shit, Y/n!” Dean jogged over to the other side of the room. The two hunters began moving pieces of the rubble that had fallen on top of the young woman, unearthing her rather quickly. Dust coated her body, her hair gray from the fine particles, and blood trickling from a cut at her right temple as well as the left side of her nose.

“Y/n?!” Dean questioned frantically, taking in the state of her as he lightly tapped his fingers against her cheek. Sam had grabbed her hand and was performing the same motion. “Please, be alright,” Dean whispered, his thumb rubbing lightly against her cheekbone.

A cough and a groan left her as she blinked the debris from her eyes. “Owwwwww…” As her vision came into focus, y/n saw Dean crouched over her, the worried look on his face morphing into one of hopefulness. “Dean, what happened? Did it work?” She tried to sit up, but dizziness washed over her. Sam and Dean pulled her into a sitting position, with Dean arranging himself so he was knelt on one knee, the other bent at a ninety degree angle in front of him as he settled y/n’s back against it.

“Y/n how do you feel?” Sam asked as he ghosted deft fingers over her joints looking for breaks.

“I’m okay, just dirty and bruised as usual.” She groaned.

“What’s your full name?” Dean asked.

She glanced up at the green-eyed hunter, “What? You know my name, Dean.”

He waved her question away with a flick of his wrist. “Just humor me, will ya?”

Rolling her eyes she answered his question. “I’m y/n y/mn y/ln. I’m y/age years old and I’m a hunter. You two are Sam and Dean Winchester, also hunters, and the biggest pair of mother hens I’ve ever met.”

“Do you feel dizzy? Nauseous? Is there any ringing in y—.”

“Sam Winchester, I am fine! Quit hounding me.” Y/n glared at the taller brother.

He threw up his hands in a placating signal. “Sorry, Sorry, just making sure you don’t have a concussion.”

“Maybe a minor one, but I’ll be okay.” She waved him off and turned her attention back to Dean. “The demon? Did it work?”

“Uhhh...y-yeah, it worked.” He chuckled before looking at her, “Surprisingly.”

“Surprisingly? Dean, we’ve used that incantation before,” Sam stated. “It’s foolproof.”

A laugh bubbled up from Dean’s chest. “Well maybe not the way y/n performed it.” He recalled the scene, and mirth began to spill out of him now that the danger had passed.

Her brow furrowed and she looked at Dean confused. “What? Did I get a word wrong or something? Latin can be kinda hard…”

Dean laughter quickly turned to full blown guffawing as Sam and y/n shared confused looks. The longer his fit of belly laughing continued, the more they became worried about the eldest hunter.

A voice groaned from behind them. All three hunters turned toward the new voice, Dean’s laughter subsiding quickly at the possibility of another threat. The young woman the demon had been possessing had woken up, apparently not too worse for wear. “Seriously?” She looked over at y/n, incredulity burning in her eyes and disbelief edging every feature as she pulled herself into a sitting position. “Pig Latin?”

The term set Dean off again, as understanding passed over Sam’s face. Y/n was still confused, and was looking between the hysterical older brother, the former meat-suit, and the young academic looking for some answers. “Wh-what? Is there another kind of Latin?” She asked innocently, looking to the young man with the chestnut mane. Dean’s side was now in stitches, and Sam was pinching the bridge of his nose.

“S...so let me get this straight,” Sam said, using his pointer finger to put the events of the evening in order. “Dean asked you if you could speak Latin, you said yes, then I gave you a copy of the incantation?” He ended the statement in a questioning tone, waiting for y/n to confirm it was true.

She gulped. “Yes.”

“Then, instead of memorizing the Latin translation you memorized the English. And while I was unconscious, with Dean apparently out of commission as well, you decided to chant the English version? In Pig Latin?” The disbelief was evident on his chiseled face.

Another gulp, another mumbled ‘yes’.

“And it worked?” His brows were knitted together in confusion, as he looked to his brother for confirmation. Dean had folded his lips between his teeth to calm the joy he felt at the hilarity of the situation, nodding his head as sagely as possible.

“Apparently…” Y/n lifted a shoulder in a half shrug.

Sam’s mouth hung open much like a fish out of water, his mind working through every possible reason it shouldn't have worked. All through the clean up process and the trek back to the motel, Sam’s mind was spinning, his brows pulled down so far over his eyes they nearly disappeared.

Y/n had slipped in the door to the room first, leaving the boys to trail behind. Dean had stopped in the doorway as he reached it, looking back to his brother and clapping him on the shoulder to bring him out of his reverie. “Hey Sam, let’s, uh—let’s give it some time. Y’know, before we start teasing her.” He waved absentmindedly toward the door behind him indicating just who he was talking as if his brother had forgotten.

“I, uh—yeah, agreed.” Sam looked at his brother to see the thinly veiled affection he harbored for y/n. “I just can’t figure out how it worked.” The night’s events confusing him the more he thought about it.

“Y’know, me neither.” Dean smirked. “Maybe it was a miracle from Chuck, maybe it was a fluke.” He shrugged as he turned back toward the room, glancing at his brother as Sam followed him inside, shutting and locking the door behind them. “Either way, let’s just chalk it up as a win, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Sam agreed as he pulled a beer from the mini fridge. He flopped down in the tattered chair by the door, heaving a befuddled sign as he yanked the cap off. Bubbling the cool liquid a few times he plopped the bottle against his thigh, bracing it with the force of his arm. “Pig Latin,” he mumbled as his head plunked against the wall behind him. After a moment a baffled snort escaped him. “Who woulda thought.”

Tags: @speakinvain @katsanders @shamelesslydean @thekatherinewinchester @stusbunker @couldabeenamermaid @pisces-cutie @mzbones108

[lightsandlostbells]

Druck season 2, episode 4 reaction

I want to thank turtleneck boy because I truly miss the fandom running wild with every detail and coming up with theories, I mean that sincerely. God bless you, sweater man.

Episode 4

Clip 1 - Motto selection 

We have the graduating class looking at mottos. Amira and Leonie are leading the meeting. Leonie sure likes to lead school activities. We also have Mia, Hanna, Jonas, and Matteo in attendance. I really like seeing more school activities, especially since the hero party thing wrapped up last season, and this seems like a particularly German tradition from what I can tell, so it’s a cool thing to include.

Jonas is wearing a fedora today and like, he’s rocking it and twirling it around and stuff, but baby, you gotta be aware of the implications.

They’re picking out a motto, but as Leonie emphasizes with finger quotes, these are “the best” and Amira says none of them are great. “Photoshop-Philipp” put together some examples of the logos. His name is Markus. He’s the theater kid from the first season, with his hair tied back and I never would have recognized him if fandom hadn’t pointed him out.

That dude in the black turtleneck sent us all into conspiracy mode. Initially he was giving me German Even vibes, too. Was this their version of kosegruppa? He smiles when Matteo starts laughing at Photoshop Philipp, and his body language is angled toward Matteo, kinda, could that be a clue??? Why would they give us a random close-up of that guy when Jonas starts talking about CannABIs, when he doesn’t have a line at that moment or anything? Why was he tying his shoe for so long? Surely Druck is trying to tell us something!

Yet apparently it has been confirmed that he is not German Even, but is some random extra who’s been popping up in school scenes. That was a fun few days of speculation, though.

When the cannabis-themed logo pops up, Jonas says that there are some students in this school who are critical of the dangers of smoking weed, and he’s definitely directing that toward Hanna (he looks at her at the end, and Hanna looks over her shoulders and rolls her eyes). Nice bit of passive-aggressiveness there.

Another one is a parody of the alt-right Germany party (AFD) logo. Jonas likes that direction. Some random girl doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to give more attention to the party, but Amira and Mia think it’s funny. You know, kinda cool that these random students are getting a voice this season - like in the classroom debate, or the discussion here. It’s not just the main characters having all the dialogue in these scenes, it makes it feel a little more like an actual school, if that makes sense. (ETA: @randomfinny and @hyperfictional pointed out that she’s actually German Sara. Lol, I never would have recognized her, so thank you!)

I laughed at Jonas and Matteo being lazy in the back of the class. and them both putting their heads down. They’re in sync!

Suddenly there’s Axel walking in! Good thing Kiki isn’t part of this meeting. Did he join just to hang out with Mia? 

I will say this, I am not complimentary toward Alex, but we’ve seen more of a personality from him thus far than with William, imo. He’s been shown to have some political opinions, and this shows a little bit of creativity/initiative on his part. He seems pretty pleased with his design/logo. He thinks it’s pretty gangster.

His logo is Abi Chaker Clan 2019, which is a reference to a family in Berlin with ties to organized crime? It doesn’t mean much to me as a non-German, but I’m going to take that it’s clever. Most of the group seems to like it. Jonas and Matteo approve. Markus doesn’t understand it. He’s like the only one other than Mia who’s not on board, lol. They take a vote, everyone puts their hands up except Mia. Hanna tells her that it’s better than others, so Mia reluctantly raises her hand. Even when she does so, she’s pointedly looking away from Alex.

As they leave, Jonas sticks his fedora on Matteo’s head. Be still my heart.

They’re going to have another meeting on Friday, Alex offers his place. Mia isn’t gonna be happy about that!

I will say this, this is what I wanted for Noorhelm remakes - give them something to work on that isn’t them dating, like a school project or whatever. Although now I’m like … they could have started with this stuff, the graduation committee, and not gotten into the whole renewed Kiki/Alex angle which makes this all messier and more complicated and harder to be on team Alex or team Winterberg. And I get that’s probably what they were going for, throwing more obstacles into the story so Mia still has doubts about being with Alex, but it also means I need that I need certain aspects addressed before I can fully get on board with this ship, and I’m afraid they won’t do that. Or I’m afraid that Mia’s flaws will be addressed but Alex’s will be excused.

That being said, I’m on team Amira with the decision to let Alex into the group. Sometimes you have to put personal feelings aside, and Alex’s involvement will benefit everyone else in the class by making the yearbooks cheaper. And tbh I don’t think it’s right to exclude someone from participating in a school group like this unless they’re actively disrupting the group itself, regardless of how much that person may have wronged me or my friends romantically.

When Mia starts to argue, Amira says that she knows the cost isn’t a big deal to Mia and some others, but other students came to her and said they couldn’t afford it. I wonder if Kiki was one of them… she probably wouldn’t tell that to Amira, though. Not in those words.

This isn’t Amira’s big secret, though, is it? Like Pawel isn’t some dude at the printing company, and she was just trying to keep it under wraps so Mia didn’t find out? I feel like her secret has to be bigger and more personal than that.

The question is, did Alex do this to get on Mia’s good side or to hang out with her? Or is he trying to engage and do something nice without expectations? Because I respect that second one more, obviously.

Amira is so lovely, I truly hope we get her season.

Clip 2 - Alex is hyped for Game of Thrones to return

Mia runs into Alex. She says they need to talk. He smirks and says, “Winter is coming,” and GOD FUCKING DAMMIT that made me laugh out loud. It’s so obvious but I laughed. 

You know, Mia looks a tiny bit like Daenerys Targaryen. 

There’s a shot of them walking down the path thing with the divider in the middle, oooo, ~symbolic. They meet at the end.

Mia tells him to stop grinning, and he says yes, sergeant Winter, and salutes. FUCK OFF that’s the second time I’ve laughed in this clip at this dude. I hate myself. 

She chews him out for becoming a “committing patron” and he’s all “??? I wanted to help??” And I will give this to him, he did actually help out the group regardless of intentions, so maybe let that one slide, Mia, in the spirit of utilitarianism. Then she mentions NYE and the midnight voice message, which he does deserve to be chewed out for.

SOMEONE IS WATCHING THEM. It’s Sam??? Oh shit, she saw them talking! Hopefully she assumes Mia is just yelling at Alex. But she’s going to know Mia and Alex are in cahoots. Will she end up using this against Mia, or will she go to Mia and offer her support when Mia feels like she can’t tell anyone what’s happening?

Clip 3 - Ironing soothes the soul

Mia checks her phone and sees a bunch of messages from people praising Alex’s motto and hyping him up as the man. She gets off the bed, puts on a Chopin record and we are treated to a slow-montage scene of Mia ironing her clothes, including stuff like pajamas and socks, things that do not really need to be ironed if you asked me.

But I like the purpose of this scene! Mia feels out of control and frustrated and helpless with Alex’s inclusion in the group and everybody praising him and talking him up, and on top of it she doesn’t feel in control of her own feelings, so she has this ritual where she puts on music and makes her clothes neat and orderly. She uses order as a coping mechanism. Even the way this is shot makes it feel very precise and serene, the way she goes about this ritual so calmly, the way she smooths down her ironed items, the way the camera moves upward at the end, like all Mia’s anxieties are just floating away. You can just sink into this moment and realize how Mia clears her head.

Also that it’s classical music - something that also feels very orderly. And as we learn later in the episode, Mia can play piano including classical pieces so perhaps she has a strong history with it.

This was something indicated with Noora - for example, she was throwing out and getting rid of stuff once William had left her, and tidying up her room before she was supposed to meet with William prior to him going to London. She was thrown out of balance when Eskild ate her fish cakes. So I like that they’re going into it with Mia, and as others have mentioned it might be another sign of Mia’s ED. (Perfectionism is a common trait in people with eating disorders, and excessive tidiness/need for order is a sign of perfectionism).

Ironing complete, Mia searches for Alexander Hardenberg online. She considers following Alex on IG - too far, girl, he’s gonna take that as a marriage proposal.

Mia’s phone background includes Hans, awww.

She finds various links including one talking about his sister Sophie, who was two years older than he was. There are theories that Sophie will take over the Niko role, but I don’t buy that. For one, Alexander got very defensive over people talking about his “sister” in the classroom debate, and I don’t think he’d care if his sister was a creep. Second, it would be in EXTREMELY poor taste to have the biggest wlw rep on this show be a woman preying on and assaulting another woman, especially as a counter to Mia and Alex’s heterosexual relationship that’s probably going to be True Love. Just. The worst. I wrote this speculation post, but I think Sophie’s probably dead or something bad happened to her. Björn is some dude who was involved in what happened to her.

I don’t know what song this is as Mia is falling into the Alex Hardenberg rabbit hole, but it sounds like classical to me, and it’s like her coping mechanism/mental safe space is getting conflated with this guy.

Hans bursts into the room saying the Mia needs to look at his dick, because he thinks he has an STD, specifically tripper (gonorrhea) and he needs her to compare with some picture online. OK, I have to say, I have never ever heard that term for gonorrhea before. I’ve only heard it called the clap. Did Druck just teach me something? Yes, it did.

I have to praise Milena’s reactions here, they are restrained but suitably horrified.

Hans exposes his junk to Mia and she notes that yeah, it looks similar to the picture. He storms out and yells his fury to the heavens. When Mia asks if she should go to the pharmacy for him, he says he needs a chamomile tea first. LMAO. I feel like it was implied Mia would make the tea, right?

Clip 4 - Dingalings

Matteo’s just hanging with the girls as they talk about Hans’ clap, I guess. This child is not in a good state. He doesn’t seem very engaged in this conversation, but then again … would you want to hear about someone’s gonorrhea? 

The girls are like HERE LOOK AT THESE GONORRHEA PICS and Matteo is just sitting there shooting them looks of WTF.

Sam calls it a “dingaling”. It’s nice to know she uses the same euphemism as my mom. She wants to know what a “gay penis” looks like, compared to a straight penis, I guess. Babe, you can go onto the Internet and find that out with a few clicks.

I laughed again at Matteo giving this side-eye to the girls while he looks at something on his phone. Or him nervously looking at them while they talk about what gay penis looks like.

Matteo picks up a banana as Sam asks about his dingaling. Druck going for that subtle symbolism, I see.

Sam asks Matteo how he measures dingalings, and he’s like, “...what?” There’s a nice moment where Hanna and Mia react and Mia tries to change the subject and divert attention from Matteo, in case this gets into uncomfortable territory for him. I liked that! Different from Eva and Noora having a fun time with Isak’s mysterious sexuality.

However, Sam really wants to know. Matteo mumbles that you do it with a ruler and Sam immediately gets out that ruler like she’s prepared to put this into practice. Not at the table, darling. Matteo isn’t even looking at them as he explains the rest.

Sam writes down “only when it’s hard” and underlines it, like she’s taking notes and this will be on the final exam for Dingalings 101.

Matteo sees Jonas walk in, and Matteo waves him over, probably thinking OH GOD SAVE ME, but Jonas just backtracks out of the room. NOOOOOO. I saw people think he was mad at Matteo, but I thought he was trying to avoid Hanna, which was confirmed in a text. If he and Matteo had a tiff, Matteo probably wouldn’t be waving him over so chill, unless he didn’t know Jonas was mad at him.

Matteo is not even looking at Hanna when she asks if Jonas has someone, just at his phone. What is he so engrossed with on his phone? Is it something specific or just generic sad teenage disengagement? Is it just him being one of The Youths?

Matteo waited until Sam left to tell Hanna that Jonas waits for her to post stuff on IG, IDK if there was a reason he waited. And there wasn’t any real reason Sam had to get up and leave during this scene, so is it at all important? Unless they just wanted the three sadsacks at the table together for the end of this clip, and Sam is not sufficiently angsty about her love life right now.

But Matteo tells Hanna that Jonas doesn’t have a new girl, he waits around for her to post new IG stories. Hanna is confused why, and Matteo is like, why does someone spend an entire evening stalking someone? Ohhh, damn. Mia is gonna feel that comment resonate uncomfortably.

Also, nice of Matteo to help out Hanna and Jonas’ relationship instead of snaking on her. As far as we know. (I think he’s being nice, not a snake this time.)

In case we didn’t get the connection, Axel texts Mia if she prefers wine or beer, for the yearbook meeting tomorrow, I guess. Checking in to see what she likes, her preferences. 

We see Mia, Matteo, and Hanna at the table, all of them a little out of sorts. Mia thinking about Axel, Hanna thinking about Jonas, Matteo thinking about … something ... or someone … dude is very busy on his phone.

Clip 5 - After party at Axel’s

Mia brushes her teeth before going over to Alex’s - I guess that’s supposed to be her showing interest in him? A sign that she wants to be at her best? Or, you know, a sign that she practices good oral hygiene. 

Hanna texts her and hopes she’s coming soon, because Hanna doesn’t want to be there alone because of Jonas. Damn, kids, you’re really tearing my heart out about this. Get back together already!

Axel texts Mia that she doesn’t need to bring a toothbrush because he has a new one ready for her. Well, that’s rather presumptuous. Mia seems a little amused, though.

She locks herself out of the apartment and texts Hans about it. Hans will be back at midnight to let Mia in. Also the tripper situation is still causing him pain and he stole money from his sick aunt to pay for medicine? Hans is so much more of a mess than Eskild was, like he’s going to have to evolve fast if he’s going to adopt Matteo.

This next part is beautiful, as we cut between Mia getting on the bus and traveling to Alex’s house, and shots of the characters looking into the camera as someone reads the comments about them. Isn’t this kinda like those character descriptions from pre-season? That promo stuff? So maybe it wasn’t just for promo, but an overall theme of the season, about the labels we stick on people or the shallow ways we perceive them.

Hanna - Gets bitch, red devil, arrogant. Who called Hanna a bitch?? Red devil?? Get the fuck out. Ex-BFF is from Leonie. Someone calls Hanna the “best decision of my life” and I think that was probably Jonas, please take that dagger out of my heart, oh my God.

Amira - Gets “hijab” like 8 times. So sad that this is all people know about her or think about her. They see the hijab and think that’s the sum total of who she is, rather than part of it. And it’s also othering, because the hijab stands out, it’s different from everyone else. I feel like Amira is used to it, too, like she probably expected that response. She also gets called ISIS. Man, fuck that edgy piece of shit person who wrote that. At least she gets some other comments like how she’s cool, like the people who actually know her and don’t stereotype her or judge her think she’s the best.

Matteo - Basically he’s a chill bro and fades into the background, although one person thinks he’s a good kisser. Hmmm, has he been going around smooching girls like Isak did?

Alex - gets almost all negative comments about how arrogant or jerkish he is, or his car compensating for his lack of dong size, except for some comments about how he’s hot. Look, if you want me to feel sorry about that, how people are just judging him unfairly, you’ve gotta show me more proof that he hasn’t been a major asshole throughout his high school career and this isn’t an accurate assessment of how he’s treated people or behaved this whole time, even if he’s supposed to be a nice guy underneath.

Mia - gets lots of comments on how hot she is, with some about her feminism or being boring. Habibi comes from Amira. Lesbian? Final one is “prettiest woman on earth” which probably was from Alex, honestly, and she seems kinda OK hearing him read that one out loud. (Although my kingdom for those “lesbian?” and “prettiest woman on earth” comments to have both come from like, Kiki.)

Matteo is once again lying on the couch on his phone, checked out. Someone send that kid an Even to bring him to life.

They talk about whether everyone should be able to cross out comments and that they don’t have time to chase everyone down, but I agree with Mia that everyone should be able to censor theirs, not just the committee. Alex agrees with Mia and gives a sensible option, that people have two weeks to contact the staff if they want to censor their comments. He says he doesn’t want to censor his comments because in twenty years he wants to remember what an arrogant ass he was, and everyone laughs, and you can take that as a sign of character growth that he wants to evolve past being an ass, or him thinking it was a fun time rather than something he regrets.

There’s turtleneck boy again. Who isn’t Even, but maybe could be German Julian Dahl. 

Alex ordered pizza and beer, and the meeting gets more like a party. Hanna and Matteo throw pizza at each other and Hanna gives him the finger, cute! Alex arm wrestles Markus the theater photoshop kid. All throughout the evening, Mia seems attuned to Alex’s presence and keeps looking his way. I know that kind of feeling, I’ve been to parties where I was Mia and someone’s presence was like a magnet.

Hanna and Matteo talk in the kitchen about Jonas. Hanna asks where Jonas is, seeing as he’s not at the meeting, and Matteo says he doesn’t know, Jonas wanted to come. Which is a lie seeing as Jonas told Matteo he wasn’t going in a text message that we saw. At least Matteo is trying to spare Hanna’s feelings.

Mia is in Alex’s bathroom, looking at the stuff on the counter. I guess she’s just inspecting his stuff? She opens a jar and it’s overflowing with condoms, lol. I guess Alex got over his “latex allergy” at some point or learned his lesson about not wrapping it up. Maybe he had his own adventure with tripper. (I’m imagining him in his own version of the scene with Hans, wailing and opening his robe to a befuddled Toilet Sam.)

Hans texts her that now he won’t be home until 1. When Mia comes out of the bathroom, everyone else is leaving. Now Mia’s first option is that she could totally leave with her friends and chill with them, and if she’s locked out, she could crash at Hanna’s. But Amira has to study, Leonie has a date, and Hanna is going to the cinema with her dad. (What if Hanna was going to Jonas’ instead ... no, I won’t get entertain that happy delusion.) Anyway, Hanna suggests that Mia just kill time at Alex’s until she can go home.

Mia and Alex look at each other across the room. There is some nice nonverbal tension. The toilet flushes and Markus comes out of the bathroom. Now there are three of them, I like this shot of them in a triangle. Lol, Markus is so drunk he doesn’t know if he puked on himself. He doesn’t know how he broke up the Mia/Alex staring contest.

Alex and Mia look at each other and laugh after Markus leaves, which is a genuinely nice moment. Mia explains her situation and says she’ll go to the cinema or hang out in the park until then. Alex says she could stay and he’ll drive her home later. There’s a funny bit where Mia says he’s not allowed to drive, and Alex says he’ll call his chauffeur, and then does an imitation of Mia’s inner monologue - “Is he that rich? No … or maybe he is?” I do like that they’ve given Alex so much more of a sense of humor.

Lmao, Alex jumping on the random skateboard and gliding across the floor, I have to say if I lived in a big empty place like that, I’d be doing shit like that a lot. Speaking of, that is one big, spacious apartment, like there’s some art on the walls and stuff but it still gives off that cold lonely rich kid vibe.

I like Mia walking around examining the place as he makes her rosehip tea. Alex mentions that his sister used to live here - again, we don’t get more details than that, like whether she moved or died, what happened to her. It seems like he might have cut off that line of inquiry when he asks Mia if she wants honey in her tea - either a coincidence or a deliberate attempt to change the subject.

However, that does throw into context Björn’s appearance in the next clip, because Björn was showing up to the sister’s old apartment. Why was he messing around in there? I think that dude might be the sister’s boyfriend or ex.

There’s a piano. In that same room are a lot of moving boxes; either because Alex was moving in, or because the sister was moving out. Or maybe they were packing up Sophie’s things because she died?

Mia asks him whether he plays or whether it’s there to impress girls. Alex says no, so I’m betting it was the sister’s piano. He also asked whether they should go sit in the other room to drink the tea, I think that he didn’t want to answer questions about the piano or be near it, like it probably reminds him of whatever happened to the sister.

Gold star to Mia for not playing without payment and for not negotiating. I love her.

Was that the theme music from Titanic she was playing and acting like she was really into?? Lmao.

Finally, she plays something legit, “Montagues and Capulets” (or “Dance of the Knights”) from the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev. HMMM could there be any connection to star-crossed lovers with this subject matter? Hey, it’s subtler than a banana.

At first I was wondering why her playing seemed out of sync and was like ... did they get a body double to play for her or something? Because I think Milena can really play. But then we see that it’s intentionally out of sync, as we see them eating and talking over the music. Perhaps to symbolize things being out of sorts; earlier this clip we had Mia using classical music as a way to restore order in her life, and here that order is rapidly dissolving, so the music isn’t really soothing, and the images aren’t neatly in line with it. 

When Alex asks what song that was, Mia says it’s Drake. L M A O I adore her.

Hans texts Mia that he’s not coming home tonight as he’s met some other dude with gonorrhea and they’re going to hook up. Er, have fun with that, Mr. Currently Peeing Shards of Glass. Anyway, he asks if she can stay at Hanna’s. Alex says Mia can just stay there, she can take the bed and he’ll take the sleeping mat. Mia asks why doesn’t he just sleep on the couch and he says the fridge is too loud. We are treated to the sounds of the thunderous fridge. Actually, it is pretty loud for a fridge, if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing I can see it being a problem.

He says she can rent his bed for the night, like in a hotel. Which is what seems to convince her, him framing it not like a benevolent gesture but a transaction. So Alexander sets up the bed for Mia. He gives the new toothbrush that he had mentioned, and she pays him back what he gave her.

Mia climbs into bed and smells the fresh linen. She checks her phone and Hans says that Emilio finished fast so he’s coming home, and Hanna says Mia can come over. But Mia pulls an Isak, telling Hanna that Hans is home and Hans that she’s with Hanna. Wow, there is no chance of that backfiring, not with these two people who appear to be on friendly terms.

They don’t share a bed as Noorhelm did; true to his word, Alex sleeps on the floor, and she gets the bed. I think that’s indicative of where they’re at with each other right now; they still have distance between them, but they’ve developed a state of comfort and can let down their guard to a degree.

They wish each other good night, and she calls him Axel. That makes him smile. And then he asks that that wasn’t really Drake, was it? Which makes her smile. Let him go to his grave thinking it was Drake, Mia.

Social Media/General Comments

I’ll say this, Chris Veres is doing well as Alex, performance-wise. Previously he was my least favorite William, and I thought he was very flat in S1, which I guess was intentional, since I heard he tried to play Alex as very cold and unfeeling. Now we’ve seen him showing more personality and especially glimpses of humor and levity. So regardless on my thoughts of the character overall, I think the actor is doing a fine job. 

A lot of people seem to have hopped on board with Alex after this episode, even people who hated William, and I think that largely has to do with the performance. I’m not sure I would say I’m completely on board with Alex as a character - he still has a lot of stuff to account for, and there are things that I really need Druck to redeem about him in order for me to like him. I especially need apologies - or at least some sense of regret and humility over his specific mistakes, rather than him trying to defend himself and Mia falling for it. But I get why fandom is starting to like him, he’s showing more charisma here. There are things I certainly like about him compared to William, for instance that he seems to have more interests and opinions on things that don’t have to do with his love interest. He had some genuinely funny lines in this episode. 

Also, I’ve said it before, but I wasn’t sold on Mia entirely in S1, but Milena Tscharntke is really winning me over this season. Mia feels like her own character, certainly one with traits in common as Noora, but also not a Noora clone. 

Kiki was totally absent this episode, and I wonder if that was to lull us into forgetting the Kiki/Alex drama so we, like Mia, could start to fall for him. In putting Kiki aside for an episode, it’s kind of like we don’t have this reminder of what Alex and Mia have done to her, something that I’m sure will come crashing back and causing conflict in the next episode. It also makes you wonder what Kiki has been doing since we last saw her. How is she coping? Breaking more hearts?

The music needs to be used more sparingly. This episode had some good selections but basically it’s falling into a pattern that’s plagued some of the remakes, where the music always gets used the same way: a song at the start of the clip, a song at the end of it, so that it starts to lessen the impact of the music because we can predict when it will appear. I think it happens in some remakes, like Skam France or Druck, because they run some previews/production credits at the end, and they want music to go over it instead of silence. But last season I think they did have some clips that ended with silence over the credits, or things like Hanna sighing, or random banter, and that didn’t bother me, that helped to retain the atmosphere of the clip. 

There’s a theory that S3 and/or S4 have been running in the background of this season, and while I can see evidence for that, I really hope it’s not the case. Especially after this last clip - I thought it was great, the pacing worked and there were some inspired directing choices, so imagine what we could get with Matteo or Amira’s seasons with that kind of style. It would work so well with one of the long Evak or Yousana clips, something like Mekke øl or The Best of Islam.

Mia is like, “Won’t we get in copyright trouble for this?” as a feeble attempt in the committee chat not to pick Alex’s motto, lol. Give her credit for fighting a losing battle to the end.

Hans had like three text messages about his clap. First he accuses a dude of infecting him with the clap, while the dude is like, nah, just went to the doctor yesterday, I’m good, and Hans is like … oops … embarrassing. Then he goes after the next dude he banged, who reciprocates his electronic shouting match. Finally messages Michi, who’s like, thank God, I thought you were breaking up with me again. Dude. Hans. I know you find Michi a bore, I guess, but some dude whose reaction to hearing he has the clap is “at least you didn’t break up with me” to the dude who gave it to him, is someone you might wanna hang on to. And not in a boomerang way, in a “this is a keeper” way.

Matteo and Jonas text and apparently Jonas planned to skip the yearbook meeting/party because of Hanna. So that’s probably why he ran away in the dingaling clip, because he saw Hanna there. I’m wondering if they’re going to get back together this season or if they’ll string us along for a few more.

According to Matteo’s IG stories, that was the first time Photoshop Philipp/Markus got drunk, and Matteo made sure to document the highs, followed by the inevitable lows.

I’m not German, so feel free to correct me if I missed anything.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

[catlady1986]

Guilty Pleasure

Chapters: 2/?  Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings  Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum Characters: Gladiolus Amicitia,  Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum, Ignis Scientia, background characters Tags: Romance, Secret Relationship, Older/Younger Lovers, Prejudice, Student/Teacher Relationship, more later

Note: This one is longer than the last, had a lot to add to this part. If it comes off as too wordy or doesn’t flow well let me know and I’ll fix it. Also, the rating will go up next chapter. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ – ✧) Thank you and enjoy!

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The sound of his doorbell ringing relentlessly finally annoys Noctis into waking up, grumbling as he slides out of bed. He finds his friends on the other side of his door, them smiling and looking at him with intrigue.

“You both are jerks for ditching me.” Noctis snaps and then yawns.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Prompto chuckles and slings an arm around his shoulder as they head inside, then gives a wink. “I bet you still had a good time without us there, maybe met someone nice?”

He did, but wait, does that mean-

“I brought you some hotcakes I made this morning.” Ignis says and hands him a Tupperware container.”

“Oh, thanks Iggy.” Noctis grabs a fork and stands against his counter, digging in and looking to his friends, them staring again with intrigue. “What?”  

“So tell us, what’d you do after we left? Did you meet anyone new by chance?”

Noctis furrows his brows. His stomach begins to knot and a pang of dejection washes over him. Gladio hadn’t come over to him of his own volition, he was asked to. But something didn’t add up, he hasn’t told his friends yet that his preferences lean towards men. Hell, he just realized only a few months ago after falling hard for a male teacher he assisted. So how and why was Gladio chosen?

The black-haired man sighs while shaking his head then gives them a pointed look before taking another bite. “Yeah, I did. Guess that was your doing?”

“Oh come on bud, don’t be mad. We just wanted you to have some fun.”

“I don’t need you two to set me up on pity dates.”

“I’m sorry Noct. We thought it would help you out.” Ignis says, looking a tad remorseful. “You’re terribly shy and don’t leave our sides when out.”

“Yeah! You get really awkward and standoffish around people” Prompto chimes in.

“Plus she’s a nice young lady, just started as a receptionist at my office.”

Noctis freezes. She? The person they tried hooking him up with was a woman? So then Gladio wasn’t asked to flirt with him. He liked him for himself. This makes Noct grin smugly.

“Huh, guess you guys were wrong about me then.”

“Wait, so you met someone else?” the blonde asks, eyes widening comically. “Dude, who? Was she hot?”

“Not telling.”

“Aw, don’t be a jerk.”

“So you didn’t meet with Jessenia? Oh dear, I’m going to have to write her an apology note then. Maybe some flowers, box of chocolates too.” the glasses-wearing man says and puts a reminder on his phone.

“Come on Noct, don’t leave your bros hanging. Tell us what she was like, did you get her number? Are you two meeting up again.” Prompto asks and nudges his friend.

“Again, not telling.”

Prompto lets out an overblown whine as Ignis goes stonefaced like he’s deep in thought. Then a subtle bit of irritation flashes onto his face before his stoic mask is back on.

“It’s a man, isn’t it?”

“Wha?” Is Prompto’s reaction, looking between his two friends.

Noctis stops eating, his face turning a deep red color and eyes down-turning to the floor. Leave it to Ignis to somehow ass pull the correct assumption even though he’s usually terrible at reading the atmosphere.

He sighs and sets the container down, knowing he’s going to end up losing his appetite after the incoming barrage.

“Yeah.”

“What? Noct are you- Umm- So you're uh.” Prompto stutters before shaking his head, looking slightly hurt at his friend. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I- I really only discovered it recently myself. I thought that maybe it was just a one-time feeling but the guy I met last night, we had a connection. Sorry, I should have said something sooner.”

The blonde smiles and softly knocks his friend in the shoulder with his fist. “It’s all right dude, just next time talk to us about it. Right, Iggy?”

“Uh, yes, sure.” the man says, shifting about then giving a friendly smile. “We will always support you Noct, even if the information is, surprising.”

“Thanks, you guys.”

“So now that is out,” Prompto begins and nudges his friend like before. “what did he look like?”

Noctis chuckles softly. “As cliche as it is he was tall, dark, and handsome. Really nice too, we played pool and chatted for a while.”

“What’s his name? Does he work? Where does he live?” Ignis grills the younger man.

Noct can’t help but roll his eyes. “His name is Gladio, he works at a bookstore, and lives with his parents but is saving money to move out. He said they’re really strict.”

“How old is he?”

“Early to mid-twenties, I believe.”

The sandy-haired man’s eyebrows arch up. “And he lives with his parents still?”

“Iggy, I lived with my dad until I was twenty. Enough with the interrogation.”

“Just worried about you, you don’t know who this young man really is. For all you know he could be a prostitute or a thief preying on naive people.”

“Jeez, thanks Igs.” Noctis huffs. “If he was any of those, wouldn’t he have tried to come home with me last night?”

“That’s true.” Prompto says and gives Ignis a nudge. “Cut him some slack, this guy may actually be genuine and bring our awkward dork out of his shell.”

“Wow, I feel so loved.”

“Very well. So what do you have planned for the day?”

“Pick up my pants and blazer from the dry cleaners. Then I’m going to go over the syllabus’ for my classes tomorrow.”

“I see. Would you like for me to come over then and help you look over it? I can make us dinner?”

“You don’t have to, besides today is your day off since you got dragged in yesterday. Enjoy it and lounge around your apartment, be lazy.”

“That is a waste of time when I could be doing something fruitful.”

“And that is why you got an ulcer.”

Ignis sighs and shakes his head. “Fine, I will try to relax.”

“Well, I think it’s time for me to scoot.” Prompto says and flashes a big smile at his friend. “Congrats buddy, hope things work out for you, I mean it.”

“Thanks, Prompto.”

“I should be leaving as well, need to stop by the grocer, running low on Ebony. Have a splendid day Noct.”  

“You too, see ya.”

The two men begin to leave but Ignis stops and turns back around at his friend, staring intently at his face.

“I do hope you plan on shaving, it wouldn’t be professional for you to look unkempt on your first day.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” he says and waives his friend off.

Noctis sighs and leans against his island counter, shaking his head. While it wasn’t how he had planned coming out if it proved to be true, at least it wasn’t as bad as he thought. Although there is still his father. He tosses the container into the sink and looks at his wallet, seeing a white note sticking out of it. Gladio’s number. Should he possibly try to call him? No, he may be in trouble if his parents are as strict as he said and Gladio did say to call him later. He does wonder though if he is all right, he seemed nervous when he said his parents were coming for him. Maybe he should- no, he’ll wait.

So Noct gets going for the day, taking a quick shower, then gets dressed and starts to head out. He glances at the note again, feeling a fluttering sensation in his belly and his chest become tight.

While out, he finds that his mind constantly wanders back to the young man, especially when he catches a glimpse of someone tall with brown hair or hears a deep rumbling laughter. Noct feels ridiculous, like a love-struck teen who can’t wait to see their crush after being away from them for a day. He tries to clear his head however when he arrives at the dry cleaners, he sees a bookstore down the street, remembering that Gladio works at one and should be there. Would it seem stalkerish if he stopped by to see if Gladio worked there?

Throwing caution to the wind, Noctis heads into the bookstore after picking up his items, scouring about but not finding the young man and then learning from a clerk Gladio didn’t work there. A bit downtrodden, he heads back to his car and goes to leave, but stops and looks at his phone. Maybe he could see if there were any other bookstores nearby, he could check them out, see if the young man is there and find out how he is doing.

Well, there is apparently way more bookstores then he initially thought and there was no way he could stop at them all. That would be too stalkerish and a waste of gas. So he decides to just check out the closet ones and if Gladio is not at any of them he’ll just leave it at that. He does really want to see him again though so he hopes for the best. Not at the first, nor the second, or the third. Noctis sighs deeply as he sits outside the fourth, a quaint little bookstore that isn’t like all the chain stores with their bland decorum while trying to be hip with the younger generation.

Noctis heads inside and gets a strong earthy scent along with a hint of flowers; the smell reminds him of Gladio. His heart begins to pound in his chest and he begins trembling from nerves. A female clerk walks by and smiles at him, before greeting the older man.

“Hi, anything I could help you with today?”

“Oh umm, b, by chance is there a uh, a young man named Gladio that works umm here?” he says, trying to act normal and not like a flustered dork.

The young woman gives him a once-over, then goes wide-eyed and smiles. “Just a second.” she says and scurries off to the back.

Noctis can feel his chest tighten, he becomes sweaty and nervous. Then the man steps out from the backroom. It’s like one of those cheesy scenes in the movies where the main character’s love interest enters the room and everything around them freezes while they continue to move, all the attention focused on them. But then Noctis feels his heart drop as Gladio looks at him; he doesn’t look at him with annoyance or disgust, he has a soft smile on his face along with woe. One of his cheeks was bruised and swollen like he had been hit. Despite that, Gladio still gives him that sweet look like he had the night before, making Noctis cheeks heat up.

“Hey, fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah, I was in the area so I uh stopped in.” Noctis says and chuckles embarrassedly. “See if you by chance worked here.”

“Huh, lucky guess. Must be fate.” Gladio says and flashes a flirty look at the older man.

Noct feels his heart thump rapidly. “Yeah.” He looks up at the young man and smiles before furrowing his brows, reaching his hand up to cup his swollen cheek. “Were you hit?”

“Oh, that? No, I got angry and slammed my door shut, it knocked a plaque I had hanging over the frame down. Dumbass me just stood there and watched it fall before it thwacked me on the face.”

Noctis frowns. He doesn’t believe him, he’d seen similar things and heard similar excuses from kids being abused. But Gladio wasn’t a kid, so it’s not like he could call child services. So he dejectedly lets it go.

“So how badly are you grounded? No tv or phone?”

“No dessert too.” Gladio snorts. “It wasn’t too bad, just a lot of yelling and door slamming. Plus I have to stay at my mother’s on the weekends since my dad is at work and can’t ‘babysit’ me.”

“You really do need to get your own place, that sounds horrible.”

“Yeah, in time.” he says and bites his lip. “So I uh get done in a couple hours, would you maybe wanna get a bite to eat with me?”

“Are you even allowed too?”

“Yeah, my mom lets me have a bit more freedom then my dad does. Plus I usually get something to eat on my way home so if I’m late she doesn’t fuss.”

“Ah, okay. Where would you like to meet up?”

“There’s a diner by the bus stop down a few blocks, that sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds great.” Noctis says and smiles as his cheeks rosy. Then a thought strikes him. “Oh, since you’re staying at your mother’s on the weekend, I can give you my number then.”

“Sure. I can use the house phone so my calls can’t be monitored by my dad.”

Noctis quickly scribbles his number down onto the back of a receipt he had stuffed into his pocket and hands it over, exchanging bashful smiles. They say their goodbyes with Gladio heading back to work and Noct deciding instead of going all the way back home he’ll kill time by putzing around the nearby mall. Maybe he’ll look into some new ties while there.

An hour goes by and his phone begins to vibrate, an unknown number flashing across his screen. He’s apprehensive at first but answers it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Oh! Awesome! So you didn’t give me a fake number.” Gladio chuckles from the other end. “Hey uh, business is kinda slow so Karis is letting me leave early. Wanted to let you know I’m heading over, if you don’t mind eating around five.”

“That’s fine, I’ll stop by and pick you up. I’m over at the mall.”

“Yeah, okay, see you then.”

A wave of giddiness overcomes him. He hasn’t felt this excited since his early twenties when he and his then-girlfriend went out for the first time. That was the last time he dated or felt attracted to a woman. She broke his heart badly. Hopefully, it ends up better this time around.

Noctis finds Gladio waiting outside the bookstore and picks him up, them bantering awkwardly and flirtatiously as they head to the diner. But as they arrive, the younger man’s face goes white, his eyes widen and he bites his lower lip before quickly shifting his large frame out of sight.

“Shit.”

“Gladio? What’s wrong?”

“My fucking stepmother is there with my sister and stepbrothers.”

Noctis furrows his brows and looks through the large windows of the diner, spotting a middle-aged woman with three kids. He looks down at Gladio and catches the slight look of fear and brokenness in his eyes along with his panicked breathing, it making Noct’s stomach turn for some reason he can’t quite put his finger on. Without a word, he puts the car in reverse and drives away but Gladio remains in his hunkered over position, his breathing still frantic. In a move that would send Ignis into a tizzy, he pulls one hand away from the steering wheel and gently touches Gladio’s cheek before petting his hair. This seems to do the trick and his breathing returns to normal before sitting back up with a sigh.

“Gladio?” Noct asks with deep concern.

“Sorry, I have bad anxiety. I was afraid she’d catch us together.”

Noctis looks to him with remorse and gently rests his hand against his face again. “You want to go someplace else or do you want me to drop you off at your mother’s?”

“If, if it’s alright with you,” Gladio begins and turns to look at him, his amber eyes looking harrowed. “could we stop someplace secluded? I want to cool my head before I go home, I’ll give you gas money too.”

“You don’t have to give me money, I’ll do it. I used to take this one kid out for ice cream after school because he didn’t want to go home until his mother got done with work. Found out the neighbor that was watching him had been touching him inappropriately.”

“Ah, you sound like one of those do-gooders you read about it the paper.”

Noctis smiles. “Yeah, I like helping people. Even though I get really shy and flustered at first, I still try my best.”

“Wish there were more people like you out there in the world, maybe it wouldn’t be so rotten.”

Noct quickly glances at Gladio, noticing the pained look on his face. A thought pops into his head that would kill two birds with one stone. “Hey, I live not far from here. Why don’t we stop at my place and I’ll order out. That way you can clear your head.”

A soft blush forms on the brunette's cheeks. “Oh, yeah, that sounds good.”

Noctis continues to drive until he arrives at the carport for his apartment complex, shutting the vehicle off though neither exits right yet.

“Hey, thanks Noctis.” Gladio says and looks over at the black-haired man, smiling fondly. “Seems my gamble going and talking to you last night didn’t end in a mess.” His smile grows into one of teasing. “Or my dead corpse dumped in the river.”

“You thought I could’ve been a serial killer?” Noctis laughs.

“Hmm, people never suspect the cute ones.” Gladio’s eyes half lid as he looks at the older man, a sliver of a pink tongue swiping across his dry lips. “Hey umm, Noct?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I, can I kiss you?”

The thirty-year-old’s heart pounds in his chest and his body begins to tremble. Kiss? He hasn’t kissed anyone in years, not since his girlfriend. Will he still any good at it? Is Gladio teasing him? Is it too soon? Should he say no, that he wants to wait? His mind continues to race, even as his body begins moving on its own, leaning towards the young man who tilts his head.

Their lips brush momentarily before pressing them together in a tender kiss. It feels exhilarating and he wants more. Noctis rests his palms against Gladio’s cheeks, deepening the kiss that becomes needy and carnal, large tan hands gripping him around his waist. Tongues explore about in each other's mouths and dance about together, soft moans escaping out until Noct gasps when he gets cupped through his pants.

Blue eyes stare deeply into brown, both filled with lust, as the two pant quickly and continue to hold each other. Noctis is the first to pull back, opening his door and stepping out but he pulls Gladio with him, then he pins him to the side, capturing his lips once again as the younger man runs his hands down his back before gripping his ass. Noctis pulls back once again, their lips separating and making a loud smack, and takes hold of Gladio’s hand leading him towards the elevator. He has never done anything like this before but the feelings he’s experiencing are intoxicating and he wants more, wants to feel the pleasure of doing something scandalous. Taboo.  

[tall--noodle]

victuuri teacher au hc’s part 4

teaching faculty non-teaching staff president’s and principal’s office staff

eeeyyy here’s the last part, the on-the-job trainees

lemme explain a bit on what that is: here in the philippines, you have to apply for a job somewhere sometime between your 3rd and 4th year of college, and the position you’re applying for has to be related to your course (duh). not all companies offer OJTs, so you might have to apply to a lot. it’s kind of like interning somewhere, but you’re still a student, and it’s only for like 2-3 months

idk if they have OJT programs in japan (where this is set), but let’s pretend they do

without further ado, here’s the on-the-job trainees (some under the cut as usual)

Yuri plisetsky (OJT for presiden’t secretary)

-          Is an incoming 4th year college student and he needs this job thing for credits. And for his resume but whatever

-          Business major at D university, which means that during the school year he has eyebags going for miles on his face

-          Then again what college student doesn’t have bags on their faces really smh

-          His grandpa told him to try applying for an OJT position at the school, and he readily agreed because wHAT? I GET TO WORK WITH GRANDPA?? COOL, MAN!!!!!!1!!!11

-          But then he saw victor and yuuri, his upperclassmen in college when he was a freshman and he almost pulled out of it

-          But fuck he doesn’t care about those lovebirds, no matter how gross they are with all the pining and shit, hE IS GONNA GO TO WORK WITH HIS GRANDPA FOR THREE MONTHS FUCKERS AND NO TWO DORKS ARE GONNA STOP HIM

-          Is a trainee for the president’s office and holy shit. This job is so difficult ajnfebwoeufy

-          He has to do a lot of walking everyday from the office to the faculty rooms or wherever the teachers he’s looking for are

-          He has to do a lot of lifting boxes and files to and from cabinets

-          He has to print and work the photocopy machine—which he got into a fight with a few times before finally getting the hang of it—and he has to read a shit-ton of files

-          His only reprieve from the taxing work is hanging out with otabek during lunch with the cafeteria’s katsudon in his lap

-          He was probably eating too much of it but who the hell cares

-          Otabek was a friend from high school. Being as smart as he is, yuri started school early and skipped a grade or two. Otabek was his first friend once he got out of senior high

-          Otabek graduated a year earlier than him, but they still kept in touch

-          For some reason tho they didn’t tell the other what they were doing about work and yuri’s OJT plans

-          They had a huge laugh over it once they talked

-          Once victor and Yuuri got together they made him their son and gave him the nickname yurio, to his rage

-          he didn’t mind them fawning over him tho. He really liked it actually

Guang-hong ji (OJT for cashier/secretary)

-          A timid young man who did not know how he got into this mess

-          Cinnamon roll #3

-          an accounting major in B university. Can do complicated formulas in his head and it makes his acquaintances take a second to process that this 5’4” boy can do mental algorithms like wtf

-          h o w  e v e n

-          he’s an on-the-job trainee under yuuko, which means he not only does the cashing and checking, he sometimes has to talk to people when yuuko’s not around

-          normally he’d sit in his desk in the corner, calculating expenses and revenues, but once he sees someone at the window, he has to take a second to brace himself before going up and talking to them

-          it’s mostly payments for stuff, but rarely it’s something not payment related. In which case he stutters a lot and has to refer to the notes he made when yuuko was briefing him about the job

-          leo is 2 years his senior in college and studied English. Normally they wouldn’t interact, but they met when guang-hong was going to consult someone about a paper, who was also leo’s thesis advisor. He kind of became guang-hongs shock absorber when it came to talking to mutual professors

-          eats in the faculty room with the other teachers because yuuko always eats with her husband in the caf

-          or leo knocks on the window and shows him the caf’s specials he bought, so they end up eating lunch in the cashier/sec office

-          he and leo are actually dating, but they keep it so lowkey that no one knows. Or someone does know, but it’s more like “are they dating??? They’re dating, right??? They look like they’re dating”

-          it would only be speculation. They’d ask, but both guys were just so sweet that if they asked about it, they might get offended or hurt or something

-          like no, man, the students didn’t want leo and guang-hong sad or distressed out of turn

-          so as much as it pained them to not know the truth (because holy shit they look cute together and they have to be going out with each other), they don’t ask about it

-          the only solace they have are the group selfies that phichit or guang-hong take, or the stolen and candid ones that phichit manages to catch

-          those are few and far in between tho so the students are still #suffering

Christophe Giacometti (OJT for history)

-          a student in C university and studying history and geography

-          on the outside he may not look it, but he’s actually a straight A (or at least the equivalent) student and he’s very serious about his studies

-          victor’s best friend, so putting them together might not be the best ides because if victor is EXTRA™ by himself, then with chris by his side they’re DOUBLE EXTRA™

-          #saveyakov2k17

-          They met at a party for their major, and they’ve been stuck together ever since

-          The best wing man

-          Sits at the back of victor’s classes to observe and he occasionally sees 1 or 2 girls stealing glances at him

-          He winks and blows kisses at them

-          Also very affectionate like, his way of greeting his close friends (aka Yuuri and victor) are by grabbing their butts

-          No one knows, but he, Yuuri, and phichit actually met at pole dancing classes. For the longest time, only the three of them knew

-          But then chris, phichit, and victor (as part of his Operation: KatsuDAMN) managed to drag Yuuri to a club during a holiday, and got him drunk

-          The masterminds (phichit and chris) snickered at victor’s back the whole time Yuuri worked it on stage. Victor’s jaw was permanently on the ground

-          Although Yuuri remembered nothing of the event, his three companions managed to take a ton of photos and several close up videos

-          The worse ones were uploaded to chris’s and phichit’s IGs, but no one had any doubt that it was Yuuri

-          Is in a very loving relationship with his boyfriend Matthieu, but is still a giant flirt

-          His boyfriend doesn’t mind. He knows chris is just naturally that way and he finds the reactions of chris’s preys hilarious

Kenjiro minami (OJT for PE)

-          Everyone calls him the McDonald’s chicken nugget

-          On his first day at work, he was dressed in a yellow shirt with white and red lining, plus black track pants with white and red lining. The fact that his hair was dyed blond with a streak of red on one side did not help matters for the nickname

-          Is taking sports theory in D university, and is JJ’s trainee

-          Is probably the most enthusiastic 5’ ball of a person jj has ever seen

-          Attends the university Yuuri did, and kenjiro fuckin idolizes him

-          Like, no joke. He’s watched yuuri’s debates and speeches that were uploaded online numerous times, to the point that he’s memorized yuuri’s entire script

-          Yuuri has anxiety so normally he’d be super petrified on stage, but during his best performances, he was way too sleep deprived on those days trying to finish his script that the memory of that whole day was fuzzy

-          Not that he wasn’t a good speaker, as kenjiro would defend to the ends of the earth, he just gets super jittery and stutters a lot

-          Despite that fact tho, kenjiro still loves Yuuri a lot, and he says so to anyone who would be willing to listen

-          Kenjiro is the best cheerleader. Like. When the students are doing drills or having practical exams, he’s be 1000% there to cheer them on

-          Only second to phichit in #TeamVictuuri fans

-          Jj once asked him why he applied for an OJT there when his major was sports theory

-          Kenjiro said he wanted to test if some of the theories are true, and that it was good to have some inspiration for his thesis by observing different students of different ages