#who wasn’t even the best supporting performance in that movie

[starliteonearth]

Seeing Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti win awards reminded me that the industry really does have bias against the MCU. They'll make sure actors in DC projects get their flowers for their amazing performances but MCU actors like Angela Bassett and Kathryn Hahn end up snubbed.

[bartxnhood]

escort at the oscars | a.b

austin butler x fem!actress!reader

summary: getting lost at the oscar’s wasn’t on your roster. neither was getting austin butlers attention.

warnings: definitely poor representation of the oscars but idc this is just for funsies !

w/c: 3.1k

a/n: omg hi everyone !!! long time no see i know, life has been insane. i know no one will read this but ive had some HUGE life changes. i graduated cosmetology school, officially a nail tech now, yay me !! also, unfortunately, ill be having a hand surgery soon. so, im hoping i can write more before i can’t 😭. thank you to everyone who still supports me even though im not ac active as i used to be. one day i promise ill update regularly !!

a/n2: also, austin in the new bikeriders movie had me in a chokehold. the austin butler renaissance is upon us, people !!! (he’s also my bday twin WOO) and i know austin didn’t win an oscar for elvis but for the sake of the fic he did in this !!

not proofread

requests open

Copyright © 2024 bartxnhood. All rights reserved. This original work is not allowed to be reposted on any platform in any format.

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since the red carpets were only carpets, you could have sworn they were easy to manage. the theater was only accessible by walking through a line, but that wasn't the case. after only thirty minutes, you had to make a big mistake by trying to use the restroom and ending up opening a broom closet.

“hey,” you heard a voice, and you quickly turned around only to find yourself facing austin. “the ceremony isn’t in the closet, darling.”

“right..” you whisper under your breath and close the door. you smile awkwardly turning on your heels and holding your clutch tightly.

“i was just uh..looking for the restroom but i couldn’t find it” you laugh, looking down and shaking your head, and begin walking away from the boom closet.

austin couldn’t help but chuckle, following behind you while holding his hand behind his back as he walked slowly for you to match his stride.

he could tell that you were an up-and-coming actress, something about the way you carried yourself gave it away, and he could also tell that this was your first time on a red carpet by the way you were clutching your clutch bag so firmly like your life depended on it.

“you look nervous,” he said softly, “it’s your first time on a red carpet, isn’t it?”

you smile sheepishly. “that obvious, huh?” you trail behind austin assuming he is taking you to the restrooms.

“never knew how big these places are” you laugh, holding up the end of your dress so it doesn’t drag.

austin could see how nervous you were by the way you were holding your dress up while you were walking, and he thought that it was adorable, honestly.

he chuckled as you mentioned how big the venue is because you weren’t wrong, it is pretty damn big. “ive been to a few oscars now and i still think the venue is too big,” he said with a laugh, as he walked by your side with that perfect movie star strut.

“which movie are you nominated for?”

you had never been to something like this, and you didn’t even have a premiere for your movie. but somehow, critics loved the movie and now your movie was nominated.

it felt like it happened overnight.

“blue moon” you answer, not expecting him to know it.

the movie was set in the second world war and your character was the spouse of one of the soldiers. after he died, your character joined the war.

it was an underground film, your first lead and you didn’t expect anyone to pick up the movie. but someone did, ended up being shown at a film festival and the critics fell in love with your performance. and that’s how you landed a nomination for best lead actress.

austin’s eyes widened as you mentioned the movie you’re up for, blue moon; he enjoyed that movie, and as he thought about it more he really couldn’t deny that you were fantastic in it.

“no way,” he said in disbelief, “no wonder you’re nominated for best actress, you were incredible in that film.”

“thank you” you nod, noticing you have finally made it to the restrooms.

“and thank you for showing me the way” you chuckle, dropping the train of your dress then stuffing your clutch under your arm and sticking out your hand.

austin takes your hand with a gentle yet firm grip and smiles, nodding. “no problem, glad i could be of help.”

“i’m y/n l/n” you introduced. “it was nice to meet you, austin. thanks for this” you grin, retracting your hand.

“i guess ill catch you later..”

“it was a pleasure to meet you, y/n,” he replied with a smile before watching you walk into the restroom, and he couldn’t help but keep his eyes on the door as you disappeared behind it.

he thought you were pretty. very pretty, and he kind of regretted not asking you for your phone number before you disappeared.

so, austin stood there leaning against the wall deciding he would wait on you. just in case you got lost again.

no other reason.

after relieving yourself, you stand in front of the mirror taking in a couple of deep breaths to calm the pounding in her chest, making it hard to breathe.

you open your clutch, picking out a compact and a lipstick. you swipe the color on your lips to touch up the splotches, and quickly powder your face.

you put everything back in your clutch smoothed out your hair and admired your dress.

floor-length satin gown in your favorite color, a ribbed corset look.

“you can do this, y/n/n..” you whisper to yourself then pick up the train of your dress and exit the restroom, hoping you won’t miss the award ceremony.

austin was now pacing in front of the restroom, waiting for you to exit, his eyes fixated on the door, and he found himself running a hand through his styled hair, ruining the gelled look.

he wasn’t sure what had compelled him to wait for you, but here he was, still waiting outside the restroom, tapping his foot anxiously and checking his watch now and then.

austin leaned back against the wall as he waited, trying to look nonchalant as ever, and once the restroom door opened, a soft exhale left his lips.

you let the door shut behind you while smoothing out the front of your dress and began walking down the hallway until you stopped seeing a figure.

you look up from the floor and spot austin, assuming he is waiting for you.

“austin?” you ask softly, taking in a deep breath.

austin’s eyes softened at the sound of his name, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of you once he saw you walking towards him, smoothing out the front of your dress and making sure it was wrinkle-free and free of any stains.

“hey,” he replied with a smile and nod, “i was just, uh, making sure you didn’t get lost, again.” austin laughed, looking at you through his eyebrows.

you couldn’t help but chuckle, “no worries, restrooms are pretty simple,” you reply with a toothy grin.

“but, if you wouldn’t mind showing me the way to the theater?” you ask, knowing if you didn’t have the guidance you’d definitely get lost and miss the entire ceremony.

and you didn’t need that kind of embarrassment.

though, deep down you know you wouldn’t win tonight, but still, you wanted to experience being at the freaking oscars!

austin smiled at how eager you were to not get lost again. he chuckled softly as you asked him to guide you to the theater, and he pushed himself off the wall, taking one last look at his watch before walking closer to you.

“and here i was, thinking you’d never ask,” he joked, before holding out his arm for you to grab and wrap your own around.

“don’t wanna risk you ending up in the broom closet again,” he teased.

you drop your head, smiling, and then laugh at his comment about getting lost in the broom closet.

“listen..” you say softly, covering your face with the clutch. “i would say it was one mistake, but with my luck, it’s bound to happen again.”

you carefully take his arm and begin walking towards the theater. you can feel your cheeks warming up.

here you are, lost at the oscar’s and now having the austin butler escort you into the theater.

when you attempted to cover your face with your clutch, he rolled his eyes and gently grabbed it, pulling it away from your face. “no hiding.” he teased.

as you walked side by side, down the halls and towards the theater, austin couldn’t help himself but glance over at you now and then.

he smiled when you laughed at his joke and chuckled even more as you attempted to defend yourself. “just one? you’re sure about that?”

you smile, looking ahead. not being able to look him in the eyes. “no..” you laugh.

“on my first day of filming, i got lost and accidentally locked myself in the hair and makeup trailer” you giggle, recalling one of the most embarrassing moments that’s happened to you. though, this one trumps that.

“no way..” you hear austin laugh wholeheartedly, a sound so beautiful it could turn your legs into jelly.

“yes way” you laugh back, nodding. you weren’t paying attention and almost tripped over the end of your dress.

“here, let me help you with that” austin offers, picking up the train of your dress so you can walk more comfortably.

“see? clumsy.”

austin grins, holding the satin fabric in his hands as you continue towards the theater. “we all have our quirks” he adds. “you’ll warm up to this life, it’ll become easier and if it doesn’t, i’ll help you navigate this journey.” austin spoke without really thinking.

you finally see the two large golden doors which lead into the theater. “ready?” austin grins, raising his eyebrows before opening the door.

when the door opens you’re hit with a soft wind of cool air, the sound of people chattering, and the camera crew getting ready to go live.

“well, let’s hope i can find my seat with ease..” you say walking down the aisle with him towards the seconds for the nominees. “i’ll help,” austin says and begins scanning the row of seats for your name.

y/n l/n

“here you are.” he points to your name plastered on the back of the seat. “right next to mine” he leads you to the two end aisle seats on the front row. your crew sat behind you and austin’s was right next to him.

you were shocked, walking to your seat and letting go of his arm. austin drops the end of your dress gracefully, making sure it doesn’t get dirty.

“what a coincidence, huh?” you take your seat, crossing your legs and placing your clutch in your lap.

austin had what you’d call a shit-eating grin on his face as he sat next to you. “coincidence? or the universe giving us a sign?”

he could tell you were feeling out of place, but he silently tried to make you feel more comfortable by flashing you a reassuring smile.

you shrug, smiling as the staff prepares to go on air. you take in a deep breath, calming your racing heart as you watch the host enter the stage.

“good luck tonight.” austin leans in, whispering. you turn to face him, “you too”. austin winks and then focuses his attention on the stage as the lights dim.

you follow suit, the ceremony officially begins.

a short video montage of all the movies nominated begins to play, and for a second you see yourself.

wow.

after the video, the lights come back on, and out steps the host.

“hello, and welcome to the ninety-sixth oscars, everyone! look at these beautiful faces!”

the room explodes into applause and cheers from the guests.

there’s more to the introduction, bad jokes, awkward laughter, and overall a very, very, long introduction before getting into the awards.

tonight was going to be very long.

“and the nominees for the best lead actor” the host announces, letting a brief video play of all the nominees and their movies.

some actors you knew well, others you didn’t.

“and the oscar goes to..” the host drawls, opening the envelope and a smile appears on her face.

“austin butler!”

the crowd erupts into a roar of cheers and applause, people standing up all around, yourself included. austin stands up hugging his team around him and his friends. he turns to you, smiling as if he won the lottery. “congrats!” you pat his shoulder as he walks past you on stage to accept the award.

“wow..” his deep voice rang through the microphone, looking at the audience and fellow nominees. “i’d uh..wow..all my words are leaving me…i’m standing in front of my heroes. i’m so incredibly grateful to be standing here, i just wanted to say thank you to my team, all the producers, writers, directors, costume, and makeup. everyone. and the presley family for guiding me through this whole process. thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. and lastly, thank you to all the new people i’ve met” he looks towards you. “i’m so grateful to be standing here. thank you.” he blows a kiss to the crowd before disappearing backstage.

the rest of the male categories went on in between intermissions. many of your favorite actors won, and movies.

then, before you knew it, the female categories were beginning. you saw austin returning to his seat before the nominees were announced.

“now, let’s take a look at the nominees for best female lead role…” the host begins.

like the male category, there are videos of each nominee and then you’re face pops up in a small montage of your movie with your name announced.

austin looked over at you when your face appeared on the big screen, he saw that look in your eyes. he couldn’t describe it. awe? no, it was something more than that. something he had never seen from any of the people he worked with. he had been to many events like this, but you…something about you.

“and the oscar for best female lead role goes too..”

anticipation.

so many great and talented women in this category, that you feel honored to even be considered as good as them.

what if you didn’t win?

but what if you did win? you didn’t even think you prepare an acceptance speech because there is absolutely no way someone like you could-

“y/n l/n! congratulations!”

the world stopped, people around you standing up and applauding. you.

you sat there, mouth agape staring at the stage with your face on the screens like an idiot. your crew grabbing your shoulders to congratulate you as you stand up. hugging some of your crew, then looking at austin wide-eyed. he’s smiling at you, saying something like “i knew you’d win” but you couldn’t be sure, you were in shock.

you begin towards the stage, austin trailing behind you holding your dress so you won’t trip. if there’s one thing austin learned about you tonight, you were clumsy.

you look back, thanking austin with your eyes approach the host, and accept the award.

“oh man..” you begin, feeling tears prickling your eyes. a quiet laugh escapes your throat, looking down at the golden award and then back to the crowd. “i didn’t have a speech prepared, i didn’t expect to win at all. but i wanted to thank everyone who worked on the set of this movie. thank you to the director who saw my indie films and thought i had the talent to portray my character. thank you to my team who always supported me. thank you to my family who always believed in me..who pushed me to work harder..” you sniffle, lip quivering.

“thank you. thank you so much.” you cry. “and thank you to austin, who helped me when i got lost, otherwise i would’ve missed the best moment in my life”. you look towards austin, your teary eyes glittering underneath the lights. the crowd laughs at this, finding it humorous.

austin smiled as he listened to your heartfelt acceptance speech. he couldn’t help but feel proud of you, watching the way you held the award in your hands and thanked everyone who had helped you along the way.

his heart skipped a beat when you mentioned him in your speech. he chuckled softly as the crowd laughed when you joked about getting lost, and he felt a warmth spread through him as he heard you express your gratitude towards him.

“and to all my fellow nominees, i can’t believe im standing in front of you. i’m so honored to be here with you tonight. and i realize i am rambling so i will accept this and go” you laugh, waving to your crew and exiting the stage.

as you walked off the stage, austin stood up and applauded once again, clapping louder than ever before.

the rest of the night continued without fail, the whole thing continued for about three and a half hours. you knew it was going to be long, but you don’t think you’d ever get used to it.

the ceremony ended, leading you and the other winners backstage to get pictures and interviews.

you stand with your friends, who also are a part of your crew. you’re still absolutely shocked. crying on and off as they congratulate you on one of the biggest achievements of your career.

you weren’t aware of austin approaching you until you felt a hand on your lower back. you look over your shoulder and see his baby blues. “austin!” you grin, turning your body toward him. “hi, darling. congratulations.” he says, gesturing to the award in your hand.

“thank you” you bring the award up to your face, grinning like a proud parent. “and congrats to you”

austin nods, looking down at his award. “looks like we both got pretty lucky, huh?”

you nod, agreeing. “i guess so..” you say softly.

you see austin’s eyebrow raise, his eyes dancing over your figure against the wall. you couldn’t quite place what he was thinking. he could be thinking many things, but you wouldn’t know. he was too hard to read, for you at least.

“say, uh..” he smirks, biting his lip. “how would you feel if i asked for your number?” his extra arm came up to the wall beside your head, entrapping you.

oh boy.

you hold the award close to your chest, looking up at him. “well, i’d feel like i’d be dreaming but im not going to say no.” you answer.

“good because i don’t know what id do if you said no” he chuckles, his eyes not leaving yours.

“i’ll call you, we’ll go out sometime. i wanna know more of you. if it’s anything like i saw tonight, i think i might fall in love with you.”

you can feel your ears burning as he speaks, his raspy voice making your legs feel weak. his eyes looking down on you, god. he was driving you insane. his slightly gelled hair, his grey suit, his cologne.

he was so close.

“then i guess you should be ready for that,” you say, smirking.

you heard your name being called, your manager trying to get you for an interview.

you push yourself off the wall, but before you leave you pause. “call me.” you wink and then walk away, leaving austin’s world rocked. never had he met someone like you, never has he been this intrigued and captivated by someone.

thank god he found you when he did.

[teeztruthers24]

You've taught me what home is - and for that, you are my home

PAIRINGS: yunho x mingi x reader (poly relationship)

WARNINGS: anxiety-related rumination mentioned, brief mentions of OC sending seemingly threatening messages to main characters and brief (not graphic at all or explained) mentions of harm and explicit messages (please stay safe <3)

Also, this is a reader insert so there are no physical characteristics mentioned of 'You' except it is implied 'you' is feminine and suffers from anxiety.

FYI: none of the characterisations in this fic of any real-life people should be considered true-telling of the real individual. This is just a work of fiction and does not represent anyone in their real-life.

SUMMARY:

Yunho, Mingi and, You are all dating - and everything is perfect. Yunho and Mingi are part of a band that does exceptionally well and you face your own challenges at work and from family, but nothing else in the world can ruin your mood when you're with your boys.

So why then, does overhearing a conversation right before the boys perform on stage, send your heart shattering and make you question your relationship status?

And more importantly, how do Yunho and Mingi fix what they don't even know they've caused?

START:

The people around you might think you’re relationship was…unusual. Might even go as far as to call the three of you strange for failing to be monogamous and having one lover instead of having both. 

But that’s what worked for the three of you and it was no one else’s business to interfere with your relationship. It was no one else’s business to know how comforting the arms of your lovers were when wrapped around your shoulders during movie night at Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s shared apartment or how protective their hold on you was on a night out after an exhilarating performance on stage. How grounding their touch was after a draining day at work and coming home to see Yunho dancing around Mingi who was cooking your favourite dinner in your homely kitchen, soft music playing from the Bluetooth speaker on the kitchen counter, and nearly every candle in your house lit emitting a pleasant lavender smell that had your shoulders dropping from exhaustion and relief you were finally home.

Because that’s what they were to you – home. When your manager at work had a bad day which meant everyone had a bad day; or whenever phone calls to your parents would generally end up with you in tears and silence on the other end; or whenever your friends had a falling out and left you in the dust feeling lost and alone – Yunho and Mingi never failed to uplift your mood and let it known to you that you are their solace. 

Being best friends with Yunho and Mingi from middle school meant you had seen them in all their phases – from when Yunho was adamant he would become a professional video gamer to when Mingi would make mixtapes in his tiny bedroom, which only you and Yunho would be privy to. And finally, when they both found themselves pursuing a passionate love for music. 

This tight-knit friendship between you and the boys allowed you to see their hearts so clearly, which they wore on their sleeves, and it wasn’t hard to fall in love with them. It wasn’t long before you realised their soft smiles and the endearing look in their eyes when you caught their gaze meant they bared their hearts out to you with just as much ferocity as you did. 

Being in a relationship with the two soft giants didn’t feel different from being best friends - with the lovely addition of soft kisses and going to sleep feeling like you were wrapped in two weighted blankets. 

They showed you what love is – who love can create. 

When Yunho and Mingi decided to create a rock band alongside two childhood friends of yours’, Hongjoong, an amazing guitarist, and Jongho, who had the best set of vocals, you were unwavering in your support and encouragement. From playing in either Hongjoong or Mingi’s garage to playing sets in bars and smaller venues across town, you joined them in their wonderful endeavours and got to enjoy their music with a side of the beautiful sights of whichever town you were in. 

After their set, Yunho and Mingi would be visibly exhausted, sweat dripping down their faces, their legs barely dragging them backstage and towards the car, but they never failed to take you out for dinner after and then collapse into bed and sleep the night away. And when you woke the next morning to a cup of coffee and breakfast served for you, you grabbed whoever was closest and kissed them with such fervour, sometimes sight-seeing was traded for spending the day in bed with your lovely boys. 

Luckily, the venue the boys were playing at gave them an hour extra to play their songs which meant you had to stock up on food and drinks for the boys and yourself and make sure the hotel room after was ready because you knew you weren’t going to be taken out in the city after a long set on stage. 

With a bag of snacks and energy drinks from the convenience store in your hand, you walked backstage towards the dressing rooms where Yunho and Mingi were. 

Reaching inside the bag, you picked out Mingi’s favourite drink and stepped towards him to hand him his drink. When you looked up smiling, you noticed a somewhat troubled look on his face, his hand gripping his phone so tightly you could see them turning white. 

“Mingi…is everything okay?” You asked, concerned. 

“Hm?” Mingi looked up from his phone and noticed you and Yunho looking at him with odd expressions. He shook his head, “Everything’s fine love. I’m just nervous about playing,” he tried comforting you, though his face paled significantly. 

You nodded and handed him his drink telling him to drink up before sitting next to him. When you reached over to hold his hand, Mingi seemed to startle and immediately stood up before announcing he needed to go to the bathroom. 

You frowned. Mingi was acting strange…almost secretive. You hated casting any form of doubt on your boyfriends, but Mingi’s behaviour was certainly odd and it was rubbing you in the wrong way…

You turned to Yunho, about to ask him what was wrong with Mingi, when he turned to you and gave you a tight-lipped smile with a pensive look on his beautiful face, before rushing out of the room, supposedly following Mingi. Feeling somewhat helpless and incredibly confused, you looked around the room and found neither Hongjoong nor Jongho in sight to converse with, and fell back onto the couch. 

After a few minutes, the door opened and you sat up expectantly, hoping Mingi and Yunho would be back in, hopefully, good spirits…but in walked Hongjoong and Jongho. 

Seeing your shoulders slump with disappointment, Hongjoong came over to you on the couch and asked if you were okay. 

“What’s troubling you? Everything okay?” He asked.

Not wanting to put stress on a man who had to conserve his energy to play a large set, you turned to Hongjoong and gave him the best convincing smile you could muster and said, “I’m great! I’m just waiting for Mingi and Yunho to come back from the bathrooms.” 

Standing at the table of snacks and drinks, Jongho, in the middle of choosing a pre-show snack packet, turned to you with a tilt of his eyebrows and confusedly told you, “But Mingi and Yunho aren’t in the bathrooms. They’re outside the venue talking. They seem quite stressed so I don’t think they’ll be in here for a bit.” 

“Oh…thanks for telling me Jongho,” you gave a small smile, though from your tightened brows and quivering chin, the boys could tell you were worried. You rushed out of the building, turning your head in all directions to try and find your boyfriends.

Moving towards the back of the venue facing the carpark, you came across Mingi sitting on the curb, back facing you, yet you could tell from his hunched figure and shoulders shaking, that something was wrong. Yunho also came into view, large hands rubbing Mingi’s back and softly speaking to him.

You angled yourself so you could hear them, but they couldn’t see or hear you. You hated eavesdropping, but something was wrong with your boyfriend - maybe both of them - and they weren’t telling you.

You pushed aside the feeling of dread starting to pool in your stomach and forced your ears to pick up on their conversation.

Mingi’s voice was shaky and breathy, almost like he had been crying for a while, “I can’t do this anymore, Yunho. I can’t keep lying to her like this…”, he broke off, tears continuing to drip down his face.

Yunho sighed, “I know it hurts Mingi…But how would we even tell her about–” His voice was drowned out by some people on the other side of the street drunkenly singing. 

“It’s so hard to lie and keep up this happy facade with her Yunho. I just wished she stopped being such a burden and left us alone…” Mingi said wistfully. “It might hurt her but we have to tell her what’s going on…”, he sniffled. 

That feeling in your stomach iced your veins. Feeling your eyes start to burn with tears and your heart stop yet race at the same time, you refused to listen anymore. Thoughts racing, you turned to head back inside the venue to grab your things and leave.

Maybe in hindsight, you should’ve heard more of their conversation, or confronted them right then and there…but the feeling of pain and hurt in your heart was something you’d never felt before. 

Speed-walking back to the dressing rooms, you opened the doors and rushed in, startling Jongho and Hongjoong who were in opposite corners of the room, preparing for the show. 

After grabbing your bag and phone, you turned to the boys, who now looked at you with puzzled expressions, and gave them your share of good luck.

“Are you not gonna stay and watch the show,” Hongjoong asked confused. You always stayed to watch your boys rock the stage. Not once had you ever failed at showing your boys your unwavering support. 

“No sorry…something came up at work and they need me to do something but I can’t work here…sorry guys,” You replied, hoping they wouldn’t ask any more questions so you could get out of there. 

When there was a brief pause after your response, you turned and left the room, not even waiting for Jongho or Hongjoong to say something. When you got to the front doors, you noticed Mingi and Yunho on the other side about to walk in, and you hid behind the pillars in the lobby, praying they wouldn’t see you. 

As if your prayers were answered, they walked right past you. Not wanting to stay back and watch them any longer, you rushed out to your car and locked the doors. 

You sat there, numb. That feeling of dread and pain and hurt had morphed into something you couldn’t even describe. Cheating… that wasn’t something you had ever considered your boys doing…and the notion of them cheating made your heart pound, filled with doubt and your mind feel like a bag of rocks was weighing it down. 

You debated calling them to tell them you were going home because you knew they would immediately leave the show to console you…and you just needed some time to think clearly. So after sending a ‘good luck for your show!’ text to your guys’ group chat, you put the car in drive and made the painful journey back home…alone. 

When you got home and noticed the darkness of such a small space, your scattered brain hurt even more and it felt like the room got even smaller than it was. Your chest was constricting with anxiety and you felt like you couldn’t breathe – and in that moment, all you wanted – no needed – was for your boys to come home and hold you. 

But they weren’t there.

That ugly feeling of anxiety started to make you wonder if either of the boys had even noticed you were gone. If they had cared. If they were texting her whoever she was, or if she was there in the crowd watching them the way you were supposed to be doing. 

A part of you hated these thoughts – hated the way you rushed to label your loving, healthy relationship with the boys as ruined and call them cheaters when you probably didn’t know the whole story. That same part of you felt toxic…and made you think the boys deserved better than whatever you had going on.

With your brain driving thoughts in two directions, you feel physically and mentally exhausted. Crawling into bed, you wished for nothing but the past hour to have been a painful nightmare. And for the first time since you moved in with the boys, you slept all alone. 

Being asleep, you didn’t realise when Yunho and Mingi had raced home after their show, their bodies physically exhausted but that paling in comparison to how heavy their hearts hurt. When they noticed you had curled around their pillows in bed and were fast asleep with dried tears tracking down your face, their eyes felt wet and Mingi felt a sob rising at the back of his throat; you had cried yourself to sleep…and something they said or did was to blame. 

They patted your head and looked at each other, giving the other a silent nod and agreeing they should give you some space in bed; taking the couch for the night. 

When you woke the next morning, your eyes felt like someone had glued them shut and your mouth felt as dry as a desert due to all the crying last night. You contemplated going back to sleep in hopes of shutting out the world around you, but the slight smell of coffee and hearing something sizzling in the kitchen made you rise out of bed. 

Your heart felt lighter and heavier at the same time – your boys were back…which meant avoiding them about last night was out of the question. Never in your years of being friends, and eventually dating, had you ever seen them raise their voices in anger…but worried thoughts of an argument started floating around your head. 

When you walked out of your room, you noticed Mingi near the coffee machine and Yunho standing in front of the stove flipping what seemed to be (burnt) pancakes. They were both dressed in the same clothes they were why you left your apartment the day before and when you looked at the couch, the blankets and pillows were ruffled. Your heart clenched… had the boys been afraid to sleep in bed next to you? Was this the start of the end? Were you going to lose not only your boyfriends but your best friends? 

Hearing the floorboards creak under you, Yunho and Mingi shot their heads up to look at you. The looks in their eyes made you soften and tears spring to your eyes – they gazed at you with such longing and pain in their eyes. 

Mingi stepped towards you and you thought he would either kiss you or tell you to get out of his way, but he mumbled, “Yunho and I are gonna wash up. Please eat your breakfast my love…I think we need to talk.” With that, he and Yunho looked at you with determination in their eyes and leaned down to give you a small kiss on either side of your cheeks before heading towards the bathroom.

After managing to move your feet towards the kitchen, you forced yourself to eat and ignore your lack of appetite; you figured it wouldn’t be best to have a conversation on an empty stomach. 

When you were done, you sat on the couch and waited for the boys. You felt a sense of deja vu from the night before waiting on the couch for your the boys (you should start learning to not refer to them as yours anymore..huh?). When they came over, they sat close together on the loveseat in front of you. 

When you looked up, you noted Mingi’s were tinged red…like what would happen if someone cried themselves to sleep and continued in the morning. Your heart ached even more. Yunho grabbed Mingi’s shaking hands and looked at you with an undecipherable expression. 

Okay, you thought, let’s make this breakup an easy conversation . 

You decided to speak first, hoping that you could start amicably, “Sorry for not staying to watch the show…How was it?” Your voice was strained, but hopeful. 

Yunho gulped. “Baby…we know something is wrong. You left way before we even started playing and didn’t tell us…please…what’s wrong?” His shoulders notably sagged down. 

Jaw clenching to not let a sob escape, you looked down at your hands intertwined with each other and tried to catch your thoughts to respond, “I heard you.” That was all you could mutter. 

Both Mingi and Yunho seemed to be confused. What did you hear? 

When you took note of their confusion and silence, you continued, “Outside in the carpark. You said you don’t love me…that it hurt to lie to me and you wanted to stop lying.” By this point, you felt the saltiness of your tears enter your mouth but kept on going. “You said you weren’t h-happy with me anymore…and you think I’m a… b-burden. So please…be quick with it and just b-break up with me.” You tried to contain your sobs but the painful reminder of yesterday hurt too much for you to keep quiet. 

Sniffling, you forced your head up to look between the boys…only to feel puzzled about their expressions. They had matching looks of almost…relief (?) on their faces. What could they be so relieved about when you sat across from them, heart-shattering into the tiniest of pieces? 

Heart pounding and head feeling heavy once more, your mind seemed to cloud over in preparation for the next four words that would leave you devastated.

“Oh baby…we weren’t talking about you…” Yunho uttered, his tone sounding so vulnerable. 

Oh.

Oh.

What??

Time seemed to stop. It was so silent in your living room that you could hear your blood rushing through your body; hear your breathing slow down and feel your mind quiet instantaneously.  

They…weren’t talking about…you…they don’t think anything bad of you…they (might) still love you…

In the quiet void, Mingi’s quiet voice speaks out, “My love, can I please give you a hug?” 

When you slowly but surely nod yes, he leaps over to you and hugs you so hard you can feel your inside being squished together. But you ignore that feeling because it feels so good to finally be held by your boyfriend. 

“Wait Mingi, we still need to explain what happened…why we said what we said,” Yunho pulled Mingi back slightly, teary-eyed, and gave you an understanding look. “Please hear us out completely first, darling,” he seemed to beg. 

After you nodded in acceptance, Yunho turned to Mingi and seemed to urge him to speak. 

Mingi sniffled and took a deep breath, before admitting, “I don’t know if you remember back in high school, there was this girl…Yuna…and she would follow us everywhere? Do you remember?,” after receiving a hum of affirmation, he continued, “After school one day, she cornered me in our classroom and told me she liked me. And I just stood there and said nothing because…because I was in love with you and Yunho – I still am of course! – but she kept saying that I had to either choose between the two of you or pick her or she would tell my parents and I-I hadn’t told my parents about us at the time and I was so worried s-she would tell them and I didn’t know what to do so I just gave her my n-number and told her to please please keep quiet and–” Mingi spluttered before sobs racked from his throat and rendered him quiet. 

You felt a gush of tears prick your eyes once more and moved to sit next to him, rubbing his back along with Yunho. You said nothing to allow Mingi to get his bearings together but frowned as you thought of Yuna. Yuna – the girl that did follow you guys everywhere in high school and rejected your advances to be friends. You had never thought you had to worry about her because you always attributed her ‘affections’ as idolising her seniors at school and once you all graduated, she left your mind as quickly as you all left your hometown. 

After a while, Mingi took another deep breath and continued, “After we graduated and moved to the city, I completely forgot about her you know? And I thought we had become adults now so I didn’t have to worry about her anymore…but one day she started texting me and when I didn’t respond she moved to DMing me and she would send me messages of her…some explicit at first…some almost threatening harm but…to herself. She would ask me for money for dresses she wanted to buy and wear on our first date and kept telling me to break up with you guys because she said she wanted me all to herself…” He broke off, not quite sure how to end his recounting. 

Yunho then took over, “Mingi told me one day what was going on when his phone kept blowing up during practice. And after he told me and I sent a text from his phone telling her to leave him alone, she started sending me messages too…telling me to break up with you before she started talking to you.” He stopped to gauge your reaction, before adding, “We tried our best to ignore her and block her but she kept finding ways to message us…we’re sorry for not telling you, darling.” 

You felt…conflicted. Here your boys were telling you about a girl that was threatening to ruin everything you had built together for her selfish gain which gave them a reason for their words, as hurtful as you had perceived them, last night…but you didn’t understand why didn’t tell you.

And because you wanted an answer to put an end to your confusion, you simply asked them, “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought- I thought when you said all that stuff yesterday…I thought you wanted to break up with me…” you choked out before dissolving into tears.

Mingi wrapped his arms around you whilst uttering soft ‘no’s’ and shaking his head. Yunho felt the stress of not knowing why his girlfriend was so upset the night before leaving him, and he gathered you and Mingi in his arms before softly rocking you all back and forth. 

With both the your boys holding you and whispering sweet nothings in your ears, your wails reduced to soft hiccups. 

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry for believing either of you would…c-cheat,” you threw the word out like a bad omen. Almost immediately, Yunho and Mingi started shaking their heads in disagreement, “No my love, you don’t have to be sorry,” and “We’re sorry for not telling you darling.” 

“We noticed how stressed you’ve been recently from work and your family dumping all their issues on you and everything you’re friends have been dragging you through…we didn’t feel right making you feel insecure in our relationship by telling you about some girl we spent no seconds thinking about. Because this, of all things in our life,” Yunho said gesturing between him and Mingi, “This relationship with you is our constant. Our solace. Our home.”

“He’s right you know? Last night she kept texting me and I realised I couldn’t keep hiding the burden that was her from you anymore,” Mingi agreed.

You kept quiet and let their words sink in. Those ugly feelings started clearing from your heart and mind – your boys never wanted to leave you. This was all just a misunderstanding…

“Trust me when I say my love, beyond you and Yunho, there is no one else I want to fill my heart,” Mingi whispered before looking deep into your eyes for any hesitation, and when finding nothing but love and adoration, pressed his lips onto yours. 

Yunho watched the two loves of his life with the utmost love and fondness and then decided he, too, wanted a kiss from you. When you and Mingi pulled away for a breath of air, Yunho swept in and held the back of your head whilst he kissed you like you were all the oxygen in the world he was trying to breathe in. 

When he pulled away from you, you giggled – and the sight of your tussled hair, soft lips glistening and sparkling eyes sent waves of warmth and love through Mingi and Yunho.

“What do you say we skip whatever we each had planned today and just stay home? I think we could all do with some loving today huh?” You offered, hoping your boys would say yes.

Before you could even finish your sentence, your boys nodded their heads so fast you worried they would fall off. 

And so, that whole day went like this: you, Mingi, and Yunho spent all day intertwined on the couch watching rom-coms, with Mingi squished between the two of you. You reached over to kiss the small mole under Mingi’s eye and Yunho kissed the spot on his cheek whilst Mingi erupted in giggles that had your and Yunho’s hearts soaring. Hands enclosed in one anothers’, the three of you fell asleep, each vowing to never stray far from one another – not now and certainly not in any other lifetime.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Barbara Stanwyck (Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve, Double Indemnity)—I hope someone else has submitted better propaganda than I because I don't want my girl's prospects to rest on me just yelling PLEASE VOTE FOR MY TERRIBLE HOT GIRLFRIEND. She is a delight in everything! She is often a sexy jerk! (It's most of the plot of Baby Face!) Even when she plays a "good girl" (as an example, Christmas in Connecticut, which more people should see) she's still kind of a jerk and I love her for it! She won't take men's shit and she sure wouldn't take mine!

Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring, The Idiot)— "'The only time I saw Susan Sontag cry,' a writer once told me, his voice hushed, 'was at a screening of a Setsuko film.' What Setsuko had wasn’t glamour—she was just too sensible for that—it was glow, one that ebbed away and left you concerned, involved. You got the sense that this glow, like that of dawn, couldn’t be bought. But her smiles were human and held minute-long acts, ones with important intermissions. When she looked away, she absented herself; you felt that she’d dimmed a fire and clapped a lid on something about to spill. Over the last decade, whenever anyone brought up her lips—'Setsuko’s eternal smile,' critics said, that day we learned that she’d died—I thought instead of the thing she made us feel when she let it fall." - Moeko Fujii

This is round 4 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Setsuko Hara:

One of the best Japanese actresses of all time; a symbol of the golden era of Japanese cinema of the 1950s After seeing a Setsuko Hara film, the novelist Shūsaku Endō wrote: "We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: Can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?"

One of the greatest Japanese actresses of all time!! Best known for acting in many of Yasujiro Ozu's films of the 40s and 50s. Also she has a stunning smile and beautiful charm!

Linked gifset

Linked gifset 2

She's considered by some to be the greatest Japanese actress of all time! In Kurosawa's The Idiot she haunts the screen, and TOTALLY steals the show from Mifune every time she appears.

She's considered by some to be the greatest Japanese actress of all time! In Kurosawa's The Idiot she haunts the screen, and TOTALLY steals the show from Mifune every time she appears.

"No other actor has ever mastered the art of the smile to the same extent as Setsuko Hara (1920–2015), a celebrated star and highly regarded idol who was one of the outstanding actors of 40s and 50s Japanese cinema. Her radiant smile floods whole scenes and at times cautiously undermines the expectations made of her in coy, ironic fashion. Yet her smile's impressive range also encompasses its darker shades: Hara's delicate, dignified, melancholy smile with which she responds to disappointments, papers over the emotions churning under the surface, and flanks life's sobering realizations. Her smiles don't just function as a condensed version of her ever-precise, expressive, yet understated acting ability, they also allow the very essence of the films they appear in to shine through for a brief moment, often studies of the everyday, post-war dramas which revolve around the break-up of family structures or the failure of marriages. Her performances tread a fine line between social expectation and personal desire in post-war Japan, as Hara attempts to lay claim to the autonomy of the female characters she plays – frequently with a smile." [link]

Leading lady of classic Japanese cinema with a million dollar smile

Maybe the most iconic Japanese actress ever? She rose to fame making films with Yasujiro Ozu, becoming one of the most well-known and beloved actresses in Japan, working from the 30s through the 60s in over 100 hundred. She is still considered one of the greatest Japanese actresses ever, and in my opinion, just one of the greatest actresses of all time. And she was HOT! Satoshi Kon's film Millennium Actress was largely based on her life and her career.

Barbara Stanwyck:

"THE leading lady of the golden age of hollywood. One of the only actresses to work independent of a studio, making short-term contracts that enabled her to make movies wherever she wanted. She had so much range, and could act in basically any genre. She's been rumored to be a lesbian literally since she was active in Hollywood; most notable is the rumor that she had a long time on-and-off relationship with famously bi Joan Crawford, her "best friend" for decades (They lived right next door to one another). She also lived with Helen Ferguson, her "live-in publicist" for many years. She was the quintessential femme fatale in Double Indemnity, and really pushed sexual boundaries in her pre-code films like Baby Face, and the famous screwball The Lady Eve, where she plays basically a downlow domme. Allegedly, when a journalist asked her if she was a lesbian, she straight up threw him out of her house. She even played a lesbian in Walk on the Wild Side"

"THE queen of screwball comedies. I adore her, I'd kill for her, I will cry if she's not gonna win this poll."

"listen ok she had awful politics she was a mccarthyist right wing wacko BUT she's so incredibly hot that i've deluded myself into believing i could fix her. if you see her onscreen she carries herself in a way that's just so effortlessly sexy AND she has just a stunning face. imo she was at her hottest in the 1940s but even as early as the late 1920s she had a rly captivating screen presence and just a beautiful face, and then post-1950 she was just irresistibly milfy so really she was just always incredibly hot. she was also an incredibly talented actress who was equally stellar in melodrama, film noir, and unhinged screwball comedy. the blonde wig they made her wear in double indemnity is notoriously silly looking but she still looks sexy in it so that's gotta count for something. i've watched so many terrible movies just for a chance at seeing her that i think her estate should be paying me damages."

"Not often thought of for her sultriness, Barbara Stanwyck was incredible in that she could actually choose to be hot if the role called for it, and then have a glow-down to look ordinary for another role. She wasn't the most beautiful or effervescent, but damn did she have rizz. Watch her with Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire teaching him about "yum-yum" or with Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve whispering huskily into his ear."

"She is always the smartest woman in the room. Watching her play Henry Fonda like a befuddled fiddle in The Lady Eve was a highlight of my life. Femme fatale in Double Indemnity, comedy queen in Ball of Fire. She can do anything."

"She was part of my gay awakening"

"SHE'S A PRE-CODE QUEEN. She did everything, drama, comedy. The most beautiful woman in the world to watch weep. Beg for to step on you with those legs. Fun Babs story: Ginger Rogers was offered the role in Ball of Fire but said, “Oh, I would never play that part, she’s too common.” So they called Barbara Stanwyck and they said “We offered this to Ginger Rogers but she’s turned it down, would you be interested?” And she read the script and she said; “You bet! I LOVE playing common broads. [link]"

[perfectsunlight]

[10] FAMILY

warnings: mentions of absent parents, crying, lonliness

le sserafim’s success was unimaginable. with every passing day, their popularity grew, and the love from their fans seemed endless. the group often shared moments of joy and celebration, especially after significant achievements. usually it was going out to eat, and after one particular weekend, it was decided that their parents would join them.

it was after winning another award that the girls decided to just drag everyone to the nearest korean barbecue place. the room was filled with laughter and animated conversations as eunchae, sakura, chaewon, yunjin, and kazuha each celebrated with their parents. the atmosphere was warm and festive, with everyone savoring the delicious food and the joy of being together.

ivory’s hands busied themselves with arranging the side dishes and making sure everyone was getting a piece of everything. she moved from one end of the table to the other, refilling glasses and passing around bowls of kimchi and other banchan. of course, everyone helped, but she was determined to stay occupied, to keep herself from dwelling too much on the empty feeling inside.

the sound of laughter filled the room as eunchae’s father cracked a joke, making everyone around him burst into fits of giggles. sakura’s mother was busy telling a funny story from her childhood, and chaewon’s mother was sharing anecdotes from her own life. yunjin’s family was recounting their favorite memories of her performances, and kazuha’s parents were praising their daughter’s hard work and dedication.

cat-like eyes watched these interactions with a mixture of happiness and emptiness. she loved seeing her friends surrounded by love and support, but it also reminded her of what she was missing. 

the young girl wondered what it was like to have parents. was it like the movies, with warm hugs and words of encouragement? was it the way her friends’ parents looked at them, with pride and unconditional love? 

she could only ever imagine.

jane glanced around the room, her eyes briefly meeting those of eunchae, who gave her an encouraging smile. her best friend’s smile was genuine and warm, and it reminded ivory that she wasn’t entirely alone. 

eunchae was always like a sister to her, and that was the closest thing she’d ever had to a family. sure, she had her grandmother, but it wasn’t the same as having parents who were there for her every day. her grandmother loved her dearly, but the generational gap sometimes made it hard for them to fully understand each other. but at least she had someone, right? on top of that, her members were her family now, and they cared for her deeply.

however, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have her parents there, to share in the celebration of her successes. 

even though she wasn’t on good terms with her mother, she still wished jennie was there.

as the dinner went on, ivory found herself drifting further into her thoughts. the voices around her seemed to fade into the background, replaced by the echoes of her own memories and longings. she remembered the nights she spent alone, dreaming of a family that was whole and complete.

she couldn’t stop thinking about the times she had wished for someone to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay. it was something she’d hate to admit, especially out loud, but she missed her mother terribly.

ivory thought about the moments they did share, the rare times when jennie’s priorities would shift and she’d show a glimpse of the loving mother she could be. the idol wondered if her mother was proud of her. did she ever think about her achievements? did she ever watch any of her performances and feel a surge of pride?

then again, she wasn’t sure. the distance between them was more than just physical; it was emotional, complicated and filled with misunderstandings and missed opportunities.

in all 18 years of jane’s life, the relationship with her mother seemed to only worsen as she got older.

suddenly, she felt a gentle hand on her arm. she looked up to see yunjin standing beside her, concern etched on her face. “hey, are you okay?” the american asked softly. cat-like eyes shifted to the older girl and she forced a smile. “i’m okay, just a bit tired.”

eventually, everyone wrapped dinner up, and everyone made their way back to the dorms while their families went to their hotels. on the drive back to their dorm, all ivory could do was stare out the window, her thoughts a whirlwind of unresolved emotions. the city lights blurred past, and the warmth and joy of the dinner felt like a distant memory.

inside the car, the other members chatted and laughed, their voices creating a contrast with the silence that seemed to envelop the young girl. she forced a smile and engaged in the conversation, but her mind kept drifting back to her own familial situation.

but she couldn't shake the image of eunchae’s parents, the warmth of sakura’s family, or the pride in chaewon’s and yunjin’s parents' eyes. each memory was a sharp reminder of what she was missing.

the urge to reach out, even just to hear her mother’s voice, despite everything, was overpowering.

once they were back, jane slipped into the room she shared with eunchae, quietly closing the door behind her. her best friend was going to shower, leaving her alone for a few minutes.

she sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her phone, her finger hovering over the keypad. her emotions were a tangled mess, but she knew she needed to try. taking a deep breath, she dialed her mother’s number. 

even though she didn’t have jennie saved as a contact, she did have her mother’s number memorized.

the phone rang several times before the call was answered. jane’s heart pounded as she heard her mother’s voice on the other end, though it was faint and distant. 

“valentine?”

jane hesitated for a moment, feeling a lump in her throat at the sudden sound of her mother’s voice. quickly, trying to steady her voice, she responded.

“hi.”

a lot of commotion was heard on the other end of the line, the noise of what sounded like a busy environment. her mother’s voice was strained and apologetic.

“hey, the show is about to start. can i call you back later?” her mother said, her tone laced with genuine regret.

jane’s heart sank, all she wanted was just five minutes with jennie. but as usual, it seemed as if that was simply impossible. 

“i—”

her mother cut her off gently right before the sound of applause was heard over the other line. her voice hushed quickly, her voice sounding closer to the phone.

“i’m sorry, i really can’t talk right now. i’m in paris right now but i promise i’ll call you back as soon as i can.”

before ivory could protest further, the line went dead. she stared at her phone, feeling a familiar sting of disappointment. it wasn’t that her mother didn’t want to talk; she was simply overwhelmed with responsibilities. it was something she was used to, yet, the feeling of being set aside left jane feeling isolated and unimportant.

her shoulders began to shake as she tried to hold back the tears, but they came anyway, spilling down her cheeks uncontrollably. the sense of loneliness and sadness was overwhelming, especially during a time when she desperately wanted to have a conversation with her mother.

she sank onto her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and let herself cry for the first time in years.

the tears seemed to flow freely, each sob a release of the pent-up emotions she had been trying so hard to keep in check. all she ever wanted was her mother, and even at some points, her own father. yet, the reality was a void where familial support and love should have been. 

the sound of the door opening surprised her, quickly catching her off guard. she couldn’t hide her tears, even when she started wiping her eyes with her sleeves. 

“ivory?” chaewon called out, concern evident in her tone. jane had her back to the entrance, her throat tight from crying. she made no move to turn around, feeling a fresh wave of tears start to pool in her eyes. 

the vulnerability she felt was raw, and she didn’t want to face anyone just yet. 

especially not her leader.

the older girl’s footsteps were soft as she approached, her concern even more evident in her gentle tone. ivory was like a little sister to her, and at some points, she even saw the girl as a daughter figure.

“are you okay?”

ivory could barely manage a nod, her throat tight and her sobs stifled. she felt a hand on her shoulder, a gentle squeeze that almost sent her sobbing again.

“it’s okay to cry,” chaewon said quietly, sitting down beside her. “whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay to let it out.”

ivory’s shoulders shook as she tried to regain her composure, but her emotions seemed to have a life of their own. she completely broke down once the older girl pulled her into a hug. the warmth and comfort of chaewon’s embrace were both soothing and heartbreaking.

the leader’s heart ached at the sight of ivory breaking down. she let the girl cry for a while until chaewon finally pulled back slightly, her eyes full of concern. 

“what happened, sweetheart?”

ivory took a shuddering breath, struggling to find the words. she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. after she managed to settle down a little bit, she finally allowed herself to justs breathe for a bit. finally, her voice came out in a whisper, hoarse from all the crying, but still understandable. 

“i just miss my mom.”

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TAGLIST ⸺ ✶ @silantryoo @imahallucination11 @jisooftme @yerimbrit @linnnsworld @edeivveiss @urmom2314 @aespasoooool @mygfiswonyoung @yeetaberry127 @@sixflame438 @yourmyst4r @shegoswhoree @saysirhc @hwm1hyun @literallybipanic @yejiscene @gayforalll @yvsvrn @bunnywonyo @karifrogs @thefckghost @yoontoonwhs @pandafuriosa60 @somedaydream @hotluvlet @pagedpick7 @lizseos @cy8erpunkz @keiji-jin @lizseos @xszn @awkwardtoafault @hellokiraa @chicopichu @chocolatestrawberrykryptonite @lesbian4themis @literallybipanic

OPEN! COMMENT BELOW THE MASTERLIST TO BE ADDED

[donttxtathebeach]

HOLLYWOOD

Drew Starkey x Actress!reader

smau & Real Life

This series is a mix of angst, fluff, and feels, with a healthy dose of swoon-worthy moments that will have you rooting for Y/N and Drew 

Disclaimer: For how I wrote it, Jonathan Nolan is divorced; it will make sense. I promise I have a vision. 

BEHIND THE SCENES:

Y/N Nolan, 25-year-old actress and daughter of Jonathan NolanBritish-American screenwriter and film producer; she spent the last seven years dominating the horror genre, earning her the title of Hollywood’s “queen of horror.” But for the first time in her career, she steps outside her comfort zone to take on the role of Ani in Anora, a raw, emotionally charged drama that forces her to confront parts of herself she’s long buried. The role is transformative—but also terrifying. Drew Starkey, the 31-year-old actor whose kindness and calm demeanor started to shift Y/N’s world after their viral Actors on Actors interview. Their easy banter sparks rumors online, but their connection runs far deeper behind the scenes. Drew becomes Y/N’s rock as she navigates the intense emotional toll of her new role and the pressure of being Hollywood’s “it girl.” Follow their journey as Drew helps Y/N process the weight of her career and the vulnerabilities that come with it, even though she grew up in this industry. Whether it’s late-night talks at his apartment, quiet moments of comfort after emotional breakdowns, or the steady way he supports her without ever pushing her boundaries, Drew becomes the safe space Y/N didn’t know she needed. From friends to lovers. The media is obsessed with their every move, and fans are shipping them left and right, but Y/N and Drew are just taking things slow—learning how to lean on each other in a world that’s constantly watching. From private movie screenings to heartfelt confessions, Hollywood explores the beauty of falling in love when life feels overwhelming and finding someone who reminds you of who you are underneath it all.

MEET & GREET

Y/N NOLAN

( FC for smau's Mikey Madison & occasional Mia Goth)

Y/N grew up in the picturesque town of Nantucket, a world away from Hollywood’s glitz yet tethered to it through her father, the visionary director of Interstellar. Her childhood was shaped by both beauty and heartbreak; at the tender age of five, her mother left, leaving her father to raise her alone. A devoted parent, he stepped back from directing to focus on being there for her, driving her to ballet classes and movie sets, ensuring she felt supported in every aspect of her young life. The industry was always a part of Y/N’s world. By the time she turned 13, her father resumed his directing career, and she was old enough to understand the passion and dedication that filmmaking required. It wasn’t long before she began forging her own path in the industry, debuting with her first role in the haunting A24 horror film The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017). Her chilling performance captured attention, but it was her work in X and its prequel, Pearl, that earned her the title of “queen of horror.” Her ability to balance vulnerability, terror, and raw humanity in each role made her a standout talent in the genre. The momentum didn’t stop there. Y/N starred in Infinity Pool, a surreal and provocative exploration of morality and identity, followed by the highly anticipated Maxxxine, the final chapter in Ti West’s celebrated trilogy. Each film reinforced her reputation as a fearless actress who thrived in the dark, twisted corners of storytelling. Though she’s now recognized as Hollywood’s “it girl,” Y/N has stayed true to her roots, continuing to reside in Nantucket. The serene coastal town provides her a haven away from the chaos of her rising stardom. Her lifelong best friend, Elle Fanning, has been by her side through it all. The two met as children on the set of a movie her father was directing—Elle was five, Y/N was four—and have been inseparable ever since. Their friendship has been a constant source of strength and joy, with Elle always cheering Y/N on as she conquers new challenges in her career. Now 25, Y/N is taking on her most emotionally demanding role yet in Anora, stepping out of the horror genre to prove her versatility as an actress. As she navigates her meteoric rise, she’s also building a budding romance with actor Drew Starkey, whose quiet, grounding presence has become an unexpected anchor in her life. Through it all, Y/N remains a beacon of humility and resilience, embracing every challenge and triumph with the grace of someone who knows where they come from—and where they’re headed.

DREW STARKEY

Drew Starkey, a Southern charmer from North Carolina, grew up far removed from the Hollywood spotlight. Raised in a close-knit family, Drew’s upbringing was humble and grounded, with strong values instilled by his parents. Though he initially pursued a more traditional path, attending college with the idea of pursuing business or law, his love for storytelling eventually won out, and he began acting in local theater productions. Drew’s big break came in 2018 when he landed the role of Rafe Cameron in Netflix’s Outer Banks. His portrayal of the deeply flawed, troubled character earned him critical acclaim and put him on the map as a versatile actor who could bring layers of complexity to even the most unlikable characters. With his piercing blue eyes and natural charisma, Drew quickly became a fan favorite and a rising star in the industry. Drew has consistently sought out roles that challenge him as an actor. From independent films to supporting roles in major projects, he has steadily built a career defined by thoughtful choices and quiet intensity. Despite his success, Drew has managed to stay grounded, attributing his level-headedness to the support of his family and his love for the outdoors, which he often retreats to whenever he needs a break from Hollywood. At 31, Drew is entering a new chapter in his career and personal life. His professional chemistry with Y/N began during their Actors on Actors interview for Variety, where the pair immediately connected over their shared passion for storytelling and mutual respect for each other’s work. What started as lighthearted banter soon turned into something deeper. Drew’s admiration for Y/N goes far beyond her professional accolades. He’s drawn to her down-to-earth nature and the way she values her roots, a quality that resonates with his own upbringing. While their relationship is still in its early stages, Drew’s actions speak volumes—whether it’s rearranging his schedule to support her at events or organizing thoughtful gestures to celebrate her achievements, his affection for her is clear. As Drew continues to evolve as an actor and a person, his partnership with Y/N feels like a natural extension of his journey. For Drew, being with Y/N isn’t just about finding love—it’s about finding someone who sees him for who he truly is.

ELLE FANNING

Background on Elle Fanning for Hollywood

Elle Fanning, a true Hollywood prodigy, was practically born into the industry. As the younger sister of Dakota Fanning, she began acting at the tender age of two, often playing younger versions of her sister’s characters. But Elle quickly proved herself as a star in her own right, earning critical acclaim for her breakout performance in Somewhere (2010), directed by Sofia Coppola. From there, she cemented her place as one of Hollywood’s most talented and versatile actresses, seamlessly transitioning from child star to leading lady. While her career blossomed, Elle also cultivated a deep and enduring friendship with Y/N. The two met as children on the set of a movie directed by Y/N’s father when Elle was five and Y/N was four. Despite their young age, their connection was immediate and unwavering. Growing up together in the often isolating world of Hollywood, they became each other’s anchor, navigating the pressures of fame, auditions, and red carpets side by side. Now in her late 20s, Elle has developed a reputation as one of the industry’s most beloved stars, known for her grace, warmth, and transformative performances in films like The Great, The Neon Demon, and Maleficent. Despite her successes, she has always prioritized her friendship with Y/N, often describing her as her “chosen sister.” Elle’s role in Hollywood reflects her steadfast support for Y/N during a pivotal time in her career. Whether it’s cheering her on at premieres, hyping her up on social media, or simply being a comforting presence during moments of doubt, Elle is the epitome of a loyal best friend. Their bond goes far beyond the glitz and glamour of the industry. From spontaneous trips to Nantucket, where Y/N still reside, to quiet nights reminiscing about their childhood adventures, Elle and Y/N share a connection that is both rare and enduring. For Elle, supporting Y/N isn’t just about friendship—it’s about celebrating the person who has been by her side through every triumph and trial, proving that true sisterhood knows no bounds.

ABBIE’S CORNER

welcome to Hollywood, I honestly have had this storyline written in my notes since Anora came out, so I'm excited for it! was having such a big writers block for my Rafe story, because although I love Rafe, I love writing for Drew a lot more!

[ririsasy]

"I don't think I've ever done a job where I can connect with someone else on a level as deep as this. To get the best possible performance, you have to create a chemistry with the other actors." - Nicholas Galitzine about working with Taylor.

I love it when actors really are bonding with each other in emotional level. I mean this wasn’t Nick first job. I checked that he is been active since 2011 in the business? So this’s like his twelfth years in the showbizz and for him to say that this is his first time to be able to connect to someone as deep as this? It’s huge compliment about how compatible he’s with Taylor in term of acting partner.

Also chemistry is not something you can force? Otherwise other actors who read for Alex’s part would hit it off with him right away because they must also be talented actors so they would know how to act and to pretend that they have chemistry? But that’s the thing with human emotions, we could say whatever we want that chemistry could be created ? Or be faked? Just because they are actors but the reality is.. that’s not how it is..only something that’s mean to be that would work out at the end.

I don’t know what I want to actually convey in this essay lmao but it’s just so fascinating to me to see how delightful and enticing and so full of spark their chemistry on screen was as Alex and Henry like we all could believe that they fancy each other, that they are truly attracted to each other.

Reading interviews , watching some clips that we have of their interactions together. It convinced me that they really enjoy each other company. How caring they are of the other well being, they want to make each other comfortable like taking mint before the kissing scene? That’s so thoughtful of them both. They respect each other and support each other to carry on these characters and that’s commendable. That’s why watching them banter as alex and henry make us want to see more of their interactions, because humans connection is beautiful and when it’s organic and real and just full on positivity? We are bonded to crave it for more.

Their connection also was commented by others because they also witness the magic, like what Casey said about them but one I love the most was what Matthew said about their dynamic.

"They would start riffing and ad-libbing with each other. They both were able to really keep up with one another," López says. "They speak very different versions of the same language — a language only the two of them possessed together."

Such a beautiful thing to say about their relationship? “Speak different versions of the same language.” That’s one way to put it. They’re so polar opposite. In term of physicalities and even their upbringing and their goals in life and how they approach their dream but when they’re together it makes a harmonious balance that’s so pleasing to the eyes.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about the way Taylor as Alex looking at Nick as Henry and vice versa. The way their hands clasped together, their entire body language, the choreographed movements that look like a beautiful dance they learned so well with each other, one holding the waist, another caressing the hair, the smile before the kiss, the lingering on the lips. It keeps me up all night that sometimes such rare moment exist and we are lucky enough to witness it in a form of comfort movie that we could watch again and again.

And for that alone, for all the circumstances that make this possible, I feel emotional that I could be a part of this to feel the impact.

Truth be told I didn’t even plan to watch this movie the first time it came out because the trailer looks quite cheesy for my taste, I wasn’t in the mood of something not serious. But then prime uploaded the bloopers just few days ago, only after I watched the bloopers and see how they are so comfortable with each other, how much fun and laughter they have on set, I love me some genuine connection between two humans being the most. I will be there to see two people doing something that they love and bringing joy as well to others in the process.

I mean I have watched this movie for so many times now and watch so many reaction on YouTube as well and most of them agree that the chemistry between taylor and nick is top notch lol even at one point there’s someone who said like are the actors dating or married now in real life to each other because they should 😂 or there’s a reaction from a straight man who legit so emotional and he was so invested. Really fun to see that RWRB could be so relatable and be a fun piece of media to enjoy by all backgrounds of people regardless their preference. This movie have so much more positive reviews than negative reviews seriously it succeeded in bringing the happy comforting feeling with a pinch of roller coaster emotion while watching it, they really achieved the fundamental meaning of a movie which is first and foremost to entertain!

So, What I really want to say with all of this rambling is that I really really love the movie and it exceeded all my expectations and doubts, the trailer doesn’t really do this movie justice because it has so much more heart and hotness in them lol and I ADORE Nick and Taylor portrayal of Henry and Alex TO THE BONE and I am wishing so hard we could have a second movie for this because why waste the magic? It’s rare and it’s difficult to make ALL OF this possible. Someone need to cherish the bond and cultivate it more. 1, 2 more movies would be more than welcome 🙏 PLEASE JOIN THE PRAYER CIRCLE 🥹

[collapsedglasshouses]

TANGLED THREADS [Noah Sebastian x fem!reader, Nick Ruffilo x fem!reader]

COLLEGE!AU

CHAPTER ONE: STRIKING A CHORD SUMMARY: There is something about you, Noah can't really bring himself to process. No matter what he does, everything comes back to you. Unfortunately, he knows that Nick feels the exact same way. PAIRING: Noah Sebastian x fem!Reader; mentions of Nick Ruffilo x fem!Reader WARNINGS: SMUT, MDNI, 18+ [unprotected p in v, degradation, rough sex ig, …], no mentions of reader’s name, angst, noah is toxic and delusional and also a utterly big simp, reader is toxic, toxic dynamics, mentions of noah thinking about nick during intercourse kind of?, swearing, its not completely proofread … WORD COUNT: 3.8K A/N: Hello, hello! A little note at the beginning. I got inspired while watching Challengers for the hundredth time in like… four weeks. This is inspired by a scene in the movie. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I’m planning on writing two more parts. For those, who miss Nicky in this one, chapter 2 will be for you!

Noah Sebastian liked to think of himself as a patient guy. He was nice. People said he was understanding and empathetic. It was something he was known for on campus. It was no secret that a lot of people on campus, especially some guys he had encountered, were total douchebags. But he was not one of them. He was known as “the sweet guy that likes to sing and play the guitar”. At least, according to most people who he had met.

That being said, he really couldn’t wrap his mind around why you were frustrating him so deeply he wanted to collapse to the ground and seize to exist.

It’s been a while since he and his best friend, Nick, had met you for the very first time at this talent show at the bar down the street. The two boys weren’t new to these shows. They were frequent contestants and had already won a fair share of these events. Noah wasn’t in college to seek a particular profession; he was there because his family wanted him to. Meanwhile Nick just enjoyed living in the moment. He didn’t really have a plan for the future, so when his best friend proposed his idea of becoming musicians, he simply agreed. Since then, nothing was more important to the two boys then their music project, with which they desperately wanted to break through.

At least it was until they met you. To say Noah had been through hell and back since the moment you stepped on that stage at that particular night, was a drastic understatement.

He still vividly remembered watching you as you smiled shyly, your guitar hanging from your neck like it was a statement piece. He remembered the almost physical reaction he had to you. The crowd was cheering nearly as loud as they did for him and Nick when they had stepped on stage just an hour prior. There even were people that made signs for you in support.

It was so obvious you were a favourite and when you started your performance, Noah felt like he was going into cardiac arrest. Your voice was angelic and the way your fingers glided over the strings of your guitar made his knees weak. He could tell that Nick was thinking the exact same thing. If the way he swallowed so hard wasn’t hint enough, it definitely was how his breath slightly caught in his throat when you started to engage with the crowd just a little more.

"Goddamn..." Nick had muttered under his breath. Noah could distantly see Nick’s hand clench on top of his thigh when you smiled into the crowd.

Nick and Noah didn’t even realize they were openly gawking at you and if they had noticed they probably would have been embarrassed. Still, it felt like everything they did was justified. You were creating magic on that stage and everyone in that room knew it.

Normally, Noah would have been disappointed over losing a contest, considering him and Nick where trying to get more people into their music they were slowly developing, but when it was announced that you had gotten the award, it felt like all his sorrows simply vanished.

“You know… If you get her on our project… I’ll gladly play the bass.” Nick let out in an almost stuttering breath as both of them stared at the stage where you were thanking everyone.

A couple of weeks, more like months, had past since that night. What Noah really didn’t expect was the fact that he was currently sitting with you at a lunch table, while you were complaining about a literature assignment you still had to finish. In all honesty, Noah wasn’t really listening to you, too busy trying his best not to glare too obviously at the Limp Bizkit hoodie you were wearing. It was extremely obvious who this piece of clothing belonged to, and Noah was internally fuming because of it. It was Nick’s. The hoodie string had a slightly different color than the rest of it. Noah remembered when Nick had changed the string after losing the original one.

You must have kept it the last time you saw Nick. The bold letters on the front seemed to almost mock Noah. He was biting the inside of his cheek while you rambled on and slammed his can of coke down on the table with a little more force than he intended. You hadn’t noticed. Or at least, you ignored it.

Noah didn’t really know what exactly was going on between Nick and you, but he tried his utter best to be okay with it. At least he did in the beginning. After all, Nick had been his best friend since Noah was twelve. Noah should have been stoked about the fact that you were into Nick just as much as he was into you. It was so clearly obvious it was the case when the two of them had walked up to you to congratulate you on winning at that talent show weeks ago.

It wasn’t like Nick was a player or something, but Noah almost crumbled into a million pieces when he realized you were playing into Nick’s desperate attempts to get into your pants. You weren’t averting your eyes shyly or blushing when he blatantly checked you out, you were throwing back smart comebacks to his lines. You were looking up at him through your lashes, blinking at Nick as if you were innocence itself and Noah felt like something inside him had died on the spot.

It would have been absolutely shattering and soul-crushing for Noah if he wasn’t such a good friend. He simply stifled this feeling that could have only been described as jealousy and plastered the best smile on his face as he watched Nick and you shamelessly flirt with each other.

It wasn’t like it was anyone’s fault. Nick and he really hadn’t had the chance to talk about who could try and score with you prior to that evening. If anything, it was fair game, and Noah simply didn’t take the chance out of kindness and loyalty to his best friend.

The night had lasted long enough for you and Noah to connect as well, but differently. You were chatting about college and what courses you were going to attend after the break, realizing you had a lot of things together. You were smiling so sweetly at him over your glass. Still, it had stung seeing you laugh at Nick’s joke with slightly too much enthusiasm while sharing a cigarette with Noah, but there was absolutely nothing he would or could do about it.

You had chosen Nick, and it had nothing to do with Noah. At least, that was what he was trying to convince himself of.

But the longer he spent time with you while Nick wasn’t around, the angrier he got every time Nick would tag along and steal away all your attention. First, he thought it was absolutely stupid and childish of him to feel that way but as time passed, it became this gnawing, not ignorable, almost consuming rage that twisted his guts every single time he saw you with Nick.

“You know, Nick invited me to the movies this weekend. He asked if you and Chrissy would like to join.” You mumbled as you took another bite from your lunch.

Chrissy, right. She was a girl he had met in that particular literature class you were just complaining about. They had hooked up a couple of times, but Noah just couldn’t focus on her. They had decided to be friends, but honestly it was just awkward for Noah to hang out with her now.

Noah involuntarily huffed at your statement as he took a bite as well. “Yeah. Sounds fun.”

That was when you caught onto him.

When he looked at you under his lashes, you were already looking at him. “You know… you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Noah’s eyebrows flinched upwards, like he was caught. “No… No, no. It’s fine… Really. I’ll be there.”

You slowly nodded, still watching him with a hint of skepticism. “Are you sure, you’re alright? You’ve been acting strange.”

“Yeah.” He blurted out too quickly, but you seemed like you didn’t want to push it.

Nothing felt right, and Noah knew it would have been a way smarter decision to just keep his mouth shut, but his words had outrun his thoughts. “I just-…”

You were watching him again, encouraging him to continue with a slight nod. Noah fiddled with his food, searching for the right words.

“I’m just surprised you two are still… you know… together, I guess.” He muttered under his breath. His more rational self would’ve punched him for that, but the anger simmering inside of him took the wheel.

“Excuse me?” You exclaimed, caught completely off guard, your tone sharp with disbelief.

Noah just sighed and set down his fork. “Nick… He’s always had a hard time… committing.”

One of your eyebrows shot up as you studied him. His tone was calm, even sweet, but the accusation behind his words hit like slap. Guilt twisted in Noah’s stomach almost immediately after the words left his mouth, but this time he swore to himself he wouldn’t retreat. He held your gaze. He wasn’t lying - Nick really did have a track record of avoiding any kind of commitment. Yet deep down, Noah knew the truth. He and Nick weren’t close enough at the moment for him to know if Nick was even seeing anyone else.

You didn’t respond right away, your eyes scanning his face like you were trying to decode him. Noah forced himself to maintain eye contact.

“Are you really shit talking your best friend right now?” You said at last, leaning back in your chair. The casualness in your tone unsettled Noah, and it showed in the subtle clench of his jaw.

“I am not.” He insisted, his voice tingled with frustration. “I just know him a lot better than you do and I am trying to spare you the heartache.”

“Sounds a lot like you are shit talking to me.” Your tone hardened, disbelief mingling with irritation. “And who even says you know what the hell is best for me?”

“You know I didn’t mean it that way.” Noah answered you, his tone matching yours. “He just doesn’t have feelings for you!”

You scoffed, your face twisting in anger. “Why the fuck do you even care?”

“I am just saying.” Noah exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest defensively. “He hinted at it.”

That was a lie. A blatant, baseless lie. Nick hadn’t said anything of the sort. In fact, Nick hardly ever talked about you unless you were present. And when Noah thought about it, he wasn’t sure why he’d even lie. Maybe it was the anger clouding his judgement, or maybe it was something he wasn’t quite ready to admit to himself.

“Did it ever occur to you that I do not care?” You snarled at him, leaning forward now, voice rising.

At this point, a few people at nearby tables began to quiet down, their curiosity getting the better of them as they tried to eavesdrop. Noah stayed silent, the weight of your words sinking in—but not quite hitting home.

“I just wanted to tell you that.” He said weakly, fumbling to defend himself. God, you were infuriating. Of course, you would defend Nick.

“Yeah, but I wanna know why you care?” You asked again, your jaw tightened. You already knew why he cared but you wanted him to say it. You leaned closer to him over the table and spoke quietly. “Does it bug you so much that I fuck your best friend?”

Noah clenched his fists, jaw flexing in anger. He’s never seen you this mad before and he especially never expected to be the cause of it.

His eyes narrowed as he held your gaze, leaning closer to you. “You don’t get it, do you?” He muttered through his teeth.

“I think you don’t get it, Noah.” You bite out as Noah was starting to smell the familiar scent of your perfume. In other cases, it would have consumed him, but right now he couldn’t back down. “Who said I want Nick to be in love with me? Who the fuck said I give even the slightest fuck about any of that shit?”

Noah scoffed at your desperate attempt to come off as nonchalant. He stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “Oh, please, sweetheart.” He shifted even closer to you. You could feel his breath on your face. “The way you act like a lost puppy around him tells me you care deeply about that.”

You blinked at him for a second, taken aback by his rude tone. You knew in some way he was right, but the fact that he called you out so blatantly made your blood boil.

Noah on the other hand thrived. The look of rage and intensity in your eyes was what Noah searched for, for months at this point.

“You know what.” You muttered, Noah didn’t miss how your eyes travelled to his lips for a second. “Fuck you. You are literally the worst fucking friend in the world.”

With that you stood up from your chair, gathering your stuff and leaving the cafeteria, leaving Noah with nothing but his thoughts.

Maybe he was a bad friend. Noah could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. A weird mix of emotions running through his veins. There was embarrassment, jealousy, anger, hatred and lust. The way you were looking at him, anger burning in your eyes, shot straight to part of his body he didn’t want to admit it did. His heartbeat echoed in his ears.

Noah was in misery for the rest of the day. He had decided to skip his classes after lunch, simply hiding inside his dorm. He stared at the ceiling as your fight replayed in his head. In some way he felt good about finally letting out his thoughts. But with that came the resentment. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had lied. He had lied about his best friend, just because he was so desperate to get close to you.

He thought about texting Nick, but eventually gave up after numerous attempts to find the right words about what had happened without telling him he was a fucking liar.

The sun had already set when he made the decision that he had to forget you. He needed to focus on his dream of becoming a serious musician. He couldn’t waste his time on something so simple than this feeling he had about you. It didn’t matter how pretty you were. It didn’t matter how he felt a particular part of his body move when you simply leaned over the table to look at him through your gorgeous lashes. He needed to forget you.

That was what he had decided before his phone reminded him of reality.

Come over.

Noah had never moved that fast in his entire life, rushing out of his room, with only his phone and the keys. He made it to your dorm in such a short time that he nearly sprinted over campus. He needed to catch his breath when he reached the corridor where your room was at. All his resolutions had vanished into thin air when he came to a hold in front of your door.

He hesitated for a second, staring at the door, his mind racing. Should he apologize? What would you want to say? Were you still mad at him? God, he hoped you weren’t mad anymore.

He bit down on his lip as he quietly knocked on your door. Barely a second passed before it opened.

He didn’t have the time to process what was happening, as you gripped the front of his shirt and dragged him inside. Noah’s back hit the now closed door with a thud, his breath caught in his throat in surprise. He tried to save the jacket that hung on the door from falling to the ground, but your grip on his shoulders, didn’t make it possible for him to do so.

When he allowed himself to look at you, he noticed you looked different. Your eyes were puffy and red. Your breath came out in short burst as you stared him down. All the emotions he had just sworn to bury rushed back at him when he stared into your soul.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice a mix of confusion and worry. His hands came to a rest on your hips, hesitatingly, not sure if he should touch you.

He noticed you were still wearing Nick’s hoodie.

Noah was close to opening his mouth again, when you suddenly yanked him forward, closing the distance between the two of you as your lips crashed against Noah’s. It was so sudden, Noah stumbled a couple of steps towards you, almost causing you to lose balance.

He felt pathetic for how easily he kissed you back, not even giving a single thought of hesitation to it. His mind shot to Nick, only causing him to draw you closer to him. He surely owned himself the award for being the worst friend in the world, but all his common sense left his mind, when you pushed your tongue into his mouth.

It was rough how your lips clashed together. It almost felt violent. All the aggression and frustration from earlier filling the room between you two. It was not how he had imagined your first kiss to go, but he wouldn’t do shit to end whatever was going on.

He almost whined when your hands slipped under his shirt, your cool fingertips spreading goose bumps all over his body.

“It’s over with Nick.” You breathe hotly, before roughly kissing down his jaw. Noah was in such a haze that he almost didn’t get your words. “You need to fuck me, Noah.”

Holy fucking shit.

Noah felt like he had never been this hard in his entire life. But still, his common sense came back to him in the worst fucking moment.

He softly pushed you away to get a couple of inches between the two of you. His mouth opened, but no words came out, his mind still processing what was happening.

“What?” You harshly barked at him, running a hand through your messy hair.

“I-…” Noah began. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to-…”

“Oh, suddenly you wanna act like you weren’t trying to get in my pants for the last couple of weeks?” You mocked him, your voice riddled with a mix of hurt, frustration and lust.

Something snapped in Noah. It felt like you had slapped him across the face with your words. For a second, he freezed in disbelief, before you were suddenly pushed against the door.

“Are you serious right now?” He spit in your face. “You mock me. Insult me. Tease me endlessly and then proceed to tell me how you fuck my best friend, and you are trying to tell me that I’m the one who wants to be fucked. Are you out of your goddamn pathetic mind?”

“What’s stopping you, Noah?” You snarled at him, but when his eyes darkened, you knew you made a mistake.

The next thing you knew was how your face pressed into your mattress, while Noah grabbed your waist harshly. He leaned over you, his hard member pressing onto your ass. “I’ll make you regret choosing him over me.”

Noah didn’t miss the red mark on your neck. He knew exactly who had left it there, but the thought about Nick just made his dick twitch once more. He quickly leaned down and sucked at the sensitive skin of your neck right next to where Nick had left his mark. After that, he stripped you out of your jeans with a swift motion, before getting rid of his shirt.

You flinched when he touched your clothed pussy, trying to contain yourself. “So… are you all talk or are you gonna fuck me?”

Noah grabbed your hips roughly. “You can bitch like you want. I haven’t even touched you and you’re already so fucking wet for me.”

Still leaned over you, he dragged his tongue along the shell of your ear. You let out a moan, pressing your ass against him. Careful but firm, he stopped your movement before shifting his weight on his knees again. “You’re so pretty.” He whispered so quietly; he wasn’t sure if you caught on to his words.

While keeping one hand on you, the other one fumbled with the waistband of his pants. It took him less than a second until his dick sprung free. You squirmed impatiently, when you felt his precum leak onto your ass.

“You’re one to talk about being needy-…” You wanted to mock him, but he interrupted you within a heartbeat. “Shut up.”

Noah involuntarily groaned loudly, when his hips jerked against your ass. A shiver went through his body, eyes screwing shut as he tried not to cum all over your ass. “Shit, shit, shit…” He breathed out sharply. You simply giggled.

His fingers hooked under the waistband of your panties and forcefully, he yanked them down to your mid-thigh. You breathed hotly in surprise, hands gripping the sheets of your bed tighter.

With a swift motion, he flipped you in your back, before leaning close to your face. He needed to see you.

“Please.” You whined, your hands gripping his tattooed arms desperately, while his gaze ran over Nick's hoodie that you were still wearing.

Noah took his dick into his hand and dragged it through the silky skin of your folds. When he rubbed over your clit, your hips jerked upwards involuntarily. You whined, slightly shaking at the sensation as he dragged his dick to your hole, lining up and slowly sinking inside with a heated groan.

“Shit.” You cried out, immediately wrapping your legs around his hips.

As he bottomed out, he grabbed your face, forcing you to look at him. “I’ve fucking had it with you. Look at you. Pathetically craving for my dick. You fucking slut.” He snarled at you with a thrust of his hips. “The least you can do is take it like a good girl.”

“Fuck you, Noah.” You cursed him out, your voice not more than a breath. You saw how Noah smiled at you, feeling how you clenched around him at his words, before leaning down, pressing his lips to yours as he slowly began to move.

His lips drowned out your sweet noises and he couldn’t help but feel like he belonged right where he was. He sped up, desperately trying to stay quiet. But god, you felt so good.

“Noah.” You moaned, scratching your nails down his back. “Don’t stop… fuck… Please, I-…”

He cut you off with another kiss, whining at the way his name sounded out of your mouth.

“God, I’m gonna cum.” He whined as his hips smashed into you. “I need to feel you cum around me.”

He felt how your legs tightened around him as a small pain shot through your core from the roughness of your actions.

“I’m-…” You stuttered out. “I’m on the pill. Cum inside me.” You pushed your ankles into him, not even giving him the chance to pull out. Not like he wanted to.

“Fuck!” Noah shouted out, his hips starting to stutter as he slowly started to spill inside of you. You felt his hot cum on the walls of your pussy as you breathed out his name. He didn’t stop, fucking you through your orgasm, until he collapsed on top of you, not being able to continue.

It was quiet after that. A silent agreement that he would stay the night, as he slowly pulled out of you, rolling on his back next to you.

As you curled up in his arms, he couldn’t help but feel the pride in his chest. It was everything he ever wanted. You were in his arms, with his cum inside of you, for once not talking about his best friend. While you fell asleep almost immediately, his mind was still racing. He was disturbed in his thought process when he saw his phone lighting up. When he looked at it after some time, he saw messages. Several messages. All from Nick.

He decided to ignore them...

dividers by @saradika-graphics

TAGLIST: @measuredingold @cncohshit @circle-with-me @jilliemiw86 @justeli6 @sitkowski @exitwoundsx

[onyourhyuck]

Heart 2 Heart. | L.DH

— Prologue: “I don’t think i can handle you being so far away this time.”

— Summary: Your boyfriend has a heart to heart moment with you again, because he’s going on a worldwide tour.

— Genre: Wholesome. Slightly angsty. Suggestive (hints). Domesticboyfriend!haechan. This will make you cry and emotional.

— Notes: p.s Cried writing this.

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Your boyfriend was your best friend. You couldn’t imagine what your life would be like without Donghyuck and frankly you don’t wish to imagine it. It would most likely be a dull, very boring and difficult life for you. He made every core memory possible and special.

Even though he was occupied almost everyday he still makes time for you, his lovely girlfriend. The one he comes home to. The one he can relax and not put up a persona with like he does to thousands and thousands of people watching him entertain them.

He doesn’t need to do anything flashy or anything to impress you because he knows you understand that sometimes he wants to chill and take a relaxing break with you laying in. Who doesn’t love a good night in with your favourite movies, for Donghyuck it would be the Kissing Booth, for you it’s probably Nine Tails starring Dongwook.

You both fit each other just right. Balance each other in a way as if you guys were scales. You both need each other to become harmonious together but what happens when one day your boyfriend comes home with the intention to tell you he’s leaving.

Again, he’s leaving.

Lately your boyfriend’s group has been travelling a lot. It started with Japan performances which you were so happy for and he could come back after two or three days performing in that country. But now it’s extending to regions beyond your time zone.

You couldn’t help but ponder so many thoughts. You can’t imagine your day without him and even though phones exist, you could text and what not, it simply wasn’t enough for you.

He sat down in front of you facing you with stern eyes and you nervously trail. “What’s this?” You try to lighten the mood up.

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything until you took large guesses. “Wait don’t tell me…” you point your eyes at his hands in his pockets suspiciously you watch them. “You are proposing to me?” You gape and Donghyuck’s eyes widen.

“Yah, Y/n don’t you think marriage is a bit too soon for us?” He said to you couldn’t believe your first assumption was marriage.

You look away pouting a little. “It was worth a guess. Anyways what’s the big news?”

“I’m going on a tour again.”

The time stopped around you and suddenly he could see your throat tense up. Your mouth fell into a thin line voiding away from saying anything. Don’t get yourself wrong you are happy for Donghyuck, you’re thrilled but you couldn’t help but think this might strain your relationship with him. You don’t want to lose him but you don’t want him to lose his job so you do your best to support him from the shadows, watching every performance and cheering them all to success. But your boyfriend can see right through your heart broken eyes. He can see that you’re half disappointed and half happy for him.

You look down at your hands seeing your fingers chip on your fingertips fiddling with them to distract yourself from the grave news.

“I’m happy for you hyuck. Where are you going now?” You change the subject quickly, asking him where and what the destination was. But a deep part of you was scared to know where he is flying to now.

His voice came out soft and so distant when he was talking about the tour to you. “America. We will be touring twenty states there.” Your eyes fell out your sockets or it rather felt like it, goddam twenty states and you were trying to put it into the calendar. It would take a whole month and a half probably.

He saw your expression go from hidden to completely transparent as you were crying suddenly and he stood there frozen like a statue when tears ran down your cheeks.

You blame your separation anxiety but you also blame your stupid feelings getting in the way of you being able to support your boyfriend. You didn’t want him to see you like this, you’re afraid it might ruin the tour for him and all the excitement in his body. You could see how happy he was, but you weren’t matching the energy and it was difficult to tell.

“Hey Y/n… come here… let’s have a Heart to Heart talk. I knew you’d get like this you didn’t have to hide your feelings. Come let’s talk.” Donghyuck softly encourages you to stand up when he holds your hand pulling you on his lap where you curl enough to have your chess on his chest sobbing.

He cradled you in his arms like you were a cat snuggling closer for warm hugs but you were bawling and he coos at you, treating you like you were a soft porcelain doll that could break from the slightest things he could say.

He kisses your head multiple times, which left your heart feeling numb and beating so quickly. He was being soft with you, somehow you feel like Donghyuck was sympathising with you and how you are feeling in this potential position he was putting you in constant. Sure, he could never feel how you truly feel but he can understand why you feel this way and he doesn’t hold it against you.

“Twenty states… Donghyuck that’s the furthest you’ve been away from me…” your voice breaks speaking more and he looks at you.

Donghyuck stares at you quietly when putting his finger on your red soft wide lips staring down at them. “I know Y/n… it’s not easy for you. I can understand that but why don’t you try for me here… I know you can be able to do it. You’re the strongest person by my side.” He rubs your stained cheeks with your tears and you felt his sincere, the most sincere words from his mouth become true.

“I don’t think i can handle you being so far away this time.” You said feeling scared what could happen if he was in such a foreign place you don’t know anything about.

He smiles and you sat up on his lap straddling his legs and going to give him a warm long lasting hug where your red nose from crying hard sniffles. He rubs the back of your head, listening to your beating heart beat that’s probably thumping so much from how you were overthinking this whole situation. He doesn’t blame you, but Donghyuck doesn’t like seeing you cry, at least not like this.

“I promise that when I’m away you will always be on my mind. You always are. Without a question, and me being in America won’t change that.”

You could feel the heat coming from his mouth speaking down your neck. He kisses your cheeks pulling apart to look you in your eyes and you felt your lips fall apart as he smiles at you.

“Understand, Y/n?” He says wiping your bangs away from your face, keeping all the hair out of your beauty that could block it.

You look down biting your lip. “Yeah… I do. Im happy for you. I really am Hyuck. You have no idea how proud I am to be your girlfriend and someone to see you become something big you’ve always wanted to be when you were little.”

“But when I say I want to build a house with you, using the same fence as yours, I really mean it.” You croak out rubbing your eyes again as they start to tear you apart once more. He could finally see your true feelings that maybe, you felt slightly uncomfortable being this far away from your home.

Your home, Lee Donghyuck.

He bites his bottom lip, pressing his forehead in your shoulders covering his face as he clenched his jawline. He felt his own eyes water but somehow he was trying not to touch your emotions too much. He shouldn’t cry because he wants to comfort you. But he failed and the minute you heard him softly escape a cry out you wrapped your arms round him comforting your boyfriend’s heart.

You didn’t say anything but listen to your cries out loud as a way to cope with your emotions but somehow you both felt relieved. You cried it out together, you helped each other out together, you never backed away, or shy away from each others emotions you faced them head on.

It’s something you found to love in your relationship with Donghyuck. He was there for you and you were there for him when he needed someone the most. When he couldn’t find someone to turn to, you were there with your open arms for him to take and hold on to. You’re his foundation.

And he’s your home. You’re his land and he’s the home you build in that land that’s keeping him strong.

“I love you, Y/n.” His fingers wrap round your fingers suddenly in a warmth scape you find them becoming more comfortable in the holding gaze than they were outside of it. Your fingers were perfect, fitting right into his own hands.

Your eyes look up at him when Donghyuck lifts his face. It became flushed with tears straining his beautiful tan skin and his dark puffy upper hair that looks like the softest silk in the entire world made you feel like you totally bagged a jackpot. Lee ‘effortlessly attractive’ Donghyuck was in front of you making it hard not to stare him down like he was everything you’ve ever wanted, like he was your ideal meal you could devour on pure endurance of this planet.

You felt your skin grew warmer and warmer and your heart become lighter than before. You found yourselves in your comforting bodies more than anyone else’s and somehow this Heart 2 Heart brought you closer than before.

“I love you Donghyuck.” You reply back with your cheeks growing up smiling at him. Donghyuck returns the smile through passing a small sensual kiss on your lips with his.

He smiles through your shared loving kiss your heads moving in synch together, like two breathes joining unison together with your own heart. He didn’t dare stop kissing you, in fact he kissed you like you were the only thing he would ever want to kiss and nothing else ever again, nothing, could compare the way your lips have felt on his lips. So warm and so soft to compare to anything on earth it did not exist. Your love was better than Venus, your heart was better than anyone’s he knows.

It all took a Heart 2 Heart to realise that being apart from Donghyuck will not break you apart. It won’t change the fact that this boy in front of you inhaling your mouth and your oxygen from your body like it’s the last thing he will do to make you realise that the distance between you and him is nothing. Your love was stronger than this.

Now he’s going to make you realise it by giving you a long night of his passionate feelings in one go to make you feel and realise what he feels for you is more than this tour he could ever go on.

Your heart and his heart matters only.

Heart 2 Heart.

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@onyourhyuck please refer from translating and copyrighting my work thank youu! Please reblog and follow me for more updates it helps a girl out <3

[buttherainbowhasabeard]

Why Glicked Never Really Clicked

It was the mashup that Hollywood hoped would match the magic of Barbenheimer: a kooky combination of gladiators and good witches. But Glicked — the name given to the late November releases of 'Gladiator II' and ‘Wicked’ — was a tale of two cities (Rome and Oz) that felt forced to sit side-by-side in cinemas.

When ‘Barbie' and ‘Oppenheimer' debuted together in July 2023, they were an unlikely yet complementary pair. Even though one was a technicoloured exploration into the world of dolls and dreamhouses and the other was an IMAX-scale atomic biopic, they became a must-do double bill. They gave audiences an excuse to dress up and make going to the movies an “event”.

Glicked on the other hand, felt like an arranged marriage, and we the viewers – the children – took sides.

The first problem was the source material. 

The musical ‘Wicked: The Untold True Story of the Witches of Oz’ debuted on Broadway in 2003, and it was an instant classic. It spawned a stunning soundtrack of award-winning hits, including “What is This Feeling?”, “The Wizard And I”, “Popular” and “Defying Gravity”. It went on to be performed right around the world, including in Europe and Australia and continues to tour to this day.

This means that despite Jon M. Chu's movie adaptation coming 21 years after the first stage show (and 22 years once Part 2 is released in 2025), the fans hadn’t moved on or forgotten the Witches. If anything, the love and appreciation for the characters of Elphaba and Glinda (played by powerhouse performers Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the film) have only grown over the years, picking up new devotees with every new stage outing.

Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ came out even earlier, in the year 2000. Although it was a big hit (winning five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Russell Crowe, and Best Supporting Actor for Joaqiuin Phoenix), it wasn’t a movie that needed a sequel, and frankly, the ending didn’t really lend itself to one.

Now, 24 years on, spiritual successor ‘Gladiator II’ is here sans most of the original cast and it feels... unnecessary. The lineup is impressive (Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn to name a few) the visuals are epic and the CGI is fun (ugly baboon, I’m looking at you!) but the story is lacking somewhat. Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius is mentioned and mirrored constantly, meaning that overall, the film struggles to step out of the original’s successful shadow.

The second point of difference was appeal and accessibility.

Although musicals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, the family-friendly rating of ‘Wicked’ meant it was going to be a go-to choice for families and big groups of all ages. Fans of Erivo and Grande were also going to be keen to see their favourite singers in action, even if they weren’t familiar with the play.

'Gladiator II’, on the other hand, was hindered by its R rating. An Ancient Rome saga of bloody battles and political betrayals wasn’t going to have mass appeal, and those who were drawn to it would need to be over 17 years of age.

The third reason was marketing. 

Barbenheimer had its own memes, merchandise, costumes and a communal sense of fun, as well as triggering that all-important feeling of FOMO to drive ticket sales. Glicked didn’t generate any of that kind of buzz.

The stars of ‘Wicked’ walked yellow brick road themed red carpets in colour-coordinated pink and green, and the movie account had an unmissable social media presence through regular collaborations, sing-a-longs, fan art shares, dance tutorials and announcements. 'Gladiator II’, however, followed the more traditional path of posting trailers, set photos, and interviews.

There didn’t seem to be much effort on the part of either film’s team to create a sense of “us”, so it instead became a feeling of “this” or “that”. Not “When are you going to see Wicked AND Gladiator II?” but "Are you going to see Wicked OR Gladiator II?"

And that brings me to my fourth and final point – which is probably the most important: Barbenheimer worked because it wasn’t planned. Glicked felt like a failed attempt to manufacture lightning in a bottle. But as the myth goes, lightning never strikes twice…

‘Wicked’ 4.5/5 stars. ‘Gladiator II’ 3/5 stars.

[taeraemisu]

in every lifetime ; gyuvin zb1

synopsis ; in every lifetime, no matter what, reader and gyuvin always find their way towards each other.

genre ; soulmates !!, i-love-you-in-every-universe, i wasn’t definitely going to write something way sadder, different timelines, mostly fluff

pairings ; gyuvin x reader

a/n ; i’m pretty sure it’s clear i love writing about loving-you-in-every-universe kind of things :) and i may write the original sadder version i had planned for another member if anyone would like to see it !

word count ; 1.5k words

lifetime 241 . .

“do you think we know each other?”

gyuvin looks at you, all confused. of course you both know each other. weren’t you guys dating? was he hallucinating the whole relationship?

you laughed, seeing the confused expression on his face. the both of you were sitting on your desks, in your classroom after school for a ‘study date’ which had clearly turned to anything but studying. gyuvin was playing games on his phone, while you said every little thought you had out loud.

gyuvin put his phone down, giving you his full attention. he loves hearing you talk, even if you had the most insane idea known to mankind.

“no, no, i meant,” you paused, gathering all your thoughts. “i meant, do you think, we know each other in other lifetimes too?”

gyuvin tilt his head, processing your question. “like the movie doctor strange?”

you thought about it. that was one way of seeing it. “yeah, something like that!” you giggled. “do you think we love each other in every single one?”

gyuvin smiled at you, stretching your cheeks. he finds you and your thoughts so adorable. “i mean, there’s so many different possibilities. infinite number of lifetimes …” his voice trails off. “there’s probably one lifetime where we don’t even know each other.”

you mock-gasped. “you think we don’t love each other in every single one? how could you?” you said in the most sarcastic tone possible.

gyuvin chuckled, shaking his head. “i meant—” he clears his throat. “—there’s so many different possibilities. so many lifetimes, anything is possible.” he glanced at you, staring into your eyes in a way that made you blush slightly. “but i bet, we love each other in majority of those infinite lifetimes. we love each other in our current lifetime. that counts, right?”

you smiled at him. you thought about his words, yes there was a possibility that you both don’t even know each other in one lifetime. but your current lifetime was the best in your opinion.

“you are not wrong …” your voice trails off. “i bet there is a lifetime where you are an idol and i’m just merely loving you as your number one fan. i’m still loving you there, right?” you knew how much gyuvin loved to dance, and he was insanely good at it. you were usually there when he practices, admiring the way he danced. how could one be so good? you were basically his number one fan, supporting him to pursue his dreams.

gyuvin looked at you. “isn’t that now?”

you shook your head. “i mean, of course now but i meant, a lifetime where you are an idol, performing for fans all around the world while i am in the crowds, supporting and loving you as a fan.”

gyuvin thought about what you said. a lifetime where he was an idol but he did not know who you are? that can’t be right. he loved you the most in the world, besides his lovely dog. he could not bare to imagine a lifetime where your existence wasn’t know to him.

“then …” his voice trails off, thinking of the right words. “i hope that in another lifetime, you are an idol and i am your fan too, returning all the love you once gave me.”

lifetime 944 . .

you were at the convenience store, getting yourself a quick midnight snack. deadlines getting nearer and nearer, you needed a break.

you were waiting to use to the boiler, the guy who was in front of you taking his time. you groaned in annoyance. what’s taking so long?

the guy turned to look at you, hearing your groaned. you looked at him, awestruck for a moment before looking away. wow, he was gorgeous.

you admired his back for a moment before looking away, feeling too much like a creep for staring. finally, the guy was done, holding his cup noodles and carefully walking away when he loses his grip on the cup noodles, all the contents spilling all over you.

you have got to be kidding me, you thought.

you yelped, the hot water scalding your hand. “i’m so sorry!” the guy apologises, his ears turning red and feeling so, so bad. he finds a napkin and tries to wipe the soup off your shirt. you stopped him, grabbing the napkins and wiping it off yourself.

“i’m terribly sorry!” the stranger apologised. he had a bag and was looking through it, before pulling out a hoodie. “here, change into this. there’s a toilet at the back.” he points to the door at the back of the store. “i’m so sorry, i will pay for your food!”

“i already paid,” you said, a little annoyed, eyeing the hoodie that was clearly way too big for you. you throw the napkin away. thankfully, you did not sustain any burns. the guy looked apologetic, putting his hoodies into your hands. “go change, i will think of something in the meantime.” he takes the cup noodles off your hands, nudging you to the bathroom. you reluctantly did as he wanted, changing out of your shirt and wearing his hoodie instead.

you took a sniff. oh, the stranger smelt good. you came out of the bathroom, seeing the stranger sitting down on a set of tables with your cooked noodles. “i’m so sorry,” he apologises again and takes your dirty shirt off your hands. “i will wash this.”

“it’s fine,” you said as you start to take a bite out of your noodles. you looked at him, who was still sitting with you. “as an apology, give me your name and number.”

he stared at you, a little shock of how bold you were cause he was planning on getting your number first.

“i’m kim gyuvin.”

lifetime 1101 . .

you were in a dance studio, preparing for your upcoming performance. it was a school dance competition and you were determined to win. usually placed second, you were determined to help your school win first place this year round.

while practicing and fixing your mistakes, you see a head peaking into the studio through the door. you looked at the disturbance through the mirror, raising an eyebrow before walking towards the door. just as you did, the figure runs away.

you peak out of the studio, looking up and down the hallways for the mysterious figure but you could not find anyone.

weird, you thought before you returned back to practice.

this happened multiple times for the next few weeks. where you will notice someone looking at you dance but runs away before you even get the chance to figure out who it was.

one day however, when you saw the figure again, you immediately went to the door, opening it to find the culprit but again, the figure disappears. you were so sure that you were hallucinating at that point when you looked down and saw a tiny box on the floor.

picking it up, there was a tiny note and a keychain of a dog in the box. you read the note, chuckling to yourself.

‘hey you !! amazing dancer !! we should collab together one day :)) i’m kim gyuvin, text me !!!’

lifetime 613 . .

“no! we need to get this dog food! it’s the only one eumppappa eats!”

“but it’s way too expensive!”

you and gyuvin were out grocery shopping together, trying to finish your errands before the weekend passes by. the both of you have been happily married for a little over a year now, so now your usual weekends were spent by trying to finish up errands and household chores.

“okay, how about this,” gyuvin thinks of a solution. “let’s take one box of what eumppappa usually eats and another box of whatever you want. if she likes mine better, we will only get that from now on. if she likes yours better, i am sending her to the vet for a checkup.”

you playfully hit your husband’s shoulder. he laughs at you, putting the two different boxes of dog food into the cart. “i’m kidding,” he smiled sheepishly. “but we will see which eumppappa likes better. she obviously loves me more.”

you shook your head, disagreeing. “she loves me more!”

by now, the two of you were bickering in the middle of the aisle of pet supplies about which parent your dog loves more. eventually, you carried on with your groceries, getting the things you really need, and by that, meaning you disagreeing on whatever gyuvin wanted to get that wasn’t on the list.

you stare at your husband while he decides which packet of chips would taste better. you feel content with life. you were merely shopping with gyuvin, finishing an errand with him. but yet, why did you feel so happy? it was a normal everyday task. how did grocery shopping suddenly made you so happy?

“i can feel you staring,” gyuvin says, walking back to you and putting a packet of chips into the cart. “my face is hard to resist, right?”

you rolled your eyes. “as if.”

you stared at gyuvin a little longer while he walks off to get other items. you realised why you felt so happy grocery shopping.

you were grocery shopping with gyuvin, and doing anything with him makes you unbelievably content and happy. it was a simple task, but doing it with gyuvin made it a hundred times better.

in every lifetime, you were in love with gyuvin. and gyuvin was in love with you.

and nothing could change that.

© taeraemisu do not copy my works !

[eternal-love]

Austin and Me

“Elvis-mania”

“Wife to the ‘king’. Icon to the world. Destined for more.”

Summary: At 18 years old, she fell in love with Austin, at 20 years old, she became his wife, by 22, she was his doll. In which Cynthia’s life changed drastically after falling head over heels with a man that promised her the moon and the stars. She takes us down the memory lane of what could’ve been— the perfect marriage.

Inspired by the book: Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley.

I do not condemn any of the portrayals I decide to do about certain people, it’s just fanfiction. And it would be divided in parts.

English isn’t my first language so I’m trying my best!

Warning: mentions of COVID-19

MASTERLIST

COVID-19 took the world by storm and what was meant to just be some months in Australia became almost a year. Austin took this to his advantage to get more into the Elvis role, I supported him with any research he needed and with his weight gain, his accent. At first it was really enjoyable, I mean, dancing and singing to Elvis’ songs in the middle of the night, watching his movies and performances, watching Austin trying to recreate them. But then it started to get more serious, he started to go method.

I wasn’t a fan of method acting, I’ve never tried it before but I did have some co-stars that did it and it was like hell on earth, I’d like to think that he was going for a Marlon Brando route but it was starting to feel like Jared Leto when he played the Joker.

“Sit still!” I laughed as he didn’t stop moving around while I placed the hair dye on his brownish hair, he wasn’t a natural dark-haired man, as a boy his hair was this beautiful blonde.

“It smells disgusting, God, how I miss your hairdresser.” He said with a chuckle, his voice was a little thicker, a bit of a southern drawl to it.

“See? and you called me ridiculous whenever I went with her. I don’t know what she uses but it smells delicious.” I had my hairdresser back in California, she did my more trickier hairstyles, like the beehive ponytail and she did dye Austin’s hair black a couple of times before.

“Or maybe we were just high from all the chemicals, who knows?” He laughed again, yeah, maybe we did not ventilate well enough right now, I moved towards the window and opened it, not remembering that my gloves were pretty much still with hair dye, I stained that whole window up. To this day I still remember how much the landlord charged us for that one. After 30 minutes, we both kneeled beside the bathtub, I started rinsing his hair.

“Baby, you gonna drown me or something!” He said to me, if the water wasn’t too cold then it was too hot, or I was too aggressive with the rinsing.

“Then so be it!” I said to him, shampooing his hair.

Afterwards I even dried it and styled it, he saw himself in the mirror again, he finally had jet black hair again after months of just having this weird combination between black and blondish hair.

“I don’t know— I feel a little silly. Like an impersonator.” He had a grimace as he moved his hair side to side.

“You look really good. I promise.” I smiled at him and then kissed his cheek. “You can do this. Now let’s watch Viva Las Vegas for the fifth time, I’m finally getting the Ann-Margret dance.”

We did our research and everything, we knew little facts about Elvis, he liked knowing about Priscilla, I loved Priscilla. Austin found out this really interesting fact about Elvis and Priscilla’s bedroom time. As we were in bed, trying to spice things up.

“Wait, baby. We oughta try something new.” He said as he pulled away and got up from bed, he rummaged through a box of cameras we had, disposable ones, vintage ones, instants. He bought out an instax camera, with its film. “So— I read that Elvis and Priscilla did this and I wanted to try it out.”

“I’m up for it.” I smiled as I took off my nightgown coverup.

We started taking Polaroids, he made me pose, I was his model for the night. He grabbed my chin tenderly and moved it to the right direction, he got on top of me taking picture after picture. We even tried dress up, him as a policeman and doctor, I was a secretary, a maid, a teacher, we tried everything in the book.

He’d get in between my legs, kissing me all over, taking Polaroids while he was at it, taking Polaroids while I was at it, going down on him.

It was magical but it did make me feel ashamed whenever I looked at my purchase history and saw all the Polaroid films I bought during this time. We spent hundred of dollars in just the films for the instax.

I had a really good time with Austin but it didn’t really last long, until he submerged himself totally on Elvis. At first it was the voice and then it was the food, then it was his behavior. I couldn’t even remember the last time he slept with me. All I heard was Elvis, Elvis, Elvis— and not in the good way. Look, I understood him and everything but it was making me go nuts, I’m a big Elvis fan but he was just going bonkers. I lost count on how many books he read or how many hour he spent looking at Elvis stuff, he barely even spent time with Lori. I wanted to die whenever he called me ‘woman’ or ‘satnin’.

There were many times when he basically shut himself out, in the bedroom or the beach, it was like he was trying to torture me nonstop. I felt so useless because I wasn’t able to help him either. Whenever I did try to help him, he’d yell at me.

“Baby, please— you need to sleep.” I knocked on the office door, he had been there all day.

“Don’t bother me, woman.” He said sternly, I, being the stubborn I was, tried to get him out of there.

“Baby— you don’t need to indulge so much in Elvis. You should really come to sleep.” I knocked on the door once again, all I heard was silence afterwards but then the door opened aggressively.

“Are ya deaf or something?! Woman, I don’t want to hear another mouth comin’ out of your damn mouth. Ya hear me?” He said very aggressively, even he was taken aback. “Baby, you gotta let me do my damn job, so go to sleep, I’ll catch up to you later.” He dismissed me with his hand.

The king sized bed felt really empty without him there, cuddling me, kissing my head or forehead, we barely even slept on the same bed so in those cases, I’d bring Lori with me and hug her all night. I woke up to every sudden movement, thinking it was Austin but it was just my imagination playing cruel tricks on me. And whenever we did have alone time in bed, I tried wearing my cutest nightgowns, I even wore perfume to bed, Miss Dior, I adored that scent and so did Austin. God, I even wore my makeup to bed!

“Hey.” I whispered while I got in bed besides him, his back leaning against the headboard as he read Train to Memphis, I started kissing his neck softly, rubbing his bicep.

“Calm down, satnin.” He said, not taking his eyes off the book. “Ya know I’m trying to pay attention to this.” He kept on reading and reading in silence until he finally spoke up. “There a thousand women who would actually care to help and listen to me while I do my damn job. You gonna sit and listen or not?”

I stopped, I laid back and stared at him, storms in my eyes. I was trying everything to keep him looking at me yet nothing worked.

“But-“

“But nothing, woman.” He said, there was silence again, he kept on reading and mumbling the words. I sat up on the bed, hugging my knees very subtly.

“I can’t stand it! It’s driving me crazy! I don’t want to hear you anymore!” I yelled out in frustration, I even closed my eyes.

“I see a mad woman.” He said on that pretentious mumble.

“No. A woman with needs that needs to be desired. You can have your Elvis books and me too.”

He looked at me and without even saying anything, she went back to reading his book, leaving me feeling humiliated.

I’ve been dying to write this part— be prepared to see our Cynthia suffer.

[mrs-johansson]

Escape from LA - Lisa Manobal x Fem!Depp!Reader

Part 1:

“And the Grammy goes to… Y/n Fleur Depp!” The present read out the card and I just let my head fall back as I let out a big sigh. My sister was the first to bring me in a big hug and then my manager and producer who were also such a big part of this album. I hugged everyone around me and at the table next to us was Harry sitting. I looked over and he was already on his feet clapping with a genuine smile on his face. I put my hands together and leaned forward a bit to express my gratitude.

Walking up the stairs will never get old or boring, it’s always a huge honor. Accepting the award I stepped up to the mic.

“Thank you so much for this. Ugh… It’s always an honor to get one of these but I think it’s even more special to me to be named beside my fellow nominees. I would’ve never thought that my name would be in the same conversation as ABBA. Absolutely insane to me,” I chuckled looking down at the award. “And everyone else in the category, you guys are incredible and the art that you all create is what this world needs and I’m just happy to be named beside you. I uhm… I wanna thank Romeo and Phil, my producers and Jenna, my manger. My family, of course, you guys are the best. But mostly my amazing fans, who relentlessly support and love me, and without you, I wouldn’t be standing here, so thank you.”

***

Y/n Fleur Depp parties with sister, Lily-Rose Depp and ex-boyfriend Harry Styles at the 2023 Grammy after party

The Depp sisters enjoy a night out in Los Angeles after the Grammy Awards

Y/n Fleur Depp bags 2 Grammys just before kicking off her Reflections World Tour

Y/n Fleur Depp supports Harry Styles at his Melbourne concert just a week before her world tour kicks off

***

“Tonight we have a very special guest with us, multiple Grammy award winner singer, and songwriter, please welcome Y/n Fleur Depp,” said Jimmy Kimmel, and as the door opened I stepped out, waving to the crowd and making my way to the chair after sharing a hug with the host.

“Y/n, welcome to the show, how are you doing?” Asked Jimmy. “Thank you, happy to be here. I’m great, how are you?” I asked politely. “Great, thanks. Are you and Harry back together?” He replied so fast and my eyes just went wide as the whole crowd started cheering. “Oh no, we’re not. I’m absolutely single, believe me. I don’t need anything right now,” I chuckled uncomfortably. I admit I’ve been talking the most with Harry since we’ve broken up but there’s nothing between us and we both know there’ll be nothing. “Okay, just making sure. Did you enjoy his concert?” “Yes, definitely. He is an amazing performer so I wasn’t worried.” “You start your tour in two days and it’s gonna be a very long journey. You start in LA on February 22nd and the last date is in Soul, Korea on February 21st. That’s a long tour.” “Yeah, it is. But it’s gonna be awesome. We’ve been preparing for a while now and I’m very excited to see everyone and sing the new songs,” I smiled giddily and the crowd cheered hearing my words. “How do you prepare for a tour like this? I mean obviously, you have the dance stuff and all but mentally and physically?” “Yeah, I prep for the show with all of the dancers 3 times a week for like… 3 months. But I work out every day also, even if it’s pilates or gym. Shows can be very hard on your body when you perform 5 times a week for two and a half hours, so I try my best to prepare for the year. And mentally I guess I just try to enjoy every quiet moment before going on the road. It’s very hard obviously being away from my friends and family but someone always comes to each show so that’s nice,” I explained. “And as I know, you bring your cat on tour with you.” “Oh absolutely. He’s my baby, I can’t leave him for that long.” “His name is Bucky, right?” “Yeah,” I smiled. “How did you get the name?” He asked. “Uhm… I really like the Marvel movies and Bucky is one of my favorite characters of all time so I thought why not? The Winter Soldier already seems like a black cat type of guy so I chose that.”

After the interview, I got back to the green room and I was a little angry not gonna lie. “I go to one of his shows with literally multiple people and have one drink with him at the fucking Grammys, and suddenly we are back together. How does that work? And besides, we broke up over 4 years ago,” I packed up my bag and grabbed my phone. “You know they always do this, don’t bother,” said Chloe, my assistant, as we made our way to the car. “I know they do, but fucking hell, I can’t be single for one goddamn minute.”

***

“Hello, it’s Y/n Fleur Depp and today I’m gonna let Elle ask me anything,” I smiled at the camera.

“What’s your favorite memory from doing your last album?” Asked the journalist.

“I’ve got to work Doja Cat on one of the songs and I think it was one of the greatest days of the album making. We just had such a fun time with that song and we were just vibing a lot. She has a really interesting character and it was refreshing to work with someone like her.”

“What are you most passionate about outside of singing?”

“Ooh, that’s a hard one… food? I don’t know, I just love to try new stuff and cook new stuff. It’s a fun thing to get into.”

“Biggest pinch me moment in your career?”

“Oh my god, on my last tour, I was in New York, performing at Madison Square Garden and it was like halfway into the show and I looked up to the… well VIP section I guess and Rihanna was there, dancing and singing along. I almost fainted.”

“What is the best industry advice you’ve received?”

“Enjoy every second of it. I think especially now with social media, there are so many opportunities for people to make it in the music industry. And now, someone can easily take your place overnight if their song is gonna be a trend on TikTok. So I enjoy every little moment.”

“Who’s your biggest cheerleader?”

“My sister Lily, for sure. She has always been my biggest supporter. Since we were little kids, she always made me sing her favorite songs. And even now, even if I have a show on the other side of the world she will fly out and dance and sing through the whole thing. She’s the best.”

“What’s your 5-year plan for your personal life?”

“Oh damn… Uhm… I just want to be in a secure and stable place. Definitely move out of Los Angeles, it’s been too long for me to live here. I want to live somewhere different and new and have new experiences. And uhm… be in a calm and loving relationship.”

***

“Come on people, night one,” I stood in a circle with all of my dancers. “I just want to say how proud I am of us and the work all of you put into this tour. I am extremely grateful for all of you because everybody in this crew is so amazing, dedicated, and talented. I want us to have fun. It’s gonna be a long road but we’re gonna shake up the world and do some incredible stuff. I love you all and let’s have some fun,” I said and we cheered before putting our hands in the middle. “Reflections on 3, 2, 1!” “REFLECTIONS!”

I stood on the lift and I got my mic handed to me. Then the intro for Ready for it began playing on a loop.

The podium rose and the crowd erupted in cheers and screams. “Los Angeles… Are you ready for it?” I said and seconds later the song started.

About an hour into the show, I was at the front of the runway part of the stage. Sitting on a chair with only a guitar and a mic stand.

“Before we dive into the next song I wanna thank all of you for coming,” I said and as soon as they started cheering I smiled widely. “The last few years were absolutely crazy. ” I looked around the stadium. “But now, we are finally at peace kind of and I think we should enjoy it. We worked so much on these shows because I think we all took doing concerts for granted and me and my crew want to give you the best. It’s so cool to be back on stage, in front of all of you. Uhm… I love you and thanks again,” I smiled and they all cheered which made me smile even more. I just love that they love me.

Doing another hour and a half was a little exhausting but I enjoyed every second of it. “Thank you so much, Los Angeles, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I blew kisses all around the stadium as the lift was moved down.

I walked behind the stage and as soon as I stepped into the hallway, I had champagne sprayed all over me as my friends and family screamed around me. “Oh shit,” I covered my face as the champagne was just coming. “Congratulations!” heard Lily’s voice before she hugged me as soon as the alcohol stopped flowing. “Thank you, it was so fucking cool,” I said. “Oh my god, it was!” She shook my shoulder and I hugged everyone who was around basically then made my way to the dressing room, changing to something that wasn’t covered in champagne.

Once I cleaned up, I checked a couple of messages on my phone when I heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” I said, still scrolling through my phone. “I brought some guests, sissy,” Lily spoke and I looked up immediately, not hearing a noise from the guests.

All of a sudden Blackpink was standing in front of me with shy smiles. I’ve met Jennie before and we clicked really well. She is a very funny and sweet person, but I haven’t met the other members yet. “Oh my god, hello,” I went to hug Jennie and she was quick to greet me too, before turning to her members. “It’s Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa,” she pointed at each of them. “I know, I’m a fan, you know that. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I said, honestly feeling happy to meet them. “We’re happy to see you, it was an amazing show by the way,” said Rosé with a noticeable Australian accent. I put my hands together and bowed my head. “That means a lot coming from you. We should hang out. Are you guys free for the next…” I looked down at my watch, checking the time. “…couple of hours?” I asked and they all looked at each other before nodding their heads. “What do you have in mind?” Asked Jennie. “We could have some drinks back at the hotel if you’d like. It’s a calm place,” I suggested. “Let’s do it.” Jisoo excitedly said and we all chuckled. “We’re gonna be great friends, Jisoo.”

[mariacallous]

Earlier this week, after warping across the galaxy for 90 hours in a sentient spacecraft, Twitch streamer John Wissmiller realized that Concord was the best first-person shooter he’d played in a decade.

“The gunplay was crunchy, the movement was smooth, and the progression felt rewarding,” he says. “I was even more enthralled by the world the developers had created when I looked into the lore.”

He wasn’t alone. “One of the biggest perks about the game was the absence of toxicity within the player community,” says Kelle Dees, a content creator at KDeesGamez. “Everything about the game was positive and inclusive.”

On Wednesday, less than two weeks after the game’s August 23 launch, Sony announced it was taking Concord offline and offering full refunds to anyone who had purchased it on PlayStation 5 or PC. “While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended,” wrote Ryan Ellis, Concord’s director at Firewalk Studios, a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“I was completely devastated,” Wissmiller says. “We’ve never seen a first-party title from Sony get this kind of treatment.”

In fact, we’ve never seen any AAA video game get this kind of treatment—and that’s what could make Concord a horrifying canary in the coal mine for gamers and game workers alike.

“It’s unprecedented for a game of this scale to be shut down so quickly,” says Liam Deane, a video game analyst at Omdia. “Usually publishers keep games that struggle at launch on life support for a while, but in Concord’s case the launch was so bad there was clearly no way back.”

Like Fortnite, Destiny 2, and Valorant, Concord was meant to be a live-service game that constantly released new updates over the course of several years. But while those other games are free to play—and rely on microtransactions to make money—Concord cost $40 up front. “It's just very difficult to break into competitive multiplayer games [and] displace the existing top titles,” says Simon Carless, an industry analyst who publishes the GameDiscoverCo newsletter. “These are the kind of titles that players socialize with their friends in, and they're often not motivated to switch games.”

Sony hasn’t revealed how many copies of Concord sold between August 23 and September 3, but the number of active PC players on the Steam platform peaked at just 697 on launch day. That’s abysmally low for a major release that spent eight years in development; Sony’s previous live-service game, Helldivers 2, had over 155,000 players on its first day, back in February, and later peaked at 458,709.

Helldivers 2, though, was a breakout hit that already had an established fanbase. Concord, on the other hand, was a brand-new franchise that didn’t get much of a marketing push and drew the ire of “anti-woke” snivelers who complained about the game’s use of pronouns on its character selection screen.

“For big companies, it's difficult to work out what bets—and how large bets—you should make,” says Carless. “Some of the corporate overexuberance during Covid and low interest rates has meant that large companies overextended, and the pullback has been—and is going to be—painful.”

Over the past 20 years, the brutal blockbuster-or-bust mentality of Silicon Valley startups has spread to executives across the entertainment industry. Movies with $100 million production budgets are considered dead on arrival after a bad opening weekend and are quickly ripped from theaters. TV series are canceled after failing to meet undisclosed performance metrics in their first seasons.

Now, the quick death of Concord, which officially went offline today, points to a similar mindset in the video game industry that could kill creativity, reduce jobs, and shutter entire studios.

“If you have a stable parent company with a balanced set of single-player and [live-service] releases, you should be in decent shape,” says Carless. But “the middle of the market is disintegrating. The games industry is deprofessionalizing in many ways; games as a stable profession will be tricky for many people in high-GDP countries.”

If studio C-suites keep cutting all the buds that don’t instantly blossom, the golden age of gaming of the 2020s—a mix of AAA blockbusters like Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Baldur’s Gate 3, alongside smaller-budget gems like Tunic, Chants of Sennar, and the reimagining of 1997’s Riven—could already be over.

“I think innovation is more likely to come from smaller companies with lower budgets that are happier to take risks,” says Piers Harding-Rolls, who leads the games research team at Ampere Analysis. “This has really been true for many years, but the current commercial environment makes that truer than ever.” Still, even the future of indies is uncertain and may be somewhat dependent on funding efforts like Innersloth’s Outersloth initiative.

Concord may have gotten off to a slow start with gamers (most of whom hadn’t heard of it yet) and critics (who didn’t love the initial character designs), but the same could be said of Elder Scrolls Online, which has since made more than $2 billion, or the Destiny franchise, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year, or No Man’s Sky, which has become a cult classic.

If those games were released now, would they survive longer than Concord did—longer than the lifespan of a honeybee? The answer lies with the most ruthless beekeepers in the industry, and all they care about is the honey.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Tita Merello (Mercado De Abasto, La Morocha, Amorina)— Was she pretty? Probably not. Was she hot? Incredibly so. She said it herself: "I was seen as ugly... Then I realized you don't need to be pretty. It's enough just to act like you are". With a highly recognizable voice and manner (which immortalized her in countless drag shows, just look her up performing "Se Dice De Mí"!), she was THE Argentinean icon during the fifties. As with so many artists she began with really humble origins (she didn't learn to read until she was in her twenties), and she was one of the few that kept truly being humble and thankful for all the luck she had and everything she worked so hard for. Despite being a proper diva Tita was a woman of the people first and foremost, portraying almost exclusively working-class women who by the strength of their determination and guts manage to keep themselves afloat in all manners of difficult situations. She openly talked about her uterine cancer at a time it was considered taboo, had the sharpest wittiest tongue in the business, was a greatly renowned performer and comedian, was notably kind to everyone who ever worked with her, but was also very much famous for taking no shit... She feared nobody but God and even that might be debatable.

Vera-Ellen (On the Town, White Christmas)— she's a phenomenal and charismatic dancer, I'd say UNMATCHED in terms of movement. She's just hypnotizing, so sharp and musical and she always looks like shes having so MUCH FUN! Furthermore she has a beautiful smile and a silliness/playfulness to her acting I love. Her real life story is somewhat sad and the death of her daughter kept her from blowing up as a bigger star, but the delight she brings to the movies she was in is so memorable!

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Tita Merello:

Vera-Ellen:

Have you seen her dance!? Right up there with Grace Kelly for grace and beauty and her tap performances can be jaw dropping.

Her dancing skills are so impressive it makes me forget how to speak. She moves like she’s made out of elastic, and she looks good doing it. Also she has great chemistry with Danny Kaye (RIP to the men’s bracket, he was gone too soon) and is just… stunning. Deserves to be known for way more but sadly she had a pretty tough life. But she was so so talented, and I love her.

Her dancing with Danny Kaye in White Christmas is absolutely wonderful.

vera-ellen is one of the most technically skilled dancers to EVER dance, according to fred astaire and others. she had the most beautiful voice, she was incredibly hard working, she was a ROCKETTE at one point AND was on broadway for several years before doing movies and later tv. she was rumored to be dealing with mental health issues her whole life, and she still managed to come out on top. overall an incredible career. and oh my god ladies. her legs. her control. she’s so delicate and lovely whenever she dances, it’s absolutely incredible. she’s always so light on her feet. i could watch her dance forever.

amazing dancer, down to earth vibes onscreen, such a talent

Extremely underappreciated today but she was one of the best dancers in Hollywood's classic era.

she's lip synching here but i think it conveys the hotness:

Best known for her dancing and Barbie-doll figure. She was briefly a Rockette but was fired for standing out too much. She danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and showed off her comedic chops in White Christmas with Danny Kaye. She said dancing for her was like breathing; if she stopped it’d be “very bad”.

I was quite literally floored as a child when I found out Vera Ellen wasn’t a bigger star considering her in White Christmas was a huge part of my bi awakening- gorgeous and talented!

[kaydeedums]

Like in The Movies (Alien Stage)

Ship: Mizi / Sua (Mizisua) Also on: AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/62830468/chapters/160867027) [Chapter 1: It's All Too Much] Mizi wins an award for Best Leading Actress, but there's a lot of things she still needs to address with herself. A good friend of hers offers to hear her out, and maybe even help in more ways than one.

"Congratulations!"

The sound of glasses clinking filled in the room, accompanied by bursts of laughter and cheerful chatter. The entire crew of Alien Stage had gathered to celebrate their triumphant night at Sua’s home, having just won Best Musical Performance for “Blink Gone” and Best Original Score.

“Thank you for everyone’s hard work!” Hyuna says, filling up each of the member’s shot glasses with Soju.

Ivan had won his first-ever award for Best Supporting Actor in the film. Having started his career only two years back, he was greeted with a roar of cheers from the cast and other awardees when his name was announced. In his speech the actor even thanked his castmate Till for his vocal mentoring, proceeding to teasingly blow a flying kiss to him from the stage. The camera pans to Till who was in his seat all flushed, having the clip instantly go viral online.

But the true star of the evening was the rookie actress, Mizi. She was met with endless congratulations for securing the Best Leading Actress award that night. The excitement was buzzing in the air as colleagues and friends toasted to her breakthrough performance, marking the beginning of a promising future for the 22-year-old.

The entiee production team was more than thrilled, after the awards, the cast gathered in Sua’s mansion for an after party, nearly half of the group had downed themselves in beer, pizza, sweets and other dishes prepared, thanks to their generous host for allowing them to raid her pantry. 

The filming was strenuous, for a project that even had the cast throw in their creative direction, they deserved to revel in their success.

A few hours in, unbeknownst to the rest of the cast, their star actress had slipped away from the dinner area. They were too busy singing their hearts out to a karaoke machine, unnecessarily belting out to some K-pop hits that didn’t seem to need the extra run-ons. 

Mizi had mindlessly wandered around her senior’s home in search of the washroom, which she did find to relieve herself, but wasn’t quite ready to return to the rowdy crowd, so she decided to take a breather instead. She sits herself on one of the balcony’s bistro chairs, her eyes glued to the night sky as she does.

She allows her thoughts to drift. Mizi hadn’t quite let today’s events sink in yet, the rookie wondered about what she had done to deserve this award. To think that just a few years ago, she had been an internet celebrity, growing her channel through covers. Now, she’s being professionally trained by one of the best in the industry. 

She reminisces about her experiences, how much learned and improved during production, it was all just so surreal, she would’ve never guessed this was gonna be her breakout role. The support of the cast really played a huge role in her receiving all this, especially Sua. -+-+-+- She was never quite able to shake off that nervous energy every time she stepped into a studio. It was the first day of filming Alien Stage, the script clutched in her hand, fidgeting with her brown hair as she looked around. Mizi was in awe at the fact that this was gonna be her first leading role. 

Mizi watched as the team set up the gigantic green screen and wheeled in the props, the lights and sound were being adjusted and tested, and one by one the make-up artists started rushing into their spaces to begin setting up their work station. 

Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, running around with equipment and discussing plans with one another. It wasn’t her first time shooting something, she’s been in several commercials and variety shows, not to mention the transition from influencer to lead actress isn’t always taken nicely by the audience, many criticize influencers for taking acting roles away from vocally–trained actors. Even her own fanbase was a little unsure whether she’d give a great performance or not, was she gonna make a fool out of herself? 

The entire time, she was just standing awkwardly by the craft services table, silently spiraling under the weight of where she was now. A sweet voice cuts through her self-consciousness. 

“Jeez, you look like a nervous wreck.”

The rookie flinches, in front of her was a shorter woman, dressed in baggy clothes and a drink in her hand, even with the shades on Mizi could tell who it was. “Holy shit, you’re Sua… Right?”

The shorter woman jests, “I sure hope so, the producer would’ve been pissed at the casting director if I wasn’t.” 

Mizi swallows, mustering up the courage to speak, “I am… such a huge fan, I watch your work religiously, I made a cover of your latest OST on my channel, and it’s such an honor getting to see you work-”

She’s eyed by the actress, trying to figure out what part of the crew she’s in. “You their new PA?”

"Who, me?" Mizi stammered, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. "No, no. I'm... I'm Mizi." She gestured vaguely towards the bustling set. "I'm... the lead?"

Sua's sunglasses slid down her nose a fraction, and she peered at Mizi with a hint of amusement. "You’re the one who became famous for those Red Velvet covers right? Weren’t you on that show with Lee Young Ji? Seriously? Wow. You clean up nice. I almost didn't recognize you without the filters." She took a sip of her drink, her eyes still on Mizi. The newbie was unsure whether she received a compliment or an insult. "You know, for someone about to carry a whole production on their shoulders, you look like you're about to throw up."

Mizi tenses up even more, completely star struck and unsure of what to reply. "Yeah, well... It's a little intimidating. Everyone seems so… professional." Sua chuckled, a warm, genuine sound that contrasted with her earlier teasing. "Listen, 'professional' is just a fancy word for 'pretending we know what we're doing.' Half of them are probably just as nervous as you are, just better at hiding it."

“Besides," she added, her tone softening slightly, "Intimidated is good. It means you care about giving a great performance. Just don't let it paralyze you."

Mizi managed a small smile. "Thanks. I appreciate that." She’s being pep talked by her one of her favorite actresses, not to mention she smells so damn good for someone coming into the studio all unassuming.

Sua straightened up, pushing her sunglasses back into place. "Look, Mizi," she said, her voice more serious now, "I've seen all kinds of actors, from seasoned veterans to fresh-faced rookies, judging by how you’re holding yourself, i’m afraid this industry could eat you alive, we don’t want that now, do we?”

Mizi shakes her head ‘no’.

“You already know how netizens can get with feedback, you’re a micro-celebrity afterall. Advice is, don't try to be someone you're not, trust your instincts, and have fun. Just don’t forget to get serious when needed." She paused, a small smile playing on her lips. 

"I hope you can catch up with me, we're going to be spending a lot of time together. Might as well get used to each other." She extended a hand. "I look forward to working with you." 

Mizi returned the gesture, “Likewise.” -+-+-+- Her reminiscing was startled by the sudden cold touch against her shoulder. 

"Congratulations, Mizi" Her co-star had  gently nudged her with the side of the white wine bottle, giggling as she handed one of the two glasses she held. 

The rookie gladly accepts the drink, "Sunbaenim? Sorry, I wandered off, I’ll head back downstairs." She hurriedly gets up from her chair.

"No, it’s fine, sit back down, it's been a while since we got to talk like this, and you can drop the honorifics while you’re at it,” Sua smiles, “It’s just the two of us after all, mind if I join you?"

"No, ma'am" 

Sua drags the chair from the opposite end, scooting it closer to Mizi’s, so they could hear each other better, of course.

Sua herself started off as a child actress, quickly getting renowned for her incredible vocals. Four years in, she was awarded Best Supporting Actress in a melodrama film. Later down the line, she started to land several leading actress roles in action-packed k-dramas, eventually receiving three more awards. On top of that, she also contributed to the OSTs of the productions she starred in herself.

Despite the bubbly personas she often played, the actress herself has nothing like her characters in real life. She was strict in her work, serious around set, and sarcastic in nature. 

Mizi was stunned after learning she would be working on a project with an iconic actress, but nothing would’ve prepared her for how gorgeous she looked up close. 

Under the soft glow of the stars, the two girls chatted about anything, jumping from one topic to another, their conversation seemed to be endless.

There’s a quiet understanding in their exchanged glances, sipping their drink in between, going over their nostalgia, their expectations, and unspoken feelings. It’s almost as if time had stopped and this night had existed only for them.  

"The director really took the creative liberty to not give our characters any original names." Sua chuckles, as she finishes her glass, Mizi grabs the bottle behind her and pours her friend another glass, "Well, given that neither of us had any last names, they might as well be just us in another universe–Thank some invisible being, we’re in this one." The older woman adds. 

“Vivi’s work process is odd, but I prefer not to question her decisions…” Mizi states nervously, it clicks in Sua why she wanted to be alone, “I guess you’re right, despite the questionable work ethic, she manages to produce amazing results anyway.” The older woman takes a shot in the dark with her question. “Are you here because you’re not sure if you’re worthy of receiving this award?” 

Mizi was surprised at how spot on she was, “It’s a lot to take in…” 

Sua smiles, pouring her castmate a glass and another for her, seems like this is gonna be a long night for the both of them. Not like the people downstairs are gonna be needing their host anyway, as long as they don’t break anything. “Oh please, it’s not like you’re the first actor in history to ever land this huge of an award for their first role, our dear old Ivan won too.” He wasn’t old, in fact, he’s the same age as Mizi, and even started acting a little later. 

“But what if they made a mistake? There were other nominees who are way more talented and have more extensive careers than I do, they should’ve gotten that award.”

The senior chuckles, “And yet, they didn’t.”

“But-”

“Look Mizi, even if you hadn’t won, or if someone else had taken the award, would that change the fact that you worked hard? Would it stop you from wanting to get any better? You’re not gonna quit acting just because you got such a prestigious award on your first try, right?”

She has a point, Mizi thinks. It’s just so hard to shake off the mix of appreciation and guilt, every time she looks at her trophy. 

The senior reaches down into her own brassiere, this display was so jarring it might have snapped Mizi even more awake. Sua pulls out a cigarette stick that was hidden in her dress, she offers one to her co-star. “Want one?”

Mizi shakes her head profusely in response, “I don’t smoke”

”Follow up question, do you want to try smoking? It usually takes off the edge.”

Oh dear, this is like high school all over again. Had Sua been another person, our leading lady would’ve immediately declined.

“No? That’s alright, I thought you were one of those people who’d start lecturing me about how it’s bad for your health. Unless, you’re the type to vape-”

“No! Maybe I could’ve - not, I don’t smoke… anything! But - yeah, no, I’ll pass.” She stammered over her words whether she’d agree, decline, or remind her how bad it is for her as a singer, obviously didn’t have the guts to voice any of these options. 

It was Sua’s turn to be shocked, she could physically see the back and forth of the younger girl’s conscience, she was very expressive, it amused the seasoned actress. Looks like this one doesn’t have much vices, does she?

By this time she’s already lit up her stick using the lighter she had in her pocket, the older woman shrugs, “Worth a try, that’s what I observed, you know what you're into, I kinda love that about you.”

If Mizi were any braver she would have, but thank the stars she was so pathetic, or she would’ve never gotten to hear that last part from Sua. “You observed?” Her question was prying for examples.

“Yeah, remember on our way to the script reading? Hyuna-unnie invited us for ice cream afterwards and when you announced that your flavor of choice was mint ice cream, everyone in the van gagged and booed!” The actress takes another sip of wine, “I’ve never seen you so offended! This was an ice cream flavor for fucks sake, then you proceeded to rant on how great it was - when you got your pint handed to you, you just ate it without any care in the world. In all honesty, I was almost jealous of that ice cream, you were willing to throw hands for it.” 

“Oh come on, mint cream is good, not like I wanted to fight anyone on it.” The anecdote made some of Mizi’s blood rush to her face, she didn’t think Sua would find that comical. “Is there anything else?”

Sua drags out a stream of smoke, the smoke curls lazily from her lips, watching Mizi through half-lidded eyes. “More? Now you’re just feeding your own ego,” she teases. 

“During dress rehearsals for round five, you kept tripping over your own costume during the run-through with Luka, you were so upset with yourself that day – He told you to ask them to alter it, but apparently you didn’t want to bother the crew, so you took extra hours practicing alone to get yourself used to the outfit, I couldn’t help but admire that dedication from you.” She finishes, placing her hand on top of Mizi’s, looking at her in awe.

Sua goes on to talk about how much she loved filming with the crew, how they clicked so easily and amazing it is getting to be genuine friends even outside of production, something that was rare for her in her previous works. 

She calls back to the conversations they had in the dressing room, learning how they both grew up liking the same celebrities and media, hanging out in cafes after shooting, even sharing inside jokes that only they understand. The entire time her co-star was listening attentively, hanging on to her every word. 

Sua exhales, watching the smoke curl into the sky, suddenly the air between them became a little tense. “The one I couldn’t stop thinking about was how you started off so shy but opened up so easily. During the last night of the premiere, we were all told to meet at a bar. You ended up sitting next to me, and I swear, everytime I so much as leaned in to ask you something you’d flinch! I don’t bite, you know!”

Mizi remembers that night vividly. She had already been feeling something strange around Sua in the later days of promotions, though she started to have a bit of an idea what it was. Without realizing it, she had started to put distance between them.

“At first, I thought maybe you were just tired. We had done so many interviews that day after all, that must’ve been the reason. But then you started making excuses to switch seats, you told me you ‘needed to go to the restroom’. Then suddenly, you ‘had to help Ivan with his drink’ Whatever the hell that meant. Honestly? It made me a little sad. I thought we had something good going on.” She rolls the stick between her fingers, before flicking it to the floor and putting it out with her shoe.

Mizi grips the stem of her glass, the guilt building up in her. “It wasn’t like that. I just… I needed some space after everything.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, apart from the fact she wasn’t used to the spotlight, everything else was so new to the former influencer.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?"

The rookie looks at her wide-eyed, this makes Sua laugh. "Relax, I'm not upset or anything, but I do want an answer at least.” Mizi stammered on her words, it’s true, she was avoiding her, not because she came to dislike her, it was far from that. She wasn’t sure if the growing feelings she had were right, but she so desperately wanted to be around her too. It’s all so confusing.

The rumors and articles circulating in public didn’t help either, despite the dozen of public appearances they’ve had together, promotional material, interviews, and who could forget that chemistry they had on screen. It’d be shocking to learn that Mizi was doing everything she could flee the scene once her job with Sua was over.  -+-+-+- “Is it true you weren’t wearing a wig in the film?”

“Funny story, after our script reading the make-up artist comes up to me and goes ‘Sweetie, do you happen to like reading books?’ and I ask why, and then she sits me down on the chair, and starts to bring out tin foil.” 

Mizi proceeds to talk about the bleaching process and how excrutiating it was to sit in the chair for so long meanwhile Sua is laughing at the dramatic story-telling of her co-star, like it was the most hilarious thing she’s heard.

“Tell us about how you both prepared for the opening scene.” The host continued.

“That was actually our first time meeting our child counterparts, I remember after the shoot, we had a photo with the two of them, and when we checked out the photo Ivan started laughing, telling us ‘You guys look like a family of four’, I genuinely thought it was so cute.” Mizi imitated Ivan’s speech, throwing in mocking gestures.

The host switches his attention to the other actress, pressing for her to add on. “I think we just have great chemistry and teamwork, if we were to star in a romantic film, we’d kill it as a couple, honestly”

Mizi smiles, bumping shoulder with the other woman “I totally agree.”

The host awkwardly fakes his laugh, suddenly noticing the body language between the two actresses. “Moving on to the next question, Sua had a promotional shoot where she wore a wedding dress? Tell us more about it.”  -+-+-+- “I’d like to think that you had a good reason, I genuinely thought we were enjoying ourselves”

“It’s just that…” She trails off, was she really just gonna blurt this out to her? The woman she’s admired for so long? Her closest co-star? For someone who just got her big break in acting, she sure as hell isn’t good at hiding her feelings.

“During promotions, I believe I started to develop feelings for you – and before you say anything, I know it’s unprofessional for an actress to fall in love with their co-star, it’s just acting after all!" Her embarassment was becoming more noticable

"I've idolized you for so long that I think it manifested in this weird way? I understand if you find it weird, I’m weirded out about it myself! – Not that I find being attracted to you a bad thing, you’re absolutely ethereal, I meant that it wouldn’t be so great for the both of us to have all this awkward air around.”

“Mizi, I've been trying to flirt with you for months.” Sua interjects, dumbfounded.

A second of silence passes, “What the hell, don’t tell me you didn’t pick up on any of that!?” The older woman raises her voice, standing up from her seat. This makes Mizi panic, her face getting red, and this isn’t just from the alcohol. “No, I-”

Sua sits back down, frustrated from the realization she may have fallen for an idiot. “For someone so skilled, I couldn’t imagine you’d be so oblivious to these things.” All that time spent daydreaming of different scenarios how their first kiss would go, she imagined it’d be romantic just like the movies, but sadly that expectation went down the drain.

If it were possible, a buffering icon seemed to appear on top of the younger actresses’ head, “Wait, I'm sorry, you’ve been hitting on me?”

“I’ve been doing it since earlier! What kind of friend initiates this much skinship?” Mizi tries to shush her friend, afraid she’d be heard by either their other co-stars or said co-star’s neighbors. 

“This means you like me?” She mutters, not exactly asking Sua directly, but to herself in disbelief, something snaps inside the homeowner. 

Without missing a beat, Sua cups Mizi’s face and pulls it towards her own, smashing their lips together a little aggressively. The younger woman pulls away in surprise, from the action and the taste of Nicotine. So much for romance. 

“Mizi. Please stop asking me these dumb fucking questions.”

“Yes ma’am.” The actress gulps.

“...Can I ask one last stupid question?”

“...Fine”

“How long have you known?”

Sua leans back on her seat, racking through her head for an answer. “It started off as a crush I think… During the shoot of ‘My Clematis'.”

She continues, “Something about the way you smiled at me, made me feel so giddy, I was like ‘Fuck, I’d love to wake up to that every morning’.” That was the moment Sua realized that her thoughts about her co-star had surpassed 'being besties'.

Sua's head sinks down, resting on her co-star’s shoulder. “I hadn’t had this much fun in years with someone.”

The cotton-candy haired girl stiffens up, not wanting to make her friend move from her position. What does this make us then? How do we go from here? What would the public think? 

“What are we?” Is what she manages to say.

“We don’t need to announce it. Sure, maybe only to a handful of people, if somehow we get found out, we’ll deal with it together.” Sua suggests, burying her nose on the side of Mizi’s neck, taking in her scent.

“Does that mean we’re girlfriends now?” Mizi asks, a little too hopeful. Her co-star laughs to herself, “I wouldn’t jump too quickly on that, maybe we’ll go on a few dates first, then see if it’s a good call.”

“Right, right, baby steps, nothing too big…” Mizi trails off, the older woman notices her tone, lifting her head to meet her partner’s eyes. 

The rookie sheepishly asks, “Are you gonna ask me out or…” 

Sua rolls her eyes in amusement, it’s as if she reverted back to being the cheeky girl she loved spending time with. “Mizi, would you like to go on a date with me?”

Mizi clasps her new date’s hands theatrically. “ABSOLUTELY.” This time, she shushes the younger girl, gesturing to the neighbors’ houses.

“Yes, I’d love that,” Mizi repeated, this time, in a whisper. Sua places another kiss on her partner’s lips, it was chaste but much more tender than their first one. “We should really head back downstairs, it’s oddly quiet, I think most of them have already passed out somewhere.” 

Mizi chuckles, "Probably. Knowing them, they've probably raided everything in your kitchen.” She pulls Sua to her feet, to which the other actress wobbles doing so.

“You okay?” The younger girl asks, Sua grabs Mizi’s shoulders trying to catch herself, maybe she had a little too much to drink.

They tiptoe back downstairs, hand in hand, and to no one’s surprise, their prediction proves accurate. A tapestry of bodies sprawls across the couches and floor of the living room, illuminated by the light of the television, which displayed a low score for the song Heart Attack by Chuu, done by an unknown singer. (It was Ivan).

Empty chip bags and discarded fried chicken boxes litter the dinner table. Hyuna has somehow managed to drape themselves over the arm of the sofa, their feet dangling precariously close to a half-eaten bowl of ramen.

Mizi stifles a laugh. "They look like they've been through a battlefield, if you angle it just right, this could be a poster for the second film.” 

Sua grimaces at the sight. "I don’t wanna think about the clean up I'd have to do tomorrow, let’s retreat to my room instead.”

They navigate through the obstacle course of zombies, towards the kitchen, where they find a surprising sight: a single, untouched slice of strawberry cake sits on the counter. 

"Fuck yes!" Mizi whispers, her eyes sparkling. Sua raises an eyebrow. "You’re seriously still able to eat after everything we consumed?”

Her question was purposely ignored, Mizi happily makes her way back through the sleeping bodies with a slice of cake and fork in hand. 

Going back upstairs to Sua’s room, which was next to the balcony and washroom. Both girls sit on the homeowner’s bed, making fun of the crime scene they just witnessed. Mizi is in charge of cutting the cake into bits, feeding herself and her co-star alternatively, Sua’s arm draped protectively over Mizi. 

“So the whole outfit was Till’s idea?” 

“Yeah, I went ahead and told him that he looked ridiculous, he looked like a walking rice cake in his all white suit. It was funnier seeing him walk on that red carpet, a large tteokbbokki on top a path of gojuchang.” Mizi mentions her interaction with their male co-star, a nickname the rest of the cast picked up on that night. She consumes the last piece of the sponge cake, feeding the strawberry slice to her future girlfriend.

Their eyelids grow heavy, the sugar, mixed with the warmth of each other’s bodies, and the alcohol in their system of course, was lulling them to sleep.

Mizi places their finished meal on the nightstand next to them, the digital clock displaying that it was already three in the morning, she adjusts herself into a more comfortable position. 

Mizi whispers, pulling the sheets over the both of them, "All this feels like a movie," Sua smiles, her eyes already closed. "And we’re only getting to the best part.” 

What a great way to end the night for everyone, this was the last thing Mizi thinks to herself before drifting to sleep.