#they’re both theatre kids I mean look at them

[suja-janee]

Look, just hear me out-

[gay-dorito-dust]

batfam fluff headcanons plz

Movie nights are a common occurrence at Wayne manor and as the bat family’s reoccurring guest during these movie nights you have to drag Jason into joining you, not liking him being left out, and as per your agreement you had to sit next to Jason for the duration of the movie.

It sounds simple enough but unfortunately Damian had grown attached to you during these movie nights, so much so that he’s more then willing to fight Jason for the spot next to you, and the funnier thing was that Jason was also more then willing to fight Damian for his spot next to you! It’s his fucking spot he’s not going to lose it to the demon spawn with a knack for swords.

So needless to say that first thing that happens the moment you entered the Manson was Jason and Damian being at each others throats while Dick, Duke, Stephanie, cass and Tim watched the chaos from a safer, safe distance.

‘What’s going on?’ You asked the group just as Jason got Damian in a headlock, their profound use of curse words and insults were the background noise.

‘They’re fighting over who gets to sit next to you during movie night, again.’ Duke informed you as now you could clearly see that Stephanie and Cass was egging on Jason and Damian from the sidelines.

‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ They cheered in unison.

‘Seriously?’ Tim could be heard asking as you looked over at Dick, who was leaning against the doorframe of the theatre room.

‘They do know that they can sit on either side of me right?’ You asked and dick laughed as he brought you into his side.

‘They do but they’d much rather be the one your undivided attention is on.’ Dick replied, booping you on the nose as you gave him an unamused look. ‘This is a movie night, my attention is going to be on the movie not the guy sat next to me.’ You retorted.

‘Try telling them that.’ Duke said as he gestured to Jason and Damian who were now throwing popcorn at each other.

‘I’m sitting next to them! Piss off demon spawn, try next time!’ Jason shouted, almost choking when some popcorn landed directly into his mouth at accurate precision.

‘You can wait next time Todd, you had them sit next to you the past five movie nights!’ Damian shouts back, hiding behind some of the chairs of the theatre room to prevent a shower of popcorn being thrown at him.

‘If they didn’t I wouldn’t fucking bother being here!’ Jason exclaims but while you, Dick, Duke, Tim, Cass and Stephanie watched on a shadow towered over you all, making you all look over your shoulders to see that it was just Bruce Wayne.

Bruce tended to oversee the movie nights, making sure his kids were behaving while you were here but from what he could see from the mess Jason and Damian were making, this was not the case.

‘If the worry of who y/n sits next to is so important then they can sit by me tonight and you two can sit next to each other tonight.’ He says calmly as Jason and Damian stopped what they were doing and looked to their father, then down at the mess they’ve made, then back to their father again before pointing the finger at each other.

‘Todd started it!’ -Damian

‘The little shit couldn’t take the hint and fuck off!’ - Jason.

Bruce sighs and places a hand on your shoulder. ‘I’m so sorry about my children.’

You shrug. ‘It’s okay, no need to apologise mr Wayne.’ Bruce laughs and squeezes your shoulder. ‘Please call me Bruce after all you’ve been here long enough to drop the formalities.’ Bruce replied before addressing his two sons. ‘I mean what I said, y/n can sit next to me this movie night and after this is all over you two can clean up the mess you both made equally as to save Alfred the hassle, do I make myself clear.’

Damian kicks a stray bit of popcorn away from him. ‘Yes father.’

Jason crosses his arms over his chest, huffing. ‘Whatever Bruce.’

Needles to say you enjoyed sitting next to Bruce during movie night but you couldn’t say the same for Jason nor Damian who kicked and muttered insults at each other under their breath in hopes of their father not hearing them, passing balls on who’s fault it was and just acting like two pouting children for being caught in their own actions.

They did indeed clean up their messes afterwards too under the supervision of one Alfred, who couldn’t help but smile while pointing, ‘you missed a spot.’

Jason and Damian groan.

[world0fmadness]

BRUTAL

oscar piastri x black metal vocalist! reader

♡ general headcanons for you and oscar watching metalocalypse together!

୨୧ i started rewatching metalocalypse a couple nights ago, it always brings back so many good memories… i love this show so damn much <3

♡ related smau available here and related hc available here | view my formula 1 masterlist here

reading music recommendations: murmaider by dethklok - laser cannon death sentence by dethklok

♡ metalocalypse is another thing you introduced to oscar!

୨୧ he never really watched a lot of tv, especially not adult swim, before you guys got together so he’d never seen any of the seasons

♡ when you asked him if he’d ever watched it and he said no, you knew you had to change that ASAP! no man of yours could be living his life without ever having watched metalocalypse

୨୧ when you showed him the first episode, he was immediately a fan! it was exactly his kind of humour, even if he didn’t get all of the references to metal bands but he’d just ask you about them and let you explain as the credits roll

♡ you binged the entirety of season one that night with drinks by you side and some food in your lap, both of you chuckling under your breath at the jokes and bobbing your head to the music

୨୧ he wanted to go straight onto season two but you wanted sleep so you left it until the next day and as soon as he was awake it was like he was a kid on christmas morning, sitting up next to you in bed and waiting for you to fully wake up so you could watch it together

♡ you ended up watching ALL of the seasons with him that day and he’s so upset when you tell him there’s no more :(

୨୧ but thankfully they’re super rewatchable and sometimes he comes home just wanting to rewatch some metalocalypse with you

♡ honestly, i can see it kind of becoming a major comfort show for him!

୨୧ oscar un-ironically picked up nathan’s “ brutal ” but you can’t say much though because you picked up toki’s “ wowee ” so you’re both just nerds

♡ he says it SO much, in response to literally any good news or information! the amount of times he’s said it over the car radio to his team is bad

୨୧ when he saw the movie trailer get posted on twitter, he was away from you at the time, at some meeting with mclaren… he was practically shaking with excitement and no one at mclaren knew what the hell was wrong with him! when he could leave, he BOLTED out of the room, he needed to get home to you fast

♡ you had also seen it by the time he gets home and he has the fattest, most goofy smile on his face as he rushes over to you on the couch and starts excitedly talking to you about it, wanting to watch the trailer on the big screen

୨୧ when army of the doomstar does come out, he books the day off from everything! he doesn’t want anything interrupting this

♡ you go to a theatre to watch it together, him buying the best seats and way too many overpriced snacks <3 he’s beaming through the whole movie, holding your hand over the armrest, when it’s over and you’re driving home you’re both insane chatterboxes who can’t shut the fuck UP about how good it was…

୨୧ you guys NEVER skip the intro! the intro music is just too good to skip, you both wait it out and bob your heads or tap your fingers to the music, oscar sometimes sleepily mumbling the lyrics under his breath

♡ i mean, you guys think ALL of the music from the show is amazing, you have all of the albums on CD and oscar steals them to take to his drivers room all the time… he genuinely thinks they’re so smart, he especially loves the really extreme joke-y ones like duncan hills cofee jingle, he wishes store jingles were actually that fucking cool!

୨୧ he probably mumbles the lyrics to the duncan hills coffee jungle whilst making coffee, it’s just stuck in his head so bad! whenever he does it in mclaren hospitality, people walking past him look at him so strange

♡ oscar recommends metalocalypse to literally every driver on the grid and every worker in the paddock! he can’t believe how few of them have seen it…

୨୧ he probably managed to covert lewis and daniel into huge metalocalypse fans too

♡ daniel now says “ gmilf ” way too much…

୨୧ he just thinks it’s really fucking funny, his favourite character is absolutely skwisgar

♡ oscar’s favourite character is toki followed closely by pickles! he thinks just about everything toki does and says is so funny, even if it isn’t meant to be

୨୧ actually got super sad about what childhood for for toki was like…

♡ you guys absolutely went to the babyklok tour! the eras tour? we don’t know her… we only know the babyklok tour <3

[hummingbee-o0o]

Armand Molloy's Vampirism Course for the Gifted

Apparently, Daniel is something of a vampiric prodigy.

He’s a very efficient and neat killer, sure, but that’s not it. It’s about The Gifts, or whatever. Well, one gift, for now, but Armand is so hopped up on it he’s going full Montessori on Daniel’s ass. He apparently wants to make up for being an absentee maker at the start there, and he’s determined to nurture Daniel’s talents.

It started a couple months ago, when Daniel casually set a shitty book on fire, and even he was surprised at how easily it came to him. Armand then said something weirdly erotic about his blood being inside Daniel, and the whole incident got them both so horny they repeatedly had sex about it for a week.

And now Armand is of the opinion that Daniel should try branching out into other gifts as well.

Except…

You know how some birds of prey will deliver a kill that’s still wriggling to their nest, so the young can learn to deal the killing blow? Yeah, that’s pretty much Armand’s teaching methodology.

Only it’s not about killing, because Daniel, disturbingly, never had problems in that department. No, this is much more complicated, and Daniel is kinda regretting watching that David Attenborough documentary with Armand last night, the one about the European golden eagles lifting entire-ass goats off cliffs, because he’s pretty sure that’s the bit that inspired Armand’s current teaching efforts.

There’s a cop standing in front of them, staring straight ahead with the creepy, vacant stare of an antique doll. They’re in the middle of an abandoned construction site, the kind that really ticks Daniel off, because the housing crisis is a real thing, but at least there’s nobody to see them; and if anybody comes along, well, Armand can do what he’s done to the cop.

Which brings Daniel back to his predicament.

“Come on, babe,” he tries. “Can’t we do it some other time? I’ll blow you if we go home right now.”

Armand laughs, beautiful like a goddamn midsummer night. “That’s a very tempting offer, beloved, but we both know you’ll do that anyway.”

Yeah, he’s got Daniel there.

“Try lifting one of his arms.”

“God, can’t we just drain him?”

“You just ate,” Armand reminds him, and that’s true, there’s even still some blood in the corner of Daniel’s mouth; he licks at it pensively, staring at the cop. “Go on.”

Thing is, Armand is really so fucking calculated. He’s orchestrated every detail here like the ultimate theatre kid he is: he knows that choosing a cop will remove any sympathy inhibitions Daniel may have otherwise had for a technically still-living subject, and he also knows the cop will trigger Daniel’s fight-or-flight responses, because you can take the boy out of the drug den, but you can’t take the junkie out of the old man.

The empty construction site, the open space and illusion of isolation, and the goddamn stretched-out t-shirt Armand is wearing, the one with a neckline that droops well past his collarbones, because he knows Daniel is weak with horniness when he puts that on.

(Look who’s bartering with desire now.)

“Fine,” Daniel finally breaks, as they both knew he would. “Fine. But don’t get disappointed if nothing happens.”

“You’re my Daniel. I could never be disappointed in you.”

Well, shit, and then he goes and says stuff like that. And he means it too, it’s right there in his eyes. Daniel doesn’t know what to do with him, other than love him.

-

(continue reading on AO3)

[redactahoe]

Things I believe are true about babe:

Has a very thick Russian accent and sometimes struggles remembering their English

Forgets certain English words and describes them horribly(ie: spicy plant when referring to a cactus)

Sarcastic as all hell

Really does not understand or care for pack/clan etiquette, like a vamp king said babe should respect their elders and babes deadass response was “why should I respect you when the only thing you’ve done is managed to look like a 2000 years old rotting corpse while only being 60.” Completely dead faced and monotone

Has cans and will call David out for his bullshit

Psychology nerd

Just a nerd in general, they love reading

Has a vast and very large book collection

Only person other than David to be able to rangle Asher in

Besties with darlin, they’re both book nerds(babe and Sam are the only one knows that darlin is a book nerd)

Artist/painter, their sketches mostly come of the pack and of course Asher

Tragic mad scientist vibes(no I won’t elaborate)

Super mysterious/ “this person has a dark and grimy past but you can only get that in subtext”

Loves the supernatural and true crime

Immediately picked up on what Quinn was doing with the whole “hurting the things darlin loves” and called that out at darlins first meeting back

Knows a lot of disturbing things like how to properly dissect and hide a body and where exactly you have to stab someone to hurt but not kill

Poet at heart, they are the theatre kid

Is not scared of David at all or at least now they aren’t. At first they were a little wigged out cause he’s one big dude but now they’ll call him a bitch to his face

Very blunt, doesn’t sugar coat shit

Has an arsenal of violent threats that Asher and the rest of the pack aren’t entirely sure if they’re just threats

Has told somebody who was victim blaming darlin that if they don’t shut tf up babe was going to string their guts up while making listen baby shark on loop

On that same note Chrissy was talking just a little to much shit and they told him they were going to sew all his orifices shut if he didn’t shut himself up

Somehow is the worst under pressure but also works the best under pressure at the same time

Know how to fight

Also knows how to use a sword

Surprisingly a lot of patience(I mean look at who their fiancé is guys)

They’re dad is a very big and intimidating man of few words and their mother is the sweetest women alive

Their like average height but Asher is tall as hell so they look short next to him

[legendary-69420]

Chapter 18 (Extended Cut): The WIRED Autocomplete Chaos

(Racing Hearts : VOLUME 2)

The extended portion of Mark’s WIRED interview didn’t disappoint—it just got funnier, stranger, and more chaotic. As the questions kept rolling in, so did the reactions from Charles, Max, and Carlos, who were visibly trying to keep it together as Mark navigated some of the weirdest questions the internet had to offer.

Mark (looking at the next question): “Alright, next question—What is Mark Spencer's favorite food?"

Mark: "Well, there are plenty since I love both eating and cooking, but if I had to choose… gotta go with my comfort food: french fries."

Charles (mockingly gasping): "Not a five-star gourmet dish? Shocking."

Mark (laughing): "Hey, I keep it simple sometimes."

Mark (moving on to the next): "Does Mark Spencer watch anime?"

Mark: "Yeah, I do! I just finished watching Kimetsu no Yaiba."

Carlos (raising an eyebrow): "Really? You don’t strike me as the anime type."

Mark: "Oh, I’m full of surprises. I even cry during the sad parts."

Charles (smirking): "Ah, so you do have feelings."

Mark (playfully glaring): "Watch it, Leclerc."

Mark (baffled at the next search): "Is Mark Spencer alive?"

Mark (leaning back dramatically): "Barely. Dude, what is wrong with these people? Are you sure these are actual searches?"

Max (chiming in): "Well, sometimes we wonder too."

Mark (grinning): "Rude."

Mark (squinting at the next one): "Is Mark Spencer handsome?"

Mark (straight-faced): "Not at all."

Charles (snorting): "Right, because you don’t spend half your time looking in the mirror."

Mark (grinning): "Only to check if my abs are still there."

Carlos (laughing): "You checked just five minutes ago!"

Mark (deadpan): "Is Mark Spencer funny?"

Mark (grinning): "As I said, I’m a clown."

Charles (smirking): "That’s the first thing you've said that’s true."

Mark (eyes widening at the next one): "Is Mark Spencer joining Hollywood?"

Mark (shaking his head): "Nah, I’m focused on the grid for now. Gotta keep Max on his toes."

Max (leaning forward, smirking): "You wish."

Mark (jaw dropping): "Mark Spencer leaks?!?!"

Mark (laughing): "Huh, WHAT?!?!? Oh, they’re talking about my old photos. Dude, it sounded like a sex tape for a second."

Carlos (choking on his laughter): "I was about to say, man!"

Charles (facepalming): "Can we not?"

Mark (calmly): "Mark Spencer theatre."

Mark: "Oh, you must be talking about my plays from when I was younger. Some of you may not know, but I was a theater kid for a while. I even used to sing."

Max (teasing): "Sing? We need proof of that."

Mark (nodding): "Just wait, I’ll bring out my guitar at the next after-party."

Mark (smiling at the next one): "Mark Spencer’s favorite movie."

Mark: "Well, there are a lot of them. I really liked La La Land. As for my favorite show… it’s could be Stranger Things , call me basic but i know my choice."

Charles (raising an eyebrow): "La La Land? That explains your drama."

Mark: "Hey, it’s a masterpiece."

Mark (sighing at the next question): "Mark Spencer crash."

Mark (growing serious): "There’s not much to talk about, really. It happens in the sport, you know?"

Carlos (gently): "Yeah, but we know you bounce back quickly."

Charles (nodding): "You’re tougher than you look."

Mark (reading the next one): "Is Mark Spencer good?"

Mark (grinning): "No, Mark Spencer is not good."

Charles (mockingly): "Finally, he admits it."

Mark (laughing at the next question): "Is Mark Spencer fast?"

Mark (winking at the camera): "In some things, yes. In others… no comment."

Max (grinning): "Definitely not on track."

Mark (scoffing): "Is Mark Spencer owner of the Spencer business?"

Mark: "No, I am not. That’s my dad’s gig."

Charles (teasing): "But you wouldn’t mind if they handed it over, right?"

Mark (grinning): "Hey, I’m fine sticking to racing for now."

Mark (rolling his eyes): "Is Mark Spencer mean?"

Mark (sarcastic): "Very mean. Don’t come near me."

Mark (bursting out laughing): "Is Mark Spencer pregnant?"

Mark (sarcastically): "Yes, I’m pregnant. (chuckles) What is going on with these people? How is that even possible?!"

Max (cracking up): "I guess it’s possible for you, Mark. You are full of surprises."

Charles (face in his hands, laughing): "Can we move on?"

Mark (still chuckling): "Mark Spencer could modal."

Mark: "Dude, y’all should really focus on your English. As for the question—yes, I’ve modeled for a few things. Watches, perfumes, even some kids’ products. No idea why, but hey, money’s money."

The laughter among the group was uncontrollable at this point. Even the production crew behind the cameras could be heard snickering. The video wrapped up with everyone in hysterics, and Mark, of course, couldn’t resist throwing in one last wink at the camera.

The comment section blew up again, continuing the chaotic vibe:

Top Comments:

@french_frylover: "Mark’s favorite food being fries? He’s truly one of us 😂🍟"

@anime_weeb: "HE WATCHES ANIME!!! I'M SCREAMING!! Kimetsu no Yaiba, though?! Taste!!"

@ship_chaos: "Mark Spencer pregnant?!?!? The Internet is WILD 😭😭"

@multilingual_mark: "Fluent in 5 languages and can change his accent at will?? Dude’s a whole package 😳"

@f1shippersunite: "Mark knows about the ships!! And the way he laughed about it… we’re not worthy 🙏"

@thespian_mark: "Mark was a theater kid?! We need more of this side of him! Somebody make him sing at the next party!"

@maxsarcastic: "The Max and Mark dynamic is sending me. Those two are chaotic evil together. 😂"

It was safe to say the Internet wasn't ready for this interview. --- (YES this format was different than the previous one)

[daveyfvckingjacobs]

HELLO!

do you have any tlb headcannons for dates (both in canon and irl)?

what dates the characters would go on, I mean.

what would they do on their dates?

How often would they HAVE dates?

I can totally imagine Jack taking Alan on a date to a fancy restaurant while the latter complains the whole time. I can also totally imagine Edwin and Robin having little picnic dates at Sutton.

I know you have a hc about them going on a triple date, but I NEEED to know more of your thoughts. Pleaseeeeeeeeeee!

🙏 🙏 🙏

oh absolutely I do

immediately you’re so right about the restaurant thing. both modern and canon jack gets his way w going to some place expensive as Fuck like once every three months and is SO patronising about it (they pretend it’s a very long, laborious business meeting in canon to explain away why they’re passionately bickering over desert. jack is alarmingly good at switching from insulting alans intelligence and bloodline to his ideas about maximising profit without missing a beat when a waiter walks by). alan grumbles the whole time but it doesn’t stop him ordering the most expensive thing on the menu even if he isn’t 100% sure what it actually is, because hey, HE isn’t paying. he also enjoys getting dirty looks from everyone around him for doing something egregious (he picked up the wrong spoon or something) and jack finds watching it very entertaining (attractive)

in modern and canon they also go to the theatre pretty regularly, courtesy of jacks bank account and my theatre kid need to project. les mis is the staple in modern but they both prefer plays over musicals and just go and see whatever violet points them to. alan likes shakespeare (particularly the tragedies) and jack will watch pretty much anything (he likes to watch alans reactions when they see something he‘s already been to because he’s whipped)

oh robin and edwin little picnic dates is so real and true aswell, they’re basically that one maurice scene. edwin prefers the privacy of going out to sutton where it can just be the two of them though sometimes they’ll go out to london parks to. in modern they regularly go on little coffee shop dates even when they’re married (and still call them dates) because robin loves it very vocally and edwin loves it very quietly. they don’t really do restaurants because they’re overstimulating as Shit, and prefer quietly spending time together in more private settings.

modern museum dates to but its basically just parallel play <3 robin vanishes to the art sections and edwin is off in the history and science and they reconvene at the cafe to take turns yapping about what they saw. edwin retains some of what robin tells him, nothing so positive can be said for the reverse but edwin just likes having someone to talk at

violet and maud drag each other around london 24/7, going to whatever new oddity or show they can find. they do ANYTHING new, they just love exploring and spending that time together. they also do picnic dates that are a touch more extravagant than robin and edwin, and last a lot longer. in modern aquarium dates are very important and maud has a tendency to wander off if you don’t keep an eye on her

the triple date thing is Thee silliest shit in my head. it’s violets idea and she - alongside maud - are so enthusiastic that it’s impossible to say no. it’s usually in bars/sometimes restaurants and, as edwin points out, there’s very little difference between it and them just going out normally (“it is the THOUGHT behind it Edwin. The INTENT”). it’s just incredibly funny for them to see how the waitstaff interpret this very chaotic group who claim to all be on dates (people regularly assume violet and alan are dating, that’s the most common one. someone said something about robin and jack once and they haven’t lived it down).

[wooahaes]

a little treat

pairing: art teacher!hyunjin x gn!drama teacher!reader

genre: fluff. teacher au. established relationship.

word count: 0.7k~

warnings: continuation of previous fic [(a lack of) decorum]. food mentions.

daisy's notes: i missed these two tbh

Ever since the two of you started dating, Hyunjin found himself naturally gravitating toward your classroom. At first you had tried to deny your relationship to… well, everyone. Mainly your too-nosy students, because you preferred to have some semblance of a private life outside of them. It was good to set boundaries, to be fair, but Hyunjin constantly drifting toward you made it hard to deny your relationship—especially when he wasn’t subtle at all with that lovestruck look on his face. Both of you had denied it to the other faculty for about a week before Seungmin told you both to give it up: all of them knew, so stop sitting as far from each other as possible. Seeing Hyunjin pout was getting to be too much.

That had been almost a year ago now. Winter break was fast approaching, which meant plenty of exams as well. Which meant you wanted to do something nice for them and throw a little party for your classes on the last day of class before break. You were far from the first teacher to give out candy canes (or candy in general—you had lollipops as backup) to their students, sure, but you had wanted to do something cute and tie little red ribbons around each one. Sure, they’d just get thrown to the side later,  but it was the thought that counted, right? 

Hyunjin had rolled his eyes at the thought. “They’re going to throw them away.”

Sure, the lack of encouragement could sting sometimes, but you honestly enjoyed when Hyunjin was blunt like this. It didn’t change your mind, but at least he felt comfortable enough to speak his. “Okay,” you’d continued your work at the dinner table without much of a second thought, “I just want them to look nice for my classes.” 

Hyunjin clicked his tongue and pushed the manilla folder he’d set across from you aside. Without a word, he sat down in that chair, picking up another candy cane and another strip of ribbon.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping?” He looked up. “I never said I wasn’t going to help.” 

“You just said it was dumb—”

“I said they were going to throw them away,” Hyunjin spoke over you quickly. “I never said it was dumb. I like it.” 

You smiled to yourself, and set aside the candy cane you’d finished in favor of cutting more strips of ribbon for the two of you. “You’re cute sometimes, y’know?”

Immediately, his eyes met yours, “Sometimes?”

Snip! “I said what I said.” 

Hyunjin frowned at you. “When am I not cute?”

‘Theatre season.” Snip! “Remember last year’s musical? You got very snippy—” Snip! “—When I asked you a simple question.”

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, setting another candy cane into your basket before picking up another. “And? You were the one who didn’t check their email.” 

He had a point, unfortunately. But at the same time… “You know what the musical does to me.” 

“I know,” the hint of a smile crossed his lips, “it’s your passion. I still emailed you the answer that morning.” He looked up. “You didn’t tell me your classes were having a party.” 

“Because you’d crash it.” 

Another roll of the eyes, this time smiling. “The kids already know we’re dating.”

“No thanks to you.” 

“Can you blame me?” With another candy cane done, Hyunjin reached across the table to rest his hand on yours. “I’m with you.”

Oh, how he could easily make you want to hide your face out of embarrassment. Hyunjin could be snarky as much as he could be romantic, and you had fallen hard for him in his entirety. “Are we still going to see your family over break?”

“Are we?”

You rolled your eyes this time. “That was the plan.”

“No, I mean… Do you still want to go?” He grew quieter for a moment. “I mean… You’ve met them before, but this feels like a big step…”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” you smiled, taking his hand. “Alright?”

Hyunjin ran his thumb over your knuckles, smiling again now. “Alright,” he reaffirmed softly. “I love you.”

You gasped, “You love me?!”

And immediately he rolled his eyes, still smiling. “Maybe I do.” 

“Well… Good,” you picked up another piece of ribbon, loosely tying it around his pinkie. “Because I love you, too, you goof.” 

taglist: @twancingyunhao @weird-bookworm @bangchansbae @jinnie-ret @cheesemonky

[tsunflowers]

Extremely wild day in the Detective Conan fandom that I need to tell as many people as I can about. The latest film (which is currently only in Japanese theatres) has apparently revealed that Spoilers:

Shinichi Kudo (the real identity of Conan Edogawa from before he got shrunk into a 7 year-old body) & Kaito Kuroba (the real identity of Kaito Kid) are actually cousins (their dads each took a different family name when their parents divorced).

KaiShin/ShinKai has long been a very popular ship in Japan (despite the fact that the actual plot is very blunt about the girls each of them is going to eventually end up with). And when I say “very popular”, I mean in general, not just within the Detective Conan fandom. Shippers in the English-fandom are doom spiraling, while most other regions seems fine with it.

https://twitter.com/Kastoriaaa/status/1778761128224735264

(Because of seeing this tweet I specifically looked up “新快” and “快新” on twitter, and google translate is giving me the impression that the main reaction from Japanese shippers has been “cousins can get married, so it’s fine”. Side note: learning that first cousins can get married in Japan gives me some context for that gross thing in Ninninger where Yakumo apparently had a childhood crush on Kasumi and no one reacted grossed out to this information & just teased him about it.)

Anyways, regardless of if you think it is okay to ship cousins (I personally am not okay with it), the English fans saying that this revelation means the author suddenly decided to add this to spite fans and/or the author has been queerbaiting (since KaiShin/ShinKai merch makes a ton of money) are just wrong because:

Kaito Kid was the protagonist of “Magic Kaito”, the author’s manga before Detective Conan, and later got brought into Conan as a reoccurring character. From the start, and they have always had very similar faces and voices (they have the same VA)

Even if you try to dismiss this as the wanting to give the VA more work & author’s artstyle having same-face syndrome (which to a certain extent he does), it has been explicitly acknowledge in-universe they are almost identical beyond their hairstyles.

(Please forgive the official English translation of the manga still calling Shinichi “Jimmy”)So this is a reveal that has most likely been in the works for a while now.

This is is Shuichi Akai & Akemi Miyano. They canonically dated before Akemi was killed near the beginning of the series, and both are very important reoccurring characters to the plot (though in Akemi’s case it is primarily through flashbacks from various other characters).

Like 5-10 years ago, the author revealed that their mothers are/were actually sister, and later explicitly confirmed at a fan panel that that means they are/were first cousins.

(Note: afaik no single person in-universe knows both that they were related and were dating. Akai would actually probably be pretty bothered if he learned they were cousins, because he was born in England and went to study in America (and later join the FBI) while the rest of his family moved to Japan after his dad died, so unlike most of the main cast he would not have grown-up in a cultural where that is at all seen as okay.)

So setting aside the fact that Akai/Akemi demonstrates the author is more okay with kissing cousins than he should be, Shinichi and Kaito being revealed as cousins is not an act of homophobia to spite the fujoshis.

-

I’m glad that you told me all this bc I’ve seen people freaking out but you’ve provided some context that I didn’t have before. now I think this is a fun reveal. they look the same bc this is what mr aoyama thinks is a good design for a protagonist and he’s decided to say in-universe they look the same bc they’re cousins. I don’t know or care about the ship so I think it’s cute for them to be related

also I feel like he can’t not know how big the ship is but I agree he probably did not make this decision just to spite shippers

[destinyc1020]

I always appreciate the discussions here on your blog. Another thing I think is important to remember is that success is a marathon not a sprint. While 2025 looks like it’s going to be busy for both Tom and Zendaya, I think that they’re going to generally take turns on projects (especially once they have kids) - when one of them is working and the other is taking a break that won’t mean that the one taking a break has a “dead career.”

Tom mentioned he wants to alternate between film and stage roles as well so people need to prepare themselves for that. He’s going to take roles on stage that not all the fans are going to be able to see him do but that’s okay! He loves the stage and I’m sure there will be points where it’ll work better for his life (doing theatre means you’ll always be able to take your kids your school for example).

Bottom line is that everyone needs to relax and enjoy the ride! Tom and Zendaya are both going to have long careers in the industry and I can’t wait to watch

👏🏾👏🏾

Excellent points Anon! I totally agree. 💯 An actor's life in this industry is a marathon, not a sprint.

It's like anyone's career in real life. Sometimes you might have ups and downs in your own career. You may get promotions, demotions, get laid off, get fired, change career paths entirely, etc. But the point is, life keeps going on, you keep forging on, and the world keeps on spinning. 😊

[thatmooncake]

What is your opinion on the books hinting that Moon shouldn't have existed but the Faz-pads most expensive menu items is moon themed? And the posters, plushies, and the infamous sphere? I loved your other 'rant' (for lack of a better term in my sleep deprived mind) and it got me thinking...

I’m guessing you mean the Moon that appears in The Bobbiedots who was originally built to be the “dark side” of Sun and once worked as a theatre animatronic?

Okay spoilers for The Bobbiedots, Somniphobia and Security Breach and some rambling thoughts ahead:

In short, I think the books’ canon (even from one book to another like say Bobbiedots and Somniphobia) and the games’ canon are more like AUs of each other than anything else, so basically different explanations will be given in different stories to fit that book or game in particular. So, Bobbiedots Moon wasn’t meant to exist in the daycare, but it looks like Security Breach Moon was. That said, I LOVE exploring the different versions of Moon and how he’s used in different stories, so if anyone wants to take the long scenic route with me, here we go!

Bobbiedots Moon

Theatre kid extraordinaire. A little too committed to the bit. Bobbiedots Moon doesn’t fit in his world - not in the daycare anyway. In The Bobbiedots, they’re busy dealing with an evil apartment. They don’t have time for poor Moon, no matter how badly he wants them to sleep.

Bobbiedots Moon feels like a bit of a throwback to the animatronics in Sister Location who had all these “interesting” design choices, like a stomach hatch for storing children (which totally wasn’t going to be used for evil, come on guys …).

In Moon’s case, he’s so good at being a pantomime villain (which is what he was made for from what we can tell - who bets he got booed because the kids wanted the sun to come back up and when the lights went out they’d fake snore and he’d go hunting down the naughty ones who couldn’t help but laugh?) that he’s no good in the daycare (personally I think the staff just weren’t imaginative enough in that universe to do naptime, or to appreciate the charm of a weird clown telling off wobbling toys for not sleeping when his recognition sensors inevitably failed him because they couldn’t be bothered to fix their broken animatronics). And he’s easy to exploit because he’s so committed to his role.

I don’t think Moon was evil by default when he worked at the theatre - at least not beyond his villainous role. He had an audience of probably more people than he could grab, and I’m guessing Freddy’s wanted repeat performances so their customers would keep coming back. Did he kidnap a child or two when the lights went out and everyone was confused? Maybe, if he was virus-riddled enough. Did he become a lot more unstable when he and Sun were moved to the daycare? Probably, but it’s not his fault he was an afterthought in a cheapo organisation that seems to think using precariously-placed backup generators is a better solution to their problems.

Security Breach Moon

Meanwhile, the Security Breach version of Moon has a TON of merch, a dish at the restaurant (Masa-Moondrop curry, yum! 💖 By the way, I totally recommend checking out this recipe ), and even his own little candy adverts. He’s on a statue, balloons, plushies, and even on the daycare pass right next to Sun. It would take a LOT of accidental advertising to put Moon all over the place if he wasn’t supposed to exist in Security Breach.

I think that, unlike the Bobbiedots Moon, Security Breach Moon was supposed to exist. Like you said, he’s got merch everywhere. It’s a big deal. And Moon’s merch matches all of Sun’s merch, so to me it makes sense that in the backstory of the game’s universe they both had a friendly role to play (I can’t imagine why they’d make a Moon plush with no one to hug him. The thought makes me sad. It also seems like a bad business move on their part so I’m opting to believe he was originally meant to be a friend to the kids).

But it looks like things took a turn at some point (as they so often do in the FNAF universe), as Security Breach also has the cheapo lighting in place, and Sun is pretty adamant that we don’t wake up Moon. And in this case it’s pretty clear that Moon has been infected by the Afton virus. He sounds like a bot with just one thing on his mind: putting you to bed at all costs.

Moon is a major player as far as the evil Afton operation goes in the game too. They picked a perfect bot to do their dirty work. He’s super strong - he knocked out Freddy and dragged him away with no problems. He’s also super agile - he can navigate all the tight twists and turns in the Daycare with relative ease (I pointedly ignore the version in my game while I make this statement as he seemed to spend most of his time getting stuck in the tunnels and slides kekeke). And he always seems to know where you are - the Glamrocks wander until they have you in their sights, but Moon makes a beeline for you the moment he can get his hands on you even if you’re inside Freddy’s stomach compartment. He works in the dark when no one can see him coming. He’s basically the perfect replacement for the night staff and makes it a million times easier to capture wayward kids.

There are also a lot of hints in the game that suggest that Security Breach Moon might have actually been reprogrammed to respond this way, and/or that he was used to reprogram the others.

The back areas with the endos are FULL of Moon merch, advertising, and so on. There are also a lot of posters teaching the animatronic endos how to behave, as well as a little room that looks a LOT like a little replica of the daycare play area. I’m pretty sure that this is where the animatronics (or at least the virus-riddled endos) were reprogrammed to capture children - maybe including Moon.

(There are a million things I could say about this poster and how it bears a strong resemblance to a bunch of things from earlier games but that’s for another time and another ramble …)

Somniphobia Moon

Meanwhile, over in Somniphobia, we have Moondrop’s dream sphere, where Moon ponders his orb, or perhaps his new friends who are now trapped inside it forever since it seems like he’s been stealing more than a few souls over there.

The dream sphere is not mentioned in The Bobbiedots or seen in Security Breach as far as I can tell. Whether it exists or not in those universes is open to interpretation, but it serves a clever purpose in Somniphobia. In this book, our favourite uncanny night jester spends his time luring unsuspecting victims into the dreamscape slowly without them realising. The protagonist actually has a few opportunities to escape the pull of the orb, but he just can’t put the dream sphere down because it takes him back to his favourite memories with his (now dead) father, and it makes their time together feel so real.

The dream sphere is advertised as a study guide, and it’s popular with older kids and teens. (Moon has the range). Our regular chase-you-down-and-force-you-to-sleep Moon is nowhere to be found in Somniphobia (whether he exists at the plex in the daycare or anywhere else in that universe is anybody’s guess) and instead we have sweet little Moondrop from the dream sphere who doesn’t speak but will let you see your wildest dreams. At the cost of your mind, which is now going to live in a sphere I guess or be harvested.

Can you befriend the little Moondrop from the dream sphere? Does he know he’s part of a creepy soul-stealing operation? The book doesn’t really say, but if he’s anything like most of the other animatronic/AI characters in the FNAF universe, I’d be willing to wager he’s just doing his job (showing people what they want to see) and being used as a prop for more nefarious soul-snatching schemes. (Curse you Fazbear Entertainment for giving us this funny little guy in a magic snowglobe and making him steal our souls along with our hearts!)

Conclusion

Essentially, I think Moon is being used in basically all the universes he appears in because he’s so perfectly built for capturing and retrieving wayward souls, but the way he’s being used differs a little between universes. In some universes it’s just not as convenient to have him showing up in front of a large audience thanks to his programming, but when the lights inevitably go out he has a tendency to show up nonetheless!

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Part three/four of my Steve Does Rocky Horror au! Because I live here now, apparently.

Parts One Two and Three (slash two-and-a-half) here.

So Eddie spots Steve half in half out of his Frank-n-furter costume behind the theatre and basically SCREECHES his name in shock, and then when Steve jumps half a foot in the air and looks around frantically for whoever the hell just recognised him, because oh-shit-oh-fuck-what-if-it’s-a-homophobe-from-Hawkins and spots Eddie, there’s a brief moment of mutual deer-in-headlights staring at each other, before Eddie snaps of of it and BOLTS away, dragging Jeff behind him.

(The boy is a runner, okay, this has been established)

Jeff REFUSES to believe that Eddie saw THEE Steve Harrington behind the theatre. No, nope, you Have It Wrong, My Friend, That Man Just LOOKED Like Harrington, Let Me Live In Denial, Please And Thank You. Eddie, meanwhile is having a crisis about the fact that he spent a solid two hours lusting avidly over Steve Harrington’s thighs in fishnet stockings, which is an objectively INSANE sentence to think, what the FUCK is even happening?! Steve Harrington is NOT sexy! He DOES NOT sing and dance in high heels! THE WORLD AS EDDIE KNOWS IT IS CRUMBLING AROUND HIM!

The next day, Eddie has joined Jeff in denial. He is Not Thinking about Steve at all, no sir, Steve who? He just wants to enjoy getting to really know the new show he just watched, maybe learn the songs on his guitar, practice at shouting the right things at the right moment so that next time he goes to the stage show, he can properly Get Into It. He needs the film version! Get to know Tim Curry as Dr Frank, and not That Other Guy Who Shall Not Be Named And Also Isn’t Nearly As Sexy.

Let’s Go To Family Video, he says. It’ll Be Fun, he says.

(Guys, Gals, and Pals, you know where this is going.)

“No, Robin, I SWEAR, it was definitely Munson. You think I could mistake that guy for anyone else?” Steve is saying, still kind of worried about the whole thing.

Ding! Goes the bell over the shop door.

“GOOOOOOOD AFTERNOON, FAMILY VIDEOOOOOOOOO-Oh shit” says Eddie.

Because Oh Yeah, This Is Where Harrington Works. Why did Eddie choose NOW to remember that? Literally ANY OTHER TIME would have been a better time for him to remember that.

“…Munson.”

“…Harrington.”

“…Buckley.” Says Robin, who was feeling left out.

This time, the stare off ends not when Eddie panics and runs, but, when Steve, who is both awkward in uncomfortable situations and desperate for Validation, asks Eddie “the show wasn’t THAT bad, was it?” All self-deprecating and shit, to which Eddie responds with

“Are you kidding me, that shit was the COOLEST THING and you know it” which means that Steve, now adequately complimented, switches to Flirting Mode™️.

(He does not realise, Ladies and Gentlefolk, that he has switched to Flirting Mode. But don’t worry, Robin will (gleefully) inform him later.)

“Oh really? What was you favourite part?” He says, leaning forward with a seductive smile.

Which is about when Eddie remembers the fishnets and the corset, and loses the ability to function again.

Robin, stood off to the side, is watching both of them judgementally while also memorising this entire conversation to relay to their Gay Adoptive Parents on their next Indy weekend.

They’re gonna find it HILARIOUS.

[meenawrites]

Spider Modern AU cause I can't help myself

I've seen so many people doing this and I love so much so I shall be participating as well. I'll also be doing other characters but this post is dedicated to Spider rn. I should really be working on my finals rn but here I am.

Spider is 100% a theater kid. Like no question about it. This kid can sing, he can dance, he can do gymnastics. He's the theatre troupe's pride and joy honestly, he's always pulling big stunts that wow the audience. This also ties into his love of storytelling in general so of course he's a theatre kid. Which ALSO means a lot of his playlist is musical songs cause.. ya know, obviously. I'd imagine Kiri actually secretly gave him access to her Spotify so he'd got access to premium (secret meaning everybody but Neytiri knows tbh). 

I think Spider actually does pretty well academically. He's a fast learner and his brain absorbs things like a sponge so once he understands a concept, it's all A's for him. It kind of pisses Kiri off how smart he is without trying sometimes, but she's also super proud of him for proving his haters (and her mom) wrong. 

This kid is the Anti-Bully of the school. He sees anyone bullying anyone and he's already aiming a punch at their face. Because of that, he's kind of seen as the protector of underclassmen and targets in general so he's pretty well liked generally, except for by the traditionally popular kids. Also not super popular with parents cause all that really sticks in their heads is violent Tarzan kid. He kind of stops with the physical violence once Kiri expresses her worry for him and how she doesn't want him to just blindly resort to violence all the time. But then he starts making comments to bullies that piss them off equally so there's no real winning for him here lol.

I think Spider likes working with his hands a lot so on top of acting in theatre, he also comes up with and constructs a lot of things for set and they always look incredible. 

Also, inspired by @be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie 's latest post, he joins the cheer team in solidarity with Lo'ak because he wants to get close to Tsireya. Refer to her post for more detail on that, I reblogged it if that helps. 

Despite being a year older than both Neteyam and Kiri, Spider and Neteyam actually share a lot of classes because Neteyam is a star student and skipped a grade. Kiri could probably also skip a grade if she wanted to, but her head's a little too in the clouds during classtime for any of her teachers to recommend it, even if she does get good grades. 

Spider still has his hair long, though I'm not sure if he would let it just endlessly keep growing or he would trim it here and there to his shoulders just to manage the curls a bit. I imagine his hair grows pretty fast so maybe once a year he chops it back to his shoulders and in like three months it's already almost to his elbows. He's gotten pretty good at braiding though, so when he can't be bothered to put effort into maintaining his curls, he just brushes his hair violently and braids it all in like dutch braids or other complicated hairstyles. The girls' soccer team probably starts recruiting him to braid their hair before games (based on my own experience lmao).

On a more serious note with his home situation... I think as a kid he was probably passed through multiple foster homes and all of them kind of said that he's too much for them. Then he ends up with the McCoskers and while they're not ideal they never say anything like that or try to get rid of him (yes they neglect him but seeing how he was treated before and they're not kicking him out, he's okay with them just giving him a place to stay). At least I'd imagine until maybe something big happens like he overworks himself or something and who notices other than the new family in town? The Tonowari family. And then they swoop in and are like 'mine now' and Spider's just like what? Unconditional love? A home where they notice I'm gone? Where I don't have to find my own food? What is this?

BUT IF TRUDY LIVED: so I imagine as a kid he'd still maybe be passed through the foster system a little, but Trudy is invested in his well-being, she's just still convinced there's some couple out there who'd be better for Spider overall until she sees all of them rejecting this perfect kid and she's like screw it and screw my own problems, I'll work through them for this kid but I'm taking him. And he's a happy boy thank you very much, loves his mama to death. 

I'll probably have stuff to add eventually but take this for now. 

[andyxd151]

Fun facts about my YV OC’s

Dante is the oldest (not confirming their ages though)

Marina’s nickname is Rina

Oliver can dislocate his rists at will and it freaks everyone out every single time he does that

Ryu has a sunflower tattoo on their back bc of their petname

Amari is ambidextrous

Kaliska’s name means ‘coyote chasing deer’

Cyrus actually hates meatloaf, but their aunt gave it to to them to have something to eat and they were to nice to say no, so that’s why it was just sitting there when Lucien came in

Amari’s dad and Rina’s and Oliver’s moms are siblings making these three cousins

The day she gave Charlie the mixtape, Amari was sent home early so she wouldn’t have to find out Charlie’s answer to the note he (never) got with the tape because she was almost certain that she’d be rejected

Ryu practiced the whole scene where they confessed to Finn with the tickets all night the night before in front of the mirror because she was sweating and shaking at the thought of it

Rina likes to crochet in her free time

Cyrus was a theatre kid in both middle school and high school

Kaliska has a pet hog nose snake named Pringle

Dante had a weird anime kid phase in the 5th grade, he cringes every time he remembers it

Dante actually met Ryu in college and even dated for a bit

The three cousins lived in their own apartment that the three of them rented thanks to the help of Amari’s connections during college

Oliver chose to move out straight after college in order to open up his small bakery

As soon as she moved out, Rina wanted to move back in saying she felt to lonely

Amari was the last one to leave the apartment

Amari is the oldest, Rina is the middle, and Oliver is the youngest but they were all born in the same year

Dante was born and raised in Japan by his mom and her family, he moved to the US for college

Amari and Ryu were fun buddies that also didn’t get along for a bit but now kinda get along and bond over the fact that they both like oblivious blondes with freckles

Amari has a pool in her backyard and Charlie has yet to look back there, she doesn’t mention it because they want to see how surprised and bewildered he’ll be when they get to tell him how it’s been there the whole time and the only reason he never know was because he never asked

Cyrus has a pet European rat named Remy (I snuck in my baby)

Marina has a succubus womb tattoo

Amari’s skateboard nickname for Charlie is “Ollie” like the backward Ollie

Oliver has a fear of the dark and even has a night light for the nights Al doesn’t sleep over

Cyrus hates being too hot or too cold but loves the heat from their living space heater

Ryu works as a tattoo artist in shop just down the street from Finn’s flower shop

Kaliska is the best at playing rock paper scissors

Rina sometimes needs to FORCE the food down Auron’s throat not because he doesn’t like the food, but because he claims to be to busy to eat, and by force I mean having this man in some sort of a head lock while trying to get the fork in his mouth, the whole experience is like trying to give your pet their pills

Dante HATES apricots he likes peaches and every other variation of peaches EXCEPT APRICOTS, he’s not allergic he just has a really weird hatred for specificity apricots

Before meeting Faust, Dante would go to Comicon and Anime Expo with Cyrus every year, now he goes with them both

Cyrus likes to watch the Hangover movies when they’re stressed

Before they met Finn, Ryu was actually kind of a grumpy person, but now they have their sunshine:)

Oliver was a tube baby and a C section baby, he sometimes questions if he’s even really human

Rina was allergic to cats when she was little

Cyrus is double jointed in their thumbs and can dislocate them at will, it weirds the hell out of Lucien every single time

Dante has a scar on his back from being whacked with a branch by another student from when he was a kid

Ryu actually loves animals

Cyrus can’t cook for shit but can make a MEAN cherry pie

Kaliska and Jack have matching bracelets

Finn always packs Ryu lunch

Same goes for Lucien and Cyrus

Kaliska is lactose intolerant but continues to eat anything and everything with dairy whenever she gets the chance

Dante is an Xbox guy

Cyrus likes to watch Lucien sleep in order to make themself sleepy

Ryu has a snaggle tooth

That’s all for now! I have more but I don’t want to put too much in one post :)

[hermionegalathynius]

The 2nd time Steve surprised you.

Fandom: Stranger Things

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Warnings: talk of family issues on Steve’s part.

“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” You asked Robin as you kept her company while she scooped ice cream. 

  After the chaos six months ago through which Dustin’s friend Eleven closed the gaping hole in the material of the universe, you and Steve Harrington actually managed to become friends. Through babysitting Dustin and his gang of troublemakers, you began to see a lot more of the guy. At school, it seemed he had lost his ‘King Steve’ title, as well as most of his friends after his break-up with Nancy. While you had a few friends at school due to band, you mostly kept to yourself during the day, but this changed as Steve (not wanting to remain seated next to Nancy in certain classes) moved next to you. According to the boy in question, he had just asked those teachers to move him and they had coincidentally placed him next to you in every. Single. Class. 

  Not that you were complaining. When he was away from his asshole friends, Steve Harrington was a decent guy and actually pretty funny. It came as a surprise to the both of you, but conversation became really easy, and time flew by when you were together. Eventually you developed a routine where the two of you would go get Benny’s Burgers whenever you’d had to drop the kiddies off somewhere. The tradition started during the Winter Ball when Dustin had insisted Steve tag along to drop him off for emotional support. The older boy had actually come early to help your brother with his hair and show him how to style it. The image of the two of them fussing over Dustin’s untameable curls definitely shouldn’t have made your heart melt the way it did. 

  After Dustin had clambered out Steve’s BMW, you and him had decided to stop by Benny’s to get dinner while you waited for the agreed-upon time at which you needed to pick Dustin up. It was the first time you were actually spending time alone with Steve since the demodogs, and it was… nice. 

  Then, summer had arrived. You and Steve were officially graduated. While you planned to use the summer holidays as a time to rest before you moved up to Indianapolis to work in a theatre orchestra for a year, Steve’s dad made him get a job. The boy had spent a good hour sitting in the car outside Benny’s, ranting to you about how much the man infuriated him. You sympathised, expressing your own disapproval of his father’s actions and attitude towards Steve. As far as you were concerned, the man clearly didn’t know his son very well, because if he could just see the wonderful man he was growing up to be, maybe he wouldn’t be so harsh on him. 

  One of the biggest shocks that came over the summer, was Steve working alongside Robin at Scoops Ahoy. When the boy had called you halfway through his first week on the job and begged you to come save him from his mean coworker, you had been delightfully surprised to find out that his ‘mean coworker’ was in fact your friend Robin Buckley from high school band. 

  To Steve’s dismay, he ended up having to share you with Robin, who he was liking less and less now that she had you on her side. 

  That’s why, when Dustin came home from camp, he jumped at the opportunity to help the kid translate a Russian code in the back room. 

  “From what I can hear,” said Robin, replying to your question, “they are trying to decipher a secret Russian communication your strange brother intercepted on his mega-radio.”

  You had literally left the store for twenty minutes to drive Max and Eleven to Starcourt mall after the two girls had called begging you to take them. Twenty minutes, and the two boys were already looking for trouble. 

   “Russian communication?!” 

  Your friend shrugged, holding up her hand and placing her forefinger and thumb half an inch apart, “Honestly, I’m this close to marching in there and insisting I help them just so Steve will come out and switch with me.”

  Your huffed a laugh, “If you do, I’ll come with you. I don’t need to witness another one of Steve’s failed attempts at flirting with the customers.”

  Robin groaned suddenly as Lucas’s sister and her group of My Little Pony fanatics entered the store. 

  “Not again,” she muttered. 

  You winced and gave her a pat on the shoulder, “Want me to hurl Steve up here so he can deal with it?”

  She shook her head, “Nah, I’ll push through. This is my last customer for the morning though. After, you and I are gonna go help your strange brother translate his Russian code and dumbass can sling ice cream.”

  With a grin, you hopped up onto the small surface behind the counter and leant back on your hands as Robin dealt with Erica’s relentless ‘tasting’. 

  After fifteen, excruciating minutes, the gaggle of girls finally left and you and Robin were free to go into the break room. 

  “Alright, babysitting time is over, you need to get in there,” Robin stated, pushing through the door, you trailing behind her with a smirk aimed at Steve that said ‘you’re in for it now, sucker’. 

  “Hey, my board! That was important data shitbirds!” the blonde yelled, whirling on the two boys. 

  You eyes snapped to the whiteboard hanging on the wall, and sure enough, instead of the usual shipment dates and stock numbers, the Russian alphabet was written out in bright red marker with its English counterparts labelled in black. Your smirk widened and you raised your brows at Steve who was halfway through popping a piece of banana in his mouth. His eyes widened innocently and you rolled yours. 

  “I can guarantee you, what we’re doing is way more important than your data,” Dustin replied. Honestly, you weren’t sure if you should be impressed or afraid for your little brother at his adamant cheek towards your significantly scary friend. 

  “Oh yeah?” Robin challenged, walking to stand opposite the table to Dustin and Steve. Ever the loyal friend, you moved to stand beside her, crossing your arms. 

  “Yeah,” Dustin said, keeping his ground. 

  You sighed, “And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway?”

  The boys froze — Steve still had a mouth full of banana when Dustin demanded in a lowered tone, “How do they know about the Russians?”

  “I don’ know!” the older boy protested around the banana.

  “Did you tell them about the Russians?”

  “It wasn’t me!”

  “Hello, we can hear you!” Robin exclaimed, clearly becoming pissed off. In all honesty, you were too. Sure, you’re brother was a little science genius, but you had taught him almost everything he knew — except for all of the stuff Mr Clark had taught him. He got his passion for science from the same gene pool you did. It was about time Dustin started acknowledging your superior level of intellect as the older sibling. 

  “Actually, we can hear everything you’re saying,” you added in, “You’re both extremely loud.”

  “You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country on tape and you’re trying to translate but you haven’t figured out a single word because you didn’t realise the Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do,” Robin continued. 

  You both watched as they looked at each other in defeat, clearly beat. Steve was refusing to meet your eyes. 

  “Sound about right?” she finished. 

  Thinking on your feet, you lurched forward, making a grab for the tape lying on the table. Steve — realising your aim — was too fast for you and grabbed the tape out from under your fingertips. 

  “Woah, woah! What are you doing?” he yelled, hugging the tape to his chest. You glared at him, blowing a flyaway strand of hair from your eyes. 

  “We want to hear it.”

  “Why?” The boys asked in unison. 

  “Because maybe we can help,” Robin said, shrugging. 

  “She’s fluent in four languages,” you pointed out, pinning your brother and your best friend with a stare. 

  Dustin perked up, “Russian?” he asked.

  “Ouyay aryay umbraday,” Robin recited. You stifled a laugh, knowing she just called Dustin dumb in pig latin. 

  “Oh ho ho ho!” Steve exclaimed. 

  “Holy shit!” said Dustin. 

  “That was pig latin, dingus,” Robin told them. 

  Steve smacked Dustin’s arm, “Idiot.”

  You rolled you eyes again. 

  “But,” Robin continued, sliding into a seat, “I can speak Spanish, and French and Italian.”

  “And we’ve both been in band for twelve years,” you added.

  “Yeah, our ears are little geniuses, trust me,” Robin finished, “What do you say?”

  She directed the last question at Steve. He laughed dryly, beginning to shake his head. 

  “Come on! It’s your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate! I don’t even want credit I’m just bored!” she complained, torso resting on the table too dramatically. 

  You looked at Steve and found him watching you, an expression of defeat on his face. You grinned, knowing he was about to give in. 

  “Fine,” he said, “But only if Y/n comes with to keep me company.”

  “What? No! I want to help too!” you exclaimed. 

  “Deal,” Robin said, and Steve handed her the tape. 

  You whirled a betrayed expression on Robin, “Traitor!”

  She smiled apologetically, “Sorry, kid. It’s like I told them. I’m bored.”

  You sighed, and accepted Steve’s hand to drag you back out into the store. 

  “I don’t know why you’re complaining,” he whined, “You’re my best friend.”

  Deciding to just grin and bare it, you bumped your hip against his as he grabbed a scooper, “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

  He pouted, “I’ve barely seen you this summer even though you’ve been right in the store with me.”

  Your heart warmed at his words as you jumped back onto the counter again, “You been missing me, Harrington?”

  His cheeks flushed as he leant against the counter next to you, “I…” he sighed, taking off his sailor hat and running a hand through his hair, “Every night I go home to my jackass father telling me how disappointed he is in me and explaining why I’m a terrible son. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember, and until a few months ago I had nothing to help me cope. Then I met you, and we became friends, and suddenly I could look forward to seeing you everyday.”

  You weren’t sure you were breathing. 

  “I know I don’t say it enough, but I need you. And I miss you even if you’ve only been gone five minutes.”

  “Steve,” you breathed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.”

  He shrugged, finally meeting your gaze with a shaky smile, “It’s not your fault.”

  “You have to know I need you too, right?” You said, leaning against him and resting your head on his shoulder, “I’m generally someone who likes her own company, but with you I never feel like I have to back away for a moment and take a breather. Back in high school I was always a little tense in the mornings because I knew I would have to interact with people I’m not comfortable around, but then I’d get to my locker and see you standing there and suddenly I could relax.”

  Something in your chest was aching as you spoke, and the truth behind your words brought a surge of affection for the boy next to you that definitely exceeded the boundaries of friendship. 

  The two of you sat like that in comfortable silence for a moment. At some point during your confession, Steve had tilted his own head to rest on yours as his hands fiddled mindlessly with his scooper. 

  Then two familiar girls walked into the store, giggling like the children they were and you frowned.

  “Is El even allowed here? I didn’t check before I drove the two of them…” you mused.

  “Either way,” Steve said, pushing off the counter, “That’s my cue to do my job.”

[commiegoth]

Fun writeup on the goth subculture of the 1990s from FringeWare Review #6(66), published in 1995

Full text under cut

Subcultbabble 101: Magdalen on Things Gothic

So who ’zactly are these legendary Goth creatures? As with any subculture, it’s hard to pin ’em down. Let’s start with an image nearly all our dear readers will have seen at some point: kids with flowing black clothes, white faces, and lots of black eyeliner. You have perhaps wondered WTF is up with them, and with people who try to look like vampyres, and pouty twentysomethings in black T-shirts who seem too pointedly haughty to be generic Gen-Xers, and gorgeous fetish babes who sorta look like they’re dressed for the grave rather than for the dungeon.

Writers like yers truly just fuck it all up when they try to explicate subcultures, but somebody’s gotta do it. My own experiences have brought me in contact with the so-called goth scene intermittently over the last decade, though I should warn you that mine is a fundamentally West Coast point of view. YMMV. Like many others who end up returning to goth clubs and music every few years, I seem to have a fixation with Death which finds itself soothed and fulfilled by Things Gothic. Despite my propensity for slovenly attire and no-bullshit communication, I’m also addicted to the sense of ritual and aesthetic which differentiate the goths from most other American cultures.

I Wear Black On The Outside… ’cos black is how i feel on the inside

The two most prominent subcultures I’ve run into are punk and the hippie trip. In them, participants usually adhere to a loose cluster of aesthetic parameters, but everyone involved pretends that exteriors mean little to them. (Let’s bypass the hypocrisy involved, when they like the rest of society typically wear certain signifiers to identify themselves with the group.) Hardcore punks and hippies don’ t necessarily bathe very often, or wear makeup. Punk and its bastardized commercial offspring, the media-titled Grunge movement, aspire to externalize their rejection of conventional society by substituting fucked up, comfortable clothing for the clean, rigid, and perky duds yer stuck-in-the-fifties parents always wanted you to wear. The aesthetic relies upon potentially-violent sloppiness (or a carefully-reconstructed pretense thereof) and the attitude that you honestly don’t give a fuck what people think of you. Mortified though many latter-day punks might be to think of it, a similar motivation lay behind the original hippie anti-aesthetic, where organic materials and shapes sought to externalize the flowing qualities of nature where Cold War man had instituted three-piece suits and all they represented. Pardon the irony, but both mohawks and stringy long hair try to signify the rejection of a shallow society intent on keeping up with the Joneses and little else.

The goths fled in the opposite direction: past conventional fashion, whose crime isn’t its rigidity but its sheer dullness and tendency to follow embarrassing trends, and onward to a hyperstylised self-presentation reminiscent of the Courts of centuries past. Goths are renowned for their vanity and apparent shallowness; I believe the goth aesthetic is actually quite honest, embracing the notion that externalizations such as clothing and gesture form an intricate interpersonal art form, a dance of communication. It’s refreshing compared to the equally intricate games played by those who present a studiedly “casual” facade, hoping their Gap shirts will help them blend in with the wallpaper. Practitioners of theatre understand very well the subconscious semiotic games being played in the guise of supposedly “normal”, casual conversation: how the body moves, what it is draped in, the choice of words, tone of voice or the flick of an eyelash can determine the outcome. In the theatre, these external elements are mastered to create ritual and entertainment.

Walk into a goth club, and you see this same cunning, playful manipulation of details taken from the stage and thrown into what might be a costume ball. Black is everywhere: hair, clothing, eyes, lips. Perfectly blood-crimson lips and hair extensions materialize next, along with deep purple dresses and tresses. Proper white collared shirts glow in the dim light, while the occasional off-white Victorian wedding-gown or ivory ’30s dress will float by as well. The goths, who go out of their way to be a sensual set, get off on the tactile beauty of their gear as much as its visual effect: velvets, satins, leathers, brocades, sheers, laces (though lace has fallen by the wayside since the ’80s) — anything lush and sumptuous. For a group of people rumoured to be exceptionally dictatorial in their tastes, they can be most creative and eclectic. Cheesy classic deathrock bits like torn fishnet sleeves, and Robert Smith hairdos straight out of the early ’80s, nuzzle up against the hippest new fetish gear. Goths manage to dig up gorgeous period pieces, mostly evocative of the ’20s or of Victorian fashion, and many can even wear the things properly, playing the appropriate body language to the hilt.

You should be able to kick around a few Byron quotes here and there, and recount Shelley's death with heartfelt accuracy (didn't he like die on a boat or something?)

As you nervously approach the crowded bar for a dollar-drink special, you’ll notice some other things. Makeup ranging from pale to deathly white on many faces, both male and female, accompanied by exotically-applied eyeliner and severe lipstick. Lots of curious if pretentious objects: fluttering fans, scarves, silver cigarette cases, lunchbox handbags, crucifixes, hats, and miles of silver jewelry. A man bending at the waist to kiss a woman's hand. Angelic, dour boys in long skirts and pointy boots. Expansive, melodramatic dancers flailing and swirling, refusing to acknowledge each other even when they collide. Impeccably-dressed, attractive women sitting all alone yet not being harassed. Frankly, you may find them all ridiculously snotty poseurs, what with their wannabe-regal airs and seemingly unbreakable attitudes. Stay long enough, though, and the drugs and alcohol will kick in thoroughly, revealing kids with fake IDs and eyeliner drooling drunkenly down their cheeks, stoned speedfreaks giggling, drunk speedfreaks dancing and fighting, bedraggled gentlemen hiking up their skirts to take down the lights. Though it may appear otherwise, people have dressed up and come out to have a good time, and to do so in the most decadent of ways.

If you asked them, the majority of these people would not admit to being goths. Most of those who would are the sort of irritating obsessives you find in any cultural group, like the self-proclaimed hippie that buys every new Dead shirt as soon as it hits the market or the poet who wears a beret and turtleneck. These are the folks who desperately needed an identity to cling to, a pre-existing aesthetic to buy and adopt rather than create; they’re invariably the people who uphold and propagate the codes and cliches of a subculture. So what’s the stereotypical goth of this sort like? Where hippies have hyper-friendliness and Luv, these goths have a comical level of snobbery, cattiness, and a calculated air of impenetrable mystery. Where punks often pretend to be less cultured and articulate than they are, yer local cliche-goth will likely present hirself as well-read and emotionally intellectual, with a vocabulary of words and gestures gleaned from faerie tales, Victorian literature, and heroic ballads. The correct political stance is apolitical, and while the proper drags change over the years and according to geography, speed’s the classic drug of choice. The face will be pale and powdered, the eyebrows painted in black points which shadow the inner eyelids in an immaculate line; the clothing will most definitely come in black.

As The Millennium Turns: the emergence of a NeoGoth scene

What’s interesting about this culture isn’t the surprisingly small group of people who wear full costuming and whiteface 24/7, but the way that its recent resurrection integrate a variety of musical and aesthetic tastes. Odd as it may sound, my theory is that the increased popularity of Things Gothic owes much to the Rave trend at the turn of the decade. As, that pushed repetitive techno music into regular discos and radio formats, people started delving into darker technology-driven music such techno-industrialists Skinny Puppy. Much to chagrin of oldschool industrial types, a new “industrial” movement started gaining momentum, showcasing Ministry’s industrial deathmetal crossover and the Top 40 success of Nine Inch Nails. The explosion of general indie and "alternative" music as a popular phenomenon helped out, too: all these newly-mainstreamed bands had common influences from the days when frat boys would beat you up for having a leather jacket and funny hair, instead of jumpin' into the pit with ya at a Dickies show (Dude!).

People new to these genres of music and the subcultures they spawned started digging up those influences and giving 'em a spin, and pretty soon there was a fresh crop o' youngsters gazing at Blixa's made-up face on old Einsturzende Neubauten videotapes, discovering Bauhaus for the first time, finding Al Jourgenson's cheesy '80s dance tunes, and praying that the entire 4AD catalogue might be released domestically on compact disc. Some small group of goth types had endured through the '80s in most large cities and hipster towns, and found their ranks swelling as the population at large gained exposure to music and fashion previously confined to the underground and to independent music labels. For several years now, the goth capital cities (London, New York, San Francisco) have boomed with golf clubs, local bands, and 'zines. The resounding success of House of Usher, the East (SF) Bay club the proved you really could rejuvenate this tired old scene enough to make serious money off it, owed much to its owners' creation of two separate dancefloors in a single club: one industrial, one gothic.

But wait, there’s more! In addition to marrying the black-leather-wearing New Industrial scene to the extant retro-gothic scene, the neo-goth resurgence has cross-pollinated nicely with the fetish scene, the cyberpunks (yes, I hate that word as much as you do) the exponential growth of the Internet, the underground comic and ’zine network, and a rising interest in the arts of self-decoration (piercing, tattoos, etc.). As always, other marginal groups with proclivities for theatricality — SCA members, RPG fanatics, | drama geeks, Renaissance Faire guildmembers, wiccans, and the terminally suicidal — are still attracted to the goth set. It all makes for quite the tasty brew once it has fermented long enough.

Weeping, Wailing, and the Gnashing of Teeth

Music acts as the cornerstone of most popcults, and can’t possibly be treated thoroughly in this space. If you’re into the idea, get ahold of the fanzines listed under SOURCES. Suffice to say the music wafting out of gothish clubs ranges from historical deathrock (Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division) to second-wave gothic (Fields of the Nephilim, Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy) to new indie-goth hybrids. Some of the most distinctive music associated with Things Gothic can only be described as mood music, whether it’s ethereal, ominous, or sparse. Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins have popularized the ethereal sound, usually featuring lush arrangements, swooning female vocals, and often incorporating elements of Irish folk, medieval, classical, and middle eastern music. From the cruncher sounds of My Bloody Valentine and lovesliescrushing, and the symphonic chaos of Cranes or the recent Miranda Sex Garden releases, a whole new generation of post-ethereal bands continues to evolve.

Ominous mood music ranges from the Wagneresque horror of In Slaughter Natives to the soundscapes of Caul; again, subcultural crossbreeding has birthed a wide range of techno-industrial-cybergothic soundtracks. On the sparse end of the scale, the Death In June/Current 93/Sol Invictus formula combines morbid lyrics, hypnotic acoustic guitars, and experimental sounds: for a heightened experience, be sure to keep razorblades poised at your wrists while listening. And you’re bound to find old farts who still keep some guilty pleasures around — ’80s English popsters like early Cure, Smiths, and Tears for Fears, the deathpunk of 45 Grave and pre-glam TSOL, or the moody disco of New Order and Tones On Tail.

Face it, kids, you live in a society whose obsession with Death is matched only by its insistence that one continually maintain a mask of cheerfulness or neutrality. Colonial-style religion, which used to provide a ritual release for feelings of fear and deah has largely been exposed as a patriarchal scam. You will watch Cops, you will run to see Natural Born Killers, but you will still toddle into work and smile after your best friend commits suicide. The hippies tried to make you too uniformly joyful and mellow; your foray into punk let out some anger but did nothing for the lingering melancholia. The poets gave you deep verbiage but they didn’t know how to dress, and the sullen slackers sneered at anything remotely dramatic. And while the Protestant preacher gave you lots of Death, and Mass gave you ritual satisfaction to breathe in like incense, they expected you to believe in GM, fer Chrissakes!

I can’t stomach being around it too much, but sometimes it’s a relief to sip Chartreuse with an entire room full of people who’ve given up and welcomed death. A good goth club or party feels like a Christian funeral smashing into a raucous wake: some are there to mourn, others to celebrate the dead with wine, song, and incoherent rambling. No one is going to stare at the scars on your wrists in such an environment, nor try to stop you from driving 120mph on the bridge after you’ve snorted up a quarter and chased it with a litre of bad red wine. No one’s gonna care whether your sour, aching mood arises out of severe pain or out of the need to make an impression. Nor does it matter whether you've actually punctured human flesh with those ridiculous fangs you had custom-made.

The house, club, or cemetery you’re partying in is likely decked out in Things Gothic. Among all the dead flowers, skulls, and candles, who’s gonna look askance at the crucifix around your neck? The props of Death attract people for different reasons. Some have a heartfelt reaction to religious iconography, often rooted in childhood experiences with the church; others are attracted to the mystery of the post-corporeal life represented in objects which evoke thoughts of mortality. Some just want a solid talisman to grasp while they mourn life itself, while many are drawn to the classical aesthetic often employed in rendering icons. And there will always be those who don’t really care to think about art, Death, or afterlives, but who want to look cool. Regardless of the motive, people who want to play with the props of Death aren’t given much of an opportunity to do so in conventional society.

Except in religious subcultures, of course. Is the goth scene religious? While a fair percentage of its members are ex-Christians or current pagans, goth has nothing to do with religion. The closest thing to a Deity it offers would have to be Peter Murphy or Andrew Eldritch — mere mortals who happen to be the subject of much fawning, rather like Elvis. Laughing at the corniness of Deathprops and quasi-religious elements is probably more common than revering them. Goth appropriates from religion, using its imagery in decadent stylization. It has no interest in either approximating religion or fostering it.

Deadly, theatrical, and a bit over-the-top, Things Gothic definitely hold a selective appeal. I for one will be thoroughly amazed if the goth subculture ever gets adopted by the mainstream, but then again in 8th grade I wouldn't have imagined punk ever crossing over. Times change, and if folks stop dismissing the goths as absurdly pretentious we just may see Rozz on the cover of Rolling Stone in a couple of years. Stranger things have happened.