#which is probably okay because if i remember correctly

[ddejavvu]

mei! I have an request that has been rotting my brain for WEEKS. Now. I haven't seen you write for Bucky before, so I don't know if you will, but I'm taking a risk asking bc I have been SALIVATING.

It's so simple. Literally just Bucky eating the reader out, and he hikes her up on his shoulders, with her legs wrapped around his head and she's leaned up against the wall. I hope I'm drawing this correctly, but it has been ALL I have been thinking about. if you don't do bucky, that's okay but if you do PLEASEE.

on my old account that i never write on anymore i used to be the bucky queen. every time someone asks me if i'd ever write for bucky i take psychic damage (through no fault of yours). my bucky masterlist was pages long and sometimes i really do miss my metal armed fucktoy

this post is 18+, minors dni.

Cool metal digs into the fleshy globe of your ass, trailing up your back and surely leaving ridged indents in your skin that will itch later when he's let you down. Your back aches, your neck aches, and no amount of squirming against the wall will stop that, but the ecstasy between your thighs makes up for it and more. Bucky's slight scruff burns against your thighs as his mouth sucks tight against your hole, tongue dipping inside and adding to the slick mess that's already been produced there.

There's wetness escaping the seal of his lips, staining both his chin and your thighs alike, probably dripping down to the floor by now, streaming like saliva from the jowls of a feral beast. He's got you pinned to the wall behind you, your knees hiked over his shoulders to stabilize you while his super-powered muscles do the rest of the work. He doesn't seem to need to compensate much, but he does brace his arms beneath your ass for somewhere to put them. Regardless of his arms- he's pinned your cunt to the wall like he's making out with it.

He's eating it, really eating it like he's dipping his tongue into your mouth. His head bobs back and forth, his tongue pushing relentlessly into your pussy and licking it for all its worth. He gladly pushes his own spit into the mess of your slick, sucking and gulping the mixture down like water to a parched man. He's groaning, breathing heavily through his teeth ravenously when he's forced to come up for air. He dives back in to suck at your clit, latching on ferociously and straining the sensitive nub that's already aflame with stimulation. You gasp, thighs nearly falling off of his shoulders, but his strong arms hold you tight in place. Bucky's tightly sealed mouth over your clit sucks hard enough for it to hurt, like he's trying to swallow it and he's willing to smother himself between your legs to do it.

Your clit burns and you yank at his hair when you've had all you can handle, enduring five seconds more of it because you can't seem to tug tight enough on his locks to make him remember there's a world outside of the wet, warm space between your thighs.

He dips back into the slick cavity of your cunt to give your clit a break, but the point of his nose still scrapes unforgivingly against its stinging surface. The clit stimulation alone is nearly enough to throw you over the edge, but you wrestle the urge back to prolong the time in which Bucky licks the slick out of your weeping sex.

There's nothing to be said, no 'Bucky', no 'More, please!', no 'I need you', nothing you could have possibly strung together in your garbled haze of a brain. All you can do is make noises, animalistic and greedy, breathy gasps and dirty moans.

That's what sex with Bucky is- hungry, feral, rabid. It's sweat that his tongue sponges off of your neck, it's bite marks left on his well-built muscles, it's the burning raw skin of your thighs left behind by his barely-there beard. It's raw sex, nothing held back, nothing orchestrated, only urges. Bucky's tongue brings you back to reality, to the ache in your back as it dips down nearly to your ass, and you rake in a trembling breath as your thighs begin to shake.

You don't need to speak to let him know he's about to unravel you, he can feel it through the tremble in your core, by the wild clenching of your hole around his tongue, by the tightening of your fist in his hair. You shamelessly ride his face through your orgasm, bucking wildly against his mouth nearly hard enough to dislodge yourself from his shoulders. But it doesn't matter, he's got you pinned, your hips immovable from against his mouth.

He drags out your orgasm for as long as he can, licking and sucking and even biting wherever he feels he won't hurt you beyond repair. You're sure there's going to be a bruise against the flesh of your inner leg tomorrow, but you would have cut it off to keep riding Bucky's face for ten seconds longer.

Bliss turns to agony as Bucky doesn't relent, his mouth still working against your cunt like a kiss. You have to risk falling to get him off, pushing urgently against his head, hard enough to pry his hot, sucking mouth off of your pussy.

He's breathing just as heavily as you are when he breaks away, the lower half of his face coated in the mixture of your slick and his spit. It feels like it's dripping out of you, too, and you marvel at how his tongue was able to stretch your cunt out like a dick.

He nudges your thighs gently off of his shoulders, but you barely fall an inch before he catches you, lowering you to the ground on shaky legs. He doesn't bother letting you hold up your own weight, providing the strength of his own chest for you to slump against. He guides you to your bed, ignoring the way your spent cunt leaks over the sheets.

He must be able to read your worry about the mess, because he grunts, "I'll clean it up later. We can wash the sheets."

You grip weakly at his hand, mustering all of your energy to squeeze it tighter, "Can you- can we sleep?"

"You can sleep," He chuckles, brushing a hand over your forehead and pushing your head back down to the pillow, "I'm not tired."

You know that. You know he's barely ever tired, even after three rounds of nothing but giving you the pounding of your lifetime. So you watch him crack his neck, chest still heaving as he drags in oxygen, "I'm gonna go for a run. Call me when you're ready for more."

[amazinglyashy]

hi hi~ i have a silly request if you're interested (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) can i request the lads men's (pre-relationship) reaction to the reader introducing them to their boyfriend? but plot twist... its a fictional virtual boyfriend! just like the game love and deepspace LOL who would get jealous? who would have beef with a fictional man?? /JK

PS: im not sure how to say this properly but u like, write them so attractively 😵 if that makes sense, like the little quirks u give them and the dialogue, whoo weeeee 100/10!

This made me laugh because I still remember introducing my bf to my Obey Me boyfriends and kept trying to figure out which one was the most like him so he could buy me merch of them and push his personal agenda. Sadly none of them are like him, but now that I play LDS, Rafayel sure is! Thank you for the request! I had fun with this one! (And oh my gosh, that's such a compliment!! Thank you so so much, it means a lot!!)

Pre-relationship LaDS men react to your fictional game partner

Rafayel -

Who would have beef with a fictional man?

Rafayel would have beef with a fictional man.

He did not wait centuries for you, searching high and low for his lost love in every dark alley and bad idea that came across him- to lose to a bunch of pixels on a tech screen.

Truthfully, he knows it's all in good fun, and he's not completely jealous. He's actually pretty glad you found a nice outlet that helps you with relieving stress from you day to day. He knows you need it.

He's just... going to be now competing secretly with a fictional figure.

He thinks its secret.

You know what he's doing.

Why else would he be asking you what the latest event is in your game with your fictional partner, and then miraculously a week later you're receiving the very same things or experiences in reality on your day off?

He's not slick at all, and honestly, you find it pretty endearing.

But also, something you won't ever consider- is maybe he's doing those things for you, not only to make you happy, but to show you just how much attention he pays to the things you tell him about.

That's okay.

You don't need to know that part.

Zayne -

Zayne is not at all threatened by whoever this 'Jumim Hen' guy is.

Yes he is mispronouncing it on purpose. No he will not correct himself until he's gotten enough humor out of it and frustrated you enough about it.

Once that happens, he'll start pronouncing it correctly and if confronted about his change in pronunciation, he will pretend you need a wellness check and request you make an appointment with his secretary.

Smooth way to spend more time with you while subtlety calling you crazy.

He mostly does just think it's cute, though.

He will buy you food from places that might be having game events that get you special merchandise or in-game prizes, even if you don't realize there's a surprise event happening because it wasn't advertised in your game.

No, he's not weird and expects you to stop playing once the two of you start dating. He realizes it's something you enjoy a lot, and he actually finds a lot of pleasure in listening to you ramble about situations that are happening in your game.

He finds most things you do endearing.

Sylus -

You're giggling over it, that's all the matters to him.

He is rubbing the bridge of his nose though, because you had been building up to this moment for over a week and he was convinced you were going to show him an actual psychopath or something and he was going to have to figure out a way to make the man disappear without you realizing it was Sylus's doing.

He probably won't make any vague comments about how your fictional boyfriend is strangely similar to himself and that maybe you have a type.

Probably.

(He will make one per day.)

(At least.)

Once you're dating him, he has some access to your device and the game, simply so that he can reload your currency whenever you go to sleep. He doesn't want you to run out, and he knows you love playing. What else is his money good for if not for making you smile?

Doesn't understand it, but he does make mental notes of your current progress in the storyline and which characters you like. But sometimes he'll pretend to forget an important detail.

He loves hearing you babble about anything, after all.

Xavier -

He was a bit confused at first, but figured out what was going on rather quickly.

He thinks it's adorable, like when he first found out how much you love claw machines and the plushies inside of them. He doesn't see it as much different- the love interests are your plushies in the game, and your fictional partner is your favorite "plushie".

Easy.

Xavier has lowkey cosplayed your game boyfriend at least once, acting innocent about it and as if it was completely unintentional.

If you're dating by then, he lets you 'borrow' the clothes, so now you have an article from your game, but it also smells like he does. He's only allowed them back once they lose their scent.

He only accepts gratitude and payment for the favor of wearing them again in the form of snuggling with him on the couch, his arms wrapped up around you as he nuzzles into your neck.

He needs your "help" for a little bit.

It's the least you can do.

[lovely-peace]

Lovely?

Summary: You don't like the marauders. You don't talk and don't even look at them. But as you visit your friend in the hospital wing you encounter a certain boy with brown hair, scars and this lovely eyes.

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Gryffindor!reader

Warnings: Low self esteem, past bullying?, This is no bully! Marauders fic!!

Part 1 Part 3

"Hey, do you want to study for Transfiguration together?"

A normal day. It should have been. But ever since I was asked who I would date, I've been hearing giggles and whispers. And now James is standing in front of Amy and me. Ready to finish something. I don't know what yet, but it's going to hurt.

Because it will be a joke of theirs.

"Why should we?" I go straight on the offensive. Leave fears behind and intimidate them.

Sirius, who was standing behind James, looked to the side to stifle a laugh. That kind of upset me.

"Well, in the last lesson you had... We thought we could help each other."

Oh. My mistake. That they laughed about. Learning. Together. Actually, they just want to smile at my stupidity. SMILE.

"Amy doesn't even have Transfiguration." I hissed, looking the boy in front of me in the eye for the first time. He looked almost uncomfortable.

This boy I rode to Hogwarts with in the same wagon. And who now feels too cool to remember my name. I'm just a joke that you crack a few times and then forget.

"Which is why, unfortunately, I have to say goodbye and go upstairs. Important subjects are waiting for me!" Amy tapped my shoulder and I was about to thank her inwardly until- "That's why I'm leaving this sweetie here with you, okay?"

Peter looked up from his book for the first time. He was sitting on the couch by the fire.

In the common room of Gryffindor, it was not uncommon for people to fight over this space. Peter snatched it early enough so that Remus, who looked very ill that morning, just sat on the chair at the table next to it.

Peter was probably just as disappointed that Amy left as I was, if I interpreted his expression correctly.

"Amy," I whispered to her, "what are you doing?"

She raised her eyebrows, rolled her eyes and sighed briefly. And I understood. She wanted me to give them a chance.

I looked at her with begging eyes and screamed at her in my mind not to leave me here alone.

"So...?" James stood there like a boy waiting for his mother's permission.

And I wasn't going to give it to him.

"Sorry, Jarry, but I was planning on studying for other subjects with Amy today. So if you'll excuse us." What did I just say?

"Oo-," James looked to his friends while Sirius laughed out loud, "-okay?"

I didn't look at Amy and just stomped faree upstairs to our room.

Amy followed me, but not without letting out a sigh of disappointment.

~~

"What was that about?" My voice was a little louder than usual. "I thought we agreed that we didn't like the four of them?"

Amy groaned and threw herself on her bed. "I never said that. I meant that they can be assholes sometimes, that's all."

"But they just were assholes?"

I also sat down on my bed and looked out of the window. The Hufflepuff team was playing quidditch.

"How were they assholes in any way, please? James just asked us if we wanted to study with them in the common room."

I could hear Amy starting to get angry.

"You know what he meant. He only asked because I said something completely stupid in Transfiguration the day before yesterday and everyone had a laugh. And now he wanted to hear more of it."

Amy had gone quiet. Then she snorted loudly. "Jesus Christ."

"What?!" As I turned around, two piercing eyes looked into me.

"Can you please stop painting the devil on the wall for once? You sound worse than Cassandra!"

Now I snorted.

But Amy wasn't finished yet. "You're so afraid of being ridiculed that you're becoming an asshole yourself!"

The sun was setting. And the moon slowly rose.

"Why are you so sure that the four of them are making fun of you?"

I hated that tears were welling up in my eyes. "That's how it always is! Suddenly all these people are nice to you, who didn't even know who you were before, to lure you into safety, but in reality they're blaspheming and laughing at you. It's always like that!"

Amy shook her head.

"No, it's just always like that in your head. There's a chance that these people just want to get to know you better."

Amy took her DADA textbook and turned to the other wall. "To exclude this opportunity from the outset is not only a mistake, but also a missed opportunity to make new friends."

I looked up at the full moon. I felt as if he was out there suffering with me.

You understand me, don't you?

Probably not.

~~

The next morning, Amy was still mad at me. I couldn't blame her. What I said already sounded pathetic.

But so far it had always been the truth.

It was unusually quiet at breakfast. Amy ate almost nothing and hurried to her tray.

We had different subjects at the beginning of the day, but at lunch Amy was nowhere to be seen. There were whispers again and I wanted to scream.

And it was only in charms that I was told she had been taken to the hospital wing. 

That was not uncommon for Amy. Amy was very fragile. Amy always put on a very strong front, also to help me. But the truth was that stress really affected her and at one point she almost fell over sick.

Was it because of our argument? I don't know. But I certainly felt guilty.

~~

After class, I hurried to the hospital wing and let myself be led to her bed.

She looked almost peaceful as she slept. I carefully sat down next to her and took her hand. She was sweaty and cool at the same time.

Madam Pomfrey explained to me that Amy had been under a lot of stress lately and had eaten something bad. Then she went to the next bed and talked with the visitors there.

Visitors with... familiar voices?!

"Oh, please, you can't expect us to just leave him here alone?" Was that Sirius?

"Yes, I must. You know he needs his rest now. So shoo." Madam Pomfrey sounded a bit annoyed.

"We can stay here quietly!" That was James. Ironically loud.

"No, Mr. Potter, you cannot. So, gentlemen. Out!"

I saw out of the corner of my eye how Madam Pomfrey shooed several people outside. But who was behind the curtain of the bed? Whom were they visiting?

The curtain didn't cover the whole bed. In fact, it was only drawn on my side. Quietly, I got up and tried to get a quick look at the person. I took a cautious step to the side and—

There layed Remus. A pretty battered Remus, wrapped in bandages.

Suddenly, the curtain was pulled back and I stood there as if caught red-handed.

Remus looked at me in surprise. His look was somehow different than usual and I imagined he took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Hi." ... "Hi."

His body was even worse wrapped up than I had seen from the side. He was sitting upright and his upper body was full of bandages. His face also had scratches but his eyes were still so deep-

I stared at him. For far too long.

I quickly sat down next to Amy, who was still asleep.

Remus cleared his throat. "Is Amy very unwell?"

Somehow I wasn't prepared for a conversation with him. Not with one of the four. Not with Remus.

"According to Madam Pomfrey, it's just stress. She just needs to get some rest and then she should feel better." I was almost whispering, my voice was so quiet. Nothing compared to yesterday.

"That's good. I hope she gets better soon. Has anything bad happened?" I looked up at him. His eyes were so gentle, as if he really cared. "Something that's really stressing her out?"

When he noticed my look, he looked away. To my disappointment. "But actually, it's none of my business-"

"We had a fight." Why did I tell him that? "I worried her again."

I looked at Amy. Her face wasn't quite so pale and her hand, which I was holding, wasn't quite so sweaty.

"Oh." Remus' voice was very quiet. As if he was afraid of saying the wrong thing. As if he was worried to say the wrong thing.

"And why are you lying here? What happened to you?" It was only when I looked at him that I realized the question was a bit rude.

"If you want to tell me," I added.

He just sighed and suddenly looked so far away. "It was an accident."

I waited for him to tell me more. He didn't.

It stayed quiet between us for a long time. I could feel his gaze from the side, but somehow it didn't bother me a bit. I almost felt safe.

Suddenly he asked me: "Why did you argue?"

I looked into his eyes and almost wanted to tell him everything. I looked at Amy and borrowed her words. "I was an asshole."

He tilted his head and smiled cautiously. "Somehow I can't imagine that."

I looked at him. He looked at me.

"Why?"

"Well, you... It's not like you at all."

I continued to look at him. He continued to look at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You're usually so... Lovely."

Lovely? He saying I was lovely?

I had to laugh. He looked away.

"Me? You don't know me then." I giggled softly. "Besides, anyone can be an asshole, no matter how sweet the person still is."

He looked outside. The moon was up. He had that look again. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

It was quiet again after that. I heard soft footsteps outside and my anxiety wanted me to leave. So I stood up and was about to say goodbye to Remus as he-

"I want to know."

"What?"

He suddenly looked into my eyes so intensely that I felt dizzy.

"I want to know you properly."

I didn't know what to say and just looked at him as he continued.

"I want to know what goes through your mind when you see me us."

His gaze moved away from me. "I want to know why you hate us so much."

My whole world suddenly spun and I was in the middle of it. What was he saying? What did he mean, why was he even talking to me? What was going on here, why was he even here? And why did he call me lovely? What did he mean?

I wanted to say something. Something about... What actually?

Somehow I couldn't get anything out of me and was stuck in this spiral of trying to say something and figure out what to say. I opened my mouth, as-

"Remus, we're here!" James' voice tried to sound quiet but was unmistakable. Just like the footsteps of the two boys walking towards his bed.

When I saw them, so many things came back to me. Why I didn't talk to Remus.

"Are you feeling better? Remus -" Sirius faltered when he saw me. He looked between me and Remus and then grinned at me.

"Oh hello."

He turned to James now and 'whispered' to him. "Prongs, let's go and give these two some time to themselves-"

Remus cleared his throat and pointed at Amy who was lying next to me. Sirius fell silent.

"I'd better go now." I said in a very quiet voice again. James and Sirius even left me alone, but I heard their voices before I closed the door behind me.

"So, did she talk to you?" "What was going on with her?" "Is there something-"

The door slammed behind me and my head seemed to explode with questions.

[sweetcollywobbles]

more leon headcanons

i miss him i miss him i miss him i miss him i miss him i miss him

i miss my wife, tails.

so lets talk about him.

⟢ leon was 6 years old when his family was murdered. there was a time when he could remember all of their faces. yet as he gets older, their faces have become a lot more blurry. sometimes he catches himself staring into the mirror. did nonno have the same nose as he did? was he the same blonde as his nonna? does he have his moms' smile? were his dad's eyes just as blue as his? when they looked at him, did they see themselves in him as he's so desperatley trying to remember them in him?

⟢ leon is the italian version of a "no sabo" kid. he knows the language, yet doesn't seem to be able to put the words together himself. he just kinda stands there nodding his head with a blank stare. then when he has to respond he's just kinda like "uuuhhhh tbh idk". he knows how to correctly pronounce some words and phrases, but that's about it.

⟡HOWEVER, he will call his lover with italian terms of endearment, i.e., amore mio, cucciolotta, cuore mio, piccola, etc. he might even say some phrases that he does know in italian, i.e., Io e te per sempre (you and me forever), sei la mia vita (you are my life), ti amo tanto (i love you so much), etc.

+p.s. sorry for any misinterpretations, i'm not italian but i am mexican so spanish and italian are not too different (???) but please correct me if i'm wrong!

⟢ leon has always been a dinosuar guy. he's watched probably every dino documentary thats ever been made and rewatches them whenever they're on. so, naturally, whenever he travels for work, he'll try his best to visit every museum he possibly can to see their dino exhibit and nothing else. of course, as het gets older (probably DI to RE6) he'll explore the other exhibits but for rn he'll just stick to the dino exhibits. and if you must ask him what his favorite dinosuar is, he'll say the answer he said as a kid, a spinosaurus. it's common enough for people to know and not give him a strange look of confusion. but really, his heart belongs to the pachycephalosaurus.

⟡ of course, in its natural progression, leon will also delve into a fascination of raptors and reptiles. he'll go to zoos and spend his time in the reptile exhibit. he'll also go bird watching for any avian raptors he can find. this also does mean that he has nice pair binoculars and will buy a native bird identify guide when he travels. his documentary options have now expanded with his two new interests which really excites him.

⟢ whether you believe it or not, leon is actually more of a fruity cocktail kinda guy. he doesn't mind beer or hard liquor, especially when he needs something strong and to the point. something to help him drink away the bad memories and all too realistic nightmares. but if he's just in the mood to enjoy himself, leon will cook up a salty dog or a cranberry vodka.

⟢ leon oh so terribly wants kids. but before he forces you into his life, he never thought that to be possible. so in his off time, he would volunteer for the NICU at the local hospital to be a baby cuddler. he got into it after he tried it with rebecca. it gave him the sense that everything will be okay, that even if he can't have a few of his own, at least he can be there for little ones that need someone, even if its for a moment.

⟡ TRUST, that once you do have a baby with this man, he's all over them. that baby will never not be in his arms or in the proximity of him. he's on spit up and diaper duty. baby wakes up late at night crying? no worries, he's already in the room (he was sleeping on the nursery floor). you will almost have to battle this man to hold YOUR baby.

⟢ leon is actually a really big fan of romcoms and time pieces. in fact, his favorite time piece movie is pride and prejudice. oh he absolutely adores romantic pieces like that especially because he's a hopeless romantic at heart. he's fallen in love with the idea of falling in love with a girl he's just met and having soft intimate moments with them. his guilty pleasure romcom is 13 going on 30, especially since after the whole plagas incident, the movie was just released and he binged that movie on repeat.

⟡ BUT, just because he likes time pieces and romcoms doesn't mean he doesn't like action or thriller movies. leon's a really big fan of the matrix series and star wars series. also the fast and furious franchise is actually where his love of fast cars and motorcycles stem from. he just can't do any horror movies because baby has trauma :(

₊˚⊹ ᥫ᭡. 𓂃

it's not much, but i thought these were silly and gave him a little more character. please let me know what you think or if you have any headcanons of your own!!!

xxox

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

Gladiator II - Thoughts (SPOILERS)

I was fortunate enough to watch Gladiator II at the Royal Global premiere at Leicester Square last night (Wednesday 13th November) and I NEED to share some thoughts but there are definitely some spoilers, so…

I cannot stress this enough:

THERE ❗️ ARE ❗️ SPOILERS ❗️ BELOW ❗️ THE ❗️ CUT ❗️

Once again

⚠️ DO NOT CLICK THE READ MORE IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FOR GLADIATOR II ⚠️

There’s probably things I’m missing/forgetting right off the top of my head, and I might be paraphrasing/summarising some dialogue. I definitely need to rewatch it when I’m NOT super close to an IMAX cinema screen because I spent the whole movie with my neck craned backwards and my eyes darting everywhere because I was trying to take it all in.

Anyway, without further ado:

The opening credits were very beautiful, it recounted the plot of the original film but kind of like in the style of the opening credits of Pillars of the Earth? I don’t know if that makes sense 😭

If I remember correctly, Joseph is billed third behind Paul and Pedro, and Fred is billed fourth 🥹♥️

The film opens with a huge battle where the Roman army, led by Marcus Acacius, conquering the last free city of Africa (I think?), which is what Lucius and his wife are trying to defend

I cannot for the life of me remember what Lucius’ wife was called but she seemed nice, we only had her for a few minutes though before she got killed 😭

Okay so I’m going to start right off the bat by talking about the Emperors as they were the ones I was most looking forward to seeing, and I want to give them their own section!

We NEED to talk about Fred as Caracalla - this isn’t even me being biased, I’m being as unbiased as I can when I say that he was AMAZING

By the way, for months I’ve seen people talk shit about Fred, complaining about how they wish it was Barry Keoghan, whinging because “we could have had Joe and Barry” - to those people I say, shut the fuck up ☺️ I will NOT tolerate any hate for my boy Fred!

Fred actually had a much meatier part than Joe which was pleasantly surprising. I’m not saying Joe wasn’t unhinged or good, but he was way more sane than Fred’s character and you got the feeling that he was trying to hold their rule together and keep his brother from bringing down the whole empire

Caracalla surprised me because he was so much more softly spoken than I anticipated; in so many scenes he was childlike and almost pitiful to watch. For example, there were times where you could see him pouting or fidgeting like a bored toddler, at one point he essentially threw a tantrum and Geta had to hold him back from killing Acacius and Lucilla (and then in the background you could see him playfully swing the sword about like a child would with a toy) He would grin and get excited like a child whenever there was fighting or bloodshed, bouncing in his seat, he looked surprised and excited in the beginning when Geta handed him wine etc.

In the last coliseum fight scene, this was literally Caracalla getting excited when the fighting started - a literal child 😭

Honestly it was just fascinating to watch Caracalla because you could never tell if he was going to be childlike and almost-innocent or if he was going to start screaming and get violent

So apparently the reason that Caracalla is unhinged is because (to quote Geta) “the disease from his loins has spread to his head” (to paraphrase) which makes me think he’s got syphilis or something.

Also both of the emperors are briefly seen with concubines (as in the trailer), and Caracalla has both male and female ones hanging around him 😭 we love a bisexual Emperor!

Caracalla seems to have memory problems (probably as a result of his STI) because he doesn’t remember seeing Lucius fighting in front of them from just a couple of days ago at their party (the scene with the concubines) and Geta tries to remind him, “it’s the poet” but Caracalla just sits down and says he doesn’t remember

There’s a scene where Marcus and Lucilla are brought to the emperors in the middle of the night after being caught in a conspiracy to overthrow them, and you’ve got Geta in that red robe from the trailer whilst Caracalla is basically just wearing a fucking bedsheet toga style 😭 you know that shot in White Lotus where Fred/Quinn has a duvet around himself? Kind of like that

Contrary to that Letterboxd review calling the twins “BJ brothers”, there is NO incest in this film, and no hint of incest between the twins. I know a screenshot is circulating of Joe in the red robe where you could see what looked like the top/side of Fred’s head as if he’s on his knees, but they were absolutely NOT doing that 💀 the scene shows them both entering the room (Geta in his robe, hastily put on) and Fred in his bedsheet toga thing. I definitely didn’t get the vibe of incest at all, I got the vibe of “it’s the middle of the night and they’ve both been woken up because these two traitors (Marcus and Lucilla) were caught plotting against them”

I love that Caracalla’s weakness is Dondas (or Dundas? Different magazines are using different names so I’m so confused), his pet monkey (WE FUCKING LOVE CHERRY AND SO DOES FRED 😭♥️) Like he’s got Dondas/Dundas wearing a fucking dress and on a little chain lead, eating sweets from a bowl, and I have to applaud Fred for being able to act with a straight face while he had the monkey crawling over his shoulders, touching his hair, and at one point when the monkey moved the chain lead literally went right around/over his face

While there’s riots going on outside the palace, Caracalla is freaking out and has Dondas/Dundas the monkey on his shoulder, and Geta straight up threw wine at both of them before saying that maybe Dondas (or Dundas, whatever the fucking name is) go and calm down in another room 💀

There’s a scene where Macrinus finds Caracalla hiding under a table with the monkey and it made me think they were almost playing hide and seek 😭 truthfully I think he was just under there crying and hiding

It’s the fact that Macrinus was able to manipulate Caracalla into killing Geta by using his love of Dondas/Dundas against him; the people of Rome protest against their emperors, and Macrinus basically tells Caracalla that Geta is going to throw him to the plebs outside to be killed - and Dondas/Dundas. “Think about what they might do to Dondas” (or Dundas) - and that’s what pushes him over the edge.

NOT CARACALLA AND MACRINUS SAWING GETA’S FUCKING HEAD OFF LIKE THAT 😭 IT WAS STRAIGHT UP LIKE A HORROR FILM WITH MACRINUS COMING UP BEHIND CARACALLA AND HELPING?!?

Also Caracalla made the monkey a fucking consul of state (I think) after he killed Geta?!?! 😭 Absolutely fucking UNHINGED I TELL YOU

“ALL HAIL DONDAS! 😃” (or Dundas - again, someone please tell me the fucking monkey’s confirmed name)

They showed Geta’s head for WAY too long 😭 and Macrinus just showing it around like that?!? NASTY

Reeling over the fact they airbrushed out Geta’s head for the trailer because in this shot in the film Geta’s head is clearly visible on the table behind Denzel 💀

Sorry but Fred looked damn fine in that purple outfit near the end 😋

I feel like Caracalla had a little bit of a soft spot for Lucilla but the two sides of his personality were warring with each other: the sadistic bloodthirsty side wanted to murder both her and Marcus right away, but then near the end he whispers to Macrinus “must we kill Lucilla?” and he sounded a little hesitant or unsure which was interesting

Seeing Fred as Caracalla without Geta in that last coliseum battle scene? I can’t help but love him, Fred is seriously too good in this role. The shouting, the childlike excitement when the fighting started (see gif above)

Fred was definitely playing up the childlike side of Caracalla in his last scene when the people started revolting, he was literally curling up in his seat, snivelling and crying like a baby until Macrinus killed him from behind (he put something in his ear, i think he stuck a pin in his ear to impale his brain?) Truly pitiful end for Caracalla.

Once again: Fred Hechinger for Best Supporting Actor at the 97th Academy Awards campaign!! 😊↕️

Okay so now I’ve talked about the Emperors, I can talk about the rest of the film:

Ridley Scott truly said fuck historical accuracy in this film 😭 which is not surprising to be fair if you know him and his movies

This film was, expectedly, VERY bloody and violent from start to finish

NOT LUCIUS TAKING A BITE OUT OF THE BABOON 🤯

At one point where they’re bringing the slaves into Rome, they show statues of a wolf feeding two human children from her teat and Lucius recounts the story - this is obviously a reference to Romulus and Remus, twins raised by a wolf mother. This is actually really fitting because from earth on, Ridley AND Fred and Joe have mentioned the idea of the twins being based on this Romulus/Remus story?

DAMN, Paul Mescal was super beefy in this film like holy fucking shit dude

Honestly I adore Pedro but his role was way smaller than I thought it would be. His role is essentially to be Lucilla’s decent and loyal husband who also happened to lead the invasion that killed Lucius’ wife in the beginning of the film, something he did not want to do, hence why Lucius wants to kill him so badly (family drama, eh? 😭) and who is part of a plot to dethrone the twins

MATT LUCAS AS THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES?!? 😭 I won’t lie, at first it distracted me because I was like “why the fuck is Matt Lucas here” but he got a few laughs out of the cinema screening so his tiny parts added a little bit of humour to the film when it got tense

As I said above, there’s no incest shown - there is a MENTION, however, of a rumour that Lucius’ real father wasn’t Lucius Verus(?) but rather Commodus (obviously Lucilla’s brother/Lucius’ uncle from the first film). However, it’s not true because they make it very clear that Lucius’ father is Maximus. They do however briefly mention that Lucilla was a child bride at the age of 14 which is a bit fucked up

I was probably the only person in my screening who noticed this but at one point I saw graffiti on one of the walls on the outside/entrance to the coliseum that said something like “Irrumbo Imperators” - according to Google, that translates as “I attack the emperors”. However, it could have also been “Irrumabo Imperatores”, and if you ask Google to give you the Latin word for “fuck”? It’s “Irrumabo”. So essentially there was graffiti in the film that either said “attack the emperors” or “fuck the emperors” 💀

I thought that maybe Lucius had somehow forgotten that Lucilla was his mother despite being 12 when she sent him away but nope, he’s fully aware of who he actually is and who his mother is, he’s just angry at her for sending him away and never seeing him again 😭

NOT THAT SERVANT TATTLING ON LUCILLA AND MARCUS?!? 😤

They killed Marcus off WAY earlier than I thought they would by the way. The trailers give the impression that the final battle is Lucius vs Marcus but it’s actually Lucius vs Macrinus which is WILD to me

You know that scene in LOTR where the orcs shoot Boromir full of arrows? That is basically what happened in this film to General Acacius but with about 20 more arrows 💀 I had major Boromir flashbacks watching this scene

I’m glad that Lucilla and Lucius got to reconcile before the ending, given what ended up happening

“Because Emperor Caracalla is generous, he will allow Lucilla to have one Gladiator to fight to defend her” - ONE. ONE AGAINST ABOUT 30 TRAINED GUARDS 💀

I’m still reeling over the fact Derek Jacobi spoiled his own character’s death on the red carpet a mere hour before the film screening in front of THOUSANDS of people 😭 that man did NOT give a fuck quite frankly and I think that’s kind of hilarious of him

THE GASP THAT EVERYONE IN THE SCREENING COLLECTIVELY LET OUT WHEN MACRINUS KILLED LUCILLA BY SHOOTING HER IN THE CHEST?!? HE KILLED CARACALLA AND LUCILLA IN 60 SECONDS FLAT 😭

That said, this shot from the behind the scenes featurette about Ridley Scott is ten times funnier to me after watching the film and realising that not only is Ridley showing Denzel how to shoot the arrow that kills Lucilla, but Fred is also supposed to be dead in the chair at this point since Macrinus takes the bow and fires the arrow straight after killing Caracalla 😭

Poor Lucius has now seen his father, his mother, his uncle and his wife all die right in front of him, the man CANNOT catch a break 😫

That final battle between Lucius and Macrinus was GRUESOME 😳 Lucius cut off his hand and slashed him - I’m not sure if he actually cut him in half or if Macrinus just crumpled in the river in a heap but DAMN

This film used footage from the first Gladiator film so they gave the actor who played Lucius in the first film a credit which was nice!

That said, I know obviously it’s been 24 years since the original film so of course the child actor from the original is no longer 12 and so could not be in the flashback scenes showing young Lucius, but damn the difference was a little jarring to be honest, especially when it went from footage of the original film to new footage with the new child actor

Ridley Scott spoiled the ending of this fucking movie by saying he wanted to have Paul back to play Lucius again as the main character in Gladiator III 💀 so yeah, I already knew Lucius was surviving this film

Some final summary thoughts:

Let’s be honest, it would be impossible to top the first Gladiator and so while I loved Gladiator II and think it was amazing, it was obviously never going to quite reach the same level as the original

I know I just made the comment about nominating Fred for Best Supporting Actor but I have to be honest, I truly think Denzel deserves the nomination - if there’s only one actor from this film who gets that nomination, it has to be Denzel because he was by far the standout of the whole film. If I had to rank it personally I��d say Denzel and then Fred is a close second, then maybe Joseph and Pedro?

^ This isn’t me saying Joe and Pedro were bad at all, they were all really amazing, but this film just had so many characters and quite frankly Fred, Joe and Pedro had WAY less screentime than Denzel so they didn’t have nearly as much to work with as he did.

Again; I’m biased because I went in the most excited to see the Emperors, but I wish we’d had more of Caracalla and Geta. Fred and Joe did their best to work with what they were given, but they didn’t have that much and pretty much all of their scenes were shown in trailers or TV spots etc.

GIVE CHERRY THE MONKEY A FUCKING OSCAR

I obviously wasn’t expecting Paul Mescal to fight real baboons, rhinos and sharks but the CGI was… not great. It was quite obvious that it was CGI for the baboons and sharks, I think the rhino was slightly better though (Fred mentioned in an interview his first day involved “the mechanical rhino” so it was somewhat partly practical as well I suppose)

The pacing of this film was a little all over the place, if I’m being honest. I want to rewatch soon, from further back in the screen because, as I said, I was craning my head back the whole time and it ended up giving me a neck and headache so that probably added to me being uncomfortable (plus I’d had a long day and was thoroughly burned out by the time the screening started), but there were times where I was like “oh… we’re back here then 😐”

^ What I’m trying to say is that some of the storylines happened so fast and had very little build up (eg. The emperors in general) whilst other plots were so slow burn in comparison.

The music was so good! I know people are going to compare it unfavourable to Hans Zimmer’s original score from the first film, but I LOVE Harry Gregson-Williams (he did the soundtrack for the first two Narnia films so I’m biased 😅) and I thought he did a great job with the score here. The fact he had Hans Zimmer’s approval and praise made me confident the score would be great anyway

I feel like people are obviously going to compare Paul Mescal to Russell Crowe which… let’s be honest, has gotta suck for him because how the fuck do you live up to Russell Crowe?!? Some people have already said that they didn’t like Paul in this film, which… okay, fair enough. I honestly don’t think comparing him to Russell Crowe does him any favours. I enjoyed watching him personally, and I think given that this whole film rests on him, he did great. Not quite Russell Crowe but I have no complaints about his performance personally.

People are also going to compare Joe and Fred to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, and I think they both did a great job given that they didn’t actually have nearly as much screen-time as Joaquin did in the original film. It’s almost unfair to compare them because in the first Gladiator, Commodus was the main antagonist - in this film, Macrinus is the main antagonist overall whilst the Emperors are more secondary antagonists that serve as obstacles for Macrinus’ rise to power. But they both did great with what they had.

Overall, my opinion of the film?

This film NEEDS to be seen on a big screen at the cinema! Go and watch it!

[haowrld]

MATH CLASS AND FEELINGS — CHWE HANSOL

SYNOPSIS : you fall for vernon. it was simple but it hit so hard

NOTES : chwe vernon x gn!reader, ft.boo seungkwan, fluff, highschool!au, non-idollau, unrequited love, lowercase intended, overthinker reader vs chill vernon

WORD COUNT : 2.4k words

WARNINGS : attempts at killing someone(?), jealously and awkwardness from reader (its kind of embarrassing), reader panicking, seungkwan is supportive but a bit of a menace, MATH TALK AHHHH

A/N : may or may not be inspired by a crush i went through (still am) last school year lol so PRETTY SELF INDULGENT

MASTERLIST

now playing : accidentally in love by counting crows

“now, if anyone remembers that a plus b is equal c. it’s quite simple as that. we’re going to use the formula…”

you stare at the clock that is above the whiteboard, it is only a few more minutes before lunch finally comes. unfortunately, you had a few more minutes with math class. it was an alright class, the teacher was pretty funny at some point, but every single material that your teacher was trying to teach was almost sleep-inducing.

quietly working on the question on the board, you glance at vernon, a person that you had become friends with because of seungkwan, who was friends with everyone. vernon was an interesting one, you liked him because of his somewhat odd personality and your cheesy little banter that you had with him.

he was also classmates with you in two classes. right now, his desk was only a few spaces away from you, a utility cart with a projector was separating you two—when both of you had nothing to do, you and vernon would share glances with each other.

maybe you two were watching a movie for class, or a teacher takes too long to finish class since they keep on continuing to tell their whole life story. you and vernon would get some sort of entertainment with each other’s reaction.

it was nothing out of the ordinary to you. but seungkwan thinks it’s something more and you don’t even realize it. you remember seungkwan telling you that your conversations with vernon weren’t exactly like how you talked with your other friends. he basically called you and vernon, ‘a couple that he usually sees in the hallways teasing with one another’.

it didn’t make sense, but it was a joke of course.

vernon looks up and then down at his paper, trying to copy the formula. you notice how he was fiddling with the black beaded bracelet on his left wrist and how his eyes are very laser-focused on the board.

“okay, check in with whoever is next to you, if you got the answer correctly,” the teacher said. shuffling papers and quiet talks can be heard throughout the classroom.

you had no one to check it with since your deskmate, seungkwan, had called in sick today. you don’t mind though since you know you probably got the formula correctly. but it was kind of boring, having no one to talk to. seungkwan was kind of the only person you were close to in that math class.

so you look at vernon, you thought that maybe a conversation could work even when you two are so far away. vernon was listening to the teacher’s life story whilst he talked to his other seatmates, laughing with, it sort of looked like a fun conversation to you, with all the laughter and such that the teacher had to quiet it down.

it makes you kind of jealous of vernon, the way he could easily talk to anyone around his vicinity whenever the chance appeared.

vernon turns to look at you, he was chewing on mint gum. looking at his whole appearance, you notice everything about him. you notice his short, but fluffy dark brown hair that falls softly on his face. you notice how he doesn’t have any piercings on his ear. then you remember listening to his conversations with seungkwan about how he doesn’t like getting his ears getting pricked.

vernon looks back at the people with a grin when someone makes a joke, you listen to the way he talks (it was pretty low voice), and the way he laughs, which is something that you wouldn’t know how to describe.

it takes you a while to realize how long you have been looking at vernon. but he doesn’t mind at all. vernon shuffles through his backpack, pulling out the packet of mint gum that he was using, mouthing out the word, “gum?” smiling as he asked.

…

the bell rings, and everyone runs through the door as quickly as they could, including vernon, who gives you the rest of the gum packet before leaving.

it was simple yet, it hit you.

“oh no...” you like vernon.

🗯️﹕──﹕🧮﹕──﹕🗯️

“i was gone for like two days,” seungkwan says, “and that’s when you started liking vernon!?”

“shush shush!” you try to shush seungkwan up by covering his mouth, “he literally has the same classes as us. why are you yelling it?”

seungkwan grabs your wrist, forcing you to shove your hand down from his mouth, “i know, but he’s still not here yet,” he grins, “so you can talk about your fleeting feelings about him all you want.”

you look away from seungkwan, making him frown, “come on don’t be like that…” he pulls out his phone, showing you a picture of vernon from his gallery, “does this make you feel better?” he looks at you with his big round eyes that looked like a deer.

“no,” you reply sharply.

seungkwan sighs in disappointment, “i guess i’ll have to send more than one,” seungkwan then uses his phone to text something before setting it down.

you hear your phone vibrate. grabbing it you notice that seungkwan had sent you a message.

seungkwan : stop ignoring me

seungkwan : this is all ive got!!

seungkwan : [10 photos]

seungkwan : buy me lunch <33

the photos were of vernon, on different occasions where seungkwan took photos of him. one of them was when they were eating lunch together, and another one was when he was with him during drama class. all of them were amusing photos of vernon being silly. you found it cute. but then you read the rest of seungkwan’s message.

you turn to look at seungkwan, “i’m not buying you lunch,” which makes him grin.

“but you liked the photos right? i bet you did—” you don’t let seungkwan respond, you grab his phone. which makes him yell out, “what are you doing?!”

you hear the door opening but you don’t care. until you did, when you notice your peripheral vision, a person standing still, “hi, what’s happening with you two..?” you hear the familiar voice of vernon. you turn to find him looking at you, confusion yet amusement formed on his face when he notices your predicament, it looked like you were trying to kill seungkwan by the neck.

“vernon! hi uh—” you quickly let go of seungkwan, he gives you a face that could betray you later, you were shaking your head at seungkwan to not start something that he would regret before looking back at vernon who was already taking a seat, “you did not just see that.”

“yeah, sure i didn’t..” vernon smiles, taking a seat, “but what did i miss exactly?”

“oh, just talking about math…” seungkwan immediately led the conversation as you simply just listened to whatever he and vernon were talking about.

it had only been a few weeks since you started to like vernon, and you’ve been nothing but a quiet mess on the inside whenever you are with him.

“speaking of finals, we have the math finals a bit earlier right?” vernon says, “we could totally study together. it’s probably easier, from what the teacher said.”

“that’s probably a cool idea, we’d have to plan where to study,” you reply, “coffee shops tend to be too crowded..”

“how about my house?” vernon replies, before typing something on his phone, “you’re not that far from me seungkwan, right?”

“mhm, it’s just yn who’s going to drive there,” seungkwan says which makes you sigh. he then types something on his phone which makes your phone vibrate, it is a message from him, even when his desk was right next to yours.

seungkwan : this could be your chance to be closer!

seungkwan : heck, i could drive you there

seungkwan : and then boom! romance 🌹

you : it’s just a study session nothings gonna happen???

seungkwan : you never know, maybe it leads to a kiss 😉

you use your foot to tap on seungkwan’s ankle, at least hard enough to make him up let out a light “ahck!”

“hey, vernon…” you and seungkwan quickly look up, stopping at what you are doing to see who is talking, and find one of your classmates, taking out a piece paper before handing it to vernon.

“hi,” vernon says, “and what is this..?”

“i don’t know man, it's yours apparently,” your classmate replies before going to their seat.

vernon opens the paper, it had black sharpie ink written, “this looks interesting, look at this,”

the paper had such poor handwriting that it looked bad on purpose; it had to be some sort of a love confession because of the heart written next to vernon’s name.

“ohh, guess someone likes you,” you feel seungkwan suddenly nudge you.

“that’s silly,” vernon says, “i doubt it’s even real.” he immediately crumples the paper before shooting it in a nearby trash bin.

you look down, vernon was back to fiddling with his black-beaded bracelet. should you tell him that there is someone who actually likes him?

🗯️﹕──﹕🧮﹕──﹕🗯️

it was only a few days before your math final. and your head is going haywire. not because you're basically at vernon’s home, but because seungkwan left you alone with him.

seungkwan dropped you off, not before giving you some sort of life advice, his hands were squishing your face “if you tell him right then and there, then you’re gonna regret it for your whole life!”

“i know just please don’t squish my face—”

“good!” seungkwan lets go of your face, “now go get him!

“aren’t you coming with me?” you ask him nervously.

“who said i was?”

now you’re awkwardly sitting at the edge of vernon bed while he was somewhere outside his bedroom—he mentioned he was going to change into something comfortable. you twist and close the cap of the water bottle that he had given you.

“this is just a study session,” you tell yourself, taking a sip of the water bottle.

vernon enters the room, setting down piles of papers. you notice that he’s not wearing his usual clothes that he puts on at school but rather something more comfortable,

“i like your shirt,” you mention the graphic t-shirt that he was currently wearing.

“oh thanks, i like your outfit too,” vernon replies, sitting next to you before laying in bed.

“do you think we could pass this?” vernon asks, “without seungkwan, we could probably do well, but i’m not really sure.”

you turn to look at vernon, you notice how he looked like a dead person, with the way his arms are neatly folded to his chest, “i think we’ll do our best,” you say.

“yeah you’re right,” he gets off the bed before sitting on an empty chair, he gestures to you to take the other chair, which you do so.

“alright algebra..” vernon makes a noise like he is cracking his knuckles, you let out a quiet chuckle when he does it, “let’s see what you’ve got..”

doing math formulas without your notes was pretty difficult—you wouldn’t exactly call yourself a person who’s good at math, but vernon however, was easily getting the material, muttering to himself as he wrote the answers.

you stare at your paper, then at his, your head hurts at this point, “i don’t get it..”

“oh, it’s cool,” he says, “it’s basically…” vernon begins to explain carefully, his pencil traces over the simple mistake you had when you worked on it, “and then you have to find the square root of 20, but you have to do it on the inside, like this…” vernon leans closer just to write on your paper. easily solving the question.

“do you get it?” he asks you while he twists a piece of his hair, you feel your face flush when you look into his eyes, he had long eyelashes that fluttered when he blinked, and light brown eyes that looked at your own eyes.

you were not focused at all.

“if you don’t get it, i could totally write out a new problem for you—”

“can i tell you something?” you suddenly say. vernon looks at you confused before nodding. now you’re immediately regretting interrupting him, but then you remember seungkwan’s nagging voice in the back of your head, so you try to stay confident.

“tell me what?” vernon is now all eyes on you, a little curious as to what you are going to say.

“it’s stupid but..” you turn the chair to look at him directly, “i have been meaning to tell you thing for a while but i didn’t know how to tell you, it’s a lot for me and i know it’s going to be a lot for you since of course we have a literal math final coming up and,” you take a deep breath before continuing, “i just didn’t want to ruin our friendship but i think i am ready to tell you even if it becomes awkward—”

“whoa whoa, calm down yn,” he places his hands on your shoulders, “what’s wrong?”

you panic, you didn’t want to stop with what you were doing, but you didn’t want it to become a whole essay that you wouldn’t get to the point. so you take a the pack of sticky notes, writing something down before handing it to vernon. it was the only way to get to the somehow.

vernon takes the sticky note from you, staring at the writing. it takes him a while to say anything, “is this about me?” he simply asks.

you nod not looking at him directly, massaging your knuckles, something that keeps you calm in this embarrassing thing that you had just done to yourself. you’re probably going to vent to seungkwan on the way back home.

vernon takes out black pen. with a smile on his face, he begins writing something back on the sticky note. your brain is setting on fire, you were nervous that this might ruin your friendship with vernon or even make things awkward.

but now that it’s happening, you quickly close your eyes telling yourself that it’s gonna be the end of the world, it’s gonna be the end of the—

“yn,” vernon says before letting out a slight laugh, “open your palm” you feel a hand taking your stiff, nervous hands, “and also open your eyes, i promise it’s nothing scary,”

you carefully relax your hands, letting vernon return the sticky note of doom. when you slowly open your eyes, all that is written on the sticky note is a smiley face and the word ‘same’.

you look at vernon, who was smiling, “w-what…” you were baffled.

“now can we finish the math problem now, or are you still shocked..?”

you cover your mouth, still trying to process on what he just wrote, “uhm..” you reply, “let’s continue..??”

“good,” vernon says, typing something on his phone, “cause i’ve got a movie to show you later for our date.”

taglist (open) send an ask or fill out the form to be part of the taglist!

©️HAOWRLD

[flemingology]

breaking point ─ jessie fleming x reader

in which: the stress concerning everything going on with the national team causes jessie to lash out at you

Warnings: little bit of angst, if you can even call it that? argument but they make up, fluff at the end :)

wc: 5.3K

a/n: based on these two requests! thought they were similar enough to be grouped together. really enjoyed writing this, it's quite a long one too. hope you enjoy! <3

You were just downing the rest of your morning coffee when you heard a notification come through on your phone. The clock read 8am, which meant it was 5pm in France. If you remembered correctly, Jessie had a tactical meeting from 4:30 to 5:30 so it couldn't be her. You made your way over to the couch where you left the device earlier. Your eyes widened upon seeing the headline from CBC News.

"BREAKING: Canada Women's National Team Coach Dismissed From Olympics Amid Drone Scandal"

Your jaw fell slack. You had heard a little something here and there from the spying case, but you didn't know it had gone this far. Jessie hadn't told you much about it either. Despite being in the leadership group now she tried as much as possible to put it next to her – focusing on the controlables; her football.

Being away from Jessie was hard. Your schedules clashed quite frequently; her being away for games or for camps, you being away for business trips with your company. You knew what the downsides were going to be about dating your Canadian, but you wouldn't change it for the world. On moments like this, though, when you knew Jessie was going to be put under enormous loads of stress, you'd much rather be by her side in France than on the other side of the world in Portland.

Jessie was adamant you stayed home. Going with her to France would've meant you giving up on one of your projects you'd worked on the last couple of months, and as much as Jessie would've loved to have you by her side throughout the tournament, she knew that this was important to you.

So here you were, back in your shared apartment in Portland, sat on the couch not knowing what to do. You went over the options in your mind. You could call her, but you didn't know if she was free right now. Texting her seemed a safer option, but maybe she would want to come to you with the news instead of you coming to her about it. So that's what you did, you spent your morning dancing between trying to get some chores done and checking back with your phone if you hadn't magically missed a notification in the last 30 seconds.

After what felt like ages, just as you were about to take a shower – you'd contemplated it for a good 20 minutes, because what if she called while you were in there –, your phone rang. You sprung up from the side of the bathtub and knocked your elbow against the wall in the process, silently cursing while crossing your bathroom in quick strides.

You grabbed your phone and headed back into your bedroom, accepting the call once you made sure it was your girlfriend who was calling. "Hi," you breathed out as you sat down on the edge of your bed. "Hey baby."

Jessie sounded tired, and you noticed how her voice wavered – despite the effort to conceal it. A silence fell over your conversation, neither of you knowing what to say nor how to tackle the subject at hand. "How are you feeling?"

You tried your luck with an easy question. As far as she knew, you could be talking about how she was feeling after Canada's game against New Zealand yesterday – which they won 2-1. You had stayed up to watch her game, the bags beneath your eyes more than worth it seen as your girlfriend helped Canada win their game with an assist and a great performance.

If she remained silent any longer, you would've thought she had hung up on you, but right on cue Jessie spoke up. "Okay. Could be better. It's been a rocky afternoon," you hummed, acknowledging what she said.

"Is there anything I can do for you?", you knew she would probably say no, but that was Jessie's way of coping. She toughened up, built her walls a little higher than they already were. You had worked really hard over the past three years of your relationship to meticulously tear them down – and most of the time she kept them down around you –, but not everyone was that lucky. Especially in moments like these, stressful situations, you expected her to bring them back up.

"I'm fine," she quipped back. It came out quite harsh, and it left you a little taken aback. You bit back a disappointing sigh. "I know you are, Jess. You're strong and I know you can handle these situations. But that doesn't mean that you can't talk about it," you knew you were starting to push her, but you also knew that if you didn't, she'd never talk about it and bottle it up until one time it'd explode. You'd been the dupe of that a handful of times, and you knew that you were better off pushing her to say something than letting it get to that stage.

"Babe, I said I'm fine," she paused but you felt like she had more to say, so you didn't counter her. Jessie took a deep breath before she continued. "I'm fine." You felt like she was leaving many things unspoken. Even though you didn't feel confident in what she said, you decided to leave it for now and enquire her about the rest of her day.

You sensed an end was coming to your conversation. A glance at the clock taught you that Jessie would probably have to hang up soon, because she told you earlier that she had a couple media appointments to attend to that evening. She hadn't told you what for, but it was more than clear what the reason was. Still, after 20 minutes of conversation, the subject hadn't been mentioned directly. As much as you felt like Jessie needed this break away from the whirlwind that it had been this afternoon, you felt like she was excluding you and it wasn't a nice feeling.

Just as you were going to say your goodbyes to each other, you interrupted her. "Jessie, wait. I know you'd rather not talk about it but I just want to reassure you that if you're ready, I'm here for you, okay?", there was no malice intent to what you said. As you told her, it was just about making sure your girlfriend knew you were there for her if she wanted to talk to you. And maybe, just maybe, you were hoping you could pull something out of her – but you'd never expected the response you got in return.

"Please, for the love of God, I'm fine!", you could sense the irritability in her voice and went quiet. Jessie rarely ever raised her voice at you, so her tone took you by surprise. "I've told you I'm fine plenty of times, what don't you understand? I don't want to talk about it and especially not with you. I called you to get it all off my mind and not talk about the bullshit that I've had to deal with here but clearly you can't even catch a hint. Honestly I don't even know why I bother with calling you anymore, if you can't even give me a break from my football."

Before you could muster up a response, you heard the sound of the call ending. You slowly retracted your phone from your ear, remaining seated on the edge of your bed for a little while before you came back to your senses. You had nothing but good intentions with the way you handled the situation, although you could acknowledge that maybe you pushed her a bit too far. That aside though, you didn't feel like you deserved her lashing out to you like that. You fought back the tears that were threatening to spill when you thought back about the way she snapped at you, so out of character and something she'd never done before. Sure, you two argued from time to time but it never ended up like this. You sighed deeply before pushing the call and what your girlfriend said to the back of your mind, finally hopping in the shower and hoping she would come back to you sooner rather than later.

–

Jessie let her body fall against her mattress after she ended the call. Deep down she knew you were full of good intentions but it hadn't done her any good that you pushed, and she snapped. She'd never snapped at you before, not in the way she did now. She'd raised her voice, not often, but that was something that occurred from time to time. But it was different now. Especially the way the call ended, it wasn't just something that would pass overnight.

She rubbed her hands over her face and stared up at the ceiling as she fought back tears. Out of frustration or sadness – she didn't know. What she did know, is that an argument with her girlfriend was the last thing she needed to be added to the pile of growing worries.

Jessie's watch read 6:03pm now, which meant that she had to go down for dinner soon. She grabbed her keycard and left her hotel room, taking the elevator down to the dining hall. She rehashed the conversation you were having merely 5 minutes ago in her head while the elevator took her downstairs, thinking about where it went wrong and why she snapped at her. Jessie's frustration settled rather quickly after the call and insecurity settled in, the realization hitting her that she probably overreacted.

The bell of the elevator pulled her out of her thoughts. She dragged herself towards the noise, mentally preparing herself to plaster a smile on her face for the next couple hours.

As much as she did her best to conceal how she was feeling inside, her inactivity and lack of participation in conversations around the table had grabbed some people's attention. Janine, especially, could tell that Jessie was acting off. She knew Jessie liked to take a walk after dinner, so when she set off, Janine followed suit a couple moments later.

She jogged up to her Canadian teammate who was trudging along the hotel perimeter. "Jess!", Jessie's head turned to the side upon hearing her name, offering Janine a tight-lipped smile when she joined her. "You okay, bud?", she threw an arm around Jessie who shrugged and looked down at her feet.

"My girlfriend and I had an argument earlier," Janine hummed, allowing Jessie the space to explain herself further. "And I think I'm the one that caused it.", Janine sucked in a breath through her teeth and squeezed Jessie's shoulder. "Dog house?"

She shrugged again, seemingly the only appropriate response she could come up with as she didn't speak further. "Wanna tell me what happened?", Janine tried. Jessie took a deep breath before she recited the whole story of what happened when you two were on the phone earlier, while taking a detour of the path she'd normally walk – allowing Janine and herself a bit more time to talk about what was going on.

"So yeah, that's where we are at right now. I sent her a quick message to check in after dinner but she's giving me the cold shoulder – I got left on read. And I don't know how to go about things now."

Before she replied anything, Janine couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her lips. Jessie frowned and looked at her friend, confused as to what she found funny. "You're one of a kind, Jeff. Honestly. You've got a caring girlfriend that's on the other side of the world right now, and all she wants is to check in. She can't physically be with you so the only thing you can do right now is be emotionally available.", Janine grabbed Jessie's shoulders and halted them both, turning their bodies towards each other. "I know you don't like speaking about your feelings, but this is a serious matter, Jessie. This is not a silly subject, it's about your job. Our job. It's okay to be insecure, to be in your head, to be annoyed at the situation and to not know how the future is going to ensue. And it's more than okay to voice those feelings to someone – especially your partner. You've gotta let her in sometimes, okay? I know you're reserved but if anyone deserves to be opened up to, it's her."

Jessie closed her eyes and sighed, and Janine physically felt tension escape her shoulders as she still had her hands on them. "How about you fly her out here? Things like that are better talked about in person. If I remember correctly, the project she stayed home for was presented two days ago. Is her schedule free for the rest of the week?"

Jessie quickly checked your shared calendar on her phone and saw your free – granted nothing had been planned that you didn't put in the calendar yet. "Yeah, she should be. There's nothing in the calendar that she can't miss."

When she looked up her eyes found Janine's, who were full of concern. "Make it up to her, okay? Fly her out, talk to her about it. Maybe it'll give you a boost on the pitch too. We're all tackling this issue together, but it won't work if you get yourself into precarious situations like these. I know you love her, then show her too."

Jessie nodded, Janine's words convincing the Canadian midfielder to make things right with you.

-

From: Jess 🤍 "Hi baby, I checked the calendar and as far as I can tell you don't have any obligations at work anymore. I remember them telling you if you wanted to come to the Olympics for a couple days you could, so here's a plane ticket. It's for tomorrow and you would arrive in time for our game against France. I'd love for you to be there and have you with me again, and for us to have a chance to talk about things. Please?"

You had just woken up from a nap to Jessie's message. It was quite late in the evening in France now, way past Jessie's usual bedtime which confused you. She wasn't one to miss her 9 hours of sleep, especially not during tournaments.

You had ignored her previous message when she checking in with you a couple hours ago. You knew you were probably being unreasonable, but you wanted to let her know in one way or another that you weren't pleased with the way she handled the situation – didn't matter if she was under a big stress load or not.

You typed out a couple responses, none of them which seemed suitable to you. In the end, you settled on something relatively simple, yet would probably settle her worries around you a little.

From: You Thank you, I'll be there. Kick ass. ❤️

You finished up packing the next day around 10am and set off, your flight departing at 2pm which left you enough time to grab an Uber to the airport and be comfortably on time.

You arrived 2 and a half hours early, giving you enough time to check in and go through bag checks, making sure your gate exists before settling down on one of the free seats. You tried to kill some time by replying to some emails before you officially made an "Out of office"-announcement for a couple days.

The flight went reasonably smooth. Jessie got you a business class ticket – you always assured her there was no need –, because she 'only wanted the best for you'. You slept through most of the itinerary and when you woke up you let Jessie know you were almost there. The jet lag was something you'd have to deal with later, but all in all you were very excited to see your girlfriend. Argument aside, you'd not seen her for 4 weeks now and it was weighing down on you anyway – missing her embrace, her touch, her smell, her kisses.

You had booked a night at a hotel not far from where Canada would play France tomorrow, but far enough from Jessie's hotel to not be tempted to go over. The team didn't allow any visitors on the day before a match, and you knew Jessie wouldn't appreciate that either right now. Considering the energy between the two of you was still tense, meeting you now wouldn't be a joyful conversation for her, it would only add more stress to the load that was already on her shoulders and you wanted nothing less than to be an extra burden.

You spent your afternoon exploring the streets of Saint-Etienne, an adorable city where Jessie and her teammates would face France in Stade Geoffroy Guichard tomorrow. Soon enough the evening came and you ordered takeaway in your room, not feeling comfortable enough to go to a restaurant by yourself in an unknown country. You spent your evening scrolling through the French channels on tv, quickly realizing that the little French you taught yourself was way less useful than you thought it was. You fell asleep quite quickly after a long day of traveling.

-

Jessie woke up the next day feeling much better than before she went to bed, a whole lot of pressure off her shoulders ever since she knew you got to Saint-Etienne safe and well, and especially since she knew she was finally going to see you again tonight.

The usual matchday routine started for Jessie and her teammates, trying to dance around the ongoing scandal allegations and trying to manage the team without Bev in place. They prepared themselves as best as possible for the game and tried to put everything towards the back of their minds and focussed on the task at hand; trying to beat France in their second group match. The points may have been deducted, but that didn't mean they wouldn't go full on and leave it all out on the pitch. There was little chance, but it wasn't lost yet. And as long as there was opportunity, Jessie and her teammates would rise to the occasion.

Breakfast, mobility sessions, pre-match walk, it all went smoothly. Jessie had to refrain from texting you and asking what you were up to, but she knew that was a place she wouldn't come back from. She had always taken it upon her not to text you on matchdays, she liked her own bubble and as much as she wanted to break it for you on this occasion, she had something more important at hand tonight.

It was only on the short bus journey from the hotel where the Canadian team stayed at to the stadium when Jessie started to get nervous. She'd done incredibly well to keep all the nervosity at bay throughout the day, but reality came crashing down on her on the bus and she couldn't help but get a little anxious. It was the first time the Canadians would step onto the pitch since the scandal escalated. What would the reaction of the fans be? How will it be received? How will it feel to play against the home crowd? Jessie tried to ground herself by playing her pre-match playlist through her headphones instead of listening to the songs that were being played on the bus speaker.

Arriving at the stadium, it was easy for Jessie and the team to just go through the motions. Entering the changing room, getting changed into the warm-up gear, getting massaged or strapped by the physios, having an energy gel or drink – it was a routine that was engraved into their minds, no one in that room had to think twice about anything they were about to do. Some things came easy in football, and this was one of them. It's things like this that ground the team; the routines, things they could hold onto.

When coach called it was time for the team to go out for warm-ups, Jessie called the girls into a huddle in the changing room.

"Let's do this, yeah? We're up against the home team and their crowd today, it won't be easy. We might also be up against a whole lot more people seen what happened the past couple days. But that's not our focus right now. Let's go out there and show that we're pretty damn good footballers, yeah? I believe in us. In every single one of you. If you believe in yourself, we have one hell of a shot at turning this situation around. Canada on three. One, two, three..."

-

"... CANADA!", you only caught the back end of what the stadium speaker said, but you didn't care. Jessie had just scored the equalizer for her team in the 58th minute of the game, bringing the score back level and giving Canada a second chance of grabbing something from this game.

Jessie's mum engulfed you in a tight hug in means of celebrating her daughter's goal together. You high-fived her dad and her siblings, who were also in the family box watching the game.

You'd made it to the game just in time, Saint-Etienne traffic taking you by surprise as a quick Uber to the stadium turned into a 30-minute start and stop journey. You'd rushed to the family box, greeting Jessie's family before your eyes scanned the pitch looking for your freckled Canadian. Warm-ups were long done and the players were just about walking on the pitch, getting ready for the anthems. You noticed Jessie singing along, eyes closed while she took everything in. Your eyes stayed locked on her figure, waiting until she opened hers again. When the anthem finished, Jessie looked up to her family box and you couldn't miss the little grin that formed on her face when she saw you. You gave her a small wave which she reciprocated eagerly, then quickly falling back into captain's duties and getting ready for the game.

So now you were here. You were sure you didn't have any nails left, your leg bouncing up and down as the clock slowly but surely ticked further leaving the Canadians with little time to score a potential winner. The fourth official held up the board that said there would be thirteen minutes of extra time, a wave of excitement being heard from the stands from both sets of fans who believed their team could score a second goal.

Then, everything seemed to happen so quickly. Janine made a wonderful defensive move before passing a through ball to Adriana. She laid the ball of to Jordyn whose shot got saved, but the keeper had nothing against Vanessa's rebound. It felt like ages between the ball leaving her foot and the net rippling, but they had done it. They had scored in the 103rd minute and they successfully saved their Olympic group stage, giving them a chance at qualifying for the knock-out stages of the tournament.

You jumped up and down, no longer trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill across your cheeks. You found yourself once again engulfed in a hug, a big family hug this time. "They did it!", you screamed to Elysse. You could tell she was having a hard time to keep it dry too, endlessly proud of her sister and teammates.

Not long after, the whistle blew and the game was officially over. The Canadians made their way around the pitch making sure to thank as many fans as possible for having made the long trip from Canada to France. They took pictures, signed jerseys, gave away boots, until they found themselves in front of the family boxes.

They all started climbing up and over the barriers and made their way to their friends and families, as you took a step back from the group to allow Jessie to talk to her parents and siblings first. She got engulfed in many hugs, accepting the congratulations from many other people around her. As captain, she had led this team to a historic win and you couldn't be more proud of her. When conversation died down with her family she slowly retreated from that group and tentatively made her way over to you, a slight smile creeping on her face once you noticed her coming up to you. She stopped right in front of you, locking her eyes with yours.

"Is it okay if we talk about everything later, please? I missed you and I really, really want to kiss you right now."

You hummed in agreement and couldn't stop the bright smile from spreading across your face when Jessie closed the final couple steps of distance between the both of you and wrapped you in a tight embrace, digging her face into the crook of your neck. "I missed you so much," you could just about make out the words she mumbled against your skin and you pulled her impossibly tighter against you. "I missed you too, Jess. I'm so proud of you," she retreated her head from your neck and you cupped her cheeks, looking her in the eyes. "You've done incredibly well. What you did tonight is amazing. I couldn't be more proud."

You leaned in closer to her and waited for Jessie to cross the final bits of space before you finally pressed your lips against hers. You couldn't hold back the soft moan that escaped your throat upon the feeling, Jessie chuckling and digging her fingers into your waist. In this moment it felt like you'd never ever been apart, her lips slotting perfectly against yours and bodies moulding together. Jessie deepened the kiss as you started playing with the baby hairs at the back of her neck, a shiver going through her body when she felt the soft touch of your fingertips on the sensitive skin. Before you could get carried away, you broke the kiss with a teasing bite on her bottom lip, smiling ear to ear as you locked eyes again.

"Go get a shower, you must be cold. I'll wait for you up here," Jessie nodded and pressed another chaste kiss against your lips, savoring the feeling of being together again and having you at arm's length, rather than on the other side of the world with a 9 hour time difference.

Jessie emerged from the changing rooms about an hour later, caught up in conversation with some of her teammates when she entered the family box. Her parents and siblings had already left, their journey to their hotel quite a bit longer than yours. You were waiting for your girlfriend while sipping on a drink you'd ordered, when she dropped her washbag next to you and put her hands on your shoulders, towering over you as you were sat down.

"You wanna get going? We're allowed to have a visitor to stay the night the evening after matchday. I've not been able to make use of that yet, so I'd like to do so now," you grinned at your girlfriend and nodded your head, excited about the idea of sleeping in her arms again tonight.

The ride to the hotel went smooth. Jessie came with the team bus so you had to get a taxi back there, which caused a dent in Jessie's wallet but you both went with it. The ride was silent, and as much as you enjoyed being in your girlfriend's presence, you could feel the air shifting. It grew tense upon nearing the hotel, unspoken words hanging between the both of you as you knew you'd have to talk about things later. You grabbed Jessie's hand that was in her lap and pulled it into yours, steading yourself with her touch.

Once arrived, you greeted and congratulated some of the other Canadian players who had also brought their partner back to the hotel. They were all mingling in the entrance hall as you moved past them, Jessie leading the two of you to the elevator and towards her room on the second floor.

Seen as the squad moved around the south of France for their games they didn't have a set hotel, which meant they couldn't really make it their own space. This meant that no home comforts were trickled around the room, something Jessie would normally do when she was away for multiple weeks for camps or tournaments. You let her unpack her stuff while you sat down on the bed, having quickly changed into something more comfortable and forgiving.

A few minutes later Jessie joined you in bed, ushering you both to lay under the covers as she claimed to be cold and tired, wanting to be in bed properly. You laid on your back as she cuddled up next to you, a big smile on her face as she finally felt the warmth of your embrace again. She pressed a kiss against your chest and let out a sigh of relief.

"How are you feeling, Jess?", you were well aware the last time you posed your girlfriend this question it turned out in a way no one wanted, but you were confident it wouldn't happen this time. Jessie shifted and positioned herself so that she could look up at you, a faint smile lingering on her lips. "I feel good. Genuinely. Better than I have been feeling the past couple days," you nodded, silently pushing her to go on. "It's been a lot but the game and you being here have helped me settle. Thank you," she pressed a fleeting kiss against your lips to accentuate her words.

You reciprocated the kiss, but pulled away rather quickly to not get lost in her affection. Jessie understood why you did and spoke up again. "I'm sorry about what happened the other day. I shouldn't have snapped at you," you soothingly rubbed her back when you sensed the nervosity that crept in her voice. "It had been a rough day and I wanted nothing more than to unwind and talk to you about other things, but when you started pushing I just couldn't bare with it anymore. I know you were just trying to do good, though. I talked about it to Janine and she made me realize that I'm not honest enough with you. I always try and bottle up my feelings, but that ends disastrous in ways like it did between us two days ago. I promise I'll try and be better for you. For us."

Her words were laced with emotion, her voice soft as she tried to keep the emotions at bay upon expressing how she felt about the situation. You wiped away a stray tear that had escaped her eye and was making its way across her cheek, pressing a tender kiss against her forehead. "Thank you, baby. I want to be there for you, but you need to let me. It's a two-way thing, okay? We both give, we both take."

Jessie nodded, shifting again and now burying her face in your neck, soaking up the warmth of being under the covers together. "Thank you", she mumbled barely audible against your skin. You let out a chuckle at her words. "What for?", you asked. "Just, for being you. For being the person you are and for dealing with my moods. I love you so much," she lifted her head from out of your neck and looked you in the eyes before she lowered her head and pressed her lips against yours. "I love you too," you mumbled against her lips before you two got lost in one another and made up in different ways for all the time you had missed out on together the past month.

[tealvenetianmask]

Blitz is dyslexic (petty post about why I'm right with proof from recent episodes)

Disclaimer: I don't have dyslexia, so I can't speak from personal experience, BUT neurodivergent people tend to find each other, and I've been very close with a few people with dyslexia, to the point where I've extensively edited their writing. I've also learned quite a bit about dyslexia while working in the education field. Okay- let's go.

I hear way too often (yes, I'm referencing a certain youtuber here) that Blitz can't have dyslexia because we sometimes see him reading and we sometimes see him writing without errors. So when he shows spelling and grammatical errors in his texts and notes to self, that must just be him being rude/trying to be cute/being lazy.

And if the errors were just slang and abbreviations, maybe the people making those arguments would have a point. But they're not. And I'm convinced that he has dyslexia. So what gives? Why the inconsistency (assuming it's an intentional choice on the part of the writers)?

Most dyslexic adults CAN write correctly with extra effort. It's just harder. In the learning disability world, we sometimes call it self- accommodating. With any disability, that means doing work that neurotypical people don't have to do in order to overcome the obstacle that the disability poses- and often, no one else sees that work or understands that it's necessary. For people with dyslexia, that often means that they have to check and double check their writing.

When YOU AND I (if we're both non-dyslexic people) write casually and don't put in effort, our spelling is going to be mostly correct. And if we use slang and abbreviations, it's a choice. When someone with dyslexia shoots off a quick text, it's going to look messy, and they'll probably only do it in a text to someone they're comfortable with. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE.

Let's look at some recent examples from Helluva Boss.

Blitz is writing notes to himself here, so he doesn't have any need to make them presentable. Cute inside jokes with himself are possible (i.e. the horses and nicknames that we sometimes see), but the spelling mistakes here don't really make sense as jokes. They also wouldn't be easier to write than the correct words for someone who isn't dyslexic. Mok(backward S)ie isn't shorter than Moxxie, and remembr isn't much shorter than remember. The spelling is also phonetic, which fits with how many people with dyslexia spell in initial drafts. He just isn't watching for and correcting his mistakes, because why would he in this situation?!

Okay, different situation . . . the apologies. I would argue that Blitz IS putting in physical effort here, even if it's not emotional effort. He brings entire gift baskets full of his favorite foods for the people on his apology list after all. Here's what he writes to the DHORKS:

I think "sowy" IS meant to be cute here. It's not phonetic after all. He put a little effort into drawing them a cute little horse too. And then the cherubs . . .

I think this is pretty interesting. Blitz actually bothers here to fix his spelling mistake. He spells everything right on the inside too, even though he's telling these guys "fuck you." Notice that he runs out of room and has to write sideways. And notice the nice block letters on the front. In terms of why he's trying so much here, well, it's to prove to Stolas that he can put effort into apologizing to people, isn't it? And that means that the unintentional errors get fixed!

Now, Blitz tries to text an apology to Stolas (and obviously stalls for emotional reasons), and we see him typing it in real time,

Yeah . . . it's a combination of shorthand and just plain old misspellings. He's focused on choosing the right words, not on getting the spelling right, and it's impossible to say he doesn't care at this point. Someone who has an easy time writing correctly spelled text might use some shorthand, but just like we saw with Blitz's notes to self, they wouldn't likely intentionally misspell completely unnecessary things, especially when trying to come off as genuine.

Sigh. I rest my fucking case.

If you'd like to see my thoughts on that text conversation from Western Energy, go ahead and click on the link- it isn't really about dyslexia, and I do actually think that Blitz is pretty literate in spite of his disability and limited education, but it does explain why I think the conversation goes the way it does.

[froldgapp]

On lollipop sticks and contemporary pop culture storytelling

When I was a kid, sometimes we'd be told to collect a number of lollipop sticks for an upcoming arts and crafts activity. That's popsicle sticks for some of our brethren, I believe :)

So, off we'd go in our numbers; scouring the highways and byways of Ireland for discarded lollipop sticks. This was in the 80s and 90s. Some of them were stuck in half-melted tarmac (does that still happen?), and we'd have to pry them out with our fingers and scrape the tar off with our nails. Then, hard-won gritty and grimy lollipop sticks in hand, we'd do the arts and crafts activity with all the engineering skill that pre-teens could muster.

Then Amazon came along, and suddenly you could just... buy lollipop sticks. A whole bag of pristine lollipop sticks! I still remember this thrill of like... "Now, we will be unstoppable!" But soon after, almost immediately after if I recall correctly, the glimmer vanished. Even as a little kid, and I'm sort of amazed my arts and crafts obsessed kid brain could render this thought, I felt disconnected and a bit empty somehow. The ease of having access to all of this stuff, much of which only the arts supply closet of yore could have yielded, diminished the return of the effort to get it. I realised that the seeking and the yearning was actually part of the process somehow.

So. Batman.

Of late, we've seen an abundance of fan-service, self-reference, fourth-wall breaking, meme-ification, irony spouting, fanon integrating, cow towing, wink wink nudge nudging across a range of media. Clear examples of this can be found in recent Batman/DC properties.

A particularly egregious example is in this month's Lex & the City #1, where the cast of characters behave as if every quirky uwu post across the length and breadth of tumblr was poured into a cement mixer before being uncritically dumped onto the page. And here's the thing: I love a quirky uwu post as much as the next gal. But I love it where it belongs: in community spaces. When it not only filters onto the canon page but also appears to dominate and drive the narrative (as I believe happened in Tim Drake: Robin), it's a bust. It's a bag of pristine Amazon lollipop sticks.

Because, for me at least, what makes moments of irony or narrative self-awareness work in storytelling, is that it happens within a property that is already taking itself, its world and its characters, seriously. It's a moment, a bright pop. The flash of a kingfisher. When it's all kingfisher? We're choking on feathers, lads.

I long for a story that exists, first and foremost, for story. Not a vehicle for or a composite of the common demands of fandom, where one feels the material exists simply to be clipped, Tik Tok'd, memed.

Probably it's a little unfair to use LATC for the example here. It's its own cutesy thing, okay. But when it adds to the pattern of already toothless material, I find myself missing the days when we fans dug the lollipop from the roadside ourselves.

[elvensorceress]

history of cinnamon sorrow today. Eddie in Texas trying to talk to Chris 💕

@tizniz @hippolotamus @spotsandsocks @monsterrae1 @livinginsunnyhell @rainbow-nerdss @chaosandwolves @singitforthegirls @lemmeaskthedevil @bekkachaos @sunflower-eddiediaz @daffi-990 @exhuastedpigeon @thelikesofus @blutterlie @smilingbuckley @epicbuddieficrecs @sazanahashi @kejfeblintz @inell @beyourownanchor6 💕

Eddie sits on the steps and waits for Chris to sit with him. He does, but he also just looks out over the front yard and the driveway, staring off into the distance. He doesn’t look at Eddie. 

Not that Eddie expects him to. But he thought they were a little further in making up. Which is his mistake. Obviously. He doesn’t know how else to start but to say, “I love you. You know that, right?”

Chris sighs. “Yeah.”

“I missed you a lot.”

Chris makes a noncommittal noise.

Eddie tries differently. “How’s your new school? You like it?

“It’s fine.”

Wow, two whole words. They’re doing really well. 

“I don’t want to go back now.” Chris does look at him this time when he says it. “I like it here.”

Eddie takes a slow breath and lets it out so he can remember what it’s like to have air and life and be living. Doesn’t quite manage. But he tries. 

It was years and lifetimes ago when Chris wanted to go with him. When they sat here on the porch, exactly like this, and Eddie was sure his son wanted nothing to do with him, didn’t care about being with him, but Chris said, I miss you all the time, and Eddie hugged him and held him, and they left to face the world on their own adventure. Together. 

Obviously kids grow up. And everything changes. Eddie just didn’t expect it would be this different. 

“I know,” Eddie says with knives in his chest. “That’s okay. That’s why I— You don’t have to leave here. We don’t have to go anywhere. You don’t. I’m going to move.” 

Chris looks at him again, but this time like he hasn’t heard correctly. “What? You’re going to— What do you mean?”

“I—” Eddie did tell him. Mostly. It was rushed and he wasn’t sure Chris really listened or heard him when they talked a few weeks ago. It didn’t matter though. Eddie had decided. “I’m moving back. Here. To El Paso. We packed up the house, I have a place I’m renting for now, but I’m looking for a house for— me. For us if you want to be there. If not then, I’ll at least be close by.” 

Chris just stares at him. “What do you mean you’re moving back? Why would you do that?”

Eddie would kind of, almost laugh. Except nothing about this is funny. “Because I want to be with you. I want to be part of your life. I know I missed out. On a lot. And I’ll never forgive myself for that. But I can move now. I can be here. I'm not going to waste any more time. If this is what you want and where you want to be, then I’m going to be here. Even if you don’t, if we’re not—”

“Dad, what the hell?” 

That’s— Not that Eddie should encourage his fourteen year old to talk that way. But it’s probably fair. It could be worse. And it’s not as if Eddie doesn’t swear. 

“You don’t need to be here,” Chris says. 

“I know I don’t need to,” but also, Eddie does need to. “I know you don’t need me, but—”

“What do you mean I don’t need you?”

That, Eddie doesn’t have an answer for. If Chris needs him, why is he saying Eddie doesn’t need to be here? Why would Chris need him? Why would anyone? Unless they’re into having their whole life ruined, Eddie isn’t anyone’s first choice. 

Except for maybe Buck? 

Until Eddie ruins that, too. 

[bookwor-mmm]

(bvz6 rant??🔥)

okay so I’m usually not impatient when it comes to waiting for the next episode of bvz but dude. IM SO CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT ALBUS IS GONNA DO AFTER FIGURING OUT THAT DEVLIN AND FAITH THINK HES STILL DEAD AFTER DRINKING WITH KARMOR. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS ⁉️⁉️

like… is he going to say something to Karmor, Hipswitch, and/or Doc about it? I’d presume not since he’s a little secretive when it comes to Faith and Kerano.. and he seemed relatively calm (upset but in lowercase) (so just sad) at the end of the episode so I don’t think he’s gonna lash out or anything .

—BUT IMAGINE IF HE DOES OMG CRASHOUT OF THE CENTURY

but maybe he WILL say something because he probably won’t just leave it alone…. perchance..

anyway I don’t think he’ll do anything brash like immediately get back to springrock and yell at Karmor or something. I’m like…. 90% sure he’s aware that he was the one who made the conscious decision to use Karmor’s ability to get free alcohol knowing that there could be consequences.. so I don’t think he blames Karmor

BUT ‼️‼️‼️ bear with me guys bear with me… if I’m remembering correctly, gba confirmed a little bit ago that Mad Crow dictates what the consequences of Karmor’s changes are- and so far they’ve been things that i ASSUME are meant to kill Karmor (based on his dialogue during the duel, it’s clear he wants him dead but just can’t do it himself): Karmor’s bounty (which might have not been Mad Crow’s doing but you never know), the zombies, the (FUCKING 🗣️) sandworms, and now Crow decides to make Albus’s family forget he’s alive 🤨 but why

it appears like the consequences Crow cooks up are meant to cause Karmor harm (except with the red mystic drink change.. nothing really happened.. ig the red mystic is just chill like that idk), so why target Albus and his family? is he trying to pit him against Karmor so there’s bad blood between them or so that maybe Albus can take him out ? maybe the “I could split you in two without breaking a sweat” line gave him that idea. but again, I don’t think Albus blames Karmor so I don’t think that’ll work out for Mad Crow

ANYWAY IM JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHY MAD CROW DECIDED TO MAKE THAT THE CONSEQUENCE. don’t even get me started about what could be different about the ending of BW now that this change was made

how i felt typing this

[yutori-do]

The four things I notice and hate the most in Gai's (bad) characterization:

Intelligence: In some fics they make him completely stupid, with no ability to conform to social labels or understand what they say to him without rethinking it, and that makes my blood boil because this guy is anything but stupid; He is an avid learner and always seeks improvement (genin at 7, chuunin at 11. He may not be Kakashi but he is still quite a lot, right?), able to predict, if I remember correctly, up to a hundred movements of his enemy before to be executed, someone who thinks quickly in battle and very adaptable.

My God, he drives NUNCHAKUS and you think he's incapable of concentrating? I understand that it is one thing to sit down and study and another to train, but I don't think GAI, of all people, wouldn't take on such a challenge. Appearing empty-minded is his facade, his mask. The only way I can accept that he's pretty stupid is if it's because of the trauma of losing his father, he clings to the attitude of a child as a way to feel like he's back in his childhood. AND YET-

Okay, next point.

Darkness: This man was literally beaten by chuunin because when he was a child just for being the son of a outcast of Konoha, they made fun of him and probably isolated him from the rest as a child, and he has also been under a strict exercise regimen since he was 5 years old. An exercise that made him fall from fatigue and pain, and he, despite everything, continued to get up, continued to force himself to overcome the pain. Gai's darkness is not easily detected because he is not visibly cruel to anyone but himself; The only way he is easily seen is with his relationship with Lee, his dedication to put him through everything he put Lee through even though he is the person Gai loves the most (possibly after his father). The way he pushed his (Lee's) limits to the point of telling Lee that he should face death to hold onto some hope for a better future (to be a shinobi again) is very dark. The relationship he has with Rock Lee ironically brings out the worst parts of Gai, and there we enter the next point.

Cruelty: Gai is a character who has been shown to have an extremely strong code of values, in which benevolence always comes first; He is empathetic in a world where that is condemning, he is kind to people who at best only make fun of him for how he looks. In short, a great person. But that does not mean that he is not cruel, that he hesitates when killing; he is still a soldier, a child soldier who participated in a war based more on ego than anything else. His moral code does not prevent him from killing, but rather makes him limit himself, to limit himself to what is absolutely necessary. If he has defeated his opponents and thus achieved his mission, then he will not kill, because the rest are shinobi like him and also had a mission.

We've only seen traces of Gai's cruelty throughout Naruto, small flashes of what he truly is in battle. Do you seriously think that the title of Beast is achieved only by defeating enemies? It is not even a specific animal, but literally: Konoha's Beast of Prey.

And what is a beast but an animal that kills cruelly? One kick of his was capable of breaking rocks when he was just a child. What prevents him from punching through his opponent's chest? Breaking skulls using just his fingers? You're not going to tell me that someone like him, with his strength, is not capable of ripping off your arm in a single movement.

Gai is capable of great, great cruelty cultivated by years of being humiliated by the village he now protects with his life, by the Village for which he destroys his body day by day. Still, his morals prevail, but it does not mean that cruelty is inappropriate for him.

And possibly the root of all his problems...

Death Wish: Dying for the Village is something that is as ingrained in how Gai thinks as any Konoha child, but this takes a drastic turn when his father sacrifices himself to save him. His father was, despite being ashamed of him, his World. The only person who loved him with everything, who showed him sweetness and tenderness in everything, he who took care of him as the most precious thing he had. In a place where everyone hated him and slowly began to change because Gai was useful to them, only his father loved him unconditionally, no matter what.

It is not specified how old Gai was when his father dies, but he can be placed after 11 and before 14, and that is possibly the source of what he is like; totally adhered to what his father was in an attempt to demonstrate that Maito Dai was a great man and shinobi through his legacy of the Eight Gates, his greatest and only technique. It is known that before he was 20 he had already acquired his title of the Blue Beast of Konoha, so it is accurate to say that he already knew how to open the Seventh Gate, at LESS THAN TWENTY YEARS OLD, the time it took his father to master the technique.

Gai's desire for death and his perspective of it is shown by his speech about Lee's highly risky surgery; If he can't live fully as a ninja, then he doesn't want to live. For him, Death is a price, the most precious coin that he is able to throw to prove something, to prove that he is worth something in a world where Death is common, where he was expected not to survive, much less prosper.

He lives life to the fullest, being his best person, enduring whatever it takes because he knows that his end, his death, when it happens, will show everyone that he was never weak, that he was incredibly powerful, and for someone who grew up being treated as the lowest scum except by his father, who ended up dying in a blaze of glory as an outcast, a death like that is the highest he can aspire to. For him, the only destiny is death, and the only way to prove his worth. And that's not fucked?

(And if you want to add another tragedy, possibly the Eighth Gate was a relief during the war because Gai's death cannot go unnoticed, hidden. Being someone who had so many limitations, being at a significant disadvantage, and being sent to war so young, where the majority are children or other young people who die anonymously, the Eight Gates were his way of establishing that no, he would not be killed, because he would kill himself first. Oh, now i know why he respected Kisame so much at the end.)

[luckyorchid]

Not sure if anyone’s done this yet but like considering the fact that we’ve seen Aventurine’s multitude of outfits- yes, he’s GORGEOUS, but what about the things connected to them?

There’s two things that kinda interest me which is the aven shooter pfp and the one in the concert trailer

like i think it’s be nice to incorporate some of the hobbies or activities that are hinted from these pictures. I found this post back then, I can’t find it anymore (which is making me go insane I SWEAR I wasn’t hallucinating)

but it was like something where Aventurine was put into an interview and they asked for his hobbies and other stuff like skin care routine or his mark

If I remember it correctly, the thing I noted was that he liked to go to hotels and or have shooting practice to relax or wind down, but my first thought was. “Man, it must be lonely.”

He probably learned how to use a gun from Jade (From one of his stories, he and Jade killed a few men, I think to prove he can indeed be ‘Aventurine’?) But I feel like occasionally he just imagines shooting someone’s face to bits 😭

But again, he never says that he does these hobbies with other people, so it’s just him. There’s nothing wrong with wanting your own time of course, but how long has he just been— alone? enjoying the “luxury” by himself? How many years has he been a part of the IPC exactly and just letting his life pass through his eyes with each grand gamble. It’s almost like he’s detached, but he’s still alive, isn’t he?

And then he gets his cat cakes (I’m assuming, very recently?) (I’m sure most people think that it came from Ratio lmao)

So maybe at that point he does go home more often because there’s actually something there waiting for him, wanting to make sure he’s okay. And then maybe at some point he picked up the guitar?

Based off of the concert trailer, I can totally see him owning like that acoustic guitar that can turn electric, and learning some songs and just…relax. It’s a little healthier, he supposes, rather than drinking and gambling in those hotel-casinos.

Yes king get healthy coping mechanisms!!! I need more guitar playing Aventurine like imagine if he can play the sponge bob theme guys…

[nabi-unveiled]

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 1)

During the tag game a little while ago, it seemed like there was a character from this show on almost everyone's list. Anytime a character or show becomes that ubiquitous, I become curious. Especially since the show's over a year old by now. Recency bias couldn't be the main factor.

I had to reload iQIYI several times before subtitles began working, but the opening shot already had me intrigued.

It made my brain automatically race with questions.

Because apparently someone is looking for this person...

Even if the bell reminds me of my incredibly annoying alarm clock from high school.

All of this running is reminding me of a post I have in my draft graveyard about the importance of movement in emotional sequences. Not relevant right now.

Ooooo. So the box is going to be a thing is it? Unlike the first one, this one has bells on it so it appears to be a notification of some sort. It looks like a video game in some ways. "Love Supremacy Zone" could be taken multiple ways. I don't have enough evidence to make a call yet.

I do know that it's making me very nervous to have whoever this is on the roof and standing like that. I'm hoping this just means it's a show with rooftop scenes rather than this being a jumper type scene. In my former job, I had to cope with several teenage suicides, and my grandfather ended his life about a year ago. It's not a hard limit or major trigger for me, but it will make me emotional if we're going there.

Apparently the person on the roof is our missing person. So it'll be okay. The runner will intervene if this is a jump scene.

Ok, I don't know who this person is...

But I already love them from the intro. Watching them struggle to get over the wall with their adorkable styling was an instant delight. However, we know I make snap judgments and often regret them later. Only time will tell.

The fact that the episode is named after an emotion makes me leery. Does this mean other episodes are also assigned emotions? Cue up the angst I guess. (Actually, please do. I love angst.)

There's a cornflower. That's interesting. Blue cornflowers are highly symbolic. They carry meaning in several different cultures and religions.

There's folklore related to men wearing them as a sign of love. If the color faded, the love wasn't returned. Girls wore them as a sign they were eligible to marry in some cultures. They also have connections to Christian symbolism, Greek mythology and several historical references if I remember correctly 🤔. None of this is probably important. We don't know if they'll be used symbolically yet. For now, they're just a flower.

I'm trying to figure out if we're jumping forward in the timeline, because my boy here is drowning himself in drinks. And while this other dude basically said "slow down", he didn't say "stop" so we must be out of high school. I'm going with this is a different timeframe. It's definitely a different vibe from the beginning.

And there are too many references to death and happy endings in a short time frame. My spidey senses do not like these types of phrases. They mention the book being turned into a video game which makes me think my earlier thought about the box on screen looking like a game was correct. The question "Would anyone want to play it?" makes me wonder where they're going with that thread.

Yeah, me too. I know it's terrible, but I often get bored with super-sweet shows. It's why I often fast forward through date sequences. Don't get me wrong - I watch the sweet shows. But I'd rather that sweetness be tempered with some actual emotional turmoil and tension.

Our drinker says it bothers him that our missing person is the only only one who's miserable.

I take it this dude is meant to represent all of typical society. Just bury my head in the sand and ignore other people's problems as long as I'm living a good life. I have a bitter taste in my mouth about it so I'm glad our drinker calls him on it and says that it's "vile" that some people are destined to that kind of life.

I did not expect this conversation to go here. That's a loaded question. There is obviously a lot of subtext, because this guy knows things that I'm not privy to at the moment. But it's a great question. You can complain. But does it matter if you're not going to do something about it?

We're definitely jumping timeframes. We're now back in high school. The sound is very distorted like in a dream world. It sounds like running water to me. I definitely stopped and restarted thinking the sound had gotten messed up in my app again. It happens a lot.

Actually, have we time jumped?

Uh oh. I didn't realize this show involved time jumps. That's such a tricky, tricky mechanism to use well. Most of the time it falls flat or leads to massive narrative holes. I'm going to trust that most of you wouldn't be recommending this show if that was the case though.

And the video game box is back. That means our earlier scene involved the time jumper. The Love Supremacy Zone has been activated after all.

Ok. I'm still not sure how I feel about the time jumping, but I'm loving the gaming aspect. Everyone in my house games (including me). If time is limited, I'll choose shows over games. But I love shows that execute gaming tropes and references. A lot of these are anime like Solo Leveling or Delicious in Dungeon, but there are a few live action ones (Love 020 or Falling Into Your Smile). Actually, I even enjoy the shows like Missions of Love that are objectively pretty bad. It's not a common framing device in a BL so I'm really curious how it'll be used.

The addition of the gaming aspect makes me wonder if this is a blackout dream. Like he'll figure out what "could" have been and then use that knowledge when he goes back to his current time.

And now I'm confused. That's ok. Myung-ha is too. Blackout dream seems like the most likely option unless we're bringing in some kind of fantasy/magic aspect.

I've missed what Shinyeop is, but apparently it's connected to the senior writing a book and adapting it into a game.

No thanks. I'll pass. Life is INFINITELY better as an adult. Even with all of the adult responsibilities, I never go "man, I wish I could go back to high school".

I'm glad your memory has been restored and that the game aspect is going smoothly, but I need to know more about this cutie. Like...now.

I have so many theories and thoughts running through my head. So the missing man has similarities to Myung-ha? Did his senior base him off of Myung-ha? This question feels very different now than it did earlier, and we definitely have some fantasy music vibes now. Did I just miss the vibe earlier or is this purposeful reframing? Could go either way.

I don't trust "senior" though. He seems like a man with his own agenda rather than seriously looking out for Myung-ha's well-being.

I'm also realizing that I shouldn't call this a "time jump". It's really an alternate reality scenario. The distinction is important, because the two setups have different potential narrative problems.

Ahhh! I cannot express how much I am loving the gaming aspect. We're now on a timed mission to prevent our missing man from hurting his leg. I guess he WAS going to jump?

I do wonder why Myung-ha isn't questioning the fact that his senior managed to trap him in a game.

There isn't any way I would've made it in time. I might could've made it as a teenager. I could run a 7.5 minute mile on average back then, but I didn't ever do more than 2 miles at a time. But now? No way.

I felt this line in my soul. I doubt it will be mine, but I feel like this would be a lovely epitaph. Whether it's positive or negative would be up to interpretation of whoever viewed the stone decades later. Lol.

Affection level is at -20. LMAO. Time to start building up some hearts. Do some quests. Give some liked or loved gifts. Find the NPC that gives you all of the important clues and needed information. Please let that be our cutie in glasses.

Myung-ha says he was sent by Yeowoon's grandmother. I can't decide if this is genius or a low move. Using his halmeoni to manipulate him? I guess if it stops him from doing stupid stuff that destroys his life, then I'll support it.

😂😂😂 Apparently, "offers ice cream to comfort people" needs to be a list. Since Let Free the Curse, I'm now noticing ice cream in a lot of places. Apparently Yeowoon's flavor choice is unexpected. Lol. Myung-ha didn't have enough money. Ah, red bean. Yeah, I've tried it. Not my favorite ice cream flavor. This reminds me that I still need to make garlic ice cream to try. It's warming up so I'll break out the ice cream maker soon.

I love the debuff effect. Myung-ha seems intelligent which I appreciate. But he keeps talking about going home, and I'm really wondering where his home is in this world.

Obviously our virtual world pre-loaded that information. I doubt that's what we'd find if we googled it. I'm betting we'd find this show actually. Could also be a song or book title. I might test it after my watch. Regardless, I'm glad Myung-ha knows his main objective now.

OMG. Did Yeowoon try it because that's what Myung-ha had picked out? Plus, this is a delightful way to get the information. It's like a quest log being updated. I have not tried chestnut-flavored ice cream.

Yeowoon needs someone for sure. It sucks. Especially if his grandmother was his main person in life. My grandfather wasn't my main person, but he was an important person to me. I still get emotional when things remind me of him.

😢 Is this HIS grandmother? He just said "it hadn't changed". Has his past merged into this virtual world? That's going to be hard for Myung-ha as it seemed like he had lost his grandmother in the bar scene. But this is also going to be hard for Yeowoon who just lost his.

Grandma has eyes. She immediately clocks the funeral clothes and that our boy Yeowoon is a handsome one.

Yeowoon is wondering if this is about pity. It's a fair question. Apparently Myung-ha fought a lot as a teen.

Aww, Myung-ha's leveling up. His affection level is now at -10.

I got distracted by the mural. I love public art.

But I'm going to assume my translation app is wrong. It translated the quote as "I think of the holy and beautiful thoughts in the fact that I am guarding that gun."

Myung-ha chooses to sit closer to Yeowoon on the bus.

Uh oh. Debuff is active. The purple aura surrounding our person getting on the bus is sending me. It's so video game coded. Myung-ha better get ready to defend.

Myung-ha speaks and the potential bullies notice his nametag. The fights his grandma mentioned must be well known. They back down.

Myung-ha is learning the rules:

The love supremacy zone is a 5m region surrounding Cha Yeowoon.

Negative affection levels leads to debuffs and consequences.

This is important in every game. Myung-ha reasons that this means he needs to stay outside of the zone. But I'm not sure that Myung-ha's logic is sound here. Staying outside of the zone will make it harder to level up affection. Especially if he can counter the debuffs as easily as he has so far.

Yes. I know this is really talking about the game rules, and on that score - maybe. But on the relationship side, something good would happen for both of you. Because Myung-ha is obviously lonely too. You can tell from our bar scene that his life wasn't a picnic. He needs a reset too.

Oh. Poor baby Yeowoon is distracted and running slow. He doesn't understand why Myung-ha is avoiding him.

And our bullies are threatening to "teach him a lesson". I can't get a read yet on if this is going to be one of those bullies that mellows, and we're expected to understand eventually.

Or is this one just an actual bully that I can hate on? It does look like Myung-ha is a problem for him. And this makes me wonder if averting the jump only delayed the potential for getting hurt.

Who's Sangwon? Apparently our bully isn't the top dog of his pack.

Yay! My cutie is back and we now have a name for him - Kyunghoon.

He IS our NPC with the information! Love it! Myung-ha says he doesn't hit kids, but...we'll see.

I love that Yeowoon ran after Myung-ha down the hall, and that the music has a video game quality to it.

Myung-ha informs Yeowoon that he needs to like him more for them to be close together. That will definitely be misunderstood.

The fact that he's not questioning this "trapped in a game" situation is still throwing me for a loop. Just what does he know about his senior? Or is he the type that just accepts things and goes with the flow? I still feel like that would be a big ask in this scenario.

Yeowoon calls Myung-ha to ask if he likes him. He also says that yes, Myung-ha does look like he would beat someone up. I'm enjoying how direct both of these characters are with each other.

The affection level has went up to -7. And we've now been given a time limit on our mission to make Yeowoon happy - 300 days. But there's a penalty if you fail.

Is this Yeowoon's death? Myung-ha's death? Would it translate to death in his real world? Would it mean that he died in the virtual world and got taken back to real life? He did say he wanted to stay here.

Actually.....does that mean that IF he succeeds, this world becomes his new, permanent world? I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that, but it does seem like an avenue to a happy ending. Hmm. That's going to be something I have to ponder on. It's a conundrum in any show that plays with alternate realities (comic, game, etc.). It's one of the trickiest aspects of this type of premise.

I had seen some GIFs of this show, but I hadn't expected or anticipated this framework AT ALL. It looks like Myung-ha's going to have to quickly adjust to this new reality too. We're counting down 300 days.

[tonyboneysblog]

HII Im the anon that requested the touya fic you can just call me the 🍊 anon if thats fine with you because ill probably be back a lot more 😭 your fics are SOO good can i request another touya fic, basically the same as last time what it was like being childhood friends with him? Ty!! 😁😁

SECRET SPOT: oneshot request!

parings: Touya Todoroki x reader

wordcount: 1.4K

notes: actually took forever because I forgot what kids do in their free time

warnings: none

summary: you find a cool spot you’d like to show Touya, shenanigans ensue.

You feel your lungs by start to burn as your run as quick as you can towards to best friends house.

You knock almost violently on the door when Rei Todoroki opens it.

“Miss L/N? Is everything okay?” She says with a worried tone.

You nod your head quickly before you say breathlessly, “I-i have something super cool to show Touya!”

Rei chuckles nervously at your excitement, “he’s in his room, I remember correctly.”

You mutter a quick thank you before booking it towards Touya’s room, only to find it empty.

Now you weren’t too concerned by the fact Touya wasn’t in his room like he was supposed to be, if he wasn’t holed up in his room then he’d be holed up at Sekoto peak over using his quirk in the name of ‘training’.

You shrug before making your way back to the front door, you weren’t planning on telling Rei that her son was up at the peak, he made you promise not to anyway.

Sekoto peak wasn’t the farthest away from the Todoroki household but by the time you got there at the summit you could feel your legs aching.

Now all that was left was to walk up it…

You could make out flashes of red as you hiked up the trail, few sparks of blue which was curious since Touya’s was red?

No point on dwelling on it.

You yell out his name, scaring him before running up to him excitedly.

“Y/N- you scared the hell out of me-“ he blabbers out.

You try to make your voice serious as you speak, “Touya- you absolutely need to follow me now, we’re going on adventure.”

Touya scoffs softly, “adventure? What are you- twelve?”

You stare at Touya after he choices his words, quietly as the seconds tick by.

He clears his throat, “ahem- sorry uhm, where are you trying to take me?” His voice is steady unlike yours, “can’t tell, it’s a surprise.”

“Then scram, I’m training right now Y/N.” He starts to walk off over to his little training corner with the log before you grab his wrist.

“Please Touya?” You beg with a pout on your face.

Touya try’s to tug his wrist away, “Nope, I don’t know what I’m getting myself into.” You groan before pulling him back, “Touya- don’t be a brat I’m trying to show you something cool!” You continue to plead.

“You trying to fight me now? I’ll win.” He says almost threateningly.

you tug again, “you built like a prepubescent chicken- look Touya please just do this for me?”

You and Touya enter an unspoken eye staring contest, Touya loses by looking away nervously and you could almost feel his skin heating up.

“Fine, take me to your stupid spot.” He says lowly, but it doesn’t have any venom behind it.

You celebrate silently in your head before dragging him down the mountain, then towards the woods near your own home.

Touya’s brows furrow, “are you planning on murdering me or something?” his voice could be described as a fake out between ‘I’m so scared!’ And pure sarcasm.

You shrug, “keep up the attitude and I just might.”

He laughs at that one.

You climb over smaller bushes and duck under branches before entering a thicker part of the woods, you got lost in it one time and your parents had called every emergency number they knew.

Touya still dogs on you for it til this day.

Whilst trekking throughout the woods your legs decided to make home with a near by rose bush that hooked into your skin painfully.

You yelp before trying to ease the small thorns out of your poor calf but Touya decides to help out for once.

“Don’t move.” His voice was stern when he said it but his face was filled with worry practically.

He grabs you calf then the vine and pulls the two apart gently, only to leave a small stinging sensation in the wounded area.

“Be glad it’s not bleeding.” He hops over the vines to join you, you kinda hopped his leg would get stuck too for karma but you’ll get revenge soon.

Revenge for everything you’ve done to get him to this cool spot, made your legs sore, made them injured- what’s next? A broken arm?!

You continue to walk throughout the forest, the ground below you getting wetter with each step. Then you could finally hear the faint noise of water rushing.

You walked out nearer towards it before hitting a drop off but luckily you had already scooped out the terrain. There was and edge that you could scoot by on if you held on good and if you fell you- probably- wouldn’t die!

Before you could get to it Touya grabs your hand, “that isn’t safe, find another way.” his brows furrow.

“This is the only way that I know, hold on and you’ll be fine-“ “Y/N I don’t want you getting hurt.” He cuts you off before you can rationalize with him.

“Touya I’ve done this before, I’m not gonna fall.” You smile while you say this but then Touya made it fade quickly with his next words.

“I’ve seen Bridge to Terabithia, don’t play with me Y/N.” His tone is serious but it almost sounds like he’s messing with you.

You mumble out a small fine then Touya smiles like he won, you don’t like that cockiness.

So you quickly run back and scoot the wall almost expertly, pieces of rock falling down below as you move.

Touya calls for your name but by the time you respond d your already on the other side, “see- I told you I’d be fine!” You smile cheekily.

Touya visibly relaxs before his face goes mean again, “you could’ve fallen.”

“Yet I didn’t?”

“I’ll push you down myself.”

You scoff, “thought you didn’t want me getting hurt?”

Touya groans as you start to skip off towards the rushing water, it’s a nice little spot but it has logs all around it like some parkour obby.

Touya watches as you walk over towards one, it’s over a larger area of water- hell it evens look deep.

“Touya, be careful here since it’s slippery.” you sound sweeter than usual, Touya notes.

Touya cautious steps onto the log with the water calmly drifting beneath him, truly it wasn’t hard to balance on it.

You step behind him following close, then you wind your arms back and push him into the water with all your strength. He hits the water with a loud splash, it only takes him a few seconds to resurface.

“Y/N- are you fucking crazy!?” He yells out, you could barely hear him from your own cackling.

You don’t even notice when he grabs your own ankle to drag you down with him.

You yelp before hitting the water, whilst falling you accidentally hit your back against the log.

When you plop back up from the water, coughing violently. You can hear Touya laughing at you, you splash water at him before he could continue.

“Psh- don’t be angry that I got you back!” He yells, his voice sounds light.

Like he’s having fun.

You and Touya continue to have a splashing fight before you raise your hands up, “okay- we’re still not there yet-“ he splashes you again.

“Touya!” He stops for a moment, listening to you.

“It’s a little up ahead, follow me.” You trek through the water, making your way past floating branches or jagged rocks.

Touya could faintly hear water falling, then he felt the water become much more shallow.

The two of you continued to walk throughout the shallow water before it starts to rush before your feet, once Touya look up the first thing he sees is a miniature waterfall.

You turn back to look at him, “isn’t it amazing Touya?” Your smile is bright.

He can’t help it when his faces starts to match yours, you just have that affect on him.

He watches you run up to the falls, collecting rocks or whatever you do.

He can’t help but think how glad he was that he stopped training, even for a moment.

He felt good, his heart felt warm.

you just have that affect on him.

EXTRA:

“Touya- why in the world are you soaking wet?!” Rei practically screams.

Touya stumbles over his words for a moment before speaking, “uhm- next question?”

“Were you out training again?!” Rei says her voice going softer.

“Uhm….next question?” Touya says whilst looking down.

He’s never going on adventure with you again.

[tootalltech]

okay so like. lab rats: bionic island is not real, season 4 is the worst one, it's very disorganized, etc etc yes BUT. i think the angst potential of the bionic soldiers was very interesting and so under-explored.

bc like. what the hell happened with all these kids? krane basically just kidnapped them, wiped their memories, and implanted them with bionics, right? and then controlled all of them with the triton app. that's just crazy to me. bc it's like. none of these kids are like adam, bree, and chase at all when it comes down to it. they had actual families. they were not MADE to be bionic. there's a line that i keep thinking about from bob that's like "i keep asking them where they grew up, but they all just say, 'i don't know, i don't remember'!". that's so sad to me. they had families and lives that they just may never find their way back to.

and this all makes it even more depressing that they consider krane their father in bionic rebellion (sebastian especially). these are just random fucking kids. who maybe just got unlucky and were randomly picked by krane to be part of his army, or maybe were chosen for some particular reason (which is honestly kind of worse bc if any of them realized there was actually a reason, that just makes it feel more like it was somehow their fault even though it wasn't). but in the end none of these kids are related to each other, at all. they consider themselves to kind of be one big group of siblings now, but that's only because they were all put through the same trauma. and also. if they were chosen by krane for a reason. then what the fuck happened with characters like spin? or bob? they're both so young. why would krane have picked them? it gets more disturbing the more you think about it. they also are all probably not going by the names their parents gave them either. because they all got renamed to designations (S1, S2) and then renamed again when krane stopped controlling them.

and finally on the note of them not being made to be bionic the way adam, bree, and chase were: that is its own angst potential. i think the showrunners kind of forgot that they established that about the chips, that adam bree and chase can't even switch chips for a day without messing things up because they aren't built to handle each others chips. if that's really the case, then some random teenagers probably also can't handle being implanted with bionic chips? they should all be experiencing a lot more difficulties due to that. it would be fun for the difference between all of them and abc to be highlighted in a way that is not just "abc are old models" anyway. because given the actual lore of the show, no, they're probably NOT old, they're the only ones whose chips WORK PROPERLY ALL THE TIME. krane got his technology from douglas. he doesn't know how to do bionics himself, and he would not be able to make it work correctly with kids he pulled off the streets once douglas left. there's just no way.

okay thanks bionic soldiers rant over.