#this is unfairly mean I like the pre teens

[purecommemasolitude]

Stu got a shut out and Connor got a goal on his birthday and I was occupied hanging out with preteens. Life is so unfair

[crime-scene-psychic]

As I continue my Titans rewatch, I feel as though I've been unfairly harsh towards it. No, it's not perfect by any means. The writing goes from standing out, to half-way decent, and then to CW-levels of awful all in the span of a single episode. The special effects leave much to be desired for an HBO production. Sometimes the characters would simply Not Do That. It's literally impossible to see anything due to the lighting choices. Timeline? What's a timeline?

But it also gave me live-action versions of a lot of characters we haven't ever gotten the chance to see in that particular format. It gave me a pretty complex Dick Grayson character, something that, until that show, hadn't existed in a live-action sense either. The only other characterizations of that character that existed before Titans that were that complex were animated (namely the original Teen Titans and Young Justice, though they also didn't get a chance to truly develop the character as fully, in my opinion, because they were A. shows geared towards kids, and B. looking to focus on the entire team as a whole, which Titans sometimes had a hard time doing).

A lot of critique towards the end of the show came from people (rightfully so) complaining that the show focused too much on the Batfamily and that they should've just made a Batfamily show if that's what they wanted to focus on, which I agree. Don't get me wrong, I think a big reason why I can see so much potential in the show and why I enjoyed it so much is that it focused on the characters I loved so much. However, I realize that the show is called Titans, not Batfamily, so I totally understand why a lot of people were pissed. They signed up to watch the Titans, not whatever problems Bruce Wayne and his gaggle of children were dealing with.

I'm just biased and I recognize that.

Like, yeah, the show is far from perfect, but even with it sometimes focusing a bit more of Dick than other characters, I still feel like there are well-rounded story lines for the rest of the characters, at least the main cast, especially as it finds its footing a bit in the later seasons.

I hope in the near-decent future we do get a Batfamily show (or, heaven forbid, because I would NEVER shut up about it) a Dick Grayson show, because just from New 52 and DC Rebirth there is SO MUCH MATERIAL and that's not even scratching the current runs. There's so much to do with these characters, especially Dick, and I can't help but with Titans getting canceled (I'm surprised it made it 4 seasons, in all honestly) feel unsatisfied. Even with what was able to do, I was still disappointed when it came to how they handled certain story lines (mainly Slade and Dick, because I really feel like they had a missed opportunity not including the Apprentice story line. Like, they could've made it the big secret Dick was keeping from the rest of the Titans in season 2, that during his time with the first Titans group he was forced to work with Slade, but they did the Jericho thing, which is fine, but I think if they'd stuck a bit more to the source material they would've been better for it, especially since the Apprentice arch is such a fan favorite).

I've been rereading some of the New 52 pre and post Forever Evil, mainly the Court of Owls run and the Grayson run, and there's so much untapped potential there! Just as I was revisiting Grayson, I couldn't help but think about how badass some of the panels would look in a live action show. We've barely gotten Court of Owls content, and when we do, they make it all about Bruce, which is fine, I guess, but Dick Grayson in the current Prime Earth lore was LITERALLY BORN to be a Court of Owl Talon and it's such a missed opportunity not to explore that further (which is probably one of the few grievances I had with Gotham Knights because if they were able to show Jason going through the Lazarus Pit again then GODDAMMIT they could've at least HINTED at Dick's ancestry!).

Side note, Court of Owls wouldn't have made much sense in Titans, but then again, they didn't seem too bothered playing fast and loose with the timelines, so why should I? It would've been a really interesting Dick Grayson arch, especially in comparison to Gar and Conner's time with CADMUS in season 2. Like I would love to see the Court sink their Talons into Dick and fuck him up a bit, but again, I'M BIASED!!!!

I hope with more and more people getting into the Batfamily that it'll lead to more content, especially live-action, but it just seems like studios aren't interested, which is insane because it seems everyone else is? I don't get why they're so hesitant. I talked about this in another recently long ass post, but I don't really get why studios are afraid to put Robin/Dick Grayson into the DCEU. He's such a cool character if done right and his fighting style is super sick to see live-action, as demonstrated in TItans. I love that they incorporate acrobats into his style, it's fucking awesome to see.

I dunno. Just back on my DC bullshit and thinking things. That's it.

[witchofhimring]

Maris Baratheon Profile

This is both a character study and my personal headcanons for the character. This is part two of the "Daughters of Borros Baratheon" series. This template will be used in all my upcoming fics unless otherwise specified. I find it hard to write characters who do not have a cemented personality so I decided to make some up.

Space divider provided by:@firefly-graphics

Background and theories:

We do not have as much information regarding Marris as we do Cassandra. The first time we heard of Maris is when Aemond arrives at Storms End. Her introduction is quick but dramatic. She is said to be clever (although it is treated as shrewishness on the book). I suspect that Maris had been unfairly maligned in Fire and Blood. Her sharp tongue was obviously too terrifying for the maesters. Maris is clearly very bold and a touch confrontational. Unfortunately we know little else about a character who could be very interesting. What is interesting is that she alone shows jealousy. Did she feel the rejection more keenly than the rest? Maria’s introduction is made though her father, who tells Aemond if he wants a clever wife she should take Maris. From the way Maris is depicted you get the feeling she is not well liked by the writer. Given this is Fire and Blood, in which sexism is a large theme, I believe this to be another example of women being put down for not being conventional. Maris is essentially blamed for starting the dance. Of course Aemond could not have withstood the taunts of a pre-teen girl 🙄.

Now, if Fire and Blood Maris is younger than in my headcanons. This is partly so that I can enter them into stories and because they are older in the show. A detail that is often overlooked is how Maris is treated as if she were a grown up, despite not even having hit puberty yet. This is implied when Borros says his eldest will be the first to flower. Meaning Cassandra is anywhere from 10-13 is years old. Maris would in that case be even younger. Fire and Blood talks about Maris as if she were a woman grown, and yet it is not acknowledged that she was so young.

Maris ends up being sent to the Silent Sisters. We do not know why this happened. It is speculated that her mother forced this on Maris, however there is no way of truly knowing. Borros was aware of his daughters intelligence and publicly acknowledges it, so perhaps there is pride.

Relationships: (headcanons)

Borros

As a little girl Maris was close to her father. He enjoyed her tenacity and outspoken personality. This changed as Maris grew older and Borros felt that as an older girl she should conform. Bitter, Maris's wit turned to biting insults at the expense of others. Father and daughter drifted away over time so that when he died the two were hardly on speaking terms. Borros was proud of his daughters intelligence, but it is mixed with his belief that girls have a certain role to play.

Elenda

Mother and daughter never got along. Although Elenda's other daughters simply have no true relationship with her, the one between herself and Maris is bad. Maris was always resentful that her mother focused on having sons. The reason Elenda is hard on Maris is because the two are very similar and that bothers her. Eventually Elenda sends her daughter off to the Silent Sisters as punishment. Later on in life Elenda does try to contact her daughter, however the letters were never read.

Cassandra

They are not close but there is little bad blood. Maris was jealous when they were children as Cassandra was the favourite but that changed when Floris was born. Seeing Cassandra feeling rejected by their father she felt a sort of kinship. Despite this the two never became close and when Maris was sent to the Silent Sisters they never saw each other again.

Ellyn

Ellyn is Maris's punching bag. Because her mother is away, father is the lord, Cassandra is off doing her own thing and Floris is the favourite and protected by their father, Ellyn is the target. She often taunts her younger sister and puts her down when the opportunity arises. When Ellyn is betrothed to Prince Aemond Maris becomes very jealous, but by then there is nothing she can do.

Floris

She despises her younger sister the most. Floris is the favourite and is more in line with what a "lady" should be. Borros is protective of his youngest in ways he is not to the others so she is unable to torment Floris. Instead Maris puts distance between the two and hates her from a distance.

Personality: (headcanons)

-When she was little Maris was not unkind, but actually quite friendly. She had the whole world before her and did not mind her mothers neglect. As a second born daughter she had more freedom than Cassandra and used that to pursue her own interests. She would visit the castle maester and read through his books.

-Her cleverness is encouraged when she is little. Life is good and at first she does not hate Ellyn or any of her sisters. But as time goes by things change. Because she is older and not considered pretty, Maris is given a hard time and becomes bitter as the years go by.

-Soon the happy intelligent girl is replaced by a sour young woman who feels neglected and lashes out. Her wit is now not just shown in lessons and debates, but when she desires to put others down.

-Likes bookbinding

-Fondness for the taste of boar

-Like Cassandra she has the Baratheon temper.

[opinated-user]

I find it really telling that lily has continued to rag on her sister ever since those posts by her sister came out. Like she hadn't talked much about her before but now she brings her up every few weeks in bits that make her look better, yet it's in very dumb, petty ways.

Like her bragging her taste in men was better because her younger sister liked twilight back when it was popular while she liked Wolverine, the big action hero.

Or making fun of her 12 year old sister for not understanding she was abused/ unfairly punished by their parents, while Lily was super enlightened and saw it was all bullshit (also weirdly saying they were both 12, even though she's older).

I would understand her calling out her sister now for being transphobic, because her remarks about lily's gender were, but it's really victim blamey to mock her in the past for being an abused child. Like sure hate her now for her transphobic words, but why try own on her sister in the past when she was an equally abused little kid? It's just really petty and mean.

I also just don't believe lily was as enlightened as she claims--I mean all the things she says she always thought, even as a very young child are just way to adult and obviously something you learn with insight.

i have to admit: of all the reactions i could have imagined from LO after being accussed of molesting her own sister, talk as a 31 year old woman about she having better taste in men than a 12 year old little girl and somehow bringing up Twilight is certainly... a choice. it's also not something to brag having the same taste as a 40+ year old (as i assume her mom was back then) woman as a kid. at least Courtney was liking characters that were closer to her age and were meant to be relatable for her. Twilight was created for girls like her, she had every right to enjoy it all she wanted to. no wonder a 12 year old is not going to be interested on a 40+ year old man! does she really not realize how actually creepy this is? does she not understand she's basically talking way too much about the sexualiaty of her pre-teen sister? just how disturbing it is to make this into some kind of competition... with the girl who is currently accusing her of molesting her on her sleep? this misogyny is also reminding me to how she talks about the teenage girls that like hunter. can someone explain to LO that bashing teenage girls online for the crime of liking teenage characters is not the hot leftist take that she think it is? this is just the same kind of reasoning i have seen a bunch of reactionaries have before, it's not progressive and most of us are tired of seeing it.

reminder that Courtnery, LO's sister, did called her a golden child... while refering to someone else about how she openly talked about being SA by both of her sibling and her parents doing nothing about it. if a kid is going through that and that they can see that nothing is done to the responsible of her abuse, what else could she think? i think she's meant to say "another girl around her same age", because LO i think it's two years older than Courtney. still... this is just sad and pathetic. if Courtney did had 12 years old back then, this happened more than a decade ago, almost two decades at this point, and LO is still reeling about it as a full grown 31 years old. this would be extremely unhealthy coming from about anyone, but coming after being accused of something so monsterous, this is sick and twisted.

LO, stop talking about 12 year old little girls, their sexuality and their challenge already. this is disgusting.

[warsamongthestars]

You ever think...

That maybe, the reason the Bad Batch look older, even though they’re implied to be young.

Is... maybe they’re suppose to be?

Like, their accelerated aging might actually be faster than a normal Clone’s?

That, maybe, they’re suppose to test a theory on how far you can push Jango’s DNA... then burn out quickly afterwards?

Makes sense, don’t it?

I mean, young Omega remembers their creation, after all. And she’s, what, not even a pre-teen maybe?

And Tech and Crosshair, they’ve got receding hairlines. Hell, Crosshair looks like a skinny, old man, at times.

Hunter has a skull tattoo on his face, like he never planned to have a civilian life, possibly expecting to die before his service was up. (You don’t tattoo yourself like that, especially as the Leader, least you have some serious statements to make)

Perhaps, in the coming time skip, we might see a still young Omega, while her brothers have aged 10 years in less than a decade.

... Gods, maybe I should stop making Solid Snake jokes at Hunter. I’m not sure how well I can manage seeing “Old Snake” unfairly aged again.

[magniloquent-raven]

See What This is Worth

Harringrove Week of Love: Day 4

Teacher AU || School Dance

Rated: T

Read on Ao3

Billy is not, by nature, the kind of person who likes to be overly helpful. He doesn’t go out of his way for people he doesn’t know. He’s not especially charitable. 

And yet here he is, taking time out of his Friday night, setting up tables and supervising idiots with no upper body strength who think they can move a whole stack of chairs on their own. He has better things to do than hang out at work and chaperone a bunch of middle-schoolers trying to score their first kiss to some truly grating top 40 shit. 

He didn’t even like school dances when he was a student. As a middle-schooler he was too fucking terrified that some girl might ask him to dance, so he just never went. And in high school...well. He ended up more the type to get high in the parking lot and ditch with whatever chick was too drunk to notice he didn’t put out. 

There was never a boy he liked well enough to do this shit with. Get dressed up and pretend not to want to dance and get flustered when he so much as touches a hand. No one in school was worth suffering through this shit for. 

Until now, unfortunately.

He’s a grown-ass man and somehow feels like a dumb, lovestruck teen and it’s all Steve Harrington’s fault.

Him and his fucking face, and his ass, and his looking unfairly good in a suit. 

He looks good in his stupid dorky khakis and paint-splattered apron too, but holy shit Billy never really got the phrase cleans up nice until he saw Steve in formal wear. His hair all combed neatly for once, wearing a blazer and slacks that have clearly been tailored. 

Billy is seriously considering sending a thank you note to whatever tailor Steve visits, because they are very good at their job. 

Good enough that Billy’s spending half his goddamn time staring at Steve’s ass instead of setting up. He’s bossing some volunteers around, gesturing animatedly about crepe paper and streamers and it’s so distractingly endearing that Billy kind of forgets he’s supposed to be doing anything other than watch Steve work.

And he gets caught. Steve turns, spots Billy staring. Scowls. Which is kind of his default expression when looking at Billy. 

As much as Billy secretly wants to have Steve look at him like he can actually stand spending more than five minutes in the same room, the irritated frown kind of suits Steve. It’s cute. And when he gets pissed it’s hot. His eyes get all intense, mouth set in a firm line and Billy may or may not have had a fantasy or two about Steve making that exact face right before absolutely destroying his ass, so...Steve might not like him, but Billy’s dealing. 

By being annoying, but still. 

He wiggles his fingers in a sarcastic little wave, leaning a little more pointedly. He’s been lounging against the wall for way too long, his shoulder is going numb, but he’s not about to scramble to look like he’s doing something just because Steve spotted him.

Steve’s shoulders heave as he sighs, eyes rolling skyward. He hands his clipboard to the nearest volunteer, whispering something before turning on his heel and marching over. 

Billy’s inspecting his nails when Steve reaches him. Stops a few paces away and folds his arms. 

“Something I can do for you, Harrington?” He knows the bored tone gets to Steve, so he plays it up.

“Yeah. You were supposed to be helping Nancy put chairs out. You know, the thing you signed up for?” There’s still an edge to that statement, has been since Billy walked into the first committee meeting with a big, shit-eating grin and Steve glared at him looking like he was about to pop a blood vessel. He always says it all accusatory, like he’s not sure Billy even did sign up, and he’s just hanging around to be a nuisance.

Which, he is, but he’s doing it officially. 

Has his little chaperone badge and everything. It’s pinned to his jacket, which he isn’t actually wearing, but he has it. 

“Got tired,” Billy says with a dramatic weariness, head lolling to the side, rolling back against the wall. He looks up at Steve through his eyelashes. “I’m allowed to take a break aren’t I?”

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose. “Hargrove, you’re telling me moving flimsy plastic chairs tired you out? You’re built like a brick wall.” He puts his hands on his hips and gets the same look he gets when his students start throwing clay around. 

“Are you objectifying me?” Billy puts a hand on his chest with mock-offence, the corners of his mouth turning upward with genuine delight. His grin brightens when Steve’s cheeks flush, gaze darting away, the annoyance flagging a little, replaced with something else for just a moment.

“I’m stating a fact. In a completely...imparted way.”

“Think you mean ‘impartial’.” 

The flush darkens, a splotchy red instead of the petal pink he was a moment ago, and his mouth twists. “Whatever,” he mutters. “You’ve been standing here for like ten minutes, man, get back to work.”

He stalks off in a huff, leaving Billy wondering how the hell Steve knew how long he’d been slacking off for.

Then again, he is in charge, so. He’s probably keeping tabs on everyone. At least that’s what Billy has to tell himself so the butterflies in his stomach don’t get any ideas. 

He wanders off, back to where he was supposed to be, but Wheeler doesn’t actually need his help. She got most of the chairs in place while he was checking out her ex. He gets an impatient brush-off when he half-heartedly asks her if there’s any more work to do. 

She never did like him much. 

Not that he’s bothered, he doesn’t care for her either. She’s too snooty. Up her own ass. Self-righteous. ...and Steve’s ex. 

Rumour has it Steve’s finally over her, but Billy will believe it when he sees it, the man hasn’t been on a date since Wheeler tore his heart to shreds three years ago. 

Heather gossips, okay. She’s nosy, and her family knows Wheeler’s family, who know Steve, and word gets around. These upper class assholes never have anything better to do than talk behind each other’s backs. Especially when the only son of a wealthy family is, at 28, single and teaching snot-nosed brats how to fingerpaint. 

And Billy has a vested interest, sue him. He asks some pointed questions here and there. 

God, he’s never gotten this fucking desperate over a guy before. Pining away. Putting up with Nancy Wheeler bossing him around at meetings because he doesn’t want to piss her off too much just in case that’s the final straw for Steve. The thing that tips their rapport from not-friendly to outright hostile. 

Because for some reason the guy still gives a shit about the ex who cheated on him. Fucking martyr. 

Billy’s not sure if he’s jealous that she gets forgiven and he gets angry glares for no goddamn reason, or if he’s just flabbergasted that anyone would be that self-sacrificing. Both, maybe. It’s a little impressive, honestly. How far out of his way Steve will go to forgive people. 

Except Billy.

Who still doesn’t know what he did wrong in the first place.

Not that it bothers him. No, not at all. He’s just constantly thinking about it, and trying to hold on to every detail of the early days of their interactions so he can analyze those moments for clues, and sometimes lying awake at night wondering if he’s just fundamentally unlovable and he’s never gonna figure out what he did wrong because he just is wrong. 

He’s fine. It’s fine.

Thank god Steve is occupied for the rest of set-up. Always finding someone who isn’t Billy to boss around when he isn’t physically doing something himself. Gives Billy some room to breathe. And watch, like a weirdo.

He gets a couple weird looks from other volunteers but that’s nothing new. Wheeler glaring at him. Heather smirking. That one parent chaperone who’s here early and was making eyes at him at first, but it’s devolved into side-eye. 

He thought maybe the dance actually starting would be a distraction, but it’s just loud. He’s still constantly stealing glances at Steve. While he’s making small talk. While he’s repinning some streamers that got knocked loose. He looks gorgeous, even under the harsh fluorescent lighting of a school gym, and Billy really wishes he had a flask on him right now.

Yelling at some rowdy kids doesn’t help either. Just earns him a dirty look from that one overprotective chaperone mom. No one asked you, lady, the kid was bouncing around like an over-caffeinated gerbil, someone was gonna get hurt. It’s Billy’s job to break that shit up.

He needs a smoke. This is unbearable.

Slipping out of the gym unnoticed is easier than he thought it would be. No one seems to give a shit that he’s sidling out, which is a little insulting, honestly. But useful.

The hallways are quiet. Empty. It’s always a little creepy being here at night. The squeak of his boots on the linoleum, the artificial white light keeping the nighttime gloom out, it always feels a little dream-like. Nightmarish maybe. Liminal. 

He props the door open on his way out, with a chair he lifted from a nearby classroom. The last thing he needs is to get locked out. Embarrassing. He’d probably just leave, but then he’d get chewed out for ditching.

He sighs, turning his face skyward for a moment to breathe before he lights up.

The cool air is a relief after being cooped up with so many rambunctious pre-teens. Billy’s still not a fan of Indiana weather, and he probably never will be, but anything is better than being in there another goddamn second. 

This was a terrible idea. It was barely an idea. An impulse decision that got his ass stuck babysitting on a Friday night just so he could spend more time staring at Steve. 

Pathetic. 

Maybe he should just ditch right now. 

He’s weighing the pros and cons when a familiar voice cuts into his contemplation.

“Hargrove, where the hell did you—” Steve’s face appears when he pokes his head out the cracked-open door. His pinchy annoyed face. He wrinkles his nose when he spots Billy, and the cigarette in his hand. “Seriously?”

Billy shrugs. Puts the cigarette between his lips and takes a pointed drag, cheeks hollowing.

Steve, who was trying to sidle out past the chair, trips. The chair clatters to the ground, Steve stumbling in the opposite direction, arms out and flailing. 

The door slams shut behind him.

Billy gapes, incredulous gaze flicking between Steve, frozen in place, and the closed door. “Seriously?”

“...Shit. I—” Steve grimaces. Runs a hand through his hair, tousling his neatly combed locks. “You have your key, right?”

The glare Billy levels at him is positively icy. “Yeah, no, of course I do, the chair was there for fun. I wasn’t worried about being locked out at all.” 

“Okay, okay, Jesus. You don’t have to be such a dick about it.”

“Don’t I?” It comes out far more bitterly than intended. Steve stares at him.

“No? What kind of—” he huffs, loud, frustrated, “What the fuck is your deal, Hargrove?”

Well. That’s a layered question. One he isn’t going to answer even a little bit. He scoffs instead, turning away and taking another angry pull off his cigarette. It warms him but does nothing for the pit in his stomach.

They stand there in silence for a beat. The muffled noise from inside is muted, distant. 

“Fine, whatever,” Steve mutters. “I just don’t get why you hate me so much.”

And he sounds hurt. He sounds sad, and it throws Billy for a loop. Knocks him down a little. But then his chest gets tight, his heart flip-flopping around in the clutches of something caustic and resentful.

He flicks ash in Steve’s direction with an emphatic gesture, a petty vindictiveness. “You’re kidding, right?” he snaps. Steve’s jaw drops, just for a second, surprise passing over his face, before his expression hardens, his mouth snaps shut, jaw clenching.

“Alright, fine, I get it, what’s not to hate.” He clutches his elbows, not quite folding his arms. It looks more like he’s hugging himself. “Good talk.” 

Billy squints at him. The tense line of his shoulders, the way he can’t quite meet Billy’s eye. He’s struck with the absurd urge to pull Steve into his arms. The impulse just pisses him off more. “You know what, princess, you get what you give, alright? You can’t treat someone like shit from the jump and then get mad when they don’t want to be your best fucking friend. Fuck you.” 

“What? I never—”

“Oh, you never? You never asked Heather why she ‘puts up with such an asshole’?” He tosses his hands in the air, air quoting around the phrase, and takes a step towards Steve. “The day after we met? And you never talked over me at my first staff meeting, right? You would never.” Another step. He doesn’t think about it, doesn’t do it on purpose, but he ends up standing inches from Steve. The cold air mists their breath, and it mingles in one seething cloud between them. “You’ve been treating me like the dirt under your shoe since I got here, Harrington, don’t you dare act like you haven’t.”

Steve sets his jaw, a stubborn tilt to his chin. “You were an asshole. I still don’t get why she puts up with you!”

Billy grinds his teeth. He’s asked Heather that himself. With varying degrees of seriousness. It stings hearing it from someone else. 

“Yeah, well, we can’t all be people pleasers,” he spits, hands clenching into fists at his side. To channel his anger, more than anything else. He isn’t seventeen anymore, he can’t just start throwing punches at a co-worker. 

His nails bite into the skin of his palm, sweat stinging the shallow scrapes, and his hands tremble, itch. 

“I’m not—you know what, I’m not doing this with you.” He steps back. Just like that. Like it’s that easy to walk away. Like none of this matters to him, and he’s just...venting frustrations that have nothing to do with Billy. Because Billy doesn’t matter to him. This is about getting locked out of his own stupid party. Or Wheeler saying something bitchy maybe. Or any number of things going on in his life that Billy doesn’t know about because he’s not a part of it. 

And the tumbling, tangling web of twisting thoughts wrap around each other ‘til none of them make sense, ‘til he doesn’t know what he’s upset about he’s just gutted, just standing there in the cold staring at Steve, his eyes stinging and his toes going numb because he didn’t wear his good socks today.

He shouldn’t give a shit about this either, but he does. 

Story of his fucking life, apparently.

Steve’s gaze wanders, looking for what, Billy doesn’t know, but his profile lit up by a dirty streetlamp has got to be the most beautiful fucking thing Billy’s ever seen. He wants to kiss Steve so badly it hurts. 

And he hates that he still does, even when he’s angry. Even bitter and hurting he still wants. 

He flicks his cigarette butt away and shoves his hands in his pockets. 

“The fuck are you looking for, Harrington,” he asks flatly, as Steve cranes his neck peering around the building. 

Steve shoots him a glare. “Trying to remember if any of the doors got left unlocked.” He shivers violently, and sticks his hands in his armpits. “It’s freezing out here, in case you didn’t notice, and I’m not really into the idea of frostbite, so.”

“What, Mr.Born-and-raised-in-Indiana can’t handle a little snow?” Billy sneers. It’s petty, he knows. It’s not fair. Because Steve is out here in a dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, dressed to be in a sweaty, crowded gymnasium. Billy at least grabbed his jacket before he came out here, knowing he was going to be a while, and he’s still clenching his jaw against the urge to let his teeth chatter. 

The look that earns him is withering, though it’s undercut slightly by the awkward way Steve shuffles his arms around, trying to unroll his sleeves without exposing his fingers to the cold. 

Billy rolls his eyes. “Forget it, pretty boy, Wheeler made her boytoy check all the doors before the dance started. Either wait ‘til someone notices you’re gone or break a window.” 

“Great,” Steve mutters, and shudders again. 

“Why do you still talk to her, anyways?” He tries for casual and misses by a mile. Steve’s eyebrows shoot upwards and Billy tries again. “Just making conversation. We could be out here a while.”

“And that was what you—whatever. She and I are friends. Why wouldn’t I talk to her.”

“C’mon,” Billy scoffs, “Plenty of reasons. You still hung up on her or something? Hangin’ around hoping for another shot?”

“Definitely not.”

It shouldn’t make Billy’s heart leap but it does. Just because he’s not still sniffing around after Wheeler’s granny panties anymore doesn’t mean he has any interest in Billy. “Really now.”

“Yes, really, Jesus Christ. Why do you care.” 

“I don’t.” Billy lies, and looks away, affecting disinterest. He sniffs. “It’s just weird, is all. I sure as shit wouldn’t hang around someone after they cheated on me.”

Steve is staring. Billy can feel his gaze boring into the side of his head. He glances out of the corner of his eye, watches Steve furrow his brow and frown. “It wasn’t—It was more complicated than that. I wasn’t...good. We weren’t good together.” He stops himself, biting his lip, and shakes his head. 

“Hm.” Billy chews his thumbnail. It almost feels like they’re getting somewhere, but it’s so fragile Billy’s afraid to open his mouth and ruin it. The silence stretches, filled only by Steve’s rustling shivers, and Billy’s own unsteady heartbeat. “My car keys are in my jacket pocket,” he ventures, after long enough that the silence has gotten awkward. 

“What! How long were you going to keep that to yourse—”

“Do you want to take advantage of my heater, or not.” 

“Jesus Christ, yes.”

“Alright.”

They don’t talk on the walk over. Snow crunches beneath Billy’s boots, and Steve slips a few times on patches of icy pavement. 

And Billy feels somehow nervous. Like he’s invited Steve to his goddamn bedroom or something. 

Or maybe he’s just worried this tentative peace will end with their conversation going where it always does, blowing up in his goddamn face. But they’ve never actually spent that much time alone, he has no idea how this is going to work. 

Best case scenario it ends with Steve half-dressed in the backseat of his car, but he’s not stupid enough to hope for that.

Fantasize about it, sure, but…

Steve actually being in his car is a surreal experience. Filling the small cab with his clean laundry scent, sweet and subtle, faint enough to be a tease, and he has to restrain himself from taking big embarrassing sniffs to satisfy his sudden craving for more. 

He wonders if the smell will linger. How long Steve will be a phantom presence in his space. 

Waste of time to think about it now, while he’s actually here. 

Billy distracts himself by keeping his hands busy. Fumbling with the keys in his stiff fingers. Poking the overhead button to flip on the interior light. Flicking the dials on his console. The heater’s fan drones almost as loudly as the engine. Somehow the white noise makes the silence less stressful.

Steve rubs his hands together in front of the nearest vent, hissing through his teeth. “Fuck, fuck, I can’t feel my goddamn fingers,” he mutters, the hair on his forehead flopping as he moves. 

“You weren’t out there that long,” Billy chuckles. Steve’s clumsy flailing is stupid endearing, Billy is shamelessly turned in his seat to watch him, the doorhandle digging into his spine, his knee pulled up and leaning on the seat’s backrest. 

“Oh come on, you grew up in California, how are you fine right now?” Steve groans, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. His gaze darts up and down Billy’s form before flicking away again.

It’s common knowledge where Billy is from. He doesn’t exactly hide it. There’s a goddamn Malibu postcard tacked up in his office, pictures of his old surfboard. But it still makes Billy a little giddy that Steve pays enough attention to know that. 

“I run hot,” Billy says casually, and grins, tongue between his teeth. Truth be told, he wasn’t fine, he was fucking freezing, he’s just good at hiding physical discomfort. 

Steve’s cheeks flush a little pinker, and his gaze gets suspiciously focused on the vent in front of him.

“So…” Steve licks his lips, pausing, “Uh. What was it like? California.”

Billy blinks at him. “Warmer than this shithole, for starters.” 

He feels off balance suddenly. First-date-jittery. Which is ridiculous because he’s never gotten first date jitters. And this isn’t a date. Not even close. But still, when Steve laughs quietly it gets the butterflies in Billy’s stomach far too excited. Like he’s ten and discovering the wonders of holding a boy’s hand all over again. 

“I uh. Can’t go back there.” Billy chews the inside of his cheek, watching Steve closely. 

“Why, you a wanted criminal or something?”

Billy snorts. “Glad to know you think so highly of me. No, I meant...lotta shit happened there that I’d rather not remember.”

There were good things too. More good memories in California than after they moved, but that doesn’t stop the awful shit from tainting the whole goddamn state for him. Just makes it harder that it does. 

Hard to want to go back to a place where you almost died, no matter how many times your mom took you to the beach there.

Steve meets his gaze, his eyes soft, and it punches the breath from Billy’s lungs for a second. “Yeah, I get that.” He hums, and tucks his hands between his thighs. The position makes him look oddly demure. “I, uh. Have some experience with avoiding bad memories, y’know. Doesn’t end well. Repressing that kinda shit.”

“Pff,” Billy leans his head back against the window. The cold seeps through his curls. “You sound like Kali.”

“...Who?”

“Biker boots. Side shave. ‘Bout yea tall.” Billy waves his hand around his shoulder. “You met her once. I brought her to that stupid Christmas party couple years back.”

“Oh.” Steve looks down at his lap. “Your girlfriend.”

Billy chokes on his own spit. “What?”

“...Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, no, uh. No. Not even a little bit, man,” Billy laughs a little hysterically. 

“She was your date to that party though, right? Did it not work out, or…?”

“Jesus,” he mutters, and rubs the back of his neck. Steve’s staring, all wide-eyed and confused and fucking adorable. He weighs his options. Wonders how much he should divulge. The easiest way would be to just say no, and move on. The safest way. They’re stuck out here alone and he doesn’t know how well Steve would react to finding out he’s stuck alone with a queer. 

It’s something Billy tends not to take risks on. If guys can’t figure him out on their own, he isn’t going to tell them. But in this case...he’s just annoyed that Steve hasn’t noticed yet. 

And besides, Steve spends half his time hanging around Robin Buckley—who Billy has his suspicions about—so it’s not like there’s no chance Steve would be okay with Billy being gay…

He takes a breath. Exhales slow and stares at the roof of the car. There’s a burn mark next to the rearview mirror where he might’ve stubbed out a cigarette. He’s had this damn car so long he doesn’t remember doing it.

“She’s a friend, Steve. And I borrowed her from her girlfriend that night,” he says, testing the waters. Steve blinks a little, lips parting, but doesn’t react any more than that. Doesn’t seem angry, or judgemental, or disgusted. “I’m not really ready to be out at work. So.” 

“Wait, Robin was right?” Steve blurts, sitting a little straighter, eyebrows shooting up. 

“Of course she noticed,” Billy mutters, picking at a loose thread on the cuff of his jacket. He doesn’t ask why Buckley was talking to Steve about him in the first place, let alone about his sexual preferences. He’s not sure he wants to know.

“I mean, she kept going on about lesbian psychic sense, and I told her if anyone’s got a lesbian psychic sense, it’s El, not her, but—” he cuts himself off, flushing. “I, uh. Oh. Huh. Guess I shoulda listened to her when she told me my gaydar was busted.” 

Well. That’s...something. Not the reaction he was expecting. Not that he did know what to expect, but still. “Yeah, you usually need to be queer to spot one,” he shrugs. Like he hasn’t been hoping Steve would pick up on his not-so-subtle hints this whole time, while dreading the possibility with equal fervour.

But Steve freezes then. Shoulders going stiff, his hands stilling. And Billy’s heart leaps. 

“I...” Steve fidgets, his palms rubbing together as he shifts his thighs. “Um. Am. I am. I’m bi.”

“Huh...” Billy licks his lips. “Well, shit, Harrington.”

He wonders how well he pulled off cool and unbothered. It’s usually something he’s alright at, but he’s not usually reacting to the goddamn man of his dreams telling him he’s into guys. His whole chest feels like it’s gonna explode.

“Mhm…” Steve hums, staring at his own hands, his face frustratingly neutral. 

“So.” Suddenly their childish rivalry annoys Billy. When Steve was just a straight boy he was pining after it felt good to punish him for being unattainable. Be up in his space without being too obvious about why. Get him all flushed and bothered in the only way he could. But now… “Why did it take us this long to get here?” Billy asks quietly. He knows his side of the story. Knows his own stubborn asshole nature played its part. But Steve…

His anger from earlier resurfaces. Steve treating him like he wasn’t worth his time, running on a loop in his head. 

He draws his knee up, hugging it to his chest, but keeps the bitterness out of his expression. It’s too likely to end up looking like sadness on his face right now. 

Steve shrugs. “Haven’t we already been through this?” He turns to stare out the window. Billy glares at the back of his head.

“No, Steve, we haven’t. You called me an asshole and then said you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“What else is there to say?”

“How ‘bout an explanation? What exactly did I do to you, pretty boy? And don’t give me that, you were a dick, bullshit, because you hated me from the jump. Way before I did anything to deserve it.” 

And he did, eventually, deserve it. He knows that. Doesn’t make the immediate brush-off feel any better. 

Steve’s back is stiff, and he’s crossed his arms. And he still won’t look at Billy.

Feels like they’re right back where they started, and Billy wants to crawl out of his own skin. He grits his teeth, and hisses, “Listen, I know you come from a family of fuckin’ bigshot lawyers or what-the-fuck-ever, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat people like dirt if they don’t—”

That, at least, gets Steve’s attention. He whips his head around, stares at Billy with his mouth open. “Is that what you think—Billy I haven’t had a real conversation with my parents in nearly ten years, I don’t give a shit about all that.” 

“Then what—”

“You make me feel dumb! Alright? Happy?”

Billy blinks at him. “What?”

Steve groans, throwing his hands up in frustration. “You—you show up here all, all hot and—” he waves a hand, gesturing up and down Billy’s body, “like that, and it was annoying enough that you knew that, strutting around like you own the place, but then you go and open your mouth and—” Steve buries his face in his hands, sighing, rubbing his eyes. “The first time I heard you talk you were explaining some shit about—about—nemo devices or something—”

“Mnemonic.”

“That! That right there, that thing you always do. I get it. Okay? You’re smarter than me. I’m just a dumb art teacher who gets headaches when he tries to read.” Steve throws himself back against the headrest, all furrowed brow and expressive hands.

And Billy stares. Frozen in place. He is, for once, at a loss for words. His mouth works soundlessly as he searches for something to say. But what falls out of him is, “You think I’m hot?” and he mentally slaps himself. 

“Really. That’s your takeaway?”

“No—no, well, I mean. Kind of. Yeah.” He wets his bottom lip. Tongues his cheek. 

Steve groans, “Seriously?” He tugs at a stray lock of hair. “No one who wears pants that tight doesn't know they’re attractive, alright, why is this surprising. I have eyes.”

“Because it’s you.” Billy’s brain slams to a halt the second he says it, shock freezing him in place. Apparently his filter is just fucking broken today, Jesus Christ.

“...What. Y’know what, fuck you, I’m not that unobservant—”

Billy snorts a disbelieving laugh, “Are you sure about that.” 

“Alright, fine, I didn’t realize you were gay, for like, a really long time, but you didn’t notice that I’m queer too, so there!” Steve looks at him, triumphant, like he’s won the argument—if that’s what this even is. And Billy scoffs, stupid, irrational competitiveness tightening like anger in his chest, and—

“It’s not the same, Harrington,” Billy says flatly, heart pounding. 

“And why not?”

“Because you haven’t been after my dick this whole time! You didn’t care if I knew that you’re queer,” he’s almost shouting, frustrated and not even sure what he’s trying to prove, arms thrown wide to punctuate his dumb and nonexistent point, until exactly what he just let slip sinks in. He lowers his hands, clenches them into fists resting on his thighs. Steve hasn’t said a word, he’s just staring, jaw slack. 

“Wait...so—”

“Don’t.” 

“But—”

“Harrington,” Billy growls.  

“Jesus Christ, Billy would you let me—”

“No.”

“I have been though!” Steve yells over him, and it stuns Billy enough that he falls silent. “Dumbass, I have been into you this whole goddamn time, are you kidding me?”

“...What.”

Steve runs restless fingers through his hair, making even more of a mess of it. “Listen, do you have any idea how irritating it was that you’re as hot as you are? I wanted to badly to hate you because you were so fucking annoying, but you were all—” he gestures to Billy, waving his hand around wildly, “like, a fucking...walking wet dream, so.”

“Gee, thanks,” Billy responds, utterly bemused. 

“And then I find out you’re a great teacher, and really smart, and kind of funny when you aren’t being a douche, and suddenly I’m head-over-heels for a guy I’m pretty sure hates me, because I have no self-respect apparently, and—” He stops, chest heaving, eyebrows drawn, and curls in on himself, folding his arms. 

“I never hated you.” 

Steve scoffs, dipping his chin ‘til his face is shadowed by his bangs.

“Listen to me,” Billy scoots forward, wedging his knee over the cupholders between their seats. He hesitates, a hand hovering mid-air while he tries to swallow the lump in his throat. And then touches Steve’s elbow. He jolts, looks up at Billy from under the fall of brown hair hanging over his forehead, his eyes are wide and questioning. Billy presses his fingertips firmer to the warmth of Steve’s skin under his starched dress shirt. “You care about your friends a ridiculous amount, it’s mind-boggling. Honestly. I grew up around people who would’ve barely given a shit if I died, and here you are worrying about everyone in your life, like it’s your fuckin’ job. You’re a good goddamn person, and I wanted…” he pauses, and bites his lip. “I was pissed that I wasn’t one of the people you cared about, alright. Fuckin’ Wheeler gets to be, but I...” He trails off, gestures vaguely.  

Steve’s fingers are cold, sneaking up from under his folded arm to touch the back of Billy’s hand. “You were. You are.” He ducks his head again, the ghost of a smile just barely visible before he disappears into shadow again. “I came out here to check on you, didn’t I?”

“I mean…I was supposed to be helping out inside—”

“Billy, there’s, like, eight volunteers in there, they can handle a bunch of middle-schoolers.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” Steve lets out a quiet breath. “I, uh. I’m sorry. I never thought you gave a damn about my opinion, to be honest. I didn’t—I was just…”

“Insecure?”

Steve grimaces. “Yeah.” 

And that’s something Billy’s more familiar with than he’d like to be. He squeezes Steve’s forearm. “You’re not stupid, you know.”

“It’s fine, I know I am. Everybody in my life is some kinda damn genius, so. Someone had to draw the short straw.” 

“Shut the fuck up, Steve.” That gets his attention, surprised eye-contact, and Billy tilts his head to maintain it. “I don’t give a shit that your goddamn friends can speak five languages, or understand organic chem, or any of that crap, they aren’t better than you, alright, they’re just nerds.” Steve snorts, and rolls his eyes, but there’s a grin tugging at his lips and it makes Billy smile. “Look, you play guitar, right. And you taught that dweeby little friend of yours the chords to his weird song about physics. Wouldn’t have been able to pull that off without at least a couple brain cells floating around under all that hair.” 

“I mean, that was just—”

“That was just something you’re good at. You don’t gotta be able to read Shakespeare to have smarts, you’re just smart about other shit.” 

A blush colours Steve’s cheeks. “I—thanks,” he murmurs. 

Billy doesn’t get a chance to respond.

In the front seat of his beat-up old Camaro, with snow starting to fall outside, gathering silently on the dimly illuminated windshield, Steve Harrington kisses him for the first time. He’s still holding Billy’s hand. One second he’s glancing down shyly, smiling small and crooked, the next…

His lips are soft. Gentle. He kisses like he’s asking permission, barely touching Billy at all. 

Despite the light brush of a kiss, Billy feels it everywhere, lit up with a jolt of electricity right through his chest. He chases Steve when he pulls away, with a hasty press of his mouth, kisses him again. 

And again.

His free hand comes up to cup Steve’s cheek, holding that warmth in the palm of his hand, trying to keep him close for as long as possible. Steve makes a quiet noise against his lips, and his heart clenches, his breath catching in his throat. 

They part eventually, Billy still basking in the phantom sensation of Steve’s smile pressed to his, leaving him tingling and warm. Their foreheads touch, resting together, the point of contact is grounding, the only thing stopping him from feeling like he could float away at any moment. 

“So,” Billy says after a moment, “Fair warning, I’m gonna have to start complimenting you more if that’s how you react to it.”

Steve laughs quietly. His eyes are still closed, so Billy starts counting his eyelashes.

“This some kinda fairy tale, Hargrove? I kiss you and you turn into a polite human being?” 

“Hardly. But I’ll see what I can do about the happy ending part.” 

“The Disney kind, or the massage parlor kind?”

Billy kisses Steve again, grinning. “Both, if I’m lucky.”

And he was.

[kitkatopinions]

Words cannot express how much I like the idea of Winter, Weiss, or Whitley being the character inspired by the ‘Beast’ instead of Adam.

I mean, the Beast was born into privilege and wealth, was spoiled, selfish, and arrogant. He was ‘cursed’ into becoming a monster by an outside force, is isolated except for his servants, and also proved to be petty (requiring a life because one of his rose’s were plucked.) The Beast finds some companionship and someone he cares about in Beauty, only to be left alone again, and nearly dies of heartbreak in the absence of being with her (I know, the level of co-dependence.) But Beauty’s love (and guilt at leaving him) brings him back to life and transforms him back to a human, his beastliness falling away. In the Disney version, he’s more sympathetic, he has a magic mirror, has a lot of clear insecurities and self deprecating tendencies, it’s implied that he was turned into a beast when he was a pre-teen, he also is able to let Belle go, and he’s even kind and gentle when he stops being in his own head and taking out his problems on other people, but his early crime that got him turned into a beast was actually cruelty towards a lowly beggar who was seeking shelter from a storm, who he dismissed for being haggard and ugly and sneered at the simple offering of a rose. (And I’m not super fond of the live action Disney Beauty and the Beast, but it’s worth noting that having an abusive father was an addition there.)

I know, I know, RWBY was trying to do their edgy subversions.

But what I don’t like is them choosing to make their ‘Beast’ character a needy oppressed former child slave that got branded like cattle and was unfairly treated like an animal and like he wasn’t even human. And then due to his trauma and desperation to be free and equal, he ‘turned into the monster everyone thought he’d been all along.’ And to quote Adam’s RWBY: Amity Arena card...  "The final traces of love, the beauty he let go, never returns, and as the last petal falls, Adam is cursed to forever remain a beast. Because, in this tale as old as time, there is no happy ending. In this story... HE is the monster." Yeah, sorry, I hate it. Part of the Beast’s whole thing is his wealth and the power he wields over people like the Merchant/Belle’s father and Belle herself. I’m not even going to get into how awful the allegory is in light of their racism/people of color/faunus allegory that they never should’ve even included and how it makes this allegory problematic. But what I am going to say is how much I hate these ‘dark, gritty’ subversions that rarely ever even work well imo. “The Beast, except he’s actually bad,” is like, the coldest take, and anyway, what’s with all the hopeless versions of fairy tales in a show where hope and goodness is supposed to be major themes? Also they’ve now done this with way too many characters. “Cinderella, but she becomes an abuser too.” “Watson, but if he was a criminal.” “The Tin Woodman except if he lost his heart.” “Pinocchio, but if the puppet died the moment it became a human.” I don’t know, I’m sure there’s more. My point is, I don’t like it. XD

Any of the Schnees would be much better as a ‘Beast’ inspiration.

Winter - Born into wealth and privilege, has some level of arrogance and lots of cold behavior, Winter was raised in an abusive household. And I might hate this as a James fan, but the show itself already twisted her time as his right hand into something that made her less than human (eyeroll.) Either Penny or Weiss could be fitted to be a platonic Beauty/Belle role, prodding Winter towards her redemption (and in the case of Winter and Penny even helping to trigger a magical transformation.) Winter then becomes everything she should’ve been and proves there’s more to her than the ice queen exterior and ‘beastliness’ people perceived partially due to her own actions (at least, that’s what the writers were clearly trying to get across.)

Whitley - Born into wealth and privilege, has arrogance, cold behavior and some level of pettiness and selfish behavior. He was raised in an abusive household with some clear neglect, isolated apart from his servants. And he was heavily influenced by his father to be much worse and let his bad traits take over. Whitley had some companionship in Weiss, but she left even before the show started - or alternatively, Weiss’s return home signifies the early stages before Belle/Beauty started seeing past the ‘beastliness’ to the good qualities he has, and Weiss leaves too early, leaving her still considering Whitley nothing more than bad and leaving their resolution open ended. Until season eight when Whitley proves there’s more to him and that he’s more kind and selfless than Weiss had thought.

Weiss - The best option here in my opinion. She had the same sort of privileged and spoiled upbringing as Whitley, manifesting in some similar shared traits like their arrogance, pettiness, selfishness, cold behavior, etc. She as well was severely impacted by the abuse of her father and neglect from both him and her mother. But unlike Whitley, she’s got the mirror motif and is connected to someone who is literally named ‘Ruby Rose.’ On top of that, Weiss is discriminatory and judges by appearances when we first meet her, is dependent on her wealth and status, and yet is often judged by others quickly too (”All my life, boys have only cared about the benefits of my last name,”) some with merit like Blake - the literal Beauty lol. Weiss has to learn to love and let go of not only her father’s way of thinking, but of her own way of thinking to start growing into a truly good, self-possessed person (although sadly we don’t see that growth truly emphasized as Weiss never even apologizes for her treatment of the Faunus.) And that growth doesn’t really even take full effect until she’s separated from the people that she had grown to care about (including rose themed Ruby who fought to see past her prickly and downright awful behavior, full on Belle/Beauty allegory Blake who gave her a second chance and treated her better than she deserved, and described ‘Yellow Beauty’ Yang who seemed to see more in Weiss and enjoy time spent with her despite their huge differences from the start.) Once Weiss rejoins the group, she’s softer, kinder, seems more tolerant (though I know there’s still plenty to complain about in how MKEK continue to write for the faunus plots,) and is overall a much better person. Also, side note, but like the Beast, Weiss does get real close to death, causing a tearful former ‘love interest’ to cry over her unconscious form and trigger what’s essentially magic to heal her and bring her back. 

So... Yeah. I think the ‘Beast’ allusion works much better for the characters of any of the Schnee siblings than it did for Adam.

[glitta]

Okay, wasn’t going to do my own post, but because I just saw a “Team Jeanette people got to be embarrassed” post..

No, not all.

Okay, I wasn’t purely Team Jeanette.. I was more of a.. both girls seem sure of their side, we’ll see, hope that they’re both not lying somehow. And I was defending Jeanette more often because I felt a lot of people were unfairly against her.

And I still believe that. She lied sometimes, she wanted to be popular, wanted to be like the popular pretty girl, she was sneaking into a house with a key she had for thrills etc. But none of that = would let a girl stay kidnapped to “steal her life”.. and it wasn’t really stealing just by dating the boyfriend who had already shown an interest pre-kidnapping & two of Kate’s BFF’s then became close with her.

That’s all reasonable in high school without being something weird to the extent of her capable of not saying anything when faced with a kidnapped!Kate.

And I feel like it does a disservice to nerdy girls who want to be popular and even teens who somewhat emulate idols.. this justification that they’re just creeps.

I mean I get them doing a twist and I’m sure a lot of people loved it, but for me it was disappointing. But hey, we got answers and I never pretended I was sure on anything.

[dailytomlinson]

“I probably shouldn’t be talking about this but f*** it,” he tells me now. “My point is, I clearly wasn’t in the best frame of mind, you know? And the situation definitely got out of hand and people were goading me. It wasn’t my finest hour but it was a difficult time. I was already on edge and, in that headspace, it got the better of me.”

By “that headspace”, Tomlinson means that he was grieving. The airport incident took place a few months after his mother Johannah’s death from leukaemia at 43. (In March last year, his 18-year-old sister, Félicité, died from an accidental overdose. Quite reasonably, I’ve been asked not to bring this up.) Tomlinson, who is now 28, says his experiences of grief in the public eye have been “really tough. There have been mixed emotions. I’ve hated the fact that everyone’s talking about it, but that’s the way it is. I didn’t like the idea of people feeling sorry for me. But I’ve also felt the support from fans and people reaching out on social media or whatever… and I do feel I’ve got this ability to see the glass as half full. Because what else am I going to f***ing do?”

I meet Tomlinson in an upstairs room of a pub in a residential corner of London’s Notting Hill. He is dressed in jeans, a red tracksuit top and trainers. The only visible evidence of his previous life in One Direction, the biggest boyband in pop history, is his hair, which is artfully swept sideways as if he’s standing in a wind tunnel. An old hand at winning over interviewers, he greets me with a hug before sitting down, leaning back and putting his feet up.

Tomlinson is on the promotional trail for his debut album, Walls, which has been four years on the making. It includes “Two of Us”, a ballad which lays bare Tomlinson’s loss (“You’ll never know how much I miss you/ The day that they took you, I wish it was me instead”). In a change of mood, it also contains the Britpop-flavoured “Kill My Mind”, a throwback to his mid-teens and the indie night he’d go to with his friends in his native Doncaster.

Tomlinson grew up listening to Oasis and Arctic Monkeys, though right now he can’t get enough of Catfish and the Bottlemen: “I like anything with big guitars and a big chorus.” He reckons “Kill My Mind” will struggle to get on the radio but he doesn’t care since, musically, “I’ve often been swimming against the tide.”

He puts the album’s long gestation down to creative insecurity. “A good two years [was spent] treading water and trying to work out exactly what my sound was, and what I was capable of.” Clearly, One Direction, who sold 50 million albums, are a tough act to follow, though Tomlinson has also had to contend with his former colleagues putting out solo work before him (Harry Styles is already on his second LP, while Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne have all released debuts). But he rejects the suggestion that they are all in competition, remarking, “I don’t like to look at it that way.”

I ask if he and his ex-bandmates have a WhatsApp group. They don’t, he replies, “and we should, but we’ve never got around to it”. But he says they are frequently in touch, which must be something people ask a lot since, entirely unbidden, he gives me a breakdown of their recent activities. Let the record show that he spoke to Liam two days ago; he and Niall exchanged texts a fortnight ago; and Harry sent him a congratulatory message when he released his last single. There is no mention of Zayn.

Tomlinson says the face he presents to the public and journalists these days is fully unfiltered, a change from his One Direction days when he had to be careful not to cause inadvertent upset within the band or with fans. “No one was saying ‘Don’t do that’, but there was the [pressure] of being role models. So it took a second to understand that [as a solo artist] I could get away with completely being myself, even though I can sometimes be a bit of a dickhead.”

In fact, there are two Tomlinsons that emerge throughout our chat. There’s boyband Louis, full of sweet but bland blather about self-expression, his gratitude to fans, and the luck that he’s enjoyed as an artist. But another version of him frequently comes through who is funny, sweary and thoughtful about his decade in the limelight.

Tomlinson has had four years to digest his time in One Direction which I note, from the outside, looked a bit like being held hostage. But even with the fan fervour, the police escorts and the nonstop media glare, he says he wouldn’t change anything. “We were always in control of our destiny,” he explains. “We rose to fame pretty quick and, because of that, we had some power and some say within the record label and with management.” The sheer pace and drama of their day-to-day existence was, he says, “like a drug. It’s that feeling of heightened emotion and every day being manically busy, and the hysteria. Although you might complain about it, none of us said, ‘No we don’t wanna do that.’ We were just in it. We were f***ing loving it.”

Still, he says, the initial 18 months were hard as he struggled to see his value within the band. “I would wonder, ‘What difference would it make if I was there or if I wasn’t?’ Under the spotlight that was difficult, but that’s what gave me the fire in the belly to get right into it.” It was through songwriting that he found his place and his confidence – he has writing credits on 37 One Direction songs, more than anyone else in the band. “That’s something I’m really f***ing proud of,” he says. “Now I can say I made a difference.”

The end of One Direction was a shock to Tomlinson, even though he knew it was coming. “We’d done such a lot of work in a short space of time so a break was inevitable. But I don’t think I was necessarily ready for how long. We had a band meeting and everyone just said, ‘Maybe we’ll put it on the back burner for a bit,’ and I felt a bit petulant about that at the time. It actually hit me like a ton of bricks.” Now the band are officially on hiatus – “even though that’s a stupid f***ing word”, he says. “Truthfully, none of us truly know [if we’ll reform]. I just know what my gut says and my gut says we will get back together at some point. I think it was too magical for all of us to never do it again.”

The eldest of seven siblings, as a child Tomlinson says he was “well-mannered but a bit of a show-off. I was a lot cockier than I am now. Being in One Direction made me realise I’m not always the coolest kid in the room”.

He wasn’t good academically at school but enjoyed performing and, for a while, toyed with being an actor. Before auditioning on The X Factor, he did a string of jobs at weekends and in school holidays for some extra cash. One summer was spent as a waiter at his beloved football club, Doncaster Rovers. Another yielded a stint at a well-known cinema chain dispensing popcorn. There, he tells me unexpectedly, he was earning “an extra wage”. An extra wage? “As in taking a few quid from the till,” he says with a grin. “It all started because there was a McDonald’s over the road and I wanted money for my lunch.” His trick was to hand customers two boxes of popcorn but only put one through the system and put the money for the second in his pocket. “I didn’t want to short-change the customer,” he explains. “I’d take from the company. I’m a man of the people.”

It was his mum’s idea for him to try out for The X Factor, though it took three attempts to get through to the televised auditions. He says the experience of going on stage in front of the live audience, under the glare of the lights and with four famous judges looking back at him, remains the most terrifying of his life.

We talk for a bit about Tomlinson’s return to The X Factor in 2018 as a judge alongside Simon Cowell plus Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field. He asks what I made of the show so I decide to be honest and tell him that I thought the whole thing looked tired and Cowell appeared bored out of his mind. “Well I couldn’t possibly comment on [Cowell],” says Tomlinson, good-naturedly, “though I actually loved it. But yeah, I feel that, as a show, it needs a rest. There’s a place for a show like it and I’ve got my career to thank for it, but we’ve had a lot of it, so let’s just let it rest and make people want it again.”

Life has slowed down since the madness of One Direction but he still can’t find the time to read a book or watch a box set. Where, in his pre-fame days, he struggled to hold down a job, now he’s happiest when he’s busy. Should the singing career stall, he would like to run his own management company. Five years ago, he launched a record label, an imprint on Cowell’s Syco label, but life got in the way and his plans to create a girl band fell at the first hurdle. Originally he had gathered a list of 20 acts that he was keen to sign, and points out that “like, four or five of them are signed [elsewhere] now… I think I have an instinct for these things”.

I ask, rather unfairly, if the solo career of a former boyband member is ultimately a doomed endeavour – for every Robbie Williams, there’s a Howard, Jason and Mark whose careers sink without trace. For a moment Tomlinson looks stumped but then he prevaricates like a pro. “Of course, there are days where I might have unreal expectations and when I have to tell myself to stay grounded,” he says. “But I had a breakthrough moment last year about what success really means and I think I can look at it for what it is now. I have to look at how happy I am and remember that I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing.”

[scourge-sympathiser]

prob my hottest take is tht i HATE ivypool. i kno wht its like to be a disregarded child too, but thn again she isnt really disregarded?? to me she just seems unfairly aggressive to dovewing who just wanted to b her sister? she legit went 2 hell bc she hated her sis so much? like girl what did she do to u, dove was willing to give up her powers for her

NOW THIS. THIS IS A HOTTER TAKE

i slightly agree with this, i feel like therez a tendency to villify or glorify characterz & thtz unhelpful... but nyanywayz i think ivypool waz a dipshit child who fucked up and waznt like very justified at all but i also get tht she waz like. a pre teen at most and somtimez u act like a total ass. i totally thought she waz like being super unfair and like didnt get why she waz so mean 2 dove as a kid.... but yeah idk half agree? bcuz yr right but also it makez 4 good drama? i do wish it waz better written.... also tho she waz manipulated by hawkfrost and i think thtz a big thing 2 remember whn talking about how she acted towardz dove & the whole situation

n i dont think she hated her sister it waz just teen lashin out n the such, n i mean. woth the powerz thing. u gotta consider.. Did Ivypool Kno Tht?

[janiedean]

I get what you mean about interacting differently with general adult fiction and ya, but I can’t agree that ya is “less than” or that meta about ya stories is worthless

... guys honestly can... y’all... stop putting words in my mouth? who said ya is LESS THAN ADULT LITERATURE? who said meta about ya is worthless? I said that:

ya is DIFFERENT from adult lit BECAUSE IT’S NOT AIMED AT ADULTS and fyi I think writing books for kids/children/teens is a lot harder than writing adult books because you have to think extra hard about the message you’re conveying and how you’re conveying and so on, WRITING good lit for minors (let’s just call it like that) especially the kind that can also be enjoyed by other age groups is hard and I NEVER SAID IT’S LESS THAN ADULT FICTION, I SAID THAT PERSONALLY I NEVER RELATED TO IT BUT I’M GLAD IF KIDS RELATE TO BOOKS CATERED TO THEM THAT ARE GOOD FOR THEM - percy jackson wouldn’t be good for me because it’s not my thing, it was most likely good for tons of teenagers/pre-teens who read it and felt represented in it and had fun with reimagined greek myths and I personally wish rick riordan a nice long fruitful career because I know that PJ books are actually very good for that target and offer kids a lot of representation and are well-thought/planned for that age range and I’m not saying that adults can’t enjoy them, but I would find it quite useless if someone decided to ancient greek literature assuming it’s the same thing as percy jackson, like is that too hard to grasp that if I say it’s DIFFERENT and that it’s not my thing but IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE I’m not automatically saying it’s less than adult fiction? it has to be good for kids, then if it’s good for adults too GOOD but the point is that the moment it’s good for kids it doesn’t have to be for anyone else because THEY are the target and adults who assume they are the target for ya fiction are missing the mark;

‘meta about ya stories is worthless’ WHEN did I say that? when? META ABOUT YA STORIES IN GENERAL is not worthless and believe me I’d absolutely read meta about thg concerning... hmmmm.... let’s see, when I watched the first hunger games movie I was like ‘sorry but is district 12 basically the poor appalachian miners or what why isn’t anyone discussing that’, now I WENT ON WIKIPEDIA TO CHECK AND GUESS WHAT

eeeh, wow, did I guess wrong? obviously not, except that I have never once read meta about this one topic, because believe me if I knew thg was about that I’d have probably watched the movies or read it back when it was out because I’m actually interested in commentary on that topic, except that each single piece of meta I see about thg is about the love triangle and so on, which excuse me but seems to me like most people discoursing on thg ignore the elephant in the house ie that there is a lot of classism/social commentary that gets ignored because it would mean discussing that issue irl and from what I gather coal miners in west virginia aren’t a hot american left topic right now, so like... I would appreciate reading meta about ya that actually deals with important topics addressing those topics and not how the love triangle is or isn’t revolutionary for the standards of love triangles, for one;

second: I said that meta about ya stuff WHERE SAID YA STUFF IS TAKEN AS THE STANDARD ADULT FICTION HAS TO MEASURE AGAINST IS USELESS because if I, tumblr user janiedean, write a book that I want adult people to read, I don’t write it thinking ‘how would a teenager take this’, I write it thinking about how would an adult take it, so if someone told me ‘in your book you gave one of the two main characters a shitty mother and you didn’t explain why she’s a shitty mother so you’re a misogynist’ (actual thing that I did in the nanowrimo novel I’ll hopefully finish soon) I’ll answer you that ‘you should grasp why his mother is a shitty mother from the circumstances they grew up in which should be enough to make you do 2+2 and since it’s from the pov of a guy whose mother was shitty to him he’s not exactly thinking about the reasons why she’d fail him because eventually to him she still was a shit mother, and if it was for teenagers at some point I’d have explained it, in an adult book I Do Not because THERE IS NO NEED FOR THAT, and if someone judged me faulty because I didn’t put two paragraphs of backstory to explain why his mom is shitty I’d say they were judging me unfairly because for that context I already gave you all the narrative elements you need to understand it and I don’t have to adhere to specific archetypes that make it easier to understand a negative character’s background when it’s that kind of figure, which means that you can’t judge grrm's writing the way you would judge rick riordan’s because they don’t write for the same audience and it’s unfair to both of them.

never, NEVER I said that I think YA is lesser or YA meta is worthless.

never.

I just said IT’S NOT THE BEGINNING AND END OF LITERATURE AND LITERATURE ANALYSIS and such a position is detrimental to both ya literature that gets held to crazy standards and adult literature that is assumed to cater to an audience it doesn’t cater to.

now can you all please for the love of whichever deity you worship or don’t stop putting words into my mouth and stop thinking that if I, a random person on the internet who at fourteen related harder to the main pov kid in the body than to any other character she had related to until then because that was the kind of stuff that made me feel seen and not ya lit but who never ever once presumed that ya lit couldn’t be good for people who felt seen because of it and actually spent her teenage years pretending to not dislike it as much as possible because I didn’t think telling my irl friends that I thought hp was not that great was going to accomplish anything except making me look like na ass, expresses one single opinion on the topic that doesn’t even include the words ‘ya sucks’ or ‘people who read ya have no taste’ IN GENERAL, then she means your tastes suck?

because that’s the message I’m getting and this discourse is honestly becoming tiring as hell and I’m done with explaining myself fifteen times over when it feels like you are all feeling personally called into it when I was discussing a specific category of people which, if you get my point, you don’t belong to.

thank you.

[jeanvaljean24601]

How to Watch Mad Men and More Great Shows for Free Right Now

Another day, another brand new streaming platform out there begging you to subscribe to its service so you can ignore your family members and binge-watch a bunch of TV shows and movies in the name of entertainment. This time, it's NBCUniversal's Peacock, which offers a free tier as well as  two premium options (one with ads and one without). The service  features a number of programs for free, including Friday Night Lights and even Parks and Recreation, but Peacock isn't the only place you can stream great shows without breaking the bank.

Below, we've gathered up a number of shows that don't require you to shell out money for Netflix,  Hulu,  Amazon Prime,  Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock, and/or  whatever other streaming service subscriptions are out there. Sometimes you just need a simple freebie. And you know what? You deserve it. So check out the list below and take comfort in knowing it won't cost you a thing.

Watch it on: IMDb TV

Until recently you had to have a Netflix subscription to watch Mad Men, AMC's Emmy-award winning period drama from Matthew Weiner that was dedicated as much to style as it was to substance. The 1960s-set series, which traced the rise and fall of flawed Madison Avenue advertising executive Don Draper (Jon Hamm) through his own complicated relationship with identity, was a pointed commentary on the toxic masculinity, sexism, and racism of the era. It also changed the way we watch and talk about TV. If you haven't seen it yet, now's the perfect time to do so.

The Dick Van Dyke Show

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series)

Realizing  The Dick Van Dyke Show is streaming for free feels a bit like winning a secret lottery or viewing an exceptional piece of art without paying the museum admission fee. The popular comedy, which ran for five seasons, was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke as the head writer of a TV show, while  Mary Tyler Moore portrayed his wife. It's a timeless classic — one that took home 15 Emmys during its run, and if you've yet to experience it, you literally have no excuse at this point.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Felicity is best known as the show in which Keri Russell cut her hair (not to be confused with the show in which Keri Russell wore a lot of great wigs, aka The Americans). Depicting Felicity Porter's (Russell) college years and the struggles that accompany trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, the show is also famous for Scott Speedman's whisper-talking and the ongoing battle of Ben (Speedman) vs. Noel (Scott Foley). Although the WB series was previously streaming on Hulu, you can now watch it for free on the ABC app.

A reimagining of the kitschy original series, Syfy's Battlestar Galacticastarred Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, James Callis, and Jamie Bamber and explored the aftermath of a nuclear attack by the Cylons, cybernetic creatures invented by man who evolved and rebelled against their creators. The show was critically acclaimed for the way it tackled the subjects of science, religion, and politics, and for the way it explored the deeply complicated notion of what makes us human. Everything from the miniseries to the two BSG films (Razor and The Plan) is currently available to stream for free on Syfy's website, so there's no better time to watch it. So say we all!

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (first 13 seasons), YouTube (first 13 seasons)

For many millennials, the fourth series in the Degrassi franchise, Degrassi: The Next Generation, is the defining iteration of the long-running Canadian series. The drama series, which was sometimes so overly dramatic it was actually funny, tackled everything from date rape and suicide to sexual orientation and teen pregnancy. The series, which launched the careers of Drake (then known as Aubrey Graham) and Nina Dobrev, is streaming on multiple free platforms.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Eli Stone really had it all, which is to say it had Victor Garber singing George Michael songs, Loretta Devine singing George Michael songs, and George Michael singing George Michael songs. What else is there? ABC's offbeat two-season comedy-drama starred a pre-Elementary Jonny Lee Miller as Eli Stone, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer whose brain aneurysm gave him prophetic visions — which usually involved his friends, family, and colleagues breaking into song. Aside from a couple of ill-advised plotlines (the pilot, which suggests vaccines cause autism, is best forgotten), the show was a blast: a weird but memorable cocktail that should have stuck around for more seasons because, as I mentioned, Victor Garber sang George Michael songs. Also, Sigourney Weaver played God?! -Kelly Connolly

Watch it on: YouTube (nearly every episode)

A true Canadian treasure,  The Red Green Show was a long-running comedy starring Steve Smith as Red Green, a handyman who constantly tried to cut corners using duct tape and who had his own cable TV show. It was a parody of home improvement shows and outdoor programs and featured segments like Handyman Corner, Adventures with Bill, and The Possum Lodge Word Game. The show ran for 15 seasons, airing on PBS in the States. 

TV Premiere Date Calendar: Find Out When Your Favorite Shows Are Back

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series), ABC app (complete series)

Critically beloved but struck down before its time,  My So-Called Life has been praised for its realistic and honest portrayal of teenage life, not just via Angela Chase (Claire Danes), but through the show's young supporting cast as well. Now considered to be one of the best shows of all time, it tackled topics like homophobia, homelessness, drug use, and more without ever feeling preachy or like an after-school special. Also, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) could lean.

Watch it on: CW Seed (first five seasons), IMDb TV (first five seasons)

If you don't have Netflix but still want to watch  Schitt's Creek, you'll be happy to know you can watch the first five seasons of the heartwarming, Emmy-nominated comedy series, about a wealthy family who loses everything they own except the town of the show's title, for free on CW Seed and IMDb TV.

Dan Levy and Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek Photo: Pop TV

Watch it on: Peacock (complete series); IMDb TV (complete series)

You may never know what it feels like to have Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) be proud of you, but you can pretend by watching all five seasons of  Friday Night Lights, a series that was as much about a Texas community as it was about the sport that united it. By the end of the show, you'll be asking yourself "What Would Riggins Do?" and tattooing "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose" on your body, all while chanting "Texas forever!" Trust me, it happens to everybody.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It is relatively easy to forget that The CW series The Carrie Diaries was a prequel to  Sex and the City, because the charming show, which lasted just two seasons, was able to stand on its own. The coming-of-age series that followed a teenaged Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) was relatively innocent compared to the original series. The show's 1980s setting made it easier for the writers to focus on more harmless family storylines and teenage heartbreaks, but the show never shied away from the heartstring-tugging drama of young adulthood either. It's a shame the show never got the kind of ratings it deserved and wasn't able to exist beyond Carrie's high school years, but the Season 2 finale works well as a series finale, so viewers won't feel as if the story was left incomplete. android tv box

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

It's a shame Bryan Fuller's saturated dramedy  Pushing Daisies, about a pie-maker (Lee Pace) with the ability to bring the dead back to life, couldn't bring itself back to life after becoming a casualty of the 2007-08 writers' strike. A whimsical delight, the show featured the pie-maker teaming up with a local private eye (Chi McBride) to solve murders by reviving the victims for a brief time. Known for its quirky characters, eccentric visual style, and Jim Dale's pitch-perfect narration, it remains must-see TV.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (first seven seasons); Peacock

Columbo kicked off nearly every episode by revealing the crime and its perpetrator to the audience, which means unlike most crime dramas, the show was less about whodunnit and more about Peter Falk's iconic raincoat-wearing homicide detective catching them and getting them to confess. Oh, and just one more thing: it's great.

Watch it on: CW Seed (complete series)

The charming and playful Forever, which starred Ioan Gruffudd as an immortal medical examiner, was the one show that could have saved ABC's Tuesday at 10 p.m. death slot. But the network still canceled the series anyway, enraging the show's fans, who have never let the sting of its death go. Luckily, it now lives on, ahem, forever (aka until the content license expires) on CW Seed.

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

It sounds odd to say The Middle, which ran for nine seasons on ABC, was unfairly overlooked, but it always felt like the series, which followed the middle class Midwestern Heck family, was a bit of a hidden gem. It wasn't as popular with Emmy voters as, say, Modern Family, and critics also failed to give it its due, but it was a real, heartfelt, reliable family comedy with mass appeal, and you can stream it on IMDb TV for free. h96 tv box

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Trophy Wife's short life — it was canceled after just one season — can probably be chalked up to its unfortunate title, which was meant to be ironic but ultimately kept viewers from tuning in and experiencing the warmth of the show and the relationships at its center. Malin Akerman starred as the young wife of  Bradley Whitford's middle-aged lawyer, and the comedy explored the dynamics between the two, his children, and his two ex-wives, who were played by  Marcia Gay Harden and  Michaela Watkins. h96 max x3

Watch it on: NBC app (complete series)

Loosely based on the Biblical story of King David, Kings was a compelling drama before its time. Rudely cut down after just one season by NBC, the show starred Ian McShane as the king of the fictional kingdom of Gilboa, while  Christopher Egan portrayed an idealistic young soldier whose counterpart is David. The show also starred Sebastian Stan, which is reason enough to want to check it out.

Watch it on: ABC app (complete series)

Ray Wise portrays Satan in Reaper, a supernatural dramedy about a slacker (Bret Harrison) who reluctantly becomes a reaper tasked with capturing escaped souls from hell after it's revealed his parents made a deal with the devil many, many years before. The fact the show only lasted two seasons is a crime against humanity. Luckily, you can watch it in its entirety for free on the ABC app. h96 max x3

Watch it on: IMDb TV (complete series)

A team of experts led by a kooky old scientist (John Noble), his son (Joshua Jackson), and an FBI agent (Anna Torv) investigate strange occurrences around the country, X-Files style, in the J.J. Abrams-produced Fringe. The series is one of the best broadcast science-fiction shows of all time, particularly in its first three seasons, and perfected the art of the serialized procedural by weaving the show's deep mythology and excellent character work into weekly standalone stories, making it easy to binge or watch in spurts. And by the time the end of Season 1 starts, you'll have a hard time stopping. -Tim Surette

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Vudu (complete series)

Although American TV producers would eventually adapt  Being Human, the original British version, which followed three supernatural beings trying to live amongst humans, is far superior. The show, which ran for five seasons, starred Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and  Lenora Crichlow as a vampire, werewolf, and ghost, respectively. So skip the U.S. version entirely and watch the U.K. series for free.

Watch it on: Pluto TV (complete series),  Vudu (complete series), Tubi (complete series)

The Australian young adult-oriented series Dance Academy is not exactly what you'd call "great television," but it is great fun. Brimming with teen angst and melodrama, the series, which ran for three seasons and even had a follow-up movie, followed a handful of dancers at Sydney's National Academy of Dance as they trained in the sport they loved while also falling in and out of love with each other. The acting was sometimes questionable, but the series itself was addictive, not to mention one of the easiest binges you'll ever encounter. h96 max tv box

3rd Rock From the Sun

Watch it on: Tubi (complete series), Pluto TV (complete series), Crackle (all six seasons),  Vudu (all six seasons)

You might think a show about a group of socially awkward, 1,000-year-old aliens in human skin suits who are trying (badly) to pose as a human family and blend into an ordinary Midwest town might sound ridiculous, and, well, that's fair. But  3rd Rock From the Sun was still charming in even its most bizarre moments and gave its cast a lot of room to play up their roles and create an ensemble of weirdos that, at some point or another, start to tap into their newfound humanity and relish their new home here on Earth. -Amanda Bell.

[unfolded73]

Kit Kat Girl Number One (1/1) - schitt’s creek ff

Summary:  The story of the Schitt's Creek production of Cabaret told from the point-of-view of Kit Kat Girl Number One. (ao3)

Twyla/Kit Kat Girl No. 1 (mostly an original character); Patrick/David also although mostly in the background. For @thedidipickles​. Rated Teen, 4500 words.

I named the character of this Kit Kat Girl after Jade Whitney, the dancer who played her. If you haven't seen Jade dancing on her instagram, what have you been doing with your life? Thanks to the Rosebudd denizens for cheering me on!

__________________________________________

The flyer for Cabaret auditions hung in the foyer of Jade’s Elmdale dance studio, but she wasn’t the one who noticed it — her eyes had always dragged over that cacophony of colorful paper without really seeing any of it. It was her friend Seo-yeon who pointed it out as they left their hip hop class, Jade already dreading her drive back home.

“Oh, I love Cabaret,” Seo-yeon said, looking at the bulletin board while Jade bent down to re-tie her sneaker. “We should audition.”

Jade wrinkled her nose. “Are you suggesting that we do a musical? You and me?” She stood up and shouldered her bag. “I don’t know if the Elmdale Community Players can handle us.”

“It’s not in Elmdale, it’s in the Creek.”

“Oh, even better.” Jade stepped over and joined her friend next to the wall of flyers. “Schitt’s Creek community theater. Yikes.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Jade. It might be fun. You were just saying how bored you are.”

Jade sighed, fiddling with the strap of her bag. “I can’t sing.”

Seo-yeon whipped around and frowned at her. “You can sing; I’ve heard you sing.”

“I can carry a tune, but I can’t sing.” The memory of a middle school talent show surfaced in her brain, when she’d attempted to sing Katy Perry’s “Firework” and her thin, reedy voice had been way overmatched by the material. She could feel her throat trying to close up just thinking about that distilled moment of humiliation.

“So? You can dance well enough to make up for it. Come on, please? I don’t want to go by myself.” Seo-yeon bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, a wheedling smile on her face.

Groaning, Jade turned and made for the door of the dance studio. “Fine, I’ll go with you, but expect me to complain about it a lot.”

“Deal.”

~*~

The audition was weird.

There was a woman named Jocelyn who was nominally running things, but she kept deferring to an oddly dressed older woman in impossibly high, impossibly white heels. Jade had never seen anyone in Elmdale who looked like this woman (who Jocelyn called ‘Moira’), and she seemed even more wildly out of place in the tiny town of Schitt’s Creek. Jade wondered where the hell she had come from.

Seo-yeon and Jade showed off some of their dance moves, playing music from the tinny speaker of Seo-yeon’s phone and performing the hip hop routine they’d been working on in their weekly class. Jocelyn and Moira both looked impressed, and Moira said they danced like ‘sensual marionettes’, and further proclaimed ‘despite the cacophonous accompaniment of this routine, I can see them both in a pre-war Berlin brothel.’ Jade wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. They also were asked to read some lines for Sally Bowles and to sing, but that didn’t go as well, at least not for Jade. Her voice sounded as thin and strangled as it always did, like her throat was trying its best to prevent the sound from getting out. Jocelyn gave them a kind smile and said she’d call them.

They walked out onto the front steps of Town Hall, looking over at what passed for a downtown in Schitt’s Creek. Jade thought back to the last time she’d been down here, taking stupid selfies in front of the town sign with some so-called friends from high school, all of them too drunk or high to drive, including the driver. God, she’d been an idiot. It was a miracle she was still alive.

“Do we really want to spend the next two months coming down here for rehearsals?”

Seo-yeon shrugged. “I mean, I get it. You’ve got such a demanding career.”

“Fuck off.” Just because she struggled to get more than twenty hours a week at the restaurant where she waitressed didn’t mean her best friend had any right to be dragging her like this.

“I still think it’ll be fun.”

“Maybe we won’t get cast in it.”

“I bet they’re hard up for dancers,” Seo-yeon said, marching off toward her car. “We’ll get cast.”

~*~

“I’m Kit Kat Girl number one,” Jade told her mother, whose back was turned, stirring ground beef in a skillet on the stove. “And Seo-yeon is Kit Kat Girl number two.”

“What does ‘number one’ mean? Is it the biggest part?”

“No, Sally Bowles is the biggest part,” Jade said.

“So what does it mean, Jade?”

“I have no idea.”

“It’s not going to help you get more hours at the deli,” her mother said.

“It’s not going to affect that,” Jade huffed. “And besides, it’s dance. I majored in dance, and you keep saying—”

“I keep saying that you need to get a job related to what you studied. This isn’t a job. It’s community theater. It’s not even in Elmdale, it’s in—”

“I know, Mom.”

They’d gone round and round over this a hundred times since Jade had come home from college and moved back into her childhood bedroom in her parents’ house. She needed to get a job. No, a real job, not a waitressing job. She needed to move to the city if she wanted to pursue her dreams. She couldn’t afford to move to the city. How would she ever afford to move to the city, working part-time at a deli? Lather, rinse, repeat.

“Well, who’s involved with this production?” her mother asked. “Anyone I know?”

“Do you know people in Schitt’s Creek?”

“A few.”

“Umm, the directors are these two women, Jocelyn and Moira.”

“Moira Rose?” her mother turned, spatula poised in the air.

“Yeah, that sounds right. Why?”

“She’s one of the Roses.”

Jade blinked at her mother. “Who are the Roses?”

“Oh, you were away at college when all that happened. Moira was a D-list actress and her husband used to own Rose Video. Anyway, they lost all their money — I think I remember reading that their business manager robbed them — and they ended up living in the Creek. It was kind of big news around here at the time, but that was a couple of years ago now, I guess.”

Well, that explained the clothes she’d been wearing, maybe. Maybe nothing could really explain the clothes that Moira Rose had been wearing.

~*~

“I’m Alexis,” the unfairly gorgeous woman said, holding her hand out limply for Jade to… shake? Kiss? She had no idea what to do with Alexis’ hand, but she made an attempt to shake it. “So I guess we’re all Kit Kat Girls?” She gestured, indicating herself, Jade, Seo-yeon, and three other women Jade hadn’t met yet. They were taking a break during their first rehearsal, which was less of a rehearsal and more of a series of weird acting exercises during which Stevie, the girl who’d been cast as Sally Bowles, seemed supremely uncomfortable. It didn’t make Jade feel great about the quality of this production.

Also, a lot of the cast seemed to know each other already. Stevie, Alexis, and somebody named Twyla were already friends. Alexis was Moira’s daughter, and she mentioned that the guy playing the Emcee was her brother’s boyfriend. All of it made Jade feel like an outsider, and she was grateful that she at least had one friend in the cast. Failing all else, she and Seo-yeon would be able to commiserate when it looked like the show was going to be disastrous.

Twyla came over and introduced herself during the next break. She had a wide smile and sparkling eyes, and something about her made Jade smile back. “You were really good at the movement exercises,” Twyla said.

“I majored in dance at college,” Jade said.

“Wow,” Twyla said, seeming genuinely impressed. “I can’t wait to learn from you. I’m more of a singer; the most dancing I’ve ever done has been the basic stuff we do with the Jazzagals. Show choir-type stuff.”

Jade was still adjusting to the fact that Twyla didn’t immediately ask the follow-up question everyone in Elmdale asked her when she told them she majored in dance: What are you doing here, then? “Umm, I don’t know, it looks like you know how to move your body,” Jade said, and then winced that those words had come out of her mouth.

Twyla was unfazed. “Oh, I do yoga. That probably helps.”

“Yeah, anything that increases your balance and flexibility will definitely help.” They were just nodding and smiling at each other, and Jade fumbled for something to say. “What do you do for a living?”

“I waitress at the café in town. You?”

Jade let out a breath. “I’m a waitress too.”

“Oh, cool!” Most of the time when Jade met another waitress, they spent five minutes talking about how awful it was. Twyla seemed to genuinely think it was cool. “Do you like it?”

“Not really. I’m trying to save up money to… make a fresh start somewhere, I guess.”

“Somewhere you can dance?” Twyla asked.

Jade nodded.

“Well, I’m glad we have you here now,” Twyla said, and Jade thought for one reckless second that her smile was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “Before you go off and get famous.”

~*~

“So why did you want to be Cliff?” she asked Patrick as they sat side-by-side against the wall while Moira worked with Bob. They’d been talking in a group about their auditions earlier, and Jade had been surprised to hear that Patrick hadn’t come in gunning for the Emcee when he was clearly the most talented male on the cast by a mile.

Patrick shrugged, pulling the neck of his t-shirt up to wipe sweat from his face. “I just figured I seem like more of a Cliff. It actually didn’t occur to me to audition for the Emcee. I don’t look like… I don’t know.”

She thought she knew what he meant. Patrick was physically a far cry from Joel Grey or Alan Cumming. The kind of guy who everyone probably assumed was straight, who caused people to rethink their assumptions when he was affectionate with his boyfriend in public. She could see why he wouldn’t have thought of himself for the leading role.

“Well, you’re doing great,” she said.

He winced. “I’m not a very good dancer. I’m hoping if I sing well enough, people won’t look too hard at my dancing.”

“You’ll get there. We just need more practice.”

He smirked. “I appreciate you putting the ‘we’ in there when you had the choreography mastered on day one.”

It was probably a terrible cliché, but it had put Jade at ease with the suggestive choreography that she and Patrick had to do together, knowing he had no interest in her physically. There was one moment in the opening number where Patrick had to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, and until they got the hang of it, his hands on the backs of her thighs sometimes strayed higher than he probably intended. Then she had to sling her leg around his waist at one point and over his shoulder at another, the two of them moving in a way that was fairly intimate when you thought about it. But Patrick had an easy way about him, friendly and focused on getting the steps down, and Jade had felt comfortable with him from the start.

Stevie joined them against the wall, sliding down next to Patrick with her water bottle in hand. “What are you guys talking about?”

“About me being a terrible dancer and Jade being an amazing one,” Patrick said.

“That’s nice of you to say when I’ve basically been flashing you my vag every rehearsal,” Jade said to Patrick.

He blinked at her. “I’m sorry, you’ve been what?”

“That split I have to do right in front of you,” she said. The choreography required her to lie down on the floor and do a split in the air.

“Oh, right.” Patrick chuckled. “Most of the time I’m so focused on my own feet, I don’t even notice you doing it.”

Stevie was struggling not to laugh and spit out her water. When she’d swallowed it, she patted Patrick on the back. “You are so fucking gay.”

He shoved Stevie’s shoulder playfully. “Yeah, what was your first clue?”

She leaned over to Jade and whispered loudly, “He and David had sex for the first time in my bed.”

Jade tried to picture what circumstance could have led to that, but her imagination drew a blank. “With you in it?”

Now it was Patrick’s turn to try not to spit out his water. “No, not with her in it.” He was blushing adorably. “Privacy was at a premium back then and can you not tell everyone we meet that story, Stevie?”

“Mmm, no, sorry. I think I have to.”

She really liked these people, Jade thought as she laughed with them. She wasn’t sure what she imagined the people doing community theater in Schitt’s Creek to be like, but she hadn’t expected to find people here that she wanted to be friends with.

~*~

“Have you ever taken voice lessons?” Twyla asked her as they moved into warrior pose.

Twyla had asked Jade to join her for yoga a couple of mornings a week, and Jade tried not to analyze why she was willing to get up at an ungodly hour and make two additional drives all the way to Schitt’s Creek and back when she was already doing it for play rehearsals. Twyla had told her that she used to teach a yoga class a couple of years ago, but after she broke up with her boyfriend, the class lost its venue and sort of fell apart. Jade met Twyla at her house on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it was just the two of them moving through poses. Jade had been impressed that Twyla had a house of her own, but Twyla explained that it was really her grandmother’s house, and that her aunt was letting her live there while she tried to find herself in New Mexico.

Jade scoffed. “Why would I take voice lessons? I’m a terrible singer.”

Twyla frowned. “No, you have a lovely voice. You just need to relax your throat and sing from down here.” Twyla reached out and touched Jade’s abdomen, below the swell of her breasts.

Trying not to flinch at the contact, Jade shrugged. “I have no idea how to do that.”

“Can I show you?”

Jade felt unaccountably shy. “Okay.”

“First, you want to stand up straight but loose,” Twyla said, moving so that they were facing each other. “Feet shoulder-width apart, and when you take a breath, imagine that you are breathing all the way down to the floor, if that makes sense.”

She breathed.

“Good, your shoulders didn’t rise up; that’s good.”

Smiling, Jade said, “Yeah, I’ve learned proper breathing from dance instructors before.”

Twyla wasn’t affronted at all by this. “Then you’re one step ahead already!” she said with one of her wide grins. “Now, when you sing, imagine all of that air that you breathed down to the floor coming up and flowing through you.” Twyla breathed and then sang out a single, clear note.

Jade took another breath, imagining the air going all the way down, and then as she let it out, imagined it coming all the way back out. She matched Twyla’s pitch, and her voice sounded better and clearer than it ever had. Full, like a note from a brass instrument.

“That’s great!” Twyla said, clapping. “Let’s try this: Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome,” she sang easily, her voice filling the room.

“We don’t have to do this,” Jade said, her face heating up. She felt twelve again, trying to perform in front of people who were going to laugh at her.

“Come on, please?”

Jade sighed, and went through the breathing process again before belting out the first line of the opening number. But her throat felt tight, and singing it didn’t feel as good as that one pure note had felt, when she was matching Twyla.

“That’s better,” Twyla said, all gentle encouragement even though Jade didn’t think it really had been better.

“Should we get back to yoga?” Jade asked, begging with her eyes to be let off the hook.

“Sure, we can do that,” Twyla said, getting back into position. “Let’s move into child’s pose.”

Jade gracefully sank to her knees and stretched her arms out before lowering herself over into a deep bend, her nose an inch from the floor.

“You know what I think?” Twyla said. “I think sometimes we can hold our fears in our throats. Our fears can be like a boa constrictor, trying to choke us before our voices can be heard, calling out to tell the world our truths.”

Jade sat up and glared at Twyla. “Really?”

Twyla shrugged, still smiling her Twyla smile. “I know, it sounds silly. But think about it.”

~*~

Jade walked into the office at the dance studio in Elmdale and handed her resume to Derrek.

He looked at it. “What’s this?”

“My resume. I’ve noticed your hip hop classes are getting more popular, particularly for kids, and I bet if you hired another instructor you could offer more sessions. I’d like to apply for a job here.”

Derrek glanced over the paper for a minute before looking up. “I’m stretched a little thin. Not sure if I can afford to hire another teacher right now.”

“I could start with one class. And I have a friend, Alexis, who might be able to help you with marketing. Bring in more students.” Jade crossed her arms and regarded him evenly.

He tilted his head to the side. “Give me a few days to think about it.”

Jade nodded and turned to leave his office before quickly turning back. “Oh, and one more thing. What do you know about Cabaret?”

Derrek raised his eyebrows. “I was in a production of it once, why?”

“My friends Patrick and Stevie who could use a little bit of extra help with one of the numbers. What would you charge for a couple of private lessons?”

~*~

“The thing you have to remember about ‘Don’t Tell Mama,’ girls, is that while it is an upbeat number, it also speaks to the rebellious nature of these women who have defied their family’s expectations. Defied society’s expectations. It’s both a raucous proclamation of their freedom, but perhaps it is also a cry for all that they have lost,” Moira intoned, looking from one face to another. “You must convey all of that in your singing and dancing.”

Stevie turned and gave Alexis a brief look that seemed to say, How the hell do we do all of that?

Jade thought she at least could handle the raucous proclamation of her freedom right now. She remembered everything Twyla had said to her, even the corny stuff about her fears constricting her voice, and she opened her mouth and sang.

When the rehearsal was over, Twyla came right over to her. “I could hear you! You sounded amazing.”

Because of you, Jade wanted to say, but she felt too shy all of a sudden, every nerve on alert because of Twyla’s proximity. There was sweat glistening in Twyla’s cleavage, and Jade had to work not to stare.

Taking a step back to gain some equilibrium, Jade muttered her thanks and quickly went over to grab her stuff and make her escape before she did something crazy.

~*~

“You can’t get married until I get back from my trip with Ted,” Alexis was saying, which made Jade turn around for her make-up mirror to see who she was talking to.

“We’ve been engaged for literally one day, Alexis. I think we can manage that. Also it’s still supposed to be a secret—”

“You’re engaged!” This from Twyla, who was bouncing on her feet with glee. “When did this happen? Tell me everything.”

She could tell Patrick was blushing under his makeup, mostly based on the flush that was spreading down his neck. “I proposed yesterday at Rattlesnake Point.”

“Aww, it’s beautiful up there. That’s so romantic.” Twyla was literally clutching her hands together under her chin, the portrait of a person overwhelmed by the idea of love.

“Well, it maybe wasn’t my best idea, taking David Rose on a hike, but… it turned out pretty romantic in the end.” Patrick chuckled, looking at the floor. “Especially since he said yes.”

Alexis reached out and booped Patrick on the nose. “I can’t believe you’re going to be my brother-in-law. I mean, knowing David, I never thought I’d have an anything-in-law.”

Patrick frowned at that, but let it slide. “Okay, enough. We technically aren’t telling people until later tonight, although it seems like—”

“Still no sign of Stevie?” Jocelyn shouted, sticking her head in the dressing room. When a few people shook their heads, she dashed off again. Alexis and Twyla followed after her in a flutter of pink negligee, leaving Patrick to turn back to the mirror to continue working on his makeup.

“Congrats,” Jade said, meeting his gaze in the mirror. “Wow, marriage though.”

Patrick shrugged, bashful. “Yeah.”

“I literally can’t imagine liking someone enough to spend the rest of my life with them.”

“Well, until you meet someone you really love, it does seem unimaginable.”

“And like, you’re sure that David is the one?” she asked.

“I don’t know if I believe in ‘the one’, but I know what it’s like to try to make it work with someone who definitely isn’t the one. So if there is such a thing, then yeah, David is it for me.”

“You’re an inspiration to cynical people everywhere,” Jade said.

He smirked. “I try.”

~*~

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Seo-yeon said, hugging her.

“I know.” Jade said, stumbling a little bit on the damp lawn under her friend’s overenthusiastic embrace. “I’m glad you convinced me to do this. It was crazy. Crazy but fun.”

“It was fun,” Seo-yeon slurred, already a couple of sheets to the wind. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do with all this free time.”

“Well, I’m going to prepare for the dance class that I need to start teaching in the fall,” Jade said with a small smile.

“Derrek said yes?” Seo-yeon screeched, hugging her again when she nodded. “That’s amazing!”

They walked arm-in-arm around to the other side of Jocelyn’s house, where the deck was dominated by a bubbling hot tub.

“I’m not getting in Roland’s disgusting jacuzzi,” Jade heard someone say behind her. “Who knows what diseases could be lurking in that water?”

She turned and saw Patrick with his arm around his fiancé. “I knew you wouldn’t,” Patrick said, kissing David’s neck. “Someone should make sure Stevie doesn’t slip beneath the surface of the water and drown, though.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Jade said, glancing over at Stevie, who had a beer in one hand and a cup with what looked like whiskey in the other. Twyla sat next to her, the thin spaghetti straps of a bikini on her shoulders just visible above the frothing water. “You wanna get in?” she asked Seo-yeon.

“No, I’m with David — I’m not a fan of hot tubs. You go ahead.”

She glanced at Patrick one more time, but he only had eyes for David, and she suspected they weren’t going to be staying at the cast party that much longer. “Hey Patrick, don’t be a stranger, okay?”

He hugged her, strong arms squeezing her tight. “I won’t. Let’s get together soon.”

“Good luck with the wedding planning,” Jade said.

Patrick chuckled. “That’s mostly going to be David’s arena, but thanks.”

“You’re a great dancer,” David added. “You and my fiancé had some very sexy moves which I whole-heartedly approved of.”

Laughing and bidding them both goodnight, Jade went over and peeled off her jeans and t-shirt, revealing the swimsuit that she’d dutifully worn at Jocelyn’s reminder that they were going to be firing up the hot tub for the party. Sliding into the water next to Twyla, she watched as Stevie swallowed the last of the whiskey in her plastic cup and chucked it at Adam Cox’s head. The actor who played Cliff chuckled it back at her, leading to a tussle between them on the other side of the water.

Sitting close enough to Twyla that their shoulders touched, Jade let her head tip back until she was staring up at the night sky.

“Are you glad it’s over, or sad?” Twyla asked.

“Sad, mostly.” She looked up and met Twyla’s eyes. “Can I still come over for yoga?”

“Of course! I would hate it if you quit coming just because the show is over.”

Jade swallowed nervously. “You really helped me with that stuff you taught me about singing.”

“Yeah? I’m glad. I mean, not as much as you helped us all with the dancing, I don’t think, but still. I’m really glad.” She smiled, and it lit the whole night up.

“I’ve decided to be better about… what was it you said? Telling the world my truth?”

Twyla stretched out her legs under the water, and one of her feet brushed up against Jade’s. “And what is your truth?”

Jade’s heart thundered in her chest, the steam rising around them and giving the impression of privacy that they definitely didn’t have. “That I’d really like to kiss you right now.”

Biting her lip, Twyla looked around before she looked back at Jade. “Okay.”

Their lips met gently, one press followed by another, and another. Jade opened her mouth enough to take Twyla’s lower lip between her own, and she tasted like strawberry lip gloss and summertime. They kissed until they trailed off into giggles, foreheads and noses pressed together as they recovered their breathing.

“Kind of sorry I waited until the last night to do that,” Jade said.

Twyla tilted her head to the side in thought. “I feel like these things happen when they’re meant to happen.” And then she reached out and ran a hand up Jade’s arm, raising goosebumps in her wake. “But I also think that it might be easier for us to do yoga in the morning if you didn’t have to drive all the way back to Elmdale tonight and then drive all the way back here tomorrow.”

Fuck. “Do you want to get out of here?” Jade asked.

Twyla grinned, but then glanced over at Stevie, who somehow had managed to get more whiskey.

“That is,” she amended, “do you want to make sure Stevie gets home safe and then get out of here?”

Nodding, Twyla settled back against the edge of the hot tub and looked up at the sky. “Do you need to let your parents know you won’t be home tonight?”

“Don't tell Mama what you know!” Jade sang in an exaggerated German accent, making Twyla laugh. Stevie, not too drunk to hear her cue, launched into Sally Bowles’ part, and soon all of them were singing, clear and confident voices rising with the steam into the summer air.

[adelheidvonschicksal]

Alpha!Midoriya x F!Omega!Reader | Late Bloomer

May I please have a so-called beta Izuku (dormant alpha) having his first ever rut sending his omega fem s/o into heat then things seriously escalate to NSFW territory from there? Maybe Izuku's hormone (testosterone) levels increased after winning a fight causing him to present (just a theory on why). Beta x omega would be taboo in omegaverse right? I also could totally see Izuku as a late blooming alpha. Thank U~

Warnings: fluff mostly! NSFW! It’s not noncon this time I swear! Dom!Deku

Hand holding with your boyfriend was your favorite part of walking to school together. You always were comforted with his fingers intertwined with your own. It made you more than content. You knew it was odd to others that you felt that way about a beta, but there was just something about having a sweet boyfriend who doted on you regardless of whether he had a strong scent or a knot.

Today, you were also feeling extra cuddly. You crooned and cuddled into his side, rubbing your scent into him as you buried your head to get any amount of his freshly cut grass scent in your nose. You cradled his arm against your chest, pulling fitfully while he blushed and stammered at the treatment and odd looks the two of you received.

Midoriya knew you couldn’t help your behavior though. For some reason, you tended to rub up against things around the same time every few months ever since you were pre-teens. It was a nightmare for your parents since you’d go around doing it to other kids, hugging them for far too long in a vice-like grip. He finally figured out why early on in your relationship though when you suddenly stopped attaching to friends and family and solely stuck to using him as your plush toy.

The overdose of affection was just a sign that your heat would come in a few days. It wasn’t unheard of for omegas and alphas to have pre-heat and rut signs: cramps, heat flashes, increased aggression, possessiveness, or nothing at all. He was just lucky that you had clingy. Even without being an alpha, he could really get behind this side of your omeganess. It was just so cute!

However, it was still a prelude to a bittersweet time that he didn’t know exactly how to feel about. Midoriya loved how sweet and needy you got for him when usually you were fairly independent. How you would cuddle him and run your hands through green hair. He couldn’t get enough when the two of you finally got alone.

Then, there was the leeward side of your heat.

The one where you doubled over in pain if you went without suppressants. It never seemed like he could properly satisfy you enough to kick you out of your heat early. It wasn’t that his size was the problem, he was surprisingly well-endowed in that department for a beta, or your pleasure since you always cried and spasmed around him each time, but rather his lack of a knot. Then, he was afraid that having sex might only serve to make your heat stall and last longer. So, you had to power through until it naturally declined and disappeared.

Midoriya couldn’t stand those days. It made him feel useless, and he couldn't really figure out what made you sign on for that when you started dating him at first. Two years later though, you were still here and cuddling into his side blissfully.

You had arrived at school early and decided to head to the canteen for breakfast. Your table was empty as you awaited the rest of your friend group to show up, but that didn’t matter to you since you were too busy feeling up a flustered bean and snuggling into his hair like he was your personal catnip.

“Deku~ you’re so flufffyyy,” you giggled as his hand shook around his spoon, milk and cereal spilling back into the bowl. You weren’t the only one who noticed the behavior as two burly older boys spotted you from the table over, amusedly watching the display of an omega in obvious pre-heat mode.

“(N-Name)-chan, you need to calm down, we’re at school,” he stammered, blush intensifying.

“No,” you cooed and licked his cheek, and he had to stop himself from falling over the edge of his seat in his embarrassment.

A laugh could be heard from the next table over. “Having trouble over there, buddy?” the taller of the two boys asked.

”Don’t let her jump you now! No still means no for omegas, too,” the other jokingly added.

“N-No, it’s fine!” Midoriya answered, pushing you down a little to stop you from climbing on top of him right there. “I got it covered.”

The two laughed, and the shorter one decided to invite himself over to your table to strike up a conversation or perhaps enjoy breakfast and a show. He stops though upon closer inspection. Your scent dominated over Midoriya, his completely erased with your own.

A scowl etched at his lips. “Are you two dating?”

“Mhm,” you hummed and inhaled deeply over Midoriya’s scent gland, too preoccupied to worry about the slight sneer the question was asked with.

“That’s just precious,” he said with a soft smile in your direction. Izuku smiled weakly and rubbed the back of his head, feeling a bit shy about the compliment until he opened his mouth again to mockingly state, “You must be the sweetest little omega to want to cozy up to a beta like that.”

Izuku tensed, smile dropping to a scowl. You followed suit, holding onto him, but your expression was less than friendly. Your good mood ruined.

The taller alpha tilted his head, furrowing his brows, his eyes squinting in thought. “No wonder she’s going crazy, she’s probably starving on beta cock,” he thought out loud, a genuinely confused personification of the “but why tho” meme, then addressed Midoriya, “Do you even know what to do with her?” he asked curiously.

”It’s none of your fucking business, piss off,” you grunted, hoping they’d drop the subject.

“We don’t mean anything by it, we just wanted to make sure you’re getting treated right,” the other says matter-of-factly, saving a softer tone for you than the scornful one he held for Midoriya.

It didn’t matter whether they meant offense or not. They caused it immediately when Midoriya pursed his lips and went quiet as he retreated into his own head.

You pouted, heart aching and anger growing at the way your boyfriend bowed his head. His hands clenched at his pants legs, and his teeth sunk hard into his bottom lip. You hugged your arms around his waist and settled your chin on his shoulder. “Just ignore him, Izu, he’s just jealous that the only action he’s getting is with his hand,” you say, throwing a sharp glare at him.

“What did you say to me, omega?”

Midoriya scowled. He clenched his fist as their attention directed towards you. He could deal with himself getting harassed, he’s had years of training in that department dealing with Katsuki and the other kids in middle school, but—

“You heard me, knothead. No one invited you over here in the first damn place,” you mouthed off again and gave a low growl.

—he was never one to let someone else get bullied or unfairly talked down to, especially not his girlfriend.

“Who the hell do you think you’re bucking at?”

“You, fuckface. Now back off before I lose my fucking temper.”

“Seriously, you want to fight? You have to be kidding me, your parents must be fucking dying at having a butch omega for a kid, no wonder you can't get an alpha,” he spats, and it’s the threatening growl that sets Deku off. He stood in front of you, arm held out low where you sat.

“Who do you think you are—talking to her like that! You don’t know anything about (Name) and don’t deserve to. You’re angry, acting out because you’re afraid to see people not feeding your ego by following your rules, and you can’t face the fact that no matter what you are; at the end of the day she still wouldn’t choose someone like you!”

You scowled behind Midoriya, glaring down at the intrusive alpha the same way Izuku did. There was a silence in the air for the few tables around you as they looked on, ready to see any sort of fight.

A fight is what they got when the resounding hit of a punch rang out, and you jumped up with a gasp as Midoriya stumbled back, clutching his hand to his nose. “Deku!”

“I’m fine!” he growled, swiping the back of his hand to wipe the blood away from the wound given to him. “It didn’t hurt!”

“You felt nothing yet, runt!” he spat and geared up to punch Midoriya again to show him how much his punches “didn’t hurt”.

You knew Deku was much smaller in frame than some of the other guys. You were a bit worried when green eyes met yours, but you had to remind yourself that even though he was small, he had muscles under that uniform blazer and could fuck someone up if need be, and everything burning inside him at once told him it was needed, much more so than usual as he blocked the punch and tackled down his rival.

Midoriya won’t deny the satisfying feeling and rush of power when his fist contacted bone and cartilage. It all went blank then. He ran on pure instinct, blocking out the yells and jeers around him. He kept enough sense to not use his quirk, but that didn’t slow him down from fighting with his own strength even after a hit broke through his barrage and nailed him in the face. Caught off guard, he was flipped over onto his back, becoming the submissive fighter now.

“Izuku!” you called to him, and his heart raced as you got closer to tear the bigger boy off him. You grabbed under one of his arms and moved to pin down the other, but his elbow came back mid-punch and nailed you in the cheek, and you backed off with a hissed, “Shit.”

You didn’t seem obviously hurt or much fazed by the hit other than your shock, but it didn’t matter when you got touched, when this asshole thought he could get away with that, to Midoriya’s omega.

Midoriya growled and thrusted the alpha off before pouncing to straddle him. “You’re going to pay for that!”

You winced with each hit, you’ve never seen him with that type of aggression. “Hey, Izuku…” He wasn’t paying attention. He was almost acting like a feral if you didn’t know better. It wasn’t normal, and you finally had enough when you heard the weak whimper from under him. “Izuku! Stop, I think he gets it!”

You grasped onto Izuku’s back, hugging him a little. He paused when your arms wrapped around him and your scent hit him so strongly for the first time in his life. He breathed heavily, gulping down at the bloody face under him before he gasped and quickly scrambled up onto his feet.

You pulled Izuku closer to the crowd, as he panted and calmed with the feel of your fingers slipping between his own. The taller Alpha ran up to his friend, kneeling and patting his cheek to coax him back to the conscious world. He groaned, and you were a bit relieved that he opened his eyes, even if he deserved it.

His friend smiled weakly before chuckling out at the bruised face of the student on the floor. “Dude…that little guy fucked you up.”

“Shut up, you dumbass!” the alpha cursed, popping up as the other students laughed. “You just fucking sat there and let it happen!”

“I thought you had it, really.”

You grimaced, holding onto Izuku tighter as you wondered what just happened. You didn’t have much time to consider it when you saw long black hair and a tired, irritated face breaking through the crowd.

Fuck.

The two of you sat alone in your desks in an empty classroom. You sighed, hating in school detention. You were supposed to be learning some really cool things in class today. Instead, you and Midoriya were both being punished. You didn’t use your quirks, so it lightened your sentence to three days of detention.

You glanced to Midoriya, still rigid at his desk. His nails dug against the edge impatiently. His expression tense and he himself silent, only groaning a bit when he would drop his head to his desk and rub against his forearm. You sighed. This is all that assholes fault.

Midoriya’s tension wasn’t from that though. He was more concerned about the boiling in his blood that had him physically sweating under his collar. He long tore off his blazer and undid a few buttons. Fighting for control, he focused on trying to keep his breathing steady, but oxygen suddenly felt too thick to swallow down while his stomach kept aching each time he inhaled your suddenly heavy scent. Always, you said your scent was like coconut, specifically the milk, and he never realized it smelled so good in his life until now, especially as you scooted your desk closer to his.

“Hey, I’m sorry I got us in trouble, Midoriya,” you mumbled and placed your hand on his shoulder. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, I’m fine,” he huskily drawn out. You blinked at the deep, heavy voice given to you and leaned over to get a look at his face.

Midoriya didn’t know why he was suddenly thinking it now, but you looked good with your hair a little messy from the events of the day, and your thighs widening out against your seat, giving an exaggerated sense of fertile feminine curves. Your lips looked good enough to kiss and bruise red with bites right about now. He just really wanted to bend you over the desk and pound you raw until—shit, what is he thinking. You’re in school.

But when you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and start your cuddling procedure again, your frame firm but soft against him, those thoughts all go out the window.

Midoriya reached out and clasped your face suddenly. You were pulled into a rough, uncontrolled kiss. Instead of growing more passionate, it started that way, hot and heavy as his tongue glanced over you.

“D-Deku?” you questioned, eyes widened as he pulled away and protectively slid the flat of his tongue across your cheek where you were hit like you were a preciously wounded animal that he had to take care of. You didn’t reject the attention, in fact, it was exciting, but you pushed away because of the odd behavior. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I-I don’t know,” he growled lowly against your lips, and you were shaking at the dropping octaves. He kissed you again, a bit more conscious and steadier as he stood and gripped your shoulders. The desperate grip almost hurt, but your whimper was swallowed down with hungry lips. His hold fell down your shoulders, rubbing up and down your biceps, slightly more comfortable. His chest rose heavy. Rapidly, it rose and fell against your own as he pulled away before rushing back to bite your bottom lip.

“I love you so much, (Name),” he whispered and smothered your neck in kisses.

“I lo—” you couldn’t get a word in edgewise as he kept kissing you, “ve, y-you, too,” you moaned and tilted your head. He took the opportunity to mark your neck, one spot at a time, though it didn’t take long to have a ring around you with the desperate speed he went at you.

“Deku,” you gasped when he fully squeezed your breasts through your school uniform, folding the fabric of your blazer in his hands before hastily undoing the buttons of both it and your shirt underneath. The ones that break off in his rush, lightly clacker against the floor and roll away to hidden corners.

Izuku pulled you up out of your seat, cupping your ass and hopping you up higher on his waist before settling you against the desk. “(Name), grind against me,” he demanded, nipping at your ear. You gave in easily to his demand, rocking your hips against his rock-solid cock. And fuck, you don’t know what’s gotten into him when he kisses and bites at the exposed tops of your tits but you’re not complaining when the smell of grass fills your nose again.

It was so…strong and heady and...Alpha.

So tantalizingly alpha as it mixed with something else your vaguely recognized. It had your body flooding with familiar hormones that had slick soaking through your panties. You didn’t think your heat would start so soon, you always had a few days in advance, but he was driving you mad. Your alluring smell only made him buck harder, and you yelped in his ear.

“(Name)-chan, you smell really good,” he said and tightened his hold around your back to get you physically close as possible. You think if he could melt into you, he would, and you’d gladly do the same.

He knew he was bad for your heat, but he couldn’t stop himself from pulling at his zipper and thrusting his pants midway down his thighs. You quickly sat back and did the same with your panties, letting them slide down your ankles. You didn’t bother to waste time kicking them off. You both needed each other now.

Your body trembled, and you gasped in the pleasure of having his much-needed cock inside you, immediately pulsing and ramming all the way back in one fluid jerk of his hips. “DEKU,” you screamed into his shoulder as he gripped on your hips and repeatedly buried himself inside your desperately clenching cunt.

You held onto him, bouncing back against the desk as he thrusted up into you. You always felt good during sex with him, but this time felt different in an exciting new way. From his sudden dominance to his thick scent, or guttural grunts, you didn’t know which and didn’t care as you finally kicked your undies to the floor and wrapped your legs around him. The room filled with the slapping of skin and smell of raw sex as your juices flowed in between your legs, squelching with every thrust. It was drowned out by both your moans as Izuku snapped his hips into yours, refusing to pull out of you for long before stretching you back out and making you cry with the quickly building force of your orgasm.

Something foreign drew against your body. It pressed against your entrance and ground against you with the rock of his hips. It wasn’t quite big yet and you moaned as it slid into you, locking for a moment before he pulled back out. You vaguely wondered if he was about to knot you.

It had to be impossible.

You whined as he pulled out of you, breathing heavy as he tried to catch his breath. You only had a small amount of time to gaze down at the base of his slick drenched cock. You clearly saw the bulb of his expanding base there. “Deku,” you breathed out, the dark look in his eyes said he’d figured it out, too.

“I’m sorry, (Name),” he huffed out, and you were unsure why he would apologize before he suddenly flipped you over the desk and onto your stomach. You cried out as he plunged back into you at a jackrabbit speed. “I-I can’t stop,” he apologized, squeezing you tighter as he closed his eyes and got lost in the feel of your walls hugging tight and wet around him.

Being bent over made everything squeeze and he felt twice as big going back inside you with one hand gripping your hip to tug you back against him and the other gripping the edge of the desk to steady himself as he pounded into you.

You felt pleasantly numb, as you buried your head in your arms to muffle your cries as you came around him. His first knot took a bit of time to swell up right, but once it did, you skipped past cloud nine, ten, and all the way to cloud 99 as it beat at your aching pussy before giving you what you needed—a full cock and knot burying balls deep inside you. Midoriya groaned, stilling and resting his forehead against your back as he spilled against your cervix.

“I’m sorry, (Name),” he panted, rubbing a sweaty forehead against your shoulder as he gently rubbed his fingers through your hair. “I didn’t know it would happen this way.”

“It’s okay, i-it felt amazing,” you sung out. “I didn’t think people presented so late.”

Midoriya nodded, not that you could see that or the bitter smile that followed. “I can finally make your heat go down now,” he commented jokingly, but you recognized the self-deprecation and the distance that rode on those words. Midoriya hated knowing at the end of the day, he was never able to make you this relaxed during without a near hour of build-up. He was relieved he finally could, but it also nagged at his mind that he really wasn’t good enough when he thought he was a beta.

“Deku, y-you know that didn’t matter, I’ve been in love with you since we were kids. It never mattered to me if you were an alpha or not, I just liked you because you were you and you made me happy,” you reassured him, wishing desperately that you could see his face more clearly as you turn your head to the side and look up at him from the corner of your eye. “And like you said, I’d would’ve chosen you over an alpha any day,” you smiled sweetly, and his cheeks darkened. “So, will you please kiss me now? I can’t really do it bent over like this.”

He nodded and pressed a kiss to the corner of your lips, gently combing through your hair in the meantime as he waited for his swelling to go down. Midoriya smiled weakly and rubbed his wrist at wet green eyes. He had no idea how he managed to get so lucky in life to have you. “I love you, (Name).”

“I love you, too, but I think we have some time to make up for,” you teased and rocked back against him again, making him moan as you spasmed around his knot.

“(Na-Name), you can’t do that so suddenly. I’m still not used to this,” he hissed and rutted back into you. “S-Shit,” Midoriya growled as his knot loosened and slipped out of you.

Watching you leak with a mix of your cum, he immediately burned with a foreign desire to knot you again and again. Fuck. He supposed he would have to spend the next few days in detention learning something. Practicing on fucking you through your heat seemed like the perfect lesson.

You licked your lips, wantonly, and refused to slow down as you wiggled against his lap. “I need your knot, Deku,” you whimpered, and his blood began to boil again.

“I-I won’t hold back then,” he replied before gripping onto your waist and giving you both what you needed.

[rametarin]

that Yaniv guy.

yeah sorry. I know, “don’t you misgender a transperson.” However, I really do stand by my stance that this person isn’t trans. They’re pretending. In bad faith. Really bad faith.

The “woman” that went around trying to make female only spa’s wax his balls is the same son of a bitch that tried to host a topless under-12 swimming event at a pool. Has video of themselves ripped from facebook roleplaying as a child. lol. There are multiple sources of them speaking sexually in private messages across misc. social media with minor girls and bringing conversations on to periods and menstruation. They are, by all accounts, predatory towards children if nothing else. PMing pre-teen girls and asking to see if they “put their period pads in correctly” and shit. Some of them even have the receipts to prove the shit.

They’re in the school of pedophilia as Sarah Butts, walking around cloaking themselves in rainbows and femininity like predatory mimics. You speak out against them? They aikido flip around and broadbrush bemoan how “the other side” (anyone that is not them) “unfairly attributes transgendered people with pedophilia.”

bitch no we’re pointing out the pedophiles unfairly associated with transgendered rights. A cis het dude doing this would’ve been made a bitch in federal prison by now.

Like.. Growing up, we probably all saw some cheesy cartoons (probably School House Rock low budget) featuring pivotal civil rights events and figures public school talks about. We got to see stuff like Rosa Parks, even though later on we know it was a staged event with a “more photogenic” person, after the original woman, Claudette Calvin, was disqualified for having a kid out of wedlock and that’d “look bad” for the movement. Rosa Parks’ story was written as the straw that broke the camel’s back and an honest flash in the pan.  But she was made into a story.

It’s going to make me incredibly mad if people like Yaniv, or Anita Sarkesian, or Zoe Quinn wind up being depicted in history like some sort of barnstorming, society bucking freedom fighters, simply put there for political reasons.

and by incredibly mad I mean I’ll probably grunt, roll my eyes and watch TV or something, to clarify. But it’s information I’ll keep close to my heart.

[iturbide]

how do you think grima would act towards the summoner's child, if they had one from a previous relationship and they were summoned to askr?

I have spent pretty much all day thinking about this

Because do you have any idea how many variables are inherent in this question good gods there are so many little bits and pieces that have such a huge impact on the answer here

I literally have to cut this for length because I’m going to have to go through all of them because this is absolutely fascinating

Okay so the thing to know about Grima is that in spite of how he’s such a big scary dragon he has champion-level parental instincts.  If you put him around a child he is going to take care of them.  It doesn’t matter if they’re dragons or not (though most of the really young kids have been dragons – he has a soft spot for the Morgans, but they’re teenagers and don’t need babying).  My personal Summoners don’t have kids (or even pets), and they were frankly miserable in their world, so coming to Askr was a breath of fresh air that allowed them to grow into their own.  All of this becomes a huge what-if in this case because it means that the Kiran in question is an entirely different entity and some very important aspects of their relationship with Grima have to be addressed. 

First and foremost: What is the Summoner’s relationship with their child?  Are they close?  Are they estranged?  Has Kiran had to give up custody for whatever reason?  Do they love their child in spite of the difficulties?  Do they think about them, talk about them, fight to return to them?  Or are they of the opinion that their child is better off without them?  Kids are important to Grima: if he knows that Kiran has a child, he’ll do everything he can to ensure that the Summoner can get back as soon as possible so that their kid isn’t robbed of a parent.  If Kiran says nothing about their child before their sudden appearance, it would be a major blow to the relationship: the Summoner’s silence about such an important aspect of their life would imply to Grima that they don’t care about their child or their mental well-being, and it would take some real work to repair that, even if the Fell Dragon’s mistaken.

Next question: how old is the Summoner’s child?  Are they just a tiny thing, newborn to maybe two?  Are they in those exploratory years, three to five?  Are they in their impressionable youth, six to pre-teen?  Are they in those stressful teenage years?  Grima’s protective nature is significantly more active with younger kids (evidenced by how he’s always very attentive to Fae and the Kanas but gives Nowi and Myrrh more independence), so the age of the Summoner’s child plays a big part in how he would act with them, ranging from gentle and attentive to encouraging and supportive.

Also, what’s their personality like?  Are they bubbly and outgoing?  Sullen and moody?  Timid and reserved?  Haughty and rude?  While Grima would be more lenient with a younger child showing some less than pleasant personality traits, he’d also work to change them when he happens to see them – gently, if firmly.  Older kids and teenagers get much less leeway, and especially if the Summoner is a kind and supportive parent dealing with a child who treats them unfairly, Grima will not hesitate to take the kid aside and dress them down for their behavior. 

In general, though, assuming that Kiran has been open about the fact that they’re a parent with a child, Grima would be overall concerned by the fact that their child has appeared (mostly because the Summoner can’t even take care of themselves in this war, and now here’s a similarly helpless and also significantly younger version of them in need of defense and support), but would ultimately prove more protective of the kid than he is of even Kiran, and would do his best to support them as they settle and find their place in Askr as the Summoner has.