#they get more panicked as season 3 goes on

[loveandthings11]

Very fucking important data set 😂

[pastryfication]

I love ur fics ❤️ can you do an Oscar x reader fic where she can’t find Oscar in the paddock and is panicking and goes to lando for help x

i'm here but i'm lost in crowd

pairing: oscar piastri x reader note: you guys seem to really love platonic lando lol so here's another one <3 also i’m sorry i somehow misread your request to reader getting lost and not losing oscar…

the united states grands prix were by far the most chaotic races of the season. normally, you didn’t prioritise them—the time-zones messed with your sleep schedule, the amount of spectators became overwhelming, and oscar had so many media duties that he barely had time for you, so why spend precious days off when you could use them on less crowded grands prix?—but you had time off either way, so on a 20 hour flight to the other side of the world you were.

you tried to stay close to kim as you arrived at the paddock. he was the person on oscar’s team who you knew and trusted the most, and he was more than happy to let you tag along to his duties, but eventually, he had to go to a meeting, and then you had to find somewhere else to go.

at first, you decided to stay in the hospitality area, too afraid of getting lost to wander about, but it quickly started to bore you. there were no familiar faces, and you grew tired of sitting alone in a corner.

walking outside the mclaren building, you were immediately met with the rush of people walking around you. the air was full of excitement and anticipation—the usual on a race weekend—and you couldn’t help but smile. this was why you wanted to come to as many races as possible; you absolutely loved the atmosphere.

smiling, you walked through the paddock, waving to fans when they noticed you, stopping briefly to say hi to engineers and other mclaren personnel as you passed them, and before you knew it, you found yourself in a completely unfamiliar place.

you looked around, realising just how disoriented you were. the hum of the paddock, which had initially filled you with excitement, now felt like an overwhelming blur. faces passed by too quickly to register, people walking around everywhere and your heart started to race as the nagging feeling grew—where were you?

the crowds seemed to move faster now, making you feel even more isolated. the rush of people, the sounds of chatter and excitement, the bright texas sun bearing down—it all added to the growing panic in your chest. you tried to retrace your steps in your mind, thinking back to how you'd ended up here, but the more you thought about it, the more it seemed like you’d wandered too far. you could feel your throat tightening as you scanned the sea of unfamiliar faces. why hadn’t you just stayed in the mclaren hospitality?

you reached for your phone, intending to send an SOS to someone from the team, but your pockets were empty. had you really been stupid enough to forget your phone?

as the realisation that you really were alone settled in your body, you took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down. you could do this. you’d been to enough races by now to find your way back, right?

but no matter how much you told yourself that, the panic only grew. what if you walked the wrong way and ended up even further from where you were supposed to be? what if you bumped into the wrong crowd and caused a scene? the paddock suddenly felt more intimidating than exciting, the noise drowning out your thoughts, leaving you frozen in place.

just as you felt yourself spiraling, a voice broke through the chaos.

“hey!” a voice called out your name. “what are you doing out here alone?"

you spun around so fast that you nearly stumbled, heart pounding in your chest as your eyes landed on the familiar face of lando norris. relief flooded through you so intensely that for a second, you couldn’t even form words. lando was standing just a few feet away, his helmet under one arm, a slightly confused but amused look on his face. he took a step closer, raising an eyebrow as he glanced around.

“pretty far from mclaren territory, aren’t you?” he teased, though his tone was light, and there was a softness in his eyes when he looked back at you.

you sighed, running a hand through your hair. “i don’t even know how it happened. i was fine, just walking around, and then all of a sudden, nothing looked familiar anymore. and now i just—” you trailed off, feeling a little ridiculous for admitting how overwhelmed you were.

lando’s expression softened when he noticed the genuine worry in your eyes. “hey, it’s alright,” he said, his voice gentle now. “it happens to the best of us. this place can be a maze if you’re not paying attention. if i had a dollar for every time someone got lost in this paddock, i’d have… well, probably enough to buy a few extra helmets.” he smiled when you laughed at his words, glancing around, as if to get his bearings, before his eyes landed back on you. “come on, i’ll walk you back before oscar starts a search party.”

you let out a breath of relief, feeling the tension in your chest loosen just a little. “thanks, lando.”

“don’t mention it,” he replied with a wink. “besides, it’s not every day i get to play the hero.”

you rolled your eyes shaking your head slightly, and as you continued walking through the paddock, the surroundings began to look more familiar. with lando’s easy-going presence beside you, the fear that had gripped you earlier seemed almost ridiculous now.

“you know,” he said after a few moments of walking in companionable silence, “i think oscar might owe me for this one. saving his girlfriend from the wild paddock? that’s gotta be worth at least a couple free dinners, right?”

you couldn’t help but laugh, the sound of it surprising even yourself. “i’ll make sure he knows just how heroic you’ve been today.”

lando smirked, glancing sideways at you. “good. i expect a full report.” there was a moment of silence before he continued. “honestly, though,” lando continued, glancing at you, “if you miss someone to hang out with, you should just stick with me more often. i’ll make sure you never get lost again.

“thank you, lan.” you smiled earnestly up at him.

as you neared the mclaren building, the bustling crowd became more familiar, and the sight of papaya clad engineers and personnel milling around instantly brought a sense of comfort. you exhaled, feeling the last remnants of anxiety melt away.

“here we are,” lando announced grandly, gesturing toward the motorhome. “safe and sound, thanks to your friendly neighborhood norris.”

you shook your head, a laugh escaping you. “i really appreciate it, lando. seriously.”

“anytime,” he replied, grinning widely. “i’ll always be happy to help.”

[bobbertskeetz]

Derek Morgan x Female!Reader

maybe something where reader goes into labor while Derek is away on a case or reader surprises Derek with a visit to the office and brings their new born along with her ( kinds how Haley did with Jack in the earlier seasons )

AHHHH!! love this one, thank you very much for the request. Actually thinking of combining both of these into a two part imagine?? For now though, enjoy panicked Derek <3

𝙪𝙣𝙥𝙡𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙙.𝙢 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

Summary: Despite his desperate attempts to be by your side 24/7, Derek is convinced the universe is out to get him during the final days of your pregnancy

Themes/Warnings: pregnant!reader, fiance!derek, general themes of the show e.g unsubs, graphic cases (not in depth detail) fem!reader, fluff fluff Fluff!!! angst if you squint...

"Don't-"

"Derek please."

"Sit! Ah ah, stay... good girl, you get a treat."

A quick sloppy kiss is planted on your left cheek while Derek holds you down by the shoulders, trapping you in place in the nest of pillows and blankets he created to accomodate your swollen stomach and achy back. Your fiance stands behind you, knees kneeling on the arm rest, while he massages the knot growing at the base of your neck, while you lightly scoff.

"Speak to me like that again and I will knife you."

"Easy Mama, you shouldn't model such a hostile attitude for the little man!"

Reaching up behind you, you grasp at his neck gently, bringing him back down to your level for a kiss. The kiss goodbye which you had previously attempted to get up and give him, before he left for God knows how long.

A cheeky grin grew on his lips as you moved to his ear with a whisper;

"She, will be the most well-mannered child ever born, taking after her mother..."

"Bet?"

"Shut up," another kiss lands on his lips, "Hotch is waiting."

Derek lets a low groan, one saturated in frustration, slowly spill into your shared kisses. Eyebrows furrowed together, accompanied by a small frown, he allows his head to lull to one side, rubbing the pad of his thumb tenderly along your jawline.

"Don't dare move from this couch, Sweetheart. Not without Garcia or your mother here to help you out."

"Der-"

"Humour me gorgeous?"

A final kiss, and a huff;

"Fine."

You can't find it in yourself to feel any sort of remorse for agreeing to his terms as his blinding toothy grin leaves a fuzzy warmth budding in the pit of your stomach. What harm will a few days on the sofa do you anyhow?

Hotch was growing impatient, although, trying his best to remain understanding. He knew how hard it was, how the guilt of leaving your pregnant partner at home eats you alive. However, these were the demands of the job. One last nagging phone call from Hotch, and Derek was half way out the door, reminding you of the meals in the fridge (kindly prepared that morning by Penelope) and of the vitamin supplements you have to take before you go to bed.

With a swift, yet endearing exchange of I love you's, Derek was finally on his way to Florida. He knew it was silly, hating an arsonist more for taking him away from his growing family, than the actual crimes committed. Yet, these were the demands of matrimony and fatherhood.

--

Three days of couch-rotting down, and you were verging on insanity. Every slight movement left a series of uncomfortable spasms in your joints, the braxon hicks were something serious, and you constantly felt as though you had a gaping hole in your stomach, almost as if you were riding a never ending rollercoaster. Baby Morgan needed to make an appearence soon, or she would have to be evicted.

With twenty minutes left on the clock before your mother was scheduled to come and help you to the bath, you awoke from your half-sleep with a start. Why were your sweatpants sticking to your thighs?

Yes, Derek forbid you from moving unless absolutely necessary, however, peeing yourself was definitely classed as an emergancy. Except, you hadn't. There, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, sat a weird bloody substance on the line of your underwear.

Fuck. Me.

Immediately you called your fiance. Should you be calling him first? What's he going to do from Florida? This was a bad idea, he's busy after all... But, before your anxiety could hang up the phone, the one voice you so desperately needed sang down the line like a prayer.

"Hey gorgeous girl, how's my little famil-"

"Baby! Now- baby is- Help."

"What?! Sweetheart hold on, are you sure?"

"Honey, my mucus plug is very much unplugged and my abdomen is being ripped apart."

A sharp wail escaped you as a dull ache made itself known in the pits of your cervix, and then the anger came.

"Derek. I need you. Now."

"Everything is going to be just fine sweetheart, let me call-"

"No! Don't leave me, please don't leave me."

"Okay angel, I'm right here." His assurance soothed you for the time being, both of you awaiting your mother's arrival. And it was safe to say, Derek was sick to his stomach.

--

Every damn day. Every day he tried his hardest to be there, especially nearing the end of your third trimester. His biggest fear was accidentally leaving you alone when that one awaited moment came; and his greatest nightmare had just come true.

"I should've been there Reid!"

Spencer nodded, sympathetically, "You couldn't have predicted this."

"Well, I should've. Fuck. It's just exactly what I should've predicted" He felt as though he could cry, and stifling a sniffle he continued, "Of course the second I leave that's when the little guy decides to make an appearance."

"Murphy's law! Essentially everything that could go wrong will go wrong. Named after Edward A. Murphy Jr, for centuries this belief has plagued several societies-"

"Spence." JJ shook her head gently, nudging it towards Derek's defeated countenance.

Grimacing, Spencer blushed and tried again, "Morgan, honestly you couldn't have done any more than you already have."

JJ then chimed in, "She's not holding this against you, shit happens, and you are getting ready to go home right now! I mean - you got the call a half hour ago, and already the jet's almost ready"

Opening his mouth the respond, Derek was cut off by Hotch swinging the precint's office door open, informing him that he could go home.

"Jesus, that fast?"

He was already rushing out of the room when he heard the discussion between JJ and Hotch,

"Special treatment for the family man."

Family man. He was a family man now. Non-commital SSA Derek Morgan had a bride-to-be waiting for him, and a baby on the way. And he could never be happier.

--

Within hours, Derek was bulldozing his way through the ward, stopping every nurse who was unfortunate enough to get in his way, to ask for your room. When he finally found you, he all but fell through the door with panic.

"Is everyone okay?" Kiss. "Hi baby!" Kiss. "Are you okay?! Is baby?"

The tenderness with which he held your face immediately soothed every anxiety within your body, even only momentarily. He was here, he made it. After an elongated silence, you shook yourself into action, reminding yourself that Derek was not a mind reader, despite what his job would lead you to believe.

"Everyone's okay honey, little rascal is still inside me," you replied softly, almost inaudibly, the fear felt previously when you had first called him suddenly returning, "You made it?"

His heart lurched and eyes softened at the vulnerability in your voice, and Derek finally took in the sheet white anxious expression settled on your face. Gently, he clasped his warm hand around your own, careful to avoid tugging at your drip, and dropped a sweet kiss to the cracks of your knuckles.

"I made it sweet girl." Another kiss, then travelling to your trembling lips, "I'll always make it doll. That, I can promise you forever."

[urfavsimpingfanficwriter]

Kinktober Prompt Day 2- Humiliation/Exhibitionism

Masterlist (Kinktober)

Masterlist (Total)

Humiliation/Exhibitionism- Brian Quinn x Fem!Reader

18+

While you're out for dinner with Brian and the guys, you get an idea on how to pay him back for the meal.

Warnings: Humiliation Kink; Exhibitionism; Fem!Reader; Male Ejaculation; Slight Cum-Eating; Getting Caught in Public; Use of Y/N; Pet Names; Whimpering; Slight Sub/Dom Dynamics (If you squint)

I think that's it!

Smut Under the Cut<3

Brian's arm was wrapped around your waist as you walked with the guys to your table. Another season filmed, and the guys wanted to celebrate. You insisted that Brian could go without you, even if you already had plans for a "date night", but he wouldn't budge. He insisted that the guys would love to hang out with you just as much as they would him. You didn't believe him, but decided to go anyways, putting on your favorite dress and doing your hair and makeup. You always tried to impress the guys, no matter how many times Brian insisted that you were practically one of the guys yourself.

Now, you were seated in Ruddy and Dean, one of the best steakhouses in Staten Island, ordering a filet mignon, silently panicking about the astronomical prices (I mean 60 bucks for a 10 oz steak holy shit), and sipping on your drink.

Joe and Sal laugh about something Murr said, and Brian placed a hand on your thigh in a loving way, smiling at you. His face twists slightly in worry and he leans in, whispering in your ear.

"You alright hon? You look worried about something."

"This is too expensive Bri, I really shouldn't have come," You whisper back, anxiety lacing your words.

Brian squeezes your thigh, smiling into your ear, "Y/N, I can afford it. You know I don't mind spending money on you. Anything you want, you know that, so don't worry."

You nod. Then an idea comes to you.

"I think I would be more comfortable if I could... make it up to you?" You say, a small smirk on your lips.

"Wha-"

Before Brian can question what you mean, your hand goes to his clothed crotch, squeezing slightly.

He breathed in, clutching your thigh, surely leaving bruises for you to find tomorrow. You could feel his thigh clench under your arm.

He was about to say something to you when you look to Joe, "Thank you guys so much for letting me tag along!"

He smiles at you, "No problem Y/N, we love having you!"

You squeeze the quickly hardening length beneath your hand, rubbing your thumb up and down the length, "Really? I hope I'm not intruding. I mean, this is your guy's night, ya know?"

Sal chimes in, "Please, if I had to sit here listening to Murray talk about his new 'gadget' all night without you to shut him up I'd go insane!"

You laugh and Murr playfully shoves Sal.

"Well, as long as you guys are sure..." You say, beginning to unbutton Brian's dress pants with one hand.

Murr leans across the table so you can hear him better, "We love you being here. Honestly, we should probably replace Q with you, don't you guys think?"

The rest of the guys laugh and nod their heads, agreeing, as you subtly, slowly move your hand into Brian's pants, palming his cock over his boxers. You can feel how precum is already making a small wet patch.

"Why so silent, Bri?" You say, putting on a small, innocent smile.

He looks at you, his eyes widening, "I-I'm not. Just t-tired I guess."

You lean your head on his shoulder, pushing your hand underneath his boxers, "Long day? I guess so, finishing everything up with the show and all."

All Brian could do was nod a bit and mutter a small, "Mhm," with you pumping his thick cock.

Precum was already soaking your hand, and you could feel his hard, veiny length twitching in your palm. You squeezed lightly, forcing a whimper out of his mouth.

"Brian, you feelin' okay? You don't look good," Joe said, worried about his friend and his...sweaty...complexion.

"Y-yeah man. All good. Think I just need to eat somethin', ya know?" Brian all but moaned.

You pumped his dick faster, rubbing your thumb over the tip, forcing his legs to slightly shake.

You lean in, pretending to pick a piece of fuzz out of his hair, "You know the safeword, right?"

He nodded slightly, causing you to smile. You knew he'd enjoy this, being used in front of his friends without them even knowing. Being humiliated in front of his closest friends, in the middle of a restaurant.

You could see the waiter from where you were sitting. He was gathering all the meals on his tray.

So, not much longer then.

You move your hand faster, causing him to rock his head back, mouth agape, panting. Sweat was beading his forehead. If you didn't think it would be too obvious, you would get under the table right now and suck him off.

God, would that be so fucking hot.

For now, however, you had to play the concerned girlfriend secretly jacking off her boyfriend. Thankfully, the guys were, for the most part, distracted by some picture or video on Joe's phone.

You continued to pump Brian's cock, his hand now leaving your thigh, clutching your forearm for dear life. His dick was twitching heavily now, hips slightly thrusting up into your hand.

"Come on now Bri, come for me baby. Come on, my good boy," You quietly moaned into his ear.

He groaned, causing a couple from the table next to you to glance over. His thick, heavy load shot up all over your hand and onto his still-clothed stomach and pants.

You pull your hand away after a few more thrusts, bringing your hand up to your mouth, licking the cum off and swallowing while looking into Brian's droopy, glazed over eyes. Little did Brian know, Murray was staring right at you, and probably had been since Brian practically moaned in the middle of a busy restaurant.

You looked over at Murr and the rest of the guys, licking the last of the cum off of your fingers and leaning your head on Brian's shoulder, "Like the show? I know Bri sure did."

Murr's face burned bright red, as did Brian's. You knew he liked it though. Let's be real, they both did. Brian was your good boy, and at the end of the day, you owed him for this 60 buck steak you were about to eat. Maybe one day Murr could even join you guys. Maybe. If he promised to be a good boy, of course.

[whenmemorydies]

Lessons of a mentor: every second counts

The Bear brainrot continues unabated and a character that has been sitting at the back of my mind since I first watched 2x07 Forks has been Chef Terry. Her influence is felt in a multitude of ways throughout season 2, most notably via the impact she's had on her former chefs, Carmen and Luca. What fascinates me more about Chef Terry though are the parallels between her and Syd and the home truths that both these powerhouse women keep dropping (and which many a loudmouth dude on this show keep missing...*womp*).

Lots more under the cut. This is a long post but this show is so bloody juicy I couldn't help myself!

Who is Chef Terry?

So quick recap: Chef Terry is the Executive Chef at Ever, a 3-Michelin starred restaurant in Chicago, loosely based on and shot on location at the actual Ever. In the show, the restaurant opened in 2012 and was awarded "the best restaurant in the world" that same year.

In 2x07 Forks as Richie walks past portraits of Ever's alumni, we learn that both Carmen and Chef Luca (now based in Copenhagen, Denmark) both worked at the restaurant together, under Chef Terry. This is previously hinted at in 2x04 Honeydew when Luca talks to Marcus about working with a chef who worked "harder and faster than [Luca] ever could," and who inadvertently pushed Luca to get "better than [Luca] possibly could be, just from trying to keep up with him."

Chefs Carmen and Luca at Ever.

In 2x07 Forks, we get Chef Terry's origin story as she recounts it to Richie, who Carmy has sent to Ever to stage for a week. We learn that:

Chef Terry, like Richie and Syd, is an only child. She likely had a tense relationship with her father (who we learn was a Corporal in the military) before he passed, but is incredibly close with her mother, her only living parent.

Carm getting Richie a spot to stage at Ever was not a favour because Chef Terry doesn't do favours:

Chef Terry is quick to praise folks who try to learn. Note when she asks Richie if he'd like to peel mushrooms with her and she tells him that his first attempt is great (despite the fact that process-wise, he peels them in the exact opposite direction she does):

She had previously tried to open "a giant place" years ago when she was younger, and by her own description, "was on fire [and was] arrogant." Chef Terry then says she moved too fast and couldn't keep the place open.

She later opened Ever after coming across the building's "For Lease" sign while walking.

Its clear from her conversation with Richie about Ever's beginnings that Chef Terry is a firm believer in it never being too late to try again:

But for me, the most important thing we learn about Chef Terry in the 5 minutes she's on screen with us, is her belief in time being well spent. When Richie first sees Chef Terry, she's quietly peeling mushrooms by herself in the kitchen. When Richie asks her why she's doing this work, instead of a stage, we get this lovely bit of dialogue:

Chef Terry then goes on to tell Richie about her father and how he kept pocket notebooks in which he made hundreds of entries about different experiences while he was on military tour.

While Chef Terry never tells Richie how her father signed off on each of his pocket notebook entries, its implied by the end of the episode, that The Bear's mantra of "every second counts" originates from those very notebooks.

This was revelatory to me. Up until Chef Terry and Richie's conversation in 2x07 Forks, "every second counts" in this show was synonymous with Carmy's "sense of urgency", taped to the pass in 1x02 Hands and tattooed across his knuckles in the form of "S O U".

Prior to 2x07 Forks, "every second counts" was wrapped up in the frenetic pace of a restaurant's back of house, with Mikey dying well before his time and by his own hand, with the panicked need to fix the regret and broken-heartedness that accompanied years of estrangement, with Donna's litany of cooking timers going off every other minute in a kitchen covered in chaos and passata. It had to do with time slipping away and the persistent, but always losing battle to try and steal it back.

But in Chef Terry's conversation with Richie, it is made clear to the audience that the lesson in "every second counts" is not about speed or clawing anything back. Those notebook entries were not made for any other reason than to describe, remember, and step into a moment. Chef Terry peels mushrooms at first light in her restaurant because it attaches her to her work and connects her to those whose bellies she fills with her food. "Every second counts" is about savouring every second that we have, while we have it, and being present in each of those moments, as much as we can.

Its about realising that every second does count because every second has meaning.

Time spent informed by this knowledge, is time well spent.

Lessons and Parallels with Sydney

Like Chef Terry, Sydney also tried to run her own business, Sheridan Road, but it "got too big too fast", and she was unable to keep up with its demands. As she tells Carmy in 1x05 Sheridan,

My credit got destroyed. I mean, my whole shit got rocked.

The failures of both of their respective businesses pushed both women into the depths of existential crisis. Chef Terry tells Richie how she had been "unemployed, angry, depressed", and "blaming everybody else for all the time I'd lost."

While Sydney never makes an admission like this about the fallout of Sheridan Road, the depth of the impact of that failure on her is clearly apparent in the show, most notably in 2x09 Omelette. In this episode, Syd's father Emmanuel asks her why she is putting so much pressure on herself to be successful with The Bear. Syd responds, its because she doesn't know if she could start another business.

Later in the same episode, we hear Syd's even more vulnerable admission to Carm about her fear of failure, under that pretense for intimacy table.

Like Chef Terry, Sydney does not do favours. Recall when she fixed Tina's bouquet garni-infused cream in 1x04 Dogs after the latter kept ignoring Syd's advice on how to prep the mashed potatoes and ended up ruining her first batch of cream in the process:

Also, bonus Fak attack (lol) from the same episode:

But also like Chef Terry, Syd is generous with her praise when folks try - as opposed to only praising those who succeed. The praise is for the attempt in the moment to grow, not in the growth itself. Recall in 1x02 Hands as Syd calls out orders to Ebra, he falters and says back the wrong count. Syd gently corrects him and Ebra tries again, after which Syd says,

Gorgeous. Thank you, chef.

Its a small moment, but its one of the first times we hear the word "gorgeous" used inside The Beef. You can literally see Carmy's shock at the utterance, at the firm kindness of the exchange between Syd and Ebra. I personally like to think this might also be a moment of recognition for him, where he sees an echo of his mentor, Terry, in the woman he's about to hire as his sous chef.

And finally, of all the characters on this show, the one who seems to best understand that every second counts because every second has meaning, is Sydney. To me this is epitomised by her omnipresent notebooks in which she's always writing, clearly echoing Chef Terry's father and his will to remember the detail.

Sydney's question to her father in 2x09 Omelette is also indicative to me of a person who understands that each moment we have on this tiny blue dot is precious. When Emmanuel tells her that he doesn't think she needs to make everything "the thing" because she will always have his support, Sydney asks him,

Why can't we put everything that we have into everything that we can?

I've no doubt that Sydney's ethos, embodied by this question, is the result of the passing of her mother when she was a child. With that loss, Sydney would have learned from a young age that every second is important. She knows that you can't get more time, so you make the most of that which you have. Or in her words, you put everything you have, into everything that you can.

Its striking to me how differently Syd and Carm have interpreted the intention behind "every second counts" in the context of death and bereavement. Sydney moves through life with a drive borne out of knowing that our lives are finite and so every second contains the potential for possibility. Its why she had the guts to start her own business, had the optimism to apply to work at The Beef under a culinary hero, and had the hope to take a punt with The Bear.

In contrast to this, Carmy rails against time: at the time that he lost with Mikey, at the seconds that he might lose with each hiccup that delays a plate on the pass. For him, there's never enough time because it is constantly being snatched away.

He tells us in 2x03 Sundae that he struggles with being present in the moment and open to the world because he is always waiting for "the other shoe to drop",

I have to remind myself to breathe sometimes. I have to remind myself to be present, you know. Remind myself that the sky is not falling, that there is no other shoe. Which is incredibly difficult because there is always another shoe. I dunno, I think, you know maybe if I could provide more-more-more amusement or-or enjoyment for myself, it would be easier to provide for others, you know.

This isn't to say that Carmy isn't trying. Throughout the show, we've seen glimpses of him stopping to sit within a moment: his making time to talk to Richie about purpose in 2x01 Beef, his constant beckoning to Sydney to "say more" in both seasons 1 and 2, his return to art and drawing in season 2 - an act that physically forces you to slow down and observe detail, his repeated attempts to check in with Natalie about how she's doing despite his discomfort at the question, and most obviously, taking the time to softly, intentionally and unhurriedly comfort a worried Sydney with less than 25 minutes to open on the opening night of their restaurant.

To me, there are a number of reasons why its no surprise that Carmy is drawn to Sydney. I've mentioned a few here in this reply to @mod-doodles. Chief among them though are her consistency, her stability, and her integrity, all informed by Sydney's ethos of putting everything she has into everything she can; into making every second count, just like Carm would have seen his mentor Chef Terry do while he was at Ever.

I reckon Carmy's ultimate challenge in The Bear is going to be getting to the realisation that Chefs Terry, Sydney and even Luca (recall his chat about "openness" with Marcus in 2x04 Honeydew) have already reached: that because every second counts, happiness and peace - indeed amusement and enjoyment - are to be found in the doing, in the process, in the getting there, together. I'm sure by the end of our journey with these lovingly crafted characters, Carm will get there too.

Author's note:

Incidental to the above is this show's God-tier level casting. Storer and Calo have made it a point to cast famous and immensely talented actors in some of the smallest parts on this show...why? I'm thinking specifically of the casting of Jamie Lee Curtis as matriarch/walking emotional vortex Donna Berzatto and Olivia Colman as Capo/Chef Terry. Jamie Lee Curtis appears in The Bear throughout one full episode (2x06 Fishes) and in one scene (with everyone's favourite unproblematic king, Pete) in 2x10 The Bear. Olivia Colman appears in the show for just under 5 minutes, at the end of 2x07 Forks.

I reckon that, while the speaking parts for these characters are relatively small compared to other roles in The Bear, the casting choices here are reflective of the impact of these two characters on Carmen (in particular) and others on the show. The showrunners needed to cast folks whose reputations would precede them in order to instil in us, the audience, the same gravity of their presence as would be felt by the characters in the world of The Bear.

Donna Berzatto:

Donna's impact on the psyches of her children is huge. For evidence of this, watch the faces of Carmen, Natalie and Mikey whenever they're in proximity to their mother in 2x06 Fishes. They are constantly watching her, gauging her reactions and her levels. This is most clearly the case for Natalie who spends most of Fishes in a state of panicked fear, anticipating her mother's every move. Who better to cast as the anxiety-inducing-word-slurring-flirtatious-alcoholic Berzatto matriarch than scream queen, 80s/90s sex symbol and survivor of intergenerational substance abuse, Jamie Lee Curtis?

Chef Terry:

In contrast to Donna, Terry is a stable, consistent force of nature who has mentored successive waves of chefs that have walked through Ever's halls. She's overcome setbacks and had to relaunch herself, doing so with great success, while remaining grounded. While Olivia Colman's been plugging at acting on screen for over twenty years, she didn't reach the height of fame that she's currently enjoying until much later in her career and her life. By many public accounts, she's an incredibly talented, kind and down to earth A-lister. Also this interview with her is so Chef Terry coded I wouldn't be surprised if Calo and Storer read it and offered her the role the next day:

“There’s some amazing actors who don’t get asked back because they don’t behave very nicely,” she said. “Learn your lines, try and know everyone’s name, be on time … There’s a million people who would have your job in a second and more … who are better than you. Take your job seriously and not yourself.”

Without naming names, Colman said: “We all have actor stories of people who were unpleasant, unkind, ungenerous – and it goes around.”

Nor should actors ever become too grand to take on even a short film, she suggested: “Some people might think: ‘I don’t do that any more.’ I think that’s exciting to do. You’re going to meet new people or a new writer who might remember you later on … [Do] not get too up yourself, too grand. Work is work. If I now decided: ‘Oh, I will only do feature films,’ I might not work again.

“If you get accolades for something, enjoy it for a bit, but put it aside and pretend that hasn’t happened a week later. You still need to work and no one else will remember it either after a week. So crack on.”

Yes, Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivia Colman are fantastic actresses who could have acted the pants off their respective roles without their own personal backstories and filmographies doing any lifting...but given the limited time that they're on screen, having actresses who can bring all of that history and shorthand to the role is GOLD for quickly creating meaning and depth for the audience.

As soon as Donna first turned that corner in the kitchen in 2x06 Fishes chaotically balancing a tray of branzino in one hand and a cigarette in the other, yammering about spilling shit everywhere, I knew I was in for a ride. Likewise, as soon as Chef Terry gently suggested where Richie might find the polish he was looking for (instead of biting his head off because he was a mere stage and she was Capo), I knew I needed to be seated for the lesson that 2x07 Forks had been building up to all episode (and indeed that Richie's entire character arc had been building up to for almost two seasons). And phew...did these two brilliant women absolutely deliver.

K that's the end. If you made it this far, DM me because you are probably incredibly patient, kind and like to read and I need more of that energy in my life LOL. Thanks for spending some of your precious time with me <3.

[samcats]

Mike and Wills friendship vs everybody elses

I’m sick of people acting like Mike and Wills friendship is platonic when 1. One literally had a crush on the other and 2. None of the other friendships are treated the same way Mike and Will are throughout the seasons so let’s go over them!

(This is gonna be a long one!)

Season 2 & 1

First off, in season 1, the show focuses on how Will going missing effects Mike the most out of all his friends. Mike is the only one to notice Will isn’t at school the day he goes missing. Mike is the one to come up with the idea to go out looking for him. Mike only keeps El around when he realizes she can help find Will. Mike is the only one that’s focused on after they find Will’s “dead” body. Mike is the only one out of the party members that holds proper hope that Will may still be alive.

In season 2 he was the only one that went outside of the arcade to check where Will had gone. He was the only one that noticed Will was being extra quiet that day at school. He panicked when he couldn’t find Will, “Will what’s wrong? I couldn’t find you, are you hurt? I’m gonna get you home, okay? I’m gonna get you home”, He purposely volunteered himself to go check on Will and then proceed to stay with Will in the hospital for days afterwards. He was the only one out of his friends that stayed with Will in the shed when he was possessed.

Edit: also wanted to point out how in the crazy together scene when Will told Mike about the mindflayer he said “just please don’t tell the others okay? They wouldn’t understand.” Implying that Will trusts Mike the most and that he thinks only Mike would understand what he’s going through.

& Will only yelled Mike’s name when he was having an episode before the crazy together scene happened. He didn’t yell Lucas’s name or Dustin’s or even Jonathan or his mums, his first instinct was to call Mike for help. Both of these things furthermore prove my point that their friendship is different from the others and they’re much closer

Again, the show focuses on Will and Mikes friendship the most this season. Not their friendships with Lucas or Dustin or anybody else, just with eachother. None of the other friendships in the show have done anything like this. Hell none of the friendships in the show ever GET as much attention and focus as Mike and Will do throughout the seasons. They are treated so differently. Still don’t believe me?

Season 3

One of the most iconic Byler scenes is the rain fight scene. Now I'm not really gonna talk about how obviously romantic this scene is by itself. But how it contrasts Will and Lucas's apology scene. The contrast between these two scenes is such a huge piece of evidence to me and I'm surpsired I don't see it around more

(Thank you to this video for saving me while I was trying to find the scenes https://youtu.be/u-rLx10eROw?si=vdGoQNtnXU103iZt )

Here’s the two scenes mixed together for reference:

Byler’s fight

In the Byler scene, it has buildup. Will getting mad and then bursting out of the room, Mike follows him while Lucas stays behind. Once they get outside, the lighting is dark and blue. The music playing in the background is somber. The way both characters talk and act makes you know that this is a serious scene. The aftermaths of Will going to his house and crying as he destroys castle Byers. And Mike and Lucas biking out to find him in the rain. You could make the argument that Lucas being there makes this scene bad proof, but it focusing more on Mike then Lucas tells you otherwise.

Lucas’s apology

It’s super rushed, you barely even notice it. It’s super random and isn’t focused on at all, it just starts with Lucas saying he’s sorry and Will saying it doesn’t matter and it’s pretty much over. The lighting is bright, our minds are more focused on trying to get ready to trap Billy then the actual conversation they’re having. Neither Lucas or Will react to it afterwards. You could literally skip this scene and you wouldn’t miss anything.

So why have such a useless scene in the middle of nowhere?

The Byler rain fight is such an important scene to show how Mike and Wills friendship has gone downhill, to show the change between children and teenagers, and also to hint at Will's sexuality. The Lucas and Will scene is just so useless and random and could've been left out, but the way it contrasts the Byler fight scene makes me think that its only purpose was to show the difference between Mike and Wills friendship together vs anybody else's, and nothing else. Because why else have it there? If Mike and Wills scene wasn't meant to have a deeper meaning, then why make it as dramatic as it was? Why build it up the way they did?? If it was platonic the scene would've been more similar to the Lucas scene and/or toned down a LOT.

It's undeniable that the Duffers where trying to show us something with these two scenes

Season 4

You can tell there’s clearly tension between Mike and Will when they reunite in the airport, which is very odd. Mike and Will are best friends, and again, Mike wouldn’t act this way with any of his other friends. He didn’t even act this way with El

Mike then later admits that he was being an asshole to Will, and we get that beautiful “friends. Best friends.” Scene.

Now, I want you to rewatch that scene and pretend that Will is Max or Lucas or Dustin or Erica or Steve or Jonathan or anybody Mike is friends with. But you can’t. It just feels too wrong and too romantic, doesn’t it? It seems weird as well, because we know full well Mike wouldn’t say something like that to any of his other friends. He’s never had a conversation like that with any of his other friends, either. This is because they’re just that. Friends. So why should it be any different for Will and Mike?

This is the same for any scene with Mike and Will. Season 4 or not

And if you seriously cannot notice the difference between Mike and Wills friendship vs anybody else’s, you need to do a rewatch

Anyways, there’s probably more stuff I could add but I’m gonna leave it at that for now. If you have anything to add leave it in the comments! Thank you for reading

[reiding-writing]

may i request getting stuck in an elevator with early season Spence after hours at the BAU and the lights go out and obviously him being terrified of the dark he starts panicking and reader has to comfort him until he eventually explains his fear of the dark in relation to something happening in his childhood. just some angst and hurt/comfort ig? I live and breathe your content <3

malfunction [ s.r ]

Summary:

You and Spencer end up staying late to finish some paperwork after a case, when you finally vacate into the elevator to leave it breaks down, revealing some secrets harboured by both of you and strengthening your relationship in the process.

WARNINGS: claustrophobia, nyctophobia, arachnophobia, mentions of spencer’s bullying

pairing: s1!spencer x gn!reader

genre: hurt/comfort

wc: 3.2k

masterlist!!

a/n: glad i’ve curated an audience of angst and hurt/comfort enjoyers <33

It was late.

12:06AM to be exact.

Silence riddled the bullpen, making the usually bustling office stand completely still.

You might’ve found it a little disturbing if not for Spencer sat a few desks down from you, his mere presence stopping your mind from running rampant with irrational fears of ghosts or demons that might lurk in the dark corners of the room.

It was a little stupid sure, your lanky book-genius of a coworker held no chance of being able to physically protect you from whatever your brain could conjure up, but the mind works in wonderous ways, and he offered you an unintentional blanket of security nonetheless.

You could hear the loose papers of his files rustle as he closed the manilla folder, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses with a sigh.

Looks like Spencer was done for the night. And by that logic, so were you.

You mirror Spencer as you shut your file, packing it away in your messenger bag and tucking your chair under your desk as you stand, the two of you silently acknowledging each other’s presence as you reach the elevator.

You could practically feel the fatigue surrounding the both of you as you stepped inside, your tiredness bouncing off each other and making you more desperate to crawl into bed and knock out for the night.

It didn’t last for very long.

A loud clunking sound echoed through the metal walls of the elevator, followed by it jolting to a stop, and you had to grip onto the metal bar lining the wall so you didn’t lose your balance.

Your eyes turn first to the small screen above the door, flickering between the numbers 2 and 3 as if it can’t decide what floor you’re currently on.

Then they turn to Spencer.

Spencer's breathing is uneven and his body tense, eyes darting around the tiny enclosed space with a distinct air of panic.

“Reid? Are you alright?” You raise an eyebrow at him, your expression a mix of curiosity and concern.

"N-No, no! I am not alright! This is my worst nightmare come to life." Spencer presses himself against the far wall, as if plastering himself to it will make him part of the elevator and therefore unable to be injured if something goes wrong.

“You do know how unlikely it is to actually get any sort of injury from an elevator accident right?”

"One out of ten point five million. I know that. But this isn't about logic this is about fear." He turns away as he speaks, taking a few breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. "I'm-I'm claustrophobic. And this is not helping."

“Okay- okay- let’s just calm down for a second,” You hold up a hand in Spencer’s direction. You never took him as somebody to have irrational fears like this. You always figured that he’d just use his knowledge to rationalise what was happening and move on. Apparently not.

Spencer looks back at you and nods, taking in another deep breath.

“I'm trying. It's just-“ The elevator makes a rumbling sound that elicits what you can only classify as a whimper to leave his throat. “I can't do this. I can't be stuck in this tiny space for an unknown amount of time. I can't. I just can't. Please. Please, someone. Someone has to know we're in here. They have to.”

“Reid- Calm down.”

You let go of the bar you were holding onto to walk over to Spencer, placing your hands cautiously on his shoulders.

"I-I'm trying. I'm trying."

But he doesn't actually seem to be any better than he was before. His body is shaking, his breaths shaking and uneven.

He's getting very close to having a full blown panic attack.

“Sit down,” You push gently against his shoulders to encourage him to sit, following after him yourself to sit in front of him with your legs crossed underneath you.

Spencer lets out a trembling breath. "What if we die in here? What if no one comes? What if something goes wrong?"

“We’re going to be fine,”

You hold out a hand palm up in your lap as open invitation for him to take it if he needs to.“just take slow breaths Reid,”

"I-I'm trying." He looks down at your hand and almost reaches out for you, but hesitates before yanking his hand back.

He looks away and forces his breath to slow down again. "What if we're in here for hours?"

“Elevators have failsafes Reid, it’ll sort itself out don’t worry,”

Spencer takes a shuddered breath in through his nose, closing his eyes as he repeats your words in his head.

It’ll sort itself out. He doesn’t need to worry.

He meets your eyes with a small nod and you sigh, giving him a sympathetic smile that reassures him he’s going to be fine.

Unfortunately, all of your efforts to calm him down are quickly reversed as the lights cut out, sending the elevator into complete darkness.

His sudden blindness brings a startled cry from Spencer, his body instinctively trying to protect himself and in that split second of shock he grabs your hand.

He clutches at it tightly, eyes squeezed shut.

“Everything’s fine-“ You return his startled grip with a light squeeze of your own.

The grip around your hand feels firm and shaky but the contact helps to ground him, bringing some of his panic down a notch or two.

“It's not f-fine. It's dark. I don’t like the dark . I hate it.”

“You’re scared of the dark?” You sound more surprised than you mean to, and although you can’t pinpoint all of his features in the shadows, you’re sure you can see his eyebrows knit together.

“11% of the US adult population is afraid of the dark.” His tone carries an air of defensiveness through his fear, although he doesn’t seem offended enough at your comment to sacrifice the physical comfort that your hand is offering in his.

“Oh- no- I didn’t mean it as a bad thing-“ You shake your head despite the fact that he can’t see you, tightening your hold on his hand as an offer of reassurance. “I just- didn’t see you as somebody to have a fear of the dark is all-“

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You can hear the slight waver in his voice as he speaks, clearly trying to distract himself in your questions so he doesn’t have to think about his current situation.

You’d also wager he has his eyes shut, as ironic as it is.

“I just meant- you know- your brain rationalises everything so quickly that I figured you just wouldn’t have fears like this?”

He chuckles nervously, the sound echoing in the darkness. "Well, even the most rational minds have their quirks, I suppose. Fear doesn't always follow logic." The tension in his voice begins to ease, and he opens up a bit more.

“Is there a reason you have a fear of the dark?” You could understand his claustrophobia to a certain level, but nyctophobia wasn’t something very common in adults, especially ones who work as field agents for the FBI.

“I uh- it was just something that happened when I was younger, it’s stupid really-” Spencer skirts your question with a half-truth, not divulging any details of his seemingly irrational fear of the dark.

He shifts slightly, adjusting to find a more comfortable position on the floor, his hand tugging yours and in the process forcing you to change your seating position as well.

You squeeze his hand gently. "Do you wanna talk about it? People usually find it easier to rationalise their fears if they voice them to another person,” You use Spencer’s own intelligence against him in the hope that it’ll get him to open up.

As much as you had learned about him in the past two years, you still knew surprisingly little about Dr. Spencer Reid and his life outside of the office.

You knew all about his academics, how he liked his coffee with as much sugar as humanely possible, how under normal circumstances he would rather lick a toilet seat than shake someone’s hand.

But you didn’t really know him; And you figured this might be a good place to start.

“I… It’s not something I like to dwell on,” He tries to shut down your questioning once more, clearing his throat to try and rid of the lump that forms when he thinks back to the origins of his fears. “It’s not exactly a nice thing to remember,”

“I get that, some of my childhood memories aren’t the best either,” You let out a breath that could almost constitute as a laugh of exasperation. “But it might help, and i’m sure that just getting it off your chest will give you piece of mind nonetheless,”

You can hear Spencer take in a breath through his nose, and through the small adaptation your eyes had made to the darkness you could just barely see his lips purse into a line, debating whether or not to divulge his childhood to you.

It’s not like he didn’t trust you with it. Quite the opposite. He’d come to enjoy your presence over the time you’d spent working together.

You didn’t judge his intelligence, nor did you reduce him to it. You just saw him as another person and it was something that he was incredibly grateful for.

He knew you wouldn’t make fun of him if he told you, but he wasn’t worried about that. He was worried that you’d pity him.

That you’d treat him like some fragile object that would break if you spoke too loudly in its presence.

That’s something that he’d never want.

“I- don’t want you to think of me differently…” His voice was still laced with fear as he spoke, but this time it wasn’t a fear of the dark metal box he was trapped in; It was a fear of how your view of him would change.

“Reid…”

“I don’t want to be pitied or have people walk on eggshells for the sake of hurting my feelings…” You can practically feel his apprehension through the way his hand tenses in yours.

“Reid-“

“I’ve just managed to get people to treat me normally and I don’t want all of that to go down the drain-“

“Spencer.”

You can see his eyes snap upwards towards yours as you raise your voice, and you pull his left hand into your own to hold both of them in your lap, eyes chasing his in the darkness to maintain eye contact. “You’re human. Humans have fears and they have bad memories, and it’s not going to change anything about how I treat you.”

“Tell you what,” You give his hands a squeeze, leaning forwards slightly towards him to try and get a better look at his face. “I’ll tell you one of my childhood tragedies if you tell me yours, deal?”

He goes silent as he ponders your offer, ending with a small nod that you can only half see. “Okay…”

“Okay,” You return his nod with your own, running your thumbs over the backs of his hands. “So, i’ll go first,”

“When I was eight, my cousin thought it’d be a good idea to let his pet tarantula crawl all over my face whilst I was sleeping, and I woke up with it half in my mouth,” You practically shudder at the memory. “Needless to say I developed arachnophobia after that,”

You laugh breathily, shaking your head slightly. “It was not very fun,”

“Why would he do that?”

You shrug slightly, arms moving enough that he can feel it where your fingers connect. “He was a bit of a bully if i’m honest, but he’s matured since then thank god,”

“Are you- still afraid of spiders?” Spencer’s eyes practically shine in the darkness, big, round and glistening with curiosity as they scan your face from beneath his glasses.

“Promise not to make fun of me?” Your question is answer enough, but he still nods softly nonetheless. “I think they’re terrifying,”

“Almost 20% of the US population has arachnophobia, it’s a very common fear to have,”

“So is a fear of the dark,” You bring the conversation back to Spencer’s fear once more. “Willing to tell me its origin story yet?”

Spencer sighs, his shoulders slumping and his head leaning back against the wall of the elevator. “It’s-“ He exhales through his nose, his eyes diverting from yours to stare at your interconnected hands.

“When I was in school I was bullied a lot…” He purses his lips and you nod. As sad as it is you’re not exactly surprised.

Someone as insanely intelligent as him was unfortunately bound to be tormented by those who were academically inferior to him, it’s a by-product of jealousy.

“They uh… stripped me down and tied me to a goal post, and- then they just left me there-“ Spencer’s throat catches as he speaks, and you can see through the way his eyes flicker around that he’s replaying the memory in his head.

“I- managed to untie myself after a while, but I spent over an hour searching for all of my clothes and ended up walking home in the dark half dressed…” Spencer’s lip quivers as he reaches the end of his explanation.

“I don’t think i’ve ever been more scared in my life…”

“I’m so sorry they did that to you…” Your eyebrows furrow with sympathy, and you shift your hold on his hands to intertwine your fingers with his. “Nobody should have to experience that…”

Spencer exhales, and you can hear the shake in his breath. “I thought if I just buried it that i’d forget, but I still remember it like it happened yesterday…”

The curse of an eidetic memory you suppose. Destined to remember every detail of the worst experiences you’d ever had.

Although you’re sure that Spencer wouldn’t need an eidetic memory to have what happened to him burned into his brain.

“Spencer…”

“I’m sorry-“ Spencer shakes his head, attempting to pull his hands out of yours. “I told you it was stupid-“

“Hey. No.” You close your hands around his to stop him from pulling away. “That is in no way stupid at all.”

“You went through something awful and developed a fear because of it. That is the furthest thing from stupid Reid,”

“I just-”

You cut off Spencer’s attempt at a rebuttal with a pull of your hands in his, separating them only to wrap your arms around him in a hug. “No excuses.”

Spencer is stiff in your embrace, unsure of what exactly he should be doing. Should he hug you back? Should he pull away to regain his personal space?

He wasn’t exactly sure. He did however, feel like he was going to cry.

He could feel the tears welling up behind his eyelids, squeezing his eyes shut to stop them from falling down his face and hiding his face against the curve of your shoulder so that you wouldn’t be able to see the shadow of his expression.

God he was pathetic.

Sat in his coworkers embrace because he was scared of the goddamn dark.

On the verge of tears because of something that happened twelve years ago.

A twenty four year old man. A fully grown adult.

His shoulders begin to tremble as he thinks about it, and you can feel the way his breath catches in his throat as you bring your hand to the back of his head to hold him closer to you.

“This is pathetic i’m sorry…” He shakes his head against your shoulder, hindered slightly by the way his glasses sit on the bridge of his nose.

“Shhh,” You shake your head in tandem with his, leaning your cheek against the side of his head as you rub your hand over his back. “Don’t be silly,”

"You're not pathetic, Spencer," You reassure him, your voice gentle. "Everyone has their own fears and struggles. It takes strength to open up about them."

He takes a deep, shaky breath, trying to compose himself. "I just never thought I'd be so affected by it for this long."

"Trauma doesn't have a set expiration date," you say softly. "It's okay to still be working through things. And you don't have to face it alone."

Spencer finally relaxes a bit in your embrace, allowing himself to accept the comfort you're offering. "Thank you," he mumbles, his voice barely audible against the fabric of your shirt.

“No problem-“ You don’t finish your sentence before the lights come back on, causing you to squint from the sudden brightness.

The sudden light flooding the elevator exposes the position the two of you had found yourself in, your legs tangled together as Spencer sits in your embrace with your arms around his torso and his hands resting limply by your waist.

“See?” You pull his face away from your shoulder gently, leaning back to finally get a fully clear view of his face. “Nothing to worry about,”

“Yeah…” He nods softly, eyes still a little red from holding back his tears, and he sniffles as he pulls away from you properly when the elevator starts moving downwards again.

“Do you want a ride home?” Your invitation is obvious as you two of you pick yourselves up from the floor, your eyes silently encouraging him to accept your proposal.

“I-“ The elevator came to another halt, this time thankfully opening its doors on the ground for the two of you to leave.

He had his train ticket in his pocket, but he was willing to forget it for now.

“That would be great, thank you…”

“No problem Spencer, let’s get outta here,”

He tries to brush aside the way he feels when you call him by his first name, nodding softly with pursed lips.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here…”

[woniverse-writes]

"MOTH TO A FLAME (part 2)"

Bada Lee x Fem!Reader

part 1.5 ⟵ part 2 ⟶ part 3

series masterlist

summary: y/n l/n is the youngest team member of Jam Republic, competing in the second season of Street Woman Fighter. she’s got the sweetest smile and the most vibrant personality, but she also may or may not be the biggest hothead on the show when it comes to defending her teammates. apparently that’s attractive to Bada Lee.

word count: 12.8k (i'm so sorry)

warnings: swearing, suggestive at times, both Bada and reader are highkey obsessed with each other, Redlic, reader is described as younger and small a lot, Bada is kinda confusing with her feelings, sometimes isn't very accurate to swf's actual plot, also this isn't proofread so... sorry for any mistakes lol- lemme know if I missed anything!

After heading back to their rooms, each team celebrates finishing the first mission. some are more excited than others, based on their ranking. Like Jam Republic for example, whose first thought is to shake some ass for their victory. Kirsten and y/n keep posing and dancing toward the camera, blowing kissing, and having fun again.

“I can’t believe we just did that” Audrey sighs out, flopping back on the couch. Y/n piles on top of her, causing the slightly older girl to dramatically huff out a breath as to tease Y/n for plopping on her. The younger adjusts quickly and stares at her friend with a glare that holds no real malice, but is simply another teasing moment between the two. Audrey laughs and squeezes Y/n’s face.

“Oh, angry bunny!” she shakes the girl's head from side to side, still holding her face. The younger whines out loudly in protest, quickly pulling herself away and running to the other side of the room. The other members laugh in admiration of their youngest members.

“I hate it when you do that!” Y/n continues to whine but she also laughs along with her crew.

“Oh, but if Bada did it it’d be fine, right?” Ling provokes, and all heads whip in her direction. She has a knowing smirk and all the members burst out laughing with wide eyes as their youngest stands there shocked beyond words.

“That- that’s not- that is absolutely NOT true.” Y/n tries to suppress her nervous smile, but her bright red face and inability to cohesively string a sentence along doesn’t help her case.

“Right… yeah okay we believe you…” Emma crosses her arms and relaxes, letting out the last of her chuckles. Y/n throws her hands up and nods about to move on before it all goes downhill again.

“Puppy” Emma finished off her previous statement, sending her teammates into an even more intense frenzy of screams and chaos.

“ENOUGH” y/n’s screaming and covering her face in embarrassment, falling to the floor and curling up in a ball. They’re all laughing so hard their faces are red, and some even have tears streaming down their faces. Kirsten is trying really hard to be a responsible leader and get them to pull themselves together, but every time she looks over and meets y/n’s panicked puppy eyes she can’t help but start laughing again.

“Okay, okay, we need to take a lap and pull ourselves together” Kirsten manages to get out as everyone has calmed down for the most part. Shortly after, an announcement appears on the screen and the host is back, beginning to explain the next mission.

After it’s explained how the competition is going to work, and each team has picked its members, the lineups are revealed. The rookie class is revealed first and every team just about loses their minds when they see y/n is put in rookie.

“Ugh, I knew she was gonna be here, but I was just really hoping somehow she wouldn’t” Redy whines into her hands, receiving a comforting shoulder pat from Harimu. When Bebe sees the lineup, they’re just as worked up seeing y/n as a rookie.

"How is this even fair???" Tatter whines in despair, throwing her head back and running her hands down her face.

"Oh girl… You better get to work NOW" Lusher adds in, leaning back in her seat, side-eying the blonde.

"Maybe she's not good at choreographing…" Bada tries to ease Tatters’s mind, but as everyone  turns to look at her, they can all tell even Bada doesn't believe her own words by the way she sinks into her seat

"You can't be serious right now." Tatter scoffs, covering her face and groaning.

"Yeah I'm sorry, I don't know what you want me to say- I can't think of a single bad thing to say about that girl." 

"Yeah, we know" Bada's mouth drops open slightly at the jab from Cheche, who has a slight smirk on her face. To be completely honest, Bada didn’t know what to expect. It made the most sense to put y/n in the rookie class, as she’s the youngest in her crew and has danced less years than some of the others. BUT- she also has a ton of experience in different settings and styles, making her a versatile performer. Knowing her background, Bada can’t help but worry for her teammate as well as the others who have to go up against her.

The rest of the lineups are revealed and everyone gets working on choreography. Y/n is really excited yet focused as she works on her routine. The vibe of the song suits her style well and she feels confident that her choreography will at least be one of the top choices. She brings attention to every beat by articulating her movements and adjusting the strength of each one in accordance with the strength of the beat. The girl feels good about it, feeling her interpretation was executed well, but she wants to express the lyrics directly more. Having some basic knowledge of the Korean language was definitely helpful in times like this. 

When it’s time to present the choreographies, y/n is one of the last to show hers, and everyone is blown away. Most of them weren’t expecting her to directly interpret the lyrics as well as incorporate the beats. Her combination of straightforward articulation and usage of lyricism, on top of her naturally flawless musicality really drew everyone in and caused her to stand out. When it came time to decide the choreography that everyone wanted to do, almost everyone thought y/n’s was the best… but that meant nothing in this competition. 

"Y/n, I thought your choreography was amazing, and I'd love to dance it…" Redy starts, but a timid smile appears on her face. Y/n begins to smile gratefully before hearing the rest of Redy’s statement.

"After the competition… I think you'd be uneatable and no one else would stand a chance if we did this choreography. I'm sorry." She nods her head in apology, and y/n nods hers in understanding.

The time comes for them to all make their final decisions and Rena is the only one to vote for y/n, who happens to be the only one to vote for Rena as well. After Capri’s choreography was chosen, they all quickly conversed about when they would be back to start learning it, then went their separate ways. Along the way, y/n was stopped by Rena.

“They must be really scared of you” the Tsuba Kill member declares with a joking lilt in her voice as she walks up to match pace with the younger girl/ Y/n turns her head to look and Rena before grinning a little.

“I could say the same about you. We both got dropped for the same reason.” Y/n replies disappointed but not surprised. Rena ‘tsks’ and tilts her head, laughing off her annoyance.

“Ehhh, what can you do?” she shrugs before continuing, “We’ll just have to work even harder to prove why we’re the only ones suited for the main dancer position, right?” the older girl challenges raising an eyebrow at y/n. The younger girl raises her eyebrows in response, then sticks her hand out to Rena.

“I think we’re gonna make a good team.” She smiles and jokes slightly. Rena giggles and shakes her hand before they go to their individual rooms.

Yeah so Tatter comes back from the meeting and everyone can immediately sense her stress, so she explains how everything went down.

"I really loved y/n's choreography, but I knew she'd look best doing it, so I couldn't bring myself to vote for her" Tatter sits back and sighs, running her hands down her face. All of Bebe nods and hums in understanding. Not even Bada tries to counter the fact that y/n would look best doing her choreo, because it’s true, and she couldn’t bring herself to lie about that. 

“It’s okay, you made the right decision. It’s better for you to have chosen something you were confident in learning and executing, rather than something you wouldn't have been able to achieve in the short period of time we have.” the leader calmly reassures her member and pats her head, smoothing out her hair.

When y/n returns to Jam Republic’s hideout, she’s not as visibly as upset as she was before talking with Rena. 

“How’d it go??” Kirsten asked with wide eyes, seated and ready to listen. Latrice tuned in but continued to work on her own choreography. Y/n sighed and closed her eyes for a second.

“I did really well” she started with her eyes still closed. Kirsten straightens her stature and throws her hands up in excitement.

“That’s great!! And you must've done REALLY well for you to be able to say that yourself-” she praises her youngest dancer, excited to see her recognizing her own talent, but then Kirsten takes notice of the lack of excitement on the other end. Her face drops slightly and she lets out a sigh

“But…” Kirsten urges, and y/n takes a deep breath

“But they all thought I did too well… they all loved my choreo and wanted to learn it, but not for the competition. None of them want to compete because they think I’ll look the best doing it, and no one else will stand a chance.” she explains and looks even more disappointed than before. Kirsten clicks her tongue and stands to give her a hug. Latreice stops working on her piece and also comes to embrace the girl.

“That’s such a stupid reason not to vote for your choreography. They should be picking based on which one is the best, and if they recognized yours as the best but still didn’t pick it, it’s because they’re intimidated…” Kirsten begins to explain, tucking a piece of hair behind y/n's ear, and then petting her hair affectionately.

“Exactly, so now you just need to go out there and show them exactly why they should still be intimidated. Because no matter who’s choreography gets chosen, you’re gonna eat it up.” Latrice finishes, gently rubbing the younger girl's back. Y/n exhales and nods.

The next day of practice goes well and y/n feels confident with Capri’s choreography. It was easy, but she knew how to accentuate and execute each move to suit her style best. When they all finish learning their respective dances, the teams meet back the next day to battle for the main dancer position. They have a few minutes before they actually start shooting, so most dancers are getting some last-minute practice in or discussing with their team. Both Jam Republic and Bebe are working non-stop to perfect the pieces they’re about to compete. When y/n pauses to grab water, Bada sees this as an opportunity to quickly catch up, and maybe even an opportunity to psych her out a little in favor of Tatter. Did Bada feel bad thinking this way? Of course she did, but she held no ill intent, she just knew y/n would be amazing no matter what, so maybe just a little bit more pressure and it’d cause her nerves to hinder her a bit. Because at the end of the day, this was still a competition, and Bada was dedicated to winning.

The Bebe leader sauntered over to a focused y/n with a cool expression. The younger girl stood with her hands on her hips, head back and eyes closed as she caught her breath. Bada didn’t want to startle her necessarily, but we all know how she loves to tease. The older girl tugged on y/n’s beanie, pulling it down over her eyes, causing her to yelp in surprise and stand up straight, quickly pulling the hat off her own head. Her wide eyes meet Bada’s, who’s busy giggling at her shocked expression- but when she processes everything, her hands are back on her hips and she tilts her head with what’s supposed to be a stern expression.

“Hey.” is all y/n says and it has Bada dying laughing. Both of their respective teams are now subtly watching the interaction. 

“You should probably put your hate back on” Bada raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms as she recommends the younger girl. Y/n fakes pouts and crosses her arms as well.

“And why should I? Hm?” she questions raising her own eyebrows. Bad pokes the inside of her cheek with her tongue and grins, pleasantly surprised at y/n’s lack of obvious nerves. She notices the girl’s slight blush, but that’s her only present giveaway.

“Because your hair is a mess” she states calmly but still teasing, and ruffles the short girl’s hair, messing it up even more. Y/n whines and moves her head back so it’s out of Bada’s reach. She pouts and tries to fix her hair by running her fingers through it.

“You’re so mean to me!” she pouts trying not to smile or laugh, the blush on her face becoming much more intense as Bada continues to laugh at her. y/n finally gives up on trying to fix her hair and turns to fully face Bada again.

“Fix it.” she demands, looking up at Bada, still pouting. It’s the older girl’s turn to be shocked, as her eyes widen immensely and her face goes red in an instant.

“Eh?” she tilts her head and giggles, only slightly confused. 

“You made my hair a mess, so you fix it.” The small dancer just continues to talk with a pout, still trying not to smile, waiting for Bada to do something. The older dancer hesitates slightly before sighing and pretending to be annoyed at the demands, before starting to run her fingers through y/n’s hair. The second Bada’s hand makes contact with y/n’s head, the pout from the younger of the two immediately dissipates into a gentle smile. She’s staring up into Bada’s eyes, who happens to be avoiding eye contact, opting to focus on smoothing out y/n’s hair. 

“There, you should be good.” Bada nods, still not meeting y/n’s eyes, causing a small pout to return to the younger’s face. She just takes the beanie that y/n is still holding and positions it neatly on her head, tucking her hair so it sits comfortably but still looks nice. Meanwhile, anyone who happens to look over right now would how lovestruck y/n is by the older dancer. Her eyes glitter and she’s trying so hard to suppress the biggest smile ever that she has to bite her lip- which in turn causes Bada to have to focus even harder on anything besides the girl in front of her. When she finally does glance down to meet y/n’s eyes, Bada’s breath catches in her throat, not expecting the look she was getting from the younger girl. 

“Alright, get out of here. Go back to practicing.” Bada turns y/ns by her shoulders and shoves her slightly back in the direction of her team. Y/n just laughs, feeling so at peace with Bada, not realizing the effect she has on her.

“You’re the one who came over here to bother me!” the younger of the two exclaims, still laughing and watching Bada retreat backward, still keeping an eye on her. The older waves a hand dismissively and shakes her head.

“No wayyyyy, that’s not what happened.” She elongates and smiles charmingly, still trying to tease and get a rise out of y/n. 

“Yeah?” y/n raises an eyebrow and Bada can’t help but think how attractive she looks when she’s confident. She’s only ever been shy around her up until a few minutes ago, and Bada can’t tell which she likes more yet. She shakes her head at the younger girl and continues back to her team’s area with a smile and blush painting her face. Bada was expecting to get y/n worked up before she had to go on in hopes of getting her nervous enough to slightly underperform, but she’s pretty sure that totally backfired, because now Bada herself is the one feeling flustered, and Y/n seems more confident than she did before. Once reaching her team, Bada doesn’t even go back to practicing right away, she just sits down and takes a large drink of water.

Y/n puts her earbuds back in and goes back to practicing with agrin on her face after watching Bada sit down.

“So she’s not even gonna debrief with us what just happened?” Emma questions from her seat near Latrice and Kirsten. Ling, the biggest y/n-targeter, glances at the girl again to see her marking the routine but with full facials and can tell her adrenaline is pumping even more now. She turns back to Emma and chuckles

“She’s on a different level right now- I don’t think we can disturb her even if we tried” Ling just laughed and stretched her arms above her head.

“It’s like Bada’s attention gives her energy” Audrey notes smiling at how focused her friend is on executing the routine diligently 

“Bada could probably spit in her face and tell her she’s the worst dancer she’s ever seen and y/n would just be like “I have to be better for her”.” Emma mocks in a dainty voice causing the others to laugh. 

“Oh leave her alone, there’s nothing wrong with having a little crush.” Kirsten, ever the motherly type, gently comments to the rest of the team. She herself glances at y/n to see her taking another short sip of her water, eyes still sparkling, but also fiery with determination.

As the time arrives for the rookie class to compete for the main dancer title, all of the teams are hyping up their rookie. y/n is being shaken around by her members in an attempt to hype her up, which is very effective until she steals a glance in Bada’s direction to see her pressing her forehead to Tatter’s. 

"haha that was cute- I'm killing myself" Y/n fake laughs and the look in her eyes says “I’m fucking dying inside”. Her teammates panic for a second and whip around back to face her direction, then follow her line of sight. Emma tries to cover up her laugh with a cough.

"Don't worry y/n, I gotchu-" Audrey jokes around, aggressively grabbing y/n by the face and planting a fat kiss on her cheeks, making sure to cause an annoyingly loud 'smooch' sound. y/n yelps in surprise but then laughs and shoves her away, not even bothering to wipe away the lipstick stain on her cheek

Bada doesn't see the interaction but notices the lipstick print on y/n's cheek when she steps into the center, and suddenly feels bitterly confused. Now she can't even focus on the competition in front of her because she's so stuck on trying to figure out which Jam member's lipstick matches the one of y/n's cheek. After she realizes how obsessive she's being, Bada tries to solely focus on watching everyone perform

"Let's go, Tatter!" she's screaming and cheering for her teammate, but her eyes are mostly focused on the girl next to her. y/n dances the choreography as if it's her own, showing her truest self as a performer. Bada feels like it’s truly amazing watching her dance because it’s almost like the music lives inside y/n with the way she hits every beat and accent flawlessly and effortlessly. Every move she makes looks natural- like this is too easy for her. 

It comes down to the final four being her, Capri, Tatter, and Rena. They rematch and Bada is just happy Tatter made it that far- of course, she hopes the blonde is able to secure the main dancer title, but she’s pretty positive y/n’s had it secured since she learned the choreography. Watching the rematch only confirms Bada’s thoughts, y/n somehow executing the piece even more excellently than the first time. She cheers, albeit slightly resigned, already knowing the outcome. 

The judges converse for quite some time and then finally face the dancers.

“We’ve chosen this member as the main dancer based on the quality of their movement and their ability to flawlessly interpret the song’s vibe” Monika prefaces the reveal with their reasoning.

“Main dancer for the rookie class is…” Mike Song starts back up

“Jam Republic’s Y/n.” Her tense figure relaxes as she sighs and the rest of her crew comes running up to surround her in a hug. She’s grinning and giggling slightly as the mic is passed over for her to say a few words about getting the position. She can barely even bring the mic up to speak into it, as her members are still hugging her tightly.

“This really is an amazing opportunity, and I’m extremely grateful. I’ll continue to improve the performance and show everyone an even better version. Thank you.” she bows politely (or attempts to, still secured in place with the loving arms of her members). The other teams applaud her again and Jam Republic walks back to their seats, y/n is in the back of the bundle. As they walk past Bebe, Bada confidently shouts out

“Y/n-ie congratulations, you were amazing!” and the small girl whips around, confused puppy dog eyes quickly scanning and finding Bada in the audience near her. She smiles the brightest smile ever seen and her breathing quickens a little bit.

“Thank you, so much” she replies a bit breathlessly, bowing and then not even trying to suppress her girlish giggles when she turns away from the older girl. 

“Wow… she even got a recognized by Bada… y/n really is THAT good, huh…” Yeni Cho gushes, jealous of the praise and recognition the youngest competitor is getting. 

“Did Bada just compliment you?” Kirsten murmurs the question once y/n gets closer to her. The younger of the two just giggles again and shrugs her shoulders, trying to suppress her smile.

“I guess she did…” 

__________________

Next was the sub-leader battle, which let’s just say, did not go well for y/n. She was still riding her high from getting crowned main dancer, and she was so excited to watch Latrice perform after watching her choreography, but she was still mildly annoyed at the others for doubting her members. The judges ask about the process and hardships and Redlic begins to speak. She expresses an irritation towards Latrice’s apparent lack of professionalism, causing all of Jam Republic to prickle slightly, especially their designated hothead, y/n. She was able to control her distaste for a bit, but then Redlic started talking out of her ass again and y/n couldn't help but roll her eyes and scoff in irritation.

"I'm so fucking sick of her attitude" and Kirsten's eyes get so wide, she immediately turns to her and covers her mouth

"You really need to start remembering you're on camera," she says seriously but laughs a little. y/n doesn't even look pissed at this point- she's got this annoyed, almost disgusted look on her face.

"your girl is pissed off again"

Bada immediately turns to look for y/n, and Tatter throws her hands up in defeat. y/n keeps listening to Redlic complain, now with an exhausted glare, waiting for her to shut the fuck up

"I'm so tired of her shit-" she starts with arms crossed, "maybe if she was better she wouldn’t have to rely on making excuses as to why she couldn't pick up the choreo." y/n speaks evenly and surprisingly calm, but one look at her face tells everyone that her comment was a genuine dig intended to knock the blonde dancer down a peg. Members from both Bebe and 1 Million hear her, as they are the two teams sitting on the outside of Jam Republic, and can’t help but either laugh in shock or sit there with scared wide eyes.

“Waaaah y/n is so scary!” Redy exclaims hiding slightly behind Lia Kim, giggling nervously.

When it comes time for them to finally dance, y/n is already on her feet ready to cheer Latrice on louder than anyone has ever cheered. Although she’s ready to cheer, y/n still looks cold and scary with her arms crossed and the tired glare beaming in her eyes. The music starts and y/n is already screaming.

“Let’s go Latrice! It’s yours! TAKE IT!!!” her screams even had Bada raising her eyebrows in shock at the volume and continuous energy coming out of the small girl. She suppresses a smile and goes back to watching Lusher dance alongside Latrice. Once the music stopped, y/n was critiquing openly in an instant.

"She tried too hard to make it sexy, it ended up looking cheap" she states, cold eyes trained on Redlic.

"damn, you are RUTHLESS" Audrey comments, laughing at her friend's easy to activate temper.

The judges converse once again, and they seem to make a decision quicker than when y/n had competed.

“The dancer chosen to fill the main dancer position is Jam Republic’s Latrice.” they announce and y/n shoots up in the air like a rocket, screaming her lungs out. The relief she feels after hearing the news is very evident on her face. As the judges gave their opinions and reasoning behind their decision y/n felt herself finally feeling satisfied, a proud smile overtaking her features. Her peace is disturbed very quickly though by Redlic, who expresses how she thinks the decision was unfair, and that Latrice was only picked for her physique. 

Y/n had never felt more enraged at that moment.

“Is she fucking serious?” she outwardly and quite loudly questions, causing everyone to look at her, and Kirsten to put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look as to say “watch yourself”. Redlic meets the girl's eyes and immediately regrets everything. Y/n has never looked more dangerous, poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue. She’s got this angry, evil smirk- and she laughs when Redlic turns around and goes “sorry” while hanging her head.

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought” Y/n crosses her arms and leans back in her seat, face still hot with anger, and eye trained on Redlic as she walks back to her seat. Kirsten sighs and massages her forehead, stressed because 1) why the fuck did one of her dancers just get talked about like that in the grand year of 2023, and 2) she doesn’t know how she’s gonna deal with little-miss-attitude-problem. Even after putting her rage aside for a moment to congratulate and celebrate Latrice, y/n is back to glaring at Redlic, unable to pay attention to anything else, until it’s time for the leader lineup to compete.

The leaders all step away from their crews and into the fight zone, preparing to battle. Audrey, wanting to cause some mischief and tease her friends some more, turns to y/n with a look that can’t mean anything good.

“So who do you want to be the main dancer y/n? Are you still our team member or has Bebe won you over?” the short-haired girl ponders sarcastically.

"What kind of question even is that? Of course Kirsten- she's my mom, Bada is just my girlfriend." y/n answers sounding fully serious, but obviously joking when she shares the second half of her response. Emma ‘tsks’ and looks over at the two of them with a strange look.

"Why do you always have to say stuff that's gonna get you canceled when there are cameras around" the oldest of the three asks jokingly, causing the youngest’s jaw to drop in confusion.

"Why would I get canceled??"- "BECAUSE YOU AREN'T DATING HER????" Emma and y/n go back and forth just like siblings. Audrey laughs at the chaos she caused, Ling sighs- disappointed but not surprised with the banter, and Latrice minds her own business- focusing on Kirsten and the competition.

"I just wish for one day of peace where y/n isn't saying weird shit and being delusional-" "DID YOU SEE THE WAY SHE LOOKED AT ME BRO???"

yeah…

It’s officially time for the leaders to battle and, y/n is sat, ready to go. Bada and Kirsten are in separate groups, much to y/n’s satisfaction, as she can freely watch both without having to worry about missing the other. y/n tries to control her awe while watching Bada, but she gets a little too excited and ends up outwardly cheering- and she panics and laughs when Audrey playfully side-eyes her. She sits back down and tries to suppress her excitement, but Bada is just too good to be real. It’s not a style that y/n would be able to pull off unless she was 100% confident in knowing the choreography, but watching Bada do it so effortlessly made her want to learn it too. When she does the final ‘lighter’ pose at the end, Bada comes back to reality and can feel eyes on her, which makes sense since everyone was watching, but she still shifts her eyes slightly to meet with y/n’s. Y/n, who is holding her breath, covering the lower half of her face (hiding a blush). Y/n, whose eyes widen about three sizes when she realizes Bada is staring at her. The girl fumbles for a second but then moves her hands away from her face to give Bada a double ‘thumbs up’ and frantically nods in approval, revealing a blush in the meantime. Bada just smirks and turns to exit the floor in order to make room for the next group.

When she's watching Kirsten though- it's a shock how y/n hasn't passed out yet with how much she's screaming and cheering. Bada’s eyes are going back and forth between Kirsten and y/n. She’s surprisingly able to focus more on the leader’s dancing, rather than the younger member’s cheering. Either way, she’s irritated. If y/n were on her team, would she cheer for her like that?  Does she truly think Kirsten is better than her, or is it just because they’re on the same team? Bada’s head is full of questions, but she forces herself to push them aside for right now, putting her full focus back on the competition.

When they rematch the first time, y/n controls her emotions even less. Again, Bada and Kirsten are in different groups, allowing y/n to enjoy both of their performances. Then when they rematch the third time, all her restraint is out the door. She’s screaming and cheering as loud as ever, and everyone just assumes it’s for Kirsten- which most of it is! But occasionally y/n will react to something Bada had done, and nobody even questions it.

The two finish dancing together and everyone can admit that they’re untouchable.

“Can’t they just both be the main dancers?” Y/n groans and whines in anticipation as the judges take their good ‘ol time deciding the main dancer. When Bada is announced as the winner, y/n claps respectfully with a disappointed but somewhat satisfied smile. Of course she’s extremely happy for her, but it’s still a loss for her team. So the young girl stands up and claps slightly more enthusiastically, just happy to have been able to witness such an insane performance.

Bada is feeling unexplainably proud. She falls to the ground and thanks the judges. Kirsten did such an amazing job and Bada truly felt honored to have been able to dance with her. She really did have a better understanding now why y/n admired her so much. 

Then Bada kisses Kirsten on the cheek, and the young girl stops smiling and clapping altogether- she just kind of freezes, her mouth slightly hung open. With her body still frozen mid-clap, y/n just slowly turns her head to Emma who's already looking at her with an amused smirk, trying not to burst out laughing at her younger teammate's jealousy.

“Why is it everyone BUT ME???” y/n snaps out of her frozen frame and dramatically crumples to the ground.

___________________

On the day of the video shoot, everyone is getting their hair and makeup done. Bada is sitting away from the rest of the leaders when she feels her phone buzz. She picks it up to see a text from y/n, and when she opens it, she's met with a selfie of her and Tatter. It's the two of them making scrunched-up faces and pouting playfully at the camera. They're both holding onto a ribbon-tied strand of the other's hair, pretending to tug on it. Bada smiles subconsciously and hearts the message, saving the picture. She then aims her camera at the mirror snapping her own selfie and sending it. She’s honestly really glad y/n set that because the two hadn’t texted since Bada first got her number a few days ago. 

Y/n’s phone pings twice and she opens it, only to slam it back down. It wasn’t even that serious but Bada looked way too good in that picture for y/n to think rationally. On top of that- she didn’t really want her stylist to accidentally peek over her shoulder and see that she was texting Bada. So she waited for the stylist to walk away for a second, before opening her phone again to heart the message and reply with ‘stooop, you look so good😩’. She hesitated for a second before ultimately deciding to save the picture to her camera roll, smiling then placing her phone back down on the counter as her stylists came back. 

Bada opens her phone again, smiling at the message. She types out ‘call me on your break’ but decides to change it to ‘text me when you guys get a break? I wanna talk to you<3’ then presses send. Y/n receives the message and turns her brightness down to make it harder for anyone else to see. She bites her lip to suppress her smile and replies ‘ofc!!’ with a heart emoji.

The shoots begin and everything is going moderately smooth until it's announced that people have the opportunity to switch parts, but only the main dancer can make that decision. y/n groans and throws her head back while covering her eyes. She starts laughing in disbelief and looks around at the other rookie members

"Let's just have fun, please. Obviously- work hard and strive for your best, but just have fun when you dance cuz that'll make all the difference to me" was what she told everyone when she was asked how she felt about it. 

The rookies were all laughing and having a blast, especially Redy, y/n, and Rena- the other two shared the center with y/n a lot, although they often alternated with Tatter and Gooseul. Gooseul, trying to get on y/n's good side, always comes to find her on breaks and takes lots of selfies with her, making sure to compliment every aspect of the girl. Redy, who actually has taken quite a liking to y/n feels a little defensive and worms her way into any conversation Gooseul tries to have with the main dancer. So now Gooseul and Y/n selfies are Gooseul, y/n, and Redy selfies, which eventually just become Y/n and Redy selfies.

Now THIS catches Tatter's attention- and Tatter is making a move to start conversation with y/n- asking her about certain moves and how she wants the quality of a specific section to be portrayed. She has to stay on y/n's good side because 1) she knows this girl is ruthless and will easily tear her apart if she needs to, and 2) Bada would probably die of heartbreak if Tatter and y/n didn't end up on good terms.

The go on a quick break and y/n thinks about texting Bada, but she worries she won’t have much time to talk. Instead she just reviews the notes she made for the shoot regarding what she wanted to do with the concept. 

“I wish we could do an outfit change” y/n express with a slight pout.

“You’re the director- you can make the call do have an outfit change,” the staff tells her. They had prepared multiple outfits in case some hadn’t ended up blending well with the others, so it wasn’t a problem.

“REALLY???” She gets so excited and runs to tell the other girls her idea. y/n explains how she wants them to do the final chorus in different outfits that are a bit more girly and cunty to bring the vibe together more, to which they enthusiastically agree. Y/n keeps sharing her ideas, and making changes to better the final product, and surprisingly no one is complaining about it- or ar least not to her face.

“I want the second verse to be all small groups or duos” She shares her next idea, which everyone agrees with in a heartbeat cuz they all want more screen time. She organizes it so that Yeni Cho and Buckey take the first chunk of the second verse, and Rena and Capri take the latter half; leaving Tatter, Redy, and Gooseul with the build-up to the chorus; and y/n coming back in as the center for the chorus.

As they practice the blocking for this part, y/n works with the groups one-on-one and the others continue to practice, except for Yeni and Buckey who are trying to figure out a way to make their screen time last longer.

Ultimately Yeni and Buckey try to get y/n to make their part longer, but she politely declines saying she choreographed each part for a specific reason and it wouldn't make sense with the music to elongate their part-

“Try not to worry please because the camera angles will capture you- I promise you’ll have other opportunities to be seen” And they’re obviously not happy. Yeni kind of just resigns in defeat after trying and failing to get more screen time, but Buckey’s attitude is a little less cooperative now. As they continue the shoot, Buckey’s not really being a team player because she’s trying too hard to stand out, and causing it to look messy. Y/n keeps monitoring and asking to redo shots because Buckey isn’t blending well with everyone

“Buckey please try to blend better- maybe relax your movements a little here-“ she starts but it cut off by Buckey

“Why would I want to blend in with everyone?” She questions irritated. Y/n’s eyes just widen in gentle confusion, because why is she suddenly upset?

“Well you need to blend but not necessarily blend IN- you stand out too much right now” the main dancer tries to explain calmly and evenly while still genuinely trying  to appease Buckey’s stress

“Y/n I think I look fine, You have to realize I’m competing to win too, so I have to do what I can to catch the judges' attention” It’s silent among the girls as they all stand baffled by mannequeen’s dancer. They turn their glances towards y/n who’s standing firmly with her arms crossed, looking eerily calm, her eyes starting to have the daring glare that only appears when y/n is so angry that even she knows it’d be bad for her to speak before thinking.

“Buckey I want everyone to stand out, but as of right now, you’re only doing so in a negative way. I understand you want to catch the judges’ attention, but this is the wrong way to do it…” she takes a deep breath

“And if you continue with this current attitude, you’ll end up placing last by the judges and be voted worst dancer.” Y/n’s firm statement sent a chill down everyone’s spine. She cracked her jaw and then let out a heavy sigh

“Let’s get back to the shoot.” she directs loud and clear and turns around to head back towards the set. Everyone glances around at each other, then discreetly at Buckey, before following y/n

"She's so scary when she's upset" Gooseul whines in a whisper

"Yeah and that's exactly why you shouldn't make her upset-" Redy whispers back

"just don't do stupid shit around her and you won't make her upset- y/n seems to be really chill unless you cross a line with her, which makes sense." Tatter joins the conversation with the other two who nod and hum in agreement.

After the slight incident, the rest of the shoot went really well. Buckey got it together but still had a sour attitude, yet everyone looked amazing. Y/n felt really proud of them and honestly wished to work with them all again. They wrapped up the shoot by filming the final chorus in their new outfits, in which they all made sure to take plenty of selfies in. When they finally finished everything, all the girls went to their dressing rooms to take off their makeup and put on their regular clothes. Y/n had been so focused on directing the video, that she totally forgot to text Bada on her break.

She whipped out her phone and typed a quick ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t text you when I had a break- I was so focused on perfecting the project that I didn’t even have my phone on me’, feeling stupid for already screwing things up. Bada didn’t respond for about 45 minutes because the leaders were still shooting, and when they finished up they had all done the same as the rookies and immediately washed off their makeup and put on comfy clothes. When Bada saw the message, she felt bad for leaving y/n on delivered but quickly rationalized that she couldn't have helped it. 

‘It’s totally fine! I completely understand- we actually just finished filming so that’s why I wasn’t able to respond right away.’ The older girl replies to her text, and receives an almost instantaneous response of ‘oh okay! How was it??’ and they discuss how each of their days went. The two continue talking for the rest of their way back from their shooting sites, and even after they’ve both showered and changed into their pajamas. 

‘I’m honestly obsessed with the outfits we had today’ y/n texts. ‘Oooh do you have pics?’ Bada replies. ‘Of course I do! But…’ ‘...but what?’ y/n debates on whether or not she actually wants to send Bada all the cute pictures Redy took of her, but she ultimately decides against it for now.

‘But I want you to see them tomorrow and be surprised 😋’ the younger girl finally responds, feeling like teasing a little bit. Bada smiles at her phone but acts annoyed over text- ‘Ugh you can’t be serious’ she replies then adds on ‘Not even one picture? :(‘And of course y/n can’t help how fast her heart beats and how much of a loser she is for Bada, so she gives in.

‘Fine, you can see ONE picture, and it’s not even gonna be my full outfit cuz I still want you to be surprised- so just makeup and the top half!’ the young girl offers, to which Bada likes the message and hits her with a ‘yes, of course, I promise I'll still be surprised’, just excited to see her again. Y/n giggles and sends her one of the mirror selfies she took after changing into her second look. Bada was absolutely speechless- the girl had her hair in two high pigtails with a few wispy pieces left out and had in blue contacts with pink makeup- pink eyeshadow, strawberry gloss, rosy blush, and of course glitter. Along with her makeup, y/n’s entire outfit (from what Bada could see) was pink and glittery- she truly looked like a Barbie. What really secured Bada’s astonishment was her expression- y/n’s plump and glossy lips were ever so slightly parted and her eyes (accentuated by her makeup making her look more cat-like than the usual puppy-eyes-girls that Bada was used to) holding a sultry, seductive stare. Bada didn’t hesitate at all to save the photo and expose herself by immediately sending it to the Bebe group chat with the text ‘I can’t do this anymore’, to which Lusher responded with ‘my gf is so fine🤭’ and the leader’s immediate response was ‘muting the group chat now and blocking your ass’. 

She was about to continue her argument with Lusher until she got another text from y/n. ‘Uhm okay yeah just beg me for a fit pic and then leave me on read, okay🙄 jk lol’ and Bada panics for a second realizing she did in fact open her first message and not respond. ‘Sorry! I’m gonna be totally honest I was literally left speechless and didn’t know what to say’ and when y/n read this, she laughed slightly in disbelief ‘ohhh okay, suuuuure’ she types out and presses send with a relaxed smile overtaking her face. The feeling y/n has whenever talking to Bada, whether it be in person or over text, is just so indescribable that she doesn’t even wanna think about what that could mean for her. Bada reacts to the message with the ‘haha’ button and continues to try and defend herself. She and y/n joke around some more before talking about how excited they are to see each other’s videos, then saying goodnight and falling asleep shortly after.

The next day all the main dancers are called in to help edit their videos. Y/n and Bada pass by each other exchanging quick ‘good-mornings’ and shy smiles before heading their separate ways with blushes already painting both of their faces. 

A few hours of editing go by and they all go on break, getting up and walking around to get some air. As Bada walks out of her designated office space that she’s been working in all day, y/n comes bounding up to her with a gentle yet vibrant smile.

“Hey!” she stops in front of her and stares up at Bada with bright eyes. The older of the two suppresses a giggle but smiles endearingly never the less.

“Hi, y/n” Bada greets her in a soft, some could say “loving” tone, with that same gentle, endeared smile that seems to have become her default when seeing the small girl.

“Sooo I was wondering…” y/n starts by elongating the first word of her sentence and looking around, dramatically avoiding eye contact, causing Bada’s smile to grow at the girl’s silly attitude.

“Would you maybe wanna get lunch after this? Or- I guess dinner depending on when we get out- either way, it's whatever… but… yeah!” she tries to finish confidently but gets tripped up once she realizes he doesn’t know exactly when they’d both be free during the day. The smile on her face, when she concludes sharing her idea, makes Bada feel so terrible knowing she has to decline. The older immediately sighs and her face drops, causing y/n’s to do the same and Bada feels even more guilty seeing her sad, wide puppy eyes.

“I’m so sorry y/n-ie, but the rest of the team and I made plans to go out to eat tonight since we haven’t had much time to actually talk to each other with filming and all…” Bada explains and it genuinely pains her to have to decline y/n. The smaller girl just furrows her brows and shakes her head quickly dismissing Bada’s apology.

“You don’t have to apologize at all! It’s totally fine, really I promise!” y/n smiles reassuringly, even though she’s a little crushed. Bada still has this regretful look in her eyes and the younger girl giggles when Bada’s frown turns into a full-on pout.

“I promise you, we will go out soon. The two of us.” she assures, looking into y/n’s eyes. The girl couldn’t look more in love than she does when staring into the older girl’s eyes. y/n just keeps smiling and the feeling of warmth and happiness is so intense even she herself is sure her eyes are sparkling. 

“Promise?” y/n asks softly, trying to suppress the giant grin that she knows would be taking over her face if she wasn’t trying as hard as she was now. Bada has a similar look on her face- a gentle smile and soft eyes.

“I promise.” she confirms with a nod. There’s a short pause as the two just look into each other’s eyes before y/n breaks eye contact. She looks down and finally stops suppressing her smile, letting herself giggle a little bit before looking back up and trying to retrain herself again.

“Okay.” she replies softly and nods, then turns to walk back to her office space. She looks over her shoulder to glance at Bada, then turns around fully to walk backward while talking to her again

“You should probably get back to editing your video so you can go enjoy free time with your team” the younger teases a little with a smile. And Bada’s slightly knocked out of her lovestruck stare, scoffing and rolling her eyes playfully.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever- and you should be doing the same thing” she starts walking in the same direction, as both of their respective spaces are on the same side of the building.

“Actually, I have all night. I don't have plans, remember?” y/n teases again, raising her eyebrows at the Bebe leader, causing her to throw her head back and groan. The smaller of the two laughed quietly watching the other.

“I’m sorry- I feel awful, I really do want to go out with you!” and even though y/n knows she didn’t mean it in that specific context, her heart still picks up the pace and she flushes a little, once again suppressing a grin.

“I’m totally messing with you… ya know- like how you like to mess with me” as they reach y/n’s office space she finishes her teasing by coolly crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on the door frame, looking at Bada once again. Bada makes eye contact with her and holds her breath for a second. She sighs and then chuckles softly.

“Yeah… I guess I do like to tease you…” she avoids eye contact, standing with her hands in her pockets, but still smiles knowingly. Right as she’s about to leave she flicks the brim of y/n’s cap then pulls it back down over her eyes,

“But I guess we’re even now” She shrugs and and walks off after teasing the younger girl, leaving her to groan and laugh in annoyance.

___________________

After editing and such, the day ends for the main dancers and they prepare for the following day, which is when each video will be shown to the rest of the dancers. When they all arrive at the studio that day, everyone is excited and chattering. After a while of setting, everything is ready and it’s time to watch each group’s music video.

The rookies go first, and y/n feels like electricity is shooting through with how excited, yet nervous she is to see the final product on a big screen. When y/n appears for the first time- everyone is once again in shock at how different she looks. The professional hair and makeup, along with the outfit she had on, turned her into a totally different person. The charismatic, alluring girl on the screen was definitely not the same as the excited baby girl who was currently hiding behind her teammates, shyly peaking over their shoulders to watch the video

The video is playing about 30 seconds in, everyone is losing their shit. Why? Because Rena, Tatter, and y/n are already a powerful trio that no one knew they need, but on top of that- them shaking ass on each other like their lives depended on it in the first 30 seconds of choreography was just too much to handle for some people. 

Some people being Bada Lee- who was so baffled that after she screamed probably the most fangirl-esque scream ever, she didn't know what to do with herself. Her jaw just dropped to the floor, and her eyes slightly glazed over as she hyper-fixated on the screen in front of her. She only came back to reality when y/n was no longer on the screen for the moment, and Redy and Gooseul took over briefly. When y/n repapered, she was doing partner work with Tatter, and Bada's excited smile and cheers made a comeback

"Ugh, I love my girls" she gushes, staring ahead affectionately at the screen. Bada is just so blown away by the music video as a whole. She’s mainly focused on y/n and Tatter, very appreciative and thankful to see how much screen time her teammate got. But besides that, Bada can’t help but mentally praise y/n for directive skills. The set and concept suit every member so well, and when the bridge arrives Bada can feel something the tension rising, and anticipates whatever creative decision y/n made.

As the final chorus arrives, the camera transitions from just y/n in her main outfit to the whole group in their matching pink outfits, per y/n’s request. Everyone flips again, surprised by the full outfit change and slight alterations in set design. 

Bada screamed and clapped, totally forgetting that this was the outfit y/n was talking about yesterday, still just as surprised, as she promised. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty though, as now she found it absolutely impossible to focus on anyone else in the video, even her own teammate, since y/n’s full outfit was revealed. Bada’s face got red and her eyes slightly glazed over again as her face went serious trying to erase the thoughts of y/n dancing confidently in a tight top and mini skirt, with her thigh highs and ribbons. 

The video ended and the studio was filled with applause and screams from everyone, including the judges who all stood and cheered just as loud as the rest of the girls. 

Bebe’s leader sits there with her jaw dropped and her hands on her head, just absolutely astonished by the final product of the rookies’ video. The rest of her team is still cheering and clapping, and once Tatter notices Bada’s frozen figure, she starts laughing and playfully shakes her by her shoulder out of excitement. Bada turns slowly, smiling lightly, still in a daze

“Tatter, you might have to start planning my funeral” she informs her jokingly in a soft tone, but in all honesty, Bada feels dizzy still.

After everyone settles, middle-class and sub-leader-class videos are played, both getting similar reactions to the rookies’. Once both have been viewed and gotten their respective reactions and attention, the leaders’ video is the last to be played.

“Why am I actually so nervous…” Bada anxiously laughs and sighs rubbing her hands together. Tatter leans her head on her shoulder and glances up at the leader

“Because you want y/n to like it.” the blonde states matter-of-factly, not moving her head off Bada’s shoulder, but turning her attention back to the screen where the video is about to play. Bada huffs out a laugh and nudges her slightly, just enough to disrupt her peace, but not too much to knock her off.

“I want everyone to like it.” Bada clarifies, even though everyone knows how much more she seems to value the Jam Rrepublic dancer’s opinion these days compared to other dancers.

The video starts and the cheers for Bada start from the second she appears. When she takes off her helmet and shakes out her hair, everyone is going feral, obviously including y/n. 

“A MOTORCYCLE???? SHE HAS A MOTORCYCLE?????” The girl is screaming and then she pretends to faint onto Audrey who just laughs and shakes her out of excitement and adrenaline. y/n’s next cause of heart failure is when Bada holds up the lighter and then blows out the flame before everyone starts dancing. 

"Kirsten I love you so much, but I think I might have to leave with Bada after all this" “Y/n it’s been 40 SECONDS- please have some decorum…” Emma, ever the y/n-delusion-destroyer, sighs out, shaking her head, but still managing to laugh. It’s no use, Emma, this girl is red in the face already, and definitely not thinking tv-appropriate things.

Variations of the same situation continue to happen throughout the viewing of the video, except y/n gets even more excited when Kirsten and Bada appear at the same time, sharing the spotlight. The video ends and y/n just stands up and claps while shaking her head in astonishment.

“I’m never gonna move on from this…” She sounds worn out and by the way she was screaming and freaking out, it made sense.

Since all of the videos had been viewed, it was time for each main dancer to pick the worst dancer from their mission crew. They end up going from bottom rank, therefore starting with the rookie class. Y/n’s mood has totally changed, and now as she walks to the center of the fight zone, her bright smile and confident aura nowhere to be seen.

"I really didn't want to pick anyone as the worst dancer, because I sincerely enjoyed working with each and every one of them…" She starts holding the mic with both hands (Bada's beginning to think this is a nervous habit of hers)

"Even when there were some issues, I was still very proud of everyone and felt very lucky to be able to create such an amazing project with these people…" y/n bites her lip and looks up, blinking fast, feeling tears start to build up. The mood in the studio was completely different than it was only a few moments ago.

"Ah poor y/n, she really did have such a good time with everyone" Rena expresses, frowning along with her team, nodding her head in pity.

"Oh no, this must be so hard for her" Sayaka sympathizes, pouting in understanding of the young dancer's distress. Other teams shared similar looks and small conversations. Y/n took a deep breath and held the air in her cheeks, causing them to puff.

"AWW I'M GONNA CRY WITH HER-" Mannequeen's Yoonji expresses as she feels for the girl in the middle of the dance floor

"Oh my god- how can she still be so cute even when she's crying" Yeni Cho comments with an endeared smile directed at y/n's small stature settled in front of them all, cheeks still puffed up. The young dancer finally lets out a big sigh and lowers her head for a second, letting a tear fall

"DON'T CRY BABY- IT'S OKAY!!" Lusher shouts over her teammates' heads trying to reassure her friend, and giving her a big comforting smile and a thumbs up when y/n meets he eyes. Y/n laughs a little, wiping her tears and then tucking a piece of hair behind her ear before clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry- ultimately I made my decision based on the fact that there were some points when professionalism was sacrificed for the sake of wanting to gain attention, which in turn put the quality of the project at risk… and for that reason…" she lets out a shaky breath, tears building up quickly again.

"I choose Mannequeen's Buckey as the worst dancer" she finishes in a choked voice. Holding the mic away from her in one hand now y/n hangs her head and covers her mouth with her other hand as she cries silently. She heads back over to her team, sniffling and they all immediately hug her, causing her to burst into full-on sobs

"This is so much harder than I thought it was gonna be." She looks up again, trying to get the tears to stop flowing. From across the room, team Bebe is just about as worried as Jam Republic, seeing as y/n is practically an honorary member now.

"This is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen." Bada stares directly at y/n's distressed frame and feels herself sink into her seat, the sadness of the whole situation getting to her. Or rather- the sadness of y/n is getting to her. Bada feels her own tears beginning to prick in her eyes.

"I know… poor princess" Tatter shares the same expression of sympathy as the rest of her crew, wishing she could just go and give the girl a big squeeze and tell her she did a good job.

"It's sad, but at least it wasn't you" Lusher points out, still just as somber as her teammates. They all nod and Bada's focus is only on y/n until the next class is announced. She doesn't pay attention as the main dancers for the middle class go up, too focused on making sure y/n is able to calm down. The Bebe leader made a mental note to go right to her when they went on break to make sure she was okay.

When it’s Bada is picking the worst dancer for leader class, y/n seems more nervous than Kirsten

"I think she might pick me" Kirsten calmly admits

"Don't say that, I'll cry. If she picks you… I don't think I'll be able to recover from that heartbreak" y/n expresses in a daze, genuinely starting to worry about the results. Then Bada declares Mina as the worst dancer, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief, except deep n dap of course. 

y/n's eyes are trained on Bada with a worried look mixed into her signature puppy eyes. Once she sees a tear roll down her face, y/n has to turn away or else she knew she'd start crying again too. She could already feel the pressure building in her eyes and heart. She hugs her leader and looks up at her for a second, silently communicating how proud she is of her, before leaning her head on her shoulder. Kirsten hugs the younger girl back and rests her head on top of y/n's, letting out a sigh.

"I hate when people cry, but it makes me especially upset seeing Bada cry" y/n whispers, a tear escaping down her face, while still clinging to Kirsten, who pets her hair and nods.

"That's because you're an angel, y/n. you care so much about the people in your life, and can't stand when they're sad…" her leader declares gently.

"You also are pretty much in love with Bada, so she's been subconsciously added to your mental list of people whose emotions you pick up." She finishes with a little bit of teasing in hopes of brightening the young girl's mood. Luckily it works, as y/n glances up at Kirsten once again, with a playful pout before huffing in faux-annoyance and letting her head fall somewhat aggressively back onto the leader's shoulder causing her to let out a gentle laugh

All the main dancers have picked the worst dancer, meaning it’s time for the final mission ranking. y/n is so excited that Bebe goes from sixth to third- once they're announced, she shoots up out of her seat with wide eyes and jaw dropped, her hands go straight to the sides of her head as she stands there in excited shock. When everyone's individual scores are shown, and it's revealed that Bada got a perfect score, y/n isn't shocked at all- in fact she expected it and was satisfied with the result

"waaaaah…as expected of Bada Lee…" she expresses proudly, staring up at the screen in admiration.

"She's so much more than a dancer, like- she's just absolutely insane… wow" This is the calmest y/n has ever been when talking about Bada, and her teammates almost feel like her lack of panic is somehow worse than the girl's usual blush and frantic expression. They all just look at her and while some smile along with her, others chuckle at the girl's proud lovestruck expression.

"We've officially lost her…" Emma jokes, shaking her head, purses her lips, and then lets out a sigh

"Please take care of our y/n, Bebe" Audrey joins in, wiping a fake tear from her eyes

Other teams are announced and once the girls realize Jam Republic made it into the top two they all start lowkey freaking out. they are announced as the first-place team and all celebrate respectfully making sure to hug each other. Their scores were revealed and the cheers got even louder. y/n had gotten a perfect, same as Latrice and Bada. 

The girl just about collapses to the ground in a ball, covering her mouth in shock. Bebe applauds and cheers loudly, especially Lusher and Tatter-

"LET'S GO Y/NNNNNN!!!" the blonde screams alongside Lusher, both happy to see their new friend succeed. The younger smiles brightly, now standing again with the mic held in both hands as she expresses her gratitude, with beautiful sparking eyes

"I'm honestly a little shocked with myself, because of how many great dancers I had the opportunity to perform alongside with." she begins, looking around the room at each of them. Her smile somehow gets even bigger

"Thank you so much for making this such a wonderful experience, and I'll work harder to show you an even better version of myself, as well as Jam Republic. Thank you" she finishes elegantly and bows before handing the mic to Latrice.

"Wow… she really is a princess." Bada mumbles, dazedly gazing at y/n with what could only be explained as the same lovestruck look the young girl had earlier. The leader smiles softly in adoration at Jam Republic's youngest member. And Bada's members don't even tease her, they just smile and Tatter pats her on the shoulder, as they all agree- Y/n is definitely a princess

The small but mighty member of Jam Republic sits elegantly admiring as Latrice gives her speech. No one could deny that when y/n wasn't performing (or being pissed off) she looked like an actual angel- a beautiful angel fairy princess that definitely doesn't seem like the type to have such a temper as she actually does

Once everyone finishes their speeches, the next mission is announced- Kpop choreography mission

Everyone freaks out and starts excitedly chattering. But mostly, everyone is talking about the songs, or more specifically who’s already choreographed/danced to them. A lot of the teams start mentioning Bada, especially seeing next level as one of the song options

But then they do the same with y/n mentioning her since she danced center for "Not Shy" and "Kick It" at k-con, as well as choreographing a cover for “Eve, Psyche, and the Bluebirds Wife”, and went viral all three times. 

Everyone is a bit worried about competing against Bada and y/n specifically, even if they won’t admit it. Some are still underestimating the teams, saying how Bebe is only Bada and her students- and how Jam Republic is less skilled because they have less experience in kpop style dance. None of them wants to recognize that the rest of Bebe is just as talented and charismatic as Bada, and that Jam Republic is able to adapt and adjust quicker than any other team.

"y/n's known for her dance covers, but she's the only member of her team with experience in this setting…" Yoonji comments looking in the direction of the pink team.

"She's gonna have to carry the members" Funky Y added

"We're getting a lot of side-eyes" Ling points out her observation, and y/n surprisingly responds pretty calm

"Probably because they're all expecting us to do badly since we don't have much experience with the style" the youngest member responds maturely, nodding and observing the room

"Well you have plenty of experience, and we're all fast learners, so I'm not really worried" Kirsten coolly states, giving her members a confident smile

The dancers are given a break and teams begin to separate and head back to their rooms to decide which company they want to go for. Y/n starts to hop down the bleachers and stretch her arms above her head.

“This is just too much right now” y/n whines, pouting while she stretches. Her members look at her with adoration

“You’re such a cat…” Latrice comments, causing y/n’s pout to turn confused and the others to giggle

“No, she’s definitely more of a puppy” Kirsten counters ruffling her hair causing the pouting girl to whine at the older members’ teasing. She’s never gonna live that down.

From across the room, Bebe is discussing a strategy already, not paying any mind to the fact that they’re on a break right now. That is until y/n comes bounding over, with her signature smile.

“Congratulations Team Bebe!!” she cheers and throws her arms up in the arms. All of their serious faces immediately soften and Lusher hops off the bleachers to throw her arms around the younger girl

“My baby! You’ve cried so much today, are you okay?” she asks and frowns while holding the smaller girl's face in between her hands to dramatically look into her eyes and make sure she’s okay. Y/n laughs and lets the sub-leader pat her head and coddle her.

“I’m okay! I’m just very emotional…” she finishes softly, almost a little shy. Bada, not even caring about everyone else being around right now, holds her hand out. once y/n grabs it, the older pulls her towards her seat and sits her down next to her. Bada puts her arm around y/n’s shoulder and pulls the small girl in even closer, resting her head on top of y/n’s. All of Bebe is shocked, as well as y/n herself. Lusher and y/n share a wide-eyed look, causing Tatter to burst out laughing. 

Shortly after, Audrey and Kirsten make their way over as well. Audrey sneakily has her phone out and snaps a candid picture of y/n and bad that she’ll be showing the girl later. Bada makes eye contact with Kirsten and doesn’t even bother to lift her head off y/n’s all the way

“Do you need her back now?” Bada asks with a slight pout in her voice, but it’s so subtle they almost didn’t catch it. Kirsten smiles and Audrey giggles behind her hand.

“No we just wanted to come join the party.” the Jam leader explains shrugging her shoulder. Kyma is the first to enthusiastically agree, having gotten along with Audrey pretty well when they worked together on the middle-class mission.

“WAIT- that actually just reminded me that I never showed you the pictures I took the other day!” Y/n excitedly recalls, sitting straight up as she stares at her best friend and leader with wide eyes. She unlocks her phone and opens her camera roll, scrolling through he pictures and showing her teammates. Bada just stares at the side of her head, with her own puppy eyes now, hoping y/n will show her too and she won’t have to ask.

“I can finally show you know” It’s like y/n was reading Bada’s mind or something, because right as she was about to complain about y/n not showing her the picture, the younger girl turned her full attention to her and started scrolling from the beginning.

The pictures had Bada mesmerized- y/n looked fucking amazing. Some were cute, while others were sexy and Bada couldn’t help but think about making some of them her wallpaper, but then she realized how strange that would be. 

One of the pictures caught her attention in a not-so-good way though. it was a mirror selfie of y/n and redy- y/n was leaning on the table and redy was posing directly behind her, holding onto y/n’s hips, both of them sticking their tongues out and looking cute and sexy. Bada tried not to be jealous and rationalize that it was just a normal thing for girls to pose like that with their friends. Was she upset because it was Redy and not her? Or was it specifically the position you were in? Was it both?? Bada didn’t know, but she also didn’t seem to realize it was bothering her so much- as she unexpectedly commented out loud on it

“We should recreate this one” she swipes back to the picture that was pissing her off. Y/n couldn’t even hide her shock if she tried. And since none of the others could see her phone, they had no idea which one Bada was talking about- and were only left to imagine what it could be after seeing Bada’s teasing smirk and y/n’s astonished, very red face.

y/n laughed out in shock and just closed her eyes, nodding her head. She opened her eyes again and Bada was still smirking, leaning back on her hands.

“Sure… sure we can recreate it” y/n massages her forehead and sighs trying to regain a normal pace of breathing, as well as her natural skin tone instead of burning red. Bada’s smirk shifts more into a teasing smile and she leans forward to throw her arm around y/n again

“But for real- send me the ones of just you…” The older girl starts focusing on the phone in y/n’s hand. 

“You look extra pretty in them, and I wanna stare at you some more” Bada shifts her gaze to look y/n the eyes with a darker look that she’s only ever received two other times. At this point Audrey and Kirsten have begun to converse with the other Bebe members, leaving y/n and Bada in their own little world. Their faces were so close, y/n felt like she was holding her breath.

“Okay…” she whispers and nods slightly, not wanting to disrupt the peace, even though the situation made her feel far from peaceful. She looked back at her phone and started selecting which pictures to send to Bada, whose arm was still wrapped comfortably around her shoulder. She leaned her head on the shorter girl again and began to tell her which pictures she wanted. y/n giggled a little at how serious and demanding Bada was being over some selfies.

After all the pictures were selected, Kirsten and Audrey finished up their conversations with the other members and began to descend the bleachers. Once they reached the bottom, they looked and y/n and she lifted her gaze to meet Kirsten’s

“Time to get working?” the youngest questions. 

“Unfortunately, yes. But don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time afterward.” The Jam Republic leader reassures, and y/n stands up and stretches. She turns back to wave at the Bebe crew members then looks at Bada. She smiles a different smile than the one she had towards the rest of the members- this one being shy but knowing.

“I’ll talk to you later!” she tilts her head waiting for Bada’s response. The tall girl nods with a smile and leans back on her hands again to look up at the girl standing in front of her.

“Maybe we’ll be seeing each other sooner than we thought- we might pick the same songs and get to compete against each other” Bada tilts her, raises her eyebrows slightly, and smirks at the idea. Y/n’s face says it all, as that idea actually sounds quite terrifying to her.

“Please don’t manifest that” She laughs but is very serious, causing the other girl to laugh as well, knowing she also wouldn’t be able to survive competing against y/n.

The trio from Jam Republic meets up with the rest of them and heads up to their room, ready to start discussing the next mission. Audrey and y/n are at the back of the group as they walk down the hall, a bit of space between them and the older members.

“So…” Audrey starts with a knowing smile- y/n’s eyes widen, nervous for what she’s about to say

“Oh no… what now?” y/n variously laughs and Audrey chuckles 

“You and Bada??” “I KNEW THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE GONNA SAY”

notes: i really did NOT think this part was gonna be as long as it was. also-it's 2 am here and i'm falling asleep writing this but i had to get it posted, so i'm sorry of the end is kinda shitty lol

taglist (open): @tinybada @angel-hyuckie @violetinferno @jesuschrist2006 @1luvkarina @uwulyn @justandloyal2961 @deadgirlwalking3 @heeheemich @squidvoldyvoid @vivzyo @ouhaika @jksjx @ocyeanicc @idontknownemore

[jenna0rtega27]

Heyyy!

Could i request one for g!p Jenna x reader? Reader is Jenna’s fiancée and when Jenna isn’t filming they have sex, a few months later reader finds out she is pregnant and is scared of Jenna’s reaction?

Thank youuu

Pregnant

Thank you for asking

Jenna Ortega x F!Reader

Warning: Jenna g!p, reader is pregnant

(This is just pure fiction)

(I didn't know if you wanted smut. So this one doesn't have smut but if you want I can make another one with smut)

Note: This is my first one shot so please bear with me. Also I don't speak English so I'm sorry for the spelling mistakes.

Number of words: 1575

Masterlist

3rd person

Y/n and Jenna are lying on the bed and kissing passionately. Jenna is lying on her back and Y/n is lying on top of Jenna. The couple met while filming season 1 of Wednesday. Since then, they have been inseparable. They became a couple 3 months after the start of filming and Jenna proposed to Y/n two months ago. They were very in love. For both women, gender was very important. Every chance they got, they made love.

Jenna and Y/n have also had a lot of sexual experiences, for example, they already had a threesome with Emma Myers.

As it happens, the couple is about to have another of their many sexual encounters.

Without stopping the very languorous and sloppy kiss, Jenna reaches out and opens the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed in search of a condom.

“Fuck we’re out of condoms. » Jenna said, stopping the kiss and looking at Y/n. Jenna would still hope that Y/n would still want to make love even if the risk of getting her pregnant is great.

" Nevermind. You just have to walk away. » Y/n said before resuming the languorous kiss. Jenna smiled into the kiss.

10 days later

It's now been 10 days since sex without a condom and Y/n has never felt so bad. She vomits every morning and is tired all the time. But the young fiancée was not worried. She figured it was just a bad week.

Currently, Jenna is filming the movie Miller's Girl and Y/n is at home with her friend Emma Myers and watching Netflix.

“My stomach hurts so much I started my period yesterday. » Emma said, rubbing her stomach. Emma and Y/n never had a hard time talking about periods. They even say on the day they start their period, that way the other can take care of the other when their boyfriend or fiancée is not there. “But weren’t you supposed to start your period like 9 days ago? » Questions Emma.

“Yeah, I don’t know, I’m late. » Y/n says but suddenly a light turns on in her head. “I vomit every morning, I'm tired all the time, and I'm 9 days late. And that's been the case since I made love to Jenna a week and two days ago. » Y/n thinks silently.

" What are you thinking about? » Asks Emma. Y/n looks at Emma with big worried and panicked eyes. " Hold on ! You are pregnant ?! » Y/n just shakes her shoulders.

“I don’t know Emma. The last time me and Jenna made love, we ran out of condoms so we did it without a condom. But Jenna pulled out so I don't understand. »

“Omg you are so stupid!” » Emma said, slapping her forehead.

“No need to tell me, I already know.” » Y/n mutters, looking at the ground.

Emma sighs and hugs her friend. " I'm sorry. Look, I'm going to go get several pregnancy tests. » Emma says and gets up and leaves the house.

“I can’t be pregnant. Jenna will definitely break up if I'm pregnant. She doesn't want children, that's for sure. » Y/n said to herself.

After about ten minutes, Emma comes back and gives the pregnancy tests to Y/n. Y/n sighs and gets up and goes to the bathroom. She peed on 5 pregnancy tests and now has to wait 3 minutes. Two tests are with (+) and (–) and the other three are much more precise. They specify approximately how many weeks or days the woman is pregnant.

Y/n washes her hands and leaves the bathroom. And finds Emma at the kitchen table. The young bride set a three-timer.

“I have to wait three minutes to know the results. » Y/n said trembling in fear.

Emma gets up and takes Y/n in her arms who is crying slightly. Emma strokes his back.

“It’s going to be okay. If you ever get pregnant and decide to keep the baby, you and Jenna will make the best parents. »

“You don’t understand Emma I can’t be pregnant. » Y/n said, removing herself from Emma's arms. »

" Why, then? »

“Because Jenna will never want to stay with me. She already said in a live broadcast that she didn't want children. »

“Yeah, but how old is it?” »

“We didn’t know each other for maybe 4 years yet. » Y/n mutters. “But maybe it’s always like that.” » Y/n corrects herself, speaking quickly. “Okay calm down. Jenna loves you ok. She loves you like crazy so don't think like that. »

The phone rings and Y/n’s fear grows even more.

“Please go and see. » Y/n complains to her friend. Emma nods and goes into the bathroom. Y/n bites her nails with so much anxiety.

A few seconds later, Emma returns. Y/n looks at Emma in fear.

“Okay so the first two tests are positive and the other 3 too. You are about 5 days pregnant. I’m sorry Y/n. »

Y/n couldn’t believe it. She was pregnant. The young woman was sure that she did not want to have an abortion. She dreams of starting a family with Jenna but she's not sure if Jenna has the same dream.

5 months later

Jenna finally came back from filming and is home with Y/n. Jenna is sitting on the couch with Y/n laying her head on Jenna's thighs and the brunette is playing in Y/n's beautiful hair and watching a series on Netflix.

Y/n hasn’t told Jenna yet that she’s pregnant. She didn't want to tell him by text especially since Jenna was filming. So Y/n waited for her fiancée to return and waited for the right moment. But she notes that there is never a good time to say that she is now 6 months pregnant. Fortunately, her belly isn't showing yet.

Y/n huffs “Baby I need to tell you something.” » Y/n said and sat down. Jenna starts to get stressed and starts thinking about lots of things.

“You want to break up? » Jenna asks with a small voice. " What? No never my love. » Y/n immediately reassures by giving Jenna a kiss. " Do you love me? »

Jenna is completely upset by her fiancée's question. “But totally baby. I love you so much you can't imagine how much I love you my love. » Jenna said, placing her left hand on Y/n's cheek.

Y/n smiles and removes Jenna's hand to hold it. “So do you remember the last time we made love? » Jenna nods and waits for Y/n to continue. Y/n takes another deep breath and sighs. “As you know, there were no more condoms. But you withdrew so as not to ejaculate in me. After you left the next day for your shoot, I kept throwing up every morning. At first I hadn't thought about it. I thought I ate something and got sick so I didn't worry. 10 days after you left, Emma came for 2 days and that's when I noticed I was late. Jenna I haven't had my period since we made love without a condom. » Y/n tries to find a reaction on Jenna's face but she doesn't say or do anything so she continues. “Emma went to get 5 pregnancy tests. Those were the worst minutes of my life. Jenna all 5 were positive. » Y/n finishes.

Jenna looks at Y/n but still doesn't say anything. “Please say something.” » Y/n said after 1 minute of silence and tears falling from her eyes.

“So you’re pregnant?” » Y/n nods. “Six months,” she adds.

Y/n can start to see that Jenna’s eyes are shining and they are filling with tears.

“We're going to have a baby. » Jenna mumbles. Y/n didn't say anything out of fear that Jenna would get angry with her. But the reaction that followed was not what Y/n expected.

“Baby we’re having a baby!” » Jenna says as she grabs Y/n's face and pulls her into a kiss.

“Wait, you’re not angry? »

“Baby why would I be angry?” » Responds with concern.

Y/n looks at the ground in shame for thinking that Jenna might break up because of the baby.

“I thought you didn’t want kids so I thought you were going to break up.” »

Jenna's heart breaks. Seeing his future wife sad like that. Jenna takes Y/n's face in her hands and wipes away her girlfriend's tears with her thumbs.

“Y/n listen to me carefully, when I asked you to marry me, it’s because I want to make a life with you. I want to own a house with you, a dog with you, and children with you. I knew you were going to be the future mother of my children. » Jenna said with such a loving look for Y/n.

“But you said in a live performance that you didn’t want children? »

“That was before I met you. » Jenna whispers, caressing Y/n’s red cheeks “You will be the sexiest mother. » Y/n laughs with Jenna. "I love you. » Jenna said as she gave Y/n a kiss on the lips. “And I already love you so much too. » Jenna leans down and kisses Y/n's stomach.

Y/n is so happy. She is going to marry the most extraordinary woman and she will have a child with her wife. What more could you ask for?

[marauderonthepirateship]

HAZBIN HOTEL EP 7 AND 8 QUICKK REVIEW

contains major spoilers, let's start!

how about we start with episode 7, hmm?

i must say, before the episode were released I had a theory, that alastor could make a deal with charlie and try to get her soul to(following the theory about lilith having alastor on a leash) try to exchange charlie's soul for his own BUT it did not happen, and I cannot say it's disappointing for me

as hannibal fun and an expirienced cannibalistic-joke maker it feels like a personal win to have cannibal town being one the most comfortable places in hell with cannibals being really wholesome and polite guys

and of course the diamond of the crown - rosie

she was amazing in this episode. she definitely has the vibe of this rich auntie who visits you once a year and gives the best gifts and advices. she actually gives amazing advices, that's for sure. and i love her friendship with alastor, i bet they meet every weekend and share gossips

all of us should be proud of charlie and the way she becomes leader and takes responsibility for her people. this is THE character development

here we are slowly coming to episode 8 also known as the finale of season 1!!

it was a bright culmination of all of the season 1 and it turned out amazing

but dear readers, i'm sure all of you have already watched it (maybe even 2 or 3 times, right?), so why don't i just say a few words about my favorite moments

the scene before big battle, where everybody is just spending time with other is exactly what shows how much are this lost souls now bonded. they realise they have no idea what is there, waiting for them in tomorrow and that's what make this scene

and let me just say it: huskerdust

it is a big joy to know this actually happened

i also might say that the victory wasn't easy nor unreasonable. think about the fact that nobody knew how to defeat angels is the exact reason hazbin's crew won. indeed the more power you got the less carelessness you should have.

and i'd really enjoy to share some of my highlights of this battle if I do say so

here wee goooo:

sir pentious kissing the girl he loves than heroically dies and goes to heaven. absolutely nailed it

charlie's demon form. and shall we not forget ruzzle and duzzle in their dragon form.

that absolutely iconic show up from lucifer and him in the whole battle

niffty killing adam. i'd say this is hilarious

alastor being beaten, afraid and panicked. yes, i WAS talking about it. it was important to show he can feel real emotions and fear and loss are one of them

three vees watching battle for hotel and living their best lives(i still hate val, just to be clear)

what is really natural about the battle that they don't just celebrate victory. they mourn pentious, and charlie feels guilty, but they still go on, rebuild hotel singing one of the best songs for the whole show

i am intrigued by what the season 2 has to offer for us, my dear friends and I surely will be waiting for it

now i'm just about to thank you for reading this and wish you a pleasant day!

[boxboxblog]

F1 Break: In the Mean Time

Alrighty, so as we are all well aware the 2024 season has officially come to a close. This means we will not see cars on track until late February and no racing until mid-March.

If you are looking at the almost 3 month long break we have ahead of us and panicking over what to do with yourself (like I often do), I find Winter break is a great way to get a little deeper knowledge on F1 and it's history.

Shows or Movies:

Drive to Survive (Netflix): Controversial, but fun, this "docuseries" makes the behind the scenes of F1 into a real spectacle. As long as you take a lot of their insinuations about people with a grain of salt, it's good fun and helps get view into the politics of F1.

Rush (Prime or AppleTV): A rather dramatized version of the Lauda v Hunt rivalry, but good fun.

Hunt v Lauda (Prime): If you want a less Hollywood look at this rivalry, this documentary is great.

The Formula 1 Story (YouTube): Covers the creation and evolution of F1 and it's history.

Schumacher (Netflix): Documentary on the 7x WDC's life, career, and legacy.

A Life of Speed: The Juan Manuel Fangio Story (Netflix): Covers the story of Fangio and his championships wins.

Senna: No Fear, No Limits, No Equal (Netflix): Documentary about Ayrton Senna, has a habit of saintifying Senna but is quite informative.

Fernando (Prime): A documentary about Fernando Alonso during his time racing with IndyCar. Interesting view into another series with a familiar face.

Grand Prix Driver (Prime): A short series following McLaren during their 2017 pre-season. Great look into what teams do over the break and how they prepare.

Villeneuve Pironi: Racing's Untold Tragedy (Max): A look into the Villeneuve-Pironi rivalry and it's tragic end, seen from the perspective of both of their families.

One: Life on the Limit (AppleTV): Looks into safety throughout F1's history and the early risks involved in F1.

Science of F1 Design (YouTube): Mini-series that dives into the technical side of F1, on the official F1 channel.

Podcasts:

F1: Beyond the Grid: Official from F1, this showcases interviews with drivers, TPs, and other important figures in F1 history.

Bring Back V10s: a deep-dive into the V10 era from the 90s to the early 200s.

Missed Apex: Dives into more detailed and technical things. Can be a bit biased, but c'est la vie.

Parc Ferme: Goes into race strategies and regulations.

The Race F1: Race analysis, technical breakdowns, etc.

EngineBraking: The hosts worked as engineers in F1 and have great insight.

Shift+F1: Very beginner friendly look into F1, light and humerous.

Books:

How to Build a Car by Adrian Newey: If you are interested in the more technical aspects of F1, these insights from possibly the greatest F1 car engineer of all time would be a fascinating read.

The Mechanic by Marc Priestley: Stories from a McLaren mechanic about life inside the paddock.

The Winning Formula by Ross Brawn: Dives into strategies behind winning teams.

Life to the Limit by Jenson Button: A humorous look into Button's career, is pretty lighthearted and fun to read.

Survive.Drive.Win by Nick Fry: The story of Brawn GPs 2009 championship.

F1 Mavericks by Pete Biro: Dives into innovators in F1 throughout its history, from drivers to TPs to engineers.

The Death of Ayrton Senna by Richard Williams: A heavily researched look into Senna's career.

The Physics of Racing by Brian Beckman: A very scientific approach to understanding how F1 cars run.

F1: All The Races by Roger Smith: A detailed account of every single F1 race ever. Pretty hefty, but interesting.

Formula 1: The Champions by Maurice Hamilton: Profiles of every single F1 champion and a look into how they got there.

My Life in Formula 1 by Niki Lauda: A great insight into of of the F1 legends himself, goes through his career and his own personal viewing on his rivalry with James Hunt.

Popular YouTube Channels:

Chain Bear: Goes into F1 technical aspects in simple ways, such as what ground effect is and how the tires operate.

Driver61: Explains car performance, driving techniques, and race strategy from an ex-racing car driver.

CYMotorsport: Goes into F1 controversies, innovations, and strategies.

The Race: Dives into different controversies and different f1 happenings as well as race overviews.

F1 Reverse: Dives into different times in F1 history, as well as some gossip here and there.

Nico Rosberg: Info from the mouth of an F1 champion, does some race analysis and analysis of particular race tracks (I like his How to Master series the most)

All Time Great Races:

You can also rewatch some old races, especially if you have the F1TV subscription. I will list some super great races to watch.

1994 Australian GP

1996 Spanish GP

1998 Belgian GP

1998 European GP

2005 Japanse GP

2008 Brazilian GP

2011 Canadian GP

2014 Bahrain GP

2019 German GP

Other Motorsports:

Finally, diving into other motorsports during this time is super doable in my opinion. F1 is not alone in this massive world, and their are dozens of other very interesting series. MotoGP is one of my all time favorites, and is racing on two wheels instead of four. If you think F1 drivers are crazy for doing what they do, just wait until you see someone fall off a bike and skid across the pavement at 150 mph, then you will understand real crazy. IndyCar is also a blast, and although people tend to equate it to F1 it is very different. I will list some great documentaries/series that dive into other motorsports below.

MotoGP Unlimited (Prime): A look into the 2021 MotoGP season, follows riders and teams. Great first look into how that world works.

Fastest (Prime): A look into the MotoGP rivalry between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo during the 2011 season.

Marc Marquez: All In (Prime): Story about MotoGP champion Marc Marquez and his return to racing after an intense injury.

100 Days to Indy (Netflix): Story about the drivers in IndyCar and their path to the Indy 500.

Nascar: Full Speed (Netflix): A documentary that follows a few teams and drivers as they take part in the championship.

NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed (Prime): Explores the history of this sport, super duper interesting especially with the similarities and differences to F1.

Alrighty, I hope this post is helpful! I will be doing some more series and posts throughout break, but if anyone has anything they wish to know about as always my asks are open!

Cheers,

-B

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I think the thing that would've made season 3 so interesting, and still makes it so much fun to write and read about Ed and Stede settling into a steady, comfortable, loving relationship, is they have such a great foundation in the show for how they behave when they're upset with each other.

We get two moments of conflict with them in season 2, and they may not be perfect at communicating, but they're really good with each other. Their first argument in s2e4, obviously, is coming out of a very, very high-stress situation and Ed's in an extremely emotionally vulnerable space. Their argument in s2e7, too, is an argument that Ed goes into it absolutely determined to walk away over because he's terrified Stede is going to choose piracy over him.

These are both set in very rough, scary circumstances, but it gives us a good framework here for how they treat each other during arguments.

Ed especially can be a bit catty and petty, and and they will both say things that are a bit harsh, but never overly so. Ed says earlier in s2e4 that he "regretted" shaving his beard, by which he really meant "I shouldn't have trusted you, Stede." Stede calls Ed a coward in s2e7 (which, in his defense, Ed kind of is being a coward in that moment because he's too scared to just ask Stede to stay with him).

Neither of them really raise their voices at all. Ed shouts a bit in s2e4, but quickly brings his voice back down, and for the most part they do a commendable job of talking calmly with each other even when emotions are high.

There is potential for Stede to leave things out and for Ed to phrase things in ways that come across as overly harsh or might lead Stede to miss the point. Stede is entirely unwilling in s2e4 to explain why he left Ed other than "panicking," when elaborating that he was held at gunpoint would probably in fact make Ed feel better about the whole thing because Stede was suddenly put into a situation where thinking rationally was very difficult. Ed, too, told Stede that he thought "last night was a mistake," which could make Stede worry about about the sex they had specifically when Ed was aiming for a more general "everything is moving very fast and I'm scared."

They're both actually really very good at communicating even in arguments. In s2e4 they both clearly tell each other what they're feeling without stooping to personal attacks. In s2e7, Ed is determined for the argument to escalate, but Stede is always trying to meet him calmly and talk it through reasonably even though he doesn't really understand what's going on. When Ed sets a boundary that he's not ready to hear Stede tell him he loves him yet, Stede pivots smoothly and easily.

They very clearly do not want to hurt each other, and they don't believe the other will hurt them. Ed never once reacts to Stede's compliments like he thinks they might be disingenuous, despite the circumstances, and he explicitly doesn't want the argument to escalate to a point where they "say things we can't take back" in s2e7.

Altogether, I think Ed and Stede definitely do have the potential to hurt each other in arguments and say hurtful things that come across differently than they intended, but they have such a strong foundation here for excellent communication. They're never overy harsh with each other, and there are opportunities for miscommunication, but on the whole they're both really good at listening to each other calmly and communicating their feelings even in high-stress situations. Their worst argument is definitely the one in s2e7, and even then it's more of a "stomp out of your boyfriend's house in a huff then apologize the next day" kind of argument.

[coraniaid]

buffy/faith for the ask game

(Reverse unpopular opinions)

Easily my favorite Buffy ship and one of my favorites in any work of fiction. I think the main reasons it works so well for me are:

The way it resonates so strongly with what's going on in the rest of the show the season Faith arrives. I mean, Buffy comes out to her mother (as a Slayer), which is treated by the show as ... well, as Buffy coming out ("it's because you didn't have a strong father figure, isn't it?" / "have you tried ... not being a Slayer?" / "I've tried to march in the Slayer Pride Parade...") and a handful of episodes later Buffy meets another girl who is also a Slayer and who she starts spending a lot of time with (because they have a connection -- "it's kind of a Slayer thing" -- which she doesn't have with her other, non-Slayer friends). And while they're busy patrolling cemeteries and looking for vampires every night, this other Slayer is keen to (1) talk to Buffy about sex and quiz her on her love life; (2) repeatedly tell her that "all men are beasts" and "losers" who can't be trusted; (3) suggest that Buffy should be more open to having sex with the people she spends her nights hunting vampires with (like ... who, Faith?); and (4) is delighted when Buffy breaks up with her boyfriend (and later furious when she gets back together with her previous ex) and immediately suggests that she could replace him ("You're still going to that dance, right? [...] Why don't we go together?"). If this was deliberately laying the ground work for an explicitly romantic arc, it would feel pretty heavy-handed. The fact that it apparently wasn't (at least not on the part of the showrunner or of most of the writers) almost makes it work better, in some ways.

The way that Faith is, from the very beginning, very deliberately written as a foil for Buffy, a person Buffy might have been if things went just a little differently in her life -- because she goes through things very much like things the audience has already seen Buffy go though (living alone in a small place in a strange town with no friends all season the way Buffy did in Anne, panicking and starting to pack to run away in Faith, Hope & Trick in the same way Buffy was accused of doing just the episode before, killing a person the way Buffy thought she had in Season 2's Ted, the way her fear of Kakistos mirrors Buffy's fear of the Master in When She Was Bad) and because she is so aware of the fact that she's always being compared to Buffy and coming up short, either by other people or herself ("you get the Mom, you get the Watcher ... what do I get?") it's very easy to tie Faith's arc across the show back to Buffy and to her feelings about Buffy. Faith wanting Buffy to accept her becomes Faith wanting this idealized version of herself to forgive her failings. And likewise Buffy recriprocating Faith's feelings and admitting to herself that she is attracted to Faith becomes Buffy accepting that Faith (and the things she represents) really are an integral part of Buffy herself; that Faith isn't entirely wrong when she says that Buffy enjoys being a Slayer and that being a Slayer is something she should be proud of (or, again, being "a Slayer").

Apparently this wasn't the original plan for the character (if there ever was anything like an 'original plan'), but the fact Faith's arc in Season 3 so clearly mirrors Angel's in Season 2 -- and the fact she is so very weird about Angel all season (and that Buffy is equally weird about how attracted to Faith she just keeps insisting Angel must be) just naturally suggests that Faith might have a similiar role to Angel in the narrative beyond just the circumstances of her betrayal of (and later not-quite-being-killed by) Buffy. And Angel is -- for the first three seasons of the show at least -- primarily cast in the role of Buffy's doomed tragic love interest who she has to (metaphorically) kill but will later be reunited with. Which makes Faith ... well, something.

Even if not all the writers were on board, the fact that Eliza Dushku was deliberately playing Faith as attracted to Buffy (and that SMG was playing Buffy as alternately frustrated by and protective of and tempted by Faith) gives their scenes together a chemistry that I don't think most of Buffy's (or Buffy's) canon relationships ever managed. Whether that's the Amends porch scene or Buffy kissing Faith in the hospital in Graduation Day or any and all of their various fights across the show. And those fight scenes are all great, which is another thing I love about the ship: is it really a proper enemies-to-lovers arc if one of the people in it hasn't tried to kill the other one and left them in a coma for months?

Faith's return to Buffy in the last five epsiodes of the show is one of the last season's saving graces, and it helps that by this point the writers definitely seemed to be playing up the ship deliberately ("Willow said you needed me: didn't give it a lot of thought" / "Defensiveness and weird mixed signals ... I've got Faith for that" / "Deep down you've always wanted Buffy to accept you. To love you." / "It feels like it's mine ... I guess that means it's yours"). Even without ever being canon and without wandering what happens post-Chosen, it feels like there's a real narrative arc to their relationship, from their initially rocky start through to "just good friends" to bitter enemies through to Faith seeking (and finding) some measure of redemption and Buffy cautiously letting her back into her life. Faith isn't in the show much (or even mentioned in the show in most episodes), but it feels like she has a genuinely meaningful connection to Buffy that most characters who appeaer in less than a season's worth of episodes can't manage.

The thing that made the ship work for me, rewatching the show after several years back in 2020, is the fact that Faith is -- even at her worst -- incredibly sympathetic precisely because she is such a loser and hates herself so much. She boasts about being a great actor despite the fact we see her awkwardly telling the sort of transparent lies that ... well, normally only Buffy manages (compare "There's this big party ..." in Amends to Buffy trying to tell her old crush Ford that "there was a cat ... and then there was another cat, and they were fighting"), she wants people to think she's cool so badly but only manages to fool Xander and Willow, she tries to act as though she's happy without friends but we only ever see her alone sitting watching old tv shows or lying listlessly on her bed, she insists she doesn't need a Watcher and "has a problem with authority figures" but she is so openly desperate for any sort of parental guidance in her life that she sides with first Mrs Post then the Mayor. She ties Buffy's mom up so she can have someone to listen to how sad she is that Buffy's moved on to a new guy in college and "dumped" her. The scene in the church in Who Are You? where Faith-as-Buffy furiously attacks Buffy-as-Faith while screaming through tears that she's "nothing ... disgusting ... murderous bitch" is, I think, a strong contendor for the best scene the show ever produced.

As Doug Petrie said, the reason Faith works as a character -- and the reason that Buffy/Faith works as a ship -- is that Faith is incredibly unhappy. If Faith was the cool loner she tries to pass herself off as -- and which some of the fandom seems to think she is -- the ship wouldn't be nearly as compelling to me. Faith isn't just the part of Buffy who loves Slaying and pushes back when other people give her orders, and she's not just another verison of Angelus. She's the part of Buffy from Becoming who lost everything and ran away from home, only unlike Buffy she never got to go home again. As Angel asked Buffy in that episode: "no friends, no hope ... take that away, what's left?". Well, Faith is what's left. Of course Buffy would see herself in Faith, right from the beginning. Of course Buffy would want to protect her. As Buffy (Sunnydale Class Protector 1999) tells Angel, Faith is in pain ... she's somebody who "some people ... protective-type people" are naturally drawn to. The show is very consistent about the fact that Buffy's type is friendless losers who look good in leather and can fight alongside her in battle (but not quite as well, so she can protect them and look after them when they're hurt). And what bigger loser in the show is there than Faith?

[oldtvandcomics]

The Lucifer/Alastor rivalry is so fun, because, well, Hell's Greatest Dad sing-off, but also, while they have strikingly similar designs, Alastor is much, MUCH better at being satanic than Lucifer is.

First of all, they really look VERY similar. In a show where every character has such a unique design, I remember feeling disappointed the first time I saw a picture of what Lucifer would look like, because it was so similar to Alastor. Same general shape, same coat, they even both have a staff of some kind. Only of course, if you were to remove all the apple, snake and radio elements from their costumes and show this picture to someone who doesn't know Hazbin Hotel and ask which of the two is the Devil, they would definitely pick Alastor. He is taller, wears dark red instead of white, and his ears look like horns.

It goes even further. Among all demons, Alastor is by far the most demonic. When he transforms he really becomes absolutely monstrous. Lucifer meanwhile is angelic.

Within the story, Lucifer doesn't do much, especially not any Devil activities. He's just trying to dissociate from his depression by making rubber ducks. Meanwhile, Alastor is the one who is working hard on gaining power, he is the one manipulating people, killing those who get in his way and chaining souls to himself by making deals. He is the one who uses his political connections to get Charlie an army at the end, and despite not being able to kill Adam, he does a very good job holding his own against him.

Hell's Greatest Dad was not about being Charlie's father figure, it was about Alastor trying to take Lucifer's place. Quite literally. "Can you butt out of my song!" "Your song?! I started this!" "I'm singing it, I'll finish it!" Yeah, so this is at the same time about 1) the literal song they're singing, 2) Charlie's life, and 3) Alastor taking Lucifer's place by pushing him to the side.

I still don't know why Alastor decided that picking a fight with Lucifer upon sight was a good idea, but, like, we can all agree that he is aiming for his place, mostly by getting Charlie to depend on him. Which is also what his line in Ready For This was: "She's filled with potential that I could guide / Stick with her you'll be on the winning side!"

Many people theorize that Alastor is the final bad guy in the show. I don't think so, he is WAY too likeable. He is, however, firmly on his own side, and will go against Charlie if he thinks that he'd benefit from it. And then switch back the last moment, obviously. He panicked now about being too kind, next season, he's going to try and be more ruthless, try to stop caring about the people he clearly started to consider his friends. But he has to end up on the side of the heroes for the audience to be happy. Villains need to be destroyed, we do NOT want Alastor to be destroyed.

No, in my opinion, he is going to take Lucifer's place as the Devil.

[papajscupcake]

I PROMISE YOU THAT BABY

I PROMISE YOU THAT BABY | GHOSTFACE!RAFECAMERON X FEM!READER |IMAGINE

PAIRING: Ghostface!RafeCameron X Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: She finds out he’s Ghostface but is he the bad guy he is made out to be

WORD COUNT: 1749

WARNING(S): swearing,knives, mentions of murder

AUTHOR NOTE: It is officially spooky season well has been for the past two weeks BUT I’m going to try to be posting spooky imagines so watch out for them okay Bye!

It was late at night about 11:00pm, she had just finished her shift at the restaurant she has work in for 3 years now, usually she would be tired and wanted to go straight to bed however tonight she felt a bit more awake and bouncier today then usual, so when she stepped into her apartment and locked the door she practically skipped towards hers and her boyfriend’s room.

they have only been together a year and a half and decided 5 months ago they should move in together, they were so in love a type of love you would see in Disney movies but when she is with Rafe he was the perfect man for her, he was her Prince, she thought of him as the most loving,caring and innocent man you would ever meet, but what she didn’t know,

he was far from it.

She goes up to the door and opens it wider revealing Rafe In a long black robe with his mask in his veiny hands, she stops in her tracks as he mouth hangs open in shock her eyes unmoving from him,

a gasp coming from her lips also stops Rafe from what he was doing and turns his head quickly in her direction a look of surprise and guiltiness shines in his wide ocean blue eyes

“Rafe you still there?”A voice from his phone asked but her mind was elsewhere to hear who was on the phone

The feeling of betrayal runs thick through her body and she does what her gut tells her, she turns and runs back out the bedroom.

On her way out she swings the bedroom door shut behind her and races to the front door but Rafe was quicker and manages to grab her waist pulling her harshly into his arms then started to forcefully drag her into their bedroom

“let go! Get off me!”The girl yelled kicking her legs and thrashing around in his arms when her gripped on her body harder she let out a scream, Rafe covers her mouth muffling her scream and he pins her to the wall covering her mouth with his glove covered hand and holding her to the wall the best he can with her wriggling body

“Be quiet!”He hissed pushing his hand harder into her mouth she lifts her knee up and uses as much force as she can right into his stomach and bites down onto his finger hard enough for him to let her go

“Ow Fuck! ‘….’!”he exclaimed holding his finger and stomach she takes this chance and starts to run out the bedroom door she doesn’t get lucky and get tackled to the floor

“No! No!”She exclaimed as she tried to army crawl away from Rafe but he pulls her leg’s towards him

“Baby just trust me”He whispered to her once he managed to pull her into him successfully, he gets up before dragging her back towards the bedroom once again, not believing a word from her boyfriend she tries to crawl away from him

he shuts the door with his foot then crouches next to her pathetic attempt of escaping and flips her onto her back before straddling her waist and rests his legs on her arms enough for her to be trapped but not hard enough to hurt he grips his hand on her jaw preventing her from speaking

“Sh sh sh baby no screaming now”He hushed staring into her panicking wandering eyes which land on the knives on the bed which causes her to panic more and let our a muffled sob

“Calm down!”He growled pushing her further onto the floor as he tries to keep her still but she doesn’t stop moving and tears of pain and feeling betrayed are flowing down her cheeks

“Let me go…Please-Rafe let me go”She cried and sobbed as the tear trickled down her cheeks

“ ‘….’ stop! Stop! just-stop moving your going to make it worse for yourself!”He reached to the side and grabbed one of the knifes and held it up to her cheek making her stop instantly while another choked sob escapes her lips

“Are you going to listen now? Because if you don’t I will cut you!”he tries to gives her a gulity look showing her sympathy which she knows he’s not very good at showing his emotions however she did notice this detail

he takes his hand away from her jaw and very gently puts the knife to the ground beside her head as if he didn’t what the unknown person on the phone to know he was faking this whole act, he leans down to her ear gave it a little kiss then whispered

“Just go with this okay? I wont and never will hurt you, I promise, trust me baby”He whispered and gave her cheek a small peck before leaning up straight and looking at her with pleading eyes

she sees in his eyes that he doesn’t want to do this and who ever was on the phone he didn’t want to disappoint them and possibly cause them to kill Rafe she nods telling him silently that she will play along

“Okay! Okay please don’t hurt me!”She cried making Rafe give her a grateful smile

“Good, you are not going to tell anybody what you saw and if I find out you did, oh baby then you can say bye bye to your friends”He spoke loud enough for the person on the phone to hear

“No-“She fake sobbed shaking her head

“Yes! Yes ‘….’ ! everyone you love well apart from me of course I will kill them if you tell anyone! All you have to do it keep that pretty mouth shut”He said cupping her cheek with his hands instead of hatred and disgust like his words his eyes held such a different feelings such as guilt,love and sympathy.

“Fuck you”She gritted through her teeth tears glistening in her eyes as she still felt the pit in her heart of being betrayed in the first place and a stray tear goes down her cheek

“God,You sweet dumb thing, I’ll let that slide for now since this is a new fun game but if you do that again you and your friends won’t be so lucky, okay baby?”Rafe spoke using his thumb to wipe away the tear

“Okay Rafe”She choked out a sob

“Good girl, now let’s go and finish making a plan to kill our-well mainly your friends, your gonna help or you know what will happen”Rafe leans over to the bed and grabs his phone before pressing the speaker button

“Rafe? Did she agree?, is she in?”The voice of Ward Cameron asked a voice that should no longer be heard as he was annoyed dead a month ago, she eyes widen at the voice and she stared into his eyes while he stared in her

“Yes she did Dad, and I will go over the plan with her”Rafe answered staring at her trying to not tear up at her confused and betrayed look on her face

“Okay son if she doesn’t follow suit, kill her we don’t need a pathetic and useless bitch on the team”Ward Cameron growled making Rafe clench his jaw at the insult his father said about the girl and look at his girlfriend who stared at him waiting for his answer

“Alright dad, bye”He said before hanging up and throwing the phone onto the bed he looked at his girl then stood up holding his hand out waiting for her to take she lifted hers and took it Rafe helped her up and held her cheek wiping the tear away

“Baby I’m so so sorry, I was going to tell you but I couldn’t he would’ve killed you if I told I-“He began to ramble but got interrupted when she pushed his chest making him stumble away from her with teary eyes

“Why would you do this? I- I trusted you and you fucked me over! How could you you fucking asshole!”She exclaimed hitting his chest which Rafe let her do looking into her tear filled eyes with so much guilt and pain

“I didn’t- I don’t want to do this baby! He’s making me! If I didn’t agree to do this he would’ve killed you and maybe even killed me too”He admitted after She stopped hitting him and was now just staring at Rafe while he spoke

“I get if you want to break up with me and never want to see me again or tell everyone that my family and I are the killers but I haven’t killed anyone that was all Rose and my dad I promise you and I want you to know that I love you so so much and I would never ever hurt you”Rafe gave her a small glance up from the ground he was staring at previously she let out a sigh and took a step closer to him

“Rafe baby, I’m not breaking up with you…”She whispered reaching to take his hand in hers which he let her take she tubbed her thumb along his boney knuckles staring at them for a moment then back up to the boy who was watching her carefully

“But if what you just said is a lie then I will not hesitate to tell the others”She told him in a stern tone that honestly made a shiver go it Rafe’s spine he gulped and nodded his head

“I understand, baby, I’m sorry I-“He began but got interrupted

“You tackled me, dragged me along the floor, put a knife to my cheek and pinned my arms down, it’s fine- I mean it’s not but I forgive you” She said lacing her fingers with his

“Did I hurt you? I really didn’t mean to if I did-“He was surprised when he heard her chuckle softly

“What-why are you laughing?”he asked with a eyebrow raised “You are just adorable even though your family are killers”She explained he let out a short lighthearted scoff and shook his head

“So are we okay?”he asked looking at her with hopeful eyes

“Yes doofus that’s what I’m saying”she exclaimed with an eye roll he let out a small ‘oh’ then softly pulled her into a hug

She pushed her head into his chest snuggling into his body tightly

“I’m sorry that I bite you and kneed you”She whispered looking up at him with innocent pleading eyes

“It’s okay I deserve it, I’m gonna stop this, I’m going to stop this for you”Rafe whispered back then leaned down and gave his girl a peck on the lips

“I promise you that baby”

If you have any requests you want me to do either dm me or comment :)

[could-they-win-jungle-run]

Welcome to Jungle Run!

This is an incredibly self-indulgent blog where I post polls of trios and you vote whether they would win the golden monkey or not. The golden monkey is the top prize, and your team must use your speed and wits to get to it in time.

Now, wtf is Jungle Run?

Jungle run is a game show that aired 1999-2006 where a group of kids do challenges and are rewarded with monkey statues. Each monkey statue gives them 10 seconds in the final temple where they have up to 3 minutes to complete 4 challenges. After completing each challenge they will get, in order: The Stone monkey, Bronze monkey, Silver monkey and the Golden monkey.

The goal is to get as many monkeys as you can, and bring them out with you before you run out of time and the door to the temple closes.

You can watch the first episode on youtube (and many more)!

The voting options

Yes, with the golden monkey They have enough time to complete all the challenges, take each monkey and get out before the door closes

No, they lose at the final riddle and get silver The final challenge in this season is to solve an easy question with a 5-letter answer, and each person has to stand on the right letter at the same time (on different platforms) to spell the answer.

No, they lose at the cog puzzle and get bronze A lot of kids have lost to the cog puzzle. You have to use your smarts to put a few cogs in the right place so you can spin them and make the door open.

No, they lose at the jigsaw puzzle and get stone A surprising amount of kids lose to the jigsaw puzzle. It's a large 6-piece puzzle. There are faint marks that show where each piece goes. You probably lose here if you're panicking, uncoordinated, or have never done a jigsaw puzzle in your life.

No, they lose at the ball maze and get nothing The "ball maze" means they have to tilt a platform with a maze and a ball in it until the ball goes into the hole, similar to the Myahm Agana Shrine in BOTW.

No, they run out of time and get locked in It doesn't matter how many monkeys they got, because they didn't make it out in time. Maybe they got too greedy or were too slow.

Submission rules

Of course you can submit your own trios to compete. Here are the rules:

Submit through my ask box! You can include a picture and/or propaganda if you want.

They should be a trio. I can make occasional exceptions if it's a 4 person group (because early jungle run had groups of 4!) and maybe if it's a funny "could they solo jungle run". But generally just 3 characters. Also, they don't have to be associated in canon, you can make up any team you like.

Any ages are ok, even though it's a game meant for kids.

Real people are allowed at my discretion.

dividers used are by plum98.