#that there really IS something fake/wrong about a fan jumping around what episodes they watch or whatever
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ten-cent-sleuth · 2 years ago
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One of the reasons I always end up with impostor’s syndrome with new fandoms is I start digging for info about my faves ’cause I wanna know all their angsty and whumpy storylines. And then I end up knowing all the dirt about freaking season 43 or something while I’m on episode 4 of the first season. And then I start watching YouTube clips and skimming meta blog posts and reading fanfic about spoilery stuff, and maybe I even start writing my own fanfic based on all of that secondhand knowledge… That’s when the You’re A Fraud You’re Tricking Them Into Thinking You Love The Show Like Them All While Being Far Inferior thinking sets in. So I start avoiding that fandom and end up trying out another show, and weeeell… 🙃
SO. I’m going to try to combat this vicious cycle by sitting down with a show and watching it linearly. No spoilers. No YouTube comps or clips. No fanfic until I’m done. Just one show, I challenge myself. Yesterday, I decided on what that show would be—Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
I’ve already had a few things spoiled about it, like Stabler’s leaving (and coming back), a bit about the Lewis arc, and something about Benson adopting a kid. But I’ve resisted diving too deep into any of these and consequently getting even more spoiled, which, pity me, has been very taxing on my willpower.
Well, I look forward to this ride y’all. Here’s to the first time in, like, a decade that I’m going to watch a show the way you’re technically supposed to. 🥂
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mikuni14 · 9 months ago
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Pit Babe - Ep 13
I don't have much to write about this, because with the exception of Way and his potential partners, nothing else really interested me in this series. And it's good that people who know the novel were throwing spoilers left and right without warning, because thanks to this I could mentally prepare for what will happen to Way 😶 Thanks to the fact that Way in this episode just stood there, then jumped, and then died, making it all about Babe anyway, and thanks to spoilers, his death didn't really affect me. It was oddly funny tho, when I thought wistfully again how great Pavel and Nut are together and how I wish they were together as a pair (this is my unfulfilled ship in this series). I watched for a bit after that scene, hoping that maybe Way had somehow survived, hehe, but it was a vain dream 🤡 I honestly chuckled in disbelief when PeteWay was reduced to Pete's little sadness and a montage of some 4 of their scenes, and when I realized that they didn't even have Kenta there to mourn his brother. Tbh I skipped through the rest of the episode, and since I wasn't interested in the rest of it in the first place, that was the end of my adventure with Pit Babe 🥳 Despite knowing the spoilers, I had quite high hopes that Way would survive, because he was actually VERY popular in the Pit Babe fandom, and killing off a fan favorite is always a risky move. Way could have been punished for what he did in many ways, he could have left the team, cut off contact with Babe, left the country, anything. Even go to jail, like in History 3: Trapped! And yet they chose something so final. Nobody even called an ambulance for him....
I liked that it was Kenta who ended The Tony problem, and that he wasn't overwhelmed by his own actions, didn't lose control and stopped Tony when he tried to hit him. It was actually my fav part of this ep. (and the whole Winner and The Boys scene lol) As I understand it, Kenta didn't have any more scenes after that? Even to cry over Way? Am I wrong? I ask, because maybe he did appear after all, and I have missed him by skipping scenes.
If you are a Charlie fan, don't read this part: Even though I'm allergic to Charlie and CharlieBabe, I forced myself to watch their scenes at the beginning because I was curious how Babe would deal with the fact that Charlie was alive, he lied to him in a most fundamental way, broke his heart in the worst possible way, sending him into mourning and a destructive need for revenge. Babe handled it with flying colors like a model grief stricken patient 👌 Can't help but wonder, why there was a ENTIRE episode about the grieving Babe when he acts now like Charlie came back safe and sound from visiting his mean family during Christmas. I don't know if I could be with someone who actively chose the most cruel way to hurt me but "for my own god", I certainly couldn't just forgive it, but that's just me 🤷‍♀️ Babe was used, abused, hurt, never asked for his opinion, for what HE wanted by everyone around him, over and over again, and everyone knows it and everyone continues to use him and hurt him because they know they CAN and there won't be any consequences. When Charlie, beaming happily, announced the reason for faking his death and traumatizing Babe, and Babe was liked, oh ok, I thought to myself, haha, ok, guys, you know what, I actually envy you this simple life of yours. This scene confirmed only one thing for me: yep, Charlie and this pairing irritate me just as much now as at the beginning 😏
I don't know if I understood correctly, Jeff had a vision and knew that Way was going to die? As I recall, he tried to stop his previous visions from becoming reality, and now he did nothing? Can someone confirm this for me or have I missed something here?
So. PeteWay and PeteKenta have carried this series for several last episodes, these ships have been heavily promoted by the series and the show's cast. The ending of these ships with Way's quick death, which is not even about him but about Babe and the disappearance of Pete and Kenta from the plot, in my opinion, is an insult to their fans who have invested their time, energy and emotions in this series (this is not about me, I mean all those people whose hard work I furiously reblogged, I love you besties). It sort of looks like baiting now , I thought Thai BL series of all were above that 😄
Sending hugs and kisses to Pit Babe fans and fans of things that could have been 😘 As for me? I hope there will be a lot of content with Nut from now on 💖
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Pretty pics from @infinitelyprecious
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dreamteamspace · 4 years ago
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We hit 400 so here’s a- ✨ DREAM APPRECIATION ESSAY ✨
(by Yours Truly. Much thanks to the one, innocent anon who just wanted to ask a small talk question but hit my serotonin-providing hyperfixation.)
1. Self-esteem
I love the way he’s confident in his abilities when it’s become such a “trend” to either be completely and utterly self-depricating about your own skills out of fear of being labelled an asshole or overconfident nowadays.
At the same time you can still tell he doesn’t want to pull anyone down ever, and will always be really careful with that and take every oppertunity to lift up the people around him. Dream has a very emotional voice that gives him away a lot, so you can really tell he genuinely admires the people around him and he’s never afraid to say that they could totally easily beat him in something if he doesn’t have practice with it.
He tends to be a bit too hard on himself, so his friends always encourage him in his abilities, and that’s just. So nice. He celebrates his victories! He gets so so excited and happy when he wins in the manhunts, and I think celebrating your hard-earned victories isn’t something that should be villanized.
He won, and we should KNOW by now that doesn’t mean he thinks he’s somehow better than everyone. He has a pretty good eye on his abilities, and that allows him to really use them to the max.
2. Morality
He isn’t afraid to change the game! His adhd picks out a Cool New Thing and he just goes, You know what? Why not! His adhd goes “do this thing repeatedly another 3847 times” and he’s like, yeah sure!
Nobody expected him to release a song, but he just went for it! He’s been speedrunning so much, but he isn’t afraid to stream it every day 5 days in a row for hours while his friends bicker in the background.
Dream genuinely does the things he finds fun, but at the same time puts in so much effort to make them good and entertaining to watch and never forgets about his viewers.
He’s kidfriendly because he wants to be! Fame-wise, at this point he could definitly swear more if he wanted to (and he does when in other people’s content who don’t care about swearing), but despite that he doesn’t swear on his main because he wants his content to be accessable for everyone.
Sure, on one hand it could be for clout/money, but consider: Dream doesn’t stream the DSMP because he doesn’t want to take attention away from other people. He participates in the videos of his friends. He lets compilation channels and the like do whatever they want and even monetize his content. He lets his friends stream Road Trip on twitch as much as they want for free.
Dream doesn’t not swear just for his fanbase, but he does it because he has so so much respect for people. No matter how high he goes, he’s always consciously focused on respecting and admiring the people around him.
He has genuine respect for creators so much smaller than him, and he has respect for people in his fanbase that are younger than him. He isn’t afraid to go against the norm and STAND for that, either (see the video where he defends his stans).
And he defends his friends so much too! So much so it could almost be a little bit of a flaw sometimes, but I feel like he truly wants to learn from his mistakes. He apologizes for things even when nobody asked him to, and that just shows that he does it out of genuine guilt and fear of hurting someone.
He’s always seemed like someone who is genuinely willing to change to be a better version of himself, who isn’t afraid to challenge what he thinks and what other people think and what the norm thinks in order to improve everything for everyone.
Dream also doesn’t let any of the fame get to his head! As I said before - he’s confident in the things he’s good at, but in a way that doesn’t pull other people down, and he still remains firmly admirable of other people.
And even when OTHER people let fame get to their head (it was a while ago, but there was a video he made about five block jumps, where he added in a clip of a video of another guy doing it complete with credit and link etc. The guy was 100% alright with it at first, but when his video started getting more views because Dream’s video blew up, he started accusing Dream of “stealing” his content (when dozens of other videos of the 5 block jump already existed, and Dream could’ve just put in a clip of himself doing the jump)),,, but he insisted in his reponse that fame gets to people’s heads sometimes, nobody should blame anybody, he genuinely was never upset at him and just said that this just... happens sometimes.
He’s a very forgiving person all around, in part due to being willing to challenge his own norms and give people the benefit of the doubt JUST in case he’s wrong. He lets people enjoy things so long as they aren’t hurting anybody, like allowing people to ship him w people who are also alright with shipping, but at the same time taking a hard stance on, say, how shipping minors is absolutely wrong and should not be done ever (and he’s right).
3. Fandom
He appreciates said fanart and fanworks as well! He thinks dnf fanart is cool and he even appreciates the fanfic part of his fandom, something many ccs wish to ignore or forget it exists altogether (and it IS ofc in their right to do so or be uncomfortable with such content!), but Dream sees the work put into it and how people find connections and friendships through the fandom and appreciates it all the same.
He loves his fandom. So much. But not in the overdone, fake-feeling way I’ve seen other ccs be,,,, he’s just. Quiet and shy and genuine about it but not afraid to defend it.
He’s said before - and I QUOTE - “If you send hate to people or have sent hate to people, in the form of hateful comments or DMs, you aren’t welcome in my fandom. You’re no fan of mine”, which is the HOTTEST take he’s ever uttered and I love that. He really just went and said that. And he’s right. I like that despite how he’s usually more held back and waits things out before taking a stance, he chose this topic to really take a hard stance on and not budge and stick to it.
Pmbata has also said that he believes his fans have his back no matter what!! And that he really loves them a lot!!! And I am!! Emotional!!!!
4. ND/Adhd
He has adhd which is something I relate to personally (I have it as well sdlkfj). He gets excited sometimes!! I love how he shows being fidgety in mc, always pacing and parcouring around,, the way that in manhunts you can SEE when he’s thinking or bouncing back and forth between two options,,, or the way he gets close to people in mc to laugh with them.... He shows so much with his movements by them being quick and daring and calculated (and it’s especially hilarious to watch other people react to it in the video “mc but three people control one player”, where he’s the one moving and Sapnap and George will gasp or go “Dream!!” in surprise when Dream was THIS close to falling off a ledge, but he just laughs sdlkfjsdf).
When he’s not moving around he stands perfectly, perfectly still (which, idk if thats what all adhd ppl have, but I know I have something similar? Like when I’m nervous I’ll sometimes just. Freeze in place. No movement at all). He’s just relatable sdkjf.
There was one Manhunt extra scenes where he,,,,, stims by clapping,,,,,, the lil excited clap in the background,,, I’m gonna cry. I’m so soft for excited Dream that one is such a comfort clip for me!
He also tends to stim by getting under trap doors and then jumping back out of them, or jumping up a block and then walking back down over and over (especially noticable in The Village Went Mad tftsmp episode, where they were all discussing who the murderer could be and he was the only one moving, hopping up the log and then running back down again).
Also it is. Really Soft when he starts rambling and overexplaining something. What’s even better is that George, who is usually present at such moments, will laugh a little at his antics, and Dream will automatically laugh with him.
5. Rp/Uplifting other ccs
Dream wasn’t all THAT into the rp at first, but his server has been so strongly supporting and giving attention to smaller creators that he’s since completely rolled along with it. Being a villain in the RP is a difficult role because you will, inevitable, as much as it is just roleplay and all scripted, always get some amount of dislike from people for it.
Despite that, he’s basicly the main big villain on his own server where he let a bunch of theater kids beat him up in character and imprison him on his OWN SERVER. He wasn’t as into the rp at first, but has obviously been practicing and joins every Tales of the SMP when he can, despite getting zero clout for it.
What Dream also tends to do is find small content creators, see their talent and lift them high. His entire discord server is dedicated to give smaller ccs a place to grow, and when he first found Tubbo, Tommy, Ranboo, etc., they were much much smaller than they are now. He truly wanted to help them make it big.
He’s also added Foolish Shark and Hannah onto the SMP, both much smaller ccs (not tiny, but you get what I mean), allowing them to grow. He doesn’t stream on his OWN SERVER. He let himself get imprisoned to let the good guys win on his OWN. SERVER. He’s willing to play the villain and everything.
An interesting thing though! A lot of people used to/still do clown on Dream a bit for his sometimes uncertain acting,,, but when he’s around people he knows well (Sapnap and George, Tubbo and Tommy) we’ve seen him go ALL OUT. I have the theory Dream might be genuinely afraid to accidentally be mean to someone in character and have them misinterpret it sldkfjsdf,,, so he’s rly careful when he goes into the rp, and sometimes even when he’s in it he goes quiet, especially with other people around.
But also the fact that he needs time to feel comfortable around ppl is,, a mood,,, and adorable,,, sdlfkjsdf-
Apparently he’s also shared his youtube algorithm secrets with Tommy?? Which he had only shared with Sapnap and George before?? Dream took one look at that chaotic kid and immedietly adopted him as his little brother. He literally got up super early to rp the prison visit. Idk about ya’ll but I would die for someone first and get up horribly early for them second-
6. Friends!!
Dream?? Considers so so many people his friends?? And despite having so many friends, he also has his few closest friends (George and Sapnap) whom he would absolutely die for in a heartbeat. He WILL defend them with everything he has and loves them so so much.
He listens to them and really, truly wants them to succeed. He respects them so much and will go OFF about how good they actually are and how talented they are and how important they are to him.
I can’t even COVER everything about how much he is SOULMATES with Gorg. They live in each others heads rent-free. He mentions him all the time. They get!! So happy when they’re around each other!!! Their voices get so soft,,
And I can’t even BEGIN to explain the energy of Sapnap and Dream just moving together permanently. Imagine moving together with your best friend. Like, permanently. Into one house. They’re best friends Your Honor,,,,
Also,, remember the Techno and Dream rivalry? And Dream has recently said that he’s hesitant to make a serious manhunt against Techno because he doesn’t want there to be any feud between them or have them be compared to each other. He said that while he absolutely wanted nothing more than to beat Techno at first, now that he knows him better he just wants to be friends with him. He wants to be FRIENDS. With his, essentially, mc RIVAL. Friendly rival, but still. He doesn’t even wanna fight Techno or have ppl compare them cause he,,, wants to be friends with him,,,,
7. Vulnerability
What I feel like really sets Dream apart from some other ccs for me is that he’s willing to be vulnerable. He will tell George he loves him. He defends his friends. He sounds so, so genuine when he tells his fandom that he loves them.
What’s just really rare to see, especially in male ccs, is that vulnerability. It’s becoming more acceptable as time goes on, but it’s certainly not easy, and a lot of people become and stay long-term fans BECAUSE they can see how genuine he is.
I know Dream looks up to Mr. Beast a lot, for example, but honestly? I think he’s a little better than Mr. Beast. Because he feels more genuine, more bound to what he believes is right. I’m sure Mr. Beast isn’t a bad content creator! But ultimately they have different target audiences and I’m very glad Dream is the way he is.
Less of that insecure masculinity and more willing to be vulnerable, to care about things, to get emotional and to encourage and uplift the people around him.
8. Pure Brainrot
Green boi has nice deep calm soothing voice. Little shy laugh. Wheeze laugh. Gorg live in his head rent-free. He lov friends. He lov block game. He good at block game,,, a little shy but confident,,, big heart,,,, soft voice,,,,, rambles sometimes....
He also Gender. He’s so gender. I don’t know how else to describe it. I want That. Whatever That is. My gender is Dreamwastaken
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robinofgothamcity · 4 years ago
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♡ prompt: “i'll make sure never to leave you alone.” 
♡ pairing: Baron Zemo x fem reader
♡ lyric inspiration: “you know I’m just a flight away, if you wanted you could take a private plane, los kilometros estamos conectando y me prendes aunque no me estes tocando.”
♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / for OBVIOUS reasons, heavy spoiler warning if you are not watching or are planning on watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier. this is kind of based on episodes three and four. 
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“we might need to call an old friend of mine for help,” Sam told both Bucky and Zemo. Bucky gave him a look of confusion, “she’s a friend of my sisters. before the blip and all that, she was a working college student. she’s really good at being a decoy for things,” Sam explained. 
Bucky sighed, not knowing whether to agree with this or not. Zemo had no say in the matter as he was on a very strict leash with Sam so he didn’t bother to say much. 
“well, what are we waiting for? if we need to be in Madripoor soon, I think it’s best we get ahead of the game before it gets any later than it already is,” Bucky stated as Sam agreed. 
Zemo had been ‘kind’ enough to fly them back to where you currently stayed at. 
+
the four of them touched down in Wisconsin in the later part of the morning. the wind was blowing briskly through the air as they all groaned about the slight cold. Sam was never the one to like the cold in the first place, Bucky for obvious reasons despised the winter climate, and Zemo found the Wisconsin farm scenery to be eye-catching. 
“wait, how is she going to help us again?” Zemo asked as Sam put the information of your current house into the GPS. “she’s worked a lot with computers. she became friends with Sarah while she went to school in Louisiana. I think she could be of help considering she’d blend in with the younger crowd without us seeming suspicious,” Sam went into detail.
both Bucky and Zemo were confused on the entire situation but followed Sam’s lead regardless. they ended up in a small town a few hours out of where the plane touched down. your house was surrounded by a bunch of farm land and from the looks of it, you kept up with outside work. 
“with her knowledge in computers and being able to blend in with the crowd, she could gather information that neither three of us could get.” Zemo looked up to Sam, “I know Madripoor better than anyone. what gives you the implication that I can’t get the information myself?” he asked.
Sam waved him off as they got to your doorstep. your house looked cozy in comparison to how you lived before the blip. he knocked on the door softly, stepping back almost immediately. it took you a while to answer it but as they heard footsteps, they heard a ‘who is it?’ from the other side of the door. 
“it’s Sam.” 
you jumped back in surprise. you weren’t expecting to have Sam of all people knocking on your door at this hour. Sarah hadn’t told you that he was even going to come and see you. 
“Sam? James?” you asked, immediately playing with the skin on your fingers out of nervousness, “is something wrong? I wasn’t expecting you, nevertheless James here,” you continued as you let them inside. you looked at the third person, confused on who they were, “uh, may I ask who you are?” you questioned. 
“that’s Zemo but that isn’t important. we need you for something we’re working on,” you sighed in defeat. 
your life pre-blip was as normal as it could possibly be but after the blip, you lost your boyfriend at the time and your family dynamic had completely changed. you were no longer as close with your siblings, you were really never close with your dad to begin with, and your mom was just trying to fit back in as normally as possible without freaking out that something would happen to any of your siblings or yourself. 
“there’s a group of people who re-created the super soldier serum and we need help finding out who did it and why,” you immediately whipped your head up to look at Sam, “as in the thing that created Winter Soldier here and Steve?” you exclaimed, a sense of panic coming out as you spoke. 
Sam nodded, trying to calm you down before you could deny him all together, “since you still look kind of young and you were getting your degree in computer science, I was hoping you could come with us to Madripoor and scope out the scene while we talk to some people,” he explained. 
“Sam, I never even finished my degree. the blip happened before I could graduate and post blip, I haven’t touched a computer to that extent,” you replied. Bucky put his hand on your shoulder, “we really need you. you’re not someone who would catch attention easily and whatever you do remember could still help us in the long run,” he interjected. 
as Zemo watched both Bucky and Sam try to persuade you, he could tell you weren’t falling for it but now that he was standing in your kitchen, he could see the pictures of you and your family and probably some friends on your fridge door. 
“can I talk to her?” Zemo asked Bucky softly. Bucky gave him a look, almost as if what he said was disgraceful to hear, “why?” he asked back. Zemo pointed to the pictures on the fridge, “because I know how it is to lose family.” 
Bucky whispered to Sam about what Zemo had told him and while Sam wanted to refuse, while you were gone making coffee for them, Sam ultimately let him. “do not blow this for us. you’re on thin ice and if you screw us up, you’ll be back in that German prison cell before you could say your name,” Zemo put his hands up in defeat as he slowly walked into the kitchen. 
“need help with that coffee?” Zemo asked. you turned around, shaking your head no as you looked through the cabinets, “no, I’m okay. thanks for asking. I just need to find the coffee before meeting you three out there again,” you replied. 
Zemo reached into the pouch inside his jacket and pulled out a brown bag, “coffee from Germany. it’s the best you’ll get,” he said as you grabbed the bag and opened it up. the strong smell of coffee hit your nose as you coughed from it, “where did you get this?” you asked. 
Zemo laughed, shaking it off, “I’m a Baron, ( your name ). my family has a lot of things,” you nodded, not quite understanding what he meant by that but agreeing regardless, “listen, I know you’re hesitant on going with us to Madripoor but we really need your help. you’d be doing the world a favor by it,” he elaborated. 
you remained silent for a moment, “what has the world done for me? I lost my boyfriend, the guy I thought I was going to be with forever. my family and I don’t even talk to each other anymore so why should I help it out?” you responded, not caring if Sam or Bucky heard. Zemo put his hand on your cheek before sighing, “I lost my family in Sokovia. I know what that feels like more than anyone in the world and look at me now,” he replied. 
Sam and Bucky looked at each other nervously as they watched you try and contain your tears. they couldn’t exactly tell what Zemo was telling you but they could sense you were actually debating the idea now.
“did you ever move on? how did you move on is what I should be asking,” you asked quietly. Zemo stayed silent for a moment, not knowing whether he should answer genuinely or not, “being alone for as long as I was makes you come to terms with a lot of things,” he replied. 
you gulped, trying to push down whatever tears wanted to come out. 
“I think I’m over what happened pre-blip but I guess what’s stopping me from fully moving on is that we’ll never be the people we were before hand. what would I get out of helping all of you again?” you asked Zemo, now blushing at how close you were with him, “finding out where the serum is coming from and possibly having peace of mind,” he replied. 
you put the cups down and walked back into the living room, “you both owe me something. I don’t know what it is yet but you do,” you told Sam as he and Bucky sighed in relief, “give me a few minutes to gather my things,” you told them before heading upstairs. 
“what did you tell her?” Bucky asked as Zemo watched you walk upstairs with an almost mesmerized look, “nothing any of you would understand,” he responded before sitting down on the worn out couch. 
+
all of you touched down in Madripoor hours later. you had chugged back to melatonin gummies and passed out the entire flight back to Madripoor. you weren’t exactly a fan of planes so to be inside of one for hours made you extremely nervous. 
you were sent off to get some information while they went off in their own direction to get something else they needed. you were told to get back to them before dusk so after you got the bits of information they needed, you met them back at the car. 
“your name is now Noel, you’re a friend of ours and that’s all you need to know,” Zemo said as he handed you a fake id. you took it as Zemo relied Sam’s fake information to him, laughing at the nickname he was given, “high-town is beautiful,” you whispered to Zemo. he nodded in agreement, “indeed. we should visit it again,” he replied. 
as all of you arrived to the club/bar, you heard the music blaring from outside and figured this is what Sam meant when he said you’d blend in with the crowd. you sighed before plastering a smile on your face and dancing your way inside. 
“we should get some drinks,” Zemo told all of you. you nodded as you followed him to the bar. the small altercation between the bartender and Sam had you clenching your eyes shut as he cut up the snake, “please, that’s so disgusting,” you said, trying not to gag. 
Zemo could see the uncomfortable look on your face and unknowingly hid you behind him. he knew that small protective feeling from anywhere. the last time he had that feeling was with his wife. Zemo didn’t want you to see anything that made you mildly uncomfortable. 
within a few seconds, Zemo had shielded you immediately as an altercation brokeout with Bucky and a few others. you looked at Sam and Zemo in fright as Zemo made sure to keep you safe while Sam apologized for it. he knew you weren’t even mildly used to these kinds of scenes and if he was being honest, he knew in a way this could be traumatizing you. 
“Selby is ready to see you now,” you heard someone say. you followed behind Sam and Zemo as he had Bucky right next to him. as all of you walked inside the room, you could see the woman immediately look at Bucky and you a bit more interestingly. 
“you know you can’t just walk in here and demand to see me,” she said to Zemo. he nodded as Selby looked to Sam before giving him a backhanded compliment, “and can I ask who that is?” Selby asked as she pointed to you. 
you stood stiff as a board as Sam tried to speak up but was interrupted almost immediately by Zemo, “my wife,” he said, now more softly as he touched your had. Selby chuckled, “you wouldn’t want to make a trade for her, would you?” Selby asked. 
Sam immediately went on the defense as Zemo denied it, making sure you weren’t in her plane view anymore. Sam made sure that you were okay before returning back to the conversation at hand and within a few mere seconds, the once calm conversation turned deadly as Sam’s phone had went off and caused the domino affect to follow. Selby was now dead and all of your phones pinged off with money now on your heads for killing Selby.
“see! this why I didn’t want to do this!” you screamed to them as you chucked your heels to the side and slipping on your trusty Crocs that you had put inside of you bag, “now you’ve dragged me into things I have no idea about,” you continued to scream as you followed Zemo out the door. 
he could tell you were on the verge of a panic attack as all of you ran in separate directions. Sam had given you a gun to protect yourself with. you weren’t the one to use a gun for anything so to even be carrying it around terrified the shit out of you. 
you could tell that if you didn’t even cause a commotion to get the people to disperse, you’d be dead in a few minutes. you shot at the air, hoping no one got hurt in the process as everyone ducked for cover. you let out a shout as the bullets rang off into the air, making you drop the gun as soon as your rounds were finished. 
all of you landed in some alley as you stood up against the building, trying to catch your breaths in the process. Zemo immediately asked if you were okay and reassured you that you were no longer in harm. you were safe....for the moment; however, he knew that wouldn’t last as long as he’d hope as he knew that you were now apart of their vigilante group whether you wanted to be or not. 
after you met the infamous Sharon Carter, she had brought all of you to her place. she could sense that you did not belong in the group as she noticed how panicked you were by the entire situation. you hadn’t said a word after introducing yourself to her and frankly, she was concerned for you. 
“I have clothes upstairs you could change into. I get the feeling you aren’t in the mood to party so you could stay on the second level until it ends.” 
you thanked her, grabbing your bag and walking up the stairs. you landed inside of a room as the clothes were inside of the closet. you quickly slipped on the athleisure wear and sat on the bed, trying to calm yourself down from the previous events. 
“you okay?” you heard Zemo say from the door. you didn’t respond as you remained looking at your shaky hands, “hey,” he whispered, bending down on one knee looking at you. 
“do I look okay?” you replied a bit hastily, “I have money on my head for something I didn’t even do. I’m a criminal now, Zemo. I had no intentions of ever becoming what I am now. I just don’t understand why any of you would do this to someone who was still recovering from the blip!” you exclaimed as tears ran down your face. 
Zemo sighed, seeing the look of hurt, distrust, and panic all over your face. he had no idea you’d be this upset with the entire situation but seeing as you looked at the text that had your face with the wanted sign over it, he could tell you were realizing the severity of the situation. 
“what do I even tell my mom? my siblings?” you asked, “they have no idea of any of this and now I’m some criminal with a target over my head.” Zemo grabbed your hand and rubbed it softly with his thumb, “I know and after all of this is over, you’ll be free to do whatever you want. you just have to stick through this. we need you here,” he replied. 
you growled, “and what do I get out of it? trauma? therapy again?” you retorted. Zemo shook his head as you unknowingly slipped to his side and cried to his shoulder, “possibly but at least you’ll have people by your side this time. I’ll make sure you’ll never have to be by yourself again,” he said. 
you looked at him through tear stained eyes and nodded as he brought you in for an embrace. you were comforted by the cologne he was wearing as he sang softly in your ear. it sounded like some lullaby you would’ve heard as a kid. 
“promise?” you asked him. Zemo nodded, bending down to give you a kiss. you quickly reciprocated the kiss and had Zemo hold you close as the two of you remained kissing each other, “promise,” he murmured against your lips. 
from the crack of the door, Sam and Bucky wanted to interrupt you in order to kill Zemo for even thinking of kissing you but from down the hall, Sharon warned that it wasn’t any of their business to do such a thing.
Sam knew that he had all the consequences falling on him if something happened to you and being that you were now a wanted woman for the killing of Selby, the very least he could do is let you have this with Zemo. he might’ve hated his guts like it was nobodies business but for the time being, you were calm and not trying to kill him or Bucky. 
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youranxiousnerd · 3 years ago
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Showtime Thoughts
bc i am in love with julia lester
spoilers below
First off, why is this episode so short?
ngl i forgot mazzara was a regular
ricky ded besties
awww nina and the letters 
she looks very good in her dress
ashlyn and ricky look so good
“We’re screwed!”
ash and ricky are too funny like where were they this season?
chaotic and pretty best friends
sidenote, why did they go see north high’s production? 
oh my god ricky and nina are talking
SEBLOS IN THE BACKGROUND
i am taking what i can get
RICKYS FACE WITH THE CARD!!!!!!!!
my favorite part of the episode
his makeup looks very good
he looks very good
as @organic-guacamole said, he is very pretty
its been like three minutes and it already is so chaotic
yessss kourtney’s mom!!!
so howie and kourt are fine? gah since when?
“look for the shortest fork” mood
I CANNOT TAKE EJ SERIOUSLY HE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGRY BIRD
big bird ej comin at you
oh
PORTWELL DATE
wait isnt this ejs last show? is he going to miss his last afterparty for a date?
true love bitches
GINA MY LOVE
“Is he with us?”
NORTH HIGH SET OUR BEST BOI ANTOINE ON FIRE APS GET READY
seb being a supportive boyfriend is everything i needed
jenny is frazzled
i love how all the techie turned actors are nervous at some point during the episode
REDLYN CONTENT
awww thats so cute love the callback!!!
ooo howie is here
love how the writers leave a cliffhanger and then close the book before it turns to tragedy with one line
mazzara and ej, thats it
jenn what
why is mike there?
that was so unnecessary like aren’t mike and jenn over?
LILY
“did we forget to build a moat around the school” 
let ricky be single challenge
she just said “lol” i cant
props to ricky for keeping calm during the show after he saw mike and jenn
ah so lily is a child of divorce?
“lily scram”
RICKY AFTER THE CURTAIN OPENS WHY IS THIS FUNNY
STOP MAZZARA IS THE VOICE OVER
HE SOUNDS REALLY GOOD
how did ricky do that so fast-
put on gloves over the cast, makeup, and a mask?
i dont work with costumes 
AMERICA EXPLAIN
The one scene we get from the show...
Yay Steph!!!!
“Big Red has not thrown up in twenty minutes” ashlyn’s little smile
“she heard wrong”
someone please explain how spotlighting the judge is a good idea it makes it seem like things went wrong
“Carlos is a seasoned professional” honey carlos is on the verge of a mental breakdown
“He says help
Communication
Seb translating for Carlos is beautiful dramatic, yes, but im right. 
im so proud of them. they go from not talking for a week to seb being able to tell how carlos is feeling based off a stoic expression.
SOULMATE SHIT
IM SORRY NO BOP TO THE TOP CALLBACK
LIKE NONE
WHO WANTS TO RIOT WITH ME?!?!
wait so carlos goes from on the verge of a mental breakdown to full on performing and speaking?!?!?!? Speaking well too, not stumbling.
he looks so comfortable on stage when not even ten minutes ago he looked like he was going to vomit?
h e l p
ashlyn’s little laugh!
NINI IS A FORK IM LAUGHING THIS IS GREAT
big red lookin’ at his girl
ricky what are you doing?
ASHLYN AND GINA
I QUIT THEY’RE ADORABLE
GET IT KOURTNEY
howie’s little mouth drop
i cant with sebs costume i should not be laughing how is he able to do a kick line
ASHLYN MY LOVE
be our guest was enjoyable. it had a lot of moving parts. frankie and dara sounded really good. it’ll probably grow on me the more i listen to it.
is it just me or did be our guest lack some energy?
NATIALIE IS SO AGGRESSIVE
awww gina bb
portwell!!
“my mom sent me jordan fisher”
big red and ricky!!!
...what is big red doing? has he been faking sick?
“PLEASE EVERYONE REMAIN IN THE SAME ROLE YOU STARTED IN” 
BEST LINE OF THE SEASON OMFG 
alright what the hell is up with howie?!?
kourtney is so excited and then downer howie comes to ruin it
nina just write “thanks for being the best bro and glad youre not dead”
btw kourtney and gina look really good in their costumes
ASHLYN!!!!
SHES SO PRETTY THANK YOU
redlyn!!
gina and jamie!!! 
he looks so proud
glad gina gets to see her family!
cute scene, jordan is a nice addition!
RICKY AND THE BOWL
julia lester is killing it with the vocals
big red is so in love
seb bouncing in the costume 
“she’s never looked at me that way before” evil smirk
PORTWELL GLANCES
my heart fricking stopped when carlos went on stage 
being early on your cue/missing is awful would highly not recommend
a bop to the top callback after this would have been perfect
those harmonies!!
THEYRE SO IN LOVE
ummm phone call?
CHIPS BIG SCENE
...why wasn’t seb cogsworth? 
alright that was really good. everyone (even the backup) sounded really good. portwell rights! ashlyn rights! kowie rights! acting rights! 
so mazzara and jamie?
Ashlyn is the perfect Belle fight me
“Eat it Zackey Roy!” how about “yay kiddos, nice job!”
ej’s little dance
“bc you’re ginas brother” 
he is enamored by her it is adorable
EJ CASWELL RIGHTS
“hey, jordan fisher, would you like to f up one of three stableish ships in hsmtmts?” “sure, im in!”
ej!!!
aww hopefully he doesnt take the conversation too heart. they both like each other so much.
Portwell is so enjoyable to watch.
return of the bro
ej go get your girl dont worry about her brother please
SOMEONE TOUCHED THE PROPS
all hands on deck
“Can you just jump off something high”
I seem to remember Ricky falling from something high last episode, is that correct? 
She tells this to one of her most UNSTABLE kids
Oh shit
Miss. Jenn
Wtf
like what the actually hell
look at the kids faces they’re heartbroken
Miss. Jenn why. You’re stressed about the show, but you’re not performing it. They are. They have to worry about lines and cues and pitches, not you. Miss. Jenn has literally gone at the kids this season. Opening night speech too Ash and Ricky, shutting Seb down, that comment. She has become obsessed with the Menkies and North High. It has gotten really bad. These kids have put everything into this show, even their relationships (both platonic and romantic) and that is how you repay them? 
I didn’t think they would address this, I lost hope after last week but I am so glad they’re going too.
Someone send Seb after Miss. Jenn please, let him rip into her, he would do very well.
Miss. Jenn is supposed to be the role model and she just told a kid to jump off something high.
nina has been a godsend this episode, props to her!
haven’t been the biggest nini fan this season (off and on for me), but she was very behaved this episode. 
if there is anything the east high kids are good at, it’s bullshitting their way out.
“aim for my face” character growth
I KNEW IT
LILY WHY HOW WHEN WHY 
WTF THEY END THERE I CANNOT WITH CLIFF HANGERS
I liked the episode. Didn’t love it, but liked it. I really wish we got to see more acting, like we didn’t even see Big Red and E.J go on stage. Not even the iconic yellow dress. Some of the drama is so unnecessary, like why Mike and Jenn? What is with the Kourtney and Howie drama the writers insist on having, can’t they just be happy?
Besides the whole harness incident (burn that harness and mask it is causing so many problems) the production went very well, too well. This is East High we’re talking about.
Promo thoughts because what
oo they’re sneaking, maybe Big Red’s thingy
YES ASHLYN GETTING THE LOVE SHE DESERVES
oo Kowie confession?
portwell please be okay
what is up with carlos’ hair?
so seb, miss. jenn, and carlos scene? this has the potential to be very beautiful.
“It’s not over” not this again... 
i’m thinking carlos and seb are going to talk to miss jenn.
Sidenote, if we do not get a good seblos scene I will riot.
Hopefully Miss. Jenn apologizes with a billion sorrys
rini you just broke up please dont get back together 
im scared
if it is a scene where they close the book i will be very happy
Are we getting a flash forward scene? I’m pretty sure Miss. Jenn said Menkies aren’t till two plus weeks after the show.
We know based off the promo pics Ej and Gina are at the cast party, what went wrong?
Wait do we not get to see the finale of the show?
We better see the goddamn transformation
how does lily home and core four song fit in? im more curious about the lily one.
In conclusion, I am not ready for this to be over and the transformation needs to be sent to hell.
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impala666 · 3 years ago
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The One With The Stoned Guy Part 4 (Still Do)
Here it is! Finally the ending to another episode. I know it took me like forever to finish this episode, but hey at least it it finished! It may take a while, but I am determined to finish this show!!! I am so excited for the next two episodes since it’s a two part episode and it is going to have so much drama!!!
Last Part (Part 3), Series Masterlist
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You were standing outside of Joey and your brother’s apartment about to knock, but you honestly had to take a minute even though you felt like a thirteen year old girl who was afraid to face her crush, well you were. You shook your head at yourself, you were starting to wander into what you wanted to think but Joey wasn’t letting you. Letting out a long breath you raised your hand about to knock on your old apartment to announce your arrival, but a voice caught you off guard. “Hey, Y/N,” Phoebe’s voice rang from behind you in the hallway. 
“Hey, Pheebs,” you turned to look at her but noticed the man walking next to her. “Hey, man with Pheebs.”
“Y/N, this is Steve my massage client; the one with the restaurant, and Steve this is Y/N my friend.” You smiled and went to shake his hand as Phoebe introduced the both of you, but your pleasure to meet him was gone. 
“Woaaah,” Steve’s jaw dropped and his eyes shone like he saw the treasure he had been looking for all along when he looked at you. So naturally, you took your hand back and rose a brow at Phoebe.
“What can I say, he’s high as a kite, I’m sorry.” Phoebe shrugged nonchalantly.
“Oh, well that makes sense,” you brushed it off as you noticed how red the man’s eyes were. “Well, good luck with that.” You smiled at Phoebe who stuck her tongue out at you playfully without Steve seeing. 
“Yeah, well good luck with that.” Phoebe sounded like she was joking when she motioned toward Joey’s door. “No seriously, he totally trapped you into this.” With that Phoebe and her guest turned around to knock on Rachel and Monica’s as you turned and forced yourself to knock on Joey’s. 
“Hey,” you greeted the man shyly as you nibbled on your bottom lip out of nervousness. 
“Hey,” Joey greeted with a small smile and shine in his brown eyes. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
“Didn’t really give me a choice,” you shrugged. Still standing in the hallway, “sorry, that was bitchy.”
“Well, if you don’t want to you don’t have to come in. I don’t want you to feel like you were forced.” You could tell that Joey was being sincere, plus you were always the one person that Joey couldn’t lie to. You rolled your eyes at how awkward the both of you were being and put one foot in front of the other and walked past Joey and into his apartment. Now it was just the two of you standing in the kitchen, looking at each other trying to think of something to say. 
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” you joked under your breath as you felt sexual tension starting to build ever so slightly. “How was your day?” Asking as you set your purse down and sat down on the stool that was by the kitchen counter. 
“It was good, I had an audition,”
“Oh, that’s great!” You cheered, not knowing you were jumping to conclusions.
“But I didn’t get it.” Joey finished, smiling slightly at your automatic response.
“Oh,” you blushed which was probably obvious. “I’m sorry, but remember what I always told you that just means it just wasn’t right for you and you’ll get something better.”
“You were always my number one fan,” Joey smiled thinking about all the times the both of you would be laying in bed after he didn’t get an acting job that he really wanted and you cuddled him and made him feel better while telling him what you just said word for word.
“Hey,” you reached over and placed your hand on his, “and I always will.” You smiled sweetly. “Now, give me some wine.”
“Got it. I ordered some pizza too. I figured it would be okay since I know you love pizza as much as I do.” Joey talked as he filled a glass for you, grabbed a beer for himself, and walked over and sat on the couch.
“Yeah, that’s great,” you smiled as you got up to sit next to him. Close enough that it’s okay to as friends, but not close enough that it would be wrong since the both of you were broken up and you had a boyfriend. Bryan, who you liked a lot. But you couldn’t help it if your mind wandered to Joey every now and then, like now, when your eyes kept looking down at the man’s lips. 
“So,” Joey shook his own thought of it out of his mind as he looked back up at your eyes. “How’s school?” You immediately lit up in excitement, you couldn’t wait to tell him. Because then maybe the two of you could get back together after he heard the news that you only had a few months left of your program (it was a 6.5 month program, and you had 3 months left). But wait a minute you had a boyfriend that you really liked and whom really liked you, Bryan. 
*******
“What a tool,” Joey scoffed after Monica told him, you, and Ross was Phoebe’s massage-restaurant owning client did to Monica. Apparently since the man was high he kept trying to grab things and eat things without even waiting to eat the food the Monica spent hours making. 
“You don’t wanna work for a guy like that.” Rachel sympathized with her friend, you nodded in agreement from your spot on the armchair as the others nodded along with you.
“I know. I just thought that was, you know...it.” Monica explained what you all understood.
“Hey, you’ll get there. You’re an amazing chef.” Ross told her as he rubbed her shoulder.
“Yeah,” Phoebe chimed in. “You know all those yummy noises? I wasn’t faking.” Phoebe told Monica, helping to make the woman feel better. Once that was done Ross made his way to the counter for a refill and Joey followed him to obviously talk about something, so Rachel, Phoebe, and Monica took their opportunity to ask you about your night.
“So, how’d it go with Joey? Was it weird?” Rachel asked as all of the women turned their attention to you. 
“It was really weird at first, there was so much sexual tension,” you sat forward in your seat.
“Are you kidding there’s always sexual tension between the two of you.” Monica said.
“Well I know,” you smirked at that fact. “But this time it was like we wanted to do something, but we knew we couldn’t. But the whole time I was over there he was so nice to me, the man wasn’t even trying anything.” You pouted as you spoke solemnly. 
“And you didn’t like that?” Phoebe asked confused and a little sarcastically seeing as that was what you said you had been wanting from him; to just be friends with Joey again.
“No,” you sighed disappointed in yourself. “I still love Joey.”
“Nooooooo,” all three of the women let out sarcastically.
“Oh come on,” you looked at them to get serious. “But it doesn’t even matter because he doesn’t want to be with me, plus I have Bryan. So even if I wanted to do something, and I do. I really do, but I can’t so that’s that.” Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe all sat there blinking at you like they didn’t believe a word that you were saying. “Oh, whatever.” You quickly waved off, just so this discussion could be done and you weren’t torturing yourself over things you could not have. 
“You guys want to catch a late movie, or something?” Phoebe asked loud enough for you ladies and Ross and Joey to hear, to which everyone agreed. 
“Woah, shouldn’t we wait for Chandler?” Rachel asked, making all of you realise that your brother wasn’t there with you all. 
“Woah. It’s late, where the hell is he?” Joey asked as he checked the time on his watch to see that it was about 9:00.
But it turned out Chandler was exactly where he didn’t want to be. In his office, late at night, yelling at someone in his office that he wasn’t pleased or happy with the W.E.N.U.S. (Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics) which everyone knew was Chandler Bing’s worse nightmare.
Taglist:
@vampiregirl1797
@kellysimagines​
@shizzybarnaclee
@bi-lmg​
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whatsupmrstark · 4 years ago
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Bare
Peter parker x stark! Reader (aged up peter ofc)
Summary: a fun day at the compound leads to getting caught by your less than approving dad
warnings: smut with lots of plot have fun
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Everyday felt like a never ending date. But in a good way.
You and peter have been together for a while, 10 months to be exact. And nobody knew, well nobody means the avengers your friends and... okay so everyone knows except your dad and happy but hey! Don’t judge the mans scary about his kid. Not that you were scared but more of Peters sake.
The affair started about a year ago, you hung out when he stayed at the compound. He was the only person there under the age of 30 and you two hit it off. Then days at the lab together and so on. You begged your dad to transfer you to midtown and after almost two months of begging and throwing tantrums he agreed, under the pretense you had all your classes with peter and we’ll that was just a bonus.
So then from there you kissed a kiss turned into kisses and dating and homecoming and now your here 10 months later cuddled up against him in the most not obvious way watching a movie with your dad and the rest of your family.
“Nat I swear to god your telling me you wouldn’t fuck him” Wanda whispers sneaking a peak at vision,making sure he hadn’t heard,before focusing back on the movie. You and peter hadn’t stopped your incessant tapping, yes you learned Morse code as an avenger study but you always put it to use in times like this.
He finished pressing out I love you to the skin on your back. A little smile played on your faces as you sat up more in your seat, “hey dad will you go get me more popcorn?” You looked down at him he was a row in front of you in the makeshift theater. And for a stark we all know what “makeshift” means he just nodded grabbing your bowl “Hey me too” Bucky laughed extending his arm to hand his bowl.
Hold up let me explain the seating.
In the front row was nat, Wanda, your dad, and Bruce all huddled together as the scary can and will kill you if they’re angry tier
Then middle row you on the end seat peter next to you and Bucky and Steve on his other side -the soft kid at heart tier
And the third row had vision, Sam and Thor the undecided, we got in to late to pick a good spot tier?
Tony enjoyed culturally enriching the group of misfits and had on a Risky business and sandlot marathon. Right now your halfway through sandlot and halfway through your pantience to go the fuck to bed.
Leaning over into Peters ear you whispered “can you sleep in my room tonight?” He nodded before turning to whisper back “how am I gonna do that, what if mr. stark comes in” you rolled your eyes and kissed him softly, you guys weren’t fans of pda but it was just a peck
“He won’t just come by after everyone’s sleep and I’ll lock the door” it was a good enough answer because he nodded before turning back to the movie just as tony came down the isle handing you both bowls of popcorn, hot buttery and fresh just how you liked it.
By the time the movie ended it was almost 12 and everyone was off to sleep, except tony, he headed down to the lab to work on something and you headed off to take a shower.
Post shower and ready to drag yourself into bed you looked up at the ceiling fighting sleep when you heard your door creak, Peters eyes darting around the dark room till they landed on your stiff body “hey are you awake” you nodded stupidly “yeah I’m up” you twisted around in the sheets, scooting over so he could have get half the bed, “is my dad asleep?”
He just shrugged as he climbed into the bed “Friday where’s tony” you asked aloud, one of your favorite parts of the new update was tracking where you all were in the compound. “Mr.stark is in suite” you just shook your head a little “safe and clear” peter sighed resting into the bed comfortablely, “I can’t believe you own Spider-Man pants” you giggle looking at him Choice of pajamas
You two talked for a while about nothing and everything as you usually did, you fell asleep and peter just watched for a while, you’re tense expression dwindle away drooling on his chest as you curled up tighter against him. It wasn’t long until sleep over came him and he too slept long and hard.
When you woke up, you rushed peter out and back to his room stealing kisses and feeling the adrenaline of doing what you’re not supposed to.
And this continued for a week, a full week of blissful domestic sleeping, the best sleep of your life. Cuddled into your boyfriends body and completely aware of your maybe consequences.
Friday night you sat around the dinner table. “Not for you to take this the wrong way but when is May getting back peter?” Sams question has everyone’s eyes on the two of you, trying to his the fact your holding hands under the table “she’s supposed to get back Monday-I’m excited I haven’t seen her in forever” Sam just nodded to the answer going back to his mash potatoes.
After dinner you all gathered in the living room to play some games laughing and fights and boards flipping halfway through a game of life. “Yknow Thor maybe you should have six sets of twins” everyone laughed at the joke seeing his two cars trailing behind another. “Haha, you and peter are probably the only ones here who will have kids” Wanda blurted and you wanted to dissolve. Of course tony hadn’t taken that the wrong way but everyone kinda shut up. The game ended with vision being victorious and everyone went their separate ways.
Peter was the next to slip up, on Saturday night you were doing what you usually did, watching a horrible reality show on Netflix about nothing but sex and bikinis and girls with awful fake tans. Bucky, who luckily always found a way to spend time with you on saturdays, was really invested though he’d never admit. “I really really thought brad and Angela were gonna get together by the end of that episode” you laughed at his commentary.
Bucky was sitting criss cross on the floor between your legs as you sat on the couch “Bucky I swear your hairs gonna look.. fantastic” you chuckled as you braided another section “are you sure you don’t want Rasta beads on the front” he scoffed eyes still trained on the tv in front of him “no sam would laugh at me and Steve would probably make me take them out” you leaned to the side and forward to look at him smirking and continuing with trained hands at the clusterfuck of braids in his hair
“I think when you take these out your hairs gonna be like beach wavy” taking a comb and brushing out another section “like micheals hair?” You sometimes forget he’s not up to date on all the technical girl stuff “yeah micheals hair makes him like 10 times hotter”
“Who’s hot?” You practically jumped out your skin, Bucky got startled and went into defense “Peter what the fuck, you don’t sneak up on people like that!” You slung an arm over the back of the couch to hit him but he just laughed and swung over to sit next to you. “Another trash reality show marathon” he laughed as he watched the show along with you.
As more time passed you stopped paying attention to peter, when you finished buckys hair you leaned back and curled into the blanket. Watching peter now, he never really got into these show like you and Bucky, you didn’t even get into these shows like Bucky.
And then you felt the little pang of jealousy you got when a girl tried something with peter, he was obviously always uninterested in anyone but you. “Did you just look at her ass?” Peter broke his gaze from the tv and fixated on you “what?” Buckys eyes left the tv too looking between the two of you on the couch opposite to him, mouth full of frosted mini wheats straight from the box.
“You totally just checked that new contestant out, stared at her ass!” He laughed and the got serious once he realized you werent joking. “Babe.. you’re kidding right?.. I really didn’t even look and–“
“What’s all this babe stuff peter” both of you stopped shellshock and turning your heads to look at your dad fridge open as he rooted through it “it’s- uh.. yeah- hey mr. stark” you wanted to laugh and piss yourself at the same time.
“It’s some new slang stuff tony, Yknow how the kids are today” Bucky covered for you as he got up to put his Wheaties away “I’m gonna head to bed kid don’t watch it without me” he winked as he turned around shooting finger guns at tony- “goodnight buck” you all chimed at the same time
“Jinx”
“Double jinx”
“Triple jinx” you all harmonized like a well oiled machine, your dad let out a deep chuckle as he stirred his fresh coffee
“Okay cut it out, since you don’t look busy why not come help me in the lab kid” you both looked up excited and tony looked at you a little sad, “we can work on your new suit” you just let your smile fade and nodded
You three walked down the hall together in complete silence “so dad, this is like the seventh?- seventh right peter?- super spidey suit and I’ve yet to see mark one of iron girl” peter nodded to your predictions statement and tony just rubbed his temple as he picked up the speed and hurried to the lab peter going too. You stopped at your bedroom door “I’m still gonna be asking for it in the morning” you shouted at them and tony just looked at you down the hall smiling at his little girl.
You stopped at struck a quick pose “I am iron man” you mocked his voice, you could see the skin around his eyes crinkle when he laughed just as the elevator door shut them from view. And you headed into your room.
Not a few hours later peter snuck into your room, you paused the movie you were watching and looked at him as he slumped into your bed half sleep already “Yknow I had to call your dad babe for the past 3 hours because he didn’t believe it was slang”
“Hey you’re the one slipping up not me- and god please never call me babe again I already am my father” he chuckled against the pillow his face was smushed in “cmere baby I wanna cuddle” you rolled your eyes and clicked off your tv “Peter any form of babe- not even bae- is acceptable anymore, get creative”
Then came Sunday- the day known to be wasted away worrying about everything you have to do and getting none of it done.
Soon after checking if tony was in his suite you texted peter
You:Come over peter
Peter parker:The last time you texted me that... 😏
you:Just get your ass over here I want to cuddle
You didn’t hear him till your door pushed open and he came into the room. He sauntered over and kissed you. “Hey” he smiled pulling away “hi” , “so what do you wanna do tonight” he asked sitting on the edge of your bed.
You pulled your legs into a cross cross position sitting up against the headboard, “I don’t know, wanna make out?” He just smiled at the brashness murmuring a soft ‘yeah’ as he climbed foreword kissing you. Soft kisses turning into strong ones and you were laid down peter over top of you savoring every second.
“Y/n..” before the words left his lips you’d already felt his hard on press on your thigh for a second. “Are you okay if we..” you asked, usually when you guys did it it was at Peters house and this was new territory.
Peters eyes locked with yours, your peaceful demeanor soothed his anxietied state. He started kissing you again grinding against you this time. Your hands that were draped around his neck ran through his hair finding purchase on the back of his head. You loved being close to him just as much as he did you. The heavy weight of his body against yours made you relax, you felt safe.
Your kiss moved to his neck sucking a small bright red spot that’d be gone by morning you tapped at his side to turn over and you two did just that, resting on his abdomen before scooting down, kissing at his collar bones that peaked beneath the shirt.
You tugged at the top, pulling it up and over his head before just scooting it off the bed. “As much as I’ve seen you peter, I miss you so much” he had the most blissful look in his face. Completely content. Lips a bright shade of pink tucked into a smile. You went back to kissing all down his chest admiring every part of your boyfriend.
“I love you” you smiled and pick your head up to look at him “you what?” He never wanted to pull you down on top of him more “you heard me”
“I love you more peter” you punctuated the statement pulling your sleep shirt over your head. “Can I-“ you gestured to his shorts tucking your index fingers into the waistband of his boxers “yeah” his throaty response stung at your ears.
You pulled both the offending items of clothing off his hard cock sprang up and rested back against his abdomen while you dropped the clothes off the bed. Hands landing on his thighs, gently patting and rubbing the muscular legs you adored.
You pressed down on him leaning forward to kiss him before going back down hand wrapping around him, his head fell back on the pillow already. You pumped him slowly kissing at his v line admiring your work as Peters breath shortened.
You licked your lips before wrapping them around the tip, sucking slowly, tongue twirling over his slit tasting his oozing Precum leisurely taking more of him into your mouth. “Fuck, y/n” Peters hand slipped into your hair. He wasn’t a head pusher but he liked to rest his hand and feel your movements, something to ground him and not get lost in his senses.
You kept bobbing he let out faint noises of moans. “Y/n I can’t be quiet you know that” voice strained and quiet
You lifted off him, a bit of spit had dribbled out your mouth, a slick string of mixed bodily fluids attached you to him. “Hey, FRIDAY put on sound control. Block the whole room out” you spoke fast. “Yes miss stark” the response made you happy.
“What the frick is that” you looked at him massaging his thighs again before stroking his cock. “We had to add an update because I play music too loud for people to sleep. It’s just in my room” you smiled at him and he gracefully laid back to his resting position
You returned to your previous activity’s sucking harder. He didn’t hold back letting out all the beautiful sounds he knew you loved to hear. “That’s it baby” hands returning to your hair as his hips threatened To jut out. You took a hand down petting and rubbing his balls coaxing his first orgasm out.
Peter groaned hard, not expecting to cum so quickly his hot load shooting in your mouth, swallowing quickly and pumping him through his high. Scooching up to rest above him he pulled you into a heated kiss, stomach hot and body aching, wishing to be touched. He pushed at your shorts sliding them down your thighs as much a he could. You lifted one knee at a time trying to get the clothing off. Somewhere in that your tits ended up in his face as he watched you struggle “babe” he chuckled watching you wiggle around in attempt to remove your clothes.
You looked up at his face, he was smiling tenderly post laugh and you just gave up sitting down on your bottom to pull them off your ankles, taking the time to take off your underwear. “I could’ve helped” he fake pouted running a hand from your calf to your knee then up to your thigh as he moved over top of you.
Peter kissed your neck giving warm wet kisses down your chest. He flicked at your nipples before wrapping his lips around one sucking generously eliciting vague sounds of pleasure from your mouth. Your legs wrapped around his mid section, Peters body slotted perfect in the space between your legs. You leaned your head back bumping into the headboard as his tongue swirled and lapped at the bud “ow” hands slipping to hold the spot.
He pulled away fast “are you okay?” Full of concern “yea yea just keep going” you burned in embarrassment as he smiled back, nothing ever seemed to go as smoothly and as sexily as you imagined. Peter leaned back down sucking the other abandoned peak into his mouth, he picked up on the tongue swirl you’d done to him earlier. Caressing at your hip, you looked down seeing his back muscles flex in the dim light coming through your window. “God you’re so sexy” words slipping past your lips in pleasure.
You could feel the smile against your chest as he continued hand sliding between your body’s to your aching core, nimble fingers dancing in all the right places to make you sweat. “Peter” the soft moan of his name had him jumping. Finally letting his fingers glide though your folds, wet and eager.
His head descended kissing down your stomach before placing soft kisses across your hips, legs parting when his three middle fingers rubbed at your clit, fluid and steady movement supplying just the right amount of gratification to leave you dizzy.
Your hips raised involuntary, one of his hands come up to push you back down.
He pulled his fingers away from you, a soft whimper at the loss of the stimulation he provided. “Peter-“ you’re voice was hoarse and whiny as you looked at him so badly wanting him to do something,anything.
“Peter please just fuck me” you could feel the air that left his mouth hit your thigh when he let out a chuckle, your body was hot all over and all you wanted was him. Peter craned over you kissing you more his knee coming between your thighs as you went to shut them.
When you two parted you leaned over to get a condom turning back to peter, sitting on his haunches between your parted legs, his hand wrapped around his cock as you opened the foil packet.
Almost as soon as you’d discarded the packet peter had the condom on and pulled you back to the bed kissing down your neck and shoulder “I love you y/n” hot messy words as he kissed your knuckles fingers interlocking as he held your hand.
You looked down between you two taking the one free hand you had to guide him in, sighs of practical relief left both of you as he slowly sunk in. Your free hand is just now as interlocked as the other, the back of your hands pressed into the sheets Peters nails digging into the fabric below as he started to move his hips.
He groaned so softly “fuck” he kept the slow pace he’d started, wanting you to fully adjust. “Please go faster” your breathy voice that theatened to moan was enough for him to increase his pace. Both your breathing and the sound of you bed creaking filled your ears.
Your legs wrapped around his hips, a loud moan left your lips as he hit the spot he’d been looking for adjusting to hit it with every thrust. Peters lips felt warm and wet when he bit on your shoulder removing a hand from your grasp to hike your leg up. “Fuck you’re so tight” he sounded breathless.
You bit your lip “let me ride you” he continued thrusting and then stopped abruptly “and it’s not even my birthday?” He smiled coyly pulling out as you two switched positions, Peters hands reaching out and greedily grabbing your thighs. You flipped your hair around getting it out your face grabbing onto his shoulders and raising your hips off his lap as he helped himself running his tip along your slit the rubber glistened even more “go ahead sit on it like a good girl” if you weren’t so ready to cum you’d have blushed but he knew just how to egg you on.
Lowering down onto him felt like being impaled in the best way possible “fuck” starting with a grinding motion and starting to rock up and down, the bed squeaking even louder. Peter brought his hand down to rub your clit, going over in a back and forth motion, your hips bucked up to him and a loud moan ripped through you “fuck peter don’t stop” he knew just how to bring you to the edge.
You bounced faster on him his fingers working magic “peter- fuck I’m so close- can I please cum?” He nodded one hand on your waist to help guide you “cum on my cock baby” you whimpered at his words before cumming hard around him clenching down and eyes rolling back “holy shit” you breathed out against the skin of his neck as you his in the crook, body slumped and leaned forward. He was still hard and ready inside you “use me Pete” you whispered in his ear kissing his sweet spot.
Peters hands ventured at your waist rubbing the skin before he grabbed handfuls if you hips his fingers dug into the skin of your ass as he gripped hard, picking your body up and moving you up and down him- god what his super strength could do “who’s is this huh?” He asked as you pulled your head out of hiding moaning a ‘yours’ as he moved your body all on his own. power and Dominance in every movement
You were a mess- your cum coated his cock as it pulled against your sensitive walls “pete- I cant just-“ you whimpered out as he just dropped you down on himself over and over. the sound of you body colliding back with his rang in your ears and you bit your lip to hold back a moan “cmere baby” Peter thumb cradled your chin as he pulled you in for a wet hot kiss, you’re eyes felt sewn shut you were breathing heavily through your nose as you let him in swallowing his groan as he thrusted up slowly the short quick movements seem to hit ever spot you could imagine in such little time “peter let’s- holy fuck- let’s switch” you pulled off his face and he nodded, hand firm gripping himself to pull out and flip you two over.
His warm hands held on to the expanse of your back before just tipping you straight off his lap onto your back, instead of into your pillows you now looked up and seen your footboard as peter smiled down at you before kissing your neck, soft wet open mouth kisses full of every tender moment his actions might have lacked.
Your hands came down around his neck one dancing across the tender skin from your previous attacks, the other gliding through his hair and grabbing at the bit on the nape of his neck- “Peter” you moaned breathlessly
Peters hands had found its ways to your thighs as he kneeled over your body. Fingers leaving impressions from grabbing at you. He sounded just as breathless as he pulled off you admiring the mark he left- soft red and swollen soon to be dark and purple. He lifted your legs and moved you around, adjusting to an easier position.
“Tell me you want it- tell me you want me as much as I want you” his face was red and hot, he still looked so soft and nice sittting above you “fuck- peter I want you” you grabbed his hand lacing your fingers just as he did before. He moved his hips easily finding his place sliding in so perfectly “it’s like you were made for me”groaning he commented. the silence that surrounded you both felt so comforting and empty- filled by every noise made in the room. The light bed rocking, gasps and groans as he quickened- the skin on skin contact decimating into a tune you’d hum the next day.
As he moved longer and stronger he let go of your hand pushing his into the bed propping himself up as he rocked into you. Your legs wrapped around his pert ass, his toes digging deep to keep traction on the soft sheet. “Fuck y/n” he breathed through gritted teeth
“Peter I’m so close- are you with me”
He nodded biting his lip, looking down to where you wrapped around him so perfectly “I’m right behind you”
He let the consistency of his movement out the window, he was hitting deep and hard and fast. “Peter-“ you grabbed his bicep “cum in me” he locked eyes with you if he wasn’t so caught up in making the two of you finish he would have had a kid in a candy store expression. Instead he quickly pulled out taking the condom off and sinking back in, soaking in the feeling of his bare cock in you, everything he’d imagined and more. But he could barely ground himself at the moment he had to focus on the rough feeling of raw knees pressing into mattress.
Everywhere you touched left fire, every noise you made sounded like birds chirping on a Sunday morning, everytime he looking at your face eyes shut in pleasure holding your self back, waiting for him.
It was all too much “y/n— holy shit— I’m gonna cum” he moaned hips twitching and eyes rolling as he came feeling the relief of the tension in his stomach as his coil snapped. Jutting in and out a few times relishing in the feeling of you, hot, wet, messy and tight. Feeling you pulsate after you came.
He collapsed on top of you, dick buried deep, chests heaving against one another, your legs wrapped right around him. You could hear him swallow deep in his throat as he let out another deep breath. “Holy shit best one yet” he groaned feeling your chuckle vibrate against his ribs. You ran idle hands through his hair, regaining from your own orgasm.
You two sat like this for a minute until he got enough and pulled away “god damn” he muttered just enough under his breath to not be heard. Pulling out slowly not wanting to go, admiring everything he’d been able to do. “I feel sticky” you locked eyes as you both looked down
“I can’t believe you let me do that” he fell over next to you on the bed, you scooted over to give him more room. “You deserve it, plus I’m on birth control now”
“Your what!?” He smiled and practically giggled picking his head up to look at you.
You just nodded “I said I had cramps” you elaborated. He just kept breathing an arm sneaking down to play with your hand “we should tell them”
You sat up looking down at him “if we tell we can’t do things like this” you frowned
“Am I just a secret to you?” He didn’t sound accusing, he sounded sad.
Pity and guilt filled your chest. “It’s not like that and you know it- I just wanna-“ you readjusted your searing and looked him in the eyes
“Stealing moments like these make it worth it for me, but tommorow I’ll shout from the rooftops I’m in love with peter Benjamin parker, dad be damned”
“Dad be damned” he chanted, bright toothy smile in place
“Scream it now, sound proof and all” he gestured around the room
You shut your eyes and shook your head,
“IM IN LOVE WITH PETER PARKER” you shouted
“Cmere let’s get you cleaned up” peter groaned, sitting up and taking you with him on his way off the bed
Afterwords you two laid in bed “do you know what time it is” you mumbled against his side as you curled up against him
“Snack time?, please I want grapes” Peter brushed some hair out of your face as you groaned
“I don’t think I can get up I’m so tired” you looked up with a pout sitting up onto your forearms, cradling your head. “... but if you give me a piggy back ride” you smiled and he leaned in kissing your forehead, soft lips pressed against the sweat soaked skin.
“Deal.. but I want one on the way back”
You immediately furrowed your brows and he chuckled “I’m kidding, I’m kidding... unless”
“Shut up” you laughed at him leaning off the bed to pick up the discarded clothes from earlier. Tossing his shirt and shorts over and sitting up to put on your shirt the two of you got up
You piggy backed all the way to the kitchen, being as quiet as you could.
It was complete silence, you could hear the flick of the light switch, overhead lights shutting on and illuminating the common area.
“Do you think Sam ate all my grapes?, I swear to god I’m this close to making tony call a meeting” he turned to like at you as you jumped onto the counter just shrugging.
When the fridge door opened it lit up his face, the led glow compared to the light created by Tony’s green initiative was nothing.
“And what would the queen of stark industry, miss y/n stark like to snack?” He joked with you turning and flashing an award winning smile
You shrugged hopping up to open a cabinet. You found the worst best snack In the world. The peanut butter and jelly two in one and a spoon. Breakfast of champions.
Peter watched you crack the jar open leaning against the island and popping a grape in his mouth. “I don’t know how you eat that” he laughed “I mean how psycho do you have to be to eat a pb&j minus the bread” you rolled your eyes “for one- it is good- your just a baby about trying new things and two— did you just call me psycho?” You hopped back into your place on the counter watching him with murder eyes as he flushed with color. “I kid” he shrugged.
You two giggled and talked. eventually you closed the lid on your jar and he zipped the packaging of him grapes and you were on his back once more.
You immediately fell into bed shrugging off your shirt “were still cuddling I hope you know” you looked at peter as he took of his shirt and shorts. He met your eyeline a little smile on his face “and who am I to deny you cuddles?” He joked around before falling immediately silent. You had lifted your hips and slid your underwear off under the covers, thinking nothing too much of it before just throwing them on the ground.
But peter couldn’t help but feel a slight excitement. He never really said anything but he like the idea of the two of you sleeping naked. He doesn’t really know why. So he just went over the foot of your bed, adjusting into his spot on your bed. you flipped to be facing him just as he threw his boxers across the room. “You’re a mess peter” you mumbled scooching in closer to him, holding him across the abdomen and laying your head flat on his chest.
Peter liked the feeling of your skin against his, it was soothing almost therapeutic. You were quick to sleep so he just laid there in the dark playing with your hair and listing to your breathing. It wasn’t much longer till he too fell asleep.
Early bird gets the worm was Steve’s thing. And apparently he thought the best course of action was shock. So he started with tony.
It took him a while but he eventually got tony to wake from his sleep. “What the hell are you doing Rogers”
Steven would just plaster on a bright smile “up and at em tony we’ve got big plans today” of course your father just grumbled and tried to turn back over. After a few minutes of Steve poking him he huffed and got out of bed.
Then they even to Bucky. Steve has this one down pack. Growing up the only way nicks mom could get him up on time was.... a wet willie. As much as Steve hated to pull this card he was more excited to have a productive day with the team. Something they haven’t had in a while
With Bucky awake they divided and conquered. Wanda, vision, Sam, Clint, thor, and Bruce were all quick wakes.
Now all nine of them stood outside of Natasha’s door. “I’m not doing it” Sam spoke up. An immediate uproar of ‘not it’ fell from the group. Steve eventually sighed and took the job of waking her up. Much to his surprise she was already up and in workout clothes. “Morning” she addressed Steve as he entered her room seeing the small flock of avengers .who were watching like this was the next best thing, scatter in the hallway.
Then that left you and peter.
It was bright early and seven am when you woke up with peter laying almost across your body. You had to push with a bit too much strength to get up, head groggy and eyes fuzzy.
upon standing You immediately felt the tingle between your legs that , from last experience, would go away to a dull ache in a hour or so. Hobbling into the bathroom you peed, washing your hands and splashing cold water against your warm skin. You had picked up your toothbrush when you heard footsteps of impending doom coming down the hall. “Oh no- oh shit” you mumbled dropping your toothbrush on the counter. Just as you got out the bathroom taking a side glance to peter who was passed out with the sheets and blankets pushed down his naked body past his thighs, only the knee down covered. “Peter” you whisper screamed. He stayed plum asleep no wiser to the world around him as you scrambled to find a shirt- any shirt- which happened to be Peters.
The soft knock on your door made you heart rate pick up. Peter twisted his head to the side but didn’t even wake up a little. “Y/n” you heard your dads voice. You almost shit yourself when the door handle moved. You looked at the lock in pure horror in the split second between the handle twisting and the door opening.
Peter forgot to lock the door after getting a snack. Peter forgot to lock the door. Your dad is coming through that door. Peter is completely asleep. Peter is completely asleep completely naked and completely exposed.
Fuck
You could hear tony shush all the avengers just as the door cracked open. He assumed you were asleep it being so early and all. When he opened the door and saw you, you froze in place. “Good you’re already up” Steve spoke up behind him.
At the same time Bucky Sam and nat rushed down the hall “peter isn’t in his room. Where could he be?”
Your eyes flashed quickly between your entire family standing in your doorway. Down to your fathers koala slippers and then up to his eyes, bright and cheery despite the obvious exhaustion he hid so well. By now his eyes had a chance to give you a one over. You were flushed and looked jittery and nervous. Then his eyes hit your bed.
And all hell broke loose.
“WHAT THE FUCK”
That one woke peter up.
“Dad” you tried to keep your voice calm
Peter frantically pulled the sheet up then the blanket all the way to his neck.
“UH— Mr.Stark I-Um fuck” he swallowed hard. His stomach was in his throat and he felt increasingly more uncomfy as the other avengers watched from the door.
Tony clasped his hands together and took a deep breath “peter I’m gonna ask this one time- and I don’t want you to lie” he spoke pointing his finger at him barely wanting to open his eyes after the sight he just had to absorb.
“Yes sir- mr. stark- sir” you had to close you eyes and shake your head. Peter was his mentee and, hell if you didn’t know any better you’d think your dad liked peter more, the most peter would get is a slap on the wrist and be on with it.
But here was peter parker acting like your dad would blast him down in the next ten seconds if he misspoke. “Okay-okay- why IN THE HELL are you NAKED in MY daughters bed?” Tony finally looked at the boys face. He was covered in a shade of red he’d never seen.
“Dad” tony whipped his head to you almost having forgotten you were right there. “You’re not speaking for him” he turned attention back to flustered, scared shitless, bare naked peter. “If I have to ask again, what the fuck is going on peter- for the love of god just say it”
“I’m in love with your daughter” peter whispered. You smiled and I love you too wasn’t practical in this situation but you mouthed it to him anyway.
Tony let out the deepest most exhausted sigh you’ve heard leave him in years and just shook his head “I can’t deal nor process this right now. So I’m going to go to my room and take a nap and I want to see you both as soon as I’m up” he turned and pushed past the rest of the power rangers to get out mumbling things under his breath your glad you couldn’t understand.
You turned and looked at nat who was hitting Sam who was trying not to laugh. “But mr.stark I’m in love with her” he mocked Peters voice. And you rolled your eyes. “I have no words” you looked him dead in the eyes. “And if you pick on peter about this again I’ll tell my dad you knew the whole time” Sam shut up quick and you slammed your door shut.
Peter let out a sight of relief sitting up in your bed. “Holy shit y/n tony knows”
You got into the bed handing him his boxers. “I couldn’t even care less right now I need another four hours sleep”
Peter laughed and curled up into a cuddle with you. “You’re just like your fucking dad”
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whitecatindisguise · 4 years ago
Text
Taking It Too Far
So I've watched Fan Friction episode and immediately I was struck by how wrong they approached the subject. Hiro was right to be upset, but the producers didn't give him the right reason. This story is an attempt to right the wrongs. That, and there are also other changes to the basic episode plot because 1) I didn't remember everything and didn't really have time nor mood to rewatch it, 2) I thought some things would be better if changed a bit.
Anyway, I hope you like it and enjoy yourselves.
AO3 link here
... and there, inside the lab, was Captain Cutie’s beautiful girlfriend, Karmi. The two locked eyes and-
“Hey, Fred. What are you doing?” Hiro popped out from behind the man and looked at the other’s screen. He squinted his eyes, skimming through the words. “Is that-?”
“A fanfiction about us? Sure is!” Fred cut in enthusiastically, grinning wildly. “And I gotta tell you, man, it’s amazing! The plot, the characters, the action, the characters!”
Hiro rose one eyebrow, clearly not siding with the other’s enthusiasm. His gaze wandered back to the screen and he stopped dead.
“Why am I called Captain Cutie? And why Karmi is my girlfriend? Who wrote this?!” He asked angrily. Him and Karmi? Never in a lifetime!
“I don’t know, but they post as KHeartsQT.” Fred waved his hand dismissively, his focus solely on the story.
Hiro hummed and moved the cursor to the author’s name and clicked on it, recoiling the moment a pop-up window showed a profile picture.
There, on Fred’s computer screen, his greatest nemesis was staring back at him.
***
“I can’t believe it!” Hiro burst into the main lab, stomping past Honey Lemon and almost bumping into confused Wasabi, who barely managed to jump away. Without a word of apologise, the young teen approached his working space and shoved his backpack onto the desk, sitting down heavily on the chair.
“What’s up with him?” Go Go popped a balloon as she stated at the clearly upset boy.
“Nothing. He just doesn’t like Karmi’s fan fiction.” Fred shrugged as he strolled inside and flopped onto his armchair. “Can’t really relate. It’s amazing! And did you see how she named me? Flame Jumper! Not as cool as Fredzilla, obviously, but points for awesomeness.”
“Oh, I read it.” Honey Lemon chimmed in. “It’s really well-written. Although, I don’t know why my name is Tall Girl. I’m not that tall, aren’t I?”
A series of weeeeell’s and ummmm’s echoed in the lab and the ginger-haired woman dropped her head down in response.
“She called me Chop Chop.” Wasabi added. “I can see where it’s coming from, but it makes me sound like some character from the kid’s show, and not a proper superhero.”
“Speed Queen.” Go Go spoke from her side of the lab, tinkering with some kind of miniature scooter. “Sounds cool.”
“All of you have normal nicknames. But she called me Captain Cutie. And made herself my- ugh- girlfriend.” Hiro cringed as he spoke. “Who even gave her a right to write about us? I don’t remember giving my permission, do you?”
“Calm down, Hiro. It’s just a story.”  Honey Lemon put a hand on his shoulder but he shook it off.
“Well, maybe I don’t appreciate being put in a story that’s clearly fake and totally unrealistic?!” He snatched his backpack and stomped towards the door. “I’m going to work in my lab. Away from that nonsense.”
With these words, he stormed out, his angry footsteps and muttering audible until he turned the corridor.
“Wow. Talk about negative energy.” Wasabi commented, as they stared at the door.
***
In the coming days, Hiro’s mood only got worse. Everyone on the campus seemed to enjoy Karmi’s story, some even starting to ship Karmiutie, as they began to call the imagined pairing between Karmi and Captain Cutie. Hiro couldn’t even take a step without someone saying something about the story or the ship, or, which happened more often than he would like it, mentioning both.
Karmi seemed to love the attention. Other students called to her on the corridor, expressing their enjoyment of her story and some even daring to ask whether she and Captain Cutie really were a couple. Hiro didn’t stay to hear the girl’s response, stomping away angrily, to the confusion of the students.
With everything going on, he was unfocused and started failing classes he usually had no trouble with. Professor Granville seemed to be both upset and concerned about this change. He couldn’t tell her what bothered him, however, so he made an excuse about not feeling well lately. He wasn’t sure she believed him.
To make things worse, his upset state started to affect his superhero work as well. He kept making mistakes leading to the whole team getting into trouble and only barely managing to catch criminals they encountered. This only led to his mood worsening.
The young teen was walking down the hallway, trying to tune out the conversations revolving around the newest chapter of the fan fiction, when he suddenly collided with someone and they both landed in the floor, stunned by the hit.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” He heard an annoyingly familiar voice and he looked up to see Karmi picking herself up from the floor, snatching her phone from where it slid off during the crash.
“I was. Which you would notice if you wasn’t gaping at your phone, producing those abominations of yours all the time.” Hiro seethed, picking himself up from the floor.
“Excuse you!” Karmi huffed in response. “What’s your problem?!”
“Oh, I don’t know?” Hiro replied, anger seeping into his voice. “Maybe that you write about real people and forcing them into fake relationships to release your crazy fantasies? Or maybe that you give stupid names which don’t fit the characters at all?”
“For your information, everybody loves my story. I even have some faithful fans that comment on every chapter, like Fredelicious24.” Karmi replied defensively. “And since nobody knows what their real names are, I’m allowed to use whatever I want.”
“I’m sure Captain Cutie is thrilled to be called that.” Hiro rebounded, rolling his eyes at the nickname.
“Maybe he is!” the girl shouted back. “What do you know, anyway?”
“Ugh, forget it!” The dark-haired teen shoved his arms apart and stomped away, trying to ignore the whispering from the students who watched the encounter.
It was around lunch time, when his friends found him, sitting alone in the cafeteria, poking his food with an upset expression.
“Hiro, what’s wrong? We heard about your argument with Karmi.” Honey Lemon started, as they all took their seats.
“Yeah, so? Are you also going to tell me what a jerk I am? I heard it at least twenty times by now.” He huffed, impaling one of the fries onto the fork and biting on it angrily.
“We just want to help.” Wasabi replied, eyeing as the teen gathered several more fries and stuffed them all into his mouth, munching aggressively.
“But we can’t, until you tell us what’s going on.” Go Go added.
Just then, several students passed by, the pieces of their conversation about Karmi’s story and the Karmiutie ship reaching their eyes. Hiro grunted and picked up his tray, pushing the chair away.
“I’m going to eat in my lab.” He said and walked away.
“That is highly insanitary!” Wasabi called after him.
Honey Lemon looked thoughtful, as she stared at the retreating back of the young teen, and gazed at the group of students, who had now taken over one of the tables nearby.
“Of course! Why didn’t I notice that before?” He exclaimed triumphantly. The others looked at her questioningly. “Come on, we have to talk to him!” she gathered her stuff and rushed off, others staring in the direction she went.
“So... Do we follow or...?” Wasabi asked. Right then, Fred’s phone buzzed and he gasped.
“The creepy knife-lady escaped from prison!” He exclaimed. They shared a look.
“Guess we’ll talk to Hiro after that.” Go Go commented, as they left the cafeteria.
***
To say the action went well would be a major understatement. Not only did Momakase escape, but she also cut through Go Go’s disks, left Honey Lemon and Fred stuck in the goo, Baymax lost one of his leg thrusters and rocket fist, and Wasabi’s blades needed a serious repair.
Hiro was trying to help, but the conversation with Karmi was still fresh in his mind and he couldn’t properly focus on the fight. It was pathetic, even he had to agree.
He angrily took of his helmet and shoved it towards the wall. It hit the divider with a metallic clang and fell to the floor, leaving a small dent in where it met with the structure.
“Your body language indicated extreme anger.” Baymax spoke from behind. Hiro huffed.
“Oh yeah? How did you figure that one out?” He asked, sitting on his chair with arms crossed.
“You are making a face expression known as frown.” Baymax said. “Your body is tense and you are-“
“I was being sarcastic, Baymax.” Hiro interrupted. Baymax blinked.
“I am not programmed to recognise sarcasm.” The robot replied and Hiro groaned.
“Hiro? You there?” Honey Lemon called out and the whole gang entered his garage, suits off.
“Just peachy.” The young teen answered, starting to take off Baymax’s armour.
“Don’t worry, dude. We’ll get the crazy knife-lady next time.” Fred patted his friend’s shoulder comfortingly. Hiro glared at him and the man slowly backed away.
“We’re worried about you, Hiro.” Honey Lemon spoke again, her eyes matching her words. “Is it about Karmi’s story?”
“What? Noooo.” Hiro waved his hand nonchalantly. Everyone stared at him, unimpressed.
“It’s totally about the story.” Go Go said.
“Definitely.” Wasabi agreed.
Hiro sighed and turned away, hugging his arm.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He mumbled.
“Your body language indicates discomfort.” Baymax spoke.
“Hiro... You are clearly upset about it.” Honey Lemon said. “And I think I know why.”
“Y-you do?” Hiro asked, but backed down really quick. “I-I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, Honey Lemon, why would he be upset with it! The story is epic!” Fred joined in, unaware of Hiro’s frown deepening as the male kept on talking. “The plot is amazing, there are so many cliffhangers and, of course, the cherry on top being Karmiutie, of which, by the way, I am the president of the fanclub and-“
He was interrupted by the slam of the door and he blinked, only now noticing they were left alone in the garage, Hiro nowhere to be seen.
“Way to go, dumbass.” Go Go commented as she popped a balloon.
“What did I do?” Fred blinked. There was a collective slap as everyone else facepalmed.
Honey Lemon put on a determined face and followed the way the teen went. The others followed, saying their greetings to Aunt Cass on their way past, making a beeline towards the back and up to the living area. Hiro was, unsurprisingly, sitting by his desk, tapping furiously at his laptop.
“Hiro?” The ginger-haired woman softly spoke up. The said teen huffed in response.
“I though I made it clear I don’t want to talk about it.” He said angrily.
“She’s not letting this one go, so you might as well stop being stubborn.” Go Go crossed her arms and leaned over the doorframe, clearly making sure his only escape route is blocked.
“Hiro, please.” Honey Lemon kneeled down to find herself at his eye level. “We just want to help.”
“There is nothing any of us can do to help.” The teenager mumbled, looking away. “Besides, it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. And you have every right to be upset.” The woman replied softly.
Hiro pointedly looked back at his laptop, attempting to ignore them. The redhead didn’t back out, however.
“We were all so caught up in how good Karmi’s story is that we failed to notice how upsetting it is for you. After all, it’s your hero persona she chose to pair herself with.” Honey Lemon spoke up. The tapping of the keyboard stopped, but the teen didn’t turn around yet. “And, knowing the characters are real, people started to assume the relationship is real, too. And that’s wrong. What Karmi is doing is wrong. You can’t just- what’s the word they use for saying two characters are in a romantic relationship...?”
“Ship.” Helpfully suggested Fred.
“Yes, thanks, Freddie.” Honey Lemon smiled thankfully and turned back to Hiro. “You can’t just ship two real people. It’s wrong. It shouldn’t be acceptable.”
“And yet I seem to be the only one who has problem with that.” The teen mumbled, his back still to his friends.
“I think it’s because the story is about our superhero personas.” Fred interjected and everyone, even Hiro, looked at him in confusion. “I mean, superheroes themselves feel like fictional characters. And, even though everyone knows we are real, it’s still hard to distinguish that if we’re also the characters in a work of fiction, which, by definition, means it’s not real. It creates somewhat a paradox and people just don’t completely realise the fiction part actually refers only to the story itself and not the characters.”
Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the millionaire, who blinked and starred back.
“What?” He asked.
“We just didn’t expect you to say something so... thoughtful.” Wasabi finally said, the others nodding in agreement.
“Hey, I can act smart too, you know?” Fred argued and then promptly took out an unwrapped candy from his pocket, have it a testing lick, shrugged and put it in his mouth. Everyone shuddered.
“Aaaand the usual Fred is back.” Go Go commented while Wasabi tried to not puke.
“Even if what he said is true, it’s not like I can just go and tell her to stop.” Hiro picked up the conversation to take their minds of Fred and the candy. “What should I even say? Hey, Karmi, you know this story you write? You should stop because I don’t like you shipping yourself with this guy, whose name is definitely not Captain Cutie. Cool? Cool.”
Fred snorted but Go Go quickly elbowed him in the ribs to stop. Hiro groaned and hid his head between his arms. Honey Lemon approached the teen and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Maybe not as Hiro you, but if you explained it as your superhero you?” She suggested, smiling encouragingly.
“I am not going to change into my armour just so I can talk to Karmi.” He replied sternly and sighed. “I just- gonna have to live with it... somehow...”
“If you have a problem with something or someone, you should speak up, genius.” Go Go said.
“Talking is the key to the healthy communication.” Baymax agreed.
“Ugh, fine.” Hiro said. “I’ll talk to her. If I see her on a patrol or something.”
“Hiro-“ Honey Lemon started to say but the robot cut her in.
“I’ve found a disturbing information in the local news. Playing it now.”
The screen on his chest turned on and a reporter appeared, speaking about some message being sent to their station this afternoon. The view changed, and they saw Momakase, grinning at the camera.
“Welcome, Big Hero 6.” She said, looking far too happy about something. “I advise you to come to the Akuma Island. And make haste, unless you want something bad happen to someone’s girlfriend.”
She smirked and stepped aside to show a chair. And on this chair, tied up and sputtering curses, was-
“Karmi!” Everyone, sans Hiro gasped.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Hiro shouted.
***
“Okay, we go in, take Momakase down, free Karmi and get out of here.” Hiro said as Baymax flew them towards the remote island. “Baymax, as soon as you are in range, scan the place for both Karmi and Momakase.”
The robot didn’t reply, but the teenager knew he acknowledged the order and will get to it whenever it’s possible.
“Oh, this gives the perfect opportunity for you to talk to Karmi about you-know-what.” Fred piped up from where he was held by the scruff of his costume in Baymax’s right hand.
“I’d rather focus on the current problem first.” Hiro mumbled back.
“I’m just saying.” The millionaire shrugged, but, luckily, dropped the subject.
Several minutes later, they were creeping the abandoned hallways of old Krei Enterprises facility, Baymax leading them in the direction he sensed Karmi from. Momakase, surprisingly, didn’t turn up on the scan.
“Karmi is inside.” Baymax said, stopping in front of the metal door.
Hiro nodded and looked to Wasabi and Honey Lemon, pointing his head towards the door. The woman tapped the keys on her purse and produced a green-coloured ball. She plastered it to the frame and pulled on one side, the goo expanding to create something like a line. Each one of them, except for Wasabi, caught the goo-line and held strong, while the said man cut through metal around where the goo was stuck. When the cut was finished, they pulled the piece out, managing to not hit it on anything, hence making their entrance silent.
Baymax put the cut-out metal aside and they climbed through the opening one by one. In the middle of the room, under a single spotlight, stood a chair. And on this chair, quite unsurprisingly, Hiro had to say, was Karmi, tied and gagged.
As soon as the teen noticed the heroes, she started to squirm and let out muffled noises, trying desperately to communicate with them. Hiro secretly turned on his voice-modulating device, motioning for the rest of the team to do the same, before approaching the captured girl. It was in situations like this, he was glad he once decided to equip their armours with both face-covering visors and voice modulators. It lowered the chance of being recognised if they had to be around people who knew them personally.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out in no time.” He reassured Karmi and reached for her gag. As soon as it was off, Karmi gasped and screamed.
“It’s a trap!”
At this precise moment, purple-coloured bars rose from the floor and circled around the heroes and Karmi. They all whirled around, shocked by their sudden appearance.
“Like stealing a candy from a kid.” A familiar voice said from the shadows, and Momakase strolled into viee, a smirk on her lips.
“You think you can keep us in here?” Hiro asked and nodded at Wasabi.
Before going in, they decided they were not going to use their names around Karmi, since figuring out new nicknames would take too long, and Hiro was not going to use their fanfiction names, for obvious reasons. So they agreed on silent communication instead, which, so far, worked perfectly well.
Wasabi approached the bars and slashed at them with a cocky grin, but just as fast he jumped back with a pained yelp, when the bars zapped him.
“What in the world?!” He squeaked, rubbing at his arm.
“Did you really think I would use regular cage, knowing of your abilities?” Momakase laughed, strolling slowly along the bars. “You’re not getting out of this one.”
“Oh really?” Honey Lemon challenged and quickly produced a pink-coloured chem-ball from her purse. She let it drop to the floor and quickly side-stepped, as it bounced off the bars and hit the chair, acid eating through the wood.
“I told you it’s not a regular cage.” Momakase smirked and looked extremely pleased with herself. “This one was created by our mutual acquaintance specifically to hold you lot in place.”
“Mutual- what are you talking about?!” Hiro asked angrily.
“I believe he goes by the name Obake.” The woman replied and watched the heroes faces morph into horror as they recognised the name. “Well, anyway, it was nice to chat and all that, but I have to go. As for you...” She produced a small device from her pocket and pushed the button, the lights in the room suddenly turning red and the alarm ringing. “Have fun getting out of here before this whole place blows up.” She waved her hand at them and ran away, leaving them to their doom.
“Ohmigosh-! This place is going to blow up! We’re stuck in a impenetrable cage in a building that’s going to blow up any second now and-“ Wasabi spoke in a high voice, his eyes wide and breath hitching.
“Calm down.” Hiro said. “We’re getting out of here in no time.”
“How?!” Wasabi squeaked. “You saw what happened. My blades don’t work, and neither does the acid!”
“We just need more strength, that’s all.” The teen replied calmly and turned to Baymax. “Initiate Overdrive Mode.” He ordered.
At those words the robot started to change. Pieces of armour hid, others extended. A moment later, a completely unrecognisable Baymax, sans his colours, stood in front of the group.
“That’s... I wrote about it!” Karmi breathed out, astonished. “You read my story?!”
“Can we talk about it after we escape?” Hiro suggested, and Go Go noticed how he shuddered slightly at Karmi’s exclamation. “The sword, please.”
Baymax reached his had to his back and produced a heavy-looking blade. He took a swing and sliced right though the bars, Hiro grinning at the performance.
“Good job. Turn it off before it drains all of your power.” He said and Baymax swiftly came back to his original look. “Now everyone hop on and hold on tight. We don’t know how much time we have and I’d rather not risk running back the way we came from.”
One rocket fist later, they shot out of the roof. And not a moment too soon, as the facility blew up just as they managed to get to the safe distance. Baymax flew them back to the city and they all jumped off to the ground.
“Um... Thank you... For saving me.” Karmi mumbled, blushing as she took a glance at Hiro. The teen was painfully reminded she had a crush on his superhero persona.
“That’s what we do.” He replied, looking away. Honey Lemon came closer and gently nudged his shoulder, an encouraging smile on her lips. He sighed and turned towards Karmi. “Actually, there is something I want to tell you. It’s... it’s about your story.”
“My- YOU READ IT?!” The girl squealed, her eyes almost turning star-shaped.
“Of course, it’s amazing and-“ Fred was painfully elbowed in the stomach by Go Go before he could say anything more.
“I... How do I..?” Hiro scratched the back of his neck as he searched for words. “I read some of it, and you’re really talented but- I don’t really feel comfortable with it, you know?”
“I don’t understand...” Karmi cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Why?”
“It’s because of how you portray us. Portray me.” The teen elaborated. “I’m not- we’re not a pair, Karmi. I know it is a work of fiction and it’s not real, but writing that you are my girlfriend, having all those people read it... It’s not right.”
“Oh...” The girl looked down, suddenly not able to meet his eye. “I didn’t mean to-“
“I know.” He reassured. “I know you really want this to be true, but this is not the way. How would you feel if someone wrote a story about you and put you in a romantic relationship in said story? No matter if you like this person or not, it’s wrong to ship real life people.”
“I- I’m sorry.” Karmi said, still looking away. “I guess I was so caught up with my own fantasy, I didn’t stop to think how would you feel about it.”
“It’s alright.” Honey Lemon spoke up, smiling kindly. “You didn’t know.”
“But I should have thought about it. And I didn’t.” Karmi admitted. “I.. I will delete it once I get home. I’m sorry I upset you.”
“Thank you.” Hiro smiled thankfully at the girl. “And I meant it, you’re an amazing writer. Maybe you could still write about us, just no shipping this time.” He winked and Karmi blushed.
“You... still want me to write about you? Even after...?” She asked, puzzled by the suggestion.
“Between the two of us...” Hiro leaned closer and whispered to the girl’s ear. “I wouldn’t trust anyone else with our story.”
Karmi blushed fiercely, mumbled something that sounded like “thankyouihavetogonowbye” and ran away, her cheeks red. The heroes looked at her retreating figure.
“You didn’t mention the name.” Go Go pointed out as they started on their way back to Fred’s manor to leave their armours there.
“I can live with Captain Cutie.” Hiro shrugged with a smile.
---
That's it. I hope you liked it. Reblog if you did. I live for reblogs.
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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 4 years ago
Text
Always made to break (S.M.)
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Summary: Shawn meets someone who reawakens his soul and makes him question his choices in love. 
Warnings: swearing, slight angst, fluff
Word count: 4k
A/N - I’ve had this in my drafts for a while, so I decided to post it and see how you guys like it, so let me know if you want more.
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''Were you ever going to tell me?“ She practically growled at Shawn as she threw a magazine in his lap, the tone she used scaring him enough to look up at her face, the beautiful features now twisted with rage and disappointment, something he never wanted to see her direct at him.
''I don't unders-'', but then he saw just what she meant, seeing his face attached to Camilla's on the front page of a random gossip magazine. He knew why she was looking at him with such fire in her eyes, and not the kind he expected to see in the bedroom, but the purest form of hatred mixed with pain.
''Not only did you poise as some poor photography student, but you also claimed you're single?! How stupid can I be, right?“ She put her right hand on her hip, using the back of her left one to wipe under her nose although nothing was there but a fathom sensation of coldness he had caused her insides now manifesting on the outside as well. She didn't shed a single tear yet, her anger not allowing her heartbreak to show.
It is better to hate him for his lies than to feel sorry for herself, she decided.
''I didn't want to...“ Shawn trailed off, unable to find the words. He, a man of many words, a person who had always managed to put his emotions in the most eloquent of ways had found himself speechless at a time he needed his words the most.
''Didn't want what? To tell me you're rich and famous? That you're dating a star? Huh?!“ She huffed, her eyes burning him with the intensity of the unrestrained pit of bursting flames within.
''What was this to you? Huh? A joke? Did it make you feel good to make me the fool?!“ She shouted, the raw emotion ripping her throat like a thousand razorblades.
Bowing his head down, Shawn swallows thickly, his eyes filling with tears he knew would only anger her more in this moment. He doesn't get to cry over breaking her heart, he just doesn't.
At the beginning
It was supposed to be a calm, ordinary Monday morning for Shawn. After months on the road, it was nice to be back home for a short break from the stage and screaming fans, just him and his earplugs and a good cup of coffee. It was supposed to be a regular, lonesome morning to start the day off right, but things never really work out the way we want them to.
Whether he meant to sit in that particular café, in that particular chair, with that particular song playing as he lazily glanced around before taking the first sip of his coffee, Shawn had started a chain of events that would lead him into a world of trouble, yet unimaginable love and heartache.
In that lazy glance, Shawn had managed to catch a young girl's eye, his curls falling over his eyes obscuring his vision. She had merely smiled at him, so sweetly, so shyly, enough for Shawn to return the gesture. Her eyes fell back on her phone and he assumed she was likely sending a message to all her friends about seeing THE Shawn Mendes, probably posting a sneakily taken photo of him in his moment of supposed tranquility as well.
It's not as if he's not used to it, but Shawn really hoped he'd have this morning to himself, a moment to put his thoughts in proper order and a second to breathe. He's been having his picture taken every day, multiple times by fans and paparazzi, especially since he started the whole agreement with Camila and her team.
Shawn was tired of it, drained, so when he hoped for a moment of his own and lost it? He truly didn't feel at ease anymore.
He looked back at the girl once more, angrily with eyes narrowed. She seemed oblivious to his newfound outlet as she kept scrolling on her phone. She was beautiful, Shawn couldn't deny that. In fact, it's why he looked her way in the first place – it's why he sat in this particular café, outside on such a cold morning to have his coffee, all because she caught his eye as he was passing the street. However, whatever drew him in had now pushed him away as he scoffed under his breath, shaking his head.
That's when she looked up from her phone and trained her eyes on him again, a confused look passing her features as she stood slowly, setting herself on a path toward him.
Rolling his eyes, Shawn reminded himself to be nice for his image is kindness and never random rage outbursts on young girls who want a photo with him. He drew in a short, quick breath of fresh air before he looked up at her when she stopped a few feet away from him, prepared to fake it if need be.
"I’m really not in the mood.” Shawn says before he can stop himself, mentally face palming when he sees the girl’s eyebrows furrow, her bottom lip sinking between her teeth as she cleared her throat.
“I wanted to ask if you needed something aside from the coffee considering you’ve been looking at me this whole time. I just assumed you were annoyed because my colleague hasn’t been out in a while. I’m sorry for making the wrong assumption and bothering you.” She wasn’t harsh or rude, making Shawn feel even guiltier as he paled. Finally realizing she’s the waitress, Shawn’s paleness is quickly replaced with a crimson shade that he could never truly hide.
The girl didn’t get a chance to walk away as he stood up abruptly, knocking the table up in the process with his thighs, some of his coffee spilling over.
“No, no, no. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be so rude, I just…I do want something.” Shawn exclaimed, hoping he can dig himself out of this deep hole he managed to dig for himself in a matter of seconds. “A bagel! And a brownie, please?” Shawn gave her an awkward smile, running his hand through his messy curls as she studies him with care, unsure if she should say something about his odd behavior or just take it like she usually does.
There are worse customers than him, she thinks.
“Sure.” She sighs, placing her phone on his table before whipping out a small notepad to write his order down, walking away right after.
Sitting down, Shawn sighed heavily at his stupidity, chuckling at himself. Rubbing his forehead to soothe an oncoming headache, he opens his eyes only to find her phone is still on the table, unlocked at that!
He stared at the gadget with great interest, wondering if he had assumed more than one thing wrong and if he had to change his opinion of this girl entirely. He didn’t want to take the phone and search it, but what’s the harm in peering over his cup to see what app she’s got open, right?
“Most common complications of a bowl resection?” Shawn reads under his breath, his eyebrows knitted together as he stares at the words that quite frankly sound like they came from a Grey’s anatomy episode.
“What are you doing?” A sweet voice startles him into a small yelp, the girl chuckling at this tall hunk who seems to be so clumsy and presumptuous that she can’t quite figure him out yet.
“Oh, I…Uh…I’m a simple guy, really. I see a phone screen and I have to sneak a peek, except I can’t understand a damn thing written on there.” Shawn rubbed the back of his neck nervously, sure as hell that his face is tomato red by now. He hates tomatoes just as much as he hates his treacherous cheeks for betraying every emotion he’s ever had.
Giggling, she places his order on the table, pushing back a strand of hair behind her right ear. She takes her phone swiftly, pocketing it in a single move.
“Yeah, I’ve got an exam to prepare for. Been working the night shift! Lucky me!” She exclaims sarcastically, her lips pressed together before she places the bill on his table too, turning around to go.
She isn’t even wearing a uniform, Shawn realizes, watching her as she takes her bag and begins to pack her things from the table she was sat at before. She took his order even after her shift ended. Biting down on his bottom lip, Shawn could sense a war is brewing between his head and heart, each arguing why he should or should not go after her.
Shawn’s always been a heart guy, deciding to go ahead and listen to it once again.
Jumping to his feet, Shawn moves toward her on instinct, not quite ready for her to go. He’s got too much accumulated guilt over judging her and assuming things about her that he was clearly wrong about and while she didn’t know it, he still wanted to make amends. Shawn needed to do something nice for the girl who had been kind enough not to cuss him out for being inexcusably rude to her.
“Where are you going?" He asks before he could stop himself. His head cocked to the side, his eyes shifting from the ground to the unknown girl. He barely knew her, hell, Shawn didn’t even know her name, but his heart stopped and he could barely breathe when she decided to leave.
She looked up in wonder, observing him with slight worry in her eyes, another thing he found endearing.
“I have that exam in an hour. Gotta get to my bus on time.” She shrugged, giving him a tiny wave as a means to say goodbye.
Shawn needed more time with her. He needed to talk to her, to get to know her, to at least find out her name. For some reason he couldn’t even fathom, Shawn felt drawn to this stranger, this girl who didn’t seem to know or give a damn about who he is. She is the type of people he surrounds himself with – people who are grounded and will keep him human. He wouldn’t admit to it, but she was also a beauty he couldn’t part with for reasons not of the mind, but of the heart. He knew it wouldn’t be a smart idea to get involved with someone now, not when he was under contract to be with someone else and so publicly.
However, when she made a move to leave, Shawn had to react before his heart completely stopped.
"I'm guessing you need a ride?" His voice was soft-spoken and mellow, sending a warm glow throughout Y/N’s body.
"Taking the bus won’t kill me, but thanks for the offer." Y/N smiled, waving at the café’ window. Shawn grabbed a twenty and left it on his table quickly, pointing at it in hopes of someone coming out to take the money for he had no time to pay for it right now. Shawn had decided to get in his car and chase after the girl who had started her walk to the nearest bus station, her determined walk noticeable and distinctive.
“You said you’ve been working all night, right?” He talked loudly, needing her to hear him, as if she could miss a car like his slowing down beside her or the doe-eyed guy nearly shouting at her through his open window.
“Yeah. So?” She stops, crossing her arms over her chest, uncertainty in her eyes. She looked at Shawn with such confusing emotion that he could hardly breathe when he allowed himself the luxury of staring into her eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she knew him for years, that they have history, that they’ve met in a previous life. The look in her eyes and the feeling he’d get in his heart when he’d meet her gaze? It felt like more than two strangers talking.
“Don’t want to fall asleep on the bus and miss your stop, now do ya?” Shawn tried, unsure how to convince her to let him drive her.
“I’d also prefer not to be killed by the seemingly kind stranger who offered me a ride.” She cocked an eyebrow, starting to walk again which forced Shawn to press down on the gas pedal lightly.
“My name’s Shawn and I promise I’m not a killer, just a big supporter of education who has nothing better to do than help a girl who looks like she could use a kind gesture after a hard night.”
Y/N stops again, rolling her eyes at the sky before letting out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding. Was it wise to get into a car of a man she knew for less than an hour? A handsome stranger that could easily turn out to be a Ted Bundy she found herself attracted to?
Definitely not wise, she thought as she opened the passenger door and sat inside.
"Cute name." she smiled shyly.
“I’m Y/N.” She tells him, putting on the seatbelt before looking into his whiskey brown eyes.
“Your name is cuter.” Shawn’s crooked smile made her heart flip. The wind gently brushed his curls as he kept his window open, the breeze grazing his face, almost soothingly.
This is what he needed though, some adventure. Some risk. Some danger. Giving a ride to a girl he met didn’t constitute as adventure, risk or danger, but being seen doing so? Definitely.
She types in the location in his GPS, leaning back in her seat as the radio fills the silence. Nearly choking on his own saliva, Shawn changed the song he had recognized just by the first few beats, before Senorita could blast through the speakers.
“So, uh…what kind of music do you like?” Shawn asked awkwardly, feeling her gaze upon him not a second later. It’s as if being set on fire, but not in the way it hurts the skin, rather puts the soul on a path worth taking.
“Classical mostly. Old rock music too.” She responds, receiving a hum from Shawn in response. He relaxed visibly, knowing there’s a much lesser chance that she’d know he’s Shawn Mendes if he’s not what she usually listens to.
“You seem like a pop-rock kind of a guy.” She assumed, lifting her left eyebrow quizzically, waiting for him to agree or deny.
Shawn couldn’t hold himself back from smiling widely, nodding before sparing her a quick glance. “Nice guess.” He adds, noticing her cheeks redden, not nearly as bad as his, but enough to know she’s not indifferent.
“So, you’re a med student or a method actor?” Shawn chuckled, catching her playfully rolling her eyes at him and his stomach flipped at the gesture. She looked cute even annoyed with him and he knew he’d love to annoy her for a really long time if she’d let him.
“First one would be right!” She exclaimed, pressing her lips together as she turned to the side, looking out the window instead of him.
“That’s pretty impressive! Beauty and brains? It’s every man’s dream.” Shawn told her honestly, at least from his perspective. He had already found himself on her hook, wanting more and more all the while knowing he’ll soon have to leave her at the university and in less than a month, he’d leave the continent as well.
“You might be the only guy thinking that. It feels the day I started med school, I signed some invisible contract where I was doomed to be lonely and friendless. I never have time for friends or relationships. When I’m not in class, I’m working or studying. If I do have free time, I’m usually exhausted to the point of just curling up and watching Netflix. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it.” She bit her lip, eyes everywhere but on Shawn.
She didn’t know why she told him this, something she’d been carrying around on her shoulders for so long. She barely knows him, yet Shawn just oozes good vibes and trustworthiness that she couldn’t help herself. It’s been a while since she had someone to be genuine with, so what’s the harm in oversharing with a stranger she’ll likely never see again?
“If you’re passionate about something, it will often demand you abandon all else. There will be times where you’ll wonder why you ever did it, why you’ve made such a decision as if you didn’t know it would be like this…you did, I know you were aware it would be hard and let me tell you, all the good things in life are hard and demand sacrifice and once you’ve got it, you’ll be reminded just why you chose it. Something happens and you’re reminded and you’ll be back in the right mindset.” Shawn tightens his hold on the steering wheel, aware he’s telling himself the same.
He’s lost the passion he used to have for music in the circus his team imposed on him and now he’s here, in the car with a girl he just met yet felt so incredibly connected to in comparison to the girl he’s supposedly dating that it was hard not to feel like life turned on him.
When he started writing music and playing it live, Shawn never realized how fake the public persona he’d have to create would be. He always thought musicians had free reign to be who they are, to enjoy life, but he’s received a cold shower of pure facts in the past year and he’s still struggling to come to terms with it.
“I really hope so.” She smiled, reaching out for his hand. She laid her palm gently on the back of Shawn’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before removing it quickly.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of bummed we’re already here.” Shawn sighed as he parked, looking over at the girl he wanted to stay more than ever. She wasn’t a stranger anymore, not even close. In his world, the rule states you’re no longer strangers if you’ve:
A) gotten drunk together
or
B) had a heart to heart.
“Bet you say that to all the strangers you give a lift to.” Her lips pulled to the left into a crooked smile, one Shawn wanted to make wider, brighter.
“Just ones I really like.” Shawn countered, smiling as well. It’s hard to resist a smile when she’s got her angelic lips spreading into the smile he wanted to see.
“You like me, eh?” She teased, coyly lifting an eyebrow as she lets her lips pucker.
“Never denied it.” Shawn raised his hands in a mock surrender, chuckling.
Then he moves closer with those eyes that look so deeply into her own, as if he could see who she is underneath all the layers she’s created to protect herself from the hurt. It’s like he sees her soul, the real Y/N and never in her life had she felt seen like she did with Shawn. He made her feel like she’s the only girl in the world and she knew then she’d never find that gaze in any other man’s eyes, never such intensity, raw emotion and understanding.
“As long as we’re clear on that.” She smirked, moving away slightly, not ready for what his eyes were telling her.
“Are you feeling better about the exam now? About everything? Because I meant what I said. You’ll be okay, even if it feels otherwise.” Shawn decided to diffuse the situation, the tension growing too fast for her to be comfortable with it, he could tell.
“About the fact that I’m not sure if I’ll ever find love or be the girl a guy would go to the ends of the world for?” She shrugged, chuckling dryly.
It’s much easier to make fun of what bothers her than face it head on. She’s been feeling so lost for such a long time that her coping mechanisms weren’t quite something most people are used to. But Shawn? He doesn’t even blink at her darkness. He doesn’t look away or shows he’s tired of her already. He doesn’t push her away for being so gloomy, he’s doing the opposite. He listens as if her words are golden, some elixir he's been waiting all his days to hear.
From what he says next she can tell he is thinking so deeply, already with a strategy that's several moves ahead of her. And in his words is a kindness, a concern that is so quick that, for him, it is natural. This attentiveness is a part of who he is and that is the most attractive feature Y/N’s ever seen in a man.
“You are though. I’ve known you for an hour and I’m already thinking just how badly I want to take you out and shower you with affection. You’re so beautiful, so raw, so fucking oblivious to your qualities that it makes me both angry and stubbornly certain that I want to change your view of yourself.” Shawn takes her hand in his, clasping it between his palms as his left hand, the one with a swallow tattoo, closes over hers. A tattoo like that would be hard to forget.
“I’ve found out that you’re intelligent, hardworking, ambitious, funny in a nonconventional way, incredibly brave for setting out on this journey, extremely good and devoted to helping humanity one person at a time, caring and you think of others even when you don’t have to. You were kind to me when I wasn’t to you, honest and open with your heart and mind…And that’s all within an hour of knowing you. And I desperately want more as creepy as it may sound.” Shawn’s words have made her eyes gloss over and she couldn’t stop herself from chuckling too.
When a woman’s sure she’s destined to be alone and that her perfect man isn’t real and then finds him when she’s given up on the notion – it’s a shock to the body. His smile alone burnishes her soul into a beauty it could never have achieved on its own. Before they met, both Shawn and Y/N were one, now they’re each a half, yet somehow so much more than they ever were before.
“I’m really glad I met you, Shawn. It’s truly an honor.” She managed to say before she leaned in so swiftly he had no chance to even move. Her lips brushed his for no longer than a moment, a single breath yet long enough to make him crave more, so much more. Just as quickly as they warmed his heart, her lips were gone and so was she.
He watched her walk away, her head bent as she stared at her shoes in thought, his heart slamming against his ribcage helplessly. He’d have ran after her, but he couldn’t afford some of the students recognizing him and snapping a photo. He couldn’t risk the world knowing he was living a lie, dating Camila on paper but already in love with a woman he was destined to fail in the long run.
Shawn should have let Y/N become a sweet memory he’d return to when the nights became too cold, too lonely to brave on his own. He should have let it be a fantasy, but he couldn’t. Whether he wanted it or not, Shawn was drawn to the same café the very next morning, hoping to run into the medical student who had captivated him.
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luninosity · 4 years ago
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Okay, so, some Falcon and the Winter Soldier thoughts (will have some spoilers) for episodes two and three. General non-spoilery comment first: I feel like these were both *okay* episodes - neither as good as the first, but I didn’t dislike them, either. I’m still really curious to see how we’re going to wrap this all up in three more episodes; it doesn’t feel like we’re halfway done yet!
Okay, more spoiler-y notes below the Read More, not in any real order, just as I think and type. I’ll probably forget some things, but for now, here’re some thoughts...
--I like ep 3 slightly more than ep 2, mostly because of Zemo!
--I actually really love Zemo here (I liked him in Civil War, too): complex, sardonic, enjoying poking at people, a villain we do feel sympathy for even as he’s still sharp enough to remind us that he is a villain. Daniel Bruhl has always done a fantastic job flipping between calculated cruelty, wry humor - the whole “I am a Baron” moment was great - and pain that for him is still raw, about the loss of his family. (Some things’re awfully cliche - look, the supervillain’s playing chess and reading Machiavelli in his cell? really? - but, y’know...sure. Why not. We expect some cliches in the superhero genre, and this is an inoffensive one.)
--also Zemo dancing. That’s it. That’s everything.
--moving on from that: I’m also really liking how they’re writing John Walker. He does have charm, and there’s a certain amount of sympathy - especially as we see him worrying about filling the Captain America shoes, in ep 2 - but we’re also getting this really subtle sense of wrongness about him. He’s clearly vindictive and angry when things (and people) don’t act according to his mental script for them, and he’s willing to use his name and power to do things like get Bucky released...which in context and given our sympathies for Bucky is a good thing, but...it’s also an indicator of his willingness to do what he wants, because he can. (To be fair, Steve Rogers also often did that! - but Steve earned our trust, both in narrative and character. From his first introduction to WWII leadership experience to all the Avengers stuff, Steve consistently acts to protect people, and he’ll also listen if someone else has a good idea or if someone needs to talk, like with Wanda.) So I’m really liking this slow-fuse character development.
--mixed feelings about Sharon. I love that the show’s acknowledging how much she sacrificed for our main heroes, with no reward. On the other hand, she also clearly knew the consequences that could happen; she said as much at the time. The level of bitterness seems like a lot. But I’m also interested in everything we still don’t know about her - if she’s not the Power Broker herself, she’s obviously Up To Something. So that should be fun.
--hey, look at that X-Men location, with Majipoor! Also a nod to Wolverine’s favorite bar there, I think?
--I love heist and disguise plots!
--I also really like Bucky’s having to revert to the Winter Soldier - Sebastian Stan does it so brilliantly, with so many layers of emotion: not wanting to, loathing it, recognizing the necessity, shutting off all emotion and just coldly doing it, hurting but covering it up...just fantastic, and you know I love some hurt/comfort, and this seems like such a great set-up for emotional hurt
--but! this also seems like...a weird plot hole, kind of? Bucky’s pretty famous at this point, right? I imagine the criminal underworld knows he’s been pardoned and deprogrammed, right? or do they assume Zemo, with his knowledge of Hydra, still has some special control over him?
--along the same “this seems like someone didn’t think this through” path, Sam, you’re a professional, turn off your phone on a mission. Oh my god. Face-palmingly stupid - and I think somewhat lazy writing, as the writers plainly needed a giveaway, and went for the first idea they had. Even if it made a main character look incompetent.
--the Flag Smashers and Karli are...fine. They feel very Generic Marvel Villain - not the big space alien type, but the other type, the “I have a personal loss and motivating pain so I’m a little sympathetic but also Clearly Evil, watch me kill civilians so the audience won’t ever find me TOO sympathetic” type. Meh. Fine. Zemo’s more interesting, but...fine.
--Anthony Mackie is such a fantastic actor - every bit of his reaction to the Isaiah Bradley reveal is so good. The anger, pain, frustration, ferocity...heartbreaking. Actually that whole scene is so good - his emotions at discovering this secret history are palpable, and it’s so painful, because we also understand why Bucky would keep the secret - as someone who knows about pain and trauma and being experimented on, and knowing Isaiah wants to be left alone - we feel really deeply for both characters here, and it’s great.
--I actually liked the abrupt swing from the Isaiah Bradley encounter to the casual everyday racism of the cops on the street - is it subtle, no. But it’s not meant to be: it’s meant to be standing up and shouting about how not that much has really changed, and about how pervasive racism is. I know some reviews were all, “this was just too much!” or “too forced!” but...look, it needs to be shouted sometimes for people to hear.
--Bucky’s notebook being Steve’s, oh, ouch, my feelings. If I had the time and energy to write fic...
--(also, if I had the time and energy to write dark!fic: where’re my fics in which Zemo’s implication about the Winter Soldier “doing anything you want” gets played with? what or who does Bucky have to do to keep the undercover charade going? so many Bad Wrong Kinky power dynamics and explorations of consent and what this would do to Bucky’s head, here, and honestly I’d totally read them all, just saying.)
--Sam and Bucky together...I don’t know. This is one of the elements that I’m not actually a huge fan of, but I think it’s partly a personal genre / sense of humor thing that’s not clicking for me, personally, again. Like...
--I don’t find people shouting aggrievedly at each other to be funny? I’m not sure why it is.
--I mean, I get that they’re doing, like, eighties buddy cop movies, but...it got old really fast then, and it’s not something we needed to bring back. It’s not clever, and it’s...well, shouty and annoying.
--(I say this as someone who genuinely likes the first two Lethal Weapon movies...but the significant difference is, I think, we’re also shown in both those movies that Riggs and Murtaugh care about each other. They don’t want to be partners initially, and they don’t get along initially, and they do argue over tactics**...but they immediately feel responsible for each other and act to protect each other even as they argue, because it’s the right thing to do and we’re shown moments of them awkwardly trying to connect, because they both have that deep sense of...protectiveness...that makes them Good People - like, if they learn something that the other person needs to know, they tell each other. They protect each other’s families / love interests. So by the end of the second movie, with that fabulous character death fake-out, Murtaugh’s initial shock and grief is real and powerful and painful, and so is his genuine relief when the worst isn’t true - and it’s all earned.) (**however, they tend to argue tactics *before* jumping in - “is it 1, 2, 3, go on 3? or 3, then go?” And then once that’s established, they go ahead. That makes a difference as far as...well...competence and teamwork!)
--(Sam and Bucky, as far as I can tell, don’t do the above, and just...maybe shouldn’t be working together?)
--I also don’t find grown men acting like my youngest nephew, when he’s having a temper tantrum, to be funny. Staring contests? Random insults? Sulking in silence? Oh, grow up.
--(Also, yes, writers, we see you with the “couples therapy” and “get closer and make your legs touch” and “landing on top of each other as they hit the ground” moments. I, at least, personally, am very tired of...I don’t know that I’d call it queerbaiting exactly, but this idea that we’re supposed to find these moments funny...because why? Because, ooh, they’re two men getting close to each other, physically or emotionally? Why is this a thing we need to draw attention to? Do you think you’re doing some sort of fan service? Please either make Sam/Bucky happen or stop doing this.)
--both Sam and Bucky are highly competent and professional agents, or they should be. They should know how to work in the field - even with people they may not like - and adapt to shifting strategy, make best use of available assets, include people in the plan, etc. I can’t help but compare this to something like, say, Leverage, which also has a team who mocks each other and makes jokes but clearly absolutely respects each other’s capabilities, has a plan going in and tells everyone what the plan is, and adapts (and trusts each other to adapt) on the fly as necessary, and does it all without random insults about someone’s (PTSD-related) staring and “robot brain”.
--one of the very specific moments that bothers me a lot is the ending of the therapy scene (yay for showing heroes in therapy! but also I’m pretty sure she’s...not a great therapist?). Bucky finally opens up and says something real, about his own self-doubt and wondering whether Steve was wrong about him....and Sam just...brushes it off and goes, “we’re done here,” basically. Not only does that feel wildly out of character for former counselor Sam, it feels cruel. I really deeply dislike that moment the more I think about it. Makes me want to scream.
--Sam insults Bucky way more than the other way around. It’s starting to feel very one-sided (it’d be better if more clearly reciprocal, though it’s still not a dynamic that’s my favorite), and again, feels out of character - maybe this is Anthony Mackie’s sense of humor, but Sam isn’t Mackie, and Bucky isn’t Seb, and it reads as...a weird unbalanced power-trip thing to me. And also out of character for Sam, who can be sarcastic (”If you guys eat that sort of thing,” about breakfast, when Steve and Nat have randomly shown up at his door) but that’s not the same as just throwing unprovoked insults at a person who’s trying to recover from trauma, and a lot of those insults seem to center on things that were done to Bucky, that he had no choice in (the staring, the arm, etc), and that feels....it just feels mean, to me. Make fun of things he’s had a choice in / can do something about, if you have to - hair, clothes, liking “old people’s games” like gin rummy or pinochle, not knowing who Beyonce is, I don’t know, there are so many options that aren’t cruel! Do that instead. Let Bucky have a good comeback for once, too!
--the action scenes are action scenes. Also fine.
--Sam might be right about destroying the shield, and the show may even be (unintentionally?) setting that up as the best outcome, but that’s a problem for the future, Sam; get it back first. Also it’s a problem you caused by giving the shield up - did you really trust the government to leave it unused in a museum? You’re not that naive.
--overall, it’s...a perfectly fine show, so far, I think? Solid, and interesting, but not great. I think some of what doesn’t work for me is because it doesn’t work for me personally, as far as the shouty insult-heavy action “comedy” bits that I’m not enjoying, but I think they’re doing what they aimed for with it, so in that sense, I guess it’s working? There’s a lot of really cool stuff around the edges - John Walker, Isaiah Bradley, that Dora Milaje stinger, the bigger world of a history interwoven with racism and superpowers, the chillingly effective use of Bucky’s past - but I wish I liked the central Sam-Bucky relationship more. Individually they’re wonderful - they’ve both had such powerful scenes dealing with family, trauma, and consequences - but I feel like, in the effort to do the buddy comedy dynamic, the writing has just made me really sure that they actually genuinely don’t like each other? To such an extent that if they show any affection / caring / interest in each other in the last three episodes, it won’t be believable. (I mean Sam and Bucky, not Mackie and Seb. Mackie and Seb’re adorable.)
--I just want to think about Zemo dancing some more.
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emachinescat · 4 years ago
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I've decided to watch MacGyver from the beginning (again), and I'm live tweeting the experience with every tweet tagged with #savemacgyver. I thought it would be fun to share my collected thoughts from the episodes on here as well.
My Thoughts on S1E2, "Metal Saw"
Seriously love the music in this show!
THE FREAKING BELT GRAB. You can tell they've done this kind of thing before.
I always love it when Jack and Mac have heart-to-hearts in the middle of super intense, dangerous situations. Like... it's sweet, but time and place, guys?
"Hi, I'm Jack." Nervous Jack is bebby.
Ew, sweat. Like, I know it's "realism" to have sweat stains on clothes in situations like these, but that's one bit of realism I can always do without. Gross.
Is that a bit of PTSD I'm seeing with Mac there on the couch? That's a kind of realism I can always get behind.
Riley finding Mac and Boze in that compromising position will never not be funny. "But he was on top." I love Riley more every episode.
Riley is a really good liar from day one.
I love the joke about ex-cons benefiting from being in relationships with stable people (i.e., fake boyfriend Bozer), then the immediate cut to Bozer with his whole arm inside the vending machine. Great stuff.
Love the Riley and Bozer bonding... right up until the cringe-tastic "Slide me your digits."
"Soon, I'm gonna woo you the same way Romeo would have wooed Juliet if they had Snapchat back in the Renaissance." Bozer and his surprisingly accurate pickup lines. The Renaissance did in fact start in Italy around the 14th century, when R&J is thought to take place.
I love all this psychoanalyzing of Mac. "Adapting is his survival mechanism." Also I'm living for Jack sticking up for Mac to Patti.
"This place has been searched by everybody and their dog." Is this a Texas thing or an old guy saying? Either way it's great.
Nothing beats the early days of Mac and Jack. Nothing. I wish we had gotten more interactions where Jack has to parent Mac: "Stop touching that. Look at me." ❤️❤️❤️
Jack so concerned about Mac and putting on the kid gloves = everything I could have ever asked for and more.
Jack has such a big heart. Poor guy, the look on his face when he sees that the reporter is actually Sarah...
Paperclip sculptures: When I first started watching the show, I thought they were lame. Now I miss them so much. Does that mean I've gotten lamer or that they were always cool and I was always lame?
"Closest time I ever came to coming home in a box." Oof. This line hits different now, and not in a good way.
I just love how Jack is this big tough ex-Delta who is so open about his emotions, particularly with Mac. And the way Mac reassures him... Their bromance is top-tier.
"Oh, like when they invented fire!" Another zinger.
Mac grabbing that giant cigar right out of that dude's mouth 😂😂😂
Love some good fight-scene Mac whump! 👏👏👏 And bar fights are always a blast!
Riley with the car door - such a boss. "What? You told me to stay in the car, and I did."
I've seen some people say they don't like S1 Mac's hair. I kind of dig it, to be honest. He looks like he's 5, but I love it.
Mac has made a lot of DIY cutting torches in his time, but they never get less impressive.
Jack trusting Mac to save Sarah while he keeps watch is just *chef's kiss*!
These early episodes have so many MacGyverisms. One right after the other. It's awesome.
I've never been a big fan of the dark either, Mac.
The first scene with Mac and Sarah is so beautifully tense and whumpy (he way he scrabbles for purchase, gasps for breath, that hitch in his voice as he tries to squeak out Jack's name) that I had to rewind and watch it again.
The hopeful disbelief in her voice: "Jack Dalton came for me?"
Sarah can kick some serious ass. I can see why Jack likes her. Too bad she's about to lead him on the rest of the episode, while actually having a fiance...
Sarah: *leans out of car, shooting her weapon with deadly, terrifying precision* Riley: I agree, this woman should not have kids. 😂 Everything that comes out of Riley's mouth is gold.
Riley asleep in the back of the car while Mac sits quietly and Jack and Sarah have a sweet moment is like mom and dad with the kids in the backseat. Except mom has a fiance and hasn't told dad yet, even though she's had ample opportunity.
Because seriously, Sarah. It's not that hard to tell him the truth. Giving him those big eyes and flirting with him, thinking he has a chance is just cruel. I have never liked her character, and this is why.
Mac and Jack giggling about Jack's crush on Sarah like middle-school girls is life.
"You're just gonna have to let that go." Man, I love their relationship.
Gosh, the scene where they find Luis always hurts so badly. These early episodes did not play around.
"There isn't always time to beg some suit back home for permission to do what's right." I'm not a fan of Sarah, but I love this line. Also, this is pretty much the synopsis of the whole show.
Riley's hair used to be so LONG! 😍
The loyalty of these three! And I love the OG trio so much.
This sleazy guy in the computer place makes my skin crawl.
Love how Patti's like, "Mac will be back by then." Not Jack, not Riley. Just Mac. Can we say teacher's pet? I actually lowkey love this though.
"Who is this guy?" Much like Doctor Who's "It's bigger on the inside," I never get tired of people being equally amazed and confused at the stuff Mac can do.
I've never been the biggest car chase junkie, but Barrios jumping over the car using that log in the road is pretty dope.
Sarah's rage is chilling. And Jack talking her down breaks me every time.
Again, I love the loyalty of our team. Everyone sticks up for each other, ending with Mac's totally unbelievable but still somehow 100% genuine "It was me. I forced them." TOO good.
First mention of Oversight this early. Just thinking about who it is that doesn't like unsanctioned ops just makes me 😤 I wonder if the writers knew who OS was at this point or if it was a later development.
I do wish we could have gotten more conspiratorial, approving Patti. She's so much better than expressionless, bland Patti.
The way Sarah never told Jack about her fiance Jeff (who is in fact a cinnamon roll but still a discount Jack) pisses me off. "I tried to tell you." Yeah, right. It's not that hard to say, "Yo, I'm in a relationship."
Jack NEVER should have found out about Jeff the way he did. There's no excuse.
It's not okay, Jack. She did you wrong. You didn't deserve that. Stand up for yourself, man. Gosh, he's so broken here, and I hate it.
"At least we have each other... Don't look at me. I know how weird it sounded." THESE TWO I SWEAR 🤣🤣🤣
Poor Mac. I do love how we get his obsessive tendencies so early in the show, and how they keep coming back, even as late as season 5. As someone with clinically diagnosed OCD, this makes me feel seen and I love being able to relate to my favorite character.
Love the found family antics at the end. Riley and Bozer making dinner while Mac and Jack play basketball? Perfection.
Lol, Bozer calling Riley a "caramel goddess" has such Schmidt/Cece vibes from New Girl, and I dig it!
Ew. More sweat. I know some people find sweaty men attractive, but that is NOT my vibe. I prefer my men clean and freshly laundered.
The way Riley glances back over her shoulder at them as she walks away, as if to make sure they're really there, that this is actually real!!!
"That's not even... that's true, actually. That's sad." Jack 🤣 Also, "I'm hungry." Big mood.
As a Grandpa Harry stan from the OG show, I eat up any mention of him in the new one. I just wish we'd gotten more of that wonderful man in the reboot. Still, I'll take what I can get!
I'd honestly forgotten how much I enjoy this episode! So solid, full of bromance, found family, and lots of good-natured bickering. Can't wait to watch the next one, hopefully tomorrow! In the meantime, please keep fighting for our show! Together we can #savemacgyver!
If anyone wants to join me in my re-watching and tweeting adventure, please do! It's my way to take about an hour a day in my busy, busy life to commit to the #savemacgyver movement. (And to enjoy my favorite show yet again!) If you do tweet as you watch, make sure to tag EVERY tweet with ONLY #savemacgyver so we can keep that hashtag trending! :)
Thanks for letting me share my (numerous) thoughts on this episode. This was really fun, and I hope it's something you all enjoy, too. I'd love to know what you all think of the episode in the comments! ❤️
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pluviophile-bookworm · 3 years ago
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HSMTMTS 2x12: Don't say we'll have to let it go...
After a very stressful morning and several moments in which I was close to a full sanity slip completely unrelated to this, it is high time (heck, it's the highest of times, if you know what I mean) I got to the new HSMTMTS, the last one for a while.
I'm honestly scared, though. This morning I thought nothing could make me more nervous today than the whole ordeal I had to go through, but now that I'm here, I'm super scared and anxious. I don't even want to say it, but... what if this is... you know what I'm thinking. We're all thinking it. I just hope we're wrong in a good way.
I feel like I might die of anxiety, so I guess I'll just dive in. Whatever will be, will be.
Supportive Nini is best Nini. Honestly, I haven't liked her all season as much as I do now. The background, behind-the-scenes role seems to fit her a lot better than the lead. I hope to see more of her like this when (fingers crossed!!!) the show comes back.
Ashlyn, on the other hand, is a perfect lead. She was born for this, and it shows. It shows so much that everybody has finally noticed it. They took their time, didn't they?
Ugh, I hate, hate, hate this kind of moment that happens every time when someone has prepared a surprise for someone else — and we saw that twice this season — once with Carlos at his Quinceañero, and now with Ashlyn. I mean the moment before they find out about the surprise and they feel like they've been forgotten and it's all so sad... at least I know whatever my boy Reddy has planned for his girl will make up for that sort of feeling. I can't wait!
Ahhhhh @redlyncentral you called it! You called it big time! I can't say I wasn't expecting it to be something like this, though, because I trust your sixth sense more than I trust mine — and I trust mine a lot. Also, if anyone deserves to have their name in lights, it's Ashlyn. And remember when she told Big Red that, to make things light up, he just had to walk into a room? Or when he told her that the only thing he'd throw at her was a brighter spotlight? You know, I think that, just like airports are Portwell's thing, lights are Redlyn's thing. And that is so beautiful... I am legitimately crying.
Yikes... see, it's one thing when Nini calls Ricky 'Richard'. But it's another thing entirely when Kourtney calls Howie 'Howard'. Gosh, I hope they clear things up. If Howie has something to say (as in, some secret to come clean about, if you catch my drift), he'd better do it now. I was never too invested in Kowie, but it still hurts to see tension between them.
Ok, but... these two are too dorky for words! I mean, you're telling me Howie was acting that way just because of how nervous Kourtney's talent made him? Oh well, I feel like I can understand that, actually. She's a powerhouse. But also, everyone around here needs to learn a lesson or two from Redlyn. About communication, reciprocity, expression of feelings... it's no accident that they're the parents of the drama club. But this is not about them. Oh, who am I kidding? With me, everything is about them. Unless it's about Seblos or Portwell. Never mind. Moving on.
I am trying very hard not to have a visible or audible reaction because my brother is in the room and I'm supposed to be working, but... EJ had his dad put in a good word for Mr Mazzara at Caltech. And that is something that makes me feel feelings I can't very easily put into words. Also, what does that mean for Mr M's future at East High?
As clear as the imprint of Jamie's words is to see on EJ's face, I feel like he's not giving up on Portwell quite yet. 'Play it by ear' sounded quite promising to me, all things considered.
Not Ricky and Nini writing the same thing in slightly different words... again! I absolutely get why people ship them, at least on the surface level I do, but I really can't see them as a couple anymore. That is not to say, however, that I'm not rooting for them on their way to figuring out how to be 'just' friends. (See, I'm not a big fan of the expression 'just friends', as if it's something less than a romantic relationship, so...) They could be the best friends ever. If, and only if they learn to communicate properly. All kinds of relationships require good communication. I feel like I'm saying that a lot, but, you know, if it's true...
I can't look at Miss Jenn the same way after last week's episode. The Menkies have turned her, quite frankly, into a monster. She's too obsessed with beating Zacky Roy to notice how she's treating her students who have always been nothing but devoted to her and the play. Well, some of them anyway... I feel like it's time for Carlos to reconsider his opinion of her... and I know it must be painful, and the least thing I'd ever wish for him is pain, but... sometimes certain painful things are necessary. I just hope everyone comes out of this alright. I think I might not, though. I've been crying for a while already.
No... why is Gina crying? My girl needs a hug... Oh, here comes Nini. This seems like it's been a long time coming.
This was beautiful... only one character played by an actress named Olivia will be redeemed today. And it's the right one, if I do say so myself.
Alright, who called it? Gina connecting Nini with her brother about her music, I mean. I know for a fact someone here called it. If you happen to be that genius and you read this, please come forward in the notes to get the credit you deserve. This is... a little too perfect to be true, but I feel like it's the best way to connect and wrap up several storylines with one blow. And I love when that happens. Gosh, why does this feel like a series finale? Please tell me I'm wrong. I am not ready. I will never be ready. Ok, maybe one day I will be, but not anytime soon. Please tell me my feeling is deceiving me this time.
Oh, good, it's being addressed. The 'jump off of something high' comment, I mean. It would have been wrong not to address it. I kind of really liked the way they did it, too. Also, 'getting there' really is the most accurate answer to the question whether Ricky is happy. I feel like he's got a long way to go before he does get there, but he really is closer to that destination than he's been in a while. This boy deserves all the happiness. He's been through way too much. And I'm glad Miss Jenn is finally seeing her part in his struggles throughout the year.
Ahhh it's the song! I've been so excited for it all week, ever since that teaser leaked. But, once again: why does this feel like a finale? I want to curb my anxiety and watch this episode with a free mind, but the episode itself just isn't helping me. Ok, let's go back to the song for now. Whatever will be, will be.
No... EJ's verse... just no. Somebody tell that boy not to be so hung up on the words of somebody who doesn't even know who Gina is today. I've had 'the majestic S.S. Portwell' for a couple of weeks and I'm not ready for it not setting sail after it was almost out of the... port(well). Have I ever told you I make bad puns when I'm anxious?
Carlos doesn't even remember being on stage... that's too relatable to be overlooked. See, I used to perform on stage (I've decided to quit for good now and it makes me cry only slightly), and that has always been how I've felt about it. I feel like my favourites are who they are because I relate to each one of them to an extent — some are who I think I am, some are who I used to be, and some are who I wish I could become... and so much more on top. I'm being so emotional. I'm not ready to let these kids go. Please someone tell me I won't have to, at least not quite yet.
The Wildcats' reaction to... Capital-B-witch and Fake-French-Git-who-is-apparently-French-for-real (as I've taken to calling those two because calling them by their real names would mean showing them respect which they don't deserve) was exactly the same as mine. No one invited them there. They're not supposed to be there. Someone kick them out.
'Big Red... you were... also there!' Um, excuse you, he was not just 'there'! I mean, I know we didn't get to see him on stage (we've been robbed!!!), but I'm sure he was the most amazing LeFou to ever grace a theatre stage. That being said, we have been robbed! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I want to see what Big Red's reaction will be. I've been fantasising about this moment for weeks now.
Ok... so I said a couple of weeks ago, in my post on 2x10, that Ricky has been given a chance to prove what kind of friend he is right then and there... and, well, this wasn't exactly how I envisioned it, but it was nice. I think that's the word for it. Nice. Ricky is just too nice to do what I kept seeing in my fantasy. And Big Red is doubly too nice to do it. But I... I surprise myself sometimes with how aggressive I can get in defence of other people. Maybe it's better this way than my way.
Did that capital-B-witch just say what I thought I heard her say? Because there's no way she just said that. Also, 'sometimes people deserve a second chance'... well, yeah. And sometimes they don't, you... well, I don't use words like that, but you guys can put two and two together, right?
'I'd trade it all for this group right here tonight'... me too, Eej, me too. I'm not even going to pretend I'm not crying because, guess what, I'm bloody bawling my eyes out! I kind of stopped for a moment when you-know-who and her second-in-command came in, but now I'm crying again. I am so not ready to let these kids go.
So... they're dropping out? Just like that? Well, that was anticlimactic! But hey, I absolutely get it. That's the Wildcat spirit, after all, isn't it? They did win already. They won something that some of North High's students can never understand. And that's more important than just about anything. [side note: I've got to say I appreciate the fact that my boy Reddy is now able to joke about his opening night predicament. See, that's another thing I relate to. I go through the craziest stuff, and then I laugh and tell stories to anyone who will listen. And I think that's the best approach to that kind of stuff. I just wish I could be less dramatic about the little things, too. It seems to me it's easier to laugh about the big, serious stuff once it's over, but not about some things that most people would deem unworthy of their attention. But hey, I'm working on that. Also, this post is not supposed to be about me. Moving on.]
Bless Ashlyn and the fact that she's good at communication. Even if she's a little late. She's not too late yet. Portwell might still be saved.
No, Ricky, you so did not just call you-know-who! I will not stand for any of that. Unless it's to shut her off once and for all, in which case I say go for it and go full steam. But why do I get the feeling it's not going to be like that? Ok, never mind, let's set that one aside and focus on Portwell for a second.
Ok, that was... that was going to be so beautiful, and then they cut it off. Is Portwell about to be Redlyn 2.0? Oh well, if it really is, that isn't going to be so bad after all. But now all I can think about is... when are we getting the renewal? How am I supposed to sleep at night until we know for sure?
Not them making me cry with a BTS montage... as if I wasn't crying hard enough already. I'm not alone in the house, you guys! In fact, we're having a bunch of guests from overseas in... wait, I think they're at the door. I'm not ready for people! Not now. Pray for me, you guys! (In all seriousness, though, don’t pray for me. Pray for a season 3 announcement to come soon)
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allthingsfangirl101 · 4 years ago
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Jealousy Looks Good On You–Zac Efron
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Wattpad request by imabicycle
Zac has been away filming his Netflix special for just under six months. He was coming back home today and I was eager to see him. Even though we Facetimed every night, I still miss him like crazy. He hasn't told me anything about filming. All he's said is that he's had a lot of time to think and he'll talk to me about it when we are finally in the same time zone.
And that made me extremely nervous.
For a second, I thought he was breaking up with me. He must have seen the look on my face because he immediately laughed, "Don't worry, babe. I'm not breaking up with you. I love you. This has nothing to do with us and everything to do with work."
I glanced at the clock, sighing when I saw it was a little past 3 am. I rolled over, trying to get some sleep but I knew it would be useless. Ever since Zac left, I haven't been able to sleep very well.
When I finally confessed that to him, he decided to Facetime me at night (well, night for me) so we can talk until I fell asleep mid-call. Surprisingly, it worked. We would talk as I was laying in bed and he was getting ready to film or traveling. Once I had finally fallen asleep, he'd stay on for a few minutes to make sure I was still asleep and not faking it like I tried to do the first time.
But tonight, we decided not to Facetime. He was getting on a red-eye flight and we weren't sure if he'd have service on the way to the private airport out in the middle of nowhere in Iceland.
I sat up when I knew that sleeping would be pointless. I had barely started an episode of The Office when my phone started ringing. A smile instantly formed as Zac's name and contact picture popped up.
"Hey, baby" I answered.
"Hey, you," he chuckled. "Sorry to call so late, well early. Our plane just landed."
"It's okay," I shrugged. "I was awake anyway. Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up at the airport?"
"I told you I was fine," Zac said with a small laugh.
"But," I started.
"Baby," he chuckled, cutting me off. "It's okay. You should be trying to sleep. Besides, I already have an Uber waiting for me."
"But those aren't always safe," I said softly.
I heard Zac sigh followed by a flight attendant telling them they can start grabbing their carry-ons. "I know," he said gently. "Honestly, babe, they are more dangerous for you than me."
"This isn't a joke, Zac," I said, my voice getting caught in my throat.
"I know. . ." He started to say but I cut him off.
"What if the person is dangerous or recognizes you? I can't lose you, Zac. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. The worst thing that could happen is you made it through traveling the world for six months and something happens because your terrible girlfriend was too tired to drive out and pick you up at the airport."
"Y/N," Zac said when I stopped rambling to catch my breath. "I am going to be okay, I promise. I know my Uber. I requested him. He's driven me several times before. And if it makes you feel better, I will have my location on until I get home."
"I'm sorry," I said once I had calmed down. My voice was barely above a whisper as I said, "I just. . . I miss you."
"I miss you too, baby," he said sweetly. "But I will be home in less than an hour. Lay down and get some sleep. I'll try not to wake you up when I get home."
"Okay," I said softly. I took a deep breath before saying, "I love you."
"I love you too."
                       * * * * *
I woke up a little later to someone crawling into bed next to me. "It's okay, babe," Zac whispered. "It's just me. Go back to sleep."
I rolled over so I was facing him and snuggled deep into his chest. "I'm so happy you're home," I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.
"I am too, babe."
"I love you," I mumbled as I fell back to sleep.
"I love you too, Y/N."
                       * * * * *
I woke up to the feeling of someone's arms wrapped around me. I looked up, my heart jumping into my throat when I saw Zac asleep. My eyes filled with tears as I watched him sleep. I gently reached forward and moved the bangs from his face.
I held my breath as he slowly started to wake up. "Hey, you," he chuckled, his voice dripping with sleep.
"Hi," I whispered. His smile fell when he saw the tears in my eyes.
"What's wrong, baby?" He asked, slowly sitting up on his elbow.
"Nothing," I smiled. "I just. . . I'm. . . I can't believe. . ."
I stopped talking and pressed my lips to his. He smiled into the kiss as he started moving his lips in sync with mine. Zac rolled us over so he was hovering over me.
"I missed you too," he whispered when he broke the kiss. Zac laid back down, immediately pulling me into his chest. He ran his hand up and down my back as we laid next to each other.
"What do you want to do today?" He asked, finally breaking the silence.
"I don't care," I whispered, cuddling closer to him. "As long as I'm with you, I don't care what we do."
Zac laughed as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. We sat up and looked at each other. I instantly reached forward and grabbed his hands, simply wanting to hold him. I felt Zac smiling at me as he watched me play with his fingers.
"So?" He laughed.
"I don't know," I shrugged, looking at him smiling sweetly at me. He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering.
"What if. . ." I said slowly. "What if we. . . How about. . ."
"What?" Zac chuckled. "Anything you want to do, baby."
"What about the beach?" I offered. "It's supposed to be a gorgeous day today and I haven't been all summer because I didn't want to go alone."
Zac cut me off and pressed his lips to my lips. I giggled against his lips as I kissed him back. He broke the kiss and pressed his lips to my nose.
"The beach sounds amazing," Zac laughed.
                       * * * * *
I got out of Zac's car and smiled when he immediately jogged around the car and helped me out. He shut my door for me and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
"You ready?" He asked, practically bouncing on his toes. I laughed as he grabbed the stuff from the backseat and grabbed my hand, leading me down the beach.
We set up our stuff in a nice spot, far enough away from everyone else. We were still surrounded by people, but we also had privacy. I had just fixed the blanket when I felt Zac standing behind me. I stood up and brushed my hands off as I turned around.
"Can I help you?" I teased. I gasped when he grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes as he playfully laughed evilly. "You are such a child."
"Yep," he laughed, popping the P. "But you knew that before we started dating."
"I know," I sighed dramatically. "I had no idea what I was thinking when I said yes to a first date with the actor who's makeup I was doing."
I gasped when he put me down, the cold water coming up to my thighs. I set him an annoyed look as he smirked down at me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling us closer. I sighed as I played with the hair on the back of his neck.
"You alright?" He whispered.
"I'm just happy you're home," I smiled as I stood on my toes. I pressed my lips to his, giggling into the kiss as our lips moved in sync.
"So," I said, pulling away. "What did you want to talk to me about? You know, when I thought you were breaking up with me?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. I waited for him to continue but he didn't. He glanced behind me at our stuff. "We should probably go talk about this on land."
He grabbed my hand and led me back over to our stuff. We dried off and sat down on our beach chairs. I pulled my knees into my chest and glanced over at him, waiting for him to finally tell me what's going on.
"You don't have to look so scared, baby," he chuckled as he turned towards me.
"Sorry," I stuttered. "I just. . . When someone says they need to talk to you about something big, either I'm pregnant or you're leaving me."
"Well," he smirked as he grabbed my knees and turned me towards him. "I'm not leaving you and we haven't done anything close to having a baby for the past six months. Unless you look really good at six months pregnant."
I sent him a playful glare as I pushed him. He laughed before continuing. "As you know," he sighed, "I've been having a really hard time lately with working, paparazzi in our business, fans telling me we shouldn't be together, people always wanting something from me. . ."
Zac sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Baby," he said barely audible, his voice shaking. "I've been thinking over the past few months and seeing the world was amazing but something was missing."
"What?"
"You," he shrugged. My eyes filled with tears as I stood up and sat on his lounge chair. I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his. He smiled into the kiss as he started moving his lips against mine. When we broke apart, Zac leaned back and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
"I want to continue doing what I was doing for my Netflix special. Traveling the world, exploring new places, discovering new worldly things. Just without the cameras," he laughed.
I watched as his smile disappeared. "Y/N, I've been thinking about quitting acting."
"Really?" I asked, completely taken back by his decision. "Are you. . . Are you sure? I mean, I love you and will support you either way, but you love your job."
"I did," he corrected. He sighed as he ran both of his hands through his hair again. He reached over and grabbed my hands. "Y/N, I can't do this anymore. It's so much and. . . I don't get to spend time with you anymore. I only ever see you when I'm home and sometimes we go months without seeing each other. And I don't want to do that anymore. One day, down the road, if we start a family, I couldn't leave you to raise our kids alone. What kind of husband would I be if I let that. . ."
"Zac," I said gently as I covered his mouth with my hand. "Baby, if you want to quit then quit."
"But what about when we get married?"
"When?" I asked, slightly teasing him. He laughed as he shrugged innocently. I sat forward and pressed my lips to his.
"I know you," I whispered when I pulled away, "and I know you have saved everything you've earned. When we get married, we are going to be just fine."
Zac leaned forward and pressed another kiss to my lips. When we broke apart, he smiled at me. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too."
                       * * * * *
We spent the rest of the afternoon, playing in the water and spending time together on the beach.
"Hey," Zac whispered as we were reading. "You hungry?"
"Which means you are," I laughed as I closed the book. We were about to go to the snack shack but I stopped.
"What?" Zac asked.
"Is our stuff gonna be okay?"
Zac just laughed as he grabbed my hand and led me away. I shrugged, figuring everything would be fine. We ordered some burgers and fries and two lemonades. On our way back to our spot, someone called out to me.
"Y/N?" An oddly familiar voice said.
I turned around, my eyes instantly widening when I figured out who that voice belonged to.
"George?!" I laughed as he jogged over to me.
He immediately pulled me into his chest, picking me up off the ground, and spinning me around. When he finally put me down, we pulled out of the hug.
"I can't believe this," George laughed. "I haven't seen you since. . ."
"Since the summer before college," I nodded. I let go of him and turned towards Zac.
"Zac, this is my childhood best friend, George," I introduced them. "And George, this is my boyfriend, Zac."
"You're dating the Zac Efron?" George laughed as he shook his hand.
"Yes, she is," Zac said. I glanced over to see Zac clenching his jaw. He let go of George's hand as he added, "We met on set three years ago and have been together ever since."
"That's great," George smiled.
"So, what have you been up to?" I asked him, trying to ease the sudden tension between them.
"I am a partner at my father's architecture firm," George smiled.
"Just like you planned," I laughed, shaking my head. Zac looked over at me, confused. "Growing up, George always talked about becoming an architect, like his dad. We both worked at his dad's firm in high school and George was like a mini version of his dad."
"What about you?" George asked. "Last time I remembered, you wanted to be a writer."
"A writer?" Zac asked, looking between George and me.
"Yeah," I stuttered.
"You didn't know?" George asked, sounding a little judgmental. "Ever since she was little, Y/N has been writing in journals, swearing that she would be famous one day."
"I didn't know that," Zac mumbled.
"It was just a silly dream," I said quickly. "It's a hobby, really. I didn't expect. . . Anyway, I went to cosmetology school and got a job doing makeup for a tv show. That job led to my first movie job, 17 Again. That's where I met Zac."
"That's great," George smiled. "So you started dating while working?"
"No," I laughed. "Dating coworkers was highly looked down upon by our director. If anyone was caught, there would be repercussions."
"Knowing this, I waited," Zac jumped in. "I knew that if Y/N and I got together, she would be fired. Instead of doing anything, I flirted with her until I could ask her out."
"Yep," I smiled as I wrapped my arm around his waist. "He asked me out on the last day of filming. Stormed into the makeup trailer and asked me to dinner."
"And the rest is history?" George asked.
"Exactly," Zac said before I could. "And there's no stopping us now. I couldn't imagine my life without her."
"That's great," George smiled, either oblivious or ignoring Zac's glare. "Sounds like you guys are really in love."
"We are," Zac said, not skipping a beat. George looked at me, his expression changing for a brief second before he laughed off the awkwardness.
"Well," he laughed awkwardly. "I'll let you guys get back to enjoying the beach. It was really great to see you again, Y/N."
"You too," I smiled as I stepped away from Zac so I could give George a hug. The second we broke apart, Zac stepped next to me and pulled me back into his side.
"So, can I have your number?" George asked. I felt Zac's arm tightened around me. I sent him a glance as I handed George my phone.
"Of course," I smiled. We exchanged numbers and said our goodbyes.
As Zac and I walked back to our chairs, I could tell that Zac was overthinking something. When we got back to our stuff, we sat down and started eating. I glanced over at Zac, my heart sinking a little when I noticed him barely eating.
"Okay," I sighed as I put down my hamburger and wiped my hands on a napkin. "What's going on? You've been tense and have barely said a word since we got our food. Is this because of George?"
Zac glanced at me before quickly looking away. "I'm fine," he said, clearing his throat.
I stood up and walked over to his chair, sitting by his feet. I put my hand on his knee, making him look up at me.
"Baby," I said gently. "Are you jealous of George?"
"No," he scoffed, trying to laugh it off. He sighed when he saw the look on my face. "Fine. Maybe I was a little jealous. I just. . . I didn't like the way he. . . Or when he. . . Or how he. . ."
I leaned over and pressed my lips to his, cutting off his nervous rambling. He sighed before kissing me back. When I broke the kiss, I pressed my forehead to his.
"You don't need to be jealous, Zac," I said gently before finally leaning away from him. I reached up and cupped his cheek in my hand. "George and I have known each other since we were in diapers. We grew up as next-door neighbors. The last time we saw each other, he was moving to New York to go to NYU. George and I are like brother and sister. I swear, there's nothing between him and me. You're the only guy who has my eyes or my heart. I love you."
"I love you too," he smiled before kissing me again. "And I'm sorry for getting jealous. I just. . . I'm protective of you and insecure and. . . And an idiot."
I smiled as he moved his food and pulled me into him so I was between his legs and my back was leaning against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and sighed as he leaned his chin on my shoulder. We sat in silence before he broke it.
"So," he whispered, his breath tickling my neck. "Writing, huh?"
"Yeah," I laughed awkwardly.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" He asked.
"I just. . . Because. . ." When I didn't continue, Zac turned so he was facing me more.
"Talk to me, babe," he whispered as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Growing up, I used to write all the time. My parents actually were worried that I spent all my time working on these stories, I never went out and made my own. I wish I could say that wasn't true. . ."
"Is that why you stopped?" He asked with a hint of hesitation.
I sent him a knowing look before saying, "Before I went to college, my dad sat me down and gave me what he called a "Reality Talk" to try and get me back into the real world."
"Oh boy," Zac said under his breath.
"Yeah," I sighed as I turned more towards him so it was more comfortable for the both of us. "He told me to get my head out of the clouds and get back to reality."
"So, what did you do?"
"I gave up," I shrugged, my voice getting stuck in my throat.
Zac sighed as he pulled me back into his chest and rested both of us back in his seat. He wrapped his arms around me and gently rubbed my arms, encouraging me to continue.
"I stopped writing and went out to get a normal degree. I started getting a business degree but it just wasn't me. So, after I got my associate in general studies, I left UCLA and went to Paul Mitchell. Instead of studying business strategies, I studied hair, nails, and makeup."
"What did your dad do when he found out?"
I scoffed as I leaned more into him. "He was furious with me. He screamed at me that I was giving up and throwing my life away. He said that he wasn't going to pay for me to waste my time. So, he didn't. I ended up writing articles for a company to pay my way through school. At least I was writing again, but. . ."
"But what, baby?" He whispered.
"But it wasn't the same," I said, my voice barely a whisper. I sighed as Zac pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. He cleared his throat before adding, "You know, you could always go back to writing. You have time between scenes and when we finish filming early. You could still write."
"I know," I stuttered. "I just. . . What if I lost it?"
Zac laughed again as he kissed my forehead, wrapping his arms tighter around me. "It's not something you can lose, baby. You should try it. You know you will always have my support."
"I know," I smiled. I sighed as I cuddled more into his arms. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head.
We sat in each other's arms for so long, I lost track of time. I had started to fall asleep as he ran his fingers through my hair and rubbed my back.
"You know something, Zac?" I whispered. He hummed, tightening his arms around me, and burying his face in my neck.
"Jealously looks good on you."
Zac pulled away, sat us up, and looked down at me. I held in my laughter when I saw the look on his face.
"It's not funny," he fake pouted. "I don't like the idea of some other guy lookin' at you."
I gasped and let out a small giggle as he pulled me into his chest but rolled us over so he was hovering over me. "You're mine. And no one is going to take you from me, baby."
I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. I smiled sweetly as I said, "No one is ever going to take me from you, babe. I'm all yours."
"Good," he said before crashing his lips onto mine. I smirked into the kiss as our lips moved in sync.
"Zac?" I mumbled against his lips.
"Yes, baby?" He pulled away and immediately started kissing my neck.
"We're in public, babe," I said softly. I held back a moan as he found my sweet spot. "There are people everywhere, Zac. We shouldn't. . . We should. . ."
When the moan finally left my lips, Zac pulled away and smirked down at me victoriously. He sent me a wink but didn't move from above me.
"Zac," I sighed, sending him a knowing look.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"We're still at the beach and you are still on top of me."
"So?" He shrugged.
"And," I elongated, "we still haven't eaten."
Zac laughed as he finally got off of me. We sat on his chair, eating our lunch together as I sat in his arms. I couldn't help but people watch as we ate. I watched as families played, friends took pictures, and couples spent time together. I looked over, my cheeks burning when I saw Zac watching me.
"What?" I asked, my mouth full of hamburger. Zac chuckled as he reached up and wiped some ketchup from the corner of my mouth.
"I love you, Y/N."
"And I love you, Zac."
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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago
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Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers (DT17 Season 2 Retrospective): The Most Dangerous Game Night! (Paid for by WeirdKev27)
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Welcome all you happy people! As some of you will recall I do a lot of duck based retrospectives on this blog: Ride of the Three Cablleros! which took a look at all the Cabs major American adventures, Shadow Into Light, my Weblena colored look at Lena Sabrewing’s journey from abused teenager to magical protector, and the Della arc which I dind’t give a cool name but covered since Shadow Into Light read right into it’s final chapter and ended up perfectly synching up with the final month of the series. And of course i’m still working my way through the life and times of Scrooge McDuck with a plan to finish the main story in September barring any delays, sickness that sorta thing.
So it shouldn’t be at all a shock that having covered all of season 3 when it came out and covered the two season 1 arcs i’d be taking a look at Season 2′s three story arcs. So I probably would’ve covered them anyway.. but Kev, one of my patreons and the guy who commissioned Shadow Into Light AND Ride of the Three Cablleros, had expressed interest in doing the Glomgold arc from season 2 as it centers around his favorite character, Zan Owlson. He also wanted to do Della’s arc in time for mothers day, and was all too happy to combine both, and politely agreed to my request to do the Louie arc as well. To help soften the blow, I also suggested since he’s a patreon of mine on patreon.com/popculturebuffet he use his second review (You get one guaranteed review a month with 5 and he’s a 10 dollar backer so he gets two, and he’s earmarked marked one for House of Mouse through the end of the year)  to help soften the blow a bit, which means some weeks i’ll be doubling up on this one. He agreed and it’s thanks to him that all of this happened so thanks bud. It’s also thanks to him I have money in the first place and I wouldn’t be here without him.
As for why I insisted on the Louie arc it wasn’t out of greed but out of pragmatism. I covered the Della arc purely on my own time, and gladly did so. But back then I also kept making the mistake of shoving retrospectives back again and again and again and that’s why there’s a rather nasty gap in my New X-Men retrospective I think severely harmed it , and a similar one for life and times which wounded it. I don’t mind taking smaller gaps of say a month when needed, but I learned from the experience I can’t just delay things constantly out of convince and expect it to work.
Not only that but the Lena and Della arcs only interact in the very last part. With these arc? While they don’t really touch at first and run parallel much like season 1′s arcs did, they start intersecting heavily as soon as Della gets back. Raiders of the Doomsday Vault! touches on both Della’s recent return and Glomgold’s bet with Scrooge, Happy Birthday Doofus Drake! has the A-Plot centered around Louie’s plot and the B-Plot centered around Della bonding with Huey as part of hers. And the final four is one one long, sustained arc, finishing up all three in the process. So yeah it was a package deal and as such this will be my third largest retrospective at 17 parts including the prologue. (As i’ll also be covering Della’s four issues in the IDW Comic released back in season 1). For the record my largest will be my Tom Lucitor Retrospective as 24 (in part due to doing the eclipsa arc for the same reasons as Dellas), and ride of the three cablleros at 20 is in a close second. This is going to be a long ride that will take most of summer, so buckle up, get your Louie Inc signs, Glomgold’ posters to jump through and black licorice gum ready and join me won’t you under the cut as we start this fantastic adventure together.
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We open season 2 with all but one of our heroes proudly posing as they enter a temple. Scrooge even has his treasure of the lost lamp outfit on. Louie.. just looks tired and bored. One of the things I love about these reviews is that I haven’t watched most of the episodes since they first aired. Sure i’ve revisited some of my favorites like Dangerous Chemistry and the 87 Cent Solution,  but I haven’t really DONE a full died in wool episode by episode rewatch of the series. I’ve got SO MUCH I haven’t watched, haven’t rewatched and haven’t even started, that I really DON’T have the time for it outside of my job. So it is VERY nice to get a chance to do so once in a while with it.
As such knowing Louie’s real motive this episode it makes this scene hit diffrently. On first airing Ducktales was back after a short hiatus, our heroes are operating at full speed and daringly charting through a temple: Dewey and Webby have become tighter than ever and easily stop a pit trap and Scrooge and Huey easily solve an arrow puzzle. But while at first glance Louie is just fed up because as he puts it later “I’m just loveably lazy”, knowing he’s really just burnt out, scared he’s going to die or worse like he likely thinks his Mom did because he’s not good enough.. it’s really tearjerking. Here’s an 11 year old who at his core feels he doesn’t belong in his family and just wants a friggin break from the dangerous shit they do. It hits even harder as a fan of the venture bros but i’ll save that for later. Point is he’s telling Scrooge he’s burnt out.
So then this happens...
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It really is almost the exact same joke, but diffrent enough since for one, Family Guy’s is driven by the refrenece (And god how I miss how their refrence humor used to have an actual purpose), where as here it’s to set up something else and hints for later: Louie having parsed how most adventures to at this point. While Scrooge is right in pointing out how every adventure is unique.. Louie’s not wrong that there is a small pattern to it: The Whoah! , The “Wait, What?” and the Aggggh!. Scrooge scoffs.. but Louie is proven correct as Dewey Whoas, a mechanisim trggers (Wait what?”) And everyone screams as they run from a giant wheel.
Back at home though it’s even more apparent poor Louie is miserable while his family is just jazzed. I can’t BLAME THEM, but I can’t blame him either for being, tired, worn out and just wanting ONE minute where they aren’t adventuering. There are some nice touches though as Scrooge runs off and finds a map in the idol: We see Duckworth removing the Scrooge as a Prospector painting based on Carl Bark’s painting of him from the foyer and instead replacing it with the painting of Scrooge, Donald and Della. It’s a nice little acknowledgment of how things have changed.. from Scrooge being alone and running from a painful past to having accepted it and gone back to being a family man. We also get Beakley just casually picking up Louie to vacum.
In the Triplet’s room.. which by the way why do they all share one room? In universe I mean, I mean is it saving on the power bill or does scrooge have the other rooms filled. Only four bedrooms are occupied: the boys, webby’s , Beakly’s (Which we never see but implicitly exists), and Scrooge’s himself. While the mansion isn’t LIMITLESS, it has to have more rooms than that. Is the rest just storage?
Out of universe though I do get why and i’ts why I let this concept of sharing a room when you have enough for everyone in the first place slide: it allows the boys to interact more easily outside of adventures by having all three in the same location. This episode is a good example of that as it kicks off Louie’s plan admirably: Louie is burnt out while Huey is excited.. and in another hint of Louie’s true gift he casually notices part of Dewey’s woodchuck uniform he was looking after is undone, simply making a quip about a sewing patch. He gets the idea for a scheme from there: to finally get his break by convincing Huey he’s slipping and exploiting his brother’s tendency for manic episodes.. which as someone with those I highly don’t approve and is far and away one of the more questionable things Louie’s done. And this is in an arc that includes him nearly wiping out all of existence.
Still it gets Huey on board but Scrooge and the wonder twins are a harder sell. Dewey and Webby are so jazzed on frinedship their even speaking in unions “This Needs to stop!” “I’ve tried but they really do enjoy harmonizing”
Louie insists the adventuring is driving them apart and making them less close.. and while Scrooge insits it brings them closer together  he ends up proving his point when Louie fakes not knowing which triplet is which.. and Scrooge GENUINELY struggles with which one’s Huey and Which ones Dewey. Dewey’s face is at the top of the page.. and utterly and completely priceless.
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And while I thought it was the same impressive face from night on Kilmotor hill turns out, nerp their uniquely hilaroius
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Same mood though. But I do love this callback: almost a YEAR later, and Scrooge STILL is like...
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But while movie night and make your own pizza night, which i’m pleased as punch to find isn’t just something my family does, don’t do anything one thing does... GAME NIGHT. Cue a glorious minute of David Tennant goofily shouting Game Night to everyone in the mansion. Seriously getting him was one of the series masterstrokes. The man has only done a few roles in voicework but damn is he a natural. Not eveyrone can adapt to it this fast. While I love Walton Goggins, it clearly took him a few episodes of invincible to get really comfortable with it. It’s why I have such respect for Voice Actors in general: I’ts not an easy job, it takes a lot of skill, and it can be often thankless. It’s also why i’ve made a concentrated effort ot more know of them by voice simply because they’ve earned that much.
Anyways Beakly pops Louie’s bubble that htis is not going to be relaxing for a very obvious reason: Scrooge is relentless against his enmies and game night makes YOU the enemy. He quickly has them pair off into teams, taking Donald right off the bat.
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We also get one of the best jokes in the entire series “If you loose your out of the will” “(Genuinely suprised) I was in the will?”
It’s almost entriely in Tony’s delivery there. The surprise is just perfectly delivered. It’s also oddly touching as despite a decade’s estrangement and Donald understandably thinking he wasn’t in it in anymore, Scrooge NEVER removed Donald from it . Sure he’s thretaning it over game night but he clearly takes this ungodly seriously. Duckworth leaves to go do ghost stuff.. which is code for make up a flimsy excuse to run the fuck away. To make matters worse she’s stuck with Launchpad as a partner. Louie is left with Huey and immieditly regrets sending his brother into a panicy spiral as he’s already set up a creepy scheduling board.
So i’m going to go ahead and cover the Webby and Dewey Plot, and the acompanying Donald and Scrooge antics now to save us some time. I’ll come back to it at the climax of Louie’s plot obviously and to the episodes credit the pacing is exceptional, weaving in and out of both plots , Louie struggling to keep the whole shrinking plot a secret and the rest of the families game night, excelently, it’s just with my brain i’ts harder to do that in a recap so...
Game Night: Crush Your Enmies and See Them Driven Before You Scrooge goes to the Conan of Sumeria/Melissa School of Game Nighting. Or in short...
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Why HASN’T there been a Conan musical? So he and Donald dominate the first round, Charades, with Scrooge easily guessing almost EVERYHTING Donald mimes. As Webby puts it “When you’ve been around donald for 30 years you get good at non-verbal commuincation”. Granted they have a commuincation breakdown that results in this magic.
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So Webby understandably assumes that given their best friends and Scrooge and Donald, while reconciled, hate each other, that they have an advantage. She is wrong. Not the first time: she also assumed she and Lena were just friends. It happens. you get a few wrong everyone does. Instead we get a great bit of Dewey utterly failing to guess it’s Scrooge despite Webby being obvious because Dewey’s brain is a riddle for the ages. 
Jenga dosen’t really go great for either so they go solo for SCROOGEPOLY. Because of COURSE Scrooge created monopoly in this version. I simletaniously love and hate how eveyr piece is a top hat. I love it because it’s a hilarously quick gag.. but also hate it because one of Monopoly’s biggest draws is having so many diffrent peices. I mean some like the sports car make sense but then you have a dog for some reason and an ironing board. I mean I love that dog, he’s a good boy but I don’t understand why he’s in this. If anyone knows the weird old timey reasoning for either of these let me know in the replies or my asks. 
This isn’t bad stuff mind, it’s just not really deep in stuff for me to make fun of. Apart from Donald ending up in jail... again. At least it’s not as bad as say goblin jail or that time he had to carve pinocchio’s nose into a shiv to surivive whale jail.
Louie: “How Long Before That’s Not Enough?”
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Okay I kid, the subplot is good.. but that’s th epotatoes.. this is the potatoes iwth cheese.. look I love meat but potatoes don’t get enough love. They just don’t and you can do all kinds of delicious things to them. It’s why a good third of side dishes at most restaurants are potato based. 
But yeah rolling it back a bit Louie is confident that even with the  this will be mildly relaxing.. then Gyro bursts in thorugh the double doors proudly announcing his invention and pries himself in, ignoring Louie’s desperate attempts to shut him out.
 Gyro is.. different in this episode. He’s peppy and while he’s mildly condescnding to the Gyropludians, more no that in a second, he’s far more enthuastic and freindly to everyone else and less of the awkward ballbag he’d been last season and would be again this season.
This feels like an ATTEMPTED course correct. See a lot of people, if understandably didn’t like how Gyro was in season 1. Fan of the original him from the comics and show iddn’t like the nice, friendly weirdo suddenly being a sour, condesencindg weirdo. Me I was FINE with the change from unintentional mad scientist to intentional one... I just feel they overdid it on the asshole as season 1 went on. In The Great Dime Chase he’s fine, he’s egosticial, angry and kind of a pill.. but he also clearly cares for his creations, rightfully hates the board for constantly doubting him, and is frustrated his creations keep going rouge. It was a nice balance. 
The balance got thrown off entirely however once Fenton entered the scene. The crew just leaned WAY to hard into hwo much of a shitweasel he was to fenton: giving him an office in the bathroom with a cool quip, trying to beat him up (even if his rage over Fenton’s dumbassery was warranted that was not), and finally trying to take the gizmoduck armor back not out of any real concerns but because he’s worried he’ll loose his job... his job iwth the man who freely tolerates his creations going insane and really dosen’t care about his own colateral let alone Gyro’s. It came off as disngenous and that he simply didn’t trust FENTON with it and wanted and excuse to take the armor Fenton had clearly earned. He also pit manny and bulb against each other for a job which just felt out of character even for him to possibly fire one of his children which felt horribly out of character. Toniing this down was a good thing.. I just feel they overcorrected. They tried making him the 80′s version with a slight ego here, and when that didn’t work they just downplayed him for the rest of the season. He’s still around, in fact we’ll be seeing him again soon enough, and he still gets some great jokes... he’s just not really focused on at all. But they managed to fix their fix in season 3: they did have Gyro be a dick to Fenton again but gave proper context, had him apologize and framed it less as a funny joke and more as him being abusive because he was abused himself and breaking the cycle. He also kept the supporting role but kept the shadiness in it, with the earpiece bit from “Louie’s Eleven” being a highlight. 
Gyro has a new device that can pick up tiny sounds and has found a tiny civilization in the ducks house, dubbing them Gyropudlians because he apparnetly likes Gullivers Travels. I do not really know what that’s about, nor have I seen any of the movies. Not even the jack black one made on a dare to see if they could actually sell a movie on the concept “This old story but as a jack black comedy”. And it went horribly wrong because they actually did get it greenlit and someone out there actually watched it. Not me... and I watched the Wrong MIssy entirely of my own volition. I’m not immune from making eye staining mistakes. This just wasn’t one of them. 
Gyro ends up getting shrunk down because he naturally attached a shrink ray to it because...
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So Louie shrugs it off correctly figuring out the arc of that sort of story: Gyro becomes a god, he learns a life lesson that sort of thing. Also I do applaud them for making the lost tribe not horribly racist.. that is a hard line to walk. They just make them generic instead which.. still better than racist. “Not Racist” isn’t a very high bar to clear but given this version went out of it’s way to be inclusive while the original show.. what’s a good metaphor for this.. hrmmm... these rakes are all the racism in the original show i’ve encoungered so far and probably will in the future, and i’m sideshow bob. 
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Eventually though the Gyropudlians decide to decalre war on the giants because unknowingly the Ducks have been destroying their civilizations time and time again.. mostly louie but donald clearly peed a civiliztion to death..and i’m not grasping at straws there he left the bathroom and the other two possiblities for the floating city are too horrible to comprehend. Or it was just the sink and i’m a bastard... i’m probably a bastard.
So they blast the shrink ray around the kitchen and get Launchpad, so now he’s a part of this cliche. Beakly finds them.. is highly supscious, and Huey’s lie is.. not convincing... but this gets her out of game night with her overcompeitive boss so she takes the out and gets the fuck out and is not seen for the rest of the episode.. probably for several days. Look she does a lot around the house no one’s going to question if she comes back after a mysteirous absence with someone elses blood on her apron and several thousnd ddollars in brazilian cocaine. The sweetest cocaine of all. Scrooge is just used to it by now. 
Anyways things continue to escalate as The Gyropuldians, Launchpad and Gyro launch an assault on the tower of infinity, aka the jenga tower and knock it over. The Good news is launchpad surivives and we get a great bit of the brothers hugging then awkarly and half assedly explaning it to cover. the bad news is the Gyropudlians considered it an act of war and have trained some flies to man the microphone shrink ray dealie. 
It’s here we get the best scene of the episode: Huey is naturally worried.. even more so after he sees Louie’s response to the unfolding chaos: Curling up in a fetal position and rocking back in forth muttering to himself this was supposed to be a fun night in. Huey finally has had enough of this and wants to knwo wha tthe hell this is all about, shooting down Louie attempting to deflect it with his usual lazy schtick. Even at his laziest he’d pride self preservation over doing nothing. This is something worse. And while Huey is furious his rage is coming out of concern. While Huey prides himself on his brain... he has the biggest heart of the three. He’s the most empathetic and the one most willing to reach out to the others when they need him. Not that hte others lack it, Dewey was the one to welcome Webby into the group the most after all, it’s just Huey displays it the most. So his anger comes off entirely as genuine worry at Louie acting out of character and trying to avoid doing what eveyrone else does. And his response.. is heartbreaking...
“BECAUSE I’MMom was great at adventuring, and she still got hurt. I'm only good at talking my way out of it. How long before that's not enough? NOT GOOD AT IT OKAY?!” 
Bobby Monihan.. really dosen’t get enough credit for this show. When he gets to really do something big with Louie he goes for it and he uttelry dominates the scnee here. Danny Pudi is no slouch mind.. but Monihan REALLy gets to show what he can do. His reasoning for his worries is also just as well delivered and heartbreaking. 
“Mom was great at adventuring, and she still got hurt. I'm only good at talking my way out of it. How long before that's not enough?“
It just.. stings a lot. To find that Louie’s exaustion wasn’t out of self intrest.. but just out of fear. That he won’t be good enough at best and that he’ll end up like his mom: lost or dead never to be seen again as far as he figures. As a third of this arc will bear out, tha’ts not even remotely true, but out of the three Louie is the most pragmatic so while he says hurt.. he thinks she’s dead. And if she, someone as capable as scrooge or as close as someone whose not him can be, could end up dead... he’s living on borrowed time. 
This is where the Venture bros comparison really comes out to me... because they had a similar if more spread out storyline in season 5, with bookish brother Dean, Huey if he lacked autisim but gained 80 dozen more issues, found out he and his brother Hank, aka Dewey in his teens, were clones because his dad is really bad at keeping his sons alive because he’s also bad at everything else including science, parenting, being emotinally open, making a cocktail that isn’t a crime against nature, sex, and not treating hank like garbage, which should fall under shitty parenting but I love my empty headed boy.
So why bring this up? Well besides self indulgance because I love both shows iwth a signifgant portion of my heart and frank flat out admitted to being a venture bros fan, and having Beakly take some cues from Brock, I love the accidental parallels here: both are arcs about a boy adventuer coming to grips with their mortality. Both withdraw, both are heavily depressed and both feel there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel for htem anymore. 
And both.. are drawn out of it the same way.. by a concerned brother pulling them out of their misery and self doubt:
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It’s the same here... Huey helps Louie through it, understanding how he feels.. and like Hank did for Dean, proving to Louie he’s not alone. He points out that yes Della did get hurt.. but it’s because she went in alone. He’s got his family.. they won’t let him get lost or die.. because their not alone. The reason they can do all this stuff is because their together. Their all amazing alone.. but together their unstoppable. And i’ts fine Louie’s afraid.. but he can’t let that fear kill everyone he cares about.
So our boys run upstairs, but are a second too late as the gyro pudlians shrink the other four down, and the duo’s attempt to grow them just makes one of the gyropudlians giant instead. With things at their grimmist.. Louie finds his TRUE talent, looks at the situation. and takes charge. In the span of two minutes he completely turns the tide: he has launchpad crash his way out, which he does by pure accident because of course he does he’s nature’s perfect Himbo. He next has Donald and scrooge take on some guards to give Dewey and Webby some room and has Huey take out the giant with his sewing. His final part is to have Dewey and Webby work their way up to the ray gun.. which is a probelma s both have lost all confidence due to realizing they have nothing in common and can’t fathom how their friends. Scrooge’s reply? Of course their not.. THEIR FAMILY. It was then that a thousand debbigail shippers cried out and were silenced... I know I was one of them. I couldn’t speak for about a minute. It was awful. 
And yeah.. I had been shipping Dewey and Webby up to this point, but it was becoming increasingly obvious they were being treated like brother and sister and then this happened. And in hindsight i’m glad I jumepd the hell off as they turne dout ot be blood related so I dodged a bullet there an found better ships for both. So no harm no F.O.W.L. clone accidental incest. 
Realizing this the two find their second wind and save the day. OUr heroes are restored and things are good.
The next day, Louie faces the music with Scrooge and is terrified, not helped by Scrooge being dead serious... but his worries are for naught. Scrooge instead only has one thing to say
“You saw all the angles”
Something the crew conciously did was have each of the kids mimic one of Scrooge’s tennants, something that was heavily implied before but made fully explicit here: Dewey is toughter than the toughies, Huey is Smarter than the smarties... and Louie is the oft forgotten Sharper than the sharpies. Scrooge even lampshades how that part of his motto is often left out. And of course as frank made clear post series, Webby made her way into the family Square. 
But back to the sharpie thing, I like this because it defines what that truly means, as it often comes off as similar to the smartie bit hence i’ts exclusion: It’s the ablitliyt to think quickly, strategize, a strategic, critical mind that can come up with a gambit in an instant and use everyone to the best of their abillity. It’s why for an example, Scott Summers is one of my faviorite x-men. Because while his eye laser things are impressive it’s this kind of cleverness and tactical insight, seeing all the pieces on the board and easily manuvering them, friend and foe, that makes him so awesome. And as scrooge muses it could make Louie even richer than he is. And in a truly touching gesture, Scrooge gives Louie the idol, confident in his Nephew’s potetial. His mother reached hers... he only needs time. So with that Louie’s arc truly begins and he hangs a shingle on the triplets door. Louie inc is born. 
Final Thoughts: This episode caught me by suprise: I remember it being decent.. but damn if it wasn’t amazing on the rewatch, with the knowledge of Louie’s weakness helping but really it’s just a funny, tightly paced half hour of television. It has great jokes, a great emtoinal arc and in general is jsut well.. great. I didn’t see this poteitial the first time because I was more hung up on fethry finally appearing, the cabs finally appearing.. all the things in the distance after this ep. But this ep is just damn good and I wish i’d put it on my best of list. Top shelf stuff.
Next time on Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers: The second arc starts up as FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD returns as an amensiac south african fisherman and it’s up to Webby and Louie to unravel his past to figure out why he’s acting like this and if this is another one of his insane schemes. We also meet Zan Owlson buisnesswoman of the year and person about to go through some undeserved shit at the hands of a stupid man.  Later Today: We return to Amity Park for more Danny Phantom and meet his second most intresting enemy as an innocent fuckup turns a spoiled brat into one of most dangerous enemies. Also PUPPIES and Tucker being the worst. 
Wednsday: We grab onto some more ducktales as Donald returns to Ducktales 87. And judging by the content warning so does racisim. 
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If you liked this review stop my patreon RIGHT HERE. Seriously please do: you’ll find exclusive reviews, and if you join you’ll get acess to my discord, get to pick a short for my shortstravganzas, and help me reach my strech goals. And at my next one at 20, just 5 dollars away, ALL READERS will get a darkwing duck review a month and reivews of the two ducktales movie as well as the Danny Phantom TV Movie the ultimate enemy! 
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ranma-rewatch · 4 years ago
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Episode 27: P-Chan Explodes! The Icy Fountain of Love!
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I’m...kind of sad to be here. We’re at the end of the Martial Arts Figure Skating arc. But all good things must come to an end, and I remember absolutely loving where this one goes. Will that till be the case? I have no clue, so next paragraph you can join me after I’ve rewatched the episode!
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Okay so...that was still good. Definitely good. But...we’ll get into it later.
The episode once again picks off where the last left off, with Ranma making an epic declaration of his official relationship status with Akane and how he won’t let Mikado touch her. This tends Akane into a bit of a tizzy, but Mikado and Azusa laugh. It’s revealed that they’re known as more than just the Golden Pair, an unbeatable skating duo. They also have a reputation for splitting up the couples they fight.
They quickly set up their finisher which is made to do just that: the Goodbye Whirl (called the Break-Up Merry-Go-Round in the sub). It’s an absolutely ridiculous move that I love to death: it involves getting one of their opponents to grab the other, and then Azusa grabs one. Mikado lifts her and both opponents all into the area and twirl around as quickly as it can. The move always ends when one of the people in the relationship betrays the other, ending them flying in a bid to save themselves.
But that isn’t how it works this time around. While Akane is begging Ranma to let go of her, so he can be okay, Ranma refuses, making it clear he’s not going to let go. They hold on so long that Azusa gets busy and breaks contact, sending Ranma and Akane flying.
It looks like Akane’s going to be crashing into the rink wall, but Ranma maneuvers to take the damage instead. Akane cries over his seemingly unconscious form, calling him an idiot, when Ranma opens his eyes. It seems like he’s just fine, but just standing up causes him enough pain to make him start crying.
While all of that was going on, Ryoga managed to escape from his bondage and tries to pull off a cunning plan: dousing Ranma with water before jumping in and taking over as Akane’s partner. It only has one hiccup: he grab the wrong “girl”, and ends up throwing Akane out of the ring while taking Ranma in his cursed form as his partner.
The crowd isn’t happy with this change, even if Mikado is all too happy to fight this version of Ranma. They’re not upset about the substitution though, just that their costumes aren’t up to snuff. Luckily, there’s a whole fashion department waiting in the wings, who sweep in and fit the two for new outfits.
That done, it becomes apparent that Ryoga still doesn’t know how to skate, and so he and Ranma are easily taken into the Goodbye Whirl, and no matter what Ranma/Ryoga shippers tell you they don’t have the same bond that Ranma does with Akane. In no time at all, Ryoga socks Ranma in the face to betray him, and we get to see how the move is supposed to work: Azusa ensures the betrayer is smashed into the ice face-first, while Mikado picks up the “damsel in distress” to romance on the rebound.
Of course, this doesn’t really work well with Ranma, but even worse is that Azusa sees the collar on Ryoga’s neck and realizes that he must be Charlotte. This makes Ranma laugh, but sends Ryoga into terror. After all, Akane’s not far away, and he doesn't want her to know he’s actually her pet pig.
When Mikado tries to actually get back into the fight, Azusa smashes him with a mallet, since she doesn’t want Ryoga hurt now that she knows he’s Charlotte. (What a sentence.) The blow is so powerful that it shatters the ice rink, and sends Mikado out of the match on a stretcher. That means Ranma and Ryoga won...except now Ryoga wants to fight Ranma.
As the ice rink goes truly haywire, with water shooting out as geysers and freezing mid-air, they take the fight outside, ultimately going to a nearby pool. Akane follows, trying to get them to stop and demanding to know why they feel the need to keep fighting each other whenever they can. Akane falls into the pool, and when the fighters realize that she can’t swim, they dive down together to save her...with Ryoga realizing mid-jump that the water will activate his curse.
Akane wakes up later, recovering from nearly drowning, to hear that P-Chan helped pull her out of the water. Oh, and Genma in his panda form was adopted by Azusa as another cute animal named “Oscar” and he actually blushes at being called cute. End of storyline.
Let me try a compliment sandwich with this one. To start with, I just adore the chaos of this episode. Like I said before, the Goodbye Whirl is the kind of awesome, silly wonderfulness I come to Ranma 1/2 for in the first place. I love that we get to see it fail against Ranma and Akane, then succeed with him and Ryoga. The fact the fight quickly dissolves from there into utter nonsense, with the rink exploding and the fight going outdoors, it just feels fun and satisfying.
Speaking of satisfying, the fighting in this and the previous episode is all really well done. This is definitely a romantic comedy series, first and foremost, but I love how when they take the time for a martial arts match it can still feel kinetic and fluid and visually stimulating. The ice skating makes it all the more interesting, and just watching something as simple as Mikado circling the rink after being thrown aside is enjoyable.
It’s also a really funny episode. The conflicts between Ranma and Akane, Ranma and Ryoga, Ranma and Mikado, Mikado and Azusa, they all mix and spin and stir into a beautiful concoction, with both barbs and slapstick aplenty to amuse.
Now...into the less fun bits. To start with, as much as I enjoy the Ranma/Akane content in this episode, which yes I’ll talk a bit more about that later, there’s also a bit too much here in terms of jealousy and possessiveness, especially on Ranma’s part. I know it’s kind of a recurring part of the series, but I really dislike jealousy being framed as romantic, because it’s honestly not a healthy emotion and not a sign of a good relationship.
This next complaint is less solid, but it affects my feelings of the episode anyway. I...seem to have massively mis-remembered this episode? For some reason, I have very vivid memories that, once it becomes more Ranma vs Ryoga and the Golden Pair are out of the picture, that they fought on the broken rink.
Like, I can picture them struggling to stay on top of icy platform, with Ryoga especially trying to avoid falling into the water, and Akane interfering and like...what is going on there? Is that from another episode, and I mixed it up with this storyline? Or did my brain just make that up wholesale in the decade since I last saw this show?
Either way, it kind of sucks because...that felt more epic than what did happen? It’s strange to hold it against the show for failing to match the fake memories I made, but I dunno what to tell you, I can’t help being at least a little sad about this.
Okay, done with that stuff, back to what I like. Yes, there’s some tasty content here for my Ranma/Akane loving heart, and I ate it up. It was also nice seeing Ranma actually take damage from someone else’s move. He tends to be so much better than a lot of his opponents that they never really stand a chance of hurting him, but the Goodbye Whirl really came close to downing him.
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Before we leave this storyline behind, it’s time to give a little Character Spotlight to the other half of the Golden Pair, Azusa Shiratori! Her Japanese voice actress is Naoko Matsui, and...the only other role I really recognize on her page is Monet from One Piece, but she’s been in a lot of stuff. In English, she’s played by Cathy Weseluck, who is also Shampoo. So check out Shampoo’s spotlight to see what other roles she’s done.
They both play Azusa pretty similarly, high-pitched and cutesy, but I think Cathy might actually play it up a little too much? But maybe that’s just because it’s the language of the two that I actually speak.
I was never a huge fan of Azusa to start with, just because she’s a bit...much. The combination of her high-pitched voice, third-person speak, repetitious dialogue, and extreme cutesiness is all just a lot. It’s just the type of thing that would grate on my nerves in too high doses, and the series tends to use a lot of Azusa when she does appear.
But, so far at least, I’m liking her more on this watchthrough. I still find her whole “naming things French people names and taking them” thing not especially funny, but I love the way she clashes with Mikado. They fight together wonderfully, but she has no problems kicking his ass or making him look like an idiot when she wants to. They’re a great double act.
Which is why it’s kind of odd that, while Mikado only has a few small appearances after this episode, Azusa will be getting more than that. They’re anime-only, but it seems she was popular, with fans, writers, or both, enough to get more screentime. I do wish she’d gotten a single-person move the way Mikado did, but that’s just one more complaint on how the show treats women to put on the stack.
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So, this episode sadly didn’t quite live up to my memories of it. That said, it was still a fun mix of fighting and humor, so it’s definitely going to be in my top ten. But where exactly...hmm... I think it comes close to getting into the Top 5, but isn’t quite good enough to beat Shampoo’s introductory episode, sitting right below it and above the episode all about Akane’s haircut. That puts our current ranking at:
Episode 26: Close Call! The Dance of Death... On Ice!
Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’  
Episode 25: The Abduction of P-Chan
Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!
Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands
Episode 27: P-Chan Explodes! The Icy Fountain of Love!
Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!
Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around
Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race
Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know
Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!
Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan
Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye
Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!
Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul
Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga
Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!
Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another
Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart
Episode 1: Here’s Ranma
Episode 22: Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique
Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love
Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!
Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'
Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan
Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?
Episode 24: Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen
As much as I’m sad to see this storyline end, we’ve got another one of my favorites coming up! It’s training time, so next week we’re getting some more Ranma vs Ryoga action with "Ranma Trains on Mt. Terror". See you then!
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moonlayl · 4 years ago
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So I’ve been thinking, how did the writers manage to make Sam not interesting enough to be the main character? Like it was obvious at first that that was what they were going for, but why didn’t it stick? Why did most people not find him main character material? It’s always been a question on my mind, but I never really knew how to answer it. Why was he not interesting to me? It wasn’t until recently that I figured it out. (Note: this isn't entirely Sam Winchester friendly. I’m criticizing the writing for his character)
A few weeks ago I began watching a turkish show. The main character’s story and background is VERY similar to Sam’s. He’s the youngest brother, there’s a family business involved in guns, violence, and helping people, the main character wants nothing to do with it and decides to go to college when he’s 18. His father tells him if he steps out of the door, he can’t ever come back. Years later something bad happens to the dad and the protagonist returns and joins the family business. Except, he’s my favourite character. That’s not case with Sam, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized the writers simply didn’t know how to write Sam and keep him interesting.
Here’s a few things that the turkish writers did to establish him as an interesting main character, who’s also a fan favourite.
1.) He actually got to show off his smarts and use his education. He wasn’t smart because he went to college, or because (in Sam’s case) good at research/enjoys doing it. No, we actually got to see him using his brain. He would come up with schemes and plans in the family business that would leave their enemies speechless. He would notice patterns that no one else does. (Sounds like Dean...) While everyone he knew were stuck on problem A, he would be on problem C, already having solved the previous two. He had contingency plans, and was great at problem solving, but NEVER used that to show off he was better than anyone else (except that one time one of his brothers were angry because they thought his plan wouldn’t work and he was smug when it did). He also got to use his degree in chemistry. He uses his scientific knowledge to come up with his plans and to help him and we SEE that. Sam was pre-law and that was the end of it until one episode in season 7. And I know it may sound like the protagonist could be “too smart” which is unrealistic and made to make him seem like a cool protagonist, but that’s not the case. he does make mistakes. He does get things wrong, and he asks for advice from his friends or brothers. He’s smart, not just book smart, but he also isn’t the only guy with brains (that cliche trope is annoying). Others contribute too, and we SEE that. Yes, he would be considered the smartest (more clever) but it isn’t written in a forced way. It doesn’t take away from the other characters.
2.) He’s still fun. Yes he’s serious. Yes he’s smart, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have other qualities. I don’t know what the SPN writers were thinking but someone with no silly habits, who NEVER acts in an immature way (which is completely normal) and everything about them is tied to them being a “nerd” like Sam is boring and it’s unrealistic. That protagonist is the younger brother, and we see that. Not just in one episode with the pranks like in SPN, but we continuously see it. He and his brothers tease each other and play games. He is obsessed with music and always listening to it. He and his siblings argue a lot over music and act like children sometimes, which is great. He sometimes plays soccer or games with lonely kids to make them feel better. he sometimes sings with friends and his brothers. He jokes around with them. He just radiates chaotic energy at times, and we’re all like that. Even the most serious people have their moments, and the turkish show makes sure to acknowledge that. SPN does that with Dean, but never with Sam. Sam was just boring to be honest. He was never fun or funny. Just your typical nice guy that went to college. He (to me) didn’t have any traits that jumped out.
3.) The main character in the turkish show struggled. When the last time you did something you were still a kid and you haven’t done it in years, it makes sense to struggle and to make mistakes. Sam didn’t seem to be that way though. Like he immediately began hunting again. He grieved Jess, which added a bit if depth to his character but ultimately he was just really good at hunting and never seemed to have proper struggles. To me that doesn’t really work. The character from the other show clearly struggled. he hated having to hurt people (even to save lives) and they actually showed you that. We would see him sometimes having flashbacks, flinching, nightmares, sweating, etc... Sam struggled with visions, true, but that’s because they were entirely new and they didn’t know much about them, so it’s different. I don’t know but seeing the protagonist struggling and fighting to not actually join the family business made him a compelling character. Like he was at war with both sides. with Sam, it seemed like the only reason he didn’t want to do certain things in s1 was due to him being pissed at his dad. Not wanting to follow his orders. Even him wanting a normal life was kind of erased after a bit because he lost Jess. he seemed like a child wanting to do things his way, whereas in the turkish show, the protagonist was seen as an outsider wanting to improve the way things were. That was the difference.
4.) Kindness and compassion. “Sam is really compassionate” except for the longest time his compassion was the “fake one” he used to get victims to trust him. Like maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t really recall an instance where he was actually genuinely comforting someone (a stranger) NOT in a way to gather more info? Didn’t they even say it? He’s the type to get people to trust him and open up, but it was more of an act?  Dean on the other hand, sometimes took time off from doing something important to try to talk or comofrt a kid or someone. After or before a case. The turkish character had that as well. He wouldn’t compromise a kid for the job, and sometimes despite him being very busy, he would help the elderly just because he wanted to, not for anything else. He would play with children, spend time with people, be willing to listen to anyone’s problems. I always felt like Sam lacked that.
5.) The way he treated his brothers. I know Sam had a falling out with his dad, which is why he never contacted him for four years, but I don’t understand why he (and their dad) dragged Dean into that mess. Why Sam decided to cut contact with Dean as well. To the point where Dean felt like breaking into his house was the only way to get him to listen. There was a four year difference between them. From what we’re constantly told, they were really close. So It doesn’t add up for me. In the turkish show however, (the main character has three brothers) all three brothers were much older than him. The closest one to his age was older by about ten years. He was actually constantly lonely. He never had friends or went to an actual school, and his brothers never wanted anything to do with him because he was so much younger. In fact, they constantly used to make fun of him and gang up on him (keep in mind they were three and all teenagers was he was in preschool). So when he got older and they would just bully him, he finally left and didn’t contact them due to that. Because they never treated him like their younger brother. We know that’s not the case with Sam and Dean because Dean was Sam’s protector (which is unfair to him but that’s a whole other thing). Anyway this point just kind of always annoyed me about Sam.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I feel like they used Sam’s story and plot but gave the character some characteristics that Dean had, lol. My biggest problem is just how bland Sam is. Seriously. He’s just there. His anger made him a bit interesting for a few seasons, and him not wanting to follow his dad’s orders,but that was quickly turned against Dean. Those traits became things he used against Dean, which just added to my frustration and dislike to Sam’s character. The Turkish character also seemed to dislike when one of his brothers blindly followed an order from their dad, but he was understanding. He seemed to understand where they were coming from and never used it as an insult or belittled them for it. he was kind to his siblings and treated them well (even when they sometimes didn’t deserve it). Whereas Sam doesn’t treat dean in a good way even when Dean deserves it.
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