#rewatching gift of the night fury

[two-sheep-in-one-wolfs-clothing]

snotlout is my little baby i love him sm if you hate snotlout take it up w me

[yuiayyy]

Happy new dragons year

[violet-moonstone]

Gonna need everyone to go rewatch the beginning of Gift of the Night Fury because this exchange between Hiccup and Toothless where Hiccup imitates dragon noises is the cutest goddamn thing I've ever seen.

Look at this little nerd and his adorable dragon.

[yourstrqly]

hi i saw your request are open and i wanted to know if you could write where clement novalak (f2 driver) gives his partner a necklace?

★ . . . 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐊, 𝐂𝐍𝟐𝟏

pairing: clement novalak x reader (no pronouns used)

in which he gifts you a dainty silver necklace with his initials when he comes over to your place

the early hour of the evening settled upon you as the wind outside grew colder and the sun didn't show an arm anymore, leaving the sky darker and dull behind your closed curtains of your small living room.

On your lap rested a bowl of a day old rice mixed with tofu and some vegetables you had found in your freezer, that you decided to spice up with a splash of a sauce you've got in the pantry — it was a quick meal, everything thrown in the pan and boom, your food was ready to eat after only a five minute expenditure. It also hit the spot, and the half-full box of cookies your french boyfriend sent to your house yesterday after you had ranted on the phone how the day in the office had been utter shit and you really craved something sweet, paired rather well with the tea as a desert on this boring night.

some friends of yours went out in a club but that wasn't for you, when you knew, you had to show up the next day at work — you didn't want to wake up with a massive headache, too, if you were being honest, so a chill night at home it was.

sitting on the sofa between lots of pillows and a plush blanket thrown over your lap, you pushed the ceramic bowl back on the table and grabbed the remote to change the series; you decided, you weren't in the mood for the british bake off and searched for the percy jackson series to rewatch.

watching annabeth, percy and grover ensembling the given task by the oracle, you re-visited the time where you still were the same age, dreaming of fighting the furies and other strange greek myths monsters alongside the trio, falling in love with the handsome apollo kid luke and forming a friendship with clarisse, a child of the god of war. now you were years older than them, sitting in your shoe box sized apartment, mentally drained because of work and half asleep as you took a bit of the slightly stale cookie.

the door rang, breaking your tales of being a halfgod up. a sign escaped your throat as your eyes flitted to the clock on your wall; it was nine pm and you wondered who wanted to grace his or her presence at your door at that time of the day. you weren't in the mood for a visitor and prayed for a lost delivery man.

feet tapped against the wooden floor, reaching the door. you pulled the doorknob open, eyes roaming the body of the man who kneeled down and fumbled with his bag.

"can i help you?", you grumbled, irritation laced your voice.

the man's head turned upwards, a grin widely presented on his lips as his dreamy brown eyes looked into yours; you mirrored his smile, happy to see clem.

"hey treasure, rough day, eh?", he asked, standing up to pull you in a much needed hug. clem's body radiated warmth and his woody vanilla scent brought you immense comfort. he felt you nod on his shoulder, face mushed in the crook between his left shoulder and strong neck.

the french didn't let you go as you went back inside, foot pushing the door close behind you and you went deeper in your apartment till he turned you both around and he fell backwards first on the sofa. "Want to talk about it?"

"no", you mumbled, a purr rumbling in your throat while clem's fingers messaged your scalp. "'m happy you're here, clemy."

you laid there, relaxing against him, only hearing the soft noises of the tv diddling in the background as your boyfriends hand cradled your head, pressing a chaste kiss against your lips. soft butterfly kisses followed, none filled with nothing but romance and peace; your right hand found its place at the nape of his neck, tugging his hair to hear a sweet moan of his, one you loved to hear whenever you slowly made out — the pair of you knew that tonight's kissing and touching wouldn't result in sex but nonetheless you enjoyed to dance to the edge.

abruptly, clement stopped the kiss, caressing your warm cheek with his thumb. then he dipped his finger between your lips, feeling the wetness of your mouth and a groan left his throat. his eyes were hyperfocused on your tongue, which glided along his thick thumb, sucking and nibbling playfully on it.

with his free hand, he pulled something out a pocket of his trousers, fiddling with it as his brown doe eyes watched yours; a blush coated his cheeks at the lustfilled gaze of yours and he felt his trousers tightened.

gently, he pulled his thumb out of your mouth and rested his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. "i love you."

you hummed, repeating his words, basking in the moment of being loved and in love. then, you felt coldness running around your throat and clem's palm laying on top of it — it was dainty, another necklace he got you.

"open your eyes, treasure," the french man whispered, resulting you to do so.

fiddling with the dainty silver band of the necklace, your fingertips stop at the pendant, two small curved letters 'cn' as well as the number 21, clems racing number. it was beautiful and unpretentious, going along prettily with the rest of your jewellery, mostly your boyfriend brought for you.

"Oh clemy, i love it", you mumbled, kissing the cold pendant before looking up at your bearded boyfriend, giving him a big smooch. "merci beaucoup."

"Tout pour toi. Si je te donnais les étoiles, tu les aurais entre tes mains, treasure."

= everything for you. if I could give you the stars, you'd have them in your hands.

CLEMY IS THE LOML GUYS !!!

[raineyraven]

okay i'm curious

(not the best piece of media, but the one you like or rewatch or think about the most)

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

medialog june 2k24

watched

wordplay - rewatched this documentary about crosswords and particularly about the annual crossword tournament put on by will shortz while waiting for the anesthesia from my wisdom tooth extraction to wear off and found it about as charming as i remembered... i love a doc about a subculture made up of endearing nerds. i first saw it when it came out and on revisit it also has some intensely 2004 vibes - in particular jon stewart shows up as one of their crossword-fans talking heads and it really brought home for me how influential he was on the development of internet tone (like to this day the reason so many people on reddit sound Like That is because they're trying to be jon stewart and failing...)

the bourne ultimatum - movie go zoom zoom! still not convinced matt damon can act

artists and models - i had never seen a dean martin/jerry lewis film before and i don't really want to again but i'm glad i saw this one (this is how i feel about the two (2) wes anderson movies i've seen, and also pulp fiction & tarantino). some great colors & costumes, a plot that goes surprisingly bonkers in a final third turn that reminds you it was the cold war (between that and all the stuff about comics & violence this one also functions as a real time capsule), and (my main reason for watching) shirley maclaine the love of my life is so adorable and funny as a daffy sweetheart in a role that really lets her (a former dancer) show off her gift for physical comedy.

the secret garden - the cast in this movie is so good, including the children in the starring roles, and while it doesn't even attempt to do anything with the book's deranged relationship with things like the british empire and the concept of disability, watching it really did bring me back to why the book has been so beloved - the fantasy at its heart is ultimately about hard humble work paying off and about friends teaching each other to be nicer, which are i think deeply appealing narratives for children in a way that people sometimes forget. it's so funny that part of what cures mary and colin of their bad personalities is meeting another unhappy rich child for the very first time!

humanist vampire seeking consenting suicidal person - this was slight but sweet, a darkly funny romcom with some style and heart. also i had never seen a french-canadian movie before i don't think and it was a fun surprise to hear them talking like "frenchfrenchfrenchfrenchRRRRfrenchfrenchRRRR." not an accent with which i have much familiarity!

jurassic park - my somewhat inexplicable, even to me, aversion to raiders of the lost ark had me avoiding action spielberg for basically my whole life but i gave this a shot thinking maybe i would appreciate it if not enjoy it and was absolutely GLUED to the screen from about five minutes in. i understand why other directors are like that about spielberg now, and also what jj abrams is trying to do all the time and failing because he doesn't understand how it actually works. this is like the most famous movie in the world basically and i've seen so many clips from it over the years and yet even waiting for them and expecting them to come i was ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT! like WOW! truly a movie that feels like a theme park ride more than any other i've seen except maybe fury road. anyway as you statistically speaking probably already know this movie absolutely rocks, and not just for (1) laura dern and (2) jeff goldblum with his tits out.

citizen kane - spent the last weekend in june at two different marches & closed it out sunday night with a screening of the movie that made me bisexual <3 one day i'll figure out a way to articulate how this movie did what it did to me but for now i will just say that it is great and its reputation is deserved and orson welles is one of the most entertaining screen presences of all time and it looks so cool and beautiful all the way through and it is so so so so gay

interview with a vampire season 2 - my opinion on this is at this point well established lol finally some good fucking food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

read

megan abbott, the turnout - this & the zadie smith book are further steps in me catching up with authors i lost track of during some bad reading years! when i heard that megan abbott was coming out with a book about sisters who run a ballet school i was like LOL because that's like the peak ultimate megan abbott premise (girls and the nastiness of both feelings and bodies and ambition and hunger and an atmosphere of nightmares and filth and the insane dynamics of a tightly knit but deeply dysfunctional world, all to the nth power), and guess what as a megan abbott fan i loved it :) all the bad reviews on goodreads for this are like "why is this book so gross? why is she sexualizing the nutracker? there were scenes in this book that made me feel dirty reading them. way too much focus on the wet leotard crotches of little girls" and i was sickos dot jpg the whole time. but actually i think the reason that this wound up being my favorite abbott since dare me is that at its core it's a book about a woman with an unbelievably fucked up childhood due to her incredibly fucked up dead parents and the suspense that gives the book its tension and its form is less about what's going to happen with the plot and more about whether she is at any point going to put it together that the things that happened to her when she was young were actually bad; the further the book goes, the more deeply you understand the walls of denial and distortion around her entire life. it rules.

david j. skaal, something in the blood: the untold story of bram stoker, the man who wrote dracula - as previously mentioned, i have some real qualms with some of his dracula readings, but overall i found this an addictively pleasurable tome - 600 pages and he kept them turning the whole time. i love a biography that starts off with some background on medieval ireland, you know? skaal is a good writer with an engaging but learned style, and the book is clearly both exhaustively researched and intended for popular audiences (albeit popular audiences who have definitely read dracula, but, i mean, who else is reading 600 pages about this guy?); reading it often feels something like having a drink with a professor who knows his stuff and is NOT afraid to gossip. dracula qualms aside i may investigate some of his other books, particularly his book on dracula screen adaptations, since i'm curious about those but don't necessarily want to, like, watch most of them, lol

bonnie jo campbell, the waters - book club book that was objectively certainly not terrible and which had some things i did like or appreciate, like an 11 year old girl obsessed with math (representation matters...) but which i found just about the most boring thing i have read in my life. like i would definitely say campbell is a better writer than, say, taylor jenkins reid (to name another book club book) or whatsherface who wrote the book of fried green tomatoes which we also read las year... but i found those books much more aggravating but also easier to get through than this book, which really requires you to have some level investment in, like, the natural world of rural michigan, but mostly made me feel so glad i don't live in a small town where all the men have guns.

zadie smith, swing time - it's funny because when i started this i was spending a lot of time thinking about how maybe plot and structure have become underrated, but then this was like a very long book written in the style of someone just kind of talking at you about their life, with plot events technically happening but never feeling like the driving force of the book, and i was totally riveted, which was a good reminder that you can get away with anything if you're a genius! smith is just such a keen observer of people and how they operate, and so allergic to relying on any kind of obvious assumptions about the relationships between demographics & personality or beliefs, even as demographic realities are such a key part of the fabric of the book... i was a little worried i would be disappointed by the fact that she abandoned the modernist-leaning experimentation of NW for a more straightforward, even chatty, style, but "you can get away with it if you're a genius" applies to that too. this book is also an absolute masterclass in the universal through the specific - i cannot emphasize how much literally not one thing the protagonist experiences has ever happened to me, how much our lives and backgrounds and personalities overlap not at all, and yet constantly i found myself aching with resonance over things like "it's so true that's what it's like when you have a mom" or "that really is what it feels like when you are young and sort of smart but also sort of stupid" (which if i were to define it briefly is i think more or less what the book is about).

listened

charli xcx, brat - i remain after all these years a true romance truther and continue unfairly to measure all her subsequent work, much of which is frankly too sophisticated and experimental for my listening taste even if i recognize she's Doing Something, but this album sounds great and has some bops. as a straight-through listen it was too rich for my blood, but i find myself enjoying the songs on shuffle mixed in with whatever else i've been into more than i would have expected from that first exposure, and also 360 has been stuck in my head more waking hours than not for like a month and a half now and i'm still not sick of it (although i think my favorite song on the album is 365, and not just because i think it's really funny that she ended the album with "the opening track coming out of the bathroom after doing cocaine"). plus as someone who HAS been listening to charli since whenever the video for "you're the one" dropped it is nice to see The Culture finally rally around her even if i remain a little puzzled over why now, the all-star remixes getting rolled out have been pretty delightful (LORDE!!!!!!!!), and it's nice to have the zeitgeist coalesce for a moment over something i too think is fun (especially since the other thing gay people love this summer is chappell roan on whom i have yet to be converted sorry to everyone i'm sincerely glad you're having a good time)

[jjackfrost]

Hi! Just wanted to drop by to say I absolutely love how you write and characterize Jack in OTNWAS. He’s genuinely like the strongest written character in the story, like I’m genuinely amazed at how incredibly in-character he feels. Especially his dialogue, the way he talks, quips, and how he thinks just feels so true to the movie it’s insane, you know him so well. He’s definitely my favorite in the fic. Did you do anything in particular to perhaps prep yourself for writing Jack? Like rewatching the movie a bunch or just really taking notes on his personality?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! <3 <3 <3 Uhh well I did rewatch the movie a bunch of times, but not specifically to learn how to write Jack (I did do that with watching RTTE and Gift of the Night Fury, because writing Hiccup was something I found a lot more challenging). I became obsessed with rotg, and then Jack just constantly rotated in my mind whether I liked it or not lol. It's your standard hyperfixation, I just thought about him so much he was in my bones, it almost feels like method acting sometimes except like in my head, you know? But I usually only get this with one character at a time, so again, Hiccup felt more like a stranger to me and it took a lot more like manual effort to get to know him

[autisticlittleman]

oh shit i forgot it's time to rewatch Gift of the Night Fury

[tea-earl-grey]

Voyager rewatch recap

just finished my Voyager re-watch (still feeling a little emotional from Endgame) and I actually had the foresight to rate all the episodes and was curious about what my average episode rating, top episodes, and bottom episodes were and I thought I'd post it for funsies. however despite my love of rating and reviewing things I'm terrible at actually assigning scores to stories so it's incredibly subjective based on how I was feeling when I watched it. in general, a 5 or below is abysmally bad, 7 is meh/average, and a 9 or above is a strong love.

SEASON AVERAGES:

Season 1 – avg: 7.17, median: 7

Season 2 – avg: 7.37, median: 7.15

Season 3 – avg: 7.58, median: 7.3

Season 4 – avg: 8.15, median: 8.4

Season 5 – avg: 8.2, median: 8.2

Season 6 – avg: 8.02, median: 8.15

Season 7 – avg: 7.65, median: 7.4

TEN FAVORITE EPISODES:

Barge of the Dead (10)

Bride of Chaotica (9.8)

Timeless (9.7)

Survival Instinct (9.7)

Mortal Coil (9.6)

Night (9.6)

The Gift (9.5)

Riddles (9.5)

Endgame (9.5)

Latent Image (9.5)

TEN LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES:

Fury (3.5)

Retrospect (4.8)

Twisted (4.9)

Darkling (5)

Tattoo (5)

Alice (5.8)

Cathexis (6)

Favorite Son (6)

Vis a Vis (6)

The Fight (6)

despite having its share of bad and average episodes, I think I can very safely say that Voyager is my favorite Trek. it's certainly not perfect but it feels like home and it inspires me to have so many thoughts and ideas and I simply need to rotate all the characters in my head for awhile more before I can ever be coherent about them.

[spacenintendogs]

i think if everyone just rewatched gift of the night fury they'd feel a little better

[pinkanonhopes]

Hi Leo :>

So I think for me the peak of httyd as a franchise is Gift Of The Night Fury. Ik people generally say its race to the edge and theyre right writing-wise like its the highest quality but for me personally Berk is so central to my enjoyment of httyd. like its so charming and after watching Riders of Berk /Defenders Of Berk for like the majority of my day between ages 4 and 7 I feel like Ive lived on Berk my whole life?? And the people and shenanigans and mountains and feeling of community are so real to me. Gotnf is just a christmas special but its my favourite thing ever. Riders Of Berk energy, Httyd1 animation, baby dragons, snow, random totally out of place flying scene, emotional moments? its got it all!

And just. im not gonns talk about the relation to The Hidden World bc it will make me more sad but the scene at the end of gotnf where you realise Toothless has been away this whole time JUST to retrieve Hiccups helmet? and then the next dsy Hiccup wakes up all fulfilled and happy bc hes gonna go flying for the first time in like 3 days and he has to come to the realisation that Toothless doesnt want to fly if it doesnt mean Hiccup is with him and UGHHHHHH /POS /POS /POS

(tysm for letting me rant a little bit <33333)

hey honey :) this was so interesting!! i really want to rewatch all the movies and content after reading this. and no worries, you can rant whenever you like. <3

[kinetic-elaboration]

November 28: AHS 5x12 Be Our Guest

Whelp still awake.

Anyway. Finished AHS Hotel today. The last episode was very sweet, almost treacly one might say--I'd say fan service-y if it were any other series but I don't know what AHS fans actually want or are looking for and also it feels more like... perhaps creator-service? Like it's over the top with happy-endings-for-everyone-no-matter-what but I don't think it is that way out of capitulation or as a gift.

I was particularly struck by the found family nature of the happy ending, too. It's not just that the characters all get happy endings: it's that they get a happy ending together, it's that they work together for their happy ending, it's that they're all one big happy family in the hotel. It's Iris and Liz helping Sally and Will Drake but it's also Detective John and his killers' club helping to save the hotel by threatening Billie, and it's little details like Ramon playing with Holden in the background of a scene. I mean it's just laid on damn thick honestly.

But no complaints because I fucking love found families. Frankly, I'd rather watch ghost fashion shows (ghost fashion shows!!) and family reunions on hell night and sweet little montages of success and togetherness narrated by Liz than, like, addiction demons forcibly raping people in dirty hotel rooms.

Sally was one of the weakest characters in my opinion but I thought she had one of the best endings: now she's the annoying social media addict always putting her phone in everyone's faces but you know what if Twitter is good for anything it's probably helping ghosts be less lonely. Also, as with ghost fashion show, I find this such an intriguing and creative and wonderful idea. On the internet, no one knows you're a ghost.

I also loved Liz and Tristan's reunion. It was pretty inevitable that Liz would have to become a ghost and I'm glad they at least didn't draw out that story line. It was worth it for even the few short moments we saw of her with Tristan.

Allowing Donovan to say goodbye to Iris was also very adorable.

And I liked that the Countess not only got the last word but got to show us that she's still living her life, even though she's dead and has to spend eternity having dinner with her husband, the worst man in the world. She will not be kept down.

Overall, I liked the season more than I remembered. I liked the Countess a lot more, and I think when I count the pros--the good characters, the good episodes, the good moments--they are strong enough and plentiful enough to outweigh the cons. And emotionally, it landed strong, which matters a lot. I really hate the serial killer story lines and there are other things in here that aren't really for me (the vampire stuff wasn't doing it for me, the Valentino story line was really weird, a lot of sound and fury signifying not a whole lot of anything) but all AHS seasons throw a lot at the wall and not all of it will stick. So all in all, I'm pleased with the experience of rewatching.

[yuzukahachimir]

-Hiccup in Gift of the Night fury called Astrid``milady´´

-Astrid in the Second movie called Hiccup ``baby´´

-Hiccup and Astrid in Homecoming called each other ``honey´´

Me all the time:

[ashleybenlove]

Honestly, that scene that begins with 

“Everyone’s gonna be so surprised!”  [Baby dragon hatches and hits Fishlegs in the face]” “SURPRISE!”

is just ICONIC.

[lovelybarnes]

hotel california- shangqi

pairings: xu shangqi x past widow!reader warnings: mentions of red room and just a lot of fluff about: sleepover request: clingy fluff with shangqi a/n: im obsessed with shangqi and widow!reader and although this isn’t really centered around that, i wanted to include it

time spent between you and your boyfriend had decreased dramatically ever since he became an official superhero. you went from seeing him and katy for over half the day every day to surviving on minute long phone calls and scarce lazy late night cuddle sessions because he had slipped into bed with you in the late hours of the night. the days that you would spend with only each other practically diminished, and the few hours you got with just each other were treasured like precious stones, stretched out as long as you both could until one or the other was called away.

which was why spending every second with each other on the free day you both had was so important. today was the first time in a long time when you both requested a day off— and actually got it approved. bruce and wong had sworn that the world would be fine without shangqi for the day, and your own team had assured you the case that had come in yesterday was in good hands with your most promising intern. the day was stress-free, your phones on complete silence—except for shangqi’s for emergent calls from nick fury for either or both of you, of course; you never know when a retired widow and the newest avenger are needed.

luckily, today neither of you were. and the skills engraved in you and shangqi were able to remain inside for the day.

your hands had been joined every minute you were in a crowd of people so you wouldn’t lose each other, desperate to savor every second together that you were gifted. frankly, you were both starved of each others’ touch for too long, and neither of you were going to take advantage of the time where you had the opportunity to enjoy it.

after sleeping in a little later than usual, you and your boyfriend had goofed around in the kitchen for a while, making a mess while you attempted to make pancakes, during which you both remembered that you weren’t exactly gifted in the cooking department. this was proven by the gross difference between your destruction of a pancake and shangqi’s own perfectly golden pancake. he had stifled a laugh but refused to let you throw away what you made, taking a proud picture instead.

the next few hours were made up of movie rewatching, ranging from the cheesiest rom-coms you could find to the newest horror movies you had missed. you must have missed at least half the movies displayed on the television from talking with each other and getting distracted by the other.

at some point, you both ended up on the sidewalk, heading to the only shop you knew of that sold the artisanal mango ice cream you had remembered you loved halfway through scream. shangqi had declared you had to have it, and punched in the destination in his gps before you were out the door.

your fingers interlaced without your notice, observing the beauty of san francisco while your arms swung in harmony and you asked your boyfriend how life avenger-ing was going.

“insane,” he answered, “the other day, i walked into a room and found freaking captain america brushing his teeth. i swear i peed myself when he waved at me like it wasn’t sam wilson standing in front of me and i didn’t just die inside a little.”

you laugh, pushing him lightly with your shoulder, “you do realize that’s how people feel when you wave at them, right? haven’t you ever seen the way little kids look at you?”

he blinks, “no.” he looks down at you, as if he’s just realized it, “holy shit, y/n.”

“holy shit indeed, shangqi. you’re a hero,” you squeeze his hand. “really hot one, too,” you add, fanning yourself with your other hand as you lean against shangqi’s side. “i’m dating a hero,” you gush, then pause, getting more serious. “you’re amazing, you know that? who else could defeat a huge organization that’s lived for centuries?”

he chuckles, squeezing you closer before pressing his lips to your forehead, “you, for one. don’t think i forgot that time you went mia and then i found out you were just taking down the red room with the black freakin’ widow.”

you pout at him, “can’t you let me compliment you for something amazing that you did?” you whine.

“i just give credit where credit is due,” shangqi shrugs, letting you pull him through the door once you see the sign to the store you’re looking for. “huh, i thought we still had a couple blocks to go.”

“you would literally be lost without me, shangqi,” you mutter playfully, entering the surprisingly crowded shop. “oh, looks like i wasn’t the only one with a mango ice cream craving, huh?”

you feel shangqi pull you closer from behind you, and you begin to walk further into the shop, only for your boyfriend to stop you after a few steps. “let’s not get separated, okay? you know what to do if you do.”

you sigh, shaking your head as you turn to look at him, “i’m not gonna do that.”

“we decided!”

“i was drunk— and honestly, i thought you were kidding!”

with a shake of his head, shangqi leads you further into the store, watching amusedly at your getting distracted by everything the store offered. he only lets go of your hand to open the freezer for the ice cream, but when he reaches for it again, it’s gone, your form lost among the crowd. he shuts the freezer door, ice cream in hand as he looks around for you, unable to find you within the amount of people.

you barely noticed that you’ve wandered off until your hand smacks a random womans’ arm instead of your boyfriend’s when you find a box of candy you’d been searching for forever. you apologize, craning your neck to try and spot your tall boyfriend.

“shangqi?” you call, but his name is lost in the sounds of varied conversations.

you get shoved onto one of the fridges, holding back your reflexes when you feel some random person grabbing your arm by accident. muttering a curse at the fact that you lost shangqi like he predicted, you look around, disappointed when you can’t find him anywhere.

“crap,” you whisper to yourself when you pat the empty pocket where your phone always was, remembering your phone is laying on the counter at your house because shangqi’s phone was all you insisted you needed. you groan when you realize what your only option is at the moment, palm already at your forehead in embarrassment, “how does it go…”

you go back to the nights of karaoke that used to be a normal night for you, unsurpised when the lyrics come back to you quickly. you start with a hum, “and i was thinkin’ to myself, ‘this could be heaven or this could be hell.’”

“then she lit up a candle and showed me the way,” you continue quietly, trying to build up the courage for what will surely be the most embarrassing experience of your life. “there were voices down the corridor,” you say a little louder, ignoring the strange looks you’re already receiving, “i thought i heard them say…”

“welcome to the hotel california!” you sing, song wavering in your voice, but clearer. “such a lovely place—”

you stop when you realize the whole store is quiet now, staring at you. you relax when you hear another familiar voice, turning when you realize where it’s coming from. “such a lovely place,” you mumble, about ready to just leave the place and wait for your boyfrend outside before you hear a familiar voice through the silence.

“such a lovely face,” shangqi sings, a huge grin taking over his face when he meets your eye.

sighing, you rush over to him, tightly grabbing his hand when you finally reach him and pulling him close to you, heading towards the cashier. shangqi smiles at the confused customers around him like a pop star after climbing off a stage.

“god, that is the worst possible way to find each other when we get lost.”

“it can’t be that bad if it worked,” shangqi shrugs, “and it worked very well.”

you laugh breathily, shaking your head as you get in line, turning to him. “i can’t believe i did that,” you grin. “we just performed for a store,” you realize.

“i hope someone got that on video,” shangqi tells you, “we could be next pop star power couple.” he kisses your cheek when they raise in a smile, but you catch his lips before he turns.

“we would be too powerful,” you tell him honestly, pecking his nose when you notice the customer front of you finishing up. “i say we should stick to private concerts, at least for now.” you say as you give the tired cashier a smile, paying for the sweets.

“hm, you’re right, of course.” shangqi agrees once you’re both outside, “i don’t know what i would do without you.”

“you’re lucky you don’t have to know, then.”

[2-late-2-the-party]

Me: Hey, it’s December! You know know what that means? You know what special time of year it is???

Person: … Christmas???

Me: NO YOU SIMPLETON It’s DRAGON SEASON!!! It’s time to rewatch Gift of the Night Fury and Homecoming and make art for the *most important* fandom event of the year; the Twelve Days of Doomsday!!! 🥳🥳🥳

Person: …

Me: Oh yeah and Christmas is cool too I guess