#shout out to the girl playing basically playing me in the movie based on my book

[canmom]

L’aventure de Canmom à Annecy - Mardi

or, the real Annecy starts here.

Tuesday was nuts! I saw so much stuff. I have cracked the code.

So, if you wanna know what Annecy is like, I can’t possibly present it better than La Cachette, who made this sponsor intro that plays before every movie...

Imagine everyone shouts “lapin!!!” when the rabbit appears and also when the rabbit gets eaten by the T. rex. But yeah: the sudden rainfall, the paper planes flying around, pop pop pop.

Anyway, Tuesday was crazy, I saw so many great movies, with some real surprises too! I wrote about them all below~

It’s interesting to think about like. Annecy traditions are this sort of free floating wave. The cohort of people who go to Annecy each year is constantly rotating (as different students graduate etc.) but there’s enough overlap to pass on these traditions, much like at schools with the ‘cool S’ and paper fortune tellers and other parts of, you could say, ‘child culture’.

Anyway, the day began with an expensive hotel breakfast (food is so expensive in Annecy) followed by queuing up for another crack at The Concierge...

Despite arriving around 2 hours early, we never stood a chance. Also it started raining. I did nevertheless manage to draw the queue in front of me, but it was very rough.

Failing to get in to that, my friend decided to queue for Lonely Castle in the Mirror while I went off to the VR hall again to make some early registrations. This time I watched I Took A Lethal Dose of Herbs by Yvette Granata from the USA.

This one was made in Unity (I could tell because it didn’t load properly at first and I was clipped into the floor and saw the default Unity skybox lmao) running on a Quest 2 via Quest Link. It puts you in the body of an anti-abortion activist who goes through post-partum psychosis and then, becoming pregnant again, attempts suicide, before finally accepting an abortion.

The presentation is essentially a non-interactive VR horror game. At one point your legs get eaten by hallucinations of demon babies; another part sees a room gradually transform into a deep-dreamed variant. As a horror film, it was kinda neat. The credits announced “based on a true Reddit story” which kind of knocked me flat lmao. It was entertaining, but I don’t think it really hit the impact intended.

After that, with bookings locked in for two more VR films, I scooted back to join my friend in the queue for Lonely Castle in the Mirror directed by Keiichi Hara, who I wrote about a bit back on Animation Night 137. This time Hara has A1 Pictures rather than mighty Production I.G. behind him, but it’s still absolutely a nicely drawn movie; the composite is more restrained than the above image might make you think.

This turned out to be a screening with only French subtitles, so I got some unexpected Japanese listening practice. I definitely didn’t pick up every detail, but between the visuals, the Japanese audio and the subs I was pretty much able to follow the plot. And a good plot it was! An assortment of teenagers are transported each month through mirrors into a mysterious castle, overseen by a girl in a wolf mask, which provides them all a refuge from their various difficulties at home.

Our viewpoint character is a shy girl who has gone hikikomori after bullying by a group of schoolgirls, and is hurting from the lost connection to another girl. As the story unfolds, we learn more about what happened to her and the other characters; meanwhile the kids hang out in the castle, gradually forming connections.

The castle is like... well diegetically there’s no question it exists, but it’s the kind of magical thing that reflects the character’s emotional struggle. The climax of the film involves a wolf stalking the castle and devouring the children, which is basically a suicide metaphor, and Kokoro going into the castle to attempt to save everyone.

Even with French subs, I ended up enjoying this movie a lot.

Following this my brother came into town on his way to Portugal for a family holiday next week. I met up with him and we had some tasty noodles. We split up again, him going to check out some of the old buildings of Annecy, me going back to the VR room...

where I discovered that if an Annecy juror shows up to watch a VR film, your slot gets cancelled, so I didn’t get to see From The Main Square. But I did get to see Shadow by David Adler and Ole Bornedal from Denmark and the UK.

This one turned out to be really fucking good. It’s an incredibly intense semi-interactive movie in which you play the part of a bomber navigator on a morning raid. Your job is to confirm the target so the pilot can blow it up, but with the fog, the sea, the movement of the plane and battle outside, it’s a lot easier said than done.

This film does a fantastic job of building tension in the runup to the attack. The interactions between your character and the pilot are acted very well, and the sea and mist outside - rendered in Unreal - is properly sketchy to fly through. You confirm the target by using head tracking to look at a yes/no input, and I was fully caught up in trying to make sure we hit the right building and didn’t get shot. Such a tense film, and honestly kind of a vindication of the VR format. I hope there’s something else as good in there.

Following this I scooted over to see the short films collection 4. This turned out to be a great choice: there were very few misses and a lot of plain great films. Also I guess this was like where they put all the gore and nudity lmao, but who knows, I’ll have to see other short film selections.

Haljina za finale dir. Martina Mestrovic presented a sweet picture of the day in an old lady’s life, in which she dyes her dress black and reminisces about the past.

Salvation Has No Name dir. Joseph Wallace was a really cool stop-motion film, making really creative use of old woodcuts along with its puppets, about a refugee who washes up on the shore of a paranoid village and a prevaricating priest who tries to protect her, tries to have sex with her, and takes her newborn child and pushes her away; it’s all presented by a circus troupe who are also the villagers attempting to cover their ass for what they did. There’s some really neat devices of presentation - e.g. the refugee woman speaks English same as the villagers, but diegetically they’re speaking different languages. The metaphors are pretty on the nose, but it’s really nicely shot and tense.

L’Ombre des Papillons dir. Sofia El Khyari is a more abstract one, a very beautifully painted erotic dream with a lot of morphing and transformations (particularly things turning into butterflies). Really nice use of texture in this one.

Wild Summon dir. Saul Freed and Karni Arieli is where things got really nuts. This is like. The most photorealistic hard vore guro film I’ve ever seen lmao. So like the idea is it’s like, a nature documentary on the life cycle of salmon, with all the beautiful shots of landscapes and rivers you’d expect, but with the twist that all the salmon are anthropomorphised to humans in wetsuits and masks (as you see above). These anthro salmon then die horribly in all the ways salmon tend to, at the hands of both animals and humans.

Our main character is a salmon who gets tagged with a tracker by some scientists; this allows her to be thrown back in the water when caught by a fishing trawler for example. The voiceover is by Marianne Faithfull doing an effective old posh british lady voice (I sorta wondered if it was Judy Dench). If this was an actual nature documentary it would be a really beautiful one, but the anthro thing adds an amazing surreal edge.

This one was filmed in the UK, and it’s definitely leaning on the big VFX industry we have over here. Absolutely fascinating film honestly.

I’m Hip, solo animated by American John Musker and comped/edited by Talin Tanielian, was also a delight. Just four minutes of really strong lively traditional animation as a cat sings a self-aggrandising song before getting chased out of town; old-school in a good way.

Daug Geresnis dir. Skirmanta Jakait was the one that lost me, though I imagine if I saw it with English subs I might get more out of it (I saw it in Lithuanian with French subs). I really like the visual style, but the film was a sort of incomprehensible chain of surreal images and I didn’t really know how to put them together.

Drijf dir. Levi Stoops from Belgium wrapped up this collection. This one leans hard on the grossout humour - I’d compare it to something like Savage Death Valley or to a certain extent Lloyd’s Lunchbox. A man and woman are stranded on a calm sea, rowing around on a log, suffering a series of increasingly awful injuries in their misadventures. It’s definitely a ‘bodies, fucked up right?’ sorta movie, and it was a fun bit of black humour, hearing the audience go ‘ooooh’ when something nasty happens.

I had set my reservation today for ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ but I had planned things out really stupidly and had no time to say goodbye to my brother and see that film. Instead we went round the comic shop I talked about last time. It was good to see him and he seems to be having a good time on his trip across Europe.

Speaking of brothers...

I decided to take a chance on Four Souls of Coyote dir. Áron Gauder. I didn’t know much about this going in, but the brief description on the site made it sound a little preachy, so I didn’t set my hopes too high. I was so wrong, this movie was actually maybe the highlight of the day!

This is a Hungarian movie based on (nonspecifically...) Indigenous stories, with the framing device of the story being told by an old man at the Standing Rock pipeline protests. The bulk of the film is an origin story for the world: Old Man Creator - not the top god in this situation - creates Turtle Island and fills it with creatures. In a dream, he creates Coyote, and mistreats him at once; Coyote, an obligate carnivore in a world that does not yet know death, steals the creation mud and creates humans

So most of the film then tells how, through a series of events, Coyote ends up complicating the idyllic scenario by introducing death into the world, and sexual reproduction, and inspiring the creation of lightning and fire before being betrayed by the humans he created, eaten, and on his final life, driven away. It’s a really interesting sort of mythological schema: even Old Man Creator doesn’t know the why of it all, and there’s this kind of idea that a lot of the way things work happened not by design but by mistake (perhaps according to the ineffable design of , and once something is created it’s irrevocably part of the world, so we just have to make do.

I have no idea what’s based on mythology and what was created by the Hungarians, but what makes this all work is the incredible animation. This is just a really really strong work of traditional animation, with fantastic colour and compositing to boot. It might genuinely be the best looking film I’ve seen this whole festival so far, which is nuts. There are all sorts of characterful touches in every shot, the magic is presented in a really elegantly straightforward way, and the whole story unfolds with a compelling degree of intricacy and tension, setup and payoff.

Coyote, the famous trickster, is certainly the main character of this movie. He’s a fascinating character; arrogant, quick to lie and in love with his own cleverness but also we can see his pride comes from the rough circumstances of his creation, where he’s chewed out by his creator from the get go and everyone pushes him away.

The second act of the story sees Coyote free the imprisoned lightning (who’s like. a kind of dragon creature ig?) and go across the sea, discovering the Europeans, who in this story come from the discarded clay that Coyote used as a first attempt at humans; seeking revenge, Coyote invites the Europeans back to Turtle Island, not realising the level of destruction they will bring, or that they will chain him up and call him a dog. Spending the last of his four lives, Coyote has a final face turn where he tries to save the humans.

There’s a bunch to be said about this movie, and once it gets a release I am dying to show it on Animation Night. Its treatment of gender for example feels a bit too rigid and traditional, with the archetypal Man and Woman as the main human characters. The Europeans are presented as getting their power from enslaving Lightning, which is a neat way to make the story centre on what happens on Turtle Island; however, the parable-like telling kind of ends up feeling a bit too simplified where the Europeans show up and destroyed the single (kinda Plains in visual presentation) Indigenous society with overwhelming military force, which is like... not really how it all played out, but it works for the presentation of this movie, where the invasion is kind of a coda to the main story.

The ending of the movie sees the workers, ordered to bulldoze a mountain for the sake of a pipeline, climb out of their bulldozers and join the protestors, with the CEO lady in charge impotent to stop them. In our more depressing reality reality the cops showed up and drove away the protestors by overwhelming force.

I have this much to say though because the movie was so good. But tbh this is just a British girl’s impression. I really want to get Araña’s opinion on this one.

Not done yet, I went to see the student films, block 2. This turned out to be another amazing time: at the big screen in Bonlieu, even this late, loads of people were there and it was the most Annecy showing yet; so many paper planes flying about. Most of the students who made the films were present in the audience and after each film stood up so we could applaud them.

The films were also really good! There are some crazy talented animation students in this world.

Havnesjefen dir. Mia L. Henriksen, Konrad Hjemli (Norway) told the story of a swan known as the Harbourmaster, known for attacking boats in the Norwegian town of Os, who was put down after he started putting humans at risk. It tried a number of ambitious things with the animation: Roger Rabbit-like compositing into live action backgrounds, and Creature Comforts-like animating characters based on real interviews with random people. The result was rough, but pretty cute and effective.

Ressources humaines dir. Titouan Tiller, Trinidad Plass, Isaac Wenzek (France) was a wonderfully dark stop motion film about a guy going to have his body recycled into a chair. It really plays up the awkward everydayness of the scenario, with the documentary camera wandering around and the cheerful patter of the receptionist; the result was great.

Makulatour dir. Tim Markgraf (Germany) was fascinating: a bunch of fluid motions filmed through a microscope (I think??) edited to music. Absolutely absorbing, I have no idea how he did it.

Deniska umřela dir. Philippe Kastner (Czech Republic) is an autobiographical story about a boy whose dog dies, and how he comes to terms with it through art. It’s got a really nice monochrome textured style that made me think of paint on velvet.

Bottled Insects dir. Yuxin Gao in Japan was where things got really nuts. This is traditional animation but not at all anime, incredibly textured and shaped creatures that sort of make me think Masaaki Yuasa and sort of make me think HYLICS. It portrays a girl who collects weird creatures, building up a massive wall of them in her room; it has an ambiguous mood (the blurb says it’s about her losing her sense of self) but a strong flow and just wild imagery. I loved this one.

Hobune dir. Jass Kaselaan (Estonia) was... I’m not entirely sure what the deal with this one was. Lots of odd military imagery and concrete housing blocks. A horse falls over and gets up. The drawing was very rough and line boil-y. But yeah idk I didn’t get it, it’s another one of those ‘disconnected surreal images’ type of ones.

La Nuit Blanche dir. Audrey Delepoulle was great though. Gorgeous paint-y textures and use of lighting, it shows people desperately trying to preserve their crops with burners as frost closes in. It made me think of Frostpunk, but much more grounded. Really tense and beautiful.

Passagers dir. Celia Hardy from Belgium used a similar technique to The Wolf House, animating by painting onto walls and painting over each previous frame, mixed with stop motion. There wasn’t a lot of narrative but there was definitely a lot of very inventive movement, and in general it was really fun to watch.

Priyo Ami dir. Suchana Saha (India) was an abstract one, heavily textured paint, lots of morphing shapes... I can’t remember a lot of what actually happened in it besides the cunnilingus lol. But it definitely felt very personal and sincere, and I respect putting such a film in front of everyone.

Sewing Love by Yuan Xu (Japan) took the metaphor of a partner filling a void in your life to a very literal sense. A boy meets a girl who fills the gap inside him, but when she leaves, he becomes desperate, and restrains her, eventually physically sewing her inside his body. But inside her body she retreats into a tiny ball where she grows new butterfly wings and eventually hatches out. Big metaphors! But the animation was completely wild, with all sorts of morphing and weird perspectives, I can’t even imagine what the process must have been like. I didn’t like this one as much as Bottled Insects because the metaphor felt a bit overbearing, but I was really impressed by the animation.

My last film of the night was Unique Time dir. Yu-Jin Oh (South Korea). This film was crazy technically good, like you could tell me that Studio Mir made this and I’d believe you. The scifi premise is that there are androids who holographically take on the appearance of someone, used for all sorts of purposes; our main character is an android who develops a glitch causing them to create a unique face and identity. A photographer jumps on this as a chance to become relevant again, and the android’s face is soon plastered all over the city... and inevitably a line of mass produced clones is produced. ‘Jay’ (the name assigned by the photographer) is deeply disturbed to realise they’re still just a product, and gets in a very public fight with the photographer; afterwards, they are factory reset, but the glitch still persists... It’s definitely well within the familiar territory of cyberpunk stories, but the execution carries it - it’s hard to believe this is a student film.

By the time all this was done I had to walk back because the buses had become very infrequent, but damn, so worth it. What an amazing day. It took me more than two hours to write all this up lol, between that and catching up on sleep I’ve missed the whole of Wednesday morning rip.

Time to get out there and see some more films!! Annecy is amazing I really wish I could take you all down here.

[hollandsmoose]

kiss me more

A/N: Kinda thought a lot about "Kiss Me More" by Doja Cat and SZA a lot when writing this. So here you go, my lads, here's 1.6k of basically just pure blowjob smut!

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The movie playing on the TV in Tom’s room is long forgotten, his lips on yours far more important right now. It had barely been on for ten minutes before his hand was up your shirt, his mouth on yours, and you were pinned underneath him. But, to be honest, it's what you expected to happen.

Freshly returned from filming in another country, Tom has barely let you leave his side. He's always been clingy after reuniting with you, but, this time, it's on a whole new level. You can hardly complain, though - not with the amount of times he's made you cum in the last week.

Sadly, all of that had to come to a temporary end. Your period made its arrival, and while you knew it was going to happen, it bummed you out nonetheless. So when Tom's hand glides down your front, toying with the waistband of your sweatpants, you're forced to pull away from his kiss.

"Tom…" you pant, breathless, and he gives you a somewhat worried look. "I'm on my period, remember?"

"Oh, shit, yeah," he says, exhaling rather deeply, and even though he tries to hide it, his disappointment is still clear. "I'll keep my hands to myself, then." He shifts a little when moving his hand up to rest beside your head, and as he does, you get to feel just how disappointed he is. His bulge, hard and firm, presses into your thigh, and it gives you an idea.

You may not really be able to get off right now, but that doesn't mean Tom can't. When he leans down to kiss you again, you gladly accept it. Your hand travels down to where his cock is straining against his sweats, palming him through the soft fabric, and you can't help but giggle when Tom helplessly moans into your mouth.

He breaks the kiss, his eyebrows raised. "What are you playing at, darling?"

You grin at him, offering a small shrug. "I just wanna make you feel good, Tommy," You emphasize your words by rubbing his bulge again, and he whines, unable to stop himself from grinding into the palm of your hand.

"But what about you?"

"It doesn't have to be about me," you say, placing a soft peck on his chin. "You've been loving on me all week. Let me love on you a little," He's just about to protest, but then you put your finger over his lips, shutting him up. "Let me make you feel good. Please?"

He hesitates for a moment, but then he nods and presses a kiss to the tip of your finger. You giggle, your heart fluttering, and Tom smiles at the sound of your laugh. After that, he rolls off you and lands on the mattress, the springs squeaking slightly at the movement.

You crawl down the bed and climb off it until you're kneeling on the floor at the foot end. You gently tug on his legs, and he gets the hint, shuffling down the length of the bed. Tom sits up, inhaling sharply at the sight of you on your knees for him, and enthusiastically helps you peel off his sweatpants and boxers. His cock springs up once it's freed from its confinement, hard and already leaking precum from the tip. You're just about to reach out to touch him when he interrupts.

"Wait!" Tom speaks out, and you halt instantly. "Can you… can you take your shirt off?" You snort at his request. You'd actually been worried about him for a second there. Nevertheless, you pull your T-shirt over your head, rolling your eyes at the way he ogles your chest, now only covered by a bra. “That’s my girl.”

With a smile, you finally touch him. You spread the precum over his tip, and Tom sucks in a breath, his thighs clenching and his cock twitching. Teasing him is always fun. He lets out a strangled whimper when you withdraw your hand and spit in the palm of it, well aware of what's going to happen now. His hands grip the edge of the mattress as you finally grasp his length, and you quite enjoy the groan that escapes him.

You start with slow strokes, warming him up gently, and the way he bites his lip to hold back a moan has your pussy clenching around nothing. Fuck, he looks good. You watch Tom intently as he reacts to your touch, and it makes you giggle when you see just how quickly he gets worked up, his cheeks pink and his breath labored. You've always had that effect on Tom, but, to be fair, he's always had the same effect on you too. Even his mere touch is enough to send you into overdrive.

When he releases that telltale, drawn-out whine you know so well, you remove your hand from him. He's getting close, and this isn’t the way you want him to cum. And just when Tom’s about to complain, you lean in further and place a little kiss on his tip, and the words die on his lips.

You begin by just giving him a few kitten licks, but it's enough to make him gasp your name, and you suspect that this really won't take long at all. You rest your hands on his thick thighs, caressing the firm muscles softly. In all honesty, you've lost count of just how many times you've fallen apart on his thighs.

Feeling yourself get distracted, you try and shake off your thoughts so you can get back to business. Back on track, you make your tongue travel up from the base of him, and his cock twitches delightfully when you swirl the tip of your tongue around the head. You're teasing Tom again at this point, and it is a bit unfair, to be honest, but it's fun to watch how desperate he gets. Maybe, if the situation was different, he'd scold you for teasing him like this and leave your ass bruised and sore as punishment, but the ball seems to be in your court today.

"Please, darling," he begs, impatient and needy. "Please just… do something."

"You're gonna have to be more specific than that, Tommy," you say with a voice you barely recognize. It's low and seductive, but it makes you feel quite powerful. "Tell me what you want."

He exhales shakily. "I want… I want your mouth on me… on my cock. Please, love?"

You shrug rather smugly. "Well, since you asked so nicely…"

And then you finally give him what he wants. With a deep breath, you take Tom in your mouth. His reaction is instant, his thighs jerking slightly under your touch, and your name falls from his lips in a moan. Your hand wraps around the base of his cock and moves in sync with your mouth, knowing that that's just how he likes it. You go slow and steady; you don't want Tom to topple over the edge just yet.

His hands are still gripping the mattress, his knuckles white, and you know he's trying his hardest not to buck into your mouth. Tom never wants to hurt you - at least, never without your consent. And while you do let him fuck your mouth from time to time, it's not what you want today.

But, as a treat, you pull away from him for a second, inhaling deeply before you wrap your lips around him again and take him as far as you can. When the tip of his cock touches the back of your throat, he practically shouts out a string of profanities, and it's so loud that you're sure the others in the house must've heard. It doesn't matter much to you right now, though. Let them hear.

You're fighting off your gag reflex, trying to breathe through your nose, and tears are forming in your eyes, but Tom looks so pretty that you don't give up just yet. So you keep your head where it is until he, rather unwillingly, pulls you up himself.

He's completely breathless, needing a few seconds before he can even speak. "Babe, I'm… I'm close," You can't help but smile when you hear just how affected he is.

You appreciate Tom's warning, returning to your previous tactic, your lips around the head of him and your hand jerking the base. His one hand lets go of the mattress and caresses your cheek instead, and when you look up to make eye contact, Tom's staring at you with such a wonderful mixture of lust and love that it makes both your pussy and your heart melt a little.

He gasps in that special way you've picked up on by now, and you know what's about to happen. Drawing back a little, you rest the tip of his cock on the tip of your tongue, and, with one last jerk of your hand, he finally gets to cum.

Tom curses uncontrollably as he paints your tongue white, his hand now holding your jaw in place. His head is leant back, his eyes screwed shut, and his mouth is half-open. He looks absolutely beautiful.

You watch him as he slowly comes down from his high, his eyes blinking open and finding your face immediately. And Tom watches you as you swallow his cum and put on a little show for him, licking your lips for any leftovers.

"Fucking hell," he says, completely overwhelmed, and falls back against the bed, and you laugh, satisfied with your work. You crawl onto the bed as well, settling on top of him. "You're gonna be the death of me, darling."

—————

taglist: @spideycents @linanilssonfurberg @to-the-road @hallecarey1 @harryhollandsgirlfriend

[blessednereid]

Pity the Living

Daniel Sharman x Reader Series

A/N: The Much Requested, and By Requested, I mean @rogershoe wanted me to write this, MY DANIEL SHARMAN FANFICTION!!!!!! The character that Y/N plays is based on my OC for FTWD and is not an actual character in FTWD. Basic Premise of the setting for this chapter is that they're in high-school/ secondary school. But for the majority of the story(minus flashbacks) it's set in 2016/17 when s3 of FTWD was filmed.

Story Summary: When (Y/N) (L/N) reunites with a high-school friend on the set of the job she's been working on for the past 2-3 years, not only is she excited to work with the guy who inspired her to go into acting, but to hear about what he's done since she's seen him. But the more they talk, the more she realizes, this reunion is not going the way she had planned.

CW: Cursing? brief mention of alcohol, anxiety, mentions of food, fake dagger, fake blood, bets,

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Career Day

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Most of the students around you were chorusing to the tune of your school anthem, but not you. You had heard the melody and sung it almost a million times. Whether you were exaggerating or not, not even you knew. Instead, you were whispering and laughing with one of your best friends, Daniel Sharman.

You met Daniel when you first came to the school. You didn't know many people. You didn't even know yourself in this place. It was a completely foreign experience, but he stuck by your side and showed you around.

Since then, you had made friends, joined the swim team, learned your way around the school without ending up in the boys' restrooms instead of the girls' ones. Despite not needing Daniel to show you around anymore, he still provided plenty of comedic support and pick-me-ups and was a great mate all around.

Your teacher had just finished introducing all the parents who were presenting at career day. The assignment being after the presentations were finished, you were supposed to think about what you wanted to be in the future. You had no idea what you wanted to be. But of course… Daniel did.

"An actor."

"An actor?" he nodded. "Like Macbeth?"

"No, Macbeth is a character. An actor is a person who plays the character."

"Why an actor?"

"Dunno. Just seems right."

You frowned. "Huh, that's nice. Knowing what you want to be."

"You could always try acting. It's worth a shot."

"Hah, if I ever tried acting, it would probably be when I'm old, senile, and look like Betty White."

"Oh, come on. You're a great actress!"

"What's that supposed to mean, Sharman?" you gasped.

"Just that you tell fibs and stories as if they were the truth. That's all acting is."

"I DO NOT!"

"How did you convince your mum that your dog jumped onto the table and ate the cake without making any noise last weekend, then?" You opened your mouth to speak before closing it.

"Cat got your tongue?" he teased.

"Shut up, Sharman."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

L/N Residence

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You and Daniel were both swimming in the pool in your backyard when Daniel asked you the question.

"Did you think about it?"

Still floating, you asked, "About what?"

"Acting."

You laughed incredulously. "You were serious?"

"Of course I was." He swam closer to you and pulled your leg down, making you flop around and splash water.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Was just trying to get your attention," he remarked innocently.

You coughed. "You had it."

"Picture this," he waved you off. "Us, on the red carpet-"

"Who's red carpet?"

"Does it matter? We'll be each other's dates anyways."

"Why is that?" you asked.

"Because we're best friends."

"What if one of us has a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "Ok, whatever. We're on the red carpet separately. It's both of ours red carpet-"

"So, does that mean we're in a movie together?"

"Yes, Y/N," he muttered exasperatedly.

"But that's impossible?"

"Why do you say that?"

You leaned closer to his ear. "BECAUSE I'M NOT BECOMING AN ACTOR."

He jumped away from you, proceeding to splash you with water.

"Mark my words. I know talent when I see it."

You sighed. "Could this just be you not wanting to be lonely in the acting world?"

He jutted his lip and spoke in a whiny voice. "Maybe…"

You laughed before splashing a giant wave of water at him. While he still had water in his eyes, you dove under and pulled him down.

He flailed around before his head popped up, and he calmed down.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"PAYBACK, SHARMAN!"

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Announcement

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

The intercom gave a heavy buzz, and static-y noises ran amok over the building before a voice actually came through the speakers.

"Hello, Teachers, Students, and Faculty. Welcome back to school. We hope that you all enjoyed your holidays and got the rest you needed to pay attention in class today," the last part was passive. Your principal gave more announcements for clubs and sports around the school, such as upcoming games or reminders for students to buy the school yearbook.

You were nodding along interested, or looking for interest really when something caught your best friend's attention.

"The school will also be hosting its first-ever play, Romeo and Juliet. Interested people should report to the music room before the end of the week to receive information."

You saw Daniel's eyes widen only moments before he spoke up. "Hey," he waved at you. "You should audition!"

"Daniel, are you insane?"

He chuckled, "No, but I think you'd like it."

You tried arguing, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. "You're the one who said you didn't know what you wanted to do after you graduated. Doing this cannot hurt."

"Yeah, it can't hurt until I trip on my costumes and break my neck!"

"That rarely ever happens," he said exasperatedly. "Ok, how about this? You audition, and if you end up getting a role and actually doing the play, I'll give you fifty pounds."

You squinted. "Do you even have fifty pounds to give me?"

"Do you even have to ask," he feigned shock in the accusation? You gave a sour face before he truthfully answered. "Fine, I don't have it now. But I will by the time the play comes around."

"What do I get just for auditioning?"

"I'll convince my mum to make that cake you like."

"Fine."

"BUT!" he exclaimed. "You have to audition for Juliet."

"You're kidding?"

He laughed. "No, I'm not. You have to audition for Juliet."

"I hate you," you mumbled before sighing a whispered 'fine.'

He gave a toothy smile. "Then we have a deal."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Auditions

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You reluctantly walked onto the stage, Daniel's widening grin so visible in the audience. He said that he only put his name on the audition sheet so he could watch the auditions. He would've already been gone by the time it was his turn.

"Hello, My name is Y/n L/n, and I am auditioning for Juliet," your lips pressing into a straight line after saying the sentence.

You stammered through your first few lines. "Sh-Shall I speak ill of him— that is my husband?" You said with a laugh.

"Ah," you paused and clicked your tongue. "Poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name… When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?"

You said your following line in an accusatory manner. "But wherefore, villain... didst thou kill my cousin?" you said, though your voice squealed trying to pronounce 'didst.' "That villain cousin would have killed my husband."

"Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring!" Your voice rose and fell several octaves. "Your tributary drops belong to woe, Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy." Fake tears spring to your eyes, your voice cracked, and you began slowly falling against an invisible wall.

You looked down at your paper for what to say next. "My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband. All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?" You wiped your cheeks dramatically.

"Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death, That murd'red me. I would forget it fain;" your lips quivered, and you sucked in deep, heaving breaths before speaking your line.

"But O, it presses to my memory. Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners' minds! 'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banishèd!" You shouted.

You stood back up in a startling jump, and with a proud smile, you said triumphantly, "And Scene!"

The directors and some students in the audience, especially Daniel, gave a round of applause before the director dismissed you.

You took the steps to the stage and sat next to Daniel as the director called the next student to audition.

"You were amazing! The director might as well have given you the role right then and there."

You laughed, "Hang on, charmer. There were a bunch of Juliet's who literally said that entire thing so… fluently. I stammered through the whole thing."

"But you showed more emotion than anyone else. You only had a week to prepare. The actual show will be like child's play."

"They want people who can memorize and recite. The emotion can be added later, but it's worth nothing if they forget their lines."

"There is such a thing called improvising for a reason," he reassured.

"Who in their right, bloody minds wants to improvise Shakespeare?"

He turned his head and chuckled before waving a five-pound note in front of your face. "Here, I got to go before they call me, but you earned this at least."

"Five pounds for being forced to audition for a stupid play so you can prove a point? Wow, you must really fancy me, huh, Sharman?" you said sarcastically.

"Goodbye, L/n," he whispered before sneaking out the back door of the auditorium.

"Alright, next up. Daniel Sharman!" The director shouted your friend's name a few more times before giving up.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Headmasters Office

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

A week after your audition, you were called to the headmasters' office. Thus is the cause of the curious looks from your classmates. Oohs and Aahs flooded your ears as you grabbed your bag and headed out the door to the front of the school.

When you got to the front of the building and went into the headmasters' office, you saw the Theatre director, Ms Parker, standing behind the desk. "Headmaster Leo allowed me to use his office to do this. Isn't that cool?"

Ms Parker was one of the younger teachers in school. She was twenty-four, and this was her first year teaching after receiving her bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in music production. A fact she could astoundingly ramble about for fifteen minutes. As proven at the auditions.

"I didn't want to call you to the theatre room. That would be too predictable, correct?" You'd come to realize she was a very eccentric woman. "I have called you in here to inform you that you have been selected to perform in this year's play of Romeo and Juliet."

A wave of shock coursed through your body, and you were sure it reflected on your face. "Are you sure?"

"Darling, I'm positive!- your audition was totally spectacular! So brilliant-in fact- that I am completely sure in my choice to make you our female lead- Juliet!"

"What!" Your eyes widened into a blank stare. Your thoughts were running rampant in your mind. You thought that performing on the stage would be a breeze when you weren't the lead.

"Ms Parker, I didn't actually want the part of Juliet! It's just that my friend dared me to audition for Juliet! Is there no way I can get a smaller part? I'm no Juliet. The show would be ruined," you rambled.

The directors' facial expressions softened, "Darling, you are the only choice. None of the other people who auditioned can even compare to the amount of passion you produced in that audition. I am determined to have you as our Juliet."

You whimpered out an "Ok." Professors had a strange way of convincing you to do extra credit assignments or things that aren't necessary.

"We have a chemistry read for you and a few of our other choices for Romeo after school today. Do you need to contact a parent to let them know where you'll be?"

"Uh, yes, please."

After you made your call, you walked back to your classroom with shaky hands. The class period was almost over, but you had to tell Daniel that you had gotten a part in the show. Not just any part- THE PART!

You shuffled into the classroom reluctantly. All eyes were on you as every student had assumed you'd been in trouble. Either suspended, expelled, or told your parents were going to have a sit-down with the headmaster.

You took your seat next to Daniel before taking out a piece of paper and writing out a note, encompassing the words, "I got the part!"

You slid the sheet discreetly onto his desk. When he read it, his eyes widened, and he quietly moved his hands toward yours, beckoning for a high five.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

First Rehearsal

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

After the chemistry read, the role of Romeo was given to a kid named James Mercer-Allen got the part. Though it was more because the directors were starting to become tired.

The next day was the first rehearsal. Swimming season was last semester, so there was no clash in schedules with the play.

"Alright, this rehearsal is to get acquainted with the stage, your fellow actors, and directors," she insisted. "Now, let's introduce ourselves. Can our Romeo please stand up?"

James stood up and gave a brief introduction. You were called on next. You stated your name, "I was on the swim team last semester, and I'm in my thirteenth year. I hope I can do this role justice."

More students stood up to introduce themselves. The entire process took more than thirty minutes.

The next thing to happen was that the rest of the students were called to recite lines for various roles. The only parts that had been cast preliminarily were Romeo and Juliet.

You and James had sat on the wooden stools unless there was a scene going on that needed Romeo and/or Juliet.

By the end of the first rehearsal, the majority of the speaking roles were cast. You went home exhausted but not expecting the conversation that waited for you.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

The Talk

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

"We're moving?" you shouted at your parents from your seat across from them in the sitting room. "What do you mean we're moving."

"Honey, your dad got a job in the states, so we have to move," your mother argued.

"But what about school? No school will take me in the middle of the year, and it's my last year of secondary school. I don't want to spend the rest of my last year knowing nobody."

Your dad, the man of the hour, spoke up. "Dear, we're moving at the end of the year. After school ends."

"But- What about Uni?"

"You said you were taking a sabbatical year!"

"Yes, so I could intern in London!"

"Can't you intern in California?" Your mother whined.

"We're going to California? It's the furthest state?"

Your dad attempted to reassure you but failed. "Darling, it won't be that bad. Maybe you'll like it there more than you like it here!"

"I could never like anywhere more than I like it here!"

You agreed to go to your room and spent the rest of the day there. Later on, after you finished moping, you ringed up your closest friends to tell them you were moving. You did that until you were so tired you fell asleep on the phone with Sarah before you even called Daniel.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Confrontation

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

"Why am I hearing from everyone besides you that you're moving?" Daniel appeared out of thin air behind you, and the accusation was an assault on your conscience.

You could lie and tell him that you wanted to reveal that to him in person, or you could just tell him the truth- say you fell asleep. Mix-and-Match? You ended up just telling the truth. "I fell asleep when I was making some of my other calls. I was going to tell you, I swear!"

"Why didn't you call me first. I'm your best friend?"

"That's why! It was too hard. I kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off because I didn't want to tell you, I don't want it to be true, and telling you of all people would make it feel real."

"Why can't you stay for Uni?"

"I already told my parents I was taking a gap year. I didn't apply to any colleges."

"Crap!" he sighed. "Ok, well, we're going to have to make the most of it. And! You're getting a going away party!"

"Daniel, I don't need-"

"No debate! You are getting a going away party!"

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Opening Night

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Four months later, after all the rehearsals and memorizations of lines. After much running around the entire film department, it was finally opening night, and your nerves were shot.

You were scrambling all morning to find everything you needed. All your costumes were at the school, but you still needed to bring your black leotard, skin-coloured tights, and wear your hair in an up-do style.

You decided to do your skincare routine, but your panic got the best of you, and you forgot what every single product was used for.

Daniel came over and helped you get ready but found you practically hyperventilating.

Your parents drove you both to the theatre, and when Ms Parker told you that Daniel couldn't be backstage, you promptly told her that he was your emotional support. After much arguing, she finally let him backstage.

Around an hour before showtime, the director told Daniel that he had to go wait in the audience if he already bought his ticket or that he had to go do it now.

Before he left, he gave you a pep-talk. "Hey, so one time, I was in this play, and the idea was that I was expelled, and there was a piece of paper I had to give my 'mother,' but I lost it. So we had to improvise, but I couldn't find the paper, and I felt horrible. So just know, even if you forget your lines, you must improvise, and remember, it still probably won't compare to the embarrassment I felt that day. So you can laugh at my humiliation. "

You chuckled, "I will. Ok, go before you get in trouble."

"Ok, me, our parents and all your friends will be in the front row. I've already reserved the entire row. I brought a whole bag of jackets just for that reason!"

"You can't do that," you said in between cackles.

"For you, I'll do anything," he grinned.

A few hours later and the show was almost done. "What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end," you wept.

"O, churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to die with thine restorative." You leaned over James and let your hair fall to the side of your head to cover your face. You pulled back without actually kissing James.

"Thy lips are warm."

A whispery voice came from offstage, "Which way?" The cue for you to take the poison, which was actually cranberry juice.

"Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!" You grabbed the dagger and brought it near your chest. "This is thy sheath;" you drew the fake knife back three inches from your chest and stabbed it to where the bag of more cranberry juice was and punctured the bag. 'Blood' soaked through your dress. "There rust, and let me die." You fell dramatically onto the altar and waited for the scene to end as the crowd cheered.

After the show, you dashed into the crowd where your friends and family waited for you. Ovations and Applauses were passed, lauded boxes of chocolates and gorgeous roses were given.

When you got to Daniel, he practically tackled you with a hug. "I actually thought you died for a split second. The blood looked so real."

"Daniel, most people don't bleed that fast, do they?"

"I don't know but fear kicked in, and I couldn't make sense of anything."

You grinned and almost went to your parents before Daniel grabbed your arm. "You don't have a date to the Leavers ball, do you?"

"No, I don't. Why?"

He sighed. "Well, I was thinking that you could go with me. I don't have a date either."

You squinted, thinking there was some ulterior motive behind his actions. "Ok, I'll go with you if you give me the money you owe me before then."

"It's right here," he smiled.

Your face scrunched up, but you reluctantly agreed. You only had a month of school left, and you might as well spend it having fun with your friends.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

The Leavers Ball and the Getaway Party

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You were dressed in a light blue, pleated, Mikado prom dress that cut off at mid-thigh. You had black wedges on your feet and a black pearl-beaded bracelet on your arm.

You were wearing a half-up, half-down style that framed your face and a silver necklace with a circle-shaped diamond.

You were sitting in the parlour when Daniel rang the doorbell. He was ten minutes late.

"Sorry," he said when your dad answered it. "I know I'm late. I was picking up Kat and James."

Kat and James were your and Daniel's respective friends who'd started last year after you and Daniel introduced them.

"Hi," you popped out of the shadows. "Alright, Mom, Dad, we're late, so we're just going to get goi-"

"Wait! I have to take pictures! Go get Kat and James."

"No, Mom. No pictures!"

"It's only right. I just want a few. We can take it outside."

You sighed but reluctantly caved into your mother's will.

The four of you took pictures outside of Daniel's Jeep Wrangler. You took ones with silly faces, just girls, just boys, and ones with all four of you before your parents allowed you to leave.

You were forty minutes late, and the ball was already in full swing by the time you got there.

You got on the dance floor immediately because one of your favourite songs was playing, but the DJ switched the song as soon as you found a decent spot. It was a slow song. You chuckled, and Daniel put his hands on your waist.

"Well, this is awkward."

A few minutes later, Daniel posed an interesting question.

"Did you know that I had a crush on you when you first came to school?"

"Uh, you stammered. "No, I didn't know that."

"Yeah, I did. It was short, though. Surface-level."

"Oh," you said. "Should I take offence to that?"

"What?" His eyes widened in realization with what he said. "No, that's not what I meant. You have an amazing personality. I just meant that… I just meant I like you more as a friend than to ruin that with any of those feelings."

"Oh, ok. You wouldn't have, though."

"I wouldn't?"

"No, everyone needs an ego boost every once in a while."

"Haha!"

"And besides, I've had feelings for you at one point too. But it was very cliche, so I tried to shake it as hard as I could."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows. "And did you?"

"Like I said, as hard as I could. If it's still there somewhere, it's buried very deep, so much so that I was embarrassed."

"Embarrassed to like me?"

"I mean embarrassed to try and make my life seem like some movie."

"Oh, well, if you did, it would've just made you that much better as an actress. Speaking of that, would you consider acting in the least?"

"Maybe, now that I'm leaving, it's basically the last thing I have to connect me to you."

"No," he said, pointing to your bracelet. "You have that."

You had forgotten that it was Daniel who gave it to you, but the realization brought a smile to your face. "Oh yeah, I'll never take it off."

Later on, long before the ball ended, you saw many of your friends leaving.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Daniel approached you.

"Where is everyone going?"

He wriggled his eyebrows. "Afterparty!"

"But it's not over?"

"Quit being a party popper and just come with us, L/N!"

You gave in, something you did a lot, and you all started driving. When you got there, you realized you were at Daniel's house.

"The afterparty is at your house?" you asked.

"Well…" James answered.

Kat joined in. "It's really an afterparty!"

"This is your going away party!" Daniel finished.

"But I'm not going away for another month."

"Well, now you have an entire month for people to give you gifts and stuff, and you don't have to worry about the party!" He reasoned.

"But why did it have to be after the Leavers ball?"

"Because you're already in a dress, and it has to be a surprise! Surprise!" Kat exclaimed.

"Alright, fine!"

The entire night you partied and danced, and though you didn't drink alcohol, plentiful amounts of pop and mocktails were passed around. The music was a delight to your ears with all your favourite songs. There were chips and pizza with all your favourite toppings.

"This party is awesome!"

Daniel grinned. "Well, I am an amazing party planner if I do say so myself."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Airport

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Daniel's parents drove your family to the airport. Your parents had sold the car. Your dad would return in a week to close a deal on the house. Everything was official, and now you were leaving.

You got out of the car, and the tears forcefully began to fall.

"I'm really gonna miss you, jerk," you said disdainfully to Daniel.

He chuckled. "I'm going to miss you more."

"Impossible!"

He wiped the fallen tear from your eye, and for a moment, you could see every single multi-coloured speck in his eyes and noticed how sometimes they looked blue, and at others, they looked grey or green.

You noticed the curvature of his smile and the chisel of his jawline.You saw the hurt in his eyes that said, 'why do you have to go? You're killing me,' and wanted to never move from that position.

He continued to rub the tears that fell onto your cheek, and the sad moment was as sheltered as it could be. You felt safe with him, in his arms, just looking at his face and being reminded of how he comforted you in a place that felt as familiar as Oz felt to Dorothy.

"What am I gonna do without you?" you whispered.

"Get at least one acting job, get an assistant and an agent, I'll do the same thing, and then either one of us has our assistants reach out to our agents, so we get back in touch in case we ever lose touch."

He sounded so grave that you couldn't help but laugh. "That's assuming I do become an actress, Daniel."

"You're right," he whined. "But don't forget me."

"I promise."

And you tried to keep that promise. Throughout your first year, you interned at UCLA, working in the lab. You then applied to go to school there, and you still tried to keep Daniel in your mind. Maintaining a social life on campus combined with schoolwork already wasn't easy. However, you still wouldn't let yourself forget your best friend.

It wasn't until you entered your senior year and you were about to graduate that he started to wane in your memories. The things you did together became obsolete as new friends and memories replaced the old. The things he taught you were thrown out to make space for the new lessons you learned each day.

Even when you did become an actress, you never really remembered why you decided to. You remembered that your friend pushed you to do that play, but it was almost ten years ago, and for the life of you, you couldn't remember his name.

But you did do it, first as an extra, then a body double, and then you started getting l roles on smaller shows. But your big break was getting a quasi-lead role on the spin-off of a big television show, The Walking Dead. For two years, you enjoyed going to conventions and playing the complex character, Valeria Bishop, and you thought you had it all figured out.

But life has a funny way of coming full circle and throwing you a curveball that knows you off course and changes your life.

[mysticmeadowscamp]

hi so since last thursday , i have been volunteering at my high school’s freshman and sophomore orientations with my besties and i wanted to share some experiences that remind me of the campfire kids

(sorry in advance for long)

•there was this tiny litol freshman girl who came dressed in all pink like lolita style with HUGE heels and she was my hero

•alternatively there was another freshman with cool ass custom grunge clothes like safety pins everywhere (they cut the bottom half of their left pant leg off , ripped the top of it up and reattached it with safety pins all around and it looked fucking sick) , rips , sharpie words all over , patches , FINGERLESS GLOVES !!!

•one friend and i would greet each other every time we saw each other by going “hola mi amorrrrr”/���hey sexy”/“aiiii it’s the love of my life”/etc

•that same friend and i are very touchy (we would bonk heads or hold hands or kiss each other’s foreheads through our mask) and i think some people thought we are dating but we are not we are jus platonically whipped for each other (i lowkey have a crush on her but shhh)

•one friend would drive me to the school every morning and one morning she pulled into the little plaza thing right next to the school bc she wanted to go to the liquor store to buy gum . she exited the car and screams “WHERE IS THE LIQUOR STORE ??? WHY IS THERE A THAI RESTAURANT ??? I WAS HERE LIKE LAST WEEK” (the liquor store was replaced with a thai restaurant like 4 months ago and now we are convinced that she probably came to the thai restaurant and walked around inside it hallucinating that it was still a liquor store)

•my best friend bought us cold drinks and we screamed the words to “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gyote together with the windows down on the way to my house bc we wanted to feel like those teenagers in movies

•on one of the days my best friend and i were like “y’know what ? we have access to a car and money , let’s go to barnes and noble” and we went and vibed and it was pog . the cashier was trying not to laugh bc my friend got litol bookmark clip thingies that are dinosaurs with glasses but i got a book about serial killers

•at lunch yesterday one of my friends was eating pickles out of one of those little plastic sauce cups ?? like just raw plain pickles ???? even though she had a whole sandwich right there that she could eat ??????????

•this friend had the audacity to judge me for liking broccoli on pizza >:(

•for a few of the days , i worked at the room that the kids would get their ID photos taken and my job was to get them separated alphabetically bc they had to get this little card thing first otherwise they couldn’t get their ID and the cards were in alphabetical order separated into 3 groups based on last name (A-D, E-L, M-Z) so i would have to shout so all the kids could hear me go “LINE UP BY LAST NAME , GET YOUR CARD THEN GO TO ROOM 64” and some kids just wouldn’t pay attention and they wouldn’t get that first card thingy which started holding up the line for photos and then everyone would complain to me as if it was my fault so i got frustrated and started screaming louder and more like ,,, angy like “LINE UP BY LAST NAME AND GET YOUR CARD , IF YOU DONT GET YOUR CARD YOU BETTER START PRAYING TO WHATEVER GOD YOU BELIEVE IN THAT I DONT FIND OUT . AFTER YOU GET YOUR CARD GO TO ROOM 64” and one of my friends started laughing and was like “YES GIRL SCREAM AT THE KIDS !! LIVE OUT MY DREAM”

•yesterday was the last day so all the volunteers did a closing activity as a group where we taped a piece of paper to our backs and anybody could write whatever compliment/comment they wanted on it anonymously and it was very sweet and some people cried it was just wholesome and nice

•one of my friends came up to me during this activity , grinned at me like >:] and immediately turned around bc he wanted me to write something like bro that was not the point of the activity but i will in fact write something

•we also played a game on the first day called “birdie and perch” where one person is the birdie and one person is the perch and basically everyone moves around the room and the birdie has to find their perch and sit on their knee and i (5’2/5’3) was the perch for this guy (5’9 , US size 16 shoes) and it was fucking chaos , he would sprint to me across the gym like his life depended on it and all you would hear is BOOM BOOM BOOM and then he would find me and come to a complete stop right in front of me and then gently sit

THAT LAST ONE IS SO FUCKIN FUNNY TO IMAGINE DHDNHDNHFDBDNHDDJ HE JUST SITS SO GENTLY DHJDDJHDJDJD

oh god these are all wonderful i love that sm GDJHDJDDK

[sunjaesol]

serendipitous encounters

juke | human au | fluff

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"I think I met my soulmate!" Luke shouted as he barrelled through the front door, announcing his presence.

Alex, cuddled up with Willie, groaned from his place on the couch. "Not this again. Luke, soulmates do not exist!"

"Well, I'm curious," Willie joked. "What happened?"

Bouncing through the small living space, he propped himself on the coffee table. His eager lips spouted everything he knew so far. "Her name's Julie and she's beautiful and she drinks lattes with caramel syrup."

The two boys blinked at each other, an amused smile growing on Willie as the scowl deepened for Alex. Yeesh. How did these two work?

The blonde tried keeping composure. "You think... you met... the person you want to spend the rest of your life with... in a coffee shop?"

Luke nodded. What was his point?

Luckily, Willie was on his side. "Did you talk to her?"

Sighing, he slumped to the floor. "No. But I'm telling you, it's her."

"This oddly feels like that Zooey Deschanel movie," Alex mused.

"No! She's not some fantasy! She-I can't explain it." Dreamily looking up at the ceiling, he added. "She's it. I'm calling it."

"I think you're horny," Alex deadpanned. Willie snickered.

He rolled his eyes and swatted their legs. "Very cool, you guys.”

The doorbell rang. Jumping up and saving himself from further embarrassment, Luke went to open it.

And it was her. Holy shit.

She smiled up at him, holding up his trusty songbook.

"Hello. You left this journal on your table at Starbucks? It has your address inside."

Gobsmacked, Luke stared at her. Holy fucking shit. Because of his whole daydream about her in Starbucks, he forgot his book and then she took it upon herself to find the rightful owner. That was fate, right? Take that, Alex!

Stammering vowels, he plucked it from her grasp and let out a breathy laugh.

"Y-Yeah, thanks, that's- yup."

An amused smile pulled on her lips, nodding. "No problem. Have a nice day!"

Her goodbye snapped him out of his stupor, calling out for her with a raised hand.

"Wait! I didn't catch your name!"

She turned around, the girl looking so foreign in the grimy hallway of the apartment complex.

"Why do you need my name?"

Cause he knew it already and didn't want to seem like a creep.

He shrugged. "I want to thank you."

"It's Julie," she said after a beat.

"Thank you, Julie." His grin must've been comically wide, heart beating a mile a minute as he was still convinced she was his freaking soulmate.

And then she left. He was certain he'd see her again. In a non creepy way, that was.

— — — — — —

It was wholly coincidental once more. 

It was an early Sunday morning, Luke donned in sweatpants and a ratty cut-off and bedhead, as he meandered in the the shop of a tailor. Reggie owed him for this. 

The bassist loved buying vintage clothing, but never stuff that quite fit him. Hence, a tailor. His name was Peter and basically Reg’s best friend at this point, based on the disappointed look the man gave Luke as he handed him the the slip. He could hear the question on his tongue - “Where’s Reggie?” - and was happy when he didn’t ask. 

One, cause that was fucking rude. 

Two, cause Reg was currently fighting for an exclusive comic book on the other side of Los Angeles with a hurdle of other nerds. 

As Peter was sifting through the clothing racks, searching the order, the bell jingled behind him. 

“Oh, Journal Boy?”

He stilled. Holy shit. 

Whirling around, he came face to face with Julie. Just as beautiful as a week ago; maybe even more disarming in sandals and her curly hair up in a messy bun.

“Hi,” he breathed, unsure if he wasn’t just imagining her. It was a pretty hot day. It could easily be a sun stroke. 

Her smile widened. She was probably amused by his goofy behaviour, but he couldn’t help it. What were the odds he’d see her again, in a different location, this early after the first encounter? What was the statistical probability of meeting his soulmate twice? 

Before he could say anything else, Peter appeared from his rack and placed a leather jacket on the counter. Their attention diverted, Luke couldn’t help but feel heat travel up his back from having her so near. 

— — — — — —

No, he didn't want to go to silent disco.

Alas, Willie and Alex were that quirky type of couple that always liked to do the weirdest shit, including the most impersonal activity ever: a silent fucking disco.

They told him to bring a date, as Reggie was bringing his Tinder match Kayla, but he wasn't feeling it. One, because he still couldn't believe he saw Julie again at the tailor-

("It's Luke, by the way," he added.

She smiled and tasted the name. "Luke. Haven't lost your journal again?"

His name sounded heavenly on her tongue. Keeping the blush at bay, he nodded with a grin. "Yup. Uh-"

And then the man came back with her stuff, and that was that.)

-two, cause he wanted to win from Alex. Soulmates did exist and he hadn't lost hope it was her.

So there he was, in some old factory turned disco, with hundreds of idiots wearing headphones as they danced in a frenzy to whatever song was playing. The whole point of art - connection - was lost. Luke wanted to die.

Until he saw Julie from across the space. Again. And she saw him.

They smiled and waved and suddenly, this whole thing wasn't so bad anymore.

— — — — — —

There were about a 130,000 people living in East LA. It had sprawling neighbourhoods and hundreds of communities and subways that connected it to the other parts of LA. She could’ve been anywhere. 

And yet, he found her again. 

Even though he was still sticking to his guns that Julie was someone special, he also had his own needs. Which was how he found himself slipping out of a redhead’s bed at seven in the morning, dazed from being in an unknown place, and pulling his clothes back on. He was pretty sure her name was Meredith, though that could also just be entirely false. It was a weird, albeit good night. 

She mumbled in her pillow he could let himself out, waving half-heartedly and rolling on her side. 

Softly closing the door behind him and cracking the knots in his neck, he didn’t notice how he bumped into a person. 

Into Julie. 

His eyes widened in shock, the two letting out a surprised yelp. Her hand clutched her chest and took a step back. 

“Whoa!” he exclaimed. “Sorry!”

Her mouth opened and closed in confusion, about to say something, when her gaze trailed past him to the apartment he just left. She cleared up. 

“Meredith? Good choice, she’s nice.”

Luke flushed red. What the fuck was he supposed to say to that? 

Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, he drawled, “Uh, yeah... what’re you doing here?”

It was then that he noticed she had athletic wear on, duffle bag around her shoulder and keys dangling between her fingers. She confirmed his suspicions when she replied. 

“I, uh, live here.” She laughed. “So... have a nice rest of the day?”  

He wanted to say a lot. He wanted to ask if she wanted to grab breakfast, that Meredith wasn’t his girlfriend, that he had this crazy feeling they were always meant to meet - again and again and again ‘til they got it right. 

But he couldn’t. He’d sound insane. Hell, it was insane. Instead, he wished her a nice day as well and scurried out the hallway. He didn’t look back, but he did wonder if he was imagining he felt her eyes on his back. 

— — — — — —

Luke was typing on his laptop, the hustle and bustle of Starbucks at three in the afternoon and the methodical tap tap tap of the keys lulling him into a fast-paced trance. As always, he procrastinated some work for Pitchfork and had to get it done in two hours or else his boss would be yelling in his emails.

The bell jingled, Luke looking up automatically and almost rolling his eyes at the sight of her. This was getting insane.

Julie saw him too, changing her course from the register to his round table with a confused grimace twisting her features. As always, she looked pretty; the girl never looked bad and it was kind of messing with his head.

"Alright, fess up," she exclaimed, slipping into the seat opposite of him. "Are you stalking me?"

He snorted and leaned forward with a wry grin. "I can ask the same about you."

Her lips pursed, assessing him for a beat. With a sigh, she mellowed down. "I guess... we live in the same neighbourhood..."

"Still kinda crazy though," he mused. "East L.A. is big."

She nodded, pensive, and then looked over her shoulder to the menu board. "Is it okay if... I sit with you? I was going to grab a latte to go, but since you're here..."

But since you're here - rang in his ears, a careful smile blooming on his lips. Fuck, he really needed to work, but Julie wanted to sit with him, hang with him, be friends with him, outside of all the coincidental meetings they've had.

He wouldn't call it a date yet. He wanted to properly ask her when that day came.

"Sure," he mumbled, biting down the smile from becoming bigger.

His reply satisfied her, the tendrils dancing around her bright eyes as she matched his smile and stood up to make an order.

— — — — — —

Weeks passed with quick meetings here and there, Julie slowly bleeding into his life with laughs and smiles and whirlwind stories about her life. She was always on the go, always bright-eyed and easily matching his energy. He knew his enthusiasm could put people off, but she was never taken aback.

Wit against wit. Snark against snark. A dumb joke met with an amused roll of the eye. It worked. For a while, he even settled on the fact that hey, they might be platonic soulmates. Julie was a great friends and sometimes he felt his emotions fleeting. If they remained friends, he'd be perfectly content.

But then she closed gaps and barriers that had pointedly been kept before. After they got boba, her hand wrapped around his bicep, stretched on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek. Before he could register it, she was back on her feet waving him goodbye. Luke had a dopey look on his face for the rest of the day.

She kept up cheek kisses, he let his warm embraces linger, their short hangouts turned into hours.

Then one night, she kissed his cheek after they got ramen and he shifted his face 'til their noses brushed. Julie held her breath. Tentatively, their fingers curled together - the simple touch sparking lightning up his arm.

"Is it weird that I've dreamed about you?" he asked, cautious, looking at their joined hands.

Luke wanted to tell her about his initial gut feeling; that he saw her and he knew. But it was too insane and he didn't want to scare her off. But he knew. He's always known.

"No..." Her mouth ghosted his. "I've dreamed about you too."

Luke closed the little space between them, lips slanting together and instantly deepening as one hand came up to cradle her cheek. His heart was bursting with euphoria. It felt as if his body sighed in relief, like it had finally come home. And then he did: he sighed and grinned and giggled when her arms wrapped around his neck.

Oh, man... he might already love her.

— — — — — —

Nothing definite happened afterwards. Though this is what he wanted, he felt weird confirming their relationship when he had always somehow ‘known.’ It had to come from her side, the more level-headed person in this situation. 

So, it was casual, even though he was anything but casual. 

It was pretty great though, walking past Meredith’s door towards Julie’s, having her yank him inside and kiss him like she’d been waiting for years. Kissing Julie was fucking heaven. 

Besides that, they were the same Luke and Julie as before. They got boba or ramen or any new spot that opened up like weeds. She listened to new music with him, sharing earbuds, for his Pitchfork articles. He watched her sing and play the piano at music clubs, becoming more and more enamoured each time simply by the sound of her angelic voice. He built a shelf for her. She taught him how to make friendship bracelets. He met her best friend Flynn. She stayed over for dinner with the guys and got drunk on white wine, giggling along to the jokes.

They fit. But they weren’t exclusive. He had no clue if she was also seeing someone else. He presumed she didn’t, the two constantly revolving around each other, but he couldn’t be certain.

Alex was gobsmacked the first time he properly met her. Stunned that Luke had been right, that it worked out, that East Los Angeles was apparently nothing more than a small town. Luke reckoned he was just jealous he didn’t have to meet his person by getting maimed on the street - ha! 

His finger trailed along her sleeping silhouette, gently and drowsy, observing in awe how a smile subconsciously quirked on her lips and shifted closer to his touch. He closed his eyes and pressed his nose in the back of her neck. There were worse ways to wake up. 

— — — — — —

Eventually, Julie simply decided for him.

She was moving apartments and he was helping her pack, move furniture, throw shit out, the whole nine yards. For one person, she had a lot of stuff, her cabinets an endless supply of decor, souvenirs and memories.

They were whirling around each other like clock-work, never bumping and smoothly handing things over. Rap music was playing from the stereo, its sound drifting from her opened front door into the hallway.

One of her neighbours popped their head in.

"Oh!" The old man perked up, surprised. "You're moving, Julie?"

She looked up from rummaging through her CD collection to shoot him a tired smile. "Yeah," she puffed, "my lease is up, so..."

"Change of pace, I get it. That's wonderful," he nodded, gaze shifting to Luke walking out of the bathroom. "Hello!"

Luke smiled at him, waving with the box of oddly shaped soaps Julie had for some reason. "Hi."

"This is Luke, my boyfriend," Julie introduced, Luke freezing in his tracks all at once as the words utter from her lips. Boyfriend. Holy shit. It didn't faze her, smoothly babbling more than he wasn't processing.

Boyfriend. Which meant that she was his girlfriend. Which meant that now, he had to threaten the guys to not say a fucking word about how mentally deranged he was the first week after meeting her. This wasn’t planned. This was fully her. This was past fate and serendipity - this was by choice. It felt better than he thought. 

The man bid goodbye and left. Luke dropped the box on the coffee table, sliding towards her with a shit-eating grin.

"Boyfriend," he drawled exaggeratedly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. ‘Cause you are. I know you well enough to know you can only do exclusive."

"Can you?"

"I said you were my boyfriend, didn't I?"

His smile widened, leaning in to kiss her. She met him halfway, loose curls tucked behind ears before her arms were slung around his waist. I love, I love you, I've loved you forever.

And then the truth tumbled out. Part of it, at least.

"I, uh," he gulped, looking at her through his lashes. "I saw you, that first day, and I thought you were the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Her face turned tender, a pout jutting from her lip as she gauged his reaction, like she was waiting for him to make a joke. He wasn't.

"Really?" she whispered, voice so small it took him aback for a beat.

His thumbs gently caressed her cheeks, withholding himself from saying anything more. This was enough. It was the truth without the crazy - being with her was crazy enough. Luke settled on a simple nod.

Her head tilted, shy amusement lilting her tone. "Good thing I'm moving closer to your neighbourhood then."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

@blush-and-books​ @bluefirewrites​ @willexx​ @pink-flame​ @constantly-singing​ @unsaid-emily​ @ourstarscollided​

[unloved-cadillac]

How would Dabi be with a civilian s/o:

>𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩:

In all honesty, this man probably bumped into you on the sidewalk or in a store. Of course he was disguised, but you did catch a glimpse of his scars. Or burns? You couldn’t remember.

“Hey. Watch it.” He said a bit annoyed. “I’m sorry. Forgive me.” You responded with a kind smile. Dabi’s mind went: cute.

After you left, he followed you. Out of protection for you and because he wanted to know where you lived. Very blunt, I know.

Dabi stalked you. Plain and simple. When he wasn’t busy with the league, he made it his mission to be near you. He found out where you worked, what restaurants you liked to eat at, family members, your friends. All the stuff he could get his hands on.

Your name was beautiful. Dabi found himself saying your name over and over again to himself but caught himself and scoffed. “Damn woman.”

He would be lying if he said he didn’t fantasize of having a relationship with you. The sex part and the usual bases of a relationship. Hand holding, talking. Everything.

But it was until he got caught by you in an alleyway did he know he was fucked. He was Dabi. The Cremation Villain. Villain. That’s what he was. All he ever would be, even to you.

“Hi. You’re the guy I bumped into the other day, isn’t it?” You say snapping him away from his thoughts. He chuckles. “Yeah.” He answers.

“I’m Y/n. What’s your name?” You ask. I know. I know everything about you. “Dabi.” He saw your eyes widen a bit. “Oh. You’re the villain aren’t you?” He nods. “But I’m not gonna hurt or mug you. I have no reason to anyway.” He explains and your shocked face relaxes into a smile. “Good. I’m broke anyway.” You joke and he chuckles.

“You’re not gonna call the cops or run for your life?” Dabi asks while you shake your head. “I have no reason to.” You repeat his words back at him and it was his turn to be shocked. “Well, see ya around. Dabi.” You walk past him and wave.

What?

After that, you started seeing Dabi everywhere you went. You, being you, didn’t find it weird or creepy. Actually, you felt a bit safer knowing that if you were to bump into trouble, you had him there.

You left some snacks and letters for him by your mailbox where you knew he stood. Dabi happily took it and snacked on it while he read your letters. Some were just a “hi :)” or “I saw you ;)” it made him chuckle, that’s for sure.

Finally, after months, he found himself in your apartment. You were at work, which he obviously knew, so he decided to snoop around. See what this girl who caught his attention  was like.

You had basic stuff. A table, 2 chairs and a small ass kitchen. A tiny TV with a run down couch which looked like it was going to break at any moment. He actually felt sorry for you.

 Your bedroom was a simple, single bed with a white blanket and two pillows. A wardrobe with some of your clothes. He knew you didn’t do laundry at your apartment, since you went to the one down the street, and he saw your basket starting pile up with clothes.

He knew what he was going to do.

He put on his “disguise” and went to the laundry place. He stayed there for 2 hours waiting for your clothes to be ready. And when it was, he realized what the actual fuck he was doing.

He was a criminal, a murderer but here he was, doing laundry for a girl he doesn’t know.

After putting your clothes on your bed, he left. He wanted you. He wanted you and he didn’t know what the hell he was going to do.

When you came home, you saw your clothes done and a note beside it:

“You live horribly. Just saying.”

-D.

You scoffed. “Idiot.” You slowly started falling for this man. And you had no idea how or what to do about it.

Couple of days later, after having supper with your friends, Dabi was by your door. Sitting, apparently waiting for you.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my stalker.” You say walking up the stairs to see him. Dabi looked up and chuckled. “Well, that’s a bit harsh.” He says standing up and facing you.

“What brings you here? Want to do more laundry?” You joke and he scratches his head. “Actually, I want to talk to you.” “About?” Fuck. Dabi wasn’t prepared.

“I-, uh.-..” he starts to say. Dammit. How was this so hard?! “Dabi.” You call his name and he looks at you. God, his name sounded good coming from your lips.

“I..like you. I know it’s weird. I don’t even know you. But you seem to be a good person, underneath the scars and burns.” You say and Dabi stares at you. He scoffs and avoids your big e/c eyes. “Damn, Y/n. You made this easier for me.” He says.

“What do you-..,” you don’t get to finish your sentence because his lips landed on yours. He tasted like cigarettes. But it wasn’t unpleasant, you actually liked it.

Pulling away, he cups your cheek and softly kisses your forehead. “I’ll see you around, angel.” Dabi softly tells you and disappears into the night, leaving you wonder what just happened.

Dabi returned back to you after a week. A mission came up and he wanted to at least taste you before he left.

It was 10pm when he knocked on your door. He knew you would be up because you didn’t have work the next day so you would be up watching those shows you love so much.

He waits patiently outside for you. After heading the door open, he sees you. In your robe, wide-eyed and confused.

“Dabi?” You say and walks up to you. “Where were you?” You ask as he moves closer. “Why? Were you worried?” Dabi asks and you blush. “Maybe.” You reply and he smirks.

“Y/n.” He calls and you look up at him, while his finger hooked under your chin.

“What I’m about to tell you, I have never done before. I like you and it terrifies me. But I want you to be mine. You can deny. I won’t blame you. No one would like to be with a villain anyway.” He finishes and looks at you.

All you did was whisper a soft “yes” and brought his lips to yours.

>𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩:

Dabi spent the night of his confession with you. Not in sex, just sleeping with you. Honestly, he hasn’t slept that well in years.

The next morning he left you, having needed to return back to the league. But he did get you breakfast.

You didn’t tell anyone that you were involved with someone, let alone a villain. You didn’t want Dabi to get caught.

A few months into your relationship, Dabi started to give you money. Where he got it from, you didn’t know. But when you refused, he took the money and bought something for your apartment. A new couch, food, a new TV. New bedding. He practically renovated your apartment.

Although the both of you had discussed it, Dabi couldn’t stay longer than a week with you. He couldn’t have the League asking questions of his whereabouts and exposing you.

He would rather leave without giving you a day he would be back thangive you false hope and get sad about him.

But that one week per month that he did stay, was the best week you ever had.

Dabi and you watched movies, played cards, cooked. He even taught you some recipes that he remembered from all those years ago.

When it came to sex, Dabi cared for you like no other did before him. He was gentle and loving almost. He hated leaving you in the morning too. That’s why he saved those intimate times for the nights he knew he could stay.

Now, almost a year into your relationship, Dabi trusted you with his life. When he would run from the police, he came to your apartment. Sometimes at 4am.

Knock knock. You hear on the window. Walking up to it, you see him. “Dabi?!” You whispers shout, “What the hell?” “Sorry, angel face. Gotta hide. May I?” “Of course you idiot. Get in here!”

You would wear his shirt all the time. And he loved seeing you in it.

Dabi also liked laying on your tummy, in between your legs while you ran your hands through his hair. That’s when you saw it.

🚫SPOILER🚫

“Baby? Why is your hair white?” You ask and he shoots up and touches his head. “What?” “It’s white. By your crown.” You point and he sprints to the bathroom.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” You hear him whisper. Dabi sorta calms down and comes back into your room.

“Y/n. There’s something I need to tell you.” He says seriously. You sit up while he sits down next to you. He places his hand on your thigh and looks at you.

“My name, my real name, is Touya Todoroki. Endeavor is my father..” he begins and continues with his whole story. You listen intently and squeeze his hand in reassurance.

After he poured out all of the shit that he kept on his chest for years, you leaped into his arms making you both fall back on the bed, and smothered him in kisses.

You kissed his scars on his neck and mouth. Then moved to the ones under his eyes. He watched you and you then kissed him fully.

“Can I call you Touya?” You whisper and he nods. “Only here though.” “Of course. Thank you, babe. For telling me.” You say and he hugs you tighter. No. Thank you, Y/n.

It was a bumpy ride with plenty of fights between the two of you, but it was just out of missing each other. He tried keeping you safe as did you.

Dabi loved you. He really did. He told you on night before he left for three weeks. It was emotional and raw, because you loved him too.

But little did he know, someone had picked up on his routine...

———————————————————————

“I’m going through a Dabi phase.”

🖤🤍Thanks for reading🤍🖤

-Caddy.

[slafkovskys]

sigh imagine dylan h doing the off limits thing like garrett did in off campus🤪

i been waitin for this one, turn it up

you don’t bother to stop the door from slamming closed as you walk through it, throwing your backpack onto the counter and leaning against it with an annoyed huff. josie jumps from where she’s cuddled against jake on the couch and she stares at you with a confused expression, “you’re home early?”

“did i do something?” you ask, the question somewhat rhetorical and somewhat not. “no guy on this fucking campus will look at me. i literally watched some guy do a full 180 so that he wouldn’t have to walk past me this morning. what the fuck is going on?”

you don’t wait for either of them to answer before marching back to your room and switching your leggings for your pajama shorts. you pull off your t-shirt and grab some oversized pullover that belonged to your ex at one point and he had never asked for it back. your slippers are warm as you slide your feet into the and march back out into the living room, plopping down beside josie and leaning over to rest your head on her stomach. she sighs as jake pauses the movie, reaching his arm over and patting the top of your head. you grunt, “so i’m with my study group, right?”

“right,” they say in sync.

“it’s like, four dudes in there, all of which have been there since the beginning of the semester. i’ve never had a problem with any of them. they won’t even look at me. i’d ask them a question, they'd answer, but only when they were looking at sarah or jacy. they didn’t speak directly to me once,” you shake your head as you cross your arms over your chest and stare at the ceiling. “and you know what happened earlier? i went to get my coffee, the same barista as always. we usually talk after he gives me my coffee because we were in a class together last semester, but he practically threw my coffee at me and ran away to the other side of the room.”

josie sighs heavily, “tell her, jake. i can’t keep watching this happen.”

“tell me what?” you demand, rolling onto your stomach and peering up at the blonde senior who practically lived in your apartment. he avoids your eyes and you send him a glare, “do you know why this is happening?”

“you’re the only one that doesn’t,” he sighs, grunting when josie sends an elbow into his stomach. he lets his eyes connect with yours then and looks at you apologetically, “don’t get mad-”

“i already am. spit it out.”

“holloway put a campus-wide hands-off law on you. no guy on this campus is gonna want anything to do with you now. they may have a thing for you, but they can’t do anything about it because-”

“dylan said that they couldn’t?” you raise an eyebrow and he nods. “well, when is it null and void?”

“what year do you graduate?” his smile is tight-lipped and you can tell that he’s trying to lighten the mood, but it’s not working. you’re pissed, you’re seething, you’re-

“i’ll be back.”

“where are you going?” josie scrambles up behind you and follows you towards the front door.

“take a guess,” you grunt as you throw open the door and head for the elevator.

it wasn’t a task or anything going to dylan’s apartment, he only lived six floors above you. that was how this thing had gotten started between the two of you, more of a convenience thing than anything else. it was easy for him to text you or vice versa that you needed the other and in only minutes, you would find yourself tangled together under the sheets.

you can hear the music blasting from behind the door and you roll your eyes. it had been two weeks since dylan had signed, but they were still celebrating like it had been only hours before. you were there when he put the pen to paper, right beside him just as he had requested. because of canada’s border rules, his parents couldn’t come and watch him, but he had you. he had twirled you in a circle, downed three beers a couple of hours later, and told you how he didn’t want anything serious. you left then, retreating to your bedroom for approximately twelve hours before realizing who you were and blocking him on everything. you honestly didn’t think that he had cared, but your recent revelation stated otherwise.

your knocks were heavy and shay pulls open the door. “hey-”

“where the fuck is he?” you demand and shay’s eyes widen. he moves to the side to let you in and you spot him instantly. you make your way over and he turns his head when you shout his name. “what the fuck?”

“hey princess,” he smirks lazily as he turns his head, shooting the neon-colored ping pong call into a solo cup on the other end of the table. he brings his cup to his lips as he watches mike shoot the ball back towards him, “you haven’t been answering my calls-”

“you put a hands-off order on me?” you spit and he freezes. the girls beside him look at you curiously as he wraps a hand around your elbow and pulls you towards his room. “why would you do that, dylan? you made it very clear that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“whose sweatshirt is that?” he leans into his closet and pulls one of his own out, tossing it towards you. “put that on.”

“no. answer my question.”

“i was drinking when i said that, y/n. you can’t hold that against me,” he sighs. you open your mouth to speak, but he interrupts you before you have the chance, “and don’t give me any of that ‘drunk words, sober thoughts,’ bullshit. i didn’t mean it. why are you so pissed off anyway? you seemed to be over it a few days ago when you were with whitlock.”

“are you- calvin? that’s what this is about?” you ask, genuinely surprised by his outburst. “you tell me that you don’t want to be with me, so i move on with my life and you get pissed off and tell the entire campus that no one can touch me?”

“first off, it wasn’t the entire campus. i only told a few people and they got the message across. secondly,” he gestures between the two of you, “it worked out, didn’t it?”

“you got my attention all right, but i don’t really think that you thought this through,” it’s your turn to smirk as you lean against the wall. his face visibly drops and you nod your head, “yeah, did you forget that i’m transferring next year? and you’re leaving in a few weeks anyway. there are some people on this campus that aren’t going to care about a hands-off rule when you’re on the other side of the border. even if they do, me and josie are going to see her brother at superior next week. her brother plays hockey there, did you know that? he’s got friends too that have no idea about your little law.”

“superior?” he spits, eyes blazing.

“you won’t be giving me a second thought in edmonton, holloway, basing off what you told me the other night, but, y’know, let’s look at both sides of the coin,” you sigh, “you obviously aren’t ready to let me go yet, so i’ll play your little game, but you have to play mine.”

he watches as you move slowly towards him, eyebrows raised, “what’s the catch?”

you shrug your shoulders, “prove to me that what you told me that night wasn’t true. show me that you want me and i’ll think about unblocking you.”

“you’ll think about unblocking me?” he scoffs, “so, you want me to come crawling back to you, basically.”

“are you upset that i pulled a you on you?” you pout your lips, raising your hand to pat rather roughly at his cheek before moving towards his bedroom door, “i leave for superior in four days. if you aren’t unblocked by then, then i don’t know what to tell you. also, i don’t like roses, so don’t waste your money on them. good luck.”

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

"I always just rode the waves,” Rebecca Ferguson says with a shrug. The comment hangs in the air, as if the Anglo-Swedish 37-year-old is only now processing that a combination of currents and tides has led her not just to an acting career but to the brink of big-screen stardom.

“I’ve never been ambitious,” she says. “I’ve always thought that that was a bad thing.” She’s seen others in the industry consumed by constant striving and asked herself why she hasn’t hungered for fame since childhood, slept in cars outside castings, barged into directors’ offices or thrown herself in the path of a producer. “But should I not be burning for this? Out meeting people and networking for the next job?” says Ferguson, who has chosen the sort of quiet, private life outside the big city that so many actors claim to crave. “My life just took another turn. But I’ve always thought: Am I where I should be?”

At the moment, on this late July day, Ferguson is slumped in the backseat of a Mercedes-Benz sedan, crawling through rush-hour traffic on the M4 out of London. She is capping off a hectic week during a particularly busy period. Most immediately, she’s coming from a table read for Wool, the Apple TV+ adaptation of Hugh Howey’s bestselling postapocalyptic trilogy. Ferguson is both the star and, for the first time, an executive producer. “I’m sitting in all the different rooms, listening and learning like the students,” she says. She’s filming Mission: Impossible 7, her third tour of duty in the long-running series that first brought her widespread recognition. She’s also promoting the film Reminiscence, the sci-fi noir written and directed by Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy in which Ferguson stars opposite Hugh Jackman. And now she is starting a press push and festival prep for her role as Lady Jessica ahead of the much-delayed release of Dune (in theaters October 22), director Denis Villeneuve’s reimagining of Frank Herbert’s novel. “After this film, I think everyone will see what I see in her,” the filmmaker says. “She has a beautiful, regal, aristocratic presence, elegance. But that was not the main thing: The most important thing for me was that depth.”

After tracing a long, meandering path, Ferguson has landed in a rare and rarified position: ascendant in her late 30s (still an anomaly for women in the film industry) and sought after by some of the biggest names in the business. “When you meet Rebecca, you just see it. She’s very open, candid, collaborative, hardworking, funny—and not pretentious,” says Tom Cruise, who handpicked Ferguson to star opposite him in the Mission: Impossiblefilms, which are known for their demanding shoots. “She just rose to the occasion every single time.”

In February 2020, when the pandemic began, Ferguson left Venice, where she’d been shooting Mission: Impossible 7, and hunkered down with her husband, their 3-year-old daughter and Ferguson’s 14-year-old son from a previous relationship at their farm in Sweden. After four months, Ferguson returned to the M:I set and basically hasn’t stopped working since.

Dune has sat idle for far longer. By the time the movie premieres, more than two years will have passed since it wrapped. Ferguson recently asked to screen the film again: “I miss it,” she says. She ended up bringing along her Mission: Impossible co-star Simon Pegg. After the credits rolled, Pegg broke into a smile and wrapped her in a congratulatory bear hug. “That’s all I needed,” she says.

Despite being a sci-fi epic based on a novel from 1965, Dune feels “very timely,” Ferguson says, pointing to its handling of environmental issues, religious zealotry, colonialism and Indigenous rights. The plot of the film, which cost an estimated $165 million, centers on occupying powers battling for the right to exploit a people and their planet, named Arrakis, for melange (or spice)—the most valuable commodity in Herbert’s fictional universe, a substance that provides transcendental thought, extends life and enables instantaneous interstellar travel. “Spice,” Ferguson says, “is equally about the poppy and oil fields.”

Ferguson’s Lady Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, a powerful secretive sisterhood with superhuman mental abilities. She defies her order by giving birth to a son, Paul (played by Timothée Chalamet), who may be a messianic figure. “She basically just f—s up the entire universe by having a son out of love,” says Ferguson. In her hands, Jessica is equal parts caring parent, protector and pedagogue. Among the skills she wields and teaches Paul is “the Voice”—a modulated tone that allows the speaker to control others.

The movie was shot in Norway, Hungary, Jordan and Abu Dhabi, whose desert landscape stood in for Arrakis. Filming there was particularly arduous, as temperatures exceeded 120 degrees Fahrenheit, limiting the shoot window to only an hour and a half each day at 5 a.m. and again at dusk. “We were running across the sand in our steel suits being chased by nonexistent but humongous worms,” Ferguson recalls, referring to the sand-beasts later rendered in CGI. “To be honest, it was one of the best moments ever. It was the most beautiful location I’ve ever seen.”

Back in London, Ferguson is approaching home. She leaves the following day for a small town on the coast of England, where she plans to spend her first vacation in two years and to do some surfing. “Let’s hope it’s good weather,” she says. “If not, I’ll surf in the rain.” Not that she’s the sort to paddle out into storm swells. “I think I’ve managed to stand on a board once in my entire life,” she says. “But it was quite a high. Complete surrender to the waves and total control all at once.”

Born Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström to an English mother and Swedish father, Ferguson grew up bilingual in Stockholm. She immersed herself in dance from a young age, enjoying ballet, jazz, street funk and tango. Despite being shy and prone to blushing and breaking out when forced to speak publicly, Ferguson found she was at ease in front of the camera. She dabbled in modeling and then, at 15, attended a TV casting call at her mother’s urging. Ferguson ended up getting the lead role in Nya Tider (New Times), a soap opera that became wildly popular, splashing Ferguson’s face into Swedish homes five times a week.

When her role ended about two years later, Ferguson was adrift. She had no formal acting training to fall back on, no clear sense of how to steer a career and no major connections to the industry. She had a short run on another soap and appeared in a slasher flick and a couple of independent shorts, then…nothing. “I was famous in Sweden, but I didn’t really have an income anymore,” she says. “So I went and I worked in whatever job I could get.” That meant stints at a daycare center and as a nanny, in a jewelry shop and a shoe store, as well as teaching tango, cleaning hotel rooms and waitressing at a Korean restaurant. She eventually landed in a small coastal town named Simrishamn, where she lived with her then-partner and their toddler son, content to be a where-are-they-now celebrity.

When fame again came calling, Ferguson ran away. She was at the flea market when she recognized the acclaimed Swedish director Richard Hobert, and he saw her. As he shouted her name, Ferguson grabbed her son, who lost his shoes and sausage, and fled. “I panicked,” she says. “I don’t know why.” When Hobert eventually caught up to her, Ferguson tried to act nonchalant as he proceeded to tell her he’d admired her work and pitched her on the lead role in his next movie: “I’ve written this role, and I think I have written it for you. Do you want to read the script?”

Her work in Hobert’s A One-Way Trip to Antibes earned her a Rising Star nomination at the Stockholm International Film Festival. She quickly got an agent in Scandinavia, then one in Britain. On her first trip to take meetings in London, she read for the lead in The White Queen, the BBC adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s historical novels about the women behind the Wars of the Roses. Ferguson got the part, and her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of England, earned her a Golden Globe nomination and the admiration of at least one Hollywood heavyweight.

Ferguson was in the Moroccan desert filming the Lifetime biblical miniseries The Red Tentwhen the assistant director whisked her off her camel. “We’re going to have to pause shooting,” he said as he asked her to dismount. “Tom Cruise wants to meet you for Mission: Impossible. We’re going to fly you off today.”

Cruise had seen Ferguson’s work in The White Queen and her audition tape and couldn’t believe she wasn’t already a major star. “What? Where has this woman been?” Cruise recalls exclaiming to his new Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie. “She’s incredibly skilled,” Cruise says, “very charismatic, very expressive. As you can tell, the camera loves her.” Ferguson landed a multi-picture deal to star opposite Cruise in the multibillion-dollar franchise. He and McQuarrie built out the role of Ilsa Faust for Ferguson, creating the anti-Bond girl, an equal to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. “We could just see the impact she could have,” he says. “She’s a dancer. She has great control of her body, of her movements. She has the same ability to move through emotions effortlessly.”

Ferguson threw herself into the films and quickly found a shorthand with the cast and crew. “There was a dynamic that worked very well with all of us,” she says. “One of the things I absolutely love is doing all the stunts.” That physicality has given her a reputation as an action-minded actor. “It doesn’t matter that I’ve done 20 other films where I don’t kick ass,” Ferguson says. “Mission comes with such an enormous following. That was what made my career.”

Ferguson’s M: I movies bracket a number of films in which she played opposite marquee names: Florence Foster Jenkins, with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant; The Girl on the Train, with Emily Blunt; The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams; Life, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds; Men in Black: International, with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson; The Snowman, with Michael Fassbender; Doctor Sleep, with Ewan McGregor. And now Dune, opposite Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Zendaya and Chalamet, whom she calls “one of the best actors, if not the best actor of his generation—of this time.” She was similarly impressed by Zendaya, who plays the native Fremen warrior Chani. “She’s quite raw and naughty and fun,” says Ferguson. “She has an enormous f— off attitude.”

When Ferguson first spoke to Villeneuve about appearing in the movie, “he started telling me about this woman who was a protector, and a mother, and a lover, and a concubine,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘I’m sorry. You want me to play a queen and a bodyguard? And you want me to kick ass and walk regally?’ I was like, ‘Denis, why would I want to do that? That’s the last thing I want to do.’ ”

After the call, Ferguson says, “I went downstairs to my hubby and said, Oh, my God, he’s amazing, but I’m not going to get the job. I just criticized the character.” Ferguson worried she was being cast as a stereotypical “strong female character,” where “it’s constantly, ‘She looks good, and she can kick.’ That is not what I want to portray.”

Ferguson hasn’t always been able to work with collaborators who’ve given her the space to question or opine. “I’ve been bashed down. I’ve been bullied,” she says, though she opts not to say by whom. That was never a concern with Villeneuve, who welcomed her critique. He and his co-writers had already decided from the start to make women the focus of their screenplay adaptation, and he promptly offered her the part.

“I want Lady Jessica to be at the center, the forefront. For me, she’s the architect of the story,” Villeneuve says. “I needed someone who will convey the mystery and the dark side of the film in a very elegant and profound way. Rebecca was everything I was hoping for. She’s so precise. She brought a beautiful, controlled vulnerability—it becomes very visceral on-screen.”

Ferguson vaguely recalls trying to watch the 1984 version of Dune, directed by David Lynch, in her youth, but she fell asleep. And she had never opened Herbert’s novel until being offered the part in the new adaptation. As she dug into the book, she says, she learned that her character was subservient and far more like a concubine, forced to eat alone in her bedroom, not spoken to and not allowed to speak. Ferguson ended up relying primarily on Villeneuve for her research and prep—his notes and comments, his references and the pages in the book he suggested she focus on. “I would feel ignorant not to have read Frank’s book at all,” Ferguson says, though she admits there are parts of the sprawling novel (which Villeneuve is splitting into two films) she’s only skimmed. “I have to finish it.” That will not happen on her upcoming vacation, however. “Absolutely not,” she says “I am surfing.”

By the way, if you saw, I am snaking on the ground, snaking around my room to get good Wi-Fi—it’s not some dance or yoga thing,” Ferguson says. “You have to do that in this old house.” It’s a week and a half after our first meeting, and Ferguson is at her new home, a more than 500-year-old property southwest of London that has, over the years, been home to numerous English Royals. It’s more spartan than stately now. “Empty except for a rock star,” she says, turning her phone’s camera to reveal a framed duotone poster of Mick Jagger that’s leaning against the wall. “We haven’t even started renovating.

Ferguson has returned from her holiday fortified and with renewed confidence, thanks in part to her success on the surfboard. “I went up nearly every time,” she says cheerfully, “but the waves weren’t very high.” She shrugs. “I was proud. I was up. I rode them, not the other way around.”

After years of going with the flow, Ferguson is eager to replicate that sense of control in her career. She values her role as an executive producer on Wool, she says, “because I am, for the first time, a part of it from the beginning.” She relishes weighing in on every aspect, from casting (the show recently added Tim Robbins) to cinematography to her character—which has not always been easy for her. “Why do I feel it’s difficult to speak up? I still battle with these things,” she says. Alluding to those times she was pushed around in the past, Ferguson says, “I was angry, but it was more me getting off at ‘How can I let that happen? Why am I letting myself react this way?’ And I take it with me to the next thing where I go, ‘OK, how do I stop that from happening?’ ”

She is learning that she can ride on top of waves without giving up her agency or maybe just let them break against her. “I want to feel I can go home and think, That was a hard day or that pissed me off—and that’s OK,” Ferguson says, with a nod and tight smile. “Because I still stood there as Rebecca. I didn’t shift.”

[cultifi]

Hey~ okay so this request is based on a story I read about online. But basically the female is on her period (but she doesn’t realize yet ) and it seeps through her pants so she has a blood stain now. Could I request Bakugou or Todoroki seeing the stain and trying to be lowkey about helping her cover up so she isn’t embarrassed? Idk if that makes sense. Also I wanted to ask what fandoms/characters you write for. Idk if it’s annoying always writing about Bakugou, but he’s my comfort character so 😭 sorry.

Covering - Bakugo x (fem)reader

prompt: Bakugo sees that you had started your period and helps you out

genre: fluff

-actual plot of the request starts at ‘keep reading’ button-

“Come on! I promise it will be fun,” Mina begged you as she flopped onto your bed, sprawled out, “it’s only for the weekend anyways.” She had been trying to convince you to spend the weekend with her and a couple of other friends at Momo’s beach house which wasn’t far away from where you lived, but the thought of being trapped with people for more than a day irritated you just thinking about it. Mina just kept pleading for you to go.

“If I come, you have to...” you stated as you looked thought of a compromise that would benefit both you the most, “...do my homework for a week!” Mina’s mouth dropped open as she looked at you in disbelief. She hung her head down and muttered a small,

“Fine.”

Friday afternoon came around and when you arrived at the beach house with Mina and Momo you finally saw who you would be spending the weekend with, Deku, Todoroki and Bakugo. 3 boys, 3 girls. You all headed inside and set your luggage down near the entrance, admiring how spacious and clean the house was, like no one had ever stepped foot in it. “Woah...” you whispered in amazement when you had seen that Momo’s description of the house was nowhere near accurate, claiming it was “just a regular beach house.” 

“This place is huge!” Mina exclaimed and threw herself on the enormous leather sofa placed in the middle of the living room, which was the centre of the beach house. “Honestly Momo, you really downplayed how big this place is.” After exploring the large, almost sparkling clean house, everyone discussed sleeping arrangements. despite it being a huge house, the only thing it lacked was a decent amount of bedrooms; there were 2, but fortunately they were quite big, so everyone had decided that the girls would room together and the boys would do the same.

The sky grew darker before anyone realised how late it had gotten so everyone headed to their designated sleeping rooms. Since the rooms were quite large, there were conveniently three beds in different areas of the room, the middle being empty. “Dibs!” Mina shouted and catapulted herself onto the bed directly opposite the door, even though the were all basically the same size (hers was a little bigger but that’s besides the point). All three of you prepared yourselves for bed as you slid into the cool covers, having light conversation until Momo asked you a question about him. 

“I noticed Bakugo looking at you a lot today,” she teased as her and Mina both giggled, “I think he has a crush on you!” You felt heat rise up to your cheeks when you started thinking about what it would be like to be in a relationship with him so you pulled the covers up to your face and protested against Momo’s idea. 

You woke up to Mina and Momo jumping on your bed which made you want to dropkick them but you restrained yourself, putting your pillow over your head. “Fine, I’ll get up,” you complained and threw your pillow at Mina who was jumping with such vigour that you might think she was trying to create a dent in the bed frame.

“Let’s wake the boys up,” Mina suggested with a smirk and whispered something to Momo, both giggling and making you feel confused. “Okay so I’ll wake up Deku, you wake up Bakugo and Momo will wake up Todoroki. We’ll just jump on their beds until they get up.” The evil scheme was soon in motion.

You approached the door of their room and carefully twisted the handle, making sure to not create any disturbances. You pushed the door open and looked at all the boys sleeping peacefully. It wasn’t going to be peaceful for much longer.You each took your places and on the count of three flew onto the beds.

“Wake up!” you shouted and jumped onto Bakugo’s bed, bouncing up and down as though it was a trampoline.

“Shut up,” he mumbled tiredly and grabbed onto your ankle, making you stumble and fall onto him in a bit of an interesting position, staring at each other awkwardly. You looked down to realise that you were straddling Bakugo and that he also wasn’t wearing any boxers underneath his pyjama bottoms. His eyes widened and told you to move, but flinched slightly when you finally did, pulling the covers over his lower half. He put his head in his hands and shouted at all of you to ‘get the fuck out.’ You hurried out of the room in embarrassment, Mina and Momo following you as you cursed to yourself.

“What just happened?” Mina asked you worriedly as she closed the door behind her. You told her about the ‘situation’ which was currently being taken care of by Bakugo in the bathroom. “I think he’ll be fine in a bit, don’t worry about it,” she advised you and hugged you lightly and suggested that we all go to the beach, your stomach had been hurting, but you ignored it and agreed.

Later on, after having swam in the salty water and played volleyball with everyone, Mina’s words had proved to be true, Bakugo wasn’t angry, he actually looked like he was having fun, especially when Deku tripped and got a face full of sand. You were all hungry at this point and decided you would go to a restaurant near the beach house, it wasn’t anything fancy so you just decided to wear light blue denim overalls accompanied by a black belt with a white short sleeved crop top.

You ignored the aching in your lower stomach since you thought it was probably just because you were hungry and tied up your hair into a ponytail. “You ready?” Momo asked as she picked up her phone and purse.

“Yea.”

The dinner actually turned out to be really enjoyable with everyone there, you honestly thought it was going to be chaotic but you managed to have fun. When the sky started turning a dark orange colour and you realised it was getting late, and you all were tired from the day’s activities.

“Alright let’s go back,” everyone agreed and made their way out of the restaurant. As you were walking you saw Bakugo drop his phone and went to get it after realising it wasn’t in his pocket anymore, falling behind the group slightly as you all walked by knowing he’d catch up anyways.

“Hey, um...” he walked up besides you holding out his zip up hoodie, “wrap it around your waist, there’s kind of a problem,” he whispered to you and you suddenly realised why your stomach had been hurting the whole day. Shit. You endured the pain as the cramps kicked in conveniently when you were close the the beach house, not wanting to get any weird looks from strangers. “You okay?” Bakugo asked, acting as though he didn’t really care, you nodded and smiled feebly keeping yourself from crouching down into a little ball.

Once you all arrived home the first thing you did was run towards the shower because you just wanted to clean up and have a shower quickly to relax your muscles after having been in pain for so long. As soon as the hot water hit your shoulders it felt as though the stress melted out of them and you stood there for a minute, enjoying the sauna-like atmosphere the nearly boiling hot shower was creating. It really did help your stomach cramps.

Grabbing the vanilla scented body wash, you remembered that Bakugo had seen the period stain but luckily didn’t make it obvious to everyone and he was actually subtle about it. You pushed your hair out of your face and sighed, feeling the embarrassment wash away as you realised it shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of. Steamed followed you when you stepped out of the shower and you noticed Bakugo’s hoodie hanging on the door, deciding you should probably give it back.

You walked into the living room to see he was the only one there, sitting on the plain leather couch, staring at whatever was on the huge tv. “Hey,” you greeted him and sat down besides him, handing him his hoodie, “thanks for helping me out, here, it’s clean.” He took the hoodie and placed it on the arm of the sofa, getting up to retrieve something since he told you to wait there. You did as you were told and waited patiently until he came back with a handful of snacks and a hot water bottle, accompanied by a cup of chamomile tea ‘to relax you’. “Um, what is this for?” You asked him, confused as to why he was being so nice.

“You’re on your period right? So I thought it would help if I brought some snacks. The tea might help with the cramps, that’s what my mom told me to do when a girl is on her period,” he said nervously and laid the snacks down next to you, scratching the back of his neck. You smiled at him and took the tea, placing it down on the coffee table in front of you and happily took the hot water bottle, shoving it under your shirt to soothe your stomach. You noticed him still looking at you and you smiled.

“Could you stay here?” He looked surprised for a second and grabbed a soft throw blanket to cover the two of you, putting on a movie to watch as you opened a bag of gummy bears and got closer to him, not noticing the blush you had caused to spread across his cheeks.

[nutty1005]

Uniquely Him – Xiao Zhan: The biggest monster to defeat is himself

Translator’s Note: This article comes from ELLE Magazine 2019 Jan Issue.

He learned drawing since elementary school, drawing planets and monsters were his obsession, firmly believing in the existence of aliens. As a lively, vivid and exemplary person, he radiates a sense of security from someone dependable, and yet he has a worldly wisdom of one who knows the ways of the world but prefers not to practice it. 

He learned drawing since young, drawing planets and monsters were his obsession. When he watched Martians in movies as a child, his wild imagination gave him a battle with monsters. At that time, he was a boy who was especially fascinated with space, and believed firmly that aliens existed. When he saw news on UFOs, he was excited, curious, but also afraid – would the aliens be friendly with us?

After he read “The Three-Body Problem”, this feeling grew stronger. While exclaiming the broadness of the author’s imagination and how grand the universe is, he researched on the theories and explanations in the novel, as well as on astronomy. Xiao Zhan also imagined how the subjects in “The Three-Body Problem” would look like, “looks like an engineer, perhaps he wears spectacles, he must have a highly progressed mind, great mechanical skills, but probably useless in everyday life, just like Sheldon in ‘The Big Bang Theory’.”

The cruel logic behind all the glitz

Seated in front of the window in the hotel room, his long narrow eyes, puffy and red, Xiao Zhan just finished a day’s filming, and was accepting our interview in a layer of thick winter coat. His attitude was polite, and all around him was the vividness of youth – this made a huge impression.

He had his own studio when he was in year 2 of university, and became a designer after graduating – exemplary student Xiao Zhan’s most glorious moment was being able to design logos in projects with his seniors while he was still an intern, and the client eventually chose his design. Life as a designer lasted until 2015 – his university teacher recommended him to participate in “X-Fire” (TN: A talent search variety show) and he debuted, and since then, his life went onto a different track, becoming one of the hottest idols currently.

Actually, the challenge of becoming an artist is not much different from fighting monsters – since you receive flowers and applause, you would also receive gossip and rumors. His life had been smooth sailing till this, and this confused him for a while, “When the competition ended, there was some dissenting voices, I didn’t quite understand then. Now I’m more at peace, because when you choose a career, you need to learn to accept it. People will like you, and there will be people who won’t.”

However, the cruel logic behind all the glitz was something he could not have imagined. “Audiences do not see what you’ve experienced along the way, they would only judge you based on the final results.” He was filming his first period movie, being outdoors in the mountains at -10°C+ was a daily norm, “We’re filming by the river, everyday we could see the ice slowly form up, today the river is totally frozen, we could walk on it. Basically after every scene I have to cover my face with a warm water bag, otherwise my face would be numb from the cold and become uncontrollable.” And because today there was a scene to scream and shout, Xiao Zhan’s voice was already hoarse.

Xiao Zhan could overcome all this suffering and exhaustion well, the biggest monster he wanted to fight were his self imposed restrictions. “Just now I was thinking while doing make-up, that actually celebrities are like a product, packaged by make-up and styles in order to polish this product. I will bring forth my best to my audiences, but yet I don’t want to over package myself, the real me needs to be in it. I wish that everyone, while accepting my glorious exterior as a celebrity, would also accept my flaws and quirks, since after all, I am a vivid person.”

This sincerity and clarity is where Xiao Zhan’s wisdom lies.

“There is no grandiose in my life”

2018 is the year of rapid growth for Xiao Zhan, he had main roles in various dramas, such as “The Wolf”, “Joy of Life”, “The Untamed”, etc – honing his acting and radiating his presence.

As the lead actor in “The Untamed”, Xiao Zhan’s load was heavy and his filming schedule was tight – filming under the ceaseless summer heat in Hengdian, his mind was always tense. The temperatures in the set was as high as 50°C, the make-up could not stay on, and he filmed most scenes barefaced. The most unforgettable scene was a crying scene – Wei Wuxian, portrayed by Xiao Zhan, had an explosive emotional scene after the massacre of the Jiang family. This scene started filming in the morning, he and Jiang Yanli started crying since 7 a.m. and after they were done, their eyes were as swollen as that of goldfishes. Before this, he was filming “The Wolf” – he systematically took performance classes and grew rapidly in during the filming. “Familiar set and environment, learning to adjust to the nerves and tension, especially since there were hundreds of people servicing you on set, you can do no mistakes.” Xiao Zhan radiates this sense of security from someone dependable. “The Wolf” was his first time as a main supporting role, and he was under tremendous pressure during that period, he often dreamed of acting on set. After every scene he would request for everyone to provide feedback, and then he would learn continuously, analyze and quickly adjust.

After that he had his first cat of his life, a munchkin named Jianguo (TN: Jianguo means nut). After the performance teacher learned about this, one of the homework he gave Xiao Zhan was for him to observe his cat. As a cat-lover, he reveled in the it, “I found out some things that I overlooked, like you will find out that when she’s angry, affectionate or hungry her expression and calls are different.” Xiao Zhan was exceptionally loving to his cat – the first thing he did when after a day’s work was to go home and play with his cat. His private life was quiet and simple, he just stays at home. “The feeling of staying at home is like falling into a cloud, you could roll around as you like, there is no pressure.”

“There is no grandiose in my life.” This was what he felt that gave people the sense of security. His parents, while supportive of his career, were also worried, hence Xiao Zhan often communicated with them, sharing his career successes, helping them be at ease.

In the whole conversation, Xiao Zhan had the purity and enthusiasm belonging uniquely to a youth, and there was this sense of extraordinary realness in him. “Whether or not I want to be an idol, I don’t actually have a choice, the label of an idol is already on me, just that I want to slowly shed off the label of an idol, and become an actor accepted by audiences, so that they can see more of my inner self.”

“I especially dislike public proclamations, you have to pace your life.”

ELLE: What type of boyfriend do you think you are? XZ: I am the boyfriend who is more considerate of the other person, if there were to be my other half in the future, when she’s busy, upset or happy, or wants me to do something, I’ll try to accompany her the way she likes it.

ELLE: Are you the gentle puppy type of boyfriend? XZ: There’s definitely a dominating side, but if you were to be dominating everyday, how do you live? When you have the other half, the most important things are responsibility and trust. (After having a cat, do you think you’re a good dad?) I feel yes, from taking care of my cat.

ELLE: What type of girls do you most want to date? XZ: In many interviews before I spoke about warm, gentle and family-loving girls, but I feel that it still comes down to chemistry, and this is something unpredictable.

ELLE: If you are currently dating a girl, how would you hope to spend Valentine’s Day? XZ: Stay at home, and cook together. There’s a phrase about when you love the right person, every day’s Valentine’s Day, why do you have to spend that day in the crowd with everyone. Being an artist is quite particular, and quite tiring, I have to go back to live my life. If everyday has to be vigorous and stirring, there’s no way to live. No one can act everyday, I especially dislike public proclamations, I feel that you have to pace your life.

ELLE: If we give you a holiday now, what would you do? XZ: Go home and rest, with my parents, and then play with my cat.

ELLE: Are you a typical Libra? XZ: I don’t think so, I don’t have difficulties in choosing, when I spot something I want to buy, I’ll just buy. But sometimes I’ll be stuck in things that I care about, for example the scene I did today, if I’m not satisfied with it, I will think about it from morning till night, and annoy the others around me with my nagging.

[nadisabug]

Pairing: Oikawa Tooru x fem! reader

Genre: Angst

Warnings: cursing, hurt no comfort

Word Count: 1.5 k

Summary: You and Tooru have been friends for a long time. Too bad you want more than that, and too bad that you never will be. 

A/N: so this is based off of one of my favorite love songs of all time Bizzare Love Triangle (YT link for non spootify folk) and I felt like it fit so well for Oikawa I just ✊😔 love him. thinking about a part 2 lmk what yall think 

Also thank you so much to @snoozless for beta-ing!! Go check her out!!!!!!

Haikyuu Masterlist // Love Song Event Masterlist

“What’s got you down, shittykawa?” Hajime finally asks. “You’re being more annoying than usual.” 

“She broke up with me,” Tooru answered. 

“Oh,” Hajime eloquently responded. “That’s rough, buddy.”

“Yeah,” Tooru sighed. “I really liked her...” he added on softly. It looked like he really meant it too. He quickly shook his head and smiled at Hajime. “Nevermind that though, you want to have a post-break-up hangout?”

Hajime scrunched up his nose. “No.”

“Awww, come on Hajime, I am hurting,” Tooru whined. 

“I’ve got homework.”

Tooru deflated before lighting up with a sudden realization. “What about Y/n? She brought the greatest junk food last time!” He quickly pulled out his phone to text you. 

Hajime frowned. “Watch what you eat, we have practice tomorrow.” He paused hesitantly. “On second thought, why don’t I hang out with you instead?”

Tooru waved his hand. “No, you’re a buzzkill. Plus, you’ve got homework, remember?

Everytime I see you falling / I get down on my knees and pray / I’m waiting for that final moment / You say the words I can’t say

You frown when you look at your phone. You had just gotten out of the shower; you didn’t have time before school so you decided to take one after. You had heard the chime while you were playing music in the shower, but you didn’t expect what you got. 

You opened Hajime’s first, since he had only sent you one message. It was just one word. Sorry. You were confused until you finally opened Tooru’s messages. There were three in total. 

Hey, my girlfriend broke up with me ( ≧Д≦)

Come comfort me? σ(≧ε≦ｏ)

Bring snacks like last time（ 人･ω･) ?

You threw your phone onto your bed and dug the heels of your hands into your eyes. Could you do this again? You weren’t sure you could. Not with the heart-shattering crush you have had on this boy. Maybe if you were a normal friend, a good friend, you could. But you weren’t. You were a horrible friend. A horrible, terrible person that loved her friend. 

And that’s all you were. A friend. 

So no, you couldn’t do it. 

You were about to text him that you were busy when a text message came in from him. It was just one word. It was just one fucking word, but it nearly had you in tears when you read it. 

Yeah, you were a horrible friend. 

You grabbed your jacket and your purse, getting ready to go. You texted your family that you were going to your friend’s house and left. 

It was just one word. 

please

You stopped at a convenience store on your way to his house. You grabbed all of his favorites, and some of your own. You were going to need them to get through this. 

You knew the way to his house well. Your parents were coworkers, and most of all friends. They had many dinners at both your house and his house, pushing you guys to become close friends. You went through a rough spot in middle school where you couldn’t stand his arrogant ass, but as time passed you grew to love him more than you had anyone before. 

But that’s neither here nor there. 

The point is that you felt like you understood him. At least you thought you did. 

When you got to his house, you could hear the music playing from the sidewalk. Loud, screeching singing accompanied it. 

“No, I don’t want no scrub. A scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from me-”

You stormed up to the door and threw it open, knowing he wouldn’t lock if you were on the way. 

“Tooru Oikawa you turn that shit down,” you yelled. “Are you trying to get a noise complaint?”

His only response was a gleeful, “Y/n!” And to rush at you and pick you up in his arms. He spun you around and for a second, just for a second, you relaxed into his hold and soaked in his presence. 

You were a horrible friend. 

You shook yourself out of it and started trying to wiggle out of his grip. 

“Oikawa, put me down!” 

“Not until you say my name,” he responded, caging you in more. 

“Fine,” you relented quickly, the smell of his cologne starting a buzz in your head. “Tooru. Now put me-”

“Oh! What did you bring me?” Tooru grinned and snatched up the bags you were holding. You sighed and watched as he scampered down into his domain, the basement. 

You quickly located the origin of the noise, a waterproof speaker sitting on the kitchen counter, and shut it off. Leaving it there, you locked the door and joined Tooru in his room. 

His room was more of a den, a spacious area that represented everything that was him. There were the expected  music posters and family pictures, but what dominated the room was volleyball. He had trophies on shelves, jerseys hung up, pictures of himself midair- the whole yard. 

His room didn’t feel cluttered or messy, just full. His bed was a full size mattress on the floor with no bed frame with a light blue set covers pulled taught over it. He had a two person, suede couch in the middle of the room facing the TV against the wall. His closet was a clothes rack neatly placed in one corner with jerseys, jackets, and shirts hanging from it. He had a dresser and a nightstand, a few other odds and ends; it was a basic room. But to you, it was more than that. He rarely let people down here, the only ones who you knew of (besides family) that had been down here were Hajime and yourself. It was a sign of vulnerability and trust for him to so freely let you into his room. 

Or maybe you were an idiot and reading too much into it. 

Either way you loved being in his room. It absolutely reeked of his cologne, but you couldn't think of a better smell. 

Tooru was on the couch already digging into the milk bread you had bought. 

“This break-up wasn’t Driver’s Licence worthy?” You commented. You walked over to the couch and picked up his gangly legs and sat down, placing them back on your lap. 

“As if,” Tooru scoffed with a full mouth. He swallowed, and then took another bite so that he could talk with his mouth full. He knew that you hated that, so he made sure to do it. “I only played it last time because she was a good kisser and the song is an actual fucking bop.” 

The thought of Tooru kissing other girls ran through your mind. You felt a familiar pang in your chest, but did your best to ignore it. You worked even harder not to think about how good of a kisser Tooru would be. (Definitely amazing)

“So your back-up is No Scrubs?” You scoffed. You leaned over and grabbed one of your favorite snacks and began to dig in. 

Tooru picked up the remote and switched on the TV. “Yeah, felt like it matched the mood.”

“Are you not even upset in the slightest?”

“Of course I am!” He shouted in mock offense. “I may need comfort,” he held out his hands in a grabby motion. 

You rolled your eyes and complied, scooting closer to him. He took that inch and forced a mile from you by pulling you all the way into his lap. He placed you so that you were laying on your side against him, your legs intertwined with his. 

“Oikawa!” You huffed and tried to sit up. Your heart was beating too fast and too loud and you prayed he couldn’t hear it. 

“No!” He cried. “I need cuddles to heal!” 

“I don’t give a shit about you healing-”

“Yes, you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Tooru cut you off. 

You didn’t have a response to that. 

So you let him hold you and relaxed into his chest. Tooru flipped through a couple channels before he picked a movie. Surprisingly, it was one of your favorites. 

“Why don’t we watch something you like,” you protested. 

“I do like this show. Now sh, it's starting.”

You lied there and began to slip into a daydream. One where Tooru wasn’t platonically holding you, but really doing it because secretly he loved you. Where you still went to his games, but you were the one wearing his jersey. Where you lean up and kiss him on the jaw just because you can-

You looked up and saw tears staining Tooru’s cheeks. 

Yeah, you were a horrible person that loved her friend.

But at least you weren’t the reason for his tears. 

And in that moment, you resolved that you never would be. Even if it meant never telling him. 

Besides, you could wait. You could do anything if it was for him.

So you did.

Taglist: {OPEN}

@swan-chan 

[marvels-writings]

Something Beautiful

Maria Hill Masterlist

Requested by Anon: Hi!! I absolutely love ur writing!! I was wondering if u could write a Maria Hill x fem!reader and they’re like married with a little girl and R gets hurt on a mission with Maria and Maria is trying to keep R conscious until the medical team arrives by telling R stories abt the day they got married, the day they adopted their daughter, their babies first birthday with them, etc. With a happy ending pls! Thx!!

Word Count: 4.4 K (long and angsty but def worth it)

A/N: This took me four days to write. So worth it. Take my advice and read it.

Warnings: A bit of gore, a bit of blood

Moonlight streamed lazily through the blinds. The sounds of a movie playing in the background and a soft lullaby filled the room as you rocked your daughter, putting her to sleep. She had been having a harder time sleeping knowing both of you might be gone when she woke up. It had taken you hours to calm her down, let alone put her to sleep.

When you began to take a little too long to put her into bed, Maria joined both of you. Her figure stood in the doorway, distorting the light coming from the hallway. You tucked her in, pulling the covers up to her chin before sighing.

“Do both of us have to leave?” You asked, probably for the millionth time in the last few hours. Seeing your daughter so upset was harder than you had anticipated.

“Y/n,” Maria began with a sigh, reassuring you time and time again. “you know we have to.”

You sighed again, stroking her hair gently. This wasn’t the first time you had to leave on a mission. You doubted it would be the last. But both of you were leaving. Not just you or Maria. One of you couldn’t stay home to reassure her that the other would be alright. You were leaving your daughter without either of her mothers.

Nervousness still nagged at you. You knew she would be safe, more than anybody. After all, she was in the Avengers compound surrounded by superheroes. All of them would be around her, all the time. It didn’t make sense to be afraid, but fears are never rational.

“She would be safe,” Maria assured you, patting your back. “she’s in the most protected facility in New York.”

Maria stated the obvious, over and over again in hopes of reassuring you. It did little to comfort you. You knew she was trying to help you, her nervousness wracking her all over, she just didn’t show it.

“I know,” you sighed, hoisting yourself off the bed and giving her a small smile. Your hand slid into hers like it had so many times before. Your fingers squeezed hers in assurance, fear just underlining it.

“let’s let her sleep.” You said, tugging her out of your daughter’s room.

Both of you left, not before glancing at her one last time before morning came. Closing the door behind you, you headed towards your room in the compound. You and your wife had decided to bring her to the compound to sleep rather than rushing through the motions in the morning.

Laura didn’t seem to mind, neither did the rest of the team. They enjoyed having Laura there more than anyone. Most of them seemed adamant about spoiling her, even Natasha. The redhead claimed to be her favorite aunt, a notion no one dared to contradict, even Wanda.

————

Morning came quicker than you had expected. Even after all the hours it took you to fall asleep, the sunlight streaming through your blinds seemed like it had taken shorter to come there. You knew that wasn’t the case as you got ready early for your mission.

Getting ready for a mission with your wife was usually noisy and involved multiple shouts to double-check everything. Now, it was quiet. Whether it was in fear or anxiety, you didn’t know. But you didn’t want to disturb it, scared of starting another argument about leaving your daughter alone.

In all honesty, the mission wasn’t that important. It was a basic recon mission to get information from an abandoned HYDRA base before they took it down. Nothing the Avengers or a basic SHIELD agent couldn’t handle. But Fury was adamant about having both of you there just for security. Despite yours and Maria’s best efforts, you had to go on the mission.

Everything was packed. The jet was ready. All you needed to do was leave, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to go.

Just before Maria dragged you onto the jet, somehow having more willpower to leave than you. Natasha came through the hangar doorways, your sleepy daughter in her arms. Laura’s head lolled from side to side as she tried desperately to keep awake.

“Nat, what are you doing?” You asked, heading over to both of them, tapping Maria’s shoulder on your way there. Your wife turned around and followed you towards your daughter. Laura reached out for both of you when you were just feet away.

“She wanted to see you before you left.” Natasha sighed, guilty for letting the little girl guilt trip her into this. The redhead knew neither you or Maria wanted her awake while you were leaving. Laura’s puppy eyes and pleading far too convincing for her to resist.

“Sweetheart,” Maria sighed, softening when she took her daughter into her arms.

Her posture softened slightly as her arms stroked her hair. Still holding onto some composure, she said her goodbyes softly, showing less affection than she normally would around your daughter. Maria cared too much about what others thought about her to be less professional.

You, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about being professional if your family was concerned. Everyone who knew you knew your family mattered more than anything to you. It didn’t matter to you what a random stranger thought of you. All that mattered was your family.

Once Maria said her goodbyes, you eagerly scooped your daughter out of her arms and excitedly twirled her around. Laura’s giggles broke out. She squirmed slightly to get away from you as you hugged her tightly.

“Mommy!!!” Laura squealed, her arms flailing.

Maria watched both of you lovingly, a small smile painting her face. You twirled your daughter once more before holding her in your arms. Her little face looking up at yours eagerly.

“Now, we’ll see you,” You smiled at her, bumping her nose playfully. The little girl giggled, waving your hand away from her face. Smiling, you leaned your face so your nose nudged against hers, causing her to laugh harder.

“The second we get back, okay?” You said, a sad smile creeping onto your face as your goodbyes came nearer. Laura sighed and hugged you tightly, sleep still threatening to take over her tired form. Natasha would put her to sleep once the two of you left.

“Miss you,” Laura muttered sleepily into your chest. You sighed and patted her back gently, pulling her closer to sleep. Maria moved to eye level with your daughter, lifting her chin to face her.

“We’ll miss you too,” Maria said, smiling at her sadly before kissing her forehead. The little girl closed her eyes, leaning into your wife’s touch.

“But we’ll be back before you know it.” She said hopeful, pulling away so you could say your goodbyes. Standing by Natasha, she watched you nuzzle your nose against Laura’s playfully. The little girl still sleepy, but staying awake so she could say her goodbyes to both of you.

“We love you,” You said, squeezing her tightly before hesitantly handing her over to Natasha.

“be good for them.” You kissed the top of her forehead, pulling away to catch her looking at you with sad eyes. Her hands grasped for you a little as you pulled away, breaking your heart to leave.

“I will,” Laura replied, her little hand waving in the air at both of you.

If she had begged either of you to stay, you would have stayed without hesitation. The little girl was much smarter than you gave her credit for, knowing if you left for one day you’d be home for longer.

“bye Mama, bye Mommy.” Laura waved as both of you walked away and into the jet. You smiled at her, watching her through teary eyes.

“Bye sweetheart,” Maria said, waving at her while walking into the jet. She turned the switch to let the hangar doors shut closed. A sigh left your lips when you couldn’t see her anymore.

You moved to sit down in the cockpit while Maria joined you in the pilot's seat. There was nothing to do until you got there. The ships automatic guiding system would take you there, even land you. You needed something to do, maybe rechecking the bags, anything else.

Maria sat next to you, watching out the window in silence. Her hand crept towards yours until she could secure your hand in hers. The gentle touch the only thing bringing you comfort. They thought you would see your daughter in two days bringing you more comfort.

You would come back, there was no possibility where this could go wrong. Even if it did, you would make it back, you had to. Your daughter needs you, nothing else mattered.

————

More went wrong than anyone had imagined. The info you had received was false. The base was crowded with HYDRA agents. The rest of the team you’d been sent in with, about 20 people you’d hardly gotten the names of had gone in with you. So far, only 10 had made it out. The other ten, you’d lost.

Maria had gotten everyone she could find out while you were getting the information. The information was in your hand, but it came at a high cost. The three guards you had to fight to get it were on the ground. But they had left their mark.

Your ribs were cracked and some were even broken as you limped towards where your wife was. Each breath was painful. Maria’s hand slid into yours as she tugged you towards the exit. All you wanted to do was lie down and rest. It was the last thing you could do.

“Just a little further,” Maria urged, grinning to herself when she saw the exit in sight. The helicopter was another half a mile, but she could call the chopper in a little early. Both of you knew it would still be another half an hour before you were safe.

“we’re almost out.” She pulled you further until you were in the last corridor. You chuckled and pulled her to a stop, needing a rest. Breathing ragged and broken, you leaned back against the wall.

“Always the optimist.” You remarked, eyes fluttering shut in relief as your ribs stopped jostling. Maria chuckled and squeezed your hand, wiping the cut on your forehead. Your blood came off on her hands, she wiped it off on her suit and helped you up.

“Only for you.” Maria winked as you chuckled, letting her help you towards the exit.

A HYDRA agent stood in the corridor, gun pointed at both of you. The thing that struck you first wasn’t the gun, it was his age. He was barely 20, scared out of his mind. He was only doing what his superiors told him to do. If that meant to shoot your wife, so be it.

You couldn’t let it happen, instead of jumping protectively in front of Maria. Your eyes locked with your attacker’s for one brief second. He flinched as he pulled the trigger. The explosion sounded in the room, evidence he’d shot. As he glanced down at the gun, still not believing he’d used it.

“NO!” Maria shouted, the explosion echoing in her ears as your body felt against hers. Her knife was drawn the instant he was about to shoot again. Without a second thought, she threw it at his chest, unbothered to see if he was dead.

You were sure she had never killed someone that easily. Even on missions, when someone had killed a member of a team, she showed them mercy. Now, the knife was burrowed into his chest, a pool forming around him.

Silently, Maria helped you outside, ragged breathing filling the air around you as you were helped onto the grass. The tiny blades slowly turning red as you were laid down upon it. Maria began to apply pressure onto your wound, wincing when you cried out in pain.

“Hey, stay with me okay?” Maria said rapidly, her free hand cupping your cheekbone, leaving your skin stained with your blood.

“You’re safe?” You asked, wanting to make sure she was okay. Clenching your jaw tightly, you tried not to show you were in pain. Her hands shook as she applied pressure, wedding ring digging into your wound.

“You’re the one that’s stabbed!” Maria shouted in panic, blue eyes meeting yours. She was alright if she could yell at you, she was okay. Letting your head loll back, you chuckled weakly. The sky above you was a bright blue, seem so happy, so beautiful, oblivious to what was under it.

Your wife rang in on comms for a medical, her face morphing into anger as she shot out a series of commands. After some whispering on the comms, she told them she would wait and cut out. Her hand returned to your wound. Her wedding ring slowly getting stained with your blood.

“Just a few minutes, stay awake,” Maria begged, pressing harder on your wound when your eyes began to flutter shut. “please.”

your body jerked in pain, trying in vain to get away from the pressure on your wound. You couldn’t help the groan escaping your lips, knowing it was hurting your wife to see you like this.

“So tired.” You muttered, head lolling lazily from side to side as your eyes began to flutter shut. A hand came up to cup your cheekbone, staining it with blood, lightly patting you awake. In a panic, Maria shook your shoulder, still applying pressure.

“Stay awake for me, okay?” Maria pleaded, moving up to make eye contact with you. “For me, just keep your eyes open.”

Her eyes met yours, bright blue searching yours for a will to stay fighting. Gulping, you clenched your jaw tightly, biting your tongue to keep yourself awake. It wasn’t helping. You remembered learning in training to keep talking to someone if they were bleeding, it helps them stay awake.

“Maria, tell me something.” You whispered, hoping she caught your weak words. Both of her hands centered on your wound, stopping the bleeding.

“What?” Maria asked jaw clenched tightly as she adamantly refused to show any emotion.

Too many things running through her mind, she couldn’t lose you. You, the person who had taught her how to love. The amazing person who had married her and brought life into this world. There were too many stories you would never get to tell, too many memories you would never get to make.

“I don’t know,” You tried weakly to shrug when a weak smile crossed your face. “tell me something beautiful,”

Maria pursed her lips, searching her mind for something to tell you. A story she made up wouldn’t do anything, maybe a memory. A beautiful memory, like your wedding. The details came to her mind quickly, she started talking about them rapidly.

Everything from the table setting to the people invited, she didn’t miss a single detail while describing it to you. The first song, your vows, the first dance. She romanticized everything, making it seem more beautiful than it could have been, though she doubted it was possible.

It still wasn’t working, your eyes began to flutter shut again. Your breathing slowed. Your head stopped lolling from side to side. You were slipping.

“Please, y/n,” Maria begged, her left hand coming up to stroke your cheek. The wedding ring scratching against the skin. “stay awake.” you didn’t show any sign of waking up, your body relaxing as your breathing slowed. Clenching her jaw, she tried harder.

“If not for me, for Laura, she needs you.” Maria urged, shaking your shoulder to try to keep you awake. Hearing your daughter’s name, you stirred and squirmed, keeping your eyes open.

Your eyes met hers, trying to urge her to talk about your daughter, to tell you to stay awake. You knew you couldn’t leave, no matter how tired you were.

Maria began to talk about your daughter. The day you brought her home. The day she started walking. Her first birthday. Everything. She wove it into a fairy tale of sorts, managing to convince you that your life was a dream. A dream you couldn’t leave.

For a while, it was working. Your eyes were open wider as you looked around for the medical team. They were only a few minutes out, the jet was already visible as they made their way to you. Maria saw it too, a grin forming on her face as she continued to describe your daughter’s first day at school.

As the blood seeped out of you, you began to lose more of your conscience. Your responses were blurry and slurred, she had to shake your shoulder to try to keep you awake. She could only pray the medical team came faster. There was only so much she could do.

In the middle of her sentence, she heard a buzzing from your suit pocket. A light frown on her face, she stopped speaking. Reaching into your pocket, she pulled out your phone. Natasha’s name was on the screen, she was calling you.

Both of you had told Natasha to only call in emergencies or if you were late. Maria could only assume it was one of the two. She sighed and held it up to your face, knowing it would ring for a little longer.

“You were supposed to leave this in the jet,” Maria muttered, ready to push the answer button when she noticed you were trying to speak. A lazy smirk spread across your face as you reached for the phone.

“Couldn’t help myself.” You smirked, still reaching for your phone. Maria rolled her eyes and answered the phone. Laura’s voice sounded on the other side, but she cut her off before she could talk.

“Hey sweetheart,” Maria greeted, whacking your hand away from the phone. “we’re a little busy right now.”

“Can I talk to mommy?” Laura asked, cutting off her mom. Maria blinked in surprise, she knew her daughter missed you the most when you were away. It was something you teased her about constantly, jokingly of course. But she never thought your daughter would call you because of it.

“In a second, can you hand the phone to Natasha?” Maria asked, persuading the little girl to hand it over to the redhead. Shuffling sounded on the other side as the phone was handed over.

“Sorry, she wanted to talk to Y/n and she was about to start crying,” Natasha confessed nervously, knowing Maria won’t be happy about it. Maria sighed into the receiver, ready to give Natasha an earful about letting Laura do this.

Before she could, you reached for the phone again. Maria glared at you and applied more pressure on your wound in a warning. You winced, still reaching for your phone before Maria whacked your hand away again. You couldn’t talk to your daughter like this, it would scare her. Death frightens the young the most.

More shuffling sounded on the other line. Laura cleared her throat angrily before speaking into the receiver again. She had been spending too much time around Tony and Natasha.

“Is mommy there?” Laura asked, almost pleading Maria to hand the phone over.

Hearing your name, you reached over again. The brunette couldn’t deny you to talk to your daughter. She knew you wouldn’t do anything to scare her, let alone let her know you were in any sort of pain. Handing over the phone, she watched you lift it to your ear before you started speaking.

“Hey,” You greeted, a bright smile crossing your face. Maria glanced nervously at the wound, hoping it wasn’t still bleeding. It had slowed dramatically, the only thing she could do was try to bandage it to make it easier for the medics.

“Mommy!” Laura shouted excitedly on the other line, causing your face to break out in a larger grin.

“how’s my favorite, favorite girl doing?” You asked, stuttering when Maria lifted your shirt and cool air met your wound. Laura didn’t seem to pick up on the pain in your voice.

Instead, she began to ramble about what she had done in your absence. It had only been a little under a day that you’d been gone, but she had done so much it felt like weeks. The avengers had tried their best to keep her occupied and her mind off of her mothers, it still hadn’t worked.

Her rambling continued, you made a hum or a short laugh whenever the moment called for it. Every laugh hurt your ribs a little more, but you didn’t mind. It made Laura happy to know her mother had paused a mission just to talk to her. You weren’t about to take that away from her.

Maria continued bandaging your wound, only stopping when she saw the medics approaching. They had all their gear ready, even a gurney to help lift you. Her stomach lurched when the severity of the situation sunk in.

“Y/n, the medical team is here.” Maria nudged your shoulder, you nodded to her. Waiting for Laura to stop rambling so you wouldn’t need to cut her off. But the little girl kept on speaking a mile a minute, adamant on covering the last few hours in a matter of minutes.

“Laura?” You interrupted, using her name. She stopped immediately, knowing you only used her full name when you were serious. You usually called her pet names or even nicknames, only by her full name when it was something serious.

“I have to go for a bit,” You said, hearing a loud sigh on the other end. “but me and Mama will see you the second we get back, okay?”

Another sigh sounded before she seemed to agree. Not wanting her mothers away from her but knowing you would come back soon.

“Okay mommy, will you be alright?” She asked curiously, noticing you’d been quieter than normal. You smiled at her concern, wanting nothing but to be home with your daughter.

“Of course, I love you, my daughter.” You reassured her, sniffling a little. Maria nodded to you, ready to take the phone away when you held it closer to your ear. Laura usually didn’t say it back, implying it instead when she hugged you after. Still, you hoped you could hear her voice say it.

“I love you too mommy, I miss you,” Laura admitted quietly. A smile broke out on your face. You wanted to hand the phone to Maria so she could get her goodbyes in. But there wasn’t enough time, there never is when it’s needed most.

“I miss you too baby, I’ll be back before you know it.” You assured, speaking quickly to get every word in before Maria took your phone away. Her hand quickly snatched it away, ending the call as the medics approached you.

They lifted you on the gurney, the bloody bandages hanging off the gurney, dripping onto the ground. Maria followed you despite the medic’s warnings. Her wedding ring still soaked with your blood. One hand held her phone tightly, the other reaching for you.

You were brought into the ambulance, an oxygen mask on your mouth. You’d passed out, in pain or out of blood loss, no one knew. Your body was limp. The heart monitor was attached to you, the steady beeping of your heart the only sign you were alive.

The medical team hurried to patch you up. Peeling off the bandages and sewing it up. Nervous eyes flitted up to Maria’s. Her intense glare making sure you were treated with the best care possible. The medics were careful, patching up the wound so you would barely feel any pain.

They continued to tend to the rest of your injuries, but they needed the jewelry off to clean you. Maria took off your wedding ring, holding it in her hand, wiping it off in vain. Your blood was on your ring, she tried to wipe it off with grubby fingers.

Sighing, she put it on the ring finger of her right hand, holding the phone with the same death grip as before. Maria didn’t let you out of her sight, even when you were being escorted from the ambulance into surgery.

The door slammed in her face, guards escorting her away from the scene. She tried to enter but found herself too numb to do anything. Instead, taking a seat in the waiting room, refusing to leave.

It took a few hours for the surgery to get over. Even longer till you were awake. Maria sat by your side through all of it. The wedding ring was back on your finger, cleaner than ever. She had slipped on the second she got the chance.

Half the day passed before you woke up. The moment you were awake, you wanted to see your daughter. You’d been away longer than you’d promised. It didn’t matter if you were injured, you needed to see your daughter.

So Maria got you out of the room and on the jet back to the tower. On the way there, you took a nap with your head resting on Maria’s shoulder, your left hand intertwined with hers. The wedding rings clinking together whenever the jet shook.

The sound comforting Maria, along with your soft snores. It assured her you were here, you weren’t leaving her. She spent the entire time awake, guarding over you, feeling lucky you were there with her.

Once the plane landed, Maria helped you out of the jet. A few of the guards took your things inside. Natasha appeared at the doorway with your daughter holding her hand. Laura grinned at both of you, oblivious to the way your back was hunched over as you walked.

“Mommy! Mama” Laura screamed, running towards both of you.

Grinning back at her, you straightened up and opened your arms. Maria patted your shoulder in a silent warning to be careful. She nodded to Natasha as a thank you, the redhead nodded back while the little girl barreled into your arms.

Twirling her around in your arms, you ignored the pain. Your daughter buried her head in your shoulder while your wife gently patted her back. Smirking, you leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

“Told you we’d be back before you know it.” You whispered, Laura giggled and pulled away.

Maria propped her up on her shoulders while the three of you walked inside. Laura chattered away about how much she had missed both of you. You were oblivious to the chatter, too caught up in the emotion of being back with your family.

Your wife had been right. The life you had was like a dream. A beautiful dream you never wanted to end.

A/N: Save my sanity and tell me what you think!

Tag List: @capcarolsdanver, @versdan, @lesbian-girls-wayhaught, @lovebotlarson, @dhengkt, @hstoria​, @natasha-danvers​, @veryfunnyal, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx , @ophelias-heart  , @never-didbefore​ , @justarandomhumanhere, @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all , @thatssocamryn , @lesbian-x-blackwidow , @wlw-imaginesss , @hcartbyheart , @summergeezburr , @imnotasuperhero   , @a-stressedstudent , @aaron-despair , @rooskaya-yelena , @thewitchandtheassassin , @wannabe-fic-reader , @izalesbean, @higherfurther-romanova   let me know if you’d like to be in any of my tag lists!

[stuckinapatriarchalbullshitland]

Come cringe with me - ɟ

Guys… The cringe… The cringe 😖😖 I’ve been gone for less than 24 hours and I’m bombarded with news. One that made me very happy (who knows what I mean, gets me 😏 and heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped 🥰😍🤗), and others, most of which are honestly making me cringe to the core.

Point number 1.

Have you learned nothing all these years?

All the people who believe in all those accounts like T, my question is: why? No, seriously, why? Mari sent me screenshots of the list they posted that ‘should belong’ to Scooter, and where are the proofs of what they say? And I don’t mean something that can be easily faked like a Word document, or phone notes. I mean actual proofs.

So why do you fall for it? Because you’re kind-hearted? Because you still believe in Santa Claus? So if I were to write a list based on what people want to hear, would you believe it? Okay, let’s give it a try:

1° Shawmila will break up before Cinderella’s release.

2° Camila will come out as queer after the movie reviews.

3° Lauren’s album will be released in March 2021 around Camila’s birthday.

4° Camren will tell the world about their epic love story in late 2022.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Guys, come on. What else do you still need to open your eyes? Did you forget all the accounts that turned out to be impostors? I wasn’t here at the time when it happened, but Mari told me about a Lola, Lota? I don’t remember her name. But take her as an example. Or take the story about Lauren’s journal. Remember that one?

For those who don’t know, on September 16, 2016, Lauren tweeted: “So just found out my journal was thrown away in Nevada..there’s no feeling in the world to describe the desolation I feel inside my soul”. And coincidentally, a fan, who along with three of their friends found it after eight hours of searching in the dumpsters, posted a video the next day with this so-called journal belonging to LMJM. The journal was obviously a fake.

It’s easy to fake something nowadays and pass it off as proof. So please don’t be so gullible.

Point number 2.

For all those who still don’t understand how things work behind the scenes.

The music industry, even if it doesn’t seem like it, is as small as a butthole, literally. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone uses everyone. Things are planned months and even years before. Everything has a purpose. Why am I saying this? Because Roger is in touch and has connections with as many people as possible. Even more horrible people than Scotti bRice. Whether you like it or not, he needs to have these connections FOR Camila. Think about this. Camila has always been his priority since 2015. If C is where she is now, if she has and has had this success, it’s also thanks to him.

Point number 3.

As for the Shitshowmila situation and the CS who are leaving because they can no longer bear the weight of their monkey business, guys, okay, go if you really can do it no more. But I want you to think about one thing. Picture the sharks pat you on the back and walk you out the door with a huge smirk plastered on their faces. Because that’s what happens when you play their game, and my friends, although I understand that everyone is free to do and believe what they want, you make them win by leaving.

The days of Shout’s releases are approaching, it’s obvious that everything will be thrown in our face and that everything will be heavier. Because THAT’S HOW IT WORKS. You have to resist. You have to be patient. Do you think that I myself don’t get annoyed to see all that falsehood? It’s more the time that I roll my eyes than the rest.

“It’s all about her”. Yeah, sure, Chin Chin. And what about the relationship you had for two years (2014-2016) with that girl, Lauren Arendese? Didn’t you confirm that in that Q&A in 2017? Didn’t you say you had a girlfriend for two years and write songs about her that day, therefore loooong before this whole made-up comical little story? Ah, no? My bad. *And then I’m sorry but when have you ever write your songs?* And what about the example of the song you used, Treat You Better? Weren’t you together with Lauren at the time? And above all, 🎵 “The second you say you’d like me to” 🎵, didn’t you say you never had the balls to tell her you liked her and that you were going to do it when her PR with Matteush started? 2016 song, 2018 when you were supposed to confess your oh so great love. The math, the math…

There will always be holes in their narratives, guys. There will always be bullshit that they will try to inculcate in us to make us fall into their traps. With any PR. You need to resist. You must not give them any importance. You must not fall into the traps. You need to keep your eyes open. Don’t give up. And above all, don’t give up on hope.

I love you guys. Always with love, F. ❤️

P.S. I’m not 100% back yet, but I couldn’t resist after talking to Mari.

___

Thank you for the necessary wake-up call, because it was something that was not really taken into consideration. But what you're saying is true, although I really don't like the part about Scooby tied to Camila. Disgusting. I think the most basic problem here is that the anons, the fans who leave have been too bombarded by all the circus they see on social networks, because all that shit comes from there. I know, because I do my best to ignore all that mess and nothing happens to me when I ignore everything. I am aware that it is there, that the clowns behind the PR are desperate to sell showmila and do whatever it takes to win that goal, that we can disrupt. It can. Most of us don't believe that circus because we know that they started creating it in 2015 and had to stop because Camila needed to launch her solo career and they took up the circus in 2018. Since that year, there has been talk of a showmila circus on steroids and that. is what we are seeing. Nothing they do or what they say will make us change and believe that Showmila is real because the Diva was never there with Camila. Not in the sense that they want to sell because it wasn't even that way from the beginning. So at least, for those of us who believe that Showmila has been a boosted circus since 2018, nothing they do will make us believe otherwise. Lauren didn't make it with her podcast, no one will. And for the anons who want evidence, I am sorry to say that direct evidence from Camren will never have unless Lauren or Camila want to show us something. Keep in mind, folks. Artists have two lives for a reason. It's to keep your private life private and not transform it into a PR circus like Showmila. And I think we have to respect their decision. At least that's what I've decided. I love both girls too much to risk something as important to them as their privacy. And F, was Loca. That insider was called Loca.

[masterofmunson]

bleeding love

Frat boy!Harry x Sorority!Reader

Summary: There’s no way in hell you would give Harry Styles the time of day. At least you don’t until he accidentally gives you a bloody nose.

Warnings: blood, language, drinking, puking, mentions of sex

Word Count: 7.7k+

Author’s Note: Frat boy fic is here! I had a blast writing this! Some bits are a little self indulgent based on my experiences at frat parties and being in a sorority myself haha. If you don’t know what cuff night is, it’s basically where you’re hand cuffed to a frat boy for the night because he asked you to be his date and you have to drink a bottle of champagne or wine together until it’s empty to get uncuffed (at least in my experience). Enjoy and tell me what you think!  

here’s the playlist accompanied with the fic

“I’m surprised you’re coming,” your friend Gretchen comments as you and your small group of friends walk to the Pi Alpha Kappa house from your sorority house. 

“Why’s that?” you ask her, carefully stepping over a pile of trash left on the street. 

She laughs, nudging you gently as you walk. She shakes her head at you, her teased curls hitting you in the face. “Don’t play dumb, Y/n. We all know the reason you don’t go to Pike parties is because Harry’s there.”

You scoff at the mention of his name. You roll your eyes. Just hearing Harry’s name makes you want to gauge your eyes out. You wonder how many times he’ll bug the living shit out of you tonight. “Well, if he wasn’t so insufferable maybe I would come more.”

Your friend Lucy laughs loudly. “You guys should just have sex and move on,” she tells you. “It would solve the disgusting sexual tension you two have going on right now.”

Heat spreads up your neck and across your face. You scoff in disgust and shove Lucy on to the sidewalk. She stumbles and all your friends laugh. “We do not have sexual tension, Lucy. You’re crazy. The only reason I’m coming is because of the theme. I helped Peter curate the playlist tonight.”

“Ah, right, because who doesn’t love a decades themed frat party?” Lucy teases while your friends giggle at your embarrassment. 

You nod, “Exactly.”

Walking up the long driveway your friends Logan and Frankie stand up from their lawn chairs in front of the house. Logan hugs you before complimenting you on your outfit, a pair of bell bottom jeans and a yellow tube top. A pair of circular blue sunglasses rest on the top of your head. You walk past him to the back patio towards the garage. 

The music rings through your ears as you open the door attached to the garage. You make a beeline to the bar and one of the pledges pours you a drink before you disappear into the growing crowd. You hurry over to where Peter’s standing and he pulls you in for a hug. 

“Who knew letting you curate a playlist would get you to come!” Peter laughs, taking a sip of his beer. 

You roll your eyes at him, shoving him gently. “That’s what I’ve been told. Thanks for letting me help.”

The song changes and you let out an excited scream. Peter laughs again and the two of you chug the rest of your drinks before you’re dragging Peter towards the front of the garage. There’s plenty of space as the sound of Footloose rings through the speakers. You went to high school with Peter and have been friends for as long as you can remember. You helped each other learn the line dance from the movie when you were 11. It also doesn’t hurt that Peter danced for nearly 10 years either. 

Your friends squeeze through the growing crowd to join you and you grin excitedly as you start to dance together. People join in, watching you and Peter lead the dance with your friends beside you. You’re too into the dance to notice Harry watching you with a smug smirk on his face. 

When the song ends, your friends all laugh breathlessly and you grin. You make a beeline towards the bar counter again, asking for a beer when Harry approaches you. He smirks and leans against the counter. You know without looking that he’s standing beside you. You know he’ll tease you about what he just saw, but you don’t care. You were having fun. You won’t let Harry ruin your night. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like that,” Harry tells you, sipping his beer. “Especially over a song like Footloose.”

There it is. The small jab Harry always has to sneak in to get under your skin. You won’t let him. Not tonight. 

You turn your head to look at him. You fake a smile. You notice that he’s dressed just like Marty McFly from Back to the Future. At least he dressed up for the theme. Of all the times you’ve been to the house for parties, you’ve never seen him dress up for the themes. You wonder briefly if he knows you helped plan the party and the theme. 

“I know you mean that as an insult, but I don’t care. I won’t let you ruin my night because you enjoy bugging the ever loving shit out of me, Harry. Go find Chelsea or Caroline. I’m sure they’d be happy to keep you company. See you later,” you tell him with a curt nod before disappearing with your drink in your hand to find your friends. 

You find them only moments later dancing and grinding on each other to Smack That. They cheer when you join them and you smile. You and your friends dance together and scream the lyrics to the song. Sweat slides down your face and you take a deep breath before joining Lucy in screaming the song. Her jean jacket is wrapped around her waist as you pull up your tube top. Gretchen laughs, forgoing the curls on her shoulders and throwing her hair up into a bun. 

“Harry’s been eyeing you the whole time we’ve been here!” she shouts over the loud music, winking at you. 

You shrug. “Don’t care, Gretch!” you shout back, finishing your beer. “I’ll be right back. I’m getting another drink!”

You weave through your friends and walk around the beer pong table to get to the counter. 

You never make it. 

Instead a hard wack on your nose makes you stumble back and fall backwards on the floor. You scream loudly and the music stops. Your head starts to spin and you immediately clutch your nose. Tears blur your vision. Warm liquid coats your fingers. 

“Shit!”

You groan. Of course Harry is the one to accidentally give you a bloody nose. The night has officially gone to shit, and you were having a great time!

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you,” he apologizes, leaning over you and helping you to sit up. Harry helps you to your feet and you grunt. You don’t say anything in fear of getting blood in your mouth. 

He holds you by the waist, and normally you would argue if he was touching you, but you couldn’t see and you needed help. You walk past the girls in line for the bathroom and Harry opens the back door of the house. You step inside and he guides you down the hall into the bathroom attached to what you assume is his bedroom. Harry sits you down on the toilet seat and frantically opens the bathroom cabinets for the first aid kit. 

At this point, blood starts leaking down your mouth, chin, and through your fingers. You still can’t see and tears still sting at your eyes. You hear Harry sigh in relief when he finds the first aid kit and nearly rips it open. He gently takes your hands away from your face and immediately presses gauze to your noise. You groan and hiss in pain. 

“Sorry,” he mutters, “I need t’ put pressure to stop the bleeding.”

“I know,” you grumble, “still hurts though.”

Your head still spins and you feel like you’re about to puke. You can still hear the music from the garage and tears still coat your cheeks. 

“I know we’re not friends, but I genuinely didn’t mean to hit you in the nose,” Harry breaks the silence, laughing awkwardly. You can’t even see him. 

“I know, Harry,” you sigh as he adds more gauze to your bleeding nose. You wince again and he apologizes quietly. Your vision clears and your eyes meet his. “It was an accident.”

Harry throws the gauze into the small trash bin beside the toilet before grabbing a clean cloth. The bleeding has finally stopped, but the burning sensation you feel in your nose doesn’t go away. Harry gently holds your face in his hands and stares at your nose. You don’t know why your heart starts to race. His fingers gently press into the sides of your nose and you groan. 

“Does it hurt when I press on your nose?”

You roll your eyes at him. What a stupid question. It makes you want to smack him. You wish your hands weren’t covered in blood so you could back hand him. “Isn’t it obvious? I just groaned in pain,” you snap at him.

Harry glares at you. “I’m just making sure. I think you may have a broken nose. I’m going t’ grab a bag of ice to put on your nose ‘nd some Advil.”

“What?!” you shout at him. “How do you know that just by touching my nose?”

“I’m a nursing major. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

You stare at him in complete shock as he hurries out of the bathroom, shutting the door slightly. You had no idea that he was a nursing major. 

You let out another groan. The pain from your nose spreads across your face through the back of your head. You feel like you’re about to puke. 

“Oh, no,” you whimper to yourself, sliding off the toilet seat as fast as you can. You spin around and pull the seat up, ignoring the red stain you leave behind. You puke immediately. It burns your throat and you can’t see again. You’re a flaming hot mess with a broken nose. 

You start to gasp for breath when you feel a gentle hand on your back. Your hair is pulled out of the way as another way of nausea makes its way through you. Tears burn your eyes and you let out a soft cry. You’re completely embarrassed. 

“It’s okay, Y/n,” Harry says softly. It’s the first time you’ve heard something kind come out of his mouth towards you and your head is in his toilet. “Just breathe f’ me. I can’t have ya passing out on me. You’re dehydrated.”

Your breathing starts to slow and you pull your head out from the toilet. You flush quickly with the back of your hand and tear a few pieces of toilet paper off the roll to wipe your mouth. You groan when you notice a red stain as you toss it in the garbage bin. 

“Ah, shit,” Harry curses, grabbing the first aid kit from the counter and grabbing a clean thing of gauze. He reaches for your chin and quickly wipes the blood trailing down your nose before holding it against your face. “You puking most likely aggravated your nose. That’s why it's bleeding again.”  

You grunt in response as Harry goes through the motions to stop your nosebleed again. He pulls away a few minutes later and tosses the piece into the trash. He stands up, quickly and thoroughly washing his hands before grabbing the cup of water he got you from the kitchen. You take it with a soft thank you. He grabs the bottle of Advil and shakes out two pills. He hands them to you carefully and you pop them into your mouth. You take a careful sip and swallow. 

You lean your head back on the bathroom wall and sigh. You set the cup down and Harry gently sets the ice bag on your nose. You wince and he apologizes under his breath. Your fingers brush his as you hold the bag in place. 

You’re silent for another moment before you build up the courage to speak. You’re incredibly embarrassed and you know he won’t let you live this down. Harry has never seen you so weak and small. Harry has never seen you cry. 

“Thanks for doing all of this for me, Harry,” you mumble quietly as you stare at the bathroom wall. You can’t look at him. You’re too ashamed. “I’m not normally this much of a mess. I’m sorry about all the blood everywhere.”

Out of the corner of your eye you see Harry turn to look at you. He’s smiling at you. You turn your head to meet his eyes. “I know. It’s okay, I’ll clean everything up later,” he laughs, “and you’re welcome. I feel really bad. If you just keep taking Advil ‘nd ice it, you should be fine. It doesn’t look like a severe break so there’s nothing else you can really do for it.”

You hum, fighting back a smile. “For the three years we’ve known each other, I had no idea you were a nurse major.”

“We’re normally too busy bitching at each other to have a civil conversation.”

You bite the inside of your cheek and switch hands on the ice pack. “Right.”

Silence falls between the two of you when there’s a harsh knock on the bathroom door. It’s opened immediately and Peter pokes his head inside. He looks down at the two of you. 

“Is everything okay? I heard something about a nosebleed,” Peter asks. His eyes never leave yours and you know without looking that you’re a disaster. 

There’s most likely alcohol and puke in your hair. Your jeans are wet and you’re missing an earring. Your makeup is smeared all over your face and blood stains your precious tube top and your hands. 

“It’s all taken care of, Pete,” you tell him with a soft smile. You’re grateful to have a friend like him. “Harry’s my personal nurse.”

“Okay, good. I was worried. Let me know if you need a ride back to the house.”

You nod and Peter shuts the door, leaving you and Harry alone again. Harry sighs softly, glancing over at you. “How are you feeling?”

You laugh. “Better, thanks. My nose is numb, but I’m good. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow since I threw up.”

“Good. I think it’s about time we get ya home now.”

“Yeah,” you murmur, embarrassment washing over you again. Of course Harry wants to dump you off to someone else. You’re not surprised in the slightest. You most definitely ruined his night as well as yours. “If you grab Peter, he can take me back to the house. I should get out of your hair.”

Harry’s brows pinch together in confusion as he stares at you. “I’m taking you home. I would feel better if I did. I still feel shitty about it.”

Oh! 

You certainly didn’t expect that kind of a response. You expected him to be thrilled. You would no longer be his problem and he could go find someone to fuck for the night. 

“Okay, thanks.”

Harry’s up on his feet faster than you and he watches you carefully as he washes his hands again. You stand up slowly and take a quick peek at yourself in the mirror. You’re absolutely mortified as you take your turn to wash your hands thoroughly. You look like you got hit by a train and a bus and a car all within one fell swoop. 

“Oh my god,” you groan in embarrassment. 

There would be no way to save your precious and favorite tube top. Yes, there’s blood, plenty of it stained on the shirt, but that’s not the worst part. It’s the puke stain mixed with it. It makes you want to puke again. 

Your hair is a mess and there’s a wet spot on your jeans. Makeup runs down your face, nearly all of it wiped off in the process of stopping your bloody nose. 

“There’s no way I can go out of your room looking like this,” you tell him. “I look terrible!”

Harry laughs and you frown at him. “You can borrow some of my clothes. I can wash your clothes and give them back tomorrow,” he tells you with a warm smile. 

“Thank you. I owe you,” you tell him as you quickly wash your hands. Harry shuts off the bathroom light and you step into his bedroom. The main light is on and you quickly glance around the room. You try not to look surprised. His room is so…. clean. You wouldn’t have pegged him as someone to have a neat room. 

You watch Harry dig through his dresser until he pulls out an old pair of shorts and a sleep shirt. He hands them to you and smiles gently. 

“I’ll stay in here. You can use the bathroom to change,” he tells you. “Just try not to make more of a mess.”

You nod in return, thanking him for the clothes before disappearing to the bathroom again. You change quickly, getting rid of your stained and wet clothes. You carefully wrap your tube top in your jeans before washing your hands again and open the bathroom door and shut the light off. 

“Thanks again, Harry,” you smile softly. 

“You’re welcome. You can just toss your clothes into the bin right there. I can clean them for you.”

Your brows pinch together. He doesn’t have to wash your disgusting clothes. You can handle it. He’s already done way too much for you. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to live this down. 

“Harry, my clothes are disgusting and stained. I can bring them home. It’s not a big deal,” you tell him. 

“I have to do laundry anyway. Just throw them in the bin. I insist. I’m the reason they’re so gross in the first place.”

You sigh. You’re not in the mood to argue. Now all you want to do is go home and sleep off the pain and embarrassment you feel. 

Throwing your clothes into the laundry bin, you follow Harry out the bedroom door and close it behind you. You wave a quick goodbye to Peter and ask him to tell your friends that Harry’s driving you back to the sorority house. 

Harry opens the front door to the house and you step outside. You walk quietly to his car and open the door without a word. You shut the door and buckle your seat belt as Harry climbs in. He starts the car and carefully pulls out of the driveway. 

The five minutes it takes to get to the house are silent. You don’t know what to say and you’re guessing Harry doesn’t either. He pulls to the back of the house and you sit for a moment before glancing over at him. 

“Thanks for everything, Harry. I know this isn’t how you pictured your night to go, but I really appreciate it. You weren’t horrible tonight,” you laugh softly, biting the inside of your cheek bashfully. 

Harry smiles, laughing with you. “Even though I accidentally broke your nose? You’re an angel.”

You roll your eyes and open the car door. “See you later, Harry.”

You shut the door and climb up the stairs to the back door. You look back briefly and Harry sticks his tongue out at you, waiting for you to get into the house safely. You shake your head before punching the code into the keypad attached to the door before stepping inside. You peek out the window and watch Harry pull out the back. 

Walking through the dining area and the living room, you climb up the stairs to your bedroom. You turn on the light, suddenly grateful your friends were still at the frat house. You have the room to yourself for now. 

Heading into the bathroom, you brush your teeth and wash your face as gently as possible. You look and feel better now that your face is clean. 

Walking back into your bedroom, you turn off the lights and climb into bed. You fall asleep with Harry’s clothes still on your body. 

He smells like aftershave and vanilla. 

….

You wake up with a raging headache the next morning. You groan loudly and fist at your sheets. Your nose still burns. 

You roll out of bed and grab a clean towel from your closet and slip your shower shoes on. You step into the bathroom and lock the door behind you. You stare at yourself in the mirror. 

Holy shit! 

Your nose is completely swollen. Black and blue spread across the bridge of your nose and towards the corners of your eyes. Now it definitely looks like someone punched you in the face and gave you a black eye. 

You sigh, shaking your head. You turn on the shower and take off the clothes Harry let you borrow last night. Stepping into the shower, you let out a blissful sigh. The warm water washes away the remnants of last night’s party. 

You thoroughly shampoo and condition your hair before gently washing your face and body. Once you’re finished, you turn off the water and dry off. 

Stepping out of the shower, you scoop up the clothes you borrowed and head back into your room. You change into a pair of comfy gray joggers and a shirt that says Florida State Dad that your brother got you as a gag gift for one Christmas. 

Reaching for your phone, you check the time. You groan. It’s just past 2:30. No wonder no one’s in the room. You’ve slept the day away. Now you have to stay up late to do your assignments. 

Your phone buzzes with a text message and it makes you jump. 

Unknown Number: Hey, it’s Harry. I’m outside, can you let me in? 

Unknown Number: I have your clothes and a few other things. 

Unknown Number: Also I got your number from Peter. 

You laugh softly, shaking your head. 

Y/n: I’ll be down in a sec, weirdo. 

You slip your phone into your pants pocket before heading downstairs. You open the door and your eyes meet Harry’s. You smile and let him inside. You look down at his hands. He’s holding a small white basket. 

Peeking inside, you see your clothes. They’re clean and the bloodstain on your yellow tube top is gone. You wonder how long it took to get rid of the stains. Surrounding your clothes are some of your favorite snacks and candies. It makes your heart flutter inside your chest. 

“You didn’t have to do this Harry. You’re too sweet,” you tell him with a gentle smile. “Thank you.”

Harry grins, laughing at you. “Do my ears deceive me or did you just call me sweet?”

You roll your eyes and shove him playfully. “Shut up. Don’t ruin the moment.”

You turn and walk into the dining area and Harry follows close behind. He sets the basket on one of the empty tables as you fish around the cabinets for a plastic bag to fill with ice. 

“Did I come at a bad time?” Harry asks you. 

You shake your head and zip the bag up once it’s filled. You laugh softly. “I slept through most of the day. I woke up about a half hour ago and took a shower. You just caught me in the middle of my hair routine.”

He hums as you gently place the bag of ice on the bridge of your nose. Harry frowns and walks towards you. 

“Now it looks like I gave ya a bloody black eye too,” he grumbles. 

You laugh at his pout. “It’s okay, Harry. I’m past that now. It’ll heal. I’m fine.”

He sighs. “I still feel bad. Have you eaten anything yet? I was planning on going to Munchies for lunch. Would you like to come?”

Your heart stops and you swallow hard. You did not expect that. Is Harry asking you on a date? 

“It would be my treat, because y’ know…” 

“I-I, um,” you stutter bashfully, “sure! Just let me go put the basket in my room and get my shoes and we can go.”

He nods and you scurry off, grabbing the basket and holding the bag of ice to your nose. You’re practically running up the stairs. You hurry into your bedroom and set the basket on your bed. You quickly pull on a pair of gently worn gym shoes before making your way downstairs again. You stuff the bag of ice into the freezer so you can use it later. 

“Ready?” you ask him. 

He smiles and nods as the two of you make it to the front door. He opens it for you and you step outside. You walk side by side towards Munchies Cafe. The two of you make small talk as he holds the door open for you. You thank him quietly. 

You’re seated almost immediately and Harry smiles bashfully at you. It makes your stomach flip. It’s so weird and strange and foreign to you. You would’ve never guessed that the accidental broken nose would lead to this. 

He’s kind and cordial. You don’t bitch or groan at anything he says. Instead you laugh loud and joyously at nearly everything he says. It makes your cheeks hurt from smiling so much. You had no idea you had so much in common with Harry before last night. It makes you wonder why you never got along before today. You don’t even remember the real reason behind the hate and disgust you had towards each other. Every time Peter, Lucy, or Gretchen asked why you didn’t like him, you never gave a definitive answer. 

Your only response was a childish, “I just don’t, okay!” 

Now you feel stupid because Harry’s great. He’s amazing. Now you understand why everyone likes him. 

You wonder briefly while the two of you are eating your lunch together if he feels the same way about you. 

Does he think you’re kind and funny? Does he think it’s cool that the two of you have so much in common? Does he wonder why you hated each other for so long when you couldn’t think of a good answer?

It shocks you that you momentarily care what he thinks of you because you don’t. He’s Harry for crying out loud! He lives and breathes female attention and you’re giving him exactly what he wants. You shake away the feeling. He just feels bad about your nose. That’s all it is. There’s nothing more to it. He’s not getting anything out of this right now, you are. He’s the one getting you lunch because his guilt about your nose won’t go away. 

You groan when Harry gently smacks away your hand as you try to put down money for the tip once you’re done eating. “Harry, at least let me cover the tip!” you exclaim, glaring at him. 

He laughs and shakes his head at you. “I told you before, this is my treat. Put your money away, woman!” 

You roll your eyes. “You already bought my favorite snacks and candies for me. How is that any different from this?”

“Because, my dearest Y/n, I’m trying to clear my debts with you. I know you and I don’t want you to hold this over my head until the day I die.”

You scoff, crossing your arms over your chest stubbornly. You know he’s right. You will hold it over his head. 

“Fine, but I’m paying next time.” 

Harry raises a brow at you and smiles. “Next time?”

Heat spreads across your face and you bite the inside of your cheek. “Um, only if you want to.”

Harry laughs softly. “I do. You can breathe now, Y/n. I was just teasing.”

You nod, laughing awkwardly at him as your waiter comes to collect the check. You let out a soft breath of air before leaning back into your chair. The waiter returns a few minutes later as the two of you talk and finish your drinks. You watch Harry sign the receipt before his eyes meet yours. 

“Ready?” he asks you. You nod and push your seat out. You walk out of the cafe with Harry beside you. 

“Thanks for lunch, Harry. I had a good time,” you tell him as you stand in front of your house. “I’ll see you later.”

He smiles warmly at you. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you later.”

You punch in the code to get into the house and turn to wave goodbye to Harry before stepping inside. You shut the door and let out a blissful sigh. You try your best to fight off the butterflies in your stomach, but it doesn’t work. 

You let out a girlish squeal before running up the stairs to your bedroom. 

…. 

Your relationship with Harry shifted after you had lunch together. 

You don’t bitch and moan at each other. You’re not looking for ways to plot his utter demise. He doesn’t get on your every last nerve like he used to. He doesn’t purposely say or do things to antagonize you. 

It’s a weird change, but it’s a good change. You’re glad that you and Harry have moved past the petty bullshit and bickering. You like having him as a friend. He’s funny and kind and he helps you with biochemistry. 

With the shift in your relationship, you’ve also come to realize that your friends won’t let go of the idea that you have feelings for Harry. It’s all they talk about and you hate it. It’s crazy talk. You don’t have feelings for Harry. That’s a recipe for disaster. 

“Would you drop it?” you snap angrily, glaring at Lucy and Gretchen. You’ve been trying to work on your biochemistry homework for the last 20 minutes in the study room, but you can’t focus with your friends grilling you about your new found friendship with Harry. “We are just friends, that’s it! I thought you would be thrilled to see that we’re getting along now.”

“We are!” Lucy replies defensively. “It just seems as if the two of you are made for each other! You would be so cute together.”

You groan in frustration. “Luc, I don’t have to date every single guy I’m friends with. I’m friends with a lot of guys that I’ve never dated or consider dating.”

“We’re just saying you should keep that option open if something does happen between the two of you,” Gretchen says with a soft smile. “We like seeing you happy, okay?”

“I know. Don’t worry about it, okay?” you tell her, packing up your things. You’re no longer motivated to study, especially with your pesky best friends. 

You walk back to your bedroom and throw your bag down before collapsing on your bed. You let out a comfortable sigh and reach for your phone. You grin. 

Harry: are u doing anything rn? 

Y/n: I was trying to study, but Gretchen and Lucy are bugging me. Why? 

Harry: fantastic. come with me to the library instead. 

Y/n: okay! should i meet you there?

Harry: I’m already across the street. Come downstairs. 

You laugh loudly. Of course Harry was already on his way over. You roll your eyes and respond quickly. 

Y/n: ur a stalker, i hope u know that. 

Harry: u can’t resist me ;) 

His response makes your stomach flip and you quickly grab your backpack and swing it over your shoulder. You slip on your slippers and put your phone inside your hoodie. You make your way downstairs and open the front door, nearly running into Harry in the process. 

“Hi, Harry,” you grin at him as you step outside. 

“Hey, Angel,” he responds. 

It makes you roll your eyes and Harry laughs as the two of you make your way to the library. 

When you arrive at the library, you find an empty table easily. You and Harry sit across from each other and pull out your laptops, notebooks, and the textbooks you needed. 

You work quietly for a while, occasionally asking Harry questions about a specific problem you were working on for biochemistry. He’s patient with you and works through the problem so you understand it. You’re incredibly thankful for his help. 

Once you’re finished with your work, you start drafting an essay for your writing course. Harry gently calls your name. You hum and look at him, looking away from your computer. 

“Can you be my date to cuffs?” 

Your eyes widen. You always went to cuffs with Peter. Now, looking back, you wonder briefly if Harry’s the reason Peter hasn’t asked you yet. Harry wants you to be his date. 

You know the rumors with Harry and his reputation surrounding cuffs night. He always brings a girl that he fucks later that night, at least that’s what Peter told you. 

He wouldn’t do that to you. You’re just friends. Friends don’t have sex and tell everyone about it. You don’t see him in that way. Nope, absolutely not. 

The thought lingers. The idea sounds fun. You always have fun at cuffs night. You get trashed and Peter is a gentleman and takes care of you. Harry wouldn’t be any different from Peter. Harry’s already taken care of you. You trust him. It would be fun to go with someone other than Peter. 

“Sure, Harry,” you respond eagerly, nodding in confirmation. 

Harry grins exsatically. He’s definitely thrilled you said yes. 

“Great. The theme is famous duos. I was thinking we could do Wesley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride.”

You laugh. “Sounds good. You’re lucky I have a red dress in my closet. Now I know why Peter was taking so long to ask me. You want to take me instead!”

Harry laughs and you feel butterflies inside your stomach. You try your best to ignore it. 

You don’t have a crush. Absolutely not. 

…. 

“Harry is so into you!” Gretchen screams, watching you get ready for the party from her bed. You roll your eyes and poke your head out the bathroom door. 

“Would you be saying that if Peter asked instead?” you retort, fixing the belt around your middle before returning to your makeup. 

“No, because Peter is your friend and you’ve known him since you were a kid. It’s so painstakingly obvious that Harry is into you! You’re going as Wesley and Buttercup for Christ sake! If you went with Peter you’d probably go as mustard and ketchup. If Harry wasn’t into you, you probably would be going as sexy Batman and Robin.”

Heat spreads through your neck and up to your ears. You ignore the warm feeling inside your chest as you apply mascara. You don’t know what to say, so you keep your mouth shut. You don’t want to accidentally admit to your best friend that you may have feelings for Harry. She will never let it go and shit spreads fast inside the house. Everyone would know. 

You turn off the bathroom light and pull on your gross frat shoes. You slip your phone into the pocket of your dress and spin around for Gretchen to see the full outfit. 

“How do I look?” you ask. 

“Smoking hot,” Gretchen compliments, making you laugh. “Knock ‘em dead. Have a blast and I expect a full report tomorrow.”

“You got it.”

You make your way down the hall into Layla’s room. You knock gently before opening the door. You peek your head inside and find Layla fixing her black leather top. Her and Frankie are going as Sandy and Danny from Grease. 

“Almost ready?”

“Just about, I just need to grab my phone,” Layla answers, reaching for her phone on her night stand before walking out the door with you. 

The walk over to the frat house is fast. You’re both eager to get to the party and have fun. You’re excited to see Harry. 

Walking up the driveway to the house, you find Harry waiting for you. You walk faster and grin at him. Harry looks great. 

He’s wearing a loose black shirt with strings attached and black jeans. The collar of the shirt is popped. He’s wearing a matching black belt and a fake sword is hanging from his hip. A black mask covers the top half of his face. 

“You look fantastic, Harry!” you compliment, taking in his costume. His smile is breathtaking. 

“You look absolutely gorgeous, Y/n,” Harry returns the compliment and you grin. It makes your heart race. You hug briefly before Harry holds up the handcuffs. “Gimme your right hand.”

You hold it out for him and he gently cuffs your hand. Harry does the same to his right hand and you follow him to the back of the house. You make a stop inside and he grabs one of the bottles of wine on the counter and he looks over at you. 

“Once we finish this bottle, we get uncuffed.”

You laugh, nodding at him. “I know, Harry. I’ve done cuffs before.”

He smiles again. “I know, just making sure.”

You step inside the garage and Harry’s immediately surrounded by his friends and the girls they brought. You take the bottle of wine from Harry and take a generous sip as you stand awkwardly beside him. Peter and Logan are the only ones that acknowledge you and you appreciate it. 

“You look hot, Buttercup,” Peter teases, winking at you. 

At least he knew who you were dressed as. You laugh loudly. You curtsy in response and thank him. You take another long sip of the wine, ignoring the weird feeling inside your chest as you watch Chelsea flirt helplessly with Harry. You want to dance. You don’t want to be a third wheel, so you poke your head into their conversation. 

“Hate to break up whatever conversation you’re having, but I want to go dance. I’m taking my date with me,” you grin at Chelsea before pulling Harry away. Harry laughs and takes the bottle from you and takes a generous sip. Some of it slides down his chin, soaking his shirt.  

“Thanks for saving me!” Harry thanks you. 

Your eyebrows crease together as you look at him. You don’t believe him. You totally just cockblocked him and he’s thanking you. That’s unheard of, especially for Harry. 

“What? I thought you would be mad!” you shout as you move to the music. 

“No!” Harry laughs again. “I’m not interested, plus I came with you. I’m not going to ditch you.”

“Awe,” you coo, pinching his cheek, “how sweet of you.”

Harry rolls his eyes at you playfully and you grin. You take the bottle from him again and take another drink. Another song starts to play and the two of you start to dance and sing together. It makes you giggle uncontrollably and Harry throws an arm around your shoulder. You dance obnoxiously, but you don’t care. You’ve never felt this carefree. You would’ve never imagined it was because you were with Harry. 

You dance together for what feels like hours. You’re a little buzzed from how fast you drank the wine. You don’t want this night to end, not when Harry’s hand is holding yours. You don’t care if it’s because you’re dancing together. 

His hand is soft and warm in yours. It makes your insides twist as he tries to spin you around even though the two of you are still handcuffed together. His arms hold you against his chest as you dance together. Your heart races and you feel like you can hardly breathe. It makes your head spin. 

Shit. 

You most certainly have feelings for Harry. There’s no point in denying it now with your back against his chest and him breathing down your neck. You’re too stupid to do anything about the sudden realization of your feelings for Harry so you do what you do best, you ignore it altogether. 

“Wesley and Buttercup,” Peter greets the two of you as the song ends. He holds up the key to the handcuffs and your mood immediately sours. “I know you finished the wine ages ago. Time to uncuff!” 

You resist the urge to strangle Peter. You were having such a good time. Now it’s all ruined. 

Peter quickly unlocks the handcuffs and your hand is free. You rub your wrist gently and Harry does the same before his eyes meet yours. His smile is soft and warm and it makes your heart flutter inside your chest. All you want to do is kiss him senseless. 

“Harry?” you say his name gently. 

He hums in response. 

You’re going to do it. You’re going to tell him. You’re going to tell him that you have feelings for him. You’re going to tell him that you want to be more than friends. You’re—

“Yay!” Chelsea screams, running between you and shoving you away, ruining your plans. “You’re free! Do you want to do body shots?”

You’re so frustrated and upset you could scream, cry, or do both. Why does everyone interrupt you? You just want to talk to Harry! 

You noticeably frown, resisting the urge to cry. Shit. You’re one of those bitches now, upset over a stupid boy. Upset over Harry, no less! There’s no way he could reciprocate the feelings you have. He’s Harry! He doesn’t have girlfriends. You should’ve never been friends in the first place. 

Disappointed and trying not to cry, you turn your back towards Harry and make a beeline for the door. You ignore Harry shouting your name as you step outside. Your resolve is holding on by a thread when you hear Harry yell after you. You ignore him until Harry gently grabs your arm and pulls you back. 

A few tears fall down your face. You feel utterly pathetic. You’ve never been this upset over a stupid boy. 

But none of the stupid boys before were Harry. 

They didn’t help you with your bleeding nose or puke when they accidentally broke your nose. They didn’t buy you lunch in order to get back on your good side after accidentally breaking your nose. They didn’t help you with your biochemistry homework when you struggled. They didn’t make you laugh so hard that you cried. They didn’t make you ever feel so carefree. 

Harry is the only one to have made you feel that way. 

You want Harry more than you can imagine, but there’s no way he feels the same. He’s only close with you because he sees you how Peter sees you, a friend. 

“Angel,” he murmurs gently, reaching to caress your face. The mask he had on is long gone. You look away, too upset and ashamed to look Harry in the eyes. His thumbs brush away your falling tears. “Why are you crying? What’s gotten you so upset suddenly?”

You shake your head. You can’t tell him. Absolutely not. It’ll just make it worse. There’s no way. You don’t want to lose him. You can’t. 

“It’s nothing, Harry,” you answer pathetically. “Just go back to the party. Chelsea’s probably waiting.”

“It’s obviously not nothing if it’s making you this upset. I don’t give two shits about Chelsea. She can fuck off for all I care. I’m focused on you, nothing ‘nd nobody else.”

Silence falls between the two of you and you can’t even look at him. 

Then Harry speaks again, as if a realization dawns on him. He gently pulls on your chin so you’re forced to look at him. He smiles and brushes the last of your tears away before pulling you closer.

“Oh, darling,” he murmurs softly, “I’m crazy about you, in case you haven’t realized it yet. You don’t have to be sad, my eyes are only on you.”

Your heart stops. 

Did you hear him right? Are you hallucinating? Did he just confess his feelings for you?

Harry’s eyes are soft and gentle as you stare at him. His fingers are still brushing softly against your cheeks. He laughs. Your shock must be noticeable. 

“You’re so cute. It kills me. I thought I made it pretty obvious.”

You finally find the courage to speak. “Really?”

He nods, pulling you into his chest for a warm and inviting hug. You relax immediately and hug him tightly. He kisses the side of your head. 

You pull away briefly and your eyes flicker to his mouth. You bite the inside of your cheek and let out a careful breath. Harry grins, leaning until his mouth is nearly on yours. His nose brushes against yours. 

“Can I kiss you?” you whisper softly. 

“I thought you would never ask,” he teases, his mouth meets yours in a soft, gentle kiss. It sets fire to your insides, warming you all the way from your toes to the top of your head. 

You never imagined kissing Harry like this. It’s sweet and romantic and it makes you want more. His mouth is smooth against yours and the smile you feel against your mouth makes your stomach flip. 

His hands hold your face and you cling to his shirt before pulling away. You bite your lip and meet his soft gaze. He presses a gentle kiss to the tip of your nose. You lean into his touch. 

“And that’s for breaking your nose,” he laughs, pulling you in for another kiss. “Now it’s healed completely.”

You hum, wrapping your arms around his waist. “Seems fair,” you whisper. “Now I get all the kisses I want from you.”

He smiles pressing kisses along your face and down your neck. “That seems like a win for me too, darling,” he murmurs against your skin. It makes you giggle and you pull him in for another kiss on the lips. 

When you arrive back at the sorority house the following morning in another one of Harry’s shirts and a pair of his shorts, Gretchen and Lucy are thrilled to say the least. They never let you forget that your relationship with Harry started because he accidentally broke your nose. 

At least you know he’ll always be there to fix it if it were to happen again. 

[witchesoz]

After Oz: Legends of Oz

I hesitated before doing this one, because this movie is mostly based on the book "Dorothy of Oz" by Roger S. Baum, and I haven't read said book. It is something that tends to get on my nerve, when people actually don't care about the original material an adaptation was based on, and consider the adaptation as its own entirely original piece of work, when in fact, a lot of it was taken from somebody's else work. I mean, the perfect exemple is Shining. Some people praise Kubrick for being a pure genius for inventing this story from A to Z, and consider Stephen's King television series a "poor attempt at a remake of the movie", when... you know, King originally wrote the Shining and Kubrick merely adapted it. In fact, people tend to forget most of Kubrick's movies were adaptation. Dr. Strangelove? Loosely based on "Red Alert". Lolita? Everyone knows it is Nabokov. A Clockwork Orange? Anthony Burgess. 2001: Space Odyssey? Inspired by shorts stories of Clarke, the co-author. Eyes Wide Shut? A 1920s German book, Traumnovelle. And so forth and so forth...

  Hum. Sorry for the rant. I just needed to explain why I always want to take in consideration the original material when tackling an adaptation.  But since I haven't read and can't get this book, I will mostly rely myself on the Wikipedia plot and other reviews I read. If you wonder, yes, Roger S. Baum is Baum's great-grandson (or great-great-grandson?), and he wrote "Dorothy of Oz" as a direct sequel to the first book, "The Wizard of Oz", ignoring all of the others, and... apparently he is not a really good writer. But anyway... I still decided to do a little something about this movie, because... well just because I wanted    Oh yeah, another thing... an elephant in the room I have to adress right now. I only discovered it this year, by doing research about the movie (because before I only saw it at the time of its released and then forgot about it). You can know it, or completely ignore it - yes, I know that this whole movie was the result of a huge scam that robbed hundreds of people out of their money, and that the case has been even brought to trial. But... well the movie is still here, people still saw it, it is still around, will be for still quite a long time, and it is now part of the Oz inheritance, that you want it or not. Anyway, a lot of Oz movies had a dark and troubled production. It seems almost like a pre-requisite: if you do an Oz movie, you'll never end happy. Maybe it is a curse? Who knows.

       So... let's get into the subject. Is "Dorothy's Return" a bad movie? (I'll use this name, because "Legends of Oz" was the name of the intended franchise of three, maybe ten movies). I wouldn't say so. A lot of people said it was crap, or worthless, but I wouldn't call it bad. People also said that it is a bland movie, and I would say yes - but only partially. I think a good lot of the extreme bad reactions were caused because of 1- people who just disliked the idea of more Oz adaptations, 2- people too old for this movie, because you have to remember that this is a movie aiming at children and 3- people who are hard-die fans of the MGM movie and not so much of the original Oz books. It may also play in account that Dorothy's Return was roughly released the same year, and played as a "rival" to "Oz the Great and Powerful".

    Now, note that it isn't a memorable movie (except for a few bits). It isn't an excellent movie. It isn't a cult classic (even though it may become it with the whole scam background, who knows?). It isn't something I would watch again and again with pleasure. It isn't something exceptionnal or groundbreaking, it is even quite generic. But, it has some good parts, and it manages to be entertaining, and honestly as a child I could have sit in front of it and watch it with no problem. Because, yes, it is a children movie. The action is rushed, the characters lack depth, some moments are too sugary-sweet or even cringy (for exemple the song "We'll work together". Seriously, I just looked away and sped up a bit because that was too sickening-sweet for me.) As a result, as a child movie they missed things that could have been really good (the old tree agreeing to be use for a boat, which is played straight up as him being killed, the characters even say so, but then it turns out he is still alive as a boat? You could have had a great, deep, fascinating almost philosophical moment, but you just waste it for a happy ending). Anyway, what was I saying? Yes, a children movie. As a result, some people called the movie "too simple". On the other side, people called the story "too confusing".

  To an Oz fan like me, it isn't actually confusing. It isn't at all - but indeed, for someone with a limited knowledge of Oz, it will be confusing. Because, while they base themselves on an Oz book that re-uses many elements from the books (the Queen of the Field Mices, the Sawhorse, the China Country...) it also decided to include a lot of elements from the MGM movie (the Wicked Witch of the West is the one from the MGM, Glinda is also quasi-identical from her MGM counterpart, the Winged Monkeys work with the evil people...). As a result, yeah, it may be confusing. But the inclusion of the MGM elements actually managed to correct some flaws of the original story. For exemple, in Roger S Baum's book, the Jester was merely a normal jester possessed by the ghost of the Wicked Witch of the West, through her magic wand. Wait, magic wand? There wasn't any magic wand mentionned in the original book! But in the movie, to use the broomstick of the Wicked Witch makes much more sense.

      I'll take a short time here to comment on the character of the Jester, who is, I think, the highest point of this movie. He is a good villain. A cliché but interesting backstory cashing on the idea of Oz vilains as siblings, a clear shout-out to the Joker which isn't so bad, interesting plans. He is also the provider of many nightmarish elements (the fate of Dorothy's companions, which I think was a very good idea, or the people turning into puppets and being used for a creepy dance) that made this Oz movie feel... well Ozian. Because a good Oz work is a work that will traumatize your kids! I guess a bit part of why the Jester works so well is that he basically repeats and remakes all his sister, the Wicked Witch, did in the MGM movie, and let's be honest, she was a great villain. (And this again makes sense when you remember the Jester is originally supposed to be possessed by the Witch's ghost). But at the same time he has his distinctive signature and style, with his Jester persona, his circus-related punishment and his personal plots to conquer Oz. [People noticed obviously the sweet irony of things in this movie. You have a double-character that, on the Earth world is a cheater and criminal trying to steal people of their houses and using several fake identities, while in Oz it is a villain that turns people into puppets he can manipulate and relies mostly on cheating and misleading Dorothy to her doom. Which is eerily similar to what the creators of the movie/franchise did with their financers and investors.]

  Talking about the Earth side... The whole "earthly" parts are all bland and not memorable. Just like Dorothy, who isn't really... anything to be honest. The songs sung aren't memorable either. All of that is a fail. A lot of people also considered the Earthly animation uncanny, or even disturbing, but I personally wasn't bugged by it at all. I saw much more uncanny animation.

    When it comes to the Oz part, I actually think they managed to create a perfect "Ozian story". As in, the general schema of the girl entering in Oz through an uncommon mean (here a people-eating rainbow, that I have to say was quite a scary scene to look at), then passing through many small kingdoms, meeting new friends, forming a team, discovering the villain and fighting him off - this plot was repeated by Baum times and times and times again, and probably comes from the original novel Dorothy of Oz. But it still works, as simple as it can be. Plus, the use of the China Country and the Candy County (I think its their name?) was quite a good choice. The China Country was one of Baum's earliest invention, while the Candy County (originating from the Roger S Baum book) is eerily similar to the Bunbury village, an invention of Baum, inhabited by living baked goods that also get angry at the protagonists for trying to eating them. Yes, all in all, the characters feel really Ozian. As for the other member of the team, "Wiser the Owl". Well... he had the potential to feel an interesting and Baum-ian character. But it falls flat because he just becomes one living fat joke. I mean, fat jokes can be funny. But when the character is mostly the joke itself well... yeah, not really working. He had a much interesting role in the prequel comic book.  

   Because yes, there is a comic book associated with this movie! As I said before, originally the project was to create a franchise of several movies, with toys, goodies, applications and video games. (Or at least that was the project the scam used). The comic is however found under the original title for the movie "Dorothy of Oz". I don't have much to say about it, outside that is was quite pleasing (even though it sometimes doesn't make sense when put in direct relationship to the movie), and that it introduced one interesting idea: that the magic of the broomstick/Witch relied mostly on manipulating the weather and nature. The Jester causes a flood to destroy the Munchkin town, he causes an earthquake to break the China Country, he uses heatwaves to melt the Candy County... And another interesting point, the role of Wiser. Indeed, in the movie he is presented as a "motor-mouth" that keeps talking about everything, knows a lot of stuff and has the tendency to finish other people's sentences. But it gets quickly overshadowed by the fat jokes (cause a big part of his character is that he used to be able to fly but now, because of his love for candy, he is too fat to fly). However, in the comic book he has rather the role of the one voice of reason and intelligence that offers down-to-earth, simple solutions to problems where the other Ozians search for more extravagant and magical possibilities. Exemple (SPOILERS: when trying to create a rainbow, the team searches everywhere, thinks of asking witches, wizards and candy makers. Wiser has to remind them that anybody can create a rainbow with just a good crystal and some light. SPOILER ENDING.)  

   (I actually read the comic book before looking at the movie, which may explain why I consider it better than the movie.) To return to my opinion on the movie... Not the greatest Oz movie, but certainly not the worst. Average, but on the good side. Entertaining and interesting, even though bland and generic. They got the feeling of an Oz story but they just didn't found a way to freshen up or make the story shine on its own. A good villain for a heroine easy to forget. Simple. Ideal for children, or to kill time, or just to inspire one for more Oz work.

[threeeyesslitthroat]

So I watched Chaos Walking(2021)

Yeah, lucky for me, my local theater was open and showing(side note, I love my local theater so much. Like, not to brag but seven dollars for a movie and a snack is so great)

Anyhow, I watched Chaos walking. This is sort of my review. 

First off, I read The Knife of Never Letting Go and one third of The Ask and Answer, almost two years ago. When they finally dropped the release date and the trailer, i made the choice not to go reread the first book because i wanted to give the movie a chance and make an exercise of managing my expectations(in preparation for Disney’s Percy Jackson adaptation). Which means not only do I not have a complete understanding of the source material, but I also have a shit memory, so I don’t have a great shot at analyzing this films in adaptation terms, but i’m gonna try anyhow.

So first off, The Noise.

I found it a bit sketchy that they decided to make the make Noise have visual elements alongside audio but I decided it was fine, since it be pretty hard to bring this to life with only just audio and not make general audiences confused.

But they did try and do a solid job. Minus not letting us hear the Noise of animals, which sucks. we do see the Noise of a Spackle, but briefly.

The part that really pisses me off is the final confrontation, when the Noise is treated like a Super Power. we see this when Todd scares Davy’s horse by conjuring up an image of big snake, when Mayor Prentiss tricks Viola into a false trap, when  Ben tricks everyone by pretending to give Viola up when in fact he’s buying Todd and the real Viola time to get away, and in the final, Todd distracts Prentiss by conjuring up the image of his mother(complete with bloody wounds) and the various women that died when he was a baby, which caused Prentiss to fall to his death.

I don’t know how the Noise is depicted in the later books, if it was anywhere remotely like this, but i know for sure it doesn’t happen in the first book, which the film is based on.

(Also, how the fuck does Todd know what his mum looks like, or any of the other women and how is he able to bring up their images so perfectly how is ANYONE ABLE REMEMBER SOMEONE WITH THAT MUCH DETAIL That goes beyond photographic memory)

Second bit, the Spackle.

 The design is boring. Its clearly an alien, buts its dark grey, tall, holds its own when Todd attacks it in the film, has zero impact on the film as a whole and pretty boring. I do recall reading the book and imagining them to have faces similar to real world lemurs or Sloths, with big expressive eyes and such, but the CGI monster doesn’t emote for shit in this film. Todd comes at with a knife with every intention of killing it and it shrugs him off and walks away like it wasn’t fucking attacked my gods.

But in short, they only brought up the Spackle because they’re a thing in the world and it teased the bigger concepts of the next books with like, one measly exchange between Todd and Viola. (it went something like this)

Viola:We’re the aliens, though. They’re the natives.

Todd: huh.

Third bit, New World itself. Not a big deal, It looked like how i originally imagined it, no mention of swamp apples, though we see Todd Hewitt use a knife to stab a big ass bug thing for food. i hear some critics consider it lame that the planet isn’t actually alien but eh, whatever, Didn’t really feel an alien vibe reading the book so it doesn’t matter. 

Now there’s one bit i have to acknowledge in passing. At one point Todd decides to go get lunch by going into the water with his knife and wrestles with some big ass thing with tentacles. Which is fine, just have a couple of questions.

A: is this in reference to the books? Where there big ass tentacle creatures in the novel that are hunted for lunch?

B:if not, was this the film makers deciding to remind the viewers that yes, they are not on planet earth and to make Todd look cooler and justify why he’s useful for the quest and show how much Viola doesn’t know?

I kinda have to acknowledge the thing.  In that scene, Todd and Viola take a break, and Todd removes his clothes (all of them) and decides to go hunting in the water naked as the day he was born. You may have noticed that the Tom Holland stans are all over this scene because One) the camera focuses on Tom Hollands muscles when he takes his top off and Two) one can see his bare ass in the distance. 

Not a big fan off this, just find it interesting because its the most recent example of a Male being objectified by the camera when this never happens once to any of the female characters in the film, including Viola. Also, a touch of weird character detailing because haha, get it? Boy’s never seen a girl before in his life and doesn’t know what modesty means.

Also, very weird because Todd Hewitt in the book was so fucking self conscious that he would never have done that. 

Now I gotta talk about the characters.

( i understand why they aged them up, i truly do, better to get established actors instead of child actors that could more easily break to movie than sell it. its easier to make movies with legal adults instead of working with child labor laws. but damn it you lose so much of the fucking nuance of the novel when you age them up. There’s so much shit that makes an impact because of how young they are. Around the ages of eleven and twelve is when ones understanding of good and evil has its foundation, to me it was like the story was grappling with Todd Hewitt’s very soul and you lose so much of that when you change it to them being older because instead of being just kids in fucked up situations its younger adults in messed up situations. Like ugh. and aging them up leads to even more problems but we’ll fucking get to that)

Tom Holland’s Todd Hewitt is not the Todd Hewitt of the novel. He just ain’t. There is nothing there that reminds of the boy. The acting is solid, don’t get me wrong, but it just ain’t the Todd Hewitt i remember. Neither is Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade.

(excuse me while i get Percy Jackson flashbacks)

Now, I have to acknowledge the fact that neither actor(actually none of the actors in this film) slouch on the job. They bring solid and at times very good acting.(If Tom Holland is in the film, its not going to be complete waste of time. He brings quality.)

Honestly, respect to Mr Holland because he was basically the main character, not only acting but also doing voice  and various stunts(also huge credit to the stunt coordinators and stuntmen) and I heard that filming wasn’t that great and bloody broke his nose how many times like damn boy, hats off to you.

But here’s the thing. I don’t want to say that Holland was playing himself or just a version of peter Parker, because i really don’t think he wasn’t but it just. Didn’t feel like a legit character? Especially when compared to the novel. Like Todd Hewitt in the novel is such a raw force of emotion and such a smartass and i was so looking forward for Holland to own this role but in the movie he just? Awkward dude going through some stuff?

but yeah, Holland works his ass off and there are some scenes and moments in the movie that work just because this fellow is just that charming, so (shrug emoji) like i said, He doesn’t waste your time at least.

Ridley....sigh. i know this woman can act. But next to the character who’s thoughts are heard constantly she’s very boring. And it hurts so much because Viola has an actual personality in the novel like; I’m ninety percent sure that Viola hits Todd with a big stick and I do remember that there were multiple moments where she lets Todd know when he’s being a dumbass.(seriously, i may have a shit memory of the book, but i do remember that they play off each other well and hugely entertaining seeing two twelve-year-olds handle the shit getting thrown at them)

Like, Viola in the film doesn’t really have much going on. We see the crash, we hear about the graves she dug herself, we see her be sad, we see her look at Todd like weirdo, we see her look horrified or shocked. (its so sad that I only remember the facial expressions more clearly than the actual dialogue) We really have no idea what the hell is going on with Viola Eade. I don’t think we can blame Ridley, only the film makers, because how can you see Viola Eade in the novel and then turn her into that????

i do have to talk about the relationship between Tom Holland��s Todd Hewitt and Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade, even though its painful. In the novel, them is just two kids on a really tough adventure.  Because they aged them up, its not two kids old enough to run for the playground when recess starts. Its Teenagers. 

First question, HOW OLD ARE THEY??? Is Todd sixteen? Eighteen? Seventeen? He sure as hell ain’t Thirteen in this. What about Viola? I mean, big shout out to the hair and makeup team for making 28-year-old Daisy Ridley look so much younger but how. OLD. IS.SHE? Nineteen? Twenty? Twenty-one? Pretty sure she’s older than him in this? I ask because it MATTERS.

The way they play off each other has a vastly different energy to the novel because they are aged up. Its pretty obvious pretty fast that Todd’s feelings are basically a big crush, though not all of it is superficial as the film progresses. And Viola is clearly not receptive to that in the film. (honestly i cringed so hard at the “daydream kiss’ and whatever the hell that was in the Farbranch mayor’s house)

The relationship in the film just doesn’t have the nuance or the energy that the novel had in depicting their relationship which is depressing for all the Todd x Viola fans i’m sure. There’s some adorable bits though, like Viola seeing Todd’s dream of her playing with Manchee, and not so adorable canon bits like when Viola read the diary to Todd.

I’m just grateful that the film at least ended with them being friends instead of trying to force the romantic relationship. That right there is why I like the movie. It’s a crush, its used for a couple laughs, they’re friends, its fine. Even if you didn’t read the novel that’s really great for a movie in this day and age to not end with forcing two opposite sex characters into a relationship. To be honest, I like the idea that the film leaves us thinking that yeah, maybe these two could be real friends one day.

I just want to touch on Manchee real quick.

Manchee’s Noise is not seen or heard in the film. It is briefly acknowledged by Todd ins their first scene but other than that? Nada. Which is a low blow in comparison to the novel because Manchee was a character in his own right, which is why the death hit so hard. 

Todd?” he barks, confused and scared and watching me leave him behind. “Todd?” “Manchee!” I scream. Aaron brings his free hand towards my dog. “MANCHEE!” “Todd?” And Aaron wrenches his arms and there’s a CRACK and a scream and a cut-off yelp that tears my heart in two forever and forever. And the pain is too much it’s too much it’s too much and my hands are on my head and I’m rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness that’s inside of me.”

in the film, it takes place in white rapids, So its chaotic, its awful, the veiwer’s all stressed out because Viola can’t swim, everyone's getting separated and Aaron’s there and he is seen drowning Manchee. 

Dude, its brief, but not pretty. Because you can see Manchee’s legs trashing above the water, struggling to get free. Aaron is drowning a dog, letting its lungs fill with water. For the folks that don’t like watching dogs die in graphic detail on screen, this isn’t great. 

Personally, I love this scene in the novel. Its the first time i had to put the book down and take a moment. It hit really close to home for me, because i watched my own dog die in real life. It was emotional and horrifying and had such a fucking impact because we could hear his thoughts. Todd had to make the choice to leave him behind to keep Viola safe. To be honest, i think the death is better in the novel, since Manchee basically dies instantly instead of drowning, which takes time(I’ve always assumed that his neck was snapped but I’ve heard others say it was the psine but whatever) it would have been easy and necessary for them to not show that on screen. I personally just think that in terms of depicting a violent death, the novel did a lot better.

Anyway, on to the other characters

(I had to choose the one with the big orange fluffy coat, and i couldn’t find a good pic og Ben and Cillian on google images.)

As for Mayor Prentiss, he’s played by Mads Mikkelsen, and he delivers. But for the most part, we don’t really know why he’s the bad guy, he just wants to get Viola because “she’s the key” which isn’t really explained, and at the end he tries his hardest to kill Todd. 

Because i only read the first book, I don’t know what exactly his character arc is. And since its been a really long while, I don’t remember what he’s like in the novel regardless, other than the cliffhanger ending.

I did take a quick crashcourse  through the wiki and it turns out that Todd and Prentiss have a relationship in the later books, which the film sort of touches on, because Todd looks up to Prentiss in the film from the get go. 

To be honest, I knew that the trilogy was a lot more complex, and even though I didn’t read the whole thing I knew it would be really disappointing for the fans to see the mayor be hollowed out to almost unrecognizable and not getting to see the whole picture on screen.

As for Davy Prentiss Jr., he was an asshole and stayed an asshole. I know he improves and gets killed off in the novels, so yeah, exhibit B of character foundations not being laid down because there isn’t gonna be a movie after this. Also, why is he played by Nick Jonas? Did they actually have more in mind for him when they decided to go with a Jonas brother or was it just star power? 

As for Aaron...don’t have much to say about him, other than just being pretty weird fit to the film. I think he’s after Viola because he’s just that full of delusions but other than that, his character is just flat and useless. (I wish to the gods that writers would actually think instead of going with “religious delusion” to explain insanity) He only brought tension in a few scenes for the most part. I’m pretty sure that in the novel Todd and Aaron have a confrontation, like the final fight of the novel, and I’m 90% sure that its where the Novel gets the Knife of never Letting Go as its title, because the knife is big deal at that point. But I guess they wanted Viola to have a quick boss battle for the ending and set him on fire. 

Ben and Cillian were fine. They did a good job, the actors were pretty great, I liked Cillian, and i like how they acknowledged that these dudes were family(i know that they’re gay and a couple but the film doesn’t say it outloud beyond letting them sleep in the same bed, be Todd’s parents, and having Ben hold Cillian in his arms) I get a kick out of the fact that the official reviews by Movie Critics are openly curious about why the film doesn’t make it more obvious that they’re gay, but whatever.

As for the overall plot, this is a fine example of mashing three books into one film and not having good results. Instead of going to Haven, the movie decided to shortcut the ending and go to the original ship that somehow has working tech but whatever, Viola needs to communicate to her ship. So not only do we not get the great relationship between Todd and Viola, not only do we not get the Spackle, Not only do we not get to see the noise of Manchee, not only do we have poor character adaptation, we also don’t get to have a plot that matches THE ONE BOOK THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO ADAPT. THEY HAD ONE FUCKING JOB AND THEY COULDN'T ADAPT THE ONE BOOK-

Its only so sad that they decided that this was going to be a one-shot deal because they didn’t have faith in the film and chose to have all the threads tied up. I mean, its so sad for the fans because the movie makes it very clear that we are not going to have anymore movies. sigh. 

slight respect towards the film makers for tying up all the story threads instead of leaving them hanging. they did a neat job, even if it wasn’t a great one.

Anyway, maybe later on when google images has more than the promotional material I’ll do a review of only the good stuff this movie did, even if its a sad pathetic failure of an adaptation. Anyway this review is a bit of a mess and already so long so i’ll stop now. 

May the gods give us strength against all the Tom Holland stans that will inevitably clog up the Chaos Walking tag with their Todd Hewitt x reader fanfics.