#well in a way she did kill as much as Kurt so she not liking him for that is a bit hypocrital on her part

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Can you please do reader x Kurt Wagner(X-2 version) where they both have feelings for eachother but don’t voice it and they have to share a room together for a mission and it’s Kurt’s first time🙏🏻🙏🏻

~Who Says You Can't Mix Business With Pleasure?~

Pairing: Nightcrawler x Reader

Word Count: 4.6k

Warnings: handjob, riding, cunnilingus, cum eating, unprotected p in v, creampie, Kurt is innocent (so lowkey corruption kink kinda??)- I think that's everything, I hope, maybe, sorry if not lol

Genre: fluff with nice amounts of smut

Summary: It's Kurt's first mission but who said you can't kill two birds with one stone (not literally, you read the ask)

A/N: Omg I am so glad you asked dear and so politely too. Here you go dear, hope you like it ;)

***

You push open the heavy doors to the familiar mansion, popping a large bubble with the gum in your mouth.

"Well, look who's back." Logan is the first to greet you at the door.

"You're one to talk, what are you doing here claws?"

"I hate when you call me that." He rolls his eyes as he pulls you in for a hug.

"I know but it suits you so well." You laugh wrapping your arms around him.

"Now that's a sound I haven't heard in quite a while." Scott announces as he descends the stairs.

"Summers! Is that a smile I see on your big dumb face?" You gasp.

"A surprise visit from you is deserving of one I'd say." Scott chuckles and you leap up to lock your arm around his neck.

"Everyone here's such a grumpy bastard." You ruffle his hair.

"What're you even doing here?" Scott asks wresting his way out of your grip.

"Prof asked me to come." You shrug.

"Y/n?! Y/n!" Rogue comes speeding down the hall.

"Hey poppet. How ya doin little vampire?" You ask hugging her while she lets you.

"I'm good! You're back! Are you staying?"

"Not sure hon, depends on what Xavier needs from me." You shrug.

"Where have you been?" She asks.

"All over the world, my dear. There's much to be done, you know."

"Hey Scott have you seen- y/n?" Jean comes around the corner, blinking in surprise when she sees you.

"I have actually, yes." Scott jokes.

"At this rate I'll never make it out of this foyer." You laugh. "Hey Jean." You wave at her.

"Hey! I didn't know you'd be back today."

"I don't think anyone did honestly. Even I didn't til Charles called me and told me to come back." You shrug.

"What for?" Her brow furrows.

"I have no clue, he wouldn't tell me over the phone. He just said that as soon as I was done in Seattle, I needed to head back this way." You say.

"All over the world and you were just across the country?" Rogue looks at you.

"Before Seattle I was in Cairo, before Cairo it was Greece, before that it was Italy- I'll show you pictures later." You wink at her. "I'm gonna track down Charles before any one else catches me in the foyer and I do never leave this spot." You say slipping past your friends to find Charles Xavier. Several students greet you as you walk down the halls but there are also many new faces wandering the mansion. You eventually find him in his office.

"I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive." He says when you walk in.

"Good to see you too Charles."

"You seem well."

"I take care of myself when I'm not here." You shrug.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"So what'd ya need me for Professor?" You walk over to his bookshelf and scan the titles as you wait for an answer.

"There's a mission I have that- only you can complete."

"Me? Come on, there's a house full of us, no way they couldn't handle it." You scoff.

"It's not that they're not capable, it's that the only favorable outcome requires your presence."

"Look I'm not gonna reject the mission or anything but I can't see how that could be true." You say.

"There's a new mutant here."

"There's always a new mutant here, that's why this place exists."

"Not a student, y/n. I'm sending him on a mission and I need you to go with him." He says.

"Why me? I've never met the guy, I'm kinda the worst choice dude everyone else has been around him."

"That's exactly why it has to be you. I need him with an objective partner."

"Fine I guess. What's the mission and when do we leave?"

"Here's the file. You have an hour."

"An hour? Wow, rushing me right back outta here."  You chuckle.

"Mr. Wagner, no reason to lurk outside the door, you're welcome to join us. Come on in." Charles calls out loud.

"What're you talking about?" You frown.

"Your mission partner." Charles says and you turn your head to the closed door of the office. There's an odd thudding whoosh sound beside you out of your peripheral causing you to whip your head around. You leap out of your chair when you realize a guy is standing in the previously empty space next to you. He's a deep shade of blue with bright yellow eyes and markings covering his skin.

"What the fu- who are you?" You narrow your eyes.

"Kurt Wagner. But in the Munich circus I was known as The Incredible Nightcrawler!"

"Riiiight. Well I'm y/n but on missions I am known as Flex."

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Kurt bows his head which causes you to quirk an eyebrow up at him.

"Likewise." You hold out a hand for him to shake. The bow thing is really weird. He takes your hand in his and places a kiss on the back of it instead of just shaking it. You turn to Charles for a moment so he can fully see your confusion.

"I look forward to working with you." He smiles revealing shark-like sharp teeth.

"Same. Get yourself together Nightcrawler, we leave in an hour. And pack a bag, we'll be gone a while."

"I have to pack?! Okay. I will see you in an hour." Kurt nods leaving the office.

"What's up with him?" You ask Charles.

"Trauma. Lots of it based on what little I've been able to gather thus far." He says.

"So you want me to acclimate the new stray."

"I wish you wouldn't do that." He sighs.

"Why? It's not a dirty word. We're all strays around here. It's how we found each other." You shrug.

"Y/n." He sighs.

"Lighten up X, I love it here. Although I do have to get ready to leave again. Where are we going?" You hum opening the file to read. "Switzerland? What's in Switzerland?"

"I went through all the trouble to make that file y/n read it instead of asking me questions I've answered in there." Charles says.

"Alright, alright. I'm gonna unpack and repack and read your file. I'll keep you posted on our progress once we leave." You wink at him and leave the office. Up in your room you find Storm and Jean already chatting on your bed.

"So you weren't going to tell me you were coming back today?" Storm stands and slings an arm over your shoulders.

"Unfortunately I'm off to Switzerland darling, so I can't even catch up." You say.

"Switzerland?! For what?" Jean frowns.

"Some mission with the circus boy."

"Kurt! Wait he brought you home to go on a mission with Kurt? Why?" Storm asks.

"Your guess is as good as mine babes. I leave in an hour." You shrug.

"Wow." Jean says.

"I know. Wait I didn't bring this inside." You say noticing the bag you brought with you is on the bed.

"Logan did. You know the boys here do anything for you." Storm scoffs.

"True. Thanks to him for that. Okay, give me... Sparknotes what've I missed?" You ask as you unload your bags. You toss the dirty clothes into your hamper transfer your personal items into a larger bag and pack new clothes and Jean and Storm update you on the chaos you missed while out handling other assignments around the world. You talk with the girls as long as you can while you pack, but an hour is only so long and soon you're bidding them farewell to meet Kurt at the jet.

"Hello again y/n." Kurt says when you get there. He's perched on one of the wings of the aircraft.

"Sup Nightcrawler. Whatchya doin up there?" You ask grabbing the keys to the jet.

"Waiting for you!" He says teleporting to where you are.

"Ready to go then?"

"Yes!" Kurt says following you into the jet. You drop your bag down at the back somewhere and settle into the front seat assuming Kurt has no idea how to fly one of these things.

"Strap in somewhere Wagner, don't want you knocking around as I fly." You say as you prep for takeoff. He scrambles into the copilot seat next to you and buckles himself in. "Ready for liftoff." You put on your headset and fly out of the hanger.

"Do you know how to fly one of these things?" You ask him once you're in the air.

"Oh no. I do not- I've never- no." He shakes his head.

"You wanna give it a shot?" You smirk.

"Is it difficult?"

"Don't worry love, I'll guide you the whole way."

"What do I do?"

"You can start by grabbing the steering." You say. Kurt's hands shoot forward to grab the steer. "Good. Pull it towards you to go up, push it to go down. Turn it to turn. Got it?"

"Got it." He nods.

"Okay, I'm going to let go and switch it to your controls. Just hold your wheel5 steady." You tell him switching primary control from you to Kurt. The jet dips immediately.

"Pull up Kurt, pull up darling." You tell him and he jerks the wheel towards him sharply. "Gentle love gentle! A little goes a long way. Steady it."

"It is- scary." Kurt says.

"You're doing fine honey just take it easy. Don't let her scare you, you've got the wheel so you're in control, act like it."

"Okay. Okay. Easy. Control. Gentle."

"Much better dear, much better." You nod. "Do you wanna try something fun?"

"What is it?"

"A flip. You wanna try flipping the jet?"

"What if we crash?"Kurt's eyes widen.

"We won't. I won't let us, there's no one around, plus I think you can do it." You shrug.

"How do we do it?"

"All at once, very quickly, you need to pull the wheel towards you and flip it upside down. Okay?"

"Okay." He nods.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, 3, 2, 1- go! Flip it!" You say. Kurt quickly executes your direction and the plane flips upside down once, twice, three times before Kurt rights you again.

"That was fun!" Kurt looks at you with a bright smile.

"Told ya." You wink. "Do you wanna keep flying?" You ask.

"I would feel better if you took it back soon." He admits.

"Very well, you're doing a great job though sweets." You tell him.

"Thank you, but I am still nervous." He says.

"That's fine. I'll take the reins back in 5 minutes. Is that okay?"

"Yes." He nods.

"Brilliant." You smile. After exactly five minutes you take over flying from Kurt. The flight is long, but eventually you land at the coordinates indicated in your flight plan.

"Cabin in the woods. Great." You say when you come out of the jet.

"Is something wrong?"

"No no, just making an observation." You shrug.

"It is empty out here, no?"

"Well we can't land this thing in the middle of Zurich." You say.

"Oh- yeah I suppose so." Kurt mutters.

"Get your things, we'll settle in and start mission stuff in the morning." You tell him walking over to the cabin to locate the key to this place. Eventually you find it under a panel of the floorboard that pops out of the porch apparently. You unlock the door and turn on the lights, surveying the room. There's a couch and a fireplace with a TV above the mantle on one side of the entry and a kitchen on the other. It's a little chilly in here, which makes sense, since no one's been here in who knows how long. You shoot a flame into the fireplace, lighting the wood already piled there. You head into the kitchen, wondering if there's anything left to eat in here or if the stash in the jet is all you've got. There's a few nonperishables like canned soups, dried fruits, and a bunch of jerky types but you'll probably prioritize the items you brought.

"Uh- y/n?" Kurt calls out.

"What's up?"

"There seems to only be one bedroom here?"

"Of course there is." You sigh. "Then I guess we're sharing."

"Sharing?!"

"Well yeah, obviously. Unless you'd rather sleep out here on the couch." You shrug. Kurt mutters something under his breath. "Kurt it was a joke honey I'm not about to make you sleep on the couch."

"Is that- acceptable?"

"What do you mean is it acceptable? We're not in school." You scoff.

"I just mean- we're- it's not traditional to-" Kurt stops when you lift a hand.

"All we're doing is sleeping. I promise not to jump your bones in the middle of the night." You tell him. He still seems nervous about to prospect but he lets the conversation drop there.

The rest of the evening he doesn't talk much, which is fine. You spend the evening reading Charles' provided file and strategizing for this mission. It looks like you're breaking into a Striker facility looking for information, unfortunately there's not much available in terms of schematics here.

You wake up before Kurt the next morning and are already sipping coffee when he shuffles into the kitchen.

"Good morning y/n." He says.

"Good morning Kurt. Would you like coffee?"

"Yes please."

"We'll start with observation. We don't have schematics for the building we're hitting so we need to map it out somehow." You tell him as you pour a cup off coffee and hand it to him.

"How will we do that?"

"Gonna test out a gizmo Charles packed in the jet. All we have to do, is get it inside." You say showing Kurt the tiny electronic.

"We have to get that inside?" Kurt's eyes narrow at the thing.

"Yep."

"But how are we going to get in?"

"Go through the giant doors and hope no one stops us." You shrug.

"You can't be serious."

"Only kind of. We don't need to be undetected really, we just have to make sure they don't notice this when they do detect us." You say.

"Okay." Kurt says.

"We'll take the snowmobile to the edge of trees and then hit the building from the side."

"I can teletransport us."

"Great, let's head out then." You say, placing your empty coffee mug in the sink and heading out. Kurt is quick to follow you and soon you're off. It takes quite a while to hit the edge of the trees, a couple of hours, but eventually you reach the building. You scope it out for a bit before locating a door that seems like your easiest chance for getting inside. It looks like some sort of service door and a quick glance tells you there aren't any cameras on the door.

"How do we get inside?" Kurt asks when you reach the door. You place your ear against it and luckily enough you catch the sound of footfalls that you're almost sure are headed this way.

"Someone's coming. Kurt I'm gonna kiss you okay." You warn him.

"Wha-" the door starts to open so you push him against the wall and press your lips against his. You pull Kurt's hands down to your waist with one hand while the other sits on his shoulder.

"Ugh gross." You hear from whoever's opened the door. "Hey, you two. This is private property. You can't be here." He says knocking on the wall by your head. You pull away from Kurt, feigning surprise.

"Oh shit- there are people in there?" You try to look inside over the guy's shoulder. He tries to block you. "I thought for sure this place was abandoned." You swing your elbow into his nose and grab the door from him pulling it forward into the back of his head, knocking him out.

"Let's go. See what we can check out while we plant this thing." You tell Kurt, walking inside. For the first few halls you walk down there's no sign of anyone. Then, you hear a pair of voices coming from a couple of halls away. You pull Kurt around a corner and press a finger to your lips.

"Someone's coming, wait here." You say. Kurt grabs your wrist when you turn away.

"What are you doing? You said someone's coming." He frowns, searching your face, for what? You're not sure.

"Just trust me. Find somewhere to stick this. I'll distract them." You say handing the little device to Kurt.

"But isn't that-"

"Hurry, Kurt." You say walking over to a big metal door that you're sure leads to whatever this place is really for. You bet if you had time you could get through it, but it'd be risky since you have no idea what's on the other side of it.

"Hey! You! Hands where we can see em!" A man shouts from behind you. You put your hands up near your head.

"Can you see them from here or would you like them higher?" You ask, spinning around to face your opponents.

"Don't move or we'll shoot." It's the same voice as before, it's coming from the short haired one on the left.

"Will you? That'd certainly make this a more interesting story." You smirk.

"Do not take another step!" The man on the right says.

"Or you'll shoot ya I heard you the first time. Although the more you say it the more it feels like a bluff."

"We aren't bluffing." The man on the left narrows his eyes at you.

"You look like you've never shot a gun in your life and you're holding that one so tightly I don't think you'd be able to hit me if you tried." You scoff at him. "You however look a little trigger happy. I bet your aim is pretty shit but at least you'll fire, maybe even knick me once if you shoot enough times." You address the other one.

"You really wanna test that theory?" The man on the right says.

"Do your worst." You say taking a step forward. Before either of them can do anything, you feel arms around your waist and if not for the blue color of them you'd have immediately flipped him but you can't even react. For several minutes the world flashes in and out too fast for you to process until eventually it stops and you realize you're at the edge of the treeline again. You stumble forward slightly when he lets you go.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine. Did you place the thing?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go." You say getting on the snow mobile. Back at the cabin, you turn to Kurt before you enter.

"Why did you do that back there?" You ask.

"They were going to shoot you. I thought you were in danger." Kurt answers immediately.

"Yeah darling this isn't the circus. These missions are dangerous."

"Why do you do that?" He furrows his brow.

"Do what?"

"Darling, sweetheart, honey. Do these words not mean something- romantic?"

"I use them a lot just as part of my vocabulary." You shrug.

"And- earlier when you... kissed me?"

"It was a diversion. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable." You say.

"No it- I just haven't-" Kurt shakes his head.

"Don't tell me you've never kissed someone."

"I have! Just- not that way."

"What do you mean?" You ask.

"Can I- show you?" He sounds hesitant and he's barely looking at you.

"Sure."

"I have kissed- but only, like this." Kurt says and then kisses you. It's basically a peck honestly.

"Oh. Well- I'm going to ask something very personal, you don't have to answer but- I'd like to ask." 

"Go ahead." He nods.

"Have you- ever had sex before?" You ask. Kurt looks about as shocked as you expected him to be.

"I- no."

"Is that why you were being so weird about sharing a bed?" That's the thing you really wanna know, but  you figured one would explain the other.

"I was nervous." He says.

"Nervous?"

"Who wouldn't be nervous sharing a bed with such a beautiful woman." Kurt says.

"You shouldn't say things like that or I'll think you like me." You smile.

"Would it be bad? If I did?" He asks.

"Well not necessarily. Why? Do you?"

"I- I think so."

"You think so?" You step closer to him. "You don't sound too sure about that."

"I think you are gorgeous, but you are an enigma. I can never tell what you are thinking or what you will do next."

"Right now I'm thinking about kissing you again. Which I really want to do next, but not unless you tell me you want me to."

"Not as a diversion?"

"Not this time." You shake your head. Kurt hesitantly closes the gap between the two of you, kissing you with his hands on your hips. You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you, kissing him furiously. To his credit, Kurt is keeping up with you better than you expected. You pull away after some time to open the door to the cabin and pull him inside by his shirt, kissing him repeatedly as you guide him down the hall to the bedroom.

"Now I'm thinking about how far you'll let me take this because if you don't tell me to stop I might just eat you alive." You say pushing Kurt onto the bed. He blinks up at you with wide eyes.

"You don't mean that literally, do you?" He asks and you chuckle.

"No, not literally." You shake your head.

"Then, take this as far as you want."

"Now that's a dangerous precedent." You hum.

"I trust you." Kurt says.

"That's sweet, although you should be more careful about trusting people you've only known a couple of days. What if I break you?"

"Will you?"

"No, not today anyhow. It's only your first time so I'll be gentle with you." You say sitting next to him.

"I do not know what to do." Kurt whispers.

"Don't worry, I do." You say cupping his face and kissing him again. You let your hand trail down his body until your fingers skate over his buldge. Kurt jolts against your touch and you smile into the kiss. He's so cute.

You rub the palm of your hand over his hard dick, loving the way his breathing hitches from the friction as he squirms. His head drops to your shoulder with a shuddering moan. Part of you just wants to pull reactions from him like this but another, louder part of you is dying to feel him buried inside you. You slip your hand under the waistband of his pants and underwear, relishing in the feel of him hot and heavy when you wrap your fingers around his dick and hear his sharp intake of breath.

"I need you to take these off." You tell him and he quickly shucks off his pants and underwear.

You dip down and drag your tongue up the length of his dick, starting at the base and circling the tip. Kurt makes a strangled sound that morphs into a groan when you fully take him into your mouth. His hands curl tightly into the sheets as you bob your head up and down, sucking him off, enjoying the way he pants and hisses from the pleasure. You can tell he's trying not to jerk his hips.

"I- I don't think I can take-" Kurt squeezes his eyes shut and as much as you want to push him over the edge, you have no idea what his refractory period is and you'd be pretty bummed if he was down for the count before you got to ride him, so you take the warning and release him with a pop.

He lets out a relieved breath and tips his head back as he allows his body to relax.

"Still wanna know what I'm thinking?" You ask shoving his shoulder so he lays all the way back on the bed.

"Always." He huffs out.

"I can't wait to see the look on your face when I ride you." You tell him pulling your shirt over your head and dropping your pants.

"Oh." He breathes and you're not sure what's got him more tongue tied, your words or the fact that you're now naked in front of him.

You take his dick in your hand again as you straddle him and after taking a moment to line him up you sink down. You're so wet that even without preparing yourself, he manages to fit. You grind down slowly, adjusting to the stretch as you take more of him with each rotation of your hips.

"Heaven help me." He whispers once you're fully seated. An almost commical contrast to the explitive you let out at the same time. You place your hands firmly on his chest and set your rhythm, riding him furiously.

Kurt's mouth drops open and his eyes widen as you bounce up and down.

When you catch his hands clenching at his sides you place them on your hips, your pace barely faltering as he grips you tightly. You're sure those claws of his will leave marks at the rate but you really don't care. The feel of him sliding in and out of your wet heat is all you can focus on.

"Y/n, I cannot- it's too much, I'm going to-" Kurt's eyes squeeze shut again and his hold on you tightens somehow.

"It's okay Kurt, go ahead, cum for me." You pant out keeping your pace steady. A few more grinds and Kurt is spilling into you with a long groan and his pretty face all scrunched up. You ride him through it, enjoying the heat now coating your walls. When you're sure he's released every drop, you roll off of him and he grabs your wrist when you move to stand.

"Wait-"

"I'll be right back."

"No- you did not... finish." He says. It's not a question, it's an assertion and you wonder how he's so sure.

"Yeah I- I didn't wanna hurt you by continuing while you were- like sensitive."

"But you also need to- have one."

"I mean-"

"Can I taste you?" Kurt asks and you blink at him in shock. Given that his cum is literally leaking out of you right now you're surprised by the request. "Please, I want to."

"Alright." You say. Kurt pulls you down to sit on the bed and drops to his knees in front of you. It all happens very quickly, before you know it, his head is buried between your thighs. His first few tongue strokes are experimental, getting a feel for you in his mouth. But only the first few, after that he laps at your cunt like a man starved.

His tongue is everywhere, licking your clit, exploring your insides, pumping the muscle in and out and around. It's too much and not enough, it's as if he actually plans to devour you and he seems to watch for what gets the best reactions from you. When a specific flick of his tongue makes you tangle your fingers in his hair he does the maneuver again and again relishing in the way you pull at the strands every time. You grind against his mouth, chasing your orgasm with his tongue. He wraps his lips around your clit and sucks on the bundle of nerves, pulling an actual squeal from you. And he keeps at it, adding his tongue in what is apparently a lethal combination of stimulation because it doesn't take long him to pull you over the edge with a loud moan.

It takes a few moments for you to catch your breath and Kurt watches you from the ground the entire time.

"Are you happy with yourself now?" You ask half jokingly, tugging him by the arm off of the floor.

"I like bringing you pleasure." He says.

"You are just too cute." You chuckle laying back.

"What happens now?" He asks following your lead and laying back across the bed.

"We do what we came here to do. Although I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for recreation while we're here." You turn to look at him.

"I meant when we leave. What happens between us? Do you leave the mansion again? Do we pretend this didn't happen?"

"I dunno. Charles likes to send me away for things. Maybe we can convince him to let you come with me." You shrug, turning your gaze back to the ceiling.

"What if he says no? When will I see you again? What do I do until then?"

"You've asked seven questions so far and not one of them has been 'will you go on a date with me'. You're jumping ahead don't you think?" You ask.

"A date?"

"Well yeah. I mean unless all you're thinking about is hooking up."

"No! I just- you seem to be gone a lot. I wasn't sure you would want to be... attached."

"Be the reason I stay. Or be the reason I come back. Or come with me. Anything, just tell me that's what you want." You sit up to look at him.

"More than anything." He says sitting up.

"Good. Then we'll sort out the rest later. For now let's just finish this mission. And then we can talk about that date."

"Okay." He nods and you giggle at how adorable the action is. You're sure this isn't what Charles had in mind when he assigned you to the newbie's first mission, but you'll still thank him when you get back anyway. 

***

[oh-goddess-of-chaos]

⠀ 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 – 𝐣. 𝐝. 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✧‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ (navi. & masterlist. & tag. )

「 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 」 yandere!jason dean 𝒙 female!reader

「 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 」 in which you try to break up with jason dean, but you find that doing so is a lot harder than you anticipated.

「 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 」 man-handling, murder / death, manipulation, toxic / abusive relationship, unconsensual kissing, threatening, swearing, generally psychotic behavior, implied / referenced stalking, general yandere themes.

「 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 」 1.2k

「 𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 .⁺ ˖ ⌒ this one's a bit on the shorter side, but it was fun to write!

"You killed her."

Those were the only words you could think to utter staring at your deranged ex-partner. "You fucking killed her, didn't you?"

In spite of your current rage and distress, all J. D. could seem to do was offer you a devilish grin and a smirk. "Well, I wouldn't say killed her, just... I put her out of her misery, is all. Charity work, really."

"You did it. You murdered my best friend. Do you think this is a joke?"

"Well, it is quite funny, if I do say so myself."

You weren't quite sure what you were feeling at the moment. Anger was one thing, but heartbroken, too, for you had lost the person that was closest to you.

And yet, your inner turmoil aside, you felt a terrible, terrible smile slither its way across your face - a not because you were happy by any stretch - the situation you found yourself in was by no means one that'd cause you any feelings of joy - but simply because you had no idea what else to do.

"She was right. I should have stayed away from you. You're not a rebel. You're fucking psychotic."

"Well, you say tomato, I say 'to-mah-to'."

You grated your teeth together. "Just get out, J. D." You were much too tired to play any of J. D.'s mind games. You just wanted him gone. And for a moment - for one beautiful moment - he seemed to consider doing what you asked. But, alas, he was never one for folding so easily.

"No."

You drew in a sharp breath. "Excuse me?"

J. D. took a step closer to you. You held your ground, hoping to give off the impression that you weren't intimidated by what he might do; you knew he had a loaded gun on him, and his unpredictable nature didn't ease your racing heart.

"I'm not leaving, and you can't make me."

"J. D., this is my house."

"Well, technically it's your parent's home, and I doubt you want to get them involved, unless you'd like two more of your loved ones with their brains blown out."

You stiffened, your throat tightening up. Upon your lack of a response, J. D.'s mouth curled into a wicked smile. "That's what I thought. Now, how about we both go out to 7-11 and grab a couple of slushies?"

J. D. outstretched his arm in order to grasp your hand, but just as your fingers brushed, you jerked backwards. J. D.'s smile faded.

"Y/n - "

"I'll call the cops - I'll fucking call the cops on you, J. D.!"

J. D. raised an eyebrow and began nodding. "The cops?" He inquired. "Tell me, when they arrest me, do you think they're going to ignore the fact that you somehow knew for a fact that I killed Heather, Kurt, and Ram? What proof do you have that doesn't incriminate yourself? What will you say when they ask you how you know it's me? You wrote the letters."

"Yeah, well I didn't murder people!"

A strangely exuberant laughter escaped J. D.'s lips. "You didn't, did you? Then you didn't give Heather that mug of liquid drainer? And you also didn't shoot Kurt?"

You paused briefly, thinking of a quick defence. "Well I didn't know that was the wrong cup! And Kurt - I was just so shocked - "

J. D. took a step forward. You took a step back. J. D. grinned. He continued his approach until you inevitably collided with the wall, letting out a small gasp. "Admit it, Y/n!" He trapped you with his arms. "You say I'm evil, but look in the mirror! We're the same! We both do fucked up shit, and we like it! I saw that look on your face when Heather died. You were glad."

"We are not the same. I did not want them dead. Whatever you thought you saw in me when Heather died, it wasn't there. You're delusional, J. D. Now, I'm calling the cops, so don't even try to - "

"You can't call them. You know that. The moment you do your parents would be dead - and, besides, you know you couldn't pay to have a lawyer send me to jail. I know your parents wouldn't be able to afford it."

He was right. And you hated him for it. You didn't even ask how he knew your family wouldn't have sufficient funds - at this point, you'd be surprised if he didn't know something about you or your personal life.

"Well, I'm not coming with you, no matter what you'd do. I'd rather - "

J. D. didn't allow you to finish, forcefully swallowing your words with the press of his lips. The kiss was anything then what it should have been - it was greedy, feverish, demanding. You didn't have so much as a moment to breath as J. D. devoured you, leaving you terribly, terribly breathless. His icy fingers tug into your skin, surely leaving bruises, and you shuddered at the feeling of his wandering hands along your exposed skin.

J. D.'s kisses now were not what they once were. A million years ago, they sweet and tender, a warm interlocking of souls on a cold winter's day. They were beautiful and wonderful and tasted of nothing but kindness and thoughtfulness. But this one was nothing like the ones you'd experienced in the past. It was hungry, rough as J. D. pressed you plush against him, searing as opposed to warm, poisonous as opposed to tender.

It was after what could only be described as an eternity that J. D. pulled away, staring at your dizzy self with a satisfied expression upon his face.

Because, at last, here you were, like a bird with clipped wings, caught in J. D.'s trap, the one you'd unknowingly watched him craft bar by bar.

You froze as you felt two arms slither around your waist, firmly pulling you to J. D. He liked you like this - he could practically smell the fear radiating off of you, and it was intoxicating. Neither slushies nor cigars could compare to the high he felt from your presence.

"You're not leaving. You can't. And, besides, I'd kill you if you did." He let out a satisfied sigh. "I worship you - can't you see that?" You shivered as J. D.'s warm breath tickled your ear. "We were meant to be, darling. There was a reason we met... you were made for me."

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding as J. D. slowly let you go, grasping your chin between his forefinger and thumb. You naturally diverted your gaze.

J. D. grabbed your arm and squeezed it tightly, causing you to let out a small yelp. "Look at me."

Hesitantly, you obliged, your stomach knotting when you caught the dark glimmer in J. D.'s eyes. It was then that you knew - knew that you'd never once be free again, knew you'd be forever bound to J. D.

"We're going to fix this fucked up world together, Y/n."

© do not translate, steal, or repost any of my works elsewhere without consulting me and gaining my consent.

[starlight-artbby]

Y'all the newest X-Men 97 episode blew me away. Like the animation ate down and it was just so good like I was thoroughly enjoying every second.

I knew that Scott was gonna hold some grudge against the professor and I don't blame him. He left his dream to his team and honestly failed him and damn did this episode remind him that over and over again. Especially Rogue who clearly was fed up with his ass. And I swear I was gonna cry when I saw her wearing Remy's coat and I had a tear nearly fall from my eye when Kurt looked so devastated to tell her again the Remy is dead like ugh I was in so much pain.

Speaking of pain Jubilee and Roberto. How dare they do this to me. I knew from a mile away that Roberto Was gonna go with Magneto (along with Rogue) and I completely understand why. His mother straight up abandon him and handed him to the people who wanted to kill him. Like of course he is gonna be pissed but when Jubilee said you still have me I felt like a part of me died because he walked away and that shit had to hurt.

Now I completely laughed when Magneto said the line about Lilandra. I can't remember exactly what he said but I do recall being gagged and gooped and not him telling Xavier to shut up like if those two don't just go to couples counseling...

Now I won't lie, Morph had me when he pretending to be Sinister so if I were Bastion I most certainly was gonna get caught. May I also express how I thought that Beast was going to get pieced through the chest during that fight sequence like I was on the edge of my toes.

Once again Sinister proved to me why I hate him so much. Having Jean fight her own son?!? Foul and then her contacting Cyclops to tell him that she loves him!!! Like why does X-Men 97 like hurting us? And if Storm or Forge ends up dead, I am most certainly fighting someone.

Now the new looks... Huh... Why did they have to put that cap on my boy Scott. And Jean she ate down with the boots but the gloves and the mask?!?! No mam. I loved Rogues outfit along with Logan's. They could've had morph in something a lot better. Kurt ate as usual and of course Jubilee ate up her look along with Storm. I couldn't tell if beast put on anything different so I can't say much about that but regardless, some of the team needed a better wardrobe.

Now I know some people will probably get mad at Rogue and Roberto for going with Magneto but honestly, Rogue was there on Genosha. It has messed her up so badly and we continue to see the side effects till this very episode. I already explained Roberto so I honestly am not mad at him but I am sad that he couldn't see that Jubilee was there for him just like sadly Rogue couldn't see that the team would be there for her but honestly, their feelings are still valid as fuck and I don't want to hear anyone else say other wise.

Also why did they have to do Wolverine like that!! Huh!!! Like y'all better have his regeneration ability kick in. I also feel so bad cause I know that nobody was expecting murder to occur up there that's for sure.

(also Scott stopping Xavier from forcing Magneto to return power was everything to me cause he did it for Jean and it's time he shows that woman some love.)

Also where is Bishop!?!?!

Now for the things I enjoyed. I loved the new opening. I was so happy to see Storm back in it again. It really made things start off well for the episode. I loved Rogue clocking Xavier and telling him exactly what she needed to say.

My favorite part of the episode though had to be when Jean and Storm had reunited and when they parted ways on the mission. Those two are sisters and I love the show for reminding us of their incredible bond I just lived to see it.

I also enjoyed Scott and Jean giving each other a hug before they parted ways and when Scott gave Nathan that advice I truly loved it. I am hoping that'll stop him from attacking Jean (possibly) if not, Jean will girlboss her way out of there.

I can't wait for the final episode (I hope I get Remy and Logan and anyone else who gets injured back) ♡♡♡♡

[avicecaro]

due to not being a ts blog and knowing for a fact i would lose a ts knowledge competition to this person i will simply not be responding directly but like… the disqualifiers for being a tortured poet apparently are

1. beloved — counter argument: nonconsensual ai pornography seems pretty hateful and disrespectful to me but oh well. might just be me

2. famous — counter argument: 27 club included jimi hendrix jim morrison brian jones janis joplin amy winehouse kurt cobain. beat poets? also famous. david lynch? also famous. etc.

-> 2.1 world famous — admittedly, fame in the way ts has did not exist when a lot of the examples in this post are most relevant. there was no 24 hour news cycle for many of them. the entire population didn’t carry cameras at all times. privacy did in fact exist, meaning that we were not privy to all the days that these tortured poets went about their normal lives, saw their friends, ate a good meal, bought themselves something nice. they didn’t all just spend 100% of their free time wailing in agony and trying to hang themselves.

3. white: would be a fair point about privilege except that plath thompson lynch bukowski and the founders of the beat generation are also white, and so apparently is not a disqualifier (based on this list it seems like a prerequisite, but i digress)

and then we’re just left with girl (specifically ‘girl who hasn’t killed herself yet to prove she’s really suffering’) … so okay. none of these were actually disqualifiers then. eating disorders and sexual assault and being stalked and suicidal ideation are girlwhining and melodrama, but allen ginsberg suffered soooo much for wanting to fuck little boys.

[toxinoire]

Finally, I can write again!

This is how I visualize the final scene went down. A mix of both the 1988 movie and the musical.

~~~~~~

"Say hi to God."

Kaboom

Veronica, with a cigarette between her fingers and a sprained ankle, made her way through the school hallway as the other students ran past her to see where the explosion came from.

She contemplated.

She feels nothing.

Is she happy that four people had to fucking die? Absolutely not.

But...

When she looks at who are dead, Heather Chandler, Kurt Kelly, Ram Sweeney, Jason Dean...

Honestly she only feels bad for Heather. Because as much of a bitch as she was, she had her good moments. Moments that made her seem slightly human.

Kurt and Ram, she doesn't care. Those two were rapists. She doesn't like that she pulled the trigger, but Kurt and Ram being dead meant nothing to her.

As for JD....

She hopes he sees his mother. She hopes his father grows a brain and realizes his son is gone because he was never a father to him.

But as for him literally exploding in front of her...

She feels nothing.

She can only mourn that JD she first met, the lost boy who wanted his mother and was sweet, kind, a gentleman, and caring. Not the one that died in front of her.

The crowds moved past her, Veronica is too tired to even care that no one is asking what happened to her, why she looks disheveled and has blood running down her head.

Well,

Someone did say something.

"Veronica." Heather Duke called her, in all red. Veronica can't deny that she looks good in it, but still, she hates her in it. "You look like hell." Heather Duke moved closer to her, as if to inspect her. Veronica notices the slight concern in her eyes, and how she seems to be holding back her hands from reaching out to Veronica.

Veronica hates that last detail. Heather used to always reach out to her.

"Yeah?" Veronica chuckles. "I just got back."

Then, another voice calls her. "Veronica!"

Veronica and Heather Duke turn around to see Heather McNamara running to them. "Where have you been?!"

Heather Mac looks worried. Like, really really worried. "Miss Flemming told us you killed yourself." Heather Mac actually reaches out to her, inspecting her injuries, before she rests her hands on Veronica's face.

Veronica doesn't even hide how she leans into the touch.

She then sees the red fucking scrunchie and snaps back to where she is.

Veronica moves closer to Heather Duke and turns her around to take that damn thing off her.

"Veronica, what are you doing?" Heather Duke asks.

The students who were originally going to run past them stops in their tracks when they see Veronica with the scrunchie.

She wears it on her wrist and raises it up.

Time to actually do something.

"Listen up folks, war is over. Brand new sheriff's come to town." Veronica knows she sounds tired, but fuck that. "We are done with acting evil, we will lay out weapons down." She ties her hair with the scrunchie.

Everyone is watching her.

Good.

"We're all damaged, we're all frightened, we're all freaks. But that's alright. We'll endure it, we'll survive it-" Veronica pauses slightly when she sees Betty and Martha by the crowd. She calls them. "Martha, Betty."

They both turn to look at her, clearly resisting the urge to move. Veronica takes a deep breath. "Are you free tonight?"

Martha and Betty look at each other, before turning back to Veronica. They actually move forward this time.

It was silent for a while.

"What?" Martha breaks the silence.

"Uh, my date to pep rally blew-"

Accidental slip

"-me off..."

That's better

"So I was wondering if you guys weren't doing anything tonight we could pop some jiffy pop? Rent a video?" Veronica can hear how hopeful she sounds.

She doesn't have the right to be hopeful after what she did, but she still is.

"Something with a happy ending." She finishes. Veronica really wants a happy ending right now.

"Are there any happy endings?" Martha asks. Gosh, she sounds so tired. Betty isn't even looking at her in the eye.

Veronica looks at everyone around them and sighs. She turns back to her--hopefully still best friends. "I can't promise no more Heathers, high school may not ever end." She steps closer. "Still I miss you, I'd be honored-" She swallows. "If you'd let me be your friend."

"My friend." Martha says, as she takes Veronica by the hand and pulls her into a hug.

"We can be seventeen. We can learn how to chill." Veronica feels tears form in her eyes as Martha joins her. "If no one-"

Then, Betty joins them. "-loves me now, someday somebody will." She finally meets Veronica's gaze. "We can be seventeen. Still time to make things right. One day we'll change the world, but let's kick back tonight."

This time, it's Veronica who reaches out her to Heather Duke and Heather Mac.

Heather Mac immediately grabs her hand. "Let's go be seventeen. Take off our clothes and dance."

Veronica walks, well, limps, towards Heather Duke and reaches out, a silent plea in her eyes. Heather Duke hesitantly takes her hand, and once she has fully held it, Veronica pulls her into a hug.

Heather Duke puts one hand on Veronica's back, lightly returning the hug. But she grips onto Veronica's jacket as if it's a lifeline.

Veronica sighed. She really missed her. She didn't like what the scrunchie turned her into.

But holy shit, did she missed her.

"Act like we're all still kids, cause this could be our final chance."

Veronica smiles as she sees Betty, Martha, Heather M, and Heather D all try to be nice to each other.

Maybe they can all be friends.

Now everyone is joining them.

"Always be seventeen

Celebrate you and I

maybe we won't grow old.

And maybe then we'll never die."

Veronica feels happy. Genuinely, happy.

She missed that.

"We'll make it beautiful."

Veronica swears she hears Heather Chandler's voice.

"We'll make it beautiful.

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful

Beautiful"

This really feels like a win for Veronica.

[altoace]

I love X-Men Evo, and I have hundreds of incorrect quotes saved. I love all of these dumb teens (as well as Logan and Ororo) very much.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Scott: No, I’ll tell you what the problem is! The problem is—

Lance: {holds his breath and covers his ears}

Scott: Great, that’s just what your brain needs. Less oxygen.

— — — — —

Pietro: Isn’t it weird that people kill mosquitoes just because they’re annoying?

Pietro: Imagine if people did that to other people? I would’ve been dead years ago!

— — — — —

Rogue: Behold, the field in which I grow my fucks! Lay thine eyes upon it, and thou shalt see that it is barren!

— — — — —

Kurt, during training: Hey, who wants to see an impression of my mother?

Scott: Kurt, no.

*Kurt teleports out of the room*

Scott: KURT, NO!

— — — — —

Scott: Isn’t it weird that we pay money to see other people?

Kurt: Plane tickets?

Evan: Concert tickets?

Kitty: Prostitution?

Scott, eyes closed, holding his shades: Glasses.

— — — — —

Lance: {walks in}

Todd and Fred: {making horse noises at each other}

Lance: {walks out}

— — — — —

Tabitha: Every now and then, I like to do as I’m told just to confuse people.

— — — — —

Kitty: {running away from mutants working for Magneto while on the phone}

Scott: Where are you?!

Kitty: I don’t know! You tell me!

Scott: Any sort of notable sign or something?!

Kitty: Umm…staircase!

Scott:

Scott: Anything else? Like a room name?! Any item that’s unique?!

Kitty: Fire extinguisher!

Rogue, muttering under her breath: She’s gonna die…

— — — — —

Kurt: When life gives you lemons—

Rogue: Squeeze them in people’s eyes.

— — — — —

Evan: Someday, in the distant future, people will once again be capable of hearing the phrase “what is love” without also feeling the primal urge to respond with “baby don’t hurt me”.

Kitty: So at that point, people will say “baby don’t hurt me”…no more?

— — — — —

Wanda: Can you pass the pepper?

Todd: What’s the ~magic word~?

*Wanda begins chanting*

Pietro, panicking: JUST TAKE IT OH MY GOD

— — — — —

Xavier: I admit, I was wrong to give up on you all so quickly.

The Brotherhood: Good.

Xavier: However—

The Brotherhood: No, no however. Just be wrong. Just live in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it.

— — — — —

Lance: Where’s the yogurt? I thought you went to the store?

Pietro: {incoherent mumbling}

Lance: Huh?

Pietro: IT WAS ON THE TOP SHELF

Lance:

Pietro: I COULDN’T REACH IT

— — — — —

*at the zoo*

Lance: So, what are they in for?

Kitty: This isn’t prison.

Lance: So they can leave?

Kitty: Well, no but—

Lance, pointing at a penguin: I bet that one killed somebody.

— — — — —

Xavier: Do you know why I chose you as my first student?

Scott: I assumed you lost a bet.

— — — — —

Scott: What did you guys get in your yearbook?

Evan: “Best smile”.

Kurt: “Nicest personality”.

Kitty: “Most likely to start a bar fight”.

Rogue: “Least likely to start a bar fight, but most likely to win one”.

— — — — —

Jean: Evan, if we get out of this alive, I will kill you.

Evan: So what’s my incentive to live?

— — — — —

Kurt: Are you a morning person or an evening person?

Scott: If I’m lucky, I get a good few minutes in during the middle of the day.

— — — — —

Scott: Sorry I’m late. I broke down on my way here.

Rogue: Is your car okay?

Scott: Car?

Rogue:

The X-Men:

— — — — —

Lance: Mystique is gonna try and have you killed.

Scott: I can’t say that surprises me.

— — — — —

Kurt, about Tabitha: I don’t know what she’s planning, but I can tell you two things. We won’t like it, and it won’t be legal.

— — — — —

Pietro: Of all the things I am low enough to do, how could you even doubt if that was one of them?

— — — — —

Todd: Why are only roosters allowed to start the day screaming?

Lance: Because we live in the same house and I will murder you.

— — — — —

Scott: We can’t tell you because you’re not a member of the club.

Wanda: What club?

Rogue: The hating Magneto club.

Wanda:

Wanda: The fuck? I should be the leader of that club.

— — — — —

Kitty: Guys! Logan just fell down the stairs!

Ororo: And what did he say?

Kitty: Should I skip the swearing?

Ororo: Yes.

Kitty: Then he fell in silence.

[custardcrazy]

Hi there! Idk if you're taking requests but here's one for now:

Ted Logan x reader

Reader works at a music shop (they bond over a love for music or a specific band). Reader doesnt play the guitar. They ask Ted for some pointers and hes all flustered trying to teach her.

you're so wild (and wonderful)

summary: It's not every day that a cute near-stranger offers to teach you guitar. (gn!reader)

wordcount: 5.2k

A/N: uhhh little to no beta so again. correct me if i terrifically fucked up some grammar thing or spelling and i'll be SO SO grateful

tagged: @kurt-nightcrawler

You'd worked at the mom-and-pop record store long enough to get a good feel for the place. 

It wasn't small, but it also wasn't big and shiny like other popular outlets; tucked into a street corner in downtown San Dimas, it wasn't exactly noticeable if you didn't know where to look. Because of that, you mostly encountered the same people -- the lady always wearing cable-knit sweaters, the teenage punk with a pretty gnarly mohawk, and last but not least the middle-aged guy who came in every so often to check if you had any new Beatles records.

(You usually didn't, but it was nice to hear him talk about how his various fishing trips went instead.) 

Sometimes, someone new wandered in now and then, drawn in by the faded sign and various music posters plastered around or on the door. Of course, not all stayed; some just found what they were looking for and left, others got overwhelmed and did the same. It didn't really matter, because most of what you did anyway was sit behind the counter and wait. 

But it wasn't unpleasant in the slightest. The hours were excellent, the pay was good, and you got a discount if you wanted to buy a record for yourself. All in all, it was totally worth the occasional music snob who ranted to you about the newer generation "ruining music" or whatever. You didn't get paid to listen to that. 

Today wasn't too different from any other -- you checked all the deliveries, made sure everything was in order, and double-checked the new arrivals. Then, you found your familiar post by the register, pulling up the familiar battered stool. It did nothing for your poor back, but it was better than standing for sure. 

Your coworker, Alice, arrived a couple minutes after you. She was slight in build with more than a few piercings, always sporting an oversized band tee. You were generally friendly to each other, but since she usually killed time by looking through all the various records and other things on sale, or just straight-up vanished into the back; you didn't get many opportunities to speak to her. Which kind of sucked, because she was ridiculously funny. In a sort-of sarcastic, biting way. 

An hour went by with nothing out of the ordinary. A couple of teenagers came in, and you watched somewhat amusedly as they attempted to pool their money to buy a Pixies record. 

Unfortunately, they had to leave empty-handed. 

You were staring at the wall when the tinny chime of the bell announced a new customer. 

Abruptly, your attention snapped up, and you got a good look at the new arrivals. 

One was around average height, with blonde curls in what looked to be a halfway-mullet and downturned eyes that made him look permanently sleepy. He looked around the store with unconcealed reverence, and it was a little funny -- but you respected it all the same. But it wasn't him that really drew your attention. 

It was the other guy he came in with.

Tall, dark-haired, rather easy on the eyes and dare you say handsome, he carried himself with an easy, loping gait that immediately stuck out to you. It wasn't often you found someone attractive quite like this, and even rarer that you had to pause what you were doing to look. (Even though the fact remained that in this case you were doing pretty much nothing, it still counted.) 

It took all of your effort to remain seated and wait for him -- well, them, to approach. 

Thankfully, it didn't take too long. After maybe a minute or two, the newcomers looked at each other. For whatever reason, you waited with extreme anticipation. 

Then they grinned. "Excellent." 

You were a bit taken aback at the way they said it in perfect unison, but didn't get the chance to dwell on it; they were heading towards you, and you had to put on your customer-ready smile. 

Though it didn't escape your notice that it came easier than usual. 

"Hey," you said, hoping you didn't sound strained, "can I help you with anything?" 

"Hi," replied Blond Guy. "Yeah, me and my esteemed colleague here would like to know if that two-for-one sign that is looking most ragged still applies." He gestured to the back, where all the various memorabilia and tee shirts were -- stuff that usually wasn't popular amongst customers, and were mostly things that the owners found in the depths of their attic. His "colleague" nodded in agreement, hair flopping around a little. 

You mirrored the nod, but with less shoulder movement. "Yeah, it goes for basically anything, since everything over there is under ten bucks." Pausing briefly, you added, "unless you try to get a tee shirt for the price of a guitar pick. Then, no." 

That earned another nod from Tall Guy. "OK, that makes sense. Thanks, dude." 

He grinned, and his smile was bright enough to rival the sun; you were momentarily blinded, but were able to smile back. "No problem. Just ask me if you need anything else." 

When the two boys turned away to inspect the goods, you heaved an internal sigh of relief. 

And for once, it wasn't because the customers were being annoying. 

You put in the bare minimum in pretending to not be staring; only glancing for a split second at the pages of your battered magazine that served as time-killing material before looking back up. But, seriously, even if you were doing a poor job, neither of the guys seemed to notice. They were pretty engrossed in examining a couple Garfield mugs. 

After that, they actually moved on to the records -- lingering near Hendrix but not dwelling long on Herb Albert, and then making their way through the racks from there. It was a personal hobby of yours to guess what a customer would buy from their appearance and demeanor alone. But you'd been too …  preoccupied to think of it, and you assumed it'd be considered cheating to take a stab at it now. 

Eventually, they returned to your counter, and you looked up at their approach. As if you hadn't been watching intently out of your peripherals. 

A single record was set in front of you, and you put down your magazine. 

"Just this one?" Peering down at it, you quickly recognized the album cover: More Songs About Buildings and Food, by Talking Heads. "Oh, good choice." 

"You really think so?" Asked the taller boy, and it was a little overwhelming with how much he was focused on you. It didn't seem like he was doing it on purpose, though. "I liked '77 a lot, but I'm not sure if David Byrne's delivery'll go well in this album. His voice is pretty distinctive, dude." 

"Trust me," you grinned, "it's good. You won't regret giving it a listen." 

Flipping the record over to peer briefly at the back, you put it back down. "That'll be $6.95." 

It took a bit of frantic searching on their part, but eventually, you slid a couple crumpled bills into the register and gave them back a nickel in change. 

For a moment, your hand just hovered awkwardly in the air, the coin in your palm. The boys exchanged glances, as if daring the other to take it. But, finally, the shorter of the two grabbed it, shoving it into the pocket of his jeans. 

"What're you gonna use that for? A Tootsie Roll?" Grinning, the dark-haired guy looked proud of his joke. 

You didn't miss how he glanced over at you, to check your reaction; completely unphased by how his friend shot him a near-murderous look. 

"Shut up, Ted, you wanted it too!" 

Unfortunately, you didn't catch the blonde's name, as they were already walking away from you, record in tow. The small bell chimed once more. For a moment, you just looked at the door, the store feeling empty again. 

At least you had a name to attach to his face. 

… But it was kind of embarrassing, how you didn't even think of asking him. Maybe you wouldn't even see him again. 

Sighing, you picked back up your extremely entertaining reading material, attempting to bury your shame with a poorly-written article about a celebrity's affair. 

The rest of the day was pretty boring, to say the least. Only a couple more customers came in, but at least you made a decent amount of sales. Alice emerged from the back a couple times to put a couple ancient-looking movie posters on the walls -- you recognized Barbarella and Yellow Submarine. 

"Don't get run over," was Alice's way of saying goodbye to you, as you grabbed your stuff and headed home just after six. 

You stayed up a bit later than usual, but it didn't matter, since you had to be at the record store at around eleven or so. And it wasn't like you got lunch rushes or anything that you absolutely had to be there to handle. 

To be honest, it was barely annoying when that Ted kept popping into your mind; nobody could blame you, after all. It was rare that anybody you encountered at work was someone who legitimately had the power to capture your attention. So you entertained the feeling, right up until you arrived back at work the next day. 

Sitting down at the counter with a purpose after doing the usual routine, you rummaged around for another crappy magazine.  Now you were going to be professional and level-headed. 

And that was what you did for an hour or so. Professional stuff, like helping out a confused-looking older woman find an Elvis record, or shooing away a group of what looked to be ten-to-eleven-year-olds who tried in vain to barter for the junk that was already considerably cheaper than everything else in the store.

Everything was going well. 

Until, of course, the bell dinged again, and you just had to look up on instinct. 

They were back. 

This time, the shorter guy was wearing a backwards cap (bright red) with his blonde curls poking out the front. You appreciated that for a moment, and then, of course, your gaze slid over to him. Worn-out Megadeth shirt and all. 

To your mild surprise, he met your gaze almost instantaneously. And then he was jogging -- well, practically bounding over. 

"Dude!" He exclaimed, once he was directly in front of you. "You were so right. That album was truly heart-stirring." 

It took you a moment to recall which album he was talking about. When you did, though, you didn't hesitate to return his once-again blinding smile. "Yeah, told you so. You should totally listen to more Talking Heads, if you liked the album that much." Unlike last time, Ted's friend was hanging back, but you were curious anyway, and gestured in the blonde's direction. "Did he listen to it, too?" 

"Oh, Bill?" Nodding vigorously, Ted's grin didn't fade. "Yeah, he thought it was pretty good. But he didn't like it as much as I did." 

"At least he still liked it." You shrugged. "I mean, you were the one who bought it, right?" 

Ted glanced off to the side. "Well, I was the one who decided to buy it." He ducked his head a little. "Uh, we pooled our money, though." 

"Oh, okay." 

There was a bit of an awkward silence, before you spoke up again. "... Is there anything specific you're looking for today?" 

"Oh!" At that, Ted perked up. "Yeah, actually. I was gonna ask if there were any other Talking Heads albums here, besides, y'know, the ones I've already listened to." Quickly, he added, "uh, and by that I mean '77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food." 

"Sure, I remember." You put down your reading material, before getting off the stool and coming out from behind the counter. "Let's take a look." 

He followed behind you as you made your way to the T shelf, and stood next to you as you thumbed through the records. 

(If you concentrated just hard enough, you could feel how he was only inches away.) 

It didn't take long to find what you were looking for, thankfully. Feeling victorious, you pulled out Remain in Light. And right behind that was Fear of Music. It kind of sucked that Speaking in Tongues wasn't nearby, but if you got lucky, maybe you could find it in the countless decaying cardboard boxes in the back. 

"There," you announced, "here. This is good stuff, I think." You showed the album to Ted, and he leaned a little closer in order to get a better look. 

"It might be kind of a weird listen for some people, but it's good in my opinion. Some of the songs are kind of similar to hip-hop, and they even use elements of African music -- it's pretty cool." When you offered it to him, he took it; he handled it as if it was a delicate piece of treasure, flipping it over to read over the song titles. 

"Rad," he said, after a few moments of deep concentration. "Thanks." 

"No problem." 

You found yourself smiling along with him. "Need anything else?" 

"I think I'm okay for now." His shoulders bobbed when he nodded, you noticed. "I'm gonna look at the other albums over here for a sec, I think." 

"Sounds good. I'll be over there if you need me." 

After you turned your back to walk back to the counter, you didn't catch how he looked up -- before glancing back at the records. Once you were seated once again, the only thing you saw was how engrossed Ted was in finding what he was after. Or maybe he was just examining the album art; who knew for certain? 

It was a little while later when Bill traipsed over to Ted, and they quietly conferred. Their very hushed discussion ended pretty fast, and before you knew it, they were in front of you, and the album you'd shown Ted was placed in front of you. 

"Just this one?" You wondered if they were going to keep buying singular records. "Same as yesterday. $6.95, please." 

Again, it took a bit for the money to be collected from their pockets, but again, there was a nickel left in change. 

You didn't miss how Ted gave Bill a smug look as he reached over to take the coin from you.

Ted's fingertips were callused as your hands brushed, and 

chocolate brown eyes met yours, and 

"Do you play an instrument?" You blurted, and then winced. "Sorry, that was -- " 

" -- Actually, yeah!" 

But before you could apologize, Ted cut you off. If he was thrown off-guard by your oddly-placed question, he didn't show it; if anything, he actually looked happy that you'd asked. 

"I play guitar!" Proudly, he continued, "so does Bill! Which is great, because we can learn all the tough songs together." The previous brief animosity over the nickel completely disappeared as they exchanged glowing looks. "It is most productive." 

"Oh." Briefly, you were still caught between guilt and embarrassment, but you recovered quickly. "Oh! That's neat, actually. Guitar's a cool instrument."  

Bill seemed to take your praise in stride, but Ted -- he suddenly avoided eye contact. You carried on, though. "I've kind of always wanted to learn, but I've never really committed." Giggling semi-awkwardly, you shrugged. "Oh well, I guess. Maybe someday, right? Actually buying a guitar might be kinda hard, though. I've fooled around on a couple, but never owned one." 

"That is totally understandable," nodded Bill solemnly, "it does take a decent amount of cash and time to be able to learn any instrument." 

"Exactly," you agreed. Smiling, you nodded slightly in return. "Have a nice day, guys." 

Suddenly, Ted's attention was back on you with an intensity. You looked at him -- did he have a question about the album? -- but no, he was practically radiating nervous energy, almost looking like a deer caught in headlights. You watched as his Adam's apple bobbed; he seemed to be steeling himself. 

Before you could ask if he was okay, though -- 

"I could -- " he cleared his throat, "I could, uh, teach you a bit of guitar. If you wanna." 

What?

"What?" You and Bill said, at the same time. 

"I mean, I'm not, like, prodigy material, but… " Ted's face was gradually appearing pinker by the second. "I know some stuff, at least." 

Ignoring Bill's extremely concerning look directed at his friend, you genuinely considered his offer. 

This was actually a prime-time opportunity. 

It wasn't every day that cute boys just fell out of the sky (well, walked through the door of the record store) and offered to give you free guitar lessons. Sure, it was true that you barely knew him -- but if you said no, would you even get the chance to get to know him? Probably not. You couldn't tell if he was the type of guy to back off if you said no to something like this; and that was a little scary. 

He was shuffling a little, and looked pretty nervous by the time you came to a conclusion. 

"Yeah," you affirmed. 

"That'd be nice." 

If anything, Bill looked more surprised than Ted; who, after a moment or two, seemingly remembered his ability to speak. 

"Wait, really?" Ted's face displayed open shock, before fading beautifully into joy. 

"Killer, dude." 

-- 

Turns out the bookmark you'd been using also worked pretty well as a means for Ted to scribble down his (and Bill's, apparently) address. His handwriting was a couple steps up from basically illegible, but considering that you'd noticed his hand shaking, you'd take what you could get. You had a sneaking suspicion that, even on a good day, writing wasn't his strong suit. 

The apartment building wasn't too far from your own home, thankfully. 

You were only a bit nervous when standing in front of the door. Waiting for either Bill or Ted to answer it. 

It turned out to be the latter, who looked partially disheveled as he opened the door for you, stepping aside. 

"Sorry. It's a bit of a mess, dude," he said, sounding sheepish, "uh, but trust me, it's usually way worse." 

Stepping inside, you looked around -- it wasn't the worst place you'd seen, to be honest, and it had a sense of familiarity radiating from all the stickers stuck on basically every surface, and posters, pictures, and other memorabilia everywhere. Most of the posters were of bands you recognized. 

"It's fine," you replied, as he shut the door behind you. "Is Bill home?" 

"No, he went out," came Ted's answer. "Dunno where, though. He just gave me a sorta squinty look and left." 

"Oh." 

An awkward beat, before Ted picked up the thread of conversation; thin as it was. 

"C'mon, you can sit down on the couch or wherever. I'll go get the guitars." He smiled at you. "There's probably, like, cereal in the kitchen if you want something." And with that, he practically bolted into the next room. 

Doing as he said, you made a place for yourself on the green couch, trying not to knock off any of the pillow and whatnot piled onto the surface. Not that you thought Ted would mind or anything, judging by the semi-cluttered state of the apartment -- but you didn't want to be a rude houseguest, especially during the first time he'd invited you over. 

Ted returned pretty quickly, though, carrying two guitars. One was beige, the other black and red. 

"You can take Bill's," he said, offering the latter guitar to you. "He won't mind, I think. Unless you break it or something." 

"That's not … really comforting." Taking the guitar, you placed it in your lap. "Now I'm nervous." 

"Oh. Sorry, dude." He sat down next to you, his own instrument placed on his leg in a position that looked much more comfortable. "I mean, if you did break it, it'd be most calamitous." Seeing your expression, he rushed to add, "but I trust you not to! Since you work in a record store and all." 

"That's a good point." Looking at him, you hoped you didn't appear too lost, and you adjusted the way you held your guitar to mimic him. 

"So, uh." Ted didn't seem to notice. "You wanna learn a couple basic chords? It's gonna be a bit weird at first, but you'll get used to it pretty quick." 

"Alright." 

"Stellar." Rolling his shoulders, he grinned. "Here's an A major chord." He demonstrated the finger position, and then strummed his guitar -- it looked easy enough, but still took a couple tries for you to put your hand in the right spot for it to sound right. Eventually, though, you got it, and Ted beamed. 

"That's it. Probably the easiest chord. Wanna move on?" 

"Sure," you said, "how long will it take to get used to the strings? They're a little tough to keep down." 

"Don't press too hard, it'll kill the quality." Ted adjusted himself in his seat, but didn't take his eyes off you. "If you play regularly, you'll get calluses in no time. Don't worry." 

"I hope so." You unconsciously mirrored his movement, but weren't able to hold eye contact for as long as him, and dropped your gaze to the guitar in your hands. There were a couple small scratches here and there, which was comforting; because if it could survive a few dings and scrapes, it could survive your amateurish playing. 

"I know so, dude." Ted was completely relaxed. " 'Kay, moving on -- C major chord, right? Also pretty easy." He repositioned his fingers, and strummed once more. 

Again, after some trial and error, and maybe a little help, you caught on. Ted looked pleased. "See, you got it! You're learning way quicker than I did." 

You weren't sure if it was empty praise or not, but judging from how blunt he'd been so far, you doubted it. And it wasn't like you weren't going to take the compliment -- not with how it brought a supremely light feeling into your chest. 

Ted had you practice going between the chords a couple times, to get used to switching finger positions. It was awkward, to say the least, but not outright difficult or challenging. You supposed that, with enough practice, it'd get way less fiddly. 

"What's next?" You asked, after that. "More chords?" 

"You got it!" He'd been demonstrating how to switch positions efficiently, and you tried not to focus on how his fingers easily reached across the fretboard with little to no effort. "Next, we've got the G major chord. Three fingers again." 

It was the same process as before, you thought. However, this time, you just couldn't get it right; his fingers and hand were positioned in a way that made it difficult to tell which frets he was pressing. A little frustrated, you tried for the fifth time, and yet. No dice. 

Ted didn't seem too bothered, but he sounded empathetic when he spoke up. "Oh. Lemme help, dude." 

If you were expecting anything in particular, it probably wouldn't have been him reaching over to move your ring finger onto the correct fret, and then nudge your index finger over a little. 

Your heart did a traitorous little skip. 

His hands were warm. 

"... There." Even he looked bashful as he pulled back. "Uh. That should be good now." 

It took you a moment to breathe a "thanks." 

Wonderfully, and finally, you got it right. The chord was a little shaky, but you reveled in your triumph. 

There was something thick in the air, 

but it quickly dissipated as Ted cracked another smile. "See? You got it!" 

"Yeah," was all you could muster. 

"Let's go between those three for now," he said, mercifully not picking up on your current state of mind. "I think that's a good spot to kinda review, right?" Flicking back his head to get his bangs out of his face, he continued. "I'm not going too fast, right? I'm not, like, a professional music teacher or anything, so…" 

At last, you recovered your ability to find words. "No, you're fine. The chords aren't too hard to remember, anyway." 

"Right," agreed Ted, "then, can you play the A major one again?" 

That was easy enough. You got C major right rather quickly too, much to Ted's delight. And you even remembered how to shift between the two positions in a way that didn't result in uncomfortable finger-twisting. Your fingertips were steadily growing sorer, indented by the strings, but you tried not to focus on it; you'd get used to that later. 

However, when you got back to the G major chord… You tried once. Nope. Once more? Couldn't get it. 

Third time could be the charm. 

No dice. Your guitar emitted a sound similar to that of a severely out-of-tune violin. 

"That one trip you up again, dude?" Ted frowned, but it wasn't in a disappointed way at all. More like the sympathy from earlier -- and he sounded a bit guilty, but you didn't know why. 

"I swear it's not on purpose," you grumbled, "sorry." 

" 'S fine, really." His frown melted into that same easy smile. "I get it. Imagine how long it took for me to get that one right. I didn't have a teacher at all." 

Your mind abruptly conjured up an image of Ted, just as frustrated as you were, sitting on the same couch. Struggling to learn the chords you'd gotten in mere minutes. Maybe Bill and him struggled together, when they were both unfamiliar with guitars. Like you were now. 

It was kind of a funny image. You were wondering if it was rude to think so; it probably was, right? 

But your train of thought was quickly interrupted. 

As Ted moved over. 

Closer than the last time. 

"I have a trick that helped when I first learned the G chord," he began, "uh, you just gotta remember that your middle and ring finger are on the same row, right? And the pointer is just up there." He made a couple hand gestures that didn't really help with the explanation. You understood what he meant, however… 

"Where's the pointer finger supposed to go, again?" You asked, a little embarrassed that you'd already forgotten the correct hand position. 

Ted opened his mouth to say something. His brow furrowed as he hesitated, before apparently giving up on trying to detail it with words. Gingerly, he placed his own guitar the side. 

"Just -- here. Hang on." 

Your heart swooped as he reached out again, and -- 

he was so gentle in how he guided your hand to the correct spot, before carefully nudging your fingertips onto the frets, pressing them ever so slightly onto them. 

It took him a moment to speak, and when he did, he hadn't removed his hand from on top of yours yet. He was turned entirely to face you, having been so focused on his task of helping you that he hadn't noticed -- until now. 

"Uh," he said, before clearing his throat. "So, see? Middle and ring on the same row, like I said." 

His voice was quieter. "And … pointer to the side. There." 

You risked a glance up at his face. 

It was a brilliant pink. 

But he still hadn't moved away. 

Every single nerve in your body felt like they were migrating to where your skin met his. 

"... There?" 

You echoed.

Ted finally seemed to snap back to reality -- pulling his hand back, nearly scrambling backwards on the couch, almost bumping his guitar off it in the process, with how he bounced back on the cushions in his rush to get out of your personal space. 

"Yeah!" He blurted as he did so. Face scarlet. Hand flying up to scratch at the back of his neck.

"That -- that should be good." 

And now he was avoiding eye contact. 

"Okay," you replied eloquently, mentally kicking yourself afterward. 

You had to admit, there was a little bit of suspense before you finally strummed your guitar. 

And as if from the heavens above, the correct notes finally rang out, just as Ted had demonstrated earlier. 

"There!" You declared, and couldn't help your sigh of relief. "I think I'll remember it next time." 

It took Ted a second to respond, but when he did, he'd recovered, and was grinning; even if he was still a little pink. 

"... See!" He dropped his hand back to his lap to join the other. "The same goes for other tough stuff in music. If you're having trouble, just try to find a pattern." Sagely, he nodded. "Even if it takes you a while to find the pattern, it'll be most gratifying in the end. Makes it way easier to remember stuff." 

"Yeah, thanks." You loosened your grip on your guitar. "Actually, that helps a lot. Should we go back to reviewing all the chords again?" 

Ted reached back to grab his own instrument, before flicking back his head to get his bangs out of his face. 

"Let's do it, dude." 

-- 

It was about an hour and a half later when your fingertips really started to get sore; even after said hour and a half was interspersed with several breaks, in which your very helpful teacher showed you a couple records from his own collection. And played a couple songs from said couple records. 

Most of the songs were from the albums you'd chosen for him. 

However, when it came to continuing to practice guitar, half of you wanted to bravely persist, and the other half wanted to stop. Though it was inevitably Ted that made the decision. 

"I said it'd take time for you to get calluses, but you shouldn't push yourself too hard," he said, after you winced for maybe the third time. "It hurts, right? And that sucks, that was exactly what it felt like for me during the first, like, few weeks or so." Idly, he pushed back a lock of his hair which had migrated into his face. "I think we could stop for now." 

"Yeah, okay." You put down your guitar. "You're right. I should head home to eat, anyway." 

"Right," he replied. 

There was an awkward beat, before you finally stood up. Ted followed suit.

"Yeah," you repeated, not being able to stop the smile that tugged at the corner of your mouth. "Thanks. Really, it was really sweet of you to offer to teach me a bit of guitar. I only mentioned it in passing, too." 

His hand was back on the back of his neck as he walked the short distance with you to the entrance. "It's nothing," he deflected, but his expression said it all. "I'm just glad that I didn't turn out to be a horrific teacher, or something." 

"No, you were fine!" Giving him another 'thanks' as he opened the door for you, you stepped out of the apartment. "I'm just glad that I wasn't a horrific student." 

Turning to face him, you inclined your head, speaking before he could object.

"Bye. And thanks -- " 

"-- you wanna do this again?" 

It seemed even he was surprised at the question, taking into account how his face reddened. Once again. "Uh," he added, "I mean, it was fun. To hang out and teach you a couple chords. It'd be nice to hang out again." His tone was wavering. Stilted, almost. "Yeah."

It was cute. 

"Sure," you answered without missing a beat. "Give me your number and I'll call when I get home." 

His answering grin was powerful enough to power a thousand solar panels. 

You probably broke a speed limit heading home, to say the least. 

[honey-minded-hivemind]

For the X-Men/Gargoyles AU (where the X-Men are set in a Gargoyles-esque universe, but they take the place of those characters), I think I've figured out the new dynamics. This is different from the Gargoyles series, because trying to fit a few X-Men into one character's place was very difficult. So what did I do? Changed it around a bit.

Let's look at it this way:

Logan/Wolverine and Ororo/Storm take the place of Goliath, being a couple or good friends, while Victor/Sabretooth and Raven/Mystique take the place of Demona. So each pair is a friend to the other or a sibling, but aren't romantic. So, Logan and Victor are brothers, Ororo and Raven are sisters, but Logan and Ororo are really good friends or mates, and Victor and Raven are really good friends or mates. Take your pick.

Xavier becomes David Xanatos, and Magneto becomes a mix of Owen Burnett/Puck and Fox, and surprise, they're reincarnated gargoyles this go (which wasn't in the show, but this is my au, so it goes).They're like a cool, mysterious older couple, who always seem to know something Reader doesn't (they know a lot of things they don't, but they'll reveal everything in due time...) (Victor and Raven know, too, and it's the one reason they haven't tried to kill Reader... with the information they have, why would they?)

Hank/Beast takes the place of Hudson, Gambit takes the place of Brooklyn, Kurt takes the place of Broadway, Evan takes the place of Lexington... Bronx, I'm not sure if any of the X-Men had a pet (I'm using X-Men Evolution for this, by the way), so I guess I can add an extra teen... so let's go with... Kitty (why not?).

Reader takes a new role, which is... different to Elisa's. They do some detective work, possibly, but as a teen, maybe. Or maybe they're an assistant to Xavier. They could just be some random person who happened to stumble into all of this. But they take the main character role, I guess, who isn't a gargoyle (they were one in a past life, though, so do with that what you will)

Scott and Jean take the place of Matt Bluestone as well as Coldstone and Coldfire. They're Reader's older friends, (and are the reincarnated spirits of two of the long dead gargoyles from the Wyvern Clan Massacre). Rogue is also their friend, and is like a mix of Morgan the cop, the chief of police, and Elisa's family... (maybe she is related to Reader? maybe not? and she is Kurt's long dead sister reincarnated... so that makes her Raven's daughter, but a human in this new life).

Lance, Todd/Toad, Fred, Pietro, and Wanda are here, too. They might be a version of the Pack (a kid/teen version), they could be a gang similar to one in the series, maybe they're just also random people dragged into this mess. They are there, and that's that.

Now, I say this would have it's own 🌕Longest Night❄ AU, which would be where the adult gargoyles (the reincarnated ones too) are affected by a magical artifact, during the long nights of Winter, and go about surprise adopting (kidnapping) their reincarnated kids... And their gargoyle kids are affected too, but are in a hatchling/younger state of mind. So they aren't going to be much help to Reader or the others. Let's just hope the long nights ahead don't last... And if they do, how do they stop them?

(Ask any questions you want about this au, I'm working on it right now, the Haunted Mansion AU on a break while I work out the main au branch...)

[girldragongizzard]

Epilogue 5: The Artist of Being a Dragon

In early May, I guess, Chapman and Nathan got together again at the Makerspace and made me a set of bluetooth headphones I can wear.

Because Chapman is involved, they have a mix of retro-radio and classic cyberpunk styling. They have a cherry wood finish with a gorgeous laser etched esoteric circuit print on them. The metal parts have a rose gold color. And the pads are real leather. And they are weirdly durable. I am unable to scratch them.

Still, Chapman begged me not to take them into a fight.

They're pretty special, because, like my tablet they have an indefinite battery life, and they don't block much outside sound. Wearing them is like having a surround sound system arrayed out on my rooftop, with me in the middle of it. The music can end up being louder than other noises, but if it isn't, there's nothing in particular keeping me from hearing anything else.

Before dracomorphosis, I would have preferred sound blocking headphones, to manage my sensory processing disorder. But now my ears work the way my brain expects them too, and I really need to be able to hear what's going on in the rest of the city. Especially if another dragon is calling out. Especially right now, while I'm still constructing an egg in my uterus.

I kind of feel like "uterus" is the wrong word for that, as much as I like having one. Mine's more of a fucking crucible.

"Fucking" is the operative word there, you know.

Anyway, they did this because several of my humans thought that music would help calm me down and help me bide my time between suitors and other distractions. And, I honestly really appreciate it.

So, then, Kimberly gave me Chappell Roan's "The Rise of Fall of a Midwest Princess" and holy shit. Lesbian music is Like That now?

If you were to reread my trilogy while just listening to that album, I think it would make a pretty good soundtrack and give you an overall better feeling of what it's like to me. Though, I have some other music now to add to it.

Incidentally, I've been listening to that album almost nonstop on repeat, except for when I'm exploring her other music, and going down little pop culture rabbit holes. For instance, a few days ago, I heard her cover of "What's Up?!" by 4 Non Blondes, which I absolutely remember losing my shit to when I was a teenager. So, I had to revisit their music, and that particular album, "Bigger, Better, Faster, More!".

Did you know the lead singer of 4 Non Blondes was an out lesbian while she was singing for that band?

I did not.

I would have thought at least Kurt Loder on MTV would have told me, but nope! I do not remember that happening. Maybe I missed it.

It turns out that nearly every female led band I loved when I was a teen was queer in some way. And also, like, Billie Joe Armstrong of Greenday. What?!

So, anyway, I had a little week of collecting both old and new queer music, and that's my whole playlist now. I've also got Mary Lambert in there. And Karen O and Metric, though I'm not sure if either of them are queer, but they fit in the mix really damn well anyway. Oh, oh, and Halsey's song "I'm not a woman, I'm a god." And then the Nimona sountrack led me to Santigold, and she led me down the path of Black queer artists, and now I've got Jackie Shane and Janelle Monae. And I'm asking Kimberly to hook me up specifically with trans artists.

And she's like, "Darling, I'm in five bands. Here's my Bandcamp."

If I had a bedroom wall of my own, it would be slathered with posters by now.

I've never understood that, but I do now.

We might be headed toward the latest hottest Summer on record, with an utterly devastating hurricane season to follow, and I might be a harbinger of massive evolutionary upheaval during one of the world's biggest and fastest mass extinction events, but humanity sure is showering me with the best music ever at just the right time.

Sorry if that seems like flippant disregard for events that are killing way too many people and other animals, but things are changing. It's not going to turn out the way it was going to just a year ago. The future is different now. And you're part of it.

All of this is to say, though, that on this afternoon I'm listening to that Chappell Roan cover of "What's Up?!" while lounging on my rooftop, giving everyone else a break from my intensity. And my tail is flipping back and forth to the music, kind of like a cat's. If a cat had a little single-horned thagomizer to make a satisfying thump with.

I have no visits scheduled for the next three days, and I'm just letting myself get lost in the music.

I've listened to this song enough, I might be able to sing portions of it. Not as words I understand coming from my mouth, but as music. A sort of whistling that sounds a lot like the instruments, and maybe occasionally the vocals.

I might actually be trying to do that. And it might not sound great to anyone without my headphones on, but I'm alone up here and no one can stare at me or tap my shoulder.

And yeah, some of my neighboring dragons might be complaining occasionally. Or, they're reacting to something, but I've got my eyes closed and I don't care.

And then I feel it. My Artistry sensing nerve gets plucked.

It feels like a chittering skitter, with some snaps and ratchety clicks. There's a rhythm to it that matches the music I'm listening to, and reminds me a little bit of a dolphin and a little bit of Nine Inch Nails. And in particular, I find it soothing. Soothing and energizing.

My muscles want to relax every time it repeats, and I also feel the need to look.

Which I do.

I've already pinpointed where it's coming from, so my head has turned and is tracking the source before I even open my eye.

There's an Artist in the sky.

And like Fenmere, they are a dragon.

Their colors, in the crudest of terms, are green, gold, blue, and brown. But, like, whole gamuts of each of those colors. There are too many words to pick from to describe them. They're almost opalescent in places. It's like if a forest were a sunset with wings, talons, tail, and the most glorious head of teeth, horns, wattle, eyes, and scales.

Holy crud, that face. That pattern of scales!

Have you seen the wattle and jowls of a dragon iguana? Do a search and look. It's like that, but shaped a bit different, because their head is more like a cross between a melanosuchas (a type of really cute caiman) and an ankylosaurus. And I might have more visions of more animals in my head than I've ever realized.

I'm wondering if there's more to it than nearly fifty one years of an intense special interest in dragons and animals that look kind of like us. I almost distract myself from the wonder that's circling me by thinking about this, but I really can't.

If you could just see the flight muscles at work on this creature.

The shape of those claws!

My child must —

I mean.

I don't see any kind of material offering in this person's possession, so they must be here on some other business, Artist to dragon, or dragon to dragon. Or they are mistaken about my willingness to bend on my own demands.

Unless they're carrying it in that generous crop of theirs, and they'll barf it up for me. That'd be —

Um.

This is an Artist, Meghan. Do not fuck with them.

I touch my tablet twice to turn off the music, sort of to irritate myself out of my infatuation, and manage to call out, "What?"

As I do that, I notice that I also jerk my chin up once, slightly gaping my jaw, and slam my tail down on the roof. And I know that that means exactly the same thing as the English word I've just uttered.

"I come, your Highness, bearing the gift of language for you and many enticing traits for your egg to choose from," says my latest suitor. Only, they say it by jerking their chin up twice, chirping and trilling, tilting their left wing down toward me ever so slightly, and wiggling their ass mid flight as they circle.

The "Your Highness" part is just my brain's interpretation of servile deference, and I have to say I react to it as if it is genuine and not at all embarrassing.

But, OK, as I'm succumbing to this rakish drake, I do need to take an aside to address something that's been bothering me. Irking me. In the wake of defeating a very wealthy and powerful white supremacist, it feels pretty gross to be so focused on collecting desirable genetic traits for my child. Even now, I'm reacting to it by thinking about who I should fuck next to compensate, and that's not a charitable way to think about whoever that might be.

Except, look. We're not here to breed a new master race. I do not believe we're meant to replace any lifeforms on the planet. We're here to mix things up, and inject more creative diversity back into all the species of the planet when they might need it the most. I don't know exactly how, when all we can work with at the moment are the more complex and larger animals.

But, like, imagine this. This is just a wild hypothesis I just made up on gut feelings and instinct, and maybe something that's going on between me and this draconic Artist. What if we're not actually changing anything for the current megafauna of the planet? What if what we're doing is actually on the microscopic level, with bacteria and single celled eukaryotes, with fauna, flora, and fungus? All of it? Maybe even viruses?

What if every time we have sex with another creature, we're collecting more than just their reproductive gametes, but also their microbiome? And mixing that with our own?

What if our own microbiomes are as diverse as we are? And spreading and breeding with the rest of the world on that level?

What if my child is to be a culmination of all of the life I've sampled, maybe even eaten, so that they can carry that diversity with them as they go find a new territory?

And you might worry that we might bring new and wildly dangerous diseases, and that might be the case. But we live in harmony with humans now. We are part of your lives and well being. A symbiotic relationship forged in myth and dream. What if, for those of you who are close to us, we're also sharing some of our immune system, because that's what all our microbiomes can be?

Like, all of this is just raw speculation, with no evidence sparking the thought. Just wishful thinking based on horniness and some internal sense of identity and purpose I feel I was born with. And this sex drive that makes me want to fuck everything that's willing.

With a mythological being such as myself, there's got to be a reason for that, and this is what I've come up with.

Maybe I'm lying to myself and to you, but I think we represent the opposite of what the racial purists are fighting for. That's what I want us to be, at least. I want life on Earth to live long and diverse and beautiful, and to explore all the ways it might do that.

But still, for my first time around, I'm restraining myself and focusing on people I can talk with in some way for potential mates.

And by the Shadows of the Moon, this dragon that's cruising around me is using the language of my own dreams to talk to me, and I'm talking back!

"My name is Dragon," they say. "And I am visiting every Dragon Queen to offer myself to her egg and elucidation."

Dragon. Are they the Artist of Being a Dragon? Is there such a thing?

And Dragon Queen? Is that what the whole "queen" thing has actually been about? The term we're going use for this year's egg layer? I kind of like that.

"Elucidate me, Dragon. What do you know?" I demand.

"Allow me to land."

"Do, and prove yourself."

They circle one more time and swing wide so that they can come in straight and slow to land in front of me on the very edge of my roof, giving me as much room as possible. Then they take a few steps forward, bowing their head low, tail and wings high in the air, talons to the ground. Their tail is rigid and shaking, reminiscent of the convulsions of a cloacal kiss.

The royal audacity of them!

"Go on," I say. I could dash my tablet on the sidewalk below and it would not impair my ability to speak with this one. And the only noises we're making are infrasonic to humans and quiet enough that dragons a block away wouldn't clearly hear us.

"My Art is being me, and I am very good at it," they brag. "But I did not fully understand it until nearly a year ago, during dracomorphosis. I have always been a dragon, but I did not know the word for it until it was invented. And I couldn't speak to other dragons until you existed. You have given me the meaning I've been seeking my entire life. And I am here to thank you for it."

"Humans would call you Silvertongue," I observe, masterfully withholding my true feelings behind a mask of indifference, I think. But, ooh, if they aren't lying, that's some valuable information! "Tell me more. But drop the act."

I feel their skittering shift, and then they lick the air with a tongue that is silver colored.

"Like the grandest of stories, I can change my shape to resemble any creature I like. My form is as malleable as your own voice, and so is yours. You can already take another form. I can and will gladly teach you the rest of that skill, and set you on the path to exploring it for yourself," they report. "Also, anyone who drinks a portion of my blood can speak to any animal, including humans. And I am prepared to give that gift to you, should you accept it. In return, I only ask of you to accept my sweetest intercourse, and whichever of my natural traits your child wishes to retain for themself."

"You are very bad at not talking like a courtly suitor," I comment.

"I am a courtly suitor, My Queen," they say, bowing again.

"You are also an Artist, and I've been told not to trust Artists. By other Artists," I say.

"Wise," they admit. "I would tell you the same. I would tell you not to trust me. But you need not. If I offend you at any point, strike me down and consume my body. I will let you."

My body is telling me that I have never heard anything so hot in my entire life. I feel myself going a little crosseyed with it.

I take a very deep breath and let it out slowly through my nose, knowing that even that gesture is an expression that speaks volumes to Dragon, here.

Also, I have to say. As a trans person and therian who has experienced a significant amount of physical dysphoria, this talk of my child choosing their own physical traits from the samples I collect for them? The idea that they could have some kind of agency before they even exist? That's making me melt, even if I don't know if it's true.

I want it to be true.

Still, I feel like I should test this individual definitively somehow. Something to get them to show me their true devotion. I want the dragon magic that they say they can teach me, but if I already have it I can figure it out myself. No, it has to be something personal for them.

But what?

Oh. I know what I need, actually.

I reach for my tablet and use it to message Rhoda. And I make Dragon wait so that I can tell her, "I have a strange Artist here courting me. They call themself Dragon." I look meaningfully up at Dragon, then back down at the tablet and send the question, "May I ask you to judge them in your own way, and give me or revoke your consent for them to court me? I'll take any answer, including figure it out myself. I just wanted you to have a say, if you want it."

After a little bit, I get the reply, "Meghan, that's a lot."

"It is," I reply. "I am a little overwhelmed and about to say, 'yes'."

"Cool yourself, and make them wait," she tells me. "I'm on my way up now. I want to get a look at them."

"Thank you. I love you," I respond.

I get a black heart emoji in return. It's her thing for me when she's too busy to type anything else, and she's being reassuring.

"Wait," I tell Dragon.

"Very well," they reply.

And we both settle down and loaf. They're smiling. I'm not. I'm watching them like they might steal my food.

Then I think, Rhoda shouldn't have to open that hatch by herself, so I get up, keeping on eye on Dragon, and go to open it for her.

I'm well ahead of her movement, of course. She takes the elevator, and I'd expect nothing else of her. But also, she doesn't walk all that fast. And I sit there on my haunches, resting on my foreknuckles, tail wrapped around me, watching Dragon.

Eventually, I hear her cane. And then she softly curses before climbing the ladder, cane clanging against it, and coming into view.

I hold up a limp-wristed claw for her to use as a handhold, and then gently help to lift her out of the hatch, so she can step easily onto the roof.

And she steps forward and hunches over her cane and squints at Dragon.

"Can you talk, or do you need a device?" Rhoda asks.

I feel that stuttering shift again, and then Dragon replies, "I can talk."

"You're too fancy," she states.

"I am the Artist of Being a Dragon," Dragon responds. "How else can I be?"

"Crude. Monstrous. Of the people," Rhoda tells them. She gestures expansively at Fairport, and I know she's indicating my neighbors. "You know. Good qualities."

"Ah."

"Eh," she waves a hand at them. Then she turns and heads back toward the hatch. Stopping there, she looks up at me and says, "This isn't my business. This is dragon stuff. It's up to you."

I expected her to say something like that, but I still feel an incredible amount of disappointment. I don't want our relationship to be that divided, particularly over this. She matters to me, and the impact that I have on her life matters to me. Since I am going to lay an egg and see to it that it hatches, I want that child to be as compatible with her as possible. If she wants nothing to do with my child, that's fine. I just want her to have every opportunity to negotiate that relationship herself! I want her to know that it is her business if she wants it to be.

This breaks my resolve and I feel the need to tell her. Before I can stop myself, I'm stretching to reach my tablet and pull it within talking range to say, "I want this be your child too. If you want."

The look on her face startles me, such an intense mix of emotions, and she asks, "How?"

"Somehow," I respond. "Maybe Chapman help."

She is fully informed by now about how my breeding works. She knows I'm opening myself up to every dragon in town, and why, and she agrees with it. And she knows I've marked myself as not open to humans on my app account. And I've already said multiple times I intend to take all of the childcare into my own claws and mouth. I'll accept help from my family, meaning her and my other humans, but I won't expect it. It should be disappointingly light work, in any case.

She closes her eyes and relaxes every muscle with an exhale of breath, then turns more calmly and looks at Dragon again.

"I can see what you see in them," she says. "I imagine they can teach you a lot, too, of course. And the more we both know, the better." She squints at me with a grim but satisfied smile, considering me in some way, and then points at Dragon and addresses them, "You. Come down to our apartment and have dinner with us. You and I have gotta talk some shit before I let you court my girl, you hear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," says Dragon.

"That's a good start." Then she turns to me, "And you. You shoulda asked me sooner. But I get why you didn't. You were thinking of me and tryin' a give me space, and I appreciate that. But you should know that if you hadn't a asked just now, we'd a had a talk later tonight." She grins, looking really smug. "And it sounds like it mighta gone well anyway."

—

After a long talk with Dragon, I decide I do not want to be able to talk to or understand seagulls, so I forgo that particular offer. Even if it means I won't ever be able to speak a human language fluently, I'm fine with that. I can fully speak and understand draconic now, and people can learn that if they need to.

[bi-lavelent]

Lone Wolf (Quinn Fabray x Fem reader 13) Double Sectionals

I’m so sorry this one took so long I was sick. But here you go I hope you that you like.

Warning: Angst, Fluff, Bullying, Cussing, Smut

The week of sectionals Santana and me had gotten back together but we’re taking it one step at a time. Knowing that we will be tense for the next couple of weeks.

But it was hitting Santana worse than I accepted. Her parents were still gone they were gonna come back and see sectionals. Which was worrying her even worse. With the added stress of not knowing who was gonna take New Directions to Sectionals after the whole ordeal with Mr.Schue getting kicked out of the hotel he was living in well him and his wife were going through their divorce because of squatters rights. He had used one of the mattresses that the glee club had gotten during their commercial. Which I keep watching on YouTube because Santana when she’s laying on the bed and rubbing it. Was so hot and reminded me of the fun w have.

Crawford allowed us to take off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So that we can practice and go see our competitors Sectionals. Things had been a bit awkward with Nicky after what happened. I walked in on Tuesday right before I had flag football practice which was my last one of the week as well.

“Do you miss your Sapphic Goddess? You know I’m sure your girlfriend loves the tricks that I taught you.” Nicky said

“What do you want Nicky?” I asked

“I just want to remind you of the fun we had last week. Maybe I could jog your memory with our round 8.” Nicky said

“Look Nicky it was a one time thing that I regretted the second after it was done. I don’t like you. Do I find you attractive? Yes. Were you good in bed? Yes but you and me will never happen. Unless you kill everyone on the list before you which is sevral pepole and there’s three of them that you could never place and one of them is my hot, sexy, badass, scary girlfriend. Now let’s practice for sectionals and then I’m leaving.” I said

“Well if you two ever break up you know where to find someone who will make you orgasm.” Nicky said

After Glee practice and Flag football I drove home. The next day I drove Santana to McKinley and just chilled around until glee time. I couldn’t stay in there but I wanted to come visit everybody. I quietly walked in.

“I hope we don’t get stuck with Mr.sincorey as our sectionals supervisor .” Artie said

”The creepy math teacher?” Tina asked

”He’s always singing when he walks down the hall.” Kurt said as Mercedes shook her head

“Hey guys did any of you think it was weird the way that Puck rushed to Quinn’s side after rehearsal the other day.” Rachel asked as she ran in

“No.” Mercedes said

“I mean he likes her. I mean their friends. We all know that.” Artie said

“Yeah but it seemed like more than that. I never told you guys this before but I’m a little psychic. I can’t read minds or anything yet but I do have a sixth sense but something is definitely going on there.” Rachel said

“Hey guys what are you guys up to?” I asked

“Oh my god Y/N hi.” Kurt said

“How’s the new school?” Tina asked

“Why are you wearing a letterman jacket.” Artie asked

“It’s great the Glee club is the cool kids and to answer your question Artie I’m on our schools flag football team we currently 3-0.” I said

“Okay well I’m gonna go to the bathroom I’ll be back in a minute.” Rachel said as she left

“We need to leave here and call everyone.” Artie said

We all got into a phone call

“Hey she’s onto it.” Mercedes said

“I know it’s really freaking me out.” Tina said

“Arties buzzing in.” I said

“Guys this is serious if she finds out she’s gonna tell Finn. She a total trout mouth.” Artie said

“Look I can help you guys I can’t be in the glee club meetings for obvious reasons but I can help run intermission.” I said

“Kurt wants in.” Tina said handing her phone to Kurt

“I see we lock Rachel up tell after sectionals.” Kurt said

“As amazing as that sounds and as much as I already have somewhere to lock her up.” I said

“We can’t we need her to sing.” Mercedes said

“Can I lock her up after sectionals look I don’t go to this school but I still really don’t like her.” I said

“No.” Tina said

“Damn her talent.” Kurt said

“We just heard. Who told?” Santana said

“We assumed it was you.” Artie said

“Why would I do that.” Santana said

“To get back at Puck aren’t you guys dating.” Kurt said

“Sex is not dating.” Santana said

“If it was me and Santana would be dating.” Brittnay said

“Okay well we have to come up with a plan to keep Puck away from Quinn, Quinn away from Rachel and Rachel away from everyone. I say we circle back to locking her up and release if her the day of sectionals. That the only way to stop what’s inevitable from happening.” I said

“What are you doing on the line?” Brittnay asked

“She’s here a McKinley.” Kurt said

“I wanted to stop by and visit you guys that and also Figgins wants to see me to finish sending my paperwork over to Crawford.” I said

“Look I don’t wanna rock the boat since Quinn got pregnant I’m too dog around here.” Santana said

“Hang on Rachel’s walking by hi Mama.” Mercedes said

“Okay we’re clear.” I said after Rachel had passed us

“We can not let Rachel figure this out.” Mercedes said

“If she tells Finn you can kiss your male lead soloist goodbye and probably any chance at winning. Unless you guys can come up with a whole new set list in three days.” I said

I waited til glee ended that day. Not realizing that Rachel had already gotten to Puck.

“We had to re-make our fucking set list. But Mercedes got the Ballad.” Santana told me as we headed out to the car.

“Fuck Yeah.” I said

The next day I was in Glee class waiting for everyone to show up. Just to tell them that I would see them at sectionals that weekend. As they started to practice I couldn’t stay or keep visiting. Otherwise my team will be bard from competing.

I sat up at the top the first one to enter was Santana who came and sat next to me. It was like old times except I was finally dating her. Everything was calm. But I guess that what they say theirs always a calm before the storm. Because before we knew it Finn came in and started beating the crap out of Puck. I jumped up after letting him get a few good hits in I mean I also wanted Puck hurt. For the same reason and for another one and then I ran up and Pulled Finn off Puck when Mr.Schue came in. Me and some of the football dudes helped keep him away from Puck.

“TELL THE TRUTH!!” Finn yelled

“Bro just came in and Sucker punched me.” Puck said

Finn started speaking in what sounded like gibberish because he was so angry.

“Who told you this Finn?” Quinn asked

“Obviously it was Rachel.” Kurt said

“I didn’t do anything.” Rachel said

“Yeah it was Rachel but I want to hear it from you. I want to hear it from both of you.” Finn said

“Just calm down.” Mr.Schue said

“NO THEIR BOTH LYING TO ME. Is it true. Just tell me is it true.” Finn said

Quinn walked up to him crying “Yeah. Puck is the father.”

“All that stuff in the hot tub … you just made that up.” Finn said

“You were stupid enough to buy it.” Puck said which made Finn angry you could see it in his eyes he lunged at Puck.

“Hey, Hey, Hey Let’s go take a walk in the hallway okay buddy.” I said pushing him back

“I am so sorry.” Quinn said

“Screw this. I’m done with you.” Finn said leaving

“Okay well Y/N you have to leave too practice is gonna start and you can’t be here anymore for the rest of this week.” Schue said

“Yes Mr.Schuester.” I said leaving and catching up with Finn

“You me Gym now.” I said

Finn got into my car as I drove to the gym.

“Put boxing gloves on Picture all you emotions take them out on the bag right now.” I said

Soon enough Finn had seemed to calm down

“I at least have a reason to be mad at my Puck.” Finn said

“I have a reason to.” I said

“What the fact that your in love with Quinn to bad you’ll never have or the fact that your in love with Santana and he broke her heart.” Finn said

“I can’t tell you why.” I said

“Well then let me guess.” Finn said

“No.” I said

“Oh my god you were sleeping with Quinn too how could you do that to me.” Finn said

“Nope definitely not I wish though.” I said

“Oh my god are you and Santana together I mean she always gave me Bi vibes as a bisexual myself.” Finn said

“Welcome to the community.” I said

“Wait you didn’t say no and I won’t tell anyone anything.” Finn said

“Trust me buddy I hate him as much as you.” I said

“Well there’s a spot open for my best friend.” Finn said

“You want me to be your best friend?” I asked

“Yeah I mean you’re cool and we’re friends.Plus I have already told you stuff that Puck never knew.” Finn said

“Well I guess I can be your best friend.” I said

“Can you drive me home?” Finn asked

“Yes I can.” I said

I called Quinn to make sure that she was okay

“Hey are you okay. I’m sorry I left I just wanted to make sure Finn calmed down before his anger got him in a car accident.” I said

“No I understand. Yeah I’m fine Rachel was brave enough to do what I needed to do but couldn’t. I just need to do this without men for a while.” Quinn said

“Well if you ever need a muscular lesbian to come over and help or just bring you pickles and cream cheese at any time 24/7 just call me.” I said

“Thank you I’m gonna go to bed now this day and this baby aren’t a good mix.” Quinn said

“Okay well I will see you Saturday!!! I will be the one who’s screaming cheering you guys on.” I said as she hung up

I went to practice with the Crawford Country girls. Which was supposed to only last two hours which would mean I would get home around five but ofcourse we stayed longer a lot longer we practiced til midnight and then I went home and went into my room and saw Santana laying on my bed the same position we had been sleeping in since we got

back together. Her parents were still on their trip. I went and put pajamas on and cuddled into Santana. The next day we woke up at 5:30 am cause Santana had to be at McKinley to leave at 6:00am. I drove her to McKinley with her bags so that she could stay at the hotel and sing. Then I drove to Crawford to get on my bus to watch them perform. Hopefully the Finn blowup didn’t mess up their chances. The bus ride mostly consisted of us practicing the songs that we were gonna sing for our sectionals.

Saturday: Sectionals started at eleven. We arrived at ten and went and sat down there was a large group of seats in front of our group. We sat there for a while until the people in front of us filled in I looked up to see McKinley. They all looked extremely nervous for obvious reasons. I stood up cause I was sitting on the edge of the row because Lucy had booked the tickets wrong. But I didn’t mind I would be getting to sit next to my friends. I just pray that I’m not sat next to Rachel or Puck I would literally rather kill myself. Stupid me Rachel sat right next to me. We were listening to them perform. When I started to recognize the songs the were the same songs that Santana had been singing in her room they were McKinleys set list. There is only one person evil enough to do this the one the only Sue Satan Spawn Sylvester.

“They stole your set list.” I told rachel

“It’s a really popular song.” She said looking at me and then down the row

The girls than came out in wheelchairs and sang proud Mary.

“They stole your set list.” I said looking at everone

Everyone walked out. I looked around none of them knew what to do and Mrs.Pillsbury was freaking out. I got up to make sure that they were okay. When I rounded to corner I saw Artie ramming his chair into the wall and everyone else down.

“Alright, everyone, listen up! I know things seem tough right now. Sure, they stole your set list, and yeah, Sue probably leaked it. But think about this: they had to steal from you because you're that good. You set the standard. You have talent, you have looks, and you have integrity. You are the ones to beat, not the other way around. So let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves and start focusing on what you do best. You can sing circles around those other schools. You could sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and still knock the judges' socks off. Show them what you're made of. Come together, create a killer new set list, and show everyone why you're the ones they'll remember. Let's do this!" I said

“You know what Y/N. Right we got this.” Rachel said as they all started thinking.

“Thank you.” Mrs.Pillsbury said

"No problem. If my team and I are going to compete at sectionals, I need a group that earned their spot fair and square. Besides, I love them - I might have moved away, but they're like family to me." I said

“Go back to your group before we have to come on.” Mrs.Pillsbury said

I walked back to my seat and sat down.

“What happened?” Will asked running up to Mrs.Pillsbury

“There better now Y/N came out and gave them an inspirational motivational speech. They are making a new set list.” Mrs.Pillsbury said

I sat down and watched the deaf kids sing the rest of The New Directions set list

“And know our finally team McKinley highs New directions.” The announcer said

I saw that they had done it they had changed the set list. I might have gotten to exited and hopeful and Snapped my fingers and said “Let’s go.” In a deep guttural voice that cause Mrs.Pillsbury to look at me and smile knowing that I was just so proud of them.

Rachel started off with a sole singing rain on my parade from Finny girl. She went and sat at the end of aisle on Mrs.Pillsbury chair and sang. The rest of the glee club joined.

“Which one is she?” Nicky whispered in my ear

“You don’t get know okay what happened between you and me was a one time thing. Also it doesn’t matter they all are hotter than you I would rather sleep with the men then sleep with you again.” I whispered back

“It’s the Latina isn’t it. She looks your type black hair, a killer smile, Nice tits.” Nicky whispered back

“I’m trying to watch my friends perform okay so please stop.” I said

Soon Rachel’s song was over and I shoot up out of my seat to give a standing ovation and then sat down to hear everyone else sing a song that I had never heard before. But that was good. I saw Mrs.Pillsbury with tears in her eyes and it wasn’t til Lucy handed me tissues til I realized that I was also crying. I was extremely proud of them. I started dancing in my seat until I realized all my teammates had stood up and were dancing so I stood up with them and clapped along. We stayed standing up giving another standing ovation.

Me and my team went and got some snacks at concessions well the judges decided who was gonna win.

“They were good but we are better we can totally beat any of those teams.” Lucy said

“Yeah and the New directions seemed unpracticed.” Jess said

“Well I think that they did great.” I said

“Yeah you were crying.” Lucy said

“Look the others stole their set list because one of their coaches named sue sylvester gave it away they made that set list in one hour.” I said

We headed in for the award ceremony.

Everyone headed in to get ready for awards.

“In third place Jane Adam’s Academy, and for the moment you have all been waiting for in first place We have McKinley highs New Directions.” The announcer read

“Wow let’s go!!!” I screamed

The next Monday at McKinley Sue got fired as coach of the Cheerios. Will was reinstated as the head of glee club. Will was in the choir room as glee club stood in a C shape

“Well we have something to tell you Mr.Schue. First.” Finn said stepping to the side of the trophy to reveal it

“I am so proud of you guys you won fair and square. The vote was unanimous and the judges didn’t even know about all the shenanigans behind the scenes. So congratulations you earned this. (Everyone clapped) come on give it up alright. But know we have regionals to worry about and you can bet that Vocal adrenaline and The Crawford country girls are hard at work so we should be too. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t support one of our own. Vocal adrenaline won there sectionals last week, We won our this week and at the end of this week we are gonna go support The Crawford country girls. But first let’s get started on regionals.” Mr.Schue said

“Ah wait Mr.Schue there one more thing.” Puck said

“Since you weren’t able to come and be there to see us perform we put together a special number just for you take a seat.” Rachel said

Meanwhile at Crawford

“Okay girls we have sectionals this weekend. Which means we will be doing the tradition of living at the school and committing every waking hour till the end of the week. We have sleeping bags and shower supplies for everyone we asked everyone to bring comfortable clothes to practice in. On t Wednesday we will change into the cowgirl outfits that we will be wearing well we perform. From here on out You will Eat, Sleep, and Breath our set list. Then on Friday we don’t talk we rest our vocal cords.” Jess said

The rest of the week was hell Finally Friday came and we got on the bus and headed to the hotel. The same thing that McKinley had done. When we got to the hotel everyone checked into their bedrooms and I was getting mine ready when I felt a bunch of eyes looking at me and someone wrap their arms around me. I turned around to try to see who it was. It was hope was giving me a hug and the rest of the glee kids were there too.

I pulled out my phone and texted Rachel

I love you all so much!!! You didn’t have to come and watch thank you. Tell everyone that I am not allowed to talk otherwise if anyone in my team sees me I will be thrown in an ice bath. I will talk to you guys tomorrow I promise.

Rachel said exactly why I had texted to everyone as they all responded I shook my head and then walked away. Santana followed and got in the elevator with me.

“What are you doing?” I asked when the elevator doors closed I hadn’t pressed a button yet.

“I thought that you couldn’t talk.” Santana said

“I can’t So what do you want?” I asked

“Nothing I don’t even want you to make a noise. I’m just gonna follow you to your room.” Santana said

All of a sudden the elevator stopped.

“Shit this is just grate!!!” I said as the lights in the elevator went off

Santana slowly without we realizing had slipped her hand into my pants and had inserted a finger inside of me.

“You know we’re not in orange is the black” I said grabbing her hand. Trying to pull out which some how just made it go deeper. I moaned at the feeling of the finger inside of me. As she started thrusting her finger in and out of me. We had more fun well they worked on the elevator. Which both groups were waiting for well we had fun with each other. Soon enough the elevator started moving again. We threw our pants on quickly. As the doors soon opened up to the New Direction and the Country girls.

“Are you two okay?” Schue asked

“Yeah just a bit shaken up.” I said

“Yeah what happened?” Santana asked

“The power cut to the whole hotel.” Jess said

“Okay well we need to go practice for tommorow.” Lucy said

“I thought that we weren’t talking or singing.” I said

“We’re not were practicing the dance moves.” Lucy said

“Okay well bye guys I’ll see you after the performance tomorrow.” I said

“See yeah.” Kurt said

I walked away with county girls to one of the conference rooms.

We practiced til eleven pm and then we finally headed to our rooms. When I got to my room I laid down and bed and went straight to sleep. The next day was performance we were going third against Dalton Academy who was our brother school and Coldwater high school. We went and sat down and watched The Coldwater Cutthroat’s who was going first. We all went for different themes the cutthroats choose Home which you could tell by there songs. (Song 1 Back home again by John Denver, Song 2 Home by daughtry and Song 3 Take me home tonight by Eddie Money. )

There's a storm across the valley, clouds are rollin' in The afternoon is heavy on your shoulders There's a truck out on the four lane, a mile or more away The whinin' of his wheels just makes it colder

He's an hour away from ridin' on your prayers up in the sky Ten days on the road are barely gone There's a fire softly burning, supper's on the stove It's the light in your eyes that makes him warm

Hey, it's good to be back home again Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend Yes, and hey, it's good to be back home again

There's all the news to tell him, how'd you spend your time? What's the latest thing the neighbors say And your mother called last Friday, sunshine made her cry You felt the baby move just yesterday

Hey, it's good to be back home again, yes it is Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend Yes, and hey, it's good to be back home again

Oh, the time that I can lay this tired old body down Feel your fingers feather soft on me The kisses that I live for, the love that lights my way The happiness that livin' with you brings me

It's the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you It's the little things that make a house a home Like a fire softly burning and supper on the stove The light in your eyes that makes me warm

Hey, it's good to be back home again Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend Yes, and hey, it's good to be back home again

Hey, it's good to be back home again, you know it is Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend Hey, it's good to be back home again I said, hey, it's good to be back home again

I'm staring out into the night Tryin' to hide the pain I'm going to the place where love And feeling good don't ever cost a thing And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain

Well, I'm going home Back to the place where I belong And where your love has always been enough for me I'm not running from No, I think you got me all wrong I don't regret this life I chose for me But these places and these faces are getting old So I'm going home

Well, I'm going home

The miles are getting longer, it seems The closer I get to you I've not always been the best man or friend for you But your love remains true, and I don't know why You always seem to give me another try

So I'm going home Back to the place where I belong And where your love has always been enough for me I'm not running from No, I think you got me all wrong I don't regret this life I chose for me But these places and these faces are getting old

Be careful what you wish for 'Cause you just might get it all You just might get it all And then some you don't want Be careful what you wish for 'Cause you just might get it all You just might get it all, yeah

Well, I'm going home Back to the place where I belong And where your love has always been enough for me I'm not running from No, I think you got me all wrong I don't regret this life I chose for me But these places and these faces are getting old I said these places and these faces are getting old So I'm going home

I feel a hunger, it's a hunger That tries to keep a man awake at night Are you the answer? I shouldn't wonder When I can feel you whet my appetite With all the power you're releasing It isn't safe to walk the city streets alone Anticipation is running through me Let's find the keys and turn this engine on

I can feel you breathe I can feel your heart beat faster 

Take me home tonight I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light Take me home tonight Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang Be my little baby, oh, ho, oh

I get frightened in all this darkness I get nightmares, I hate to sleep alone I need some company, a guardian angel To keep me warm when the cold winds blow

I can feel you breathe I can feel your heart beat faster

Take me home tonight I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light Take me home tonight Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang Be my little baby Be my little baby, uh-huh

Just like Ronnie sang I said Just like Ronnie sang Be my little baby Baby, my darlin', oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

I feel a hunger It's a hunger

Take me home tonight I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light Take me home tonight Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang Be my little baby, oh, ho, oh

Take me home tonight (Oh, be my darling) I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light (Oh, oh, oh, oh) Take me home tonight Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang (Uh, uh, oh, oh, oh) Be my little baby, oh, ho, oh

Take me home tonight I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light Take me home tonight Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang Be my little baby, oh, ho, oh

Next up we’re the Warblers who went with a theme of trainwreck ("On My Own" from Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Since you been gone from Kelly Clarkson and rolling in the deep by Adele.”

On my own Pretending he's beside me All alone I walk with him 'til morning Without him I feel his arms around me And when I lose my way I close my eyes And he has found me

In the rain, the pavement shines like silver All the lights are misty in the river In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know it's only in my mind That I'm talking to myself and not to him And although I know that he is blind Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him But when the night is over He is gone The river's just a river Without him The world around me changes The trees are bare and everywhere The streets are full of strangers

I love him But every day I'm learning All my life I've only been pretending Without me His world will go on turning A world that's full of happiness That I have never known

I love him I love him I love him But only on my own

Paragraph Lyric

Here's the thing we started off friends It was cool but it was all pretend Yeah yeah Since you've been gone

You dedicated you took the time Wasn't long till I called you mine Yeah yeah Since you've been gone

And all you'd ever hear me say Is how I pictured me with you That's all you'd ever hear me say

But since you've been gone I can breathe for the first time I'm so movin' on, yeah yeah Thanks to you now I get what I want Since you've been gone

How can I put it? You put me on I even fell for that stupid love song Yeah yeah Since you've been gone

How come I'd never hear you say? ?I just wanna be with you? I guess you never felt that way

But since you've been gone I can breathe for the first time I'm so movin' on, yeah yeah Thanks to you now I get, I get what I want Since you've been gone

You had your chance you blew it Out of sight, out of mind Shut your mouth I just can't take it Again and again and again and again

Since you've been gone (Since you've been gone) I can breathe for the first time I'm so movin' on, yeah yeah Thanks to you (Thanks to you) Now I get, I get what I want

I can breathe for the first time I'm so movin' on, yeah yeah Thanks to you (Thanks to you) Now I get (I get) You should know (You should know) That I get, I get what I want Since you've been gone Since you've been gone Since you've been gone

There's a fire starting in my heart Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark Finally I can see you crystal clear [Clean version:] Go 'head and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare [Explicit version:] Go 'head and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare See how I leave with every piece of you Don't underestimate the things that I will do

There's a fire starting in my heart Reaching a fever pitch And it's bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us They keep me thinking that we almost had it all The scars of your love, they leave me breathless I can't help feeling We could have had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) Rolling in the deep (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) You had my heart inside of your hand (You're gonna wish you never had met me) And you played it, to the beat (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

Baby, I have no story to be told But I've heard one on you And I'm gonna make your head burn Think of me in the depths of your despair Make a home down there As mine sure won't be shared

(You're gonna wish you never had met me) The scars of your love remind me of us (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) They keep me thinking that we almost had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) The scars of your love, they leave me breathless (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) I can't help feeling We could have had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) Rolling in the deep (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) You had my heart inside of your hand (You're gonna wish you never had met me) And you played it, to the beat (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) We could have had it all Rolling in the deep You had my heart inside of your hand But you played it, with a beating

Throw your soul through every open door (woah) Count your blessings to find what you look for (woah) Turn my sorrow into treasured gold (woah) You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow (woah) (You're gonna wish you never had met me) We could have had it all (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) We could have had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) It all, it all, it all (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) Rolling in the deep (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) You had my heart inside of your hand (You're gonna wish you never had met me) And you played it to the beat (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all (You're gonna wish you never had met me) Rolling in the deep (Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep) You had my heart inside of your hand (You're gonna wish you never had met me)

But you played it You played it You played it You played it to the beat.

Then we were finally on we had an hour to get our costumes on.

Lucy (Alto)

Jess (Baritone)

Nicky (Tenor)

Me (Bass)

Melody (Beatboxing)

Maria (Saprano)

Everybody

(All the links are to home free songs) (Song 1 Everything will Be okay) watch video pls I can’t write the a cappella parts

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Driving down the road Don't know where I'm going I see your face in every car that passes me by I know it's true There's no way you're knowin' Where this will lead But I can't help but wonder, why don't we just try?

Bum bad doom bu doom boom

All I want to do, is be with you And all I want you to know is I ain't lettin' go All I want to feel is that we've got something real And all I want you to say is everything will be okay Yeah

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Now, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't worried But I told myself that I would never fall again And I'm sure you'll call, but I wish you'd hurry And I'll have your way Darling, you just tell me when will we give in?

All I want to do is be with you And all I want you to know is I ain't lettin' go All I want to feel is that we've got something real And all I want you to say is everything will be okay It'll be okay (Both Nicky and Lucy)

Maybe, baby, we're just crazy, but it may be love

All I want to do is be with you And all I want you to know is I ain't lettin' go All I want to feel is that we've got something real And all I want you to say is everything will be okay

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Do do do do do

Everything will be okay It'll be okay I know it'll be okay I know, I know, I know

It's gonna be alright, tonight It's gonna be alright, tonight It's gonna be alright, tonight It's gonna be alright, tonight

I set out on a narrow way many years ago Hoping I would find true love along the broken road But I got lost a time or two Wiped my brow and kept pushing through I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

That every long lost dream led me to where you are Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars Pointing me on my way into your loving arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you Yes, He did

I think about the years I spent just passin' through I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you But you just smile and take my hand You've been there, you understand It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Every long lost dream led me to where you are Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars Pointing me on my way into your loving arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you Yeah

And now I'm just a-rollin' home Into my lover's arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you

That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, mm, mm

(I had to make it into a solo to follow the rules but tim is singing the whole time pretty much.)

Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low And put some music on that's soft and slow Baby we ain't got no place to go I hope you understand

I've been thinking 'bout this all day long Never felt a feeling quite this strong I can't believe how much it turns me on Just to be your man

There's no hurry Don't you worry We can take our time Come a little closer Let's go over What I had in mind

Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low And put some music on that's soft and slow Baby we ain't got no place to go I hope you understand

I've been thinking 'bout this all day long Never felt a feeling quite this strong I can't believe how much it turns me on Just to be your man

Ain't nobody ever love nobody The way that I love you We're alone now You don't know how Long I've wanted to

Lock the door and turn the lights down low And put some music on that's soft and slow Baby we ain't got no place to go I hope you understand

I've been thinking 'bout this all day long Never felt a feeling that was quite this strong I can't believe how much it turns me on Just to be your man I can't believe how much it turns me on Just to be your man

As everyone stood up and gave us a standing ovation we headed off the stage. Everyone went off to the green room. I went off to Find the New directions I saw them standing in the corner talking right outside the theater.

“Oh My God Y/N That was amazing.” Rachel said

“Was it I messed up a couple times. That last note on Your Man was supposed to be lower.” I said

“You can hit lower than that?” Kurt asked

“Yes.” I said fidgeting with my fingers

“Dose it help you if I tell you that for the first time in my life. I am proud to be your sister.” Hope said

I smiled

“Don’t get all happy it will disappear by tonight.” Hope said

“Look no matter what happened nobody could tell and you guys were amazing.” Mr.Schue said

“And secretly we are kinda hoping that you guys lose so that we have a shot at sectionals.” Finn said

“Okay well the awards are starting so go find out.” Mr.Schue said

“Also no matter what happens. We are having a party at my house afterwards.” Santana said

“Okay well I will see y’all in a little bit.” I said

We all went on the stage. The announcer waited as long as they could. I was getting really nervous so I looked for the new directions in the crowd and when I found them my eyes went directly to Santana. She gave me a thumbs up when she saw that I was looking at her.

“Okay we had a lot of talent on the stage today. (The announcer ripped up his paper) you know what let’s get this over with so that we can all go home and sleep. In third place the Warblers.” I watched as their Freshman star soloist went up and got the trophy. “Okay well let make these kids panic a little bit it’s nice weather we’re having outside today you know sunny a couple light sprinklings. Okay for the moment everyone has been waiting for in Second place we have the C ……………………… utthroat’s. That means that your first place champion at this Sectionals this year is Crawford Country.” The announcer said

A sigh of relief came over me as I walked up and grabbed the trophy. I handed it to Jess. We all headed off the stage and back to the green room.

“Hey are you coming to add the trophy to our collection at Crawford?” Jess asked

“I would love too. But i already have plans with some friends who came and watched I need to go find them.” I said walking out and looking for the new directions the second time that day.

“Well here comes our new competition.” Mr.Schue said jokingly

“Look there was two reasons I left we all know one the major one. But you told me not to sing and to sway in the back and let the boys have the low parts. So it’s kinda your fault you have to go up against me.” I said

“Fair. But you better be happy with letting glee getting cancelled because we lose to you.” Mr.Schue said

“Okay enough of this let’s all go celebrate.” Quinn said

[sosooley]

From Val’s book “I’m Your Huckleberry”

We love Westerns. We learn everything from Westerns and yet learn nothing from them. We continue killing ourselves in unconscionable ways

I’ve entitled this tome I’m Your Huckleberry for many reasons. I like the unintentional echo of Huckleberry Finn, which is my favorite novel and features my favorite character. I also realize that the line that I, playing the diseased Doc Holliday, articulated has become iconic. I speak it before shooting to death the fearsome Johnny Ringo, played by Michael Biehn. By the way, despite some fans’ contention that in the 1800s the handles of caskets were called huckles and thus the word huckle bearer was a term for pall bearer, I do not say, “I’m your huckle bearer.” I say, “I’m your huckleberry,” connotating, “I’m your man. You’ve met your match.”

In trying to understand the character of Doc Holliday, it’s important to remember he’s a fallen aristocrat, frustrated by his inability to express his authentic self. His greatest retribution for this loss was his caustic wit. His tongue is more lethal than his pistol. Throughout the drama, he’s dying of both drink and tuberculosis. In playing him, I thought of what my dear friend the great screenplay writer Robert Towne had taught me: all insightful dialogue comes out of situations, not predeveloped thought. In that regard, I saw Doc’s situation as dire. I also saw his action as defiance in the face of death. I loved him.

I was especially attuned to the rhythms of Doc’s speech, so much so that I called Kevin with the most specific of questions. I said, “There’s a comma on page thirty-two where I don’t think Doc needs to pause. Wouldn’t it be more effective if he simply drew out the line?”

“When you get more into the drawl,” said Kevin, “you’ll find that the pause is right.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am,” said Kevin. He was. And he was in no mood to argue about a comma. The fact that Kevin proved to be right—the comma was necessary to that musicality—shows that sometimes the writer hears his creation with greater acuity than the actor. Sometimes.

Rehearsals were hilarious. There were five or six actors who had played leads in blockbusters. Many times very small parts seemed to become what the whole film was about.

Fortunately, my wife and daughter were on set. Our little girl glowed; she was radiant and adorable and won the hearts of the entire crew. Everyone wanted to play with Mercedes. All went well until the first day of shooting. Moments of mystical wonderment morphed into a filmmaking fiasco.

Kurt Russell and I were on horses. Horses are always tricky. They want to move. They do move. Even super-skilled riders like me and Kurt had to listen to the whims of our steeds, and this day they were trying to tell us something. Writer Kevin Jarre was directing.

And then Kevin Jarre shouted, “Action!” The problem was, there was no shot. Kevin had positioned the camera at an untenable angle. It seemed to me that Kevin, great writer though he was, didn’t know much about directing. Kurt looked me straight in the eye and said, “Val, we’re in trouble.” I had to say something. I did, as gently as possible, but there was no way my remarks didn’t reveal Kevin’s ineptitude. He didn’t last long. Blockbuster director George Cosmatos was brought in. Dozens of cast and crew members were canned. It was an unholy mess. I teamed up with Kurt to edit long sections of the script, because the studio couldn’t give us any more time or money and we were already a month into shooting, which we now had to make up for. It’s amazing the film turned out as well as it did.

I cherish the experience of working with Kurt, whom I love like a brother. When the Academy widens their awards to include something like the lifetime achievement award for Best, Most Unique, Lovely Person for Decades in a Row, if Kurt isn’t the first recipient, I’ll eat my Doc Holliday hat. The film has a cult following, as does my beloved Doc.

[akiizayoi4869]

I need to talk about one of my favorite video game villains of all time for a minute.

This guy. The one who I'm pretty sure a lot of people who played The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 3 and 4, probably ended up hating for how much of a dick he was in those two games. His change in behavior and attitude in the later games didn't make me hate him, though. In fact, it made me like his character even more because it was pretty easy to understand why Cedric ends up like that when you consider the events of the finale in the second Cold Steel game:

He was kidnapped by Duke Cayenne during the Civil War in Erebonia and was forced into one of the seven divine knights, Testarossa, which went completely berserk since Cedric was unable to control it's power at the time. As a result, he was forced to fight against Class VII, who ended up saving him, but at a great cost to one of their own classmates. Crow ends up dying, trying to break Cedric free from Testarossa. Cedric saw all of this happening before his eyes and couldn't do anything to stop it. So it's really no wonder that, when we see him again in Cold Steel 3, his demeanor has changed entirely, and he's obsessed with obtaining power. He goes from the sweet, innocent boy whom we are introduced to in the first Trails of Cold Steel game into someone who is pretty much unrecognizable and with his own little crew.

His sudden change was a shock to me at first. I really wasn't expecting it at all, especially since when he first appeared, he spoke politely. It wasn't until his conversation with Rean on the school rooftop later on that day that we see just how much he's actually changed. The conversation starts out well enough, with Cedric thanking Rean for saving him in the last game. We can clearly see what happened back then really took its toll on Cedric, and that it still weighed heavily on him.

He tells Rean that during the summer after that incident, he got very sick and, as a result, was unable to start school at Thors Military Academy until the following year. Nothing seems odd... until Cedric proposes that Rean should transfer to teahc at Cedric's school, the main campus of Thors Military Academy. This is when we see his demeanor start to change. He talks down about the branch campus and says that someone like Rean is better suited for the main campus, which Cedric holds in high regard in comparison to the branch campus. Rean's students eventually find them on the rooftop, and Cedric is cold towards them, especially to Kurt. He then leaves, but not before saying that he'll be back to hear Rean's response to his demands another day.

Over the course of the game, we see just how much Cedric changed. He's competitive, thinks that power is everything, and absolutely hates weakness. He constantly talks down to others and doesn't care how he makes them feel as a result. The end of Cold Steel 3 really showed just how far Cedric was willing to go to get what he wanted.

He attempts to kill another one of Rean's students, Altina, so that she could become the sword of the end, which was needed to bring about the Great Twilight. He was also completely ok with having his older brother and two other people killed to accomplish this goal (even though as we saw in the 4th game, he was relieved to see that his brother has survived). These two acts really shocked me, because not only did it show a stark contrast to who Cedric was before versus who he was now, it highlighted just how much the events of Cold Steel 2 really changed him, and not for the better.

Cedric becomes one of the main antagonists of Cold Steel 4, and he proves himself as a strong enemy to take down. He was way more of a jerk here than in Cold Steel 3, and it has really seemed as if he has gone off the deep end for good. Then we get to the final chapter of Cold Steel 4, where Cedric is one of the final boss battle fights. He's still the same condescending jerk that he's been for a while now, but everything changes when Juna asked him one question: "What are you so afraid of?" Then all of a sudden, the truth comes out: Cedric was being controlled by the influence of Ishmelga, thanks to Chancellor Osborne and Franz Reinford. Now, this certainly doesn't excuse what Cedric has done up to this point, but it certainly explained why he was willing to go so far all of a sudden, when he hadn't been like that before. It was as if Juna asking him that question had suddenly opened a dam though, because this was what finally made Cedric return to how he used to be. What I absolutely loved about this is that he doesn't try and use Ishmelga as an excuse for the things that he did. He owns up to his actions and sets out to atone for them.

What he eventually chooses to do though was shocking, but it made sense: he decides to join Oroboros, leaving his friends and family behind.

Just as he says, if he stayed with all of them, he knew that he would be forgiven in spite of everything and he wouldn't really have any consequences for his actions. So joining Oroboros as a way to atone for what he did was the right call imo. Cedric's arc is probably one of my favorite ones in Cold Steel 3 and 4. It was very well done and Falcom handled him really well, and I can't wait to see more of him in future games.

[arizonaaaaaa]

Glee cast sings The Fame Mons†er by Lady Gaga

Bad Romance sung by Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, Santana and Tina in “Theatricality”

-I love this song, the cover is so well done, Santana speaking French is definitely the best part, also love how this is one of the very few numbers where Rachel doesn’t sing, I love the outfits, I love everything

Alejandro sung by Santana Lopez in season 2

-I image her singing this to Brittany between Sexy and Rumours, maybe a slower and serenaded version, the song originally represents the fear of men as well as a goodbye to Gaga’s past boyfriends, and I really think that matches Santana’s character a lot, at the end of the performance Brittany would be like: “thanks Tana, that was really nice but I don’t know any of these guys”

Monster sung by Blaine Anderson in “The Break-up”

-I’ll be honest, I don’t think Blaine cheating is ooc, while I don’t get is how it went, if Blaine was missing Kurt so much he decided to cheat to idk “get some attention” why did he do with a stranger?, personally, I think he would be talking to Sebastian about this and he would take this as an opportunity to hit on Blaine, he would then start singing this song on how Seb is seducing him and he would end up doing it, and then he would tell Kurt about it…

Speechless sung by Kurt Hummel in “The Break-up”

-after Blaine told him, Kurt would be angry, sad and betrayed, not only cause he was cheated on but specially because it was Sebastian, someone Blaine knew he hated, he would proceed to sing this song, on how speechless he was that Blaine would do something like that to him

Dance in the Dark sung by Brittany, Quinn and Santana with Puck in “100”

-IF Toxic never happened I would love for them to perform this, this song is SO underrated even tho it’s one of the best from this album, it’s like so hot and sexy and the unholy trinity would kill with it, Puck would only be there to do the background “dee dee dee” but I can also picture him doing some sort of introduction like “ladies and gentleman, grab a new pair of underwear cause you’re about to get wet” or something like that

Telephone feat. Beyoncé sung by Rachel and Sunshine in “Audition”

-I also think this performance is very fun, Sunshine has one of the best voices in the show, that’s not even up for debate, Rachel also sound nice but the auto tune in this song is so heavy she legit sounds like Kurt in some parts, either way I can’t picture someone else singing this

So Happy I Could Die sung by Sam Evans in season 2

-this would be performed before Santana goes talk to him, in the period where, despise suspecting Quinn might have cheated on him, he would be too in love to actually suspect it, he would sing this song about how much he loves Quinn and how much he’s happy, the song even mentions a lavender blonde

Teeth sung by Brittany and Kitty in “Guilty Pleasures”

-This would actually be Kitty’s guilty pleasure, spice girls is amazing, anyway, personally, this is the weakest song in the album so it makes to be someone’s guilty pleasure, plus, I think their voices would fit surprisingly well, in both the singing parts and the speaking as well

Bonus: songs that aren’t from the album but are from the same era

Video Phone by Beyoncé sung by Santana and Tina in season 2

-Telephone’s little sister, lil sis is a little 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 tho, that’s definitely something Santana would sing on the first seasons, just throw Tina in the mix with her whole goth style simulating leather or something, could be something very hot to come out of Sexy for example, even so since Tina mentions not having any asian sex symbols for her to get inspired

Bad Romance (Halestorm cover) sung by Artie, Finn and Puck in “Theatricality”

-okay i’m annoyed, you have a “Gaga episode” in season 1 except only two out of five songs are from Gaga, and one of them was done dirty, I actually like Beth and I don’t really mind Funny Girl, but Shout It Out Load is a no no, I wish the boys would’ve sung a rock version of Gaga, the only I could think off was the halestorm cover of Bad Romance, and honestly, I think they would kill it

That’s a wrap, overall I adore this album, it has a lot of bangers and it’s so fun to apply them on a glee context, the next one is born this way which shouldn’t take more than week since it’s my favorite album ever, hope you enjoyed :)

[elledelajoie]

Leading Man

Kurt wakes up the next morning after the double wedding with a pounding headache and a killer hangover. What if Mercedes is in his hotel room instead of Blaine? Complete.

Kurt woke up and looked around. It was dark, but there was enough faint light from the window that he could see just a little. He blinked his blurry eyes a few more times and realized that he was in a hotel room lying in a bed. He reached out and found no one else in the bed with him. His mind was foggy, but he lay still thinking. The last thing he could remember was ...

What was it?

After a few seconds, he remembered toasting his marriage with Mercedes. He rolled over and slipped the covers back, then headed toward the bathroom.

When he came back out, he shielded his eyes from the bright light in the room. He found Mercedes sitting on the other bed in the room.

“Mercedes? What’s going on?” Kurt made his way back to the bed. “Can we talk about it in the dark? My head is pounding.”

“Sure. Take these first.” She handed him a bottle of water and some pain relievers. After he took them, she turned off the lamp that was on the nightstand between their beds and got back in the other bed. “Drinking so much tends to give people nasty hangovers.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he deadpanned. “The last thing I remember is you and I were toasting my marriage to Blaine. Why am I in a hotel room with you and not with him?”

“Well, mainly because I wanted a chance to talk to you sober before you had a chance to do anything permanent like actually marry Blaine.”

“We already got married.”

“Not legally. Your dad may be authorized by the state of Indiana to perform weddings, but you and Blaine didn’t have a marriage license, so all the two of you did was repeat words in a ceremony. Without the marriage license, you’re not officially married. The two of you will have to head to a courthouse Monday—tomorrow morning and get a marriage license and then get officially married again, either by someone at the courthouse or someone else officially authorized to perform the ceremony.”

“Oh, right. I mean I knew that. God, my head is killing me. I hope those pills do something soon. So, you still didn’t tell me what you want to talk to me about.”

Read on AO3.

[gallyg]

Thoughts on Heathers (2018)

I am someone who doesn't really mind the existence of bad media, even legendarily bad media that exists in proximity to media that I hold dear. The Last Airbender is one of the worst movies of all time, but it does not offend me that it is an adaptation of a beloved animated series. At the end of the day, it's just another version of the story which did a few things differently. ATLA wasn't a story about bad guys who can shoot fire from their hands. It was a story that used those bad guys as a force of nature to oppose the heroes to say something about characters I identified with, and so it is not an affront to art that the film version takes away the bad guys' ability to generate their own flames. M Night Shyamalan thought those changes could make for an interesting alternative take, and it did not work for me. Oh well. At the end of the day, it is just a bad version of a good story.

I'm bringing up this extreme example of my being unfazed by a bad adaptation to demonstrate how serious I am being when I say Heathers 2018 is my new least favorite piece of media, and I feel genuinely hurt from having watched the entire thing.

Going in, I was only faintly aware of the show's reputation as a conservative comedy. The Heathers are reimagined as a gang of performatively woke progressives who use their clout as minorities to harass the white boys of Westerberg High with the threat of cancellation in order to secure their positions of power in the culture. This is a pretty big plot point in the first episode, and it is cringe, but it does not actually bother me very much. Past the first episode, the diversity of the Heathers isn't even really something that comes up all that often.

To be clear, I do hate how the Heathers are treated, but it goes a lot deeper than the show not being woke. Heathers 2018 hates humanity. Every single time a Heather experiences a genuine emotion, the show pretends that maybe this time, someone is going to learn a lesson. Every single time, it's a trick. Heather Duke faces transphobia and none of her friends stand up for her. She still yearns for their approval, and she is still denied. Her boyfriend Kurt is the only person on the show who gives her any respect at all, and she gets blackmailed into breaking up with him. She is malicious and insulting both in the moment and afterwards when she tries to backtrack on the breakup. When she thinks he's killed himself, the show pretends it might let this effect her in a real way for all of two minutes before she goes right back to her old self, exploiting Kurt's death in a power play against Heather Chandler. The notion of Heather Duke breaking away from Heather Chandler and forging her own path to fulfillment in Westerberg's social ecosystem is brought up constantly, and every single time, Heather Duke goes right back to this bullshit cat and mouse game. In the end, she dies alone and scared in a field of corn, with no friends, having learned nothing.

Heather Chandler is the same way. We see glimpses of empathy somewhere deep inside her a few times throughout the show, but it never goes anywhere. No matter how low she is brought down, she never gains the ability to empathize with anyone or care about anything in an authentic way. Heather McNamara kills herself and Brianna Parker attempts the same as a result of Chandler's bullying, and it doesn't faze her a bit. In episode 7, she enters a dissociative fugue state from the trauma of public embarrassment and begins trying to make amends to everyone at Westerberg, even taking Brianna Parker out for dinner.

Now, because this is a deeply misanthropic show, Brianna is constantly mocked for being poor. And because this is a deeply unfunny show, it comes across as strictly hateful. Still, it's obviously an improvement over Heather's behavior up until now. And it lasts like ten minutes before she's right back to her old self, worse than ever before. Her first reaction to what she believes to be a mass suicide is to leverage the opportunity to make one final claw at fame. And it doesn't even work. She is reduced to a footnote in Veronica's legacy, and everybody who ever thought of her as anything else is dead. One last spit in the face for the show's only survivor.

To put it bluntly, Heathers 2018 is a show about awful people suffering pointlessly. Any shadow of an implication that it might get better is only there to service the the Shepard tone of misery.

The character whose treatment hits me the hardest is Veronica. Veronica means a lot to me in the original film. I appreciated seeing a character with these horribly violent intrusive thoughts treated empathically by the narrative and have a rich internal life. When JD enters her life, he indulges these intrusive thoughts and attempts to make her believe that these thoughts define her, but in the end, she rejects him. She does not accept that some scribblings in her diary make her a bad person, and chooses instead to reach out to the people around her and have a positive influence in her community. It's a beautiful story. It makes me feel seen and cared about as someone who has struggled a lot with intrusive thoughts.

It's a huge change from the original, but the choice to make Veronica a more proactive killer in Heathers 2018 initially struck me as exciting. If the original film says that your thoughts do not define you, perhaps the reboot could take it a step further. As a young child with no emotional regulation skills, Veronica let the intrusive thoughts win, and she murdered her best friend. As a young adult, these same dark impulses still linger, and JD is the voice in her head telling her to say fuck it, indulge yourself. She does so, she likes it, and she has become even worse than JD by the time of this reveal.

Sure, I thought. The Heathers are being treated like absolute punching bags with no care given to their internal lives outside of being vehicles for pain, but surely Veronica, the main character, will have her emotional journey taken seriously. If Heathers 2018 is even distantly interested in respecting the spirit of the original film, Veronica will find some healthy avenue to be understood and redeemed. She will learn that she is not defined by the worst thoughts in her head, her worst impulses, or her worst moments of indulgence. Somehow, she will make it.

Of course, that's not what happens. The show teases out the possibility, of course. She essentially comes out as a psychopath to her friends, and they accept her. She tries to use her impulses for good. For about half an episode, it seems like she might be okay. And then the last episode happens. She becomes a monster, perpetrating one of the deadliest mass killings in American history more or less on a whim. There is no redemption. In the afterlife, she is totally alone, a lost soul wandering Hell forever, without even JD to accompany her.

Cool.

Look.

I love a good tragedy. I have been posting about how much I love Saw III (the one where everyone dies at the end) for as long as I been online. But there's no catharsis in Heathers 2018. It doesn't even feel like it's trying to have any. Everyone is awful, they're all awful to each other, and nobody deserves better than what they get. It wallows in this cynicism.

The Last Airbender is a bad movie based on a cartoon I like a lot. Metroid Other M is a bad game in a franchise I like a lot. Animorphs is a bad TV show based on my favorite childhood book series. I do not feel like any of these were made with malice. None of these stories hate me.

Heathers 2018 hates me. It feels like it was made with the intention to hurt anyone who ever identified with Veronica Sawyer.

[nicsnort]

Trial by Fire (part 73)

A Nightcrawler/Fem!OC romance, drama, and mystery fanfic, with lots of Quicksilver thrown in for fun and even more drama.

Intro (with link to full Ao3 story) First Previous

Jean was in the kitchen. Pouring everyone there X-man and Brotherhood and double-shot of whiskey. The glasses were of various sizes and shapes but tonight Logan hadn’t even waited for the say-so from the Professor to go out and get the largest bottle of whiskey he could from the store. He hadn’t even known they sold them in gallons until now.

“Mind-controlled mutants,” Scott muttered. They had knocked them unconscious but had been unable to save them. They had left in such a hurry.

“All of those body parts,” Hank sighed, downing the double as a shot in and of itself.

“Such a powerful psychic attack,” Frost sneered, rubbing her head.

“All the bodies.” Storm echoed quietly.

Trance joined them and picked up a shot glass. She turned it, looking at the liquid before taking it. “They’ll weaponize that poison.” Because she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say ‘cure’. 

Kurt, who typically did not drink, drank. He grimaced. “I was so close.”

There were a few silently shed tears from some of the people, X-men and Brotherhood alike. By the end of the ten minutes, they met up in the war room after a quick check into the medical bay. 

Once everyone was seated or in a spot, the whiskey gone, the shock melting, Kurt spoke -- he felt it was his responsibility. "Bedelia was covered in fire. Not on fire...she was fire." 

Everyone stared at him. 

"Impossible." Quicksilver scoffed, but even his remark was weak, "She's human. And if all the stressors she's been through," particularly that of the Brotherhood, he thought, "haven't triggered something…"

Charles furrowed his brow at Kurt’s words and his lips came together in a thin line at Pietro’s. She had been the fire...and he had felt her mind for the briefest moment. Cerebro had captured it. “It may seem impossible but,” Charles brought up the data Cerebro had collected, “as you all know the brainwaves of mutants and humans are different and right before Bedelia was transported away…”

The holographic image that was representing Bedelia and her brain waves moved from registering as human to mutant. “I do not know how to explain it. But I suppose it is possible that she had an untriggered X-gene. She does suffer from pyrophobia, if her powers are fire-related, perhaps her mind was able to suppress her genes as a defense mechanism...or Essex has found a way to make humans into mutants…”

Beast ran a hand over his head in thought. “Either way we need to find her once more and now we do not have any leads.”

To make a human a mutant and a mutant a human...it was enough to turn anyone’s stomach. “We know there are a few other labs.” Trance suggested, “But he’ll be expecting us. He’ll have a multitude of that poison available...” More than one person glanced over at Kurt, a silent inquiry if he would be prepared for that. “We need a plan just as much as we need to target the next lab.”

Magneto had settled against the wall, thoughtful. If Bedelia was indeed turned against them while in that state of fire -- a mutant , how interesting  -- it did beg the question of her use. Magneto wouldn’t be able to kill her now. She was valuable at least as a fellow mutant now, if not a journalist. But how to control the fire for his benefit? 

Jean looked over at Beast. “Is there any other information in her works to suggest where the labs are?”

“There might be, Bedelia thankfully left us a lot of information. She has notes of possible leads and other places that she wanted to look for records as well,” Hank told Jean. “It will be days if not a couple of weeks before we have our next solid lead.”

Charles nodded, still looking at the hologram of Bedelia’s brainwaves. In essence, they are to think like a journalist. “We have another side to consider as well. As Trance said they will be expecting us...we could raid another base, look for more information, but how will they react? Essex could start moving, closing up their current labs, and finding new places to work. They may not even be in North America anymore.”

Charles looked at Erik. He had heard that thought about how to contain her. “And if Bedelia is a mutant with fire abilities we need to work on how to safely contain her...from the mutants the X-men saved in Genosha we kept their collars...it might be the safest way if we can get close enough.”

It was uncomfortable to fathom, but there was a point in what Charles said. Kurt nodded. “It might help her state of mind if she’s not...if her powers are not active.” He agreed. A glance between Kurt and Pietro sealed an unspoken deal: whoever got closer to her first would put the collar on her. 

Frost spoke up as well with something else they had not considered. “And there is the matter of the media. Her disappearance after the studio was attacked is causing a stir. Mystique could take her place, calm the waters, or let them wonder. Then when we find her that’s when we expose Essex.”

“It would benefit us to let her remain absent,” Erik continued off of Frost’s input, “for the public will be outraged when we reveal Essex...and why he had to perish.” There was a murmur of agreement.

“It would be best if we were fairly certain about the next spot. The fewer chances Essex has to wear us down, the better.” Trance commented. “Let him spread his resources...it would also give us time to figure out what the hell that poison is and how long it lasts.” The truth of the matter was simple: they would need Azazel and he was out of the game...for now.

“We can set up a schedule between our groups, Charles, to guard the school grounds.” Erik proposed. Rather, he stated it as fact, because the idea of leaving a school full of mutant children without all the possible defenses did not settle well with him. He knew no one would dare disagree.

Charles nodded in agreement to Erik’s words. It was better that the Brotherhood and X-men stay together in a sense. Essex could return at any moment and they needed to keep alert. Moving the children though wasn’t a good idea. It opened up too many possibilities and risks. Besides nowhere had more defenses than the school. Not with the X-men, not with the Brotherhood.

“Very well,” he finally said. “I believe it will be best if we all stick together until this threat has passed and given that you have lost your primary transport here would be the best. We need eyes on the injured and the grounds. Tonight those we have standing guard already will finish out the night. The rest of us should get some sleep...as much as you can, given everything.”

“There are hospital beds right now but we do have multiple guest rooms with some extra beds we can bring up from storage,” Jean added immediately, shooting Scott a look to be quiet. It was unneeded though. Even the hardened Scott Summers knew when he had to bend for the situation.

“If you find you can’t sleep either check in with the injured or find me in my lab going over Bedelia’s notes,” Hank told the group. He already knew he wouldn’t be able to rest tonight.

~~~~~

Fire. She was on fire. Bedelia was burning.

It consumed her. Searing her from the inside out. Burning away her thoughts, her mind. She was a burned-out shell...and that made it all the easier to control her.

Bedelia was unable to fight Sinister as he moved her around. She saw what was happening. Understood that it was wrong. But she had no will to fight it. The fire had stripped that from her...being so close to rescue and lost again had stripped that from her.

She was on the cold operating table again. Sinister was leaning over her. “I have just started your transformation. If I could express your X-gene, just think of the heights I could take you. It is a shame that your mind is broken. I enjoyed our banter...well, it would have been gone soon anyway. You are a doll now, but I am going to make you a puppet.”

________

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