#that or he must have once wanted to perform theatre or musicals right???

[pyjamacryptid]

little girl, a patient: can I have a lollipop

doctor merlin in the 21st century: can you have— I have created butterflies from nothing and horses from smoke. I have seen empires rise, fall, crumble, and start from nothing but a fish in a poor man’s hand. I’ve fought witches and failed them too. I’ve laid waste to armies and blessed nations of people with health that will never make up for it. I have pantsed Kings and kissed Queens. I have stood upon the precipice of this world and called forth the ocean only for time to swallow me whole and spit me back out. And I would do it all again if I could grant you, dear Matilda, a lollipop.

little girl: strawberry?

merlin: say no more, Tilda, this should clear up the taste of that cold medicine right away

[winterchimez]

Redemption of Love - Chapter 4

SUMMARY: Choi Chanhee—better known as the Phantom of the Opera, has dominated the Paris Opera House with his lifelong partner, Christine Daae, for years. Until one fateful day, an incident forces them to be separated and never to be reunited again.

Decades later, you have begun your journey here at the famous opera house with the help of your fiancé, Lee Sangyeon. After several performances, it was then that you would come face-to-face with the renowned phantom himself, and he is determined to never let you go again, convinced that you were his long-lost partner whom he has not seen in many years.

It is now your choice to make. To give your heart to the once-forgotten phantom? Or to stand firm and marry the love of your life.

PAIRING: phantom of the opera Chanhee x singer f!reader x fiancé Sangyeon

GENRE & WARNINGS: phantom of the opera au, angst, supernatural, thriller, crime, fluff, time travel, reincarnation, major & minor character deaths, otome, pg-13

WORD COUNT: 2,635

A/N: and we're back with the series! im so sorry that it took me forever to update this, but im slowly getting back into it so pls bear with me as updates will be slow 😭 but i promise you she is not forgotten!! 💗

“Say, what makes you so attached to this Opera House?”

The male looked down upon the female lying peacefully in his outstretched arms. As the girl turned to focus all her attention on him, he couldn’t help but smile at the love of his life.

“Well for one, I built this place and have been residing here ever since. My dream and goal was to spread my love for music and performing after all,” he responded before planting a light kiss on the female’s forehead. 

“Was it your dream to ever make it this far? I mean, it has become one of the most famous theatres in Europe at this point.” 

“No, I have not. I am beyond grateful for everything that has happened up till now, and it is also thanks to you that made all of this possible.” 

The female immediately blushed before hiding herself in the crook of the male’s neck. “Stop, you know that’s not true.” 

“But it is,” he chuckled before gently pulling the female away as he locked his eyes with hers again. 

“I love you. Please stay by my side forever.” 

“Likewise. I love you too, Chanhee.” 

Chanhee? Who exactly was that—

“Y/N!!!”

You were returned to reality the moment you arrived in your dressing room. It must have been a long time running through the countless mazes to find your way back to the surface. Just when you thought it would be impossible to find your way back, that vision you just had suddenly flashed across your mind, something you couldn’t explain in words even if you wanted to.

Who exactly were the two people lying down on the field of grass in your vision?

More specifically, who was the man named Chanhee?

Before you could process your thoughts, you were greeted by the sight of your fiancé, who stood with his eyes wide open and jaw ajar, shocked to see you were back just like that. 

Sangyeon immediately pulled you in for an embrace, hugging you tight and making sure not to let you go anytime soon. 

“Where have you been, Y/N? We have been looking for you for two days straight!” 

Two days? You were gone for that long? 

Sure, you were glad to be back with your fiancé, but this time, you must ensure your message got across to Sangyeon. Pushing him away slightly, you grabbed both of his shoulders before staring right into his eyes.

“Sangyeon. Please. You have to believe me this time.” 

It has been several days since you returned to the Opera House, and things have been pretty quiet. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to convince Sangyeon once again even though you managed to recite all of your experiences from the beginning till the end—how a mysterious man emerged from the mirror and took you down into the depths of the underground Opera House, and how there was a maze full of passageways, up to the man’s lair down below. 

You tried your best to voice your concerns to the rest of the cast members of the Opera House, including Avaleigh, but to no avail. Nobody was going to believe your little stories—thinking that you were beyond exhausted to have come up with such hallucinations. 

Because of that, you decided there was no point in trying to prove everything, and you quietly resumed your performance for a couple of weeks. 

Until Madame Indivus finally made her grand return today. 

As all of you were rehearsing for the next show, the doors to the theatre burst open, revealing a rather upset Madame Indivus stomping her feet as she made her way up onto the stage. 

Immediately, she walked right up to you before pointing at you furiously, screaming at the top of her lungs. “What exactly is this mere country girl doing here? This is my show, my role!” 

Flustered, you couldn’t say a word until Mr Arnaud and Mr Arquette had to step in to talk things out with Madame. It was pretty obvious that the whole conversation wasn’t looking that great—it was a rather heated one, to be exact. Mentally, you were already preparing for the worst to happen, and sure enough, it was right for you to do so. 

After that uneventful discussion, both Mr Arnaud and Mr Arquette had no choice but to put you on backstage duty as Madame insisted that she was to have the lead role for the rest of the season and that you were in no way to take a step close to her at all. 

Upset would have been an understatement for you, especially when you have worked so hard to land the lead role yourself for the past few weeks. It was stripped off you almost immediately after you had not been under the spotlight for long. 

Depressed, you acted as if everything was alright as you continued your job backstage, giving the cast as much support as needed. 

At least I am still given a place here at the Opera House.

Little did you know that someone lurking behind the shadows was absolutely furious with the sudden change of plans. He was going to make sure that you got back up on stage, even if he had to choose violence himself. 

The hall was once again filled with way more spectators this time, especially when the infamous Madame Indivus was now back as the lead star of the Opera House. There was no doubt that both Mr Arnaud and Mr Arquette were glad to have her back despite her manipulating the two owners most of the time.

You could only sigh as you arranged the props from backstage, thinking that your little glamorous era had abruptly ended just like that, and you’d never get to be back on stage anymore while Madame Indivius was here.

To make matters worse, Madame Indivus most likely seemed to be about getting her revenge on you since you “stole” her spotlight. Every time she returned backstage, you had to quickly fetch her a glass of water and polish her newly designed shoes for the performance. 

As much as you could defy her, you weren’t ready or wanted her to make a ruckus, which would affect all the crew members. Instead, you brushed it off while the anger within you slowly started to bottle up. 

Avaleigh tried her best to help cheer you up—encouraging you that you’ll just have to wait for the storm to pass, and it’ll be fine. You could only return a weak smile as you knew that she had to look out for you while focusing on her role as a dancer. 

In a blink of an eye, the show had already reached its climax, and Madame Indivus was about to head back out to stand at the centre of the stage to sing her final piece for the night. However, she would only receive countless murmurs instead of a standing ovation with her final performance for the night. 

A horrible and loud croak came out of her mouth instead of her singing the song, ruining the entire piece simultaneously. It was clear that Madame herself was confused with what was happening, but she decided that the show must go on.

In reality, the croaking sound only got worse and louder, and eventually, one of the curtains from the side of the stages came crumbling down and made a loud thump as it fell directly on the stage. 

The murmurs were now slowly turning into screams, and the audience was rightfully starting to panic and ready to leave the hall immediately. 

Madame tried to call them back, but only the croaking sound would emerge from her throat. It was as if her vocal cords had completely betrayed her. Terrified, Madame too ran backstage and straight down the hallway to her dressing room, leaving behind a whole ruckus and chaos to unfold within the Opera House. 

There was no way this could go on, for the Opera House’s reputation could be ruined forever. Just as you were taking in everything unfolding in front of your eyes, you were suddenly tugged on the shoulder by someone before you were dragged out to the stage.

“Child, you listen to me very closely right now. Go out there and give your best performance and stop the chaos,” you said. Turning back, you saw that the voice belonged to Madame Matilda, the one in charge of the dancers. 

“B-But, it’s all a mess right now! I don’t think singing would do-”

“Just listen to me and do it!” Madame Matilda silently screamed before she pushed you right onto the stage, gesturing you to start immediately without wasting another second. 

You weren’t too sure about what to do in the situation you were in—singing when the audience was leaving the hall in a panic state? You have got to be insane for doing that. 

But it seemed as if Madame Matilda was persistent, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She continued to wave her hands to cue you to start singing out loud at this moment. 

Taking a deep breath, you mustered up all of your courage and began to sing out loud, hoping that this could calm the audience and all the crew members down. 

Think of me, think of me fondly, when we've said goodbye. Remember me once in a while - please promise me you'll try. When you find that, once again, you long to take your heart back and be free - if you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me

Sure enough, a few audience members turned their heads back towards the stage to see the former star of the Opera House singing with all her heart and soul without having a look of fear in their eyes. 

As you saw that you have captured their attention, you instantly regain the confidence you once had and continue to proceed. More of the audience began to turn their backs and eventually started filling the hall seats again, wanting to witness the sweet, young singer doing their very best to keep the show going. 

You weren’t too sure what was going on. Still, you definitely felt that your voice was getting louder each second and that your angelic voice was becoming a lot more prominent as you went on—turning the frightened look on all of the audience members into a smile. 

Soon enough, you finished the performance without fail and received a standing ovation from the now-filled hall. The audience was clapping harder than they had done in your previous shows and for Madame Indivus’s, making you bow profusely and repeatedly to show your appreciation. 

With that, Mr Arnaud and Mr Arquette immediately went to the front stage to address the complications throughout the show and compensate the audience. Meanwhile, it was your cue to finally step down and head backstage, slowly making your way to your dressing room. 

As you opened the door to your room, your eyes widened at the scene before you. 

The long mirror was being pushed open again, leaving a clear view of the dark alleyway you had once been down there recently. A good amount of smoke came out from the mirror—making the atmosphere feel much more eerie than it already was.

And of course, the man with the mask was back—leaning against your chair with his arms crossed as his eyes fell straight onto you.

“Well, it seemed that Madame Matilda had done the right thing,” the man replied as he finally got up to walk straight towards you, making you retreat quickly and move to the side before he could touch you. 

Instead, he walked behind you and closed the dressing room door, leaving you trapped within the room you had always found to be your safe space. Adrenaline instantly rushed over you, and you quickly took a few steps back until your back hit the wall at the room's corners.

“W-Why are you here…?” You merely let out a squeak instead of asking a proper question. The memories instantly came flooding back when you were essentially captured by this guy and brought down to his lair. 

There was just something about him that made your skin crawl. Was it because of his aura or his demeanour? Or was it because he could enter your dressing room easily from the mirror just like that whenever he wanted to? 

Or rather, because you have once taken off the mask and saw the true horrors behind that shield of his? 

As much as you wanted to scream for help this time and especially call out for your fiancé, you just can’t open your mouth and say the simple word. It was as if this masked man had you under control, and you felt helpless in your situation. 

Slowly, the man was beginning to take a few steps forward, and this time, he was certainly walking straight towards you. It was too late for you to move now since you had been potentially cornered by the time he was merely inches away from you. 

This is the end of me.

You could only keep your eyes shut tightly as you kept muttering those words quietly, thinking that there was no escape and that this was where you would meet your demise. 

Or at least that was what you thought. 

“Christine, please come with me. Let me explain everything that has happened. I do not wish to hurt you,” the man pleaded. 

That came as a shock to you as you opened your eyes to see that he wasn’t the scary, creepy stranger that he was when you first opened the door. Now, there seemed to be sorrow in his eyes, and he slumped down as if he were in defeat. 

You weren’t too sure what to make of the situation, but as long as he wasn’t hurting you nor putting you in grave danger, that was all that mattered right now.

“P-Pardon? I really sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about-” 

“No no, Christine. You don’t understand…” This time, the man grabs both of your hands into his as he begins rubbing them slowly, intertwining his fingers with yours before tilting his head back up to look at you again. 

“Please…come with me…I need to tell you the truth…” It was evident that tears were beginning to well up in his eyes—as if he was going to crumble down anytime soon. 

“P-Promise me that you w-won’t hurt me?” You asked.

“Never Christine…you’re my one and only love…I’ll never hurt you nor cause you any pain…” the man continued and kept addressing you with that unfamiliar name. 

Given that the man had definitely calmed down, you figured that listening to what he had to say wouldn’t hurt, and you gave him a little nod.

Instantly, the man’s eyes lit up, and he made a little jump in the air, making you baffled by the sight that unfolded in front of your eyes. Enthusiastically, he grabbed your wrist and dragged you down back into the dark alleyway, assuring you that you wouldn’t be gone for too long and he was going to bring you back up again once he had cleared the air between you two. 

In return, you silently pulled a few strands of your hair and dropped them into the passageway—just in case anything happened, and that could be a potential clue to your whereabouts, especially for Sangyeon. 

As you both strolled down the passageway and ended up on the boat just like you had before, the masked man gently placed one of his hands on your cheeks and began rubbing them back and forth before he muttered something under his breath. 

“I’ll make you the happiest girl alive again, my love.” 

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[lenathesingingcat]

Alright, I promised to post about the JCS production I saw last night, so here are my thoughts on the highlights! Bear in mind that I don’t know the musical super well, as I’ve seen the film and the pro shot of the arena tour once each, so things that surprised me might not be exclusive to this production.

@the-reynolds-pamphlet and @purple-confusion you both post about JCS so you might like to read this!

Oh, and if anyone’s going to watch the current UK tour of Jesus Christ Superstar and hasn’t yet, don’t read this post until you’ve seen it, even if you already know the musical! Some things I’m going to mention shocked me, and I knew the musical.

Spoilers for this production (and the musical in general if you don’t know the story of the crucifixion) under the cut!

So, I’m going to go through this as chronologically as I can, but I have so many thoughts!!

• Firstly, I want to say the alternate Jesus was on last night, and he was brilliant!! His name is Charlie McCullagh, and I’m shouting him out first of all because 1) he was brilliant as I said, and 2) alternates and understudies don’t get enough love!

• Jesus and co. (and ensemble) were all in modern costumes. I’ve seen/heard of it being done in 60s/70s costumes (originally performed in 1971) and in biblical costumes, and even a mix of the two, but the costumes being this modern was new to me.

• Jesus was played as a pop star, which made me think of how people today worship celebrities. He had a guitar which he appeared to be playing during Heaven On Their Minds. I wasn’t sure whether he was miming playing a song for his followers or whether he was actually accompanying Judas (Shem Omari James). He also had a microphone for some songs - I’ll come back to that!

• Looking at the programme, Shem Omari James is very new to theatre - this seems to be his first production! - which really shows as he’s placed next to Ian McIntosh (Jesus who I didn’t see) who’s done a lot. Well, let me tell you, he absolutely proved himself in Heaven On Their Minds and continued to be brilliant throughout the show!!

• During Everything’s Alright, when Judas sings about how the ointment could have been used to help the poor, and then Mary (Hannah Richardson) sings the chorus again (“Try not to get worried, try not to turn onto problems that upset you”…), usually she doesn’t acknowledge him and sings the chorus to Jesus (particularly in the Arena Tour, they’re face to face and she moves in between them to face Jesus, basically shutting Judas out) but in this production she sung the lines I’ve typed TO Judas! This was a lovely touch, especially as we rarely see them being nice to each other… usually too busy vying for Jesus’s attention however far they’d each like that attention to go and generally not seeing eye-to-eye, so I really loved seeing her try to comfort him despite their differences.

• The Pharisees (Jad Habchi as Caiaphas and Matt Bateman as Annas) had microphones that served double purpose as staffs. Also, they weren’t in modern dress but in shiny versions of biblical period costumes.

• Ryan O’Donnell accompanied himself on guitar for Pilate’s Dream.

• As always, I Don’t Know How To Love Him was very moving. It’s probably the part of the show I know best, as my mum’s a singing teacher and taught it to me for my grade 6 singing exam (I’m going to convince her to teach me some of the boys’ songs now!) and I think if you’re still moved by a song you know that well, the performer must really be doing something right. So, well done to Hannah Richardson for doing that for me!

• Now for the part that absolutely stunned me! Look at the poster/programme cover again. That’s Judas. At the end of the first act (the end of Damned For All Time) the Pharisees presented him with a treasure chest. He put his hands in to take the silver, and when he took them out, they were stained silver!! The symbolism of the blood money/blood on his hands just shocked me! There was this moment just before the curtain fell where he just looked at his hands stained with silver, it had me speechless!!

• Onto Act 2. GETHSEMANE WAS STUNNING!!! It was the only time the ensemble fully left the stage, which I think represents how those we idolise often have no privacy. The one time Jesus really wants someone to hear him is the one time he’s truly alone. Charlie McCullagh started by accompanying himself with the guitar and standing at the mic, but as the song went on, he moved away from the mic and discarded the guitar, mic, and part of his costume. Jesus didn’t want to be the superstar any more! He wanted a way out of this, of going through with his death! The staging, combined with the way he sang the song, took my breath away and was just so moving!!!

• He also let his natural accent come through in Gethsemane (he grew up in Northern Ireland).

• The kiss… MY HEART!! It was quite slow, very tender, like it was an apology at the same time as the betrayal. Like “this is the only way I can protect you, I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing, and I really wish it hadn’t come to this, I hope one day you can forgive me.” Judas (at least the musical version of him) didn’t want Jesus dead, he thought handing him over would protect him by stopping him from going too far, he really thought this was the only way!

• I’ve tried asking why, out of all the ways to betray someone by identifying them, you’d choose a kiss. No-one can give me a straight answer… (get it?)

• I was quite far back in the audience, and my eyesight isn’t great over long distances, but I think he went for the lips. (Anyone else who saw the tour, can you either confirm or correct me?)

• He still had the silver on his hands for all of this, by the way.

• Jesus sounded so sad when he said “Judas… must you betray me with a kiss?” and that was heartbreaking! He sings it quite angrily in some other versions, but in this one he just seemed heartbroken. I think I prefer it this way, with him sounding sad rather than angry.

• Maybe it was my imagination, but I feel like with the sadness in the above line in particular (as well as the caring touches throughout), they were leaning into the Jedas angle. He seemed to be saying “I hoped you would kiss me one day, but not like this…” (Or maybe I just spend too much time on Tumblr!)

• For the rest of the show, Jesus just looked so defeated, it was really sad to see.

• During the lashes, they were throwing gold glitter at Jesus while making it look like they were whipping him, making it look like he was bleeding gold. I wonder if that was just for aesthetics or if it was deliberately connected to the silver staining Judas’s hands (Jesus’s blood on his hands, gold and silver both represent money, blood money).

• Talking of the silver! When Judas came on stage to sing Superstar, he still had the silver staining his hands, which made me really sad. In direct contrast to the Arena Tour, in which he was lowered on from the flies (that’s above the stage for non-theatre people) and dancing with ensemble in angel costumes, implying he’d gone to Heaven and therefore implying that Jesus had forgiven him, this production had him come on from the wings (the sides of the stage for non-theatre people) rather than from either above or below. They didn’t choose either way, to imply that Jesus had forgiven him or that he hadn’t, but the silver still being on his hands showed that, even in death, Judas hadn’t forgiven himself.

• The crucifixion always upsets me. I’m very much NOT Christian (no disrespect if you are, I’m just not) but a man existed who taught people to be kind to each other in a way that he knew how to reach them, and he was brutally murdered for it.

• On a happier note, albeit not exactly part of the show, the cast were really nice! There weren’t many people at stage door, so they were able to spend a bit more time with those of us who did come to meet them, and they seem to be lovely people. I had particularly nice conversations with Charlie McCullagh (Alternate Jesus) and Jad Habchi (Caiaphas). He has a great sense of humour, he joked about how he gets to kill Jesus (and when I said something like “Not everyone can say they’ve done that!” he responded “And I get to do it 8 times a week!”) and jokingly bragged about how great he was, though I don’t think we’d have objected if he’d been serious!

A brilliant production that made me love the show even more than I already did!!!

[camillecrellin]

Merely Players — Grace Chastity

Synopsis: Hidgens' new musical, Workin' Girls, is in production and due to the lack of casting oppositions, he had to cast you. But to get it right you had to practice, and Grace offered to help you.

A/N: Based on this song.

Word Count: 1k

Warnings: minor workin boys short film spoilers, Hidgens being controlling, first kisses, swearing, christianity

Grace Chastity wasn’t too fond of musicals. Grease: too dirty; Into the Woods: too dark; and Jesus Christ Superstar: blasphemous.

And so, when you told your best friend that you had been cast in the new musical at the Starlight Theatre, she was less than excited. Especially when the show sounded like it was about hookers.

Workin' Boys Girls. Henry Hidgens' passion piece about boys girls doing business and longing for the days when they played football for girls.

Due to his lack of casting options, Hidgens casted you in his prized role: Chad. But everything acting choice you made seemed to fill him up with more and more irritation.

"You're fucking it up, Y/n." Hidgens exhaled, pinching his forehead.

"Again!" He ordered, making you once again run through a scene with Zoe that was far too homoerotic to not be true.

The scene in every way felt wrong, almost too personal and yet you were performing a romantic scene with Zoey, 23 year old theatre freak.

"Chad, it's you." Zoey acted for the 20th time today, her fingers intertwining with yours.

"I knew we would always reunite, Henrietta." You recited the lines, awkwardly squeezing Zoey’s hand, a stiffness to both your delivery and performance.

When the scene came to a close, Hidgens closed his eyes and muttered to himself. "And kiss."

Upon hearing his words, you exchanged a glance with Zoey and furrowed your eyebrows, looking down at your script, before turning to Hidgens and saying, "It doesn't say that in here-"

"Well changes are to be made." Hidgens announced, clapping his hands. "We must add it, it's the most natural progression."

"No offence, Henry, but uh Y/n's 18. I'm not gonna fucking kiss an 18 year old." Zoey commented, giving you a small glare out of her eyes in disgust.

"Oh, but you are." Henry retorted, a clear annoyance in both his tone and expression. "It's my show, my rules."

Clapping his hands, Hidgens announced to the cast, "Well, that's it for today.”

You, along with everyone went to pack up your stuff. Talking to Ruth, you were interrupted when Hidgens called out. “Y/n!"

"Yes?" You cautiously turned around to face the director standing across the theatre.

"Come here." Henry gesture you over, before allowing you to take a seat, and bluntly saying. "Your performance is shit; we need to make you less shit."

"Okay." You nodded, trying not to stumble over your words. Hidgens was becoming more and more psychotic as the musical went on, and you did not want to be on the receiving end of that.

"No, I don't think you're understanding me." Henry shook his head in anger. "This is your Lady Macbeth so why the fuck are you giving me Peasant No. 4?"

"Sorry, I just need to practice." You apologised, trying to avoid Henry’s gaze but he would not let you.

"You're right you do, because if your acting isn't up to par by tomorrow, I'll have Hayley fill in for Chad, and I fucking hate Hayley. Don't make me use Hayley."

"I'll practice, I promise you." You said, a determined smile on your face. Despite not hating Hayley, you felt like you had something to prove.

"Good." Henry nodded.

It wasn't long after that exchange that you called Grace to help you. Grace quickly agreed, knowing her parents would be fine. After all you went to the same church, you were a good Christian to the Chastity's. And so, they let you stay the night.

"Chad, it's you." Grace acted out, placing her hand in yours.

"I knew we would always reunite, Henrietta." You recited the lines, squeezing Grace’s hand.

Breaking character, you looked down at your annotated script. "And then we have to kiss, it's a new note but we don't have to because that's weird for friends and I'm kinda nervous for it.

"Nervous? Why?” Grace asked, her voice having an inch of concern as she studied your worried expressions. “I heard stage kisses aren't even real."

"Yeah, they aren't, but I haven't actually kissed a girl before." You said in almost a whisper.

"Well, I haven't kissed anyone either, but I still wouldn't be nervous. It's not real." Grace responded, trying to be reassuring.

"I know, but Zoey's intimidating and mean.” You added, feeling more insecure as you look at Grace. “Plus, she's 23."

"Gross." Grace commented.

"Yeah."

Grace looked towards her bedroom door, which was closed, and then back to you before confidently saying, "I mean we could practice."

Your eyebrows furrowed. "The kiss?"

"Yeah."

"Grace?"

Grace shook her head, a wide smile on her face. "Oh, don't worry, it's fine, it's not real."

And so, you once again started the scene, going through the motions with more ease and confidence than you had ever with Zoey.

You dreaded getting to the last two lines, but you did. Once again, getting through them with ease.

"Chad, it's you." Grace acted, intertwining her fingers with yours and squeezing your locked hands.

You leant your forehead up against Grace’s, smiling as you recited the words, "I knew we would always reunite, Henrietta."

Leaning in, you placed your lips upon Grace's melting into a kiss. Grace placed her hands at the side of your face, giving in far too quickly.

It felt so real. You felt everything without fear. The love that Henrietta and Chad had for each other or maybe the repressed feelings you had for Grace.

Pulling away, your eyes were locked on Grace's face, reading her for a reaction.

"Wow." Grace said, her hands travelling over her lips like she did something wrong.

You looked to Grace and then looked to the floor. "You’re a good actor, Grace, that felt really real."

"I did feel real, didn't it?" Grace agreed, breathlessly. "But it's acting, right?" Grace asked, almost in denial.

You nodded along. Maybe it was acting, maybe it was real. The only thing you knew for sure is that somehow you wanted to kiss Grace again, but you couldn't. For you were merely a player in Hidgens' production. That's all it was�� a directed scripted kiss. Your first ever one.

[holly-louisexox]

Ribcage X Andy Biersack- Part 14

Masterlist

"There's one thing you should know about me Delia Vincent, I don't date. Got no heart to break and emptiness is safe, keep it that way."

He was adamant in his choices…

…But then things changed.

"Okay, I must admit, being in a New York venue is really fucking cool!" Delia grins taking in the sight around her. She had always wanted to visit New York and see a show on Broadway, sadly finance never allowed it. 

"Well it's the city that never sleeps Delia, get ready for a wild one!" Jake laughs patting the shorter girl on the back. "Let's get this show on the road lads!"

"D, wait until tomorrow, me and you will go explore the shit out of the city, you'll love it!" Shevy hypes. "But for now, we need to get this soundcheck done, the traffic set us back a bit but let's go!" 

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

Watching the guys perform felt different this time round. Delia hated that she was attracted to Andy, he was everything she should hate, yet she couldn't bring herself to dislike him. Instead, it's almost as if there was something drawing her to him.

"I built these walls to watch 'em crumbling down. I said, then I lost it all, and who can save me now?"

Lost it all had easily become one of Delia's favourite songs this tour, the lyrics were so vulnerable and Andy always managed to have such a raw edge to his voice, it was almost as if Andy was fighting with himself during the song. It was as if he did not want anyone seeing the truly vulnerable side of him, especially after he had built the whole persona of not caring. Wait a second, Andy was staring right at Delia, surely he wasn't though? Letting out small smile, Andy then continued the rest of the song whilst breaking away the eye contact.

"I stood above another war, another jewel above the crown."

This was just getting weirder and weirder. Delia did not want to be attracted to Andy, she couldn't allow herself to be. She had to try and find a way to get over him...

... But how?

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

New York City baby! This is going to be a good show tonight boys!" CC hypes the band up.

Currently they had half an hour before VIP began so that band, Shevy and Delia were just relaxing backstage after having some food.

"It's crazy to be in New York, I've always dreamed of visiting here. I would do anything to see a live Broadway show." Delia explains with a slight thrill to her voice.

"A Broadway show? Really?" Andy speaks up looking at her- it was the same monotone voice as always but this time he actually seemed as if he was interested in what she had to say for once, he wasn't harsh or unkind about his comment.

"Yeah, I've always dreamed about seeing The Phantom of The Opera live on Broadway as it's my favourite musical. Even just having you guys play the opening overture at the beginning of the set gets me super hyped." At this point Delia was geeking out a little and she was not ashamed at all. "Whoever came up with that idea I applaud you." This brought a grin to Andy's face.

"It was actually my idea." Andy grins- the rest of the band (including Shevy) were looking between the two in shock. Shock that Andy was genuinely smiling for the first time in years and shocked at how the two people who seemed to clash a lot could have such a big common interest. They all could tell something had happened or will happen, even if Delia and Andy would not admit it. Of course Shevy knew more than the others and this just added fuel to her fire. Andy was changing and for the better; it was all because of Delia even if the two of them did not want to admit it.

"Really?" Delia asks in shock. "Sorry I just did not take you for a theatre fan." 

"I love Phantom of The Opera, it's one of my favourites alongside Sweeney Todd." Andy continues to grin whilst getting excited. "Dude we should totally go see Phantom, we have a few days in New York before the next show."

"What?" Delia freezes, she could feel the rest of the room holding their breath in anticipation as to what was going to happen between the two.

"Yeah, you're right, it's stupid." Andy coughs going back to his monotone voice. "It's not like we're friends or anything anyway. I couldn't think of anything worst than sitting next to you for 2 and a half hours."

Just like that, Andy was back to his cold ways. To say it hurt was an understatement, Delia had a feeling of remorse about Andy's sudden coldness. She knew that she should not have been surprised by this, but somewhere deep down, she thought she was finally getting through to him.

"Yeah, of course." Delia felt her smile falter slightly, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her hurt and embarrassed in front of everyone.

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

"Where is the spark that won't fade away? And where is the queen to my king of pain?"

Andy was doing it again, he was singing in Delia's direction again. To say she didn't feel the cliche of butterflies would be a lie, instead, she felt as if she could live in that one short moment forever and she'd be happy.

"Wait, is it just me or was Andy totally staring you down just then?" Shevy squeals; she had popped over to the sound booth to check in with Delia and ended up staying a little longer than planned.

"He did it earlier." Delia muttered without thinking about what she was saying.

"He what? When? This same song?" Shevy asks in shock whilst smirking. "I mean, I can't say king of pain is the most romantic song but I guess the gesture is cute, the guy is definitely thinking about you."

"It was during lost it all." Delia states simply.

"Okay I was not expecting that one." Shevy is now genuinely shocked. "I know you don't want to believe it, but this is the most vulnerable I have seen Andy in 2 years, D. Maybe he isn't completely in love with you like I keep joking about but you have changed something inside of him."

"Shevy, please, do not start this. It's bad enough I felt completely embarrassed by him earlier. I can tell he wears a mask, especially to be the star. When he went so cold on me after showing his true self and being genuinely normal, that hurt and it was so humiliating that it happened in front of everyone. The rest of the band definitely suspect something now if they didn't already." Delia focuses on the tech in front of her to try to hide the hurt on her face; she was close to tears but of course she would not admit this nor did she want Shevy seeing her like that.

"Yeah, that was so uncalled for of him, but I wouldn't be embarrassed by it, D. Maybe you just need to try to get some one on one time with him. Maybe grab coffee or something so that you can try to discuss these things with him. Yes, I know he can be difficult to talk to but you will never get this stuff sorted if you don't try." For once Shevy had ditched her joking side and was actually being serious; Delia could tell this by her tone alone. It was very rare Shevy was serious like this, normally she was full of fun and bubbles, when Shevy turned serious you knew she meant business.

Maybe Shevy was right. Maybe the only way to sort this out was to try to talk to Andy. After all, Delia did not want to like Andy but here she was. Maybe if she were to lie to herself and try to let him down easy, it would help her get over him. But at the same time, if Delia and Shevy were reading all of the signs wrong, it would result in major embarrassment. Equally, there was only 2 weeks left of the tour, just over, she did not have to avoid him completely but they could go back to being civil and after the tour she simply never sees him again. Although, is that what she really wanted? Of course not...

... But she knew for her own sanity and to protect herself, she had to get over Andy Biersack and leave him behind.

[sankta-starkova]

LETTERMAN

015; typecasting

previous chapter | next chapter | masterlist

summary: the one where ej and andy realise that there may be some romantic feelings between them that hadn't been there before, or had they? the new year test this revelation

wordcount: 1.7k

They all sat down in the cafeteria at lunch time, talking about things when Carlos stood up randomly.

"Attention Thespians, I have a brief announcement," Carlos said and everyone turned to look at him.

"After spending the last couple of weeks Google stalking the Menkie Awards I've discovered there is no award for best choreography, I've decided that I will be auditioning to be on stage this year," he explained.

Everyone cheered, proud of Carlos. All of a sudden, EJ walked over, looking at Ricky.

"You're welcome," he said to him and Ricky looked up at EJ confused.

"For what?" He asked, watching as EJ sat down in the spare seat between him and Andy.

"I've decided to take myself out of the running for the Beast, I've got a lot on my plate," he said.

EJ started to dig through his bag and Andy sat there disappointed. A little part of her wanted to be Belle and the Beast with EJ.

"Which reminds me I should probably pick a meal plan for Duke, I also have this," he said.

"Wait! You officially got in?" She asked and Ricky narrowed his eyes at EJ, realising something.

"Back up, you're not doing the musical either?" He questioned.

"No, I've only got the bandwidth for a supporting role," he explained, reaching into his bag again but he stopped when he realised something, "What do you mean either?"

"I'm, uh, not sure if I'm auditioning this year," Ricky explained, "You know, once a skate rat,"

"No Ricky, I'm still a skater and I do theatre, we are all sure you can do this," She said.

Although her and Ricky had spent less time at the skatepark together, she still enjoyed it and missed spending that much time with him.

"Before I forget, Andy, I have something for you," EJ said as the silence it got awkward.

He reached into his bag and everyone waited to see what he had. EJ pulled out a blue Duke hat identical to the one he had on his head.

He placed it on her head, "Ta-da, can't have my best girl not having a Duke hat," he said with a laugh.

Andy smiled at him, her heart fluttering as he called her his 'best girl' but she knew that he didn't like her in the way she liked him.

"Well thanks EJ," she said, pulling out a small hand held mirror and checking what it looked like.

Suddenly, a random blonde girl approached the table, "Sorry, I've been trying to work up the courage to say this," she said.

She looked at EJ, furrowing her brow as she silently questioned what was going on. He shrugged and then they looked at the girl.

"Okay, I can't believe in standing in front of both Troy Bolton right now, both your performances were incredible," she explained quickly.

The two boys thanked her, EJ still smiling at Andy and not really caring.

He loved seeing her in the hat, his hat, but he couldn't think of her that way, not after Nini broke his heart.

"No, thank you. I mean, you both inspired me to try out this semester. You guys are all so talented, do you mind if we take a picture," she asked.

Everyone agreed and the girl took the photo, everyone smiling at it.

Just before auditions, Ashlyn came up to Gina, Kourtney and Andy with a proposal.

"I know this is totally last minute and feel free to say no, I have a song I've been noodling on all week its a quartet," Ashlyn explained.

She handed the sheets of paper to each of them, Andy smiling as she flipped through them.

"Gina, living with you is the closest thing to having a sister. Andy, it's only a matter of time before you become my cousin and Kourt, I know you must be missing Nini so I was thinking we could audition as a girl group," She explained.

Andy smiled at her, she was so glad to have these girls as friends, "I'm totally in Ash, good job me and EJ decided not to do Suddenly Seymour," she said.

Kourtney chuckled, "Yes, but is the vibe Destiny's Child or Cheetah Girls?" she questioned.

"The vibe is all of the above, plus a little spice girls," Ashlyn said before turning to Gina, "So, you in?"

"I'm sorry Ash, I'm gonna stick with auditioning on my own," Gina said and everyones face dropped, it was disappointing but Andy got it.

The bell rang before auditions and Andy walked to them with Big Red and Ricky after meeting up.

"I am feeling the German word for anxiety, hunger and deathly fear of disappointing the one you really want to impress," Big Red explained with frustration.

He sighed, walking over to the wall and leaning against it in defeat.

"Its actually pretty simple right, you like Ashlyn?" Andy asked and Big Red groaned.

"Understatement of the year," he said as he slid onto the floor, feeling defeated.

Andy and Ricky joined him on the floor, "One thing last semester taught me is that really liking a girl can get you through a lot of crap, including stage fright," Ricky explained.

"At least if I choke up today, I won't be alive to see Ashlyns disappointment," he said as he leaned back against the wall.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think you've ever disappointed anyone in your whole life," Andy said.

"You know what would make me feel a lot better? Knowing you would be up there too Ricky," he said, trying to convince Ricky to try out.

"I haven't ruled auditioning out," he said before the bell rang and they rushed to auditions.

Later, the group all gathered around, preparing for the audition when Miss Jenn walked over.

"All right, as you know, this year's audition process will be in a two- step process," she explained.

Andy nodded her head, listening to her explain that there was a group vocal warm up and a song of your choice.

"Circle up, take your neighbours hand for a moment of silent reflection," Miss Jenn said.

Andy smiled, reaching for Seb and EJs hands as they stood in the circle.

They seemed to have gotten over the awkwardness from three weeks ago of the near kiss, she knew it was just a moment.

Suddenly, Ricky ran in. They all performed their parts in Belle before heading up for the solos, or in this case, a trio.

Andy, Kourtney and Ashlyn stood on the stage, "This is an original song I wrote about the power of friendship, it was originally a solo but then I wrote it for four people but we'll be singing for two," Ashlyn explained.

"Wait!" Gina called out after she heard Lily make a comment about them, "Is there still room for a fourth?"

"Do you know the song?" Ashlyn asked, a smile on her face as she realised Gina will be singing along.

"I was curious so I spent the afternoon kinda studying it," she stated, "Its brilliant,"

"Oh, and picture us in sequined jumpsuits. On a light up dance floor. In an abandoned warehouse," Ashlyn added before they performed the song.

They finished and everyone applauded, wowed by their performance. EJ smiled at them from the crowd, giving them a thumbs up.

"Well now I'm a little sad we're not doing Heather's," Miss Jenn said as she watched the four girls hug.

Everyone else performed their numbers until it was just Big Red left.

Andy gave him a thumbs up from the crowd and he started to tap dance when suddenly he fell.

She gasped, hating that this had happened to her best friend. But then she heard Lily snicker, "Seriously," she whispered to herself.

Both Ashlyn and Andy turned to glare at her, they looked at each other and Andy jumped up.

Her and Ricky both ran onto the stage to comfort their best friend, "You got this dude," Ricky asserted.

Andy nodded, smiling at him, "Lets show them what you can do. We've got you okay," she said before her and Ricky went backstage.

Big Red smiled at them before he started to perform again, smashing it. Everyone cheered him on, Andy glaring at the girl.

Afterwards, they looked at the cast list, Andy nodding her head as she realised she had gotten the role of Chip, a huge grin on her face.

"Gaston!" Andy exclaimed and EJ pulled her into a hug, spinning her around slightly.

"Chip!" He smiled at her, "God, I'm so proud of you,"

She blushed, looking around before seeing Ashlyn, "be right back," she said before walking over to congratulate her.

But then she saw that Ashlyn got Belle, pulling her best friend into a hug before Ashlyn ran off to cheer with Big Red.

"Hey, Lily," Andy called out as she saw the girl walk away.

Lily turned around, an angry look on her face for not getting the role of Belle.

"I don't care where you're from, but at East High, we don't make fun of people that make mistakes," Andy said, she was fuming, hating that someone thinks they can waltz in here and mock people, especially her best friend.

"Well East High doesn't deserve me anyway, she shouldn't be Belle and you all know it," Lily said with a huff.

Andy scoffed, she couldn't believe that this girl was do big-headed that she thought she was the best.

"She's a better person then you'll ever be, and she's the best actress and singer here," Andy refuted, not taking any more of this girls insults.

"Fine, but when you lose the Menkies because of her, you'll come back, or maybe go crying to that idiot of a boyfriend," she said before turning around.

"Fine, talk that mouth off but if I see you anywhere else, you better watch out," Andy spat back, she had been in her fair of street fights.

As Lily walked away, Andy clenched her fist, shaking her head, "Calm down Andes, she doesn't deserve your time," EJ said as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"You're right, Eej, thanks" she said and she walked over to Ashlyn, the two celebrating.

Ashlyn smiled at them. She knew all about their nicknames, and how they'd only use them once they were dating - but neither of them seemed to have noticed.

They also didn't seem to notice how they looked like a couple, his chest pressed against her back, arms around her middle. Ashlyn just smiled, letting them be oblivious for a moment

Taglist:

@maggiecc

[in-my-feels-probably]

Hi, congrats on 1.5k!! If it’s not too much trouble, can I request a Grishaverse (Your choice of SoC or SaB) romance for option 2? My pronouns are he/they/she, and any gender/character is okay! As for info about myself, i constantly dye my hair, I like to read romance and fantasy books, I’m about 5’5, I definitely spend too much time daydreaming about random things, I’m really into musical theatre, I’m not very organized, and I’m pretty much living proof of honors burnout lol. Thanks so much and Congrats again!!

hi!

thanks for participating :)

i ship you with jesper!

jesper knows all about that honors burnout. he made it through like a semester of university and decided it wasn’t for him, and ran off to the barrel. he’s an incredibly talented and smart person, he just doesn’t having the patience for academics. still, the transition from that kind of life into the life of the barrel must have been a hard adjustment. what motivated him then is a lot different than what motivates him now, and he certainly has different interests. when you’d go through that transition, he’d be there too. he’d understand and support whatever path you decided to take. it wouldn’t matter where you ended up, he’d be proud of you either way.

jesper is definitely a chaotic person. he thrives on spontaneity and adventure. he’s never organized, and he’s fine with it. i do think he would enjoy the arts. i think he’s definitely a lot more artsy and performance talented than academically talented, so he’d be happy to indulge your musical theater hobby. i don’t think he’s much of a reader, but i do think fantasy would really fascinate him. and he’d take any excuse to talk to you really, so hearing about your books you were reading would be one of his favorite conversations starters. after a long day, he’d want to sit with you while you read to him to unwind.

—

on a mission, jesper would drive the group absolutely nuts with his humming and singing. kaz would be ready to take him out by the third time around he was singing the same song while you were waiting around for inej to scout out the area.

“jesper…quiet.”

his tone was deadly serious, but you couldn’t help but chuckle anyway. you’d quickly straighten up as kaz looked over at you, his face sour.

“you had to take him to the theater last week?”

you’d give him a sheepish smile, shrugging. “i wanted to see the play. i didn’t know he’d be able to recite the whole thing back to front by the end of it.”

“it’s called taste, darling,” jesper would interrupt, grinning as he threw an arm around your shoulder and rested against you. “it’s art. pure talent—a jesper talent. you’re just jealous, boss.”

kaz would give you both a less than impressed looked before griping underneath his breath, walking around the corner to put some distance between you until inej got back. you’d turn to jesper once kaz was gone, chuckling as he grinned at you.

“it was a good play, wasn’t it?”

“it was,” jesper agreed, smiling down at you. “i don’t remember most of it to be honest, though. i was too busy looking at you.”

you’d roll your eyes, fighting the heat you could feel creeping up to your cheeks. “if that’s true, why have i heard that song come out of your mouth at least ten times a day since?”

“i don’t need to be watching to listen.”

you’d exhasperatedly sigh, leaning into his side. “that’s a shame. it really was a good play.”

he’d smile, reaching a hand down to play with a strand of your hair.

“if this goes well and we get paid, i’ll take you again to see it. i’ll even pay attention this time. hard to do when you’re sitting right next to me looking like that, but i’ll endure it just for you.”

he’d chuckle, making you laugh too. “how touching.”

“how disgusting,” you’d hear from around the corner—inej coming back with kaz at her side, a look of genuine annoyance on his face and a fake one of disgust on hers.

it only made you and jesper laugh harder.

—

thanks again for participating! i hope you liked this :)

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

SCREAMING

Okay I’m going to do spoiler free thoughts here and then I’ll make a second post for spoiler stuff with a tag and a cut (and by that I mostly mean movie-specific spoilers mostly since the story in the movie isn’t new and the musical and book have been out for a long time but I will try to avoid story spoilers in this post) (UPDATE: I don’t think there are any story spoilers in this post at all lol)

YOU GUYS

The movie was genuinely incredible!!!!!!!! I’m going insane omg. There was such genuinely love and adoration for the theatre production in not only the actors’ performances but in the love and care that has been put into every aspect of this movie

Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, I think it’s fair to say, delivered exactly what I expected them to. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t impactful or that their performances fell flat in any way at all, they were both as brilliant as always, but neither role pushes their comfort zone so there was nothing new about their performances and I wasn’t expecting there to be. They did what they do expertly well, and it worked excellently. I will say that I had no concept of what either of their singing abilities would be and I know that Yeoh self-proclaimed to not be a singer in discussion about the movie - I will expand on this in my spoiler post.

Johnathan Bailey made a wonderful Fieyro and I think he showed us the duality in the character’s nature very well without compromising any of his many complex layers. I think I’m going to talk a little bit about Dancing Through Life in my spoiler post, but I wasn’t sure whether or not he’d be the one singing and I believe it was actually his own voice, which was really nice. Similarly I thought that Marissa Bode captured the essence of Nessa Rose absolutely brilliantly, once again understanding her in depth and performing without compromising any aspects of her character. I also read online that Bode is the first wheelchair user to play the role!!!

The children who played young Elphie and Nessa oh my goodness they were fantastic

And I think I’ve built up to it enough, so Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo - MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS

Beautiful performances from both of them, I intend to expand on them quite a bit in my spoiler post but in essence I just want to say they both captured their roles so beautifully, the love and care they put into them could never go unnoticed.

There are genuinely not enough words like I don’t even know what to say but they absolutely killed it

I would say in terms of criticism that sometimes I thought changes to the music in order to showcase their singing abilities were unnecessary; we know that they can sing, there were plenty of opportunities upon opportunities in the score to showcase that already, and sometimes the vibratos (I think that’s the right word???) that were added in for the movie felt to an unnecessary degree. However, if I’m being honest I expected to see that and if it’s my largest criticism then I think it must have been a pretty damn good movie

I will write up my spoiler post as soon as I get the chance and that will contain a lot more detail about their acting as well as set, symbolism, music, etc, and my thoughts on them as well as a couple of tiny details I noticed that made me smile

Thanks for reading! Now go watch Wicked!! (I might be going back with my friends next week oops…)

Taking myself on a last-minute planned cinema date to see Wicked and I am SO EXCITED - thoughts surely to come 😁

[biglisbonnews]

Jinkx Monsoon Slays Broadway Debut "So we're all just here to see Jinkx, right?" says Rickie, the festively dressed twenty-something young woman sitting next to me in Row F at the Ambassador Theatre for the Broadway revival of Chicago currently featuring Drag Race Queen of Queens Jinkx Monsoon as Matron Mama Morton. Rickie has flown in from Lubbock, Texas especially to see Jinx, as has the middle-aged woman from Dallas seated in front of me.Since Jinx took over the role, it's been standing-room only at the Ambassador. Tonight, five queens from the current season of RuPaul's Drag Race, which airs its 200th episode tonight, are also in the crowd: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia; Jax; Robin Fierce; Amethyst and Luxx Noir London, all decked out in glamour drag, have shown up to cheer on their sister.Marcia has performed on Broadway in Kinky Boots and she tells me her dream role would be in Wicked. Elphaba or Glinda? "Oh please," she laughs, "always Glinda!" Jersey native Luxx Noir London came to Broadway shows on school field trips. "My first show was Pippin, the revival with Patina Miller," she says. "That was the most iconic moment of my life ever." Now, that's what I call a Broadway queen. Jax started off with Disney musicals, Mary Poppins and Tarzan, but her favorite theater moment was seeing Billy Elliott with her father. "I think that was his way of telling me he knew I was gay," she says.Amethyst loves Rent. "I think I’d be really good at it in drag," she says. The Robin Fierce is super inspired by Kinky Boots. "That inspired my drag and that's why I sing in drag," she tells me.The energy in the house is electric, like the opening night of a monster hit, only this production has been running since 1996. When Jinkx first comes onstage, the roof nearly blows off the theater. The Jinkx fans' love also spills over onto the entire cast. The audience loves every minute of the show and is particularly enraptured anytime Jinkx is onstage. R. Lowe, who has played Mary Sunshine in the show for 18 years, says, "It's a resurgence of the show. It’s been so energizing for all of us. It's one of the most amazing things I’ve ever gotten to experience on stage."After the show, mobs of adoring fans wait for Jinkx at the stage door. Each night Jinkx stays until every fan gets an autograph or photo.PAPER caught up with Jinkx by phone on her way to the theatre to hear about her groundbreaking run and how she can handle eight grueling shows a week.Congratulations. What a sensation you've caused! How does it feel?It feels really surreal. But at the same time, it feels like this is what comes from lots of dedication and hard work and tenacity. But yeah, it's very surreal. I started my career as a dive bar drag queen. Now I'm on Broadway. It's taken its time for society to progress and art to evolve and all of that stuff, but it's a wonderful feeling.Do you remember the first Broadway show you saw?The first show I ever saw was the touring production of Rent. I must have been nine years old, and most of it went over my head. I didn't really fully understand the story, but I understood that it was people acting and singing and dancing on stage all at once, and I wanted to do that.How is Broadway easier than being a dive bar drag queen and how is it harder?Let me start with what's easier. What's easier is you've got a whole team of people supporting you and supporting the show. That's something that can't be overlooked when drag is very much a DIY art form. While it involves a community, while it involves your drag family or your coven or however you want to refer to it, a lot of the work falls on the shoulders of the artist and those closest to the artist. When you're working on Broadway, there's a job for everything and everyone has a job. Normally getting into drag takes me about three hours with me and an assistant. On Broadway, it takes me about an hour and a half because there's someone there to help me with the wig, there's someone there to help me with the costume, and all I have to do is slap my makeup on.You did such an amazing job on Little Edie and Judy Garland on [Drag Race's] Snatch Game. Was there some movie star or some singer that inspired you when you were growing up?I think I learned everything I need to know about comedy from Lucille Ball. Then there were female stand-ups that influenced my comic sensibility and philosophy over time, and that includes Margaret Cho, Sarah Silverman, Maria Bamford, Devon Green, Madeline Kahn. And I would add Meryl Streep to the setlist. Meryl Streep, though she's known more as a dramatic actor, her comedic sensibility is every bit as honed and skilled as any other one of her talents.I saw you on CBS News Sunday Morning, that's a big deal, congratulations. I think you were talking about the audition process. Did you do any spells or resort to any witchcraft to help get the role?Not to get the role of Mama, there wasn’t a specific spell being cast for that. But I have had a couple of ongoing spells to help with my anxiety and my depression, and then one that's just kind of manifesting success. Well, it started as a spell and then it transitioned to a charm. A charmed artifact that I carry with me at all times.Well, they're doing a good job because you're doing fabulously and having huge success. I love seeing on your social media the different friends who come visit you backstage. Have you had any surprise celebrity guests or favorite visitors back there? Yeah. Jesse Eisenberg was a complete surprise to me one night. Very, very sweet. And very complimentary. He brought his family and the whole family was sweet and lovely. Most people I've known were there. But occasionally people post that they're in the audience and I don't know that they're there. So, Sam Smith was a big surprise. Joe Locke, Ben Platt, they all discreetly posted they were in the audience, and I never would have known if it weren't for Instagram, but fabulous. It's just been really fun getting to perform for such a wide array of different theater lovers.Absolutely. I know that a lot of people are coming because they're your fans. Do you get a sense of how many people are Drag Race fans or just Broadway fanatics? I don't know how to get a sense of where the overlap is between Broadway fans and Jinkx Monsoon fans. But what I do know is the audiences have been, I think, a little bit more celebratory, and perhaps raucous than my castmates are used to. But they're loving it. My cast mates love how vocal and joyous and enthusiastic the audiences have been. We're all getting laughs where we want to get laughs, we're all getting claps where we want to get clapping. It's been a very generous experience across the board. Every cast member has been so generous, and I think it's because the audience has been generous. The audience being generous, the cast wants to be more generous and then it goes round and round. It's like that line that Roxie has in the show where she says, "The audience loves me and I love the audience, and the audience loves me for loving them, and I love them for loving me, and we all just love each other and that's because none of us got enough love in our childhood."And that’s showbiz, kids! I've seen the show honestly like 15 times with different replacement casts so I will let you guys know afterward. I'm sure that this crowd is particularly excited and delirious and appreciative. But now since this is a story about women in prison I have to ask, have you ever been arrested?No, I've never had any run-ins with the law whatsoever. I mean, that were my fault.If you were on death row and had to choose your last meal what would it be?I know it would include french fries. French fries are my favorite food.And maybe baked Alaska because it's difficult and would take longer to make.Do you have any dream roles on Broadway now that you are the toast of Broadway? Do you have any other roles in sight like Mama Rose or anyone that you'd love to play?I think I need to age into Mama Rose a little bit. I'd love The Witch in Into The Woods. I think my dream role of all time is Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd.Brilliant.I always loved the show The Drowsy Chaperone, which is written with a lot of the same sensibility that I share and have always been attracted to in my work. So the Chaperone is a dream role as well.I always say it's amazing what Drag Race has done; some people give me a hard time. But I say that RuPaul is kind of like a Gloria Steinem for the LGBTQ world. Because of her, my mother knows who famous drag queens are and so do people all across the nation and the world. So what do you think about the Drag Race phenomenon? It seems like so many of you wonderful queens, Bob, Eureka, Trixie, have infiltrated places in show business that drag queens from 20 years ago would be shocked and delighted to see happen.Yeah. It's funny, because the phenomenon of drag race has led to lots of different outlets of entertainment and show business. Lots of TV shows do a drag episode or a drag cameo character. I think the ones that have been successful have been the ones that actually include famous drag queens that have already proven that they're very good at what they do. And I think the ones that have been less successful are when they have had cis, white pretty boys to play drag queens. That's not something you can learn in a day. They think it's the makeup and the costume that makes the drag queen, but it's not, it's the lived experience. It's committing your life to this. It's the authenticity that draws in the audience. Drag Race is showing the world look at all these drag queens with all these talents. And if people want to be a part of that, they need to include actual drag queens and stop trying to synthesize it or replicate it in an inauthentic or disingenuous way. So what's really exciting to me about being in Chicago is that I proved to the world through Drag Race that what I want to do is musical theater comedy performance. And then I was cast in a role that allows me to do that. And that's what I think is going to keep progressing the culture of drag, giving drag queens opportunities to do the things they've shown you they're good at.I hear you.I've just seen so many times when a show writes a good role, like a good drag queen role. Then they cast some heartthrob, pretty boy who has no experience being a drag queen. Then they think it's going to capture the same kind of magic, but that's asinine.Was it always Mama Morton that they had in mind for you, or did they ever think of having you do Mary Sunshine (a character who is presented as female but later revealed to be a man in drag)? I know that's the traditional drag role.When my agency reached out to me, they sent me the materials for Mama Morton and Mary Sunshine. And you're right, the Mary Sunshine role is the traditional drag role in the show. But I have always had a sincere interest in playing cis female roles to show that it doesn't matter what gender I am perceived as. I know what gender I play best on stage. I really wanted them to consider me heavily for Mama Morton first and foremost. So I told them I was only going to be auditioning for Mama Morton. But had they asked me to audition for Velma or Roxy that would have been a different story.It's great that you did that because it's thinking outside of the box. And I can't wait to see you do "Class" because that's one of my favorite numbers from any show. It's such a magical number, and it's so showbizzy. Anyway, I will see you tomorrow when you guys do your photos, and I'm so excited to see the show. I know it's going to be sensational.Yeah, I've been having the time of my life.Photos courtesy of Jinkx Monsoon https://www.papermag.com/jinkx-monsoon-chicago-broadway-2659464797.html

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork, early 1960s. Photos by Bob Campbell.

“Peter and I used to play around the Village more or less every night. He used to warm up the audience for me. I was reasonably well known in the coffee bars, and I’d pay Peter a few dollars to get things started. He was a real nice guy… Easy-going, happy with life, ready to take things as they came. […] Peter was as good a friend as anyone could wish to have. We knew each other very well then, and I used to listen to him play banjo before they passed around the basket. That was what we all did in those days, you understand. We weren’t paid for playing or singing — it was just the practice to pass round a basket or shoebox and hope the patrons would be generous. Some people would put in a nickel, others a bit more. Peter always did OK. He was a good musician — don’t let anybody try to tell you otherwise — and the people appreciated him.” - Jose Feliciano, NME, June 3, 1967

“‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ [Peter] would say, with a great flourish, ‘as you know, we poor folk singers don’t get paid by the management — so we are forced to pass the basket and place ourselves at your generous mercy. If you like what I’ve done, please make a contribution. This will help keep me off the streets at night, get me a good spaghetti dinner once in a while, and enable me to buy stamps to write home to dear old mom. Now, I’m going to pass my banjo around and if you put in silver it will go “clink-clink,” but — ah! — if you put in folding money, I will go “swishhh!” Now, if I go “swishhh,” everybody will know that you are not only a music lover, but a great philanthropist.’ At this point, Peter jumped off the stage and began to pass his banjo around. I was amazed at the ‘clinks’ and ‘swishhhs’ he got from the audience. He was really different; he was funny. He had more personality than all the rest. I remember thinking even then that Peter wasn’t just a musician. He was more of an all ‘round entertainer. A few days later I bumped into Tork again, and became aware of another of his outstanding characteristics. He was friendly. In fact, he was the friendliest guy in Greenwich Village! He came right up to me and started talking. Soon, we were having coffee together, and soon we were planning to do sets together. Before I go into that, however, I must tell you about one particularly funny night when I dropped into the Playhouse Cafe while Peter was working alone. ‘And now, ladies and gentlemen,’ I heard him saying, ‘I’m going to sing you a couple of original tunes. You may not know it, but I have a little brother who is a great songwriter. As a matter of fact, he’s working on a complete musical score for the theatre right now. His name is Nick Tork, and you’ll be hearing a lot about him one day.’ Then he launched into one of the most ridiculous and funny tunes I have ever heard. All I can remember about it is its title — Under The Undertaker Gah Goo-Gah. When the audience ‘revived,’ Peter launched into another of his brother’s ditties — all about an alligator named Albert, who got flushed down the toilet! Well, some of the Village cats may have sneered at that, but the audience ate it up — and Peter got even more ‘clinks’ and ‘swishhhs’ in his banjo! Another thing about Peter was his willingness. Although all of us wanted to work in the ‘basket houses,’ it was hard to get one person to go on stage and get the show started. Peter would always do this — and in a very cheerful manner. He was that somebody you could count on. He was very dedicated to his music and very ambitious, and even though he had a lot to learn vocally and musically there was an aura about him that made all of us feel that if anybody was ever going to make it big time from the Village, it would be Peter Tork. Peter was also very much the ‘imp’ of the Village. He was like a funny genie, with a lock of hair falling across his forehead and a big smile on his face (except when he would grimace, stick his tongue out and perform various rubber-face antics for the audience). He was very popular with the girls who would come to the Village with their parents on a Sunday afternoon, and — believe it or not — many of the parents were straight-out Tork fans! His songs were accompanied by a good deal of light, humorous patter. In fact, he talked a lot. He sometimes tried to intellectualize his tales and often became tongue-tied and confused in doing so — which only made the audience love him all the more. He always ‘wrapped up’ his act with a classical piece, carefully plucked out on his funky banjo, sans vocal. It usually ended in a race — with Peter’s fingers always losing by a few notes here and there. But with his performance he left a happy house — and, as a result, he was very much in demand. [...] At this point, Peter was living in a three-room, cold water flat on Bedford Street. You’d have to see the place to believe it. It came complete with assorted bugs (you name ’em — his pad had ’em, from roaches on down). Since neither of us could afford a choice in the matter, I moved in with him and we set about decorating the place in ‘contemporary side-street’ (that is, discarded furniture we found in the various Greenwich Village alleyways) and Salvation Army specials. Believe it or not, we didn’t even have a shower — so we used to have to ‘borrow’ the shower of the two girls who lived upstairs! Here’s as good a time as any to talk about girls. Next to his music, girls interested Peter Tork more than anything else in the whole wide world. He loved them all — and most of them loved him. Peter wasn’t tall, dark or handsome, but he made up for his liabilities with his great warmth, enthusiasm and sense of humor. He was also basically a very kind and giving person. He just had a way of making people happy even when he was broke, freezing cold and there were no prospects for work in the future. That Pied Piper-ish quality Peter had attracted girls of all shapes and sizes. He had many brief romances and a couple of very serious ones, and even to today Peter is still good friends with almost every girl he knew, dated, or fell in love with during his Greenwich Village days.” - Lance Wakely, 16 Magazine, March 1967

[dorotharry]

tiny dancer ; prologue

Pairing: 40s!bucky barnes x fem!reader

Next Chapter

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: kinda long for a prologue, fluff, not really much but please let me know if anything in this upsets you. 

Summary: After being drafted for the war in 1942, Bucky goes to the ballet a week before having to leave with his best friend Steve. There he becomes infatuated you with the prima ballerina of the show, and he just has to meet you before his last week in Brooklyn is up. He hopes one day you would meet again; little does it know it will be 72 years later.

A/N: This is my first Bucky fic, I thought of it last night and I was kind of excited to write it. Sorry if any of the information is wrong as well my knowledge of Ballet and Brooklyn/NY are limited. I’m not sure if there are any similar story types but feel is so please let me know and I’ll tag them for people to read in the next chapter. I hope you enjoy :) Feel free to let me know if you want to be tagged in the next chapter. 

Before everything - 1942

“Oh, come on Steve, come to the Ballet with me!” Bucky spoke enthusiastically, his arms pressed again the frame of Steve’s front door. “It’s my last week before I go.”

“And you couldn’t have just chose to go to a bar like any other normal man would a week before going to the war?” Steve responded looking sceptically at his best friend. Someone who he had never known to be interested in ballet.

“Because going to a bar filled with soldiers would be a bright choice for you,” sighed Bucky, “I’d rather not have to get into another fight…” Steve rolled his eyes and pursed his lips waiting for Bucky to continue. “Everyone in New York is talking about the Ballet! Don’t you want to feel cultured?” Bucky exclaimed moving away from the door frame. “Plus!, I got us pretty good seats if I do say so myself, what row was it again…?” He trailed off looking smugly at Steve. “…Oh, that’s right! Row three.”

“Too bad you couldn’t score front row,” responded Steve mimicking Bucky’s cocky attitude. Bucky huffed at his friend’s response. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” laughed Steve, “Fine if the ballet is where you want to go a week before you go, then the ballet is where we’re going, I guess.”

Bucky’s eyes lit up at his friends’ words. “Yes! This is going to be great, a night on the town, just two gentlemen going to see the ballet.” He grinned, Steve noting how happy he seemed to be going to the ballet; he wasn’t sure why. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 6pm”, Bucky spoke turning away from his still sceptical best friend.

“Okay then,” responded Steve watching him walk off.

Just as he’d said, Bucky had picked Steve up the next day, driving them to the theatre and making it there for 6:30. They wandered the foyer looking at all of the people dressed up to watch the performance like them. Many had already been a few times and were raving about what they were most excited for again. For Bucky and Steve though, this is new territory. Both of them glad though that they were doing something new. They made their way into the theatre finding their seats, as everyone began to pile in, ready for the show.

“I’ve heard that the lead female ballet dancer is meant to be very good”, whispered Bucky to Steve as the lights began to dim.

“You mean the Prima Ballerina?” Whispered back Steve correcting him.

Bucky looked at Steve with an amused look. “For someone who didn’t want to come you sure know a lot about ballet”, chuckled Bucky placing his focus back towards the stage.

Steve sighed and looked back at him, “I don’t know a lot of ballet, that’s just common knowled—” He was shushed by Bucky as he tapped him on the shoulder multiple times in order to tell him to be quiet. Steve looked towards the stage again as the orchestra began playing.

Bucky watched as the curtains opened, the stage filled with ballet dancers.

Not long into the performance you would enter, nervous side stage as your friends reminded you of how brilliant you would be. This wasn’t your first time performing but every time was just as nerve-wracking as the last. This was your passion of course, and you wanted nothing more than to be perfect.  You looked down at your tutu, a bright red tutu, a colour that stood out amongst the rest of the cast who were dressed in whites and greens. Even the male lead was only dressed in white. You particularly like your pointe shoes the best; they were a stunning bright red to match the rest of your costume.

Shaken from your thoughts you heard the beginning of your entrance within the music, jumping up and down briefly before getting into position to enter. Then you did, getting into character instantly.

Bucky gasped as his eyes followed you as you entered the stage so gracefully. He had heard you were a magnificent dancer, but he didn’t know you were so beautiful. Composing himself in his seat he watched as you were so engrossed in the music and the dance. It was obvious you loved what you did.

As the ballet continued his eyes never lost focus from you. He even thought there was one time when you had looked at him in the audience, but he knew that couldn’t be true, someone so perfect would never draw their focus from their work to look at him.

Even during the interval Bucky was in his own world as he thought about how captivating you had been. Barely listening but nodding as Steve spoke to him about his thoughts of the show.

When the show finally ended the crowd stood up applauding the performance. Eagerly so did Bucky, Steve following. As you bowed many people threw roses and he mentally cursed himself for not bringing any himself. The curtains closed and the theatre lights slowly came back on.

“Well I must say I did enjoy that,” spoke Steve as they exited the theatre, breaking the silence and pulling Bucky from his thoughts, he stopped walked and looked at Steve.

“Steve, call me crazy but I have to meet her, I have to know her name.”

Steve looked at Bucky and sighed knowing he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Alright pal, why don’t we wait near the door the cast exit from?”

Bucky practically jumped up and down as he followed his friend, who somehow knew where the cast door was, although it wasn’t a hard guess. Just down the alleyway next to the theatre.

-     

After the performance, adrenaline was running through you like crazy. You loved this feeling. Tonight’s audience was marvellous, and they held nothing back when applauding you all for your performance.

When you performed you couldn’t see much of the audience due to the stage lights, but you could see up to around the 4th row. While you had stopped at the end one of your solos in the first act your eyes had briefly stumbled upon a very handsome man with brunette hair. But you didn’t get a great look because as soon as one song ended the next one started.

You had removed your costume and let your hair out of its bun brushing it out and attempting to make it look as presentable as you could. You got into a nice dress which you had arrived in, keeping your makeup on along with your bright red lipstick. Grabbing your bag, you said goodbye to your fellow colleagues as you exited the backstage area and entered the alleyway.

As you got to where the alleyway ended, and the city sidewalk started you were met with the same brunette you had noticed during the show. “Miss, I’m terribly sorry to bother you after your show but I just had to introduce myself to such a beautiful and talented woman.” Rambled Bucky.

You blushed and looked down as your dress, “Why thank you…” you trailed off waiting for the handsome stranger to tell you, his name. He seemed a bit distractedd looking at your eyes that he didn’t catch on though, causing his smaller blonde friend next to him to nudge him.

“Oh, sorry my names Bucky,” he replied letting out a nervous chuckle, “and this is Steve,” gesturing to his best friend.

Steve raised his arm to shake your hand, “Sorry miss but what was your name again? Bucky here forgot to tell me.”

You raised your arm and shook his hand, letting out a giggle over the two men in front of you, “My names y/n”.

You looked back over at Bucky who seemed to be going over something in his brain. “I wanted to know if you wanted to get a drink or some food or something with me?” What Bucky thought would be a confident question turned more into a rambling mess. Gosh he thought you were pretty.

You blushed, “How am I to know you’re not a murderer?” Raising an eyebrow at the nervous man in front of you.

Steve interjected this time, “I can confirm y/n, he’s not a murderer. Honestly, he’s usually a lot better at flirting than this, I’ve never seen him look so nervous.”

Bucky sent a death glare at Steve before looking back at you. You laughed again, grinning ear to ear, “Well I am pretty hungry, so I won’t say no, especially when a ladies’ man is so nervous to talk to me.” You smirked.

Now it was Bucky’s turn to grin, “great!” He responded. “I just have to drop Steve home and then we’re all set… Did you have a car?” He asked.

“Nope,” you spoke back, “so… do you think you’d be able to drop me home afterwards?” you asked, “You know considering I’m being so nice to a stranger.”

“I was going to offer anyway,” he replied signalling you to follow. You chatted with the two men as you walked to the car, when you got there, you insisted Steve sit in the front considering he was being dropped home. Then once you arrived at his, you both said your goodbyes to Steve. “I hope to see you again soon,” you yelled from the car as you sat in the front waving.

Steve waved back, as Bucky drove off to one of his favourite bars/restaurants beeping his horn at Steve as he left.

The rest of the night went smoothly, you both ate and chatted for hours, feeling like time barely existed with one another. It may sound cheesy but both of you felt like you were meant to meet one another. The only downside was that Bucky had told you he would be leaving for the war at the end of week, so you both knew it could never be anything more until at least the war ended.

It wasn’t until you realised the time that you knew you needed to get home, being Prima Ballerina wasn’t an easy job and it required getting at least some sleep. Bucky understood and drove you home continuing to talk about everything together. He even confessed he wished he had of gotten you some roses, to which you responded that how would he have known to do that. Of course, Bucky being a gentleman he still was disappointed he didn’t, even if you didn’t mind.

When you got home you thanked him for the wonderful night. “I’m going to see you again before I go,” he said from in the car, as you stood by the passenger window.

“I hoped you’d say that” you replied, “Good night Bucky,” you blew him a kiss, and his cheeks turned a bright pink.

“Goodnight y/n” he replied, grinning like a fool. He watched you walk into your apartment to make sure you got in safe before driving off. Gosh you were perfect.

-   

It was finally the day he left.

Just like he promised you did see him again. After each show through the week, he would bring you a rose. Each time making you blush.

Most days he just drove you home and you chatted in the car, but a couple of times you got dinner again and made the most of the time you had with your new friend. You wished he didn’t have to go; you wished every time you saw him you could kiss him. But that felt like it would complicate things, you hadn’t known him long enough to put yourself through that kind of heart ache.

You and Steve were at the train station saying goodbye to Bucky. It was hard for Steve, he wanted nothing more than to go with his best friend and fight for his country, but he couldn’t. They didn’t want him.

For you though, you had only known Bucky a week, you had grown so comfortable with him, so it was hard seeing him leave, not knowing if he’d come back. He knew more about you than some of your closest friends that you had known for years, he was just that kind of guy, someone you could trust.

Bucky wanted nothing more than to just grab you and kiss you, but he didn’t know if that’s what you wanted. Steve had told him the day before to just go for it, but he was unsure. He didn’t want to put you through the heart ache. As he picked up his bags, Steve gave him a giant hug, you stepped forward and did the same hoping you wouldn’t have to let him go.

Releasing each other from your embrace, you both looked into each other’s eyes. Your eyes filled with water, and you could tell Bucky was holding back tears.

“Goodbye Steve, goodbye y/n” he spoke sadly as he began to walk towards the train.

Steve looked at you as if to say, ‘are you sure you don’t want to just go for it?’ and you sighed. He was right, what was there to lose? Bugger this you thought, “Bucky!” you yelled running towards him, “You forgot something!” He turned around confused only to be greeted by you grabbing his face and softly yet hungrily pressing your lips to his. He sighed into the kiss dropping his bags, he didn’t push you away instead he grabbed your waist and pulled you closer. 

This kiss was nothing like any of the kisses you had experienced before, if fact it made you feel the same way ballet did. It was the same for Bucky, none of the kisses he had ever shared with anyone felt like this.

You finally stopped and parted, resting your foreheads on one another’s.  

“Don’t worry doll, I’ll see you again.” He spoke softly to you.

You stepped back as a few tears fell down your face, nodding. He gave you a charming Bucky smile before picking his bags back up and turning away. You walked back to Steve giving him a hug, as he watched his best friend leave him for the first time in his life.

You wanted nothing more than to believe that you would see each other again.

Little did you know you would, only 72 years later.

Chapter One (next chapter)

[connieshands]

Maybe I could also use that for a bit of an introduction, even though no one asked lol. While I am writing this I am realizing this is turning into an absolute novel, so if you just want the TLDR here it is:

- Anni, German illustrator

- also born in 93 like Connie, but 100 yrs after him

- heard of him in a Kaz Rowe video (huge channel recommendation)

- really only got into him after seeing "Caligari" in a movie theatre by accident

- first because of his looks, then because of his life story and personality - him being so vocal against the Nazis and having such progressive views for his time

- other interests include history in general, Jane Austen, Thomas Mann, illustration and art, knitting, crocheting, sewing and listening to YouTube in the background, being in nature - I think I'm just a cottage core girlie at heart

My name is Anni and I am an illustrator from Germany. I am a bit of a history nerd. I love to escape into different times. Anything to get away from the capitalist hellscape we are currently trapped in.

I am especially interested in ordinary people and lives. Just the different historical ways of living in general. I love to relate to people who came before us and I am always baffled by how similar we are to them, despite what people in the modern times like to say. No, they were not savages or more stupid, they were like you and me. That's where the beauty of history lies for me. That’s why I only got into history a few years ago, because the way of conveying history in schools is so removed from anything human (and also very male centric, but that’s a different problem all together), so I just couldn’t relate.

That ramble aside - I am also queer and so one of my favorite channels on YouTube is Caz Rowe. They make incredibly well researched and presented videos about queer history and history in general. They also made an amazing video on the queer history of the Weimarer Republik and focused a portion of it on Connie. That's where I heard of him for the first time. I thought "Oh, he seems super cool. Maybe I should watch this Caligari movie" and then promptly forgot and moved on.

Skip to a year later, this May, a good friend of mine who is an absolute film nerd hit me up and asked me to go to this cool live showing in a local community theatre. They were showing some old silent film, but the cool part was that they would have live music playing while showing it. I was totally in. I had always meant to try watching old films and what could be a better introduction to them than seeing them in a cinema with live music? My friend sadly fell ill, so I had to really beat myself up to overcome my social anxiety and go alone, but holy shit - I am SO GLAD I did! Turns out that random old movie was "The cabinet of Caligari". I only realized once I sat in the theatre that that was the film that I meant to watch one year ago and I was so excited and even more impressed!

I was impressed by the art, the sets, the music, the story, the performances and of course by this beautiful goth boy that was haunting the screen. Doesn't help that I have a thing for tall, very skinny and sickly looking guys with dark hair and pretty eyes (no seriously, my boyfriend has so many similarities to him, it's eerie). And yes, his acting was impressive, but I must admit that as a first time silent movie watcher it felt a bit goofy and ridiculous to me. So call me uncultured, call me shallow, but my interest in him really stemmed from pure physical attraction to him. Not Cesare by the way, but the photos I found of Connie right after getting out of the movie theatre.

What got me hooked on him though is how fascinating his life and he as a person was. In the days after the fateful visit to the movie theatre I re-watched Caz's video to refresh myself on what they mentioned about him and this really got me on the path to researching him and his life. Every new fact I learned was as insane/ interesting or impressive as the last. Do you know what is even more attractive than being tall and beautiful and haunting? Being a badass who openly opposes the Nazis, who has insanely progressive views on social issues. Being a person who is universally commended by colleagues and friends for being kind and humble. Being the sort of person who spends their fortune to help the fight against evil and to buy poor children Christmas presents during the war.

Living in Germany, we all are heavily educated on this dark chapter of our history. To the point that we don't really learn much else about our history (also thanks to what those monsters purged from our culture and artifacts). We learn of the atrocities committed, of the horror people lived in, of peoples feelings, of the propaganda. We often hear the phrase "You can't judge the common people for what happened. You don't know what you would have done under the Nazi's threat". And I agree. Most normal people would not have the courage to do anything. To oppose this evil openly. I would never judge anyone for rather saving their own lives and that of their families, but this is why all of those who did stand up against them despite that are heroes to me.

Connie is one of them. You can argue that Connie was not an ordinary man by then. He had the privilege of being an international celebrity. This is absolutely a thing to consider. However despite this he was captured and held by the Nazis and still did not give in or concede anything to them. He did not know if his life might not have been in peril, but still he stood by his moral convictions.

This I am in awe of. This is a deeply feeling and empathetic human being. Nothing would have stood in the way of him being just another uncontroversial German film star of the time, just shutting up and not being antagonistic and just being famous and rich in the environment of Nazi Germany. He certainly wasn't in the oppressed class. Maybe because of his bisexuality but I am sure they would have gladly overlooked his past (if they even knew of that) if he had been willing to make some propaganda films for them. He didn't. Standing up for the right thing was more important to him. Could he have done even more? Sure, there is always more you can do. But he did what his career allowed him to do. Convey the evil that was happening in his home country to the best of his ability through film and then spending the fortunes he made from them on the war effort.

I think this alone makes him worth of all the admiration he got and worth keeping his story alive in remembrance. Especially now, when the evils he and so many others fought against grow once again. I think that is another reason why he and his life story stick with me so much. History seems doomed to repeat itself sooner or later. People like him give me hope and the courage to hopefully stand up for what is right when the time comes. I know what I do here are mostly thirst posts and hey, that's still a big component, but I wouldn't be half as into him if he was not such a profoundly good human being.

Him not living to see the defeat of Nazi Germany is such a devastating thought to me. I could honestly cry every time I think about that. People nowadays being ignorant, being dismissive, being bigoted makes me furious, even more so now, when I once again revisit learning about that time thanks to him. I think now more than ever before would be an amazing time to introduce people to his story (and of course many others, but this is still a Connie thirst blog so I am focusing in him) and I am so thankful to people like Caz and all the other people who work to preserve his memory.

There are so many other things I adore about him, like his whole wild queer and occult side and so on, but I think I need to quit typing for now. Wow, this got way longer than intended. I don't know if anyone will ever read this far, but if you do - hi, let's be friends! Also thank you for reading. I will refrain from writing equally as long answers to the other questions in my original post, but I wrote some quick ones at the top of this post in the TLDR. If you like to know/ talk about anything else I am always down, just hit me up. I always crave a connection with people who share my niche interests, so please feel free to write equally long replies to my questions - I will read all of them.

I'd really like to know more about my fellow Connie fans. What's your origin story? How did you get into silent movies? What about Connie captured your attention? What about him kept your attention on him? What's your favourite thing/fact about him? What are other interests of yours that are completely unrelated? How are you, just in general?

[swissmissficrecs]

Favorite Sherlock Holmes fics from 2020

Usually I put a bunch of explanations and disclaimers on these lists but you know what, it was a weird year and I’m not going to try to justify or apologize for what I read or didn’t read so here are my favorites that were completed last year, in descending order of length:

and your very flesh shall be a great poem by CaitlinFairchild (151K, E, Johnlock) After a tragic confrontation with terrible consequences, Sherlock and John follow Mary as she flees to America.

Drawn to Stars by Silvergirl (107K, E, Johnlock, Sherlock/OMC) After the Culverton Smith case Sherlock is clean, working, and looking for a romantic partner—since John has told him that’s what he needs. Shame John didn’t mention he was interested in that role himself, before Sherlock went off to Rome with a gorgeous Italian copper to try to fall in love and become a complete human being. (This one is very slightly cheating because it was finished on 30 Dec 2019, but it didn't make it onto my 2019 list because I didn't read it until after I'd made the list. And it deserves to be on a Best Of list, so here it is.)

Thermocline by J_Baillier (83K, M, Johnlock) John "Five Oceans" Watson — technical dive instructor, dive accident analyst and weapon of mass seduction — meets recluse professor of maritime archaeology Holmes. As they head out to a remote archipelago off the coast of Guatemala to study and film its shipwrecks for a documentary, will sparks fly or fizzle out?

Do No Harm by Calais_Reno (79K, T, Johnlock) In 1923, Dr John Watson is on trial for the murder of his lover, Mary Morstan, a writer of popular mysteries. If convicted, he will hang. Sherlock Holmes sets out to prove his innocence, but finds himself more and more infatuated with the handsome doctor, and deeper and deeper inside the bohemian world of London's painters, playwrights, and poets. Will he uncover the evidence needed to acquit him in time?

To Be Human by ohlooktheresabee (78K, NR, Johnlock) There is a serial killer on the loose with a penchant for collecting the brains of his victims. Sherlock, John and Scotland Yard are on the case, but something about the chosen victims has Sherlock on edge. While they piece together the clues that will lead to the killer, John begins to realize that the way his best friend thinks may sometimes be more a hindrance than a help….

immediate and inglorious by simplyclockwork (72K, E, Johnlock) Bodies are showing up in back alleys, with no sign of a struggle, no trace of drugs. If not for the strangulation bruises on their necks and the scythe carved into their left shoulders, they could have died peacefully, in their sleep. With New Scotland Yard dumbfounded by the Grim Reaper Killer case, Sherlock is called in to consult. The more he investigates, the deeper Sherlock finds himself drawn into the work of London's newest serial killer. As his views of good and bad begin to blur, he risks losing himself to a darkness he never imagined. And, even more pressing: where does John Watson, grieving ex-boyfriend of the Grim Reaper's latest victim, fit into all of this?

Curtain Rising by tiger_in_the_flightdeck (61K, E, Johnlock) A disgraced television star is the target of a series of death threats just after a theatre production’s adaptation of The Sound of Music is announced with her as the lead. The suspect list is a mile long and growing, Rosie Watson is in the spotlight, and Sherlock might be getting too fond of his time on stage to focus on the case. With opening night approaching, can he and John figure out who wants their client dead before her final curtain rises?

The Fire Finds a Home by fearfully_beautifully_made (61K, E, Johnlock) After Sherlock and John decide to give having a relationship a go, this is how their relationship starts to develop. There a little bit of plot, if you squint, but it was mostly an excuse to write John and Sherlock having sex in a lot of different ways and learning to love each other.

Borrowed Ghosts by DiscordantWords (57K, M, Johnlock) In the aftermath of the Culverton Smith case, John spent one painfully stilted afternoon hanging out with Sherlock. He counted the minutes, finished his tea, and left for home without ever clearing the air between them. And once he'd left, he found it very hard to go back.

You Might Just as Well Be Blind by ArwaMachine (56K, E, Johnlock) When a serial killer starts targeting couples, Sherlock and John must do what they have to do in order to get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately, John already has a girlfriend. Surely pretending to be in a relationship with Sherlock won't pose any problems with his relationship, will it?

The Broken Tether by J_Baillier (54K, M, Johnlock) Maybe he thinks that you only enjoy his company because of the Work, because of the way his dazzling intellect shines when he's in his element, but the truth is this: it is when he is at his most human, most bare, that you feel closest to him.

how the light gets in by subtext-is-my-division (Quill_A)  (54K, E, Johnlock) Red wine always makes him tipsier than usual and he finds himself saying, the words slurring a bit. “You know, I’ve got to ask. Do you always shoot cabbies for people you barely you know?” John meets his gaze over the rim of his glass, and there’s something there that Sherlock can’t pin down. “Not for everyone,” he says, meaningfully, pointedly, his smile all teeth.

Erosion by saintscully (53K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock’s father falls ill, leaving the surviving family members broken and rudderless. James Sholto shows up in London unexpectedly, his intentions unclear. John has to navigate the consequences of crime, illness and death and their impact on his frayed relationship with Sherlock.

Hold You Like a Weapon by MissDavis (52K, E, Johnlock) Eurus shows up at 221B Baker Street in labour. Things go downhill from there.

Chances Are by Berty (51K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock is spending some time in his mind palace - so far, so normal. But why is John there, why do things keep changing and why are there only two exits from the sitting room at 221B, neither of which seem to go anywhere useful? It's a case like no other for Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

Sine Nomine by SilentAuror (45K, E, Johnlock) As Mycroft reviews the footage from Culverton Smith's morgue, he revisits his original question: whether John Watson would be the making of his brother, or make him worse than ever. He's come to a conclusion, but decides to give John one last chance. So he gives him a choice.

Cockaigne by HollyShadow88 (38K, E, Johnlock) When John’s contacted by an old uni friend about problems in his new art exhibition, he doesn’t think it will be worth Sherlock’s time. After a glance of the crime scene, however, they’re both pulled into the project in ways John didn’t expect. Will a week of erotic performance art finally be enough to bring them together in the way they both secretly hope? (Spoiler: it’s a tropey fic, of course it will)

Written in Ashes by 88thParallel (37K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock becomes the prime suspect in a homicide case, and recently unearthed memories of his childhood are complicating matters. It's up to John to track down answers — can he help Sherlock before it's too late?

A Desperate Indulgence by LollipopCop (34K, M, Johnlock) John thinks it's 2012 after waking up with amnesia, having no memory of Mary. Sherlock, exhausted from years of tension and hiding his love, pretends they got married instead.

Inhale With Ease by Vulpesmellifera (25K, E, Johnlock) In the years after Vivian Norbury's capture, life seems to work out just as John planned. He's got that respectable job at the surgery and goes home to his wife and child. He joins Sherlock on cases a couple times per week. It's a rhythm he can live with - just enough adrenaline highs to balance out the drudgery of a normal bloke's life. Until a pandemic, and Victor Trevor, arrive in London.

The House on Rue des Boulangers by Berty (24K, M, Johnlock) After being invalided out of the army and without any other prospects, John Watson has relocated to a small town in northern France. Now he has to decide what to do for the rest of his life. One morning there's a mad stranger in his garden chasing a swarm of bees, and it seems John's decision is made.

High Mountain Tea Leaves by disfictional (23K, E, Johnlock) A mountaintop robbery on a Japanese-occupation-era train where the only item stolen was a small case of mysterious tea leaves in a backpack? An ideal Christmas gift, two days late. Sherlock convinces John to travel for tea.

Detours by saintscully (22K, M, Johnlock, Sherlock/OMC) During the better part of the first year following Mary's death and the events at Sherrinford, Sherlock and John are slowly rebuilding their lives and their friendship. All seems (relatively) well and John takes comfort in once again being a father, a doctor and a friend. An unexplained shift in Sherlock's behaviour catches John by surprise, and he begins to worry about his place in his friend's life. John has to examine everything he thought he knew about Sherlock, himself and their relationship in order to win his rightful place yet again.

hands full of matter by simplyclockwork (21K, E, Johnlock) When Sherlock is captured in Serbia, Mycroft cannot afford to involve the British government in his rescue. Instead, he sends John. After two years spent thinking Sherlock was dead, John finds himself navigating not only Sherlock’s rescue but their fractured friendship as well.

The Victim Experience by J_Baillier (16K, T, Gen) A case takes Sherlock and John deep into the seedy underbelly of the haunted attractions industry. With audiences craving more and more intense experiences, is a real murder the next logical step?

On the Fence by BeautifulFiction (13K, T, Johnlock) The murder of the King's College fencing champion leads to revelations about Sherlock's past. Will it be the point that tips them from friends to lovers, or will they remain on the fence?

Plus bonus ACD era:

"Baker Street: The Sleep of Reason": A Memoir by John H. Watson, M.D. by Gaedhal (98K, M, Johnlock, Johniarty) This is a Victorian Era story in the "Sherlock Holmes" (2009) Ritchie-verse. The main characters are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson and is from the doctor's memoirs. It was written before "A Game of Shadows" so there are differences in this story and film canon, mainly in the person and backstory of one particular character.

The Taste of Truth by sanguinity (25K, T, Johnlock) Two and a half years after Reichenbach, John Watson discovers the magical tree that caused Holmes to fake his death.

The Adventure of the Vatican Cameos by Garonne (18K, E, Johnlock) How should one behave when waking for the first time in the bed of one's dearest friend? Holmes and Watson solve a case in Catholic London while navigating the turbid waters of their new relationship.

Hot Water by wordybirdy (13K, E, Johnlock, Watson/Gregson) Dr. John Watson's libidinous affair with a respected Scotland Yard inspector abruptly judders to a halt when the former meets a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, for the very first time. The attraction between the two is strongly mutual, but misunderstandings only multiply and tensions abound, as all three men attempt to deal with the new situation.

[adorethedistance]

A Pretty Good Bad Idea - Owen Joyner x Reader

JATP masterlist

Warnings: swearing, peer pressure kinda, very mild n fluffy

Words: 1865

Summary: Touring with the Julie and The Phantoms cast as a dancer has been the best time of your life, and the only thing that could make it better is the reciprocated affections of a cute, blond drummer.

A/N: So this piece is 1) inspired by this interview and 2) entirely self indulgent. It’s something I haven’t been able to get out of my mind every time I’m doing warm ups, and putting it down on ,, digital paper is my only way to get rid of it lmao. I hope y’all enjoy bc I know this scenario makes me really happy and I love sharing my joy with y’all.

I let out an involuntary whine when I roll forward into my almost-center splits. My hips are so sore from yesterday’s performance I had to force myself to start stretching in the first place. Getting a head start, I arrived at the concert venue an hour earlier than call time to get my lengthy stretching routine out of the way before the other girls show up. Slowly but surely, the rest of the dancers arrived and we began getting ready together.

“I have a speaker!” Tori announces to the room upon entering which makes me jump up from my seat.

“Yes! May I do the honors and bless y’all with my musical theatre playlist?” The rest of the group cheers, exposing themselves for the theatre kids that we are. After hearing the chime that signifies the speaker-phone pairing, a few seconds pass before “Cell Block Tango” begins to play. The entire group feigns outrage but we know all the words and soon indulge in such shameful pandering. A good pre-show playlist is what really gets me amped up for performing and after yesterday’s queue of ‘today’s hits’ pop, the musical theatre is a nice change of pace.

Since I’d gotten here so early, I decided to do my makeup before stretching and I still had time to spare. The only thing left for me to do was to get in costume but I’d wait until a little closer to showtime so that I could still eat and drink for the time being. This also meant I was free to roam and bother other people as they got ready, doing what I’d done almost an hour ago.

“So, Y/n?”

“Hm?”

“What’s going on with you and Owen?” I feel my breathing halt for a microsecond before looking up at, one of the other dancers and also my friend, Ella. My eyebrows are cinched in confusion as I try my best to figure out what it is she’s getting at.

“I don’t know, Ella. What is going on with me and Owen?”

“Oh come on. Your Instagram story from yesterday?” Oh. That.

“We just went to lunch?” I seemingly ask more than state.

“Yeah. Just the two of you. Don’t hold out on us, we wanna know what’s going on!”

“Really, Ella, there’s nothing going on. We’re just getting to know each other better.”

“Just getting to know each other better? Or getting to know each other better?” Tori butts in, dusting her cheeks with a subtle highlight.

“The first one?”

“How many times have you hung out?”

“Just the once.”

“Are you planning another date?”

“It wasn’t a date-”

“Do you want us to help wingman you?”

“I really don’t-”

“Hey.” The rapid-fire of questions cease when the gang of us look up to see Owen himself standing in the doorway.

“Speak of the devil,” Tori snickers as the rest of the girls slowly disperse and smugly resume doing their makeup. Owen makes a face in reaction to her comment but chooses not to pry.

“Could I borrow some hairspray? This one piece of hair won’t stay.” Despite each of the girls having a full can of hairspray on hand, nobody makes a move to give him the product, indicating that I should be the one to help him out. Rolling my eyes at the look Ella is giving me through the mirror, I stand from my chair and hand Owen the can of hairspray. He then looks straight ahead and moves to use the product but I stop him before he can.

“What’s your plan?”

“What?”

“Are you just gonna spray the piece?”

“...yeah?”

“That’s not gonna work since the rest of your hair already has product in it. Can I help you?” Owen nods amiably and takes a seat after I gesture for him to sit in my chair. I then realize my mistake as I need the comb on the grey countertop, and have to consequently reach past Owen in a way that wouldn’t be so compromising had I not worn such a low-cut top. Thankfully it’s over as fast as it began, and walking to the sink in the corner of the dressing room, I run the cool water over the bristles. It isn’t until I turn off the tap that I notice how eerily quiet the room had gotten. None of the girls are talking, attentively studying my every move as I cross back to Owen.

“Is this Chicago?”

“Uh, yeah, We’re listening to my musical theatre playlist though, not the whole soundtrack,” I respond in spite of the nervous laugh that falls from my lips. The slight slouch in Owen’s posture doesn’t help me to see what I’m doing clearly enough. Using my index finger and an upturned palm, I tilt his chin up to get a better look at his hair, willfully ignoring the fact that he’s staring at me right now.

Still, silence fills the room as I take the wet comb through the front section of his hair where the stubborn strand won’t stay put. Once the water binds the pieces together, I grab my can of hairspray and struggle to uncap it. The outside is slick from god knows what, but thankfully Owen doesn’t let me struggle anymore and holds up his hands to wordlessly offer his help. I hand him the can, and he pops the top off after barely struggling. Handing the can back to me, he holds onto the lid, and the entire exchange remains completely silent.

I have to work quickly in my next step, but it’s not enough to distract from the fact that everyone in the room is watching me intently. Holding the aerosol can away from the crowd of people, I put some of the product on the comb and quickly work it into Owen’s hair while it’s still wet. Once the comb has formed his hair to my liking, I stop brushing it through in fear of the now dry hairspray ruining the shape. Then, I use my left hand to shield Owen’s eyes from getting any product in them before spraying the offending area to seal in my hard work.

The sound of a cell door sliding closed signifies the end of the song, and I wait for a second, eagerly anticipating the next song to play. Upon hearing the staccato piano notes of “Bad Idea” from Waitress, a smile appears on my face.

“I love this song.” Lunging back on my right leg, I create a little distance between us to make sure I didn’t completely butcher the rest of his hair, singing as I do.

“It’s a bad idea, me and you.”

“I know, I totally agree.” Pleasantly surprised by his joining in, my smile grows bigger.

“It’s a bad idea, me and you.”

“I’ve never known anything so true-”

“It’s a terrible idea, me and you.” The effortlessness that the two of us find in harmonizing is a genuine shock and an absolute thrill all at once. Once Owen sees how excited I am by his joining in me, it’s like a switch had been flipped; the two of us immediately slip into Actor Mode and begin to sing the song as if we were performing it on a Broadway stage.

“You have a wife.” I take a small step back out of the character’s hesitation.

“You have a husband.” Owen mirrors my action.

“You’re my doctor-” I cross my arms across my chest, but release my right hand to gesture to Owen standing in front of me.

“You’ve got a baby coming-” He uses both hands to gesture back to me in my ‘pregnant’ state.

“It’s a bad idea, me and you,” the two of us turn slightly away from facing one another in false bashfulness. When the music picks up, the two of us avidly step toward one another to come together. In perfect synchronization, I grab Owen’s forearms and his hands face upwards to hold onto my elbows.

“Let’s just keep kissing ‘til we come to.”

“Heart, stop racing, let’s face it-” Owen pivots his step out to the side to face forward, extending his right arm which cues me to turn into him and take his other hand to spin out.

“Making mistakes like this will make worse what is already pretty bad.” Then he extends his right arm forward, and I turn into him once again.

“Mind, stop running. It’s time we just let this thing go.” Instead of spinning out again, I stop in front of him where he wraps both of his arms around me.

“It was a pretty good bad idea,” in our harmony I cast my gaze upward to see Owen staring right back down at me, and I feel like I’m seeing stars, “Wasn’t it though?”

The two of us continue dancing and singing with one another as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist. It’s only the two of us, here and now. The other girls in the room don’t miss the way I seem to smile like never before, and I sure as hell don’t miss the way my stomach fills with butterflies. When he holds me so close and dear for each intimate moment of the song, I’m seeing stars. A bold happiness consumes me, the same happiness I felt when Owen and I laughed over lunch in that small pizzeria.

The final harmony draws the song to a close and when it finishes, the two of us fall into a breathless kind of laughter.

“I didn’t take a big enough breath for that last part.”

“Me neither.”

“Your hair stayed intact.”

“I must have a pretty good stylist.”

After recovering from our laughter the two of us wind up in a palpable stupor as we stare into one another’s eyes. A few blinks and my trance is broken, I become aware of our surroundings.

“I should get dressed soon, and you definitely need to get dressed.” Owen nods still somewhat breathless.

“Yeah. See you later for pulse?”

“Save me a spot,” I joke as he backs out of the threshold of our dressing room. Leaning against the doorframe I watch him disappear into his assigned dressing room with a small smile still lingering on my features.

“Just getting to know each other my ass!”

“What the heck was that?”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to wingman you?”

“Do you even need a wingman after something like that?”

Turning on my heel, I face the bunch of insatiable dancers and shake my head in disbelief.

“We were just acting, you guys.”

“Liar.”

“Excuse me?”

“Maybe you were acting, but he sure as hell wasn’t. Did you see the way he was looking at you? He is totally in love with you.” Ella shakes me by my shoulders.

“He’s just a really good performer is all.”

“When is your next date?” she completely ignores me.

“Okay-”

“Oh, and I want to be the maid of honor at your wedding-”

“It was just a song, Ella.”

“-Oh my god you guys are gonna have the cutest kids! I mean, your hair with his eyes and cheekbones? Ahh! The cutest.”

***

A/n: the way that being on tour isn’t the most unrealistic part of this fic, but instead Owen actually knowing the lyrics is? Work diva.

Taglist: @caitsymichelle13​ @kaitlyn2907​ @itz-jas​ @crybabyddl​ @kcd15​ @kinda-really-lost​ @calamitykaty​ @morganayenneferburnham​ @n0wornever​ @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ @mrstodorooki @vicesvsvirturesfanfic @curlybrownhairedboys​ @amazinggracy​ @kaitieskidmore1​ @asdfghjkl-fanfics​ @ghostlygreenbean​ @juliefromaustralia @merceret​ @jemimah-b99​ @ifilwtmfc​ @thesweetestsinner​ @imsydneywalker​ @lovesanimals​ @thebloodthirstyvampress​ @bumbleberry-pie​ @losers-club6​ @tefilovesreading​ @dmcfarland1​@joynerxmercer @kexrtiz​ @talk-on-the-street​ @phantompogues​ @konciousdreamer​ @sunsetcurvej​ @warmnesss0ul​ @celestialmolina​ @lilyjoyner​ 

[themaribatpit]

Saturday Challenge: Double Crossover

Written by: The Maribat Pit   Prompt: Double Crossover Rated: M rating just to be safe (sexual references, mostly because of some very unsavory things Lila thinks and implies about Marinette.) Marinette x Jason Phantom of the Opera (specifically Hush Jason, from 2020′s Death in the Family).

A/N (Maribat fangirl): There is going to be a lot of class salt, Lila salt and some heavy duty character bashing.  I’m going to be upfront, there’s characters being called harlots. A/N (DC fanboy): My S.O. and I pretty much did karaoke while writing this.

Paris, 1875. Marinette worked in her parents bakery, while she loved her family dearly, she was dissatisfied with her current lot in life. She wished to become a singer, and everyday as she walked in the streets of Paris to bring flour to the bakery, she would stop and stare at the Conservatoire de Paris. The enchanting music and singing could be heard even in the streets.

Listening to music always reminded her of her favourite fairy tale told by her father, the one about  ‘Angel of Music’. She would sit on the street across the Conservatoire, close her eyes and listen to the beautiful music emanating from it. Once she tried to sing along, but passersby would be swift to yell at her to stop. They described her voice sounding like a rusty hinge.

Upon her 15th birthday, her parents presented to her a once in a lifetime opportunity. They had presented her with an approved application to the Conservatoire, they had saved enough money for tuition and would be sending her there to chase her dreams as an opera singer. Marinette held her parents tightly, thanking them constantly for the amazing opportunity.

That night, Marinette was unable to sleep, she was beaming with energy and excitement. She could not believe how her luck was changing, how she would be going to the musical academy of her dreams.

The next morning however she would be in a nervous panic for her first day of lessons. Running about the home, getting prepared, packing her bags. She even forgot to eat breakfast, she ran out the door with a croissant in her mouth, much to the chagrin of her parents.

However, her dream academy soon became a waking nightmare to her. She would be tormented daily by all her peers, especially one Lila Rossi, the prima donna of the academy. Every professor would sneer at her low birth, and did nothing when the others tried to sabotage her standing at the Academy.  She tried to keep her head held high, even as everyone else looked down on her for being a baker’s daughter. Marinette ignored the comments and rumours about how she was able to attend the prestigious academy.  Rumours that she dared not repeat, about how she and her parents must be criminals if they were able to afford to send her to the academy.  

It wasn’t enough for her to be stuck in the chorus, Lila Rossi wanted to make sure her place as prima donna of the academy was ironclad. A couple of the teachers felt that she was growing more temperamental, more complacent, and their eyes began to wander for a dancer to take her place.  The other dancers were unwilling to take her place, all except for Marinette, who saw it as a shining opportunity.  For Lila, this simply would not stand.  

The one time Marinette found a pair of scissors that had been used to cut the laces on her pointe shoes.  The same scissors that were missing from her sewing box days earlier. She decided that the time had come to confront Lila once and for all.

Marinette confronted her just before rehearsals began, scissors in hand, in front of everyone.  “Is it true?” she called, everyone turned to look at them.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Lila gasped.  She looked down to see her wearing her worn out slippers, before looking back up at her face.  “You do know you’re meant to be wearing your toe shoes now, right? The show is in a few days.” she reminded her.

“I do,” she breathed, “I also know it was you, you’re the one who cut the laces on my pointe shoes.”

Lila gasped and stepped back, everyone else was shocked by the accusation. She looked away for a moment, and squeezed her eyes shut.  Marinette knew the trick well from their acting classes at the academy, she was getting ready to make it look like she was crying.  “Why? Why would you accuse me of something like this?” she made sure her voice wavered as she spoke, “what reason do I have to sabotage a background dancer’s shoes?”

Marinette knew she had lost the battle before it had even begun, every dancer would move to protect Lila and her crocodile tears.  Lila was the prima donna, the daughter of a diplomat, and she had the entire academy in the palm of her hand.  “Perhaps there was some mistake,” she muttered, walking away from her classmates rushing to defend Lila’s fake tears.  It was useless trying to explain that the scissors were stolen from her, and that this was an elaborate setup.  It was her word against Lila’s, as the directors tried to command the dancer’s attention, Marinette ran.  

Once again, she tried to keep her head held high, it wasn’t as if anyone would believe her when she told them about Lila’s machinations.   She made a habit of keeping her costumes and pointe shoes hidden.  On occasion bringing them home whenever she visited her parent’s bakery, somewhere that little saboteur would not even think to look for them.

Months later, tragedy struck again when she received a letter informing her that her parent’s bakery had been burned.  Her parents, her hopes, her dreams all burned to ash in one night.  It was made worse by the fact that one rehearsal, Lila snatched the letter out of her hands and read it aloud for the entire company of dancers and singers to hear.   She assumed that it would be some kind of love note, probably preparing to spread rumours about Marinette sneaking off into the night with a mystery lover.  Instead, Lila simply made a show of pitying Marinette, “poor thing, it’s worse than I thought.  Unless you can find a patron to support you, your days at the academy are going to be numbered.”

Just as the theatre managers had arrived, Marinette fled, keeping her head down as tears were welling up in her eyes and blurring her vision.  Since the day she arrived she had been mocked, humiliated, tormented simply so that one girl could have the adoration and sympathy of her fellow performers.  Through all the salacious rumours and lies, she tried her best to ignore them and carry herself through it all.  The loss of her parents, their bakery, and now Marinette’s hopes and dreams, it was all too much to bear.  

Marinette ran to an empty music room to cry her heart out, she sat right against the wall, knees curled up to her chest and sobbed into her legs. In this state of absolute despair, she began to sing a song of her favourite fairy tale that her father would sing to her whenever she had a nightmare.  She sang a soft, painful prayer for the Angel of Music and a farewell to her lost parents. “Think of me, think of me fondly, when we say goodbye…”, her singing was hoarse, off key, full of sorrow.

The more she sang, the harder she cried. Soon to the point that she could not complete the song. However, a disembodied voice sang the remaining verse for her. Marinette paused from her crying to look for the voice, it felt as if it came from everywhere and nowhere. It was hypnotising, elegant, enchanting. She walked out of the music room to try to find the source of the singing.

“Come to me, Angel of Music.” The voice sang, in a smooth tenor voice, luring Marinette as if she was a moth attracted to a flame. The voice led her to a musical hall, reserved only for the academy’s annual showcase. She turned the door knob, to her surprise, the door was unlocked. She peeked her head through the door to see a cloaked figure playing the organ, the source of the enchanting voice. “Insolent girl, this slave of fashion. Basking in your glory.” The figure angrily sang “Ignorant fool, this prima donna.”

“Angel of Music, is that you?” Marinette tentatively asked the figure. The figure stopped playing, and turned around to face her. Marinette was taken aback by the figure, he was a tall man, wearing a red mask on the left side of his face. Another distinctive feature other than his magnificent voice was the white streak of hair and piercing green eyes.

“You are unlike any of the fools in this academy. You did not join this academy for fame or fortune. No, you came here because of your love of music.” The figure told her. He took a deep breath and composed himself, straightening his jacket. Then he raised an arm, reaching out to Marinette. “I am your Angel of Music, come to me Angel of Music.”  Marinette walks forward and accepts the Angel’s hand, thus beginning their first musical lesson together.

Marinette’s talent and ability in music skyrocketed with her extra-curricular lessons.   Her mysterious patron was also the one continuing to fund her education at the academy.  Meanwhile, no one else had the time to spread rumours about Marinette, not when there were rumours of a ghost haunting the Conservatoire.  

Unbeknownst to Marinette, she was the key to establishing control over a very profitable endeavour for her mysterious patron. The managers were being extorted to the tune of 20,000 francs and requested that box five remain open.  This money was nothing to them, especially when the sons and daughters of the wealthy and powerful were attending.  Very few had seen Jason’s face, and if they did, they would draw back in fear.   It was the result of a boyhood accident that left him changed and altered in more ways than one.  Taking control of the Conservatoire was merely the first step in taking control of an entire city.  This girl, Marinette, was the key to captivating their attention.  She would hold their attention and adoration as the rising star of the academy, drawing their eyes away from his growing influence and power.  Using talents and potential that they had cast aside, twisting their own hubris against them.  

Months later, everyone in the academy worked towards its annual showcase for its patrons, the nobility and all family members of its students. Lila had grown bored of tormenting Marinette, and had moved on to other victims.  She had her other dancers and singers wrapped around her little finger, and all eyes would be on her at the annual showcase.  

At last the day of the annual showcase had arrived, Lila sat at her personal preparation room, after all she would be the star of the show. She walked over to her wardrobe and opened it, she then screamed in horror to see her dress tattered and in pieces.

In the days leading to the showcase the Director of Conservatoire de Paris had received threatening letters demanding 20,000 Francs, box 5 to remain vacant and worse of all to replace Lila Rossi with some baker’s daughter. Director Bourgeois scoffed at the threats, tossing the letter away.

The next day during the rehearsal for one of the ballet numbers, students and teachers paid no mind to the threats that were outlined in the letter. Until one of the dancers looked up and gasped in horror. The other dancers looked up to find the stagehand hanging from the rafters. The theatre soon bursts into screams of fear as they all see the dead body of the stagehand.   Director Bourgeois ordered all faculty members and students present to remain silent of the murder. This prestigious institution could not afford such a scandal this close to such an important showcase. As the Director inspected the body, he found a letter titled to him attached to the corpse of a stagehand.

Director Bourgeois read the second letter with shaky hands, it read “Monsieur Bourgeois, good day to you. It seems you did not take my threat seriously. I present to you this corpse to show my sincerity. I see you have a young daughter, pray that no harm would befall her. I shall reiterate my demands, 20,000 francs, box five remain vacant and Mademoiselle Marinette shall replace the harlot Lila Rossi.”

Director Bourgeois collapsed into his chair, wiping his sweat. Until he heard a scream from outside his office. He ran out as fast as he could to see Lila Rossi confronting Marinette. Crocodile tears flowed from Lila’s eyes as she accused Marinette of sabotage, purposefully doing so in front of the Director's office.  

“How could you Marinette?” Lila wailed, “Whatever your reasons, how could you do this to me? To the Conservatoire?”

Marinette merely said “Lila, don’t you stay in a private room with guards patrolling the hallway outside?” She shrugs, “I was in my dormitory last night. Besides, how could anyone sneak into your room at night, unless they were a phantom?”

Director Bourgeois goes pale at Marinette’s implication, he had to intervene quickly, before the situation got worse. He attempted to placate Lila, “Now now mademoiselles, I can’t punish anybody unless we have solid evidence. As the saying goes ‘the show must go on.’ Signora Rossi, as you are currently unable to perform, I’m afraid Mademoiselle Marinette will have to take your place.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the offer given to her, she could not believe it. Director Bourgeois himself offered her the star role for this year’s showcase. It is all as her Angel of Music said would happen. She accepted the role wholeheartedly and thanked the director profusely, she skipped back to the musical hall to begin rehearsals, now as the main lead.

Lila’s jaw dropped to see the director siding against her, how he gave away her role to that peasant without any hesitation. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, she stomped her way back to her bedroom to begin scheming the ultimate humiliation for Marinette. She was so distracted with her rage, she had not noticed a shadowy figure following her.

Lila planned to show the entire Opera house just who Marinette was, little more than a filthy peasant who got lucky.  She was supposed to have packed her bags and left months ago, after her parents and their pathetic little bakery burned down.  “This Opera Phantom had a lot of nerve calling me a harlot, when Marinette is probably his little harlot.” she muttered harshly in the darkness.  She searched the costume room for the lead actress’ dress, a long flowing gown that brushed against the floor.  It was made with the finest fabrics that money could buy, it almost broke Lila’s heart to sabotage it.  She would rather die than see it worn by some peasant girl, a pretender, a talentless sham of a performer.  Before she can lay hand on the dress to destroy it, a gloved hand reaches out and grabs her by the wrist.  A voice interrupts her, “What do you think you are doing with that?”

Lila slowly turns around to see a grotesque figure staring at her.  In the candlelight, she was horrified by the person she saw. The left half of his face was severely burned, almost completely disfigured. His bright green eyes flared with a fury that genuinely terrified Lila as the figure glared at her. She immediately drops everything and screams, as she runs out the door as fast as her legs would carry her, wailing and screaming how the ghost is trying to kill her. “He’s there, the Phantom of the Opera!” she wails as he chases her down. The Phantom pursues his prey. Just as Lila runs around a corner, the ghost is there waiting for her. She gives another horrified scream, falling to the floor and trying to crawl in the opposite direction. “No no no, please don't kill me!” She begged as tears blurred her vision.

Her howls and pleas of mercy attract nearby students, teachers and guards. They all arrive to see Lila screaming like a maniac on the floor, alone and raving about some ghost hunting her down. “The ghost is real! He is real I tell you! He’s going to kill me!” she sobbed. As Lila was being escorted out of the academy, gossip spread like wildfire. Within hours everyone would be talking about how Lila had lost all of her sanity because of the ghost.

They had no other choice at that moment, the show had to go on.  If they wanted the night to go smoothly, with no one noticing anything strange or peculiar, they had to meet the Phantom’s demands.  Marinette stood there, centre stage, with all of Paris’ most influential in the audience. She began to sing her show stopping aria.  

As she glided across the stage and looked out into the audience, her eyes searched for the man in the red mask.  She liked to imagine her Angel of Music beaming at her with pride, without him, she would still be that sad little girl crying in the music room.  She sang as loudly and as clearly as she could, hoping that her voice would pierce the heavens clearly enough for her mother and father to hear.  

As she reached her crescendo, she peaked with an E6. Her voice echoed across the entire hall with the sharpness and perfection of a veteran soprano singer. The audience collective dropped their jaws at the spectacle. Marinette ended her aria with a bow, and the theatre erupted with a thunderous round of applause.  

Jason watched from his seat in box five, with a self satisfied smile on his face.  From that day forth, he would see to it that all eyes were on her.  

[simp4reggie]

Can you do a Luke x reader where the reader is Luke’s best friend and Luke is telling her about his developing crush on Julie. But unbeknownst to Luke, Y/N (the reader) had been harboring a crush on Luke, but she has to deal with seeing Luke and Julie being playful with each other, constantly feeling jealous but wanting Luke to be happy. This leads the reader to get distant and starts avoiding Luke. The bad notices this and tries to contact her, at this time Luke realizes that he has feelings for Y/N. Then they make up and have a happy ending!! Make it fluffy, good luck!!

Only Took 25 Years

Luke x Reader

Word Count: 3014 Words

A/N: @mggpleasedontlookhere I did it a slight bit different but I hope you like it! 

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Back in 1995, we all died. The boys were rehearsing for their gig at the Orpheum. I was in the “audience” watching them perform their hearts out, specifically Luke. He’s been my best friend since we were very young but for years I’ve always felt a little more about him. He’s the sweetest, most energetic person I know. He’s like a puppy dog. It kills me to know he doesn’t feel the same way. 

I heard the final strum of ‘Now or Never’ pulling me from my thoughts. I saw Luke waving me over to the stage. Behind me, a waitress clapped and cheered for them. “Thank you. We’re Sunset Curve,” Reggie said and winked at her . 

“Good job guys! This might be the best one yet,” I cheered walking on the stage.

“Thanks, (Y/N),” Bobby said, still on the high from performing. “Too bad we wasted that on sound check!”

I gave them each a hug but when I got to Luke it felt like it lingered longer than the rest of them. It was probably just in my head. 

“Wait until tonight, man, when this place gets packed with record execs,” Luke said with his arm around my shoulders. 

“Alex, you were smoking,” I heard Reggie say. 

“Oh no. I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire,” Alex shrugged off the compliment. 

I rolled my eyes. “Could you just own your awesomeness for once?” He smiled back at me and said, “All right, I was killing it.” We all laughed before Luke suggested getting street dogs before the show to fuel up. Reggie, Alex, and I all agreed while Bobby got sidetracked and started walking towards the waitress from before.

“Hey Bobby! Where you going?” Luke removed his arm from my shoulder to go catch up with him. All of a sudden I felt cold like my skin missed the feeling of his touch. I shook the feeling off and went to stand next to the guys.

“You guys are really good. I see a lot of bands. Been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it.” The waitress said to the guys.

“Thanks. That's what we do this for. I’m Luke by the way.” “Hi! I’m Reggie.” “Alex.” “Bobby,” The guys went down the line and stared at me. “Oh well, I’m (Y/N). I’m just a friend of the band.”

“She’s more than a friend,” Luke starts to say. My heart starts to race. “She’s the one who makes sure everything is set. Our instruments, the club dates, everything. Without her we’re just four boys without a clue.” I give him a little nudge. 

“Give yourself some credit. Without me you could get on any stage and become rock stars.” He gave me a side hug.

“Anyway, it was nice meeting all of you. I’m Rose.”

“Uh here’s our demo and a t-shirt. Size: beautiful.” Reggie hands her a CD and a shirt he must have grabbed from the stage before walking over. 

“I’ll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one.” Rose says putting it on her shoulder. 

“Oh good call. Whenever they get wet, they kinda just fall apart in your hands.” I say to her. The guys stare at me unamused. “What?”

“Don’t you guys have to go get hot dogs?” Bobby says obviously trying to get some alone with Rose. 

“Yeah he had a hamburger for lunch,” Luke says while walking away. We all follow him until we're outside the theatre. 

We decide to go get street dogs a couple blocks away. After making our hot dogs off the back of the oldsmobile, we choose to sit on the couch available squishing together so we fit. 

“You guys, this is awesome! You’re playing the Orpheum!” I exclaimed. “I can’t even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge! You’re going to be legends.”

Luke wrapped his arm that wasn’t holding a hot dog around me. “And you’ll be there every step of the way. You’re just as a part of the band as each of us.” I smile at him. “Eat up. ‘Cause after tonight, everything changes.” 

We all took a bite of our hot dogs. There was something off about my hot dog. I couldn’t find a word to describe it. And not in a good way. Alex voiced my thoughts, “That’s a new flavor.” I looked at him and he looked back at me like “Should we really be eating this?”

“Chill man. Street dogs haven’t killed just yet.” And then they did.

After we died, we ended up going into this black room where Alex ended up crying, a lot. Then after an hour ended up in their old studio. We found out it's 2020 and a lot has changed. After a lot of screaming and pleading, the girl who lives there now, Julie, ended up letting us stay there. Now here we are a couple days later, about to watch her perform for her teacher for the first time since her mom died. 

Luke gave her an old Sunset Curve that they never got a chance to record. I know it hasn't been long but I feel like Luke has started growing infatuated with her. After we heard her sing for the first time, he hasn’t stopped talking about how talented she is. I know he doesn’t want him to know but I saw him in the studio looking through lyrics using different handwriting. I’m surprised he’s not talking about that yet. 

The pop group that is performing ends and the principal goes on stage. Julie’s friend says to her “Now’s your chance. Go talk to her. I’ll see you in music class.”

“What are you waiting for? This is your time.” Reggie looks at Julie who might “yak in a bowl” if she waits any longer. 

“I just don’t think I had enough time to work on the song.” Julie says worried. 

“I wouldn’t have given you the song if I didn’t think you were gonna rock it. Now there’s a piano on that stage with your name on it.” Luke convinces her. Julie goes backstage and walks on looking nervous. 

“Oh I can’t watch.” I go to turn around but Luke puts his arm around to keep me in place. When Julie looks at us we all give her a thumbs up, mine not as enthusiastic as the others. 

Everyone in the auditorium starts to leave, she starts to play. The piano sounds beautiful with her voice. The occasional student walks over to watch but most of them already have their feet out the door. Then there are lights put on her. The song starts to reach the chorus and all of a sudden I don’t feel Luke’s arm around me and I don’t see the guys. That’s when I notice that I hear cheering and look up to see them on stage with her. After putting two and two together I realize that they are visible to the audience. How is that even possible?

I go run up to the front of the stage. “How is this even happening?” I yell up to them. Reggie looks at me and shrugs. They look so happy. They never thought this was even possible. I look over at Luke and see Julie singing with him. I get a twinge of jealousy wishing I could have this connection with him but I never will. They have so much chemistry on stage I don’t even want to watch. I spend the rest of the time watching Alex and Reggie. 

At the end of the song, they bow and the boys disappear with their instruments. I go out into the hallway to find them pacing around. “Did that just happen?’’ They turn around and give me a massive hug.

“I can’t believe that just happened! Everyone could see us. Please tell me I”m not the only one freaking out!” Alex starts panicking so I walk over and rub his back to calm him down. 

“Bro, I think we’re all freaking out!” Luke eagerly says. “People can see us play. How cool is that?”

“So cool.” Reggie smiles at Luke and they do a little handshake.

They start talking about the performance but my mind keeps going back to Julie and Luke together on that stage. 

“Guys i'm gonna go home.”

“What why?” They say together.

“I’m just not feeling too well. Talk to Julie and see what’s causing this. I’m happy for you.” I see Luke step forward but I poof out before he can say anything.

Back at the studio, I start to spiral downward. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can barely pick something up. I realize being at the studio is doing nothing to help me so I go for a walk on the beach. It made me realize how much I missed being alive and feeling the sand between my toes when the guys and I needed to get away from our families. The nights we would spend here watching the sunset, which inspired the band name. 

Before I know it the sunset comes and goes. The guys are definitely home at this point. I poof back to see them pacing around. “(Y/N)!” Luke runs up to me. “Where have you been? We were getting worried. 

“Just went for a walk to clear my head. A lot has been changing recently.” I walk past him to sit on the couch. I need to talk to someone about this. “Alex, can I talk to you for a minute, alone.”

Alex looks over at Luke and Reggie as if telling them to go. Luke looks a little offended that I don’t want to talk to him but he poofs out first. Reggie follows after him. After they’re both gone, he checks behind the door to make sure they’re not spying and then walks over to the couch and sits down. 

“What’s going on (Y/N)?” 

“A lot, honestly.”

“Well it must be if you don’t want to talk to Luke about it.” He looks at me knowingly. “Is it about him?”

“How do I say I’ve been in love with him for over 25 years?” Alex just stares at me like it wasn’t brand new information. “Is it that obvious?”

“To me but Reggie is oblivious to everything. Why did you disappear after the performance though?”

“Did you not see him and Julie on stage together? They totally had chemistry. I can’t compete with that.” I see him look at me with pity. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“I-I’m not looking at you in any way. I’m just paying attention.” I roll my eyes. “But in all seriousness, are you going to talk to him about this?”

“Of course not. He doesn’t like me back. He’s my best friend and I wouldn’t be able to look at him the same way if he actually said to my face.” I can’t picture my life without Luke in it and I don’t ever want to experience it. 

“Well, ignoring him isn’t going to help either. He was worried about you when you left and even more when we came back and you were gone. He needs you, too. He needs someone to be there to boost his ego.” He nudges me. I chuckle.

“You’re right,” I nudge him back. “Thank you for talking to me. I needed to get it off my chest.

“No problem. I’m always here for you.” I give him a big hug. We may be ghosts but I at least get to have these moments with the boys. 

“Oh. By the way, we asked Julie to join the band and she said yes. That’s okay, right?” Alex said quickly.

“Yeah. It’s your band, you don’t need my permission.”

Weeks go by and it’s getting harder to watch Julie and Luke sing together. I can see from the way Luke looks at her that he likes her. I’ve been thinking about my conversation with Alex about how much he needs me but he’s been going to Julie more often that it doesn’t feel like he does. Because of this I’ve been spending more and more time at the beach. Only Alex knows where I’m going in case of emergencies. 

“Hey.” I hear to the left of me. I look to see Luke standing there. 

“Hey. How did you know I was here?”

“I asked Alex. You’ve only been talking to him recently. I didn’t know I would have to find out what’s going on with my best friend from someone besides her,” He sits down in the sand next to me. “But of course, even Alex won’t tell me because he’s too good a friend.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I turn away from him.

“You know exactly what I mean. You’ve been dismissive. You’ve been acting weird ever since we performed at the spirit rally. You’re never around anymore.” He tries to get me to look at him but I refuse. “Fine. If you’re going to ignore me, I don’t even know why I’m going to try.” He poofs out. I start crying right there. I know that I said it would be hard to not have him in my life but now I don’t know because I don’t know which one feels worse. 

I hear another noise and I turn, hoping Luke came back but  of course not. “Oh, it’s you.”

“You don’t sound too happy about that.” Alex takes the spot where Luke was not too long ago. “Look, I know it’s difficult but try not to be too hard on the guy. He doesn’t know how you feel.”

“It’s not just about that. I know that we’re dead. Okay? I’m not dumb but it still hurts that I can’t help in the ways I used to. I was the one in charge of booking clubs and managing the tour dates. Now, I can’t do that because nobody can see me. I know its bullshit and there’s other things to be upset about. I just miss being an important part of this band,” I stop for a second but he doesn’t say anything so I keep going. “Too much is changing and I can’t handle it. I love you Alex, I do. And I am so thankful that you’re here right now but Luke was the one I was going to about this stuff. I can’t now, not only because I am gut wrenchingly , painstakingly, heartbreakingly IN LOVE with him, but because he’s spending every waking moment with Julie. I just, I don't know what to do.” Once I’m done I just let my back hit the sand. 

“Yes, you do.” I hear a voice that’s not Alex and I’m really hoping it doesn't belong to Luke. However, as soon as I open my eyes I see him looking over me. “You always know what to do.” 

I stand up to look at him and notice that Alex left us alone. “Luke... what are you doing back here?”

“After I went back home, I realized something. I couldn’t leave you alone. Obviously, you had something going on. It shouldn’t have mattered if you told me anyway. Just that you weren’t alone.” 

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough. I didn’t know you felt that way. About any of it. I know it’s hard that you can’t help like you used to. It’s not bullshit, okay? You helped us so much and now it may feel like we don’t need you but we most definitely do. Who’s going to keep us sane? Alex? Seriously, he cried for 25 years with no hug and he won’t let us forget it! No, you will. You have been there since the beginning and you are a massive part of this band. You always will be.” Tears are streaming down his face.

“What about Julie?”

“What about her?”

“You’ve been spending so much time with her. Outside of the band and song writing. All you do now is hang out with her. I miss you so much, Luke. You have no idea.” I turn away from him like before.

“Nope. No.” He pulls me back to face him. “You’re not shutting me out again. You’ve spent more time here than you have at home. You can’t do that and then talk about me not seeing you more.”

“Luke you know that’s different.”

“No, it’s not.” He stops.

“What do you mean?” I stare at him, waiting for the words to come but won’t be prepared to hear.

“All of the time I spent writing and singing on stage, whenever I was hanging out with Julie, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Every time I was singing I looked at you in the audience but you weren’t looking at me. You were looking at someone else.”

“I couldn’t look at you. You were looking at Julie. You have a connection with her.”

“I have a connection with everybody I sing with. Hell, I have a connection with Reggie when I sing with him. But neither of them are you, (Y/N). I love you.”

“You what?” I walk closer to him.

“You heard me.” 

“Say it again.” I demand.

“I love you.” Luke was right. I do know what to do. I threw my arms around him and put my lips on his. Our mouths molded together like a perfect fit. I felt alive again.

“I love you too.” I said against his lips. He let me go. 

“Good or else that would’ve been awkward.” I laughed. I can’t help but hug him again. He hugs me back harder than before, resting his chin on my head. “God, I love you. It feels so good to say that.” 

 I look up at him. It feels so good to be in his arms. It feels so good to be able to hold him the way I wanted to. It only took 25 years and a hot dog.

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Requests are still open! Feel free to send some my way

- Maddie xxx