#they made out after the stage curtains closed btw

[naegamisupremacy]

mandatory halloween post is here!! happy halloween guys :D ive delivered the naegami dressed as a magician and a bunny cuz why tf not right, and i had full intention to make togami the bunny just to see him in bunny ears and tail and also cuz i need to babygirl him as much as possible amen

if ppl actually want byakuya in the playboy costume then i will deliver

[rafesangelita]

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ breaking the one rule he was always supposed to follow, rafe found himself sitting in the shadows of the gentlemen’s club where bitchy!pogue!reader worked at. imagine your surprise when you find out the person that paid for a private dance with you is your brother’s best friend.. and business partner.

warnings: dealer!rafe, stripper!reader, brother’s best friend trope, mentions of you and barry arguing, sexual tension, flirty banter, making out, heavy petting

a/n: this is what bitchy!pogue!reader is wearing in this btw.. i watched anora and worked on this right after lol

wc: 1.1k

rafe knew it was wrong the second he got in his truck and drove down to ‘pink sugar’ to see if you were there. he knew it was wrong when he walked in and scanned the room for you, and he knew it was wrong when he took a corner seat furthest from the stage. after overhearing you and barry arguing about what you did for work, rafe couldn’t help himself from seeing what was making you come home with a duffle bag full of cash. his curiosity got the best of him, and when he saw you emerge from behind the curtains, pink lace lingerie hugging the curves of your body, the cutest pair of bunny ears adorning your head, with a little bunny tail on your g-string to match, all the guilt he once felt melted away into nothing.

you were sin with legs. rafe watched you smile at the men in the front, the group of them emptying their wallets when you hadn’t even did anything to make them shower you with cash. then again, rafe felt the urge himself to give you all of his money just because you were so pretty. rafe swallowed thickly when your song started and the lights went low, everyone’s attention zeroing in on you as you lowered yourself to the glossy floor of the stage. he watched you crawl to the center, arching your back as the rhinestones around your eyes sparkled under the club lighting. one of the men reached out, poking the little ball that was your bunny tail, slipping what looked like a hundred dollar bill in the string of your bottoms.

rafe hated the way the men in here were looking at you right now, his fists clenching at his sides as he imagined what kind of thoughts were currently running through their heads. “that’s it, baby!” a drunken holler was shouted, the rest of the club following suit and bursting into a fit of cheers when you managed to spin around the pole in the middle of the stage. rafe watched in awe, deciding he needed to get you to himself, and away from the hungry stares of the crowded club. making his way over to the bouncers that stood outside of a concealed hallway, he handed both of them a few crispy bills. “get the one on stage with me and i’ll double it.” without another word, both of the security guards moved aside, letting rafe through.

you finished the rest of your set, blowing kisses to the men who made it a mission of theirs to spoil you rotten tonight before you made your way to the locker rooms where you refreshed your hair and makeup. “y/n?” nancy, the owner’s right hand woman walked in, “i have a private dance for a younger gentleman in room five.. he requested you specifically.” you smiled at her through the reflection of the mirror. “okay, i’ll be right over.” you nodded, giving yourself one more glance before making your way down the dimly lit hallway. the first private dance of the night always made you a little anxious, but at least you knew you were guaranteed a hundred dollars that you didn’t have to share.

you took a breath, twisting the door knob open before going in, shutting the door closed right after. “i must be special if you chose me..” you placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, walking around him before standing between his legs. looking down, you felt your heart drop to your stomach when he looked up, the face all too familiar to you. “yeah, you are.” you gasped, retreating your hand from him as if he burned you. “what the fuck do you think you’re doing, rafe?!” you nearly lost your footing when you stepped back, suddenly feeling exposed as his eyes trailed down your body. “what? i’m just a paying customer.” he shrugged, tossing back the drink in his hand.

“oh, yeah? tell that to barry. he’ll kill you if he finds out you were here.” you scoffed, your eyes meeting his. rafe stared at you for a moment, motioning for you to get closer to him. you swallowed thickly, the small disco ball in the room illuminating his features. “i’m not gonna do anything to you, i just wanted you away from everyone out there.” he spoke lowly. you took a step, accepting the hand he held out for you before he guided you onto his lap. you wrapped an arm around his shoulders like it was second nature, his large palm running up and down your thigh. “sooo.. you think you’re doing me a favor by pulling me back here so no one else can watch me dance?” your face was just mere inches away from rafe’s.

“i’m losing out on a lot of money, ‘country club..” you whispered, the slow music playing softly in the background. “how much do you want. throw me whatever number you’d like.” you smiled, your fingers slipping underneath the hem of his polo. “two thousand,” you spoke, “with interest.” rafe laughed, nodding his head as he trailed his hand from your thigh to your hip, adjusting the strap of your g-string against your skin. “with interest, huh?” he smirked, eyes falling down to your lips, “..i’d happily give that to you.” you leaned in first, just wanting to feel his lips on yours. rafe stilled for a second, a groan rumbling from his chest when he pulled you closer by your neck, returning your kiss tenfold.

“is barry home?” he was breathless when he pulled away, his hands roaming your body as if he wanted to take you right then and there. at the mention of your brother, reality seemed to grip its claws into you when you realized what you were doing right now. rafe saw the look of confliction pass over your face, his fingers cupping your chin to avert your attention back onto him. “hey..” he whispered, “i won’t tell if you don’t.” his words echoed in your head, his cologne and his proximity overtaking your senses. as if you two were meeting on the same page, rafe watched as your eyes grew dark, a smile gracing your lips. “i don’t kiss and tell, rafe.” as if a flip switched, you two began ravaging each other once more.

time slowed when you two moaned into each other’s mouths, grappling onto one another as if the two of you would disappear if you let go. “barry’s gone for the night.” you managed to speak between kisses, rafe nodding as he cupped you through your bra. just as he was going to tell you to leave with him, the bouncer outside the door yelled that rafe’s thirty minutes were up. “what the fuck, already?” he glanced down at his watch. you sighed, letting rafe pick you up before he kissed you one more time. “get your shit and let’s go, i’ll be waiting at the front door.” he squeezed the globes of your ass, making you gasp as he walked out. and just like that, rafe never let you step foot in that club again.

[tadpoletiddles]

𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏

PART 1

Brozone x Reader (fem)

WARNING: NSFW

~takes place after the Brozone reunion

~neither Bruce nor Branch are with Brandy/Poppy btw

(sorry if there are any typos)

°:. *₊ ° . *₊ . ° .•*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*'°:. *₊ ° . ° .•°:. *

Brozone had always had some 'crazy' fans during their early days. It was normal for fans to send gifts like cards and various memorabilia; however, every once in a while, the boys would get odd fan mail.

This one time, when the boys were in their younger Brozone days, Floyd received a rather raunchy love letter from a fan, which entailed all the dirty things they wanted to do with Floyd. After the boys had split up, you had tried to keep in touch with each of them. Gosh, were you so happy to see them reunited again, not just as brothers, but as Brozone.  The band's reunion sparked an uproar among their fans, who were so excited to see them perform again.  Of course, some of the crazy fans also came back with much more creative 'gifts.' You attended every show because you were so close to the boys and remained friends after so many years. They even allowed you to act like a manager most of the time, even giving you one of those little headsets with the microphones. During their shows, you would be behind the scenes, ensuring everything went smoothly.  Tonight was no different than any other night. As the boys finished their last song, you heard one of the stagehands come through your headset, "That's a wrap! shows over, security, make sure everyone makes it out safely, and- woah, what?" You peeked from behind the stage curtains, seeing what the issue may be. A squealing fan was Among the crowd; from where you stood, you could see them pushing their way toward the front of the stage. "Security!" came through your headset once more. Your eyebrows furrowed as you saw the troll throw something, a blur of color flying towards the boys. A gasp escaped you as the projectile made contact with Brozone. The boys coughed and sputtered as a milky, powdery cloud misted over them. Just as you were about to step out from the curtain, you realized what had been thrown at them and sighed in relief, "the fan threw flowers," you spoke through your comm. 

Security was able to wrangle up the crowd and escort everyone out of the concert area while a guard escorted Brozone back to their private pod where they were staying for the night. Everything had been cleaned up rather quickly, and you left the little that was left to the stagehands so you could go and check on your friends. You waved to the crew, and you began to head to the pod. You hadn't seen this pod yet, but it didn't look much different on the outside from the other ones that were provided for Brozone by the venues. All was quiet outside, aside from the chirping of a few crickets and the sway of the breeze. However, you could pick out a slight groan or two from inside the pod as you neared the door.

You raised your hand up and knocked twice on the door of their pod, "Guys, it's me, Y/N, let me in." It took a moment before someone shuffled towards the door to open it. The door opened slowly, and Bruce peered out at you, "Y-Y/N." "Bruce," you responded to him, a hint of worry in your voice at his unusual tone of voice. His face was freckled with what you assumed to be remnants of the pollen cloud from the flying bouquet earlier.  Something seemed off about him; he usually had a pleasant aura to him when he saw you, but right now, he seemed stressed like he was hiding something. "Are you guys okay?" you put a hand on the door to open it the rest of the way and push past him. You could have sworn you heard him let out a gasp as you slid past him; what the hell was going on? You looked around the pod to the rest of the boys. Branch and Floyd were not in the living room area and must have been in one of the other rooms while Clay and John Dory were on the couch. Clay was lying on his stomach on one end of the couch, and John Dory, on the other, slumped over with a hand in his hair. Bruce was shutting the door as you turned back around to him. "What's up with you guys?" Before Bruce could answer, JD tilted his head up to look at you. He held a strained expression as he spoke, "It's the pollen." You think back to the cloud of it that had sprayed over the boys as JD muttered something, then sighed as he looked at your confused state. "The flowers, they um, their pollen is..." he stumbled over his words, and you were wondering where his sudden nervousness came from, "an aphrodisiac." Your mouth opens to ask another question, but he answers it for you, "you learn a lot from hiking the Neverglade trail." It wasn't until now that you realized Clay had been staring you down this entire time, his eyes lacking typical shine and instead glossed over. Your eyes shifted to look back to John Dory, who you realized shared the same countenance, then finally to Bruce, whose eyebrows were furrowed when his eyes met your own. They were eyeing you like a predator does its prey, ready to devour it. Bruce stepped towards you, "you should leave," he said, swallowing harshly. "How long does this last, John Dorry?" you redirected your attention back to the eldest brother, who just frowned at you, "Days, unless..." He was being so cryptic and it was starting to frustrate you, all you wanted to do was help, "unless what John, spit it out." Bruce grabbed your arm, "Y/N," his grip didn't hurt, but it was firm. You put two and two together, flushing as soon as you did. You were a big girl, though, and were capable of making your own decisions. Besides, it wasn't like you'd never thought about them in that way before, even if sometimes it felt wrong. "Is that what you want, for me to leave?" you said, not asking either in particular, but rather both of them. "Y/N," Bruce repeated your name again, his eyes no longer pleading with you but warning you of what could be to come. "That is your choice, sweetheart," John said, which made you quiver a bit at this new nickname; looking at Bruce one last time, you locked the door.

"You know what you're getting yourself into?" Bruce let go of your hand, taking another step towards you. He walked you backward to the counter, where he placed a hand on either side of you, boxing you in. A small whimper left your lips at his sudden closeness. John Dory chuckled, "I'm not sure if she does," he got up off the couch and sauntered towards the two of you, "How about we show her." Your eyes flickered between JD and Bruce. "I think we'll save the best for last for you," JD hummed, and you nodded your head in response, making him smirk. Clay now sat up from his place on the couch, and JD looked over his shoulder to him, "Clay, you wanna get our girl here started?" Your core quivered at his words, and you took notice of the growing heat in your underwear. Bruce hooked a finger under the waistband of your pants, "Let's get rid of these, shall we," and gave them a tug down, helping you step out of them; off next came your shirt. You shivered from the new coolness that came from your lacking clothing. "Alright, sweetheart," JD huffed, placing his hands under your thighs to lift you up, "Comere, you wanna help, then you've got a lot of work to do." You were hoisted up into John's arms, which pushed your body forward, pressing your nose against his, making John smile. He brought you over to Clay, who had already stripped his wool romper off to expose what the pollen had done to his member, which was bobbing up and down as it throbbed. Clay was laid back against the couch cushions, legs spread, awaiting you. Before John could set you down, he placed a kiss on your cheek, and you responded with a kiss yourself, grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling him in. He wasn't expecting it but very quickly dove into the kiss and was soon holding you up while the two of you sloppily made out. Bruce came from where he was leaning on the counter to sit on the couch, not far from Clay, watching the scene unfold, "I guess we aren't the only ones pent up, hm?"

Clay took the opportunity of having you held up to pull aside your underwear; he then looked over to his brother beside him, "Oh Bruce, look at this; she's soaking fucking wet." Bruce raised an eyebrow and leaned over to see your pussy practically drooling. Bruce clicked his tongue, "Our poor girl," you moaned into John's mouth at Bruce's words. John Dory's lips separated from yours and moved their way across your jaw and down your neck before he started to pull you off him to set you between Bruce and Clay. You were now at eye level with JD's tented shorts, your eyes widening at the sight. He took a hand and grunted as he adjusted himself. The cushion bowed as Clay slid over closer to you, his hands sliding around your waist. He shifted to pull your back flush against him, his cock coming to rest between your thighs. You let out a sound of surprise at his actions, looking up to John Dory, who leaned down to your face. His hand tilted up your chin, "I'll be back. Be a good girl, won't you?" he winked. Your cheeks flushed, not just because JD had been so forward but also because Clay had pulled your thighs farther apart, allowing his cock to slide against the lips of your pussy through your underwear. John Dory walked off to another room, glancing back at you again and smiling. 

A hand came up to the front of your bra, where it was hooked together, and unclasped it. Your breasts bounced out, revealing, "Nipple piercings didn't take you for the type," Bruce chuckled, his eyes raking over your body. He watched as Clay's hands ran up your sides, one going up to play with one of your breasts, the other going down under your panties. His fingers grazed your clit, making you jolt slightly. "Don't tease the poor girl, Clay," "Alright, alright," Clay giggled. In an instant, you were shoved down on your stomach, letting out a yelp. Clay yanked your hips up, grabbed your tail, which was flicking back and forth to keep it still, and pulled your panties down your thighs. "So pretty," Clay hummed, running a finger up and down your folds. You whined, "Clay, fuck me already," arching your back into his touch. "Ask nicely," he said in a more stern tone, holding your hips still. "Please," you begged him, "please fuck me so good." The grip on your hips adjusted slightly, "There you go~." Not a minute more was wasted as Clay lined himself up, the tip of his cock prodding your folds. He pulled your hips back into him as he slid in slowly, "Ngh, fuck, she's so tight, " Clay said to Bruce. There was a moment when he was fully in, and he stopped to let you adjust. However, it wasn't long until he began to thrust into you. You tried to hold in your moans, but it was becoming harder as Clay's thrusts sped up. "No need to be quiet, we wanna hear that beautiful voice," it was John Dory, who had returned from the other room. Following behind him were Floyd and Branch. Floyd watched in awe as you took Clay so nicely, smiling, while Branches' face was priceless, with his mouth agape practically to the floor. You turned your head from where it was buried into the couch cushion, seeing the three standing there through your half-lidded eyes. Your hands dug into the fabric of the couch, hanging on for dear life as Clay plunged deep inside. The only thing you could think about was his cock stretching your walls. You were the only thing the boys had their attention on, all eyes glued to you. Your moans grew louder as your stomach tightened.

"Aww, someone's getting close~," Floyd cooed as his tail wagged. Clay grunted as he thrust deep into you once more, "She's not the only one." A few more thrusts and your walls were clamping down on him, your thighs shaking. It wasn't until you were coming down from that high that you noticed Clay's thrusts getting faster. "Can I-" "Y-Yeah," you stuttered out. Clay almost came right then and there hearing your words, although it took a few more thrusts before he did. He yanked your hips to meet his last thrust as his thick, milky cum shot up into you. The walls of your pussy fluttered around him as the warm sensation oozed through it. "Fuck," was all he said as he pulled out, his cum already leaking out of you. 

You pushed yourself up and leaned back against the couch, your legs splayed out, showing your pussy, which still oozed out cum. Your eyes flickered to JD, who stared at you with a smug expression, "One of you wanna clean her up," he said suggestively. Floyd jumped up at the opportunity, eagerly shuffling forward from where he sat on the floor to sit in front of you. "May I?" Floy asked politely as his face nuzzled against your thigh. The way he looked up from between your legs made your heart flutter. Floyd was always so sweet, even now, cutely cuddling into you, nearly drooling over your pussy. Taking your hand, you ran it through his pink hair, lightly tugging on it, "Mhm." His tail flailed around wildly, and he nuzzled his way closer to your pussy. His lips peppered kisses along your inner thighs, giving a soft nip to the sensitive skin. Floyd's tongue darted across your slit, erupting a moan from you. As he continued to slowly lap at your pussy, you glanced around at the others. JD was palming his bulge through his pants, still holding a smug little smirk on his face, and Bruce was intently watching your hips buck up into his younger brother's mouth. Your eyes flickered to Branch last, who was trying his best to hide his obvious boner with his hands. "Branch-ah," Floyd's tongue swept over your swollen clit, and you peeked down at him for a second, seeing his giddy little smile and his tail still thrashing about. "Branch, let me help you," the troll glimpsed over at his eldest brother, who tilted his head, ushering him to go to you. Bruce got up from beside you to make room for Branch, tilting in to move your hair out of your face, his hand stopping to hold your cheek, "You're doing so good." He's a heartthrob alright. A whine left your lips as he pulled his hand away and went to sit beside Clay. 

Branch stumbled over to you, kicking off his pants along the way. You pat the spot on the couch where Bruce had been to your right. Branch kneeled beside you, the cushion sinking in under his weight. You gave him a reassuring smile, "You can use my mouth," he chocked up at how bold you were being. He eased closer, and you ran your tongue over the head of his cock, his hand instantly going to your hair. He gingerly pushed your head onto his cock, letting it slip past your lips. Pretty soon, both of his hands were clutching your hair desperately, dragging your head into every thrust as he fucked your face. Floyd had sped up his ministrations, hooking his arms under your legs to get better access to your pussy. His tongue delved into you, and your grip on his hair tightened. Floyd road you all the way to another climax, your legs closing around his head as he let out a blissful hum, kissing your pussy and laying his head on your lap; all the while, Branch continued to face-fuck you. It wasn't long until Branch buried his cock down your throat, and you were swallowing his cum as it spurted out in thick strings. His cock slid from your lips, and he plopped down on the cushions in a heap. Floyd went to get up, "Floyd, do you-" "No, no, helping you did me good," he referred to the new wet splotch on the front of his shorts.

Branch swaggered back to the other room where he previously was. Clay waggled his fingers at you, and Floyd blew you a kiss as they followed him. They seemed drained, "are they gonna be alright?" you asked as they disappeared around the corner. John Dory huffed as he got up from his chair and plopped down on your right, wrapping an arm around you, "yeah, the pollen leaves ya pretty spent." You merely hummed in response and rested your head against him. Bruce came over to you, a glace of water in hand, "Here, why don't you take a break for a minute," you took the water from him and sipped it slowly. "You're gonna need it," John Dory chuckled, ruffling your hair lightly. You handed off the water back to Bruce and he sat it down on the table beside the couch, then came to sit at your other side. Both Bruce and John had you snuggled between them as you took a breather. 

A quiet chuckle echoed from you, "The two of you have some damn good self-control for being under the effects of that pollen." However, your laughter faded when you realized they were both looking at you with the same lustful eyes as when you first entered the pod. "Oh, you have no idea."

. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆.. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆.. • .

hope you like this part :))))

[thepythakorean]

parallels between the boy and the heron and this painting, plus general analysis

Arnold Bocklin, Island of the Dead. 1880

i want to preface this by saying i am by no means an art history nerd, i just happen to know some stuff about the background of this painting in particular.

as soon as mahito is sucked into the tower floor he is standing at the shore of an island surrounded by an endless ocean. he is dwarfed by a large set of golden gates that say something like "those who seek my knowledge shall perish" and an even taller forest of cypress trees. these features all frame a white dolmen (primitive tomb usually made of giant rocks stacked like below) that beckons to him.

this scene immediately struck me since it has so many of the visual elements of the painting. mahito is even framed in the foreground to be so very small approaching these giant, daunting structures just like the boat heading for the island in the painting. besides the tombs, the cypress trees are also traditionally associated with mourning and death at least in europe/the mediterranean. other ghibli movies have lavish european aesthetics tied to characters (howl, yubaba, etc.) but it feels particularly intimate here given that mahito's great granduncle, the creator and ruler of this world, is apparently european and can only pass on his role to a direct descendant. (btw not saying the gaudy european decor signature of howl and yubaba aren't important to their characterization, it def is! i'm just saying it stood out to me in this movie especially.) the cliffs full of stone entrance passageways are prominent later in the movie as himi takes mahito through the parakeet's domain, and interestingly, in the delivery room where natsuko is, there is another dolmen behind her (can't find pics since the movie hasn't been uploaded yet urgh).

the backstory to the painting continues to parallel to the events of the story! so there's 5 versions of this painting. the first three versions were painted in a cemetery close to bocklin's residence which was also full of white headstones and sculptures, and cypress trees. one of his infant children, one of many children he lost, was buried there. the one i posted above is the first/second-- while bocklin was working on the first, a the soon-to-be wife of a politician visited his studio, saw the wip, and commissioned her own version with the added white figure and coffin to commemorate her first husband who had just died of diphtheria. already somewhat similar to how mahito's mother died in the hospital fire (well. she died from the fire but presumably she was there because she was sick) and when his father shortly remarried. these were also added to the initial wip and stuck in later versions of the painting. bocklin later wrote to her, "you will be able to dream yourself into the world of dark shadows". the movie is also very dreamlike-- it's a fantasy world filled with strange creatures, alternate versions of people he knows, and passages that seem to alter the fabric of time and space. people also seem to forget about it as soon as they leave even after spending long periods of time in it like a dream. the painting is also very dreamlike, but why? the warm lighting, maybe not in the version i posted but in a couple others, may explain it, but the island itself resembles the curtains and stage of a theater (referencing the audio clip below the description). even if it doesn't look EXACTLY like that to you, it's definitely a too-perfect little scene in a nebulous expanse of space. this theatrical quality is also shown in the movie by the parakeet uprising side plot as well as the scene when himi and mahito collapse in front of the delivery room-- the curtain falls directly in front of the viewer over them as though a stageplay just ended. oh and a friend mentioned to me how this is a classic hero's journey plot and mirrors orpheus in the underworld. island of the dead has also directly inspired NUMEROUS other works of art, including other paintings, stage productions, and symphonic poems. apparently the painting was so popular many people in berlin hung prints of it in their homes (i do too)! as i stated above though, a lot of the visual elements in the painting were already traditional symbols relating to death so i don't want to 100% conclude that miyazaki was directly inspired by this painting, he may have just also resonated with those symbols independent of bocklin which i still think is awesome.

the first time we see himi also reminded me of the painting. she's wearing a white dress and standing at the bow of a small wooden boat, and though her intentions are to save the warawara from the pelicans, she inevitably kills some of them too. visually and thematically she's like the white figure at the front of the rowboat in the painting. she acts as a guide for mahito (analogous to the rower? he traveled to this world of his own volition but needed a guide) for a good part of the movie and is a collage of life and death. she is a younger but kind of omniscient version of his dead mother; she's known all along she is mahito's mother but is about to be born into the world by the end of the movie and accepts her fate happily. she can control fire which envelops her like how she died in the real world, but is harmless to the touch unless she directs it as a weapon, and as we see with the warawara and pelicans it helps creation but also destroys much like fire's role in the natural world. natsuko, though a separate person from himi, is still connected as a sibling, and we see her wandering into the forest at the beginning of the movie while wearing white like himi, back turned to mahito, and that is what prompts him to first enter the tower. the strange nature of her character that doesn't adhere to a proper time or space parallels the way the white figure completely stands out in the painting, at least the ones with darker lighting. another crazy parallel surrounding fire and wwii between the painting and the movie is that the fourth version of this painting was destroyed during wwii due to bombing, again like how mahito's mother's hospital was presumably set on fire by bombing during the war.

the looming effects of war alluded to throughout the movie eventually tie into its resolution, when mahito accepts his new family that he initially rejected, his own imperfect being, and the fact that one must seek out love to be happy in this bitch of a world. his great granduncle is confused as to why mahito wouldn't want to recreate his own world like him. why would you want to return to the world that killed your mother and rejects you as a person? the world that forces your people to die in war and will eventually drop the deadliest weapon mankind has ever seen even a century from now onto your home? you can make everything perfect here! he's created something of a "paradise" himself, full of lush tropical plants, parakeets, and strange insects (some of them looked like the bugs from nausicaa, another fantastical world of lush nature which is also threatened by war. interesting), almost like a garden of eden, and it so happens to be at the very top of the tower. funnily enough, bocklin also painted this several years later:

Arnold Bocklin, Island of Life. 1888

i don't know much about this one so idk if it's an explicit companion piece to the island of the dead but it certainly looks like it. the similarities are now less apparent to the movie if there are any, it's much less lush but there are exotic plants and uh birds and stuff. this is definitely more likely a case of shared inspiration from the symbols themselves rather than movie directly looking at the painting. anyway clearly the promise of a perfect paradise isn't real, as this is interrupted by a war of his own unwitting creation, the uprising of the parakeets he wanted to breed in a paradise that literally bring about the end of the world. no world will ever be perfect when left long enough to its own devices. life finds a way! plus, this world was created through so much death (the construction workers in hazardous conditions, the way the tower keeps spiriting people away. btw in the english sub mahito's dad calls the whole ordeal a "disappearance" but he says "kamikakushi" in japanese which means "hidden by god" in reference to people who mysteriously disappeared as if from supernatural circumstances and yes that's the word they used in the japanese title of spirited away!!!) and is on the verge of collapsing from reality every three days just because of some building blocks?? the real world may be on fire but it'll go out/burn less badly someday, and at least it won't completely disappear in a snap, not in an easily imagined timescale for a human anyway. it's up to you to make the best of it, and this is what mahito decides. there are also visual allusions to other ghibli movies about the constantly present threat or consequences of war. the only other landmark aside from the island mahito lands on is a line of ships which kiriko later tells him are all fake. it immediately reminded me of the stream of planes in porco rosso which were the souls of dead fighter pilots moving on. the shadow people in the swamp were also reminiscent of those in the train in spirited away, which are never explained to my knowledge but the given that spirited away's characters are largely spirits and the way souls are so similarly designed in this movie makes me feel that they were also souls of people in spirited away.

through this imagined otherworld, there is also the blurring of lines between life and death, reality and imagination. himi plus her dyad with natsuko (they're sisters AND they look exactly the same AND both are mother figures to mahito) are great examples of this. mahito's mother is gone, he knew this and set foot into the world anyway. he rejected natsuko as his new mother but in going through the struggles of the tower he comes to accept familial love for her and even keeps confusing "natsuko" and "mom" while reaching out to her in the delivery room. a family is made up of different people but inevitably you will see each other in each person. in the delivery room scene we see the paper hanging from the ceiling lash out to attack and stick to mahito like tape, it even leaves red marks on him. this is one of the best scenes in the movie to me because of its visual contrast to him rushing to save his mother in the fire. in the fire scene, the real world around him is blurred and distorted and at times so is mahito and especially his mother. the fire doesn't seem to burn him or his clothes (i could be remembering that wrong tho) and the scene cuts off before it shows him possibly going in further. in the delivery room, everything is drawn with clean lineart, no stylization. there is no mistaking the reality of this situation even though this world is conjured, the dawning realization upon mahito that this person is his mother is so visceral that he actively fights through the paper literally snapping its jaws and natsuko spitting her hatred towards him. when mahito is ready to leave the tower, himi leaves through a separate door to be born as his mother sometime in the past though she is not a warawara and knows what has happened/will happen, an exception that further demonstrates the nonlinear nature of time and space in the movie.

after coming out of the tower, the heron tells mahito he should forget everything that happened in there. even his grandmother seemed to have forgotten the whole year she spent in there (it seems like tower time reflects irl time judging by the events of the movie). anything that comes out doesn't just disappear, it transforms into a real-life counterpart as we saw with the pelicans leaving as they were (presumably minus the ability to speak) and the parakeets going from big bloodthirsty things to regular parakeets. so mahito can't just forget, especially because he comes out changed from his experiences in there, not just himself personally but also his changed relationships with natsuko and the heron, and also his little souvenirs. then the movie abruptly ends with mahito narrating that they left for tokyo again shortly after the war ended. i like to think that this was a hopeful ending where mahito maintained that character development and was able to welcome natsuko and his new sibling into his family while being able to seek more friends and family in the future. i've seen other analyses talking about how this movie was semi-autobiographical for miyazaki and i can see it, how events early in his life shaped his personality and how he had to fight to find beauty in a world that otherwise treated him poorly, so i'm glad he ended the movie on that note, although in less words. pretty similar to how spirited away ended, although there was arguably more loss involved, but still hopeful, and that's what i find so powerful about this movie. and like this movie, spirited away involves a dyad between yubaba and zeniba as a device for the hardships and beauty of life, how they're not so discreet at times. as a last kindasorta tie-in to bocklin's work, i'll point again to the island of life which was created after the island of the dead, plus a composition directly inspired by the island of the dead, a symphonic poem with the same title written by sergei rachmaninoff. the last time i listened to this was in high school and it's like. 20 minutes long so i'm too impatient to give it a relisten now but from my vague recollection plus some quick searches it's a very somber piece that escalates into emotional climaxes yet still contains warmer tones, and goes back to the same "rowing" motif at the end. it weaves together evocations of life and death in one piece, also illustrating how the two really are so closely connected.

tl;dr, this was me the entire movie because miyazaki SEEMS to be heavily inspired by this one symbolist painting i happen to like a lot:

also also here's a self portrait of bocklin:

yes, all of his paintings are that cool.

[aira-writes]

BNHA Boys as Normal College Students

Pairings: Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Reader

Genre: one-shot, bnha imagines, college au, fluff, crack, humor, sfw

Warnings: language, suggestive? idk lol

A/n: hey everyone, I promised I’d try to upload a loooooot right? So here it is! Btw this isn’t from my drafts. This will be a series (ig, lol?) and it will feature some of the BNHA boys that I’m fond of. I just finished creating two episodes of this from scratch—in two hours (idek how I managed to do it, but nonetheless, so proud of myself) In addition, I’ll be gradually updating this short series. (here's to hoping I’ll get to finish them *cries* I’m also thinking of having atleast 4-5 episodes with different characters each) This plot’s chaotic, SO CHAOTIC. So read at your own risk. This contains grammatical errors since it is not proofread. Mwah.

Characters are in college

Episode 1: Bakugou Katsuki (The Drummer)

“Come on, y/n! It’s Fridaaaaay!” Ochaco whined as Momo tugged your forearm trying to convince you to come to them at a newly opened bar a few blocks away from school.

“I told you guys that I have to pass.” You smiled sheepishly and guiltily knowing you have been extremely busy for the past week and wasn’t able to go out with your best friends that much. “I have a lot of upcoming exams this week.” You added.

“I know you’re busy and all but we’re just gonna look at the place real-quick!” Momo spoked as she continued tugging at your arm.

“Please, please, pleaseeee, come with us, y/n! Promise we’ll leave after 15 minutes!” Ochaco added.

“I heard there’s a new band performing so we gotta go there, y/n!” Momo tugged some more.

“—WE’LL EVEN TAKE YOU HOME OURSELVES!” they both said in unison.

You stared at Ochaco’s futile attempt at a puppy-eyes and to Momo’s hold on your arm.

And after a few seconds of staring at them back-to-back, you gave up and just groaned. “Okay, fiiiiine.”

The girls squealed and gave each other a knowing look.

You knew that these two won’t take no for an answer and the earlier you get there, the earlier you get to go home.

The three of you arrive at the newly built and opened bar and you’re not gonna deny that the place looks amazing. Since it was opening night, the tables were full but the fact that the three of you were able to go in smoothly and has a table reserved made you question if Momo knew the owner.

Ofcourse she does. Momo has a lot of connections.

The three of you were already seated comfortably in the table—which you realized was one of the front tables so you have the nice view of the stage. Momo ordered drinks and you denied her offer saying you don’t wanna get home wasted. You need to be sober when you get home since you still have a lot of topics to review.

You were busy sipping the cold water you ordered, scanning your surroundings and spotting a few familiar faces, enjoying the ambiance of the place, and vibing to the soft background music—when the lights of the bar blacked out and the music shut off. Only the small night lights attached to the walls, illuminated the place.

Some people let out small-amused gasps in the way that the bar was trying to introduce its performers, since that strategy made everyone focus on the stage.

Then, the spotlight moved right in the center of the stage—but no one was there since the stage were closed by the curtains. But the fact that you can hear a small murmur of sounds—gradually increasing—made you turn towards the stage in curiosity as you watch the curtains open, only to reveal a band you’re not familiar with.

They looked like a new band, one was in the piano, one was using the electric guitar, one has the acoustic guitar, and one was standing in the center with the microphone on—whom you assumed is the vocalist. They seemed like a common type of band, but the way their faces were hidden with a full-faced masks on, intrigued the people inside the bar—including you.

There was a small intro of the electric guitar, then the piano followed, and next the acoustic guitar—before you knew it, the vocalist and her band we’re already playing good music. The band has this certain type of vibe that you like and the fact that their lyrics, their rhythm—plus the vocalists’ amazing voice—got you hooked and bobbing your head to what seems like an original song of theirs.

Momo and Ochaco started screaming in glee as they also vibed to the song. And just before the song reached what it seems like its chorus, the dancefloor of the bar was already packing with grinding bodies. It was a good thing that the stage was moveable—you were surprised as well—and it now stood at a higher level compared to the dance floor so you can still get a nice view of the stage as the band members continued to produce amazing music.

“Come on, y/n! Let’s dance!” Ochaco tugged your arm. She didn’t even have to tell you twice since you already followed her to the dance floor since you liked the band’s songs. Momo followed you two and danced with the crowd.

“It looks like that 15 minutes is up, y/n!” Momo shouted through the loud music.

“I think we’ll have to extend for another 45 minutes.” You grinned and Momo grinned back as you three jumped, shouted, and enjoyed the music.

You three were busy enjoying yourselves when all of a sudden, an unfamiliar guy who looks like he goes to the same school as you, approached you. “Wanna dance?” he asked you with a smirk on. And he didn’t even hide the way he scanned you up and down before stopping on to your face.

“Dude, we’re already dancing.” You snorted and the two bursted into a fit of giggles as you urged Momo and Ochaco to move near the front of the dance floor, leaving the guy.

“You didn’t have to be mean, y/n.” Momo laughed.

“We we’re already dancing. What kind of question is ‘wanna dance’?” You cringed, remembering the guy’s futile attempt to flirt. Ochaco just laughed and playfully smacked your shoulder.

The three of you resumed dancing, the music even louder than before since you three were nearer to the stage now. You liked the next song since it was a bit sultry but there was a playful tinge to it so you just let your body do the moves that you felt were natural to you. 

Momo and Ochaco were right for trying to convince you to come. You definitely needed this break after being stuck at your room for days and never even getting the time to rest or party.

You were busy dancing to the beat of the music when a pair of hands snaked their way behind you and surrounded your waist. “Seems like your waist is missin’ something, babe. They need my hands around ‘em.”

You immediately jerked the hands away. “Wtf, get your hands off me, you perv.” You turned and gave the unfamiliar guy a sharp glare—hating the fact that he touched you—only to see him looked amused.

“I like feisty girls, y’know.” He winked and tried to touch you one more time.

“Fuck off.” You cursed. 

Why can’t some guys take no for an answer?

“Aww, don’t be like that sweethea—” The guy’s voice was interrupted by a sudden loud static sound making almost everyone’s ears hurt and stopped dancing. The band’s music stopped almost stopped right after the static sound.

What the?

The people started murmuring, confused what’s wrong. The stage went back down, so it was now on the same level of the dance floor.

“Touch my girl one more time shit-face, and I’ll blast you to pieces.” The voice boomed and echoed all throughout the bar, making everyone to be even more confused. 

Everyone was scanning the crowd looking for the owner of the voice. You were confused as well.

Why did the music stop?

You looked to where the voice was coming from—only to realize that in the back corner of the stage, right behind the vocalist, is where the drum set was.

How come you never noticed that earlier?

And in it sat the drummer who wore his full-mask on—a mic in his hand—and the blonde spiky hair that was sprouting out of his mask, wasn’t hard to miss.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

aira-writes© 2022

Comments, likes, and re-blogs are deeply appreciated! ❤️

PLAGIARISM IS A CRIME DON'T STEAL MY WORK.

[kyotakumrau]

2021.06.05 DIR EN GREY SOGAI at Tokyo Garden Theater

01 DOZING GREEN - acoustic version

-Intro-

02 絶縁体・Zetsuentai

03 空谷の跫音・Kuukoku no kyouon

.

04 人間の被る・Ningen wo kaburu

05 Devote My Life

06 CLEVER SLEAZOID

07 DIFFERENT SENSE

.

08 赫・Aka

09 Ranunculus

-inward scream-

10 谿壑の欲・Keigaku no yoku

11 The World of Mercy

12 朧・Oboro

13 かすみ・kasumi

ENCORE

en14 Followers

en15 OBSCURE

en16 落ちた事のある空・Ochita koto

en17 Sustain The Untruth

en18 激しさと・Hageshisa

my report under the cut ↓

Today felt so weird at first. Getting ready it felt like I was going to another screening event, it took some time for it to sink in that today it's going to be different, that it's going to be an actual live concert. That they will be playing on the stage.

Even already waiting in my seat it still didn't feel real.

The venue, Garden Theater, is amazing. I was on the 2nd floor balcony B, so quite on the left (shimote), but the view was amazing. I mean it was not close to the stage, but the round shaped audience and steep steps between rows were designed really well. And I was lucky to be at the end of the row so I had a higher barrier to grab when headbanging. I made a proper use of it!!!! 😆

Around 4:45ish many of the venue staff came to hold the black curtain hiding the stage firmly, not leaving any chances we could have a peek?😅 Anyway, the walls, ceiling and curtain were all black with white 疎外 projected on it.

People were still coming in a bit past 5,

The PA table was ready but still relaxed. I had a quick look at the leaflets left for us at our seats. We were all sat separated with an empty seat even if you got 2 tickets together.

Finally at 5:13 the lights went off and the curtained opened. We were greeted by the sound of acoustic guitar first... three band members sat on chairs, Kaoru, Toshiya on the left and Die on the right, Kyo was standing, Shinya in the back on drums. The lights were quite dim with gentle spotlights on the members.

Acoustic DOZING GREEN. It was sush a magical start! It set the mood for 'no singing or shouting' policy. I loved this take so much🖤

And it finally felt real. A real live performance😭❤️

Btw there were so many cameras they definitely have plans to release the footage from tonight's show somehow, we should all just pray they will include all songs🙏

...and speaking of cameras, Shinya had a small camera riding around his drum set, from afar it looked like a model train set😂

After the acoustic song the staff quickly picked up the chairs to take them off the stage and the band members changed the instruments for the rest of the set.

In the background the intro for SOGAI was playing. I can remember a figure with their arms raised towards the sun or sky like in a prayer (the figure appeared later in one more video but I can't remember which song) and that DIR EN GREY 疎外 appeared as letters made of ice.

Kaoru had his hair slicked back, wearing dark/black clothes. Toshiya had the jacket with gold elements. Shinya white shirt and pink hair. Die had a long red jacket with a black spiraly pattern.

Kyo had very light blond hair and wore make up including two larger dots on his forehead, and a gold chain. He wore a jacket in the beginning, with a white shirt underneath. At first I thought he had a scarf but later on the front of his shirt and his chest was all red with (fake) blood so I think it was blood from the start.

We clapped when 疎外・SOGAI appeared on the screen and as they were to start. There was movement in the audience from Zetsuentai, we could wave our hands, headbang and so on, but it was so different not being able to sing and shout... but Toshiya definitely was doing great with all the back vocals and shouts that were usually done by us...I don't remember hearing him so clearly until today😆

Kuukoku followed and we listened.

After a short break when the four standing band members waited turned came Ningen wo Kaburu and a change of mood. We did great staying quiet but still staying active during the song.

The clapping between songs was fierce and often!

And OMFG the start of Devote! I gasped when the screen showed a gold Tokyo Olympics logo! But then the footage started to show the logo melting, multitude of gold coins, running in a race giant gold babies (like a disturbing image of a baby that seems like an adult made of gold) who then started to march like an army and held firearms, fighting, terrorizing, and then coins again and the gold Olympics logo again and it kept changing. And "価値が欲しい/ 生きる価値が欲しい / 残酷なお前が・I want to have a worth / for my life to have a worth / cruel you" had us all raising our fists. It was a very powerful performance. And then they followed that with CLEVER SLEAZOID. The setlist tonight was 💯👌

One of the videos had various scenes of war and fighting, even the dates 1941, 42, 43 and 44 with some descriptions under them, but they showed so many conflicts it was more as if to show that humans just keep fighting same wars over and over again...

Starting from Aka the mood changed again, they continued on the route to grab, tear and stab our hearts... was it all this time without hearing Kyo live or was it all this time for Kyo not singing live with dir... the raw emotions delivered cut really deep. The inward scream was just crying at first, gasping for breath, then Kyo stood up holding the mics wire, the mic bumped loudly against the stage and the crate, then Kyo returned to the crate and crouched on the top while he continued to cry. Keigaku tonight was one of the darkest performances of the song I've heard. And Kyo changed the lyrics at least partially in the beginning, at first was something about a birth? (I want the footage from tonight so bad)

The World of Mercy was just... so miserable. So unhappy. And by this time I had no doubts about the red on Kyo's shirt.

For Oboro they used the footage from the pv in the back and red lasers on the stage as well. In the beginning there was only one set on Kyo, who stood with his arms raised as in wanting to grab the red lines. Two more red laser sets were added to the sides, one on Die and other on Kaoru and Toshiya. They looked like lava or fire at times, especially when catching on things. Oboro was amazing live, it's such a strong song to pull us from where the World of Mercy has left us a moment before.

Also, Kyo's stand was updated with Oboro theme: the stand itself is quite plain but there's a big bloody pregnant belly with legs bend at its sides under the crate... it looks quite grotesque, like being tucked under a staircase or ...under the tatami.

They closed the main set with Kasumi. It was so wonderful to have Oboro and Kasumi back to back.

And then we clapped and clapped and clapped until they came back.

We got very powerful encore as well. To me Followers was to help us pick up the heart pieces and put it back together. And then the other 4 songs were to pump us with the energy. The headbanging, the ...hand-scream-pumps! And they all kept asking for more! All four of them started to walk to the other sides of the stage, coming to the edge of the stage. Ochita is a mighty song, we can respond so much now, I can only imagine what it will become in the future!!

The energy got so overwhelming, the energy we couldn't shout out, I couldn't help but start crying as we were still headbanging and raising and waving our hands.

Before Hageshisa Kyo kept shouting 'last song! Last song!! LAST one' and hitting the mic on his chest. We went mad.

They couldn't throw anything like they used to, but I think they stayed a bit longer on the stage because of that. They all had a good look at the audience before they left, Kyo first, waving us goodbye as he jumped down from his stand. I kept clapping and the rest of band members left one by one, Shinya, Toshiya, Die and then Kaoru last. Kaoru took a pick from his stand and saluted us as he was leaving. But I was crying too much at this point to notice more.

It was incredible.

It was like noticing what was missing when your life gradually started to grow dull but it happened so slowly you haven't realized it was happening. That energy, just, woah.

And then they announced the autumn tour! The video showed a dirty, polluted river and a boat with people in safety suits on it. And then the title came up and dates.

Desperate. So accurate.

[nightowlfandom]

Anime! Fictional! BTS x Real World! Reader- Welcome To My World~ Episode 1

HEY HEY! IM SO EXCITE! Btw who here plays BTS World? This is very loosely based off that.

I need to download it again tbh.

CHECKOUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!

Leggo!

...

What does it mean to escape? To get away. If it means leaving behind all you know, all you’ve been raised to know, all you’ve been led to believe, with just yourself and the clothes on your back. Scary, but thrilling. Terrifying, but inviting. Unbelievable, but definitely possible....

...

On a early Tuesday morning where the sun was barely grazing the orange sky, you sat by your windowsill. You were dreamily staring out into the halo that was a mixture of red and orange. The halo of greyish clouds matched your mood to a complete tee. The aesthetic beauty of nature wasn’t enough to make you smile or even blink twice, however. It was always like this though. Yet something about this scene made you go sour.

Releasing a sigh, you stepped away from the window, shutting the curtains. Another day, the same thing. All you could do was attempt to power through.

As you lazily pulled your shirt over your head, you had managed to dodge that annoying dog. The little brat wasn’t even yours, but your oh-so loving step-sister’s. He always had a affinity for making your room a hot mess.  Only yours in particular. 

“Get out of here you little-.” you chased the dog out of your room, slamming your door as it scurried off. “What did you screw up this time?” you curiously scanned the room. Everytime that little fluffy beast rammed his little head into your personal space, something would end up broken, ripped, shattered, or completely destroyed beyond repair. 

You almost screamed when you saw a familiar book cover on the floor. You instantly dropped to your knees, praying to yourself that it wasn’t true. The cover had a pretty violent looking rip along with the first few pages. 

Your absolute reason for waking up in the morning was tarnished. A signed cover of BTS Universe Issue #1. Probably your one and only favorite series on planet Earth. You gingerly picked up the book, trying to inspect it with hopes that the damage was minimal. As little as this was, you almost felt like crying. However there was no time, you needed to tape up the pages and fast! Who cares if you missed breakfast.

...

“Morning Y/N!” Your step-dad greeted you in the kitchen. “You were upstairs an awful long time, I was about to send your mother to see if you were still up playing that game of yours!” he smiled warmly.

“Thanks Mr. Chai.” you replied politely. “I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“You know...Y/N...you could call me Dad.” he set a plate down on the table. “I know I’m not your father, but I want to be the best father-figure for you because I know...you haven’t really had that.”

You had to stop yourself from saying anything else. You haven’t had the best parental relationship, and your new step-dad really was trying. Maybe it was just his daughter that drove you nuts.

“Thank you.” you replied, smiling. “...Dad.” you winked, making finger guns. “Geez! You made a lot of food for just the four of us”

“ Well you ain’t see muffin, yet!” he winked. “You and Nari have a busy day today. She auditioning and you, my friend....well I don’t know exactly what you have planned for the day.”

“I’ll tell you if we can skip the food related puns.” you sat down at the table. It was a rule that everyone waited for everyone else. Even though you had taken the extra time to repair your copy of BTS Universe, you had seemed to be the first person down the stairs. In all honesty, you were just going to hang out at the comic store until Nari called to tell you she was done.

“Hey now, Donut kill my vibe!” he continued, laughing. “I have a million more of these, come on. Don’t go bacon my heart, Y/N.”

“Good job Y/N, you’ve gotten him started.” You mom came down the stairs in her little blazer and pencil skirt. “Whatever will we do now.”

“He did it himself, the guy’s an animal! You married a wild child, mom.” you joked. “He might just be a serial killer.”

“Don’t you mean...cereal killer?” he held up a box of Raisin Bran to make his point. You could only shake your head as your mother and step-father laughed together. Food related humor so early in the morning had to mean today wasn’t going to be a horrible as it started, at least for you.

“WHERE ARE MY THIGH HIGH BOOTS!” you heard a screech from upstairs. “THEY BETTER NOT BE IN YOUR ROOM, Y/N!”

“...WHY WOULD I WANT TO WEAR YOUR SHOES!” you yelled back after taking in a deep breath. “NARI, IF I WANTED TO BREAK MY ANKLES, I’D HAUL MYSELF DOWN THE STAIRS.”

“When will you two get along?” your mom shook her head. “It’s been three years.” 

“We don’t not get along.” You shook your head. “Not my fault she’s difficult.”

“I can think of a few times you’ve been difficult yourself, young lady.” you mother pointed a stern finger at you. “Like when you locked yourself in the room to read that silly cartoon of yours.”

“It’s not silly.” you defended yourself.

“Oh come on!” Nari’s voice voice could be heard alongside some loud footsteps. “I think it’s cute to be honest. Y/N here actually has a hobby besides stalking celebrities online.”

“Shut up, Nari.” you grumbled. “And keep your dog out of my room! He ruined my signed copy of BTS Universe!”

“Dorie got out again?” she seethed, looking annoyed. “I really have to put a bell on that dog.”

“Yeah.” you sighed, you bummed mood returning. Everyone knew just how much you loved that edition. You kept in in a super special display case, you cleaned the case every week, you kept your other issues on their own bookshelf along with your figurine and digital visual novel editions of the series. You were even on the buyer’s list for the special early anime release. You LOVED this series. Not even Nari dared to disrespect something as important as that, and she loved getting under your skin.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to find another one.” your mother set down a bowl of cereal in front of you along with a muffin. “Now eat, you have a big day today.”

“Yes mam.” you replied, helping yourself to some cereal.

“If you want, you can take a muffin or bagel with you.” your step dad said. 

“Dad! I can’t, I have to be super focused remember? Breakfast will just slow me down!” Nari scoffed.

“Not having breakfast will make it even worse, dummy. Dude, you’re gonna pass out on stage.” you threw a tiny cereal piece at her. “Eat something.”

“I’ll eat later, I just have my eye on the prize and nothing is going to stop me.” Nari stood up determined. 

“Will you at least eat some toast, crazy girl.” your mother said. “Y/N’s right, you need to at least have eaten something to calm your nerves. Y/N make sure Nari eats something before you two go your separate ways.”

“I’ll try, no promise.” you shrugged. “Nari, if you’re done, then get your stuff and let’s go.” You promptly finished your cereal and went to go back upstairs. “You got ten minutes.” 

“What’s her deal?” you could hear Nari ask, followed by an sudden whispering of your mom stating exactly what she thought was wrong with you. Your bet was on ‘everything’.

You walked back into your room, grabbing your purse from your desk. You eyed your taped up issue of BTS Universe #1. There was no way you were going to find another issue like that, and that damned dog just treated it like a loved toy. You grabbed your phone and shoved it into your purse. You went over to where the issue was and placed it on your desk. 

“NARI LET’S GO!” you shut the bedroom door behind you as you walked out the room. 

...

You sped to a stop outside the building. Nari was shaking in her shoes. She seemed hesitant to even open the door. 

“Call me when you’re finished so I can pick you up.” you said, getting ready to unlock the doors.

“You’re leaving me!?” Nari looked like she was about to explode.

“Hello?! It’s idol trainees only?” you raised an eyebrow. “I can’t go in there with you. Nari what’s the problem?”

“...Um...I’m nervous alright! I’m giving up almost everything and if I don’t get chosen...I’ll just prove my dad right. I need this.” she stared down at her hands. “I’m not used to being a reject. I don’t know how you-”

“You wanna leave here with two working legs, I suggest you don’t finished that sentence.” you cut her off. “I’m not a reject.”

“That’s not what I was gonna say. I’m saying I don’t know how you deal with nerves like this.” she looked like she was gonna pass out. 

“...You just do.” you nudged her shoulder. “You just go for it and hope. Go for it.”

“...Okay, I’ll try.” she opened the door. “...Thank you.” she stood up. “I’ll call you when I’m all set.” she shut the door. 

“I’ll literally be at the store around the corner.” you replied before driving off. You watched in the rear view as she took her sweet time going into the building. 

...(Later on)

You trudged behind Nari as she ran through the door. She seemed happy, so that must have meant the audition went well.

“I’m gonna take a nap.” you called to your mom and step-dad. “See you guys at dinner!”

You didn’t wait for them to reply before you closed the door. As you walked over to your bed, you noticed a disc laying on your bed. Just a random DVD. The closer you got, the font on the front got clearer.

“BTS World?” It didn’t look familiar in the slightest. “It’s called BTS Universe, Nice try Nari.” you wrote it off as a stupid prank by your oh-so-loving Step-Sister. It was only then you realized Nari was with you all day. 

You took another look at it, gently taking it in your hands. It looked like it was glowing. 

Call it curiosity, but you needed to know.

Your laptop was sitting at the edge of the bed, so you put the disc in. 

“State your name.” a voice came out of nowhere. 

“What?” you looked around in shock. The voice sounded like it came from right behind you.

“Please state your name.” the female robotic voice repeated. 

“Y/N.” 

“Are you sure that you want Y/N as your name?”

“Um Yes?” you raised an eyebrow. You still didn’t know what the fuck was going on.

“Would you like to start a new game? You don’t appear to have any saved filed under the name Y/N.”

Maybe you were sleepier than you thought, but you ran with it. “Yes.”

“Starting new game....now”

Your screen began glowing a bright blue, a vivid, saturated blue. It was like your screen had turned into a flashlight. 

“What the fu-” you suddenly stared at your hands, the very tips of your fingers turned pixelated. “MOM!!!” You tried to scream, only to have it come out in the form on an echo. You felt your feet leave the ground as tiny little pixels moved towards your computer. You could see the color draining from your walls, leaving everything white. It was like an earthquake ran through your room...only through your room.

Then...everything went dark.

...

(Why hello there...LET US PREPARE. I’m gonna go through with it this time, I swear on my bacon! The guys are coming next chappie!)

[simply-trash5]

PuppetBoy

Okay Kankuro simps, got some more juice for ya! Seriously this was so fun to write. It is a college AU about Kankuro and a reader. I am pretty proud of it. I would love to write some things for you so PLEASE request. Seriously. I’ll even try smut (I’ve never written it before so we’ll see how it goes). Drop them in the ask box and if you like what you read you should totally tell me because i am a self conscious bean.

What the hell is that noise? You think to yourself as you look around. It sounded terrible. Whatever car was making that noise was definitely on it’s last leg. You nod your head realizing it was the same guy you see everyday parked across from the education building at your college. You could hear loud metal playing from the speakers and the windows shaking as he pulled into the lot. He jumped out,slammed the door and gave the tire a swift kick. Wow he’s kinda cute. He stood almost 6 ft. tall and had on a black hoodie that hung lightly over his brown hair. His black jeans had rips in the knees and you could see he was wearing scuffed black DocMartens. You continued to follow him with your eyes as he passed you walking toward the theatre building. He had an eyebrow ring and gauges. Oh shit, I think he caught me staring. He looked at you, scoffed and kept walking toward the theatre building. Is he a theatre major? You wondered to yourself. Maybe he just has to take a fine art credit. Letting your thoughts wander you pulled the straps on your bookbag tighter and walked to your class in the education building. 

The class seemed to drag on forever, and you knew after that you had to go to your nannying job which would take up most of the evening. You wished that you didn’t have to have a job, but unfortunately scholarships didn’t cover all of your tuition. You grabbed your keys from your pocket and headed toward the parking lot. Climbing into your car you started the engine and began making your way to your job. You loved kids, so nannying was a great gig for you. When you arrived at the home of a doctor in your area you were greeted by a small boy with a large grin. “Ms. Y/N, can we go to the children’s theater today? Mom said we could go if it was okay with you, she even left my booster seat so you can drive!” You giggled and shrunk down to his height. “Well if your mom says it's okay, it's fine by me. Let’s grab your jacket and booster seat and we will leave.” The small child ran into the house. His mother approached you. “Thank you so much for watching Trevor,I know he is a handful but i'm rather fond of him.” You gave her a huge smile and told her that it was no problem and explained that you were going to take him to the children's theatre. She said her goodbyes and you walked into the house to retrieve the boys booster seat so that you all could make the 4:00 production of the Three Little Pigs. 

The little boy sitting in front of you on the floor giggled wildly as a wolf puppet “ran” off stage. You smiled down at him. The curtains closed and the crowd gave them a round of applause. The stage hands and puppeteers began to disassemble the set so that they could get ready for the next show when you saw a familiar face. It's car boy. You smiled in his direction, and didn’t realize you may have looked at him a little too long. “Hey, take a picture, it will last longer.” The mysterious boy gave you an annoyed look and a blush began to creep up your face. He was wearing a tight black tshirt that showed off his muscular arms and his tattoo of a sandtimer on his forearm. “Come on Trevor, lets head home,” you said steering the young boy out of the theatre.

“Oh my god what did you say back?” your friend was screeching on the other side of the phone. “Well, see, I just kinda left.” you explained not wanting to relive the embarrassing moment. “Y/N, you have got to do something tomorrow. You’re going to see him in the parking lot and you don’t want it to be weird.” You were twirling your hair around your finger staring at your phone. “Y/N are you still there?” You snapped back to reality, “yeah, I think I will buy him a cup of coffee. I’m sure he never sleeps like the rest of us. He is a college student.” You both finished your conversation and you got ready for bed. You set your alarm early so that you could go to a coffee shop and grab him a coffee to make up for the awkward run-ins you had the last few days. 

“God its early” you whined to yourself but got ready anyway. You had to make a better impression on puppet boy. You gathered your things and headed out the door and made your way to a local coffee shop. You grabbed your latte and then decided it was best to just give him black coffee. You drove to your college thinking about the handsome stranger all the way there. His brown hair was shaggy and fell right into his eyes, which you melted at the thought of his hair being pushed out of his face. Your mind started to drift to what your next move would be as you pulled into the parking lot. Okay, it's 7:45 he should be here any minute. Shit what should I do? In a moment of extreme confidence you grabbed a pen out of your backpack and messily scribbled your phone number on the side of the paper cup. God I hope this works. You took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. You could hear him coming for at least a mile. Alright Y/N you cannot chicken out now. He rolled in and slammed his car door as he had every morning for the earlier part of the semester. It's now or never, you've got this shit. You beelined toward his car. He realized you were approaching and looked at you with a strange face. You immediately got nervous. You just sat the coffee cup on the hood of his car, turned on your heel, and quickly walked to the education building. “HEY! HEY COME BACK!” You heard him calling after you as you continued on your way to class cursing yourself the entire time.

Buzz

You grabbed your phone from your pocket. An unknown number had sent you a text. “How do I know you didn’t drug this coffee so you can turn my corpse into a puppet?” you laughed at the text and a blush spread over your cheeks. “Now why would I do that?” you replied. You typed “Also that is oddly specific” “What can I say, I like puppets?” The conversation continued for the next few days. You saw him a few times on campus but you never spoke in person. He would send you funny memes and videos at all hours of the night. Apparently puppetboy is a night owl. “Um btw, we’ve been talking for days and I still don’t know your name. What should I call you.” “My name is Kankuro.” “Well Kankuro, my name is Y/N. Its nice to put a name with a face.”

Shit I’m never gonna finish this run. You thought to yourself as you continued to run on the treadmill. You had your headphones in and music blaring. You loved to run and hadn’t been to the gym in a few days due to all of your nannying obligations. Okay, only a half mile more to go, you thought to yourself as you pushed your body to keep running. Out of nowhere you felt a large calloused hand on your shoulder. You snapped your head “Hey listen creep I-” before you knew it you were falling only to be caught by Kankuro. “Y/N you falling for me already?” Kankuro flirted giving you a tight smirk. You were shocked, not only by the fall, but by the arms around you. They were strong and helped steady you with ease. He was wearing a dark grey tank top which showed his muscles and tattoo off wonderfully. His legs were muscular too and looked amazing in the black shorts he was wearing. In his other hand he had a pair of boxing gloves. You began to blush and he realized you were staring at him, imagining what he looked like under that tank top. Your hand crept up to your neck where you fiddled with your necklace. He gave you a small chuckle. “I’ve got to go spar with my buddy, but if you want to you can meet me out front in an hour.” You smiled and shook your head and he turned and walked away. The shorts hugged his bottom perfectly and the tank top showed his shoulder muscles. You could see another tattoo on his back. Was it puppet strings? You pursed your lips and began to blush. I would love to see those strings up close. 

The hour wait seemed like the longest hour of your life. You waited out in front of the gym as he came bounding out the door. He was sweating and his shaggy hair was sticking to his forehead. He walked over to his car and opened the door. It made a horrendous screech as it opened and you stifled a laugh. “Whats so funny princess? Just for that we gotta walk to get food.” You blushed. Did he just call me princess? Why was that so hot? “Come on, I’m starving,” he said and began walking down the sidewalk. You walked hurriedly to match his long strides. Damn my short legs. “So Kankuro, where are we going?” he gave you a crooked grin. “Its a surprise.” You giggled and retorted “well how do I know you’re not trying to get me alone and turn my corpse into a puppet?” He gave you a devilish grin, “Well sweetheart lets find out.” Another pet name. Your face turned bright red and you stared at the sidewalk. You approach a deli that you frequent with your friends. “I love this place,” you exclaimed. “Well don’t be weird and actually order some food. I like a girl with an appetite.” You laughed and smiled. You ordered your usual and he ordered grabbing your food and heading outside to a table. You both began eating and chatting casually about your lives. You found out he loves horror movies, especially ones that feature creepy dolls or puppets. You also learned that he has a lot of horror memorabilia in his apartment and that he rarely sleeps. He boxes to keep himself busy when hes not working as a children’s puppeteer. He is studying theatre with concentrations in stage management and special effects makeup. “Kankuro, thats really fucking cool,” you said and began to tell him about yourself. You were studying to be a teacher and nannying as a job to make money for college. You lived in an apartment around the corner from the deli with a friend. “So Kankuro I noticed the sand timer on your arm, do you have any other tattoos?” He gave you another devilish grin.”Yeah I have a back piece that is marionette strings. I’ve loved puppets since I was little so I thought it would be cool. Do you have any tattoos?” You blushed. You stood and pulled up your athletic top to show a tattoo of your family's crest on your hip. You had to pull your shorts down ever so slightly revealing your black lacy underwear. He looked at the tattoo and then back to your face. “Thats a nice one,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. The conversation continued and you all talked more about your semester and your family. You laughed and told him about how you liked to run and also about how you thought it was cool he was a boxer. “Maybe one day we can spar angel,” he flashed a smile in your direction and you smiled back at the thought. You both got up from the table and threw your trash away. It was dark and cool. You pulled your jacked tighter around your shoulders. “I guess I am going to walk home and let you get back to the gym.” Kankuro shook his head “absolutely not doll, its dark and I’m walking you home.” You blushed. Another pet name, this boy is gonna be the death of me. 

You began walking toward your apartment and your hands brushed several times by accident. “Damn Y/N if you wanted to hold my hand that bad all you had to do was ask. I aim to please.” You blushed and then punched Kankuro. “Still want to spar?” you said cheekily. You both walked in silence but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was as if you had known him your whole life. The comfort of him walking beside you felt so nice. “Well this is my apartment.” You sighed and reached for the door. 

BAM

The door slammed shut and you noticed a strong arm beside your face. Kankuro looked down at your lips and smirked. You began to blush. The tension was so thick. I swear im going to pass out. Your heart began racing as he leaned into you. Your back was pressed against the glass of the door with a strong arm beside your head. His other hand made its way to your tattooed hip, he drew circles over your ink with his calloused thumb. His hands were so large that you could feel his fingertips on your back. The heat rose to your cheeks. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against your lips. He pulled back, his hand still burning a hole into your hip bone. You opened your eyes to see a smirked Kankuro. You were in shock when he reached his other hand to brush a stray piece of hair out of your face. Your thoughts raced, you wanted nothing more to bring him up to your apartment and let him give you that devilish grin some more. 

“Guess I’m not a killer princess. Text me.” He chuckled, turned on his heel and walked back toward the gym. You watched him until he walked out of sight. You were ready to see him again and maybe see more of that back tattoo.

[olliepig]

Waiting in the Wings chapter 5

Thanks as always to the wonderful (and ever patient) @willow-salix for all her help in getting this beast out. 

As always, the whole thing is available on AO3 here

********************************

The cheers of the crowd bathing her in a glow of satisfaction that she’d never managed to find elsewhere, Cat stood on the stage of the Opera House after her performance of Swan Lake, savouring the moment. It was a marathon of a ballet that took every ounce of energy she had, and the appreciation shown by the audience at the end made the hard work and downright pain of her chosen career totally worth it.

She knew as well as everyone else on the stage that the post performance glow could be short lived and, with her long day nearly over, she was relieved that all she had left to do was receive her flowers, get changed and head home. Sensing a shift in focus from those around her, she looked over to the wings in time to see one of the Opera House staff staggering onto the stage with quite possibly the largest bouquet she had ever seen and heading straight for her.

Since her first performance of Giselle, larger and larger arrangements of flowers had started arriving at the Opera House to be presented onstage at the end of each show. There was never a name or message on the card hidden inside, just the initial S and two kisses. It was a fact that didn’t go unnoticed and became a source of debate and amusement within the company whenever she performed to see how many flowers she would receive and whether the mysterious sender would make themselves known.

Outwardly, Cat pretended to be exasperated by the constant influx of flowers but secretly she loved it and always thanked Scott profusely for his thoughtfulness. She had never expressly told him what her performance schedule was, so she supposed that he had looked it up and made arrangements accordingly. It had never been discussed aside from her giving her thanks but it was something that made her heart flutter dangerously every time and she cherished it.

With the curtain calls over, and with everyone having somehow managed to avoid tripping over the flowers as they laid on the stage, Cat headed back to her dressing room, barely able to see over the top of them. It wasn’t the only bouquet she had received that night and as she walked she thought that it was lucky that it was a route she had followed so often as she was relying almost entirely on memory to find her way.

As soon as she was safely in the dressing room, she carefully placed her flowers in the sink and pulled out her phone.

How the hell am I supposed to get these home on the tube?! They barely fit in the bloody dressing room! (Thank you very much for them btw. They’re beautiful!)

Smiling, she put her phone down and started to get on with the business of getting her costume undone when, almost instantly, her phone buzzed with a reply.

Good job I'm here tonight then, isn’t it? I’ll have the car at the front when you’re ready.

Cat smiled as her heart lurched with the unexpected excitement of seeing Scott again. It wasn’t the first time they had met up since their night at Penny’s and their friendship felt like it was blossoming. Multiple messages were exchanged daily and the more they learned about the others lives, the more comfortable they became.

What?! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? Why don’t you come round to stage door and I’ll come down to meet you there? I need to grab a shower before I leave and I’ll be a while so you can wait in my dressing room.

Text sent, Cat raced through getting her tutu off and threw a tracksuit on. Checking her phone, she smiled again as she saw the reply,

I wanted to surprise you and yeah, that sounds much better than sitting out here by myself. See you soon!

Keen not to keep Scott waiting, she flew down the stairs, shoving down the nagging thought that she shouldn’t be this excited to see someone who was supposed to be just a friend. It was a decision that they had made together and she was determined to stick to it, regardless of the little voice in her head that kept pointing out that it had been her idea and that he had merely agreed to it.

Scott was already waiting for her when she arrived and her breath caught slightly as she took him in before he spotted her. He really was almost impossibly beautiful, she thought; the very epitome of tall, dark and handsome. His impeccably cut suit looked to be the same colour as his dress blues from his airforce days, a memory that stirred another flutter in her stomach.

“C’mon then you,” she greeted him fondly, enjoying the look of surprise on his face when he registered her next to him as she grabbed his hand and led him into the maze of corridors backstage.

“Well hello to you too,” he smiled, following behind and enjoying the touch of her hand much more than he thought he should.

Having never discussed the identity of her flower sender with anyone but her closest friends, bumping into two members of the corps de ballet on the stairs while escorting Scott Tracy back up to her dressing room was definitely not part of Cat’s plan to keep it a secret, especially as, she realised with a start, she was still holding his hand.

A hot flash of something akin to jealousy flared through her as she saw the appreciative glances they threw his way as they passed by and she mentally kicked herself for it as she hurried an oblivious Scott up to the relative privacy of her room. It wasn’t that she was trying to keep their friendship a secret; she just really didn’t want to be pressured into publicly defining something that was so far totally undefinable to her.

“You did great tonight,” Scott started with a smile that made Cat’s heart rate increase as the door closed behind them.

“Thank you very much,” she grinned, turning away quickly so he couldn’t see the effect he’d had on her. She watched in the mirror as he headed over and made himself comfortable on her window seat before starting the job of unpinning her headdress and letting her hair out of its tight bun. “When you said you were here I wondered if you’d seen it.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it, even if it did mean a ridiculously early start this morning. Sorry about the flowers by the way,” he added as he caught sight of them, the small sink making the arrangement look even bigger than it was. “I didn’t realise you’d have other bouquets as well and I genuinely didn’t expect mine to be quite that big.”

“That’s OK,” laughed Cat, moving on to removing the worst of her makeup. “It was hilarious watching them try to get them all onstage. I’m just glad you’re here to help me get them all home.”

“So, um, what would you like to do once you’re ready? I’d be very happy to take you for dinner if you'd like?” Scott knew full well that she wouldn’t have eaten since late afternoon and would likely be hungry after all the energy she had used in her performance. He had many happy memories of late meals after her shows and was keen to recapture those moments, even if they didn’t lead to the same end to the night as they used to.

“Not sure I really fancy dinner,” came the reply, throwing a bucket of ice water over the daydream he had somehow slipped into. “It’s been a long day and my feet really hurt. I was just planning on making some pasta and chilling out tonight if you’d like to join me?”

“That sounds wonderful,” smiled Scott, his initial disappointment at her rebuttal turning to enthusiasm for her counter offer, visions of cosying up on the sofa appearing in his head.

“Right, I’m going to jump in the shower, keep making yourself at home and I’ll be as quick as I can,” she finished, grabbing her clothes and disappearing without a backward glance, leaving Scott to his thoughts.

Scott looked around and wondered what to do. He'd been in the dressing room once before after Giselle but with Penny and Gordon there too he hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time. He was acutely aware that this was her private space in the theatre and he didn’t want to pry. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. He found her fascinating and wanted to find out everything he could about her life but he wasn’t prepared to violate her privacy, so he contented himself with settling down on the chair at her dressing table and looking at the pictures that she had stuck around her mirror.

He’d looked at nearly all of them when, to his surprise, he spotted a picture he had taken of Cat and some friends of hers whose names he had once known. Seeing it again transported him back to that day: waking up with her beside him before going for a lazy brunch, then heading out on a trail walk along the James River where they bumped into a group of her friends, joining them for a while on their walk and laughing with them as they took the pictures.

He wondered, with a pang of regret, if she still had the picture of the two of them that had been taken moments later, cuddled up to each other and smiling, cheeks rosy from the slight chill in the air. He’d not thought of that picture since the day it had been taken. At the time it hadn’t seemed like it was of any real importance, just a snapshot of another day together with the promise of countless more like it in their future, but now… Well, now it mattered somehow.

His musing was interrupted by Cat breezing out of the showerroom, now dressed and ready to go. As they chatted amicably while she gathered her belongings, to his delight he noticed with a start that she was wearing the same outfit that she had at Pennys, sending his thoughts spiralling back to the events of that night and making him wonder if there was a significance there that he was not yet aware of.  He was very relieved when she thrust a couple of her bouquets into his arms and led him out of the room, unwittingly breaking that particular train of thought before it could affect him too much.

Down at the stage door, Scott found himself hanging back while Cat signed autographs for the second time in as many months. Unlike the last time, however, he was now playing the role of a glorified vase and within the first 10 minutes he started to quite seriously regret his choice of bouquet as the foliage tickled his nose for what felt like the 100th time.

The number of people who turned out, and were prepared to wait in the unseasonably cool London night to speak to their favourite dancers, amazed him. When he thought about it properly, he wasn’t sure why; they were stars in their own right and their fans wanting to meet them made perfect sense. It was a world away from his experiences of waiting alone for Cat after her early performances in Richmond and his heart swelled with pride at her accomplishments since then as he watched her work her way through the crowd.

As he waited, he became uncomfortably aware of people watching him too and once he had realised that,  he became sure he could hear his name being whispered in conversation, making him quickly duck behind the flowers, using them as a shield. He was well aware of the attention his presence could attract and also very keen not to let the focus be taken away from those who deserved it so he started to maneuver himself away from the crowd.

On their way down from the dressing room, Scott had promised Cat that he would have the car waiting for her once she was finished and when he became certain that he had been spotted, he gratefully snuck away to fetch it, rifling through his pocket for the keys and trying not to drop the damn flowers that were quickly becoming the bane of his life.

Safely settled in the driver's seat, Scott allowed himself to slump for a moment and prepare for the evening ahead of him. He cherished his friendship with Cat but there was no doubt of how he still felt about her. As soon as they’d started talking again it was clear to him that they still had a connection and the night they’d spent at Penny’s had cemented that. Or at least he’d thought it had.

He understood why she had made the decision to be friends and nothing more, but that didn’t mean it hurt him any less. He had pushed that hurt down in order to keep her in his life and he’d been pleasantly surprised at how natural it had felt when they had met up a few weeks later. Where he’d expected awkwardness and long silences, he’d found laughter and flowing conversation which encouraged him to persevere further, truly hoping that one day his feelings would fade and he could be the friend she desired.

When they were apart, he almost managed to convince himself that friendship between them would be entirely possible, but as soon as they were together, he longed to reach out and bridge the gap between them. Being so close to her but unable to act on his feelings was like some kind of delicious torture that he hated and loved in equal measure. He was hopelessly addicted to her, and he had no idea what to do about it.

*****

Feeling unnaturally clumsy under Scott’s gaze, Cat muddled around her flat, finding light switches and vases while simultaneously urging him to make himself at home and apologising for the non existent  mess. She hadn’t been expecting a visitor when she had left that morning and she reddened as she spotted the underwear that she’d left over a radiator to dry, grabbing and stuffing them down the side of a cupboard, most likely never to be seen again.

If Scott saw her, he didn’t mention it and for that she thought she would be forever grateful. He followed her around, helping as much as he could as he looked around in interest at the place she called home.

“Hey,” she commented with a smile, finally coming to rest and surveying the veritable florists that had appeared in her kitchen, “remember when you used to just get me a single rose after a show?”

“What, like this one?” Scott grinned, holding out a blood red flower that he had produced from lord knows where.

Cat smiled slowly as she met his eyes, making his heart race. He kissed the flower and presented it to her with a deep bow, as he had seen her doing to her partner on stage earlier that night and was delighted when she received it with a curtsey.

“I…. Thank you,” Cat smiled, genuinely pleased with what she hoped would be her final floral gift for the night. The rose brought back so many memories of their time together and for that alone it meant more than all the other flowers combined.

“Right, shall we get dinner on, then? We're still making pasta?” Scott broke the moment and took charge. Seeing a kettle, he filled it and set it to boil before looking around the kitchen for any hints of where utensils and food might be kept.

“Bottom drawer, next to the fridge,” Cat instructed, following his line of thinking and directing him towards the saucepans. The pair of them bumped companionably around the kitchen as they made the  simple meal for themselves, falling easily back into old habits and divisions of labour.

“Ooh, wine,” Scott exclaimed, emerging from the fridge and holding a bottle triumphantly above his head. “Would you like a glass?”

“Yes, I think I would,” came the reply from somewhere deep within a cupboard as Cat rummaged through for the sauce she was looking for. “It always takes me ages to unwind properly after a show and I do like a nice glass or two now and again.”

“I remember,” Scott replied softly as he put the bottle down. Something  in his tone caused Cat to stop what she was doing and turn to look at him, finding his eyes mesmerising as they caught hers.

Cat was pinned by them, her breath quickened  as she drowned in their depths and she fought the sudden urge to take the few steps needed to close the gap between them. His lips looked so soft and inviting and she found herself wondering if they tasted the same as when she had last kissed them.

“Shit!” Cat’s attention was distracted by the unmistakable sound of a pan boiling over. She rushed to mop up the worst of the water, the moment lost.

By the time she looked back up, Scott had moved too and had busied himself by pouring two glasses of wine and getting the plates ready for when it was time to dish up their dinner.

It was probably for the best, she told herself. They were just friends. They’d both agreed. And friends didn’t look at each other like that, right?

Settling down after dinner, they flopped into well practised positions on the sofa, facing each other with their legs comfortably tangled together in the middle and her feet in his lap.

As he listened to Cat talking about her plans for her summer break and the ballets she had coming up in the new season, Scott had found his mind drifting back to the moment that they had shared in the kitchen, feeling once again the way his breath had seemed to catch every time her eyes met his.  

Lost in her, he absentmindedly rubbed her feet, feeling the tense muscles slowly loosen under pressure from his thumbs, the action soothing him and allowing him time to let his racing thoughts settle.

Ultimately, he had no idea what was going on. If they were to be friends, he’d make  his peace with that and would continue to hide his true feelings for her until they faded, but they continued to have  moments that were charged with such intensity that they were impossible to ignore or write off as something else.  

He realised that she had stopped talking and was watching him with an almost unreadable expression but for the  little smile creeping onto the corners of her mouth.

“Sorry,’ he apologised, feeling the heat creeping up his cheeks and snatched his hands away as if her feet were on fire.

“No, it’s OK. It felt good,” she reassured him. “You were always really good at that. It just brought back a lot of memories, that's all.”

Scott smiled gratefully and went back to working on getting the knots out of her feet, a comfortable silence coming over them. Listening to her talking had planted the seed of an idea, one which he was unaccountably nervous about broaching lest she think he was overstepping any boundaries. As he worked, the idea grew and coalesced into something more tangible, something that he thought might actually help cement their friendship.

“I’ve got something to ask you…” he started hesitantly, “You can absolutely say no but I wanted to ask anyway.”

“OK, fire away.” Cat fixed him with a look that excited and scared him in equal measure as she fiddled with her wine glass.

“I know you were saying you have some plans for your summer break, but if you have a bit of time would you like to come out to the island for a visit? Spend a bit of time in the sun?”

“Wow! That’s quite the suggestion,” she paused, taking a moment to consider the offer and nearly causing Scott’s heart to stop. “Yeah, that sounds lovely,” she decided, giving him a small nod and a beaming smile that lit up her face.

Scott let out the breath he realised he’d been holding since he’d let the question into the open and his smile matched hers, relief washing over him. “Really? You don’t have to agree to it if you’re not completely sure.”

“No, I really want to, it was just a surprise that’s all.” As the idea took hold, Cat could feel herself getting more excited. She’d not had a proper chance to relax since the previous summer, and even that had been marred by the tail end of her previous relationship, so the thought of a week on a tropical island with Scott was definitely something she could get on board with.

“Amazing! You’re going to love it,” Scott smiled, beyond delighted at the thought of being able to show her his home and introduce her to everyone who was important to him. “We can sort out the details another time though. You look exhausted and don’t think I’ve not seen you stifling yawns for the last 10 minutes.”

Cat couldn’t do anything but laugh. “Yeah, you got me, I think it might be my bedtime. It’s awkward question time now, though. Where were you planning on staying tonight?”

“Selene said I could use her place so I was just going to go there,” Scott responded at once, his answer taking her by surprise. “Um, who’s Selene?” Cat tried very hard to maintain an even tone and a neutral expression despite the flash of jealousy that surged through her for the second time that night, somehow catching her by surprise again.

“John’s fiancee and my best friend. Remember, I did tell you about her?” replied Scott, trying very hard not to grin at her obvious discomfort.

“Ah yeah, I just, um... forgot her name, that’s all…” Cat tried to explain, fooling nobody, least of all herself.

“You weren’t jealous there were you, Miss George?” Scott pressed, a glint appearing in his eyes and a wicked grin on his lips.

“Not at all,” Cat insisted, suddenly becoming very interested in her wine glass and trying to ignore the flush that had appeared on her cheeks. “Well, it’s very late, we've had a drink and I have a spare room so you’re welcome to stay here if that would be easier?”

“That does sound tempting. I’ll not be sleeping much though,” he couldn’t help but pause for effect and was gratified with the response when Cat’s eyes shot back up to meet his as she cocked an eyebrow at him. “It’s 2 in the afternoon my time so I’m pretty wide awake I’m afraid. If you don’t mind me watching TV and having a quick nap so I’m good to fly back tomorrow, then I’d love to stay.”

“You’re a terrible tease, Mr Tracy,” Cat shook her head but her smile betrayed her true feelings. “Of course that’s OK.”

Having set Scott up with everything he could ever possibly need for the coming hours, Cat finally retired to bed but despite her exhaustion, sleep didn’t come easily for her. No matter how hard she tried, her thoughts kept returning to the man in her living room and how torn she felt about him. From the moment they had met again, something had been constantly there, telling her that she couldn’t let him go but to her it wasn’t as simple as that.

At an early age she had learned the pain of rejection by those who should have loved her and it had scarred her deeply. In Scott, she had found someone to whom she had given both her trust and her heart, and his sudden departure from her life had hurt her tremendously.

Once broken, trust wasn’t something she gave out again that easily and she had thought very carefully before letting him back into her life. Yet, despite everything, she wanted to give him her trust. She wasn’t prepared to risk loving him for a second time but friendship seemed to be a good compromise to make in order to be in his life but not stray too close.  

When they were apart it seemed perfectly easy. The messages and calls flowed constantly and there was no end to the things they could talk about. The problem arose when they were together. He seemed to have a magnetic pull on her that was getting increasingly difficult to deny. She had slipped up once and even though her body might be crying out for a repeat performance, her mind was made up.

Groaning quietly, she rolled over and buried her head in the pillow. It was going to be a long night.

*****

Whatever Scott had planned for their Sunday morning together, it was not the little cafe that he found himself sitting in a few blocks away from Cat’s flat. At the very least, he had imagined going someplace where there were proper tablecloths covering tables that didn’t wobble when you leaned on them, risking spilling drinks with every move. However, the food was excellent, the coffee plentiful and the company the best he could imagine so, all things considered, he was very happy with his situation.

Full of food and starting to feel tired from a day that had started almost 19 hours earlier on Tracy Island, he stretched back in his chair, inadvertently catching the attention of the waitress and flashing her a smile in response to her enquiring look.

Across from him, Cat felt a rush of annoyance fire through her as she sipped her coffee and tried to maintain a neutral expression. She’d been feeling on edge all morning, the fight between what she was prepared to give and what she really wanted, wearing her down and making her feel vulnerable and  irritable.

An idea sparked at that moment though, one that would both prove to herself that she was fine with their friendship being nothing more than that and take away any temptation to push things further.

“You should get her number,” she suggested, instantly surprised by how much that simple little sentence hurt.

“What? Why?” Scott stuttered, completely blindsided. He couldn’t think of anything in his behaviour that had suggested that he might have wanted a date and had no idea where this suggestion could possibly have come from.

“You were flirting with her. All those jokes and looks while we were ordering, and that smile right there? Don’t say you weren’t,” she continued, hating herself for every word but doubling down and pushing ahead anyway. The thought of Scott dating anyone hurt her more than she was willing to admit, but she had started down this path and she was committed now.

Scott sat back, running his hands through his perfectly styled hair, not quite believing what was happening.  “I wasn’t flirting, I was being polite and friendly. There is a difference, you know.” He knew he was being defensive, but at that moment he just didn't care.

“You’ve got to admit it though, you are a flirt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not hit on someone, given half a chance.” Cat felt like she was watching herself from afar, not quite believing what she was saying. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she felt the cold rush of dread spread over her and picked up her coffee cup again in a bid to disguise her shaking hands.

“Listen, this conversation is starting to make me really uncomfortable. I don’t want to date the waitress and I’m not really sure where all of this has come from. Can we just drop it now please?”

“Sorry,” Cat looked down at the empty cup in her hands, desperately wishing that she could go back in time to before she’d ever thought of her wonderful ‘idea’. In retrospect, she wasn’t sure what she had expected to happen, but it certainly wasn’t the reaction that she had gotten. She couldn’t remember a time that he’d ever spoken to her as sharply as that before and it had shaken her.

Scott nodded curtly and went back to his coffee, looking outwardly calm but his mind was whirling. He always flirted. It was part of who he was and he’d always thought she liked that, or at the very least accepted it about him. It had never been an issue when they had dated before so he couldn’t understand why him behaving totally normally to a waitress was now cause for comment.

Fine, he thought petulantly, if flirting means that I want to sleep with someone and we’re just going to be friends then I’d better stop flirting with her too. Don’t want her getting the wrong idea now, do we?

A pang of loss hit him as soon as he made the decision; he had come to crave the excitement that her looks and touches gave him and it would be hard to give that up. Not that he’d been the only one doing the flirting, he thought in annoyance. Not responding was going to be a tough but perhaps necessary evil given the circumstances.

“Wanna get out of here?” he asked with the barest hint of a smile.

Cat nodded miserably. She knew he was angry, she could see it in the set of his jaw. The sparkle had gone from his eyes and he was avoiding looking at her but really she couldn’t blame him. She’d messed up and called him out on something that came to him as naturally as breathing, so he was perfectly entitled to be annoyed and she hated herself for being the cause of it.

Walking around the local park afterward, Cat did her best to act as if nothing had happened but she wasn’t getting anywhere. She knew from experience that Scott needed a bit of time to cool down when he was angry, but they had limited time together and she didn't want to waste it, even if he was clearly in a bad mood with her.

Slowly, the frosty atmosphere between them thawed slightly but there were still long, awkward silences that had never been there before and Cat had to work hard to initiate any conversation. The animosity that had radiated from Scott since they left the cafe abated but Cat found she still couldn’t relax as she started to notice a marked change in Scott’s behaviour towards her.

Since their argument, he hadn’t been cold exactly, but there was a reservation in his actions that hadn’t been there before. Where he had been open and playful, often touching her hand or holding a smile for fractionally longer than necessary, now he was barely making any contact at all and she felt the loss keenly.

Despite trying to act relaxed, Scott was trying desperately to squash down his natural urge to fix everything. He knew that a quick smile and a cheeky comment would make everything OKagain but he hadn't liked being called out for flirting so he was damned if he was going to use it to get back into her good books.

Her comment about asking out the waitress had confused him and nothing more but, when she started challenging him about flirting constantly, that had angered him. The more he thought about it the more angry he had become and the more he doubled down on his resolution not to flirt with her again.

Deep down, he knew he was being petty and probably overreacting but he’d gone to a lot of effort to pull together his trip to London He’d been so excited to see Cat and spend some quality time with her  and it felt like her actions at brunch had thrown all his efforts back in his face and ruined it. He stewed silently as they walked, his growing anger mixing with regret, knowing that he would need to apologise  at some point but not willing to back down and fix everything quite yet.

The longer it went on, the more her attempts to apologise and lighten the mood were rebuffed, the angrier Cat became. She knew she’d messed up but his treatment towards her was completely disproportionate. She’d apologised and in her experience of adult relationships that was the point at which people would talk  about it and move on. Scott treating her like she was barely even an acquaintance when she was giving him a chance to regain her trust was going too far and she wasn’t going to stand for it.

She’d had enough and took them on a shortcut back to her flat, keen to get the walk over so she could talk to him more privately. Her anger at his childish behavior was growing by the minute and by the time they reached her flat she was seriously considering whether it was worth even continuing their friendship at all.

Closing the door behind her, Cat was surprised to find that Scott had already grabbed his bag and was standing ready to go.

“I need to get back...” he tailed off, glancing down at his bag as he shifted uncomfortably.

Cat had always known he was going to need to leave after brunch. She would much rather have had a chance to sit down and talk properly but time was against them and she wasn’t going to let him run away on her when the going got tough again. “OK, but I’m going to ask you something before you go.”

“Of course,” Scott replied warily, not expecting the sharp tone of her voice or the way she straightened as if preparing herself for battle.

“Is everything OK with you today? You’ve seemed pretty distant since we went for brunch,” she challenged with a lot more confidence than she felt. It was not a question that she wanted the answer to, but she couldn’t let him go without asking him, she had to know.

“Yeah, I’ve told you I’m fine,” he answered shortly, keen not to get drawn into a discussion right now when emotions were clearly still running high for both of them.

“I just… I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to be friends or not?” she met his eyes, finding her strength and challenging him to be honest with her now that the question, and her deepest fear, was in the open.

“Of course I do. What gave you that impression?” Scott was growing frustrated by her questions, baffled as to how they could possibly even be having this discussion.

“Yesterday you surprised me for the night, bought me the biggest bunch of flowers I’ve ever seen and invited me to spend a week with you on your family's island, and this afternoon you’ve hardly even looked at me,” she argued, feeling more confident about making her point but not wholly convinced by his answer given his actions that day. “I get it, I messed up earlier and I’m sorry, but I feel like I have whiplash from how fast everything has changed.  So I’ll ask you again, and I want you to be honest with me - do you want to be friends or not?”

“No, I don’t,” Scott snapped, as anger surged through him, shocking her with his ferocity.

Everything he’d been doing to ensure he didn’t cross the line from friends to something more had been taking its toll on him, and that, combined with whatever the hell it was that had happened at brunch, had finally pushed him to his limit.

“I flew 13,000 miles to see you. I rearranged my time off so it fitted in with your performance and your schedule. And today you tell me I should be dating some waitress I’ve never spoken to before? You want to know what I want? You”

Cat was speechless. All she could do was stare at him, her mouth slightly agape, as he bared his soul.

“I want to date you, Cat, no one else. I was to kiss you and take care of you and love you like I used to.”

Suddenly realising what he’d said, Scott pushed past her without waiting for a reply and walked through the door, slamming it on his way out and leaving a bewildered Cat to wonder how on earth she was going to salvage this one.

[transboygenius]

Season 4 promo

After overcoming some abuse, anxiety, and depression issues, I FINALLY have it finished.

Three months ago, a huge ceremony took place for the graduation of Lindbergh's fifth grade students. All children were dressed in caps and gowns, receiving their diploma one by one. Cindy earned an academic award along with her diploma. Fortunately, for Jimmy, he earned quite some more, which made him fall over with all that weight. Cindy looked over to him in envy, while Nick helped him pick up some of those awards. Miss Fowl was crying tears of freedom, for she was finally free from Sheen's shenanigans. While the ceremony was still going on, Jimmy gave an inspirational speech about what he learned. Not just about geometry, history, or science, but socialization, and how it changed him. He even gave a sincere shoutout to Nick.

Cindy watched in all bitterness. She was upset. Was it because Jimmy managed to outdo her achievements? Yes. Was it because she still misses him in her life? Also yes. She still loves him, but she is also jealous of him. Why can't she just be one of those? Despite that her and Jimmy vowed to each other that they would be friends instead, she could never move on from him. Ever since him and Nick escaped fron the medieval century, he has redeemed himself from his arrogant and egotistic ways, putting friendship before science. Cindy doesn't get it. She has tried for months to bring him into common sense, even tried beating it out of him, and he does it for some kid he used to have minimal interactions with.

Not only that, but they also became really close friends after that time warp trip. Something about their relationship really made Cindy feel envious. They're always happy with each other, as well as supportive. Even when they find something either of them disagree on, they still search for a way to cooperate. Also, the way Jimmy's always bedazzled by Nick brings her with a lot of questions. Why doesn't he ever look at me like that? Compared to his friendship with Carl and Sheen, he definitely had some "weird" subtext going on with Nick. Cindy lost two goals in this year. While in her gloomy state, her mother began to comfort her. Or at least that's what she thought.

"Oh, don't let the agony of defeat weigh you down, Cynthia! This is only the beginning! That big headed whippy dip may have won the battle, but I guarantee you will win the war! We'll just have to try HARDER this time! I'll help you, and make sure you stay on track!" "Gee. Thanks, Mom. I really appreciate that." "Anything to bring the Vortex image up!"

...........................

It was another fun summer vacation for children, especially for Jimmy and his gang, along with Nick. Sometimes they would go off into far adventures. Sometimes Jimmy would give a new experiment to present. Sometimes they would do normal summer activities such as going to the beach, or Retroland. Or sometimes they would lie around at home all day like couch potatoes. Nick has never had such a productive summer before! He was so happy, he even did his chores whenever he was told to. Well, occasionally. While everyone was making the most of their vacation, Cindy would continue researching and studying until her brain melts.

Most of Nick's summer days were spent with Jimmy, because of course. He spent some time with Libby, since they surprisingly had a lot in common. He at least put his best to hang out with Carl. Even though Nick doesn't consider Sheen much as a friend, Sheen can't help but get a little clingy over a new amigop. Just for Jimmy, he tolerated all of his actions, even when he starts to infodump about how much he knows about Ultralord. When Nick feels he isn't doing a good job being pal-friendly to Jimmy's two comrades, he cooks them up lunch, takes special recipe requests, and gave free cooking lessons. He'd cook for Libby too, only to test out new vegetarian recipes. The only member of the squad Nick interacted with the least would be Cindy.

After three months of summer, it eventually went down to a bummer. When the first back-to-school commercial airs, every child is met with horror. Speaking of which, on the third of August, it was time to face a new beginning. Goodbye Elementary School, and hello to Middle School. Nick was gazing into the mirror, grooming his curtain cut with care. Although he's not popular anymore, keeping his own hair perfect has become a habbit to him. He also decided to try a new casual, comfortable wardrobe: white long sleeved shirt, blue t-shirt over it, teared loose jeans, and purple converse. The ring around his neck never left him. After he finished admiring his own reflection, he took his backpack and ran towards the door.

"Nick, would you like me to drive you there?" Shouted his mom from another room. "It's cool, Mom! I'll just take my scooter!" Replied Nick. "Well, you better not be late on your first day! Love you, honey!" “Love you too, Mom."

.....................

So on the scooter ride to school, he met with a few friends on the way. Libby and Cindy took the bus, but he only waved to Libby. Sheen was passing by in his dad's car, constantly trying to get Nick's attention while Nick did his best to ignore him. Then came Bolbi on a unicyc- Wait a minute, he's not a friend. Lastly, up in the sky, there was Jimmy in his hovercar, greeting Nick from above. Then there was Carl in the backseat, catching the breeze in his face, then a splattered bug. All of the squad met at the front entrance of Gelaway's Middle School. Even though summer was over, some were eagar to move to a new school level where they'll no longer be regarded as little kids.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh... Can't believe we're in middle school now! The place where practices to being a teenager begins! Pretty soon we'll be driving in our parents' cars, and attending R-rated movies!" Cooed Libby. "I can't wait to wear body jewelry!" Said Carl. "Sooooooooo, looks like this is a new stage in our growing life. It feels like only yesterday we were doing show 'n tell, and macaroni art. Now there's... ...here. Wow." Spoke Nick.

Jimmy gave his tall buddy a light nudge on the shoulder, then grinned at him. 

"Shall we... ...go inside now?" Asked Jimmy. “YES, LET'S GO INSIDE NOW! I've been surrounded by babies for too long! PEAK OF ADULTHOOD, HERE I COME!" Shouted Sheen, then dashed on ahead.

The rest of the gang followed behind. When they made it inside, it felt like opening a door to a whole new world. The inside was full of older and maturer kids, all in a different multicultural range. Most of them were just fooling around on their phones. Libby had her eyes on a couple of teens playing music and then dancing to it. Sheen had his eyes on a couple of dudes having a casual conversation about science fiction. Carl had his eyes on... ...a Llama Lovers club? Nick had his eyes on something that made him wanna act fast. He quickly hid behind a really tall, blocky kid while the gang continued to chat amongst themselves.

A trio walked down the hall, in an intimating fashion. The lead of the trio was a blonde boy who wore fingerless gloves, a snapback, baggy pants, sneakers, and a t-shirt that had a ravenous spike collared bulldog on it. Not to mention he had a (fake) tattoo on his left arm that read "Beast." He appeared to look the most intimating, and seemed to be at Nick's height. The kid on his left was a lanky boy, who wore a red and yellow tank top, with matching shorts, plain white sneakers, and his hair was braided. He was the tallest, and looked like a friendly kid at heart. The last one was a short redhead with a fringe hairstyle. He wore a blue sweatshirt, long jeans, and a pair of crocs. The boy was the shortest of the bunch, but still a little taller than Jimmy, and he looked like he was trying way too hard to be intimating.

The three happened to be approaching the gang, and then the short one tripped.

"AARON!" Shouted the blonde lead. “Uh, uh- Sorry, chief!" The redhead soon got back up to his feet.

The front blonde kid then snapped his fingers to get everyone's attention. As he did, he gazed down upon Jimmy.

"Well, looks like we have some new fish in this joint! Hey squirt, you must be Neutron!" “Uhhhh... The pleasure is-" “I'm not done talking yet, nerd! *AHEM*"

The blonde grabbed Jimmy by his hair, and lifted him up to make direct eye contact.

"You and I will be getting to know each other very well."

He then released and just dropped Jimmy, leaving his soft served ice cream hair now out of shape. The gang just stood in silence as they waited for this blonde kid to say something else.

"What? I'm done talking!" Said the blonde. “Who are you jerks, anyways?" Asked Cindy. "Ah, I'm glad you asked, doll! They call me 'Tony!' You BETTER remember that! You are prohibited to call me anything else besides 'Tony!' Understand, huh?" "Chief?" Asked the short redhead. "YOU WERE EVEN LISTENING- Oh. Whaddya want, Aaron?” “I thought you were done talking.” “UGHHHH-“ “And don’t we get an introduction?" "*Sigh* And this is my crew, Mike and Aaron. Call them anything you want, I'm sure they don't mind." "I'm Mike, btw." The tall kid declared. "Coooool! A real school gang! Do you guys have a super cool gang name??" Asked Sheen. “Of course we do, needle-neck! Otherwise we wouldn't be a gang! It may sound simple, but it still manages to strike fear into the weaks' hearts. We call ourselves: Tony Mike n Aaron!" "Oh. Well, it sure is easy to remember." "Dang straight! And you better not forget! As for you, nerd. I'll be seeing you around soon."

With business now done, Tony turned the opposite direction and walked away. Mike fixed Jimmy's hair before catching up with Tony. Aaron just continued to stare at the squad aggressively, trying not to give away a blink. Eventually, he had to stop when Tony called him up. As soon as they were gone, Nick came out of hiding, and got back in place like he never left. And it's a good thing the gang hasn't noticed, otherwise he'd make himself look like a wuss. He was in no mood to deal with those three right now. 

"Uhhhh, Jimmy. Shouldn't we be collecting our schedules?" Nick tried to change the subject. "Huh? Oh YEAH! C'mon, team! We don't wanna make a bad impression by being tardy on our first day!" 

.........................

Homeroom was with English class. The teacher was a man who looked like he hasn't gotten enough sleep, and talked in a stoic monotone voice. His expression was blank.

"Welcome, class. My name is Mr. Nite. Here we will be learning the art of literature English and how it will build up your doctoral level. Also for other stuff that's very important in the future, bluhblubbluhbluh. Now, can each student stand up from their desk one at a time, and present themselves to me?" “Salutations! My name is Cynthia Vort-" "That will do for now. Thank you all for giving me the chance to know each and every one of you. Now, to start the day, please turn to page 13 in the textbook in front of you. We will be going through Sonata For Harp And Bicycle. When you are finished, there are questions you shall answer at the end of the story. You are also proposed to write a five paragraph summary for Sonata For Harp And Bicycle. We will be reviewing the story tomorrow, write an essay report on the author's background, taking notes on what you learned, and then comes the big test on Friday. Begin now."

Mr. Nite slumped his head down on his desk to take a nap. All the students hesitated for a moment, before opening their textbooks. First day of middle school, and already their week is busy. Well, first day of school is not supposed to be a party. Carl and Sheen went through at least one page. They both started to get a migraine from all the big fancy vocabulary they're never used to, not even when hanging around with Jimmy for years. 

.............................

The other classes were just as bizarre and stressful. In music class, the teacher was a grown man with a purple dyed mohawk, visor sunglasses, and other stereotypical attire from the 1980s, also talking in outdated slang. His name was Mr. Beatz. He played his guitar, loud enough to sting the students' ears, and break windows. Libby seemed to be the only one taking a liking to him. They're first assignment was to recreate they're own cover of Do Re Me. He didn't feel like starting with something simple, since "That's so early 2000s." 

In home economics class, the teacher was a plain lady who wore chef attire. She also appeared to act like two characters in one. One minute, she's a sweet housewife gently instructing the basics to culinary skills, then the next she turns into a strict food teacher with the cooking arts of a five-star chef, also bearing a British accent. Her name was Mrs. Rosemerry. Their first assignment was to fix up something without a recipe. Lucky for Nick, he could easily survive.

In P.E. class, their coach was some buff, toned women. Right before anyone could introduce themselves, she blew on her whistle and started the first assignment: Run fifty laps around the field. Anyone who gives up, or pukes, has to do a hundred pushups. Her name was Ms. Barbell, by the way.

............................

Everyone became quite exhausted from this long first day. They didn't expect middle school to be quite a challenge. Then again, nobody said growing up was easy. To add insult to injury, all of them had homework. Homework on the first day. Feels like being punished for no reason. Thank goodness lunch has arrived. The squad took their trays and waited in line to be served. Nick, however, brought his own lunch, but he made sure to reserve a table for his friends. Then, Carl and Sheen came in contact with the lunch lady. She looked nothing like a stereotypical lunch lady. In fact, this dollface sweetheart looked like someone who walked out of their dreams. The two boys couldn't help but gaze upon her remarkable beauty. They eventually snapped out of it when she scooped some unidentified glop onto their trays. She was attractive, but not her cooking.

The squad all sat at the table Nick held for them. None of them ate. They just stared at the mystery glop on their trays. Carl gave a taste. It was so revolting, even he couldn't work it down. Libby felt there was meat products cooked into the stuff, so she refused to touch it. Nick, about the only kid at the table who packed something edible, looked at the poor, hungry boy genius. Caring for his best friend, he offered him half of his lunch on a napkin. Then, he started getting hungry stares from Carl and Sheen. He knew that giving Jimmy some of his own lunch would give them the wrong idea that he's just giving out free eats, but he would never let the little guy starve like that. They were drooling down on the table, begging Nick with big, gapping eyes.

"Please, Nick. I gotta keep my blood sugar up." Whined Sheen. "(You say that like it's a bad thing)"

Nick wasn't feeling any sorry for them, but the only way they'd leave him alone is that he gives them what they want. So, he put out his lunchbox and told them to take a little. The two boys helped themselves, feasting greedily like a bunch of animals. After they were done, they wiped off their faces clean with napkins, then slid the lunchbox back to Nick. There was nothing left for him but an empty milk bottle, which had a big mark bitten out of it.

"Thank you very much! Now how am I gonna keep my blood sugar up?" Said frustrated Nick. "Hey, lighten your mood, gang! Sure, the classes are pushy, the teachers are looney, and the food here stinks! Quite literally, too. But, at least there's some good to come out of this!" Exclaimed Sheen. "Like WHAT?” "Recess! GERONIMO!"

Sheen flew towards the door that's suppose to lead to the playground. He crashed with a loud thud, then Jimmy came up to point out the the print on the door says “Pull.” Unfortunately, all he found were students lounging outside; Enjoying their packed lunches, gossiping with each other, reading, or being on their phones and tablets.

"Whoops! This isn't the playground!"

All the outside students overheard Sheen's statement. Some got up from their sitting positions to give him a taste of reality.

"Sounds like you're new around here." "Sorry, we don't have any of that 'little kid' stuff anymore." "No teeter-totter, no slides, no monkey bars, *Sighs* no swings." "Welcome to phase one of growing up. ...sir."

Now this has gone too far. First all this work, no edible nourishment, and now they can't have the one escapism that helped them pull through elementary school.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The others then met with Sheen outside, surprised themselves to find no recess playground. Just big kids doing "big kid" things. Sheen crawled on his knees and begged to Jimmy.

"Jimmy, could you invent something that would shrink down ages? The peak of adulthood is scary!" "C'mon now, Sheen. An age reversal process isn't gonna fix anything."

Nick then separated the Ultralord fanboy from his short friend, giving him some comfort.

"Don't worry about that, little bud. Sure, this first year has gone through a rocky start, and it'll probably get much worse in the future, but... ...with all our effort, we'll make it through together." "Thanks, Nick. Although, that doesn't seem to make me feel any better." "Oh, buck up, will ya?"

Nick then pulled Jimmy close to him as they decided to find some spot to longue outside, which made Jimmy just blush a bit. And from his tall friend's cheesy motivational speech, he wonders what he's implying when he mentioned "we'll" and "together." Together as in the whole squad as a group, or together as just him and Nick as a pair. Cindy, following behind, watched with indifference on Jimmy and Nick's closeness.

[rage-is-here]

Fronnie | One-Shot

A/N: Hello! This is Rage, writing about a ship I really like-

BTW IN THIS STORY HEADCANONS ARE THAT BONNIE IS JEREMY, FREDDY IS GABRIEL, FOXY IS FRITZ, CHICA IS SUSIE AND G.FREDDY IS CASSIDY

Warning: if you do not like Fronnie (Freddy x Bonnie), please, p e r i s h -

So, with that being said, let's head on to the story itself;

uwu uwu story time uwu uwu

The camera buzzed as it moved from left to right, observing the room fully. The animatronics on stage just sat there looking lifeless. And that's what the nightguard thought as well - they didn't believe in that gostly-possesed crap everyone seemed to believe for those animatronics.

... At least that was the case until they suddenly saw the camera be filled with static. When the white noise cleared, all three of the animatronics were staring straight at the camera; no, straight to him. It looked like the animatronics were watchinghimthrough the cameras.

Mike felt the blood instantly drain from his face and he yelled in sudden terror. Pulling down his monitor, he checked the lights outside the office doors. No one or, more likely, no thing was there. Taking a deep breath, he pulled up the monitor again, only to widen his eyes terrified again.

The only animatronic on stage right now, was Freddy. Bonnie and Chica were gone. Frantically, he checked around the cameras, searching for them anxiously. Finally, he heard noises from the kitchen, and assumed one of them was in there. Yet, he wasn't sure who.

He found Bonnie in the closet. That was... An interesting location. Mike couldn't suspend a snort of a giggle.

He checked around the cameras again, and at one point, he clicked on the Pirate's Cove camera. The purple curtains of the small out of order stage had been pulled by a little, revealing a fox animatronic's head. For some reason he looked... Grumpy? Yet, his piercing eyes were seemingly tearing through Mike's soul.

He pulled down his monitor to check the lights again... Bonnie was right there.

Mike screamed and slammed on the door button, the door falling with a rather loud thud, followed by a smaller one, like something hit on the door. Looking from the glass next to the door, Mike saw the bunny turned around and holding its nose, a kind of pained expression on its face. The sight made him laugh in amusement; those animatronics feel pain? Upon hearing him, the bunny turned his attention to him, death staring him, before walking away with angry steps..

Meanwhile, back on stage . . .

The Freddy animatronic opened his eyes lightly, quickly groaning and blinking rapidly, trying to adjust to the lighting. He prefered rather darker environments due to how sensitive his eyes were.

Taking a few slow steps, he got off the stage and looked around. Bonnie and Chica were both nowhere to be found. 'The probably be hunting the nightguard', he thought.

He yawned, still sleepy and all that, when he saw Bonnie walk out of the west hall. His ears were slumped over, and that was a clear sign that he was annoyed and/or angry.

"Uh, y'okay Jer?" the bear asked asked, walking towards him.

"I'm fine." the bunny said impatiently walking by him, not even shooting a glare at the bear.

"You definitely don't look like you're okay though." his fellow animatronic replied again, looking straight at him.

"Oh christ, leave me be Gabriel! I want to focus on finding a way to get to the nightguard, cause he pissesme of, there!" Jeremy barked at him angrily.

"... What did this nightguard do to piss you off this time?" the bear, apparently named Gabriel, asked, following the bunny.

Jeremy rolled his eyes in slight annoyance as the bear apparently refused to leave him on his own.

"...He closed the door when I was about to get in, making me hit my nose on it." the blue/purple bunny muttered.

The bear looked rather unamused.

"Don't you think you have a tad bit too short temper...?" Gabriel questioned, crossing his arms, "I mean really, we are after him and want to kill him, so isn't it like, justified that he slammed the door?"

Jeremy looked at the bear animatronic surprised, but the surprise soon turned into anger.

"Are... Are you feeling pity for him?!" he exclaimed loudly, "How can you? Have you forgotten what they did to us? Do you not care for that?!"

"B-But it wasn't him who kille-"

"I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck!" the bunny yelled, cutting Gabriel off, before closing his eyes in an attempt to calm his nerves, "I know for a fact though that he works here, and this place is owned by Afton, so he works with or for that disgusting creature, and I won't EVER show any kind of pity towards him OR the people that work for him, and if you ever decide to come tell me that bullcrap, I swear..."

The bunny trailed off as he opened his eyes, looking at Gabriel. The poor bear had cowered back, a scared look on his face. His eyes were wet, and seemed like tears were threatening to fall any moment from now. He had forgotten how sensitive the bear was, and yelling at him like that weren't the wisest of choices.

A few seconds of silent staring passed, with the only audible thing being Gabriel's heavy, unstable breathing.

"... Fine, I-I'll leave you to it, have fun killing yet another person-" Gabriel said as he started walking the other direction in a fast pace.

"W-Wait Gabs..." Jeremy said as he grabbed Gabriel's arm, just above his elbow. He quickly pulled at him, making him forcefully turn and face him. The sight broke the bunny's heart, as a few tears had stained the bear's cheeks who just stared at him silently, not trying to break free from his grasp. Instantly, he pulled the bear in a tight hug, surprising the smaller animatronic.

"I... I'm sorry... I-I shouldn't have yelled at you like that..." Jeremy muttered, feeling disappointed in himself for his actions.

The bear did not respond, yet he just hugged the bunny back just as tightly. They both stayed like that, unmoving, silent, both enjoying the feeling of the other's embrace, and calming, to the sound of their breathing. Neither wanted to let go of the other, and hoped for this moment to last forever.

"Aww, aren't you two adorable..." a low, girly voice said.

Both animatronics instantly looked around, breaking the embrace, but still instinctively holding each others hand, to see who said that. Neither could locate anyone close to them though; but then, Gabriel caught a glimpse of a faded gold suit, before it disappeared instantly.

"Damn you Cassidy." Gabriel mumbled, followed by a quiet, girly giggle.

"Could we, um, you know, have some privacy right now?" Jeremy asked, slight embarrassed.

"Heh heh, sure, sure..." Cassidy said, still giggling, before the room went silent again.

"Okay now that happened," Jeremy commented dully.

"Yes," Gabriel replied, "...Where were we...?"

"I think we were to the point were I was going to kiss you." Jeremy said looking straight at the bear.

"Oh yeah righ- W-WAIT WH-" the bear exclaimed before he was shut of by something blocking his mouth.

The bunny had grabbed the shorter animatronic by the shoulders and pulled him into a kiss, closing his eyes while doing show. Gabriel just stood there, his mind shutting off for a few seconds, before he nervously kissed back. He had to admit that he absolutely loved the feeling, loved this sudden rush of non-existent adrenaline through his metal veins.

A few moments later, Jeremy broke the kiss, opening his eyes and looking straight into the bears bright blue eyes, while the bear looked into his crimson red ones. The bear smiled, and hugged the blue animatronic again, softly pressing his head against his chest, hearing the soft sound of Jeremy's metal pump. It's sound so inhuman... Yet, to Gabriel, it sounded identical to the sound of a human heart.

The bunny hugged back, petting softly at the bear's back of the head, as he felt his breathing against his chest, as well as the rise and fall of his chest. For a second, he imagined. He imagined, what if they never died. Yes, he would still have his family. But now, at least, he has him. And, for the first time, after that fateful day, the bunny felt truly happy.

They might be trapped in this living hell. But at least, they are together. From today, till the end of all days.

A/N: Holy heck finally I am done with this- I know, the end might feel a bit rushed but oh my lord, I personally love how it turned out :)

Anyways, stay safe you all, and see you some other time-!

[xxjewellynwatts]

Fictober - Original Fiction - Day 1 / Prompt 1 (General Audiences)

Elizabeth had never been a fan of parties. When a friend of her, Evangeline, invited her, she was definitely surprised.

'I thought you didn't like parties too?' she asked, raising an eyebrow.

'But this isn't a party' she smiled mysteriously.

'And what is it, exactly? If it's the kind of stuff where people dance on garbage music and get high to impress the others, I'd feel insulted

- It's definitely not' she laughed strangely. 'It's the kind of parties you'll never forget. Even the word "party" is not appropriate. Let's call it a ball!

- That's even scarier, she laughed.

- It'll be fun, trust me. You should feel honored to be invited.

- Why?

- You'll see if you come' she winked and got out of the room saying: 'I'll be waiting for you at 9.'

Yes, Elizabeth never liked parties yet she was struggling to find appropriate clothes to wear at 8:30pm.

'I can't believe I'm doing this...' she uttered.

Evangeline was a punctual person, therefore Elizabeth made sure she was ready on time. It was on the 31st of October and people were having fun outside, eating candies or just chilling, watching scary movies and such. The streets were dark, the lights were casting their immense shadows and it was cold but Elizabeth loved it. It was even a bit misty and she thought 'This is so appealing. I wanna live like this forever' but soon enough she got herself thinking of this mysterious party. She wanted to change her mind but it was too late. She glanced at Evangeline. She was wearing a long cape. She always had a victorian gothic kind of style and Elizabeth felt amazed by how confident Evangeline looked, even in those clothes.

The party was held near her college therefore they didn't have to walk that much.

When they got in the entrance hall, Evangeline removed her cape. She was wearing an amazing black and red victorian dance dress and Elizabeth couldn't help but stare at her in surprise.

'Wait, so you were serious when you talked about a ball?' she asked, scared.

'Of course I was' she said like it was obvious.

'But...'

Elizabeth was speechless. She removed her coat, revealing an amazing suit. People often referred to her as 'the dandy' and since she didn't know what kind of party it would be, she just put on one of her favourite suits.

'This ballroom is hundreds of years old... said Evangeline, emotional. Come on!'

Before opening the huge doors, Evangeline gave Elizabeth a very beautiful mask.

'It's a masquerade ball' she explained.

'Am I in 1870?' asked ironically Elizabeth.

'More like in 1615' smiled her friend.

And the doors went open.

It was a sudden mixture of black dresses, huge red curtains, candles lit and magical but deadly atmosphere. There was a stage with an orchestra preparing itself at the very end of the room. The ceiling felt like the sky and Elizabeth felt like she was time travelling.

'I never thought there were so many gothic people...' she said clumsily.

'Well, we're never too far away' winked her friend. 'I have to go. Make yourself at ease, drink and eat. There's a very good wine and cakes. I'll see you soon'

And before Elizabeth could stop her, she saw her disappearing from her eyesight in a swirl of dark colors.

Left on her own, she analized everything around her. She felt like she was in a room full of strangers but they also felt pretty close. They were all smiling mysteriously and she could only see their mesmerising eyes. And oh, how they were telling. Really, eyes can tell a lot about someone. The way they look at the others, the way they travel around the room...

Slowly, the room became silent and the guests were heading towards the stage. The orchestra was ready and Elizabeth recognised Evangeline, amongst the orchestra, a violin in her hand.

And they started playing.

Elizabeth was standing still when all the others started moving madly around her, suddenly changed by the waltz, dancing until they were out of breath, and still, dancing after death.

The violin was enchanted. It was the only thing that could explain the feelings Elizabeth was stabbed by. They were in the hands of a devil who looked like an angel.

In the ladies' eyes was a powerful glim, caught up in the madness, in the insatiable thirst, the desperate seek of the unconscious, the dark, the wonderful and dangerous.

Elizabeth, who had been struggling to write anything decent in the past few weeks, caught herself thinking: 'I could write hundreds of poems about this!'

Here is the link to this incredible music in case you were curious what kind of music was playing.

ENGLISH IS NOT MY NATIVE LANGUAGE BTW. SORRY FOR THE TERRIBLE NARRATIVE SKILLS.

[jessahmewren]

Thinkin of the Queen boys... what are your hcs for what they’re like before and after a concert, especially in the early days where they weren’t quite sure they’d make it? ♥️ (I love your writing btw!)

Awh, thank you dear!!! First of all, I love this prompt! Secondly, this got long! I hope you enjoy!

Before a concert John is all nerves, chewing histhumbnail with his bass pulled across his lap, or hanging close to Freddie orRoger, leaning in and laughing tightly at a joke one of them just told.  He’s the first to get dressed, and his handshakes so hard Freddie has to help him with his eyeliner.  John worries about his singing part in Liar,but never tells anyone.  Once dressed, hepaces a little to work off nervous energy and tries not to bite his thumb.  

Brian sits quietly, tuning his Red Special.  He’s usually on a couch or a chair or in a corner, but always a little away from theothers.  He’s inside his head, runningthrough his solos.  He gets dressed afterRoger, waiting for the blond to shed his robe as his cue to break out of hisprivate little world.  He gets upfrequently to check the curtain that leads to the stage, peeking at the size ofthe crowd.  When they line up to go onstage, he’s right behind Freddie.  

Roger is a dichotomous mixture of moods before ashow.  He likes a scotch before they goout, the cheap stuff they can afford.  Itcalms his nerves and dowses the fire that burns within him enough to be barelymanageable.  He is at times all blazingenergy, walking around shirtless, bouncing in place, clowning around withFreddie or sometimes huddled and quiet, lounging on a couch with John orleafing through the latest issue of MusicLife.  He’s careful about hisclothes, dressing himself rather than having Freddie pick out what he’llwear.  His favorite part about pre-showis the line-up…the thrill right before they take the stage.  

Freddie is the last to get ready but the firstto start.  He is all rituals andsuperstitions, stretching his body and lining his eyes and doing vocalwarm-ups.  He fusses with the managementand distributes clothing to the boys, but isn’t in the least bit nervous.  There’s a hunger in his eyes, an eagernessand drive that suggests this is what he was made to do.  He drinks room temperature water andcomplains about the lighting and asks Brian how many people are out front.  He hugs them all before they go onstage.

After the show, John is elated.  Performing gives him confidence like nothingelse, and the love and camaraderie he feels from his bandmates is something hewouldn’t trade for the world.  He is thelast to change out of his clothes, opting to leave on his high-heeled boots. Hedrinks the most when they hit the pub after the show, finally able to releasesome of that built up tension and celebrate a job well done

Brian can’t help but pick apart his performance,wondering if there was a way he could’ve played even better.  It’s not that Brian questions his skill—he knowshe’s good—but he wants to be the best…he wants Queen to be the best.  Not wanting to dampen the mood, he vows toask the boys about his solo tomorrow.  Heturns in early and spends the rest of the night studying for an early exam.

Roger is high off the crowd.  The way they scream his name, the cheersthey send up when he spins his sticks. It’s a feeling he will never get tired of, he’s sure.  He celebrates at the pub with more scotch, thefriendship of his bandmates, and the companionship of a few lovely ladies hemet at the bar.  After all, some harmlessflirting never hurt anyone’s ego.  

Freddie experiences that inevitable crash afteran adrenaline high, leaving him shaky and almost tearful.  He combats this feeling with the company ofhis mates and a few drinks, which slowly lifts his spirits again.  He is tired, but his mind is somewhere stratospheric.  Performing is his life.  He was made for the stage.  

[theragamuffininitiative]

Last Days of Summer @KCRep

Well this has been long in coming

Guys.

I saw Last Days of Summer with Corey Cott and Emily Padgett and it was amazing and now I’m here a week and a day late to talk your ear off about it. ;)

I went with my favorite cousin (shhh don’t tell the other cousins) to see the show because she likes theatre too but her family doesn’t care so they never see things.

She knew I was a fan of one of the cast, and I did my level best not to fangirl too hard and I think it was an all around success. :D

This was yet another exercise in the “how far will Rags drive across the country to see a show if it is at all a possibility to do so” which I think is going to drive my parents insane.

When we got there, I did what I forgot to do at The Lion King and asked if it was ok to take pictures of the curtain call. Unfortunately, because of copyright reasons with Jason Sherwood’s set design, pictures were not allowed. :P But now at least I think I’ll remember to ask the ushers at shows, because curtain calls are my favorite thing and someday I will get pictures at them.

I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone who may want to read the book the musical is based off of, or just in case it gets produced again. (please please please) But if you’re curious, there’s this.

We went the last night because I couldn’t get away sooner. I would have loved to see the first show and then seen the closing show because I know they did a lot of changes, but I’m really happy with the version we saw.

It opened with a radio suspended on a wire, and the crackling voice of a baseball announcer set the narrative into motion. The radio was one of my favorite parts of the production, it was a great storytelling technique.

Robbie Berson as young Joey Margolis was amazing. All the kids in the cast were, but as the main protagonist....antagonist? hm, anyways, the main character, he carried the story the whole time in a great way, always believable as an incorrigible kid and strong enough to dig into the deeper parts of the story.

Jim Kaplan as Craig Nakamura was also amazing, and I love the character of sweet but feisty Craig so much.

These two boys, honestly, they were such pros.

And what can I say about Corey and Emily? They are stars, obviously, and I loved every second they were on stage, together or separate.

The end of Act One features a pretty big blow up between Joey and Corey’s Charlie, where Joey allows his emotions to get the better of him and turns on Craig. Charlie scolds him and tells him he has no choice about growing up and gives him a thing or two about being a man. Honestly, that act one closer was pretty great, but it also gave two of my favorite moments of the show:

1) When Charlie gets fed up with Joey’s selfish behavior, Corey bellowed “sit down!” and one older audience member audibly went “whoa” XD XD XD.

2) in the song that follows (”Says Who? Says I”), there was a moment where - for lack of a better description and realizing it’s a pun considering what team Charlie Banks plays on - Corey became a giant on that stage. For most of the production, all the players were equals. Kids and adults and ensemble members alike, they complimented each other and no one outshone anyone else. But near the end of the song, and probably on purpose for the story, Charlie/Corey towered above everything else as he belted out lines that were equally self-deprecating and proud about who Charley and Joey should be. I was in awe. It was a great moment.

Emily’s disguised yet still noticeable baby bump made for some fourth-wall-breaking humorous moments for the audience, considering her starlet character and lead romantic interest persona. But it was all good. XD

I. am. seriously. in. love. with. that. staging. I could talk about the sets all day.

Jeff Calhoun’s directing. Can I get an amen.

Jim/Craig’s performance of “We Always Had a Garden” is honestly the part I got the most emotional over, and he sang it like an angel, I was very wow.

I need the album.

Chris Dwan as Stuke was great. I started to get worried about Stuke’s mortality when he went from “occasional comic relief” to “goofy tag-along friend” and, well, I was right. But he was great and he had this fantastic little random dance number (”This Time It’s For Real”) while singing about his latest crush. It was precious. XD

There was, as the review I linked to said, a lot crammed into this little show. Like, a lot of a lot. The first act balanced everything pretty well, the second act was a little stuffed.

One of the big climactic moments in act two felt very rushed, and one of those “we’re just going to assume the audience gets what we mean” and the audience gets it but isn’t allowed any time to appreciate it. I’d like to see that done a little differently, but I completely chalk it up to there just being such a wealth of plot to deal with in those final scenes and numbers.

Speaking of numbers, if you want a taste of some of the music aside from that one clip with Robbie and Jim, Corey performed some of the songs with some cast members at his concert that week:

“You Never Have to Say Goodbye” - cue tears

“No One Else For Me” - sweeeeet

I love Big Band music so much. Jason Howland for the win.

“That’ll Be You and Me” is sort of a bonding moment for Joey and Charlie and it reminded me a lot of the character dynamic between Zach and Henry in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, one of my favorite movies.

The wedding scene was hysterical. You’re just gonna have to take my word for it, but the blocking on it was perfect and the characters played tug-of-war across the stage trying to get Charlie to board his train on time and keep the rabbi from passing out as he flew through the “ceremony.” XD The Rabbi was a good character. Give Gary Neal Johnson a hand.

I did not cry. There were moments. But I didn’t. XD

Everybody kept swearing and then the boys would make “can we say that word” jokes, like in the middle of a song, when you knew what they were going to say because it rhymed, and I’m old fashioned but it was also great. XD

There’s an earlier scene where the baseball team is helping Joey memorize his answers for his Bar Mitzvah (”The Only Way to Score”) and it was both funny and precious as everyone except Joey learns all the Hebrew answers.

“Just Like Us” and its reprises kept the show solidly focused on Joey, and his buddy Craig.

I wanted to give both Joey and Charlie all the hugs.

I whooped for the orchestra at bows. I’m always like the only person who does that at a show, but I appreciate the orchestras so much, it’s just my thing now: I whoop loudly in support of the pit musicians, deal with it everybody.

My cousin enjoyed it :D :D :D

Standing ovation, btw, of course.

Okay, so, after the show:

We stuck around with a group of peeps to stagedoor. Folks, this is the first time I successfully stagedoored something lol.

Corey was the first person to come out, and... - poor guy. XD He was booking it, making a very determined beeline for the exit. If I was left to my own, I would have let him go, but the guy in front of me stopped him so I got up my courage. He was polite and kind to us, but you could tell he just wanted to go home. (and afterward he ended up apparently getting delayed like seven hours trying to get back home to the city, so I don’t blame him at all) So he signed a couple posters and playbills, and then as he was walking away I stepped forward and asked if I could get his autograph. He was like “yeah, ok” and then, rather than giving him the playbill, I pulled out my Bandstand album jacket. :D :D :D Guys, he lit up, it was the cutest and happiest thing. He went from “ok sure” to “awwww yeaaaaah!” and signed it like six times because my marker wasn’t working properly lol, and then was like “um that’s gonna have to be good enough” even though I told him the first time was ok. XD

So then everyone else started to come out, and I got a lot of the cast to sign my playbill, including all the main kids, Emily, and most of the baseball players - who were the coolest about doing autographs so bless you dudes. Young Jim somehow has the neatest signature.

And then we went home! XD

As usual, I am certain I am forgetting all the things, but there we are. I only wish I could have gone twice. I would love to have gone earlier so I could tell everyone to go see it. But I’m reasonably sure it will get more productions, so be on the look out for it! :D

[aphrodaisyacs]

Summary:

After the stunt they pulled at the party, Tony has taken to referring to Loki and Steve as “clone boyfriends”, a nickname which rapidly morphed into an inside joke amongst the Avengers. It’s all fun and games until it gets overheard by a clueless reporter- now the public believes that Steve and Loki are genuinely an item.

Chaos ensues.

Or: The one where Steve and Loki get mistaken for a couple, but they go along with it to make homophobes mad.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies) Relationships: Loki/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, James “Bucky” Barnes & Steve Rogers, implied past En Dwi Gast | Grandmaster/Loki Characters: Steve Rogers, Loki (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Thor (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), James “Bucky” Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Vision (Marvel), Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Peter Parker Additional Tags: Crack, Humor, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Infinity War is still cancelled, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Homophobia, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Genderbending, News Media, Social Media, Attempted mass shooting, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Brief cameo by Tr*mp

(Reposting this on tumblr because I fucked up the first time round)

The sequel to this fic, and things make more sense if you read that one first.

Full chapter below:

It’s been months since Steve had last set foot in New Asgard. Already, the place looks so different- more like an actual town. It’s the one-year anniversary of the Asgardians’ arrival and settlement on Earth, and Thor had decided to celebrate their progress by throwing a festival. The Avengers were invited, though only about half of them took up on the offer- the rest remained in New York to hold the fort, so to speak. And due to the nature of the event, government officials from all over the world have also been invited.

Shortly after arriving, Steve and his friends split up to do their own thing; Tony had made a beeline towards the food stalls, Clint went off to try all the games and activities available, leaving Steve and Natasha to stroll aimlessly together in the bustle of the crowd, avoiding reporters as much as possible and stopping whenever something caught their eye.

Steve is sipping on a sample of Asgardian mead when he suddenly feels his phone vibrate. He fumbles for it, while feeling all too aware of Natasha’s curious gaze on him.

He raises his eyebrows when he sees that it’s a message from Loki.

Steve opens the single attached image and sure enough, it’s an extremely unflattering picture of himself mid-blink, cropped from what appears to be an interview directly following the Battle of New York.

Steve rolls his eyes.

Me [11:42am]

Seriously, where do you keep finding these? I swear you’re gonna run out someday.

A few seconds later, his phone chimes again.

Loki [11:42am]

I won’t :)

Steve shakes his head, but he can’t help the amusement tugging at the corners of his lips.

Me [11:43am]

Btw we’ve been here for a while now but I still haven’t seen you. Where are you?

Loki [11:43am]

I know

Don’t worry, you’ll see me soon :)

“Who are you texting? Your clone boyfriend?”

Steve sighs and looks up to meet Natasha’s deceptively innocent expression.

It’s all Tony’s fault- he was the one who started throwing that nickname around after the party. The teasing only intensified when Loki had somehow acquired Steve’s number and started messaging him with it. It had taken Steve an embarrassing length of time to realise that Tony was just being Tony, and he wasn’t actually accusing Steve of secretly dating Loki.

At first Natasha and Clint were extremely wary of their former enemy’s attempts to contact Steve, but they slowly withdrew their caution when it turned out that Loki’s messages mostly only consisted of unflattering still images of Steve and miscellaneous petty complaining.

“I’m so mad at myself right now,” Clint had said, a month after Loki first messaged Steve. “That guy mind-controlled me. And yet I’m finding it hard to stay pissed at him because he’s just so fucking hilarious. ”

Because Steve’s life is a cosmic joke, Natasha and Clint both picked up Tony’s stupid nickname, and one by one the other Avengers started using the stupid nickname too, the traitors. It even managed to spread all the way to Norway; Bruce and Thor found it hilarious. Loki, for his part, seems to find the nickname rather childish and beneath him. So like Steve, he mostly ignored it.

Despite Loki’s cryptic message, Steve doesn’t manage to see him anywhere for awhile yet. Instead, he and Natasha stumble across the archery competition, where they join the crowd to cheer for Clint until he wins. The three of them then wind up in a nalebinding workshop, and they all attempt to knit their own little patches of cloth. It isn’t as hard as Steve had expected, and he leaves the tent feeling pretty proud of the thumb-sized square he had made.

Around mid-afternoon, it becomes apparent that many of the festival attendees are congregating in the direction of the main stage. Out of curiosity and for a lack of anything better to do, they follow the crowd, and arrive just in time to see the curtains rise on a performance titled “Ragnarok”.

“Oh hey! There you guys are.”

Steve turns around to see Tony stride over with his hands in his pockets, followed unexpectedly by Brunnhilde, who waves at them.

“Hey,” grins Clint. “Where’s Bruce and Thor?”

Brunnhilde jerks her chin up at the stage.

“They’re going to be up there soon.”

Sure enough, a blonde man with a huge hammer strides into view, red cape billowing behind him. The people around them start cheering and whooping, but Tony adjusts his sunglasses and squints at the stage.

“He’s got the whole getup going, but surely that’s not our resident God of Thunder?”

Brunnhilde takes a swig from her bottle and lets out a bark of laughter.

“Oh, not him. He’s just an actor. Thor’s also in the play, just not as himself.”

“Who is he, then?” Steve asks.

She gives a lazy smile.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Steve has to admit, the play is rather impressive for a stage production. Asgardian technology is truly a wonder, and miles ahead of anything they have on Earth when it comes to stage effects. He watches in awe as the old man on the stage, playing the previous King of Asgard, is replaced by Loki in a shower of light. But it barely takes two seconds for him to realise that the Loki on stage is also just an actor.

Just as Steve is beginning to wonder about the whereabouts of the real Loki, Thor and Loki’s secret evil sister suddenly appears in a burst of green light. Her entrance is marked by her completely shattering Thor’s hammer with one hand.

“Kneel before your queen!” she orders, sweeping her arm out and dispersing the remnants of the prop across the stage in a dramatic flourish.

Scattered gasps can be heard throughout the audience, but Steve finds his attention drawn to the woman on stage for different reasons- something about her just feels unexpectedly familiar…

“Hey is it just me or does she look exactly like Wanda, but with black hair?” Clint mutters.

Brunnhilde nearly chokes on her beer.

“That-” she coughs. “That’s Loki. In his female form.”

“What.”

Brunnhilde is laughing so hard at their shocked reactions that they get shushed by nearby members of the crowd. She was the only one amongst them who had any idea that Loki could even do that, though Steve supposes that it’s rather obvious in hindsight. He already knows from firsthand experience that Loki can shift into an exact copy of another person, so changing genders isn’t that much of a stretch.

Loki seems to be having a lot of fun playing the role of the villain, if the way he (she?) is hamming it up is any indication. They watch him dramatically banish Actor Thor and Loki to a new setting called Sakaar, then skewer all of the soldiers on the stage with blades pulled from seemingly nowhere.

When Sakaar’s ruler, the Grandmaster, is first introduced, the first thing he does is snatch off Actor Thor’s blonde wig and shove him into the gladiator arena. That is when Bruce enters the stage, covered head to toe in green body paint.

“I had to help him with that,” Brunnhilde comments absently.

Natasha whistles lowly. “That’s a lot of paint. How long did it take?”

“Oh, probably a minute. Took much longer to dry though.”

“Woah,” Tony says. “How?”

Brunnhilde shrugs.

“I pushed him into the tub of paint.”

Steve finds himself thoroughly enjoying the play, even some of the more absurd and over the top elements. At certain points he even finds himself wondering just how far the “based on a true story” label has been stretched, but considering the insanity of his own life, who’s he to judge?

He almost forgets that Thor is also supposed to be in the play, until the final act where Actor Thor and Loki decide to instigate Ragnarok in order to defeat their sister. It takes Steve a while to realise that underneath the makeup and costume, the fire demon gleefully destroying the cardboard recreation of Asgard is actually played by Thor. The play ends with a battle between Thor-as-Surtur and Loki-as-Hela, and Steve has never seen a group of people applaud the destruction of their own home so enthusiastically when the curtains finally close.

As the audience begins to disperse, Brunnhilde leads the Avengers to the backstage area. They arrive to find Bruce and Thor being interviewed by some reporters, but before they are forced to awkwardly stand around and wait until they get noticed and dragged into the interview as well, Loki shows up.

“Well, if it isn’t my favourite heroes,” he drawls. He’s already changed back into his normal appearance. “How did you like the performance?”

“I enjoyed it,” Steve admits with a smile. “Is that what your sister actually looked like?”

“Of course not,” Loki scoffs. “I don’t think any of the Asgardians are ready to see her likeness again so soon. That was just my preferred female form.”

“Did you look anything alike, then?”

“No. We’re not even related.” There’s a hint of mirth dancing in his green eyes. “I’m adopted, remember?”

Before Steve can reply, he’s interrupted by Thor.

“Friends! It’s been a while!” Thor grins. His enthusiasm to see them again is matched only by the volume of his voice.

“Aww man, you just interrupted the reunion between the clone boyfriends,” Tony jokingly whines. “It was getting sweet!”

Thor laughs.

“Sorry about that.” He turns around to where Bruce is still gathering his things. “Banner! We can finally show them the weapons demonstrations now.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming! I just need to wash all this off first,” Bruce calls back, gesturing at his still-green appearance.

“Sure, big guy,” Brunnhilde says, giving his arm a pat. “We’ll wait for you outside.”

They all shuffle out the exit, completely oblivious to the bewildered glances exchanged between the reporters and cameramen who had witnessed the entire exchange.

The next day, on the morning of their flight back to New York, Steve wakes up to a very ominous text from Sam.

Sam [1:13am]

Call me when you’re awake. Get the others too, if they’re up.

Natasha is the only other one awake in their lodge, nursing a fresh cup of coffee in the kitchen. Her expression tightens when Steve shows her Sam’s message.

They huddle around the kitchen table and he puts Sam on speaker.

Sam picks up after the first ring.

“What happened?” Steve says.

“Well good morning to you I guess. Who else am I talking to?”

“Just me,” replies Natasha. “Tony’s probably still in his room and Clint’s not getting up until he’s gone through all of his alarms. What’s the emergency?”

“Weeell…” Sam begins. “This isn’t exactly the type of emergency that we usually deal with. But long story short, some reporter overheard one of you guys refer to Steve and Loki as boyfriends, and. Well.”

Steve blinks. He runs through his memories of yesterday, and groans when he remembers what Tony said backstage after the play. Next to him, Natasha begins furiously typing away at her phone.

“Oh god,” Steve mutters. Sam makes a sympathetic noise.

Natasha exhales loudly.

Before Steve can ask, she shoves the results of her Google search at him:

‘Clone Boyfriends’: Captain America secretly dating former enemy Loki

CNN

Avengers accidentally reveal that Captain America and Loki are dating

Vox

National icon defiled? Captain America turns out to be gay

Fox News

Captain America has a boyfriend, according to Avengers

USA TODAY

Captain America revealed to be in gay relationship

New York Times

“Oh god, ” Steve repeats.

“Yup. I know you don’t go on your social media accounts that often but I think you should avoid them for a bit.”

Steves rubs a hand over his face. Maybe if he presses against his nose firmly enough then he’ll be able to suffocate himself to death and he won’t have to deal with any of this.

“How likely is it to go away if I just ignore it?” Steve asks, voice muffled by his palm.

He’s half-joking, but he immediately feels Natasha’s incredulous gaze on him. Sam’s snort of laughter can be heard on the other end of the line.

“You’re kidding me, right? Look, I’m not that familiar with the media circus but even I know that’s not going to work.”

Steve lets out a hysterical bark of laughter.

“Really? But people have always speculated on whether I was dating Peggy or Bucky. Or both. And if the tabloids are to be believed then every single one of the Avengers have dated each other at least once. What makes this any different?”

“The difference,” Natasha says, “is that they were just that- speculations. So no one took them too seriously. But this time, from the public’s point of view, there’s actual evidence- an inside source. Namely, Tony. And Thor too, I guess, for not disputing it.”

“But that doesn’t-” Steve begins to protest.

“I know,” Sam sighs. “But that’s not how the public sees it. And now all the news outlets are talking about it.”

Going rogue again is starting to sound unreasonably appealing. Steve’s done it before, so it can’t be as bad the second time round, right?

“Alright,” Natasha says. “We’ll call a meeting once we arrive back at the base.”

Steve sighs.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Tony chooses that moment to shuffle into the kitchen with a loud yawn.

“What’s this? You guys having a secret meeting while I was still in bed? Rude.”

“Have you checked the news yet?” Natasha asks instead.

“News always comes after coffee,” Tony declares while fiddling with the coffee machine. “Why? We don’t need to suit up or anything do we?”

“Nope,” Sam replies. “You can worry about it later when you come back. You need to leave soon for your flight anyway, right?”

“Uh…” Steve glances at the clock next to the fridge. “Yeah. Talk to you soon.”

The call ends, and Tony does indeed check the news after the first sip of his coffee.

Which he promptly sprays back into the mug.

Steve wrinkles his nose at the droplet which landed on his elbow.

“Ho- holy shit,” Tony chokes. “I can’t fucking believe this.”

He tries to say more, but he’s laughing so hard that nothing else comes out coherent.

Steve sighs and turns to Natasha. Predictably, she’s no help at all.

“As much fun as this is,” she says, eyes twinkling, “I have an ass to kick out of bed right now.”

She gets up and leaves, and Steve suspects that she probably meant what she said literally.

Since Tony is still bursting into fits of giggles every time he so much as glances in Steve’s direction, Steve is left to process his situation by himself.

He absently fiddles with his phone, and he finds himself opening up his message history with Loki. He knows that he has to say something to him- a heads up, at the very least. But after five minutes of typing and erasing the same thing, he simply settles for attaching a link to one of the articles that Natasha had pulled up earlier.

Out of morbid curiosity, Steve reads the articles- including the comments- while waiting at the airport. He finds it bizarre how most people seem more hung up over the idea of him being in a relationship with another man than the fact that it’s with Former Public Enemy Number 1. It’s disappointing, but not unexpected. But it could’ve been worse, he supposes; back in the 40s, even the slightest suspicion that Steve is also attracted to men would’ve meant dealing with a lot more than just having his non-existent love life aired to the world for other people’s entertainment.

The second, slightly more sensible but equally vocal group consists of the people who are still doubting the authenticity of Loki’s status as a reformed criminal. These are the people who are using the scandal as an opportunity to revive the debate on whether the punishment the Asgardian had gotten upon returning to Earth was anything more than a slap on the wrist. After all, could being confined to New Asgard even count as a punishment?

But there was also another surprising group to emerge out of this mess; feeling emboldened by the news that their hero is also part of the LGBT+ community, there has been a wave of people coming out on social media. It’s the only good thing to come out of this mess so far, and Steve genuinely feels bad when he thinks about how disappointed they’ll be when they find out that this was all just a misunderstanding.

It is only after they touch back down on New York that Steve finally receives Loki’s reply.

Loki [3:35am]

Oh my

I didn’t realise we were courting

Why didn’t you tell me?

Me [11:56am]

The reporters overheard Tony’s stupid nickname

And then they got stuck on the “boyfriend” part in “clone boyfriends”

Why

Loki [12:01pm]

The world begins to starve when you don’t feed it a regular dose of scandals

What are you going to do about it? Are you even going to do anything about it?

Me [12:02pm]

I have to. I don’t know what it’ll be yet but we’re holding a meeting with everyone once we get back to HQ.

Will you, Thor and Bruce be free in the next hour or so?

Loki [12:02pm]

You know we can always just go along with it ;)

I’ll ask Thor, but we should be.

Bucky welcomes Steve back with a light punch on the shoulder.

“Twenty four hours,” his best friend deadpans.

“Shut up,” Steve groans, swatting his arm away. “It’s not even my fault this time.”

“Is that a new record?” Sam asks with a grin.

“Nope. That one’s gotta be the time when I went to get ice-cream, then turned around to see him get shoved at a trash can. So maybe ten minutes.”

Steve feels heat rise in his cheeks.

“That never happened!” he tries to protest, but Sam’s howling laughter drowns out his words.

Inside, Wanda and Vision are already seated in the meeting room while Rhodey is setting up the holographic call to New Asgard.

“This has got to be the weirdest reason we’ve held a meeting, ever,” Rhodey mutters as they wait for the call to connect. When it finally does, the holographic forms of Thor, Bruce and Loki flicker into view.

“Before we start,” Steve says, addressing them directly, “has Loki told you guys why we’re having this meeting?”

“Oh, yeah,” Thor replies. “Can’t you just tell everyone the truth?”

Sam sighs.

“That’s definitely an option, but we also need to account for the fact that there are already people trying to get Steve to give up the shield.” At Thor’s miffed expression, he quickly adds, “Because they don’t like the idea of him dating a guy.”

If anything, Thor looks even more confused, and just the slightest bit indignant. Bucky snorts.

“Yeah, right. He’s more likely to repaint the shield rainbow.”

Bruce frowns.

“That bad? Already?”

“Yep- bad enough that even our good ol’ President’s commented on it, apparently,” Clint suddenly pipes up, finally looking up from his phone.

All at once, everyone else except Thor and Loki groans. Thor looks bewildered at their synchronised dismay, while Loki’s eyebrows lift in barely concealed amusement.

“And what did this President of yours say?” Loki asks, in a tone a tad too light to be genuine.

Tony looks up at the ceiling.

“FRIDAY?”

FRIDAY obediently pulls up the clip, and Steve almost groans again out of instinct the moment he sees the President’s face.

“The fake news media has gone too far this time. Now they’re slandering Captain America and making stuff up!”

There’s a brief pause as the audience in the footage erupts with agreement. Meanwhile, nearly everyone in the meeting is exchanging shocked looks.

“Am I hearing correctly or is he actually right for once?” Vision muses.

“I know a lot of gay people and I think it’s great, but I’m a traditionalist man. And Captain America is a true American man who’s done a lot for this great country. He stands for the traditional values of America, not the nonsense that the fake news media has been saying about him. They should be ashamed of themselves, for defiling our national icon like that.”

The clip ends there, and the room stays silent as everyone processes what they just heard.

Rhodey shakes his head.

“Yeah, nevermind.”

Steve finds it unsurprising that the President falls under the group of people who are stuck on the idea of Captain America dating another man. Though he’d honestly expected a little more outrage regarding it being Loki, a former enemy responsible for the dozens of deaths in New York. There’s nothing particularly unexpected about the President and his supporters having skewed priorities, but for some reason this is the reaction which sets off the truest, deepest part of him- the scrappy kid who tried to fight against the unfairness of the world even when all he had were his bare fists.

The anger swirling in Steve’s stomach is beginning to make him feel nauseous.

Across from him, Tony sighs heavily and runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry. This is all kind of my fault. Look, let me lend you my PR team for this- they have experience dealing with me, so this should be a piece of cake for them.”

Steve furrows his brows.

“What would they need from me then?”

“Eh, nothing too complicated- I think they’ll just get you to make a public statement and apologise for the misunderstanding. Just y’know, explain that the whole clone boyfriends thing is just a joke amongst friends that got misunderstood by a third party, how you and Loki are definitely not dating, but you fully support the LGBT+ community.”

Steve bites his lip as he considers the option. It’s fairly reasonable, he supposes.

But it doesn’t feel enough.

“Is… there something else you can also say?” Wanda speaks up reluctantly. “Because at the moment it feels like we’re admitting that the President is right, and…” She trails off and bites her lip, looking visibly uncomfortable.

“Yeah it does, doesn’t it,” Rhodey sighs.

While everyone else begins murmuring suggestions, Steve is silently contemplating his situation. It’s just as Wanda said- it may sound petty, but the last thing Steve wants to do is admit that the President and his ilk are technically right, albeit for the wrong reasons. He’s seen the way the President and his Administration have abused their power, time and time again, taking away what little the LGBT+ community have gained. He’s seen that amidst all the hatred and scepticism at his mistaken relationship with Loki, there is a visible part of the community which is cautiously delighted at the news that someone they look up to is one of them.

Tony’s solution… it isn’t bad, but it feels too close to admitting defeat for Steve’s comfort. He wants to do something that will tell the President and his supporters to fuck off and stop using Captain America as an anti-gay symbol. Steve has never put much thought into his own sexuality, partly because he never thought he’d live past 30 and also because he knew how unattractive he was as a partner, being so sickly and small. But he knows how important it is to many people, especially those in the LGBT+ community. And he wants them to know, unambiguously, that he’s on their side.

Steve glances at Loki’s direction to see what he’s thinking, but the other man merely looks back at him with a curious gaze. Loki doesn’t seem emotionally invested enough in the situation to really contribute anything, and Steve gets the feeling that he’s waiting for Steve’s decision.

He sighs.

What else can he even do?

He absently spins his phone between his fingers, but then drops it in surprise when he accidentally unlocks it. It opens up to his latest messages with Loki.

Me [12:02pm]

I have to. I don’t know what it’ll be yet but we’re holding a meeting with everyone once we get back to HQ.

Will you, Thor and Bruce be free in the next hour or so?

Loki [12:02pm]

You know we can always just go along with it ;)

I’ll ask Thor, but we should be.

Steve blinks at his screen.

Huh.

“Hey, Loki?” he suddenly says, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “Remember the plan you suggested before the meeting started? Do you still want to go through with it?”

Loki looks a bit startled at being addressed out of the blue, but he quickly recovers and tilts his head questioningly.

Thor narrows his eyes.

“What plan?”

Loki’s eyes finally light up with recognition. A mischievous smile snakes through his lips.

“Of course. I would be more than happy to.”

Tony looks back and forth between them suspiciously.

“No, I’m not liking the look of this. Seriously, what plan?”

“We’re going to go along with it,” Steve says, his resolve hardening with every word. “We’re going to pretend to date in public.”

Stunned silence descends upon the entire room.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Bucky finally says.

“I’m not.”

“But-” Bruce looks like he’s at a loss for words. “Why?”

“Because I can’t let people like him, ” Steve jabs a finger at the air where the President’s face was mere moments ago. “Use Captain America as a symbol against a community that’s already been ostracised over and over again for no good reason.”

“And you can’t do that with a public statement?” Natasha asks with an unreadable expression.

Steve shakes his head.

“It won’t be enough. Not for people like him.”

“Steve, no, look-” Bucky looks physically pained. “I know how you get when the President’s involved. We’re postponing this meeting to tomorrow because you’re not thinking straight right now.”

“That’s what she said,” Clint mutters, then winces when Natasha kicks him under the table.

Steve clenches his jaw stubbornly.

“I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Alright, fine,” Sam says. “Say that you do go through with this plan. What exactly are you hoping to get out of it?”

Loki gives Steve a very unsubtle once-over.

“I think that’s quite obvious,” Loki smiles, prompting an appalled look from his brother.

While Steve isn’t in the mood for the usual light hearted teasing, he can’t help but roll his eyes in response.

“If I pretend to date Loki,” he says to everyone else, “then things will continue the way they are- people will no longer get to use Captain America to further their homophobic rhetoric. This may or may not make things better for the LGBT+ community, but it will definitely send a stronger message than a public statement telling the truth.”

“And you don’t care about the damage that it will do to your public image,” Natasha says, making it more of a statement than a question.

“This isn’t just about my reputation- Captain America’s reputation- anymore. I just-” Steve sighs. “I’ve been looking at some of the reactions to the news. At first I was angry at how the misinformation got viral, but then I saw how it led to so many people coming out- they felt like they were able to because their hero did. And I can’t just take that away from them.”

There’s a brief moment of thoughtful silence, until Tony speaks up.

“I know this is slightly off-topic, but it’s kind of important- are you gay, Steve?”

“Tony,” Rhodey says sharply, but Tony quickly holds his hands up in surrender.

“It is important. Because I think that before you go and pretend to be in a gay relationship- such a public one, no less- you should at least have an idea of whether you’re gay or not.”

Steve bites lip and turns his gaze down to the table in front of him.

“I don’t know,” he admits. Now that he thinks about it, he remembers quite a few instances where he’d found his gaze lingering on some men a little too long to be considered polite. But he also knows that what he felt for Peggy was real; he knows that if he had made it home when the war ended, he would’ve felt like the luckiest man alive to marry her, settle down and raise a family with her.

Steve isn’t sure what this means, but it doesn’t matter.

“Loki and I are friends anyway,” he continues, and boy does it feel strange to hear those words out loud, even after all these months. “So I don’t think it’s going to matter. We’re just going to go with it for now, but once people stop paying attention to the relationship we can quietly break up.”

The Avengers reluctantly agree to the plan, and the meeting ends shortly after that. Steve can’t quite believe that he’s going to be faking a relationship with Loki, of all people. But he supposes it’s fitting that if he’s going to fool the whole world, then he’s doing it with the help of the God of Mischief himself.

Belatedly, it hits Steve what it really means, for him to pretend that he and Loki are together. In a relationship.

He has no idea what he’s doing.

The only experience he has under his belt are all the double dates that Bucky had dragged him into, and the almost-not-really thing that he had with Peggy. And look at how well those have turned out.

His inner crisis gets interrupted by a knock on his door.

“Hey.”

Steve looks up from his book he’s long been distracted from to see Natasha leaning against his doorway.

“Hey yourself.” Despite how drained he feels, he can’t help but smile at her presence.

Natasha takes that as the invitation it is to sit next to him on the bed.

Steve sighs and puts his book away.

“You’re not trying to talk me out of it, are you?”

Natasha lets out a disbelieving huff.

“Give me a little more credit. You know I know you better than that. I’m here to tell you a few things before you actually do anything.”

She looks at him, and Steve has to pause at the intensity of her expression.

“You need to remember that this isn’t a mission. No one’s lives are at stake, so you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, even as part of the charade.”

Steve frowns.

“Nat, I don’t think Loki-”

“This isn’t about Loki,” she interrupts. “This is about you and what you’re comfortable with. I’m just saying- all couples are different. Take Wanda and Vision, for example; those two only go as far as hand-holding in public. So if you don’t feel comfortable with certain types of PDA then you need to remember that you don’t have to do it.”

“I…” Steve begins, then swallows. Her concern makes something warm blossom in his chest. “Thanks.”

The corners of Natasha’s lips twitch upwards.

“I just hope for your sake that he’s a better kisser than you are.”

“Hey!”

Me [4:11pm]

Since people think we’re dating, they’re gonna ask how we got together

What’s our cover story?

Loki [4:17pm]

The best lies are the ones closest to the truth

We can just tell them that we began our correspondence after one of the Avengers’ gatherings

Me [4:19pm]

Yeah that works

Can I also expand upon that and say that it’s a long-distance relationship (which is why we haven’t been seen together in public yet)?

Loki [4:19pm]

Of course, Captain

Me [4:20pm]

I’m pretty it’ll make more sense to call me Steve at this point

Loki [4:20pm]

As you wish, darling :)

For their plan to work at all, they need to, at the very least, be seen together in public.

Tony reluctantly asks Pepper to extend Loki a last-minute official invitation to the upcoming Maria Stark Foundation Charity Ball. Bruce too, since Loki isn’t legally allowed to leave New Asgard without being accompanied by an Avenger, and Thor is too busy to take a break again so soon. The charity ball is familiar territory for Steve (and Loki too, given his royal background), so it’ll be a good start for them to debut as a couple.

Steve is still on social media blackout, but in the days leading up the ball, Sam has helpfully informed him that the hashtag #LetCaptainAmericaBeGay has been trending on Twitter for three days already. When Steve brings this up to Loki in their messages, he simply receives a “Guess what else is trending” and a link to the #Stoki posts on Tumblr in return. It’s… eye-opening, he supposes, in the same way that watching a car pile up happen in real time is.

(He will never admit that he’s lost an hour of his life scrolling through that page)

It’s kind of strange how nothing really changes between them. But then again, it’s not as if Steve’s unexpected friendship with Loki isn’t strange to begin with. The other Avengers still don’t know what to make of it (with the unsurprising exceptions of Thor and Bruce), as is usually the case when it comes to anything Loki-related these days.

The day of the ball finally arrives, exactly one week after The Scandal. Steve has to admit, Loki looks good, in his dark and expensive-looking three-piece suit. Loki too, takes the time to pause and admire Steve’s appearance when he sees him.

“Hello, darling,” Loki half-sings in a mocking yet deadpan manner. “Did you miss me?”

This gets a genuine huff of laughter from Steve. It’s quite obvious that Loki is just messing around, but they’re already attracting the attention of nearby strangers who are trying and failing to pretend that they aren’t eavesdropping.

“Of course, love,” Steve replies in a matching tone. He doesn’t even manage to keep a straight face while saying that, but he can feel the shocked gazes swivelling in their direction.

God, this is already simultaneously way more fun  and nerve-wracking than he had expected it to be.

The first part of the night isn’t so bad, but that’s mainly because they are seated at a table with the other Avengers and Pepper. Steve manages to distract himself from the stares by paying more attention to the conversations with his friends and the plate of food in front of him.

But in between the deliveries of each part of the meal, people are getting out of their seats and socialising, so unfortunately that’s what they have to do as well. Steve and Loki stick together throughout most of it, only occasionally breaking off to talk to their own friends.

The Avengers may not trust Loki, but the general public trusts him even less. For almost every starstruck look that Steve receives, Loki gets a wary glance at best and a distrustful glare at worst. The polite ones make an effort to congratulate them on their “relationship”, but when they actually launch into small talk with Steve, they completely ignore Loki as if he isn’t there. Loki doesn’t appear phased by the not-so-subtle unfriendliness, but it still rubs Steve the wrong way. And the worst thing is, Steve knows that they’re probably not even doing it on purpose. After all, the same thing constantly happened to him whenever he was with Bucky, back before the serum.

Steve understands where they’re coming from, he really does- and he really isn’t expecting everyone to to simply drop their grudges and welcome Loki with open arms- but it keeps happening, again and again.

Steve thinks he’s doing a decent job of hiding his thinning patience, but unsurprisingly, it doesn’t escape Loki’s notice.

“You can at least afford to pretend you’re enjoying my company,” Loki jokes when they’re back in their own seats, dessert in front of them.

Steve blinks.

“Oh no, sorry, it’s just-” He makes a vague gesture in the direction of everyone else. “They keep ignoring you. Or acting like you’re just going to attack them when their backs are turned. Which is really rude and unfair to you.” He pauses. “It sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud, doesn’t it.”

Loki’s bright green eyes glimmer with an unreadable emotion.

“I suppose it does,” he murmurs, almost distractedly, while stabbing his fork into a slice of lemon tart.

Steve manages to keep his cool, even when a particularly pushy reporter corners him for an interview once dessert is finished. She ignores Loki (yet again), but this time he chooses to exit with the excuse of refilling their glasses. Steve is left to indulge her questions, which seem reasonable enough at first.

“So,” she says, after the polite warm-up questions. “You are dating Loki?”

Steve’s polite smile tightens.

“Yes.” Despite the number of times he’s said it already tonight, the lie still feels foreign on his tongue.

“I- How-” She lets out a nervous peal of laughter. “How did that even happen? I mean, I don’t have anything against gay people or anything, but… surely it doesn’t make sense for Captain America of all people to be gay?”

Steve feels a small frown slip into his expression.

“…What do you mean?”

“It’s just that you like women- everyone who knows their history knows how important Margaret Carter was to you. And you came from a time where that kind of thing was frowned upon, and you wouldn’t be able to join the army if you were gay. And yet you’re probably the best soldier in all of American history.”

“I…” Why do they always like bringing up Peggy whenever they want to stick their nose into his love-life? “You flatter me. And just because it was frowned upon doesn’t mean that gay people didn’t exist.”

“But you’re not actually one of them, are you? Because so many children look up to you and it would be such a shame if their hero turned out to be someone with a lifestyle that isn’t so family-friendly.”

What.

The night has been wearing at him, and there are about ten different ways Steve wants to respond to her nonsense, but he was raised better than that.

He is left with no choice but to silently seethe, but Loki chooses that moment to return with two full glasses.

Loki raises an eyebrow at the visibly tense atmosphere as he hands one of them to Steve.

“Is everything alright?”

Steve purses his lips as he takes the glass. He gives a quick glance to the reporter, who is wearing a pinched expression at Loki’s interruption. Or maybe his presence. Whatever.

Steve turns his gaze back to Loki. An idea forms in his mind.

“Yes. Of course. Thank you.” He mentally apologises as he looks into those green eyes, which gaze back at him curiously.

Then he hooks an arm around Loki’s neck and tugs him down for a kiss.

He remembers to tilt his head at the last moment, but that doesn’t stop their lips from colliding messily. Their teeth clash and Steve accidentally bites onto Loki’s lower lip, inciting a small, surprised noise.

The kiss is too rushed, too unprepared, and it only lasts just long enough for everyone to register what’s happening.

Then Steve pulls away, heart pounding in his ears as he takes in Loki’s stunned expression.

He turns back to the gaping reporter.

“Sorry to cut this short, but I have to go now. Duty calls.”

He grabs Loki by the wrist and they make a hasty exit. Surprisingly no one follows them, but it does nothing to lessen the thundering of Steve’s heart. He can’t even bring himself to look Loki in the eye again until they reach a secluded area just outside the venue.

“I’m so sorry,” is the first thing Steve says. He winces and runs a hand through his hair nervously. “I shouldn’t have done that without asking you.”

But Loki only laughs.

“Oh no, don’t worry about it. How could I object to being kissed by a man as fine as you?”

Steve feels his cheeks heat up, but he refuses to let the teasing distract him.

“I’m serious. I should’ve at least asked you. It’s been a long night and I got angry at what she said, but that doesn’t excuse what I did. I’m sorry.”

Loki tilts his head consideringly.

“As I’ve said, don’t worry about it. It’s something that I’m far from opposed to,” he smirks. “And besides, the reactions you garnered were possibly the best form of entertainment I’ve had in the past week. It was amusing to see how closely humans are capable of resembling fish.”

Now that his anger-turned-mortification has worn off, Steve supposes that the gaping fish look the reporter had was actually pretty funny. He’s even starting to look forward to reading whatever article she’ll write after this.

The moment is broken when Sam finds them.

“There you are! I didn’t see what you did but suddenly there were rumours everywhere and then you guys had run off.”

Steve and Loki exchange amused looks.

“What kind of rumours?” Loki asks innocently. Sam takes one look at him and just shakes his head, refusing to even dignify that with an answer.

“Come back inside,” Sam says instead. “The speeches have started already but you should be able to sneak back in. After the last speech they’re opening up the dancefloor, and, well, I’m pretty sure I’m not exaggerating when I’m saying that everyone’s expecting the two of you to dance together.”

The words sink in, and Steve feels an oncoming wave of uncertainty.

Dancing brings up many memories for him, particularly those from before the ice- memories of his missed chance with Peggy, memories of the double dates with Bucky. The last time he had even danced, he kept stepping on his poor date’s feet. But with the serum now, his balance and coordination have most likely improved. It still doesn’t make the idea of dancing any more appealing though.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Loki says, sending a pondering glance in Steve’s direction. “Our previous kiss has ignited our carnal desires, and we are currently having a passionate tryst behind the bushes. We are too preoccupied to return inside.”

He says all of this with a completely straight face. Sam’s eyebrows have long disappeared into his hairline, and Steve can’t help it- he bursts into laughter, laughing so hard that he doubles over. By the time he manages to straighten himself, he sneaks a quick glance at Loki. Even after all that, the only crack in the other man’s serious facade is the twinkling laughter in his bright green eyes.

Steve can’t help but smile as well.

He feels better after laughing- much calmer than he was before, at least. He’ll listen to the remainder of the speeches, and when the time comes for dancing, then… well, he’s been told that dancing is much more different now, less coordinated and partner-focused than he’s used to. He can probably get by with sheer instinct and going with the flow.

“No, it’s okay,” Steve finally tells Sam. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” Sam asks, still looking sceptical.

“Yeah.” Steve falters, then looks at Loki. “Unless you don’t…?”

“No, I’m fine,” Loki replies. Then he raises an inquisitive eyebrow. “Were you nervous about dancing?”

Steve sighs. Was he really that obvious?

Loki lets out a huff of laughter, but it doesn’t sound mocking at all.

“Don’t worry, Steve. Just follow my lead and we’ll be fine.”

“And if I step on your toes?” Steve half-teases.

Loki gives him a mock-offended look.

“You won’t.”

Sam looks between them with a thoughtful frown, but he shakes his head.

“Alright then, let’s go back inside.”

[Video: Hand-held recording of Steve and Loki dancing together in a semi-crowded dance floor. They are both smiling and laughing]

Liked by tonystark and 329,200 others

brucebanner Honored to be attending the #MSFCharityBall2018

Show all comments…

perrygp

I don’t think people realize how important this video is. It’s just Captain America dancing and having fun with his boyfriend, but I can’t tell you how much this would’ve meant to me in my teen years, when everyone treated gayness as something weird to be laughed at. And the people who are objecting to said boyfriend being Loki are missing the point.

usernametakenmyass

We’re living in the weirdest timeline

peterparker2001

hOLY SHIT theyre actually dating??? It wasn’t jsut celebrity gossip?? WHAT

bluecarpa3

what…? why? i liked captain america better when he was straight :/

veloucity

Did captain america already forget that this guy killed hundreds of people in new york or

r0ss_r1

I remember writing an essay for history in high school arguing that Captain America isn’t straight, and my teacher said it was well-written but she failed it because it was “factually incorrect”. And now it turns out I was right all along. SUCK ON THAT, MRS CHAPWELL.

female_presentingnips

I can’t believe I’m saying this but they actually look kinda cute together? Wtf?

2deraa

I was holding out on hope that the rumors weren’t true but I guess I’m not a Captain America fan anymore

tarax0x

I hate the internet. Their dancing, which somehow means they must be gay. They used to be enemies but now their just friends! Homosexuality is lustful, sexual attractions, while friendship is something so much more pure.

“Wait wait wait I thought the clone boyfriend thing was just a nickname I didn’t know you were actually dating.”

Steve and Bucky freeze in the middle of their sparring session. Bucky makes a face at the interruption while Steve blinks at Peter, who looks back with wide eyes.

“Uh, no, we’re not, actually.”

“Oh. Okay.” Peter looks slightly relieved, though no less confused. “Good- I was right then. See, I honestly thought that you guys weren’t telling me something about that party like it was one of those ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ type of things, which I missed because it was on the same day as Ned’s birthday-”

“No, Loki and I are not dating,” Steve interrupts before Peter can hyperventilate. “But we are pretending to.”

“Uh.” Peter looks like he has no idea how to react. “Sorry, what? ”

And so Steve and Bucky give the poor kid a crash course on The Scandal and what led up to it, as well as Steve’s genius plan (as quoted by Bucky with a generous helping of sarcasm). By the end of it, Peter hums thoughtfully.

“I mean yeah,” Peter finally says. “I think your plan’s working, anyhow. If you look at that video post of you dancing on Dr Banner’s instagram, the comments are a complete mess. And I’m pretty sure there’s already about a hundred articles written about it.”

Steve is still on social media blackout and Bucky only ever uses the internet for Skype, Spotify, animal videos, cooking tutorials and online shopping, so this is news to both of them.

“What post?”

And so that’s how Steve ends up spending the next ten minutes scrolling through a landmine of Instagram comments on Peter’s phone with Bucky reading over his shoulder.

“This is why I don’t do social media,” Bucky mutters, and Steve has to agree. Truth be told, a petty part of Steve is revelling in the homophobic anger of some of the comments. But there are also certain comments- especially the ones thanking him for being inspiring- which remind him of why he’s doing this fake relationship thing with Loki in the first place.

“Has Loki left already?” Peter suddenly asks.

“No,” Steve answers. “He and Bruce are still here, but they’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Ohhhh,” Peter says, nodding slowly. “Is it because you’re planning to go on a fake date soon or something?”

“Uh, no, they just wanted some room to breathe before going back to Norway.”

“But you totally should! You and Loki are trending right now, so if you go out say, tonight, then you’ll be getting a lot of attention. It’ll help your plan!”

Steve flips the idea over in his head, which isn’t too bad, actually.

He glances at the clock in the room. 2:35pm. A bit too late for lunch.

“I guess I can ask him out for dinner,” he muses out loud.

Me [2:35pm]

Do you have anything planned tonight?

If not, we can go out on a fake date for the public

Peter says we’re trending on social media right now, so maybe we should take advantage of it

Loki [2:37pm]

Not particularly

And of course, darling :)

Shall it be dinner at 7 then?

Me [2:37pm]

Sounds like a plan

With Bucky and Peter’s help, Steve attempts to pick out the most decent restaurant possible for such a last-minute booking on a Saturday. In the end, with Loki’s approval, they settle on a fairly classy seafood place with pretty good reviews.

That would’ve been the end of it, if it weren’t for the nagging feeling at the back of Steve’s mind that something is missing.

“Should I get flowers…?” he mutters out loud. At Bucky’s raised eyebrows, he quickly adds, “Because it’s the proper thing to do on dates- even fake ones, isn’t it?”

“Well I guess, yeah,” Bucky reluctantly agrees. “Figures you’d wanna go all-out on even your fake relationships, huh.”

Steve shrugs.

“Gotta do things properly, or they’re not worth doing at all.”

Peter perks up.

“Are you getting flowers, then? Because I know a place.”

Around a month ago, a rowdy group of primary school kids had run past a florist, knocking over several displays and then continuing their sprint out of fear when the poor owner had yelled out after them. Spider-Man, who had witnessed all of this, stopped to help clean up the mess, and from that moment on the florist adored the young superhero so much that she made a habit of giving him something for free every time he swung by.

After the three of them stepped through the cramped entrance, the florist had readily extended her friendliness to Steve when Spider-Man introduced him as the “friend who needs help”. She didn’t even seem to mind Bucky standing silently off to the side and staring intently at the rows of bright flowers. She wasn’t a particularly nosy, woman, but she did give Steve a knowing look when he admitted that the flowers are for a first date.

Steve stares at the mixed bouquet sitting on his coffee table while he lets Bucky adjust his tie for him. He’s wearing his second suit, which is practically identical to the one he wore yesterday except it’s charcoal grey rather than navy. He remembers how at first he had thought Tony was being excessive when the billionaire had insisted that it was important to own at least two suits. But now, five years later, Steve is grateful that he had begrudgingly listened.

He feels Bucky pat down the non-existent wrinkles on his shoulder pads, and he closes his eyes against the familiarity of the gesture, trying not to let it dredge up memories from a previous lifetime.

Bucky suddenly pauses.

“Have I done this before?”

Steve lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

“Yeah.” Seeing Bucky’s slight frown, he tentatively adds, “Are you remembering something?”

Bucky doesn’t answer for a few moments, but then he finally says, “I set you up on a date with Mildred’s friend. Patricia.”

“Yeah,” Steve repeats, slowly. “And within an hour she left me and they both became your dates.”

Bucky’s frown deepens. “She didn’t deserve you, Steve.”

Steve smiles. He feels something sad and warm twist in his chest.

“You said the exact same thing too, that night when we came home.”

“Oh.” Bucky goes over to the flowers on the coffee table, and gently picks them up. He stares at them in silence for a few moments, before he says, “I don’t know if Loki deserves you either.”

“Buck, you know we’re not actually-” Steve begins, but Bucky silences him with a disgruntled glare.

“Just don’t do anything more stupid than usual,” his best friend says, shoving the bouquet at Steve. “And no, that wasn’t a challenge.”

“Hey!”

Bucky rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too.

“Good luck, Steve.”

Steve is bolstered by the not-pep talk from his best friend, up until he finds out from FRIDAY that Loki is currently with Wanda and Vision in Wanda’s room. His steps become more uncertain after that, but they slow to a complete stop when he reaches Wanda’s door frame. He isn’t sure what he expected to find, but it isn’t this- Loki and Vision are sitting cross-legged on the floor with a chessboard between them, while Wanda’s nestled on her beanbag, practising guitar behind them. It’s an unexpectedly peaceful scene; they look like they’re simply enjoying each other’s company.

Steve supposes it makes sense. After all, out of all the Avengers, Wanda and Vision are the ones who have the least amount of reason to hold a personal grudge against Loki. For some reason he cannot explain, Steve finds himself happy at the thought of Loki befriending more of the Avengers in his own time.

“I wasn’t aware that there’s an invisible barrier preventing you from entering,” Loki muses without looking up. Wanda laughs, pausing in her playing.

“Well it’s certainly not my fault if there is,” she says. “You can come in, you know.”

Steve awkwardly adjusts his hold on the bouquet, keeping it out of sight. The movement catches Vision’s attention.

“What are you hiding?” he asks with a curious tilt of his head.

“Uh, nothing, no, I’m fine thanks. Just-” Steve internally cringes. Why is he so bad at this? “Loki. I’ll meet you outside whenever you’re ready.”

He looks at Loki, who is actually rather well-dressed for someone who’s been lounging around indoors all day. In fact now that he thinks about it, Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen the other man dressed in anything other than Asgardian armour and expensive-looking suits.

Loki looks back at him with slightly furrowed brows, then sighs down at the board.

“Wanda? Could you please win on my behalf?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she says as she puts her guitar down. “I’ll see you sometime.”

“Yeah,” Vision agrees. “We’re finishing this next time.”

Loki gives them both a lazy wave in response as he follows Steve out.

“You do realise we’re going to be ridiculously early if we leave-” Loki begins, but he suddenly cuts himself off.

Steve nervously follows the wide-eyed gaze to the flowers he’s holding. He clears his throat.

“Um, yeah. I know that we’re only pretending to date but I figured that I should still do it properly. And I don’t know about Asgardian culture, but on Earth, giving your date flowers is something we do. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I ended up getting you a bit of everything. So, um, here.”

He holds out the mixed bouquet, which Loki accepts seemingly on auto-pilot. Loki is still speechless, and Steve watches anxiously as the other man stares at the flowers in his hands as if he isn’t quite sure whether they’re real or not. When Loki finally looks back up at him, Steve feels his breath catch at the intensity in his eyes- sea green, swirling with a mix of emotions.

But the spell is broken by the smile that graces Loki’s lips, which feels less genuine.

“Thank you, darling. You sure know the way to one’s heart.”

Steve isn’t sure what to make of Loki’s odd reaction, but he figures it can’t be too bad, if the way the other man carefully handles the bouquet back to his guest room is any indication.

Steve does his best to pretend that he doesn’t notice stares and whispers directed at their corner of the restaurant. Loki’s doing a much better job at ignoring them; he’s currently gazing intently out of the giant glass windows, though he looks more curious than impressed at the night view of the city outside.

“You liking the view?” Steve asks for the lack of anything better to say.

Loki lightly scoffs.

“Let’s just say it’s… different to the cities of other planets. But I’ve also noticed how practically every city on Earth is identical.” He absently swirls the water in his glass. “Funny, considering how much you insist that you’re different from each other.”

Steve wrinkles his nose.

“It’s actually a bit more complicated than that. How much of Earth’s history do you know?”

“Not as much as I’d like to, unfortunately. Before New Asgard, I’d only taught myself as much as I needed to know depending on whatever business I had at the time.”

Steve looks at Loki curiously.

“Oh? And what did your business with Earth usually involve?”

“Nothing in particular,” Loki says. “I merely used it as a place, amongst several other realms, for retreat on occasions where I felt the need to have some space to myself. And before you ask- no, I did not use the Bifrost. It’s fast, but hardly a discreet method of travel.”

Steve hums.

“I guess that explains how you’ve picked up on our technology here a lot quicker than Thor did.”

Loki rolls his eyes.

“Thor is a stubborn fool who likes sticking with his own way of doing things,” he scoffs, but there’s a hint of fondness to it. “In all honesty, I hadn’t actually come down here in over a hundred years, at least until several years ago. And I’m sure you don’t me to tell you that a lot has changed since then.”

Steve stares at Loki in surprise.

“Oh. Wow. Sometimes I feel like there’s still a lot of things I haven’t figured out yet about my phone, but you seem to know what you’re doing. It’s like you grew up with it.”

“Why, thank you,” Loki smiles. “Though to be fair, I do have an unfair advantage- for one, I’ve already familiarised myself with the technologies from a range of different realms. And for another, well…” He trails off, watching Steve carefully. “Let’s just say that I had the help of two humans well-versed in the area.”

Steve matches his gaze evenly. He’d seen this coming, and it’s honestly a surprise that they haven’t touched upon this topic already.

“Have you spoken to either Clint or Dr Selvig since you came back?”

“No,” Loki answers simply. “I haven’t seen any of Thor’s scientist friends, and considering that he’s broken up with Jane, I think it’s unlikely that I will. And as for Clint, well…” The smile that stretches across his face is entirely artificial. “We’ve been content to avoid each other.”

Steve sighs. He’d expected as much.

Their waiter chooses that moment to take their orders, something which reminds them that they’ve barely even glanced at the menu since they sat down.

Steve internally winces at the prices, but when he looks up at Loki, he sees the other man frowning as well.

“This can’t possibly be edible,” Loki says, gesturing at his copy of the menu. Steve looks at where he’s pointing, then feels a surge of amusement.

“Crab? It’s a staple of most seafood restaurants. You haven’t had it before?”

“I was expecting fish. This is a giant spider.”

“It’s not,” Steve laughs. “It’s good, I promise. Want to try it?”

Fifteen minutes later Steve is struggling to keep a straight face as he watches Loki attempting to get to the meat under the shell with nothing but his cutlery and the crab cracker.

“You know you can use your hands right?” Steve says mildly, hiding his smile behind his fist.

“I can do this,” Loki replies through gritted teeth. Unsurprisingly, he does manage it, after much manoeuvring. He eyes Steve smugly when the latter cleans his hands with the provided wet wipes, prompting Steve to roll his eyes in response.

They pretend not to notice the paparazzi trailing after them when they leave the restaurant. But halfway down the busy streets, Loki catches Steve’s eye with a mischievous smirk before slipping his hand into Steve’s.

Steve does his best not to tense up in surprise. It doesn’t help that Loki’s hand is cold, though it isn’t particularly surprising, considering how cool the night is. Steve gives Loki’s hand a gentle squeeze, hoping the transfer some of his own warmth. He feels some of the warmth travel to his chest as he watches Loki’s smirk soften in response.

A block away from where Steve had parked the car, they are suddenly interrupted by a sharp bang.

Loki hisses and clutches at his upper arm, and Steve immediately springs into action. For a split second he reaches for his shield, and he internally curses when he realises of course he doesn’t have it. He faintly registers light travelling up Loki’s body in his peripheral vision as he quickly dives and knocks several bystanders out of the way, just in time for more shots to be fired in their direction.

Steve braces for the impact of the bullets, but he watches with bated breath as they smack harmlessly against a force field which shimmers into view.

He looks up.

Loki’s black suit has been completely replaced by his Asgardian armour sans his horned headgear. His green cape billows behind him, and for a brief moment, Steve is struck by how heroic he looks.

But Steve can thank Loki for saving his life later- right now, he has a shooter to take down.

The crowd is beginning to truly panic, and Steve does his best to direct as many people to the direction of Loki’s giant force field as possible while he scans the direction the bullets had come from. It doesn’t take long for him to spot the pale, gangly young man clutching at a rifle. The shooter appears to be hesitating at Loki’s appearance, and Steve takes the opportunity to slip into the terrified crowd, unnoticed. Steve keeps an eye on the shooter the whole time, so he immediately notices when the the young man makes the frenzied split-second decision to fire several more shots in Loki’s direction.

Steve feels his heart drop and his ears are drowned out by the screams of the people around him. He doesn’t manage to see if any of the bullets had hit anyone or not, but he grits his teeth and continues making his way towards the shooter.

He has to trust Loki to take care of it.

Steve catches the shooter completely off-guard when he comes in out of seemingly-nowhere and knocks the rifle out of the young man’s hands, kicking him back and grabbing the weapon from him in one fell swoop. Once the guy realises that he’s been stopped by Captain America himself, he goes down without a fight. But just as a precaution, Loki strides over and freezes the man’s hands together in makeshift handcuffs with some ice spell.

Steve watches in fascination as the cold blue light spreads from Loki’s fingers, forming the ice seemingly from thin air. He isn’t sure if it’s a trick of light, but for a split second he swears that the skin of Loki’s hands turned blue.

Now that they’re waiting for the police to arrive, Steve turns to Loki.

“Let me see your arm.”

Loki crosses them both over his chest defensively.

“It barely grazed me. I’ll be fine. My armour and magic deflected the rest of it.” He pauses, then narrows his eyes at Steve. “What about you? You charged at him while you were unarmed. What were you thinking?”

Steve is taken aback at the sheer anger and worry in the other man’s tone. It even reminds him a little bit of Bucky, and he can’t help but laugh.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I know how to fight without my shield.”

Loki huffs in annoyance but doesn’t pursue any further, because the police arrive. The shooter gets arrested and Steve does most of the talking to the officers. It doesn’t escape his notice that while they seem in awe at his presence, they keep eyeing Loki warily. It reminds Steve a little too much of the charity ball, which already feels like a distant memory, with everything that’s happened.

By the time Steve and Loki are free to go, the area has been taped off and a huge crowd has gathered on the outskirts of the crime scene.

Steve sighs. Now that the adrenaline has faded, he just wants to go back to the compound. This wasn’t how he had wanted his fake date night to end, but he doesn’t feel up for doing anything else.

He suddenly feels a light tug on his wrist.

Steve looks questioningly up at Loki, but the other man has his eyes on the crowd. Steve follows his gaze.

There’s excitement and curiosity buzzing around the gathered people, and there’s even a noticeable number of them holding out their phones in Steve and Loki’s direction.

Steve feels Loki lean in conspiratorially.

“They’re all watching us now. Shall we do something with their attention?”

Loki’s whisper makes the skin on Steve’s neck tingle. He barely manages to suppress the involuntary shudder.

He swallows.

“Yeah,” Steve whispers back.

The corners of Loki’s lips quirk upwards as he gives one final glance in the direction of the crowd.

“How about a kiss then? One for the cameras?”

Steve licks his lips nervously, but he nods determinedly.

This time their lips meet slower. Carefully, but not hesitantly. Loki’s hand gently cups Steve’s jaw, while his other arm is looped around Steve’s waist, pressing their bodies close together. Steve leans into the touch and his arms around Loki’s neck tighten, deepening the kiss. Steve faintly registers a surge of noise in the background. But then he feels Loki sigh softly against his lips, and the little remains of concentration left vanish completely.

Then Loki pulls back, and Steve feels an unexpected wave of disappointment, though they are still close enough that their noses almost touch. He’s left feeling dazed and breathless, and his insides don’t feel entirely solid, like they might collapse under the heavy pounding of his heart.

It makes Steve feel a little better to see Loki looking equally stunned. They’re still pressed together, and Steve can feel Loki’s chest lightly heaving through the shared contact. He looks into Loki’s eyes- dark green, nearly the shade of a forest. Molten with heat, and so many other emotions that Steve currently lacks the brainpower to decipher.

Steve catches himself staring, and quickly turns away. He does his best to ignore the sudden pang at the loss of contact, and takes in their surroundings. His eyes settle on the crowd a few meters away, and reality abruptly crashes around him.

Right. That was why they were kissing in the first place.

He clears his throat.

“I think we should try heading back now.”

Captain America and Loki prevent a mass shooting in upstate New York

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Here’s what #Stoki means for the LGBT community

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Rumors that last night’s shooter was Spider-Man’s civilian identity

Daily Bugle

The Avengers’ reactions can be summed up as “Really, Steve? Really?” Which is frankly unfair, because the kiss wasn’t even Steve’s idea. Though he can’t exactly complain about resulting public responses it had garnered (in fact, come the next morning they find an unsigned note amongst the pile of mail, consisting of nothing but a succinct “Are you fucking kidding me” in what looks suspiciously like Fury’s handwriting). That’s what Steve has chosen to focus on, instead of the way his insides begin to feel strange whenever he even thinks about the kiss. He’s blaming that on the fact that he has kissed too few people in his life.

But despite everything, Steve still feels a genuine pang of… something when Loki and Bruce return to Norway. Something which, of course, his friends take notice of.

“So I’m guessing he is a better kisser than you,” Natasha says, because she likes making him suffer.

“Are you sure you’re not actually dating?” Tony teases, which Steve resolutely ignores.

The others are nice enough not to actually say anything about it, though at one point Bucky does tell him he’s acting like a lovesick teenager (which he isn’t, okay).

Sam sends him an article with the headline “Florida Man Accidentally Burns Home Down After Lighting Captain America Merch On Fire In Protest Of Hero’s Relationship With Loki”. Steve forwards the article to Loki, then prints it out and sticks it on his wall next to his sketches.

Steve and Loki continue to regularly text each other. Loki still likes to start conversations by sending unflattering photos of Steve, and Steve is beginning to wonder if there’s a website dedicated to photos of him looking as ugly as humanly possible, be it mid-blink, mid-sneeze, or appearing double-chinned from an awkward angle. But of course, there’s always the possibility that Loki himself was the one who found the stills by pausing footage at the right moment. At this point, Steve isn’t sure which one would be better. But he still makes sure to send back funny and/or interesting videos and images that he finds online.

Neither of them have really talked about the kiss, outside of the context of how the general populace has reacted. Which is to be expected, because that’s the whole point of why they’re doing this. Yet Steve can’t help but feel that it’s something like a spectre, hovering unspoken between them.

Their plan finally bears fruit when, as time passes, the public begins to treat their “relationship” as they would any other celebrity couple. In fact, in his most recent interview, Steve even gets asked about what it’s like to date a former enemy, and also what it’s like to be in a long distance relationship.

Life is good, though Steve sometimes catches himself longing to see Loki again.

Which he does- almost three months later, after he nearly dies.

The first thing that Steve registers is how sore and stiff he feels. The second thing he notices is that he’s sleeping on something soft.

Really soft.

“Don’t worry, only three days have passed.”

Steve blinks blearily, then stiffens when his brain finally registers who the voice belongs to.

He tries to sit up, but two strong arms push him down again.

“Please don’t,” Loki says, an expression which almost resembles genuine concern flits across his features. “You’ll undo all of Eir’s hard work.”

Deliriously, Steve thinks that Loki looks like an angel, and he nearly drops the glass of water that the other man hands him.

As Steve sips on the glass, he tries to remember what happened.

He’s supposed to be in Sweden. With Bucky and Clint. They were on a mission investigating the rumours of Chitauri tech being circulated underground in Stockholm. It was a bit of an overkill for the three of them to go, but it was more of a matter of safety just in case things go terribly wrong.

Which it did.

After having their operations discovered, the dealers started a shootout at the base.  In the midst of the chaos Steve got hit point blank in the stomach by one of their weapons. The last thing he remembers, before completely blacking out from the pain, was an explosion which felt like it had burned him alive.

“Where’s Bucky and Clint?” Steve finally asks.

“Bruce finally managed to convince them to get some proper sleep a few hours ago.” Loki pauses, levelling Steve with a serious stare. “You’re quite fortunate that you were so close to New Asgard. If you were treated in one of your ordinary hospitals, your chances for survival would’ve been rather… slim.”

A brief flash of pain flickers through Loki’s eyes- teal, under this lighting- as the last word quietly drops from his lips.

Steve swallows down the rising guilt.

“Oh.”

He averts his gaze, and he uses it as an opportunity to glance around the room he’s in. He’s currently lying on one side of a king sized bed, under cream-coloured silk sheets. Aside from his now-empty glass, there’s a small stack of books and a lamp on the bedside table. Pale daylight is peeking through dark curtains, which seem to be hiding a large window. In the wall opposite the bed is an unlit fireplace, and there’s a wall length cupboard next to the door. It’s sparsely decorated, but it still feels strangely cosy for a recovery room.

“Where exactly am I?”

“You are currently resting in my bed. You’re welcome, by the way- if my sources are correct then it is possibly the best surface you’ve slept on in the past weeks.”

Steve stiffens.

“Wait- this is your bed? Then what about-”

“You were only moved here this morning,” Loki interrupts him. “Eir predicted that you would wake up some time today, and our medical facilities are still rather small and understaffed. So being the generous and considerate lover that I am…” Loki’s lips twist into an amused smile, and he spreads his hands out. “I offered my own living quarters as a place for your recovery.”

Steve attempts to protest that he doesn’t want to impose, but Loki shuts that down quickly with “You almost died, you idiot.” After that Steve begrudgingly acquiesces, especially when he has to suppress at wince at how sore his abdomen feels as he sits up.

Steve is able to walk around without too much difficulty, so Loki leaves him to eat in the kitchen while he leaves the house to go somewhere else. After taking one bite of an apple, Steve suddenly realises how hungry he is, and he devours the rest in less than a minute.

Loki isn’t gone for long, as he returns with Bucky and Clint in tow while Steve is almost finished with his second apple.

Clint visibly perks up when he sees Steve alive and whole, though he still remains alert of his surroundings. Bucky’s expression is about as rigid as his shoulders, but after staring at Steve for a few tense seconds, it all drains out of him and he mournfully mutters that he’d thought he had lost Steve.

Steve feels his heart clench seeing Bucky so distraught. After all, he knows exactly what it feels like to think that you’ve lost your best friend forever when you were supposed to be on a mission together.

Eventually they get around to discussing the disastrous mission in Stockholm. It was technically a success as they did break up the alien weapons trading ring, destroying every trace of it to boot. Bucky and Clint didn’t get out of the warehouse shootout unscathed either, but they were nowhere near as horrible as Steve was.

Throughout it all, Steve notices that Loki is lingering silently, as far away from them as the small space of the kitchen would allow. He finds it slightly odd that Bucky and especially Clint don’t seem to mind Loki listening in on classified information of their mission, but Steve supposes that somewhere along the process of him getting sent to New Asgard for emergency medical treatment, Loki must’ve gotten ahold of the details anyway.

“Oh and by the way, Steve,” Clint says. “Bucky and I are heading back to the compound first thing tomorrow.”

Steve frowns, but Bucky interrupts him before he can say anything.

“Yeah, we’re leaving you. Think of it as a vacation or something. God knows you need a break from trying to get yourself killed.”

Steve glances at Loki, who doesn’t seem surprised by the news at all. He thinks back to his earlier conversation with Loki, and it suddenly clicks. So he’s staying over at Loki’s for the next couple of days; they must’ve discussed it before he had woken up, then.

“And you’re okay with Loki watching over me?” Steve asks Clint sceptically.

“Hell no,” Clint says immediately. “But I’m trusting Thor and Bruce to step in before he does anything. And if that doesn’t work…” Clint glares at Loki. “I’m turning you into my personal pincushion.”

“Well that doesn’t sound very pleasant,” Loki says drily, prompting Clint to childishly flip him off.

Bucky appears only slightly less adverse to the arrangement, but he still gives Steve a careful hug before he and Clint leave.

Steve is surprised, to say the least, when it turns out that Loki lives in a modest-looking cottage which looks no different to the others in the neighbourhood; Loki must’ve used magic to make everything much bigger on the inside. Aside from the living room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room, the cottage has two bedrooms, though one of them has been completely repurposed into a personal library/study space. When they get back to Loki’s room, Loki admits that when he first heard about the label of “king” beds, he had thought it meant that the bed would be befitting for a king.

“It’s acceptable, I suppose,” Loki shrugs, which Steve responds to with a playful roll of his eyes. Typical.

It also happens to be the only bed in the entire cottage. Loki absolutely refuses to let Steve sleep on the couch, but he also thinks it’s beneath him to sleep there when the bed is perfectly capable of fitting both of them.

“I suppose I’ll look forward to waking up to your beautiful face, then,” Loki says with a playful wink. Steve ignores the teasing like he usually does, except this time it’s accompanied by a light fluttering in his chest.

(He ignores that too)

Truth be told, Steve doesn’t mind- after all, he’s not one to get touchy over bed-sharing. Back when he was living with Bucky in their apartment in Brooklyn, there were times when they couldn’t afford consistent heating in winter. Thus, in order to prevent Steve from getting sick from the cold, they often shared a bed to share warmth. Steve’s also lost count of the number of times he had shared beds with Sam and Natasha (or even both at the same time, if the bed was big enough) while they were on the run. In the end, bed-sharing is just a pragmatic thing that he does with people he trusts.

It kind of begs the question of whether Loki is someone he trusts. A year ago the answer would’ve been a definite “no”. But that was before he’d actually gotten to know his former enemy as a person. A petty, snarky yet insightful person, with a ridiculous sense of humour. Now, after over half a year of being friends with Loki, and especially after that incident following their fake date, Steve thinks the answer might be “yes”. He knows most of his friends would disagree, but he does trust Loki.

Steve sits half-tucked into his side of the bed, trying his best to answer his mountain of unread messages. He assures all of his worried friends that he’s fine but he’s going to stay in New Asgard for a few more days, though he’s almost certain that they would’ve gotten that information already from Bucky and Clint.

Steve doesn’t get any immediate replies, so he idly scrolls through the news to see what the public is told about the incident in Stockholm. Somehow that leads him to discover that news of his presence in New Asgard has somehow gotten out, which led to his “relationship” with Loki being brought into the limelight again.

Steve is watching a clip of some Fox News anchors debating with a “historian” on how “Loki the god of evil has brainwashed Captain America and we need to rescue the poor Captain from his clutches” when Loki strides into the room in his nightclothes while toweling his damp hair. Loki raises an eyebrow at Steve as he listens in on the newsclip, but Steve doesn’t say anything until several moments after the video ends.

“Oh my god,” Steve finally manages, after his brain finally processes the sheer amount of bullshit that he had just been forced to listen to.

“You called?” Loki grins, tossing his towel aside. Steve groans.

“I know a lot of people still hate you for New York, but-” he gestures at his phone, at a loss for words. “What the fuck. ”

Loki bursts into laughter.

“No need to be so angry on my behalf, Steve,” he says, climbing onto the bed. “I actually quite like their version of the truth.”

Then Steve blinks as he watches Loki abruptly rearrange himself into a mocking parody of a seductive pose.

“Yes, I have indeed seduced the good Captain to the dark side,” Loki smirks, lowering his lashes. “And I definitely have plans to do so for every other hero that Earth has to offer.”

Steve swallows. To distract himself from his elevated heartbeat, he throws a pillow in Loki’s direction.

The ensuing pillow fight lasts for over an hour.

It doesn’t surprise Steve when, in the middle of his lunch meetup with Thor, the topic of Loki comes up.

“How have things with Loki been?”

“Pretty good, actually,” Steve answers honestly. Loki has actually been a rather gracious host, though he does get a bit ridiculous whenever he gets under the impression that Steve is overexerting himself.

“Good, that’s good,” Thor says, but there’s a slight furrow between his brows.

Steve frowns.

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” Thor quickly denies. “It’s just that- it’s not that I don’t trust you or anything- because I do, you’re a great man, one of the most honourable I’ve had the luck to meet and fight with in my lifetime-”

“Thor…” Steve tries to interrupt, but his friend goes on.

“-but I think I should tell you that if you hurt my brother, then he’s not one for forgiveness.”

Steve stares at him.

“What.”

“He’s more likely to retaliate,” Thor clarifies, as if that was the part Steve should’ve been confused about. “See, when we were on Sakaar, Loki had this weird thing going on with the Grandmaster.”

Steve nearly chokes on his own spit.

“What.”

“Yeah,” Thor agrees, as if he is imparting some particularly juicy bit of gossip and not telling Steve something he never ever wanted to know. “The Grandmaster was a strange, but horrible man, but Loki only went anywhere near him because of his power. In the end, Loki betrayed him, stole his best ships and there was also a revolution involved. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but I’m pretty sure the Grandmaster is no longer the ruler of Sakaar.”

What the fuck.

“Um, okay?” Steve finally says, weakly. “Why are you telling me this?”

But the only answer he receives is a pat on the arm.

“You’re a good man, Captain. I’d hate to see Loki ruin your life.”

What the fuck.

Cold creeps into the air inside his lungs, seeps into his skin, turning his bones into ice. The air around him thickens, until he drowns in it, chokes in it-

Steve’s eyes snap open and he gasps for air.

It takes several heartbeats for him to realise that he’s in Loki’s room, and not the flooded cockpit of the Valkyrie. It is still completely dark, and a quick glance at the time tells him it’s a quarter to four.

An involuntary shiver suddenly wracks through his body, and that’s when Steve realises that the cold didn’t vanish with his dreams.

In fact, it seems to be coming from beneath the covers.

Loki makes a pained noise and shifts in his sleep, and that’s all Steve needs before he throws off the blankets and turns on the bedside lamp.

The movement jars Loki awake, but Steve’s jaw drops when he sees him in the light.

Loki’s skin is completely blue. Steve has no idea what this means, but now that he’s concentrating, he can feel that the source of the cold is actually Loki himself.

Loki looks frantic and disoriented, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. But the moment his eyes- red, blood red- land on the blue of his hands, a fresh wave of panic sweeps through him.

“Loki-” Steve begins as calmly as he can, but Loki flinches and throws himself off the bed.

“Loki-!”

“Don’t touch me!” Loki suddenly yells, as he spins on the floor to face Steve like a cornered animal.

Steve takes in a steadying breath. He doesn’t move, even though the muscles in his arms and legs are practically twitching from the effort.

“Don’t… touch me…” Loki repeats, weakly. He’s kneeling on the floor now, hunched over his shaking hands.

It kills Steve to do so, but he manages to remain seated on the bed. He watches, more fascinated than what is probably appropriate given the situation, as the blue slowly begins to recede from Loki’s skin. Loki still doesn’t move even when his usual, pale colour is fully restored, but Steve begins to make his way to the other man, until he is crouching right next to him.

“Are you okay now?” he asks softly.

“I… I’m sorry.” Loki still doesn’t look up. “Go back to bed, you need your rest. I’ll leave.”

“No Loki, look-” Steve sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to tell me what your nightmare was about. You don’t even have to tell me why you suddenly turned blue. It’s just… I had a nightmare too. And I’m going to the kitchen to get some water. Will you come with me?”

Loki hesitates for a moment, but then he nods.

They sit together in complete silence in the kitchen for what feels an eternity, before Steve finally speaks up.

“I don’t think I’ve had that nightmare in years.” In his peripheral vision he notices that he catches Loki’s attention. “The plane. Crashing it into the ice.” Steve smiles wryly. “Most people assume that I got knocked out by the impact. But I was awake for the whole thing. When the cockpit flooded… my arms and legs were broken from the crash, but I could already feel them knitting together even as I was running out of oxygen.

“I don’t know what got to me first- the cold, or the lack of air.”

It feels weird, but also strangely relieving to tell this to Loki. The only other person he’d ever mentioned this to was the therapist that SHIELD provided him after he’d first woken up. The therapist had nodded in understanding even though Steve could see her thinly-veiled horror, but Loki is merely looking at him with alert and assessing eyes. A far cry from the wild look he’d sported earlier.

“I’m sorry,” Loki finally says. “I must’ve been the cause of that. My Jotunn form… the cold…”

“Jotunn?” Steve asks, latching onto the unfamiliar term.

Loki doesn’t say anything for a moment, but then he sighs.

“Well as you know, I’m adopted,” he begins with a humourless smile. “Jotunn. Not Asgardian. What you saw just then is my true form, if you will. A monstrous, hideous creature of the cold- even the touch of our skin gives our enemies ice burn.”

Steve frowns.

“But you’re not monstrous or hideous,” he says.

Loki stares at him, then laughs, a tad hysterically.

“You would say that about someone who made you relive your own nightmares? Someone who attempted to enslave your race? Or did our little game of pretend make you forget that already?”

“It was an accident,” Steve says. “If it makes you feel better, I broke a bedside table once because of a nightmare. And as for New York…” Steve sighs, and looks Loki in the eye. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive that. But in case I haven’t made it obvious enough, I’m trying to move on from it. And I know that you’re definitely trying to move on from it too. I think that’s what matters for now.

“And besides,” Steve tries to smile. “I don’t think it’s possible for you to look hideous.”

Loki narrows his eyes.

“Steve,” he says warningly, but Steve only laughs.

“Oh, so you’re the only one allowed to compliment me on my appearance?” Loki’s pinched expression prompts the edges of Steve’s lips to quirk upwards in amusement, and he adds, “I honestly don’t think you looked bad- just different. But just as beautiful as you usually do.”

Steve nearly slaps himself when the last part accidentally slips out. He fervently prays for himself to spontaneously develop the ability to vanish from existence when Loki stares at him with wide eyes. But just before Steve can backtrack, give an excuse, anything, Loki clears his throat.

“And what exactly do you mean by that?” Loki’s expression is carefully blank, and Steve feels his heart pounding so fast he’s surprised he hasn’t passed out yet.

This is so stupid. He hasn’t even had the time to really think about the… feelings he’s been having for the other man.

And yet-

“I want to stop pretending,” Steve suddenly blurts out, and god damn it, what is wrong with him?

Loki goes completely expressionless.

“What.”

Steve licks his lips nervously, but he refuses to avert his gaze.

“I want to stop pretending because I want it to be real,” he ploughs on, because that’s his only option now. “I… I don’t think I’ve been pretending, to be honest. At least not for a while.”

Shock and surprise flood Loki’s face and he stares at Steve as if he’s seeing him for the first time.

“Steve…” he begins, but he trails off, still struck speechless.

“I’m sorry if that’s not what you want,” Steve quickly says. “We can forget this conversation ever happened.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Loki scoffs before surging forward and capturing his lips in a kiss.

Steve tries to put all of his feelings- the unstoppable urge to smile or laugh when he sees Loki do the same, the way his heartbeat accelerates in his presence, and the pure ecstasy that this is happening, this is real- into the kiss. It seems to work, because he feels Loki smile against his lips in response.

They break off briefly, but Steve runs his hand down Loki’s hair and grabs a fistful of it, using the grip to tug him down again. Loki follows without complaint, even moaning into Steve’s mouth in response.

They continue kissing, again and again, until the darkness outside bleeds away into dawn.

“You know,” Steve says, as the commercial break begins. “I think Thor tried to give me the shovel talk.”

Loki shifts on the couch next to him to stare at him incredulously.

“Shovel talk?”

“The ‘If you hurt him, I’ll hurt you’ talk.” Steve pauses. “Except I think he was trying to tell me that if I hurt you, then you’d ruin my life.”

“You Midgardians and your strange ways with words,” Loki mutters, almost fondly. “Thor is unbelievable, so of course he did that. What else did he say?”

“Uh.” Steve suddenly regrets bringing this up at all. “He mentioned the Grandmaster?”

The colour abruptly drains from Loki’s face. He grabs the nearest cushion and promptly buries his face into it.

“For fuck’s sake, Thor. ”

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episode 38 Review.

And yet you always say bad things about Netto, you hypocrite!

What’s strange is that Cutman has brothers.

We start the episode with... An old japanese film about samurais?

Oh boy, we’re in for a good old dose of Japanese culture in this episode, aren’t we?

An old man talks for the two characters with Rockman portrayed as a Tsujigiri, which is a Japanese term for a practice that involves a samurai killing an inocent passer-by in a crossroad in order to try out a new sword. An evil samurai, I guess?

Rockman plays the part of the tsujigiri, strangely well.

This was obviously cutted from the dub because only God knows if kids are stupid enough to try this at home.

The tsujigiri Rockman challenges the passerby who is non other than Cutman, they stare down at eachother until Rockman does the cowardly thing of throwing sand at Cutman’s face.

Tsujigiri Rockman uses Sand Attack! Cutman’s accuracy fell.

This gives Rockman the opportunity to slash Cutman, but turns out it was all just a little play with paper cut outs, staged by an old looking Cutman for an audience of young Cutman looking Navis.

Liar! That’s not how it went down!

It was the Elec Brother Styled Rockman, in the Okuden dam computer with a Thunder Woody Tower! Where did you even get the Aqua Sword idea? Plus, Cutman wasn’t deleted, he clearly logged out.

Apperantly these are all Cutman’s relatives, the old cutman tells the young Cutmen that Rockman mercilessly deleted their older brother and they come to the conclusion that Rockman is evil and that he is gonna take over the world or something, I guess no one told them the Cutman was with Gospel for starters.

The Cutman brothers are all fired up and ready to avenge their brother, leaving their old Japanese styled home in pieces.

We soon discover that the elder Cutman was working for Shadowman who is hoping to use Cutman’s little brothers to weaken Rockman.

Right after this we see that the Cutman brothers infiltraded Netto’s alarm clock, (because of couse it has internet conection) where they cut off the alarm. Netto is panicking over this because he was suppoused to get up early to meet up with his friends.

Why does Meiru have three horns and Yaito only has one?

Netto is afraid that his friends will get mad at him for arriving late, and it seems his imagination isn’t far off because we then see Meiru and the others wearing yugioh eye liner.

Yeah, this is another thing that was cutted from the dub, Dekao and Tohru do this little play where they put on a Netto mask quoting everything he said.

I guess it is an old form of Japanese theatre, but there are so many that I can’t tell which exactly. Through this they explain that they were all planning to go eat some special steamed meatbuns. What even is that?

Oh, THOSE things. Aren’t they called dumplings?

These things are actually chinese, and that’s why they’re going to Densan city’s Chinatown district to get them, however, there is a reason why they had to wake up early.

Meiru is talking about a little brown monster that is the mascot of japanese broadcasting service? O.O WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO HERE SUB?!

Netto stops at a public phone to plug-in Rockman so he can go ahead and tell them why he is late before he gets on the subway.

You mean it would be 200 hours of tickling instead of 100?

Rockman is traveling though the network to Internet city’s Chinatown when the Cutman brothers do something that transports him to an old Japanese setting.

“Unless Japan took over China at some point, I dont believe this is Internet City’s version of Chinatown.”

I’m no expert on Japanese history, but based on my research for this episode, I deduced that this setting is based off Japan during the Edo period since it was the period where the paper cutting art knowen as Kamikiri was born. Why am I saying this? Because Rockman is about to be attacked by a traditional paper cut out of a samurai.

I like how the samurai cut out shifts as it runs, that’s a cool effect. Rockman takes out the samurai with his Rock Buster, but then is attacked by four ninja cut outs (I only took screenshots of three btw).

Ahh, paper shurikens! They are worse than normal shurikens because they are made out of paper! Paper cuts!

Rockman manages to defeat the ninjas and finds out that they were all made of paper.

They still believe that they are in Internet city’s chinatown so Rockman runs to find his friends thinking that they are in trouble.

Speaking of their friends, they are all at Chinatown where they discover that all the dumplings are sold out, so that means that the store is closed too. Since they are all starving, a creepy looking man appears and offers to take them to another restaurant.

STRANGER DANGER!

We cut to the old Japan setting where a paper villager is hitting a paper bell and the other paper villagers begin to chase Rockman with paper lanterns. Paper!

This scene reminds me of Inuyasha for some reason.

The villagers attack Rockman with explosive lanterns before we see the Cutman brothers at a japanese palace where they are making more paper cut outs.

Why were these shots of them making the paper figures cutted out from the dub? This is pretty interesting, we even see fatty Cutman finish the giant paper fish that will attack Rockman in the next scene. 

The moon hides behind the clouds as Rockman crosses a bridge, when the giant paper fish leaps out of the not paper water to attack him.

Paper doesn’t dissolve in water in the cyberworld, but then again, Rockman’s buster sets it on fire .-.- Cyber physics!

I like the idea of Rockman having an ability to lock on to objects for shooting, no wonder his aim is perfect.

Soon after, the villagers attack Rockman with hooks, binding him with rope.

Okay, NOW I’m reminded of Inuyasha.

Rockman is inmobilized, and just then, the palace gates in front of him open up to show what looks like his friends only for the moon to reappear and reveal that they are actually paper cut outs.

Looks like the Cutman brothers did their homework on Rockman because they know the Navis he hangs out with AND their attacks.

Netto, aren’t you paying attention?! He can’t move!

After comercials, Rockman pulls the villagers holding him to block the incoming attack.

Nice aim, Rockman, you shot fake Iceman right in the mouth. XD

That was Rockman’s pissed face.

 Netto keeps him from seeking revenge by telling him that he can’t win with just his buster, so he decides to runaway from the palace. 

The Cutman brothers don’t like this, so bangs cutman literally cuts the comunication between Rockman and Netto.

How did he know which one to cut? What are those other cables for? How can he even do that? Why do I have so many questions for this episode?!

With Netto out of the way, the Cutman brothers proceed to attack Rockman on a giant paper dragon.

I couldn’t help noticing that the Cutmen look flat as paper in these shots since they are riding the paper dragon. Can’t have 3D looking characters riding a 2D looking object in this 2D animated series.

We cut to Netto’s friends eating at the creepy stranger’s own ramen place that is actually named “The Worst Noodles”, where they complain about how bad the ramen is, yet they keep eating it with their Yugioh eyeliner on since they are still mad at Netto for being late.

Yaito is rich, why haven’t she used her stupidly rich status to eat at the fancy chinese restaurant next door?! Because this is followed by Enzan leaving said chinese restaurant. 

After critizicing the food he just ate, Enzan spots Netto’s friends eating at the ramen place and decides to casually walk in front of it.

What were you planning to do? Insult Netto from behind just to say hi?

Netto finally arrives at the Chinatown district where he plugs into a public phone only to discover that Rockman is not in Internet city’s chinatown. With Rockman still under attack, Netto desperately runs around until he crashes into Enzan.

Cutest miserable look I’ve ever seen. X)

Netto explained to Enzan what happend, they wonder where Rockman might be until super plot convinience kicks in.

Say no more! Rockman is inside that computer, isn’t he?

They just so happend to hear these guys yell about their problem, so naturally, they decide to plug-in.

Blues appears from above to destroy the paper dragon with a Fire Sword.

How can you mess up Blues’s hand color in the last panel?!

The Cutmen confront Blues, but Blues asks for an introduction before he reveals he was talking to a hidden Shadowman.

Blues chases Shadowman away while Rockman reconnects with Netto to activate the Style Change.

Rockman’s power overwhelms the Cutman brothers, meanwhile, Blues and Shadowman are having a chinese movie showdown on the rooftops that ends with Blues craking part of Shadowman’s helmet.

Ouch! This forces Shadowman to retreat.

The Cutmen decide to use their ultimate attack against Rockman, but the Heat Guts style sends it back to them with full power.

No, Netto, Rock-man breaks scissors. XD

Rockman then power ups his fist to destroy the entire Japanese setting, revealing the real Chinatown version of Internet City. I have no idea how that worked.

Enzan and Netto leave the store where they encounter Netto’s friends who he then begs for mercy.

And the episode ends with everyone laughing at Netto’s misfortune... In the dub.

 THIS is how the episode really ends.

The episode ends with the cut out puppet show announcing Rockman’s victory over the Cutman brothers, where after the curtains are pulled, eyebrows Cutman promises they will return, with the little cutman ending the episode.

I have no idea why was this skipped in the dub.

What do I think?

Just like the title, this episode was strange. They never explained why or how can Cutman have relatives. My theory is that they are all special navis that work at a specific area of the net, with one of the Cutmen going rogue and joining Gospel.

Cutman’s younger brothers all have names, eyebrows cutman is called Jiiro, bangs Cutman, who I first thought was a girl, is Saburo, the tall Cutman is Shiro, the fat one is Goro and the little one is Rokuro. The dub changed their names to Vinny, Sunny, Jerry, Joey and Nicky. XP

This episode was interesting since it presented old japanese culture references, starting off with the old samurai movie at the begining, and the whole paper puppet show that I’m sure has a name, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. The closest thing I found was called Kamikiri.

Kamikiri is an old form of entertainment that involves a person cutting a figure on paper in front of a live audience. This requires skills to create a figure anytime of anything that the audience can request, the paper figures can also be used as puppets to tell stories like in a shadow puppet show. Because the Cutmen are all about scissors, it’s no wonder  that they are masters in the art of kamikiri, making them “strangely strong” in this episode. By trapping Rockman inside their very own cyberworld where they can create living paper figures they had an advantage over him.

I also have to point out that the creepy ramen guy returns a couple of time in later seasons of the anime. And unfortunately, this isn’t the last time we see the Cutman brothers.