#to think of them both being out and proud sooner in their lives is just something else 🫠❤️

[until-i-set-him-free]

Another alternative for their first meeting - drunk version. 🍻

(I've been listening to "Light My Candle" from RENT a lot recently - and naturally I had to make this exchange about BuckTommy. ❤️)

[avelera]

Going along. with my theory that, "Both Jayce AND Viktor think the other guy is out of their league, which is why they never officially dated." I think one of the misunderstandings that keep them from hooking up sooner stems from how we, the audience, and Jayce see his first encounter with Viktor.

We, the audience, and Jayce see a sequence of events where Jayce met Viktor at his absolute lowest moment. His life's work just literally blew up in his face. Then, when he tries to pitch it to Heimerdinger he's immediately shut down, his future hopes are dashed by his expulsion from the Academy AFTER Mel goads him into talking about magic which turns the rest of the Council against him, his patron (Cassandra Kiramman) abandons him, and his mother calls him mentally unwell in front of everyone in the Council chamber and disavows what she's seen with her own eyes about the magic that has inspired him ever since.

Jayce has lost everything and is ready to end his own life in response because he sees no hope for himself, no purpose in living.

From that perspective, Viktor extending a hand, saying he believes in Jayce's work enough to dedicate his life to working alongside him, is a literal godsend. This senior classmate who is smart enough to earn a spot as the Dean's assistant throws all of that away just to give Jayce at his lowest moment his vote of confidence?

I don't think it's an understatement to say that Viktor saved Jayce's life and from that moment, the moment Viktor gives Jayce back the gem bracelet which was a symbol of Jayce's life and life's work, he is literally giving Jayce back his life and Jayce is determined to dedicate that life to saving Viktor's and making him proud with Hextech. He starts with Viktor on such a high pedestal above him as a result.

Ok, so that's all pretty obvious from the show itself. But what about Viktor's perspective?

From Viktor's perspective, Jayce saved his life, or rather, his career and all his ambitions for this world. When we meet him, Viktor had traveled as high as he can as a poor kid from the undercity, with all his disadvantages, using his own ability. He's assistant to the most powerful man (yordle) in the city on just his smarts alone. But now his life is stagnant.

His ambition was to discover a scientific innovation that would change the world and, possibly, cure himself. And here he meets this scientist, who is younger than him who through an independent study, on his own, has created the miracle which will actually transform this age. And he did it without going through the system (yes he had the Kiramman patronage but he was not telling them what he was working on), without telling anyone what he was working on, without the blessing or assistance of Heimerdinger.

Not only that, but this man is willing to stand up to the most powerful people in the city and say his research was groundbreaking. Then, when everything is stripped away from him, he's prepared to die for his convictions rather than live in a world where he can't advance his research.

I can only imagine this was incredibly humbling for Viktor, to see someone else coming up with the world's most life-changing technology while he was fussing around being an assistant. He takes the leap immediately from, again, working for the most powerful man (yordle) in the city to throwing his entire lot, his career, everything he's earned up to that point, in an all-out gamble to support the invention of Jayce's mind.

And then Jayce is generous enough to let Viktor come on board with him. To call Viktor his partner, even though he wasn't the originator of the idea (and oh BOY is that gonna become a time paradox in and of itself later, did Viktor technically originate the idea when he inspired Jayce with that stone? Where does it actually begin??). Viktor might be an assistant again, but at least he's an assistant to the most important and revolutionary work of this age.

But he doesn't see Jayce's rejection by Heimerdinger in the prison cell, or know what the strategy to survive the trial was supposed to be without the fuck-up of falling for Mel's goading, or his subsequent rejection by Cassandra Kiramman outside the gates, or his mother's rejection of the magical event they saw with their own eyes. He doesn't see Jayce's lowest moments, only the two ideological stands he took both in defending his work to the Council and being willing to die when it's taken from him.

Basically, Viktor could very well see himself as second-fiddle to Jayce in accomplishment alone, then throw in everything Jayce has just naturally, like his looks and his background, and you begin to piece together why both of them might have thought the other was out of his league, and why Viktor fought so hard to create innovations to match Jayce's, or seen himself as flawed and a work in progress until he had such independent accomplishments, and why he would hesitate to confess his feelings to Jayce until he felt he had something to offer in return, not realizing he had already given Jayce the world and literally given Jayce back his life.

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Harsh Reality

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~3.8k

Warnings: minor angst, being cheated on (not by bucky), fluff

Summary: You come home to surprise your boyfriend only to end up catching him with another woman in bed. Now, you have to live somewhere else. You try to move on with your new roommates but it proves to be difficult when you were never really good at the dating part of your relationships.

Square Filled: safe house (2023) for @buckybarnesbingo

One in a Million Series

Author’s Note: a while back, i announced i wanted to make a series based on the show New Girl, and i didn't want to wait around to write it. i won't be doing every episode in the seasons, and i won't be doing it word for word like i do for my rewrite. enjoy!

x

Your plane lands earlier than expected and the first thing you want to do is surprise your boyfriend, Jack. You left to go to a teacher’s conference in New York and have been gone for an entire week. That’s not much but it is when you consider you and Jack haven’t been apart for more than a couple of days out of the six years you’ve been with him.

You left your car with him since he didn’t have one so you took a taxi back to your apartment. You’re bouncing with giddiness and slight anxiety because you’re doing something you’ve never done before.

For those who know you, you’re not very good with the whole sexy seducing thing. Jack makes it easy for you. He takes care of everything and that includes you. Still, doing something out of your comfort zone is nerve-racking as it is exciting. Your best friend, Natasha, is on the phone while you’re in the back of the taxi wearing nothing but a brown trench coat.

“Why am I so nervous? This is a good thing, right? I mean, this is for Jack.”

“You’re not used to doing something like this but trust me, he’s going to love it.”

“Yeah, I’m just going to walk in and drop my coat on the ground. He says he had this fantasy that I'm a stripper with a heart of gold, and he's helping me put myself through college.”

“He didn't say the college part, did he?”

“Um, no, I wanted to create a three-dimensional sex character.”

“Really? What's your stripper name?”

You look at the driver who briefly looks at you. “Rebecca Johnson?”

“Your stripper name is Rebecca Johnson?” Natasha asks.

You can practically hear her bitch face.

“Boobies Johnson,” you quickly correct. “Two-boobs Johnson.”

“Look at you, in the back of a cab, totally naked. I am so proud of you.”

The driver pulls up to the house that you share with Jack. “I gotta go. I’m here.”

“Good luck, Two-boobs Johnson,” she chuckles.

You pay the taxi driver as you get out and walk inside your home. It’s quiet so maybe Jack is still sleeping. He’s known for sleeping in late. He doesn’t have a job because he got laid off two months ago, but he’s been doing odd jobs to keep the money coming in. That plus your teacher’s salary is enough to get by. You walk to the closed bedroom door and open it with a smile, however, that smile is lost when you come face-to-face with Jack.

He’s not sleeping. No, he’s fucking another woman. Both of them look at you with wide eyes, and Jack pushes his mistress off him as if she means nothing to him.

“Y/N! You’re home early.”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“I gotta go,” you whisper.

You quickly turn and run out of the house, forgoing the fact that you’re practically naked. Jack calls after you but you don’t stick around to hear what kind of lame excuse he has for you. The taxi is long gone and you don’t have the heart to call for another one, probably because your hands are shaking so much. How can he do this to you? You’ve been together for six long years.

You thought he was the one.

Natasha lives on the other side of town but you make it there sooner than you thought you would for someone who was running. She has a nice apartment overlooking the city. It was out of her price range but because she is so good with selling herself, she talked the landlord down to a price she was able to afford. She’s one of the best real estate agents this city has ever seen, so the landlord didn’t have a problem with lowering the price for her.

You knock twice on her door and she opens it with a frown.

“What happened?”

“He cheated on me,” you whisper. “I caught him with a woman in his bed.”

“Oh, babe. I’m so sorry. Come in.” She wraps an arm around your shoulders and pulls you into her place. “I’ve never liked him.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Listen to me. I know how you are. Don’t blame yourself for this.”

“Why did he do that? Am I not attractive enough? Sexy enough? Is it my singing?”

“No, it’s not your singing,” she sighs. “Men are pigs and Jack’s true colors came through. This is all on him.”

“I wondered why he wasn’t taking my calls. I just figured he was working.”

Natasha sighs and rubs your back in comfort.

“You don’t need him, Y/N. Listen, you can stay with me until you find something else, okay?”

“No, I don’t want to impose.”

“I’m serious. It’s okay. I have the spare bedroom you can use.”

Despite her offer, you don’t want to worm your way into her life. She’s active on dating sites which means she brings home guys left and right. She lives alone and you remember what it was like to have someone invade your space like this. It’s why that night, you go online to see if there is anyone who is looking for roommates.

You shouldn’t go on sites like Craiglist when it comes to living somewhere, but you don’t make a lot of money as a teacher. If you were to go through an agency or even on Facebook, you wouldn’t find something cheap. You scroll through the obvious trolls until you get to one ad for an apartment downtown.

Four bedrooms. Open floor plan. It’s a loft of sorts. There are three women there looking for a fourth, and you think this is what you need to make a new start. You’re afraid if you slow down, you’ll be forced to think about your ruined relationship with Jack. You’ve never been cheated on so the betrayal hurts that much more. You gave him six years of your life and now…

What are you going to do?

Before you can talk yourself out of it, you respond to the ad that you’re interested and go to bed.

Tomorrow morning, you wake up to seven missed phone calls from Jack and over twenty messages, but you ignore them and get ready. Natasha is eating breakfast in the kitchen already dressed to show a house.

“Have a house to sell?”

“Yeah. I’ll be gone most of the day.”

“I might have found an apartment.”

“What?”

“I saw an ad on Craigslist. I know it’s not ideal, but I’m going over to them right now. It’s three women looking for a fourth roommate for their loft.” You see the look on Natasha’s face and sigh. “I need something to do Nat, otherwise all I’ll do is cry.”

“Okay. Call me if you need me.”

“I will,” you smile.

You get dressed and head over to the apartment downtown. You knock on their door and freeze when a man with a metal arm opens the door. Two men, one blonde and one muscular, stand behind him, and you look confused when you don’t see any women.

“Are you Y/N?” the man at the door asks.

“Yeah. I’m here for the apartment listing if you’ll still have me.”

“Nonsense. Come in,” the blonde one smiles.

You walk in and look at the loft, already liking what you see. You don’t care that you assumed it was women and they’re men, you just need a new place to live. As much as you love Natasha, that’s her space and you don’t want to intrude. Plus, you don’t want to feel like a charity.

“My name is Y/N, but you already know that from the ad,” you say nervously.

“I’m Steve and this is Thor and that is Bucky.”

“Cool metal arm you have. I’ve never seen that before.”

“Thanks,” he mutters.

When you get nervous, you get chatty, and these three men make you hella nervous. It’s not that they’re intimidating or mean, but you’ve never lived with three guys at once. The only man you’ve ever lived with was Jack, and even sometimes that was too much. So, you start by telling them more than what they want to know.

“So, you know in horror movies when the girls are like, ‘Oh my God, there's something in the basement. Let me just run down there in my underwear and see what's going on in the dark.’ and you're like, ‘What is your problem? Call the police.’ and she's like ‘Okay’ but it's too late because she's already getting murdered? Well, my story's kind of like that.” You tell them everything from Jack cheating on you to not wanting to live with your best friend and invading her privacy. “So, that happened. That's why I need a new apartment. I'm sorry, what was the question again?”

“Do you have any pets?” Bucky asks.

“No, I don’t,” you chuckle and stand up. “This place is beautiful. It gets so much light. Jack hated light. It's hard to say his name.”

“It's okay. Bucky knows. He got dumped,” Steve says.

“Dude,” Bcuky hisses.

The place doesn’t look fancy but it’s new and it can be the start of a new chapter if they let you.

“You know what, I want to live here,” you grin.

“Actually, I still have some questions,” Bucky says. “No offense, but we barely know ya.”

“Yeah, okay. Full disclosure, I'm kind of emotional right now because of the breakup so I'll probably be watching Dirty Dancing at least six or seven times... a day.” Thor shakes his head but doesn’t say anything to that. “Um, I'm a teacher so I bring home a lot of popsicle sticks and arts and crafts. Also, I like to sing to myself… a lot.” You start to sing. “A lot.” You sigh. “I don’t want to live with my friend. I hate feeling like a charity case even though she doesn't mean to treat me that way.”

“If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to talk in private,” Steve says.

All three men go into the bathroom while you take the opportunity to look around.

“I think it’d be good to have a woman in here,” Steve says. “It’s good to have a woman’s touch in here.”

“No, all she’s going to do is disrupt our vibe,” Thor argues.

“Bucky? What do you think?”

“Well, I’ve lived with a woman before so I know there are pros and real cons. For one, they smell good but their girly shit will start to be everywhere. Um, they’re good at folding.”

“Okay, we’re not going to come to a conclusion but I’ll take Bucky’s indecisive for a yes. She’s in!”

“Yay, I’m in!” you say from outside the door. Steve chuckles and opens the bathroom door, and you smile at all three men. “You won’t regret this.”

Natasha was weary about you moving into a place with three strange men but you need this. It didn’t take long for you to move in since you didn’t take much from your old place, so the reality of your situation comes crashing down around you the second you get a bit of breathing room. Dirty Dancing plays on the TV for the third time, and you’re lying on the couch surrounded by used tissues and a few of your boxes. Natasha must have called your mom because she immediately called you, worried about living with three strange men.

“I’m fine, mom. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Baby, you and Jack broke up. Of course, I’m going to worry about you. You’re not watching Dirty Dancing, are you?”

“No, I’m not watching Dirty Dancing,” you mutter.

“Did you make sure those men aren’t murderers? You know how badly I stress Stranger Danger. You’re my baby, Y/N.”

Just then, Bucky walks into the room.

“Hey, are you gonna murder me 'cause you're a stranger I met on the internet?”

“Yes, I am,” he says without looking at you.

“He says no,” you say to your mom. Thor and Steve walk in, having just come from the gym. “I gotta go, mom. I love you.”

“So, the biggest party of the year is on Saturday. I'm trying to get us in but you may need to call Sharon,” Steve says to Bucky.

“I’m not calling Sharon.”

“Hear me out, Buck.”

Before Bucky can say anything, you sob as another wave of depression hits you. All three men look at you and huddle around each other, not sure how to handle this. They haven’t lived with a woman in years, and Bucky slaps his hand on Steve’s chest.

“You did this. You wanted her in. You fix it.”

“Okay, I got it.” Steve walks over to you and sits on the edge of the couch. “Hey, Y/N. Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine,” you sniffle.

“Why don’t we turn off the movie, okay?” Steve takes the remote from you and turns off the movie. “Come on, sit up.” You do and he smiles kindly at you. “See? Doesn’t that feel a bit better?”

“Not really.”

“Look, I was cheated on before. It wasn’t fun. In fact, it felt a bit shitty. I don’t know you that well but I know you didn’t deserve it. Look, there’s this party on Saturday, and you need to get your mind off your ex. It’ll be fun. You’ll go out, meet some people, have a few drinks, and forget all about him. Sounds good?”

“Yeah, I guess that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Good,” he smiles. “Now, why don’t you get dressed? Bucky works at a bar. We’ll go out for a few drinks and maybe get you a rebound.”

“Okay,” you whisper.

You get off the couch and trudge to the bathroom to shower.

“This is all hinging on actually getting into the party,” Thor says.

“Buck, come on. You don’t even have to see her. Just call her and ask her to get us on the list.” 

Bucky walks into the bathroom just to get away from Steve but the latter follows him in.

“There’s someone in here,” you say when you hear them entering the bathroom.

“We're leaving in ten minutes, did you shave your legs?” Steve asks.

“I will now.”

“Front and backs?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” Steve looks at Bucky. “Just call Sharon. You call her all the time when you're drunk.”

“No, I don’t. Shut up.”

You shave your legs and finish with the rest of your shower. Luckily, the boys have taken their conversation outside of the bathroom. You wonder what the deal is with Bucky and Sharon. How did things end? Based on his refusal to call her, you assume it ended badly. Will you be like this with Jack?

Like Steve said, you all leave ten minutes later to the bar Bucky works at. Bars aren’t usually your scene but you really want this to be a fresh start. You haven’t flirted with or been on a date with someone in six years. Everything was reserved for Jack. You’re not even sure if you have it in you to find a rebound. If you can’t be sexy well, how can you expect to capture a stranger’s attention?

All it takes is one bad experience to ruin potential future ones. Bucky, Steve, and Thor watch you try to flirt with men but each one fails. You’re either too weird, too loud, sing too much, or too awkward. After about six tries, you sit at the bar with a defeated look. Bucky walks over to you and slides you a pink wine, your poison of choice.

“Well, I guess I can't hide my crazy,” you sigh.

“I don't think you're trying that hard.”

“I've never been great at this stuff, so…” You look up and muster a smile. “Looks at us, a couple of losers. We both got dumped, jeesh.”

“I’m fine,” he says. “It was six months ago.”

“Do you know why she dumped you? I mean she must've hurt you pretty bad.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he sighs.

“Aren’t you always wondering, like, what it was? Like, was there something you could have done differently?” He shales his head wordlessly. “Do you know what happens to people who keep it all inside? They get old and they get sad and they get weird and then you're the old man yelling at the kids who are running across your yard and you're telling them, 'Don't run across my yard. My life's full of regret'. You can't just pretend like it didn't happen.”

“Or I could pretend to be more like you, Y/N, and live on a sparkly rainbow and drive a unicorn around and just sing all the time.”

“Yeah, I think you should sing all the time,” you giggle.

“No, I was being mean, I'm not gonna do that, Y/N.”

“Why not? It’s fun!”

“Because I have a dick, Y/N.”

“I’ll get you to sing one of these days,” you chuckle.

One of Steve’s friends comes up to the bar and smiles flirtatiously at you, and Bucky backs up to give you some space. He watches you smile at the man, and he looks down in thought. If you can try and move on, he can, too. He takes out his phone and dials Sharon’s number before walking away to take the call.

“So, I was going to go to the party this Saturday, but I’d rather take you out if you’re interested,” he says.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” you smile.

“Great. Maybe we can go to dinner first.”

“Sure. Let me put my number in your phone.” The man hands over his phone, you put your number in, and you call yourself so you have his number. “I’ll text you, okay?”

“Sounds good,” he smirks and winks. “I’m Peter, by the way.”

“Y/N,” you smile.

Looks like you scored a date and you weren't weird at all. The high of getting a date wears off an hour before you have to leave for it. You’re stuck in your room, wondering what to wear. What would be sexy enough? Should you be sexy? Cute? Casual?

God, what am I doing?

Natasha comes over to help as soon as you text her, and all three of your roommates are shocked into silence, more so Steve than the others. She’s beautiful and has guys hanging off her arm. She’s well known, her picture is on billboards across the city. She’s not shy about her appearance, and this is one of those times. Thor and Bucky look at each other when they notice Steve staring with a smile on his face.

“Natasha. Do you go by Nat?”

“Only to my friends.”

“Cool,” he nods. “I’m Steve.”

“Y/N, do you need my help?” she calls out.

There is a thump followed by a yelp. “I’m okay.” She gets up and walks to your bedroom to see you lying on the ground like a starfish. “I tripped on my heels.”

“Okay, sit up.”

You sigh and do as you’re told. “What am I doing? I can't go on a date. What if it's horrible? What if I have nothing to talk about?”

“Then you go to the bathroom, you call me, and you tell me all about it.”

“Maybe I just shouldn't go.”

“Babe, you got hurt. That doesn't mean you stop trying. Okay?”

She has a point. Some might think it’s quick how fast you’re trying to move on, but you can’t slow down. If you do, you fear that you’ll never stop crying. With Natasha’s help, you dress in a short black dress that’s classy but still covers everything. You two walk out, and all three men look at you in surprise. Bucky leans his elbows on his knees and rubs his hands together. Thor and Steve smirk at each other, already in tune with what Bucky is thinking.

“Wow. You look amazing,” Bucky says.

“Thank you,” you blush. “I’m kind of nervous but also kind of excited. I’m going to text him and tell him I’m heading over.”

“Wait, have you been texting him?” Bucky asks.

“Yeah, is that bad?”

“No.” He smiles slightly. “It’s nice. Have a good night.”

“This is going to be great,” you grin.

Natasha drives you to the restaurant, and you grab a table since Peter isn’t here yet. You’re a bit early, anyway, so you don’t mind the wait.

Sharon is able to get all three men on the list at the party since she knows the owner. Thor, Bucky, and Steve arrive at the party which has a bunch of people outside waiting to get in. They’re in line when Bucky notices a few of Steve’s friends, including Peter. They spot Steve and head over immediately.

Bucky frowns when he doesn’t see you.

“Where’s Y/N?”

“Oh, dude, she texted me like seven times. Like long ones. I just wanna hook up.”

“So, is she waiting for you to show up or did you call her?”

“Yeah, that's what I did, I called her,” he laughs.

Peter and his friend head inside but Bucky stays where he is. Thor is about to go in when he notices his friends not following him.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t go inside, man.”

“What do you mean?”

Bucky shakes his head, turns, and jogs away from the party with Steve. Thor’s been looking forward to this party, but he understands that you need them more. He sighs and runs to catch up with his friends.

After thirty minutes of not showing, you know Peter won’t be here. You’re the only table in the restaurant without food except for the free bread they give out. You sigh sadly and look down at your lap, picking apart the bread. You look up when you hear footsteps head your way. Oh, it’s only a waitress.

“Do you have anything else that is free, but also has bread in it because the good bread I ate and uh, all that's left is a… it's like a… it's kind of like a health bread?”

“I'm sorry. We're gonna have to ask you to give up the table.”

“Um, can I please just stay, just a little bit longer?” you ask in a small voice.

“We’re here!” You look behind her to see Thor, Bucky, and Steve enter the restaurant. “Yup, we’re here, Y/N!”

Seeing them is ten times better than seeing Peter.

“We're here for the date thing,” Steve says.

“You're all here for the date?” the waitress asks, shocked.

“Yeah, we are. We're her boyfriends. We are reversed Mormons. One man just isn't enough for her,” Bucky says.

“Okay,” the waitress sighs and walks away.

Now that she’s gone, you look down in sadness. The reality of being stood up weighs heavily on your shoulders.

“Hey, Y/n, that guy was a jerk. You don’t deserve him.”

“You guys missed your party to come here to see me?” you ask and look into his eyes.

“Yeah, we care about you. We like you.”

“That’s so nice,” you sniffle with a smile.

You’ve only met these guys, but you know that moving in with them is one of the best things you could have done for yourself.

x

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[boredmadamoiselle]

You don't even have to ask

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x Reader

Synopsis: After the qualifying at the Grand Prix of Monaco, you look for Charles to give him comfort... and in search of his forgiveness.

Warnings: Fluff. Angst. English isn't my first language, so it probably contains some mistakes. I tried my best but if you want to correct or help me, you are welcome.

Author's note: Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is always appreciated and is important for me. If you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to write them and I will take into consideration. 

The sun had already set and the moon had taken its place lighting up the dark sky above you. 

As you approached the port, you could hear the music from downtown getting more and more distant. Absolute silence reigned in the port, it was just you, the sea and the many boats docked. Everyone, except one person, was celebrating. And you knew, or at least you hoped, you’d find him on his yacht. Away from everyone and everything, probably lost in his thoughts and thinking back to what had happened just a few hours ago. 

Once again, in fact, Ferrari and Charles’ team had screwed his race, jeopardizing his victory and proving to be incompetent. Although they were the ones who made the mistake, Charles would pay once again the consequences, just when for the first time he had had the chance to get on the podium in Monaco. That was the thing that pissed you off more. 

Even though you were on a break, you couldn’t help it but support him. Because in the end and despite everything that had happened between you in the last months, you loved him. You still wanted him to win and be happy. But instead, he was struggling once again. 

Charles ran to win every race but Monaco was different, it was special. It was his home race, the place where he had grown up and lived. 

He loved Monaco, its people and he wanted them to love him equally, to make them proud. That was the reason why he wanted to win… for them. The thing was that they already loved him… or at least you did. You loved him more than everything else and seeing him sad broke your heart. After you had tried to call him and had received no answer, you had decided to go find him and see for yourself how he was. You wanted to comfort him, but you were also dying to see him and have him a few meters from you after weeks away, to hold him in your arms. You would have told him that everything would be fine. Even among you. 

The break had been your idea and Charles, even though he didn’t like the idea, had agreed. He loved you and he knew that being in a relationship with him, always under the spotlight wasn’t easy, that sometimes it could be a little suffocating. So, he had let you go with the hope that you would return to him sooner or later. You were now as you had thought enough. Being with him wasn’t easy for sure but being without him was even more difficult. Those weeks apart from him had strengthened your feelings for Charles. 

You needed him just like he needed you. Those weeks, those days must not have been easy for Charles and your distance must have made everything worse. Part of you felt guilty for not being there for him. 

His yacht was for both of you your second home, your refuge. Whenever he could, Charles would come and take the yacht out to sea. As he wanted to stay alone with his thoughts during those moments, he almost never allowed anyone to accompany him, except you. You were always welcome. Would you have been even now? Did he still love you? These questions had been nagging you all along the way. 

You got on the yacht and it didn't take you long before you saw him. He was standing with his back to you and looking up at the sky. You were approaching him when the sound of his voice instantly paralyzed you. 

“I said I wanted to be alone.” 

You could hear the sadness dripping and it broke your heart. You wanted to run to him but you were unable to move. Would he have appreciated that? Were you welcome? As he had his back still turned, he had no idea it was you.

“Does that apply to me too?”, you asked, scared of being rejected. Your voice made Charles instantly turn around as he realized who you were. 

His face immediately lit up upon seeing you just a few feet away from him. But you could still see the sadness in his eyes. 

“Y/N…”

“I just wanted to see how you were… you know after everything that happened, but if you prefer being alone, I can…” 

He didn't let you finish the sentence. “You know there is always room for you on board”, he said smiling. 

You smiled back. You were tired of that distance between you, it was time to fill it. You approached him filling the gap between you. Now you were inches away from him. 

“Even in your arms? Because I think a hug would do you so much good”, you said.

Without answering, he reached out to you and wrapped his strong arms around your shoulders and back. 

“You don’t even have to ask”, he whispered burying his head into your neck. 

You tucked your head into the curve of his neck and wrapped your arms around his waist. The contact with his body sent a shiver through you. It was like the air was taken from you as you melted onto him and your eyes began to fill with tears. You could feel he was crying too as a slight wetness was soaking your blouse. 

Charles sighed as he felt immediately lighter between your arms, relieved. After all those weeks of being away from you, Charles felt he could start breathing again. Without you by his side and with all the pressure leading up to his home race, he had felt like he had been drowning for the past weeks. You were his anchor, the one who kept him afloat when everything else was failing. You had arrived just in time to rescue him. 

You hugged in silence for a few minutes. Words weren't necessary, at least not now. Your hearts beating wildly, in unison with each other spoke for you. That was enough.  

After a while, you broke the silence. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really, not now that you are here with me… That's all that matters now, I don’t care about anything else”, he whispered.  “But there is one thing you could actually do for me.”

You pulled away gently and looked into his eyes, your faces inches apart, noses touching and his hands still on your hips. 

“What is it?” You were feeling a mixture of curiosity and fear as you were waiting for him to talk. 

Charles placed his forehead on yours. 

“Would you stay here with me tonight?”

You closed your eyes and sighed, part of you feeling relieved at his words. 

“You don’t even have to ask”, you simply said. 

His lips curved into a smile satisfied by your answer. His hands cupped your cheeks, as he slowly leaned in and placed his lip onto yours. Your spare hand gripped his shirt gently, pulling him closer until you were pressed against each other. You needed to feel him. But first you needed to do something else. 

With your hands on his chest, you took a step behind leaving Charles confused and visibly worried. 

“I’m sorry, Charles, for everything. I should have been there for you, especially knowing how difficult it would have been today…”

He took your hands in his and placed his forehead on yours. “Shhhh… You are here now and that’s enough for me. Tomorrow, if we want, we will talk about us but for now I just want to hold you in my arms. No racing, just us. Me and you. Okay?” 

You nodded and let out a small whisper “I think it’s perfect”.  And you kissed again.

 

A few weeks later you were back on the yacht, Charles had taken you on a date.  

Between Charles’ arms and rocked by the sound of crashing waves, you were staring at the starry sky and enjoying the silence away from the city.

“I’ll be right back”, he whispered into your ear and pulled gently apart from you. 

You kept looking at the starry sky when a streak of light crossed the sky and then immediately vanished. 

“Look, Charles! A falling star!”, you screamed and turned around to face Charles. 

You were speechless and couldn’t believe your eyes. 

Charles was in front of you... on his knees. He was holding a small velvet box with a diamond-set ring inside. And it wasn't just any ring but the one that Hervé, Charles' father, had given to his mother when he had proposed to her.

You put a hand in front of your mouth trying to hold back the emotion and the tears. 

“Charles…” 

“Y/n, a few weeks ago I asked you if you would stay with me for the night. Now I ask you, would you stay with me a little longer?”

Tears streamed down your face as you weren't able to hold them back anymore.

“Forever, Charles”, you finally said. “You don’t even have to ask.” 

[moiravim]

Wolfstar adopting you!! (headcannons)

Fluff!! Parental Wolfstar x Gender Neutral reader/ Harry Potter Sibling Relationship

Remus and Sirius adopted you when you were a tween. They wanted to have a kid without having to deal with all that "baby stuff".

When you turn eleven you get your letter from Hogwarts and they can't be any happier. Not only that, but it turns out that you're in the same year as Harry.

Remus and Sirius have grown from their old ways of teasing the Slytherins and won't care what house you're in. Although, they will get very excited if you are in Gryffindor, and Remus will secretly be extremely happy if you're in Ravenclaw.

If your in Slytherin... They'll initially be shocked, but they really wouldn't be upset at all. Sirius sees you as a "mini Reggie" and cries over this at least once a month. It makes him so much more protective of you. Remus will be very understanding with you and never mentions you being placed in Slytherin. Just know they still love you so so much.

If your in Gryffindor... They will go crazy. Your literally a next generation marauder! They probably threw a party to celebrate. And the fact that Harry is a Gryffindor too? Sirius expects the two of you to become best friends and be the "new marauders" (you and Harry will probably end up becoming friends anyways). They're both just so happy!

If your in Hufflepuff... They'll get so excited. They love all your Hufflepuff friends! They genuinely think that You being in Hufflepuff is what's best for you. They just know you'll be so happy with all the other Hufflepuffs. Although beware, because they may tease you a little.

If your in Ravenclaw... They will be so proud of you! Remus is so happy your a Ravenclaw. He initially wanted to be in Ravenclaw and he's just so happy you get to be. Sirius still thinks that Ravenclaw is the "smart house", but you're the smartest person he knows, so... I guess it works out?

Saturday nights three of you have "family time dinner". You all eat a nice meal at the table and then watch movies together or go out and do something fun.

They like to meet your friends and will let them come over often.

In third year Harry finds out that Sirius is his godfather. Things change a lot then. Sirius feels guilty for not allowing Harry to come live with him sooner, but he honestly thought Harry would be better off with the Dursleys. Sirius gives Harry the option to move in with him, and Harry accepts.

The two of you slowly build up a sibling-like relationship, and soon enough the two of you are inseparable.

Your happy family of three is now a happy family of four. And you couldn't be any happier about it. Now, when your dads are busy working during the summer, you and Harry can go out and have fun.

The two of you often get into mischief, running about Diagon Alley. Your dads are just so happy that they get to raise two mini-marauders.

[blossoming-mind-palace]

Chung Myung x Fem! Reader: 100 Years and a Promise (SFW/Part 4/Finale)

Summary: You’re both used to your new life. A few years have passed and things are comfortable. This part has a sillier vibe than the last. It’s also the last SFW part I’m writing.

Contains: Fem! Reader, Alcohol mention (thanks Chung Myung), hangovers, Chung Myung being jealous, Jo Gul getting bullied because Chung Myung is jealous (sorry Jo Gul), a Chung Myung POV I’m not very proud of but it’s there

WC: 5,184

Chung Myung feels warm sunlight hit his eyelids as he begins to stir. His head is pounding thanks to last night’s activities, and the grogginess is not helping. A faint snoring hits his eardrums, but it takes him a moment to realize they were too soft to be his. He jolts up when he realizes that someone else is in his room.

He tries to look around, but not too fast to avoid vomiting. It feels like someone is holding his hand, so he looks down to investigate and finds you lying on the side of his bed. It looks as if you fell asleep while sitting on his bedroom floor, and he can’t imagine that sleeping like that is comfortable.

You feel someone nudging your cheek, and when you wake up there’s a creek in your neck and a slight headache. My headache can’t be as bad as Chung Myung’s considering how much he drank, you think, and look up to see him staring at you. “Oh, good morning,” you say softly. You're assuming he has a hangover, and you don't want to make it worse by speaking too loud.

“Morning,” he replies and immediately follows it with a yawn. You notice that one hand covers his mouth, but the other is preoccupied with holding yours. You must’ve fallen asleep while holding hands, how scandalous! Imagine if someone walked in on you two. Your peers wouldn't let you live that down for years.

“Chung Myung, can you let go of me, please?” you ask after a futile attempt to retrieve your hand. “Do I have to?” “Yes, because you need to burn off that alcohol and take a bath, stinky,” you say and get up from your uncomfortable spot. “I’ll go draw a bath for you while you get rid of your hangover, m’kay?” You tell him this so he’ll let go, and he does. You run off to heat up some water for the wooden tub, and Chung Myung is left alone with his own thoughts.

- Chung Myung’s POV

“I’ll go draw a bath for you while you get rid of your hangover, m’kay?” is what (y/n) said before she left the room. After taking care of my hangover, my mind is still plagued by her. No matter how hard I try I cannot stop thinking about her and the way she glows in the moonlight. I’m not entirely sure if that beautiful scene from last night was real or a dream, and if it was a dream, I’m upset that I woke up from it.

She looked divine, but did she always look like that? Even a hundred years ago? I'm a fool for not realizing this sooner. I also can’t help but wonder if she’s always been so soft and caring towards me. I suppose she was when I wasn’t causing trouble and trying to start fights. She’s always made sure I’ve eaten, patched me up, and has helped me achieve my goals.

Just thinking about her makes my chest feel warm, and I can’t figure out why I constantly feel the need to hold her. It’s as if she’s holding a magnet that’s constantly pulling me towards her… Is this what romantic love feels like?

Everytime I look back on my previous life, I’m certain there’s a familial love I feel towards people like Chung Mung, but this is different. This is a new uncharted territory, and it makes me feel anxious. It’s not a bad version of anxiety; it’s hard to explain. These feelings are complicated and I really wish it didn’t take me this long to notice them. Life would be easier if I knew what to do next, but I don’t even know if she feels the same.

Knock knock! “Chung Myung, I’m coming in!” I hear her yell. Think of the woman and she shall appear. She walks in and continues,” It’s hot and ready, so hurry before it gets cold.” “(y/n), can I ask you something?” I ask. After last night and realizing my feelings, something has been bothering me.

She mentioned something about starting a family back in the day, and that she already had someone in mind. Obviously that never happened, but the thought of her loving someone else upsets me. She loved this person, but I never heard anything else about him. I never even noticed anyone getting that close to her, so whoever it was, he wasn’t very public with his feelings. Could this mean he didn’t care about her? Did he even love her in the first place? I’m probably overthinking things, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask her about him.

I feel the mattress dip while she sits beside me, and the curious expression on her face makes my heart beat faster. Since when was her expressions so cute!? She’s pulling such an adorable face, and the fact that I can’t pull her towards me and mash my lips on hers is killing me!

My face is definitely beet red, and I know that she’s noticed because she asks,” Are you feverish again? I thought you were getting rid of your hangover? I’d rather talk to you when you have a clear mind-” “I did! It’s clear enough! Now, let me ask you something,” I say. I can’t help but anticipate her answer; I’ve waited over one-hundred years to find out who this man is. I’m going to be pissed if it turns out he was an asshole towards her.

- Reader’s POV

“Remember the promise you made to me?” he asks, and you shake your head. You’re lying of course; you didn’t expect him to remember such a thing! “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve made a lot of those over the past hundred-and-something years, so you’re gonna have to clarify,” you reply while twirling your hair around, and it suddenly feels like eye contact is more intimidating than any war you’ve fought in.

“You promised me you’d tell me who you loved before the war ended. It’s ended, so now you have to tell me!” He clears the air and his face is filled with anticipation. “O-Oh! I don’t remember that-” “Bullshit! You made a pinky promise, too, so you HAVE to answer the question!”

Oh, I fucked up. You think, because you actually have to answer his question now. There’s no backing out of something as serious as a pinky promise. You try your best to create a lie but struggle to come up with anything. You decided that giving vague answers would be your best bet.

“He was tall, dark and handsome,” you reply with a falsely confident smirk plastered on your face. He raises an eyebrow,” Tall, dark and handsome?” “Mhm!” “That is painfully vague, (y/n). That description matches almost everyone in the sect,” he points out. His expression looks genuinely upset and he’s not playing around like all those years ago. He continues,” How long are you going to keep this from me? At this point, I’d assume he was never real in the first place. You’d never do something like that, though. Right?”

You look down at your palms and notice that they’re starting to sweat. You stare at the floor like it’s infinitely more interesting than your conversation, because you’re trying your best to avoid what’s about to happen. You really don’t want to look him in the eyes and tell him the truth. It'll be painfully awkward, but it looks like that might happen soon.

”Right, (y/n)?” He asks, and there’s an awkward silence that fills the air afterwards. “Dammit, (y/n), please tell me you didn’t lie about that…” “Okay, so here’s the thing. The part about wanting to settle down was genuine, but I couldn’t find a bachelor I liked. When I finally did, the crush was one-sided.”

”When you kept pestering me about who it was, I panicked and didn’t know what to say. Back then, I didn’t want to look lame in front of you, so I told you it was a secret!” You blurt out. You release a sigh to loosen up the tightness in your chest caused by all of this stress and continue,” I���m sorry, it wasn’t my intention to lie and lead you on like that. Honestly, I thought you would have forgotten by now. That was over a hundred years ago, but you still remembered that little promise we made.”

“Of course I did. I didn’t know how to show it or realize how much I cared about you back then. When you died, I tried to cherish every memory you left behind,” he answers while rubbing the back of his neck. Talking about your death upsets him, and he’s trying his best to not show it. The mattress dips as you sit beside him. “Aw, Chung Myung, that’s so sweet. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve gotten soft since then,” you elbow him while you tease him in hopes that it lightens the mood.

Your teasing certainly gets a reaction out of him as he retorts,” No, I have not!” His arms cross while he continues,” Anyways, back to you. So you did all of that because you were awkward and couldn’t pull anyone. Instead of looking like a loser in front of your friend, you lied and kept that secret for over a hundred years.” “I mean, yeah, most of that is true. Except for the awkward part. I was hot and I could’ve pulled anyone I wanted!” “Except for the guy you had a crush on,” he points out.

You frown, because that guy was technically him and him pointing that out stings. You quickly recover from this, though. You’ve had this unrequited love for years, so hiding your true feelings is as easy as breathing. You chuckle and reply,” Yeah, except him.”

”Seeing how upset you are makes me regret everything. I should be more upfront with stuff like that, and I’m sorry for keeping that from you. It was wrong of me to do that,” your gaze looks serious while you apologize. You grab his hand while you continue,” I swear I’ll never do something like that again.” You notice his cheeks turn red, maybe from anger? Who knows. Chung Myung’s mind is hard to read and he’s unpredictable. That’s why you enjoy his company so much. He keeps you on your toes.

He lets out a long sigh,” You swear it?” “I swear it.” “Well then I’ll accept your apology, but make sure you stay true to your word. They hold no weight if you don’t practice what you preach,” he says, and you couldn’t agree more. After finally getting all of that out, you feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of your shoulders.

“It’s settled, then,” you say as you get up and hold your hand out to him. “The bath water has probably gotten cold by now, but you still need to clean up.” “Yeah, yeah,” he says as he takes your hand and gets off of his bed. “You still stink like alcohol,” you comment. It’s not overbearing, but it’s not what an honorable disciple of Mount Hua should smell like.

”I do not!” “You do, stinky.”

-

After that morning, you noticed Chung Myung started acting differently. Anytime you’d hand him something his fingers would ghost over yours. When you walked side by side, he’d walk so close that your hands would brush together. Any bystander would think you two were about to start holding hands.

He’s also been weirdly aggressive towards some of the disciples. Well, he’s always been like that, but lately it’s increased ten fold towards disciples that are “suspiciously friendly” towards you. That’s what he said when you asked him about his attitude, and you just assumed he was being extra protective since you two were old friends.

You’ve overheard disciples gossiping about you two. They say that you guys act like a couple, and you’re secretly in a relationship. That last part is kind of dumb in your opinion. Dating is technically allowed so hiding it makes no sense, and even if it wasn’t, Chung Myung isn’t afraid to break the rules. He already drinks like someone who’s about to have their limbs amputated, so a petty rule like that is nothing to him.

While walking to the dining hall, you overhear a group of younger disciples actually talk about who’s dating who, and you think you heard them drop your name and Jo Gul's. You decide to ignore it and mind your business; there’s no need to ruin your day with something like that. You have something more important to concentrate on, anyway, and that’s dinner.

When you enter the dining hall, the fragrance coming from the rich meats and spices fills your senses. Your stomach starts to growl; the roasted meat on the table is the only thing you can think about right now. Never mind the gossiping disciples from earlier, food is ten times more important than the nonsense they spat!

You make your way over to your usual spot, and Jo Gul and Yunjong are already there. When you sit down, your mouth starts to water at the sight of beef glistening in a spicy sauce, roasted vegetables, fluffy white rice, and crispy chicken. Your stomach growls at the exquisitely appetizing scene in front of you, and you waste no time in grabbing a plate and filling it to the brim.

“(Y/N), don’t steal all of the food! Save some for the rest of us! I’m begging you!” Jo Gul playfully wines while giving you puppy eyes. You roll your own eyes at him,”Of course I’m not going to eat everything, Jo Gul… Or will I?” You snicker at him, and he’s acting overly dramatic as he makes a devastated face at your response.

”Just kidding!” You laugh at him. “Here, have a bite!” You say as you toss a chunk of meat at him. He flawlessly catches it in his mouth, and can’t help but smile while he chews it. The flavors are so divine it’d put a smile on anyone’s face.

You hear someone’s foot steps approach you from behind, but you pay them no attention as you grab another piece of meat between your fingers. “One more time! Say ‘Ahhhh’!” You tell Jo Gul while you aim. He starts to open his mouth, but closes his lips when he looks over your shoulder. He is visibly nervous when he makes eye contact with the person behind you.

Yunjong, whose lips were originally smiling during your guys’ exchange, have now turned down slightly. Your eyes follow theirs, and they land on Chung Myung. He looks intimidating while he towers over you. Well, intimidating to other disciples, but not to you. You’re used to his pissy face at this point. It has its own unique charm.

”Chung Myung, it’s about time you joined us!” You chime in, and he finally stops glaring daggers at poor Jo Gul. His attention snaps to you and his gaze softens. The expression he makes towards you is so tender, and it brings a sentimental warmth to your chest. It reminds you of how grateful you are that you two are here living with each other again.

”Here, sit beside me!” You say while patting on the chair beside you. He follows suit, but gives Jo Gul the side eye before filling up his plate. Did something happen between them? You think, but brush it off. There’s no need to pry into that right now. If you bring it up, Chung Myung might get pissed at him again and raise hell. Everyone’s happy because we’re surrounded by food; better not change that.

Except the mood did change unwillingly. Even as he ate, you could still see that there was something wrong with Chung Myung and Jo Gul looked terrified. There was an awkward silence that felt like it droned on forever until Jo Gul decided to do something about it. ”So, (Y/N), the weathers been good, right? Lots of… Sun…” the poor guy tried so hard to break the uncomfortable silence. He stopped the silence, but the atmosphere was still awkward.

“Jeez, that’s how you’re going to start this conversation? I don’t mean to judge, but… Nevermind, I’m judging,” You reply to him. You swear you saw Chung Myung smirk out of the corner of your eye. “What’s so funny, Chung Myung?” You turn and ask him. Something clearly happened between the two of them, and they're starting to make this evening unbearable.

”It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” he replies while digging into his food. It's your turn to give him a side eye, but you decide to ignore him and redirect your attention to your meal. After eating in peace for a couple of minutes, you see something fly out of the corner of your eye. You tried to mind your business, but the second time you snapped your head in the direction it landed.

Poor Jo Gul got smacked in the face with a smidge of sauce. You notice that there’s another glob heading towards him, so you catch it mid-air with a napkin. Your eyes follow the direction it came from, and notice that Chung Myung is looking really suspicious.

“Chung Myung, did you throw this?” You ask and stare him down. His eyes refuse to meet yours while he replies,”Me? No, that’s wasting food. I’d never!” He cracks a smile. “You’re a terrible liar,” you say, and a small piece of chicken hits him on the cheek. He glares at the culprit, and this time it’s Jo Gul that's on the attack.

“Are you stupid!?” Yunjong blurts out at Jo Gul. It looks like someone will have to plan his funeral later. Immediately after Yunjong’s outburst you watch Chung Myung throw a large piece of chicken at Jo Gul, and a food fight is definitely going to break out if you don’t stop this.

You decide not to, because this is the most entertaining thing you’ve seen all week. Thanks to Jo Gul’s terrible aim, someone that was sitting at the table behind us got involved. Everything escalates quickly, and there’s a food war breaking out in the lunch hall.

It’s chaos. They somehow even got Yunjong involved, which surprised you. He’s so quiet and seems like a goody two shoes, but here he is slinging handfuls of rice like it’s no one’s business. You feel something sticky hit the side of your head, and now there’s sauce stuck in your hair. Time to get involved!

You shoot out of your chair and fling your food at your attacker. It was Jo Gul, and it smacks him in the face. He’s covered in what was going to be your leftovers and you can’t help but laugh at the sour expression on his face.

Chung Myung takes this opportunity to grab an entire chicken, stuffs one of the legs in his mouth, and chucks it at Jo Gul’s head. The poor guy tries to hit it before it lands on his face, but fails. The force of this chicken actually knocks him off of his feet, and his butt smacks on the hardwood floor.

Chung Myung starts walking towards Jo Gul with a chair, and you grab him by the waist to make him stop. “Jeez, at least let him get up! And what’s with the chair? That’s too far!” You yell at him. “Mmmph!” Is all you hear while you grab at his arms. He looks annoyed at your sad attempts to stop him, but you eventually rip the chair out of his arms. If you weren’t there, Jo Gul definitely would’ve gained another head injury thanks to Chung Myung.

While you sit the chair down and scold Chung Myung, you hear a slam coming from the entrance and everyone halts. ”What’s going on!?” You hear one of the elders yell. You’re all fucked.

-

“Man, I’m beat!” You sighed while walking to your room. You tried your best to get you and your friends out of punishment, but it backfired. They made you mop AND wash the dishes. Chung Myung didn’t have to help you with the dishes, he didn’t even get punished, but he still helped you anyway. That was sweet of him. You think as you walk side-by-side.

You finally got to bathe after all of that, and you can’t wait to go to bed. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” He suddenly asks. “What do you mean?” “Our life right now,” he clarifies. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, the last one was nice and I miss it sometimes, but this current one is good, too. We get to be young again and have fun. It’s especially fun since you’re here,” you reply while elbowing him.

He’s giving you another one of those tender smiles, and his eyes soften. You’re ridiculously pretty in this life, too. You think to yourself. “I think these new disciples have grown on me, too,” you add. “Maybe a bit too much,” you heard Chung Myung say that under his breath.

“Oh? Afraid I’ll replace you with one of them?” You ask and Chung Myung stops dead in his tracks. You stand in front of him as you tease,” Are you getting jealous, Chung Myung?” “Yes.”

You stare at him for a solid second. You did not expect him to say that. You’ve known him for well over a hundred years and couldn’t predict that he’d say something like that. “Wait, you’re actually jealous?” “Mhm.” “Of who exactly? Is there someone specific, or are you jealous of every person that interacts with me?” You ask him.

He grabs both of your hands and asks,”Do you like Jo Gul?” He looks anxious while he’s waiting for your reply. “I guess he’s nice,” you reply. “Why do you ask?” “I heard someone say you two were sneaking off in the middle of the night and planned on eloping,” he says while crossing his arms.

“Heh… Heheheh-“ you let go and break out in giggles, but you’re quickly interrupted by your friend. “Stop laughing!” He snaps, and you hold your stomach while you try your best to stop laughing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Hah, I just can’t believe you actually thought I was talking to him like that-“ “I didn’t say that I believed it!” His cheeks are starting to turn red from embarrassment.

”Good, because none of it’s true,” You say and start walking towards your bedroom again. He catches up to you, and you feel his hand brush against yours. Should I hold his hand or not? I mean, he did grab mine earlier… You think, and after going back and forth a couple of times you decide to take that risk.

You grab his hand, and he doesn’t pull away. A small smile cracks on your face, but you’re too nervous to look up at him. You don't know if you should let go or not when you both get near your bedroom door. The both of you finally stop, and when you try to pull away Chung Myung keeps holding on to you. It's like last night all over again.

“This is my stop-” “What if I liked you like that?” His eyes look dead serious, and judging by his tone you know he's not joking right now. “W-What?” You asked hesitantly. He takes a step closer to you and doubles down on what he was saying,” What if I liked- no, loved you enough to sneak off with you? What if I loved you enough to secretly elope with you during the night?”

”You’re not drunk right now, are you?” “No!” He replies with desperation in his tone. You nervously swallow your spit, because this isn’t real, right? This has to be a dream. Your crush, who you’ve loved and waited for for over one hundred years, is trying to confess to you. It sounds too good to be true!

Your heart feels like it’s going over a hundred beats per minute right, and you look down at your hands that are still interlocked together. You pull his hands closer to your chest and look back into his eyes. “Chung Myung, if this is a joke, it’s a really cruel one.” “It’s not, I’m asking a genuine question!” After his response, you inhale and exhale deeply in an attempt to calm your nerves. It doesn’t help much, and you can already feel your cheeks heating up.

”Don’t laugh at what I’m about to say,” you tell him, and pray that you won’t cringe at this moment in the near future. He looks slightly confused, but you continue before he can say anything. It’s now or never. “That would make me the happiest woman in the world,” you reply to his question and he holds your hands a little tighter.

His lips start turning upwards into the cheesy grin you've always loved. “Do you know how long I've waited for this, (y/n)?” “I don't know, since you started getting jealous of Jo Gul?” “I was not!” He groans at your response. “I've been waiting for over a hundred years, you know,” you tell him and his eyes widen.

“Over a hundred?” He asks with his mouth agape. “Mhm.” “... You were talking about me back then, weren't you?” He asks. He really hit the nail on the head, huh? It only took him over a century to realize that.

You wrap his hands around your waist, and he doesn't budge when you get closer to him. At this point you guys are so close that your chests are touching. You wrap your arms around his neck, and with a sudden burst of confidence, admit,” Well, you are tall, dark, and handsome, aren't you?”

His eyes widen slightly and his cheeks redden at your sudden boldness. His flusteredness makes it clear that he didn't expect this, and the current look on his face is adorable. It's the kind of face you'd want to grab and plant kisses all over. Maybe I should… you think while sitting in silence for a couple of seconds.

You haven't seen Chung Myung be this nervous in years. His tan lips suddenly part as he tries to break the silence,” Can I…” “Can you what? Use your words,” you tell him while keeping your eyes on his lips. His gaze follows yours, and what you want is obvious.

“Can I please kiss you?” He asked with bated breath. “Of course,” you reply and he hesitantly closes the space between you. When your lips finally met, it was sloppy. You're an elder who’s never kissed anyone, and judging by his movements Chung Myung is in the same boat. You two probably look pathetic right now, but oh well. You're literally living your dream right now, so you could care less.

When your lips part, he grabs your face and tries to go in again. This time it's more sporadic and heated, and your hands start to roam his chest. He acts like he's been starved for weeks and is finally digging into his favorite food. You try your best to match his hungry pace.

When you part a second time you’re both out of breath, and this love feels electrifying. His eyes are unfocused while you grab his face and start planting little pecks all over it. “I’ve- peck loved- peck you- peck for- peck so- peck fucking- peck long!” “Heheh, I can tell!” He says in between giggles.

All you feel right now is your love that’s accumulated over the years finally spilling out, and Chung Myung definitely isn’t complaining about it. You keep spoiling him, and he’s basking in all of the new attention he’s getting. If your love is water, he’s the sponge that’s soaking it up.

After a few more kisses, you pull away to get a good look at his face, and he’s smiling from ear-to-ear. Your face mirrors his, because after saying what was on your mind for ages, you feel like a weight has been lifted off of your chest. He continues holding you tightly, and for a moment all you do is lay your head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. It reminds you that you two are alive and the nightmares from your past life are long gone. You’ve yearned for his love for over a century, and you finally got it.

The silence is comfortable, and after you've had your fill of bear hugs you look up at Chung Myung. “How long have you loved me?” You asked him. “That's hard to answer,” he replies while running his hands up and down your back. You rest your chin on his chest while eagerly waiting for him to continue.

“There might've been something before you died, but it intensified after you left. Then, I found you again, and for the past few years it got stronger. I didn't realize what those feelings were until recently… I've never had romantic feelings before, y'know?” “Yeah, and you were never really pursued, either-” “What's that supposed to mean!? I had people all over me during my prime!” “You're lying and you know it; most people were terrified of you and your attitude! You only tolerated me and a handful of other people,” you confidently call out his bull shit.

You sigh and continue,”Regardless, I am over the moon now that we've been upfront with each other.” “Yeah, me too,” he replies. You pull away, but not without grabbing a hold of Chung Myung's hand. You turn to open your door and make your way in while dragging him in.

“What are you doing?” He asks while following you, and you close the door behind him. “Going to bed. Are you joining me or not?” You ask as you let go of him and plop on your bed. Not even a second passed and he's already thrown himself onto the mattress.

“Desperate, are we?” you tease as you finally get to lay down after such a long day. He hushes you, but never denies it as he pulls you into his chest. It's softer than you expected, and you prefer this over your old pillow.

“I love you,” you remind him and give him one last peck on the cheek before going to sleep. “I love you, too,” he adds and falls asleep not even a minute after his head hits the pillow. He snores like an old man, and while it would annoy most people, it's endearing to you. It's what you listen to as you drift off into a blissful slumber.

That was the best sleep you’ve had since you both reincarnated. There were no nightmares about your past or tears, just comfort while being in your lover’s arms. It's like he's your nightmare repellant, and you hope you're the same for him. You'll have to sleep with each other again.

[randomfoggytiger]

React: A Late-Canon Reviler Gives the Revival a Try (Founder's Mutation), Part II

This is gonna be quick and dirty because my keyboard’s acting up--

IT’S A CONTINUATION FROM MY STRUGGLE I?????????? NO WHY NO, PLEASE NO. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--

WHY do those glasses not fit anymore?? If Mulder lifts his eyebrows, they don’t even touch his cheekbones. But they were fine last episode, what happened. 

Mulder reminding us about William in yet another opening monologue. I may have the memory of a goldfish, Mulder, but I don’t have brain damage. 

I’m already so tired. 

Narration, narration, sudden voice change and drop, “Bringing Scully and I back together”-- okay, that’s straight-up David's voice. 

Oh, good. A bloody eyeball. How marvelous. 

If this is the brain Morse Code episode, I will throw hands. 

I’m Dr. Sanjay. We’re both too tired. 

WHAT’S WITH THE SHAKY CAM AS DR. SANJAY DETERIORATES. 

I’m not gonna be nit-picky… okay, I am. 

The X-Files has a certain style, aesthetically. Because of that, one has to operate inside the rules in order to cleverly bend them. Shaky cam AND close-up break two rules back-to-back.

This "modernization" isn’t a limbered stretch so much as a spinal dislocation. 

Ghost in the Machine and Blood 2.0, I see. But worse. 

The “Sanjay losing control” scene is… not too different from similar 90s ones.

But that’s the problem-- the visuals have updated, but not the method. And that leaves us with the impression that the director or screenwriter or both are either amateur or outdated. 

It’s also incredibly cluttered and confusing. Not confusing in a way that would expertly translate the meltdown in Sanjay’s brain, but confusing in a way that bombards us, the audience, with compounding “lost in translation” errors. 

Okay, welp, he’s dead. 

WHY do Mulder and Scully sound so old? Was it absolutely necessary to suck the life force out of the actors every time they walked on set? For Pete’s sake, I’ve heard more life in David’s voice while reading a Lexus ad. 

Okay, DD’s picking up a bit, and GA’s compensating with her expressions but none of this is engaging. 

Minor nitpick-- and I know both actors complained about wardrobe later-- but the second Mulder gets pants that fit him and Scully remembers to finish buttoning up her top, the sooner I’ll get a glimpse of the old show. Just sayin’. 

His pants will eventually swing to the opposite tragedy, copping a feel while forcing him to do a little Marilyn Monroe shimmy.

I shall call them Patriarchy Pants.

Scully knows Indian?

She really is the series’ language OC, isn’t she. 

Mulder got this informant to trust him by flashing his puppy eyes. I mean… it’s always worked on Scully. 

Speaking of which… where’s Scully? 

I’m wracking my brain, but I thiiiiiiiiiiink it’s consistent, even pre-S9 canon, for Mulder to sneak off and fill Scully in later. So, no complaints. I think. 

What is it about the comedy scene that didn’t work…? 

Hm. 

‘Kay, so, if this guy (Gupta, looked it up) is no longer a repressed homosexual-- like he chastises Mulder for being-- then why was he so skittish in the bar? 

He didn’t know Sanjay was dead, so therefore he didn’t know he was in danger (note from the future: he isn't in danger... which explains his skittishness even less.)

So, is his jumpiness because of repressed or hidden homosexuality? But he says he's out and urges Mulder to come out, as well.

Perhaps he's saying one thing and living another, i.e. pretending to be out and proud to save face in front of Mulder.

But then... that would be the comedy in this scene-- that he would have to eat his words (ex. another guy opens the door on them and Gupta makes a big fuss trying to cover up the homosexuality of it all-- “no homo” dialed up to 11, etc.) 

So, he was either scared to be on a hit list-- yet wasn’t aware he might be on one-- or scared of being outed-- yet didn't signal this in his actions or dialogue.

If this is Gupta’s only scene, it was a waste.

It was a waste of an introduction, regardless. But.  

Oh, Scully’s doing an autopsy, got it. 

Characters are playing by their strengths, got it. 

Also, forgot to note, Mulder sensing the guys in the bar were bad news points to his years spent on the job. A great touch.

…Unless, now that I think of it, Gupta invited him to a gay or hookup bar, consequently making Mulder look like an out-of-touch old buffoon. Which… fits his characterization in My Struggle I, but I hope for better things. 

I didn’t see any tension in Scully’s arms while pulling the instrument out of Sanjay’s ear, but, ya know, there weren’t perfect moments in OG canon, either. 

Gupta’s still here, okay. (DD getting away with a bit of humor by having Mulder act slightly out-of-place chuggin down in a bar-- I see you.) 

IT IS A GAY BAR. 

MULDER’S AN IDIOT, CONFIRMED. 

“He lived two lives.” Okay, that’s f-- “In two separate places.” NO, no, nonono-- get back over the unsubtle line before I whip out the broom, shooshooshooshooshoo.

Wait, why is Mulder explaining the autopsy results instead of Scully?

Even when he had a… siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. 

Even when Mulder had a brewing theory in mind, he always let Scully explain all her results before asking pointed questions, hearing her findings, then crafting a theory and running it by her.

Here, Scully says, “I broke fingers to find words on palm"/"instrument went into these parts of the brain” and Mulder says “It went in at that angle then turned at this angle"/"[insert theory].”

When it SHOULD be: Scully explains fingers and cause of death, Mulder points at the pics and asks why the instrument’s angle changed, Scully says “it went in 90 degree angle then turned 60 degrees”, and Mulder concludes “Like he was hunting for something.” 

The shots widen out or cut back for shock value, it seems. Sanjay’s body is shown obliquely until Scully says she “looked everywhere” for clues, which prompts the camera to cut to a wide shot and hang on his sawed-open skull. The timing’s oddly comedic, the music is light, and nothing about the scene meshes. It quickly pancakes, leaving us and the characters with dead (heh) air.

The dialogue leans “we’re gonna do this next” telling rather than natural conversation showing. 

And-- I’ve gotta be frank-- I’ve not caught an ounce of chemistry from DD and GA aside from the scene where they were talk about phone stealing and Indian languages. 

The car scene contributed nothing... except a kid accidentally fell over the hood. Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal covert set-up, I tell ya. 

Sanjay’s other apartment scene was… weird. They walk around, find pictures of experiments on kids, barely react, trip the silent alarm so the police show up--

Sorry, no, wait. The police show up ASAP, in THIS part of town? NAH. Not happening. 

Okay, the scene where Mulder has a… brain… thingy WORKS because it uses just the right amount of “new trick”: closeups without disorienting lens action slapped on top. THAT’s how you integrate a modernized technique into an older show; and it fits seamlessly into The X-Files. 

SO WHY DIDN’T THEY DO THIS FROM THE GET-GO?

Also, Scully may have had cancer, but she never had migraines. Those seem to be reserved for Mulder. 

Oh, we’re in Skinner’s office now. I guess. 

The clips are so poorly paced, switching or holding or integrating at the weirdest times. It even undercuts Mulder’s quips or Scully’s reactions. 

On a side note, DD and GA probably had a hard time finding their characters-- as they mentioned for both IWTB and the Revival-- because all they had to work off of was plot regurgitation. ....What do you do with that? 

I love the touch of Skinner playing hardball until Corporate Interest Guy leaves, then immediately switching to, “I assume you’re going to need [classified] copies, right?” 

…

…..

…….

Scully really doesn’t have much to add, does she? 

OH, we’re in the basement now. We're just... here. The first scene of these two back down here and they're just. Here. ...'Kay.

Mulder and Scully talking over his experience is the closest I’ve gotten to mature MSR… and it’s ruined by Scully stating the obvious, “There were no sounds. I didn’t hear anything.”

LOOK, OKAY? Mulder became CATATONIC before with these exact same symptoms and was only saved by a secret science mumbo jumbo brain surgery, WHY ISN’T SHE WORRIED. It’s equivalent to her getting a nosebleed and just wiping it away, no big deal. 

“Mulder, what are you hiding?”

He’s not hiding anything, Scully, he’s telling you. 

But if he were, that’d be outta character even for Beanpole Sneakybritches. By this point, he’d have a functioning theory to share with the class-- which he did, lest we forget.

...Or developed a taste for Hercule Poirot drama while holed up in depressed isolation, I guess (which you left him to, Scully; so this is your fault, tangentially.) Which would be stupid. 

 (Note from the future: He was hiding something, but it didn't make sense how he leaped to that conclusion, anyway; so, logically, he has nothing to hide from her in this scene.)

But when's that stopped the show before?

“What are you hiding?” 

“Sanjay heard sounds right before he died. It could be you, Mulder.”

WHAT. 

Scully and Mulder established in the lab that Sanjay heard noises right before he died. 

Mulder heard noises. 

Tells Scully in the basement. 

Scully: “I didn’t hear noises.” No reaction. 

Scully: “What are you hiding?”

Mulder explains his frequency theory.

Scully doesn’t see how it fits. 

Mulder: “What are you hiding?” 

Scully: “Sanjay heard sounds right before he died. It could be you, Mulder.” No reaction. 

PLEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE END MY SUFFERING.

16 min. in. 

Been typing nearly an hour (a dying keyboard’ll do it to ya.) 

“This is dangerous,” Scully says, flatly. 

“When has that ever stopped us?” Mulder asks, brightly. 

He is quite literally trying to pump life back into her-- WHO directed GA this way? You can tell which scenes she is given freer reign in (more natural, less muted) and which ones she is more tightly “guided” (less alive, more dead.) 

How is she spry enough to be a field agent? How is Mulder? Skinner hasn’t aged a day but these two have been MOWED. DOWN. DD and GA aren’t like this in real life, so what gives? 

Our Lady of Sorrows, go away. 

It’s Karen Kosseff except it isn’t. 

Mulder and Scully sneakily scare the daylights outta a Conservative-adjacent medical personnel with the dreaded threat of an “Obamacare” witchhunt... and at this point, the social commentary seems performative rather than intelligent. 

I’m not gonna break it down by politics; but suffice to say, while Mulder and Scully were never above a little “campaign of misinformation”, but they've never stooped low enough to fearmonger-- in fact, they looked down on those who did. 

CC-- he wrote this episode, too, right?-- turned them from FBI agents with ethics into Secret Agents with a dose of Krycekian immorality. 

Just when I think I’ve “found” MSR, the writing snatches them back from me.

…And ANOTHER THING. 

Ever since IWTB, Our Lady of Sorrows has been an awful, horrible, no-good, close-minded facility stuffed to the brim with egos and bottom-of-the-barrel intelligence. At least they’ve been upgraded from “let the kid die” psychopaths to “OBAMACARE?? INVESTIGATING OUR SAINTED, CONSERVATIVE COLLEAGUE????” Which makes them stupidly impressionable and stupendously ignorant of the law. Which they would know… because it affects their hospital. 

There’s no hint (thus far) that Scully has some dirt on them and maneuvers them into compliance by hinting at certain shortcuts they wouldn’t want investigated. No. Instead, she weaponizes their faith-- calling the guy they want to interview a “godsend”-- despite sharing it, and despite taking all matters of belief very seriously; then lets Mulder slip in the Obamacare line because… Conservative medical professionals would cow in the face of that implication instead of, I don’t know, stonewalling to protect their ranks? 

It’s such a silly, nonsensical line. 

I just want old Mulder and Scully back, is that too much to ask for?

And the lady almost stonewalled, anyway. It was pure luck that Scully pulled the right emotional strings. 

UGH. 

“I’ll agree to relay a message,” Not-Karen says… then walks off before asking what that message would be. …Sure, fine, that makes sense. 

Pregnant teen or young woman and….

And….

WHAT, IS THIS A CONTINUED PLOT POINT???????????

ANOTHER PREGNANCY PLOTLINE?????????? DO THE POWERS-THAT-BE NO LONGER HAVE ACCESS TO TUBES OR JARS OR WHATHAVEYOU TO GROW THEIR EXPERIMENTS, OR DID THEY ALL COPYPASTE THE EVES' AND DR. PARENTI’S VERY SPECIFIC NICHE?????

Hate the camera angles, too, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. 

Used and abused women, dismissed young mothers, callous Catholic hospitals…. It’s so��� vitriolic. And all so poorly handled. 

“Desire is the devil’s pitchfork,” oh, great, the Catholic nun? lady is eeeeeeeeeeevil, who would have knooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooown--     

WHY. DOES. MULDER. SOUND. SO. OLD. 

No wonder DD and GA think the series isn’t really about happy endings, they were shuffling around like geriatric Eeyores half the time. 

Scully pushing back against Mulder protecting her from the incubation theory right after he tells her the incubation theory: in a word, disjointed. She needed to confront him BEFORE he spells it out to her-- 

…My brain melted and I lost the thought…. Wait…. Nope, it’s gone. 

“Is this what you believe happened to me, fifteen years ago? When I got pregnant, when I had my baby?” WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAT. 

“Mybaby”??????????? After all this time, MY BABY. 

WHY ISN’T GA ACTING APPROPRIATELY, SHE’S GIVING US NOTHING DESPITE BEING THE SOLE EMOTIVE PERSON ON THIS TEAM. 

IF THAT LINE IS MEANT TO IMPLY SHE’S CREATING DISTANCE WITH “MY BABY” BECAUSE SHE THINKS MULDER IS DISOWNING WILLIAM, YOU’VE NOT ESTABLISHED, AT ALL, THAT RETICENCE IS PART OF HER SELF-PRESERVATION-- NOT ONE TIME, SINCE THE REVIVAL STARTED. 

AND IF THAT WERE THE CASE, SCULLY WOULD HAVE ACCUSED HIM DIFFERENTLY: NOT FLAT AND TIRED, BUT FLAT AND ANGRY. WHERE’S SCULLY’S ANGER THAT SHE’S HAD FROM DAY ONE, THAT SHE LOST RIGHT AFTER EXISTENCE SAID HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER????????

GIVE ME GUMPTION, GIVE ME SPIT, GIVE ME FIRE, GIVE ME RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION!!!!

SO THEY ABANDONED THE INCUBATOR TALK TO TALK ABOUT HER REGRETS, I GUESS. 

THERE WAS NO POINT A TO POINT B, WE’RE JUST HERE NOW.

I don’t mind the rehash-- Mulder and Scully both had a habit of doing that, back in the day… but I’m not getting any of MULDER or SCULLY from these two… Revival robots. 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, this is the “what could have been” episode. Thanks, I’m gonna hate it. 

“Do you think he could have been an experiment?”

“I don’t know,” GET OUTTA HERE, ACTUALLY GET OUTTA HERE. 

MULDER’S WHOLE ARC IN ESSENCE-EXISTENCE WAS THAT HE KNEW THE MATH ADDED UP TO BEING WILLIAM’S FATHER (though the writers did their best to obfuscate that issue) BUT WAS AFRAID SCULLY’S BABY WOULD BE BORN WITH SURPRISES. INSTEAD, HE WAS A NORMAL, HEALTHY BABY; AND MULDER CALLED HIS SON A MIRACLE BECAUSE OF IT.

BEFORE SEASON 9 RETCONNED IT, ANYWAY. BUT EVEN THEN, WILLIAM WAS UNDENIABLY HIS MINI MULDER.

Even in IWTB, how many years later, Mulder still considered William theirs. 

Also, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait. 

Pause. 

Rewind. 

Stop. 

Mulder misses William but had to put that “behind him.” 

That. has got to be. The most. antithetical statement to Mulder’s character that I have ever. Ever. heard. 

You can’t have it both ways, CC: Mulder can’t be pushed by the ghosts of his past into wrecking his and Scully’s relationship, twice (IWTB and the Revival), while also putting HIS CHILD behind him. 

nnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOnonononononNONONONONONONO.

THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. THAT MAKES NO SENSE. 

YOU’RE A LIAR, A LYING LIAR LIAR FACE. 

THAT’S NOT MULDER. 

MULDER WOULD NEVER SAY THAT. 

SCULLY MIGHT, BUT EVEN THEN SHE’D STILL BE LYING TO HERSELF. 

Scully was shattered into a million pieces in My Struggle I, and Mulder is obliterated in this one. 

How. 

Absolutely. 

Lovely. 

Also, again, Scully isn’t emoting fear or terror for her son. At all. 

NORMAL SCULLY VOICE??????????????????????????????????

NORMAL. SCULLY. VOICE????????????????????????????????????????

WHAT. 

I’M, I’M, WHAT. 

FOR THE FLASHBACKS, BUT NOT FOR THE SERIES????????????????????????

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

The cutback from the flashback-dreamsequence-whatever to Scully just… sitting there. Not napping. Not dreaming, just. Thinking, I guess. 

But the sequence was obviously a dream, so. 

Can you imagine if she snapped upright from her dream, possibly at her desk? The gifs sets that could have been made mirroring this moment to Mulder’s nightmare in Paper Hearts. 

THERE’S THE SAME “OPEN THE DESK DRAWER TO SEE A PHOTO” MOTIF, TOO. 

...WHY IS THAT ASSISTANT WALKING LIKE SHE'S ON A CATWALK?

That actress said, “This is my big shot, I’m gonna stick out” (literally), and dressed to kill. 

…Or she’s a piece of commentary on the Evil Scientist Doctor and the male gaze, or something. 

Guys, no facility would have kids kept behind glass cages for their entire lifespan. 

That’s dumb. 

Scully tells the scientist he’s testing (trying to isolate) for alien DNA. He shows them out. 

Agnes (the teen or young mother) got killed and her baby taken, of course. 

At least Scully’s no longer pretending medical people aren’t stealing babies or creating mutants, I guess. 

I GUESS. 

Mulder had to wiggle his way over to the printer because his Patriarchy Pants (first sighting!) are too tight. (Told you his fashion swings in the opposite direction.) 

Mulder said, “This is my skinny jean era”, and I think I’m traumatized. 

Syndicate wanted to colonize the world with alien-human hybrids, says Mulder. And though it was unsuccessful--

(HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT)

--he doubts they stopped trying. 

So, that sweeps away the Supersoldiers, I guess. 

Since, y’know, the Revival said the aliens were never involved to begin with. 

So it was just the government making a hoax of the government hiding aliens but pretending they weren’t but really were but weren’t. 

Got it. 

What did Scully’s study about all European men being traced back to three individuals in the Bronze age (that’s a reference to Shem, Ham, and Japheth, isn’t it CC?) have to do with Mulder’s point other than for her to talk about her study. 

An illustrative hypothetical:

Mulder: “Everyone loves juice.” 

Scully: “I read a paper last year that found the three most favored juice flavors tie back to the Whirligig tastebud genome.” 

…’Kay.

I HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT, LET IT EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEND. 

Jackie (Evil Scientist Man's “insane” wife) doesn’t like cats and threw an apple at it. …Why’s there a loose cat in the “mental asylum”?

They put in the spooky track from the original show-- the tinkling symbol sound-- when she recounted her daughter breathing underwater, but I liked that bit. 

Good filming, good bit. 

Jackie was being used for experiments, crashed her car, was forced via the brain thingy to cut her child out, the end. 

…Oh, right, this plot was supposed to be about Sanjay. 

My bad. 

You forgot, too, didn’t you. 

…Why doesn’t Jackie like cats again? 

(Note from the future: Jackie feared her biological daughter because she had supernatural abilities; and ran away hoping to save her son from the same experimentation and fate. ...But her son? (or her daughter?) already had powers and forced her to cut him out??? by manipulating her brain????????? to find his way back to his sister??????????????? Even though he was a baby??????????????????? (She still doesn't know this and wishes she could see him again...????????????????????????????????????????)

This is such a BAD. SCRIPT. 

It has no direction, it swings wildly from topic to topic, nothing really connects together, it’s all… nonsensical garbage. 

Mulder gets closeted at a gay bar, the Catholic lady hates men and thinks unwed mothers are damaged, women are made to cut babies out of their stomachs, Mulder put William behind him, Scully has a waking dream instead of a sleeping one, aaaaaaaaaaaaand… Jackie hates cats. 

No, you will not get a logical explanation for any of this. 

Awwww, look, Jackie’s talking about her missing boy because she thinks about him “every day” but hasn’t seen him since and so does Scully, of course, and Mulder can sense that so he, looks, too, and this case will make him cling to William’s memory again and--

One word. Riverdale. 

“All my training-- everything that I know about psychology--” WHAT. Scully, you’re a medical doctor, not a psychologist. Definitely not a psychiatrist. 

So Mulder can read x-rays with medical accuracy, and Scully can read Indian and diagnose someone’s psychological state. 

Great.  

Just peachy. 

By the way, if you’re wondering why Mulder keeps getting bumped into or keeps peripherally noticing janitorial staff at each location, here’s your payoff (NO, IT WASN’T HAMFISTED, YOU JUST DIDN’T NOTICE THAT THIS WAS A PLOT POINT AT ALL, IT'S SO CLEVER):

The janitors work for a larger company that also services the hospitals. And Sanjay’s company. 

….Eh? Eh? Clever isn’t it??

NOITISN’T. 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so the kids are dying and inadvertently killing… off… their… parent? Or something? Or the reverse?

(Note from the future: Jackie feared her biological daughter because she had supernatural abilities; and ran away hoping to save her son from the same experimentation and fate. ...But her son?-- or her daughter?-- already had powers and forced her to cut him out??? by manipulating her brain????????? to find his way back to his sister??????????????? Even though he was a baby??????????????????? And she still doesn't know this, hoping to see him again someday...????????????????????????????????????????

THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY THE TEEN/YOUNG WOMAN WAS ALSO FORCED TO CUT HER BABY OUT AFTER BEING HIT BY A CAR, per the baby's instructions. Because that's what the episode says happens.

DO THESE ALIEN BABIES HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER OR WHAT????)

Guys, this is dumb. 

Mulder’s stupid sunglasses. 

But he looks goofy overall, so I’ll CHOOSE to be endeared rather than angry or petulant.  

(IchoosethisIchoosethisIchoosethisIchoosethis--)

Wait, why does Mulder keep getting affected by the brain thing?

More importantly. 

The episode is setting up a few, blatant parallels:

These parents are having brain problems.

Their kids are experimentation kids.

William's probably an experimentation kid.

Which is stupid, but would then prove Mulder is the biological father.

They will sacrifice this parallel to the plot but also because Scully, not Mulder, ends up being the one to communicate constantly with William.

Which would prove William-Jackson is still Scully's biologically.

(Note from the future: This complete theory is debunked in about two seconds; but will be recycled later for Scully's Morse Code seizure. Wonderful.)

It’s all. 

So. 

Stupid.

Stupid sunglasses. 

I…

I died laughing. 

Guys. 

I’m gonna include a clip because it’s so goofy. 

Context: Mulder’s brain thingy is acting up, so Scully has to run around to find a kid-- Kyle-- so he’ll… help? her partner. Hence, we have Gillian trying to keep up her Revival smoker voice whilst running off and shouting, “KYyyYYyyyyYYLLllelleleee”:

This is The X-Files. 

Weep and gnash your teeth in torment. 

This is old. 

Sorry, Mulder’s ears should be busted by now. Gimme fic where he now has to use hearing aids.  

They grabbed Kyle and stuffed him in the car. 

Ahh, this is the scene where Mulder looks back at Kyle and someone mentioned it looks like Mulder looking back at William in another, better universe (post here.) 

Okay, so, this kid doesn’t mean to hurt people by communicating with his mind, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut was or wasn’t responsible for Sanjay’s death (who was helping him.)

Scully decides “LET’S PRETEND TO HAND HIM OVER TO HIS EVIL SCIENTIST DAD IN ORDER TO FIND HIS SISTER” and that sounds reasonable. As reasonable as a starving pig at a pie fair. 

Wait.

The kid was a janitor.

Sanjay was helping him.

Sanjay was working for Evil Scientist dude.

Sanjay was trying to figure out where the kid's sister was, or he knew where she was but wasn't telling the kid?

The kid-- Kyle-- accidentally killed Sanjay because his... powers were outta control?

And... the kid can connect with different people's minds and that's how he hacked Mulder's brain (which retracts my biological theory... until, again, Scully's Morse Code seizure reinforces it.)

But the kid attacked Mulder when Mulder and Scully questioned his (adopted) mom... didn't he already know who Mulder was?

And the kid kept pressuring Sanjay to find his sister, so much so that Sanjay hadn't been able to sleep well or function in weeks?

So, this kid's... questionable, at best.

Evil Scientist, M.D., pretended to introduce the kid to his sister, but Kyle wasn't BAMBOOZLED nor FOOLED. 

Oh, btw, this kid is Jackie’s son. Looks an awful lot like William-Jackson... but anyway. (Jackson's storyline is brazenly ripped off from CC's own material, wow-- right down to the "never saw my son again" line. The writers have charming things to say about adopted families in The X-Files.)

Now he’s running around the hospital looking for Molly (the sister who scared Jackie because she can breathe underwater, etc. etc.)

Reunited with Molly.

Now the kids are throwing the adults with their minds and killing Evil Scientist Badman with the brain thing in order to stay reunited, I guess. Like the Eves. (Another rip-off recycle of their own source material.)

SO, anyway, the Evil Scientist Father died a very gruesome death. 

Cut to the place swarmed with FBI. 

Another guy said, “Skinner, keep your sfjfkfsdfksj behind the red tape.” I think. Can’t understand him. 

Guys, this is the first Mulder-and-Scully posturing I’ve seen since the series began. Praise be, they’re not mannequins. 

Here's the Mulder and William "could have been"s.  

See, guys? His faith is back. He’s choosing to remember his son and reengage with his past~. 

Yeah, and where did THAT come from. 

To recap:

Mulder had depression sometime after 2012, so bad that it made Scully… leave, I guess (which would have been a death sentence for someone with a temperament like Mulder’s.) 

But he shouldn't have had depression after 2012 because 2012 just reset the Colonization clock (according to he, himself, and his theory.)  

So, he’s got "no reason" depression, then disconnects from Conspiracies and shoves away memories of William. 

But he hadn’t had a breakdown or disconnect from reality before My Struggle I (which made Scully’s decision to leave even stupider.) 

And Scully worries he’ll have a breakdown in My Struggle I. 

And he actually didn’t leave Conspiracyville despite also leaving it and knowing things he shouldn’t and not knowing things he should. 

Following?

Conspiracy guy calls up Skinner who calls up Scully who calls up Mulder; and he and she don't hesitate to investigate despite putting “that life” behind them. 

There were no aliens, period, only men in government wearing suits or planting false memories or whathaveyou. 

He’s still got depression but doesn’t, actually, in My Struggle I despite Scully thinking he does and worrying he’ll have a breakdown despite knowing he left Conspiracyville; but also won't be coming home, etc. etc.

Both are let into the FBI.

Still following? 

He put William behind him but engages in conspiracies now (despite still engaging in them while not engaging in them-- you get it.) 

Let me reiterate: Mulder. put someone that he loved. behind him. 

Mulder makes peace with the thought that William’s his son regardless and daydreams about movies and rocket ships. 

And that’s that on all his hangups, I guess. His crops are watered and his depression is cured. 

And now he and Scully are installed at the FBI... despite the unlikelihood either of them would pass the physical tests, let alone the training they'd need to requalify. To put them on the field otherwise would be very, very dangerous... right, Skinner?

The End. 

Just make this easier for me next time and beat a bat over my head. 

I do have another nitpick. 

Mulder is too downcast in his “happier times” flashbacks, especially compared to Scully’s buoyant, sweet, upbeat persona. So, basically, he has a stunning lack of imagination, I guess. 

Which, jokes aside, is an interesting thought: Mulder creating realities in his mind so convincingly mapped onto his current one that it’s even more devastating to snap out of them and face each and every unsatisfying day.

Also, both he and Scully have the same sort of nightmare....

This had BETTER be Jackson’s way of reaching out to them for help, or so help me I’m going to label these moments as narrative clickbait. 

EYYYYYY, we got an actual Mulder “NO!” It sounded like him, too! FINALLY! SPIRIT! SPUNK! THE MULDER ESSENCE. 

Oh, yeah, that William can get yeeted-- he doesn’t fit my headcanon, anyway. 

Mulder's sitting upright, too, without having woken from a nightmare.

…So this was a deliberate choice on the filmmakers’ part. 

So this is setting up for something. Like William communicating to them BOTH in waking dreams. 

We all know that won’t happen, but, anyway. 

CONCLUSION

YOU’RE NOT GETTING ME WITH THE HAPPY FAMILY TIMES, YOU MANIPULATORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

YOU CAN’T TAKE ME ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE. 

Also: very rarely do I like movie kitchens, but Mulder's... is alright.

Lastly: again, I am so tired. 

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!  

[lvrhughes]

Best Friend's Teammate| Q. Hughes

if this does not line up at all, I've never been to rogers arena during hockey season and I literally just chose the first canuck to come to mind to so that's why we've got Brock

word count: 1.9k

pairing: Quinn Hughes x f!reader, platonic!Brock Boeser x f!reader

summary: there’s a family skate and your best friend convinces you to come, the issue being you can’t skate. but he has a solution, the defence man you’ve been crushing on will teach you

warnings: pretty fluff, kissing, falling?

requested: no

not my gif!

“I can’t believe you’ve lived in Vancouver for the past three years and you still don’t know how to skate!” Your best friend, and pain in the ass, Brock exclaimed.

You rolled your eyes once again, the third time this week he’s brought it up.

“Why do keep bringing this up? What’s happening?” You finally pushed.

“There’s a family skate tomorrow and I want to bring you” he finally caved.

Of course there was a skating event Brock would want you to go to. You looked up at him, he had his best puppy dog eyes out and you knew he knew he’d won once you looked at him.

“Fine.” You muttered crossing your arms, “but you have to teach me”

“Deal!” He was radiating excitement. “I’ll see you tomorrow, 10 am sharp Y/n/n” he called walking the path towards his place while you continued to yours.

What the fuck had you just signed up for, oh god. You knew Brock, so why you still agreed you didn’t know. Brock would definitely get distracted and leave you like Bambi on ice tomorrow, hopefully Elias would help you. Maybe Quinn would be there.

Everyone could see the small little crush you were pining over the young defenseman. It was clear to everyone but Quinn.

The morning rolled around sooner than you would’ve liked, having to get up earlier then you’d want. You had to search for the pair of skates you had from when you once tried to skate, several years ago.

About 20 minutes after you did find them, Brock showed up at your door, he didn’t even bother to knock he simply walked in.

“Oh dear Y/n” he chanted through the house, snooping through the rooms for you.

“Bedroom” you called back and waited for him to come.

He came running in, sliding his socks along the hardwood floor.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be, but you got to promise you won’t just leave me” you made him swear to that, even though he’d break it at some point.

The drive to the rink was the worst part, you had time to think it over. You, who couldn’t skate, surrounded by hockey players, children, and other adults that could skate, you were bound to embarrass yourself. You tried to shake the thought of face planting in front of everyone but you could, but Brock noticed.

“Calm down, you’ll be fine.” He words barely comforted you but it was enough for the two minutes before you made it in the rink.

“What am I doing here Brock, I’m going to die!” You exaggerated, he let out a chuckle.

“No your not”

“How do you know?”

“Because even if I’m not with you, Quinn’ll be” he beamed.

What did he say.

“I’m sorry what?”

“I got Quinn to help teach you.” Brock looked so proud, you were going to kill him.

“You” you pushed your finger against his chest, “are dead to me.”

You knew you were being dramatic but you also knew he knew it was a joke. The smile across his face said so.

“Come on Y/n/n, he’s like the best skater on the team” he bargained.

“hmph” was all you mumbled out before finding a bench and sitting. Brock followed behind you, carry both of yours skates.

“Let me put mine on then I’ll help you” he offered but by some ironic luck, Quinn was there.

“It’s fine Brock I can help her” Quinn offered, Brock quickly accepted for you.

And so you were sitting on a bench, with Quinn at your feet tying your skates, definitely not how you pictured your Sunday going. He stood up, placing his hand out for you.

“Are you ready?” He questioned, no, but nonetheless.

“I guess” you said grabbing his hand, trying to stand. You hadn’t realized how unstable you’d actually be on skates. You almost immediately fell back, but Quinn was faster, he arms wrapping around your waist to stop you.

He let out a small chuckle, helping you stand up completely.

“Do you want to try getting on ice now?”

“God no, but Brock will kill me if I don’t”

So he lead you towards the ice, you could see Brock doing laps, talking to children as they came to him. He made it look so easy. Fuck it, if he could do it you could too.

Quinn skillfully glided on to the ice, you already envied that ability. He took your hand again, helping you to keep steady when you stepped on.

“Okay, just hold my hands we’ll go slow at first” he was so calm and nervous at the same time it almost scared you. But you did as he said, you held his hand, like you life depended on it, and he slowly skated backwards.

“That's good, just copy what I’m doing” so you tried, and you did it the first few times. The was before you caught a divot in the ice.

“Fuck” you said almost falling atop of Quinn, you quickly rolled off him.

“I am so sorry” you were quick to apologize but ur didn’t seem to care, he had a small smile on his face.

“It’s fine. It happens” and with that he got up and helped you up. This time only taking one of your hands, you missed the warmth he gave but wouldn’t dare say that aloud.

“You remember how to push?”

“Yeah”

“Okay do that, it’s the same as before but now you're beside me.” He was so gentle explaining how to push and glide it made you think skating was the easiest thing in the world, you just couldn’t understand.

He let go of your hand, you shook a little bit but we’re soon comfortable. He skated a bit ahead.

“Okay, now skate to me.” He told you. He had so much confidence in your ability, you thought. But you tried.

You made your way over to Quinn, slowly but at least you didn’t fall. Pushing and gliding your feet like he had shown you.

“Perfect” he said once you’d reached him, he took your hand again. He pulled you closer to him and spun. Giggles left your mouth as he did, he thought it was the best sound he’d ever heard.

“Quinn I’m going to get dizzy!”

He slowed so you were just standing in his arms, it was peaceful. All the sound around had faded, it was just you and Quinn in that moment. His eyes stared down into yours, they were so beautiful.

He was so beautiful. That’s all you had figured out, he was gorgeous and you had a crush on him. Unintentionally your eyes darted to his lips, back they were quick to return to his eyes. You saw his eyes look to your lips quick before letting you out if his arms.

“Come on, let’s go get a hot chocolate, then more laps”

A slight disappointment filled you, but you knew Quinn was too good for you. So you skated beside him, still holding his hand, to get off the ice for a drink.

Once you two both had drinks, and had enough of them for the moment he put them beside all your stuff and brought you back on to the ice.

You skated laps beside him, some laps holding his hand, some without. You preferred the laps holding his hand. A shiver ran up your spine, Quinn noticed.

“Here” he said taking off and handing you the hoodie he was wearing.

“No it’s fine, you’ll get cold.”

“Y/n, I basically live on the best ice, I’ll be fine”

You had no argument against that so you took his hoodie, sliding it over your head. It was warm and smelt like him. You just wanted to curl up with it and never leave it.

Quinn’s heart melted at the sight, you in his hoodie, it was definitely too big for you, but he thought it was adorable.

“Y/n” Brock called, skating over before icing both you and Quinn.

“I see you learned to skate” he snickered towards the fact you were now wearing Quinn’s hoodie and holding his hand.

“Shut up”

“She’s actually doing really well” Quinn contributed. Brock just laughed in reply, almost challenging to what Quinn had just said.

You had to admit, you were extremely competitive and petty. So what Brock had did, gave you reason to try and skate better than him.

“I can skate.” You declared. “One lap and you have to admit that I can skate.”

He nodded, you let go of Quinn’s hand and began around. Brock followed beside you, Quinn behind. It was a peaceful lap, until a small child cut in front of you and if u didn’t try to stop you would’ve ran it over.

“Fuck” you mumbled, now sitting on the ice. Brock laughed.

“Oh shut up, that wasn’t even my fault!”

“I know but it was funny” he couldn’t stop laughing, until Quinn nudged him acknowledging the look in your face.

Quinn was quick to help you up, pulling you into his arms while. You hid your face in his chest, knowing they’d seen your reaction to the teasing. They didn’t need to see your reaction again, embarrassment overcoming whatever you were feeling before. Quinn wrapped his arms around you, it was nice. He was warm and smelt good. The urge to nuzzle yourself deeper in his chest was so strong, you made yourself pull away before you could give in.

“I think I’m done for the day.” You said, getting positioned to skate towards the gate.

“No I’m sorry I shouldn’t have laughed, please you were having so much fun with Quinn. Continue on, I’ll go find the team” Brock excused himself before you could deny, your feet were beginning to hurt making you want off the ice anyways.

“Fucker” you whispered under your breath, yet somehow Quinn still heard.

“Do you really want off?” He looked a bit sad, and you knew you couldn’t say no to the kicked-puppy look he had.

“My feet just hurt that’s all”

“If you want we can get off?”

“No it’s okay, let do some more laps”

He smiled, his smile was so pretty, god you were in love. So you did more laps with Quinn, staying on the ice until you had to leave.

Yet again right before getting of the small child appeared to trip you, this time onto Quinn. Your face flushed, now you laying on top of Quinn.

“I am so sorry”

You didn’t even get the extent of your apology out before Quinn kissed you, it shocked you. You froze for a second before melting into him. Your arms found a place around his neck, his wrapping around your waist to keep you on top of him.

You both did have to pull back for air eventually, much to both of yours disappointment. He helped you up from on top of him, on the ice, and pulled you against him again.

“I am so glad you didn’t yell at me” he laughed, placing a kiss on your head.

"Why would've I yelled at you?" A little confused, your tone laced with it.

"I mean I just kissed you, I didn't even ask." he was soft with his words almost embarrassed, you just smiled at him.

"I'd never yell at you, Quinn. I've loved you since we first met."

"Really? That was like three years ago." he seemed shocked, it was a little intimidating, you had to admit.

"I thought I was the only one" he admitted shortly after.

"You've loved me since then too?"

"How could I could I not?" He had a smile on his face, he was practically glowing.

"I love you so much, Quinn"

"I love you so much more"

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Wild Nights || CL16 {Epilogue}

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x songstress!reader Summary: With a new album out it needs promoting and you find yourself missing Charles while you are in New York for a talkshow interview. Warnings: 18+only, flufffff WC: 1.1k

F1 Masterlist || One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Epilogue

February 2025 “I wish you were here,” you whispered into the phone that you weren’t supposed to have in the talk show studio. “I’m shaking like a leaf.”

“You’ll do great, my love,” he reassured you and you could hear a lot of background noise from the other people at the airport. “I’ll see you soon.”

No sooner had the call ended that the studio lights dimmed and the live audience fell silent.

“Now our next guest really needs no introduction,” Jimmy Fallon began to say while you nervously paced behind the curtain, until Bea pulled you to a stop, “her debut self-titled album went platinum and I have no doubt her new album, Safety Car, will be just as good. Please, put your hands together for Y/N.”

Bea gave you an encouraging push and you forced yourself to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. No matter how many times you took the stage for a concert, or an interview, you still found yourself nervous - but you equally loved the thrill that came with it.

Once you were sitting in the chair the jitters faded away and you fell into the rhythm of answering the questions he fired your way.

“So, Safety Car, talk me through this album. How did you come up with the name?”

“Obviously Charles is a huge part of my life, we have known each other for a couple of years now, and this album was made collaboratively with him. That’s all him on the piano with pieces that he composed, so the journey of this album gives a glimpse into that relationship we have, especially the ups and downs that come with life. 

“I’m not sure if you keep up with Formula One, Jimmy, but when there’s danger on the track they deploy a safety car to guide the drivers through that peril. This whole album is about being each other's safety car and helping navigate the other through those hard times.”

“Wow, that is so wholesome and sweet,” he gushed before looking down at his cue card. “But what exactly is ‘that relationship’? Because we know you and Charles are together, everyone and their dog knows you two are together, but there was never actually any announcement as such and now there’s rumours that you secretly tied the knot while you were at the Vegas Grand Prix this year?”

You tipped your head back with a laugh. “You’ll have to ask him that because I don’t think he ever officially asked me out. We kind of just collided and stayed that way.”

“So you aren’t together?” he gasped like it was some scandalous news but you just gave him a wink.

“We love each other dearly, I mean, we found each other when we were both going through a difficult time and helped each other to heal. Any chance we have at seeing each other we take but we have always been aware that the reality is that our lives are in very different places. Charles’ work takes him all over the world and with my second tour coming up there just aren't a lot of places where our lines intersect.” 

The crowd sighed sadly but you shrugged it off with a smile as you continued, “Neither of us would ask the other to give up on their dreams, that wouldn’t be love then, would it? It’s what inspired my first single Love Is Letting Go. Charles had an amazing 2024 season and has renewed his contract with Ferrari, and his dream is to win a championship with them in particular so he’s very focused on that for this coming year and I’m so proud of him. Maybe one day our lives will be at the same pace but for now we cherish the moments we do get.”

“Oh don’t we know it,” the host chuckled. “We have all seen the photos floating around whenever you two hit the town. Looks like you have some pretty wild nights out together.”

“We do have a lot of fun. Why not? Life’s too short, might as well be wild and free.”

“That is true, but are you free? How else do you explain this photo?”

A picture appeared on the screen that had been taken inside the infamous White Chapel in Las Vegas. It wasn’t exactly clear who was in the photo because of the costumes but it didn’t take a genius to work out who was standing at the altar getting married. 

Pierre’s brown hair stuck out the front of a slick jet-black coifed wig while Bea’s white halter dress barely contained her boobs as she twerked against him. It was a little harder to tell it was you and Charles in front of Arthur, who had bought an online Certificate of Ordination so he could be the celebrant. Your brother-in-law had spent so long trying to find a printer in the hotel that he was last to arrive and left with a Star Wars costume.

“Well, Jimmy, I believe that is Darth Vader, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Bonnie and Clyde. And it looks like they are having one hell of a time.”

“That’s all you’re gonna give us?” he asked with a chuckle and mock disappointment as he shook his head. “Fine, fine. Can you at least give us a song?”

The small side stage was dark when you took your place at the microphone but when the lights came on and illuminated the piano it wasn’t Bea that was sitting there as planned.

The crowd screamed as they saw Charles and your eyes widened, a smile growing as you drank him in after a long two weeks apart. “You’re meant to be on a plane.”

“I got on an earlier one,” he said, the piano microphone picking up his soft words as he sent a wink to the camera, “so I could support my beautiful, talented wife.”

The air froze for a split second before chaos erupted and the audience cheered.

You looked across the stage at Jimmy as a smile broke on your face. “Uh-oh, busted!” You reached into your pocket and slipped the sedate diamond ring you had chosen, opting for something smaller than the huge rock that Charles would have gone for, and slipped it back on your finger that had felt empty without it. “I guess this makes us pretty official.”

Charles teased the crowd as he played the wedding march tune. “There was never any doubt in my mind.”

Tagging: @91vhs @alwaysclassyeagle @applespiez @ravenqueen27 @booksobsess @tempo-rary-fix @baw-sixteen @im-an-overthinker @notleclerc

[hrtbrkwthrs]

Page 289

Isaac Lahey x fem!reader (she/her)

Summary: Allison's cousin doesn't trust easily, but maybe if she lets herself be vulnerable just this once, she could find that some things are worth the risk.

Notes: she/her pronouns, 1 use of y/n, no description of reader. reader is kate argent's daughter, but she doesn't have to resemble kate since she could be adopted, take more after her (unnamed) father, etc. please let me know if you want a part 2!!! Trigger Warnings: slightly traumatic backstory lol (about the same as allison's tbh), reader gets hurt, cuts/blood mentioned

being taught how to wield chinese dagger knives was never really on your to-do list. but when you moved in with your cousin allison, you picked up a few things... to say the least.

it's been two years since your mother died. two years since the pyromaniac, werewolf-killer kate argent was killed in an act of revenge from burning a house to the ground. one filled with innocent lives, supernatural or otherwise.

you always knew your mother was a psycho. it didn't come as a surprise when you heard she passed at the hands of a werewolf she burned nearly to ashes. it was about time for her past to bite her in the ass. she taught you how to use a bow just like your cousin, allison. how to hunt the lives of werewolves, innocent or not. she taught you how to be an argent. and you hated it.

the teachings came with a price. one that, if you were being honest, you weren't really sure she cared about. that price was losing you. as new information came to light, the more you caught on. the more you saw her for who she really was. the more you saw your family for who they really are. and you wanted no part in it. she always knew you were smarter than most.

so kate decided that the risk was worth it, if it meant living on the family name. when she died, you were almost happy to be rid of someone as psychopathic as she. but when you were forced to move in with other family, your uncle chris and aunt victoria, you weren't sure which to be more afraid of. or, at least you would be afraid if you weren't already used to living with a killer.

your aunt victoria and your grandpa gerard both made your life a living hell for the next while, up until victoria died and gerard was put away. they knew you were smart enough not to play their little games. if it wasn't for allison and chris, you'd have been chained to the wall and fed like an animal every day for the rest of your life.

needless to say, you weren't too trusting when it came to your family, and damn sure not when it came to anybody else. allison was the first to gain your trust. it took almost a year for you to finally open up to allison, and she was excited to finally introduced you to all of her friends. or should i say, all of your friends. because it didn't take long for them to take you in as family right alongside allison.

sooner or later, you finally caved and gave your uncle chris a chance. the more you began to open up to him, you realized quickly that he wasn't like your mother or even your aunt victoria. in fact, you've come to like your life in beacon hills, even if it meant battling a giant lizard or a demonic history teacher.

currently, you stood in the woods alongside allison, scott, and isaac – the latter two who were off talking werewolf or some other thing. allison circled the ring of the chinese dagger knife on her finger before grasping the edge with her palm, blade out and ready to cut.

you watched her movements as she performed various tricks with the knife, and tried your best to mimic them.

"you're pretty good at this. you catch on fast," she smiled, nodding in approval.

she tilted her head towards the two boys, "think you're ready to fight one of those two losers?"

you smiled in return. "my pick on isaac," you laughed as she called the boys over.

"is she ready?" scott smiled excitedly, purely just from how proud he was of you. he was almost like a brother, and you were grateful for a friend so supportive.

you and allison both nod. "she wants isaac," allison grinned, looking between the two boys.

isaac, wide-eyed and mouth hung open, nodded slowly. "uh huh... well, c'mon then," he said before backing up, taking off his jacket and tossing it to the side.

you followed suit, positioning yourself in front of isaac with your knifes out and ready to fight. you circled the two ringed knives around each pointer finger before grasping them with fists just loose enough to allow you to swing.

"bring the heat, argent" isaac whispered with a grin.

allison raised her hand in the air, "aaaand... go!" she called out.

isaac wasn't going to fight back, and he'd be careful not to hurt you... but he was going to use his supernatural reflexes to dodge any hit possible.

you swung your first knife at him, faster than you expected. miss. he dodged it quickly, effortlessly.

you swung the other knife, circling the ring around your fingertip as you swiped. the feeling of warm blood splattering across your hand told you that you struck him.

"i let you have that one."

"yeah right," you giggled.

as you stared at the blood on your hand, you cringed. isaac picked up on it quickly, "don't worry. you wont hurt me."

as you practiced your sparring with isaac, scott and allison found their way to the side, watching the two of you. allison called out any time you needed to improve a position or a swipe, and scott crossed his arms with a smile.

"how long before these two just admit it?" scott said.

"oh, i wouldn't count on y/n confessing anytime soon. she swore off love forever when she found out her mom lied about her dad dying. then again when he actually died."

"yeesh," scott didn't know how to reply.

allison looked back to you and isaac. she smiled. "i haven't seen them this happy since that metallica concert dad and i took them to back in middle school."

back on the other side of the field, you stood your ground, ready to continue the practice despite the multiple slashes across isaac's abdomen. the sliced-up shirt was definitely not salvageable.

"hey, do you... maybe wanna go to danny's party with me tonight?" isaac stopped, asking you sheepishly as he tried to hide that he'd overheard allison's words with his keen, heightened senses.

you stopped, looking up, into his eyes. after the initial shock, you smiled. "really?" you asked as if you expected him to be playing some sort of prank. not that he ever would.

"really." isaac replied, a slight smirk across his face as he locked eyes with you.

your smile faded, purely from the trance you found yourself in when looking into his eyes. his icy blue stare swirling around in your mind like a lake.

isaac used the opportunity to blindside you, snatching the blade from your hand and holding your wrist in place. he tossed the knife to the side and smirked at you.

you scoffed through a sarcastic smile. "isaac lahey... i never saw you as a cheater," you teased. your breath caught in your throat when you realized how close he now stood in front of you.

"there's a lot of things you don't know about me," he said with a sly smile.

your guard went up quickly as you took in the small distance between the two fo you. "uh, yeah," were the next words to leave your mouth hesitantly. you pulled your wrists away from isaac's grip, taking a step back to give yourself some space to calm yourself as you tugged at the sleeves of your leather jacket.

at the sudden awkward tension, "we should get going, then," isaac cleared his throat.

ignoring the mildly uncomfortable vibes that rose from isaac's invitation, you walked beside him as the four of you started the hike back out of the woods.

"i didn't hurt you too bad today, did i?" you asked with a small smile, knowing the answer already.

isaac looked over at you, amused. "why, were you trying to?" he smirked.

rolling your eyes, you lightly hit his shoulder in a playful manner. "and why would i ever do that?" you ask, feigning offense.

"oh, i'm just making sure you're not trying to break my little werewolf heart," his palm lands against his chest right where his heart sits underneath, pouting.

you smiled at him, but when your eyes focused back on the trail ahead, you found yourself holding back a frown.

you closed yourself off the minute your father broke your heart by faking his death to go and have another daughter in replacement of you. you closed yourself off the year you started to realize that your mother was a killer.

it took too long for you to let your new friends in. allison isn't even sure if you really have let any of them in at this point. maybe this was your chance. dip your toes in the water, try something new. what's the worst that could happen?

as you arrived back at the apartment with allison, your mind was reeling with anxious thoughts. typically, your emotions didn't show. you were raised to hide them. but allison was raised the same way, and she knows you better than even your own mother ever did.

her hand wraps around your shoulder, gently holding you back. "hey, wait a sec... what's going on with you?"

you turn around to face her. you scoff, "can you just pretend to not see it? for once?"

your words came out harsher than you meant them, but an attempt to push away your feelings all the same.

"hey, i get it. i know what kate did to your head," allison started, but was quickly cut off.

"kate didn't get into my head, she destroyed it before i even had a chance." you snapped, firmly and with an angry frown.

allison threw her hands up in defense, "yeah, you're right. i'm sorry for pushing..." she muttered before brushing past you.

you take a second, sucking in a breath before turning around. "hey, allison, wait."

she stops, reluctantly turning back to face you, visibly frustrated with your stubbornness, but obviously sympathetic.

you sigh, "look, i'm sorry. i know i've been here a few years but i'm still new to all of this, okay? i don't do... feelings. or, at least i didn't used to. but i'm trying my best... i promise i am."

allison nods in understanding. "then what's wrong?"

you frown, shoulders slumping just a little. "isaac asked me to go to danny's party with him tonight..."

allison gasped, trying to hide the smile that crept onto her face. "oh, that's sweet! ...why is that upsetting?" she mumbles, confused.

"because, allison! i don't do this... i don't let people in. i've barely let you in, al. what if he just hurts me like everyone else i've let myself care about? what if... what if i fuck it all up...?"

she gives you a knowing look, one that tells you there's something you're forgetting.

"need i remind you, isaac's got his own set of issues. you two are equally as screwed up as each other." she tries teasing you a bit. it makes you smile.

"you couldn't ruin things with isaac if you tried," she continues. "he's totally into you... and honestly, i think isaac is the last boy in beacon hills that would break your heart... baby, there'll always be something that hurts. if you don't let yourself hurt, make mistakes, feel... you'll never get to experience the really good things that make all that hurt worth it. live a little. let yourself feel."

her words resonate, she always knew the right words to say. you give yourself a second to process them. you smile back, nodding, "thanks, allison."

"so what do you say?" allison grins, "can i help you pick out your outfit?"

you walk through the doors of derek's loft alongside isaac, who picked you up and everything — like a proper date. the party is in full swing, and you can already spot danny making out with ethan in the corner, scott and allison talking to the new girl whom you haven't gotten a name of yet, and aiden attempting to talk to lydia.

"looks like we're late," isaac said, looking over the crowd.

"fashionably late," you replied with a smug grin on your face, walking further into the loft and disappearing into the crowd of people. a smirk spread across isaac's face in return as he watched you walk by, and quickly found himself following close behind you as you sardined yourself in between dancing bodies painted with bioluminescent art.

when you stop amidst the crowd, isaac stops right behind you, leaning down so that his lips are right next to your ear. "should we get painted first?"

you turn around, your eyes fluttering over his face, his lips and up to his own eyes. you nod, "uh, yeah. probably... lead the way?"

isaac gladly takes your hand in his, pulling you through the crowd and over to the painting station. it was a bit outside the sea of people, and only moderately quieter.

"hey, uh..." isaac starts, getting your attention as you spin to look at him. "i'm glad you came with me." he smiles at you, that lopsided grin that he makes when he's being sassy... or when he's flirting. he's made that face to other girls in the halls. you've seen it. the smile makes your heart flutter a little.

you smile in return, only slightly before looking down at his lips, lingering for a moment before stepping away. you take off your shirt, leaving you in a bright purple bralette that illuminated underneath the black lights.

"you wanna keep talking or do you wanna paint my body?"

isaac looks over you, wide-eyed as he takes in the view. "uhh, i wanna paint your body..." he says, almost dumbfounded.

you grin, amused by his reaction. you hand him a paint brush and he gets to paining bright colors across your exposed skin. he paints flowers, adding dotted lines and waves all throughout the art. you used a fingertip to paint your lips a bright pink, and he finished up by adding another flower to your cheek.

"you're a pretty good artist, lahey," you complimented, looking into his eyes fondly.

he smiled in response, "thanks. picked up a few things in art class."

you chuckled, "you actually pay attention in class?" you teased lightly, and he laughed along.

the next few minutes were spent with you tracing a paint brush across isaac's skin. you painted a skeleton along his abs, colored bright blue. you accented his cheekbones with lines of a skull.

when you stepped back to admire your work, isaac took the time to admire you. as your eyes roamed over his body and back up to meet his gaze, he stepped forward, closing the distance between the two of you. his hand met your waist.

"you're beautiful," he said just loud enough that you could hear him over the music. thank god it was dark, or he might have noticed how your cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. he would have loved to see it.

soon enough, he pulled you back on to the dance floor and the two of you danced for what felt like hours, hands roaming across each other's bodies and only an inch of room between you. things were moving so quick, yet it was as if time had stopped, being here with him.

your fingertips traced along the back of his neck, up and through his curls. as his forhead came to rest against yours, he couldn't help but let out a soft groan when you tugged at his hair. it made you smile.

"everybody out!" suddenly, you were covering your ears as derek roared over the crowd. people scattered quickly, almost knocking others over to get out of the loft. you sighed, pulling away from isaac and already missing his touch as you wondered what derek was doing home. didn't ethan say he was on a trip or something?

after the party was gone, it was just you, allison, isaac, scott, stiles, — the new girl, kira — derek, and aiden standing around. derek started to talk, but you noticed the lack of two faces.

"where's ethan and lydia?"

as the question left your tongue, a group of oni materialized in the loft amidst your group. the werewolves turned, whereas you, allison, kira, and stiles stood back.

as a fight between the werewolves and the oni broke out, you pulled the two chinese ring daggers from each of your boots. allison and stiles both looked at you, almost surprised.

stiles and allison both called your name, neither thought that fighting supernatural creatures such as the oni with purely just daggers was a great idea.

you swiped the blades in the air as you aimed to hit the oni in front of you. you dodged every swing of it's katana, and realized that all you were doing is stalling them. you had no chance of winning this battle. not that you didn't realize it before, but in this moment, it felt a lot more real.

before you could swipe again, the oni wielded it's katana and swung it through the air, the tip of the blade slicing across your shoulder. you let out a scream of pain, and started to fall to the ground.

before you could get very far, the oni put it's hand on the side of your head, it's glowing yellow eyes bore into your soul and you were frozen. (literally and metaphorically i guess)

after a second, it's fingertip swiped along your skin, right behind your ear before the group of oni faded away in front of you. you fell to the ground, your body seizing. you had never felt so cold, and the wound across your shoulder blade singed.

it took seconds for the group to disperse, allison and isaac moving to you while stiles and derek went to find lydia, aiden and scott off to find ethan.

isaac knelt on the ground, wrapping his arms around you tightly. "she's freezing!"

allison grabbed her jacket from her bag and tossed it to isaac, who instantly wrapped the fabric around you.

your breaths came out ragged, and you looked up at isaac, trying to talk. "i-isaac-" you stumbled, but isaac shushed you.

"shh, it's alright," he whispered. that's when he noticed the slash across your shoulder. "shit! allison, she's hurt!"

allison knelt beside you, looking at the wound. "it's not too deep, but we need to get her to the hospital," she responded with a frown. she hid her feelings well, but her teary eyes said all they needed to say. isaac understood. the wound wasn't too deep, but it was deep enough to worry.

as the rest of the group returned to the main area of the loft, lydia and ethan visibly shaken but okay, isaac stood up and wrapped his arms around you, picking you up bridal style. you leaned your head against his chest, still shaking from the cold, or maybe the pain.

"take her to my mom," scott said urgently as he looked over at stiles.

"i'll drive," stiles flipped his keys in his hand, "allison, you coming?"

of course she was. the four of you rushed out to stiles' jeep, isaac setting you in before taking his own seat.

somewhere amidst the chaos, you passed out, and all isaac could do was hold onto your hand and take away some of the pain. he had only just learned how, and he was glad for it.

you woke up to melissa mccall's face as she held pressure on your shoulder, the cut still bleeding. you screamed in pain, but isaac's hand never let go of yours. his touch gave you some bit of relief. tears pricked the corner of your eyes.

"someone get her an IV, we need morphine!" melissa called out, holding you down carefully. you tried your best to stay still as she worked at your wound, holding tightly onto isaac's hand. so tight, you thought you might actually break it. but you knew isaac wouldn't mind anyways. that thought helped ease you a little bit.

as another nurse pricked your skin, inserting an IV into your arm and filling you up with pain meds, it was easier for you to calm down as time went on and the pain began to subside.

melissa cleaned your wound, which was now bleeding at a significantly slower pace. "you're gonna need stitches, it's a pretty deep cut. but it's not too bad." she smiled at you as she grabbed the materials she needed to stitch you up.

"so she'll be alright?" allison stood up, asking melissa.

melissa nodded, "she'll be just fine."

allison felt as if she could finally let out a breath, one she didn't even realize she was holding in. isaac felt the same, as he actually letting out a deep sigh of relief.

as melissa stitched up your shoulder, isaac smiled at you, sitting next to your hospital bed. you smiled back, the morphine clearly working.

"how you feelin'?" isaac asked.

"gooood," you drew out the word, a dope-y smile on your face.

"i bet you do," he chuckled with his words as he watched you, and if you weren't knocked with pain killers, you'd see how much he adored you. with the way his eyes were taking in the sight of you, one might think he was in love.

allison watched between the two of you, and as melissa finished up the stitching, allison stood and excused herself with a small smile. suddenly, it was just you and him.

silence fell between the two of you for a moment before isaac dared to speak. "you know, that was really stupid."

you looked at him, almost shocked by his words. "okay now pipe down, superman," you quipped back with a smile.

"what, you didn't want me to carry you out of there?" isaac teased, "would you rather it have been stiles? scott? maybe even derek himself-" isaac continued, but you cut him off.

"isaac." you said his name, and he immediately stopped to look into your eyes. you gripped his hand as it was still wrapped around yours. "i'm glad that it was you."

isaac looked at you, a silly grin creeping onto his face. "i, uh..." he cleared his throat, "i'm glad it was me, too."

divider credits: @cafekitsune @k1ssyoursister tags: @fclsebnnyodair

[bestworstcase]

Wait why do you think Fear is an Oz song and not an Oscar song? Doesn’t Oscar’s leitmotif play as the opening musical theme of the song? Fully track your point on the song mirroring Oz’s soliloquy (which mirrors Salem’s) but I enjoy reading Fear as the emotional rejoinder from Oscar to Oz’s V7 finale monologue about fear

(Tone is hard to communicate via text medium so I want to stress I’m not asking this in a provocative manner but rather very interested to hear your analysis/reasoning on this because I like picking at the bleed between Oscar and Oz as the merge progresses; killing the former slowly and imprisons the latter in his living corpse. If the merge completes, Oscar will be a mausoleum.)

mainly because ‘fear’ is a restatement of ozma’s soliloquy in the same way that ‘divide’ is of salem’s v3 soliloquy, eg:

How does it feel, knowing that all of your time and effort has been for nothing? That your guardians have failed you? That everything you've built will be torn down before your very eyes? Your faith in mankind was not misplaced. When banded together, unified by a common enemy, they are a noticeable threat. But divide them, place doubt into their minds, and any semblance of power they once had will wash away.

<- this is just ‘divide’ phrased in naturalistic prose. ‘fear’ is not quite as overt, but if you compare the soliloquy against the lyrics:

The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet is fear. It's funny then, that as common as fear is, we so easily underestimate its power. Fear of growing close to someone… a subsequent fear of loss. Fear of failure. And as more people depend on you, those fears can take on greater power. But fear itself isn't worthy of concern; it is who we become while in its clutches. Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start? I suppose we all find out, sooner or later.

note that, #1, ‘until the end’ plays underneath the first half of this soliloquy, but the accompaniment to the second half is an orchestral track that evolves into the bridge of ‘fear’ (<- so both ‘until the end’ AND fear are presented in the story pretty explicitly as part ozma’s big moment as he returns from self-imposed isolation), and #2, the whole soliloquy builds toward salem’s arrival in atlas, and then the last beat of the episode is that shot of salem atop the whale, roll credits, ‘fear’ plays (<- the questions ozma asks in this soliloquy are not rhetorical. he is addressing salem in the same manner that salem’s soliloquies in v1 & 3 addressed him)

point being, ‘fear’ is specifically a musical restatement of the soliloquy that makes the address more overt—it’s much more clear about addressing a specific you. its placement in the narrative (evolving from ‘until the end’ with both playing underneath ozma’s speech) encourages reading the two songs together as one—inner feelings vs what’s being said aloud—and if one reads the songs this way, and takes into account that the soliloquy is essentially ozma welcoming salem to atlas, then the only person the “you” in fear can be is salem.

now, the first part of fear:

I’d understand if you’d rather not talk about this There’s always a chance that we might remain in ignorant bliss Most of the time We coast along Safe from the storm We follow our hearts Trust what feels right Keep to the norm We are lucky if our lives can avoid it But fear changes all of our choices

<- at first brush this may not sound like ozma (we’ll get to that), but i submit that it really really does not sound like oscar, who has never at any point seemed inclined to ‘coast’ or ‘keep to the norm’ in the hope of ‘remaining in ignorant bliss.’ that’s just not who oscar is! he tries to have an honest conversation with ruby in v5 about how terrified he is and gets really upset when she brushes him off! he wrestles control of his body back from oz long enough to force out jinn’s name, exposing ozpin’s secrets! he spends all of v7 trying to talk to ironwood, he’s deeply uncomfortable with lying like ozpin did, and goes to confront the man alone after ironwood panics!

but this is, in fact, precisely what ozma did during his and salem’s marriage. coasted. went along with whatever felt right to him at the time. didn’t ask questions and hid vital information from salem to avoid conflicts, until his conscience stung him too hard. ignorant bliss. and then he got scared, and he burned their lives to the ground. yeah? narratively this song is the second half of ozma’s soliloquy, following ‘until the end,’ which provides us with context for what ozma is thinking about as he returns. and what he’s thinking about is his regrets with regard to salem and his longing to make amends! the first step in making amends is to acknowledge his own failures—and that’s what ‘fear’ is.

first chorus:

Who will you see? There in the darkness When no one is watching Who will you be? When you're afraid And everything changes Will you see a stranger? Feel proud or betrayed?

note the direct echo of his soliloquy here. “will you be proud of that person? will you forgive them? will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? will you even recognize them?” -> “who will you be? will you see a stranger? will you feel proud or betrayed [by who you became, by what you did in your fear?]” it’s the same idea being repeated.

All of your life Guided by truth Right from the start Then one twist of fate In the blink of an eye And it all falls apart What happens then When all that you knew Just fades away? When you've lost all control You broke from your soul And fear has its day? Will you make the right choice in that moment? Will you stand and be brave or be broken?

gestures vaguely in

compare the way salem describes ozma in ‘sacrifice’—it rhymes! it’s the same idea, the same choices ozma made, as seen through salem’s eyes!:

Close your eyes now time for dreams, Death is never what it seems. Did the things you thought you should, All the things they said were good. All your faith in ancient ways, Leaves you trapped inside a maze. Take the lives of those you need, Sow the death then reap the seed. Reap the seed. Born an angel, heaven sent, Falls from grace are never elegant. Stars will drop out of the sky, The moon will sadly watch the roses die.

and the point in fear is that ozma is both acknowledging his own failings and beginning to question this narrative he’s constructed around salem, that she’s the ontological evil and she corrupted him on purpose out of malice and so forth, this contorted rationalization he’s been clinging to for so long. it’s, “that night was horrible, i made terrible choices out of fear that i regret, that i feel ashamed of, was it that way for you too?”

which culminates in,

We live in fear that we might fail Fear that we'll succeed Fear that we may not provide The things our loved ones need But our greatest fear will be realized If we fall and lose ourselves to fear We've become what we feared all our lives

the ordering of the fears listed here is really important and i don’t think it makes sense for the perspective to be anyone but ozma; there’s no other character who has a reason to be more afraid to succeed than he is to fail, because the only way for him to succeed is for salem to be destroyed. (i also don’t think it makes any sense for oscar in particular to be afraid of succeeding; as far as he knows, that’s his only chance to escape what ozma’s curse is doing to him.) and then from the fear of success follows the fear of letting loved ones down and the dawning realization of becoming everything he feared.

and then the whole song is in future tense rather than past because it’s looking forward to the ozlem reconciliation, or at least ozma’s nascent desire to try to reconcile. they have all of, you know, this—

—hanging between them and the question posed in fear is sort of “is this it? is this what we’ll be forever?” which is of a piece with the tone of both ‘until the end’ and ozma’s soliloquy.

generally the lyrics are just way too close to things ozma says in his soliloquy, plus the melody of “but fear changes all of our choices”/“will you stand and be brave or be broken?” resolving under the actual soliloquy for me to buy that it’s intended to be a response to the soliloquy, as opposed to a ‘divide’ situation where it’s just the soliloquy itself in song form.

[atopvisenyashill]

I think the point that a lot of people miss with Arya is that the approval she craves the most is of her mother. People call her pretty, including her father and Jon. But she still doesn't think she is pretty because she doesn't measure up to her mother's expectations. We know it hurts her that unlike her siblings, she doesn't look like Catelyn. Which is funny to me because Catelyn despaired that none of her children looked like Ned, except Arya. So no Catelyn did not hate that Arya didn't have Tully looks (believe me I have seen that take numerous times), rather she wanted her to take care of herself and be presentable.

Yeah like, I would say it’s even a pretty common dynamic in real life, where you have a daughter that doesn’t quite fit in and a mother who does and they talk past each other a lot of the times. It’s not to say that I don’t wish Catelyn had taken a more gentle approach to Arya, or that it’s like, an okay thing that the system they live in forces the toxicity of this situation but I think people really gloss over the fundamental aspect of this (and like,,, most) mother-daughter relationships which is that Arya wants her mother to be proud of her and Catelyn wants Arya to be prepared for adulthood. Neither of them is acting out of a bad place here and neither is motivated by anything hostile. Catelyn just feels, pragmatically, that there are certain things Arya needs to know and understand about the world and the life she’ll be expected to live. While Arya wishes her mother could conceive of a world where Arya can just be whomever she wants without being forced into a specific mold or role.

I kinda scrapped this part of that Cat & Arya meta I wrote, but I had like a whole section wherein like, Catelyn knows that The Rules Of Men allowed her a lot of power - she was presumptive heir, acting lady, and now a lady of a great seat with a husband who adores her in part because of her willfulness and fiery temper. What Catelyn wants for Arya is for Arya to have the tools she needs to succeed as a willful, fiery girl in a World Of Men, so that Arya can find a man who loves her for who she is and find freedom in her home & marriage. But because while Arya and Catelyn may share temperaments, they don’t have a lot of overlap in skills, I think Arya sees more clearly and much sooner than it’s simply ridiculous and unfair that Arya has to have this really specific skill set to be worth anything, and that what she’s “worth” to a man shouldn’t be as important as what she’s worth to herself. But like, how do you even verbalize a concept you’re only slightly aware if you’re Arya? How do you tell your mother that the skills she’s honed for her whole life in the hopes that her life as a woman in a feudal system is happy, are like, ~useless~ and have no moral value, it’s just something Cat is good at vs something Arya is good at?? I mean the whole reason i CUT that section was because i felt like i wasn’t hitting the balance of explaining and validating both WHAT IT IS Catelyn wants for Arya out of the system and also WHY IT IS that Arya chafes so badly.

Ultimately, Arya wants to want what her mother wants for her because that’s her mom, she wants to be like her mom, she wants her mom to be proud of her, and also ultimately, Catelyn wants Arya to be safe, and alive, and thinks to herself that Arya would be good at running a household, and since running a household gave Catelyn power, it’s a sweet wish that Catelyn wants to set Arya up to be someone who is great with the only power Catelyn feels she can give her. But they see the world so differently, because they are both stubborn and willful while being Incredibly different & living very different childhoods, and before Catelyn can hold Arya and assure her that she would have wanted her back no matter what, even if her hair is messy and she’s dressing like a boy, even if she never fits in and has killed people, because Catelyn loves her enough to fight against that system that has benefit Cat all those years……but it’s too late, and Catelyn is gone before she can ever say the words I know she wanted to say, the words that Arya needed to hear.

[https-harlow]

Fight The Feeling Prologue -Part 5 Paris Fashion Week

Summary- Even though Jack is in the middle of tour rehearsals, he flys to Paris to surprise you when you are nervous about walking in a runway show during Paris Fashion Week.

Word Count- 2.3k

Requested by @heavyhitterheaux 💖💖

You and Jack had been keeping up by facetime calls and flying out for a day or two when you could. You were both incredibly busy, you preparing for Paris fashion week, and Jack preparing for his upcoming Crème De La Crème tour. With you being in separate countries for almost a week now, even facetime calls were difficult, but you made it work.

You were walking in a couple different shows, but the one you were most stressed out about was the Louis Vuitton show you were walking in. You were picked to wear the last outfit of the night, which happened to be a one-of-a-kind exclusive piece. You had walked in many shows before, but you had never been picked to be featured. You tried to hide how nervous you were from Jack, but he could tell, you weren’t very good at it.

“Baby, you’re going to do amazing.” Jack reassured you over your facetime call.

“But there’s so many things that can go wrong. What if I trip and fall, what if my shoe falls off, what if-” You rambled on before Jack cut you off.

“You are a professional. Even if something goes wrong, you know how to handle it. If the designer didn’t think you could do it, they wouldn’t have picked you. I know you can do it, I believe in you more than anyone else does.” Jack continued to reassure you.

“I’m just nervous.” You admitted. You hadn’t been this nervous since you walked in your very first professional runway show. It felt like you were starting over, and in a way you were. You had moved up from walking in any random fashion show you could find with an audience of one hundred people if you were lucky, to walking in professional shows with an audience of hundreds if not thousands of people watching. Now you were moving up to the group of models who walked in couture, custom made outfits rather than the ready to wear ones. 

You still walked in the “ready to wear” runway shows, in fact, you had walked in a couple earlier in the week, but you had 2 more days until you were walking in your final show. 

“I wish I could be there.” Jack sighed softly, running his hand through his hair as he leaned back on the couch, he was currently taking a break from rehearsals. 

“Me too, but it’s okay. I understand, you’re busy and that’s just part of us keeping our relationship so private, it’s not like you’re making the choice not to be here.” You said.

“I know, but just know I’ll be watching all the videos as soon as I see them.” Jack said, making you laugh softly. “I’m proud of you, just like you kept telling me how proud of me you were for Saturday Night Live, that’s me now.” 

“Thank you. I know you would be here if you could, but I’ll be flying to Kentucky right after, so we’ll see each other soon.” You reassured and Jack nodded.

“I can’t wait to see you.”

“I’m so excited. I never thought I would be excited to fly to Kentucky after being in Paris for a week.” You teased and Jack pretended to be offended.

“Don’t hate on Kentucky like that.”

“Okay, fine. I actually like Kentucky more than Paris.” You said.

“Why?” Jack asked.

“Because you’re in Kentucky and not in Paris.”

“Oh god, you’ve been hanging around me to much.” Jack joked, both of you laughing.

“Yeah, that has to be on the top of the list of the cheesiest things I’ve ever said.” You joked and both of you sat in silence for a moment, knowing Jack had to go back to rehearsals, but neither of you wanted to hang up so you both just stared at each other through the phone.

“I miss you baby.” Jack sighed softly.

“I miss you too.” You admitted. “But we’ll see each in 4 days.”

“I know, I just wish I could see you sooner.” Jack said and you agreed. You and Jack made small talk for a couple more minutes before Urban came into the room Jack was hiding in, telling him he had to go back to rehearsals.

“I have to go, but I’ll call you later, okay?” Jack said and you nodded.

“Okay, I love you, J.” You smiled softly.

“I love you too baby.” Jack said before you both hung up the phone. Jack made sure the phone was disconnected before turning to Urban. 

“Want to fly to Paris?” Jack asked and Urban looked at him confused.

“Paris? You do know you have rehearsals here for another week and a half?” Urban said and Jack nodded.

“Yeah, but we’ve been rehearsing for 2 weeks, everything’s going well, and I feel like everyone could use a break. It will just be a couple days. I want to surprise Y/N. She’s been so stressed out, and I want to be there.” Jack said.

“Isn’t the show sold out? How do you expect to get tickets to a sold-out Louis Vuitton fashion week show?” Urban asked.

“I don’t know, I’ll figure it out.” Jack said, and he did.

Jack and Urban managed to fly to Paris and get tickets to the show, just in time to be sitting in the front row. Jack made sure to call you to wish you good luck while he was in the car so you wouldn’t get suspicious. Jack went back and forth on if he wanted to surprise you before or during/after, but ultimately his flight didn’t land in time for him to surprise you before.  

You were the last to walk, so you had a little bit of down time, and more time to stress out, before you walked, but everyone around you was running around hectic trying to make sure the show ran properly. You had gotten to know a couple models during the last week, one of them being Zoey, who was quite open to you about her crush on Jack. She happened to be one of the first to walk, coming straight to you as soon as she got off stage even though she had to change so she could walk again.

“You’re never going to believe who’s in the audience.” Zoey said, clearly excited.

“Who?” You asked, laughing softly.

“Jack Harlow!” Zoey said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. 

“What?” You asked, you felt your heartrate increase at the mention of your boyfriend’s name, and just for a moment you let yourself live in the excitement that he was there, but you knew he wasn’t in Paris. “Are you sure it isn’t someone who just looks like him?” You asked and she shook her head.

“It’s totally him. Front row, to the right, look when you go out.” Zoey said before she was dragged away to change. As more people walked, the more you heard rumors of Jack being in the audience, but you didn’t believe them. You had talked to him right before the show and he said he was on his way to rehearsals.  

Eventually it was your time to walk down the runway, you were waiting backstage for the model before you to walk off. You couldn’t stand still, pacing back and forth before you stepped on stage.

The second you stepped on stage, you couldn’t help but look to the right since that’s where you had heard Jack was, but you didn’t think you would find him. Your eyes immediately found Jacks, and for a second you couldn’t believe it. As soon as you saw Jack though, you immediately relaxed, seeing him smile up at you, you smiled back before you had to remind yourself to focus. Jack and Urban couldn’t help but cheer a little louder for you then they cheered for anyone else. Jack was incredibly proud of you, prouder than he had ever been for any of his own accomplishments.

As soon as you were off stage, it fully hit you that Jack was there, you were excited to see Urban too, but your main focus was Jack at the moment. You couldn’t believe Jack had flown at least 9 hours just to watch you walk down a runway once.

As soon as they allowed some of the celebrities from the audience backstage to mingle, you immediately found your way to Jack, trying not to look like that was your goal. You had both purposefully stopped to have a short conversation before making your way to each other.

Jack pulled you in for a hug as soon as he reached you, and of course you immediately hugged back.

“I told you I’d be watching.” Jack whispered into your ear. “I’m so proud of you, you did amazing.” 

“I can’t believe you came, thank you so much.” You whispered, not wanting to let go of Jack, but you did so no one would notice how long your hug lasted. You hugged Urban next. “Thank you for coming.” You told him.

“No problem, it was all Jack’s idea.” Urban said, laughing softly as you two pulled away from the hug. You whispered to Jack where your dressing room was, telling him to meet you there in 20 minutes. You separated from Jack and Urban so you could all talk to a couple other people when Zoey approached you.

“What the fuck, you weren’t going to tell me you know Jack!?” She said, clearly shocked.

“We don’t know each other that well, we’ve met a couple times, that’s it.” You shrugged, underestimating your relationship with Jack.

“Girl, are you blind? He looks at you like he’s in love with you.” Zoey told you and you laughed softly.

“He’s not in love with me.” You denied.

“The way he looks at you says otherwise.” Zoey insisted.

“Yeah, sure.” You rolled your eyes. 

20 minutes later you and Jack were in your dressing room, luckily no one saw either of you enter the room.

“I seriously can’t believe you are here.” You said, laughing softly as you hugged him again, burying your head in his neck as he kissed the top of your head.

“Honestly? Neither can I.” Jack laughed. “But, if there was anyone I’d fly to a different country for with 2 days’ notice, it’s you.” Jack said, you pulled away from the hug to finally kiss Jack.

“You don’t know how much you being here means to me.” You admitted as you pulled away from the kiss. 

“I knew you were stressed, and I knew that this was a big deal to you, and it should be, so I wanted to be here to support you. I’m so proud of you.” Jack said, kissing you once more before sitting down and pulling you into his lap.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to be here, but I’m so glad you are.” You said, playing with his hair. “Wait. Don’t you have rehearsals you should be at?” You asked and Jack laughed softly.

“I gave everyone a couple days off, it took a little convincing, but since everything was going good, I was able to talk everyone into it.”

“I swear, you could literally convince anyone to do anything.” You teased. “I love you, thank you for making me feel special today.”

“I love you too. My goal is to make you feel special every day.” Jack said and you smiled softly as Jack pushed your hair out of your face.

“You do make me feel special every day, you’ve just made me feel a little extra special today.” You said and Jack smiled, kissing the top of your head.  “Apparently you look at me like you’re in love with me.” You said, looking up at Jack, leaning into his chest.

“Oh, I do?” Jack teased, unable to hold back the slight blush from appearing on his cheeks.

“According to Zoey. So, if we want to keep this relationship private, you need to look less in love.” You teased.

“Well, that’s going to be hard to do since I am in love.” Jack said and you giggled. You two sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s presence before you remembered Urban was alone.

“Should I text Urban and tell him he can come in so he’s not alone?” You asked and Jack laughed softly.

“Baby, it’s Urban, he’s in a room full of models, he’s probably having the time of his life, I’d be shocked if he choose to be in here with us rather than out there, I’m probably going to have to drag him out of here.” Jack joked, both of you laughing.

“You have a point.” You laid your head back on Jack’s chest.

“We can go back to the hotel whenever you’re ready.” Jack said and you nodded.

“Just want to stay here for a few more minutes and then we can leave.” You said and Jack nodded.

“We can stay here as long as you want.” Jack said, rubbing your back softly. “Oh, I also extended your trip by another day.” Jack said.

“Jackman Harlow, you spoil me too much.” You said and Jack laughed. “But I love you, thank you.” You kissed Jack softly.

“You deserve it, it gives us another day alone before we have to go be around other people and not act like a couple, plus it was the earliest I could get a return flight and I didn’t want to fly back without you.” Jack said. “I love you too.” Jack said, kissing you softly.

Eventually you and Jack went back to your hotel, Jack was right and Urban didn’t want to leave so he stayed for a little while longer. You and Jack enjoyed your little vacation and 2 days in Paris together before flying back to Kentucky so Jack could continue his tour rehearsals. 

Tag list @jackharloww @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @hoodharlow @itsyagirljaz @heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @awhore4moree

[kalinq0]

Someone else asked sb this but i want to see your opinion-) how do you think the 90s affected the Yugotalia characters?

This is gonna be long

Serbia: This hurt him the most, from the socialist utopia he was always dreaming of and all the respect other powerfull countries gave him to it all being crumbled in pieces in a bit more then a decade definitly left a big toll on his mental health. So much he still didnt recover, and neither did most of his people. He wasnt this bad since the ottoman empire first occupied him, phisically he wasnt much better either. He really reminds me of Ivan here, they both still blame themselves for not being able to optain something that was destined to fail. After NATO bombing was the first time he actually realised it was really over. Trying to combine the uncombinable and causing everyone pain that couldev been avoided is something he is yet to see

Slovenia: He was happy to be out. Not to much demage that was fixed quickly and not living with Vuk anymore must have felt great. He still doesnt want to be associated with his neighbours claiming he isint balkan and even dying his hair blond so he doesnt look like them says everything.

Croatia: I think he is jealous of Slovenia for being able to leave{and recover} much sooner then him altho they both proclaimed their independance in the same time. Unlike his neighbour, parts of his country were still under serbias rule, leading to "operacija oluja"("operation storm") and many lives lost. His realationship with Vuk was never good, tho now it was just decpise between them. I honostly hate when people ship them for this, sure they might fuck every other day, but if they say no homo after it doesnt count, right?

Bosnia(and Herz): Leaving Yugoslavia to be a bit smaller less economically stable Yugoslavia on its own never made sence to me. How tf did they let Srpska, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Brčko and Grmeč live togheter i have no fucking clue. How is Bosnia even alive still doesnt make sence to me. He wasnt scared mentaly as much he was phisically, poor Herz for having to take care of him later lol, tho she suffered equally as much

Montenegro: I would like to joke and say he slept threw all of this but he thought as much as everyone else. Unlike them he left in 2006, but the 90's left the same amount of pain on him just like any other nation. He really loved Vuk and most of montenegros people still identify as serbs, he just couldnt take the constent fights anymore. I think proving Vuk he can live on his own only to realise he was still in a 100+ yr old war with Japan and remind himself why he joined Serbia in the first place left kind of a bitter taste in his mouth

Macedonia: She left peacefully while everyone else was fighting and too bussy to care she was leaving. She was happy she didnt need to clean up after everyone anymore but when she saw how living alone was like she went on to date Vuk to get financial support. Not that much harm was done to her, she just went on with her life like normal

Srpska: Deffended his daddy all the way hoping he was gonna be proud of him and still live with him. And he was proud, tho after the Dayton agreement he felt as if he did everything for nothing. Still protest tho and probably plays every other song from Baja to bosnia dayly in hope of being so annoying he will kick him out and he can go back to Vuk. Poor kid, he deserves better. I cant even emagine how he felt. I could write a hole book on him alone

Kosovo: If I say everything I want to say I might get banned<3, I think that explains itself

Thank you for the question and sorry for a late reply💗

[egg-emperor]

How does it feel seeing so many newbies/tourists in the fandom drooling over Robotnik after the movies came out (and made him Skinny), when you've been simping over Game!Robotnik/Eggman long before it was cool?

Oh goddd you don't even know lol. I remember the day jimbotnik was first shown in the trailer thing, posted about it on here then about how empty I felt as I was already sad about it being live action and not CG voiced by Mike Pollock from the start. Then being shocked when people were saying "omg he's hot now, why did they make Eggman hot" and I was like EGGMAN ALWAYS HAS BEEN HOT!!!! and I've been saying that for years!!!! Was a strange feeling being the only opposite, finds game Egg hot but not the movie

Hell, I felt the same when the Boom design was revealed and people said the same then of "they made him hot" like he wasn't already, often just because he wasn't so fat. Don't get me wrong, not taking shots at those who got into the series through movies/Boom and now like game Egg. I'm glad you came to like the beautiful best game canon Egg no matter your introduction, this ain't about you, we have no beef. Though you really should've realized sooner, shouldn't have taken Jim Carrey to do so, you were decades too late smh XD

But the people that were very blatantly, shamelessly, and openly acted like game Eggman is ugly in comparison literally just because he's fat compared to Boom/movie, or bald and has a big nose unlike the movie etc- which are all absolutely gorgeous features- I was judging those hateful people very hard for only liking him when they take literally all his key features away and openly disliking and putting down game Eggman. Especially all the blatant fatphobia that people didn't try to hide or outright admitted to

Now I'm a lot less vocal about my personal distaste of jimbotnik because everyone knows it. Many got the wrong idea thinking I had something against them if they like him so I just try not to speak on it anymore. Obviously people can like what they want, can't say I understand the appeal of it in the absolute slightest but you do you so long as you're not being an asshole towards the reason your beloved movie version exists, the gorgeous perfect best original! You better respect the roots 🔫

I'm also proud to have desired Eggman carnally and to have been simping over him way before it was cool lol. Long before official simps like Thunderbolt/Stone/Starline etc existed and years before both Boom and the movie versions existed. I didn't need a what's widely regarded as a "conventionally attractive" version to exist to recognize Eggman's true beauty, of being a fat and bald old man with a big nose because those are genuinely all features that make me 😍💜💘 Unironically!

I don't care how weird and crazy and unbelievable it may be, I'm just enlightened and powerful in ways they can't comprehend. Honestly I don't really feel like it is considered cool still because it seems it's still considered very weird and unbelievable to find game Eggman hot completely unironically in comparison to jimbotnik and Boom. And I actually like that, still makes it feel more special and exclusive that way XD Like y'all can have them, more of the handsome fat bald evil bastard old man for me hehe

[frodo-with-glasses]

More Reading Thoughts: The Epilogue, Version One

The long-awaited sequel!! I’m reading the Epilogue as it appears in “The End of the Third Age”, from The History of The Lord of the Rings as compiled by Christopher Tolkien.

Tagging @lady-merian because she’s been asking for this for a LONG time 🤣

Manuscript A

It’s interesting that “well, I’m back” wasn’t originally supposed to be the end of the story. It’s become something iconic now—the perfect, hauntingly understated ending, harkening back to “there and back again”—but the only reason it seems so abrupt is because Tolkien actually meant to write on.

I like both, honestly. This Epilogue has so much good stuff in it, but it would make an already slow book even slower; “well I’m back” is lovely for what it is. ^-^

“Elanor 15, Frodo 13, Rose 11, Merry 9, Pippin 7.” Just looking at their names and the list of ages gets me in the heart. Argh, I love these kids ;u;

Sam resting by the fire in this study! And he’s surrounded by his kids! And they’re listening to him read the Red Book!! AAAHHHHHH

“…And there was Frodo-lad on the heathrug, in spite of his name as good a copy of Sam as you could wish…” D’aww 8-D Named Frodo, looks like Sam. That’s adorable.

AND THERE’S GOLDILOCKS AND HAM AND BABY DAISIE AND—

*strangled screech*

SAM. CALLS ELANOR. ELLIE.

I’M GONNA HECKIN’ CRY

Confirmed that Merry and Pippin traveled to Gondor and Rohan multiple times in their lives! That’s wonderful!

And now: the Gamgee children being carbon copies of their namesakes begins.

Merry Jr. is inordinately proud of Merry Sr. and wants to grow tall like him.

Pippin Jr. is likewise inordinately proud of Pippin Sr. and insists that Merry isn’t the tallest anyway.

“Is he Prince Peregrin away down in the Stone City, dad?” Oh my word.

First of all: the fact that this little hobbit lad knows Minas Tirith familiarly enough to call it the Stone City.

Secondly: I mean they did call him a prince of the halflings at first—

Frodo Jr. wants to hear about the spider again because he likes the parts where his dad comes in ;u;

And Elanor wants to know about the flower she’s named after!

Elanor: I want to go see my flower! Sam: There’s a prettier one if you look in a mirror. Elanor: Daaaad…

Rose Jr. is worried about the elves going away TT-TT

Sam is secretly very proud of the Mallorn tree in the Party Field LOL

Legolas lives in Ithilien! And Pippin says they’ve made it very lovely, which means he’s seen it! WHICH MEANS PIPPIN GOT TO HANG OUT WITH LEGOLAS AND FARAMIR AND BEREGOND AND BERGIL AGAIN—

Frodo Jr. loves Gimli and wants an axe LOL

Gimli and his dwarves helped to rebuild Minas Tirith! And now they live in the mountains behind it!! And he goes to visit the Glittering Caves every two years! Tolkien thought of EVERYTHING

And nobody knows if anyone’s seen Treebeard lol

ROSE JR. LOOKS FOR THE ENTWIVES WHEN SHE GOES WALKING IN THE WOODS I’M GONNA CRY

Haha Sam shuts down the “its not fair”s so fast, he’s such a dad 🤣

‘Don’t talk like that to me,’ said Sam sternly. ‘If it ain’t fair for Ellie and Fro to sit up after supper it ain’t fair for them to be born sooner, and it ain’t fair that I’m your dad and you’re not mine.’

My dad made up an “it’s not fair” song when I was a kid and this is reminding me of that for the first time in over a DECADE

Le gasp! Sam has a SecretTM!

“A dead hush of expectancy fell on all the children: they watched him as hobbit-children of other times had watched the wizard Gandalf.” Hello yes I will cry

THE KING IS COMING HERE

I love that Aragorn himself won’t enter the Shire according to his own decree

But he has sent! A Fancy ScrollTM!

“Elessar Aragorn Arathornsson the Elfstone King of Gondor and of the Westlands…” Local man has too many names, authorities report

And now Tolkien gives elvish names to all Sam’s kids. Nerd.

“‘Samwise or Halfwise who should rather be called Plainwise.’ So now you know what the King thinks of your dad you’ll maybe give more heed to what he says.” LOL SAM COULD YOU GET ANY MORE DADLY

All Frodo Jr. takes away from this is “MUST INTERROGATE FATHER”

And they’re gonna stay with the King and Queen at the house on the Lake for a few weeks!! HOW EXCITING

Tbh I like the first version of Sam’s conversation with Rosie better. (The one marked with footnote #6, if you have the book.) It gives more character to Rosie, which is in short supply; and I like the idea of her almost prophetically starting to sing on the day Sam is about to return. Something very Elvish and Tolkien about that.

And Sam tells us he is all whole and healed so as to preemptively shut down the angst writers. (But we will survive muahaha >:-D)

“The went in and shut the door. But even as he did so Sam heard suddenly the sigh and murmur of the sea on the shores of Middle-earth.” OHOHOHO NONONO DON’T DO THIS TO ME

Manuscripts B and C

WAIT—in one version of Appendix A Gimli became LORD OF THE GLITTERING CAVES?? HELLO??

EDIT: I have been informed that Gimli being Lord of the Glittering Caves did, in fact, make it into the final version of the book, and I just didn’t pay enough attention LOL

Also “Master Samwise who should be called Fullwise”

“I think maybe the Entwives don’t want to be found” *EYES EMOJI*

Merry Jr. asks too many questions about horses! Carbon copies, I tell ya!

The amount of times Tolkien changed the beginning of Aragorn’s letter to include different names and titles is killing me 🤣🤣