#seblos one shot

[qprpbj]

having another oh my GOD i miss seblos so bad evening. i need to cook up a new fic.

[charliesloser]

hii! i’m new and i’m a huge hazbin hotel fan. other things i’m into are arcane, the owl house, amphibia, steven universe, heartstopper, avatar, helluva boss, fortnite, hsmtmts, etc.

i like to draw, but i’m not that good so i might not post any! i roleplay too, and make little fics/one-shots. i don’t really plan on making any friends since the last group i met online turned out to be back stabbers BUT i’d like to talk still. i’m bad at opening up and might push yoh away, but i really don’t mean to, i promise!

i make prompts for role plays and fics/one shots as well! i’m 17 and bisexual, too and i use he/him! i’m trans, ftm.

ships i like are-

arcane- caitvi

hazbin hotel: chaggie, huskerdust, emilute, radiostatic, radioapple, adam x lute

the owl house: lumity, gustholomule, amillow, willuz, huntlow, raeda, willumity, camileda

amphibia: sashanne, marcanne, sasharcy, sashannarcy, hopgrime, sprivy

steven universe: lapidot, stevonnie, pearlrose, pearlmuth, amepearl, amedot

heartstopper- narlie, tarcy, tao x elle, imogen x sarah

helluva boss- stolitz, miloxxie

hsmtmts: rina, seblos, madlyn, jourtney

anyways, that’s it!

[onetwothreefarkle]

cashmere!!

whoops this got angsty

[iridescentkippen]

it's gonna be our night (aka a bad seblos one shot i wrote while half asleep)

this was kind of a bad character study of sorts as i really want to write hoco from seb's point of view at some point but felt like i couldn't do that without writing- let's be real i'm analyzing it more than writing it- from carlos' first?? idk this isn't good and it's missing parts of the episode because i wrote it when i was half asleep but platonic ashlyn/carlos is my favorite so i had to

It was a Friday night, and Carlos had no homework. What he should have been doing was hugging his pillow and crying to The Notebook for the fifth hundredth time before calling Ashlyn at two in the morning to cry that, "Ash, why don't I have a hot boyfriend like Ryan Gosling?" but instead he was tearing through his closet to try and find the tie that would match his suit. Why did homecoming have to be so stressful?

Ashlyn is perched on the end of his bed, scrolling on her phone, when her gasp causes Carlos to pull himself out of his closet to look at her. "What?"

"I know my cousin is shallow, and I know he sometimes doesn't have the best taste in girls, but Gina?" She turns her phone towards him to show Gina's Instagram story of the two of them at dinner.

Carlos rolls his eyes, going back to tearing through his stuff before finally finding the tie he was looking for. "Didn't he and Nini just call it quits like, yesterday? He didn't seem over her last I saw," He throws the tie over his shoulder onto where his tux is sitting next to Ashlyn, and the redhead ducks as it comes towards her.

"Dude, warn me next time you start chucking clothes at me," The two start laughing, before falling down next to each other on Carlos' bed.

"You know, if I have to go insane with someone, I'm glad it's you. I thought I would have no friends at East High, but now I have you and Seb and Miss Jenn-" He cuts himself off when he realizes how dumb he sounds.

They start cackling again before Ashlyn shoves him and the two sit up. "C'mon, let's get you into that and send a photo to lover boy before he thinks you've forgotten all about him." Carlos blushes as he pulls on the coat and attempts to get the tie on correctly before forcing Ashlyn to do it.

"What if he thinks I look dumb? What if he looks so nice that I start blushing and stuttering over my words? What if-"

"Carlos, I mean this in the nicest way possible. Shut up!" She takes a photo of him on the boy's phone before handing it back to him. He sends the photo to his date, but not without getting teased by his best friend for already having put hearts by the other boy's name.

The rest of the afternoon goes as smoothly as it can when all Carlos wants to do is check his phone every ten seconds to see if Seb has replied. He and Ashlyn do photos outside his house before running to McDonald's because in her words, "We are not spending money on nice food when we could each get twenty chicken nuggets and a large soda for way cheaper," and he's learned not to argue with her when it comes to fast food.

Ashlyn finally takes his phone from him and says she'll tell him if Seb texts because he can't stay off of it long enough to have an actual conversation. They finish eating before rushing to the school to meet the rest of the theatre kids.

Ricky and Big Red meet them at the door and they all head in, finding the table reserved for them. After sitting there for nearly ninety minutes, Carlos turns to Ashlyn, worry painting his face. "What if he doesn't show up?"

"He will, Carlos, I promise. Maybe he just got caught in traffic," Carlos frowns at her before checking his phone again.

"Traffic? We live in Salt Lake City, Ash, I'm pretty positive there hasn't been traffic here since the 2002 Olympics. Also, he left me on read. What could that mean?" Ashlyn sighs, turning off his phone for him.

"I dont know, idiot. Now put your phone away and have fun until he gets here! C'mon, let's go dance!"

Carlos frowns, urging himself not to cry. "Let's face it, Ash, I've been stood up. Let's go home. We still have time to get in HSM and Camp Rock if we go now,"

"No, I'm not letting you give up this easily. Get something to drink and then come dance with me!" She grabs his arm, tugging him out of his seat and through the crowd made of their peers. "See, even Ricky and Red are having a good time." The two boys are awkwardly dancing and laughing as Red continues to trip over his feet every five seconds.

Ashlyn shoves him towards the drink table before disappearing into the crowd of people, leaving him alone. Mr. Mazzara talks to him, and he responds, but he isn't really sure what he's saying even as he's handed a cup of something red and sweet. It tastes a little bit like alcohol, and he's not sure some kid didn't spike it when Mazzara wasn't watching, but he still drinks the whole thing anyway. Maybe it'll make him forget Seb.

A song he loved when he was little starts playing, and a small smile breaks out on his face. He drops the cup in the garbage before sighing and walking into the crowd of people. He sways on his own a little before Ashlyn finds him and the two dance and scream the lyrics at each other. There was definitely something in the punch as he feels more confident than he has in years. He doesn't even remember why he was so sad. Ashlyn calls out to him, "So, have you decided you can have fun without Seb being here?"

Oh, right. That's why he was so sad. And everything hits him again as he takes a deep breath and shrugs. He's about to ask her if they can still go home now because he tried staying here and he just can't, when suddenly he sees him. Standing in the doorway is Seb, a look on his face Carlos can't quite describe in his half tipsy state. Ashlyn sees him too, as a smile breaks out onto her face and she looks like she's going to cry of happiness.

"He's here! Go say hi!" She shoves him, and he stumbles across the gym towards the blonde boy.

"Hey, sorry I'm so late," And with those five words, Carlos forgives him because he just can't stay mad at Seb. He just can't.

"You're almost three hours late," Seb sighs, not meeting Carlos' eyes.

"I know, one of our cows went missing and I was the only one who could find her,"

"But not answering my texts?" Seb giggles, looking at his feet.

"We don't have great service out there. I really was trying to, I promise," A slow song comes on and Seb smiles, holding out his hands to the other boy. "Can I have this dance?"

He smiles, taking Seb's hands, and in that moment everything is perfect. Maybe everything can be okay, just the two of them. "Of course." And then the two of them dance for the rest of the night, not paying attention to anybody else in the room (even though Ashlyn sneakily takes photos of them to make fun of Carlos later). And everything is okay. Everything is perfect.

ik it's not great but like and/or reblog if you enjoyed?? it lets me know what people wanna see me write :)

[redmeanslove]

the way I wanted to take a nap in the hours leading up to this so I would be fully functional and attentive but no, my brain decided I should create half a novel instead.

[renew-them]

I’VE BEEN THINKING

Does Carlos know how to play the piano? Cause hear me out.

So there’s one going around about how Seblos’ love confession comes with Carlos’ Backstory™️ and how he had no friends and all that.

So what if like Carlos is just having a bad day and they’re alone in the bomb shelter after rehearsal.

Seb is playing the piano and Carlos sits next to him and goes

“I never learned how to play”

Seb is like Carlos Rodriguez the greatest choreographer/student/human of all time ??

And he’s trying to make a joke but Carlos goes

“If I was that great I would know how to make friends”

Seb is just confused because all the theatre kids are his friends.

So Carlos goes on about how for last year’s musical he was barely able to do anything -if at all- (“It’s been a long time since someone gave me a chance”)

And how if he played an instrument he could have at least provided that and how the theatre kids are probably just his friends cause they’re forced to see him so often and they can’t make fun of him and how last year he was so alone.

So Seb grabs one of Carlos’ hands and tells him how wonderful he is and it’s ridiculous that no one absolutely adored him last year because he’s pretty much perfect and how he would’ve been his best friend if they met the year before.

And he wants to distract Carlos because he shouldn’t be feeling this was so he goes

“You can play, you just were never taught”

So he brings the hand that’s holding Carlos’ to his other a top the piano and he puts his hands over Carlos’ so he does that thing where he presses his fingers and Carlos kinda not really plays the piano.

And Seb’s looking at their hands while saying the notes under his breath but Carlos is just staring at him and Seb looks up at him and smiles and looks back at their hands.

Seb starts singing softly a song from beauty and the beast (I don’t really know the songs but a love song or something that’s about how great he is inside I guess those exist?)

Then Carlos joins in and looks down and this isn’t necessary an easy song so he has to move his hands along the piano so Seb like presses his hands a little bit and slides Carlos’ over.

They play and sing the song and when they play the last note it rings in the air and Seb looks at Carlos who was already looking at him.

They fully turn to look at each other, Seb moves his leg over the bench so that he’s completely facing Carlos.

Carlos turns and sits criss-crossed on the bench.

They‘re holding hands between them and Seb’s trying to make light of the situation so he goes

“You do know how to play the piano!”

Carlos chuckles a little bit and that’s all Seb wanted.

But then Carlos goes “That was all you, you know it’s always like that, I’m just standing there making things harder”

Seb can’t believe it so he gives him a whole monologue about how he is more than enough and how he’s going to do great in this show just like he did with the last one and how could they have gotten anywhere without his choreography which he did all by himself and Miss Jen wouldn’t even be here if he hadn’t done the choreography to “Truth, Justice, and Songs in our Key”

He tells him how great he is and Carlos is crying (because he started tearing up talking about freshman year and it’s easier to cry when you already -or almost- did)

Seb let’s go of his hands to lift Carlos’ glasses and wipe a tear away with the other.

But he leaves his thumb on Calos’ cheeck and let’s go of his glasses but slides his hand down a little bit and now Seb’s cupping Carlos’ face in his hands.

And they’re so close so he leans in just a bit and unconsciously draws Carlos’ face toward him.

Carlos is in shock staring at Seb’s lips and they make eye contact and blush.

Seb was about to ask but Carlos blurts out “Can I?”

So Seb just nods silently and they lean in and close their eyes and it’s so perfect.

It isn’t desperate and fast and with the force of Rini’s or Redlyn’s but it’s so soft and it’s just a touch of the lips.

Carlos’s hands are at Seb’s writs now because he needs support since he’s sure he’s gonna fall of the bench.

And they separate just enough so that they aren’t kissing anymore.

And Carlos’ hand slide down Seb’s arms and down his torso until they land at his waist.

Carlos presses his hands there a little towards him and they kiss again and it’s longer this time, they actually move their lips now and there’s relief sighs into the kiss.

And as the shock wears off small smiles make their way into the kiss.

So when they pull away they’re a smiling blushing mess but they’re so happy.

And Carlos feels like he might start crying again because he’s so overwhelmed.

So he chockes out an “I love you” because he does and he really truly means it.

Seb’s overjoyed but the smile on his face is still small and in love.

And he runs both his thumbs over Carlos’ cheecks again.

He tells Caros how beautiful and talented he is.And he already said it, he’s been saying it since the second he grab Carlos’ hand and told him he would’ve been his best friend if he had met him before.

But Carlos has been saying it since he grabbed his hand at homecoming and seemed to forget he was three hours late.

But Carlos just said it again.

And Seb wanted to.

“I love you too”

They leaned in again.

And somehow, it was even better than the last.

you can tell i’m starved

[countessofravenclaw]

I will sincerely apologize for the person I will become in the 27th of July. HSMTMTS is coming back!!!! And the season will focus on EJ!!! I love him, he is my second favorite fictional male character.

Okay, most of mutuals, we weren't mutuals last summer, so you are all gonna see me geek out over my other obsession ship that is not Gastina for the first time.

They were clearly painting a love triangle again, but we got a really small Rina scene, which basically focused on EJ seeing them. If Rina actually is going to happen they wouldn't had the EJ walking shot there. And Portwell literally kissed in the trailer and we did not see any reaction from Ricky.

I am still not personally buying the fact that he ever even liked Gina. I mean in S1 he was always after Nini and when EJ said he liked Gina, Ricky little bit questioned it, but then just didn't react at all. He went on to help Seblos and move about Nini again. Portwell kissed in fort of Slices, he probably saw it.

The bottom line is that I think Porwell will get through something similar to S2 Gastina. They start out happy, then have some conflict, Ricky is going to be Xavi and EJ and Gina will get back together in the end.

It is gonna be just misunderstanding and miscommunication. EJ has learned from his mistakes with Nini, and they don't have phones so he can't steal any. I hope he and Ricky will end up talking and becoming gal pals. I wanna see Ricky become the biggest Portwell shipper.

Also I am not worried about Big Red or Seb, they're not gone. They just didn't go camping for 2 weeks because they had family business obligations.

So here were my thoughs... hopefully no one will come after me for them. And if Portwell is not endgame... I will be mad but I'll survive. I am used to my ships not being endgame and needing hc their eventual endgameness. I'll be fine if Oxfors won't come in again

[petruchio]

i think the world needs your hsmtmts analysis

i was waiting until i watched this weeks episode to answer this ask and my current answer is that it’s a bad show with bad writing and insanely amazing and talented and appealing young people acting in the dumbest storylines a human being could ever think up. ok im being unfair. but let me talk about it i guess

season 1 was remarkably good young peoples television, the stories were tight, the actors were extremely appealing, it handled a lot of topics in a way that felt pretty well-thought out (for a disney show. like for example in s1 i thought rickys family situation was given the appropriate complexity and informed the story and the character in a believable way) also every single song in s1 slapped so hard it was insane. wondering is still in my top 50 songs of all time on spotify bc that song went SO hard. the main problem was that the narrative was concluded when ricky and nini got together. that was the driving force behind all of season 1. so they already had an uphill battle going on from there.

season 2 was one of the worst pieces of television ive ever suffered through. the stakes were all over the place, the ending was a complete garbage fire, and as olivia rodrigos star rose, it became a problem because she was kind of… the main character. she was the whole center of the show. the whole season just felt like everyone was running around with their heads on fire trying to figure out what to do now that everyone knew that her and joshua had dated and broken up and she’d released a smash hit of an album about it, and the only shining lights in that season were seblos and portwell, again mostly just bc the actors are so appealing. (and watching the villains of s1 get redeemed through liking each other… it was great. i loved it.)

season 3 just feels like it’s retreading ground that doesn’t need retreading? like oh now ej is an asshole again! for no reason except that he’s only acting that way because the writers don’t know what to do with him because he got too appealing last season and now we don’t have a villain! ricky is in love with gina again because we invented that lily girl and then everyone hated her so we wrote her out! nini is just… gone because olivia rodrigo is on the sour tour but we did have one random episode with the guy from modern family in it and we just haven’t addressed it since! like it’s better than s2 by a long shot but it still doesn’t feel like there’s any drive to the narrative, except the ricky/gina thing which, like i said, just feels like an unnecessary retread to me.

the only thing that’s not a retread this season is this sibling storyline that is BORING MY TEETH OUT because WHO CARES. why are we wasting so much screen time on siblings we don’t care about who we have no investment in? who cares about them? also have any of the writers ever had a sibling? sometimes they’re annoying! that’s the whole thing about siblings!! it’s not some unforgivable roadblock it’s just like. a normal part of being in a family. i cannot bring myself to care in the slightest about either of these characters.

i think another problem in s3 is that there’s no villain. like maybe corbin bleu is the villain? or the documentary is the villain? maybe they’re trying to make ej the villain again? even in s2 we had that lily girl. but this season there’s no real antagonist so it doesn’t feel like the story is going anywhere. so they’re doing a documentary. okay? why does it matter? why do they care? there needs to be some kind of stakes if it doesn’t work out. i mean last season the stakes changed episode to episode and the ultimate conclusion to them was “nvm<3” but at least they *tried* to have stakes? this season things are just like, happening.

also in s1 the musical was like, central to the story and this season it’s like. oh yeah we’re doing frozen btw but you can’t see any of it which is the same thing they did last season with batb and it’s annoying to me. because if they wanted to draw parallels (which it seems ? like they’re trying to do, but they’re lazy about it) they’d do what they did in s1 and do 1 original song and 1 musical song in each episode and tie the stories together. but instead they’re like. no <3

also i love kourtney. i feel like i never talk about her but i love her. ashlyn too. i wish they still had arcs that impacted the central narrative but i guess the problem is there IS no central narrative anymore. maybe that’s the whole problem — the show just feels unfocused. like what are they trying to say anymore? we’re just spinning our wheels. where are we GOING? why does it matter? what justifies this narrative? it feels like even the writers don’t know anymore.

ok that was more of a rant than an analysis but anyway the point is im ANNOYED and i feel like all these crazy talented kids are being wasted in these storylines and it bums me out because i loved s1 SO MUCH and i just feel like the show isn’t doing justice to it’s own characters.

i mean not to go here AGAIN but im going to do the glee comparison bc tbh it’s true. basically go read my glee s1 essay about why glee s1 is the only good season of THAT show and it’s basically the same thing. bc so often with these shows they have a good and coherent narrative purpose in the first season, and then in the subsequent seasons they just spin their wheels doing fanservice and having fun with the characters people latched onto, but they don’t actually write a good STORY. and that’s what’s missing from hsmtmts. it’s not good characters, or good acting, or good writing on a micro scale (we’ve had some bangers of lines this season!!) what’s missing is a good, justified, truly plot-driving story that keeps people hooked AND develops and explores all the characters at the same time

[use-your-imagination98]

If I was writing HSMTMTS S3

So, we know the drama kids go to theater camp:

Have the theater camp be run by Ashlyn and EJ’s grandmother: Penny Caswell  

This would lead to Caswell Family Drama

which would lead to introducing the grandfather: George Caswell 

We already know that George and Penny met at Duke. George was going to be a lawyer and Penny was studying theater. Penny got pregnant her senior year with Cash. She lost her chance at being a Broadway star to stay home and raise Cash (and eventually Dennis)

George bought the camp for Penny to shut up her complaints that he got to be this big shot lawyer and she never got to follow her dreams. George doesn’t understand/like musicals/theater.

George is close with Ashlyn, while Penny is close with EJ. Penny doesn’t mind that EJ is still exploring life, while George is furious that EJ isn’t going to Duke. Penny internally sees a lot of herself in Ashlyn and therefore pushes her extremely hard.

When Ash and EJ introduce Gina and Big Red, it’s Big Red who Penny doesn’t like. She thinks he is below Ashlyn’s standards and spends all summer trying to set Ashlyn up with another boy at the camp who has huge dreams. 

Gina, for the first time in her life, is settled and happy. She helps EJ discover what he wants in life and helps EJ and Ashlyn with their family troubles.

Enter Ricky... He brings Lily along with him to summer theater camp. Lily puts on a fake front, but Gina senses that she is being fake. 

Soon, an instagram account is created and begins bullying the East High Drama kids: Putting a pig’s nose on a pic of Ashlyn, a DUNCE cap on a pic of Seb, etc. One picture is revealed during each episode starting with 2 and ending with 7/8. All these pictures were taken at camp. So, the instagram has to be run by someone there. Gina, Kourtney, Big Red, and Carlos are the loudest voices telling Ricky that its Lily. But Ricky continues to defend her. 

Gina call out Lily at one of the campfire sing-a-longs and Lily acts all dumb and hurt. Ricky and Gina argue (#Rina angst). Big Red breaks them apart and pulls Ricky aside. Red tries to reason with Ricky and explain why everyone thinks its Lily. Ricky blows up at Red and complains that the reason he’s team Lily is because ever since Big Red started dating Ashlyn, he’s changed and doesn’t have time for Ricky. Big Red goes off (#Redky angst)

Howie, seeing how Lily’s lies are pulling the friend group apart, pulls Kourtney aside and admits Lily stole the harness and he knew about it. Kourtney fumes. Breaks up with Howie and we get a girl bonding moment with her and Gina and Ashlyn. Kourtney shifts focus on making costumes for the camp’s summer musicale. Her costume prowess impresses Penny and Penny offers Kourtney a job at Caswell Camp anytime she would like one and writes her a letter of recommendation to Kourtney’s top college. 

After Lily posted the Seb picture with a DUNCE cap on him, Seb confides in Carlos that he is dyslexic and learning is hard for him and when people put him down or call him stupid, it really hurts. Carlos decides that he comes from money and decides (with Seb’s permission) to hire Seb an amazing tutor to help him with school.

So, to recap: Ricky is fighting with EVERYONE, EJ is fighting with his grandpa, Ashlyn with her grandma, EVERYONE but Lily is mad at Ricky, Howie and Kourtney are on the outs but Queen Kourtney is thriving elsewhere.

As for Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara, Mr. M took the California Job and Miss Jenn is trying to make it work with Mike, but with every passing day she regrets it. She talks to Penny about her troubles. Penny explains her story with George and Miss Jenn realizes she wants Mr. Mazzara, that she is forcing herself to work in Mike’s life, but her and Ben just click. 

CUTE COUPLE MOMENTS:

3x05: It’s the 4th of July and this episode contains the Seblos talk about Seb having dyslexia. In this episode, Seb confides in Carlos and Carlos decides he will do any activity that Seb wants to do that day. At night, during the fireworks, Carlos had EJ and Big Red spell out “I LOVE YOU SEB” in fireworks. Seb says ILY2 and they kiss under the fireworks.

3x08: Big Red is fed up with Penny trying to push Ashlyn closer to the camp guy and during a conversation with Ashlyn, he gets super short and testy. Ashlyn puts it together that Red is worried again that he’s not enough for her and tells her grandma to back off. She loves Big Red. It dawns on her what she just admitted and plans to tell Big Red under the star light (since lights are their thing). She drags him to a midnight picnic under the stars and they say their ILYs.

Portwell are cute all season. EJ defends his relationship with Gina to his grandfather pretty early in the season. They are full of fluff all season... until 3x12. EJ decides to go to Penn State (or any out of Utah college) for communications and videography. And Gina (once again) gets the rug pulled out from under her, and confused about what that means for her and EJ.

After her talk with Penny in 3x10, Miss Jenn misses the beginning of the camp musicale in 3x11 and flies to California to confess her feelings for Mr. Mazzara. They finally kiss and Mr. M admits California isn’t for him. He’s more of a Utah guy anyway.

Howie tries all summer to get Kourtney’s forgiveness, but she just won’t budge. During the camp musicale he sings another AMAZING ballad and says an impromptu speech about how in awe he is of her and how he screwed up. Kourtney is touched and agrees to start again but he has to gain her trust back.

George and Penny have a sweet moment in 3x11 or 3x12 after he watches Ashlyn and EJ sing and starts to see what Penny sees in the musical/theater stuff.

Ricky, being on the rocks with all his friends, starts to wonder if they were right about Lily. He steals her phone while she’s taking a swim in the lake and sees that she truly is the one behind the horrible pictures of his friends. He confronts her the morning of the musicale and they break up. Throughout the musicale he makes amends with the gang, especially a really sweet Big Red/Ricky moment. Then, the season ends with Ricky looking for Gina to apologize after the show, and she's sitting in the dark, alone by the lake. He notices she’s crying and she admits she doesn’t know what her and EJ’s future is going to be. He sits besides her and wraps an arm around her. SEASON ENDS.

Musical Moments:

The East High Drama Club does another Instagram video but this time to “What Time is It”

a Miss Jenn/Penny duet (HSM’s Ms Darbus and HSMTMTS’s Ms Darbus)

a Kourtney/Ashlyn/Gina acoustic friendship song after Kourtney is hurt by Howie

George singing to Penny as a surprise after he understands her love of musicals for the first time

of course a bunch of others, but that all depends on what musical they do.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I liked season 2, but it wasn’t cohesive. Plots were dropped and the core of the characters and friendships were lost or forgotten. I feel like although the characters would be going through individual drama, all their drama is connected and plots aren’t dropped the next episode. Also, I’m neither a Portwell or a Rina, I ship more of Gina and happiness so I tried to give both Portwells and Rinas stuff they would enjoy.

P.S. NiNi is in California writing/recording music. I don’t think Olivia is likely coming back so I had all this in mind without NiNi being on the show.

NEW CAST:

Alyson Reed as Penny Caswell (uhhh hello! Having the OG Ms Darbus apart of HSMTMTS would be perfect!)

Jon Lindstrom as George Caswell (you guys probably don’t know him but he’s a goooood actor, works for ABC who is owned by Disney, and can sing)

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x09 Review

Spring Break was a bit of an odd ep but helped move some key plots forward. Let’s dig in!

Well people can no longer claim that Portwell is one sided. We finally got Gina’s pov and she starts off the ep uncertain whether the shift in their relationship means that EJ likes her but by the end of the ep she seems sure of herself and that EJ likes her back. I liked that she didn’t try to pretend that nothing had changed or that she hadn’t noticed potential signs that EJ might like her; it always sucks when tv characters act like idiots. 

Perhaps the most important reveal of this ep was that Gina has a much older estranged brother who left her and her mom many years ago. That certainly makes her backstory more tragic and is definite set up for her brother to eventually return.

The writers continue to give Portwell great tropes, capping this ep off with an airport rom-com trope that also calls back to EJ getting Gina the place ticket so she could come back in S1. Not only did Gina keep EJ’s Duke sweatshirt but she altered it to fit her better which is both sweet and bold in the assumption that it was hers to keep. Gina got her sign when not only did EJ show up to drive Gina home and take her luggage but he brought her the granola bar that she had wanted but forgot to pack. I wonder if her posting on her story that she was ubering home after her flight was cancelled was intended to see if EJ would show up since the camera focused on her posting it. Also sweet that she’s taken to calling EJ, ‘ Eej’. 

EJ’s opening was good, shows a lot of his character growth from the selfish guy he was in S1 and how he’s learned to value other people which of course leads into his feelings for Gina. We got another great use of the camera as character tonight when Gina was laughing after her facetime call with EJ until she realized that the camera was on her. 

Jack was a lot of fun. Though he didn’t really change Gina’s mind over anything like the ep description said he would.  Seemed like Gina was largely over Ricky and wondering about EJ at the beginning and the end solidified her feelings for EJ but Jack didn’t really play a role in that, it’s not like he encouraged Gina to reach out to EJ or anything. There’s a vague sense in which Jack being nomadic linked him to Ricky’s unreliability in Gina’s eyes with her craving stability but that’s a stretch. Jack mentioned that the second most dangerous part of a plane ride is when the plane takes off, a hint to the blossoming Portwell relationship where in order to take off one or both of them has to risk a confession even though they could be turned down.

This ep might seem a bit weird in hindsight. The zoom parts probably won’t age well and five years from now people might be wondering why they had Gina hang out with a manic pixie dream boy of sorts for an ep.

The path is clear for canon Portwell in the finale with EJ being Gina’s second chance at romance and her first kiss since they clearly telegraphed it out of nowhere. I’ve been impressed with the great work the writers have been doing since 2x05 to build up Portwell as a ship but also work on Gina and EJ as individual characters; they’ve been the highlight of the season so far. 

There was discourse this past week over how well or poorly Portwell has been set up. Objectively very few ships on this show get much in the way of set up or consistent writing. Redlyn and Kowie had barely any set up before getting together. Seblos had none (though in fairness that was due to Disney restrictions) and Miss Jenn and Mike Bowen didn’t have much set up either. Rini did get lots of development in S1 but that’s because they had already dated and were the main ship of the show. The show’s not really about slow burns, if Jenzzara canons in the finale they’ll count and if Rina ever got together they’d also count but neither of those ships have gotten consistent development with Mazzara not being in several eps and Gina and Ricky not even interacting for the past 3 eps. 

Is Portwell a slowburn? In a sense since they did feature quite a bit in each other’s S1 plot lines and even had a fake dating plot but it is true that they were platonic and not that close in S1 so it’s a wash. There was clear set up for romantic Portwell in 1x10 with team wonderstudies and Gina staring at EJ (which interestingly enough looked more like set up for Gina to pine over EJ). I think the main problem is that even though we saw Gina and EJ hanging out in the background we didn’t get any scenes of substance between them until 2x05. It was a mistake and there should have been some scene, like EJ and Gina commiserating in 2x03 over being single on Valentine’s Day or something like that. Hell there was even that still from 2x01 of EJ and Gina looking at each other at the piano while they were in the frame between Ricky and Nini singing and having a moment  which would have been good foreshadowing but that shot wasn’t in the ep.

Whether Tim just really wanted Portwell to be a surprise in 2x05 as a mid-season twist to throw the audience off of what looked like a Rini/Rina triangle or he was unsure as to whether he wanted to go with Portwell or if he just planned it out poorly we may never know. Regardless they’ve had great writing for 4 eps in a row now which puts them slightly ahead of the 3 eps in a row of development Rina got in S1. I’m sure if someone added up their screen time they’d find that Portwell has more screen time this season than Kowie and more screen time than Redlyn or Seblos  got in S1. 

Caswell cousins was fun and Ashlyn did in fact paint EJ’s nails. 

Set up for Seblos drama next week, it’s refreshing to see Seb being jealous over Carlos flirting with other boys that’s definitely not something you see on Disney shows.

Ricky got some healing done with his mom. Enough to cover their issues? No but this is probably the best this show is capable of. There was a brief mention of therapy sandwiched between other options which sounds more like checking off a box then setting up Ricky actually going to therapy. I noticed Lynne was smiling at odd times like when she told Ricky she knew about his breakup with Nini; whether that was poor directing or acting I don’t know. Who knows if we’ll see Lynne again. As an aside still so wild that Tim named Lynne who’s been a kinda shitty mom after his own mom who he seems to be fairly close with.

Really liked You ain’t seen nothin as a song but not a fan of the Tiktok style vid. I’ll level with you wildcats, I’m too old to really get Tiktok, it just seems like a crappy version of Vine to me. Let you go was good, seemed better fitted for Joshua Bassett’s voice than some of his previous songs. A big sign that they’re not circling back to Rini for a long time for sure. Though on that note we got a bit of a hint that Ricky was Nini’s muse which may one day come back as a way to help bring them back together. 

Looking Ahead:

If there’s only 3 weeks left till the Menkies, with only 2 weeks left for rehearsal due to spring break, it’s hard to see East High winning unless North High is disqualified or has to withdraw. 

Lily is in a promo photo so she’s likely the unexpected facetime Ricky gets which is what I had theorized. Also makes it much more likely that she’s the party crasher Ricky re-evaluates in the finale though what Tim actually wants to do with those two I do not know.

There’s little point in bringing back the Valentine’s chocolate since there’s no real stakes. Rini are already broken up, Gina hasn’t spoken to Ricky since 2x06, and it’s not like Nini and Gina were ever close so even if they stopped talking to each other it wouldn’t really affect the show in any way. 

Seems pretty likely that Second Chances refers to Gina realizing that her first try with Ricky failed but her second chance with EJ won’t and that leads to her sharing her truth and cue the Portwell confession and kiss, perhaps with an assist on EJ’s end from Mazzara. We’ve gone well past the point where Portwell can be brushed off as just a plot device to help Rina but Tim is playing with fire by getting the audience so on board with Portwell if he’s once again going to have EJ lose a girl he likes to Ricky in S3.

Gina certainly needs to talk with Ricky and I do think that happens in ep 11 or 12 and leaves them on better terms. As I mentioned last week, if Tim was smart he’d slam the door on Rina if he’s going with canon Portwell or vice versa. If he wants Rina to be a slow burn he’s really botched the writing this season, it’s been too one sided and too angsty to sustain any kind of momentum or audience interest. They haven’t even interacted for 3 eps now and not only has it not affected the show but it’s inarguably made Gina’s story line much better.  Again I don’t think he’s smart enough to not try and do Portwell and then later Rina but he’s accidentally set up the Rina story line to quite easily slam the door permanently on them by having their conversation be closure for Gina who’s moved on and an apology from Ricky who never liked her back as much as Gina liked him.

Not looking forward to seeing Nini basically live out Olivia Rodrigo’s life in future seasons

Curious to see Carlos’ apology song to Seb. Ricky helping him with it is a great way to help start redeeming Ricky’s character in the audiences eye’s. According to Matt there is a bit of a Ricky/EJ rivalry this season and if it’s really happening the sleepover would be a good place to do it though I hope it’s not about Gina. 

Until next week wildcats.

[klausalvatores]

i lowkey wish we would have gotten a reaction shot of carlos and seb after the 'no one heard that' scene because i am SURE they were side eyeing them

I was literally thinking this last night when i was rewatching that scene. I know EJ said “no one heard that” but it was pretty loud & Seblos was literally RIGHT THERE so what a missed opportunity to get their sus reactions. IDK maybe something will come of it when they see EJ looking for the hoodie in the back of Ashlyn’s zoom call & Gina joins in later & she gets exposed for wearing it & then everyone will really be side eyeing them then.

[ssymphoria]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

OMG, I'm so excited for the seblos doodles you drew for my stories! They are the cutest things EVER!!! It means so much that you drew them (especially since I'm hopeless at drawing!).

In return, I'd be happy to write you a short seblos one-shot on the fluffy topic of your choice! Let me know what you'd like to read! :)

I wasn't sure what pronouns you use so I referred to you as "they" in my post--hope that's okay! If there's other pronouns you'd prefer, please let me know! :)

And again, thank you so much! This means so much to me! What a great start to my weekend. :)

URE SO WELCOME !!! ive been wanting to draw fanart for ur fics some time ago , i had screenshots of scenes and everything haha !! and ahh i wasn't expecting to get anything in return so it's okay , u don't have to do that !! i'm just rlly glad u liked them :D it means a lot when people like my art hgkdhfj

++ i use any and all pronouns !! thank u !!!!

[rkrispyt]

Ok so I’ve only just like yesterday discovered these AUs…?!?!?!

They’re almost like Tumblr RPs from back in the day but seem to just be one author instead of interactions among different players or writers?

Found two on Twitter so far (both Rini with Portwell) and while I love me some fanfiction I looooooooooove me that style of storytelling! Like that shot is so addictive to me, as a long journey and all the social media that’s included. I can’t pinpoint why but they’re like totally my bread and butter.

So far I’ve finished Good Girls by @REIDSBOWEN and I Believed In You by @spicyrodrigos

Here’s where I need help: I have nooooo idea where to find more of these or even how/where to search for them. I attempted to google and oh boy, that was no help at all.

In particular I’m really really in the mood for a good Portwell one. Preferably with them as the main couple cause I haven’t found one yet, but I’m also totally down for any that include them as supporting/the B storyline.

I also like Rinia, Redlyn, Seblos, and Kowie (but if it’s well written I’m finding myself digging other sometimes unexpected pairings too !)

Anyone have any recommendations? Or able to help point me in the direction of how to find these? I would be forever grateful! 🙏

[onetwothreefarkle]

After everyone walks out on rehearsal, Carlos finds himself alone in Miss Jenn's office. 

This is the first HSMTMTS fic I've ever posted! I haven't watched season 2 yet (I'm waiting until next week when it's all out) but I've been re-watching season one in preparation, and this just came to me. I hope y’all like it!

[xchloecarstairsx]

Sooo if I was to write a seblos one shot does anyone have any prompts or scenarios?👀👀 it’s been a while so bear with me

[sebloswolfstar]

I did HSMTMTS season 1 commentary during a Instagram commenting war, and these are the highlights part 2

1.

"RICHARD, GET YOUR SHIIITE TOGETHER"

2.

"SEB SWEETIE NO, BUT YOU ARE TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD"

3.

"Your cousin is awesome EJ"

4.

"SEBLOS SEBLOS SEBLOS SEBLOS"

5.

"GIVE ME MORE SEBLOS OR I'LL CRY"

"WE'RE NOT EVEN GETTING ANY SEBLOS AT ALL UNTIL EP5 LIKE WE DIDN'T KNOW SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN"

"BUT HEY, TURNS OUT NOT ONLY WAS SEB AND CARLOS CRUSHING ON EACH OTHER"

"JOE AND FRANKIE WAS CRUSHING ON EACH OTHER TOO LIKE WTF"

"I LOVE THEM"

6.

"DANCE IS FOREVER HELL YEAH IT IS"

"CARLOS IS RIGHT HE IS ALWAYS RIGHT"

7.

"EJ is your not big brain cousin"

8.

"CARLOS MISS JENN CARLOS MISS JENN"

"CARLOOOOOOOOOS MY PRECIOUS BOYYYYY"

9.

"Impressive Mr. M"

"Miss Jenn, lying is not nice"

"Jenn Jennifer😂"

"Benjamin Mazzara, I know you're gonna talk bad bad to Carlos and I'll want to stab-stab you for it"

10.

"This is before the most iconic solo in the whole Status Quo aka Sharpay"

"And I now realize why they hid it from us CAUSE WOW SEBBY"

11.

"DON'T DO DANCE DIRTY LIKE THAT MISS JENN"

12.

"Ashlyn is a queen. I've said it so many times but yes"

13.

"Carlos? We love a king"

14.

"Well it was techincally Gina that stole it"

15.

"NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU RICKY"

16.

"We stan bff's that steal for each other😂"

17.

"Best bros. Best bros. They don't know how to be best bros"

"They despise each other😂"

18.

"CARLOS MY (SEB'S) BELOVED"

19.

"MR MAZZZARA, THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR."

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ATTACKING MISS JENN, IT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO HURT THE SELF-ESTEEM OF A STUDENT"

"YES MISS JEN"

"OKAY, SEB, YOU READY TO BEAT MR MAZZARA UP WITH ME?"

20.

"CARLOS HASN'T HAD ANY FRIENDS OR ANYONE WHOS' GIVEN HIM A SHOT UNTIL NOW"

"Tho I do have a feeling that the reason Seb and him weren't friends was either because Seb just started at East High. Or 2. Seb was too shy to talk to his crush"

21.

"17 new once? No no 16 new once and a crush"

22.

"MR MAZZARA SCREW THE F OFF"

"YESSS, I'M SO SAD THO, CAUSE CARLOS PROBABLY HAD A BREAKDOWN LATER MY POOR BOY"

23.

"Infinity + 1 haha lol"

24.

"EPISODE 4, LETS DO THIS. ONLY ONE EPISODE AWAY FROM ONE OF MY FAVES OF THE SEASON"

25.

"SEB SEB SEB SEB SEB ASHLYN ASHLYN ASHLYN ASHLYN BIG RED BIG RED BIG RED"

26.

"SEB SEB SEB I LOVE YOU YOU LITERAL ANGEL"

27.

"Seb looks really good tbh. He probably trying to look good for a certain choreographer👀👀👀"

"Carlos come get your mans, he's looking like a snack for you"

28.

"Oh no I hate Ricky's mum"

"YOU COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL RICKY WAS DONE AT SCHOOL?"

29.

"CARLOS MY BOY"

"Also, looking good I see. He's a fashion icon though"

30.

"Poor Ricky, like actually"

"Poor lad"

"Could be tomorrow, too funny at a sad time"

31.

"SEB IS ADORABLE, AND IS THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT WHAT IS BEING PERFORMED RN"

"Nini- aggressive. EJ- gonna get murdered. Seb- actually an angel, playing piano like a king. Carlos give your mans some praise"

32.

"You know what they say, Miss Jenn"

"The best way to someone's heart"

"Is through their 4th and 5th rib😇"