#they’re lucky she’s doing it in the off season honestly

[ri-afan]

Me watching the boss take down the Help Wanted signs while knowing my coworker is going to resign in the morning:

[updownlately]

as long as i’m here (no one can hurt you)

| alessia x reader | hurt/comfort | 3.1k | disclaimer: mentions of anxiety & self loathing -this gets dark so please read at your own discretion! | a/n: based of this req! initially was supposed to be really fluffy but then somehow it just became 2/3 angst soooo welp. honestly it started off really strong imo but idk what happened towards the end, but oh well. not proofread as usual. anyways, take care amigos, happy reading!

~~~ 

Your heart’s in your throat and you don’t know how it got there. 

Your heart’s in your throat and the world around you’s dark.

Your heart’s in your throat and you don’t know where you are.

All you know is you’ve gotta go- you’ve gotta go fast- because if you stay any longer, the voices are going to catch up.

They’re going to catch up and they’re going to tell you- no scratch that- they’re going to remind- they’re going to remind you that aren’t good enough.

They’re going to remind you that there’s better, that there always will be someone smarter, more athletic, more confident, more outgoing, more fun.

They’re going to remind you that none of this is real- convince you that everything is just fake. That you’ve lost your mind enough to devise your own reality, where nothing exists yet everything is perfect. 

They’re going to remind you that you aren’t worthy. That you’ve fluked your way through life- everything gifted to you, everything undeserved. 

It’s the way it always goes. You running and running and running, only stopping either when the voices catch up or when you wake up, and if you were honest, you don’t know which one you prefer.

It’s not that you’d be dead, nor is it that you didn’t want to be alive.

It’s that you don’t know how you could explain to the sleeping girl beside you that even with every second you lay asleep, the voices in your head don’t cease. 

That each time she comforts you as you wake, shirt damp with sweat, shuddering breath escaping your lips, the words get louder in your mind.

And with each circle rubbed into your back, or reassuring word mumbled against your tangled hair, you think about how she could do better, better than you, better than this mess of troubling dreams, this mess of tangled voices, nonexistent but real to you, shouting, screaming, yelling, reminding you, telling you, letting you know.

You aren’t good enough, nor will you ever be. 

She deserves better, better than you.

You’re a fraud, a fake, a phony. 

The words repeat and repeat and repeat. 

~~~

It’s the third time this week, and it’s only Wednesday, that you wake up, heart racing, palms sweating as you try and regulate your uneven breaths.

It’s new to you, this whole nightmare thing.

You’d even go as far as to call yourself a lucky child, able to count on one hand how many nightmares you had when you were younger.

Now? Now though, it’s a miracle if you sleep through the night. 

You don’t know when it started- maybe sometime between the middle of last season and its end- when all you saw attached to your name was negative chatter. 

Flooding comments on social media calling you unreliable, unworthy, unneeded for your team. 

Offhand remarks of how you could’ve played better, could’ve done more, didn’t deserve a starting position, maybe would be better as a late sub, for the sake of the team. 

Maybe it was when you spent countless hours post practices perfecting your free kicks and running shots, only to be told to not take them as much, the dismissing tone in your coach’s voice clear, disapproval clear in their eyes. 

Words said and said and said, their intent to hurt, to prick, to wound successful.

It was those words that rang out in your dreams, among the thousands of other outcries you were used to having directed your way.

You thought you could take it, firmly believed so. 

You were a professional athlete for fuck’s sake, a little bit of verbal battering was nothing you couldn’t handle, right?

At least that’s what you told yourself each time you woke up in cold sweat, mind exhausted, heart tired as you tried to remind yourself those opinions weren’t facts. 

As usual, it led you to now. 

Now being you stiffly lying on your side of the bed, the room bathed in darkness, only the sound of Alessia’s soft snores to be heard.

Swallowing hard, you shuddered as fragments of your latest nightmare floated through your mind.

This one was different from the usual. 

This one might have even been the worst. 

The nightmare had started off as they typically do, the realistic image of the team’s pitch clear in your mind.

It seemed to be a replay of a normal game day. 

Arsenal dressed in their bright red jerseys, your opponents in a shade of blur, all the same but unidentifiable- not like it mattered much anyways- you didn’t need much convincing to feel how real it seemed.

It felt like a normal game day, but you saw yourself in third person, following yourself on the pitch like a drone, able to see each mistake you made so sharply, so distinctly.

You watched in horror as you tripped over your feet. Your heart dropped as you passed the ball directly to the other team. You’re nearly in tears watching as each tackle you made either did nothing or nearly took out the opposing player. 

You looked on in fear as the crowd begged for you to be subbed off. 

Your own home crowd, cheering any time you lost the ball, any time you slipped and fell, any time you erred. 

As much as it hurt each time the dream played out, this was normal to you. 

You were used to this. 

Used to the sinking feeling in your stomach. The flips it would do as you felt your heart break, the realization that maybe you just didn’t matter, the thought that you didn’t need to exist floating through your mind as your throat closed up. 

The sinking feeling as you realized you were unwanted was nothing new. 

The knowledge that you just weren’t good enough was basically a mantra ingrained in your mind.

So even though it hurt as if it was new each time, you were used to it. 

This was normal, no matter how many times it occurred, night in night out, it had become a part of you.

What wasn’t normal though, was how the game faded away slowly for once, a new environment blurring into your vision, the once typical dream changing drastically. 

You tried to shake your head in your mind, very much disoriented at the unfamiliar setting. 

You weren’t at the field anymore. The green grass you were always so used to seeing, the one that haunted you now in real life, gone within seconds. 

Instead, in its place, was a dark atmosphere, bright lights flashing occasionally as you felt vibrations hum through you rhythmically. 

Hearing laughter coming from your left, you whipped your head to the side.

Mere metres away from you stood the rest of your team, all dressed to enjoy a night out, drinks cradled in their hands.

You were at a club.

Chest constricting as you watched the girls peer over at you, then laugh, you felt your face flush, embarrassment seizing your ability to breathe. 

Quickly turning around, you searched for Alessia. 

Alessia usually made the anxiety go away.

Alessia was safe.

Alessia. 

You needed to find her.

Pushing your way through the mass of crowded, faceless bodies crammed in front of you, you tried to look for the blonde. 

The further you went though, the smaller you seemed to get.

With each step you were taking, the room seemed to grow in size, the people around you taller, peering judgmentally at you as you pushed through, the faceless partygoers somehow displaying a clear emotion of distaste at your presence.

You could feel your heart beat faster with each second.

Too many people.

You needed to find Alessia.

Too many people. 

You couldn’t breathe.

Too many people.

Alessia.

Continuing to push through the mass, air getting harder and harder to breathe, you closed your eyes, blindly moving forward.

Squeezing your way past the final few bodies, you felt yourself stumble as you came across a hallway, the door at the end of it bathed in a dim glow.

Maybe she was there?

Unable to stop yourself, your mind pleading for you to do so but frozen, your feet carried you towards the light.

You wanted to find Alessia. 

You needed her right now, and you’d do whatever it took. 

Hands shaking at the uneasy feeling in your stomach, you approached the door, fingers reaching out to rest on the door. 

Surely Alessia had to be here, right? 

You’d soon get your comfort…

Letting out a shaky breath at the thought of finally being okay soon, in the presence of Alessia, you pushed the door open, ready to feel okay, only for your eyes to widen as you felt a lump form in your throat. 

No, surely not. No…no…no…

Frozen in your spot, you stared, white as ghost, at the sight in front of you.

There, in the dark room ahead, was Alessia.

Except she wasn’t alone.

Eyes flitting between the blonde and the faceless body in her arms, you felt your world crash.

There she was, your girlfriend, your Alessia, arms wrapped around another person that wasn’t you. 

Another person that had their body pressed against hers in a way that was most definitely not friendly, not platonic in the least.

In front of you stood the two, hair dishevelled, their eyes as wide as yours, mouths agape as they realized they’d been caught. 

In front of you stood your Alessia, in the arms of another, as you finally felt the ground slip away from beneath you.

~~~

You knew it was just a dream.

You knew she wouldn’t cheat on you.

You knew it.

You believed it.

You felt it, each and every day that she loved you.

Yet, in this moment, darkness bathing you as the silence stretched on, the sinking feeling in your stomach and the way your heart still hadn’t stopped aching since you’d woken up told you otherwise.

Furiously wiping the tears that had fallen from your eyes, you tried to do your best not to sniffle, lest you wake your girlfriend up.

You already had a dream about her cheating- you didn’t want to go and make your night worse by waking her when she so desperately needed her rest. 

Doing your best to take deep breaths, you tried to regulate your shaky breathing.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, you paid keen attention to how much noise you were making with each gasp. 

You needed to be quiet- had to be quiet. 

She couldn’t see you like this.

No, you wouldn’t let her. 

Taking a chance, you slowly turned your head to the side, eyes tracing the faint outline of the striker’s face as you wiped another round of tears on your hands.

Every single fibre in you wanted so desperately to reach out, to be in her hold, to let her soft murmur comfort you like countless times before. 

But you couldn’t.

You’d get through this night eventually.

Closing your eyes in frustration at the impending headache you knew was coming, you pressed the heel of your palms harshly to your eyes. 

You’d be okay. You’d be okay. You’d be okay.

Repeating the words to yourself, you whined in frustration, unable to find yourself to believe the words.

It was only when your eyes stung due to brute force did you realize what you had just done, freezing as you heard shuffling beside you.

Holding your breath, you felt Alessia’s arm reach out blindly towards you, sleepily patting around, trying to find your body, her even in her sleep ready to take care of you. 

You couldn’t have her wake up for you, not again. Not when it’s been multiple nights of her waking up, holding you till the dawn breaks, treating you ever so carefully, so delicately,

Letting go of the breath you were holding as you heard the movement stop, you closed your eyes as more tears of frustration escaped. 

How many times- how many fucking times were you going to wake up each night?  Why, why for the love of god, could your mind not be normal? 

Flexing your jaw as you tried to force your emotions away, you didn’t see the way Alessia sleepily awoke from beside you.

Mind preoccupied by not waking up the Gunner, you didn’t realize that she had long since been awake, trying to give you the time to collect yourself like she knew you wanted. 

In all honesty, the blonde had been up before you had been.

Recent days had oddly trained her to sleep a bit lighter. The combined with hearing your mumbling during your dreams had easily woken her up. 

She’d let you be though, well aware that you hated that she woke up each time. 

So she laid in silence, doing her best to continue her sleepy state, hoping that the night didn’t get too horrible, that she didn’t have to step in, for your sake. 

She stayed awake though, lethargically alert, ready to jump in if needed. 

Throat tightening up when she heard your sniffles, the furious movement of your hands as you wiped your tears away quietly pulling at her heart strings, the blonde quietly laid there as you dealt with the storm in your mind. 

A stalemate of sorts, an inevitable cycle of hurt. 

Slowly but surely though, your sniffles died down, movement slowing as you calmed, initial stabbing pain at the nightmare slowing until it became a dull ache.

It’s then that Alessia chose to take her chances, knowing you were easier to talk to after you had ridden your wave of emotions. 

“You think you’re hurting me each time you wake me up, but I don’t think you realize how much it pains me to see you like this…”

The words a near whisper into the darkness, Alessia waited a beat before slowly turning to face you, head resting on her arm as she faced you.

Please let me help you. 

The plea went unsaid.

Continuing, the whispered words brought on another round of damp eyes.

“You think you’re protecting me, but if it’s just hurting you more and I care for you, are you really succeeding?”

Let me be there to comfort you. 

Feeling her heart start to pound at your silence, Alessia wondered if you’d fallen asleep. 

Raising her head to try and decipher whether you were awake, she waited as a beat passed, and then another, both without an inch of movement from you. 

Shaking her head at the cruel timing between her speaking and your presumably sleeping state, the blonde opened her mouth to sigh, only to be cut off by your timid voice.

“I hate it enough that I have to go through this…it’s not fair to make you go through it too…”

The shaky admission had the blonde’s breath catching in her throat.

She never once felt forced to be there for you. Never. 

The fact that being a burden to her had you holding back so significantly pained her to hear. 

If the constricting of her heart at your quiet sobs had hurt, then the admission nearly felt like being stabbed. 

You weren’t a burden- not to her. Not now, not ever. She just needed to make sure you knew that. Believed it. 

“You’re not making me go through anything. I want to be there for you. I want to be able to hold you through the good nights and the bad. Especially the bad. You aren’t a burden to me…”

Swallowing lightly at the prolonged silence that followed her words, Alessia continued, shuffling closer to you until she was nearly pressed up against your side, only a sliver of space between the two of you.

“You make it seem like me loving you is a burden. That I can love you only when you’re perfect...when you’ve got it all together and don’t need a shoulder to cry on.

I don’t want that though. I don’t want to love you when you’re pristine. I want to love you when the days are dark and it’s raining so hard that you’re confined inside. I want to love you when it’s four pm and you didn’t sleep the night before and you’re grumpy because your coffee’s too cold. I want to love you when you can’t remember what it’s like to be loved. When it’s nearly three am and you’re having a nightmare and you don’t know who to turn to. That’s when I want to love you- when you need it most.”

A silence blanketed the room at the end of Alessia’s admission, only the quiet hum of the electrical wiring to be heard.

Feeling her cheeks heat up but not finding it in herself to care- to be embarrassed- the blonde took her chances.

Slowly letting her arm come to wrap around your midsection, she pulled you close.

With you still laid on your back, the side of your torso pressed up against the striker’s front, your hands gently intertwined as she found where it rested under the sheets, she continued. 

“Not waking me won’t do either of us good. Yes, you could deal with it on your own, but you don’t have to, okay? I want to be there for you. I want to hold you when things get tough. I want to love you. You just need to let me do that…”

Feeling you nod in response, she moved to place a gentle kiss on your forehead.

Moving to lay on her back as she felt you turn towards her, the Gunner opened her arms in an easy welcome, gathering you in her embrace as you sank into her comfort. 

Whispering a quiet ‘thank you’ at your understanding, she wondered out loud if you wanted to talk about it.

A quiet but firm ‘no’ escaping your lips, she nodded her head in understanding as ran her hand through your hair.

If you didn’t want to talk, so be it- as long as you let her love you, take care of you, hold you, it didn’t matter. 

As long as you felt loved, because you very much were if Alessia had anything to say about it.

Hands coming to wrap strongly around you, you sighing contently at the warmth as you felt the tiredness of the past hour catch up with you, the pair of you drifted off into a dreamless sleep, Alessia’s last tiredly whispered sentence ringing reassuringly, protectively in your mind as the tension in your shoulder eased.

"It's easy to love you on your good days, but I want to love you on your worst. On the days you don't believe in love and don't think you deserve it, it's when I want to love you most. 'Cause I'll love you through all of them, now and forever, if you let me."

'If I could change the way that you see yourself, you wouldn’t wonder why you hear ‘they don’t deserve you'"

[mellonieee]

Mellonie does FOP + A New Wish Analysis: 1

This is what a week of AC and Antifairy brainrot has led to. After this I think I’m going to actually watch through the entire original series from the Oh Yeah! Shorts all the way to Season 10. (Hopefully I wont hate it too much.) And then rewatch ANW again once it hits streaming for the full FOP experience. And also so I could maybe do more of this analysis stuff, its fun.

Plans for later aside, this and any I do in the future, will only use episodes the character actually appears in, and not ones that they are merely mentioned in. Its also important to note that I likely wont use all the episodes the Character appears in.

That old black magic is the introduction to Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, and the Anti-Fairies as a whole. They’re described as “Regular Fairies, but anti.”

This episode establishes a few things:

1.Fairy magic cannot interfere with Anti-fairy magic.

2.On Friday the 13th, Antifairies escape from Fairyworld and cause bad luck. Antifairies are naturally drawn to anything that triggers bad luck to happen.

3.Antifairies can only be seen by humans with anti-fairy goggles.

4.Antifairies are opposites of their fairy counterpart in personality. AW is “incredibly stupid and eats with her feet.” AC is “not an idiot, in any matter once so ever.”

But what’s really interesting about this episode is what Jorgen and Anti-Cosmo have to say about the anti-fairies.

“No one is allowed in Anti-fairy world!”

“You see, we’ve been trapped behind that blasted barrier for centuries.”

Jorgen, you cant just imprison a whole group without expecting any problems. Its no wonder they wanted to escape so badly. Is causing bad luck something, well, bad, enough to warrant the imprisonment of an entire race? The anti-fairies arent good at all, obviously, but they are biologically made to thrive off of bad luck and negative energy. This really muddies the waters when it comes to seeing this as a solely ‘black and white’ situation. Most, but not all, of what AC does is for the antifairies. He’s evil and chaotic by nature, but he’s not evil evil, yknow.

There isnt really anything else noteworthy to say about that old black magic outside of this, but I did notice that AC knew Timmy’s name despite the fact he never met him before that point, somehow. I merely brush it off as a minor goof and just figure AC mustve made a lucky (haha) guess, but if you want a crazy theory to explain it, then maybe anti-fairies share vague recollections or memories with their fairy counterparts. I dont actually think thats true, but theres your food for thought.

The second appearance of the antifairies, The Gland Plan instantly ditches the entire ‘antifairy goggles’ thing, which is honestly for the better, even if I do think it made anti-fairies more unique. They are sadly never getting the invisibilty thing back.

This episode establishes that the faggigly gland is a special organ in a fairies body that allows the fairy to change shape, and that both fairies and anti-fairies have one. Fairy biology in general is really questionable, especially if you factor in the angel forms from A New Wish, but thats a topic for another day.

A few things to note:

1.This is the start of that “Hello, Clarice.” quote that AC and Foop/Irep use. Its a reference to Silence of the Lambs but its a misquote anyway because Lecter never even says hello to Clarice.

2.AC claims that he cant see a thing without his monocle. If he isnt lying about that and isnt using the monocle only as a symbol of prestige, then he has really terrible eyesight and is most likely completely blind in one eye.

3.Despite AC calling his wife a twit, he prefaces it by saying that he loves her very much. Most instances of AC talking to his wife does include him being typically annoyed when she messes with his plans, but outside of that he acts courteous towards her. (“Chin up, my beloved Anti-Wanda! Your savior, Anti-Cosmo, will have you all free presently!”)

4.The more questionable line is when Anti-Cosmo and Cosmo are having the operation and AC claims that if he does live, Cosmo should take his wife. Needless to say, AC words things very poorly at times, but this statement does have them acknowledging that an anti-fairy and a fairy could hypothetically be with one another’s counterpart.

“Cosmo, old friend, since we both carry a piece of each other inside of us, I see no reason for us to do battle. But I warn you, don't look for me.”

AC doesnt hold that much ill-will towards Cosmo like how I figure most would expect him to. He seems to be fed up and annoyed by his counterpart’s foolishness, but he does not despise him.

Right as the episode ends, Timmy brings up the idea that maybe more than the faggigly glands got transplanted. There isnt much evidence to support this outside of the brief voice change Anti-Cosmo and Cosmo had, but I’m starting to think Timmy was right considering how Anti-Cosmo acts in A New Wish.

I dont know if AC and AW retired like Wanda and Cosmo did, but I feel like AC’s very obvious decline in intelligence is a likely theory as to why Irep now seems to be in charge of the anti-fairies as shown in A New Wish.

I frankly can’t see the New Wish Version of AC leading the antifairies compared to how he acted in the old show. Not when he now thinks leaving a cage unattended is a “good idea.” That isnt something AC would say at all if we’re going off of his original characterization. It’s interesting to think of a reason in-universe as to how he went from “not an idiot, in any matter once so ever.” to someone who definitely is not as smart as he use to be.

[kaciidubs]

Lucky Charm

❣ For my sweet love @sweetracha - thank you for indulging me in this AU, I hope you like it! ❣

❣ Summary: Racer! AU - Its the first race of the season, and what's a better way to start it off without a little visit from Jisung's lucky charm? ❣  ❣ Word Count: 1.1k ❣ Warnings: Racecar Driver! Jisung, Racer Crew! OT8, Jisung's a bit cocky but in a lovable way, established relationship, hinted smut, fluff, humor, kissing, Seungmin is a menace to Changbin, Jeongin is a menace to Minho, Jisung is a menace to Reader ❣  ❣ Female! Reader [No use of Y/N] | You/Your pronouns ❣  ❣ Additional Tags: Han is referred to as Jisung, Han, and Mr. Flirt, sort of slice of life style but I love it ❣ Stray Kids Masterlist ❣ General Masterlist

“Seungmin, stop hiding my tools!”

“I’ll stop hiding them when you stop calling me a dog!”

You watched as Changbin wrangled the younger into a chokehold - putting no power behind it, of course - and continued spewing on about how he’ll continue being a dog if he keeps hiding his stuff. 

“They’re still at it?” 

Breaking you from the ever so entertaining view, you turned your head to see Chris walking over to you, black headset donned around his neck in preparation for the race. 

“Mhm - you know, for the pit leader and star of the crew, they really can’t get past this fake sibling rivalry.” 

“It keeps them entertained and out of my hair, as long as they don’t kill each other then so be it.” 

Nodding in agreement, you snuck a peek at the pair once again; Seungmin now, miraculously, out of the hold and taunting Changbin over something entirely new. 

It was race day, the first race of the season and the starting line for the journey to the silver cup, so it was understandable why they seemed to have more energy than before - honestly, you were surprised they weren’t chasing each other around by this point. 

“Where’s the rest of the gang?” You mused, noting the lack of a few familiar faces amongst the pit crew that filled the assigned stadium garage. 

Chris leaned against the table you were sitting on, crossing his arms over his t-shirt clad chest, “Well, Minho’s doing a pre recorded interview - he brought Jeongin along to ‘show him how it's done’, Hyunjin is out getting some pictures of the stadium, Felix is getting the final lineup of the race, and I’m sure you know where Jisung is.”

Ah, right - the man of the hour and the reason why you’re all gathered today - Han Jisung, the person taking up this season’s race in the SKZ name. This was far from his first race, or course, but it still held importance; this was his shot at a third consecutive win following his overly successful season last year, taking over for Minho as he took on the responsibility of training Jeongin with Chris, and you were here to hopefully witness his first win of the circuit.

Picking aimlessly at the fabric of your skirt, you regarded the eldest with a soft look, “You think he’s nervous?”

“Yeah.” He unfolded his arms, resting his hands on the edge of the table, “But you know how he is, nerves are only fuel to him - keeps telling me how he knows what he’s doing and that he’s bringing back another trophy for the garage.”

You stifled a laugh, shaking your head in amusement - cocky as ever.

The sound of the door squeaking open drew your attention, easily recognizing the faces coming through the door.

“You can ignore me all you want - that interviewer was so into you!” Jeongin beamed, following closely behind a nonplussed Minho.

“Chan, get this child away from me, now.”

“Seriously! How could you not see it?! She was a hundred perfect fucking you with her eyes-”

“Chan!”

“Shit- okay! Innie, you keep testing him and he might actually kill you this time.” Chris launched himself from his position on the table, leaving you to watch as he dragged the youngest driver away from the veteran - but not without attracting the attention of the two lead pit crew members eager for the tea.

In the midst of the action, the door opened once again - Jisung walked through wearing his racing jumpsuit decorated in various sponsorship patches he’d earned throughout the years. He went to jump into the ruckus until he spotted you on the table, laughing at whatever threat Minho famously came up with this time, his heart fluttering and feet leading him straight to your side.

“You must really love me if you’re willing to deal with these guys,” he hummed nonchalantly, not missing the way you jumped at his sudden presence, head whipping toward him in surprise.

Rolling your eyes, a soft smile quickly replaced your shock, “You must really love me if you’re willing to let me deal with these guys.” You watched as he saddled himself in front of you, caging you in against the table with a sideways smirk.

“Of course I love you,” pressing a chaste kiss to your lips, a bright smile blossomed on his lips, “you should’ve told me you were here already, I would’ve gotten ready faster!”

“Today’s an important day, you really think I’m gonna rush you just to see me?” Your fingers danced their way up the fabric of his jumpsuit, tracing along the various seams and straps before finding home on his shoulders.

“I’m always in a rush to see you, why do you think I always finish in first?”

You scoffed out a laugh, eyes glittering with mirth, “Okay, Mr. Flirt, let’s get our heads in the game here.”

“Han! We’ve gotta start getting ready soon!”

A wave of anxious excitement washed over you at Chris’ time call, and you could see the spark of determination flash behind Jisung’s eyes - this was it.

“One last kiss from my lucky charm?” Jisung hummed softly, his hands sliding to cradle the outside of your thighs, fingers fiddling with your skirt.

Nodding curtly, you took his face in your hands, gently turning his head to the right, “Be smart-” you murmured before kissing his cheek and turning his head to the left, “be safe-” planting another kiss, you turned him one final time to face you, “be fast-” pecking his lips, you leveled him with a soft stare, “and come back to me.”

“Always.” He promised, as always, finishing the ritual with a solid kiss to your lips in return, pulling back with a cocky grin, “I’ll make sure to come back for my second checkered flag, too.”

Your eyebrows furrowed for a second before your gaze dropped to where he was currently squeezing your thighs and- of course, in addition to wearing a custom shirt with his racing number and name, you’d opted for a black and white checker patterned skirt to tie the look together.

A new rush of heat ran through you as you mushed his face with your hands, embarrassed giggles escaping you all the while, “Han Jisung get away from me!”

You could feel him kiss the palm of your hand with a triumphant laugh, taking your wrist to move your hand, “You know you love me!”

“Yeah, I love you, now go!”

Successfully shooing him away, you watched as he went to huddle with the rest of his team - now noticing the arrival of Felix amongst the group, and Hyunjin with his camera in hand, snapping pictures of the first huddle of the season.

You knew he’d give it his all, he always did, but a little intentionally unintentional enticement never hurt anyone - you were his lucky charm after all, and if that helped him have another reason to bring back the gold then who were you to stop it?

[yelenabelovasbxtch]

Crush On An Archer PT.1

a/n: Hey! Omg long time no see! I kinda maybe lost interest in writing for a bit there but tbh I think I'm back. No promises because I don't want to promise and then break your hearts but also I realllyyyy enjoyed writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it! Will def be making a part two in coming days so stay tuned. LMK if you want to be added to the taglist, I am going to put some tags of past taglists below just in case they are interested in reading :) ALSO! Special shout out to @scmg11 because their writing is honestly what made me wanna get back into it. So,,I hope you enjoy!

Kate X Fem!Reader

Concept: Reader has a crush on Kate (school/Uni setting) and she doesn't know how to tell her.

Warning: Cussing, mentions of smut, IM TRYING TO WRITE SLOW BURN BUT BEAR WITH ME ITS NEW!

Word Count: 2.7k

You’re a month into your summer vacation and things couldn’t be more…boring. You love and appreciate your parents dearly for putting out the money so that you could attend a prestigious school in New York with a kick ass archery team but does it ever suck to be this far from all your friends for four months. To make the situation work, your dad had to transfer jobs to another state that pulls in a little more money annually with slightly more affordable housing but that means you aren’t even near the people you grew up around. Rural Mississippi is a fairly big step from living in Boston. Boston at least had people, out here it’s like you’re lucky if you get to meet a neighbour because the land has us all so far apart. In all honesty, although it’s boring, you really have one specific reason for being so bummed out. Towards the end of your last semester, you got started getting closer with one of the girls a year younger on your team, Kate. Typically the older girls competed and practised together and the younger girls did the same. Although you two were only a year apart it’s just how things worked out, so you didn’t cross paths very often. However, one day you were walking home from class, stopped to get coffee and basically bumped into her. The meeting was really brief but it was enough to make you catch feelings almost instantly. 

Your interest in her grew as you followed her on Instagram and she followed back. Obviously you took a peak at her page and scrolled to the bottom laughing at the really cringey posts from 2015 she had still up. All you wanted to do was talk to her again but you didn’t know how, although she was a year younger than you she intimidated you so much. Her deep blue eyes were honestly enough to make you stutter whenever you had the chance to talk to her. A month had gone by already and you could not wait to get back to school so you could see her again. Luckily, coach has yearly “team-building” days before the season starts and they’re about half way through the summer so hopefully you can talk to her before then and maybe convince her to hang out when you come back to school. 

Over the next week or so you liked a few story posts that she’d upload every now and again but the day finally came where you felt like you could swipe up and respond to it…y’know…maybe spark a little conversation. 

“Damn Bishop, is this a new bow?” In response to a story post of her showing off some of her off season training. 

“Haha yeah it is, flips out and everything…it's really freakin’ cool.” She replied almost instantly and that made a giant warm smile come across your face. 

Shit– what do you say back? Your main goal was honestly to keep the convo going so you could subtly mention down the line hanging out with her. 

“Yeah that’s sick, wow I’d kill to try something like that out.”

“Well next time I see you, please by all means give it a shot” She replies back.

“Might just have to take you up on that. How’s your summer going anyways?”

“It’s alright, kind of boring though. All my friends from school move back home and I am working for my mom’s company over the summer so it all is just kind of dull. I miss going out and having fun. Wbu?”

“Yeah, I hear that. I am SO bored here. I would kill to fast forward to the fall, I miss being at school honestly. There’s only so much I can do by myself here during the summer.”

“Ugh right! I want it to be school again too but don’t get me wrong, I love the summer, the weather is great here recently and the nightlife is amazing too. I just have nobody to go with, you know.”

“Yeah I get it. Trust me, if I could be there to go out with you I would, there is definitely no nightlife here haha.”

Shit. That wasn’t too forward was it? She is taking a while to respond to you. She hasn’t even opened the message yet. 

*4 minutes later*

“Well, you’re going to be around for that team-building thing coach has us doing in a couple of weeks right?”

“Yeah, I should be.”

“Well, we can go out then if you want? Me and a few friends had plans but they’re all on the team and I’m sure they’d love to have you there too.”

“Yeah, that sounds great I’d love to!”

The conversation pretty much ended there and your contact with her was fairly limited, just a small comment here or there until you finally got to fly back to school for summer training. You settle back into the apartment you left a couple months ago, everything is still a mess where you left it but the kitchen and living room are even filthier since you are not around to clean up much after your roommates. You decided to wait until your team practice to talk to Kate about hanging out again. You didn’t want to come on too strong but also a small part of you feels like she forgot what she said months ago and you won’t end up seeing her, not outside of team stuff at least. 

You grabbed your gear and headed to the field where practice was being held. You saw some of your friends from last year and decided to catch up with them before coach pulled you all in to start practice. You were trying your best not to make it obvious but your eyes were tracking all around you looking for Kate but she was nowhere to be seen. 

*Whistle* “Okay team! Let’s bring it in. First, I just want to say thank you to everyone for making the effort to come back to campus for this, meeting I–”

“SORRY SORRY SORRY!” You hear the coach interrupted as footsteps are fast approaching the circle of archers. 

“Hi Kate.” Says coach.

“I am SO sorry. My driver was running late and then there was traffic because of a giant accident, I think there was some battle in the streets again, I don’t know, either way, my bad coach, won’t happen again…I promise.” She says with the most adorable grin that is absolutely saying she will be late again. 

“It’s alright Kate, it happens, I was just telling the team how thankful I am that everyone could make the trip back to campus for this.” Coach went on to talk about the drills you were doing for the day and man was it hard to not be in awe watching her. You tried your best not to stare all day because the last thing you wanted to do was make it obvious but fuck it felt impossible. The day came to an end and you packed up your gear, Kate was talking with the other seniors on the team as they were gathering their things and started to head out. You could feel your window closing to talk to her but interrupting her conversation with her friends and “inviting” yourself out with them just felt too weird and uncomfortable. If it wasn’t meant to be then it wasn’t meant to be but you would kill to be able to just spend an hour with her. 

You watched as she started to walk away towards the parking lot with her friends when all of a sudden she motioned for them to hold on a minute and she turned around and jogged over to you. 

“Hey y/n! Sorry we didn’t get to catch up much during practice, I saw your shooting though it’s looking good.” 

Yeah…your face is bright red. Control your shit. 

“Anyways, me and a couple friends are going out later tonight to a party that one of their friends is hosting. It’s like a Hawaiian beach summer nights themed type of party so if you have something like that to wear, that would be great.”

“Yeah, I might have something, I’ll take a look when I get home.” 

“Cool! I’ll text you the address once I get it off my friend and I’ll see you there?”

“Yeah, sounds good!” 

“Here, why don’t you put your number into my phone, I don’t like using DM’s that much.”

You take Kate’s phone out of her hand and fill out a contact for yourself, praying that she can’t hear your heart beating out of your chest. 

“Cool, thanks, I’ll send you a text in a bit.” She says with a smile and then runs off to re-join her friends. 

It seems silly sitting by your phone and literally watching the minutes tick by waiting for her to text you but that’s all  you could do. The anticipation felt like it was killing you. 

Your phone finally buzzed with a mystery number attached, “Hey y/n! It’s Kate. So…slight change of plans.”

Fuck. Is she bailing? Your eyes were glued on the three dots as she typed and you watched as they disappeared and reappeared. 

“Turns out the party is actually around the corner from my place so if you wanted to just come here first, we could pre-game and shit and then walk over together? My friends said they were going out to get their hair done so they’ll be running late.”

“Hey Kate, yeah no problem that works for me just send me your address and lmk what time you want me there.”

Kate dropped a pin of her location to you with the text attached telling you to come over at 7pm. 

7pm rolled around and you were already there outside but you kind of felt like you should wait another minute or two so you weren’t RIGHT on time. Or is it weird to be a minute late? But wouldn’t being on time be weirder? Whatever, you decided to just wait a minute and then knock on her door. 

Knocking on her door was the most nerve wracking thing you ever did, you were genuinely shitting bricks. 

“HEY! Come in come in!” Kate eagerly yells at you as she swings the door open. She’s wearing shorts with a bright purple bikini top and a button down Hawaiian shirt over top that doesn’t have a single button done up. Are you starring? Yes. Probably? Absolutely you are. 

“Make yourself at home, feel free to grab a drink from the fridge, my roommates are out of town and left all their alcohol so help yourself.” She said with a laugh. 

You heard that right? Her roommates are out of town. Just the two of you…you never know. 

You grabbed a drink from the fridge and took a seat on the couch next to her and yeah…the drink started going down faster than usual because of all the nerves in your stomach. The two of you made small talk for awhile but the conversation started flowing a little more naturally about 2 drinks in. Were you still kind of awkward as hell? Yeah…a little. But at least you warmed up to her a bit and weren’t acting so weird. About an hour later, her friends showed up and grabbed you guys to head over to the party. Honestly, things were going so well with just the two of you that you didn’t even want to go to this party but if it meant you got to spend more time with her then there you were. You got to the party and you honestly knew practically nobody. You weren’t exactly a social butterfly but Kate clearly was. She was talking to EVERYBODY. The boys at the party especially loved her. There was lots of laughing and flirting going on, you could feel the jealousy building but acting out was definitely not an option. You ended up socialising with a few of the other people at the party but for most of the night you stuck by Kate’s side, the two of you got pretty drunk together, pouring shots for one another and dancing in the pit of people to extremely loud music. There was a point where it felt like it was just you and her and nobody else was there while the music was blasting into your ears and the two of you were jumping together to the beat and singing out the lyrics to whatever song was on at the time. Kate got really close to you until some guy would come and pull her away in an attempt to make a move on her. Although, it never actually happened. Kate always ended up finding her way back to you. At one point she grabbed your hand and pulled you into the middle of the crowd as the two of you sang (screamed) the lyrics to “love story” into each other's faces. The party, as all do, started to simmer down. You guys actually ended up being some of the last people at the party, you stuck around to the point where the music was gone and most people were just sitting around chatting halfway sober. 

“Hey, I think I’m going to go home, I am super tired right now.” Kate says to you. 

“Okay, I’ll walk with you, I left my bag at your place anyways so I have to grab it.” 

“Right, sounds good.” 

Although the two of you had been singing and dancing for hours, she looked just as perfect as when you left and you were trying your hardest not to stare at her while the two of you were walking side-by-side. 

The walk back to her place was pretty quick, when the two of you got inside you went to grab your bag and get your things together. You were desperately trying to figure out what to say to her while you were organising your stuff. You didn’t want to come on too strong but you also want to make sure that she knows you had a good time…I guess just tell her exactly that?

“I had a really good time tonight, thanks again for inviting me.” You say as you’re leaning against the wall in her hallway. 

“Of course, anytime. And I did too. We should really hang out more when we come back to school.” She replies. 

Kate walks towards you and stops about a foot away leaning up against the doorframe to her bedroom. The hallway is super narrow and all you can think about is pinning her against the wall while you kiss down her neck and pull her tight by her waist. 

“Yeah I think so too. I guess I should probably head out.” You say as she looks at you with the softest eyes that you swore said “please stay”. You lingered for a second longer as the two of you were looking at each other, tired, kind of tipsy and on the verge of ripping each other's clothing off. All you wanted was for her to actually ask you to stay a little longer but before she had the chance you were already walking towards the door. 

“Have a good night y/n.” She says. “Text me when you get home safe.”

“I will. Sleep well Kate.” You reply as you turn to look at her with a smile and step out the front door. 

That goodbye felt different. It felt like there were still feelings in the air and lots that wanted to be said that wasn't. It felt like the perfect opportunity with nobody around after an amazing night together has passed but you regret none of it. Although you weren’t able to get a confirmation on whether or not Kate even likes women like you do, you knew there was definitely a type of tension between the two of you that she definitely noticed.

-- END OF PT 1 --

Taglist: @yelenaslyubov @youreatotalposer @jeyramarie @flosbelova @bridgecitybrad @justthis-stuff @chloe7076 @ailenepuff @ravenclawbitch426 @mellowladyangel @amcg0605-blog @kassies-take @yelenaswife1996 @wandanatchick @lilroachsworld @inluvwithfictionalwomen @x666hours @natashaswife4125 @onetruwhore @karmasgxrl @hopelesslyfallenninlove @setsuna1415 @swiftdazer @imobsessedwithmilfss @madamevirgo @louisprettybab @splatalia-jumpanova @jediluka @t00manyfand0ms

[awfcrusso]

My thoughts on every single player today for Barça

Starting XI

Cata - needs to stop pissing about with the ball on the goal line it’s gonna backfire massively eventually. But to be fair she made a good few saves could’ve easily been more.

Frido - did fuck all really basically always passed backwards made a few nice passes to alexia but that’s it.

Mapi - fucking awful her and Ingrid as a CB partnership doesn’t work. They’re a great couple but a CB partnership not so much. Honestly baffled at how she managed to play a full 90’ that booking she got she was bloody lucky Ingrid was there or that was a red card.

Ingrid - was better of the CBs coped with Bummy relatively well. Personally feel she shouldn’t have been subbed off but hey ho im not the manager. She is as solid defender.

Ona - wasn’t great wasn’t awful honestly didn’t really notice her in the first half she did an awful throw in in the second half tho.

Keira - didn’t notice her at all in the entire game apart from that god awful shot she had near the end of the game.

Patri - worst player on the pitch for me. Can’t pass for shit especially forwards passing back to mapi she’s great at that but we aren’t playing fucking rugby. Honestly can’t believe she wasn’t taken off at half time abysmal.

Aitana - had an… okay game. Came alive towards the end of the game and made a good few chances could’ve had more chances if you know caro would fucking run but whatever. One of the better players of the starting XI.

Alexia - was fucking everywhere on that pitch can’t really complain at her today could’ve probably done more tho but so could everyone.

Ewa - best player that started ran her fucking socks off for unlucky a few times wasn’t she the one that hit the post? And then that shot that was cleared off the line by Laia. (We need her next season) kinda dwindled towards the end of the game but girlie was probably dead.

Caro - second worst after Patri. Literally did nothing had a few chances but blew them badly. So many passes that came her way and she just didn’t fucking run drove me up the wall. I’m a firm believer she should get that ballon dor but girl these performances she’s been putting out this season aren’t it. Please please become 23/24 CGH again xoxo.

Subs

Pina - brought that spark to the attack that we were seriously lacking but bringing Ingrid off for her was a lil weird. But easily POTM for me tonight changed that game attacking wise a tone and should’ve started.

Esmee - another player I firmly believe should’ve been brought on at half time. Came on in that LB role she’s been playing all season and calmed that area of the pitch down. She’s gonna be immense this season.

Irene - should’ve A. Started. B. Come on at half time or C. Come on with Pina. She’s a brick wall we need her in defence she needs to be the starting CB especially in big games like that with players like bunny shaw against us. We needed her today played well for what the 10 minutes she was on the pitch??

Vicky - I love her I really do. Spent more time doing caros job when she came on this girl is gonna win a ballon dor. Again brought a spark that we so desperately craved but unfortunately was just too late.

Kika - a bit like Vicky but more bitey again could’ve done with been given more time and not have been brought on when we were 2-0 down in the 86th minutes does that man expect these kids to work wonders or something???

Manager

Pere - me no like you. You’ve changed something about this Barça team and I’m not a fan of it they’ve lost all the flair and confidence they had under Jonatan. And with him we aren’t winning that CL sorry to say it.

Jonatan - come back home I miss you gonna kms

[princess-of-the-corner]

Actually, you know what I want?

I want Chloe to be a full time hero, for the pure purpose of roasting Hawk Moth’s Akuma designs. And I want it to be the most effective way to fight Hawk Moth they’ve found.

Like, Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge and Carapace are over here with “We’ll never give in to you, Hawk Moth!”, and “Good will always triumph over evil!”, and then you have Chloe, who’s kind of new to the whole “impassioned heroic declarations”, with her mind blanking out, and the first thing that comes out is:

“So, which bargain bin did you grab that out of?”

And like, it isn’t even close to her best work, she sort of panicked when she realized everyone was giving these big defiant speeches, Chloe is honestly disappointed in herself, but for some reason, Chloe’s words tick Hawk Moth off more than the rest. The Akuma gets distracted because Hawk Moth started going off on her - Gabriel has just gotten back from a fashion week that went very poorly, he’s running on about six hours of sleep, caffeine and spite - and the heroes are able to purify the butterfly while he’s ranting. And Chloe, Chloe who grew up with the Style Queen as her mother, as the daughter of the mayor of Paris, as the bully, the Bad Bitch™, who can find someone’s social weakpoint in ten seconds or less, gets an idea.

Next time they fight, she is ready. She is prepared.

“Ugh, really? He put you in that?”

“Sorry to break it to you, but Evil 1690’s isn’t in this season.”

“Taking inspiration from Mode’s last spring line, are we? You’re lucky he didn’t try to get original.”

“You’re jumping off of buildings, and he has you wearing taffeta!?”

“Well, of course you’re working for Hawk Moth. Only someone that evil would think faux pleather is a good look.”

Like, it is bizarrely effective. Insult his designs enough, and Hawk Moth cannot keep his cool. Chat Noir and Ladybug quickly catch on and the roasts just get more and more vicious (Adrien vents every complaint he has ever had about some of the things he’s had to model. Marinette smack talks the stitchwork - “There isn’t any stitching! THEY’RE MADE OF MAGIC!”, “Would explain why it sucks then.”). Rena isn’t as good at it, but Carapace is surprisingly savage when he wants to be (he has not forgotten, nor forgiven, the Bubbler). Absolutely no one gets why this, of all things, gets under his skin, but it quickly becomes Paris’s biggest meme, that Hawk Moth is the World’s Worst Fashion Designer. Four weeks in and there’s merch. The Ladyblog has a Akuma design ranking system that starts in the negatives and just goes down. A single clip of Juleka - “It was terrifying. I looked like a clown.” - goes viral overnight.

And in his lair, you have Gabriel, hair askew, glasses crooked, furiously designing.

“-just skin-tight suits-”

“Sir?”

“-don’t even have pockets-”

“Sir.”

“-think they’re sooooo smart, I’d like to see Queen Bee try and come up with a costume themed around pigeons-”

“Sir, what- Sir, what are you doing?”

“Teaching the world to appreciate my vision!”

“Mr. Agreste, you’re designing outfits that the brand won’t even be tied to-”

“MY VISION NATALIE!”

-

AHAHAHAHHAHAHA

They’re going to drive him insane and he DESERVES IT

[marie-scary]

saw someone do this with Glee, so i decided to try my swing at yellowjackets as Grey’s Anatomy characters🙂‍↕️

(only from seasons like 1-10is. bc that show (as a fan) has no business being that long) also most of these are crack😭🙂‍↕️

Shauna: Meredith Grey, slutty mistress, need i say more?

Lottie: Jo Wilson, they’re both goofy and dorky, and if i remember correctly when jo and alex were drinking she talked about stealing something. (i’ll rewatch and confirm this🤝���)

Misty: Cristina Yang, one of the twisted sisters. Cristina is very cutthroat and i feel like the misty killing jessica robert’s is pretty cutthroat. also yang is just super fucking smart, and so is misty. (i would like to note cristina yang would hate misty)

Javi: Andrew Deluca, just bc he’s sweet and he dies in the end. like i’m sorry bro but yeah😭

Tai: Owen Hunt, my fav sleepwalking adulterers <3 no but the way they both deal with trauma is so funny. like no let’s not deal with it. lets repress it and act like im not the problem (tai is not the problem tho, women are never the problem)(i actually hate owen hunt. fuck that bitch ass ginger (this is just a slide at owen. other than that ginger women {bc i don’t fuck with the male specimen} are so hot. thank you for existing))

Laura Lee: April Kepner, do we even have to ask that? i love me some bible thumpers. also i like how their environment challenges/strengthens their faith. holy women for the win ❤️🙏🏼

Mari: Lexie Grey, honestly i’m still not sure about this one, but idk i think they’re both so cute and goofy and bc mari is pit girl and lexie died in the woods😔

Gen: Callie Torres, gives off mean vibes but it’s lowkey a cutie. but also a total bad fucking ass

Ben: Arizona Robbins, twinnsss😝🤞🏼(arizona got one up on him with the prosthetic and being able to be openly gay tho😔)

Akilah: Izzie Stevens, something about hallucinating shit that isn’t there is crazy. but idk what’s crazier. hallucinating having a pet rat but it’s actually been dead the whole time or hallucinating fucking your dead ex-lover/patient/someone you stole a heart for?? idk chat, shits wild asf😭

Van: George O’Malley, only the good parts bc those parts george was sweet and cute and all fun go lucky.

Travis: Preston Burke, arrogant, narcissistic, sexist, fucking douchebags, god complex’s 😒(but also burke, like travis, had his good moments. i will say i do favor travis’ character more tho. bc he’s a kid and that’s understandable. but at his big fucking age burke knows better (okay i’m sorry let me stop before i get heated😭) anyways yeah)

Nat: Alex Karev/Amelia Shepherd, let’s be honest here, alex is so nat, when it comes to the brooding, dickhead, boyfriend, who came from a tough childhood and swears he’s tough as shit just bc he boxes. but is a fucking puppy dog and follows you around and laughs super hard at shit you say even tho you just said that persons shirt looked weird. she’s also very Amelia coded. and yes bc of the drugs and the daddy issues with seeing him get shot. maybe not the same circumstances or relationship but it played a big role in her life.

Jackie: Derek Shepherd, let’s be so fucking fr rn. of course jackie would be charming, annoying, stuck up, pretentious, McDreamy, loyal to a fault, himbo man. “it’s a beautiful day to save lives” headass😭im sorry but i totally see it. also they both die in crazy ways after both surviving a plane crash. if anyone needs to be studied, it’s them.

[handsome-edvard]

Hot take for the Robinwest nation

I think the scene in season 1 where she gives him the puppy eyes could have been more interesting if he did stick to his firm NO. He storms off and that’s the end of that.

But what if that was just the set up?

Cut to the Robinsons scrambling to figure out how to make it work with just John’s weight in the shuttle, and Maureen is stressed but determined in her calculations, and Judy is clearly considering going with her dad when-

Enter Don West, clad in a bright orange spacesuit, swaggering into the passenger seat of the shuttle saying, “If anyone asks, I got paid for this.”

“Don?” Maureen gasps.

“A lot,” Don carries on, settling into the co-pilot station. “And if I die up there I better get a statue. My own holiday on Alpha Centauri.”

And Maureen is smiling in disbelief and John is skeptical but at a loss, and Penny and Will are relieved. Don sees all of that but he hasn’t looked at Judy. Not yet.

Thing is he didn’t see her behind him in that room when Maureen and John tried to sell him on the idea, and he told them to send him a postcard.

He’d said no because it is his life on the line too, he likes being alive, and doing the right thing does really suck.

So he doesn’t look at Judy right now as he doesn’t know what he’s going to find behind those big brown eyes that previously beseeched him to help. The ones he couldn’t stop thinking about later.

She had looked so devastated by his refusal, so vulnerable, that he is honestly not sure risking his life is enough to get her to talk to him again.

Probably for the best.

He flipped that tanker for her and he lost the money, then they lost Evan eventually. It was all for nothing. From where he’s standing, doing things for Judy doesn’t help him in any way, and that’s a problem because he can’t seem to stop. It’s entirely irrational.

He locks eyes with her later on, after various trials of his recovery time in test launches. He’s even more sluggish with each trial but it can work. They can do it. Don can’t tell what Judy is thinking and she looks away just as quickly as he does. But one thing he knows for certain is how she looks when she’s pissed and this — is not that.

Now they’re about to leave and Don needs an excuse to be near Judy one last time. Debbie clucks beside him and Don figures if he dies up there with John, he should make sure the lucky chicken is with someone else, maybe bring them a bit of extra luck like she did for him.

“I don’t want your chicken,” Judy says, when she realizes what Don has for her.

He thought she looked almost eager when he called out for her (it was endearing, really), and the way she rolls his eye at him right now is—that’s what it is.

That’s what does it for him.

The reason he’s risking even more than he already has is not because Maureen asked or because John needs someone else in the shuttle.

“And I don’t want to hurtle through space in a tin can,” Don replied, “but here we are.”

She doesn’t seem mad at him, not anymore, and that’s good enough for him. If he goes out doing something for her, it’s good enough for him.

He’s a decent person who has been dealt a bad hand and it’s still so awkward for someone like him to admit he’s a smuggler—he never liked that word—and the thing about Judy is, when she looks at him, it’s like she can see who he actually is underneath everything.

That’s why all her appeals to his better nature always succeed. It’s how the prior caught-off guard No eventually turned into a Yes.

It’s not just his life on the line, it’s her life too, and everyone else’s lives. He wants to reaffirm that he is a better man than everyone thinks, that they are past the money.

“Bye Debbie,” Don says gently.

“Don?” Judy calls after him just as he turns to leave. Her eyes are different, almost shimmering with emotion. Doing that thing from earlier but for a different reason. “Hey, try not to die up there, okay? Make sure you fight.”

There it is. Now he knows for certain they’re back on good terms. Beneath the hefty space suit, a flutter blooms in his chest.

Judy is preparing herself for the possibility that they may never see each other again. Don gives her a smile. He wants her to remember him well.

“Do my best. See you on the other side.” He winks at her and departs, hiding his own bittersweet smile.

. . .

When the shuttle explodes as it hurtles through the atmosphere Judy lets out a scream before she even knows it, and her eyes fill with tears for her Dad and for Don, because Don didn’t want to do this. She tried so hard to convince him and she thought she failed until he came back and strapped into the copilot seat.

And now he’s gone. He’s dead because of her. How can she live with that?

. . .

But then when she hears his sweetly bruised voice through the comm, thick with emotion, her eyes fill with tears again. “Are you crying?”

“No?” Don says.

“Yes you are!” Judy laughs and cries a little too, already thinking about when she’s going to see him again.

“They’re happy tears,” John confirms.

Don is so heroic. He made it. Judy is overjoyed and she can’t wait to hear his voice his person, to see the crinkles near his eyes when his smiles begin to form.

. . .

Don shuffles a few paces behind John Robinson. He knows the family is going to be all over the man, so he figures he’ll just give them some space. Although he’s been thinking about Judy he can’t let that show in front of everyone, and so when he becomes aware of her presence, Don tries his best to maneuver around everyone and maybe go see about Debbie.

But Judy pulls away from John and comes to him. Her eyes are full of admiration and pride and relief. It’s crazy how one person can make him feel like he’s a hero among men.

“Hey Doc,” Don says, watching as her arms extend. He catches her quickly, glad to see someone is happy to see him, and not just anyone — her. “That’s right Judy, I am amazing.”

Judy laughs, her arms tightening around him, basking in his warmth. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says softly.

“Yeah. Me too.” Don pulls back to see that something is different about Judy’s demeanor — like calling her princess might do some things to her. “You good?”

Judy nods. “Never better.”

[planet-crait]

A New Dev-elopement is next and I’m super excited! It sucks getting attached to Dev with kind of knowing what happens but also I hope for a season two to keep developing him.

Do these kids not normally get homework over the weekend? Lucky. Also a treasure hunt sounds fun! Not sure how that’s homework and what it’s teaching? Maybe the history of the city? Maybe? Or the clues are word problems they have to solve? Well we’ll see what they come up with for it. Kind of hilarious how blatantly everyone hurls paper at Mr. Guzman for that though.

How does the school afford tickets to the water park as prizes? Aww poor kids they’re so devastated that they’re going to be randomly paired. Ohh the heartbreak. I mean. I can’t necessarily relate I uh never had friends in my classes.

Anyways I get Mr. Guzman wants to get the kids to make new friends but I also get the pain especially for a big weekend thing. Oh no. Oh no Hazel when will you learn not to use the word Wish unless you mean it? Wanda’s horrified look was pretty funny though. But oh Hazel may or may not regret that wish I know she’s going to be paired with Dev now.

Lolz Dev and Hazels mini fight is funny but Mr. Guzman should break them up. Hazel you really don’t see why this happened? I think I’ve given up on the questioning Hazel blatantly talking to them it just. Is going to keep being yadda yaddad past. To be fair Hazel you said I wish. You can only blame yourself.

Ohh poor Dev. He can’t even play his game which has music that isn’t very loud at all. Like oof his dad blatantly says his work is a priority over Dev which. Is not an easy pill to swallow. I realize we’re not supposed to like him but he is literally a ten year old being emotionally abused at a minimum by his only parental figure in his life I will always struggle to hold any grudges against literal children especially abused ones okay sue me. (I mean good luck you’ll get like a sandwich and two pencils).

Why am I not surprised Dev wants to ditch a school activity? He seems to believe money will get him anything he wants and well…I can’t argue with the logic as fucked up as that is. I mean it’s wrong morally but it’s not incorrect because capitalism ruins everything.

Ohh so Hazel and Dev have a common book and Game in common? They seem like they could get along really well if Dev wasn’t so spoiled. But ohhh Dev does get the clues right lolz.

I just realized though making ten year plans old walk all over the city by themselves feels kind of cruel. They’re ten and it’s a big city. Also does each pair have their own clues? Like Hazel and Dev keep the post it notes how will the next pair find the next clue unless they’re all different?

Aww Dev and Hazel are having a moment that’s so cute honestly. They get it at the same time and have a little air guitar duet and are laughing. But ohhh the moment has to end. Not surprising I can imagine opening up is not easy for Dev given the glimpses of his home life we got.

He’s starting to smile though that’s progress! Oh OH! He takes off his glasses when he’s finally ready to make a connection (High giving someone) I thought maybe the glasses where like a mask for him and he takes them off when he’s ready to lower the mask and maybe let someone in. Poor kids though fail the high five and face plant hard.

Oh he didn’t put them back on and they laughed despite that oh that’s so cute. I wonder if the pizza stuff did a lot of heavy lifting for getting Dev to be willing to open up to Hazel? That would make sense honestly especially if he’s as starved for affection as I imagine he is.

Seeing him so genuinely smiling is so sweet and cute it makes my heart melt honestly. OHHH HE CALLED HER HAZEL AND NOT ANOTHER NAME!!!! They’re laughing and joking it’s so cute. Aww Hazel is praising Dev to his dad it’s so dang sweet. Oh. Oh no. Dale is brushing it off I hope Dev doesn’t shut down after this.

Oh no he did shut down. Oh poor kid. I feel so bad for him he was so happy and smiling and eager to introduce Hazel to his dad and he just shut him down and his accomplishments so hard. I cannot imagine how crushing it is to have your parent so blatantly brush off the hard work you did especially when it’s something you’re really proud of.

Hazel is trying so hard to reconnect and bring up the fun they had but oof years of emotional abuse do some damage and I’m not sure how easily that can be undone. Ohhh he has really shut down he put the glasses back on and called her the wrong name oof. I think I was right about the glasses being a mask. They hide what his eyes could show as sadness or other emotions he doesn’t want people (his dad) to see. It’s painful seeing such a young kid putting up a mask like this.

Oh I expected Hazel to cry not get mad and leave. Interesting. Also interesting to see Dev seem to immediately regret it and feel bad about it. Unfortunately abuse just. Messes with you. We don’t have any blatant abuse on screen (this is a kids show) but given the neglect Dev faces I struggle to think there isn’t also some major emotional abuse he deals with.

Hazels emotions seem all over the place her being so salty about the sushi. I have a feeling she’s trying to push down the feelings of friendship she was forming with Dev. Oh huh. Didn’t expect Dev to show up again. I guess he really connected with Hazel and just can’t admit it yet. Ohhh Devs insult gave Hazel the clue she needed I love that. Not the insult Hazels mind going back immediately to the project. I didn’t expect the paperweight to be relevant again but hey it works. Oh wow Dev looks super guilty. I kind of expected something to push him but he seems to be doing this all on his own.

Oh Dev lowering his glasses as he re opens up to Hazel. I get that though it makes sense his dad puts him down so much that he would immediately shut down. He is desperate to get something for his dad he’s willing to do a lot to try and get something I don’t think his dad will ever give him. Good on Hazel though for calling out that he hurt her. He owned up which is good but Hazel should call out she got hurt from it. HE SAID SORRY HE SAID SORRY!!!! Aww Hazel forgives him so easily and he removed the glasses again oh my heart.

Wait wait emotional growth wish????? I don’t think that’s ever come up before. Like ever.

Heist yes I love this. Lolz Dev finding doors open over and over again is hilarious. Dev joining on Hazels imagination for the heist is so cute though. And them posing for the security cameras is so funny. Oh more Dev smiles I love it!!!

Ohh I was wondering why he would demand students break into the principles office. That makes more sense and aww. Those photos are so cute. They’re adorable. Protect them at all costs. I do love the principle doesn’t care suddenly because homework over the weekend. Honestly nailed her personality there to solve the conflict.

Oh no the water park closed. Oh the kids will RIOT. THEY NAILED THEIR HIGH FIVE FINALLY!!!!!

Okay so uh. New favorite episode to be quite frank. The wish and its result made sense. The development for Dev worked and Hazel kind of understands Dev more and he’s being more open and not wearing his sunglasses anymore. Also Dev and Hazel are so dang cute. I hope we see him making more friends I need to see this child get love and support damn it. Really really solid episode absolutely loved it I hope we see more of Dev and Hazel hanging out. She clearly has a very good influence on him and he needs that in his life.

[rocketboots564]

I decided to write more of my first time reactions and thoughts to rvb Season 9!

This should (hopefully) be the third and final part for season 9.

Season 9 part 3:

Imagine showing up to your funeral, and they don’t even give you a respectable eulogy… They just talk shit about how you talked a lot…

Yeah I would kill all of them… Simmons is 10 times the man I’ll ever be.

Oh so Maine straight up stole the grenade launcher! Kinda like he did with AI units… history is a full circle once again

You know… I feel like the director should’ve given them equipment just in case the sarcophagus thing was heavy. Which it is. The Director is a really bad boss

Understatement of the century I know

Washington I’m 80% sure half the things you freelancers do is improvise… and honestly I’d be sick of it too

Oh yeah Carolina let’s just fucking kick out friends off of a SEVERAL STORIES TALL BUILDING. You’re lucky you have that armor.

The freelancers do heists the same way I played Payday 2: Five minutes of stealth before going “nah fuck this” and blasting the brains of some poor shmuck all over the walls

I think you SHOULD feel bad for the people down there, you tossed MAINE at them Carolina.

You chose to use the flamethrower… inside a building… no wonder the freelancers kick your guy’s asses on the reg… yall are fucking idiots

DONT YOU DISRESPECT THAT GUN IT SAVED OUR ASS IN REACH. Bouncy gun is fun

“That bit with the purple plane? That was just showing off,” well when your number one in Freelancer ranked mode you might as well act like it Wash

You know Carolina kinda acts like Tex a bit. No wonder they’re at odds. There’s only room for one dommy mommy bisexual badass in this show

Oh it’s not a bomb… it’s worse… it’s a big ass fucking lazer

AHSBBFMSM THE JPEG EXPLOSION is KILING ME

Yeah Carolina I bet it is karma… deserved Karma

NOT THE XYLOPHONE!

CAROLINA HITTING THE FUCKING Sonic Adventure 2 CITY ESCAPE “talk about low budget flights. No food or movies? I’m outta here!” ON THE SARCOPHAGUS

I’m surprised Project Freelancer wasn’t investigated and shut down earlier with how much property damage and civilians they endanger.

Tex being responsible about the about the team is a nice change of pace–oh she was paid…. makes sense.

Simmons can play the Banjo? When’s his new single dropping?

Grif be supportive of your Brofriend (Bro + Boyfriend = Brofriend)

Wow… imagine your best friend being closer with your ex/not-ex girlfriend than you.

Couldn’t be me Church… mainly cause I’m gay and don’t have a girlfriend

Sarge, the planet is quite literally breaking apart, and your plan is to blow it up… honestly I’m not even surprised.

It’s actually astounding how absolutely this heist went to shit… and quickly too.

“We had to learn to care for our equipment” Tex says. Cut to five minutes ago where she drove a motorcycle through a glass wall.

HOLY SHIT MAINE CAN TAKE SOME DAMAGE! I mean I know they’re wearing Spartan armor and all, but JEEZE.

I love how even the freelancers almost (emphasis on almost) fumble their stuff like the red and blue teams.

Like when Carolina juggles the briefcase in the air before getting a hold of it, and then immediately getting kicked back.

Damn… more Carolina and Tex beef.

How much do I wanna bet Grif’s plan is gonna backfire hilariously?

Yes it backfired horribly… because now Andy exists… again

Oh hey Delta was born! Great! Which means Alpha/Church was just tortured to the point that his mind split…. Not great…

“We’re the good guys? Right?” Oh… you’re concerned you’re not? What clued you in, the insane property damage, murder, or endangered civilians?

“I forget you…” AAAHHH WHAT THE FUCK THAT IS SO SAD YET SO GOOD.

And they brought him back… that’s actually really fucking funny.

THEYRE GONNA KILL THE DIRECTOR?! AWWW YES THIS MOTHERFUCKER HAS IT COMING.

Conclusion: YES I CANT WAIT TO WATCH SEASON 10

[mass-convergence]

On Criminal Minds and Stuff

Okay this started out as a thing about what I thought about how the more recent seasons (post Mr. Scratch but pre-Evolution) handled JJ and Emily’s friendship/dynamic … and then it spiraled out of control into a whole analysis on the most recent seasons in general. So excuse the disorganized thoughts here - coming off of a night shift and also I’m typing this on my phone. It is what it is.

I would like to see more of the dynamic between JJ and Emily as close friends, I feel like that’s been somewhat lacking in the most recent seasons pre-Evolution. JJ freaking got shot (and died for a second … honestly surprised she wasn’t laid up for longer but that’s TV for you) and given how close those two were in previous seasons - you would think there would be more screen time to Emily’s reaction to JJ getting shot. JJ helped arrange Emily’s fake death and Emily literally flew her ass back to Quantico from London when JJ got kidnapped. I know Emily is the queen of compartmentalization but … idk … I feel like we should have gotten something other than a brief scene where Emily shows up at the hospital to ask JJ if she could confirm if Grace was the one who shot her. Doesn’t even show the interaction either - Emily just shows up and says she’s going to talk to JJ and that’s it. I remember when Garcia got shot and everyone on the team was in that waiting room even though her shooter was on the loose. (Guess thats what fanfic’s for 🤷🏻)

Also on the vein of JJ getting shot - and this is me being somewhat nitpicky about how this was written but:

How the fuck did no one notice JJ was missing … or not hear the gun going off in that parking garage? I feel like that was written solely so Reid could notice and go find her and I found that entire progression of events very clunky. How JJ got shot was a little dumb too. JJ is a veteran FBI agent at this point; she probably wouldn’t have bent over to pick up the gun, which necessitated her taking her attention away from the two unsecured suspects who already proved themselves to be pretty dangerous. I feel like she’d have called for someone and kept her gun trained on the two. It wasn’t like she was in the middle of nowhere. It was just … kind of stupidly written? I read that she got shot in this episode before I watched it - and I had envisioned some kind of active shoot out situation where a bunch more people were involved and JJ got hit by a lucky (or I suppose unlucky) shot. Not JJ standing alone in a parking garage with zero backup and making the dumbest choice imaginable that just doesn’t seem to fit with her character at all. She’s a trained FBI agent - that’s not a mistake she would have made. Like what the fuck that was kind of stupid I’m sorry.

Also - I’m not saying that the show should write JJ and Emily getting together. As much as I do ship them romantically and love reading fic about them together … I also do like the concept of those two just having a strong platonic bond because as an ace person: I need more representations of that shit in media okay? Not everyone needs to be jumping each other’s bones.

Tbh the lack of intrateam romances was what drew me to this show in the first place. This team’s seen the worst that humanity has to offer and they have each other’s backs like a family and I love that. I love those small moments where they’re just hanging out as a team at the bar or watching their boss run in a race (while a bunch of them are hungover from Girl’s Night). It’s not an MCU Avengers situation where they feel like they’re all coworkers who vaguely hate each other. The BAU team’s a tight knit group and they love and support each other (which is what bothered me with how JJ getting shot was written - we had an entire episode dedicated to Garcia getting shot and the team’s response to that. You’re telling me Reid was the only guy who was in that waiting room - I get the Chameleon was at large and stuff but seriously no one else on the BAU team other than Reid was in that waiting room at least for a little bit).

I just feel like some of that team as a family dynamic has been pushed to the side in favor of writing about vaguely omnipotent serial killer #47282727 who has developed some kind of obsession or grudge with the BAU. Yes the multi episode super smart and competent serial killers were great to see but I don’t need that rehashed every season. Sometimes a terrifying dude whose case takes up back to back episodes before he (or she) is caught in the season opener would be fine. And that unsub’s only issue with the BAU is that they’re trying to stop him. At a certain point it’s like Marvel movies trying to treat a world ending threat like a serious thing when that’s been the plot of the past ten movies. Not everything needs to be a grand plotline. Sometimes the stakes can be small but feel just as important as a world ending threat.

Like Cyrus? Terrifying cult leader. Great. We didn’t need to have his cult re-emerge again (and somehow escape detection for all these years).

… I also have my thoughts on how Emily as Unit Chief has been written in the episodes I’ve seen (again haven’t watched Evolution yet but I’m very much looking forward to the episode where she gets high). I think that’s why I liked “Saturday” because we kind of got that glimpse of her personality that I loved in the earlier seasons. Maybe because she was out of her role as unit chief so she didn’t have to have that somewhat aloof air of professionalism and ultra-competency. She could just be Emily and eat eight (sorry, seven) donuts and drink wine … and also get sued by her former neighbor and not make the greatest decision in how to handle it.

I love this show, it got me through high school and it was one of the driving factors to me getting a job with the federal government as a civil servant who’s job is to protect the public. Not that I do anything as badass as the BAU, I sit at a desk and according to some people: I get paid to be wrong all the time. Like my current career path isn’t 100% because of Criminal Minds but I can’t deny that the whole concept of being part of a group that helps protect people didn’t nudge me in that direction. Basically - this show meant a lot and still means a lot to me even if I lost touch with it for a few years. I never get tired of going back to the old seasons and rewatching my favorite episodes.

This show just clicked for me. I always aspired to be like Emily, mainly for a stupid “we shared the same first name at some point before I realized some stuff about my gender identity” reason but she also resonated with me as someone who felt like she didn’t quite belong when she first joined the BAU and tried super hard to prove herself. Like that describes my entire state of being from elementary school until now (I’ve only just started really believing my coworkers when they tell me I’m doing a good job and I’m a valuable asset to the office). I looked up to her and I still do.

I wish I had a friend like JJ. Probably wouldn’t need her assistance in faking my own death unless something goes truly off the rails in my life. But I dunno, she just so kind and warm and caring and also a total badass (though, again - I don’t know if I’ve seen too much of that side of her in the more recent seasons and it’s kind of sad). I’m not saying I don’t have friends irl like that but idk, I just wish I had a friend like her.

I looked up to Reid as someone who’s had many of his socially awkward tendencies, but he was always not afraid to be himself and I found that amazing. As someone who’s felt like they’ve had to mask their neurodivergence - sometimes I’m like “but I could be like Reid and just … be myself”.

I could go on about Hotch, Rossi, Garcia, and Morgan - even Alex Blake who I feel like people didn’t really like at first (not sure about her current standing in the fandom … I think people have warmed to her - I just happened to be in that era where god forbid a woman show up and “replace” the fandom favorite or get in the way of a ship that was never going to canonically sail).

This post/essay/ramble has gone on for long enough though … even though I have plenty more thoughts. I like how this show actually pulled me out of this weird depressive funk I’ve been in for the past half year and I actually care about things again. I’m sure there were other factors involved with that but watching a childhood favorite was certainly a contributing factor. I’m going to go do some Christmas-y shit that involves stuffing my face with whatever’s in my fridge and pass out now.

[smokinholsters]

The Lucky Horseshoes - A Heartland Season 16 AU - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Finn stood back and inspected his work. He had just finished the first coat in the kitchen and was checking to make sure he hadn’t missed anything or inadvertently smudged the ceiling where it met the walls as the ceilings were freshly painted in the renovation and were fine as they were.

This was the easiest room he was doing today since there were no encumbrances; cabinets, countertops and kitchen fixtures were being installed new over the next few days. All it would need after that was the table and chair set that Amy had ordered having decided to leave the set she and Ty had bought for the loft. She was taking her loft dishes but Lisa and Jessica had ordered her a new set of pots and pans. She’d fill in counter appliances during the next few weeks as she decided what she wanted.

Finn switched off his small speaker, grabbed one of the five-gallon buckets they were using as seats and moved into the hallway along with his thermos, a small bag and phone and poured himself a hot cup of coffee just as his phone rang.

“Hey you.” He said as he took a sip and noticed the time. It was 7:30.

“Good morning.” Amy said “How’s it going over there?”

“Good morning to you too. It’s going great, just finished the first coat in the kitchen and stopped for coffee and my breakfast bagel.”

“Wow, what time did you start?”

“Not sure exactly, maybe a little before six, I’m an early riser and I’d rather get done before dark, what’s your schedule like today?

“I have a client horse coming here because I need the jumps so I’ll spend some time with him first thing.”

“Hmmm, feel like bringing and having lunch with me?”

“I think that can be arranged, burger and fries OK?”

“And coffee would be perfect.”

“Coffee it is, not sure when though, I’ll text?”

“I’ll be here, hey, uhm, I’m not sure if I mentioned that I love you yesterday.”

Amy smiled to herself “hmmmm, well, do you?”

“I do actually.”

“Excellent then, all is forgiven, I’ll text you later.” She said with a chuckle and cut the line.

“Hey.” Finn said to himself “what am I chopped liver?”

A second later his phone rang again. “Forget something?”

“I love you too Finn.”

She cut the line then and he smiled putting down the phone and bringing the bagel to his mouth.

Later, Amy came up the stairs and followed the music into the master bath where she found Finn standing on a small step ladder just finishing the last wall.

“Nice butt for a painter.” She said which stopped him cold.

“You scared the hell out of me Amy and thanks, I’ve ways thought so.”

“You have huh, I texted and called.”

Finn smiled climbing down his two steps and reached into his back pocket. “I must have left my phone out there somewhere, sorry.”

“No matter, lunch is on the porch, is that Ok, I figured you could use some fresh air.”

“Yup, give me a minute in the other bathroom to wash up.”

“How’s your burger?” Amy asked after they’d settled on one of the porch benches and Finn had taken a bite.

“Still hot, how’d you manage that?”

“Thermal saddle bag, I threw it in the truck before I left.”

“Well, thank you for that, this is great.”

Amy smiled while chewing.

“You staying for the afternoon?” He asked.

“Yes and no. Yes I’m staying but no, not with you, I’m taking the kids out.”

“Trail ride?”

“More like a progress evaluation, see how they’re riding.”

“For whatever reason, a trail ride is a trail ride.”

“True enough, nice day for it too.”

Finn nodded while chewing and looking out at the mountain view from the porch. “Nice view, I guess most porches down here face that view huh?”

Amy smiled “They all seem to, it is a nice view, I love the mountains.”

“Bring dessert?”

“Apple pie.”

Finn smiled “one of my favorites, thanks.”

“Is there pie you don’t like?”

“Honestly, not too fond of the cream pies, doesn’t seem right, like not really pie, y’know?”

“I guess, not too fond of those myself. You uhm, wouldn’t want to skip the afternoon’s painting and come along?”

“Wouldn’t that distract you from your task?”

Now Amy couldn’t help her smile “Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Yes, probably Finn Cotter, I’m not wholly enamored by you yet.”

“Yet is good, I’ll take yet.”

“Ready for the pie?”

“Yup.” He answered shoving his garbage into the paper bag they were packed in.

Finn took the time to fill their coffees while Amy packed away the garbage and pulled out the two slices of pie.

“I really think I’d feel more comfortable getting most of this painting done and ready for the next step. You and I both know things can come up that we have to deal with and right now I’m open for the afternoon.”

“No, I get it and you’re right.”

“Besides, we’ll get back and you’ll have to go fetch Lyndy and get her settled and I won’t want to paint after being out riding for a couple of hours, this is better.”

“Later?”

“How about you, me and Lyndy meet up later and grab dinner together?”

“I’d have to check back at Heartland but I can’t imagine Lyndy wouldn’t love the idea.”

“I’ll just need to head home, shower and change out of these coveralls. I’ll let you know when I’m heading out and you let me know when you’re leaving the center later.”

“Sounds like a deal though I may stop up if I have time.”

“That would be a nice surprise.”

Amy smiled as she stood and grabbed the empty bags and Finn followed her inside to the big garbage can in the kitchen. She turned into his arms and he pulled her close as he wrapped them around her waist.

“Hey, do I know you?”

Finn smiled and leaned over catching her lips which turned into a deeper kiss as Amy wrapped her arms around him.

“Are you two necking in my kitchen?” Renata asked coming in through the mud room entrance which let to the door to the back utility porch.

“Sorry Renata.” Amy said shifting to stand sided by side with Finn.

The older woman smiled “Nothing to be sorry about Amy, have you both eaten?”

“Amy brought lunch and we ate on the porch.”

“They all voted on pizza for lunch and Clint obliged them, Chicken and rice for dinner if either of you are interested.”

“We were just discussing dinner out with Lyndy but thanks anyway.” Amy answered.

“Just mind that there will always be enough for you three to join us.”

“One of the many things I’ll be looking forward to Renata, less than a month to go I’d say.”

“I guess you’re off to ride with them.” She said nodding to the outside and meaning the kids.

“I am and Finn here’s getting back to painting.”

“And how’s that all coming Finn?”

“Second coats in the kitchen, and the two bathrooms today, touch ups tomorrow and then the craftsman come in for a few days for cabinets, fixtures and hook ups. Hopefully we can finish painting the rest over the weekend. After that the furniture will trickle in.”

“Well if you need me to look out for something or any help just let me know.”

Amy nodded “We sure will Renata, thanks.”

“No need, I figure my real job is just that, to be where I’m needed.”

“Just like a mom.”

“Lot of kids around here to not have a mom.”

“Then you’re perfect Renata, don’t change.”

“I’m too old to change Amy, now you two get on so I can get my work done.”

Finn walked Amy out onto the porch and turned her to face him one last time before they went their separate ways for the afternoon.

“You be careful.”

“I’m always careful Finn, I’ll see you later. Love you.”

“I love you too Amy.” He said grabbing one last kiss before watching her head down the stairs and catch her backwards wave.

Hours later while rinsing the painting supplies at the tub in the small bathroom he heard Lyndy’s attempt to sneak up the stairs and he smiled.

“Surprise!!”

“Hey Lyndy, I didn’t expect you.”

“Momma was late and was waiting at the bus stop with her truck and I asked. Is my room painted?”

“Sorry sweetheart.” Finn started while standing and grabbing a towel to dry his hands. “Only the kitchen, this bathroom and the one in Momma’s room. Go look.”

Amy came up while Lyndy was scooting from room to room and Finn leaned over for a kiss. “So this was not an option I recall from before.”

Yeah, I ended up running late and once we were in the truck and discussed dinner she wanted to personally make her request. Lyndy come tell Finn where you want to go.”

“The Chinese restaurant.”

He glanced past her for a second where he saw Amy nod yes and without missing a beat “That’s a wonderful idea Lyndy, Chinese it is.”

“Yay!!” She cried out smiling “Is my room still white?”

“White and taped, I’m not sure anyone’s even been in there since we left it. How about you and me painting your room first thing Saturday morning?”

“I’d like that.”

“Then we’ll make it happen.” Then he said looking over to Amy. “Now, plans for tonight?”

“We have to go back to Heartland, Lyndy’s got some homework, I should check the horses and we need to wash and change.”

“How about I just pick you two up at 6:00?”

“That would be great, OK with you Lyndy?”

Lyndy smiled and nodded “Bye Finn.”

“Goodbye sweetheart, I’ll see you later.”

He leaned over and kissed Amy and then watched them head down the stairs before heading back in and finishing his cleanup in the tub.

Just before 6 Finn pulled up and parked next to Jack’s truck. He noted the line of vehicles and realized that it was a full house.

Coming in he found Lisa, Jessica and Lou each getting a different dinner task ready. Lisa at the stove, Jess at the table cutting a salad and Lou clearing out whatever dishes were in the sink.

“Good evening Finn, how’s the apartment coming?”

“On schedule Jessica, the kitchen and both bathrooms are ready for cabinets, appliances and fixtures. By Friday afternoon all those will be ready and we can paint the rest over the weekend.”

“Hey.” Amy said coming into the kitchen and immediately leaning up to kiss Finn. “Salmon for dinner here and Katie’s not the biggest fan, mind if she tags along?”

Finn shrugged “Nope, love to have her, maybe we can arrange another date night if you’re game.”

“Great, Lyndy, Katie lets hit the road. And to you,” She said facing Finn again “I loved our date but I can’t imagine how much that set you back, something local and easy this time, how about Maggie’s and a movie maybe?”

“Something local and simple then, I’ll check around.”

“Ready!!” Lyndy announced having pulled on her boots and grabbed her hat. Katie was already wearing her runners.

Amy smiled “Are we all ready?” She asked prompting the kids to say their goodbyes and head out onto the porch followed by her and Finn.

“My truck?” Amy asked, “it has Lyndy’s booster.”

“I picked one up so we don’t have to bother.”

“You didn’t have to do that but I appreciate it.”

“I saw one at a porch sale, same model as yours and it was pretty cheap.”

Leaving the truck back at Heartland after dinner, having arranged Katie as a babysitter for the following weekend, she also volunteered to get Lyndy ready for bed so that Amy and Finn could have some alone time on the porch, Katie grabbed the doggie bag for the fridge and followed Lyndy inside.

The couple settled into their normal spots on the porch. On the bench, their hats to their sides, Finn’s arm around Amy and her leaning against him.

“What’s your schedule for tomorrow?”

“Get Lyndy off to school, check the horses and work my new client horse some. That’ll determine whether to bring him to the center or not. I’m not sure I want any really problematic animals there and near the kids. Either way I’ll probably have lunch with the group and spend the afternoon. Lisa and Jessica said they’ll be here for Lyndy when she gets off the bus. You?”

“I have two clients in the morning and then I want to check the apartment, make sure there aren’t any spots to touch up and then it’s teaching at the center. Maybe I’ll join you for lunch. If it’s easier for you, you can ride that horse over and I’ll drop you home after.”

“Works for me, I’ll text to let you know either way, I’d better get in and say goodnight to Lyndy. Kiss?”

Finn leaned forward and they both shifted their bodies to where they could wrap their arms around each other. Their kiss was short but sweet and was followed by Amy laying her head against his chest and getting a last kiss on her head.

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, People, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 23: One Shall Fall

Please reblog or comment on this with your thoughts! I really want to know what your opinion of the episode was!

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

Some of the notes for One Shall Fall was formed from an incredible fanfic I’ve read (I’ll link it at the bottom! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING IT IF YOU LOVE BEE.) so if you think I‘ve gone insane, and a little off track, you're probably right.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:03 - does ‘One Shall Fall’ really started with ‘and it was written in the covenant of Primus’? It’s very jarring.

00:11 - perpetual: never ending or changing.

Culminate: reach a climax or point of highest development. [or: reach or be at the meridian.]

00:27 - why is this shot so pretty?

00:38 - The angle of the shot makes Optimus look like a child trying to hid behind a blanket.

00:42 - they were in sync.

00:54 - so why not mention it a little earlier?

01:13 - *throws to Optimus fans* FEAST!

01:34 - My dude has perfect timing.

01:43 - Knockout has a growth mindset.

01:57 - he must constantly be seeing the future then, huh?

~intro~

03:03 - It’s funny to see that every other post give so much more context and whoever uploaded this was just like ‘location, date and time, literally anything else? Nah.. who needs that!’ + Bee can’t even hide when in a alt form.

03:12 - amazing how he can see that far and from that angle.

03:25 - wow! It changed the text and everything!

03:26 - HE’S SO CUTE IMMA DIE

03:31 - he looks so insecure ;0;

03:37 - Best interaction to ever exist.

03:40 - as was established by the statement ‘Prime’s don’t party’.

03:44 - foreshadowing.

03:49 - the way he specifically looks at Arcee like she’s made that claim before.

03:53 - Foreshadowing. + Optimus shaking his hips slightly while Ratchet talks about him is highly amusing.

04:09 - a little bicth. Got it.

04:11 - Yes. That’s true. No one said he was. Ratchet said Optimus used to be like Jack.

04:16 - My captions said ‘Meg’ instead of MECH

04:25 - Soundwave, the sneaky lil’ con.

04:38 - Not the captions saying ‘Cap’ instead of ‘Cat’

04:30 - No need for the description. They all know what Soundwave looks like.

04:36 - Raf looks like their child.

04:40 - what is the purpose of the ‘Top Secret’ part?

04:51 - Knockout bowing and Soundwave, in the same shot? It must be Christmas.

04:55 - ‘What Soundwave said—‘ that’s just cruel wording.

05:11 - she is so short

05:15 - this short was brought to you by ✨fade transition✨

05:16 - Collecting all the scenery shots.

05:35 - Damn, Prime getting tense.

06:05 - the shot makes them look like they’re throwing lightsabers.

07:09 - ain’t Megatron lucky that was Bee.

07:12 - how does he have such bad aim?

07:24 - let us be clear.. that is horrifying.

07:42 - that looked cool

07:53 - Someone was a theatre kid.

08:00 - folly: lack of good sense

08:02 - Fruition: the realization or fulfilment of a plan or project. + A stressed Optimus as a walking Thesaurus.

08:13 - I think Megatron needs to reevaluate who is true enemy is. Optimus or Bumblebee? Because I think, at this moment, he’s got more reason to want Bee dead than Optimus.

08:21 - O0O

08:23 - She’s calling out to get a response from him, but it also looks like she’s just stating who it is.

08:32 - Megatron admits he was trying to kill Bee but failed. How the frag do you fail like that then try to seem so smug? Although ‘and’ implies that he did inflict harm onto Bumblebee. Honestly, wouldn’t even be surprised if this episode was secretly going to have plot B involve Bumblebee actually having gotten hurt, but it was scrapped.

08:35 - that rattling sound was a very good choice.

08:37 - WHY NOT THOUGH?? What is the harm in letting Bee try to kill Megatron? + that’s the way a dog acts when you’re trying to stop them from barking.

08:44 - Bee was still fighting against Bulkhead, how could he not have gotten free? Granted, there isn’t much experience to go off with how strong Bee is when he’s angry, but it would be a safe assumption that Bulkhead’s weak grip on Bee’s shoulder’s would’ve been ineffective in restraining him.

08:47 - Doesn’t Optimus say if someone’s been hurt?

08:57 - no, why did they give Bumblebee the same personality as my dogs? He forgot to be angry for a second, before turning around

08:59 - Arcee looks like a mother.

09:00 - As Arcee pushes Bee to turn around, you can see that he’s eyes go back to normal and he’s looking all innocent.

09:01 - but then he quickly arches his eyes rows. His angry, but he’s not gonna murder anyone.

09:02 - then she puts her hand on his back and right before they fade out, he’s leaning forward, most likely to check Raf. (It happens too quickly for any screenshots)

09:39 - why would Bee have come up from beside Arcee?

09:41 - ‘into’ implies that it’s in a seperate room.

09:46 - How did they do that so quickly?

10:08 - Oh cheez… Ratchet, you needed that-

10:09 - as soon as Ratchet started freaking out is when Bee expressed being upset.

10:10 - to note is that Bee curled up his hand, which is what Optimus does whenever he’s not totally calm.

10:17 - Was about to point out that Ratchet just called Raf weak, until I realised that it’s what Megatron was doing. Megatron deemed Bumblebee the weakest of the autobots, which is why he attacked him, but wasn’t bothered by Bee not having suffered because he still harmed someone weaker therefore still fulfilling the prophecy.

10:46 - heavily animated Megatron.

10:55 - his eyes do be purple… and lined up correctly.

11:20 - they’ve become aware.

11:27 - I’m embarrassed to say I thought that was a transformer at first.

11:35 - I mean.. maybe??

11:39 - How would June intend to stabilise him if she doesn’t know the severity of it.

11:56 - this would be a more effective speak if we haven’t seen her act super recklessly in honour of Tailgate and Cliff.

12:01 - AIN’T THAT RICH! + Seriously though, whatever he had said was probably a threat and he punched a wall, expressing emotions when they become overwhelming is a way to manage emotions and keep them in check. It was better he yell and do repairable damage than suppress it and let it build up over time until it becomes too overwhelming and he hurts someone.

12:37 - Ya know, Ratchet could’ve used that free time to check on Bee. May have given him a hint to work out what they could do to help Raf, or, at least, have kept both of them occupied for a bit.

12:39 - damn.. not the Cybertronian Pride.

12:46 - because he didn’t actually need to. As much as they’re taking care of the children, outside of surface level health (like getting cuts/scratches), the health of the children is not the bots’ responsibilities.

12:48 - Optimus said two lines and totally obliterated Arcee’s trash calming down speech.

12:51 - Ratchet acting all calm while Bee’s at the back having a breakdown so intense that he needs to squat.

13:07 - one of the best deliveries ever.

13:13 - For all purposes Optimus could be talking about literally any other thing Megatron has chosen to do. However, I chose to believe that he’s specifically talking about going after Bumblebee./hj

13:22 - Thesaurus Prime.

13:34 - woo!

13:54 - His willing to spare those willing to be spared.

14:03 - I think there’s a volcano.

14:05 - heh, it farted

14:10 - translation: I dreamt about that!

14:46 - the way he said ‘Soundwave’ more relaxed and twinge of boredom is hilarious.

15:11 - How does she not understand that he is saying the doctors cannot help him?!

15:15 - …………..

If that's true, then why wouldn't he have suspected that it wasn't energon when Bee was showing no signs of being affected by an energon blast.

15:23 - I refuse to believe that Bee wouldn’t have been affected by the dark Energon too. There is no way that Megatron would have a type of energon and use it to fight the Autobots if it does not hurt them. Megatron would have had no reason to believe that Bumblebee was hurt if he knew that dark Energon had no effect on bots. The plot hole that is Bee not being affected by the energon could’ve been avoided had Bee pulled over, let Raf out, then Megatron attack, completely missing Bee, but hitting Raf.

15:49 - GOT ‘EMMM

15:52 -it’s the intro

16:17 -that’s a metaphor for Optimus fighting Megatron.

16:18 - that looks so dumb.

16:50 - Megatron’s trying to get into Optimus’s head.

16:56 - wise words, Prime. + If I had a dollar for every time a bot didn’t fall victim to the decepticon trick, I’d have two dollars. It’s not a lot and shockingly so.

17:04 - Because Optimus isn’t exactly winning, Raf is dying.

17:07 - Mmm but like how isn’t Bee’s energon tainted? Don’t they have energon to spare?

17:08 - He looked worried until he looked at Ratchet. Bee’s emotional restraint comes from Ratchet in this episode.

17:55 - I’M GONNA CRY, THAT’S THE CUTEST SOUND.

19:33 -that’s what ya gotta leave your monologue for after the stab.

19:41 - she’s moving so much.

19:43 - Bee’s oblivious to the conversation and I love that.

19:46 - Ratchet’s heavily animated too.

20:05 - he broke the sword, tf dude??

20:07 - Didn’t even realise that he stabbed Optimus with apart of the sword.

21:20 - the prophecy shot!

———————

So that was One Shall Fall.

It’s a good episode, don’t get me wrong, but that plot hole in the B plot is annoying and makes no sense. If normal energon hurts a bot, dark energon would too. As I said, they should’ve had Raf already out of the car, then Megatron misses Bumblebee, but hits Raf. Instead he hit Bumblebee directly. No way could the energon have gone directly to Raf and not have effected Bee. (This is the fox I mentioned: Not The Only One by Princess Loveless)

As for the A plot, it certainly carries the episode and is a lot more action packed. Towards the end it became more seperate to the B plot, but contrasts a fair bit, so they feel like two different episodes, rather than just the one with a distinct A and B plot.

Honestly I dunno if I’d watch it in a select binge. In a general binge? Absolutely!

[shrinkthisviolet]

For the fandom ask: Revenge?

Character I first fell in love with:

Emily Thorne, as cliché as it sounds to love the MC 😅 I just love a good anti-hero, what can I say

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Nolan Ross! I figured he’d rub me the wrong way but honestly? Love the guy and his friendship with Emily. Can't wait to see more of him in the rest of the show 💞

Also Amanda! I love her so much, can’t wait to see more of her, I especially love her dynamic with Emily

Character everyone loves but I don’t:

Honestly idk the popular consensus about these characters 😅 ig Tyler? Does anyone like him, because I never did

Character I love but everyone else hates:

Again, idk the popular consensus about anyone, but...do people dislike Declan and Charlotte? I like them both, but they’re characters I can imagine the fandom hating

Character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Probably a bit too early to say 😅 but for now, ig Ashley? I don’t hate her, it’s just that her writing seems very all over the place in one season alone. First she’s Emily’s bestie, then it turns out she’s super ambitious (which is fine, she always had some to begin with, but they make her out to be practically conniving by mid-season out of nowhere, like on Tyler's level, which is nuts), then Ashley starts secretly hating Emily and acting like she was ever condescending to her, which is not true—Emily is condescending to other people, sure, but never to Ashley.

Not to mention the Emily/Ashley friendship falls off as the Emily/Nolan friendship takes off, which is a shame. Does it come back in later seasons? I miss it, honestly—it feels like a stupid decision to ruin Ashley and that friendship just for a brief romance (Ashley/Tyler) that didn’t even end well at all

Character I would kiss:

No fictional crushes but for platonic cuddles/hugs...Jack Porter 🥰

Character I want to slap:

Conrad Grayson. Repeatedly. Maybe it’ll kill him if I’m lucky ✋

A pairing I love:

Ooh so I love Emily/Daniel, but I also really love Emily/Daniel/Jack 🥰 mid-season had the OT3 vibes at their peak, and even near the end of the season with the trial storyline, when Daniel was so paranoid he thought Emily was cheating on him with Jack (who was just coming to check on her and ask about Daniel too)...I was like “none of this would be an issue if you were all together, just saying ✋”

A pairing I hate:

Tyler/Ashley. I didn’t mind it when it was a thing, though ofc it was the start of Ashley being abruptly re-characterized...and ofc Tyler had some serious issues

fandom ask game!

[zalrb]

it’s done! it’s finally done! -- bridgerton 2.08 review

The end of the road finally! I will link all the previous reviews at the end.

1. I like how dramatic Kate lying on the ground in the rain is as if they would ever kill her.

2. If she’s unconscious she wouldn’t be able to hold onto him

like jesus christ, even Elena’s arms hang

3. wet mouse

4. Lol Edwina standing there crying. KATE GOT HURT SO ALL IS FORGIVEN. LIFE IS SHORT.

5. But this is the kind of person I am

6.

I can’t take any of this seriously.

7. It’s too late for this, Anthony.

8. So I’m guessing it’s going to be one of those things where they vow to stay away from each other because their love causes SO MUCH DESTRUCTION AND PAIN and then Edwina is going to be like BE TOGETHER, YOU LOVE EACH OTHER and so because she’s 100% OK with it, they’ll ride off into the sunset.

9. SO MANY LILACS. THE COLOUR OF FIRST LOVE.

10. Colin is such a nothing character.

11. Guys, he’s upset because he thinks he nearly killed her with his penis.

12. Is she going to wake up because Edwina’s speaking to her?

13. Yes.

14. Honestly, it feels like Kate works at trying to do any kind of expression.

15. Why is Eloise looking for Whistledown such a long plot line? Like why does it matter? Is it just because it’s Penelope? This shouldn’t take so long.

16. Oh how I don’t care about Theo and Eloise.

17.

When did she try tho? She just said one thing about her happiness meaning everything to her and talked about proving that. She didn’t TRY anything.

18. OK so when Edwina asks if there was always something between Kate and the viscount, Kate is like I was lying to myself but she truly didn’t know there was something until it was too late. I mean ... it’s not like there was this ONE incident

and nothing else but like lingering gazes, there was this moment

and then there was this moment

and then there was this moment

and then there was this moment

and then mans proposed and then it was too late. You and Anthony were doing a LOT before it was “too late”, Kate and her being like “I was lying to myself not you” is a bullshit explanation just like this

because like anon, said there’s literally no reason we’re given why Kate would feel the need to deny these feelings or feel the need to lie to herself, what happened in her life that she felt it was necessary to do this? Saying because Edwina had her eye on him is not enough because as we’ve discussed if she really had Edwina’s interests in mind then she should’ve/would’ve been honest or at least try and make Anthony look undesirable or pest another suitor to be persistent in trying to get Edwina’s affections but she just let’s everything happen and you can’t be that passive while also being framed as an active character because the whole situation gives off

19. Edwina tells Kate that she doesn’t feel like she knows her and that Kate doesn’t know herself and Kate’s just like mmhmm yep, accurate *smiles*

20. Like if someone tells me the whole point is that they’re playing roles because of London society which makes them out of touch with what they truly want, they didn’t grow up in London society and their mother said she had her daughters grow up free and to not be preoccupied with class or station so this whole thing is poorly written.

21. And if this is what it’s really about

then that should’ve been way more present from the beginning, that requires an interiority from Kate that we were never given. Theon is constantly told he’s lucky to be at Winterfell, maybe not by Ned, but there are various things that happen in season 1 (and season 2) that show that he’s cared for but also show that he’s not really a Stark. The point is that Edwina and their mother don’t treat Kate differently but we should’ve seen things besides a pointed dinner and one offhand remark in the first episode that indicate that Kate feels beholden to this family and maybe a bit of a fear that if she told them what was going on between her and Anthony she’d get cast out of the family.

22. uh oh, she knows. DRAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

23.  Sarcasm.

24.

Was he? Like ... was he?

25. Oh great, their second dance.

26. Again the music is great, it’s just everything else that’s not.

27. He carries

28. I mean, is that the worst thing that happened?

29. Oh a spin kiss. Hurrah.

30. Should’ve become about Edwina. Lol.

31. It’s over. Thank god.

2.01 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716440350243340288/ok-lets-see-if-i-can-make-it-through-this

2.02 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716521138856001536/i-am-a-masochist-bridgerton-202-review

2.03 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716545099345149952/when-theres-nothing-you-want-to-watch

2.04 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716609290392223745/halfway-done-bridgerton-204-review

2.05 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716686376213643264/lol-everyone-sucks-except-edwina-bridgerton-205

2.06 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716783438461632512/lol-edwina-is-better-than-me-bridgerton-206

2.07 Review

https://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/716858624341917696/1-im-watching-this-like-wow-edwina-doesnt-get