#the actors are doing a bang up job on this show

[r0semultiverse]

The line reads on these, especially the last one, sounded a lot like Zuko in the show proper.

[endless-nightshift]

I lost all hope or trust for the 2024 live action ATLA when I heard talk of things happening in like episode 2 that originally took place in like ep 5 of the og show.

Any and all plot and character changes aside. The og atla, although having the old 20 ep season standard, is a decently fast-paced show. They literally go from the south poll to the North poll + detours in those 20 episodes.

I can't find it in me to believe that anyone could do any sort of justice to a story previously comprised of 20 distinct episodes in only 8 episodes.

I don't care that those episodes are, for some reason, the length of an overachieving short film (52mins)

I lose faith in something as soon as you start compressing storylines just for the sake of compressing things.

[respectthepetty]

scared of your thoughts on fk - i think they confuse their friends & each other - feels so intricate

You asked about one specific pair, but . . .

You opened a floodgate!

I already wrote that I like fan service; therefore, I like First and Khaotung's special brand of teary-eyed fan service. However, I also wrote that JoongDunk are my GMMTV favorites because Joong is always hyping up his homies, and Dunk stays Pretty Boy Petty.

So I'm excited to see all four promote The Heart Killers when the show is ready to be released since I think it'll be a hoot watching First and Khaotung call each other best friends with tears in their eyes while Joong sits next to them commenting on how banging Dunk's body is and Dunk openly agreeing that his body is, in fact, banging. Joong and Dunk are always firing shots at First x Khaotung for no good ass reason, so I'm thrilled they will get to do it to First and Khaotung's faces for an extended period of time.

Because to me, most fan service is good since it allows people to see people of the same sex casually being affectionate with each other without the belief that it should be shameful or hidden, so give me all the styles of GMMTV fan service! Give me Force x Book's eighty year friendship, Pond x Phuwin's nerdy fashion model energy, Earth x Mix's marriage and divorce era, Tay x New's fist fights over dessert, Off x Gun's evolution of skinship, Jimmy x Sea's intellectual companionship, Gemini x Forth's "fuck it, we ball' attitude, and all the other 31 Flavors of Branded Pairs the BL world has to offer us.

Because I really do not care what these men do or do not do or if it is real or not. What bothers me is these companies (not just GMMTV) encourage this behavior, then when fans get toxic, the companies leave the actors to deal with the fallout. I also don't like that out actors aren't as well protected and even straight actors and their girlfriends are targeted by fans, which only encourages queer actors to stay closeted while delivering a queer performance and for straight actors to feed into this mind fuckery by being in a pseudo-monogamous relationship with their acting partner which is an extension of our heteronormative societies and their belief that affection can only be reserved for one person.

So my thoughts on First and Khaotung are irrelevant because I'm going to like all these pairs regardless of what they give me. Max and Tul were as open as possible about Max having a girlfriend and Tul being gay, yet that in no way influenced how I enjoyed their fan service. Yin and War have stated several times that what they do is their job, and I'm still clapping every time War chokes Yin. And as much as I truly believe Mos and Bank are married, if they came out today and said they actually hate each other and cannot stand the sight of each other, I'd be proud at their acting skills all these years because I have faked liking my coworkers for a lot less money.

As a Catholic and a slut, I think there is a great sociological study here about how branded pairs help with queer representation regardless if the people in the pairs are queer or not, yet how the pairs must still fit into a digestible frame of traditional (hetero) relationships with affection only being given to one person forever and ever until death (or their contracts) do them part.

So First and Khaotung aren't the only ones confusing people because this entire setup is confusing. They aren't creating some intricate strategy but these companies are. These actors are just out here telling their homies they look cute and going on (hopefully) company-sponsored trips. And if they like it, I love it.

Because I've been pretending to like Karen from Finance for years when I can't stand that bitch, yet I still have a job that pays my bills, so "get it how you live it."

And make it a little queer along the way.

[thislovintime]

On the set of “Monkees Mind Their Manor,” the season two episode directed by Peter (filmed December 5-7, 1967, and originally aired on February 26, 1968).

“Peter used the classic one-camera technique [for ‘Monkees Mind Their Manor‘], whereas Micky used two cameras shooting simultaneously [for ‘Mijacogeo’]. ‘I found that The Monkees — both the series and the actors — were very tough to direct,’ Tork said. ‘I was fortunate because I had the help of some very inventive supporting players.’ […] Both boys edited their episodes themselves.” - Calgary Herald, March 1, 1968 “The four speak to each other as acquaintances and one gets the impression of a working-hours-or-sessions relationship only. They appear to be a little too polite to each other, too aware of each other for comfort. Peter defers to Micky’s talent as a director. ‘You know, like we were doing one TV show with Micky directing,’ Peter imitates Micky’s muggings. ‘He takes the script, flips it open and says, “Let’s see here now… we shoot starting with page seven… here boys,” he calls over the camera crew and in bright sunlight shoots in four hours with no rehearsal what it normally takes 12 hours to shoot.’ Micky grins, bows politely with a ‘Thank you, kind sir.’” - article by Peggy King, Oakland Tribune, December 7, 1968 “Super-director Tork is so good that the boys actually get through early and spend the last 30 minutes or so chit-chatting with you. When you ask Peter how he feels after having directed the Monkees segment, he thinks for a minute and then says, ‘Micky was much more radical than I. I used one camera — making master shots and close-ups. Micky did the opposite. I don’t know whether the Monkees are hard to direct or whether I am just not experienced enough, but it wasn’t easy. Even so, I’m hooked, man. I am really going to try it again. You know what? Now I would like to direct a musical spectacular!’ Mike and Davy, who have been eavesdropping, suddenly crack up. ‘Hey, man — we think you were great!’ they exclaim. And all at once you realize that they are not joking; that they had a ball working with Peter and really mean what they said.” - article by Gloria Stavers, 16 Magazine, May 1968 “I must say that as I look back on it, the show is very, very mild, very quiet, very low-key. If I had it to do over again, I might have tried to direct it a little more slam-bang, you know, that’s sort of Micky’s style. I think Micky’s job, Micky’s ‘Frodis Caper,’ I thought that was a brilliant job, and, and I think I did well, I don’t think I did as well as Micky by a long shot, but I thought that I did do some funny bits, and captured some moments that — I loved throwing Jack Williams, our prop man, into the show. And I loved doing, you know, break-the-frame reality kinds of things, the couple of running jokes which I thought were really fine. And I enjoyed myself directing very much. And I’m glad to say, what with a little competent help, we were able to help me cover my own weak spots, we were able to do, I thought, a real creditable job.” - Peter Tork, Headquarters Radio, 1989

[urf1lterr]

lovesick | pedro pascal [3]

"and on this night and in this light i think im falling, im falling for you."

next chapter: [4] previous chapter: [2] series masterlist

summary: in which a 1975-obsessed film student accidentally falls in love with an older man she can't have.

pairing: actor!pedro x intern!reader

genre: acting world!au, big age-gap!, strangers to friends- maybe lovers?? au | angst, mature, awkward, love- eventually

word count: 5.7k

status: in progress

author's note: in my head i have a certain way this story ends- but thats farrrr from this chapter. i couldn't stop laughing while writing this. i might have to rethink my ending bc i don't wanna make this series looooong. not edited.

Brutal banging on your bedroom door was not how you imagined to be awakened, especially when you were barely endearing maybe four hours of sleep.

Jolting up, you could feel your shoulders begin to ache as your severely tangled hair got stuck on the insides of your shirt. The shades in your room being shut, you had no sunlight whatsoever so you weren't sure what time it was.

Not like you needed to be anywhere important on a Wednesday- not until later anyway. Wednesday's were your arranged day off from school so you made sure to plan something productive to not feel more useless as you already were.

Typically, you were scheduled to work on these days- but we all know how that ended.

Thinking about your unemployment status aggravated you. The same day you were told you were going to be cut was actually your last despite being scheduled for the rest of that remaining week.

Oh how you wish you could say you didn't show up because of your stubbornness.

But frankly you had covid.

Not only did that job fire you, but they gave you a thoughtful farewell gift of a deadly virus to remember them goodbye.

Guess they took their storyline a little too seriously.

However, you did receive a few texts from your old coworkers wishing you well. At first, you wondered if Finn disclosed your personal medical information after you contacted him, but Jules admitted to doing so, swearing she only told Joon with the likelihood someone overheard and the rest was history.

Sadly, you barely talked to Pedro and Bella anymore.

The duo did reach out once they discovered you were sick and Bella would occasionally send you tiktoks at the most randomly times. But again, occasionally.

Pedro, on the other hand, never got back in touch after his 'feel better' text.

You weren't exactly distraught over it, it wasn't like you two made it your mission as friends to go out every day. But the thing was, you still did that when you worked together. Barely seeing him for a few seconds on some days in the past still meant you got to see him, but now you don't.

And strangely you miss him.

You always heard your coworkers discuss how considerate and down to Earth he was whenever they managed to work with him and you agreed. All the stories of him being one of the rarest, mindful human beings were true.

He was always the one spamming you with texts, but the only messages you received now were from your roommate, Joon, or the deals sent by your favorite food places.

But you weren't going to think too much of it. He's an adult, his days are always scheduled with new projects. You can't blame him for not making time for you.

Two weeks later here you were, using your extra free time to your advantage to stay up past midnight watching shows like Hell's Kitchen while eating ramen noodles.

The only con was you had the tendency to wake up late all the time.

Yanking the warm covers off your body, you slowly slip out of bed trying not to hit your desk by how poor your vision was at the moment. Opening your door, you give daggers to the other person behind it. "Is there a reason why you felt attempting to break my door was necessary?"

Jules sheepishly smiled, lightly rubbing the door in remorse before continuing. "I just wanted to remind you about our study date!"

"That's at 11."

"It's 10:32," she replied, pulling her phone out and showing you.

Gasping, you shut the door in her face before searching for clothes to wear. How could you possibly sleep in?

Actually, it was quite easy with American Horror Story having amazing plot twists. You decided to switch up your late night shows every now and then to spice things up.

But you were certain you turned on your alarm the night before. You must have slept through them. Damn, you were turning into Jules.

Quickly running to the bathroom to take a quick shower, you managed to finish the rest of your routine with ten minutes left to spare. You were certainly glad you could always count on the city's nonstop traffic as an excuse for your late arrivals.

Once you were able to catch a cab, which was a tremendous struggle considering your hand signals weren't clear enough to apprehend, Jules and you made it to a coffee shop a few streets away.

Being your designated place to study, you had to introduce Joon to it. He was practically the fifth member of the group, the third one being one of Jules' friend you frequently talked to and the fourth being the one you shared with Joon.

The best part about this cafe would have to be that it was two stories. You guess you could say you used the upstairs room conveniently when it came to debating, definitely not being afraid to raise your voice when your friends believed disagreeing with your opinions was acceptable.

"I didn't know a triple meant three shots of espresso," Joon pulled a disgusted face as Jules and you arrived to your familiar large booth. Sliding right next to him, you saw the coffee he was drinking was extremely dark. "I thought it meant three shots of creamer."

"For a guy who is phenomenally smart, you are phenomenally stupid," you heard your shared friend, Yoongi, comment after looking up from his notes.

The next hour consisted of the five of you centralizing your attention on your individual work before you decided you wanted to buy a coffee as your energy slowly drained away.

Walking down the stairs and placing a swift order, you stood to the side of the counter waiting as they prepared it. Scrolling through your phone to pass the short time, you felt someone near you.

"Hey, covid girl!" you heard a man exclaim, causing you to rush and shush him before the customers begin giving you the eye. "Long time no see."

"Don't expose me like that! I'm negative," you flush, tapping your fingers on your face to cool it down.

"Don't expose me," he clarifies, taking two steps back. "You're the one who's sick."

"Was," you groan, not standing for his teasing this morning. "Stop messing me with me, Nick. I am just a tired, broke college student who can't take anymore mocking in their life."

Nick chuckles, not denying that may be the case. He understands how you're feeling, he was once a student and knows how stressful it can be. Honestly, he can only imagine how tough it is now compared to when he last attended.

Inflation was no joke.

"I take it you're studying?" he eyes the large black frames on your head and the thick headphones around your neck. You only nod, making him laugh. "Very studious I see, it's a shame they let you go even after I told them not to. You could've done our taxes."

Pulling a forced smile, you just raise your right shoulder slightly not really wanting to talk about it much.

"Good thing I am very understanding," you joke.

"Hell, I wouldn't be," he curses, shaking his head briskly. "The least they could've done was offer another position while we left the country."

"When are you guys leaving anyway?'"

He looks up at the ceiling, trying hard to remember the exact date before clapping his hands. "The 3rd of next month."

"Three weeks from now? Are you ready for the cold and the snow?" you laugh as he shakes his head.

"Dealt with it growing up, don't wanna do it again," he groans before a barista calls out his name for his coffee. He excuses himself for a minute, grabbing the coffee along with a few napkins before walking back to you. "Have to get back to filming, they only gave me a half an hour break before we change scenes. Good look in university, kiddo. If you ever need anything you always have my number."

With that, he retreated back outside but not before sending you one final wave. You loathed the fact you missed them, but you had to get over it.

Grabbing your coffee once your name was called, you walked back up the stairs to find your friends staring at their own laptops as if they were going to breakdown in tears any second.

"When I tell you I would rather give up one of kidneys than learn about screenwriting," Jules weeps, pulling her hair in distress. "I just wanna tell people what to do, not write stories."

And that's how your whole study session went, one of you having your own malfunctions for the next few hours before the five of you agreed to end it.

"I am going to get a refill, meet you by the door?" Jules asked as you packed up your school belongings. You nodded, allowing her to walk downstairs with her friend as you stayed behind with the two other boys.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Joon called out as the three of you were making your way down the stairs. "I'll be out in a jiffy."

With that, Yoongi and you were stuck around a large crowd of customers trying to get their coffees in this 5 o'clock chilly evening. And one thing about these customers, they loved to push.

"If one more person hits my arm a brawl will unfold," Yoongi proclaims, making sure to raise his voice a bit to make his point come across. Which did nothing as he was granted another push in his arm in return.

Moving you head towards the exit, you made it clear to Yoongi that you two were better off just waiting outside unless you wanted to continue being compressed by total strangers whose been god knows where.

Feeling Yoongi's loss of touch from your shoulder, you sensed a group of friends rudely crossing between you both in order to make it to the front of the shop.

It amazed you how people had no manners in public places.

"Ah!" you shriek, feeling somebody aimlessly hit your body hard, knocking the wind out of you as you fell on your side.

That was until arms wrapped tightly under your upper arms, barely being able to stop your whole body from touching the ground as you felt you legs lay across the cold floor.

With the strong pair of arms effectively pulling you up, it caused you to slam your body against their unknown chest as the mob of customers didn't seem to die down any time soon.

Trying to find some stability, your eyes widened as your peripheral vision was met with a broad chest that you were too scared to figure discover who it belonged to.

This could either end with you meeting the love of you life or encountering a complete weirdo.

Moving your gaze upwards, you were met with familiar brown eyes that creased slightly as a gentle smile was released.

Okay, the second option was indeed your answer.

"Pedro? You fucking scared me!" you pushed him away, slapping his chest as he whined in response, clutching it in pain. "I was going to grab my pepper spray!"

"I see you're still satan," he glared as you crossed your arms. "No 'thank you for saving my severely mentally mad life from the mass of people who could've stamped over me'?"

Expressing an infuriated expression as he scared you, you begin to walk away from him but he quickly pulls you back into his arms and stares down at you. "Why are you leaving?"

"My friends are outside," you declare as he peers over the crowd to see who you were talking about.

He glances back down at you before pushing you straight by your waist, causing you to trust his guidance as he directed you backwards until you were against one of the walls to avoid being crushed again.

"Wait, my friends-"

"You wear glasses?" he slightly grasps the frames propped on your face, generating a strike from you. "What a dweeb you are."

"Isn't this a question you can ask through text?" you remark, causing him to purse his lips at how mediocre you were being.

"Oh come on, kid! I haven't seen you in weeks, it's my right to ask questions," he defends, giving you a staggering look as you sighed.

"And my glasses were the first thing that came to mind? Very clever."

"Would you rather me ask why we say 'cool' when it's not really cold?"

Studying his face in pure boredom, you set out to march past him but he pushes your shoulders back again, forcing you to stay put. "Sorry! Just trying to lighten the mood."

Scanning past him, you tried to locate your friends but to no luck they were absent. Glancing back up at him, you take a deep breath. "I really have to go before they leave me stranded a-."

"I can take you home," he instantly speaks up. "I know where you live remember."

Laughing, you disagree with his proposal. You arrived with Jules, you were leaving with her. But you were curious as to why he hasn't left you alone. It surely couldn't be just to chat about corny jokes-

Actually, you've had many of those conversions in the past.

"Is there a reason why you aren't letting me escape?" you blurt out, making him tilt his head suspiciously, trying to figure out what you were speculating.

His body language became edgy as he motioned his palm out in front of you. "I just so happened to drop by for some coffee and ended up being tackled by you," he confessed, making you scoff. "We haven't talked for some time, I wanted to check up and see how you were doing."

"I am as happy as a clam," you let out a radiant smile, making him squint his eyes and direct them to the side.

"English, please?" he pleaded.

"It means I am very happy," you respond, standing up straighter as he questioned you longer with his eyes as if he didn't believe a single word you were saying. "Everybody knows that expression."

"They really don't," he denies, giving you an awkward smile by your strange dialogue. "Anywho, I've been wanting to talk to you."

"Then why didn't you call?" you accidentally spit out, shutting your mouth as you grasped how bitter it came out.

He caught onto the sound of your tone, registering how unhappy you must've been for abandoning you friendship after strongly bonding for two months.

But he couldn't let you believe he did it on purpose, he had a reason. One that he was finally going to disclose after fighting battles until it was finally approved. "I was preoccupied with something else, I really am sorry," he apologized. "But I was going to reach out today."

Uncomfortably shrugging, you don't put too much thought into it. You didn't want him to assume you were upset, but you had a feeling he could sense it by how tense you were becoming.

"For what?"

He looked around before averting his eyes back to your own, grinning widely. "So I think there's a chance you'd be able to get your internship back."

Standing up straighter, you stared at him dumbfounded. What the hell was he talking about?

"How? They already terminated our useless contracts," you argue. "Why hassle making another one."

"Work for me," he ignores your sour tone, getting straight to the point.

This was why he didn't have time to communicate. Too busy trying to find ways to convince his own boss to keep you, it led to him being in a bad mood after failing each attempt.

He couldn't talk to you knowing his plan went wrong.

After the constant begging, whines, and even going out of his way to format a ridiculous petition as to why you should stay, which centers all interns because he didn't want to throw himself under the bus for you- the main producer eventually gave in.

"You want me to work for you here when you're leaving the country in a few weeks?" you narrow your eyes, confused as to how that was going to work out in the end.

"I was going to sneak you into my suitcase."

"What in the world are you rambling about?" you exhaled sharply.

Pedro grinned brightly as he held onto your shoulders again, "Come with us to Canada."

"No," you quickly answer, not even processing fully but you knew it could never happen.

There was no possible way you could ever go through with this. For one, you can't even leave the country. You parents were so strict they'll probably smuggle drugs in your luggage so you'll be gunned down and locked into the country.

Second, well there really isn't another reason- your parents were enough.

"Oh come on," he whined. "It'll be great! You'll gain so much experience like you've been wanting. Plus, you'd do more hands-on work with the film crew. Think of it as a student exchange program."

"That's literally not what a student exchange program is."

"Stop rejecting the idea. You go to school here, yeah? I assume you're taking classes online because you basically lived at the studio," he implied and you slowly nodded. "We can adjust your schedule to where you'd have time to work and focus on school."

Silently looking to the table nearby, you began digesting what he was going on about. It wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't an easy one either. "My parents would never let me."

"Give me their number and I'll convince them," he persuades and you sway you head. You wanted to laugh in his face if he really believed he could make your parents agree.

"No," you fight back, watching him exhale loudly by how restrained you were being. "I k-"

"What would Matt Healy do?"

Immediately shutting your mouth, you freeze as he catches you off guard. He did not come to play and knew you well enough to use your weaknesses against you.

He knows Matt Healy would easily agree- that man was literally the devil's spawn.

And god, you just knew Matt would be disappointed in you if you didn't go.

Curse you and your infatuation over this short English man.

Luckily, your thoughts disappeared as you felt a tap on your arm. Looking up, you see Yoongi breathing heavily as Pedro eyes him, unsure if you knew him.

"There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere! My god the lecture your friend gave me about losing you-" he groaned, shivering. "-I was certain she was gonna file a police report."

Slowly averting his eyes to the older man beside you, Yoongi's face fills with curiosity. "Hey, aren't you that one guy from that Netflix show..." he stops, looking up as he tried hard remembering the name. "Narcos!"

Pedro's eyes shoot open as he tries to innocently stretch his body, purposely blocking your view of him, "No." Secretly waving his palm across his neck, he sends Yoongi daggers to keep quiet. Stiffly turning to you, he becomes flustered. "But don't watch that show."

Raising a brow, you decide to drop the random topic and focus your attention back to your friend until you heard another person shriek. The three of you searching to where it came from, you find Namjoon stumble between people, trying his hardest not to fall face first on the floor.

"A jiffy later and I'm back," Joon winks once he's released from the mass.

Pedro scrunches his face. "Jiffy?"

Joon breaks out into smiles once he notices who was with Yoongi and you. "Oh my gosh! What are you doing here? Did you miss us that much?"

"I don't think it was you he missed," Yoongi muttered, making Pedro send him a questionable glance and Joon tilt his head, not sure what he meant.

Wanting to leave this now weirder conversation, you step forward and grab onto Yoongi's shoulder. "Let's go, I wanna breathe." Turning your attention back to Pedro, he swiftly moved his eyes from your hand to your own. "Text me if you need anything else."

"Only you," he sends you a cheeky smile making you blush by how nice he was being. Yoongi glanced at the two of you, dazed as what you two were implying.

Staring at him, you waited for him to say his farewells first so everybody could leave already. Waiting for one, you never received anything but his quiet stance and gaze stuck on you.

It felt strange not feeling the strength to walk away- not even the strength but the need to go anymore as you couldn't take your eyes off him. It also wasn't only you as he couldn't help but bear comfort from the sight of you.

It felt like the both of you were interacting to each other in your minds.

"Are you having a staring contest?" Joon questioned, making your your consciousness come back to life as you looked back at him. Pedro's gaze weakened, but they were still on you as yours was unfortunately long forgotten.

"No," you laughed, now gripping onto Yoongi harder. "But seriously, let's get out of here. See you whenever, Pedro."

Watching as you stayed close to your guy friends in hopes of being secured through the populated room, he sighed to himself. He was sure your friends might confess their own intuitions to you and perceive him as a creep.

The sad part was he knew why your particular friend would have his suspicions. He never knew his age would have that much of an effect, but he never hung out with people that young before unless it was for a project.

Shaking these thoughts away from his head, he chuckled to himself. He shouldn't care about what other people thought, the two of you never engaged in anything but friendly encounters.

He just despised his gut feeling as if he was doing something wrong. People are making him feel this way, that was guaranteed.

But he feels awful how he keeps trying to find ways to see you, too embarrassed to think about the things he done just to see you for not even a minute.

He's just never had a friend like you before. It was nice.

"I can't believe he's offering us a job like that!" Jules exclaimed as Joon and you nodded. Yoongi lived in the opposite direction so he made his departure a few minutes ago as well as her friend. "I can't go."

Widening your eyes, you stared at her. "What? Why?"

She laughs before pointing at herself. "You think I'll be able to properly manage school and work in another country? I barely did that these last two months- I'll just be partying it up at hockey games eating gravy with fries."

"You mean poutine," Joon corrected.

"Same thing," she rolled her eyes. "All I'm saying is, being home made me realize how much I love sleeping. I would rather give that up when I graduate and actually have a real adult job."

She did have a point, she really enjoyed her naps.

"I'll consider it," Joon spoke up, putting his hands inside his hoodie as the three of you continued walking. "Doesn't sound too bad, it'll look good on resumes."

Smiling, you nodded. You weren't sure why you even dared to be happy about this when you were the one wanting nothing to do with the idea not even a half an hour ago.

You just knew your lord was giving you a disapproving glare from the clouds.

Within the next 20 minutes, Joon went his separate way home as Jules and you arrived in front of your shared apartment. Rushing to the bathroom, your roommate excused herself for the next hour for her 'needed' relaxation.

In other words, a bubble bath.

Turning on the tv, you sat down on the couch swiping through boring news channels until you decided to switch to Netflix. You still had to make time for Evan Peters before the night ended.

Clicking on the current season you were on, Freak Show, you began thinking about how massive Evan Peter's hands were. How can his girlfriends survive.

The thought freaked you out, this really was a freak show.

Soon, the next episode began featuring Twisty the clown more and you were terrified by how huge he was. He could crush you with a flick of his fingers.

Knocks on your door alarmed you, making you slightly jump and look towards the bathroom. Your roommate's music was softly playing in the background meaning she probably couldn't hear the blows on the door.

Slowly standing up, you grab the bat you keep near the door, in case someone tries viciously murdering you in your doorway, and go on your tiptoes to see what kind of stranger needed to pay a visit in the middle of the night.

Well, it wasn't even 7 o'clock in the evening yet but you get the point.

Gasping at the sight presented through your little peep hole, you promptly unlock the handles before extending the large door wide. "And why exactly are you here? Miss me that much?" you tease.

Not receiving an answer, you scoff. "Are you really giving me the silent treatment? You're hurting my feelings."

When he didn't react to that either, you felt your face drop. Slowly striding towards him, you notice his head was low as he stared at his shoes. Placing your right palm softly on his left shoulder, you felt him glance up.

Did something happen during your short time apart? Was he in trouble?

Knowing it was really you in front of him, Pedro lunged his body onto yours before you could stop and think about what was happening. Colliding his lips upon yours, you felt your thoughts drift away as he steadily moved forward and made his way inside your warm apartment.

Stopping to swiftly shut the door, you had no time to take in a full breathe before his mouth found yours again. Clutching the back of his head, probably pulling his hair out, you groan as his nails claw your exposed waist, your shirt slowly inching up more and more as the seconds went up. Slipping his tongue inside you, you felt the way his nose hit yours as dominance took over.

He wanted to control all of you.

It wasn't until your legs began wobbling from the long standing when his hands lost your waist, instantly making contact with the back of your thighs, squeezing them, soon allowing them to suffocate his sides. Following his lead, you pull your lips back before diving them to the corner of his jaw as he groaned, walking to god knows where.

You figured out where once you shrieked as your back made contact with your couch, his palms widening your legs in a hurry before situating himself on top of you. Surprisingly, the difference of weight wasn't an issue as he clinged harder against you, moving his hand behind your neck to pull it down, making sure to make you feel the pain of the slight hair tugging.

"What are y-" you softly choke, voice coming out in whimpers as he ignored you. Latching his lips to the top of your chin, he stuck his tongue out, dragging it gradually down your neck as your back arched, needing to feel closer to him if that was even possible. Your wish was his command as he hastily pressed himself against you, making you groan in surprise.

Making his way lower, he passes your neck down to your chest while his hands found their to your collarbone, smoothly rubbing the area up and down before clutching onto it harshly as he continue down his path. Something about the way his soft fingertips applying pressure near your neck as his lips kept kissing the rest of your body had you in wonders. You couldn't believe this was happening.

It wasn't until you felt his mouth near your exposed waist that made you completely lose it. You had long forgotten that Jules was in the room next door when you gasped, feeling his teeth swipe against your skin. "Shhh," he whispered against your lips as a way to silence you. "Don't want to let your friend know I'm here now, do we?"

You could only stammer shaky sounds as he planted a few more deep kisses, slowly pulling away and feeling the wetness of both your mouths descend down. He gave you one last dark gaze before returning his mouth on yours, loving the feeling of the dampness between your faces.

His mouth opening wider, he began intensively tasting you, swiping his tongue around your lips as you tried to keep up with his eagerness. Not giving you much time to catch his pace, you could feel how wet he was making you.

No, he was literally drowning your face.

Pulling back, you squint your eyes and take a few seconds to adjust to the poor lighting in your living room. You were met with dark, green eyes.

Lady Gaga.

Shrieking, you grab the black, green-eyed demon on top of you and throw her off, causing her to let out a loud hiss with the immediate sounds of footsteps following afterwards.

"Lady Gaga!" you hear Jules squeal in her pink robe, wrapping the nauseating cat in her arms before turning to you, giving you a look of rage. "Did you throw her?!"

"She licked me!"

Jules scoffed harshly before hurling a nearby pillow at you, allowing it to hit your face in full force before stomping back to her door and violently slamming it shut.

You fucking hated that cat.

Laying back against the couch, you rubbed your red face in humiliation. Not only did you have an intense dream about Pedro but you're pretty sure you just had a full on make-out session with a cat.

Groaning, you couldn't believe what was happening to you. Why would you dream about him-

No- why would you have one doing not so child friendly activities?!

You just know you'll never be able to face him with a straight face, too embarrassed to even be near him now without thinking about this moment.

It wasn't even like you thought about him in that way- you didn't.

Maybe your time of the month was approaching or you were in desperate need of a date because there's no way any normal human being would fantasize over some older man that way.

Okay, maybe it was possible.

But that was definitely not you...even though you just did. Although, you did see the comparison between him and Lady Gaga.

They looked kind of alike- right? Same whiskers.

One thing that was certain was you were never going to tell anybody about this. If people believed for one second you had feelings for him, which you don't, you'll never hear the end of it.

He was not your type nor close to your age. It would never happen.

Sighing, you close your eyes and silently send out a prayer to not engage in another session with the demonic cat. Maybe sleep will make you think clearly once awoken and abolish all these wild concepts floating through your head.

But once you were actually awoken, your mind still wasn't clear- or maybe it was because the pounding on your door ultimately pulled you from your slumber.

Stretching your arms, you scratch the top of your head as you try to open your eyes but it was no use, you were way too tired to fully engage with anybody right now.

Completely avoiding looking through the peep hole, which was a red flag on your part, you swing the door open to find a man who looked like Pedro standing on the other side of it.

Groaning aloud, you slap yourself as he takes this by surprised, not sure why you just did that.

How are you having another dream about him? Was this the bad luck needed after scoring tickets to your favorite band? Is this some kind of sick revenge someone has against you?

Pointing at Lady Gaga, who was dressed up as Pedro, you rudely spit out the words needed to be said. "You are just a cat. Nothing happened between us."

With that, you step back inside, ignoring Lady Gaga's attempts of trying to gain your attention by waving their arms in front of you. Making your way to your room, you see Jules walk out of hers.

"Who was that at the door?" she questions, hearing another round of knocks appear.

You tiredly wave your hand in nonsense, denying that thought. "It was Lady Gaga, go back to bed."

Jules sends you a bewildered look as you enter your bedroom and face-plant on your cozy bed, allowing sleep to reel you back in. Turning her head, she looks at Lady Gaga who was sitting casually by her bedroom door.

"She is turning fucking nuts," she whispers to herself before swiftly opening the door to reveal a very confused Pedro. "What's up?"

Pedro's concerned face takes over his actions as he jumps to his eager questions. "Is y/n okay? She thought I was a cat."

Jules shrugs, rubbing her eyes with her palm. "Who knows, I think she's getting over her coffee hangover."

Pedro carefully nods, still skeptical as to what happened to you. What did you mean nothing happened between you two? Did something happen that he wasn't aware of?

Were you hiding something from him?

Gracelessly gesturing his leave, Pedro walked quickly down the hall as Jules stood there for a moment too tired to comprehend why he paid the apartment a visit this early in the morning. The sun was barely out, why did he come?

After shutting the door and taking a seat on the couch, she laid back and stared at the ceiling. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but for some reason a strange intellect emerged out of nowhere.

She shrugged it off, instantaneously knocking out, too exhausted to conquer her suspicions.

+

taglist: @thesapphirequeen @floralsightings @wrathofcats

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - There's so much airing even I'm struggling to keep up

That's why I'm late.

Aug 2023 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 6 of 8 - Oh no. I am totally in love with the escaped young master & his smitten bodyguard. How did that happen? (Be careful P’Thee the broken ones are the most tempting. Tin understands.) NO SINGING! Trust Thai BL to destroy any moment of sentiment I might have by picking up a damn guitar. And we finally get Charn’s Batman villain origin story. Good use of back hug! This is a GREAT show. Melodramatic as fuck, but GREAT. Gotta say this pair in NOT Thailand’s best kissers but not everyone can be Zee++. Still I think that + singing + a touch of overacting is likely to keep this out of the 10/10 club.

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 1 of 12 - Rich /poor dynamic with characters & set up exactly as expected. Chimon is great. Perth is good too. A real rich-kid bully, Heirs level or Japanese F4 evil. All the teachers are also corrupt (that’s kinda a Thai thing, I think because they can't call out the government). I gotta say, Marc is doing a bang-up job as the jock friend, too. And the kiss twist was fun. All in all, this is good. And you know me, I love a high school BL.

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Sat YT) ep 1 of 12 - The time travel historical romance many of us have been waiting for. Adaption of y-novel by Violet Rain, from the producers of Lovely Writer. Heartbroken architect is transported to the 1930s. Nonkul (actor playing Jom) keeps reminding me of Cho Han Gyeol from Love Mate. It’s a bit slow to start but interesting when it hits its stride. The pacing feels like a Chinese historical (makes me wonder if this with be 4 or 6 act structure). Nonkul is a wonderful actor. They weren’t sharing the screen for long, but the leads seem good together. I’m in. 

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 2 of 10 - Well. It’s entertaining, I'll say that for it. Addiction. Manipulation. Queer as folk & all that jazz. (No jazz for you, Thailand. Oh no! I’m giving them ideas.) I would like it to turn out that Mew is actually manipulating everything. This is his revenge con on Top. Mew is, after all, supposed to be "the smart one." Gotta say, this is darn near perfect casting. But honestly? This show could just be about Ray & Sand. Their story (and them in it) is easily the most riveting. Sand better be careful, the wildly broken ones are always the best in bed, because they don’t care ao they have no shame and that's HOT.

Hidden Agenda (Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 6 of 10 - I like how soft Joke’s version of seme flirting is. It’s mellow, like his voice gets with Zo. I also liked Zo casually chatting to his friends about how he feels about being flirted with. His friends gave good advice & were supportive. Oh no! A boy in a BL went into the rain ALONE. What ON EARTH will happen next? The argument was interesting, because it gave us insight into Zo’s maturity & ability to handle a relationship. I’ve been wondering why anyone would like him, and now I know. Joke & Nita’s backstory is fun. I like the gay boy protecting the straight girl reverse beard action. On a complete aside, I really like Dunk’s makeup in this series. It’s very Kdrama.

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 7 of 8 - The house ghosts trying to help are cute. The plot is at least... a plot? I don’t know. Dias Ex Mafia is a new one on me. (COME ON THAT’S A GREAT PUN, PRAISE ME!) I’m ready for this show to be over. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 7 of 12 - Honestly, the whole time I’m watching this I’m just thinking I wish JaFirst got better scripts. Speaking of, I don’t object, but these characters sure moved into sex fast. I really don’t quite understand how Daddy & Hot Doc got together so fast either. It feels like their story was meant to be spread out into the other episodes but didn’t get cut in properly, so it ended up all in this one? Or is it just the pacing is particularly bad in this show?

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 8 of 10 eps - I have no idea what is going on. What are all of Dino’s friends doing? What do they want? what’s their point in the story? I’m even annoyed by Peak, and love him. Sex scene which they tried to make sexy. Operative word being tried. Although, there was some interesting after sex discussion about mechanics. And there was a cute bathtub chat about pet names. But this show is a lotta work for very little pay out. 

Wedding Plan (Wed YT & iQIYI) ep 5 of 7 - I like the sunshine sides? PUNCH LOM 2023! Trash watch here!

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - Pushy older bro is Earn from Love Sick, yay! And he’s the hyung of a side couple, which is "best friend’s older brother" trope! My favorite!!!! Have we seen this in BL before? I don't think so. Anyway, DOUBLE YAY! The main couple… eh. You know I loathe stalker characters. And I viscerally HATE this one. Almost as bad as SCOY, not sure I can take it, actually. The squealing of "Tammy!" is worse on my ear than any off-key guitar strumming. I may have to DNF or fast forward through all his parts… but he’s the lead. What to do? I do like the “Chinese” businessman actor. He very cute. (On an aside, I was just reading about commercial real estate as the loophole for foreign property investors in Thailand. Cool plot point.) I’m getting a Taming of the Shrew vibes from this. Just me? For now it's living at the bottom of the list for sheer unadulterated loathing of Phumjai. Not the actor, he was my favorite and only good thing about Our Days. But this character? NO.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 5 of 8 - This is basically the gay Boys Over Flowers of my heart. Or as close as I think we’ll get from BL. I like both of the 2nd leads, even though I suspect Simon of actually being into everyone’s fav hyung. Cute to see the Mr Heart boys back on my screen, oh so briefly. Such a Taiwan trick, reusing a beloved couple like that. Nice gimmie to the fans. Meanwhile, Choi Jun - boy sure knows his angles but his motives? Please don’t let this be another arranged marriage beard situation? I can’t take 2 in the same month. 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - The boyfriends ep! JC is biggest simp spoiling his baby EVER. Taiwan = the sappiest of saps. “Owning the same key” is such a cute way of putting it. Also I love the "knew all along" twist, made me happy. The angst is silly but that's normal in Taiwanese BL. 

Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 3-4 of 10 - Pair 1: Lee Hyun is such a wide-open, bleeding, no-shame romantic. It’s kinda great. Boy has a poet’s soul & NO artifice. J-Min is startlingly good, very nuanced. I know I keep saying that, but I’m v surprised by his skillz. And… add in creepy stalker, goody. Pair 2: The "other student couple" I’m not into, also NO SINGING. Pair 3: The underwear gift was so fucking funny. “I’m going reap the boxers I sewed” is next level script excellence. These two are brilliant at gayest-of-gay flirt-negging, I'm INTO IT. One of my housemates said, in response to my audible cackling, "You seem to be enjoying your shows extra much tonight."  

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - Oh I love love love them. It’s so old school yaoi and SO JBL. No other country could produce this kind of show. I love this little feminist aspect where the weatherman treats his boy like a 1950s housewife & said boy thinks that makes him an indentured servant. Clocks. But also, the way our weatherman LOOKS at his boy. He is so in love. (It looks like we skip next week for holiday reasons?) 

Sing My Crush (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 8 - It remains enjoyable. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - At least we know Minato actually desires Shin, he just won’t do anything about it. Also, Minato chose the perfect person to come out to. That's nice for him. Finally, Shu & Asuka are glorious. Sides are winning these days.

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) ep 3 of 5 - A proper faen fatal has entered one of our couples. She won too, since she ended up marrying the boy. Still not sure about this show (and it should have convinced me by now). I definitely like the tattoo couple better than the reunion couple. Still, not a lot happened in this episode and this is short series, they don’t have time to waste. It remains intriguing but not... erm... good.

In case you missed it

River Knows Fish Heart is leaving Gaga soon. It's a decent little bully romance Chinese BL (pulp) - yes, you read that right. Actual CBL. Not great, but if you're into the CBL stuff, especially the early stuff, this has some of that tenor only made in 2018 (I have a feeling it was shot in 2017 and skated through). Anygay, just staying. Catch it before it disappears because with CBL once they gone, often, they gone forever.

Friend. Boy Friend a new Thai BL pulp was supposed to start airing on Aug 19th. I can't find it. Neither can MDL.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Everything from Thailand seems to be dropping on Sat & Sun this month. It's a good thing I got quiet weekends for a while. Also the BL firehose is upon us, so much content.

Starting this week:

8/20 (tomorrow) My Universe series (Sun iQIYI) 24 eps - This is sampler pack BL, 12 pairs, each pair gets 2 eps, not sure on the order they’ll drop. Known couples include EarthBank from Destiny Seeker and KaownahTurbo from Love Stage!!!, fresh faces otherwise. Jane to direct.

8/22 Kisseki: Dear to Me formerly known as Miracle (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) 13 eps - From screenwriter Lin Pei Yu (We Best Love, H3: Trapped) features a student doctor forced to take care of a gangster. I love the premise and like the writer.  

8/23 Why R U? (Korean remake iQIYI) 8 eps - I find everything about this hilarious. I mean if Korea remakes it, we lose all the sexy and then... would we have a story at all? No we would not. Not even for 8 short eps. It’d be like one of those mesh shopping bags.

8/24 Man Suang (Thailand movie, domestic cinema release) - historical drama about Thai burlesque with KP’s MileApo. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Another show reviewing itself. (Dino Love)

Don't insult bastards, Lom. (Wedding trash)

I would like this adorable romcom GMMTV, please and thank you.

See what I mean? Trixy.

Thanks boys. (All Only Friends)

(Last week) 

[susvale]

M.I.A. Homelander X Reader X Steve Roger

Title: Missing In action

Pairings: Homelander X Reader, Steve Rogers X Reader, Dark Steve x Reader, Dark Homelander x reader [Crossover]

Summary: You were an avenger, one of the more magic ones. People called your name in excitement and felt safe being around you, then thanos happened… when you weren’t snapped and after a police call you were somewhere else. Now all you know is there is a man with a cap calling himself Homelander calling himself “Americas Hero” and the world is different… is it isn’t so bad though.

I made this is 2022, It’s been sitting in my drafts for that long… so yeah!

[Part One] -> [Part Two]

It was overwhelming at times. Cameras in your face after a mission were you were left battered and bruised, nevertheless you smiled, you gave a proud smile to the reporters reporting. They had risked things coming here did it make your job harder, yes, the helicopters flying around while you try and fly. It added pressure to keep people in the air safe. At least you weren’t Steve, they made him do dumb shit, like that time he was in a Detention video spouting nonesense. You job was only to keep people safe. People may offer you movie rolls but you always decline, you weren’t an actor your a hero. Even if declining meant buying an okay-ish apartment with a broken Landry machine. You weren’t a millionaire, just a lady with the power to say “bang” and a mans head would explode if you wanted to. Even then, you had the option to live in Tony’s tower. Maybe then some random wouldn’t show up ever week looking to kill you. A sigh left your lips as you looked down at the TV, Thanos killed half the population and vanished. That is what’s in the News again. Men lost daughters, mothers lost sons but everybody lost someone. Even so it still stung he wouldn’t pick up your calls, you wanted to shout at him ‘your not dead yet and neither am I! stop ignoring me before one of those things change!’ Missions still came in, unsteady but they did come in.

“Maybe I should get a real job, part time.” You mumbled to yourself while you stared at the TV. Everyone you ever knew had distanced themselves or been snapped, maybe getting out would be good… people have been starting to expect that this is life, ‘maybe thanos was right my gym has been less crowded lately!’ Kinda people, jokes that might not be jokes anymore.

You still think about it, maybe he was right. It was horrible, you know. So many people lost and yet you didn’t lose anyone significant, Bucky of course but you were only just starting to get to know him… Steve maybe but you could still see him, feel him breathe, he didn’t get snapped. He was just distance, like he wished he did get snapped…

Witch hurt…

You didn’t have a family, friends outside of the avengers, hell you never had a boyfriend before Steve. How could you? Caged and trained like a dog, feed needles and pills like food. Given faces and names to quietly kill, you never had your own name till the avengers… Y/N… it was a nice name though. you named yourself off the first person you ever killed, you didn’t know if they would ever have agreed but they were dead… so it didn’t matter.

Steve and therapy, You remembered. Keep breathing don’t think about it. Or maybe it was think about it regret is good? Your therapist had been snapped so it’s been a while. The police called you once in and while about cases. Maybe answering back wouldn’t suck? You were lonely and bored, nothing to do then unsteady mission that lacked any sort of life.

Grabbing your phone you called a man. He was your contact to the police, you could never remember titles or anything like that but he was pretty high up.

“Thank god you called, you use to be so active I was starting to worry you got snapped too.” He joked, people cope with humor, you know that. Still, it irritated you that you and your friends put your life on the line and failed only to be joked about by people who didn’t know anything. Nevertheless, you gritted your teeth and held your tongue. “More and more people are disappearing. We think it may be an aftershock effect of some kind.”

“I doubt it.” You mumbled to yourself, he didn’t hear you and went on about the investigation. A group of people who agreed with Thanos’s ideals has been here and there, left and right. They think a select group talking it too far and hurting or making more people disappear. That sounded more likely, he told you about peoples corpses. Looked like they had been shot with high power lasers, or they’re heads have been smashed in. They had a certain person in custody, maybe if you worked with them you could find a way to undo the snap? That’s what the officer proposed anyway. You said your goodbyes and hung up the phone, you would be their for the interview is what you told them.

You should call Steve. This looked like such an important case, he had to know people were making more people disappear… it could lead to something. He would want to know.

So you did call him. He didn’t answer, instead you were greeted by the all so familiar call after the beep speech. It was nicer then actually speaking to him nowadays, though. “Heya, it’s Steve. Leave a uh… voicemail..? After the beep? Did I do that right?” You’d hear him call to someone in the background, “yeah, other then forgetting what a voicemail was called.” You heard your own distant voice greet you, “Steve you have to-“ you were the last thing you hear as the beep signalled the end of the recorded ‘can’t get to you’ message.

A sigh left you when you realized you’d have to speak now, “Hey Steve, the police called me and they have a case of more disappearing people. A group of Thanos supporters popped up making even more people disappear.” You paused, “I think it’s something you’ll be interested in, might lead to something, heh… listen, I miss you, it’s been so long since we’ve spoken. I… can’t…” your voice trailed off, you breathed in deciding not to do this over a call. “Anyway, call me when you get this. Can’t make it too long.”

That’s right. You couldn’t keep the police waiting… So you grabbed your bag and left. Off to the police station.“Hey, we put the suspect in the interrogation room.” The man spoke, he opened the door to a standard interrogation room. Blue walls, four barely cushioned chairs and a table in the middle closet to a wall. The suspect looked like a regular man. You frowned.

This all felt too… cultish? It made you uncomfortable, the look in his eye. He looked at you like you were a god among men.

[allthingsfangirl101]

Love Test – Joe Keery

Inspired by Big Bang Theory S8 E16

Working on Fargo was an interesting experience. The cast was great, but I couldn't help but feel like they all knew something that I didn't. I've been doing the actors' hair and makeup so I have a lot of one-on-one time with each person.

Fargo was my first big job. Before this, I worked in my mom's salon, mainly doing the hair of sixty-year-old women. One of my clients knew someone who knew someone whose nephew worked with FX. Through the grapevine, my mom found out that FX needed a new makeup and hair person.

I get along fairly well with the cast, but there was always something a little awkward between me and one of the younger cast members: Joe Keery. I've seen him act in person and he's really good, but when we get one-on-one, the only thing we're able to do is maintain awkward small talk.

Barely.

"Y/N, are you coming?" David Rysdal asked.

I turned around to see a few of the cast mates walking into the makeup trailer.

"To what?"

"Party at my house!"Jon Hamm laughed.

"Oh," I laughed awkwardly.

"You're coming right?" Juno Temple asked.

"I'll stop by," I shrugged.

"Great!" Jon Hamm cheered. "See you tonight at 7."

I didn't want to go, but after 5 seasons, this season's cast has been putting in more of an effort to get me to hang out with them. I went home after we wrapped up for the day and put more work into making myself look good. When I showed up, the party was in full swing. Jon really did invite everyone on set.

Two hours and way too much drinking later, some of us were sitting around the coffee table, talking.

"Have you guys heard about this experiment to see if you could make two people fall in love in a matter of hours?" David asked.

"Hours?" I asked. "Is it even possible?"

"That's why it's an experiment, Y/N," Jennifer Jason Leigh scoffed.

"The participants ask each other a series of questions designed to promote intimacy. And they finish it off by staring into each other's eyes for four minutes," David quickly explained to lessen the awkwardness.

"We should try it!" Juno cheered as she bounced up and down.

"Y/N and Joe should try it," Jon said with a smirk that made me nervous.

"Us?" Joe and I said in sync.

I cleared my throat and added, "Why us?"

"Why not?" Juno smirked.

"I will text you both the questions," David said as he typed on his phone. I sighed when I got the message.

"You can use my office," Jon said. "It's right through there."

"Great," I mumbled under my breath. Joe and I shared a look. He stood up and reached his hand out for me to take.

"Shall we?" He asked, trying to sound light.

"Don't have much of a choice, it would seem."

It was extremely awkward as Joe and I walked into Jon Hamm's office. We sat down on the couch, neither one of us saying anything. I grabbed my phone and looked through the questions. Every single one I read, made me want the floor to open up and swallow me even more.

"Okay," Joe said as he turned toward me. "You ready?"

"I guess," I shrugged. I glanced up to see Joe looking at me weirdly. I cleared my throat and read the first question. "Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a diner guest?"

"Bing Crosby," Joe answered instantly.

"Really?" I asked. "Bing Crosby? Why?"

"I grew up watching White Christmas," Joe explained. "I've seen everything that Bing Crosby did. Also, my mom listened to his music all the time. He's the reason I went into acting."

"Oh," I said softly. "That's actually really sweet."

"Thanks," he smiled. "What about you?"

"Pat McGrath."

"Who?"

"She's a British make-up artist," I said, a blush forming. "Vogue called her the most influential make-up artist of all time. She's kind of like my idol."

"Did she inspire you to go into makeup?" He asked.

"A little," I shrugged. "My family did. My mom owns a hair salon back home. I got into makeup because I wanted to start a new business and connect it to my mom's salon. She'd do clients' hair and I'd do their nails and makeup."

"You didn't go into it," he said slowly. "Did something. . ."

"We had a falling out," I confessed when he didn't ask his question. "Technically my dad and I had a falling out. My mom was just an innocent bystander. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps of dental school while my mom wanted me to follow in hers. No matter what I did, one of them would be upset."

"I'm sorry," Joe said, his voice dropping.

I cleared my throat and looked at the list of questions. "Next question?"

"Next question," Joe nodded as he looked at his phone and read the list. "What would constitute a perfect day for you?"

"It's going to sound lame," I mumbled, messing with my fingers.

"Try me," Joe said gently as he lowered his phone.

"My perfect day would start with me sleeping in," I started to explain. "I'd wake up and put on an outfit that was comfortable but still made me look amazing."

I blushed as Joe smiled at me. Before I could wimp out, I kept talking. "I'd walk around a mall, sipping my favorite coffee drink, and go on a small shopping spree. Girly, but what can I say?"

"No judgment," Joe chuckled. "What else would you do?"

"I'd end the shopping spree at the bookstore," I confessed. "On the way home, I'd pick up my favorite dish at my favorite Italian place on Meaker."

"Girmaldis?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, a little shocked. "You know that place?"

"It's my favorite." This sudden tension that has been building since the cast put us in the spotlight, started to thicken between us. He cleared his throat before asking, "Anything else you'd do?"

"Just finish the night with binge-watching my favorite show," I said. "And then a bubble bath."

"Sounds amazing," he chuckled. "Although, I'm not much of a bath person."

"Then you've clearly never taken a good one," I teased.

"Guess not," he shrugged.

"What about you? What would your perfect day consist of?" I asked, the nerves still jumping around my stomach.

"Oh, it's super adventurous," he chuckled. "I'd sleep in and spend most of my day doing nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," he confirmed. I thought about asking him more but didn't bother to push him.

Instead, I looked down at my phone and asked the next question. "What is something that makes you feel unstoppable?"

"Weirdly enough," he chuckled, "when I'm at one of my premieres. Especially if I'm proud of what I worked on. What about you? What makes you feel unstoppable, Y/N?"

"When I see a really hard makeup look that I did on the big screen," I said instantly. Joe just smiled at me before looking back at his phone.

"If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?"

"No social anxiety," I blurted. "I just. . . I mean. . ."

"It's okay," Joe said gently. "Not everyone likes being in big groups. Hell, even I get a little bit of anxiety when I'm on the red carpet."

"That's different," I mumbled, looking down at my hands.

"You're right," he said quickly. Joe leaned over and delicately put his hand over mine. I looked up to see him smiling at me. "I'm sorry. It's not the same thing. I wish I could help you with your social anxiety."

The tension was thick between us again. It didn't seem to go away as I said, "What about you? What quality or ability would you want?"

"Don't tease me too much," he smiled as he slowly pulled his hand back into his lap, "but I wish I was better at something, anything."

"What do you mean?"

"The only thing I feel like I'm good at is acting," Joe continued. "I wish there was something else I could do. It would be nice to have something I could fall back on when acting eventually doesn't work out anymore."

"Why are you so sure it won't work out for long?"

"Actors don't act forever. It'd be nice to have a safety net," he shrugged. Without another word, he read the next question. "What is something you consider too serious to joke about?"

"People's appearances," I said a little too quickly. He looked up at me, making my face burn.

"Did someone. . ."

"Your turn," I cut him off. "What is something that you think is too serious to joke about?"

"People's relationships," Joe said, his voice soft. "I always hate when guys talk about their girlfriends like they're objects. Some things should stay between the couple. A guy shouldn't share everything with his friends."

"That's. . . Sweet," I barely got out. I cleared my throat and looked at my phone. "How do you react to anger from others?"

"Doesn't really affect me, if I'm being honest. Especially if it had nothing to do with why they're angry," he shrugged. Joe's smile dropped when he saw the look on my face. He lowered his voice as he asked, "What about you?"

"I don't handle it well," I said softly. I looked at my hands and started picking at my nail polish.

"Y/N. . ." He whispered.

"My parents used to fight a lot," I continued, my voice shaky. "It was never my fault but. . . When they fought, I'd lock myself in my room and read or listen to music. They fought all the time. The only time they weren't fighting was when they were each at work. My mom was at her salon from opening to closing. My dad was at his dental office way past closing."

"I'm so sorry, Y/N," Joe said. He went to grab my hand but I grabbed my phone and read out the next question.

"Do you often listen to your intuition?"

"Not nearly enough as I should," Joe said with a small chuckle.

"Same," I said, still looking at my phone. "Last question. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone?"

"My feelings," he blurted out. I snapped my head up and looked at him.

"Your what?"

"I just. . . I have a tendency to keep my feelings to myself," he stuttered. "When I like a girl, I rarely tell her."

The tension was officially suffocating as we stared at each other. "What would you regret not saying?" Joe asked, his voice soft.

"I guess," I said slowly, "I'd regret not telling my parents how I really feel. I've never told them how much their fighting affected me. I should've been more honest with them."

"You still have the chance," he said gently. "Luckily, you're not going to die tonight so you can still talk to your parents."

"That's true," I said softly. "That also means that you can still tell a girl you have feelings for her."

The second I said it, my face burned. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't form the words.

"What's next?" Joe asked.

"Well, we finished the questions so now we stare into each other's eyes for four minutes," I said, clearing my throat. I grabbed my phone and set a timer. "Go."

I looked up, my heart instantly jumping into my throat as Joe and I made eye contact. The longer we stared at each other, the harder it was to not look away.

"Wow," Joe chuckled. "This is kinda. . ."

"Awkward," I whispered.

"But, to be honest, this has been working."

"You think so?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I mean, the questions got us to open up to each other. And staring into each other's eyes forms a. . ."

"Connection," I said under my breath.

"Connection," he agreed. I hadn't realized we were getting closer until our noses touched. By the time I realized it, Joe had made the first move.

My heart jumped into my throat when Joe gently pressed his lips to mine. Time froze as we slowly began moving our lips in sync. As slow as we initiated the kiss, we broke it.

"Well," I whispered, "I guess the experiment works."

"Something tells me this is exactly why the others had us do this experiment," Joe whispered.

"You're damn right!" Jon yelled from the other side of the door, making Joe and I laugh.

"Leave them alone!" Juno chastised. "If you want them to get together, you can't interrupt their moments."

"Oh boy," I sighed. Joe gently grabbed my chin, making me look at him. I blushed as he leaned in and kissed me again.

"Hey," Joe whispered, breaking the kiss. "Let's get out here."

[justamessedupdisneyprincess]

🗡️ 💙ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BARLEY LIGHTFOOT💙🗡️

These are just my personal HCs. This is just a huge list or rather my personal wiki ALL about Barley. This list will have four different categories, the basics (birthday/sexuality etc), preferences (what he likes/dislikes), facts (random short facts about him), relationships (facts about his relationships with his friends and family) and history (facts about his childhood and high school years).

💙BASICS💙

He was born on the 3rd of August 2001

He is pansexual 🩷💛💙

He is neurodivergent

He is an extrovert

Dream job

His dream job would to become like a mercenary and go on many quests. Since that isn’t likely though he may become a mechanic.

Hobbies

His hobbies include: playing Quests of Yore, playing RPG video games, drawing (he is a traditional artist), writing (mostly poetry and songs but he has written some adventurous stories as well), playing guitar and writing his own songs, exploring and travelling in Guinevere, cosplay, LARPing, making and painting QOY figurines and miniatures to add to his games, fixing up broken things.

Talents

He is very good at drawing and painting traditionally but is hopeless with digital art, he can be a great actor as well, he is a surprisingly good cook as he did used to cook sometimes when Laurel was super busy or tired, he is a master of improvising and can work well with nothing but scrap.

Fears

He doesn’t fear much but he is afraid of the hospital, gelatinous cubes, and losing loved ones.

🥰Preferences😒

Loved food and drinks

He is a huge fan of junk food especially and he does also enjoy a lot of dairy. He loves a nice hearty meal. Some of his favourites meals are pizza (especially BBQ and ones with plenty of meaty toppings), burgers, burritos, nachos, pretty much anything with lots of cheese, roast meats and pies.

He enjoys some sweets too! He is nuts about chocolate and anything that is very chocolatey. He is also a big fan of doughnuts and pastries. He likes to drink soda and energy drinks. Overall his preferred diet may not look the healthiest.

His ultimate favourites are pizza, chocolate cake, fries covered in cheese, any sort of cheesy crisps like cheese puffs, any sort of cheesy snacks in general, fried griffin wings, roast ham, mountain doom drinks, Coca Cola and chocolate milkshakes.

Disliked/hated food and drinks

He is not a fan of anything that tastes bitter. He loved pretty much all chips and crisps but he isn’t a big fan of the ones that are vinegar flavoured. He dislikes most vegetables.

He especially hates meals that are nothing but vegetables, a warrior needs his protein he says! As for drinks he isn’t a huge fan of tea. He dislikes the taste of green tea.

Music

Barley LOVES rock and heavy metal! Electric guitar solos are his favourite. His loves a good rock opera as well.

Barley isn’t a fan of most pop songs. Occasionally he might find one he doesn’t mind though. He hates a song that is slow and quiet though. He NEEDS something he can bang his head to or play air guitar to.

Movies/shows

Barley of course loves ANY sort of adventure movie or series that has to do with olden days. He would be way into LOTR/Hobbit for example. He enjoys a lot of action but he does also secretly enjoy some romance because he is a softie (he won’t admit it though.).

He isn’t too fussy with genres but he isn’t a fan of anything that feels too sad. Because of that he may not be into post apocalyptic series (although he does enjoy the concepts of post apocalyptic) because he feels too bad for any of the characters that die. He can actually get shockingly emotional. He also doesn’t like ones that feel too slow, if not much is happening for a long while he gets bored easily, “where is the action?” He would say.

Books

Any classic old fairy tale or legend that was written back in the olden days. He likes stories about adventure but he doesn’t read much as he tends to be too busy with his other hobbies. He reads literally every QOY book or comic he can get his hands on though and always finds a way to make time for them! He also enjoys books that talk about history.

As for disliked books he doesn’t really have any so to say, he only focuses on the genres above and hasn’t tried any other. He thinks about trying out some more comics and even some manga someday though.

Style/clothes/furnishings

Barley obviously loves to rock an outfit that says “metal”. If a shirt has a print of a weapon or skull there is a high chance Barley will wear it. He isn’t too sure of wearing anything that might look a bit too cutesy though. He wants to look cool! The clothes he wears also has to be comfortable, he will never wear anything that isn’t.

He loves clothing and furniture with either a rocker’s vibe to it or something that looks old fashioned and mystical. He is not too fussed about colours but he does prefer darker colours over pastels, such as a dark blue, deep red or black. He loves to collect any old amour or weapons! He has grown quite the collection.

Barley is not a fan of a modern look or anything that is minimalist. One reason he dislikes a modern architecture is because it makes him feel like the world is drifting further and further away from its humble beginnings and as for minimalist he just finds it boring.

Activities

Barley loves all of his hobbies mentioned above but as for things he does not like to do, that would have to be a lot of chores. While he does love to draw and work on things to add to his game he actually isn’t into a lot of craft related activities. He enjoys colouring or things that are on paper but he doesn’t have the patience to sit still and knit or cross stitch. He is usually the type who is down for anything but he doesn’t do well in things that feel a bit too quiet, like yoga and meditation for example. He loves video games but he actually isn’t really into most cozy games as he personally gets bored from time to time, he loves the thrill of an adventure both in real life and in games! He isn’t a huge sports fan but he does enjoy playing some sport games from time to time, however he HATES fishing because he gets very impatient and bored.

📚Facts📚

Barley is a heavy sleeper, he can sleep through a hurricane! He also tends to be a night owl and can sleep in late at times. It is hard to wake him up!

As mentioned he loves to collect old amour and weapons, he has a huge collection now and he constantly wonders what adventures these old relics went on. He admires each and every one of them, even if some of them may be very rusty. He even gives them names just like he did with Guinevere!

He has an iron stomach, in both the sense he can handle gore and gross stuff shockingly well and he can eat slightly spoiled food or eat extreme amounts and be perfectly fine. Although he did have a few moments where he over did it. (It was mentioned in one of the Disney apps where he ate five buckets of fries and it didn’t end well). Regarding handling gross things or gore he can watch the most insane stuff, he can watch someone during an operation while snacking on cheese puffs just fine.

He actually secretly has a huge soft spot for animals, kids and cute things.

Barley doesn’t do a lot to take care of himself, he may avoid a shower every once in a while so he can focus on questing. On an average he showers once a day but it is not uncommon for him to miss just one day. This was implied in the movie as well.

Barley can sleep in his clothes just fine, he has even done that a few times if it’s been a long day.

Barley is a huge hugger and he gives the best hugs as well!

He may seem silly most of the time but he can be mature in other ways. While he seems impatient when it comes to what he is doing as of now he is very patient when it comes to others. Because of this he makes a great and understanding friend! He also tends to be very understanding and he never judges.

He has no fear of bugs, he just casually picks them up and lets them outside if they’re in the house. He has even held some huge spiders which always freaks out his family.

He isn’t the athletic type but he likes to go on walks, he takes his time and enjoys the scenery though, it’s not for exercise personally. He loves to explore new areas! He is very curious of the world around him and is thrilled to discover something new.

He actually knows how to play a lot of instruments and has studied music. He can read music notes as well.

When visiting a theme park he enjoys the extreme rides like roller coasters.

He is a huge fan of puns!

He loves riddles as well and likes to solve them and ask them. Although sometimes if you get it wrong multiple times he may drop a hint or two…usually in the form of ANOTHER riddle.

He is not only passionate about the past and preserving historical structures and relics, he often collects any litter he finds to help keep the streets clean enough. This is tied to his passion about the past as well, to keep the old kingdom clean of modern garbage. Sometimes he may find ways to repurpose the things he finds and has made some…bizarre things.

It’s not uncommon for Barley to help himself to a midnight snack. Depending on his mood sometimes he will snack on left overs from dinner or he might even make himself an ice cream sandwich.

He also has weird food habits. Some joke that he eats like a pregnant person at times! He gets cravings of things and they form into some bizarre combinations! He once made himself some toast and smothered it with ice cream for one example.

Barley is a big stress eater. He doesn’t normally get stressed though. (It was kind of implied in the movie when he tore through a bag of cheese puffs and went to get another snack when he got angry at Ian).

Barley is usually calm and cool but when he gets super angry he might punch at a few walls or posts. He has bruised his knuckles a few times when things got really rough.

Barley is the worst at lying, doesn’t matter what lie it is, what the circumstances are or who he may be lying too, he is just awful at it. (Was kind of implied in the movie as well at the beginning with Colt LOL)

Barley sometimes sings in the shower.

He has lots and lots of journals that are filled with his art, ideas and literature. He has so many scattered around him room and he probably has enough to make his own library. Sometimes he might just sit and doodle completely random things.

He is great at most mechanics related stuff but he struggles to understand a lot of computer related stuff.

Barley talks to himself when he gets nervous or impatient. So much so it can be like he has a conversation with himself at some stages.

He usually says whatever pops into his head. So sometimes he can be a little blunt and say things at a bad time. He rarely says things that are offensive though because he has a genuine and kind heart. The worst he may say is if someone is boring or a total buzzkill. (Usually towards Colt).

Barley will go out of his way to help a stranger in need. Like helping old people cross the road for example. If he sees a baby or kid crying he would usually try to make funny faces to make them laugh or cheer them up.

Barley has a FREAKISHLY good memory.

Barley may seem confident most of the time but if he gets a crush on someone he can actually be pretty shy about it to begin with. Basically he is all like: 😳🥺👉👈

🫂Relationships🫂

Ian

He obviously loves Ian a whole lot! They were very close when they were younger but when Ian went through puberty he sort of drifted from him for a moment before their big adventure took place. When his father died Barley was grieving heavily and Ian’s arrival helped him a whole lot! He is grateful to have him in his life and it’s all just one of the many reasons he loves him.

He feels a strong need to protect him no matter what! During school he would often go and check on Ian to make sure he was alright. When Barley graduated he has tried to sneak back into school just to make sure Ian was alright. This was also because Barley did have to deal with a few Aholes so he wanted to make sure Ian was ok. This of course embarrassed Ian greatly and a small argument did break out where Ian told him not to baby him anymore.

When Ian got his first facial hair Barley almost cried because his baby brother was growing up. He truely is like a brother AND father figure to him. It used to embarrass Ian as well because he made a huge deal out of it! “Did ya hear that? His little voice is breaking” “ugh….”

Barley has tried to play a few pranks on Ian before, usually by hiding behind a door and jumping out to scare him! It works every time. Although his main intention is to train him to be more alert and to have fun while doing it. It’s part of him lightly shaping him into being a warrior. He has gotten into trouble when Ian complained to Laurel though when his pranks went a bit too far, (not harmful at all! Just annoying and startling.).

When they were kids they played a lot! We have seen them go swimming, bike riding and play pillow fights! They often used to make their own pillow forts and watch tv together while snuggled up inside. Barley tried to play swords with Ian using sticks but Laurel quickly banned them from playing that game in fear of them accidentally hurting one another.

Barley actually used to get lots of nightmares about losing his dad when he was little and sometimes he has nightmares about his mother and Ian getting sick the same way Wilden was. He always goes into Ian’s room and watches him sleep for a while to make sure he is ok.

Laurel

Laurel loves Barley but is often frustrated with his recklessness, habits and the immature side of him. She can be strict with him but it is ultimately out of love, like “Look for a job!”, “Clean your room!”, etc.

Even though Barley is an adult she will still ground him sometimes. She says she has that power for as long as he lives under her roof. There have been a few times where poor Barley had his Quests of Yore campaign closed down earlier and she hides the box away somewhere for a while. A lot of Barley’s Quests of Yore friends think she is pretty scary.

It was hard losing her husband but it was also hard being a single mother. Because she had to work so hard it wasn’t uncommon for her to get home late from work. When Barley got a little older he used to help cook dinner when she got very tired of busy. Although he did used to make a huge mess of the kitchen, still Laurel couldn’t complain if it meant she didn’t have to worry about dinner so much. Barley is weirdly mature in some ways and immature in other ways.

Barley wasn’t able to spend lots and lots of time with his mother during childhood since she had to work twice as hard as a single parent. It is also part of why Barley was extra close with Ian because he was always there to play with.

When Laurel got stressed Barley used to try and cheer her up by telling jokes or making funny faces to try to make her laugh. It worked almost every time!

Colt

They aren’t exactly on the best of terms. Colt does care for Barley though since he is his stepson but Barley still cannot see him as his dad. For a while he felt angry because he saw him as a cheap replacement and had trouble understanding why Laurel suddenly wanted to start seeing someone else after so long. That feeling faded over time but he still isn’t fond of Colt.

Laurel and Colt met when Barley got arrested for one of his protests. He was completely baffled when his mother and the police officer started dating! After all he was like an enemy to him!

Colt tends to scold Barley a fair bit but he does still try to make an effort. Usually they still don’t see eye to eye though.

Barley was worried about Laurel getting her heart broken so he broke into Colt’s office at one stage to snoop through all of his stuff to find any sort of evidence. He found nothing that could prove he had any ill intentions though.

Sometimes Colt will start talking about something and it would be hard to make him stop. He hits Barley with a whole lot of “When I was your age” stories that tend to be very boring and they are often tied to some even more boring lecture as well.

Colt wants to be a good enough stepfather but has no idea how. He once asked Barley if he was interested in anyone and needed advice about that sort of stuff or if he had any questions. It was the hardest Barley has ever cringed in his WHOLE life!

Barley will sometimes stick his tongue at Colt when he or Laurel are not looking.

Manticore (Corey)

Barley is a HUGE fan of her and looks up to her a whole lot. He tends to be a big fanboy when it comes to her.

He sees her the way many others see celebrities and was actually a bit nervous when first getting to know his idol. He is always respectful around her but the first few months…perhaps even years…he has been a bit over the top. He would kneel before her constantly and always talk so formally even though they are technically friends now. Corey feels like she should tell him to just act natural but has no idea how too.

Barley frequently asks her to share some of her stories, as politely as possible of course. When she speaks he always watches her with a sparkle in his eyes, like an excited kid.

Barley usually says how she is like the coolest person in the world. Ian being in close second (which Ian always denies).

Barley did actually go to her tavern when he was only five years old. Laurel had an important meeting and lunch was being held there but she couldn’t find any babysitters at the time so she took her kids along. She had to do this more than once. Ian has no memory of being there but Barley absorbed every moment of it! The tavern was actually different back then, it looked more like how it did by the end of the movie but empty and worn down. Barley ended up wondering off for a moment and examined some of her old weapons and treasures. The manticore finds him and tells him a few stories about her adventures as he looked through her stuff. She seemed sad as no one else seemed interested anymore but was thrilled to see Barley showing interest and had to share her tales. Barley asked many questions about her old stuff and she was overjoyed to tell him everything! This is where his love for history and adventure began to grow. Laurel panicked when she realised Barley wondered off and Corey happily led him back to his mother who scolded him for wondering. The memory is a bit hazy now but Barley still holds onto that. Since it has been many years though Corey didn’t remember Laurel at all and she was just another customer at the time, since Barley grew up it was hard to recognise him. At some stage when Barley got a bit more comfortable around his hero he did tell her about it and asked if she remembered, this jogged her memory and her, Laurel and Barley had a good laugh over it whilst Ian stood there clueless as he was far too young to remember much about that day.

He felt sick when he saw the dramatic changes to her tavern halfway into the movie, with the gift shop and games and such. He felt as if his childhood was ruined in some ways! He hid it pretty well though. In the end he actually helped her come up with the idea of sharing her stories with her customers as an attraction like how we see in the end of the movie.

Shrub Rosehammer (a friend of his that was briefly mentioned in the movie and some books)

Shrub is a troll friend of his who is briefly mentioned. They both love quests of yore and play it together.

They met in kindergarten and had been good friends since. Barley was alone after just recently losing his dad. Most of the other kids ignored him as he sat alone but Shrub was concerned and asked if he wanted to play. Barley was a bit taken aback at first as he was still grieving but he was also surprised how someone at his school actually said something to him. Because of that he took the offer and they played during lunch break and their friendship grew from there.

Barley is like the wild card of the duo. Wild Shrub can get into mischief on rare occasions but he still isn’t nearly as chaotic as Barley and does try to avoid breaking some rules. He was what Barley would call a lawful good.

When Barley got himself into trouble Shrub would just chuckle a little, not in a mean spirited way but because he knew what was coming. Barley is so unpredictable that he has become predictable.

Barley is a lot more passionate and will go on rants about how old facilities of their ancient past are being torn down. Shrub just listens and lets him blow off steam. He would say “I agree that it sucks, but there’s nothing we could do.”. He didn’t really help Barley with that stuff in the sense of joining in on the protest. BUT he was somewhat supportive in the sense he would be like “Yeah that’s sucks. Hey man, did you wanna grab something to eat? I’m sure a doughnut or something will make you feel better.”

🏫History🏫

Childhood

Barley has an old teddy bear his father gave him before he died. It’s his most treasured possession and he still sleeps with it to this very day.

Barley would have had a lonely childhood if it wasn’t for Ian and a few friends he did have in school. He would sometimes feel upset about his father and felt robbed of his parents but just having Ian helped a whole lot.

He had to be independent pretty quickly. Laurel would often call for babysitters when needed but there have been a few times when they couldn’t get one and Barley had to take charge. Laurel was very stern about the rules of safety and repeated them to Barley literally thousands of times each and every time she goes out. She wanted to imprint them into his brain. Ironically though they were put into Ian’s head and he was often the one who reminded Barley not to do certain things.

Barley used to injure himself CONSTANTLY as a kid. He still does to this day but not nearly as much.

Barley was a super hyper kid who just wanted to play ALL the time, Laurel used to wonder how he never seems to get tired. Usually he would be bouncing around and then all of a sudden he will crash and fall into a deep sleep. There were no in between moments back then, his energy levels were just like a switch!

When Barley was little he wanted to be a knight but got his dreams crushed quickly by a teacher who told him there are no knights anymore.

High school years

Barley actually used to get bad pimples around the age of 13 to 16.

He had been picked on a little bit in school but it was nothing ever TOO extreme, mostly some name calling here and there. Although he still did get his feelings hurt from time to time. He used to do what he can to stand up for others who were being picked on. On rare occasions he did end up in a few fist fights against bullies.

Barley is incredibly intelligent! Although he struggles in subjects he has little to no interest in. His best subject was obviously history!

He used to struggle with chemistry, which he had insisted was just updated potion brewing…he used to get quite experimental with that sort of stuff and it usually would not go too well. He would also often complain about the “unnecessary modern equipment” that just felt like it made things far more complicated than need be.

Barley used to try and explore every single inch of the school to try to find any hidden secrets, it did used to be an ancient castle after all. He would make note of anything he felt was interesting or perhaps even a potential key to a hidden chamber.

Barley would sneak lots and lots of snacks into school. He always had lots of gum and it used to drive some of the teachers crazy!

💙thanks so much for reading! I plan to do other characters in the future as well! At some stage. This took so long to make.💙

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Drop It Like It's Hot (21x08)

A funny time of year to be watching an episode about a heatwave! This episode had some real old-school Grey's vibes for me, in a way I really liked.

Cons:

If Owen cheats on Teddy with that random lady he was flirting with waiting for car repair, I am going to sue ABC lol. Please, enough already! Honestly I think Dr. Open Marriage should go ahead and seduce Teddy and Owen both, drag her husband into the mix, Maybe Teddy and Owen would calm the fuck down if they were having fun extramarital sex. Or even group sex, let's do this fucking thing. Instead we have this insufferable moment where Owen sees Dr. Beckman giving Teddy a comforting and innocent touch on the arm in the elevator, and he gets all weirded out. Yeesh, I'm so tired of them.

I feel like there's a weird disconnect with Yasuda leaving in this episode. Jules is devastated and acts like it's this big final thing, but like... is she moving away forever? When your co-worker and girlfriend stops being your co-worker, that doesn't mean she's going to vanish from your life in an instant. I wonder what we'll find out about Yasuda after the hiatus. Is she just quietly moving away in the gap between episodes, or will it be a slower phase-out, like maybe we hear about her still being around for a while and then she comes back to guest for one more episode when she does finally move away or something? I don't know. I just felt like the stakes of this being a goodbye episode for the character were a little murky.

I guess it's fine if Blue wants to make out with his amnesiac ex or whatever, but also if I'm being totally honest, I don't care and I'm already bored. If Lucas dies of a gunshot wound I vote for Simone and Kwan to grief bang about it, they have way better chemistry.

Pros:

I love a unifying disaster that the whole hospital is having to deal with: this week it's a heat wave, with the infrastructure here in the Pacific Northwest not equipped to deal with the unseasonably hot spring day. I do kind of wish someone had brought up that this is climate change's fault more directly, just because I think it's funny when the very basic political messaging of a show like this gets people riled up. But I liked how it was this constant struggle with the large number of people coming in and the resources being stretched too tight. There's never enough ice!

Teddy puts Ben in charge of handling the disaster preparedness aspect of things, but then shuts him down when he tries to keep the trauma bays open after Teddy thinks it's time to close them. I like thinking about what Ben's place is here in the hospital - he's diverted from helping with surgeries specifically because of his first responder training, but then overruled by Teddy for trying to do that aspect of the job, too. He's in a frustrating in-between which is his own doing for switching careers more than once, but it's interesting to see him try and navigate that.

While I had my complaints about this as Mika's final episode, I do think this was a great showcase performance from the actor. Her dead, blank face as she keeps telling Bailey "he's dying, it's not working, he's dying," transitioning to her begging and pleading and telling Bailey to take her instead... that was a masterful moment from the actress. And I thought her and Jules's love scene was so tender and beautiful. You know as you're watching it happen that this is a bad idea in the sense that Mika is in such a vulnerable place, but also you know how much these women care for each other, and it's a real comfort and moment of peace for them too. Jules really cares about her and really wants to be there for her no matter what she chooses. I also thought Bailey did such a lovely job of giving Mika the space to choose her own path. It was lovely how she affirmed that Mika knows herself best and didn't try and dig her heels in and convince her to stay. I understand that Jules is hurt by Bailey not fighting for Yasuda, but I think Bailey's in the right, here!

Winston slutting it up and having to deal with a patient whose mom he had a one night stand with is honestly very funny. Continually bitter about Winston and Maggie going up in flames the way they did, but I do kind of like this phase for his character. Like, get it, Winston. Honestly. But also I liked how he was able to be here for the mother whose daughter is in such a dangerous situation.

The classic-Grey's feeling is of course most clearly seen in Jo and Lucas getting caught up in a convenience store robbery. It's such ridiculous drama, with pregnant Jo bleeding and potentially losing the babies, and Lucas reflecting on the infamous story of his grandfather dying in an armed robbery... even Amelia mentions her dead family members in this episode before we get the dramatic irony of Lucas wrestling the robber for the gun in those final moments. A shot goes off, but the fates of the people involved are left unknowable until this show comes back in March! Place your bets now, is it Lucas or Jo? Is Jo going to miscarry those twins? Classic soap opera juiciness, I'm legitimately more invested in Lucas Adams than I've ever been, now that his life might be on the line. If he dies, then Amelia should get to sue ABC, too. Every man Amelia's related to has to be shot at some point, I suppose.

So yeah, this was a good episode! Sad to lose Mika, annoyed as always by Teddy and Owen, but... there was a lot of classic angst-y goodness here to chew on. I'll be glad to see the show come back in the spring, and until then I'll just have to wonder at Jo and Lucas's fates...

7.5/10

[docwritesshit]

The Chains that Bind us (HuskerDust)

Summary: Angel Dusts had another tough day at work, so Husk distracts him with a quick lesson on the art of poker

Authors note: Let me just say, I have only played Texas Holdem consistently so that's what you are getting here. Also, the capitalization on certain words is very intentional. You'll see what I mean while you read

Warnings: Abuse mention, alcohol, gambling/poker, sexual mentions but nothing vulgarly described

There were days few and far between Angel wouldn't come home with a new bruise with makeup caked in it, or a new already closed scab of some sort.

Husk knew. He fucking knew and it killed him seeing that spider still going back, under no control of his own and out of fear for his own life, his own soul.

He knew the feeling though. He was on a leash hunself. Alastor made sure Husk was aware of the thin ice he slid on, always quick to brandish more of his sharp teeth when talking with the little cat. The ghost of the shackle he had around his neck squeezed more when Alastor was around, reminding him puppet strings that encircled the bartender, making him dance around like a fucking show pony.

Husk huffed when Angel came back from another day at work, rubbing his eyelids as the spider all but collapsed onto the bar stool, resting his head on the bar top while his hands held the back of his head.

Husk sighed, tapping the bar top right next to the pornstars’ ear. The spider looked up, bags under his eyes heavier than Adam’s head that had to carry all his ego.

”You good, Angel?” The cat asked. The spider sighed low in response, head back down on the counter.

”Val had me do stripper shots right after a few gang bangs, and I'm sore all over.” Angel Dust responded. Husk sighed, pouring the dude his usual, sliding it over to him. Angel looked at the glass, and took a sip, sitting up in his stool a bit more.

“Thanks, kitty.” Angel said. Husk scoffed at the nickname Angel gave him, forcing the small lift of his lips back down.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s my job.” He replied. The actor smirked, leaning his cheek into his palm with his elbow anchored to the counter.

”Y’know… You never told me how things were when you were an overlord.”

Husk bristled at the sudden comment, looking away and reorganizing the shelves for the upteenth time that day.

”Yeah, what about it?” He asked, tone a bit more snappy. Angel chuckled, eyelids drooping a bit.

”Aww~ c’mon, can’t a few friends share some old stories?” The spider smirked more, leaning forward more. “I wanna know what’s under that wall of steel you have over your heart. It’s only fair.”

Husk rolled his eyes, his wings tensing around him as he glared at the sinner on the other side of the bar top.

”Oh yeah, what’s in it for me?”

”Weeelll~”

”Other than the way you usually… provide for other people.”

Angel huffed, tapping his fingertips to the rim of his glass as he thought. Husk folded his arms over his chest, tail beating against the wall behind him in a soft rhythm in tune with Angels incessant fidgeting. The spider finally smiled, snapping his fingers at the cat.

”I’ll take you up on that offer to teach me poker.”

Husk raised an eyebrow. He vaguely remembered shit talking about Angel poker skill when Charlie brought out exercises with board games. Something about humility and sportsmanship, he wasn’t entirely sure. He does recall how even Sir Pentious bested the poor spider, though it may have had something to do with his egg minions sneaking cards into his deck when he thought no one was looking. He did say he would teach the spider the basics of it, but nothing really happened.

”… fine. Let me get tipsy first though, I’m too sober for this.” the cat relented. The spider whooped, taking his drink and going over to the couch in the lobby as Husk made his own drink, rifling through the tables drawers and pulling out a deck of cards.

Husk trudged over to the couch, drinking the whiskey and sighing in content as the sting went down his throat, the familiar burn now settling on his tongue. God, the things that would be so much better in his life if he only ever felt that feeling…

Angel flicked the cat's wing, making Husk hiss and recoil. The spider smiled, sitting on the other side of the table, tossing the deck to Husk. Husk narrowed his eyes.

”We both know I can’t shuffle for shit. Besides, I like seeing your hands at work~” Angel said. Husk clicked his tongue, setting his drink down and shuffling the cards, trying extra hard not to fall on bad habits and count them.

The cards were mixed up as good as they were gonna get, and he started to deal with them.

”In poker, there are a lot of things at play, most only at the mercy of fate itself and probability.” He started to explain, sliding Angel two cards and taking two cards for himself.

”First is Texas Hold’Em. Cause it’s honestly the easiest game for me to explain the hierarchy of the combinations of the ways you could win for me.” Husk said, snapping his fingers and stacks of different colored chips appeared before him and Angel. The spider jumped, and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

”You can summon that on a whim?? How come this only just came up?” He asked, smirking.

Husk shrugged, separating the stacks and sliding Angels over to him. “Did you ever ask before?”

Angel chuckled, running a hand through his hair. He hadn’t… he hadn’t asked a lot about the cat, honestly.

Why hadn’t he?

The spider shook his head of those thoughts, and tilted his head as Husk told him the different chips' value.

“White is one buck, blue is two, red is five, and black is ten. Got it?”

Angel hummed in acknowledgement, listening closely as Husk explained how the rules worked, how he would be the big blind and have to start the ante up with only one or a few more chips, depending on how far into the game you are and how many people are playing.

Husk took a sip of his drink, throwing two white chips in, and knocked on the table

”That means a check. Meaning I ain’t got shit and don’t want to raise the ante. Now, if you have something like a high card or a high pair, you would typically raise but I like to see what the deck has to offer before I do anything.” The bartender took a card off the pile and put it to the side.

”You always burn a card before you pull the three cards,” he explained, taking three more cards one at a time and setting them one by one on the table. Angel nodded, taking a quick glance at his cards and leaning forward to get a better look at the cards on the table.

Angel hesitantly threw in a red chip, and Husk lips tilted up, his eyebrows raised a bit.

”Big spender, huh? That shows confidence. Or arrogance. With you, could be one or the other.” He commented, and matched Angels bet with a red chip of his own. Angel huffed.

Was this how he was back when he gambled a lot?

…

The slander spider got his answer after six rounds of the game. Husk was one to get under one’s skin, pull at their faults as they played. He taught Angel Dust as they played, and even folded once and let Angel win a round. But he… To put it bluntly, was a bit of an ass.

Angel snapped a bit after losing for the third time in a row, glaring at the cat.

“Aw… is the little actor mad the only thing he’s good at here is bluffing?” He teased, tail swishing behind him. Angel snarled,

”Oh yeah? Big talk for someone who lost their-“ Angel’s lips sealed themselves, and shook his head. Husk stiffened, his tail stopped swishing. Angel grimaced.

”Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed that-“

Husk held up a hand to silence the rambling, and sighed.

”No, no. I was asking for it. Sorry. Old habits die hard, eh?”

Angel sighed, going over to sit next to Husk, leaving space between them.

“Still, that was shitty of me to say.” he said. Husk hummed, rapping his knuckled under his chin.

”Yeah, no. You see why nobody missed me when good ol’ Al put the collar on me and pulled harshly. I was a dick back then.”

Angel scoffed, and rolled his eyes.

”Yeah, we’re in hell. I’ve seen dicks, of both variety’s, more than I see my own room daily. You’re not the only asshole here.” Angel said. Husk grunted, his wings shuffling a bit.

”That’s not the whole thing… I was a nuisance. The only reason I wasn’t dealt with before Al came is because no one wanted to deal with my cocky ass.”

Angel snorted, and Husk shot him a look, before smiling a bit.

“Alright, poor word choice on my part. Point is, no one wanted to waste their energy on me. I wasn’t feared, or respected. My presence was tolerated and annoying to deal with so they just didn’t bother.”

Angel pulled his lips in a tight line, eyes narrowing as Husk described his experience.

”Oh please, most of the overlords are annoying nowadays. Have you seen the Vs lately?”

Husk barked a laugh, looking at the spider next to him.

”I have… and I have a desire to maul one of them,” he said. Angel chuckled, placing a dainty hand on his shoulder.

”If you do get the chance, make sure it sticks.” Angel responded. Husk smiled lazily, placing a claw over Angel's hand.

”Will do, angel.”

Husk ignored the way he saw Angel's makeup smeared, exposing the fresh bruise on his shoulder. He would talk about it when he needed to.

Being under the thumb of an overlord who treats others like a plaything or a pawn would be demoralizing for anyone. Being the plaything is a whole different story. Husk could feel the ebbs of the phantom metal hanging from his neck. He wouldn’t pretend to know the extent of what that sleazy moth makes Angel go through. He won’t push about how he saw the way his shoulders sagged more today, and knowing the weight had more to it than just tiredness.

Angel had his own struggles, his special hell tailored for him by the one who owned his soul. His own chains made be of the same smoke that fucker breaths, but they held more weight than Hush could comprehend.

The least he could do was to distract him from the weight of his own chains, even if it meant that Husk helped him carry the weight of it. He lessened his load, why not return the favor?

[dr-futbol-blog]

Letters from Pegasus, Pt. 6

While Sheppard is on his recon mission, Teyla stays in the jumper. There is a scene in which a masked wraith warrior stands just outside the open door of the jumper and Teyla is inside, looking straight at it. It shows us the importance of perspective. When something is concealed, you can look right at the thing and see nothing. When you are within and looking out, you are able to see much more. While it is symbolic, it's also likely foreshadowing the next episode and Teyla's 'gift', the wraith able to sense something nearby even though it is unable to see her.

On Atlantis, Ford is recording Kavanaugh's message. Kavanaugh is a character made to be hated, and for this purpose he is extremely well-written and the actor does a bang-up job. As a scientist, he is also a contrast to McKay--the more we are to dislike Kavanaugh, the more we like McKay in comparison. Like many of the others, he wants to know who all are going to be watching the videos. No one on Atlantis, Ford tells him. He can rest assured he has privacy. But like McKay, Kavanaugh actually records his message to SGC, specifically intending for them to see it:

This is a message for General Jack O'Neill of Stargate Command. I feel it is my duty to inform you of what I consider to be serious errors in judgement among the leaders of this expedition. Most notably, Doctor Elizabeth Weir. Her actions have repeatedly and recklessly exposed the people of this expedition to extreme danger, leading us directly to the grave situation we currently find ourselves in. I've been keeping a record of Doctor Weir's questionable activities, which I would like to detail for you now: [...] authorised using a prisoner to test an experimental drug, in clear violation of the Geneva Convention; authorised lowering the Stargate shield when the authenticity of incoming travellers was clearly in question--

The theme of the episode is leadership, and Kavanaugh has issue with the leadership of the expedition--Weir, in particular. His grievances are personal because he felt slighted by Weir during 38 Minutes (S01E04). It is interesting that as a scientist, although McKay is his superior, he does not appear to have any complaints regarding his leadership. Even if he does have grievances regarding McKay and Sheppard's leadership, his personal hatred of Weir just makes him pile up their lapses on her.

He has been keeping a record of them, and it's good for Sheppard and McKay that he seems to have such a personal vendetta against Weir that he has failed record anything else that the leadership has done that might be questionable in the eyes of the military. He even mentions some things that Sheppard clearly instigated and blames them on her, as she had the supreme authority. But he's not precisely wrong, either. Weir is a diplomat and a negotiator, she is not a born leader. The overlapping civilian and military leadership of the expedition is a problem, it has caused serious issues. We are meant to despise Kavanaugh and sympathize with the main characters, but it does not make him wrong.

However, he does mention the "leaders of the expedition," recognizing that there is more than one leader among them. And we are very much meant to reflect on the leadership of Sheppard and McKay during this episode. As Weir was recording messages to the fallen members of the expedition, there were both members of the military and the science team among them. Both Sheppard and McKay have lost people under their leadership, and it is a heavy toll on them both. Sheppard may have lost men more recently, but McKay had known the people he lost longer. These losses are what drive both of them to work so hard to keep everyone safe, has added an air of desperation to their attempts to act as responsible leaders.

Back on the planet, Teyla sees a family running away from the culling and decides to rescue them against Sheppard's express order to "stay right here". She can't just sit and do nothing. Sheppard told her that one should only fight the battles they can win which is not something he himself really believes. But she has decided to fight him on this. Sheppard returns and while he may have come around to rescuing Teyla's 'dear friend,' he is clearly unhappy about her having picked up these stragglers. Obviously he's not going to make anyone leave now that they're already in the jumper but even after having just witnessed countless of people die screaming deaths around him, he does not feel good about her having brought them in.

Sheppard seems to have no sympathy for her even though it is not only possible but extremely likely that her dear friend has perished by now.

He picks up the binoculars from the desk, and we're shown a close-up for him grabbing them. He seems to have some trouble picking them up like he has problems with his fine motor function. When the body is under extreme stress, as for example during a fear response, at a heart rate of 115 beats per minute fine motor skills, dexterity and hand-eye coordination begin to decrease. This is what we see.

For what ever reason, his heart is pounding and his body is feeling extreme stress. This man, who has been an Air Force test pilot. Who enjoys anything that goes over 200 mph.

At the start of the episode he said that it wasn't time to panic... yet. Well, he seems to be much closer to it now. But is it caused simply by the presence of the wraith?

The gate that the wraith have been keeping open then shuts down, and Sheppard is ready to leave the planet right away. It is when we look at the desperation with which Teyla wishes to save these people that we are able to appreciate how much Sheppard wants to get back home, how much he is willing to sacrifice to see that he does:

Teyla: Please, Major--give Orin more time. Sheppard: If he was able to get here, he'd be here by now. We've got to get back. Teyla: Then go. I will stay and search in the daylight. You can return for me later. Sheppard: Can't do that. Teyla: I consider Orin as family, Major. I am sorry if you do not understand what that means. Sheppard: I understand it, Teyla, but that's not the point I'm trying to-- Teyla: With or without you, I am staying. Sheppard: You won't make it.

Let me emphasize the fact that Sheppard is fully prepared to leave Teyla, his own dear friend, behind to get back to Atlantis. He is not telling her she won't make it because he's trying to convince her that it's a bad idea, he's not playing hardball to try to convince her to come back with him. He is telling her that he will leave her behind. And the fact that this is Teyla, this is someone he really cares about, just emphasizes how dire he finds the situation, how thin the thread is that he is hanging by. How much he wants to get back.

Also noteworthy here is that Sheppard tells her that he understands what it means to consider someone family where later he says in the recording to Col. Sumner's family that he does not have a family back on Earth himself. So clearly, it is on Atlantis that he has someone or someones that he considers family. He seems really quite uncaring and even ruthless as he tells Teyla that she won't make it. Like her insistence is upsetting him. But she's not giving up on this:

Teyla: Then I ask that you stay as well--just a little longer. Allow something good to come of this. Sheppard: Alright. We'll give him a little more time.

Even Teyla asking him to stay is not enough to make him want to stay. That's how much he wants to get back home. It isn't until she pleads him with "Allow something good to come of this" that he relents. But even then, it is not easy for him. You can see that he wants to say no, he almost tells her no. He seems to be near tears here. His entire internal conflict is over believing that his emotions compromise him as a leader, that he is incapable of making impartial calls because he feels too much. And even then, all he is willing to do is to give her a little more time. It's not that he doesn't think that these people are worth rescuing, he thinks they are dead already. It's not that he has some critical intel that he just has to get to Atlantis like all of their lives depended on it because they've really learned nothing here that might save them. If anything, what Sheppard has seen here today has only confirmed to him that there is nothing they can do. Their demise is all but inevitable.

He feels the same as McKay (and it is the two of them that probably understand the situation, understand how "screwed they are," more acutely than the rest): that they're done for, their torches are soon to be extinguished. And it is because of that that he would like to spend the time they have remaining with what Weir in her message had just called "loved ones". He does not want to face that terrible enemy and that uncertain future alone, he wants to spend it with the person he has only recently come to realize he loves. Recently realized what had been a long time in the making.

On Atlantis, Beckett is continuing his message to his mother who very much seems to be paralleled with Sheppard in his current predicament:

I know you worry about me, Mum, but somehow we've found a way to rise to each challenge, so I wouldn't fret about my safety. It's the people here--from dozens of countries, all connected by a single bond. We represent the people of Earth--and if there's one thing I've discovered about we Earthlings, we're a scrappy bunch. I wouldn't be surprised if I bring back-- So take care of yourself. Lots of sleep; remember your daily walks; and keep up with your prescription. Well, that's about it. I'll say goodbye now. And, Mum? I do love you.

It's not only that Beckett and Sheppard are paralleled, Beckett's mother and McKay have a lot in common in this episode, as well: she suffers from a foot fungus where McKay's foot was cramping, McKay has slept very little recently and him telling her to get lots of sleep, McKay talking about the time he had mono and Beckett telling her to keep up with her prescription. Someone who cares about McKay has made him a sandwich and the fact that this person does not know how to make a tasty sandwich and has gone through the trouble of making it anyway is not irrelevant; we see Beckett's mother lovingly serve him a Sunday roast. They express their love through food. But where Beckett is able to come around and tell her both goodbye and that he loves her, Sheppard is unable to do either.

While Sheppard only briefly and tacitly recognized that he feels like he has a family on Atlantis, McKay elaborates on the same sentiment in his message to his sister. And note that while the onus of the message is on him reconnecting with her, wishing that they might be closer one day, the content of his message to his sister is that he has found a family on Atlantis.

Where him and his sister were not close and he is sorry about that, on Atlantis he has become so close to someone as to consider them family, so close as to come to the realization that family is important. If they ever get the chance to reconnect, he would like that because having found closeness with someone has made him appreciate it in a way he never knew before. Like Sheppard, he is certain that they are going to die and this only makes him appreciate what he now has that much more. Once more what McKay is actually saying is disguised in something else. His sister is the device with which we are told about his sentiment for someone else, someone on Atlantis.

Back on the planet, Sheppard and Teyla are sitting in the jumper looking out of the front window when they spot a group of people running from the forest. It's Orin with his family, and their arrival can be contrasted with the conversation they had in the meeting room at the beginning of the episode.

Weir: Well, we knew they were coming; at least now we know when. Sheppard: That's something. McKay: That's something? Sheppard: It means there's still time, Rodney--there's no reason to panic… yet. Teyla: Where there is time, there is hope.

Teyla never gave up hope where Sheppard never seemed to have any to begin with. Note how much optimistic Sheppard seemed back then, feigned though it may well have been. They run outside to hurry them along and it seems as though they have picked up more people along the way. Sheppard is not happy about this:

Sheppard: How big is his family?! Teyla: He must have met up with others along the way. Sheppard: That's gonna be a problem. Orin: I didn't think you'd still be here. Teyla: We would not have gone without you. Orin: We found others on the way -- and even more further behind. Sheppard: How many more?!

The amount of people gathered and the commotion they are making seem to have alerted the wraith to their presence. Sheppard notices the darts before the others, and as the children start making their way toward the jumper, he first tries to stop them. John Sheppard's first instinct here is to try and stop children from running to safety from the wraith because he is not sure that all of them will be able to fit into the jumper so as to make the jumper too heavy to take off and return to Atlantis. This is pretty far from a hero-moment for our hero.

Luckily, his instinct to save people takes over and he relents, urging Orin's group to get in. He tells them that they will try to fit in as many people as they can.

As much as he wishes that in the face of an unwinnable war he could be the kind of leader that can make tough calls without letting his feelings get in the way, he is not that man. In his heart of hearts, he has to try to save everyone even when the odds are stacked up against it. He takes one of the children and carries her in, only just making it into the jumper himself.

They listen to the screams of everyone they couldn't save outside. This is what they're up against. This is what is awaiting them on Atlantis very soon.

An eerie quiet falls over them when the last of the people outside have been taken by the wraith. And suddenly Sheppard needs to get back to Atlantis that much more desperately. He's not wasting any more time here. He's certainly not wasting any more time on talking because there is nothing to say. He needs to get back, now. He needs to get back to his family.

Teyla says nothing either, joining him to sit on the front seat. She watches him and can clearly see that he is not alright. Yes, they all just witnessed something horrible and yes, her leader did come through at the end and they were able to save as many people as it was possible to save. But there is something else going on here, and she does not know what it is. This man sitting next to him is in many ways a stranger to her.

Back in The Defiant One (S01E11), someone that had known McKay for a long time was able to see how much his time on Atlantis had changed him. Atlantis has also changed John Sheppard. They have both changed, and they have changed through their connection to each other.

Continued in Pt. 7

[tulipsaisle]

London in the Rain

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: ʟɪᴀᴍ x ᴍᴄ

𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲: ᴄᴏᴍғᴏʀᴛ + ғʟᴜғғ

Liam pants heavily, but smiles as soon as loud cheers and clapping erupted on stage. He looks up to see the crew members all gathered together, laughing and huddling with each other after their tiring practice for the day. Everyone's gazes turn to him and somehow their faces seem to light up even more.

They gave pats on the shoulder and ruffled his hair in adoration, complimenting how he once again managed to bring the main character in their play out to life with that stunning acting.

Liam rubbed his neck and laughed, feeling shy but also loving the attention that he'd been getting from his fellow actors who had done nothing but be nice and inclusive of his appearance in their group. They exchanged pleasantries and humble gratitude until a loud clap from behind the curtains was heard.

It was Tom, their director and he had a huge grin on his face. He gave each of the members a meaningful stare until his gaze settled on Liam and he just smiled even bigger.

"Liam! I knew I could count on you in this new act!" He walks up to Liam and places his hand on his shoulder, giving a gentle and firm squeeze. "Thank you to everyone as well. I know this new play will be a hell lot of with the stunts and other stage effects, but I want to let you all know that you guys have done a marvelous job in making all this possible. Everyone worked very hard and gave their all in this and so I want to give this thanks to you all by..."

He paused, face looking down which caused the others to peer closer at him and wait in anticipation of what he would say next.

"I'll be treating you all to the resort next week on Saturday after the play premiere ends!" Tom pulled out the many tickets from his jacket pocket to show the crew and soon, loud cheers and clapping could be heard throughout The Scala. Liam laughed along with the others, loving the warm atmosphere he was in.

However, the reality was bitter, and that moment only lasted for a short while until he went back to being lost in the darkness again.

Bang! Bang! Crack!

Thunders from afar came out of nowhere with heavy rains following shortly after. The sky had darkened, and huge droplets of water hit the glass window with sheer force. The actors and director paused to look out at the sudden storm but then continued to rave about the resort tickets like there was nothing to worry about in the first place.

Their voices soon drowned out as Liam stood staring out the window. All of a sudden, he felt smaller and further away from everyone. Each drop of rain that splattered outside tugged his heart, its weight had made him feel so heavy and restless.

He quickly slipped away from the conversation between the rest of the crew members and head straight to the entrance.

He wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a moment, and although he knew it was a bad idea to do so, it was for the best. He didn't want to be a nuisance to anyone. Walking with dragged feet and hands in his pockets, he casts his eyes down to the red carpet at his feet. Soon, the light from the main door greeted him until he now stood outside The Scala staring up at the rain.

Of course, he had forgotten his umbrella.

London was painted with pale white clouds of water and fog while a few people hurried their loads back inside, and some ran to seek shelter. Whereas Liam's face darkens in sadness even more. His anxiousness is building up by little at every single sounds that reached his ears.

He couldn't understand why some people would think the sound of the rain was so relaxing, or how they find it fun to dance around the puddle, under the falling water. He couldn't even think close enough to find the romance of walking in the rain with someone.

Maybe people like to imagine things or maybe it's because of the cliché scenes he'd read in books. Nevertheless, he finds it all troublesome. Imagination and fiction are nothing close to the harsh and bitter reality. He would never enjoy those things when he can't even enjoy the feeling inside his chest. Perhaps a pathetic walk under the rain back to the castle will soak his restless hot body, leaving him cold and trembling when he finally finds something else to worry about other than anxiousness.

Sighing softly, he was about to step out until he heard it...

"Liam!"

All I know is (ooh ooh ooh)

...a familiar voice called out to him from afar, followed by a pair of shoes clicking against the asphalt of the road.

Of course. How could he forget?

About his lover.

And it seemed at that moment, the pouring rain slowly subsided as he watched Kate's figure walking closer.

She had finally caught up to Liam panting, holding a big magenta umbrella that was his. It was as if she was looking for him all this time.

Liam's breath caught up in his throat as he stared at her with his mouth hung open. "K-Kate...?" It was all he could manage to say when he looked at her wide-eyed. Why is she-

"I couldn't find you at the castle so I thought maybe you might be here." She said with a nonchalant smile as if reading through his thoughts. That's the reason why she always surprised him. Sure his best bud Harrison - despite the said guy denying so - could read him like an open book even without using his ability, or William whom he looked up to, Kate was another person who could tell what's been racing through his mind.

Was he always this honest with his expressions? It was now that he realized he and Kate were both emotional alike.

"I was thinking maybe we could walk around? If that's okay with you."

There it was again. Her sentence came out like a question, more like she was trying to read what his face was trying to convey.

We could go anywhere, we could do

Now Liam was sure that he wanted to be alone with just him and her for a moment before returning to the Crown castle. He smiled softly at Kate, knowing full well a tint of blush will dust on her cheeks, and it did.

"Sure, I'd love too."

Anything, girl, whatever the mood we're in

With that, he extended his arm and she happily hooked hers in. Liam chuckled, taking the umbrella from her other hand so he could hold it up for them this time. He noticed now that the rain had become a small drizzle, however, his heart still beat rapidly. Not from anxiety, not from the tension, but from...

Yeah all I know is (ooh ooh ooh)

...he stole a quick glance down at her for a moment to find those bright eyes peering up at him as if he was the most interesting thing in the world. Her eyes were like a thousand shining galaxies whenever she looked at him; that was the closest he could describe. Now he hoped that he could show her the same thing, to let her know that he was just as infatuated with her as much as she did with him.

Getting lost late at night, under stars

Their eyes met, and Kate smiled at him. It took his breath away for the many times that he lost count and he could easily tell she was smug about on the inside from the glints in her eyes.

Finding love standing right where we are,

Suddenly, Liam felt this strong urge to put his arm around her shoulders and turned her to face him as they both stopped walking. Kate hummed at him in question. They both found themselves staring at each other; the shadow of their umbrella, the soft patter of the rain, and the way Liam's eyes moved downwards...

Your lips

Then he leaned down to kiss her softly while his free arm still rested around her shoulders protectively and adoringly.

They pull me in the moment

Kate's eyes widened, but as she placed her hands on his chest, his heartbeat was pounding wildly and soon hers followed suit. She couldn't realise how she could feel any warmer during the rainy weather, but somehow Liam made it happen and knowing the way he leaned closer for a deeper kiss, he did feel the same way.

You and I alone and

It felt like it was just the two of them in this world whenever they kissed. It felt just right. Even the gasps and murmurs from folks nearby wouldn't even matter.

People may be watching, I don't mind

"What a lovely couple." The redhead woman whispered to her fellow lady friends and they nodded in agreement.

"Young love..." The old woman cooed as she nudged her husband, "They do remind me of us back in the days." She looked at him while he smiled back and chuckled.

Liam slowly pulled away from Kate and stared at her fluttering eyelids as those eyes looked at him in a daze. He smiled softly, tucking back her loose hair strands and planted a soft kiss on her forehead as if to send a small loving message.

'Cause anywhere with you feels right

Kate grinned and giggled happily. They both shared a hug under their big umbrella while the passerby was awed while they parted for the young couple's privacy.

Liam combed his fingers gently through her hair, smelling the sweet shampoo that he bought for her. They both stood there, embracing each other for as long as they wanted and it felt right.

Anywhere with you feels like

Gone were those empty taunting voices that he heard and was now replaced with this serene like feeling in his heart where he sure would cherish and bask himself in anytime.

For once, he felt like he deserved this happiness. She made him greedy for her attention and love, with them holding each other like this under their shared umbrella, under the soft rain, in the middle of a street in town with people walking by, he'd come to love this kind of atmosphere.

We don't need a fancy town,

Or bottles that we can't pronounce

Liam kissed her once again.

'Cause anywhere, babe

He'd come to love London in the rain.

"I love you." He whispered to her in a loving voice that was only for her and him to hear as it echoed out to mix with the sound of the rain around them.

Kate didn't say it back, but he could feel her smile against his chest and her small sigh of content. Those were enough to know that the woman in his arms was happy being in love with him as he is with her.

-Fin

Special Mentions: @lemeowade @judejazza @nightghoul381 @archiveikemen @gayuu-the-necromancer @flimflam707

[lia-land]

A Curse For True Love by Stephanie Garber

2.5/5

Spoilers for A Curse For True Love by Stephanie Garber

Why was this one of the worst books I have ever read? It's definitely the worst series finale. I’m too disappointed to even be mad. I’m being so generous with the rating.

I think this whole series is a perfect example of when an author has one good character that they really like, but doesn’t know what to do with them.

I’ve said in other reviews how much Jacks has stood out as a character in Garber’s books all the way back to Legendary. He’s an interesting character and was consistently more developed than any of the other characters. That isn’t enough to carry a whole three book series, though.

I read all the spoilers and discussions on this book before I finished it because it was just dragging on and we were given more questions than answers. I skimmed a lot of this and pretty much only read the dialogue because half of this book was just a recap of the previous two books. I can see why that might not be that jarring if you’d been waiting a year for this to come out, but I’ve been reading this series back to back. Someone on Reddit mentioned that all the recaps might have been to get the word count up and I think that’s very accurate, especially considering how short this was overall.

Apparently Garber turned off her insta comments at some point because of all the criticism? It would have been a DNF if I wasn’t still hoping for a glimpse of the Jacks we knew in Caraval. I also thought maybe it would be worth it when they got together but that was disappointing, too. We got like five pages.

I knew there was no hope when in the last quarter of the book, she introduced the storyline of Jacks giving up his heart. That’s not a storyline you should throw in at the end of a book. It was so incredibly rushed and then Aurora turns up saying Jacks beat her up and stole his heart back. That should have been a much bigger plotline. As I have said about a lot of recent books, how did this make it past an editor??? What’s going on in the publishing industry right now?

And where is Luc? Marisol?? Was there not more to Evangeline’s parents’ death? Is Castor going to keep going on killing sprees? Is Jacks now mortal since he’s in love? Where has Aurora gone off to? Why were the apples different colours? So many unanswered questions. This was all most likely set up for a spin-off series, but I will no longer be investing my time in an author who was happy to publish such a lazy book after knowing how big of a fanbase she had.

I really don’t get the point of the Valors. If this series was just set up for the Valors to get their own series in the future, it barely did a good job at that. I also feel like Apollo kept being forced into the series. It’s not like this is a TV show where the actor for Jacks had other commitments and they had to fill up screen time with Apollo. There was fully no need for him to have such a big part in this book. I can't imagine many people who read the first two books thinking 'I would really love the third book to focus on Appollo and his POV' so why was that even a thing? Evangeline was so unnaturally attached to him just to keep him a part of the plot. It got very tiring. He has barely any depth. Why was he in so much of this book? The author knows we’re mostly all reading this series for Evangeline and Jacks so why would she make the final book focus so much on Apollo and barely on any parts with Jacks? It was very lazy overall. Maybe because she knew that since the anticipation was so high for this final book, it would sell regardless? I guess you can go out with a bang or just go out with bank.

And to add to that, if it just wasn’t the right time for her to write it, then maybe don’t write it until you’re ready. She had this great legacy with her previous books and then we get this. Does anyone remember Michelle Hodkin, the author of the Mara Dyer books? She never released the last book of the sequel series and just disappeared off the internet. I don’t know if that was perhaps a better option than writing a lazy book like this.

[survivalist-anon]

Log 22: Tools of the Trade

While the others were being prepared for their battle against El Nino; Wick, Moors and Tulio were headed back to Gus' bunker for extra help.

Driving out into the desert range, it was a race against time, the team weren't sure what was to happen, but they had to react quickly.

For it could already be too late.

"Gus should have some idea how to break into the place. Based on my readings, the facility is six stories deep. Something tells me it ain't for the public either, also.....they mentioned something about this "El Nino" guy, something tells me he's the main attraction to whomever is behind all this", Moors explained.

"Wait, I thought El Nino's fights were at South Point, how the hell could he not be for the public? I see his ads all the time.", Tulio asked as he was looking around the back of the truck, wondering why would they need so much tech.

Wick had been formulating what...or ...who El'Nino was. He was nearly unconscious when he had heard of this name, but he had heard it being muttered by the mystery buyer. "There's a likely chance it's an actor. One for the public, one for the intended audience.".

Tulio was putting two and two together, "oooooh like some illegal fighting ring? Oh that makes sense, back in Mexico city a few years back, Lucha Libre was banned for some time, it when underground and became an illegal fighting competition. Then after it had gotten popular again, it wasn't banned anymore.".

"hmmm ....I'm not sure if it's like that, but it's definitely underground.", Moors stops the truck at the same abandoned gas pump, rolled down his window to clown. "Gus! You there buddy?".

The intercom turned on with a sputtering crackle, "Welcome back to Gassy Gus's Gas Pump! I'll be right there!", as the intercom turned off, Gus happily hobbled out of the men's room this time. "Well by Orson Welles! Moors you're back! How'd it go?", giving gleeful bangs on the sides of truck. "Eh funny, you got enough gas?".

"Gus! We need some of your.... experience....you still have that drilling equipment?", Moors asked with a sly grin.

Gus' face stretched into a manic smile, "OOOH BOY HOWDY I DO, where too.", Moors in the past has employed Gus for a verity of covert excavation projects, considering one of the best types of jobs Gus had in his youth was a coal miner and a non-certified geologist. "Oooooh I can smell the iron rich, quartz deposits already.", rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Now Gus, we need the big guns. We have no idea what could be down in this place. I recon it's security is in-between government level and that Security Containm-", Gus sticks his hand out.

"Say no more! Now let me gather the gear and get coordinates and pinpoint the best spot!", Moors was more then welcome to oblige to giving Gus some of the information from last night.

Wick, getting understandably impatient, decided to go up to the front seat and talk to Gus himself, "Excuse me G-", Wick peered out from Moors' side, as he showed his face Gus pointed at him in surprise.

"Gah! Moors I didn't know you knew the Grey from Sector 17-M! It's a pleasure to finally welcome you to Earth great ones!", Gus bowed in a Y stance.

Moors wasn't too surprised about this and turned to Wick, expressionless and confused. "Ugh oh yeah I never told you Gus is a "Intergalactic Enthusiast", he loves anything from ugh...outer space...he thinks your this thing.", he takes out one of his car key charms and shows a little iconic black eyed, green alien.

Wick, looking at the charm with absolute apathy, "....he thinks I'm a Xenos?", he looks to Moors giving an awkward smile.

"yeah, just please go with it.", continuing the smile.

"Fine, Gus we genuinely need to hasten this mission. There is not just our comrades, but another civilian likely involved. We need to be careful and swift, for this could spell disaster for her.", Wick looked at him sternly.

Gus looked back at Wick, "...her?", and gave a hard salute, "Than I shall help rescue your mate too!", Moors was doing everything in his power to hold back the laughter while Wick had shown some semblance of color to his usually pale complexion with a flooded blush for the first time in his life.

"Well no time to waste! Come on down to my secret abode!", he ran back into the men's room, activating a secret underground ramp to his own abandoned government bunker.

"Hehehe, you're all going to love this.", Moors chuckled.

Tulio, who has been watching this from the back of the truck, was astounding. "Wick? You're an alien? I thought you did like...body mods or something.", he asked gingerly, only realizing the insane reality of this situation.

"..... we're from 'outspace', but we're not 'aliens'... we're just as human as you are.", Wick answered begrudgingly.

Tulio for the first time actually took a good hard look at Wick and Moors, contemplating what Wick has said, "well....you guys seem alot more of something else. Most people don't look like you guys.", he hesitantly spoke.

Those words stuck with the two marines, Tulio was not wrong to say what he said, his observation wasn't inaccurate either. Giving in considering that Sleen had at some point called the others 'Steers', and all the stares from strangers where ever they went. It was clear as Astartes, they were much more then men, they were something else alongside that 'man', something mortals on Earth do not consider normal to their standards.

Whether it is something to marvel, or something to exploit....is completely dependent on the situation.

Slowly driving down the ramp, lights started to illuminate the runway, showing a set of dusty, unused military jeeps.

As they parked the car, Tulio and Wick stepped out from the back truck.

"Hold it!", Gus croaked. He took out a lead pipe with wires and a light attached to it, waved around Tulio and Wick. "Hmmm.....gramifier is not picking anything up. Good.", he than takes out a gypsum rod. Waving it around. "Vibes check out". Gives a stern look at both, then a bright smile. "Welcome, to Casa de Gus! Where the finest of equipment can be hehe, redistributed for any intergalactic purposes!".

Tulio was a bit stunned at all of this, "ay... gringo loco.". He quietly grumbled to himself.

The four walked down to a large hanger full of hi tech government issued weaponry, vehicles, Gus's collection of space memorabilia, one rocket booster that had been unceremoniously removed from a crash site, and a small living space for Gus.

"Bruh, you call this a bunker?! This is like, a secret lair or something. Are you like...an ex-fed or something?", Tulio looked around in amazement.

Moors was browsing for anything new Gus could have taken in the recent decade, "hmmm ...Gus, where did you get this?", pointing at a very suspicious container with a familiar label that was commonly found on much of Fort Dorn's stolen vehicles.

Gus jingled his way to Moors, "hmmm....oh yes, got this baby back in '09, those secret organization guys again....they were chasing the running headlights I told you 'bout. You know...the ones with legs.", Gus was referring to the rumors of unknown creature with what people have claimed is one large luminous eye, mimicking a car headlight. Obviously, Moors didn't believe in such creatures.

"oh...you do realize they probably want this thing back right?", Moors warns him.

"...hmmm...nah I'll keep it, anyway! Here's what y'all need!", Gus leads the trio to a large shelf of items, "I hope y'all brought your armor too. Some of these additions will be perfect! Drills, disrupter signals, the ever important rubber duck and this!", Gus picks up what looks like a small speaker, "I call it, the "Siren", play this lil'beaut and it will blast someone's ear drums.".

Wick was examining some of the items, most of which were stolen from the Government, others likely from experimental labs, "....we will likely only need to break in...have heavy cover and a distraction....Tulio, you will be on integral part of this mission.", he turned to Tulio with confidence.

Tulio, although way in over his head in this situation, was more than happy to assist. "You can count on me homes.", he says with a grin.

"well, I'm not certain if I'll need.my armor, speaking of which where's your armor Wick? I doubt you took a flight here....", Moors asked.

Wick had nearly forgotten about his armor, he had left it at the Air Force hanger near the city. "....oh...Moors, thanks for reminding me.....how about we also get these bottom feeders in a....predicament with the government?", he looked at Moors.

"I mean we can, but I'm certain they'll track us down.", Moors responded.

Gus chuckled a little, "nah, I have the tools of the trade, I know a few whistle blowers who will do a fine job at diverting attention away from y'all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the underground holding facility, the others were contemplating their escape. Meanwhile, Sten was pawing this "Big Joe", for more information.

"Big Joe, I am curious as to how long have you been here....it must have been for some time I assume?", although there was no point in looking up at the ceiling of his cell, it was better than activating the bars.

"yeah, I've been for a bit. Funny enough, this is the second time I've been trapped here....the first place really bummed me out.", Joe's cadence was more casual than most of the other Astartes. His diction even felt like it was loosened.

Tilting his head, he wondered what was he referring to, "....was it another government facility?", he didn't know if this Joe was another psyker like him. So he did not want to force himself into his mind.

"Yeah, but this place was WAY more lock tight. Imagine being treated like an animal that can talk or something....they did some weird tests. At first I didn't understand what they were saying, than they thought me to speak their dialect of Gothic, then English....that's where things got interesting....there so many interviews and questions.... medical examinations.....then....they started to send these orange cladded fellows with weapons.... obviously I killed them...it's not like I was going to let them get the upper hand....than....I met one of their scientists....what a doll......miss her a lot really...", Joe reminisced on that thought for a while. "...we sort of began meeting secretly...til they cought us. I never her saw again after that ....but it's weird because I could tell she was still there! She was still in that place, but something about her biological began to change, I could smell it. Lucky for me the place wasn't completely airtight. It was all that kept me going for a little....than.... something happened...", he stopped for a few seconds.

It was clear to Sten something about Joe's story felt empty, it seems Joe hadn't disclosed one important detail. "...What Chapter do you belong to, Joe?".

There was a pregnant pause, something that Sten had become wary of.

".......why.", Joe replied dryly.

"You should be comfortable with tell us....", while Sten remarked, he had felt that there was something he could do to find out for himself, specifically on his belt.

His belt buckle was a wide, military standard, silver colored buckle. He quietly took it off to shine it as much as he could, the reflection wasn't perfect, but it would suffice.

He stuck the buckle at an angle that Joe wouldn't notice, he could see that Joe wasn't wearing any armor, he had his back turned facing a mirror, his back not only had scars from previous fights in the facility, but also telltale signs of medical experimentation. Joe hadn't noticed the small mirror in the corner of cell peaking.

Unfortunately, someone else had. On the other side of the holding blocks, a security room was watching the Marines in the holding cell.

The security guard lazily sees Sten holding something. "Oh geez, I'm gonna have to take that from him aren't I...", he lumbered out of his seat and headed straight to the cells.

"Hey! You there! Whats you got there!?", the security guard casually pointed his gun at Sten, he knew that conventional bullets wouldn't actually hurt these guys. It was comparable to rubber bullets.

Joe had turned around out of curiosity, Sten could see Joe's face for the first time.

He had a large scar across his neck, as if something big had attempted to bite down. Dark brown hair, closer to black than it was brown. And crimson red eyes.

"Hmm...", Sten drank in as much of the visage as possible.

"HEY! Beardo! Quit that!", the guard took out a cattle prod and stuck right into Sten's arm.

A strong shock flowed through his shoulders, "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!", what sounded like a roar reverberated.

The chaos Marines on the opposite side aroused with excitement. Hollering and growling.

"Sten! What's happening?!", Cahrilo shout, "HEY knock it off!".

The guard has held his position and completely ignored them. Suddenly, Joe reached out, grabbed the guard by the arm.... crushing his forearm in the process. Lifted him to the bars.

Electrocuting him as Joe pulled the guard into the bars.

The screams echoed, the chaos Marines cheering.

The cattle prod had fell on the floor, thinking quickly, Sten recovered what he had left of the shock to quickly get the prod.

Hiding it in his pants.

Joe dropped the guard's corpse, and went on with what he was doing. "You better behave now bud. Or you'll end up like you friend over there.", referring to Bilhard.

Sten quickly got up.

As the foot steps of the other guards come in, pointing their guns at the Marines. One of the guards, likely a mercenary, looked out at the partly chared corpse. "Uuugh, looks like Quincy finally got cocky. Clean it up before the boss gets here. Alright which one of you guys did it?"

The lack of empathy for his fallen comrade was a surprise to the others, he had acted like as if this was a regular occurrence.

"come on guys .....be honest or I'm checking the cameras....and the "buzzer" is in the camera room....yah honestly want to shock you guys or be good boys and say what happened...", the guard instructed callously. "I'm not mad, but my boss will be."

Sten had looked over his shoulder, hoping the guards hadn't seen him steal the prod.

"Ugh it was me Frank.", Joe loomed over the guard in the cell above. "My buddy down here wanted to shake hands, I was about to than the guard just came over.... probably jumped the gun....it self defense on my comrade's behalf.", Joe gave an innocent grin.

The guard looked over at the corpse, than to Sten. "Hmf...fine I'll bite.....I don't want no funny business you hears?", he turned away and helped the other guards clean up the body.

The others were stunned, Toke looked at them drag the body to the other side of the room.

"Which one of you sick bastards wants him?", he banged on one of the cells.

The chaos Marines all began to fight over who got the corpse. Gnashing and attempting to claw at the corpse. No matter how pointless it was.

"YOUR COMRADE JUST DIED. You're just going to feed his body to the corrupted lot?", Toke protested to the guard.

The guard looked back at Toke, "Look, it's not we actually want to be here....yous honestly think we would have taken this shit job for shit pay? Naw, it's too much money to pass up....", he looked to one of the Black Legion Marines, since that one hadn't begged for his food he could have the corpse. As the guard used a code to heavily magnetize the chains on the marine's legs and wrists, more signifying to simply step back for the sake of animalistic obedience, he dragged his coworker's body to the middle, closed the cell behind him and watched as the chaos marine viciously tore into the chest of the corpses, stuffing chunks into his face, chest and pauldron.

".....yet it always feels like it ain't enough money in the world to get someone for tolerate this...."

End of log 22

@kit-williams @barn-anon @egrets-not-regrets @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @walking-natural-disaster @starfrost740 @squishyowl @sleepyfan-blog @lawnchair86

[larry-22-blog]

Period Complications part 4

Note: please leave your thoughts and suggestions :))

I take requests, so if you have any please feel free to contact me :)

"You sure you're going to be fine without me?" Erling asked for the tenth time that evening.

"Baby, you already made sure everything is perfect, I have water here, food, snacks, phone, charger, remote, everything. Now go and do what you love!" I gestured with my hands to leave.

He has a game to play.

I'll be fine for a few hours without him.

"I may have done something else..." he said, leaning over me to kiss me, shirtless.

"Erling, what..." before I could finish the sentence someone bangs into the room, "where is the party?! Oh, my eyes!! PDA you guys!" She joked.

Olivia.

Why is she here? I was texting her not too long ago and she didn't mention she was going to come to see me or anything.

If looks could kill, the look I was giving Erling right now would have surely done the job.

"I must have forgotten to tell you I asked Olivia to come to keep you company while I'm gone. Oops, my bad, gotta go though, see you later girls, have fun!!" He kissed me one last time, before taking his shirt and jogging out of the room.

"He's... something..." Olivia said as she threw herself on the bed, on my side, since I was on Erling's.

"Now, what are we gonna watch babe?" She asked, taking the remote and scrolling through the recommendations.

"Something short, I want to watch the game after"

"Should I go make some popcorn?" She asked.

"I'll come with you," I said, slowly getting up.

"You sure? Won't Erling kill me if I let you leave the bed?" She asked worriedly.

"Nah, Erling is a softie, my baby kitten" I giggled, he's really like a baby kitten.

I love him.

"To you maybe, certainly doesn't look like a kitten on the field..." Olivia said while looking at the TV. We switched it to the sports channel and they were showing some Manchester city highlights.

Erling was celebrating full-on Viking after one goal screaming at top of his lungs.

Ah, what a sight.

"He's amazing" I admitted, sitting back on the bed again to watch some more highlights of my man.

We only left the room when it switched to Tottenham's highlights.

After we made some popcorn and tea, we went back to Erling's room.

We watched the short movie, gossiping a bit about life, music, actors, and a lot of random things, not paying much attention to the movie.

We switched back to the sports channel when the game was about to start, watching as they made their way onto the field.

"Aww, I love it when they have kids with them" we both cooed at the men.

"I'm guessing we are going to have quite a few little haalands around in the future huh? She smirked, seeing me so into the idea of Erling with kids, making me blush.

"Honestly, you know that the idea of having kids scares the shit out of me, or used to, but like, something changed since meeting Erling, I don't know, but I would love to have his kids in the future..." I admitted blushing and taking his pillow to hug it as we sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Awww" she giggled.

We watched the game start, it looked ok at the start, not the best but not the worst game.

Erling missed a few shots, trying to score heading the ball, but missed, then trying to score but got tackled by the other players making me groan "I hate to see him being attacked, especially like this, it's like 10 fucking guys on him!" I exclaimed, angry making Olivia laugh "What do you expect, your man is huge, he's basically bullying the defenders, of course, they need the whole team to handle him" she joked making me blush, yeah well he was quite huge compared to them.

But then right before the first half was done Tottenham scored a goal assisted by THEM "Nooo!! What is this bullshit!" I yelled, surprising myself and Olivia.

"Babe, slow down, I think you spent a bit too much time around Haaland, he's rubbing off on you!" She laughed.

"No fucking way in hell! Ederson I love you but what are you doing?!" I cursed, they are losing with a 2-0 score! 2 goals in 1 minute!

"What the hell, I blinked and missed 2 goals, not the best game for them, I've got to say!" Olivia shockingly said.

Then it was break time and they went back into the tunnels.

As they left we got a close-up of Erling, looking sad and tired and slightly angry.

Suddenly I feel so fucking guilty, it's all my fault, he barely got any sleep staying with me in the hospital, skipping meals and he donated his blood to me and then we got home and he took care of me... He didn't get much rest, my poor boy.

"Don't worry, he's stronger than that, he's Norwegian after all" Olivia said, rubbing my back.

"I just feel guilty, he's been under a lot of stress lately, everyone expects so much from him and now I fucked up and added my mess to his already full plate... I just think I'm a burden to him, you know?"

"Babe, this is how relationships work, you can't take just the good things and not the bad things, same as marriage, for better and for worst. You brought a lot of good things into Erling's life and he did the same for you, but life's not always good, he has bad moments too, it's not only you babe, like after losing a game right?" she said, and well yes, maybe she's right.

"Yeah, maybe you're right..."

"Of course I'm right, now look they are coming back on the field!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Maybe Pep gave them a speech because they look ready to kill," Olivia said and I have to agree, they look determined to win.

And they score the first goal, Alvarez delivering an incredible one and they celebrate. Erling looks so happy and into the game, he has so many touches, which is not usual for him, he's happy to touch the ball 3 times and score 1 goal each but today he chose war, for sure.

"That's my man!" I yelled at top of my lungs as he scored, making the even 2-2.

"Girl chill, it's just a game"  Olivia laughed but I couldn't help how happy I was.

The rest of the game went incredibly fast, they scored 2 more goals, ending the game with an amazing score of 4-2 and I was so fucking happy for them.

"I fucking love them! But Erling smashed it! That's my boy!" I happily admitted as we watched them celebrate, Erling was so happy, he yelled in his own Viking style as he went down in the tunnel, shocking the cameraman with the force, making me giggle.

"You've got to tell me all the spicy details, like babe, how the fuck do you handle that? Him?" Olivia asked, curiously, while eating some cheese puffs.

"I mean, he's a softie really... I'm worst to handle, he's the chill one in our relationship" I admitted reaching for some cheese puffs.

"Babe, there is no way he's all vanilla in bed! That guy is the definition of rough sex!" She said, quite unfiltered making me blush.

"I, well, we actually didn't, you know, like not that we didn't do anything sexual but like, you know..." I rambled, embarrassed.

"You haven't fucked?! You didn't have sex?! You have a beast of a man sleeping beside you, all hard muscles, toned body, he's fucking nordic, they are the hottest guys and he's also a football, oh god think about how fit he is, he could probably go for hours! And he's huge, I bet he's packing and you don't-" Olivia said

"Olivia!! Stop sexualising him! Do you like him?" I glared at her, feeling possessive and protective over Erling.

"Oh sorry, love, you know I'm quite a sexual person, of course, I think he's hot but he's not really my type, don't worry, I have my eyes on another footballer" Olivia winked at me.

"But like a girl how?" She insisted laughing.

"I haven't, you know... With anyone..." I blushed, feeling more embarrassed.

"You're a virgin?! What! How!" She said completely shocked.

"Yeah... Well, I don't know, I guess I haven't found the right guy..." I said, looking down.

"And now that you found Erling, do you not like want him to be your first or...?" Olivia asked.

"Of course I want him to be my first but like I wanted to be sure at first, we haven't dated for that long, and then well, I didn't tell him at first, because like how should I have told him? And he kept trying to, you know, and I didn't know how to tell him to stop, and it ended up being a bit of a mess... He thought I didn't find him attractive, or some bullshit, like how in the hell would I not find him attractive, he's the definition of attractive! And I was afraid to tell him that I'm a virgin like I'm older than him... And well, end of the story, I told him and he was shocked but like he's the greatest guy, told me that we will wait until I'm ready and well, he ended up comforting me..." I rambled, smiling as I remember how sweet he was.

"But then why haven't you, since?" She wondered.

"You think I didn't try, I want him but he's fixed on making sure I'm ready and making it special for me... I just want him" I groaned, but continued "and now this happened and he's gonna be even more careful around me..." I looked down, sadly.

"Ah, Haaland didn't know he was so romantic... But babe, he's got a point though, you need to recover first... Plus if it's your first time... It's not going to be easy, it's going to hurt and he knows it. My first time was the worst most painful thing ever, I did it with a guy I was dating, I didn't even like him that much and he was a dick, took barely any care of me, didn't give me any time to adjust and he didn't care if I enjoyed it... He came in like 2 minutes too and I just wanted it to be over, worst sex I ever had. Plus, he had a small dick, but back then I thought it was big, it felt huge with how much it hurt!" Olivia told me and I gave her a sad smile.

"I'm so sorry your first time was shit, Liv..."

"Yeah well, it passed, had great experiences since" she winked "the thing is Erling is gotta be huge, everything is huge about the guy, I swear, so please be careful, make sure you guys have some foreplay before or whatever you guys are into, maybe it's TMI but like you have a be really wet, and like make sure he fingers you first, or well, finger yourself, maybe use some lube too..." she explained making me turn red, I probably looked like a tomato.

"And also tell him how you feel, take things at your pace, don't rush, give yourself time to adjust, the key is communication" Olivia took both of my hands "And don't stress, go with the flow"

"Thank you, Olivia, really..." I hugged her, even though I'm not much of a hugger.

"Honey, I'm home!" Erling said and before I knew it he walked into the room and I couldn't help myself, I ran up to him and hugged him, pressing myself to his chest "You are incredible Erling Braut Håland! What an amazing game! I'm so fucking proud of you!"

"Thank you, baby, but you should be in bed! And no running! Nope, back you go" he lifted me up, carrying me to bed and putting me under the covers before getting in himself, cuddling me and kissing me "mmm you had cheese puffs," he said into the kiss and I giggled, "had some popcorn and cheese puffs while watching the game"

"Did you like the game?" He asked, playing with my hair.

"Of course, I loved it, although I must admit, I was determined to kill Ederson the first half, but he made it up to me when he assisted 2 goals" Erling pouted "I don't like how much you like Ederson, I'm getting a bit jealous..."

"Nah, don't worry he's not my top choice from the team, I also like Kevin, Grealish and Stones quite a bit, oh and Mahrez, yes, such a great guy!" I joked, kissing his pout.

"That's it...? Shouldn't your top contain someone else, at the front of the list?" He tried and I nodded "of course, you're right baby, can't forget the main guy..." he smiled brightly "Pep, the legend, mastermind of it all" He pouted again.

"No, but someone else, younger? Perhaps taller you know, 1.94? Pale skin, blonde hair? Norwegian??" He tried and I laughed  "Hmm, never seen or heard of him but he sounds hot tho, totally my type" I joked, kissing him, moving my hand to untie his hair, running my fingers through the soft hair "I need to shower..." he sighed into our kiss, trying to get up but I stopped him "nooo, don't leave me, you just got back..." I put my arm around his middle and threw my leg over his "aww my baby koala, you're so cute" he kissed my hair, putting an arm around me, and hugging me closer.

"How are you feeling baby, is your tummy feeling better? Are you still dizzy?" He asked softly into my ear, making me smile.

I love how much he cares about me.

"I'm feeling much better now that I'm back in your arms again," I said cheekily, kissing his jaw.

"I feel the same way, I loved the game but I just wanted to come home to be with you, my love" he admitted, kissing my forehead.

"You didn't celebrate with the guys..." I said into his chest.

"Nah, I wanted to come home as soon as possible, that's why I didn't even shower there"

"Aww, you missed me" I played with his long fingers.

"Always" he turned us around, leaning over me as he pulled me into a kiss, or well, full-on making out. I pulled my hands under his shirt, touching his strong back muscles, flexing under my touch.

"Ummm guys, I'm still here...?" Olivia said, scaring us both, from the other side of the bed, looking at us as she ate cheese puffs.

"Oh, God! Olivia!" Erling got up from the bed, adjusting his shirt and running his fingers through his hair.

Both of our faces were red.

"Sorry, we must have zoomed out..." he tried to explain.

"Nah, you're fine, it's lovely to see how much you guys love each other. It's getting late anyways, I got to go" Olivia got up, searching for her things.

"Thank you, Olivia, really, for all," I said sincerely when she came to hug me.

"Thank you for keeping her company," Erling said, offering to accompany her to the door.

"Nah, don't worry, I know the way, you guys have fun! Remember no sex until she's fully healed, Haaland!" She joked making Erling laugh and me blush.

"Alone, finally..." I got up from the bed, walked up to him and hugged him from behind.

"How about I give you a reward for the incredible performance, what do you say, a handjob or maybe even a blowie, cuz I'm feeling generous today" I put my hands under his shirt, rubbing up and down his toned muscles, making him moan.

"Fuck baby, it sounds amazing, but it wouldn't be fair if you can't enjoy it..." he said sadly.

"Who says I won't enjoy it, I don't need to have an orgasm to enjoy making my boyfriend have one..." I said confidently, moving my hand to squeeze him through his sports pants, feeling how hard he already was.

"Fucking hell..." he moaned.

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