#whereas if he has part of his upper arm that is what would b moving the prosthetic

[mylevisdontfitanymore]

Ahhh omg! The really big!Bucky content you’ve been posting lately is so so so good😩 It got me wondering, do you have any thoughts about stevebucky and contrast? Like, small preserum feeder Steve feeding Bucky so fat he waddles? Always lazy and beached with his gut in his lap? Tiny Steve calling him ‘big guy,’ teasing him gently all while he shoves food into his mouth?

Thank you! I'm happy someone is enjoying it! I know it can be a little too extreme/too much for some people 🫣

And BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT TINY STEVE AND MASSIVE BUCKY.

Stucky belly kink rambling below! Warning for teasing/name calling, LOTS of dirty talk, stuffing, weight gain, insinuated immobility, belly humping, size comparison stuff, etc.

The instant I read your ask, I had the mental image of Steve crawling all over Bucky's huge and heavy bare belly, plastering himself to all that overflowing, thick, stretch marked fat. Steve's whole body spread out like a starfish - legs wide to accommodate for that massive, blubbery waist that Bucky has, and his arms also spread out to get a good grip on the round sides of Bucky's belly and the stacked rolls he has on his sides. While he's there, of course, Steve is faceplanting in those wide, fat tits. Mouthing at Bucky's pink, sensitive, peaked nipples until he gasps through a mouthful of food. (He's also certainly jerking his hips up into Bucky's fat. He can't help it. And he shouldn't. He's a fucking pervert, a, but, b, every time he jostles Bucky too much, he groans in complaint. It doesn't feel good on his stuffed belly.)

At the same time, I was blasted with that mental image, I heard Steve's pleased whisper in my head. Steve tells him, "you better not eat anymore of that, otherwise you're not going be able to get up and you know I can't help you when you get like that, big guy," while meaning the opposite. He's all faux sympathy, pouting when he really wants to smirk. He wants Bucky to eat it all and more.

Still, Steve really can't do anything when Bucky eats himself onto his back. He's too heavy for Steve to move or help move.

I'm bad at numbers. But, just imagine Civil War Bucky blown up like a damn balloon. Bigger to the point that when he walks, he waddles and breathes all heavy and moans when he's finally allowed to sit down with pre-serum Steve.

Yeah.

Steve would be overwhelmed with such a big Bucky. Too much to handle! Literally. Too much to ever encompass with his hands, no matter how large Steve's hands are in proportion to the rest of his body.

A big Bucky versus a little Steve would make Bucky three or four (or maybe even five 😳) times Steve's size...

Whereas Steve is all long, lean, hard limbs and sharp angles, Bucky is round and soft and excessive. An image of Bucky's body is what you would see if you looked up the word "indulgence" or "gluttony" in the dictionary. There isn't a thing he doesn't get that he wants. And baby wants to eat. So eat he does. He feeds and feeds and feeds and only stops when he's about to pop. Then, he whines until Steve gives in and helps him out. He rubs down all that plush fat with thick lotion that soothes Bucky's stretched, stressed skin - tinted red and marked with lightning bolts. He massages the lower part of Bucky's gut that's butter soft, all fat, until the upper part of his belly - where his stretched stomach is - has digested enough to handle some touching.

And every part that rubbing and massaging and easing of self-inflicted sweet pain from eating too much is made easier with Steve's words. Steve talks and touches and Bucky moans and groans and digests - sitting on his ass, actively getting fatter and fatter and fatter.

"Mmm-hmm, that's it, big guy." Steve encourages, knowing the direct comment on Bucky's uncontrollable belching makes him blush and wanting to see that pretty color on his chubby face. "Get it out, it's okay," he continues, watching Bucky's cheeks puff out as he tries and fails to smother another burp. "C'mon, you're not doing this," he slaps his belly gently, "any favors holding those in. The point is to make you less bloated. Not more. Besides, it's not like I don't already know you belch." Bucky blushes hotter. "Just look at you. You're massive. I know you burp. I know you cover yourself in crumbs. I know you space out and come to in a pile of food wrappers. I know you eat the worst kind of fattening foods and the cheapest, greasiest fast food. You don't have to hide. You couldn't hide even if you wanted to. You can't suck in this massive gut. Nor can you hide those eyes, I see it. You're still hungry. You're always hungry. You always want more." Bucky is staring at him, trembling a little under all that fat. But. He doesn't deny it. He can't. It's true. Steve has wrapped himself around all the evidence he needs... that giant belly.

A little later, Steve murmurs, "huh, I think that's a new stretch mark. Right here. Or it's bigger. Longer. Longer than it was before. I can't really tell..." he's talking loud enough that he knows Bucky will hear him and get turned on, but still being quiet enough for plausable deniability. "...what?" Bucky whimpers, then repeats himself. "Oh, you can't see it? Hm. Your fat is just in the way, then." Steve pretends to attempt to lift his fat rolls out of the way, but really he's just groping him. He feels so good. Plush. Soft. Fat. "It's there, I promise, glutton. Doesn't matter if you can't see it or not. I mean, fuck, you can't even see your own toes. Or your dick for that matter. Seeing a few new stretch marks isn't anything special," he pinches him over the fresh patch of stretch marks, "especially when you have so many you can see. You're covered in marks, baby, getting so fat so fast."

Bucky shivers. He tries to shiver. There's too much fat on his overtaxed frame for him to do much. Especially when he's as full as he is right now.

Full and...

Still eating.

Steve has to comment on it. Shit. He doesn't know where Bucky's putting it all, and he's plenty big. "If you eat anymore, you're gonna turn into a ball." Bucky groans out around a mouthful. It should be gross. It's not. "Well. Actually.... at least if you're a ball, I'd be able to move you easily. I could roll you around. Like this," he grabs his tummy as tight as he dares, using his full wingspan to encompass the heavy fat tacked onto his front, "you're too heavy and big for a little guy like me. That'd be helpful, tubby. So. Eat up. Rolling you around would make my life a lot less hard. And yours. I bet it burns even less calories to roll than it does to waddle."

All Steve gets in response is a food-blurred swear.

After a trip to the front door and back, gathering another delivery for Bucky (whose only goals apparently are to 1. fill all the space Steve freed up by rubbing his belly for the past hour, which leads into his seemingly overarching goal of 2. break the damn bed), Steve cocks his head, "I know you know that you would crush me, you're too heavy for you to sit in my lap or be on top when we fuck," Bucky's blush returns full force. How he can be shy about talking directly about sex makes no sense to Steve, not when they've turned their whole life together into their personal porno. Bucky works from home now. He is always stuffing his face. Steve is always encouraging him. Their weekends are spent in, doing this. Bucky has grown from massive in the muscular, fit way to massive in the oh-my-god-your-hips-brush-both-sides-of-doorways way. "But do you ever think about how if you stood in front of me, no one would be able to see me. You'd block me like a wall."

Steve lets the silence go for a while... letting Bucky picture it.

Bucky. Wide. Heavy. Fat. Hiding Steve behind him. Not even a glimpse of him seen.

"Well," Steve continues now that Bucky has stewed and is shifting, restless, turned on even more, "a wall if walls were fat and soft and squishy rather than, y’know," he pokes a jabbing finger into the thick blubber of Bucky's thigh, "solid and sturdy and made of brick." Steve sighs as if reminiscing, "you used to be a wall. I remember all that hard, bulky muscle you had when we met... I wonder where that'd all go." Steve jiggles his belly a little roughly, making Bucky's eyes shut tight as he groans lowly, "you're more inflatable yoga ball than wall now."

His gut really does look like a yoga ball. A ball inflated past full. Resting in his gut. Large enough for little Steve to wrap himself around. Hell, he could fit inside Bucky easily, if Bucky weren't always stuffed to the brim with food. But he is. He's always fucking packed with food. So he's always getting bigger.

Steve grinds his hips in tight to Bucky's bloated, ball-belly, finally allowing himself to sound affected by how mind-blowing-ly hot this is, whining, "I can't wait for you to be fatter, baby, just want you to be huge."

"I kn-" Bucky pauses to burp, his whole body jolting as he hiccups instead. Steve bounces around his gargantuan belly "-oh. Oh, fuck." He groans, hiccups upsetting his packed belly, "I know." His eyebrows come together, tight. He looks like he's in pain and suspended in pleasure at the same time. His lips pout, "I want it."

"More," Steve moans, "more then, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, fatty. Shove more in. Get bigger for me."

That was very rambling 😅 sorry if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but hopefully you liked it anyway!

[synchlora]

aughhh thinking way to much into detail on how ran's arm works..

[anashins]

The Art of Distraction

Title: The Art of Distraction

Pairing: Taeyong x You

Genre: romance, schoollife, smut

Warnings: protected sex, cunnilingus, blowjob, lots of teasing and cursing

Word Count: 5.304

Summary: You have to study for your upcoming math exam, but your boyfriend is bored and has something else in mind instead of letting you pass it.

________

“I’m bored.”

“You wanted to come over, Taeyong, so look for something that will keep you entertained, because I won’t be done anytime soon over here.”

For days, you had been studying for an upcoming exam in the worst subject ever: math.

Ever since the third year of middle school, you started to dislike it, and it hadn’t even taken you a year more from then on to declare it as the subject you were the worst at.

Even now in high school, your liking for math had never increased. Your teacher with his high expectations didn’t make it easier either, and just the mere thought of the upcoming exam on the next day made your stomach turn upside down in fear.

Sometimes, you thought you actually understood the topic when it was being explained on the board, but as soon as the numbers and letters changed, everything didn’t make any sense anymore to you. The questions the teacher asked made you even more confused along with the exercises he gave the students to solve at home. You always wondered why your classmates to your left and right had such an easy time solving everything, whereas you ourself didn’t even understand the question.

You settled with the thought of being a hopeless case, but you were still panicking about how you’d ever pass this exam.

It was the most important, the final one in school. There was no way you could fail it, and you had actually studied more than ever before for a subject. It had been days since you had last left the house, and you only went downstairs to eat dinner and talk with your parents about some things which should distract you, but it certainly didn’t help.

Your mind was a big blur of numbers and letters. You got the feeling that, the more you studied, the more you forgot and the more you made yourself go crazy.

Now, staring at the combinations of different numbers and letters again, you didn’t even get the meaning of the question which was written above the exercise. You ruffled your hair and let out an annoying, frustrating sigh.

What value did you need to search for? How did you even calculate this? What did all of the things you had written in your notebook even mean? It was like everything was slowly being erased from your mind the longer you stared at it.

You shifted in your seat, unable to find a proper, comfortable position which didn’t increase your mood at all. The sound of the pencil rolling over the paper had stopped a long while ago, and since then you had been doing nothing other than staring blankly at the sheet in front of you, not paying attention to the exercise anymore. It was like you just stared at the paper, your thoughts drifting to nowhere.

It was loud music blasting through the room, interrupting the pleasant silence which made you flinch and pulled you out of your thoughts. You almost let your pencil fall, feeling your heart pumping heavily against your chest.

“Taeyong!” you yelled in annoyance and turned around to see your boyfriend playing around with his phone.

He flashed an apologetic look in your direction. “I’m sorry, so sorry! I just stumbled over this funny tik tok video, but the volume was on, wait...”

With a few hand movements, he managed to turn off the volume, the music being broken by silence again.

You shot an angry glare at Taeyong who just shrugged with a grin on his face which was way too sweet to let you be mad at him any longer. Turning around in your seat, you hovered over your papers again, tapping with your pencil against the edge of your desk, the rhythmic noise giving you a little reassurance.

*Klonk*

“Taeyong!”

Once again, you turned around and found him kneeling in front of your nightstand. He had just knocked over the picture frame which showed both of you and now, he put it back on its place, wiping over the glass to make sure that nothing was broken.

He moved his head aside and smiled shyly. “I’m sorry! It was an accident…”

“Can you just… sit down and do nothing for the next few hours? It’s getting on my nerves!”

The glance you gave him was reflecting pure annoyance and anger now. Without even paying any attention to him, you got back to your math sheets, hearing Taeyong placing himself on the bed, rustling the sheets as he laid down.

It was silent again and you inhaled deeply, trying to concentrate yourself. You held the pencil convulsively in your hand, wanting to write something down, but your mind was somehow blocked.

Not by letters and numbers though, but by something immerse and black in your thoughts, preventing you from doing anything productive now. But you needed to, the exam was important, you needed to…

“Am I really getting on your nerves?”

It was Taeyong’s arms slowly wrapping around your shoulders and pulling you into an embrace from behind which broke your thoughts once more. His cheek brushed over your ear, and you could feel his warm breath on your skin as he repeated,

“Am I really that annoying?”

He kissed your earlobe, his hair tickling your neck as he pulled the skin between his lips, slowly nibbling on it.

You didn’t know that you had been holding your breath until you exhaled deeply. This was your sensitive spot. Your very, very sensitive spot. And he knew. You gritted your teeth and just answered,

“Yes, you are!”

But it came out more like a gasp than the strong and commanding answer you actually had in mind.

His kisses went further to your neck, trailing down to your shoulders. He kissed every spot he passed, and it was until he reached the collar of your shirt that you realized you had actually rolled your head back to give him space to go on.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re annoyed by my presence at all,” he whispered, and you could actually see his smug grin in front of your eyes.

That little shit.

Taeyong’s embrace around your shoulders loosened and you breathed out, expecting him to finally back off and go back to whatever he was doing and leaving you alone - but you were absolutely wrong.

Taeyong’s hands wandered down to the hem of your shirt, and it was when he fiddled with the first button that you gasped once again. Slightly dumbfounded, you lowered your head, looking down at your cleavage which was being revealed inch for inch with every button he opened.

Taeyong chuckled beside you and followed your gaze. When you turned your head aside, you could see him smirking.

“Taeyong, that’s…”

You held your breath as he slid his hands down your upper body from behind, parting your shirt to reveal the white lace bra you were wearing. The moment you wanted to open your mouth again, this time to protest in your strongest volume, he had his hands already in your underwear, cupping your breasts as his lips attacked the side of your neck again.

“Oh god,” you breathed, feeling him squeeze your breasts and massaging them as the straps slowly slipped down your shoulders to give his hands more freedom.

You hadn’t let go of the pencil in your fingers until now. Your grip tightened more like you just wanted to hold onto something to get support as Taeyong’s thumbs brushed over each of your peaks, flicking over them and tweaking them between his fingers.

Your legs closed automatically and your body arched, craving for more. He sucked on and nibbled on your neck, teasing your skin with gentle bites and kisses.

“So… I’m really annoying, aren’t I?”

Fuck. His voice sounded meaningful as though he was up to something, and seconds later, one of his hands slid out of your cup just to run towards your navel. He was making his way to the focused area very slowly, teasing you with his skin on yours and causing you to get goosebumps on your stomach. You stared at his hand passing your navel and moving further downwards, the tip of his fingers finding a way under the hem of your pleated skirt.

“No!” you yelled and freed yourself from Taeyong’s embrace.

Your body was heated up from his touches and you still struggled with breathing as you pushed your boyfriend away. You felt him letting go of you by himself and took a deep breath.

Staring at your notebook, you pulled up the straps of your bra and fiddled with the buttons to close your shirt, but with your trembling fingers, it was not easy work. This was not the right time. You had this exam tomorrow and couldn’t be distracted - there were so many things you still needed to learn, there…

“Taeyong!” you scolded again, totally shocked as he shrugged your legs off, spreading them wide apart in front of him.

When you looked down, you found him kneeling in front of you, looking up to you as he licked over his upper lip sinfully.

For a moment, you stared at each other – he, with a lustful gaze and you, with a feared one because you knew, he wouldn’t stop once he began. You shook your head, trying to close your thighs, but Taeyong held them apart with his strong hands so that you’d never have a chance.

“Yongie,” you begged, “Yongie please, I need to learn, I need to…”

You struggled in his grip, but the longer you tried, the more you were assured that this would have a different ending than you had imagined.

“You need a distraction,” he ended your sentence and flipped your skirt back to lower his head on your right thigh.

The pencil fell out of your hand when he licked over the sensitive skin on your inner thigh. He left a wet path as he licked a line, massaging either side of your thighs with his hands to relax and tease you at the same time. Regardless of how much you fought against it, you leaned back in your seat and your hips even bucked against his head, wanting more.

Taeyong hooked your legs over his shoulders so that your swollen sex was open to his upcoming attack, covered only by a single thin layer of panties. His lips were being pressed against your left thigh, kissing forward and approaching your wetness which was hiding behind the fabric.

The closer his kisses came, the shorter your breath got until you stopped for a second when his lips reached the waistband of your panties next to your entrance. Taeyong let his tongue glide along the band, partly along your skin, causing you to bear down a moan by covering your mouth with your hand.

You didn’t want to give in yet. You kept your gaze at your math sheets, but no matter how much you tried to concentrate, Taeyong was quite a dangerous and good distraction. You thought it would help to make him stop if you pretended not to be bothered at all, but on the other hand… that boy was so good.

His hands moved up and down your thighs, his palms brushing over your skin which got intensely hot due to his work. With his index finger, he hooked on the waistband and put the thin layer aside, clamping it with two fingers and revealing your wet folds as he stared at your core lustfully.

“Taeyong!”

It was a scream, replaced by a gasp as he placed his tongue flat on your wetness, applying pressure before he licked up. Finally, after you had tried to resist so hard, you moaned. It was a rather quiet moan, because you still refused to give in to the fullest, but Taeyong knew that it wouldn’t take him much effort anymore to get you where he wanted you. Smug as fuck, he smirked against your skin and placed a kiss on your nub, making your hips jerked-knife off the seat.

“For someone who doesn’t want this, you’re already really wet,” he teased and licked up the juices dripping out of you.

“Shut up!” you returned, but your voice faded away in a moan when Taeyong dipped his tongue into your entrance. “Oh god!”

You closed your eyes and circled your legs around his upper body, bringing him closer to you, because obviously, the tip of his tongue was by far not enough.

Taeyong chuckled and hummed against your skin, causing the vibrations to turn you on even more. You brought both of your hands up to cover your mouth fully and bite down your loud moans like that.

For your boyfriend, it was an amusing view, because he knew you had finally given in. Whimpers escaped your lips as he licked over your entrance again, sliding his tongue along your folds like he was tasting some kind of candy, letting out a delicious groan. He stopped at your nub and you knew, when he began to play on it now, you were totally screwed.

“Ohhh!” you moaned as his tongue flicked over your clit, bucking your hips against him, wanting more and more.

Screw math, screw the exam, screw studying. Just for now.

Taeyong sucked on your clit and rolled it in between his lips. He let you grab his hair as your arousal caused your core to pulse against him. Taking a large breath, he allowed the scent of excitement to wash over his body and he found it exhilarating as it infiltrated his system.

His tongue trailed from your clit down to your folds before he plunged it deep into you again. All along the way, you cried out, shifted in your seat and bucked your hips to meet his licks, tangling your fingers in his hair and scratching his head. Forgotten were the numbers and letters you had studied before. Everything in front of you went black as you closed your eyes to give in to the fullest of pleasures.

Taeyong’s left fingers suddenly dipped into your centre, causing you to jump at this sudden movement. You wiggled in your seat, trying to get him deeper into you and as smug as he was, he just grinned and pushed into you with one hard thrust.

“Ahhhh!”, you screamed, one hand clasping his neck and the other one holding onto the edge of your seat just to look for support in case you’d pass out soon.

Each thrust coming from Taeyong’s slender hand made you jerk in pleasure, struggling with wanting to stop now and continuing until you’d probably swoon.

Whatever Taeyong was doing down there, it made you become a mess. Cries and whimpers fell from your lips, somehow mixing together to noises you didn’t even know you were able to make.

His approving groans sent vibrations to the region around your clit, making the pleasure in your groin just build up faster. Your hips bucked up and down, wanting him to go faster as the knot in your lower stomach grew bigger and bigger, just begging to be released, to explode.

“Hmm, are you feeling good?” you heard him saying. “Much better than math isn’t it?”

“Tae-… Yongie, oh god…”

Screw math. You were gasping for air, crying out his name over and over again. The pleasant feeling pooled up inside of you and you knew that, when he’d go faster, you’d be finally released.

“Faster?”

Taeyong knew that as well. He rolled his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves, flicked and sucked on it harder while the tip of his fingers pumped in and out of you. He nudged your clit, pressing his lips against it to intensify the coiling feeling in the pit of your stomach by doubling his speed. He hummed in pleasure, sending vibrations throughout your body as you felt your orgasm nearing.

“Are you going to sum?”

Shit. You loved when Taeyong dirty talked. It was always such a turn on. You could practically see him smirking down there.

“Ohhh, Yongie...”

You threw your head back, anticipating the release. Your thighs tensed around his neck and he felt your walls begin to flutter around his fingers. A little more. Just a little more.

But then he stopped the motions coming from his fingers and lips as sudden as he had attacked you. You whined, suddenly feeling so unfulfilled and empty. The feeling of not getting the chance to release yourself while your orgasm was right around the corner was almost ripping you apart. Tears fell from your eyes and you half-screamed his name, partly in annoyance and partly because you were begging him to continue.

You watched Taeyong, who was still kneeling in between your legs, pulling out his fingers fully just to lead them to his mouth. His gaze pierced through your eyes as you watched him parting them slightly, a sticky substance sticking on them.

He flashed a smirk at you before taking them into his mouth and sucking it gently. Your face flushed instantly when he pulled it out, showing you that he had sucked all your juices off.

“You taste good,” he said as he got up and you looked at him in disbelief. “Too bad I’m just an annoyance.”

Taeyong sighed dramatically, yet playfully, and walked towards your bed. You shifted in your seat, still confused over the fact why the hell he had just stopped and didn’t continue. It was surely not the first time that this little fuck was teasing you like hell, but never had he been that cruel to stop right before you were about to cum.

“And too bad you want me to sit down and do absolutely nothing the next few hours.”

You stared at him seating himself onto the mattress, still feeling heated up and so turned on.

“It’s a little hot in here, isn’t it?”

As much as Taeyong wanted to hide his grin, he just couldn’t. That little shit was playing with you, and you knew that, from the moment you had let him in between your legs, you had already lost.

You clutched onto the lower hem of your skirt, feeling your core still dripping when Taeyong pulled his shirt over his head and laid back down on the bed, practically presenting himself on a silver tray. He was offering himself to you, and it was only a question of time until you were going to attack him back. He crossed his arms behind his head and watched you struggling with your priorities with much amusement.

Your instincts told you just to jump at him, but your mind told you to calm the fuck down and concentrate on your studies again. Math wasn’t done with you and neither was the exam which would be in around 12 hours. You should have never allowed Taeyong to come over. Never. But on the other hand… that boy, lying half naked in front of you, was your super hot boyfriend, wanting to pleasure you in every way possible.

Fuck everything.

With your head lowered, you stood up, causing Taeyong to raise his brows in surprise. With one fluid motion, you opened the two upper buttons on your shirt and let the clothing slide down your shoulders, draping around your ankles as it fell on the floor. Taeyong watched you in amazement with sparkling eyes.

Quickly, your skirt followed, gliding down your hips to fall onto your feet as well. You took a step forward to get out of the pile of clothes and flashed a deathful glare at Taeyong who had a half-smirk around his mouth.

You walked towards him and he sat up to welcome you with open arms, “If I’m going to fail this exam, you’re so doomed.”

He just laughed and wrapped his arms around your body, pulling you into an embrace and placing you on his lap.

Taeyong attacked you in an open-mouthed kiss, bringing your bum just a little closer so that you were sitting right on his crotch. He lifted his hips, brushing against your core and with that, the familiar feeling from before started to rise once again. You let out a light moan against your boyfriend’s lips as you hooked your arms around his neck.

“Hmm… I think a distraction is everything you need right now.”

He bucked his hips once again, making you cry out his name when your hips started to move and rub against the bulge in his jeans. Just a few layers were separating you two and neither one of you could wait until they were fully gone.

With your legs on either side of Taeyong, you slid up and down his crotch in a grinding motion, now causing him to whimper instead of you.

“Lay down!” you commanded and Taeyong tilted his head in confusion before you put your hands on his chest and pushed him back into the pillows.

Moving backwards a bit, you opened the button and unzipped his pants. Hooking under the waistband, you flapped his boxers and his erection sprang out, slapping against his stomach. Once again, you wondered how he was able to keep it in his jeans for that long.

“My turn now,” you said and licked over your lips.

Taeyong watched you in excitement and anticipation as you bent down and opened your mouth, letting his swollen length pass your lips.

He threw his head back and sighed in relief of finally being taken in, covering half of his face with his arm he had just placed on his forehead. You swallowed further, letting him slide in slowly while his other hand clenched the sheets to his left.

When you reached your limit, not being able to continue anymore, you popped him in and out of your mouth while either of your hands were embracing the base of his cock. He was pulsing against your palms, the blood running through this body part with a high pace like never before.

With a slurping sound, you let go of him and wiped your mouth, giving Taeyong a teasing look.

“Shiiiit!” he groaned with a husky, deep voice and you could swear that it was the sexiest sound you had heard in a long time.

“Hmm, I’ve barely even started, Yongie,” you said and giggled.

You put your tongue on the base where your hands were, letting it slide all the way up to the tip, leaving a wet path with your saliva. Massaging his balls experimentally with your fingers, you made him shift his hips in anticipation, hearing him inhaling deeply just to let out a long-lasting moan which sounded like music in your ears.

You flicked your tongue over his tip, tasting the precum dripping from it. Dipping your tongue into the crease, Taeyong groaned again, this time louder and impatient. It was until then, when he began to swear as you bobbed your head up and down the upper half of his cock, making him nearing his pleasure. Now opening your mouth, you took him in all at once until you reached your limits.

“Fuck!” he cursed, tangling his fingers in your hair and scratching your head.

His pants mixed with groans, turning him into a mess under your touches like he had just done with you before.

You continued bobbing your head up and down his length, taking him to the furthest you could and letting him slide out of your mouth just to take him in again. The pace was rather slow, but it had its effect.

Taeyong was so, so close. You intensified his feeling by massaging the area around his base, then letting your hands help you by gliding up and down the lower part of his cock. You then stopped at the head to suck with your lips on the tip, nudging it with your tongue before letting it pass your wet lips once again.

He was twitching in your mouth in anticipation for the upcoming release, and it was right before he was reaching his climax when you let go and sat up, wiping your tongue over your lips.

“We’re getting a little bitchy over here,” Taeyong panted as he saw you stopping and crawling back to pull on the waistband of both, his boxers and jeans.

“Tit for tat,” you just answered, and within a blink of an eye, your boyfriend had already grabbed your waist on either side and flipped you over so that you laid underneath him. “Oh, we’re getting a little impatient over here, aren’t we?”

Taeyong just let out a laugh when he got on his knees and hovered over you, reaching under your back to open your bra with one fluid motion. You arched your body to make it easier for him to remove the clothing. He placed himself on top of you and lowered his head to take one of your nipples in his mouth.

His tongue moved over your nub in circular movements while his other hand grabbed at your breasts to massage them intensely with his fingers. He took your peak between his teeth, sucking on it roughly and making you gasp, partly in slight pain and partly in excitement as he gently bit into it.

“God, Taeyong!” you screamed, digging your fingers in the back of his neck while he kissed down to your navel. “Just…”

You didn’t even need to speak it out. He sat up and put both of your legs over his shoulder to slide off your soaked panties. You could still feel your core pulsing from the things he had one before and it probably only got worse now that he was so near, but still not in you.

Taeyong peeled off his jeans and boxers, getting entangled with the clothes in eagerness. When he was finally freed and completely naked in front of you, he reached over to your nightstand, grabbing one of the condoms out of the package. You reached out your hand to grab it and before Taeyong could even realize, you hooked your legs around his waist and made him turn around, pushing him back onto the mattress so that you were sitting on top of him again.

Flashing a triumphant smile at him, you put the silver pack between your teeth and opened it. Like an expert, you rolled the rubber down his length.

“Shitshitshit.”

Taeyong had every right to curse. He loved it when you were riding him. It was rare, because he was a kind of a very dominant guy, but when it was your turn, you always managed to give him the best ride ever.

You crawled closer to his crotch and by grabbing on his length, you directed him at your entrance. The tip poked into you, and although you planned to tease him a little more, you couldn’t continue to do so. Not when pleasure and release were so tangible. Your eyes fluttered in bliss as you threw your head back, letting your lips part in satisfaction the further his cock slid into you. Feeling him inch for inch, you bit your lip in excitement and exhaled in relief.

You placed your hands on his chest and started to move your hips in circular motions, gyrating against Taeyong’s hips. You could hear him groan and feel his length twitching in your core, anticipating more.

He grabbed on your waist and followed your movements, thrusting upwards when you started to raise and lower your hips on his cock. You clenched your muscles and glided up and down his member, increasing your pace with every movement you made. Your pants, moans and groans filled the room from the first time you had led him into you.

Probably neither of you exactly knew what you were doing anymore by now. All you could do was give in to the pleasure, being led by the coiling feeling building up in your groin once again. It was fun on top, but it was exhausting as well. Usually, Taeyong would…

“Out of breath yet?” he asked as he sat up, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear before he kissed you with his mouth slightly open.

His tongue glided into your mouth for a deep kiss, but not one of the sort where it was all sloppy and wet, but one of the sort where it was all passionate and hot. Bringing your legs around his waist, you hooked your ankles and let yourself be placed onto the mattress without him pulling out.

“I can’t anymore,” you breathed, running your fingers over his chest before grabbing onto his shoulders. “Yongie, please, I—“

“I know, I know.” He kissed you once again, and it was the moment he started to thrust when you threw your head back, angling your hips against his.

“Ohh… Oh god…”

Your nails dug deeper into his skin and he lowered his head to look you in the eyes intensely, the tip of his nose slightly touching yours. Sweat was glistening on his forehead, wetting the tip of his hair.

It was over with slow and tender motions now. Taeyong reached out for the headboard and held onto it as he increased his pace. He practically slammed into you mercilessly and roughly, making you scream endlessly this time.

“Taeyong!” You clenched your eyes shut, just feeling him hitting the right spot in the right angle over and over again. “Fast... please faster!”

The bed creaked loudly under you, and you were glad that your parents weren’t home now.

“Shit,” Taeyong panted, keeping his thrusts quick and steady. “God, you feel so good…” He went faster and faster. “I love you,” he exclaimed suddenly, “I love you so fucking much.”

Just in the moment you wanted to return something, the orgasm ripped through you. You let out a high pitched scream, experiencing a climax as powerful and mind-blowing as always with Taeyong.

He felt your walls tightening around his length, your thighs tensing and closing around his waist even stronger. The orgasm shot spasms through your body, making you hold onto your boyfriend even more desperate when you lolled your head back as no more sound wanted to come out of your mouth anymore, your body arching against his.

Feeling himself getting close too, he cupped your face and kissed you passionately. You could tell from the pace of his pants that he was so close to his release as well, and it was only seconds later, after a few more thrusts, that he finally came too. His body shook as he let out a deep groan, falling on top of you with a long moan.

You both breathed heavily from exhaustion, and Taeyong pulled you into an embrace immediately after, placing your head on his chest and holding you tightly like he never wanted to let you go ever again.

“Screw math,” he then said and you could feel him smile as he placed a tender kiss on your forehead.

“Screw math,” you repeated and pulled the blanket over the both of you.

Yet, there was still something you hadn’t said back when Taeyong exclaimed it in release.

“I love you, too.” And with a smirk, you imitated, “So fucking much.”

In embarrassment, he got up and flipped you over again, wrestling with you on the bed as relieved laughter filled the room.

Forgotten was math and the upcoming exam. You probably wouldn’t have gotten anything in your head anymore anyway. And Perhaps, a little distraction to free your mind and clear your thoughts was more helpful than studying until you went crazy.

And your boyfriend was probably the best solution to every question anyways. There was no way you would fail the exam anymore.

[sanstropfremir]

ok this took way longer than i expected because i got sidetracked looking at paintings and reading poetry and just admiring the mv, but it's finally finished!! let's talk about

higher

✨

i'm going to draw your attention to a few things.

firstly, these verses from rime of the ancient mariner by samuel taylor coleridge, published 1834:

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,

So smoothly it was strewn!

And on the bay the moonlight lay,

And the shadow of the Moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,

That stands above the rock:

The moonlight steeped in silentness

The steady weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,

Till rising from the same,

Full many shapes, that shadows were,

In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were:

I turned my eyes upon the deck—

Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,

And, by the holy rood!

A man all light, a seraph-man,

On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand:

It was a heavenly sight!

They stood as signals to the land,

Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand,

No voice did they impart—

No voice; but oh! the silence sank

Like music on my heart.

secondly, this ivan aivazovsky painting, chaos (the creation), c. 1841:

and thirdly, the memorial of percy shelley, who drowned in a boating accident at age 29, in 1822:

there's a common conflation between the romantic and the pastoral in the general cultural consensus because the pastoral a) has been around as an art term longer than romantic, and b) romanticism does use some similar imagery. but there is a key difference: the pastoral is specfically an idealization of 'the simple shepherding life,' often for high class and urban audiences who have no conception of the details of this life includes. one of the more famous examples is christopher marlowe's a passionate shepherd to his love, published in 1599:

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,

Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow Rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,

With Coral clasps and Amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

whereas romanticism is a more pointedly specific movement that was active from around 1800 to 1850, primarily focused on intense emotion and catharsis as the primary experiential output of an artwork. which most prominently manifested in a deep fascination and glorification of the natural environment and historical nostalgia. the movement sprung from the german sturm und drang (literally storm and drive/stress) period of the late 1760s to early 1780s, which was a direct reaction to rationalism and enlightenment. romanticism had similar impulses; it was also a revival of medievalism and a reaction against the looming urban sprawl and mechanization of the industrial revolution. a typical romantic poem from one of the originators of the english movment william wordsworth, composed upon westminster bridge, september 3, 1802, originally published 1807:

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

this romantic fascination with nature was underpinned by the philosophy of the sublime, generally agreed to be first treatised by edmund burke in 1756, the theory was also written about by kant and hegel. in the simplest of terms, the sublime is a quality of greatness beyond calculation, imitation, and human comprehension. the sublime is twofold; the greatness of the ocean is beautiful, but its power is also terrifying, and the experience of the sublime is to feel those two at once. to be in awe and also to be horrified of its ability to sink ships and drown a life in a tempermental change of tide.

let's take a quick detour to talk about

clothing

in the present day we have become much more lax thanks to the aesthetic movement in the late nineteenth century, but back in the early victorian period there are still highly structured rules about when and what clothing one can wear in public. and the clothing itself is also highly structured. anyone with a passing understanding of the victorian era knows about the whole flashing of the ankle thing and corsets galore, and it is true that the general day to day garments cover a lot of area. for men in particular, this manifests in no less than three layers in public at all times: shirt, waistcoat, and suit jacket, with a coat or mantle overtop in colder temperatures. this also includes a variation of a neck tie (depending on what year), hat, gloves, and any other decided upon accessories (this can also include a corset and other padded structural underpinnings). an important tangent to mention here is that this is the uniform of the upper classes, although the rules do apply to the lower classes if they wanted to appear 'sophisticated.' the working man's uniform was also shirt, waistcoat, trousers, but the difference here is in the textiles themselves; the colours tended to be much more drab, with less complicated patterns. obviously due to the price fabric itself, but also due to the labour of laundry. an indicator of class here is the white shirt itself and its pristine implications. (there is a longer conversation here about the invention of neckties and detachable collars and cuffs, but that's for another day). the silhouettes are very important to note here in the higher mv, as they are directly referential to the 'romantic poet' archetype of loose shirt and tight pants that we see in popular culture. but as i've just said, the reality is that men of the era were not dressed like this out in public. this look is essentially underwear; the implications are salacious. so where did this come from? well, we can blame it mostly on lord byron, who by all accounts was the first western 'rockstar.' notoriously called 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' by lady caroline lamb (a married women he publically had an affair with), byron was openly bisexual and deeply hedonistic with a lot of questionable habits, but his poetry was so popular that he was known to have women following him in the street and gathering in large quanities to see him at salons. and this was close to three decades before lizstomania. his close friends and contemporaries included percy and mary shelley, with whom he lived with abroad in italy for some time (this living arrangement resulted in the writing of both frankenstein and john polidori's the vampyre). byron's reputation was so eclipsing that the image of the lush poet lazing in his undergarments has become its own genre of romantic, slightly removed from the movement byron was writing in. it's also worth it to point out that there are no official portraits of byron dressed like this from the time. the visual assumption is somewhat apochryphal. now let's get into some specifics. a.c.e is not unfamiliar to this silhouette; as previously mentioned in this post i wrote about their styling, the boxy loose upper and fitted lower is their general mode for their styling because of its emphasis on legs. cactus was the most extreme example of this, and to prove my point, this specific silhouette is extremely common in classical ballet:

1. vaslav nijinsky, giselle, 1911 2. nehemiah kish, george balanchine's ballo della regina, 2011/12

higher fits very neatly into this same category: we have an emphasis on the legs through tightly fitted garments and also through light reflective textile, as well as a secondary emphasis on arm and shoulder movements with looser fit shirts. plus, the shirts are made from fabrics that have good drape and flow, and mimic the visual effects of water:

there are also several instances of scale patterning and wetlook hair styles, further elabourating on the siren theme. and the jewelry is the same, purposefully cut clear stones for oceanic sparkle or pearls, the gem directly born from water, as highlighting accents to specific parts of the body - namely eyes, hands, and torso:

the body jewelry also serves a double purpose in addition to being sparkly; it gives a semblance of shape to their torsos so their movements aren't totally lost in the shroud of their shirts, and it also invokes some of that salacious element that us as a modern audience doesn't necessarily perceive in the same way when we see a man wearing only a shirt. all of these points are especially prominent in the stage costuming. concerning the veils, these are an aesthetic choice following the theme of depicting water without actually using water. the song has a very breathless quality to it, and the lyrics directly make reference to water and breathlessness, so it only makes sense to have a physical manifestation of struggling to breathe.

now let's talk about

mise-en-scène

unlike most kpop mvs, I would argue that higher is not a spectacle in what we normally see spectacle to be. the overwhelming visual saturation of goblin (and the goblin remix) is more in line with what we expect, but how do you follow that, top it? the answer is that you don't. you aim for something with a completely different feel, which is exact what they did with higher.

the performing arts did not escape romanticism. the very start of the movement, sturm und drang, is actually named from a specific play written by friedrich maximilian klinger that premiered in 1777. the plays of the brief period are characterized by extreme and passionate emotions, and were siblings to one of the most famous genres of theatre, the melodrama. meant to appeal directly to the emotions of the audience using sensationalist plots and stock characters, the melodrama was the predominent form of entertainment in victorian england and gradually developed a specific form of its own. in this period we also start to see the development of 'stagecraft' into the recognizable form that it takes today. footlights, limelight/spotlighting, the separation of house and stage lighting, fly galleries, elevator platform mechanics, and the first (purported) western use of rear projection are all innovations of the late 18th and 19th centuries, as melodramas were known to have very intricate and spectacular stagings. and to go along with these stagecraft mechanics we see the rise in designated stage crews, which were predominantly off-duty sailors looking to make money. the rope systems that made up the fly galleries were very similar to that on ships, and much of the terminology and supersitions crossed over: this is the origin of the term 'rigging' being used for suspending set elements, and also the origin of the 'don't whistle in a theatre' superstition. as sailors communicated with whistle patterns on ships, the same system was adopted for changing scenery, and therefore whistling a random pattern could potentially drop a setpiece on an unsuspecting victim.

so with all this backstory out of the way, what is the very first full location we see? a stage, complete with forced perspective via the painted fabric legs (the side panels) and borders (the wavy upper panels). we even have a flat painted backdrop with a projection screen and hanging overhead lamps. there's also a second interior set, a desk in what looks to be a study of some kind. bit self explanatory on this one, taking the poet notion on the nose.

the locations have a bit of an obtuse arc, but it's there when you look for it. it starts interior spaces, where the ideas of sublime attempted to be recreated for the viewer. then it moves to transitory spaces; portions of nature isolated from a whole environment, interjections of human architecture into natural spaces:

(the white hut structure in the greenhouse is reminiscent of a skene (literally hut/tent), which is the structure at the back of the stage in ancient greek theatre used for the actors to change their masks and costumes. it was originally temporary, but slowly transformed into permanent stage architecture)

and then finally outdoors, into the sublime itself:

jwm turner, crossing the bridge, 1815

lastly,

lighting

there's a very clear lighting pattern here, primarily in light and dark. the base colour story is fairly simple complementary pairs; there's a lot of purple/red and green, and blue and yellow/amber, with everything relatively on the same tonal level. there are deliberate interjections of heavily saturated red for specific effect. there are also, most notably, a 'dark' version of all the sets. obviously as a reference to the eclipse that we see in the mv and in the concept photo series, but also as a reference to that darker undercurrent of the sublime, the upsetting, the uncanny, and the terrifying:

And the bay was white with silent light/Till rising from the same/Full many shapes, that shadows were/In crimson colours came.

[v-hope]

Tomorrow

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff, Ex to Lovers!AU, implied College!AU

Word Count: 1.7k

Request: No, this is just me taking another bit of my parents' love story and turning it into a Yoongi fic lol

Summary: Running into your ex at a club and acting as if you're doing great without him? Nailed it. Controlling your tears once the two of you parted ways again and stopping your best friend from going up to scold him for making you cry? Well...

But hey, you'd have to thank her later.

“What did you tell Y/N, you dick?”

If Yoongi hadn't turned around at the sound of your name being so loudly said, with the intention of him properly hearing it over the booming music in the club, he sure as hell did when that same question was followed by two harsh taps on his shoulder; turning around with furrowed eyebrows, only to grow even more confused after seeing your best friend standing right in front of him looking like she was about to kill him any point by then.

“What are you talking about?” he cluelessly wondered.

Your friend exhaled in frustration. “She ran into you earlier and she's been outside crying for the past five minutes” she informed him. “What did you tell her?”

“Nothing bad?” he pouted in confusion. “I just told her I was here with my friends having fun and that was it”.

“You absolute moron” she ran her hands over her face. “Go fix this”.

Yoongi scoffed – disbelief written all over his face. “What? I just told you I d–”

“Okay, stay here” she let him know she was having none of it with a shrug, gazing over Yoongi's dumbfounded friends before locking eyes with him once again, “just know your ex is outside crying because of you”.

With that, she turned around to leave a very stunned and conflicted Yoongi.

Ex, that word being used in reference to you still feeling so surreal. So damn… wrong.

His friends tried their best to stop him from going to you – not only because they saw their plans for the night about to be ruined, but also because they knew going to comfort the one person you had dated for so long and were still not completely over was not the healthiest of decisions when you were trying to move on with your life.

However, no matter how hard they tried to convince him not to, Yoongi ended up walking outside of the club anyway; zipping his jacket all the way up as soon as he was hit with some light rain and the cold breeze of the night, before his eyes quickly looked around for you.

It took him less than four seconds to find your figure a few meters away from him, sitting down by the wall of the building with your legs hugged to your chest and your face resting on your knees, as the only thing protecting you from the rain was an ocean blue jacket he did not recognize as yours.

Although he could not see your face, the sight of your body trembling with each breath you took was enough to make his heart clench.

Any other time, he would've scolded you for being unwary enough to be outside of a place like this all alone at past two in the morning. What he did now, however, was pushing that protective instinct of his aside and walk over to you – taking a seat by your side on the already wet floor and remaining silent for a few seconds, as he tried to find the right words to say, or at least to make you acknowledge his presence.

“So much for being great, huh?” he let out after what felt like forever to try and light up the mood, instantly realising he had done the exact opposite when you sat up straight to look him coldly as ever in the eye.

“You're such a jerk” you bit back, pressing your hands down on the floor so you could stand up.

“Wait, no” Yoongi stopped you by grabbing your wrist. “Sorry” his eyes searched for yours – his heart aching once again after realising how red and puffy they were, “I didn't know what to say”.

“Anything but that would've been nice” you shook your head, snatching your arm away from his hand. “Go back inside, Yoongi. I want to be alone”.

Only you did not, and he knew it, which is why he paid no mind to your words. Nevertheless, he understood he wasn't the best of companies for you right then, and so he decided to respect that and keep his distance from you.

“I honestly thought you were doing fine, Y/N” he confessed softly. “You were so bubbly when we ran into each other and–”

“It's called putting on an act” you cut him off, remaining just as cold as you were before. “I wanted to be mature about our breakup, but I had just ended up face to face with my ex in a club, who started rubbing it in my face just how much fun he was having with his friends, how do you think I felt?”

A loud, annoyed scoff escaped Yoongi's mouth at your words. “You were out with your friends having fun too, do I have to remind you?”

You shook your head, resting it on the wall not to look at him. “It's different”.

“Please enlighten me” he huffed, shaking his head as well.

“Because we're here for different reasons” you simply stated, instinctively locking eyes with him to make your point more clear. “I'm here in hopes of getting my mind off you by dancing with my friends or even, if I'm lucky enough, to meet someone who will finally help me get over you” you confessed; being so caught up in your own feelings that you missed the way his eyes had filled with hurt at the mention of you and someone else, “whereas you're here just because of that… to have fun with your friends” you shrugged, feeling your vision become blurry again. “So I'm sorry I'm here and I ruined your night, it was never my intention. Maybe to you four months is enough to get over a three year relationship, but not all of us can be so good at moving on” you finished rather bitterly.

“You think this has been easy for me?” his eyebrows knitted together before he squinted his eyes. “You really believe I can get over you and what we had just like that?”

“Isn't that what you so happily said when we met inside?” you tilted your head questioningly, and, although you had tried to seem threatening, your voice betrayed you by coming out as nothing but a soft whisper.

“You're not the only one who knows how to put on an act” he mumbled, lowering his head for he didn't have enough courage to say that while looking into your eyes.

“What's that supposed to mean?” you asked not even a second after, your heart urging to know the answer.

Yoongi inhaled deeply, throwing his head back and closing his eyes; allowing the faint drops of water to directly hit his face for a few seconds before the rain became stronger.

“Come on” he pushed your previous question aside, “I'm taking you home”.

You saw your chance of ever getting to talk things out vanish right in front of your eyes when he stood up in silence, letting you know the conversation was over the moment he reached his hand out to help you up to your feet.

“Yoongi…” his name being said ever so softly by you did something to his heart.

It had almost sounded as if you were scared you would never see him again. And you were, which is why you hesitated to hold his hand, somehow feeling that if you did then that would be it; that if you did take his hand, he'd drop you off at your place and you'd see the last of him.

Yoongi sighed after a few seconds of you doing nothing but absently stare to his fingers, not needing anything else to know what was troubling you so much.

That was the reason he kneeled down in front of you, gently cupping your face to reassuringly let you know: “We're both vulnerable right now. Let's talk about this tomorrow when our minds are clearer, yeah?”

You bit the inside of your cheek at his proposal, brightening up not only at the glimpse of hope his words had brought to you, but also because you knew then he didn't want this conversation to be over and forgotten either. So, nodding your head with a sweet yet weak smile of your own, mirroring the one that had just curved up his lips, you allowed him to place his hands on your upper arms as he finally helped you up.

“Let's go” he held your hand tightly to drag you with him.

“Oh, wait!” you stopped him right after you had unconsciously hugged to your body the jacket you were wearing. “I should leave this here”.

“But it's raining” he spoke in a pout. “I'm sure your friend will understand if you take it, you can give it b–”

“Oh, it's not my friend's” you denied his beliefs immediately, “a drunk guy lent it to me earlier”.

“Say what again?” his unamused reaction earned a chuckle from you, being completely oblivious to the way Yoongi's heart had jumped at the sound of your laugh after all those months.

“I don't even know who it was, maybe I know him from campus” you shrugged, starting to slowly take the warm piece of clothing off, “he just sat by my side and started talking to me while I cried, and when it started raining he just put his jacket on me and left”.

“What a heartwarming story” Yoongi said cynically, causing you to roll your eyes. “But yeah, let's just leave it here so he can find it later” he took it from your hands so he could place it somewhere not entirely wet because of the rain yet, later turning around as his hands moved to unzip his own jacket, “you can have mine for now”.

This time a giggle escaped your mouth, making yourself comfortable inside his cozy clothes with his help. “Jealous much?” you pushed it before you could even stop yourself – for a moment there having felt like things were back to what they once were before.

Much to your relief, Yoongi didn't mind it at all. If anything, he smirked, rushing to pull up the zip until the black fabric was slightly hovering over your mouth.

“Tomorrow” he stated calmly – his action of pulling the hat attached to his jacket over your head keeping him from catching the sparkle that had just showed up in your eyes. “We'll talk about us tomorrow”.

[starspangledbanner27]

**CHAPTER UPDATE – Chapter 4 posted**

Fandom: Saving Mr. Banks (AU)

Description: AU take on the movie, exploring what might have happened if the author of the Mary Poppins books had been someone very different from P. L. Travers.  For Carrie Schultz, the chance to collaborate with Walt Disney Studios to bring Mary Poppins from the page to the screen is a dream come true.  However, matters grow complicated when animated penguins prove to be a point of contention, a friendly working relationship turns into more than she bargained for, and Carrie struggles to prevent Walt’s team from discovering her own hidden afflictions.

Characters: Carolina “Carrie” Schultz (OC), Don DaGradi, Walt Disney, Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, Ralph

Rating: T

Genre: Drama/Romance

Language: English

Read on Fanfiction.net, AO3, Wattpad, Quotev, or below.

From the beginning: Fanfiction.net, AO3, Wattpad, or Quotev.

Once again, many thanks to my faithful readers!  Whether you comment directly on the story or message me privately, I am always happy to hear from you. :)

A/N: For the purposes of this story, I have aged Don DaGradi down somewhat. Whereas in the movie he is in his early fifties, in this story he is somewhere between thirty-five and forty years old.  (If you’re familiar with The West Wing and/or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, picture something like Josh Lyman in the later seasons or Danny Tripp with auburn hair.)

~~~~~

Chapter 4

The next morning at 9:27 sharp, I stood waiting outside the front door of the hotel with my purse on my arm, my shoulders squared, and my head held high, ready to take on the world—or so I tried to convince myself.

Taking a deep breath, I smoothed my hands down the front of my royal blue tweed business dress with the sleeves that came halfway down my upper arms.  Knowing what I knew about the Walt Disney company and how it was run, I’d packed plenty of semi-casual outfits to wear in the coming days; but today I was most concerned about making a good first impression, and for that the blue tweed dress was perfect.  Stylish yet sober, it was my go-to for whenever I needed to look strikingly professional.  It came with a matching jacket, which I wore draped over my shoulders lest I overheat with my arms in the sleeves.  A large black barrette held my wavy brown hair back in a low ponytail, and a pair of shiny black two-inch pumps completed the look.

With a sigh, I opened my purse and drew out the ladies’ wristwatch that I kept in there because I couldn’t stand wearing it on my wrist.  I checked the time—9:28.  Any minute now.

Squinting slightly, I gazed out beyond the overhang. The morning air was refreshingly mild, but the bright sunshine promised another torrid California spring day.  I wasn’t unaccustomed to heat—our Iowa summer temperatures often reached the mid-eighties—but I had always preferred cooler weather.  As a child, I loved to go out on the porch after a summer thunderstorm and smell the freshly-cleared air and feel the breeze on my cheek.  I’d look out at the lilac, azalea, and rhododendron bushes that surrounded the house, and I’d smile to myself when I saw the heat-oppressed flowers finally perking back up, daring to breathe once more.  The sun beat them down, but the rain brought them back. The rain brought life.

Shaking myself out of contemplation, I checked my watch again.  9:30. And, sure enough, I looked up to see Ralph’s car pull in under the overhang, right on the dot.  He hopped out, beaming like a ray of sunshine himself. “Good morning, Miss Schultz!”

“Good morning,” I replied, smiling back at him. “How are you today?”

“Oh, just right as rain, Miss Schultz.  And how ’bout yourself?”

“I’m doing well . . .” . . . I think.  In all honesty, I had to admit to myself that beneath my formidable exterior, I was, from head to toe, a nervous wreck—but I wasn’t about to let it show.  I took a deep breath and drew myself up a little straighter.

By now Ralph had come around the back of the car to where I stood.  “Yeah, today’s the big day, huh?  Walt Disney Studios, home of the big man himself—boy, won’t that be exciting!”  

“That it will be,” I agreed.

Still smiling, he opened the door for me to get in. “Hey, the sun came out again,” he remarked, gesturing towards the bright, cloudless sky.

Though I’d already seen it, I glanced out once more in the direction he’d indicated.  “Indeed,” I murmured.

“You like the sunshine?” he asked.

“Yes, I like the sunshine; not so much the heat, though.”

“Ah,” he nodded understandingly.  “Well, shall we, uh . . .”

“Oh—right, of course.”  I climbed into the car, he eased the door shut, and the next thing I knew, we were humming along the streets of Los Angeles, on our way to Walt Disney Studios.  

I spent most of the ride staring out the window with unseeing eyes as my imagination played out everything that could possibly happen in my first moments there, when I would finally arrive and meet the people I’d be working with for the next three weeks.  Would they be warm and friendly, or would they be aloof and inflexible? Would they be happy to have me there, or would they be coolly polite at most?  Had I made the right decision by coming, or would I end up regretting every minute?

“Well, here we are, Miss Schultz!”

Ralph’s chipper voice roused me from my reverie, and I looked up as the car slowed to a halt beside a small security booth.  “May I help you?” asked the man inside.

“I’ve got Miss Carolina Schultz here to see Mr. Disney,” Ralph replied.

After a short pause, the guard spoke again.  “All right, proceed.”

We coasted through the entrance and onto the lot, past a large sign with Walt Disney Studios spelled out in silver letters, and around to the sidewalk in front of a tall red-brick building, where three men in business suits stood waiting expectantly.  This must be the welcoming committee, I thought as they bent down and waved to me one by one.  The apparent head of this trio looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, with laughter-filled brown eyes, a wide, friendly smile with a deep dimple in each cheek, and reddish-brown hair swept back in a slightly disheveled fashion.  The other two looked almost identical from afar—they shared a similar height and build, as well as the same dark hair styled the same way.  As we approached, however, I could see that one of them appeared slightly shorter and more upbeat, while the other, somewhat older-looking one was leaning on a cane.

Once the car came to a stop, the man with the auburn hair stepped forward to open the door for me; but before he could do so, Ralph hurried around the back.  “Oh, I can get that, sir!” he called.

The man gave an obliging nod and moved back to where he’d been standing before.  “Got it?” he asked.  

“Yes, sir,” Ralph said, pulling the door open.

As I stepped out of the car, the auburn-haired man extended his arms welcomingly.  “Good morning, Miss Schultz!”

“Good morning,” I replied, “Mr. . . .?”

“DaGradi.  Don DaGradi, scriptwriter.”  Grinning, he held out his hand; and everything I saw in his eyes—the joy, the energy, the infectious enthusiasm—I felt in his handshake. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. DaGradi.”  I returned his smile. 

“Likewise, I’m sure.”  He then gestured to the other two men.  “This is the rest of your team; this is Dick and Bob Sherman, music and lyrics.”  He turned to address them.  “Boys, meet the one and only Miss Carolina Schultz, the creator of our beloved Mary!”

My smile widened.  “If she is half as beloved to you as she is to me, then I’m sure we’ll get along very well.”  I proceeded to shake hands with the Shermans.  “Now, which one of you is Dick, and which is Bob?”

“I’m Dick,” the younger man replied eagerly. 

“And I’m Bob.”  The older one inclined his head slightly.

“We’re brothers,” Dick added.

“Oh, how nice!  So, you’re the songwriters?”

“That’s right!” he affirmed.  “At your service.” 

“Well, I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with for this movie.”

Bob smiled.  “Good, ’cause we can’t wait to show you.”

“Wonderful.”  I turned back to Don.  “Now, I was told that when I arrived here, I would get to speak with Mr. Disney.  Is he ready to see me?”

“Well, we were hoping to give you a little tour of the studio first,” Don replied.

“Oh.  Does . . . does that involve a lot of walking?”

He shrugged.  “A fair amount.”  Noticing my hesitation, he asked, “Is that a problem?”

“Uh . . . well, I—I mean, I’d love to see the tour, but I’m just really tired from my . . . trip.”

“Oh, of course; I hadn't thought of that.  Well, we can certainly do it another time.”

“Yes, that would be lovely.  So . . . in that case, I suppose it’s time for me to go meet with Mr. Disney.  Would you be so kind as to point me in his direction?”

“Actually,” Don said, “it’s quite a long walk to where he is.  If you’ll just come with me, Miss Schultz, I’ll show you a better way.”  He started down the sidewalk, beckoning for me to follow.  The Shermans tagged along as well, exchanging a conspiratorial smirk as Don led us around the side of the building to where several small vehicles were parked.  He swept his arm grandly toward one of them.  “Miss Schultz, allow me to present the Disneymobile, our preferred mode of transportation.”

“Oh, I see; a golf cart!”

“Ah, but no ordinary golf cart,” Don replied with a wink.  “This, as you can see, has Mickey Mouse on the front, which, of course, makes it The Disneymobile.  You won’t find one of these anywhere else, Miss Schultz.”

Laughing, I stepped forward and allowed him to help me into the cart—or, rather, “the Disneymobile.”  Once I was comfortably settled, Don strode around to the other side and sprang into the driver’s seat.  Since each cart seated only two people, I expected that Dick and Bob would grab another and follow along; but instead they simply climbed up onto the back and held on tightly as we pulled out and drove across the lot.

As we rolled along, Don pointed out some of the various buildings, describing which part of the filmmaking process took place in each. “Way over there on the right is the Animation building, which is where we’re headed right now.  It’s where our artists and animators work, and it’s also where Walt’s office is located,” he explained.  “Across the street you have Inking and Painting, where we transfer the artwork onto celluloid sheets and add color so it becomes what you see in the movies. Then we photograph them onto film, over there in the Camera building.  And then, of course, there’s the post-production process, which takes place in the Cutting building, right next to Camera.”

I was so absorbed in what he was saying that I didn’t notice the sharp curve in the road until we were whipping around it at full speed. “Whoa!” I exclaimed, grabbing onto the roof of the cart just in time to keep myself from flying out.  

Don glanced over at me.  “You okay?”

I nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.  “Yeah, I think so.”

He gave an embarrassed smile.  “Sorry about that.  I should have warned you we’d be going around a turn.”

“It’s all right; I should have been paying closer attention.”

“We forgive you, Don!” Bob proclaimed from the back, and we all laughed.

At last, after several minutes, we came to a stop in front of the Animation building.  “And here we are!” Don announced as we climbed out of the cart.

“Wow,” I breathed, gazing up at the three-story building.  

Dick smiled.  “Pretty impressive, huh?”

“Yeah.  I can’t believe I’m really here.  It almost feels like a dream.”

“Oh, it’s real,” Bob assured me.

I shook my head slowly.  “It’s amazing.”

Don grinned.  “Well, get used to it, cause this is where you’ll be spending most of your time for the next three weeks.”  He turned to the Shermans.  “I’m gonna take her up to Walt’s office; you guys coming?”

“No, you go ahead,” said Bob.  “Dick and I will park the cart and then head upstairs to get things ready.  We’ll see you guys in the rehearsal room.”

“All right then.  Miss Schultz, right this way.”

Together Don and I strode up the walkway and mounted the wide concrete steps to the main entrance, where he reached out to pull the door open.  “After you,” he said.

“Thank you,” I replied; and we walked in.

The temperature inside was pleasant, but warm enough that I decided to shed my jacket, which was still resting on my shoulders.  “I can take that for you if you’d like,” Don offered once I’d removed it.

“Thank you; that would be nice.”  I held it out to him, and he took it and folded it over his arm.

They really are going all-out, I mused silently as we climbed the stairs to the third floor.  The men were very friendly and courteous, to be sure; but I couldn’t decide whether to feel pleased or suspicious about it.  This was business, after all.  Fun, hopefully, but still business.  Perhaps they were just trying to win me over.  And yet, it had to be more than just that, for there was a sincerity in their manner that put me instantly at ease.

At last we reached the third floor and headed down a wide hallway toward a pair of glass doors, through which I could discern what appeared to be a small waiting area.  When we arrived, Don opened the door for me once again, and I walked through.

The waiting area consisted of a brown curved sofa and two end tables lined up against the far wall, with a woman in a light blue dress sitting behind a desk near the doors.  She had short, dark hair and a round, pleasant face with bright red lips, and she looked to be about my age.  As Don and I entered, she stepped out to greet us with a wide smile.  “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Dolly,” Don replied amiably.  “Miss Schultz, this is Dolly, our receptionist.  Dolly, the famous Carolina Schultz.”

“It’s such an honor to have you here,” she gushed.

“Thank you; I’m honored to be here,” I said, smiling at her bubbly welcome.  “Could you please let Mr. Disney know I’ve arrived?”

“Absolutely!  Please have a seat; he’ll be with you in just a minute.”

“Thank you.”

Once we were seated on the sofa, Don leaned over and spoke quietly to me.  “A word of advice, Miss Schultz, if I may.”

“Of course.  Have . . . have I done something wrong?”

“No, no—nothing like that.  It’s just that he can’t stand being called ‘Mr. Disney’; we’re all on a first-name basis here.”

“Oh, I see.  So I should call him Walt?”

“He would prefer that, yes.”

“All right.”  I hesitated.  “Does . . . does that go for you guys, too?”

“Well, I can’t speak for the Shermans, but I know I’d rather be called Don than Walt.” 

I blushed in embarrassment.  “I’m sorry; I should have phrased that differently.  What I meant was, do you prefer to be called by your first names?”

He looked at me then, and I saw his eyes were twinkling.  “I know what you meant, Miss Schultz; I was just being funny.  Or at least attempting to be,” he said with a wry grin.  “But in answer to your question, yes, we all go by our first names.”

I nodded.  “Okay.  Thanks for letting me know . . . Don.”

He smiled.  “And what do people call you?  Carolina?”

“Well, that’s the name on my books, but I seldom use it anywhere else.  I mostly go by Carrie.  You guys can call me that, if you want.”

“Carrie . . . I like that,” he remarked to himself.  Then, turning to me—“All right then, Carrie it is.”  I smiled and blushed a little.

At that point, our conversation lapsed.  Don stared off into the distance, bouncing his leg slightly and tapping his fingers on his knee.  Meanwhile, as the seconds stretched into minutes, I grew more and more antsy at the thought of meeting Walt Disney—the king of animated motion pictures himself!  I stretched my arms out in front of me, clenching and unclenching my hands repeatedly in a vain attempt to alleviate my jitters.  Don noticed this and looked over at me with a knowing smile.  “You nervous?”

“Oh, no, not at all.  I’m only about to meet the Walt Disney; why on earth would I be nervous?”  I gave a half-smile to let him know my sarcasm was meant in fun. 

He chuckled.  “It’s all right.  He has that effect on everyone.  But trust me—once you meet him, you’ll see there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Are you absolutely sure I should call him Walt?” I asked.  “I mean, it just seems so informal, and I’d really hate to appear rude.  But you did say he likes everyone to call him that?”

“He does indeed.  If you don’t believe me, ask him yourself,” Don replied good-naturedly. Then, all of a sudden, his head perked up, and his brow furrowed slightly.  “Hold on . . . I think I just heard the door to his office.”

My eyes widened, my heart palpitated, and my hands clasped tightly together.  Oh my gosh, this is actually happening.  Down the hall, I heard a deep cough; and two seconds later, he—Walt Disney—emerged from around the corner, threw open his arms, and strode across the room toward us, beaming, as we stood up.  “Well,” he boomed, “here you are, at last!  Oh, my dear gal”—he seized my hand in both of his and shook it vigorously—“you can’t imagine how excited I am to finally meet you!”

It took me several seconds to regain my power of speech. “Oh!  Well, it’s an honor, Mr. Disney.”  My face reddened as I realized my mistake and quickly corrected myself. “Oh—I mean Walt.  Don said I ought to call you Walt.”  I gave him a questioning look. 

“That’s absolutely correct,” Walt replied warmly.  “‘Mr. Disney’ was my old man, and I like to keep it that way.  But enough about me—what do you think of the studio?  You like what you’ve seen?  I trust the boys have already given you the tour.”

“Actually, they were kind enough to give me a rain check. I was a little too tired to handle much walking.  But I do love everything I’ve seen so far—especially the Disneymobile.”  I threw a smile at Don, who had already been grinning widely from the moment Walt entered the room. 

Walt raised an eyebrow, glancing curiously in Don’s direction.  “The Disneymobile?”

“Golf cart,” Don explained.  

“Ah.”  Walt chuckled.  “Well, I’m glad to hear that.  And I guarantee there’s lots more to love around here . . . but I won’t say anything more about that.”  He raised his eyebrows mysteriously.  “You’ll just have to stick around and see the magic for yourself.  Come on, right this way.”  With that, he turned and strode back the hall. 

I glanced hesitantly at Don, who gave a slight nod in the direction Walt was headed.  “Go on. I’ll be waiting out here when you’re done.  And, Carrie?”

“Hmm?”

“Don't be nervous.”  He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.  I nodded, smiling my thanks, and hurried after Walt. 

I caught up to him where he was standing near another desk with another woman sitting behind it—one who appeared to be in her mid-forties, with dark red hair and a calm, pleasant face with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes.  Walt looked up from his conversation with her just as I rounded the corner.  “Oh, there you are!” he exclaimed.  “I was starting to worry I’d lost you.”  Before I could reply, he gestured to the woman at the desk, who had stood up when I appeared.  “Carolina, this is my secretary, Tommie Blount.  Tommie, meet the one and only Carolina Schultz.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” she said warmly, offering her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, too,” I replied, shaking hands with her.  “And, please, call me Carrie.”  I sent a brief glance in Walt’s direction.  “Everyone does.”

“Well, then, Carrie,” Walt said, “won’t you join me in my office?”

“Uh—certainly.”  I looked over my shoulder to exchange another smile with Tommie as I followed Walt into the adjoining room. 

When I walked through the doorway, I halted in amazement.  Never before had I seen an office like his—so spacious, yet so homey.  The wall directly to my right was lined with bookcases that held not only books, but also numerous knickknacks—many of which were figurines of characters from his movies.  In front of the bookcases sat a three-seat couch and a glass-top coffee table. Two large windows flooded the room with light; on their sills rested more figurines.  A large globe in a wooden stand stood near one of the windows, and two plush off-white chairs sat facing each other at opposite ends of the room.

In the corner across the room was Walt’s desk, which he moved to stand behind.  “Come, have a seat!” he called, indicating one of two chairs that sat across from him. As I walked over, I took note of the various paraphernalia that cluttered his desk: two small lamps, a few books, a model airplane, a pencil holder full of pens and pencils, and the pixie bell I’d seen him ringing on television the day before.  In the very center, on the side closest to me, sat a small wooden plaque that read, We can make them live.  And on the wall behind the desk were several shelves lined with even more figurines.

“You like all the trinkets?” Walt asked, noticing my curious interest. 

“Yes, they’re fascinating!” I said as I sat down. 

His eyes twinkled.  “Good, good!  Tommie keeps telling me I should clean out my office and get rid of all this ‘junk,’ as she calls it.  And you know what I always tell her?”  Without waiting for an answer, he went on.  “I say, ‘Tommie, these little trinkets represent the things that bring joy to a child’s heart.  And as long as that’s true, there’s no better place to keep them than right here in my office, where I can see them every day and be reminded of what we’re all about here: bringing joy to the hearts of children.’”  He chuckled.  “Of course, she thinks that’s just a fancy excuse for not wanting to clean out my office; but there is truth to it, Carrie. That is what this company is all about, is bringing joy to the hearts of children—and adults, too, for that matter.”

He paused thoughtfully for a moment, then turned and pointed to one of several framed pictures on the wall behind him—a pencil sketch of a young woman.  “You know, Diane here, my oldest daughter—oh!” he interrupted himself.  “Can I get you something to drink?  A coffee, perhaps?”

“That would be very nice, thank you.”

He nodded and went on.  “Anyway, Diane has two little daughters of her own: Joanna and Tamara—but of course, we call them Joey and Tammy.  And one time, when I came to visit them, I found them sitting on the couch.  Joey was reading to Tammy, and those girls, they were just giggling their little socks off.”  He picked up his phone to use the intercom.  “Ah, Tommie?  A hot coffee for Carrie and me.”

I heard her voice through the door.  “Right away, Walt.”

“Ah, you’re a doll.  She is, she’s a doll,” he said as he hung up the phone and turned back to me.  “And anyways,” he continued, “I asked them, I said, ‘Girls, what’s so funny?’  And Joanna says to me, ‘Why, Grampy, Mary Poppins!’”  He laughed, and I couldn’t help laughing with him. 

“Well, at that point, I didn't even know what a Mary Poppins was,” he admitted.  “But then she gave me one of your books; and oh, by gosh, my imagination caught on fire—absolutely on fire!  And now, here we are!”

I nodded.  “Indeed.  I’m so happy to be here.  I can’t wait to start working on the movie.”

“Oh, I feel the same way; and so does my team.  You know, we’re doing a wonderful thing here.  Our motion picture is not just going to make my grandkids happy; it’s going to make all kids happy, adults too.  Because my guys are going to do things with it that are revolutionary, Carolina, revolutionary!  Your Mary Poppins is going to literally fly off the pages of your books!  Oh, thank you, Tommie,” he said as Tommie came in with our coffee.  “This magical woman who has only lived inside your head, well, you are going to be able to meet her, speak to her, and you’re gonna hear her sing.”

“Yes, I’m very excited!” I assured him.

“Do you take cream in your coffee?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Sugar?”

“Please.”

He poured in the cream and sugar, stirring them around as he spoke.  “You know, ever since this company was born, we’ve brought dozens of films to the big screen—many of which are based off books just like yours.  And in all these years, we haven’t lost an author yet.” He handed me my coffee cup.  “I have high hopes for what we’re going to accomplish here together, Carrie, and you can rest assured we’ll do our very best to make this an experience you won’t regret.”

“Mr. Disney—” I caught myself.  “I’m sorry—Walt . . . forgive me for being so blunt, but it sounds like you’re trying to convince me of something.  Are you worried I might be having second thoughts?”

He took a slow, thoughtful sip of coffee.  “Well . . . I suppose I still don’t quite understand why you turned us down the first time.”

After a long pause, I spoke.  “It wasn’t that I was uninterested.  I do like the idea of this project, and I’m glad it ended up working out.”  I sighed deeply.  “The reason I said no initially . . . well, it was really just the timing of it all.  Your offer just happened to come right after I’d found out about . . . well . . . I believe my agent told you?  About my . . .”

“Yes . . . yes, she told me.”

“Right.  Anyway, I was going through so much; I just couldn’t handle a movie rights deal on top of everything else.  But . . . by the second time you approached me, things had changed; and I wanted to accept this opportunity before . . . before it was too late.”

“I see,” he said quietly.  “And you wanted to come here and work on it with us because . . .”

I took a deep breath.  “Well, you see, Mary Poppins and the Bankses—they’re like family to me.  I want to make sure that they’re portrayed as I know them, and that the life they live on screen is one they’d be proud of.”

He nodded.  “Well, we shall do our very best.  And, of course, nothing happens without your say-so.”  He opened his desk drawer and brought out a paper.  “It’s all here in the rights agreement that was approved by your agent,” he said, holding it out to me.

I took it from him and glanced over it.  “A live-action film?  No animation?”

“Live-action.  Here’s a pen.”

I looked back up at him.  “Walt, I know my agent has already approved this, but I do make it my personal practice not to sign any contract without first reading it for myself.  So if you don't mind, I’d like to take this with me tonight and bring it back tomorrow morning.  I hope that won’t cause any inconvenience.”

“Certainly not,” he replied with a smile.  “You’re a wise young woman.”

I smiled back at him, then folded the contract and tucked it in my purse.

After a moment’s pause, Walt sat down in his chair and folded his hands on his desk.  “Well, now that we have all the business taken care of . . . how are you feeling, Carrie?”

“I’m well, thank you,” I replied.

He raised an eyebrow.  “You’re well.”  

I shrugged.  “As well as can be expected.”  After a pause, I asked, “You . . . you haven’t told the others?”

He shook his head.  “I haven’t said a word.”

“Good.”

He held my gaze with a seriousness that belied his trademark happy-go-lucky persona.  “You’re sure you want to do it this way?”

“Yes,” I replied with a decisive nod.  “Yes, I’m sure.  I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I just think it’ll be much easier if they don’t know.”

“Very well.”  His eyes probed mine.  “And you’re sure you feel up to this?”

I shrugged again, smiling.  “Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

He nodded and chuckled slightly.  “Indeed you are.”  

A few moments passed in which neither of us said anything; then he cleared his throat and glanced at the clock.  “Well, we can’t keep the guys waiting too long.”  

“No, of course not,” I agreed.  He rose from his chair, and I followed suit.  Together we walked toward the door.  

“Now, the boys and Dolly should get you all taken care of; but if at any time you need anything, you know where to find me,” he said.

“I’ll remember that.”  Having reached the door, I turned to face him.  “Thank you for your time, Walt.  It was an honor to finally meet you.”

“The honor is all mine, Carrie,” he replied with a warm smile.  

I smiled back, then took a deep breath.  “Well then . . . shall we begin?”

He nodded and shook my hand.  “Let’s make something wonderful.”

Heart racing, I returned his nod and strode out the door.

~~~~~

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@iwillalwaysreturm | @writings-of-a-narwhal | @24hourshipping

[arcsinx-writes]

Arranged Marriage AU

Warnings: a/b/o dynamics (not explored), mpreg, arranged married, mentions of sex without vivid descriptions.

"Is there anything else you'll be needing, my lord?"

"No, that's all," Yuri said. The servant bowed and left the room with a pile of folded sheets. Yuri heard the soft click of the door and bent his head to stare at the baby sleeping on her crib. She was so small and precious that Yuri felt most of the time overwhelmed by her sheer helplessness. The palace's physician had assured him it was normal to feel like that in the first months, even more so towards a firstborn.  

Yuri watched as the baby breathed peacefully, resting his chin on his hand. He'd named her Neva.  

Her birth had been mighty difficult. Out of all the emperor's consorts Yuri had to be the one who'd needed more than four midwives for a royal birth. They said his biology didn't help and the statement brought angry tears to Yuri's eyes.

In his land, Yuri was considered too young to be married, but when his kingdom found itself weakened and his parents needed the neighboring empire's help on the borders, alliances had been rushed up.  

Though their neighbor's polygamous tradition was considered disgusting and appalling among Yuri's folk, the young prince had quickly found himself engaged to Emperor Otabek of the South, just freshly after completing his seventeenth spring. Yuri's mother had insisted the nuptials were to be held in a year's time, when Yuri would've completed eighteen, but her protests turned futile when a powerful attack from the east forced their army to retreat, losing them two islands and part of the coast side territory. In the very night those news were received, Yuri's things were packed and he'd travelled eight days until reaching the bright citadel of Verny.  

The wedding was brief but the weight of it hung heavy on Yuri's shoulders. Part of the empire's court was present, but other than Victor, his kingdom's ambassador on the southern warm lands, none of the people in attendance were known to him, and that included his husband.  

The Emperor wasn't cruel as his mother told him he was meant to be. He was silent and stoic, but treated Yuri with the utmost respect, which only served to infuriate his blond consort even more. Yuri had come prepared to fight tooth and nail against a barbaric tyrant but instead found a young man with a heavy sense of duty that had, for Yuri's comfort, suggested to consummate their wedding when Yuri was considered ready by his own standards. Yuri had denied it. He hated pity when it came his way, and if Otabek's past wives had married him and held their nuptials at the same night, surely Yuri could do the same.

The ordeal was painful, but not unpleasant. Otabek didn't shrink back from his duty, and paused when Yuri winced but resumed as soon as he felt right to. His face, once impassive and neutral, changed during sex, and Yuri felt somehow emboldened for being the one delivering such pleasure to have an unmovable man breaking character. He learned to enjoy the time he spent with his husband, despite what his mother had previewed for his future. If he hadn't, Yuri wouldn't have found himself with child merely four moons after his wedding.  

At the news, Victor had offered him his congratulations and Otabek presented him with a whole new wing of the palace for him to make use of. Hope was that it was a boy, for Otabek already had one heir in the form of a five-year old boy from his first marriage, but a second in line would appease the empire.  

Otabek was away visiting their second capital city when Yuri went into labor. He thought he would die. He spent close to two days sweating and bleeding out on the sheets, a pain so strong he felt his spine was being crushed. The palace grew restless with his screams and the midwives, numerous as they were, frantic. When the baby finally pushed past him it cried and wiggled, a blood red thing. It was a girl. Victor watched him from the doorway, smile rigidly in place.  

Yuri had lost too much blood and had to stay in bed for two moons before he was deemed healthy enough by the royal physician. Neva was now fat and sleepy. The servants and the maidens sent to help him praised his daughter for her quietness, deeming him lucky.  

Yuri doesn't really know what to do with her. She cries sometimes and he needs to feed her. His breast aches. Yuri sighs and moves to his writing table. There's parchment and some ink poised on it and Yuri takes the feather in hand to begin a letter to his mother. Their correspondence had increased in volume since the late days of Yuri's pregnancy. Yuri had sent her a sketch of her granddaughter along with the news of her birth and his mother had answered back in kind, proud but also visibly shaken that her son had produced a child when he was, by her view, still so young himself.  

Yuri's father had also sent him a congratulating letter, thanking him for completing his duty. He'd hinted heavily that now Otabek's army was legitimately obligated to assist their lines on the war, as their family was joined by blood. Yuri wondered if that was all he ever wanted in the first place.  

He writes his mother about the weather in Verny: sunny during the day but the wind here picks up when the sun sets. He pauses before writing about his daughter, and in the end, says he's glad she's happy and that Neva was growing out fine. Yuri thinks twice before explaining that Otabek was away since before the birth, but that that was normal since the country was so extensive. His mother wrote small critiques on his husband every other letter or so.  

Yuri tries not to think too much on it but the truth is that he was the first of the consorts not to have the emperor present to his firstborn birth, and even after two moons Otabek hadn't made an appearance. Certainly, the news had already reached the country's people. Otabek had to know it already. Maybe he found it unimportant as Yuri had given him another daughter and not the boy he had been hoping for.

Yuri puts the feather back in place and finds himself dismayed at the sound of his daughter's whines. She squirms in her crib, little brow furrowing and mouth twisting as she wakes up. She opens her eyes now. They're blue, just as his mother said Yuri's had been when he was a baby.  

Neva had taken so long to open her eyes that Yuri had grown desperate. The physician chuckled at him and said some babies took a while to do that. Yuri, in his ignorance, thought babies were born clean and bright, eyes wide open. It's a little shameful to think back on it but then again Yuri had no means to know such things as he wasn't schooled in child-rearing. The rest of Otabek's consorts were taught since they were young enough to understand that they would one day have sex with the emperor and produce him a child. Whereas Yuri grew up thinking he would one day run a kingdom.

He doesn't resent his parents, not now anyway. It was already done with. And Otabek's empire had to be ten times the size and importance of his own kingdom. He hadn't come out losing, per see, though the outcome was far from what he had imagined.

Neva doesn't really have a reason to be awake, she just kicks her legs around and stares up at Yuri when he goes see to her. "Hi," he murmurs, touching the delicate tip of her nose with his fingertip. Her face scrunches up like she's about to sneeze and Yuri laughs, withdrawing his finger.

Neva makes a gurgling sound up at him and Yuri chuckles. He's just stretching his hand out to rub the soft tuft of black hair on top of her head when there comes a knock on the door.  

"Yes?" Yuri asks.  

Instead of answering, the person at the other side of the door inches it open. It's Otabek. He inclines his head into the room and then his whole body, eyes instantly fixated on the crib. He takes slow steps towards them and Yuri straightens his position, standing awkwardly next to the crib. He'd expected a fanfare in the palace once the emperor returned, but if there was indeed such a commotion Yuri hadn't heard it. His wing was at the back of the palace anyway.  

"Yuri," Otabek whispers in a breath, but his eyes are still on Neva, who turns her eyes in his direction when Otabek comes close enough to rest his hands on the bars of her crib. "Oh, Yuri," Otabek chokes, bending on one knee next to the crib. His upper body shields the baby from Yuri's vision when he bends to marvel at her. "She is so beautiful. My daughter," he grins, "Imperial Princess Neva of the South," Otabek croons, nudging her small hand around the tip of his index finger. He kisses it and Neva makes an uncomfortable sound, pulling her arm back and kicking impatiently at the soft linens of her crib. Otabek smiles down at her before turning his gaze on Yuri.

"She has your clear eyes," Otabek says in amazement, reaching out to run his thumb down Yuri's chin. "She's beautiful, like her mother."  

Yuri feels warm at his touch, gulping when he feels like his throat is about to close off. He breaks eye contact with Otabek and clears his throat. "Do you wish to hold her?"

Otabek trains his gaze back on Neva. "Yes," he says, and bends to scoop her up. He does so carefully, bringing her closer to his chest. Yuri hadn't noticed before but Otabek still seemed to be in his travelling clothes.

"I came as fast as I reached the palace," he tells Yuri. "I'll bathe in a while, I just had to meet her," he looks down at his daughter. Neva doesn't make a sound, just wiggles and blinks blearily up at her father. Otabek seems extremely secure holding her and Yuri feels a bite of jealousy at this realization. Otabek had other children from other mothers, holding a newborn came naturally to him as he'd had more practice. Yuri himself was still afraid of picking her up; she felt small and easily breakable in his arms, her spine and neck much too soft to be real. The servants usually passed her over to him when he was already sat down to feed her. Yuri had a feeling that they talked behind his back, about how he wasn't suited for watching his own baby.  

"I'm truly sorry I couldn't make it to her birth," Otabek looks up to tell Yuri. "The physician told me you suffered a lot. Blood loss-"

"Yes," Yuri spoke up, maybe a little too harshly. He didn't like it enumerated as though Otabek pitied him. "It was quite terrible," he finishes. Yuri drops his gaze and moves to his writing table, where the letter to his mother dries under the sunlight. He folds it closed and stamps his seal on it, feeling the weight of Otabek's gaze on his shoulders.

"I wouldn't forgive myself if I'd lost you," Otabek continues. He's turned on his heels to face Yuri, still holding onto Neva.  

"But you didn't, did you?" Yuri smiles sharply. Deep down he feels like Otabek wasn't as preoccupied as he'd seemed intent on making Yuri believe. Yuri was a firm believer that actions spoke louder than words and the facts laid here were quite clear: Otabek hadn't minded to return sooner to meet his daughter. But then again, what was another child among so many?  

What infuriates Yuri the most was that he'd gone through all the trouble of leaving his land, been forced into a marriage and into so many things others took years to experience, like the pain of a birth, only to end up becoming just another of Otabek's consorts who'd failed to give him a boy.  

He almost knocks over the ink pot in his sudden fury, pursing his lips together and moving brusquely to the door. The guard by his door, slouched against the wall, straightens his back at his appearance. "Have this sent to my mother," Yuri says, shoving the letter his way. He goes back inside, where Otabek still has Neva in his arms, intelligent eyes watching Yuri avidly. He's no stranger to Yuri's mood, but must sense this time the roots run deeper than mere annoyance, his lips drawn in a flat line.  

"Yuri," he speaks up, "I won't bother you with the political details of my travelling but I assure you that coming back to meet my daughter was my priority the moment the news reached me."

"And yet it took you two moons to do so," Yuri can't help himself from snapping. He doesn't know what he lets on behind those words other than what he explicitly meant, but it seems to have made something clear to Otabek.  

"I make no distinction between my children," the emperor says, quite coldly, tightening his hold on Neva.  

"Then I believe it'd have taken you as long if it was a boy." Yuri feels wise for verbalizing that quip, even more so when Otabek's expression closes off. Wordlessly, his husband sets Neva back in her crib, setting a lingering kiss to her forehead. He then walks up to Yuri, whose position as far away from the crib as possible hasn't changed.  

"We'll baptize her tomorrow. The servants should be here by morning to help you," Otabek says. Yuri wasn't even aware that baptisms were required. He's still not familiar with Otabek's religion and to be quite frank, isn't interested on learning. Much of the costumes and the lifestyle led in the palace as well as in all the empire were derived from it and Yuri found himself lost most of the times. He took to ignoring it as his small act of rebellion.  

Yuri nods tightly. He's still waiting for Otabek to react to his words, terribly expectant as to what he could say or do to Yuri. Yuri's mother said legend had it that if a consort in any way insulted or displeased the emperor they could be sentenced to a night in the dungeon.  

Otabek doesn't tell him anything else, however, simply inspecting Yuri for a few more seconds before heading to the door.  

"Wait."

Otabek turns around and Yuri avoids eye contact. "My father's war. I haven't heard any news on it." The consorts had no access to the Council and before the time he'd spent bedded, none of the counselors seemed willing to share any news with Yuri. "He mentioned you promised to send two thousand more men before the winter."

Otabek nods on his way out the door, giving a curt sigh. "I'll see to it."

[sncdown-blog]

Hello, tag!!!  Eu sou a Venus e, como podem ver, sou nova aqui, mas, bom diga-se de passagem que resolvi perder a timidez e aparecer, normalmente sou somente acostumada (  estou me adaptando ) com o rp’s do Tumblr e de outros sites, confesso que é a primeira vez que tento adentrar o mundo do 1x1,enfim, aqui vão alguns dos plots mais almejados por mim, caso desejarem algum tanto quanto eu é  só dar like ou dar uma passadinha no chat （＾ω＾）: 

Eu adoraria tipo muito um plot inspirado em Shape Of You ou We Don’t Talk Anymore, só deixando aqui mesmo

Paint me the color of love — muse a and muse b are artists in their own respective ways.muse a sees the body as a canvas, thus he has tattoos trailing up and down his arms and upper body. he spray paints on abandoned buildings, in subway stations—anywhere. his best friend is his notebook and a charcoal pencil. muse b is a painter, in love with colors and dragging her brush across canvases. her room is full of canvases with unfinished paintings, her jeans and clothes are splattered in colors, she has wonders in her eyes all the time. muse a and b meet by accident, but are drawn to each other’s artistic talents and fall in love. but love is not simple and they clash constantly. muse asees life for the cold, harsh, reality it is, muse b would rather look on the brighter side of things. with such different views and different styles, they’realways falling apart ad coming back together, and though they silently know the relationship is doomed to fail, they keep trying to stay together anyway. 

Muse A is the first artificial intelligence model to be created with artificial hormones, thought processes and a human look. Though still being developed, the robot has almost reached a stage of being exactly like any other human being, and its creator, Muse B, is satisfied with their work. Just as they decide to officially launch the project, they realise the major flaw in coding as they learn how the robot is a little too human-like. Unwilling to perform the orders they were created to do, the robot is only kept to prevent the pain it’d have to go through being destroyed and the work that’d have to be put in to recreate it. Instead, Muse B allows Muse A to wander around their home/lab until the can figure an alternative way to deal with the robot...that is, until Muse A escapes.

One day, on Muse A’s way home, they come across Muse B lying in the middle of the road. They appear hurt, but are unresponsive when Muse A tries to rouse them. Not having a phone on them to call an ambulance, Muse A carries Muse B the short distance back to their home and tries to revive them. After several minutes of rest, Muse B awakens with the most excruciating scream of pain. They jolt up, and immediately start drawing sigils on the walls of Muse A’s home with their own blood. Terrified, Muse A demands that Muse B stop and explain themselves. Muse B removes their shirt, revealing where their angel wings have been clipped and states they used to be part of God’s Army. Muse A has never been particularly religious, and needs plenty of convincing that Muse B isn’t a lunatic. Muse B explains that they have been banished from Heaven and they need to hole up with Muse A because they have no where else to go and the world is unsafe for them. Muse A reluctantly agrees to let Muse B live with them, and over time, helps to teach Muse B how to pass as a human.

Muse A has been sent away to a religious boarding school and is desperate to get out – even if it means being expelled. When normal methods of acting out do not apply, they decide to stage a fake “demonic ritual” when they find a stupid fiction book in the school library. However, that stupid book isn’t quite so fictional – and not only do they summon a demon – Muse B – they accidentally bind their souls so that one may not be without the other. What havoc will they wreak upon the school? Will Muse A hunt for a way to become unchained? Will Muse B let them?

Muse A and Muse B used to be partners in crime – literally. As well as being friends, they were two of the most feared criminals in the country. But one heist, Muse A betrayed Muse B in a way muse b never thought possible, and handed them over to the police in exchange for a reduced sentence. Now, Muse B is out of jail, and out for blood. Muse A will pay dearly for what they did to Muse B, unless they can form a counterattack in time to save their own skin.

Muse A is a young soldier, and has been brought up in a society where war is a given, yet people have lost sight of what they’re fighting for. They’ve grown up surrounded by it, and once they’re old enough to fight, they fight. They’re trained and given guns to fight the battles of their ancestors, and they go in blindly, expected to follow orders and become yet another zombie in the hoard fighting for what might not even be a better future. Muse B is the single parent of a soldier for the opposition. They’re adamantly anti-war, but allowed their child to enlist and fight for what they believed to be right. A few months into the war, Muse B’s child is killed in combat. Almost a year later, Muse A shows up on Muse B’s doorstep. Muse A admits to having killed Muse B’s child on the battlefield, but also confesses that the action served as a wake up call, and since then, Muse A has learned to think for themselves and quit the service. All they need to try and continue to move on is the forgiveness of Muse B.

Character A is a witch that lives in a nice, quiet cottage in the woods, with their closest (and pretty much only) neighbor being Character B. Character B will sometimes come over – for spells/potions/to say hello/etc. – and has expressed their concern for Character A several times, because it really isn’t all that safe to live alone in the middle of the woods. Character A is confident that they can protect themself, but is always wary on the full moon, when they can hear howling unlike any wolf they’ve ever heard…. One night, while the full moon shines overhead, Character A finds the source of the howling –- an injured werewolf that’s whimpering on Character A’s doorstep. Character A cares for the beast, and looks after it until morning when it changes back into human form…and is revealed to be Character B.

Character A is an angel and Character B is a demon. However, Character A is mischievous, manipulative, and happily causes harm instead of doing good whereas Character B is kind-hearted, well-meaning, and merciful. Character A approaches Character B one day, thinking the demon to be a like-minded individual, however Character A is forced to reconsider their own wrong-doings when they begin to develop a soft spot for Character B. 

[khanimatedadaptationau]

Season 1: Episode 1: Destiny Islands

Okay, so this pilot episode is kinda bizarre. It uses the good old “Simple and Clean, Planit B Mix” as the theme song piece, and from the looks of things Chernabog is gonna show up at some point. Although as someone who’s played the games it is severely spoilerous, even showing Sora and Riku fighting, with the latter wearing his dark-mode outfit, which makes the mystery of what happens to him considerably less tense.

Ahem, on to the episode itself, it opens with Sora in the Dive to the Heart sequence, granted it’s even more bizarre since it skips over all the tutorial stuff from the game and keeps all the criptic language, with the white text warning Sora that darkness is approaching, that the day he will open the door is both very near and far off, and that the closer to the light he gets the greater his shadow becomes. And oh yeah, instead of fighting the Darkside, he simply dodges one punch from it and sinks into the resulting pool of darkness, at which point he awakens only to get jumpscared by Kairi.

Anyway, this is kinda dull since it’s pretty much word for word from the game, except they shook the screen and added a cartoon sound-affect over the scene where Riku tosses that log onto Sora.

After that though, things get pretty amusing, especially since Sora is very quickly distracted by everyone-else’s antics, getting into a sparring match with Tidus for the blanket they need to use for the sail. Of course, the match is less of a battle and more of a game to see who can disarm the other first.

Sora wins, and Tidus very quickly hits the Riku button, mentioning how Kairi can always count on him. I like how Sora just pauses right there, right before we cut to Riku, who has the other two logs that the player had to collect in the game, while Kairi has the rope. So him saying he had to do all the work really makes sense in this continuity. And then there’s how Sora runs up and immediately challenges Riku. And that smirk on Riku’s face, it helps set up how confident he is while also making the viewer really route for Sora. Then there’s Wakka’s role here, serving as a referee of sorts and setting the ground-rules: first one to knock the other off the island with the bent tree and into the water wins. And the battle between Sora and Riku really is quite the sight to see, whereas Sora’s giving it his all, Riku’s spending most of the battle on the defensive, dodging out of the way of Sora’s strikes, blocking what few would hit, and then stepping behind and pushing him off the edge and into the water with very little effort. And he goes right back to bringing the supplies back without breaking a sweat, even chatting with Kairi while she seems suitably impressed. Plus, the sight of a disgruntled Sora covered in seaweed is hilarious in and of itself.

After this we get the scene of the three watching the sunset, with Riku crediting Kairi with giving him the idea to try and escape Destiny Islands. That and teasing Sora with the Paopu, expositing about it’s rumored power.

Meanwhile, in Disney Castle Donald sees the King’s Letter and wakes Goofy up by zapping him with Lightning, except this time it’s “Cartoon X-Ray Lightning”, so more cartoon hi-jinx. Other than that it’s more or less exactly like the game, so let’s move on.

After a commercial break, we get Day 2 of Destiny Islands, with Selphie again expositing about the legendary power of the Paopu fruit. Then we get the race between Sora and Riku to decide who gets to name the raft and who gets to be captain, with Riku again throwing in that bit about “Winner gets to share a Paopu with Kairi” to get under Sora’s skin. And it is incredibly clear that Sora is very much against betting Kairi on a race. He still loses, but Riku very quickly brushes it off as a joke upon seeing how upset Sora is. And this does an excellent job of setting up another difference between Sora and Riku, Sora respects Kairi, while Riku doesn’t seem to.

After that, Kairi sends Sora to collect mushrooms, decides to get water herself (since whenever she sends one of the boys to do it they get water from the sea), and Riku to go and collect everything else, which helps set up why Sora hasn’t admitted his feelings to Kairi yet: he thinks she trusts Riku more than she trusts him.

When he goes to the Secret Place to collect mushrooms (after telling Wakka and Tidus to buzz off), he pauses by the drawings he and Kairi doodled of eachother, and decides to add the Paopu to the drawing. When the robed figure (now voiced by Richard Epcar) pops in, Sora tries to cover it up while his face turns red, and other than that his conversation with the robed figure is pretty much the same as in the game, except, much like in the Manga, Kairi waltzes in and gets hastily pushed out right after he leaves. The conversation between Sora and Kairi, and the scene where Kairi works on the Oathkeeper charm are combined into one scene.

Then we cut back to Disney Castle, where Mickey’s letter is actually narrated by Mickey Mouse, and other than that it’s pretty much the same as in the game, with Minnie introducing Donald and Goofy to Jiminy, and Donald asking Daisy to keep care of the Queen. Then there’s the virtually unchanged Gummi Ship scene, and we cut back to Destiny Islands, where Sora hurries over to the Play Island, misses Dinner, and gets jumped by the Heartless. Oh yeah, we also get to see some Neoshadows attack a guy right as he tries to get into his house, complete with his outstretched hand fading away as he screams.

Sora is, naturally, very concerned when his sword goes right through the Shadows who attack him on the beach, but then he spots Riku and immediately decides to tough it out and avoid them to try and get to him before the Heartless do.

Riku’s scene is virtually unchanged, accept after the screen fades to black, the flash of light is changed. The light flies in from the upper left corner, bounces off of the point where Riku would be, flies to where Sora should be, then covers the entire screen. Then Sora gets up, with the Keyblade in his hands, and turns the tables on the Heartless and fight his way to the Secret Place to protect Kairi. But then the door flies open and blasts a sickly Kairi (who looks incredibly pale and even has bags under her eyes) directly into Sora.

Then there’s the battle with the Darkside. The resulting battle is horribly skewed against Sora, with the Darkside keeping the upper hand, summoning Shadows to fight Sora, up until Sora scales up the Darkside’s arm and hits it in the head. The Darkside replies by grabbing Sora with it’s other hand and slamming him into the ground. At that point, the wind picks up, the little patch of land starts to crumble, and the Darkside gets sucked up into the vortex as Sora hangs on to the plank of wood for dear life, only to get sucked near the black hole and gets flung into space. Cue commercial!

The scene where Donald and Goofy land in Traverse Town and split off from Pluto is pretty much unchanged, up until Sora arrives at Cid’s shop. Cid still offers to let Sora stay with him if he can’t find his friends, but Sora heads out regardless. And then we get Cid talking to a shadowy figure.

The scene where the Heartless steal the mans heart is a tad bit more violent, as we get to see the soldier tear it from the man’s chest. There’s no blood, obviously, but it’s considerably more brutal. The Keyblade reappears in Sora’s hands right as the Heartless turn their sights on him. Sora’s instinct isn’t to fight, he tries to run back into the first district only for more Heartless to pop in behind him. Sora then makes a mad dash for the hotel, slashing through any Heartless who get in his way, until he finally reaches the hotel, at which point Donald and Goofy enter the second district.

Sora continues to battle the Heartless inside the hotel, and bursts straight throw the other entrance right by the cash register (with the guy behind the desk actually screaming when the Heartless pop up, with his silhouette diving out of sight), and Sora takes out about a fourth of them. The Heartless force Sora out, then disappear, right as Donald and Goofy pop in.

Sora continues his fight with the Heartless, taking a few out, and reaching the Gizmo Shop, at which point Donald and Goofy leave the hotel.

Sora continues to fight them through the still running gizmo shop, and actual takes out a Soldier by knocking it into the gears, and cuts a Shadow in two, and leaves right as Donald and Goofy get in.

When Sora exits, he takes out all the Heartless but one, which then dives under the door to the Dalmatian house. Sora gives chase, and Donald and Goofy leave the Gizmo Shop.

Sora then treads carefully around the puppies, who keep trying to go after him, and there’s a really comedic moment where the Shadow emerges from the ground to attack a puppy, only to pause when it sees Sora glaring at it while Pongo and Peridita growl at it, then sink right back into the ground and scurry off. Sora then chases it out the back door and into the Third District, where he finishes it off, just in time to be confronted by Leon. He gives the same speech he did in the game, and the two clash, with Sora doing pretty well until Leon blasts him with a fireball, at which point the boy gets sent flying into a wall and falls to the ground, unconscious. Yuffie arrives and teases Leon, who says things are worse than expected, and we cut back to Donald and Goofy, with the former getting startled by Aerith. Meanwhile, Riku wakes up, and is found by Maleficent after calling for Sora and Kairi (actually voiced in this continuity). Cue commercial.

When we get back from the commercial, Sora’s waking up, and mistakes Yuffie for Kairi. And the exchange is pretty much identical to how it was in the games, just better animated (the fact that the animation is pretty similar to the animation from Avatar might be part of the reason). Granted, they actually have Ansem’s first report, narrated by Corey Burton, which is always a plus. After that’s all sorted out, a Soldier Attacks, and Sora and Leon head out to fight the Heartless. And the following action scene is pretty cool as Sora once again fights through the Second District, but this time he’s carving a path through the Heartless alongside Leon and Yuffie, until they both get held off by a larger group of Heartless right as Sora enters the Third District.

Sora doesn’t realize that he’s been separated from the group until he’s surrounded by Heartless, at which point he looks significantly less brave. This is followed by a gag lifted straight from the games, with the Heartless blasting Donald and Goofy clear off the building and right onto Sora, actually startling the Heartless that were closing in on him. Right as they get up, the Heartless pounce, and suddenly, Donald and Goofy are awesome.  Goofy bashes a Heartless into the air and Sora takes it down. Donald heals Sora, as well as blasts Heartless with fire and lightning. Once they all go down, the Guard Armor crashes in. Sora, Donald, and Goofy take out the Hammer Legs and Gauntlets, with them shattering, and then Sora takes it out by knocking the helmet into the torso, and slicing through both, and then the Guard Armor explodes and releases it’s heart, right as Leon and Yuffie arrive, with Yuffie remarking that it looks like they don’t have anything to worry about.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy officially introduce each other, and Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid give them supplies for their journey, while Jiminy Cricket vows to record all of it in his Journal. Meanwhile, Maleficent and her cabal of villains take a look at them, and Maleficent decides that they should stick around and watch for now.

Cue credits.

[julianpford1-blog]

Time in Clowning

Disclaimer notice: this blog will contain my clowning development process rather than a day to day blog and also please note that the sessions are not in exact order. 

Term one.

Session one: On this day I am quite nervous to be in clowning because I only know Calum form the week before and I don't know any else so I come in my shorts and t shirt because I wasn't sure if we were going to get physical or anything so waiting by the door for Hilary (which she came late say 10 minutes), so Hilary arrives and we start off with chairs in a circle and we say our names so we get to know one another, we do that and start with a game of chairs (no better name that I can think of) where we have to not allow the chosen player a chair to sit on by sitting on them now we are in a small room and there I say nearly 20 of us (give or take) and I am just siting there trying to remember everybody’s name, then we had to partner up and designate one person A and/or B, A tells B what’s in the (which could be anything) and B has to ask “what is in the bag?” which was mad trying to make up (on the spot). Then we played Name tag where one is first chosen to tag another person, that person being approached can call out a name (simply someone in the classroom) and then that called person is it so on and so forth now I didn't get called out or touched (because mainly for touching quick in a small room and packed for being called out just didn't). now at the end of the session we were given an assessment sheet for what dates are happening and terms off and whatnot,.

Session two:  Now I have become quite ok with people names (minus a couple of them) we have moved from cad111 (the small room form session one) to cad107 (a nicely space room) and we start with musical chairs simple rules really walk around the chairs (which are placed around the room facing different directions) and quickly sit on them when the music stops (which Hilary was in charge of) we had to listen out for the music because it did at times go quiet whether the music was meant to be quiet or Hilary was fiddling with the sound, now at one point the music stops and I rush over to a nearby chair because another classmate Laura rushes behind “my chair” and pulls the chair away from me and I just fell down thankfully I didn't up with a sore ass or a sore cheek. so the games are over and Hilary pulls out a couple of white screens and she wants us to pop out from behind the screens and stand natural no fidgeting or picking our noses, so one by one went up and we had a giggle or two whereas  some other like jack got some laughs, when I got up and popped out of the screens got some giggles. Before we went home or another lesson we decided to do 11am instead doing 9am because we wanted our clowns fresh and out of bed. 

Session Three: We are back in ca111 for today (because I think 107 was booked before Hilary) we have a small class today (probably the others had other classes) which is great because we got a better chance to show off our clowns. So we played tag: fox and rabbit edition we had to partner up with another person, the class linked arms which only left two people without partners they became the fox and rabbit so what the rabbit had to do was run away from the fox and don't get tagged by the fox or else the rabbit becomes the fox (simple enough) but the rabbit can stop being the rabbit by linking arms with the linked people and the person on the opposite side is the new rabbit (or fox when we changed up the rules here and there). We pulled up chairs and a pair of screens to we played (I’m calling it escape) in which where there 4 players 2 prisoners, 2 guards now the guards not only keep the prisoners on their chairs by tapping their shoulders gently, they also have to wink to the opposite prisoner to signal the prisoner that they can run away to freedom, when the prisoner is free they have to say something funny to the audience for instance I escaped and said “how many Mexicans do it take to escape? Juan” no laughs just smirks. any way after this we watched TV, more specifically examples of clowns where be it silent movie or looking at duets/solos and also looking at Hilary made page with our blogs on it. 

Session Four: In ca111 (again) we play name tag and when another classmate came for me I couldn't for the life of me say a name so I don't get tagged but I did so I let a growl/grunt of disbelief which made it quite like a horror movie with the victim running away without letting the other characters knowing where I am or what I am doing, so meh. later on in the lesson we again have another look at the clowns (mostly for the others who were not in the session before). 

We do have a session before we break up for Christmas but it was a mostly for last laughs before we get home. 

Term Two.

Session one: We return form a restful Christmas and we are preparing for the final Clown performance and we are in room cab218 so Hilary welcomes us back with a game of keepy upies where we have to keep a ball up in the air and never letting touching it the floor while counting together (which we couldn't do properly) and we changed the rules like can only touch it once (though can touch it again after someone else has touched it) or only can use anything else expect our hands. Then we had a splash at name tag which again repeated term one Session fours of unable to communicate due to being approached by the tagger (good times), so  Hilary reminds us when the performance (when & where) is happening which was 214 the same room we are in today. So we got our clown costumes from the theatre cupboard. I grabbed a tweed coat alongside a straw hat (the hat brought me memories of when I was farmer MacDonald in Bridgend college Pantomime where I was reminded by the audience which were a bunch of kids that was I BALD!) now we put on our costumes where Hilary suggested I’d take off my trousers to expose my underwear but keep my shoes on and have a belt on around my waist (shirt can be anything as long it didn't draw attention form my legs.

That be me on the left side with the tweed coat and no trousers.

Session Two: We have a guest lecturer for this session and next session and he taught us how to trip over ourselves safe and yet comically and this trick was awkward for because I don't trip over myself, I only trip up the stairs if I cock my first step or if I cock my running on accident so this was hard for me to do especially when you trying to make it natural without time the bloody trip. the lecturer was lovely so it would have been nice to have him again.

Session three: We have the guest lecturer again and this time we have more classmates (because they again have other commitments) now we doing stage punching, slapping and then head-butting, He brakes us up into partners so I’m with Calum and we just have to show a simple scene using tripping and stage punching/slapping/head-butting which was quite hilarious because I haven't quite got the head-butting down because I would butt the upper shoulder rather than the lower shoulder where your head needs to be to fool the audience .

Session four: We get our costumes on and have to pop out of the screens and stand neutral and see if we get an reaction out of the audience and go off. Hilary has assigned me in with Martin and Ericka because we were the only three without an group so I  am happy.

We have broken up for Easter holidays which was for 2 weeks and a half give or take. So I will continue the rest of the blog as term two.

Session five: We are in the zen room which is cab403 now we come on stage with a pair of screens and a door and the door handles are easy to take off so there's comedy. So when we finished with the door we showed off our performance at 1 o’clock. So we explain that we don't have anything to show her because we haven't been able to get in contact or rehearse over the holidays she understood and basically helped us what to do. We went over what we did with Hilary and wrote the order.

Rehearsal one: we came in uni. at one and waited martin to finish his stpf which took longer than martin expected so when that was over and done with we went up to the Zen room and practise our piece and martin added a part where we three have a dance off (of sorts) and have the ending with me and martin running after each other over who shall wear the hat running with the benny hill song on.

Performance Day: On Performance day we have to come in for 9am, set up and start at 9.45 we were the second group to show off our performance. when the first group finished we’d set up for ours with a stool in the middle. while setting up I put the door away and almost fell over one of the screens leg wheels (is what I'm calling them) the show hasn't even started yet. We come to the end of the last of the group and ended with shaving cream pie in our faces, first for me was pied into the elbow and then pied in the face by Hilary. Did say to her after washing off the shaving cream “don't you cream me again”. Nadia took a couple of shots of all our shows while Hilary recorded them.

here is my group photo.

To end the day we played musical chairs and I was the DJ.

I’d say that I was a in the moment clown rather than a 24/7 clown..

[osservazioni]

Charlie Gard, il testo della sentenza CEDU

European Court of Human Rights Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme

FIRST SECTION DECISION

Application no. 39793/17 Charles GARD and Others against the United Kingdom

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 27 June 2017 as a Chamber composed of: Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, President, Kristina Pardalos, Aleš Pejchal, Krzysztof Wojtyczek, Armen Harutyunyan, Tim Eicke, Jovan Ilievski, judges, and Abel Campos, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 6 June 2017, Having regard to the interim measure indicated to the respondent Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court of 9 and 13 June 2017, Having regard to the decision to grant priority to the above application under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court. Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

1. A list of the applicants is set out in the Appendix.

A. The circumstances of the case

1. The background facts

2. The facts of the case may be summarised as follows. 3. The first applicant (“CG”) was born on 4 August 2016. His parents are the second and third applicants. CG initially appeared to have been born healthy. Medical professionals subsequently observed that CG was failing to gain weight, and his breathing was becoming increasingly lethargic and shallow. He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital (“GOSH”) on 11 October 2016, where he has remained since. 4. There is no dispute that CG is suffering from a very rare and severe mitochondrial disease called infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome ("MDDS"). The disease is caused by mutations in a gene called RRM2B. The mutations cause the deterioration and death of fuel-giving mitochondrial cells in every part of the patient’s body, depriving him of the essential energy for living. In CG’s case, his brain, muscles and ability to breathe are all seriously affected. He has progressive respiratory failure and is dependent on a ventilator. He can no longer move his arms or legs and is not consistently able to open his eyes. He is persistently encephalopathic, meaning that there are no usual signs of normal brain activities such as responsiveness, interaction or crying. In addition he has congenital deafness and a severe epilepsy disorder. His heart, liver and kidneys are also affected but not severely. 5. The parents became aware of a form of therapy (“nucleoside treatment”) which has been used on patients with a less severe mitochondrial condition known as TK2 mutation. This type of mutation primarily causes myopathy (muscle weakness) but does not affect the brain in the majority of cases. There is some evidence that patients with TK2 mutation have benefited from nucleoside treatment. The parents contacted Dr I, Professor of Neurology at a medical centre in America. Dr I confirmed that nucleoside treatment had not been used on either mice or humans with RRM2B mutation, but that there was a "theoretical possibility" that the treatment might be of benefit to CG. 6. At the start of January 2017, a plan was devised by CG’s treating clinicians in the United Kingdom for nucleoside treatment to be administered in the United Kingdom. As the treatment is experimental, an application to the Ethics Committee was prepared to authorise its use and a meeting planned for 13 January. However before a treatment plan could be agreed, CG experienced an episode of brain seizures as a result of his epilepsy, which started on around 9 or 10 January and continued intermittently until 27 January. On 13 January, CG’s treating clinicians informed the parents that CG was suffering severe epileptic encephalopathy. They concluded that nucleoside treatment would be futile and would only prolong CG’s suffering. His case was also considered by an expert team in Barcelona, which reached the same conclusion. The meaning of “futile” was the subject of argument at the domestic level. The Court of Appeal concluded:

“44. In relation to the judge’s use of the word “futile” it is argued that there is a distinction between the medical definition of futility and the concept of futility in law .... Medicine looks for “a real prospect of curing or at least palliating the life-threatening disease or illness from which the patient is suffering”, whereas, for the law, this sets the goal too high in cases where treatment “may bring some benefit to the patient even though it has no effect on the underlying disease or disability” .... In the present case, tragically, this is a difference without a distinction in the light of the judge’s finding that the potential benefit of nucleoside therapy would be “zero”. It would therefore be, as the judge held at paragraph 90, “pointless and of no effective benefit”.

2. Judgment of the High Court of 11 April 2017, Great Ormond Street Hospital v. (1) Constance Yates, (2) Chris Gard, (3) Charles Gard (A child by his Guardian Ad Litem) [2017] EWHC 972 (Fam)

7. In February 2017, GOSH made an application to the High Court for an order stating that it would be lawful, and in CG’s best interests, for artificial ventilation to be withdrawn and palliative care provided. The application was opposed by the parents. The question of possible nucleoside therapy was raised by the parents as the proceedings progressed and they put information before the High Court that Dr I was willing to treat CG. Accordingly, the order ultimately included a third element, that it would not be in CG’s interest to undergo nucleoside treatment (see paragraph 31). 8. Over the course of three days in April 2017, the High Court heard evidence from the parents, CG’s guardian (see paragraph 17) and a number of expert witnesses including Professor A, Dr B and CG’s two nurses at GOSH, and Dr I by telephone. It received a report from the medical expert instructed by the parents, Dr L. The Court also received 4 second opinions from world leading medical experts in paediatrics and rare mitochondrial disorders. They were Dr C, Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care at St. Mary’s Hospital; Dr D, Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at Southampton Hospital; Dr E, Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Neurology at the Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr F, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at St. Mary’s Hospital. The judge also visited CG in hospital.

(a) The Medical Evidence as Presented by Great Ormond Street Hospital and Dr L

9. Dr B, Consultant Paediatric Intensivist at GOSH, gave evidence that CG was so damaged that there was no longer any movement (noting that there was no evidence of a sleep/wake cycle). He said that there were no further treatments available to CG which could improve him from his current situation and that this was the opinion of the entire treatment team, including those from whom a second opinion had been obtained. He stated that CG can probably experience pain, but was unable to react to it in a meaningful way. 10. Professor A, a leading expert with a special interest in mitochondrial diseases, gave evidence on the prospect of successful nucleoside treatment. She noted that the treatment had never been tried on humans or even on animals with the RRM2B mutation. She stated that even if there was an ability to cross the blood/brain barrier, the treatment could not reverse the structural damage already done to the CG’s brain. She said that seizures in mitochondrial disease are a sign that death is, at most, six to nine months away. 11. Professor A added that:

“90 ... she and Dr I did not really differ on the science and that both agree that, very sadly, it is extremely unlikely to help Charlie. She said that, in her view, there was a cultural difference in philosophy between treatment in the United States and in the United Kingdom. She said that she tried to have the child at the centre of her actions and thoughts whereas in the United States, provided there is funding, they will try anything.”

12. Dr L, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, was instructed on behalf of the parents. His report was produced on the second day of the hearing. Dr L concluded that:

"The nature of [CG’s] condition means that he is likely to continue to deteriorate, that he is likely to remain immobile, that he will exhibit severe cognitive impairment, that he will remain dependent on ventilatory support to maintain respiration, will continue to need to be tube fed and that he will always be dependent on mechanical ventilation to maintain life."

(b) The Medical Evidence as presented by Dr I

13. Although he had never examined CG himself, Dr I had full access to his medical history. After reviewing recent EEG results, Dr I stated:

"98.[...] I can understand the opinion that he is so severely affected by encephalopathy that any attempt at therapy would be futile. I agree that it is very unlikely that he will improve with that therapy [nucleoside treatment]. It is unlikely."

14. The judge summarised Dr I’s evidence stating:

“127. Dr I who has not had the opportunity of examining Charlie, and who operates in what has been referred to as a slightly different culture in the United States where anything would be tried, offers the tiniest chance of some remotely possible improvement based on a treatment which has been administered to patients with a different condition. I repeat that nucleoside therapy has not even been tried on a mouse model with RRM2B. As Dr I candidly said,

“It is very difficult for me never having seen him, being across the Atlantic and seeing bits of information. I appreciate how unwell he is. His EEG is very severe. I think he is in the terminal stage of his illness. I can appreciate your position. I would just like to offer what we can. It is unlikely to work, but the alternative is that he will pass away.”

15. Asked what level of functioning could reasonably be expected after treatment with nucleoside, he said that the main benefit would be improvement of weakness, increased upper strength, and reduced time spent on ventilators. He however accepted that the treatment, if administered, was unlikely to be of any benefit to CG’s brain. He described the probability as low, but not zero. He agreed that there could be no reversal of the structural damage to Charlie’s brain.

(c) Position of the parents

16. The parents denied that CG’s brain function was as bad as the expert evidence made out. They denied that CG did not have a sleep/wake cycle. They acknowledged and accepted that the quality of life that CG had was not worth sustaining without hope of improvement.

(d) Position of CG represented by his guardian (appointed by the High Court)

17. At the outset of the proceedings the High Court joined CG to the proceedings and appointed a guardian to represent CG’s interests throughout the proceedings, who in turn appointed legal representatives. The relevant procedural rule permits joining a child where the court considers this is in the best interests of the child. The Court must then appoint a guardian unless it is satisfied that it is not necessary to do so to safeguard the interests of the child. According to the relevant practice direction (see section 3 below):

“It is the duty of a children’s guardian fairly and competently to conduct proceedings on behalf of the child. The children’s guardian must have no interest in the proceedings adverse to that of the child and all steps and decisions the children’s guardian takes in the proceedings must be taken for the benefit of the child.”

18. Throughout the domestic proceedings, the guardian argued that it was not in CG’s best interests to travel to America to receive purely experimental treatment with no real prospect of improving his condition or quality of life.

(e) Decision

19. On 11 April 2017, the High Court acceded to GOSH’s applications. 20. The High Court judge firstly outlined the relevant legal test as applied to decisions relating to medical treatment of children (see section 2 below). He acknowledged that though parents with parental responsibility have the power to give consent for their child to undergo treatment, as a matter of law, overriding control is vested in the court exercising its independent and objective judgement in the child’s best interests. In making that decision, the welfare of the child is paramount. The starting point is the strong presumption of the sanctity of life, and a course of action which will prolong life. The judge must look at the question from the assumed point of view of the child. The term ‘best interests’ encompasses medical, emotional, and all other welfare issues. 21. The judge observed that there was a consensus from all of the doctors that had examined CG, including the medical expert instructed by the parents that nucleoside treatment would be futile, that is to say pointless and of no effective benefit. 22.  The judge concluded that subjecting CG to nucleoside treatment would be to enter unknown territory and could possibly subject him to pain, accepting the evidence that:

“22...the GOSH team believe that Charlie can probably experience pain but is unable to react to it in a meaningful way. Their evidence was that being ventilated, being suctioned, living as Charlie does, are all capable of causing pain. Transporting Charlie to the USA would be problematic, but possible.”

23. The judge concluded:

“128. As the Judge whose sad duty it is to have to make this decision, I know that this is the darkest day for Charlie’s parents who have done everything that they possibly can for him and my heart goes out to them as I know does the heart of every person who has listened to this tragic case during the course of the past week or so. I can only hope that in time they will come to accept that the only course now in Charlie’s best interests is to let him slip away peacefully and not put him through more pain and suffering”.

3. The Court of Appeal Decision of 23 May 2017, (1) Constance Yates, (2) Christopher Gard – and – (1) Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust - and – (2) Charles Gard (a child, by his guardian) [2017] EWCA Civ 410

24. Before the Court of Appeal, the applicants sought to argue that the High Court judge had erred by relying on the ‘best interests’ test alone. They sought to make a distinction between two types of cases relating to medical treatment of children. The first type of case involves parents who oppose the course of treatment for which the treating clinicians apply, and who do not have a viable alternative treatment to put before the court. In the second type of case there is a viable alternative treatment option put forward by the parents. The applicants submitted that their case fell into the latter category. In these circumstances, the applicants (relying on a recent High Court case (Re King [2014] EWHC 2964 (Fam.)) argued that a parent’s preferred treatment option should only be overridden if it is established that the option would likely cause the child “significant harm”. The applicants also argued that it was the hospital who had applied to prevent the delivery of a therapy which it did not, itself, intend to provide. This was outside its powers as a public authority, and the court had no jurisdiction to uphold the hospital’s position. 25. The applicants relied on Article 8 of the Convention to say that applying a “best interests” test, rather than a “significant harm” test permitted unjustified interference in their parental rights under that Article. They also referred to Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention, but did not develop any arguments under those Articles. CG’s guardian and GOSH maintained their position that the course of action proposed by the parents was not in CG’s best interests. 26. Permission to appeal was granted in respect of the human rights grounds, but only in so far as they supplemented the core grounds for appeal. 27. On 23 May 2017, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. It stated:

“96. If one option is favoured by a parent, that may give it weight, or as Lord Justice Waite put it, incline the court to be ”influenced by a reflection that in the last analysis, the best interests of every child, include an expectation that difficult decisions affecting the length and quality of its life will be taken for it by the parent to whom its care has been entrusted by nature” Notwithstanding that that is the case, in the end it is the judge who has to choose the best course for a child. Whereas, in the case of Re King before Mr Justice Baker, there really was nothing to choose as between the benefits and detriments of two forms of radiotherapy, the court readily stood back and allowed the parents to make their choice”.

...

“112. It goes without saying that in many cases, all other things being equal, the views of the parents will be determinative. Very many cases involving children with these tragic conditions never come to court because a way forward is agreed as a result of mutual respect between the family members and the hospital, but it is well recognised that parents in the appalling position that these and other parents can find themselves may lose their objectivity and be willing to “try anything” even if, when viewed objectively, their preferred option is not in a child’s best interest. As the authorities to which I have already made reference underline again and again, the sole principle is that the best interests of the child must prevail and that must apply even to cases where parents, for the best of motives, hold on to some alternate view.”

28. It found that the High Court was entitled to conclude that the nucleoside treatment option would be futile, and would have no benefit. As a consequence, nucleoside treatment was not a viable option before the court. The court therefore concluded that the factual basis for the applicants’ submissions was undermined, and that the question of whether a distinction existed between types of cases involving medical treatment for children advocated by parents did not arise. 29. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal considered the “significant harm” test proposed by the applicants and stated that:

“114...It must follow from that unanimous professional and expert evidence that to move Charlie to America and expose him to treatment over there would be likely to expose him to continued pain, suffering and distress”.

30. The court said:

“114... it is plain that the [High Court] judge was not invited to consider the law in the way that is now put before this court let alone to consider the existence of “category 2” cases with the need to establish a threshold for significant harm. I have made extensive reference to the evidence as recorded by the judge regarding Charlie’s current state. It is clear, in my view, that if the judge had been invited to form a conclusion on whether Charlie was or was not suffering significant harm currently, that finding would have been made. At paragraph 49 the judge records the evidence of the doctors, the medical staff who have knowledge of the current state of Charlie’s life in the hospital and each of the other experts as follows:

“In some parts of the media this has been referred to as “pioneering treatment”. In fact, this type of treatment has not even reached the experimental stage on mice let alone been tried on humans with this particular strain of MDDS. It is the view of all those who have treated and been consulted in relation to Charlie in this country and also in Barcelona that such treatment would be futile, by which I mean would be of no effect but may well cause pain, suffering and distress to Charlie. This is the principal issue with which I have to grapple in this case [emphasis added]”.

...

115. The administration of nucleoside therapy, which involves no more than the introduction of some powder into the nutritional feed to Charlie’s body and may, at most, trigger some adverse bowel reaction, may be relatively benign and may not itself cause significant harm. The prospect of significant harm arises, however, in the context of such treatment from the judge’s finding that it would be of no benefit for Charlie and that he would need to continue with the regime of life-sustaining treatment, which the judge concluded was not otherwise in his best interests, so that the nucleoside therapy could be administered”.

31. The court also concluded that the hospital had not acted outside its powers. The issue of nucleoside treatment had been raised by the parents, not by the hospital. The appeal court found that the High Court judge’s decision resulted from a “child-focused, court-led evaluation of the baby’s best interests”. The fact that the merits of the alternative treatment represented a large part of the evaluation demonstrated that the judge had regarded the parents’ views as an important part of the process. 32. On the basis that the human rights grounds supported the applicant’s primary grounds, the Court of Appeal found that they too should be dismissed.

4. The Supreme Court decision of 8 June 2017, in the Matter of Charlie Gard

33. The applicants requested permission to appeal from the Supreme Court, who heard their application on Thursday 8 June 2017. Before the Supreme Court the applicants repeated the arguments made before the lower courts with a particular focus on the respect for their parental rights under Article 8, repeating the argument rejected by the Court of Appeal that the only reason which could justify interference in their Article 8 rights would be if there were a risk of “significant harm” to the child. 34. GOSH and CG’s guardian underlined that in accordance with domestic and international law, the best interests of the child were of paramount importance. They repeated their arguments that taking Charlie to America for experimental treatment was not in his best interests. CG’s guardian underlined that even if the proposed “significant harm” test were applied, the applicant’s claim would still fail because as stated by the Court of Appeal, continuing to maintain his life and taking him to America would be likely to expose him to continued pain, suffering and distress. 35. The Supreme Court rejected the applicants’ request for permission on the basis that no point of law of general, public importance had been identified. With reference to the domestic statute; the Convention; this Court’s case law; and the UN Convention on the rights of the child, the Supreme Court underlined that the welfare of the child shall be the paramount consideration. In its determination of the application on permission to appeal it concluded:

“Finally, the European Court of Human Rights has firmly stated that in any judicial decision where the rights under Article 8 of the parents and the child are at stake, the child’s rights must be the paramount consideration. If there is any conflict between them the child’s interests must prevail”.

36. The Supreme Court also reiterated the finding of the Court of Appeal that even if the “best interests” test were replaced with a test of “significant harm”, it is likely that Charlie would suffer significant harm if his present suffering is prolonged without any realistic prospect of improvement.

5. The Supreme Court decision of 19 June 2017, in the Matter of Charlie Gard

37. In light of the indication of this Court of 13 June 2017 under Rule 39, the government requested a hearing before the Supreme Court for directions on whether the Supreme Court could direct a further stay of the declaration of the High Court of 11 April 2017 (see paragraph 19 above). In their judgment the Supreme Court stated:

“15. Every day since 11 April 2017 the stays have obliged the hospital to take a course which, as is now clear beyond doubt or challenge, is not in the best interests of Charlie. The hospital finds itself in an acutely difficult ethical dilemma: although the stays have made it lawful to continue to provide him with AVNH, it considers it professionally wrong for it to have continued for over two months to act otherwise than in his best interests.

...

“17. We three members of this court find ourselves in a situation which, so far as we can recall, we have never previously experienced. By granting a stay, even of short duration, we would in some sense be complicit in directing a course of action which is contrary to Charlie’s best interests”.

38. The court also recalled the importance of protecting the applicants’ right to petition this Court and accordingly, granted a further stay until midnight on 10/11 July 2017. 39. In closing the Supreme Court noted:

“22. By way of postscript, the court was today informed that the proposed application to the ECtHR will be made not only by the parents but also by or on behalf of Charlie. It is not, of course, for this court to comment on how the ECtHR should address the status of an application made by parents on behalf of a child for a declaration that his rights have been violated by decisions found to have been made in his best interests. But, as the ECtHR well knows, our procedures have required that Charlie’s participation in the domestic proceedings should at all times have been in the hands of an independent, professional guardian”.

B. Relevant domestic law and practice

1. The Children Act 1989

40. Subsection 1 is titled “Welfare of the child”. It provides: (1) When a court determines any question with respect to—

(a) the upbringing of a child; ...

the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration.

(2) In any proceedings in which any question with respect to the upbringing of a child arises, the court shall have regard to the general principle that any delay in determining the question is likely to prejudice the welfare of the child.

41. The Act also addresses “parental responsibility”. It provides that where a child’s father and mother were married to each other at the time of his birth, they shall each have parental responsibility for the child. Each of the parents, or the mother if she is unmarried, has parental responsibility over the child. Section 3 states. In the Act "parental responsibility" means: “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property."

42. Section 8 (1) grants the courts the powers to make orders with respect to children in certain circumstances, known as “specific issue” orders.

2. Domestic case law

(a) Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) [2001] 2 WLR at p.480.

43. The court stated that a child’s parents having parental responsibility have the power to give consent for their child to undergo treatment, but overriding control is vested in the court exercising its independent and objective judgment in the child’s best interests.

(b) An NHS Trust v. MB (A Child represented by CAFCASS as Guardian ad Litem) [2006] 2 FLR 319.

44. The court said as follows:

"(i) As a dispute has arisen between the treating doctors and the parents, and one, and now both, parties have asked the court to make a decision, it is the role and duty of the court to do so and to exercise its own independent and objective judgment.

(ii) The right and power of the court to do so only arises because the patient, in this case because he is a child, lacks the capacity to make a decision for himself.

(iii) I am not deciding what decision I might make for myself if I was, hypothetically, in the situation of the patient; nor for a child of my own if in that situation; nor whether the respective decisions of the doctors on the one hand or the parents on the other are reasonable decisions.

(iv) The matter must be decided by the application of an objective approach or test.

(v) That test is the best interests of the patient. Best interests are used in the widest sense and include every kind of consideration capable of impacting on the decision. These include, non-exhaustively, medical, emotional, sensory (pleasure, pain and suffering) and instinctive (the human instinct to survive) considerations.

(vi) It is impossible to weigh such considerations mathematically, but the court must do the best it can to balance all the conflicting considerations in a particular case and see where the final balance of the best interests lies.

(vii) Considerable weight (Lord Donaldson of Lymington MR referred to ‘a very strong presumption’) must be attached to the prolongation of life because the individual human instinct and desire to survive is strong and must be presumed to be strong in the patient. But it is not absolute, nor necessarily decisive; and may be outweighed if the pleasures and the quality of life are sufficiently small and the pain and suffering or other burdens of living are sufficiently great.

(viii) These considerations remain well expressed in the words as relatively long ago now as 1991 of Lord Donaldson of Lymington in Re J (A minor) (wardship: medical treatment) [1991] Fam 33 at page 46 where he said:

‘There is without doubt a very strong presumption in favour of a course of action which will prolong life, but ... it is not irrebuttable ... Account has to be taken of the pain and suffering and quality of life which the child will experience if life is prolonged. Account has also to be taken of the pain and suffering involved in the proposed treatment... We know that the instinct and desire for survival is very strong. We all believe in and assert the sanctity of human life .... Even very severely handicapped people find a quality of life rewarding which to the unhandicapped may seem manifestly intolerable. People have an amazing adaptability. But in the end there will be cases in which the answer must be that it is not in the interests of the child to subject it to treatment which will cause it increased suffering and produce no commensurate benefit, giving the fullest possible weight to the child’s, and mankind’s desire to survive.’

(ix) All these cases are very fact specific, i.e. they depend entirely on the facts of the individual case.

(x) The views and opinions of both the doctors and the parents must be carefully considered. Where, as in this case, the parents spend a great deal of time with their child, their views may have particular value because they know the patient and how he reacts so well; although the court needs to be mindful that the views of any parents may, very understandably, be coloured by their own emotion or sentiment. It is important to stress that the reference is to the views and opinions of the parents. Their own wishes, however understandable in human terms, are wholly irrelevant to consideration of the objective best interests of the child save to the extent in any given case that they may illuminate the quality and value to the child of the child/parent relationship."

(c) An NHS Trust v. MB (A Child represented by CAFCASS as Guardian ad Litem) [2006] 2 FLR 319.

45. In this case, the Supreme Court stated as follows:

"[22] Hence the focus is on whether it is in the patient’s best interests to give the treatment, rather than on whether it is in his best interests to withhold or withdraw it. If the treatment is not in his best interests, the court will not be able to give its consent on his behalf and it will follow that it will be lawful to withhold or withdraw it. Indeed, it will follow that it will not be lawful to give it.

[39] ...in considering the best interests of this particular patient at this particular time, decision-makers must look at his welfare in the widest sense, not just medical but social and psychological; they must consider the nature of the medical treatment in question, what it involves and its prospects of success; they must consider what the outcome of that treatment for the patient is likely to be; they must try and put themselves in the place of the individual patient and ask what his attitude to the treatment is or would be likely to be; and they must consult others who are looking after him or interested in his welfare, in particular for their view of what his attitude would be."

3. Family Procedure Rules 2010

46. Rule 16.2 sets out when a child can be joined as a party in family proceedings, stating: “(1) The court may make a child a party to proceedings if it considers it is in the best interests of the child to do so”.

47. If the court decides to join a child as a party in family proceedings then a guardian must be appointed to represent them, unless the court is satisfied that it is not necessary to do so to safeguard the interests of the child. 48. The Family Court Practice Direction – Representation of Children, Part 4, Section 2, sets out the duty of the guardian as follows:

“It is the duty of a children’s guardian fairly and competently to conduct proceedings on behalf of the child. The children’s guardian must have no interest in the proceedings adverse to that of the child and all steps and decisions the children’s guardian takes in the proceedings must be taken for the benefit of the child”.

49. The Court of Appeal considered the role of the guardian in R & Ors v. Cafcass [2012] EWCA Civ 853, commenting:

“23. No detailed analysis of this statutory regime is necessary. The provisions speak for themselves. All we need say is that the children’s guardian is on any view pivotal to the whole scheme. The guardian is both the voice of the child and the eyes and ears of the court. As any judge who has ever sat in care cases will be all too aware, the court is at every stage of the process critically dependent upon the guardian. In a jurisdiction where the State is seeking to intervene – often very drastically – in family life, the legislature has appropriately recognised that determination of the child’s best interests cannot be guaranteed if the proceedings involve no more than an adversarial dispute between the local authority and the parents. Parliament has recognised that in this very delicate and difficult area the proper protection and furthering of the child’s best interests require the child to be represented both by his own solicitor and by a guardian, each bringing to bear their necessary and distinctive professional expertise.”

4. Access to experimental medication

50. All clinical trials to establish whether experimental medical treatment is appropriate and safe for human use need to be approved by the National Health Service Research Ethics Committee. The statutory framework is contained in the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials Regulations) 2004, which transposes the European Clinical Trials Directive (EC/2001/20) into domestic law. The General Medical Council, which is the standard setting body for doctors in the United Kingdom, has also published guidelines on “Good practice in research covering clinical trials”.

C. International Law and Practice

1. United Nations

51. Article 3 (1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states:

“In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”.

2. Council of Europe

52. The Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (opened to signature at Oviedo on 4 April 1997), contains the following principles regarding consent:

“Chapter II – Consent

Article 6 – Protection of persons not able to consent

1. Subject to Articles 17 and 20 below, an intervention may only be carried out on a person who does not have the capacity to consent, for his or her direct benefit.

2. Where, according to law, a minor does not have the capacity to consent to an intervention, the intervention may only be carried out with the authorisation of his or her representative or an authority or a person or body provided for by law.

The opinion of the minor shall be taken into consideration as an increasingly determining factor in proportion to his or her age and degree of maturity.

3. Where, according to law, an adult does not have the capacity to consent to an intervention because of a mental disability, a disease or for similar reasons, the intervention may only be carried out with the authorisation of his or her representative or an authority or a person or body provided for by law.

The individual concerned shall as far as possible take part in the authorisation procedure.

4. The representative, the authority, the person or the body mentioned in paragraphs 2 and 3 above shall be given, under the same conditions, the information referred to in Article 5.

5. The authorisation referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 above may be withdrawn at any time in the best interests of the person concerned.

53. According to the Explanatory report to the Convention, Article 6 is intended to be in conformity with the provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (see paragraph 51). The Guide on the decision-making process regarding medical treatment in end-of-life situations was drawn up by the Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe in the course of its work on patients’ rights and with the intention of facilitating the implementation of the principles enshrined in the Oviedo Convention.

3. European Union

54. The European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which became legally binding with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, contains the following Article:

Article 24 – The rights of the child

“1. Children shall have the right to such protection and care as is necessary for their well-being. They may express their views freely. Such views shall be taken into consideration on matters which concern them in accordance with their age and maturity.

2. In all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institutions, the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration.

3. Every child shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis a personal relationship and direct contact with both his, or her parents, unless that is contrary to his or her interests.”

COMPLAINTS

55. The second and third applicants complained on their own behalf and on behalf of the first applicant under Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. They argued that the hospital has blocked life-sustaining treatment to CG in violation of the positive obligation under Article 2. In respect of Article 5, they argued that CG is deprived of his liberty within the meaning of that article by the order of 11 April 2017. 56. The second and third applicants complained on their own behalf under Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention. Under Article 6 they complained that the Court of Appeal concluded that their intended parental decisions would cause the first applicant “significant harm” without hearing witness evidence on this point. Under Article 8 they argued that the declaration by the High Court of 11 April 2017 and subsequent domestic court decisions amount to a disproportionate interference in their parental rights because the domestic courts had taken their decisions in the “best interests” of the child. Whereas they should have asked whether there is a likelihood that the child “is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm”. As a result, the interference in their parental rights under Article 8 is disproportionate and cannot be justified.

THE LAW

I. STANDING TO ACT IN THE NAME AND ON BEHALF OF CG

57. Article 34 of the Convention provides as follows:

“The Court may receive applications from any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto. The High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.”

A. Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention

58. In respect of Articles 2 and 5, the second and third Applicants have argued on their own behalf and that of CG that the hospital has blocked life-sustaining treatment to CG and the result is that he is unlawfully deprived of his liberty. The second and third applicants did not give any reasons why the Court should consider that they have standing to make those complaints on CG’s behalf.

B. The Court’s assessment

1. The relevant principles

59. In respect of Article 2, the relevant principles are set out in Lambert and Others v. France [GC], no. 46043/14, §§ 89-95, ECHR 2015 (extracts). In order to rely on Article 34 of the Convention, an applicant must be able to claim to be a victim of a violation of the Convention. An exception is made to this principle where the alleged violation or violations of the Convention are closely linked to a death or disappearance in circumstances allegedly engaging the responsibility of the State. In such cases the Court has recognised the standing of the victim’s next-of-kin to submit an application (see Lambert and Others, cited above, §§ 89-90). 60. Amongst the authorities cited in that case, the Court notes that under Article 8 of the Convention, it has also accepted on several occasions that parents who did not have parental rights could apply to it on behalf of their minor children (see Lambert and Others, cited above, § 94, with further references). The key criterion for the Court in these cases was the risk that some of the children’s interests might not be brought to its attention and that they would be denied effective protection of their Convention rights. 61. In respect of Article 5, the Court has regarded this right as one which is non-transferable (see Tomaszewscy v. Poland, no. 8933/05, § 77, 15 April 2014). However, in certain cases concerning Articles 5, 6 and 8 of the Convention, the Court has recognised that those close to the victim can be regarded as having standing due to a legitimate material interest and a moral interest, on behalf of themselves and of the family (see Nolkenbockhoff v. Germany, no 10300/83, § 33, 25 August 1987 § 33). Where there was an absence of close family ties, the Court has considered this one reason why standing should not be afforded to those who are not direct victims (see Sanles Sanles v. Spain (dec.), no. 48335/99, ECHR 2000‑XI). 62. Overall, a review of the cases in which the Convention institutions have accepted that a third party may, in exceptional circumstances, act in the name and on behalf of a vulnerable person reveals the following two main criteria: the risk that the direct victim will be deprived of effective protection of his or her rights, and the absence of a conflict of interests between the victim and the applicant (see Lambert and Others, § 102).

2. Application to the present case

63. Applying those two criteria set out above to the present case, the Court must consider whether concluding the second and third applicants do not have standing to complain on CG’s behalf would deprive CG of effective protection of his rights. In the present case, the Court finds the application of the criterion is more complex than that in Lambert and Others, (cited above) because the applicant is a minor, who has never been able to express his views. 64. The first criterion is whether there is a risk that CG as the direct victim, would be deprived of effective protection his rights if the present application could not go ahead on his behalf. 65. In this case that risk has been minimised where CG is represented by an independent, professional, court appointed guardian precisely to ensure that his own voice can be heard. That guardian has been active in the legal proceedings throughout the domestic procedures and it would be possible for the guardian to represent CG in an application to the Court. 66. The Court therefore concludes that based on the procedural possibility for CG to be represented, and the fact that this procedural possibility has functioned effectively in practice, the risk of a failure to protect CG’s rights has been reduced as far as possible, in the circumstances. 67. On the second criterion, the question is whether there was a conflict of interest between CG and the second and third applicants. The existence of such a conflict would obviously raise doubts over whether the second and third applicants could make an application on CG’s behalf. In this respect, the Court takes into account the unambiguous and repeated findings of the domestic courts that what the parents sought for CG was not in his best interests (see paragraph 37 above). Therefore, even though CG has never been able to express his views, the Court considers that there is a evident conflict of interest between the applicants. 68. Therefore, it could be argued that the second and third applicants do not have standing to raise a complaint under Article 2 of the Convention in the name and on behalf of CG. Indeed, this point was underlined by the Supreme Court in its judgment of 19 June 2017 (see paragraph 39 above). 69. The Court also recalls that applying those criteria in Lambert and Others (cited above § 106) it found that the parent applicants did not have standing to raise the complaints on the part of Vincent Lambert and concluded their complaint was incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention. However, looking at the situation as a whole, the Court considers that it is somewhat different to that in Lambert and Others (cited above), in light of the fact that CG is a minor, who has never been able to express his views or live an independent life. The second and third applicants’ status as parents is therefore arguably to be accorded greater weight in the present case, than in that of Lambert and Others, where Vincent Lambert had lived an adult life, separately from his parents and clearly expressed his views. Such an approach would accord with that set out in Article 6.2 of the Oviedo convention (see paragraph 52). 70. However, the Court does not see a need to come to a final conclusion on this point because as in Lambert and Others (see § 112) the Court will examine all the substantive issues arising in the present case under Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention, given that they were raised by the applicants on their own behalf.

II. EXHAUSTION OF DOMESTIC REMEDIES

A. The relevant principles

71. The rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies in Article 35 § 1 which provides that the Court may only deal with the matter after all domestic remedies have been exhausted, reflects the fundamentally subsidiary role of the Convention mechanism. It normally requires that the complaints intended to be made at international level should have been aired before the appropriate domestic courts, at least in substance, in compliance with the formal requirements and time‑limits laid down in domestic law. 72. The object of the rule is to allow the national authorities to address the allegation of a violation of a Convention right and, where appropriate, to afford redress before that allegation is submitted to the Court. If the complaint presented before the Court has not been put, either explicitly or in substance, to the national courts when it could have been raised, the national legal order has been denied the opportunity which the rule on exhaustion of domestic remedies is intended to give it to address the Convention issue. It is not sufficient that the applicant may have exercised another remedy which could have overturned the impugned measure on other grounds not connected with the complaint of a violation of a Convention right. It is the Convention complaint which must have been aired at national level for there to have been exhaustion of “effective remedies”. It would be contrary to the subsidiary character of the Convention machinery if an applicant, ignoring a possible Convention argument, could rely on some other ground before the national authorities for challenging an impugned measure, but then lodge an application before the Court on the basis of the Convention argument (see, among many other authorities, Vučković and Others v. Serbia (preliminary objection) [GC], nos. 17153/11 and 29 others, §§ 69-77, 25 March 2014 Peacock v the United Kingdom no. 52335/12 (dec.) 5 January 2016 § 32).

B. Application to the present case

Articles 2, 5 and 6

73. The Court notes that in their application the applicants have highlighted that the domestic courts have not given consideration to the arguments raised under Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. Given the meticulous and careful nature of the judgments of the domestic courts and their flexible approach to procedure in this case, the Court considers that the fact they did not address the Convention arguments does not indicate any arbitrariness in those judgments but rather results from the fact that those arguments were not made in any detail until the final stages in the proceedings. This conclusion is supported by a review of the content of the applicants’ pleadings before the domestic courts. Concerning the arguments made under Article 6 about the fairness of the proceedings before the Court of Appeal, the Court notes that these were raised in brief by the applicants before the Supreme Court and expressly coupled with their complaints under Articles 5 and 8. 74. Therefore, the Court considers that a question is raised over whether the applicants have clearly shown that they provided the authorities with the opportunity which is in principle intended to be afforded to a Contracting State by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, namely that of addressing, and thereby preventing or putting right, the particular Convention violation alleged against it, in line with the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies. 75. However, it does not need to come to a final conclusion on the point because the arguments are manifestly ill-founded, for the reasons set out below.

III. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 2 OF THE CONVENTION

76. Article 2 of the Convention provides as follows:

“1. Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally ....”

The relevant principles

1. Access to experimental treatment for terminally ill patients

77. Concerning access to experimental treatment, or treatment which is not usually authorised, the Court has previously considered that the positive obligations under Article 2 may include the duty to put in place an appropriate legal framework, for instance regulations compelling hospitals to adopt appropriate measures for the protection of their patients’ lives (see Hristozov and Others v. Bulgaria, § 108). This caused the Court to note in relation to its finding of no violation of Article 2 in that case, where the applicants sought experimental cancer treatment at a private clinic in Germany, that Bulgaria had in place a regulatory system adopted in line with the requirements the relevant European Directives governing access to unauthorised medicinal products in cases where conventional forms of medical treatment appeared insufficient. 78. Overall the Court concluded that Article 2 of the Convention cannot be interpreted as requiring access to unauthorised medicinal products for the terminally ill to be regulated in a particular way (see Hristozov and Others, cited above, § 108).

2. Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment

79. As to the question of the withdrawal of life‑sustaining treatment, the Court has examined this question in detail in its landmark Grand Chamber case Lambert and Others (cited above) from the standpoint of the State’s positive obligations (see § 124). 80. In addressing the question of the administering or withdrawal of medical treatment in that and previous cases, the Court has taken into account the following elements: - the existence in domestic law and practice of a regulatory framework compatible with the requirements of Article 2; - whether account had been taken of the applicant’s previously expressed wishes and those of the persons close to him, as well as the opinions of other medical personnel; - the possibility to approach the courts in the event of doubts as to the best decision to take in the patient’s interests (Lambert and Others, cited above, § 143). 81. As to the first of those three elements, the Court recalls its conclusion in its admissibility decision in Glass v. the United Kingdom, no. 61827/00, (dec.), 18 March 2003 that:

“Having regard to the detailed rules and standards laid down in the domestic law and practice of the respondent State in the area under consideration, it cannot be maintained that the relevant regulatory framework discloses any shortcomings which can lay the basis of an arguable claim of a breach of the domestic authorities’ obligation to protect the first applicant’s right to life.”

82. Accordingly, it dismissed the Article 2 complaint in that case as manifestly ill-founded. 83. The Court notes that no consensus exists among the Council of Europe member States in favour of permitting the withdrawal of artificial life-sustaining treatment, although the majority of States appear to allow it. While the detailed arrangements governing the withdrawal of treatment vary from one country to another, there is nevertheless consensus as to the paramount importance of the patient’s wishes in the decision-making process, however those wishes are expressed (see Lambert and Others, cited above § 147). 84. Accordingly, the Court considers that in this sphere concerning the end of life, as in that concerning the beginning of life, States must be afforded a margin of appreciation, not just as to whether or not to permit the withdrawal of artificial life‑sustaining treatment and the detailed arrangements governing such withdrawal, but also as regards the means of striking a balance between the protection of patients’ right to life and the protection of their right to respect for their private life and their personal autonomy (see, mutatis mutandis, A, B and C v. Ireland [GC], no. 25579/05, § 237, ECHR 2010). However, this margin of appreciation is not unlimited (ibid., § 238) and the Court reserves the power to review whether or not the State has complied with its obligations under Article 2 (Lambert and Others, cited above, § 148).

3. Application to the present case

85. The applicants complain that through the domestic legal proceedings, the hospital has blocked access to life-sustaining treatment for CG. This is a different argument to that advanced before the domestic courts, which concerned the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The Court will therefore examine this argument in light of the general principles in its case law concerning access to experimental medication for terminally ill patients. In this respect it notes that it is not the subject of dispute between the parties that the treatment the second and third applicants seek for the first applicant is experimental, having never been tested on humans or animals (see paragraph 5), and any prospect of it having an effect is purely theoretical. 86. In relation to this argument, the Court recalls that in Hristozov and Others (cited above) it found no violation of Article 2 because the state had put in place a regulatory framework governing access to experimental medication. The applicants have not sought to argue in this case that such a framework is missing. However, the Court notes from the domestic proceedings, for example the need for permission from an Ethics Committee in order to access the nucleoside treatment (see paragraphs 6 and 50 above) that such a framework is in place in the United Kingdom. In addition it notes that like in Hristozov and Others (cited above), that regulatory framework is derived from the relevant European Directives. 87. As a regulatory framework is in place, this condition is fulfilled and the Court therefore recalls its conclusion in Hristozov and Others (cited above), that Article 2 of the Convention cannot be interpreted as requiring access to unauthorised medicinal products for the terminally ill to be regulated in any particular way. Accordingly, it considers that this aspect of the complaint is manifestly ill-founded. 88. As said, the applicants have not made an argument under Article 2 concerning the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Nonetheless, the Court considers that in the circumstances of the case, and in light of the domestic judgments which turned on these arguments, that it is also appropriate to analyse the applicants’ complaint from this perspective. 89. In this context, the first of the three elements identified in the general principles set out above (see paragraph 81) is the existence in domestic law and practice of a regulatory framework compatible with the requirements of Article 2. In Glass ((dec.), cited above), the Court found the Article 2 complaint inadmissible because the framework in place was appropriate (see paragraph 81 above). Moreover, in its later judgment in that case it concluded that it did not consider that the regulatory framework in place in the United Kingdom is in any way inconsistent with the standards laid down in the Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine in the area of consent (see Glass, cited above, § 75). Given that the applicants have not raised arguments on this point in their present application, or before the domestic courts, the Court sees no reason to change its previous conclusion. It therefore considers the first element to be satisfied. 90. The second element is whether account had been taken of CG’s previously expressed wishes and those of the persons close to him, as well as the opinions of other medical personnel. The applicants have not complained under this head, that their wishes were not taken account of in this context, although the Court considers that there is some overlap with the complaint made by the second and third applicants under Article 8 that their wishes as parents were not respected. 91. Examining the question from the perspective of Article 2, the Court recalls that neither Article 2 nor its case-law can be interpreted as imposing any requirements as to the procedure to be followed with a view to securing a possible agreement (see Lambert and Others, cited above, § 162). 92. It notes that whilst CG could not express his own wishes, the domestic courts ensured that his wishes were expressed though his guardian, an independent professional appointed expressly by the domestic courts for that purpose (see paragraph 48). 93. Moreover, the opinions of all medical personnel involved were examined in detail. These included the views of CG’s treating specialist who enjoyed an international reputation in the field, and her supporting clinical team including paediatric doctors and nurses. Opinions were also sought from a clinical team at a specialised hospital in another European country. For the purposes of the domestic proceedings the applicants were invited to privately instruct their own medical expert, which they did (see paragraph 12) and the domestic courts engaged in detail with the views of that expert. 94. The High Court judge who made the first instance decision met with all the parties and medical professionals involved and visited CG in hospital. The Court of Appeal also heard from the doctor in America who was willing to treat the child who was also invited to discuss his professional views with CG’s doctors in the United Kingdom, with a view to seeing whether they could narrow any of the issues between them. Finally, the parents were fully involved and represented through all the decisions made concerning CG and significant weight was given to their views. 95. This second element is therefore satisfied. 96. The third element is the possibility to approach the courts in the event of doubts as to the best decision to take in the patient’s interests. It is evident from the domestic proceedings that there was not only the possibility to approach the courts in the event of doubt but in fact, a duty to do so (see paragraphs 39 to 45 above). The Court also recalls that in its judgment in Glass (cited above), this Court criticised the treating hospital for failing to approach the courts in similar circumstances. The facts of the present case are wholly different, GOSH quite properly applied to the High Court under the relevant statute and the inherent jurisdiction of that court to obtain a legal decision as to the appropriate way forward. 97. Accordingly, the third element is satisfied. 98. Therefore, in light of the above, and in view of the margin of appreciation left to the authorities in the present case, the Court concludes that this complaint is manifestly ill-founded.

IV. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5 OF THE CONVENTION

99. The applicants have not specified under which of the categories under Article 5 they wish to raise their arguments concerning deprivation of liberty, making reference only to the general principles. Moreover, the applicants did not detail their arguments on this point at the domestic level with reference to the Convention case law (see paragraph 73 above). Nor, do there appear to be previous examples within the Court’s case law which might bear comparison with the arguments as set out in the present case. Although, the Court notes that in the case of Nielsen v. Denmark (no. 10929/84, Court (Plenary), 28 November 1988 (§ 72), it considered that hospital treatment of a minor was not in violation of Article 5, stating that the conditions in which the applicant stayed thus did not, in principle, differ from those obtaining in many hospital wards where children with physical disorders are treated. 100. In light of this lack of clarity, the Court does not consider that it would be appropriate to come to any definitive conclusion on the application of Article 5 in this context and in any event, there is no need for it to do so, as the point is manifestly ill-founded for the reasons set out below. 101. Insofar as they have specified their argument, the applicants have contended that the case of H.L. v. the United Kingdom, no. 45508/99, ECHR 2004‑IX applies to the circumstances of the case. That case concerned the detention of the applicant under 5 § 1 (e) as a person of unsound mind. The Court found violations of Articles 5 § 1 and 5 § 4 of the Convention due to the absence of procedural safeguards (see § 124); and the lack of guarantees of the right of an individual deprived of his liberty to have the lawfulness of that detention reviewed by a court (§ 142), respectively. 102. As to the absence of procedural safeguards concerning detention, the Court considers that on the facts of the case, this element is linked to availability of a domestic legal framework and the possibility to apply to the domestic courts, which it has already considered in the context of Article 2 (see paragraphs 89 to 97 above). Accordingly, it cannot see that the applicants’ complaint under this article adds anything further to their claim from a Convention perspective. 103. Accordingly, the Court considers that this aspect of the complaint is manifestly ill-founded.

V. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLES 6 AND 8 OF THE CONVENTION

104. The Court recalls that it is the master of the characterisation to be given in law to the facts of a case (see Söderman v. Sweden [GC], no. 5786/08, § 57, ECHR 2013). In the present case, it considers that the applicants’ complaint under Article 6 about the manner in which the domestic courts made their decisions, concerns exclusively the alleged arbitrary interference in their private and family life. Indeed, it notes that it was argued as a supplemental aspect of the applicants’ Article 8 complaint (see paragraph 73). The complaint is therefore to be examined under Article 8 of the Convention alone, which provides as follows:

“1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, ...

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

A. The relevant principles

105. As to the scope of Article 8 in this context, the Court has previously considered that a decision to impose treatment on a child contrary to the objections of the parent gave rise to an interference with the child’s right to respect for his private life, and in particular his right to physical integrity (see M.A.K. and R.K. v. the United Kingdom, nos. 45901/05 and 40146/06, § 75, 23 March 2010; and Glass, cited above, §§ 70‑72). 106. On the question of state interference where there is a conflict between a parent’s desire concerning medical care for their child and the opinion of medical professionals treating the child, the Court has found that it is appropriate for the medical professionals involved to bring such conflicts before a court for resolution (see Glass, cited above, § 83). 107. However, as acknowledged by the domestic courts, the facts of the present case are exceptional and the Court does not have examples in its case law which address the approach to be taken in resolving such conflicts. Nonetheless, it has on many occasions considered the manner in which domestic authorities intervene when families are in conflict, often in situations relating to care and custody arrangements. In such cases the Court has frequently recalled that the decisive issue is whether the fair balance that must exist between the competing interests at stake – those of the child, of the two parents, and of public order – has been struck, within the margin of appreciation afforded to States in such matters, taking into account, however, that the best interests of the child must be of primary consideration (see X v. Latvia [GC], no. 27853/09, § 95, ECHR 2013; Paradiso and Campanelli v. Italy [GC], no. 25358/12, § 208, ECHR 2017; Dubská and Krejzová v. the Czech Republic [GC], nos. 28859/11 and 28473/12, § 74, ECHR 2016; Mandet v. France, no. 30955/12, §§ 53-55, 14 January 2016; Korneykova and Korneykov v. Ukraine, no. 56660/12, § 129-130, 24 March 2016; N.Ts. and Others v. Georgia, no. 71776/12, §§ 81-83, 2 February 2016). 108. The Court has also reiterated that there is a broad consensus – including in international law – in support of the idea that in all decisions concerning children, their best interests must be paramount (see X v. Latvia, cited above, § 96 with further references).

B. Application to the present case

109. The Court notes at the outset that when it previously considered similar issues in the case of Glass, it considered that it was only asked to examine the issues raised from the standpoint of the first applicant’s (the child’s) right to respect for his physical integrity, having regard, of course, to the second applicant’s role as his mother and legal proxy (§ 72). In the present case, the second and third applicants complain only on their own behalf in respect of the interference with their rights under Article 8. Accordingly, it will conduct its analysis in light of the alleged interference with the second and third applicants and in light of its case law cited above relating to their “family ties” with the first applicant. 110. In light of the case law set out above (see paragraph 105), it considers there has been an interference in the Article 8 rights of the applicants. Any such interference constitutes a violation of this Article unless it is “in accordance with the law”, pursues an aim or aims that are legitimate under Article 8 § 2 and can be regarded as “necessary in a democratic society”.

1. “In accordance with the law”

111. The applicants have not complained as such about a failure to apply the legal framework in place. In respect of that legal framework, the Court recalls the conclusion in its judgment in Glass, cited above, § 75:

“Firstly, the regulatory framework in the respondent State is firmly predicated on the duty to preserve the life of a patient, save in exceptional circumstances. Secondly, that same framework prioritises the requirement of parental consent and, save in emergency situations, requires doctors to seek the intervention of the courts in the event of parental objection. It would add that it does not consider that the regulatory framework in place in the United Kingdom is in any way inconsistent with the standards laid down in the Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine in the area of consent; nor does it accept the view that the many sources from which the rules, regulations and standards are derived only contribute to unpredictability and an excess of discretion in this area at the level of application”.

112. No reasons have been advanced to challenge the Court’s conclusions. Therefore, the Court considers that the interference was in accordance with the law.

2. “Legitimate aim”

113. The Court also finds that the interference was aimed at protecting the “health or morals” and the “rights and freedoms” of a minor – the first applicant – and thus pursued aims that are legitimate under Article 8 § 2.

3. “Necessary in a democratic society”

114. The second and third applicants argued that the interference with their parental rights based on the “best interests” test of the child was unnecessary. According to them, such an interference could only be justified where there was a risk of “significant harm” to the child. They have also argued that it was not appropriate for the question of CG’s treatment to be taken by the courts and that this amounted to an unjustifiable interference. 115. Dealing with the latter point first, the Court recalls that it found a violation of Article 8 in the case of Glass (cited above), because the hospital concerned did not go before the domestic courts to obtain authorisation to treat the applicant’s child, stating that (§ 83):

“...the decision of the authorities to override the second applicant’s objection to the proposed treatment in the absence of authorisation by a court resulted in a breach of Article 8 of the Convention”

116. It also notes that in this context the possibility to access court supervision is the third element identified in Lambert and Others (cited above) and already examined in the context of this case (see paragraph 96). 117. It is therefore clear that it was appropriate for the treating hospital to turn to the courts in the event of conflict. 118. In respect of the applicants’ argument that the appropriate test was not one of the child’s “best interests”, but one of a risk of “significant harm” to the child, the Court recalls that there is a broad consensus – including in international law – in support of the idea that in all decisions concerning children, their best interests must be paramount. But, the facts of the present case are exceptional (see paragraph 107) and there is therefore a lack of guidance in the Court’s case law on this point. 119. In any event, the Court does not consider this question to be decisive in the circumstances of the case. That is because even if the test suggested by the applicants is the appropriate one, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court concluded that there was a risk of “significant harm” to CG (see paragraphs 30 and 36). They arrived at this conclusion on reviewing the decision of the High Court which considered extensive, expert evidence and heard from all concerned with CG’s daily care, who concluded, unanimously that it was likely he was being exposed to continued pain, suffering and distress. 120. The domestic courts also found, based on that extensive, expert evidence that for CG to undergo experimental treatment, with no prospects of success would offer no benefit, and prolong his suffering. 121. The Court reiterates that the question of whether an interference is “necessary in a democratic society” requires consideration of whether, in the light of the case as a whole, the reasons adduced to justify the measures are “relevant and sufficient”. In considering the reasons adduced to justify the measures, the Court will give due account to the fact that the national authorities had the benefit of direct contact with all of the persons concerned (see M.A.K. and R.K., cited above, § 68). In the present case, the Court accords the benefit of that direct contact even greater weight given the contact that the domestic courts have had with all those concerned and the extensive amount of technical expertise they have examined. 122. The Court also recalls that where there is no consensus within the member States of the Council of Europe, either as to the relative importance of the interest at stake or as to the best means of protecting it, particularly where the case raises sensitive moral or ethical issues, the margin of appreciation of the domestic authorities will be wider (see Dubská and Krejzová, cited above, § 178, ECHR 2016, and also Parrillo v. Italy [GC], no. 46470/11, § 169, ECHR 2015 with further references). The Court has previously considered in the context of Article 8 that in respect of the lack of consensus on access to experimental medical treatment for the terminally ill, the margin of appreciation is wide (see Hristozov and Others, cited above, § 124). Moreover, it is clear that the case before it raises sensitive moral and ethical issues. 123. The Court is also mindful that the essential object of Article 8 is to protect the individual against arbitrary action by the public authorities. The Court has already found that the legal framework in place was appropriate and that the authorities have a margin of appreciation in this sphere. The Court therefore considers that the legal framework as a whole has not been shown to be disproportionate. It has also found that the benefit of the direct contact with all persons concerned should be accorded significant weight. In such circumstances, it reiterates that it is not for the Court to substitute itself for the competent domestic authorities but rather to review under the Convention the decisions that those authorities have taken in the exercise of their power of appreciation (see Jovanovic v. Sweden, no. 10592/12, § 76, 22 October 2015, with further references). 124. Therefore, examining the decisions taken by the domestic courts in light of those considerations, the Court recalls that they were meticulous and thorough; ensured that all those concerned were represented throughout; heard extensive and high-quality expert evidence; accorded weight to all the arguments raised; and were reviewed at three levels of jurisdiction with clear and extensive reasoning giving relevant and sufficient support for their conclusions at all three levels. Accordingly, the Court does not see any element suggesting that those decisions could amount to an arbitrary or disproportionate interference. 125. Therefore, this part of the complaint is manifestly ill-founded. In view of the above, it is appropriate to discontinue the application of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. For these reasons, the Court, by a majority,

Declares the application inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 28 June 2017.

Abel Campos (Registrar) Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos (President)

APPENDIX

Name Date of birth Nationality

Charles GARD 04/08/2016 British

Christopher GARD 24/06/1984 British

Constance YATES 02/12/1985 British