#wilson is rocking those sunglasses

[gior-gio]

Sketching for a Cast Away illustration

[knockknockitsnickels]

My Personal Best & Worst Skins for Each Don't Starve Character bc I love to yap

Based purely on personal opinion, though if anyone wants to share their own thoughts pls feel free. I'm going to be basing these mostly off of the in-game sprites, which tend to have more vibrant colors than the portraits. I'm sorry for not including said sprites, but I was unable to find good pictures of them all. Also this won't be including the Culinarian/Challenger skins, since those are pretty simple and same-y.

Wilson: Imo the quality of Wilson's skins vary from pretty good to just kind of mid. Nothing stands out as a skin I really want, but there's nothing awful either. My personal favorites are a toss-up between the Verdant, Victorian, and Mad Scientist, but for now I'm going with Verdant because I like the vibe. Worst is between Survivor and Merrymaker - Survivor probably deserves the spot for being bland, but I decided on Merrymaker just because I hate the berries in his hair. I think the holly leaf motif is a cute idea, but the berry placement feels kind of random.

Willow: Willow's in a similar situation to Wilson where there are no skins I really love or hate. Best is probably forlorn doll - all of the details on her head make her in-game sprite a little busy, but the yellow eyes and red dress are cute. Honorable mention to Snowfallen and Victorian for also being cute though. Worst goes to Woeful because a) I have no idea what concept it's going for (Lizzie Borden???) and b) I hate whatever's going on with her hair.

Wolfgang: I recognize that the reference to Hulk Hogan has perhaps aged poorly but I can't not love the Giant. Look at his sick sunglasses and try to tell me this skin is bad. Worst is Incredible Strongman (mostly because of how his hair is drawn. It looks like he's wearing swiss rolls on his head).

Wendy: Best is the Moonbound - I like the hair color change (though the washed out portrait colors don't really do it justice), and the markings under her eyes which resemble tears (like runny mascara, if that makes sense) are a fun detail. Wendy doesn't really have any skins I hate, but my least favorite is Survivor - it's just a little bland, and I don't care much for the "bone" motif (her flower & the ones around her neck).

WX-78: WX is the first character discussed in this post where I think that almost all of their skins are fantastic. It's difficult to choose a favorite - I think using a nutcracker motif for the Christmas-themed Merrymaker set was an inspired choice, Snowfallen gives them this cool, ice-themed supervillain look (literally, I think it was inspired by the character Mr. Freeze from Batman), and while I get why people don't really like the color scheme, I can't not love the super sentai theme of the Midori Roboto (it also just appeals to me as a fan of cheesy 80s rock). With all of that said - I'm sorry, I adore their Guest of Honor outfit, it's so dumb. I think objectively Experiment is probably their actual best skin but I have to be true to myself. Worst goes to Gladiator - it doesn't look so bad in the portrait, but in-game all of the different colors - red, gray, & multiple shades of yellow - around the face area make this skin really busy. Concept's cool, but the execution's flawed.

Wickerbottom: My girl. She's got a few nice skins - Snowfallen gets points for making her look like an ice queen, & I think I like her Moonbound skin more than most other people (I just think the 3rd eye is a cool idea for her). That said, I think the Bewitched is the best one - it looks lovely, the witch theme is fun, & it's the only one which significantly changes up her silhouette. Worst is Volt Goat (a lot of the early Halloween skins were kinda bland, I'm surprised this is the first one I've mentioned).

Woodie: I was surprised by how many good skins Woodie has, since I remembered them being a bit underwhelming. I like his Roseate, Merrymaker, and Snowfallen skins quite a bit, and the last shred of Canadian patriotism in me really enjoys the Hockey skin, but his stupid hippy Halloween costume is too conceptually funny to not include. Sorry I'm really predictable at this point. Worst goes to Masquerader - it's way too busy, and on his in-game sprite you can barely see his mouth.

Wes: Triumphant is hands-down his best skin but shoutout to Lover for that smug lil pose he does in the portrait. I honestly don't think Wes has any bad skins - even the ones I personally think are ugly make really fun use of the clown scheme - so the crown goes to Mandrake for being boring.

Maxwell: Poor Maxwell, man. He's stuck with some of the worst skins in the game. Klei, please PLEASE stop trying to give this man facial hair it does NOT look good. Anyway his best is Gladiator for looking cool (though the portrait colors are REALLY washed out) and making way better use of the "dark magician" theme then some of his other skins dark wizard. Snowfallen is also pretty cool however it DOES lose points for the facial hair. Anyway everyone hates Dark Wizard and while it DOES look goofy as hell Moonbound is worse. I don't know why ppl don't mention it, Moonbound is way worse. #StopTryingToGiveMaxwellABeard #ShaveThatMan

Wigfrid: Like WX, I think almost all of Wigfrid's skins are really good and im gay. Moonbound wins the prize bc she looks like a magical girl and I love that. If I had to pick a worst one I guess I'd choose Guest of Honor. I still like it, the outfit's just a little plain.

Webber: Webber my beloved. I love the Rebel on concept alone & the Victorian for making him a lil sailor boy, but Snowfallen has my heart. I love the way he's colored to look like a snowman (the legs on his head being the "twigs") and that the fluff on his body resembles a sweater. Survivor is probably the worst, it's almost identical to the original aside from some messy hair and spiderwebs. However even the worst Webber skin still belongs to Webber, and is therefore adorable.

Warly: Warly my also beloved, who's also got a lot of great skins. I really like the Candyman, but Roseate is probably the best one - I like the little rose shape in his hair. Worst is ABSOLUTELY Carrat, but shout out to Head Chef (the chef hat in the portrait isn't actually part of his sprite) and the Triumphant for being disappointing (come on, "evil chef" is such a fun idea. Why didn't you make him Bobby Flay).

Wormwood: I probably should've used the in-game sprites for this post, since the coolest part of his skins (the blooming) isn't shown on the portrait. Case in point, my favorite Wormwood skin, Triumphant, looks really bland in the portrait, but when it blooms it opens up into this really cool & striking red eye. I tried to include a picture but it was really big & this post is long enough as it is so you're gonna have to trust me, it's cool. I again don't think Wormwood has any bad skins - I guess I'll go with Roseate since the leaves on his head look Uncomfortably like hair, but it's still good.

Winona: I am EXTREMELY gay All of Winona's skins are really hot fantastic and no I am NOT biased. I want to gush about all of them (SNOWFALLEN! VICTORIAN! THE FIXER! THE ONLY GOOD SURVIVOR SKIN!) but the best is the Swashbuckler. She's so good I'm going insane. I guess her worst is Moonbound? I like some of the ideas but I think it just looks kind of messy, esp whatever's going on with her hair & shoulders.

Walter: WALTER MY BELOVED! I mentioned earlier that Wigfrid's Moonbound skin makes her look like a magical girl, but Walter's actually IS a magical girl skin - his portrait even has him striking the Sailor Moon pose! I think some of his other skins are probably objectively better, but this one's still my favorite. Honorable mention to Triumphant just bc I like the idea (turning a boyscout into a dennis-the-menace style troublemaker). I'm going to give worst to Bee Costume just bc the eyeballs on his head freak me out (but I do think the idea of him dressing up as a bee for Halloween bc he's allergic is fun). Side note, a lot of Walter's skins have hats in the portrait but not in-game? I dunno what's up with that, I guess it's so they don't interfere with equipment?

Wortox: Unfortunately none of Wortox's skins really stick out to me in a positive or negative way. Favorite is probably a tossup between Survivor & Masquerade - went with the former based purely on vibes. I also kinda like the sea-serpent theme of Swashbuckler & gargoyle theme of Victorian. Worst is going to Draconic for being kinda bland & similar to the original. I guess you could make a similar complaint about Uncorrupted, but it's that way for LORE reasons so I wouldn't want them to change it.

Wurt: I really like aquatic monster designs, so i enjoy a lot of Wurt's skins, but the best is Victorian bc a) it's cute and b) deep lore. S/out to Merrymaker's cute sugar-plum fairy motif tho. I will give the worst to Verdant because I don't really like the colors (purple, green, yellow, cream, & brown are a lil clashy).

Wanda: Finally, Wanda. I really like the star motif in her Masquerader fit, and while Tinkersmith is super cute, it looks a little too similar to her original outfit for me (I'm also not a fan of Triumphant's sunglasses, but I like that her hair looks like a shadow hand).

Anyway the moral of the story is don't give Maxwell a beard. Thanks.

[inneedofsupervision]

Masterlist

Here you can find all the fanfics I have written. Feel free to reblog, like and comment on whatever you enjoyed reading. You can find all of the fics on Ao3 too.

Short Info: All relationships in my fics are strongly platonic and without romantic or sexual themes unless explicitly stated otherwise. Fandoms I'm not writing for are marked with (*)

Spider-Man & The Avengers

Movie Night? No, thank you. - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Bucky Barnes, Ler! Sam Wilson (Read on Ao3)

This Thing about Blankets and Second Chances - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Bucky Barnes, Ler! Sam Wilson (Read on Ao3)

So, you got Detention - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Steve Rogers (Read on Ao3)

The Big Bad Wolf And The Itsy Bitsy Spider - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Bucky (Read on Ao3)

Suit Up - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Ned (Read on Ao3)

An eventfull Tuesday Afternoon - Series (completed)

Part 1: No Spilling Secrets - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Clint Barton, Ler! Sam Wilson, Ler! Bucky Barnes (Read on Ao3)

Part 2: Hey Mister Villain - Lee! Peter Parker / Ler! Tony Stark (Read on Ao3)

Venom

Sweet Tooth - Lee! Eddie / Ler! Venom (Read on Ao3)

Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler T-Fics (*)

(All Black Butler fanfics are based on the manga, not the anime)

Prince Soma's Remedy for Boredom - Lee! Ciel / Ler! Soma (Read on Ao3)

Sore Loser - Lee! Ciel / Ler! Soma

Past Your Bedtime - Lee! Ciel / Ler! Sebastian (Read on Ao3)

Sleepless Nights / Lee! Ciel / Ler! Sebastian (Read on Ao3)

Nanbaka T-Fics (*)

Poker & Punishments - Lee! Jyugo / Ler! Uno, Ler! Rock, Ler! Nico (Read on Ao3)

Roll Call - Lee! Jyugo / Ler! Hajime (Read on Ao3)

Supernatural T-Fics (*)

An Angels Helping Hands (2024 Squealing Santa) - Lee! Dean / Ler! Castiel (Read on Ao3)

Non-Tickle Fics!

Marvel

An Enemy? A Friend? No, just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Summary:

"Come on, Parker, say something. But don't make it embarrassing," thinks Peter. "Those are your childhood heroes, and they want something from you. Just say hi like a normal person." "Good evening, Mr. Barton, Sir. Mr. Wilson, Sir." "How do you know our names," asks Clint, sounding genuinely curious. "You have a Wikipedia page!" blurts Peter out before wincing inwardly. There goes his plan for a non-embarrassing first impression. "You've read our Wikipedia pages?" asks Sam slowly, as if saying the words slowly would let them make more sense. "Twice, actually." ________________________________ Are the Avengers a Team? Yes. Are they on good terms? Not necessarily. Has the public caught up on that? Maybe a little. When Fury sends the team on the mission to investigate the identity of New York's favorite vigilante, they have to learn to work as a team and not damage their already battered image. Or, the story of how the Avengers have to earn the public's trust back with the help of a certain crime fighting Spider.

(Read on Ao3)

I didn't ask, did I?

Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Summary:

Happy begrudgingly steps aside and walks after Tony into the diner. The billionaire skillfully ignores the gasps of surprise and the poor attempt to take pictures of him secretly as he strides straight up to the counter. "Two cheeseburgers and a large fry. To go." "Please get in line and wait for your turn, Sir." "Excuse me?" Tony slowly pulls his sunglasses down and glances at the skinny teen behind the register. "Bad hearing comes with age, huh?" mutters the teen under his breath. Happy makes a choking sound behind him. ___________________ Or, how Tony Stark gets sassed by some high schooler working part-time and makes it his mission to figure out what he did to make this kid he'd never seen hate him. If that means annoying the hell out of said high schooler, that's not his problem.

Read on Ao3

Seventeen (Kpop)

Intoxicated

One Shot

Summary:

There Jihoon goes, throwing over his rules for the year, to go with Soonyoung's whim and go drinking only to get a hangover. But worse than the hangover were these weird dreams he had that night. Who would believe that he met that guy out of a math lecture on his way home, inviting him over to "eat ramen" at his place, only for the dude to turn out to be a vampire and get his blood sucked?

Read on Ao3

[taylorhawkins]

“My music career started with women” - Taylor Hawkins (full interview)

My paternal grandmother, Josie Hawkins, grew up in the Great Depression and lived in Jackson, Mississippi. She’d throw us grandkids into the back of her old Buick while wearing giant sunglasses and listening to Kenny Rogers. She was a sweet woman who cooked amazing soul food. She didn’t know how to sit still. She lived almost to age 90 and was the matriarch of the Hawkins family.

My mum, Elizabeth Ann Hawkins, had her demons and a dark side. She was full of love, sweetness and tenderness and the total opposite of my dad [Terry]. She always believed in me. I would stand in front of her as a kid and sing, impersonate or dance for her. When I first got drums, she was the one who would watch me play. She was a big supporter and told me I’d make it. She counteracted Dad’s stony coldness, typical of a ’70s man.

I remember going to my first rock concert in 1982 to see Queen. I told Mum, “I’ll play that stadium one day.” She looked at me with eyes that matched my ambition. Mum was always there for me emotionally. She let me open up to her and showed me it was okay to have a gentle side.

Mum was a little absent sometimes because of her demons and my older sister Heather took up a lot of that slack. When dinner didn’t get finished because Mum had passed out on the couch, Heather was the one who made sure everything ran smoothly. My mum died from an aneurysm, nine months after Dad died in 2011 from emphysema. They loved each other, but for the last five years of his life it was Mum who took care of him. I saw this great release in Mum’s eyes after he died because she’d been carrying his oxygen tank everywhere they went. They were like best friends; they lived a full life. But there was tragedy, too.

Heather is the toughest member of our family. She’s the middle child and can still boss us all around. While my dad worried I’d live on his couch for his whole life because I was some loser musician, he never had to worry about Heather. My older brother, Jason, followed in Dad’s footsteps and became a businessman.

My celebrity crush was Olivia Newton-John. I noticed her in Grease, but even earlier than that I fell in love with her country songs. I was around three when I heard Have You Ever Been Mellow. There was something in her voice that I loved before I saw her.

My music career started with women; I first came to Australia playing in Alanis Morissette’s band – I owe so much to her. I recorded with many women on my most recent album with the Coattail Riders, Get the Money: Chrissie Hynde, LeAnn Rimes and Heart’s Nancy Wilson. I did ask Olivia Newton-John but her management never got back to me. Maybe one day.

I married Alison Hawkins in 2005. We have three children [Oliver, 13, Annabelle, 12, and Everleigh, 7]. There’s a song on Get the Money called I Really Blew It, which is for those men who think they can win an argument with their missus! I only speak for myself, but the man will always lose because the woman has the power.

I wrote a song about Annabelle called Middle Child. There’s a line, “you clean your mess up almost every night”, and she does. It’s tough being a middle child – but she is my twin and I love her so much.

[hessobbingincabo]

my thoughts on the Hellfire Gala (2022) outfits, in order of their appearance in the guidebook

scarlet witch - these guidebooks always start with the bangers huh? wanda really has that “space deity” look thanks to that ombre effect, and don’t even get me started on those dashing rings and that detailed headpiece, a certified 10/10

havok - while i don’t dislike this look on alex, last year’s outfit really does outshine this one for me; not necessarily horrible, but some more interesting concepts could’ve been included to elevate the blandness of “back in black” (a wild headpiece or some whirlwind sunglasses maybe?)

spider-man - i can see the 2099 inspirations here and i couldn’t be happier for it; the glowing parts really do it for me, along with those almost sneaker-like accents on his feet and wow i can’t get enough of that spider logo - absolute win

gambit - now this is a remy design done well, and whilst last year’s black 3-piece wasn’t horrendous, it was dull, but to make up for it this year they nailed it with just enough of that gambit flair; that said, it captures his flirtiness and pizzaz perfectly, job well done - especially adore those blue accents, tying the look together flawlessly

black widow - where do i start? all those satin (lace?) sections, especially that veil, really add to that seductive mysterious femme fatale poise that nat has in heaps, the golden accents and the almost scorpion-like braid certainly certify this as an eXcellent ensemble

magik - [edit] so yeah, this outfit grew on me; maybe not as evocative as last year, this year magik’s regalia is self-contained and straight-forward in it’s influences and it definitely ends up on my “good” list at the end of the day

dr. doom - we’re back on track with this glorious doom attire; absolutely screams “royalty” and overall is certainly in my top 5 outfits from the entire gala - absolutely no gripes with any part of this design

wolverine/x-23 - while last year gave us an unimpressive one-piece dress, this year they more than made up for it, regarding every piece of laura’s styling with creativity; this “punk” look unironically has all the spunk i would expect of laura - from the heavy boots to the accent belts and (this time) very well-placed slits with a striking mask solidify this look as an exciting addition to kinney’s wardrobe

synch - contrary to above, synch’s whole “generation x”-inspired get-up really is a step back from his brilliant, simple suit from last year; nothing here stands out, all just blending in with those rainbow accents which just look tacky to me, with the zipper being the most eye-catching piece of the whole design, which puts it at a solid 3/10 (yes i know it’s his regular costume but a lot more could’ve been done as he is a full-fledged x-man now!)

iceman - now we’re talking! bobby absolutely kills it this year with a coherent ice suit, which really contrasts last year’s messy dress and wings, this time complimenting bobby’s flirtiness; on top of it all, as you know i’m a sucker for the “outfit-being-part-of-character’s-physiology” thing, and it works like a charm here

she-hulk - jen looks debonair, with a straightforward 2-piece with the loose trousers flattering her physique fabilously, masterfully contrasting her femininity and strength; not one of my absolute favorites but a worthy addition to jen’s most iconic looks - i also really love the glasses

emma frost - right on par, our queen of the gala is again rocking a white and gold dress with many cutouts, showing everyone who the absolute boss is; some of last year’s outfits actually suited her better in my opinion, but as far as formalwear goes this is yet another strong inclusion in emma’s expansive gown collection

captain america/steve rogers - steve looks undoubtedly sharp with his 40′s inspired 3-piece, in those iconic reds, whites and blues; the pinstripe was a nice idea and the cape fits him finely - a illustrious look for a distinguished man

captain america/sam wilson - sam knew what the assignment was and passed with flying colours (pun intended); nothing bad about this design, but nothing stands out that i can even comment on, but still a good look nonetheless - do like the shield design tho!

captain marvel - continuing the trend with the flag colors, carol’s absolute saving grace is her jacket, which reminds me of wanda with those space elements (which if u think about it makes more sense with carol, than with wanda but oh well), but i feel like more could’ve been done to make her stand out a with some accessories or a design on her suit; still charming tho 

cyclops - catwalk-ready and dressed to impress, this is yet another strike for scott; his gala looks always bring something fresh to his suit collection, with this year’s really swerving for that pirate look with the loose shirt and overlapping garments, possibly refrencing a certain space pirate...? my only minor complaint is that i would’ve liked to see some more colors, but maybe next year

jean grey - the mutants’ garbs are some of the strongest in the gala (as it should be), with jean taking the lead with her 3 confirmed looks, which absolutely cement the “marvel girl” pastiche vibes; even if they’re not perfect, each of jean’s get-ups has something to enjoy and while i’d like to see some 90′s or phoenix-inspired dresses, this year jean may be crowned “best-dressed” but we’ll have to wait and see (ps. i adored last year’s costume a lot, so it’ll be hard for me to say these are jean’s best gala looks but don’t quote me on that yet :)

forge - forge actually didn’t recieve a gala outfit last year and they are slightly making up for it this year with a surprisingly solid entrance; while i have to admit that i find forge as a character boring, but his suit - simple as it is, works like a charm and i can say that it is a certified top 10

iron man - tony.. who hurt you, my friend? i know for a fact that he dresses to impress, so what happened here? a fancy armor with a bowtie or a longer coat would’ve done miracles to elevate this design, but alas, we are left with crumbs... do better next year

rogue - wow... just wow. i didn’t think rogue could have a bad gala look, and well... i still think that! rogue looks absolutely breathtaking, as always and at this point i’m convinced they can’t physically can’t put rogue in a bad outfit, she would still rock it! a sure 10/10

namor - okayyy, king of atlantis, finally clothes fit for a king! last year namor showed up in his regular suit, which really bummed me as namor is NOT the guy who would underdress for an event, but now he actually put some effort in; while it is not great, as it’s literally just a fin-textured 2-piece with a trident, it’s a step in the right direction

wolverine - i actually am not sure if this is an official design, as it’s just logan dancing with jean in a regular black tuxedo, but it weirdly works; here’s hoping he actually gets a cool design, but i wouldn’t necessarily hate it if they stuck with the classics with him 

+ bonus

(from the textless “first look” preview)

clea - full on dr. strange cosplay going on, but i have to admit - the black perfectly compliments the red cape and her hair is interesting visually, but that’s how far i’d go; it’s a glorified super hero costume and this is a private event - c’mon clea, do better (also it’s a crime that no purple was incorporated in her outfit, a crime i tell you)

bishop - so, i’m conflicted... i don’t hate it, but i don’t love it either; compared to last year this look is a godsend, but i still feel that it doesn’t capture bishop fully, like where are the futuristic elements and the iconic “M” scar?, that said it’s still a solid look and the reds really cement that “red bishop” title he’s going for

mary jane - [BIG SPOILERS AHEAD] so it was revealed that our beloved redhead is being impersonated by none other than moira herself... but she did dress exquisitely, i do have do admit; simple, but elegant

cypher - doug actually received a hellfire look, a win in my book and while it is on the uninspired side it is a step up from his boring tuxedo last year; the chains & neckpiece the are popping tho

morph - very faintly, amongst the crowd we can spot one of my favorite obscure x-men characters, benjamin deeds and he looks chic; to contrast his boyfriend he’s wearing a cyan coat, but that’s all that could be made out and i can’t wait to see him in full

hindsight - next to morph is undoubtedly his boyfriend nate; absolutely rocking that pink, to appear as a complimenting contrast to morph’s cyan; again, bias does play a slight role here, but i do want to see him in his full glory to comment more thoroughly

polaris - i was absolutely right with my predictions, polaris looks stunning and i couldn’t have expected less from the mistress of magnetism herself; a highlight of the gala for sure

sunfire - another physiological outfit, based on sunfire’s flames and obviously it’s a 10 out of 10 from me; they just know how to play around with my favorite outfit trope and i’m happy to see shiro with those black flowing lines really finishing up his explosive look off

kate pryde - i hate to confess but the red queen thing is growing on me slightly, as i don’t really see any flaws with this design; we can see very little but what we do see is very well thought out and placed, so yeah i can’t believe i’m saying this but - a good 8/10 is in order

professor x - ricocheting off of last year’s absolutely atrocious design, this year charles’ outfit was toned down and with that came coherence; again a very big step-up from last year and the biggest surprise for me - maybe another potential favorite in-the-running

shinobi shaw - the best i can say is... eh? it just looks like a rehash from last year(which wasn’t too impresive either, even if i did like it), i wish they stray from other rehashes with the major characters (which has been the case so far); benefit of the doubt, we’ll wait until we see the whole thing

mystique - so i’m not a 100% sure if that’s her, could be some obscure atlantean but due to her proximity to her wife i’d assume that’s raven; i really like this look! it’s fashionable, effortless and even if i did dig her last year “evil queen” feather gown a little more, this one is a worthy successor 

destiny - not much is visible, but from what we see, even if it’s not horrible, i wish more was done - playing around with her mask, adding flair to the helmet/head area; recognisability is important but it’s not supposed to halt creativity, and we can see it hasn’t stopped them with other characters

firestar - a surprising addition to this year’s festivities, but i love that angelica is back and even if her “outfit” is just her costume, it’s still cute and the bob really suits her <3

wolfsbane - appearing in a single panel, rahne puts all her cards on the table with a simple black suit & tie combo with gold elements; maybe a bit too simple for my liking, as more “wolf” motifs could’ve been included, but still a solid look for her imo

shaman(?) - a character that is never named, who i’m assuming is shaman, but never confirmed, sitting next to rahne at the gambling table; my boy looks stylish, even if we see just a glimpse... wish he was at least named, so i know who i’m complimenting

feilong - stylish & dapper, feilong’s appearance at the gala certainly doesn’t entail anything good; at least he himself does look dashing in his simple 3-piece, with the green accent just adding a nice contrast to his red skin

mr. fantastic - whilst reed’s design isn’t anything groundbreaking, his simple suit is really charming, with the coat giving me that “scientist” vibe that is right up the man’s alley; another hit in the right direction here

black panther - again, debatable which character is actually sitting next to emma at the poker table but all signs point to the king of wakanda; we see a slight glimpse of him, but we all know t’challa knows how to dress so yet another strong male design at the party is present

shuri - as with her brother, i am unsure if this character is actually shuri but it would make sense, no? anyways, shuri’s cream dress and gold jewelry are very nice, but c’mon the princess of wakanda wearing something so boring is just not it; give me tribal patterns, bold colours, play with hairstyles and headpieces... not a bad look, just a boring one

deadpool - a cameo from the man himself, wade appears to be donning a 1800′s inspired costume, which we see from the back; i can’t really comment on the whole thing as it’s a 1-panel thing but i guess its nice?

greycrow - boring black suit. tie. fitting for a character who i myself find uninteresting as well...

stepford cuckoos - is this a step up or down from last year, i can’t tell you... this year the sisters decided to go for the “greek handmaidens” looks and with barely any accessories, this is one of the worst designs of the gala for me... such a let-down from clones of one of the most fashionable comic characters ever

banshee - yes. just yes. banshee is again, one of the most dapper men at the gala, with him really becoming one of those male fashion staples of the x-men for me; couldn’t praise it enough, even if we barely saw any of it 

mr. sinister - why? just why wasn’t he included in the handbook? i absolutely REVERE how sinister went all “royal” this year, definite step-up from his last look (which i also enjoyed); blowing it out of the water, he showed last years’ professor x, magneto & monarch how it’s done - 10/10

gwenpool - magic school girl. absolutely on brand for gwen. just a big thumbs up from me

scout - gabi really took a page out of her sister’s book and showed up, looking hella good! another very solid addition to the hellfire gala line-up, can’t wait to see her explore her style more 

psylocke - [edit] thank god for david nakayama, as we can finally behold kwannon in her absolutely breathtaking psychic knives dress, which shoots her straight to top 5 looks from the gala

as far as designs go, these are all that are revealed to us so far, but i can’t wait to see some of last year’s mutants & some new designs for our beloved regular heroes recieve looks to update it with some new thoughts!

[wiypt-writes]

Rock ‘n’ Roll People In A Disco World

Part 1- Disco Down

Intro: It's range day. SWAT vs LAPD Special Crimes branch. You and your finance decide to have a bit of fun with the interdepartmental competition.

Pairing: Paul Diskant x Reader

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar the reader and any other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N: So yeah, I started another series. Bad WIYBUPT. But there aint enough Disco out there so I thought I’d rectify that situation. This is also another entry for @imanuglywombat​ ‘s  “Is That Even A Sex Position” weekly challenge. This position is called “Juicy Ass”. See here for more information.

Rock ‘n’ Roll People Masterlist // Main Masterlist

It was early in the morning, the first warm rays of the LA sunshine had barely begun warming the pavement when the two of you had started your day. Paul was already pouring you both coffee to go as you met him in the kitchen, dressed in your Swat training tee, utility pants and standard issue uniform boots, hair French braided back. You smirked at the dapper young detective before you, slacks, dress shoes, button down and tie. 

It'd been a gruelling last few weeks for you both. You were working a SWAT case with your unit and Paul was busy working an LAPD Vice officer's homicide. He would trudge in late at night, either from the precinct or more recently from a night out with Vice following some leads. You were always already asleep and he didn't want to wake you. He'd kiss you softly, shower, kiss you again and crawl into bed, hugging you close.

Now, you were both getting ready to head out, finally having slept in the same bed together for the first time in weeks. Given your nature, the two of you were playfully squabbling over the upcoming late afternoon's task, a joint fire arms training session between your unit, LAPD SWAT and Paul's unit. The joint time spent at the range always turned into pool of who'd win and, usually, was too close to call rounding off with each team going head to head in a final duel. 

And things were getting competitive in the Diskant home. 

"If I can make it," Paul grumbled, "we should sweeten the deal."

"You'll make it.” You popped a shoulder. “Paul Diskant doesn't miss a day at the range, nor friendly competition. So, name your terms?" You smirked mischievously over the rim of your mug, watching him adjust his tie. 

"Winner gets a favor." Paul devilishly replied. 

"What kind of favor?" You played along and the look on his face already made your insides squirm as he raised a brow and curled his lips further in his smirk. "Paul!"

"Y/N!" Paul mimicked, cutting the distance between you, big hands on your hips, thumbs rubbing along your shirt. "Baby, it's been days. This Vice case has me pulled away longer than I have been since I was a beat cop."

You rolled your eyes and wrapped your arm around his shoulder, fingers grazing the point where the short hairs of his buzz-cut met his neck. 

“Fine." You kissed him deeply, the taste of coffee on both your tongues but something that was just him too. "We'll call it a bonus." “Bonus...” he nodded. “I can run with that.”

“You couldn’t run a fucking bath, Disco.” "Oh Sweetheart, you're on." The challenge in his voice and mischief in his eyes lit a fire under you. You kissed him again and moved away, a swift smack from his hand to your ass made you yip but you kept walking. 

****

The drive into the station was quiet, you reading over your training schedule for the day and Paul driving. The only sound that filled the vehicle was the sound of him humming along to the radio, thumb tapping along to the beat of the song on his steering wheel, before you heard him let out a loud sigh.  

"I have some stuff to chase down this morning but if nothing pans out, I should be at the range with the rest of my unit."

"Well, then I'll hope it doesn't pan out, just so I can kick your ass with my Glock," you chuckled as he let out a groan.

"Baby, you know, watching you handle that Glock and riffle makes me horny as fuck right? Nothing like a woman that can shoot," Paul admitted. He took your left hand away from the file and pressed his lips to the top of it. He knew why you did it, but he still hated not seeing your diamond flashing on your finger all day. 

"Oh yeah?" You turned your standard issued sunglass covered eyes to him, "is that why you wanted to marry me?" 

Paul chortled, “one reason among the many."

He pulled into the carport and parked in his designated spot. You exited the vehicle and gathered your bag from the popped trunk. 

"See you at the range, don't be late, or I'll have to listen to Rodriguez bitch as she drives me home." You gave him a teasing kiss and slung your bag over your shoulder, walking away. 

"Hey, Y/N?" He called after you. You stopped and turned around to look at him, lifting your sunglasses to the top of your head. "Don’t waste too much energy today, huh? You’re gonna need all the strength you have tonight, Baby."

You chuckled to yourself, "Just show up, we'll talk energy later," you rolled your eyes and walked off, flipping him the bird over your shoulder. 

The scorching sun boiled across the training facility tucked between the hills of the valley, away from the hustle of the city and just far enough out of reach for civilians. Abandoned buildings and, green fields and a simulated neighborhood made up the grand, multi-million dollar facility. You and your team had been at it all morning, moving through the buildings in full tactical gear and safety equipment. Together you cleared buildings, fired upon fake assailants and suspects. You and your partner, Alma Rodriguez, even hit the weights and boxing bags to keep loose after a hand to hand session against Everett and Evans. To keep your trigger fingers hot and ready, you played a round of long range sniper poker, you of course beating the team with a straight flush, bullets hitting their targets dead center. 

It was the last hours of daylight by the time Special Branch showed up and you couldn't help but smirk as you watched Paul set up his gear from across the field. Long gone were his slacks and tie, and now, he was dressed in a tight black tee with the edges of his two bicep tattoos peeking out from the hem, and uniform issue pants and boots, his wrap arounds shielding those beautiful blues you loved getting lost in. 

You smirked as the two of you locked glances, his smile forming across plump lips. A cocky flick of his head was sent in your direction and you laughed, pulling a hundred dollar bill from your pocket and slapping it flat against the table. 

The competition started, pairing SWAT members against Specials, two by two until both your captains were the final two. 

"Shooters on the line," the facility command officer called. Each shooter stepped up, readying their rifles. Your team lined up behind your boss, Paul and his desk buddies watching from their side. "Stand by... Ready..." The whistle sounded and the first shots at their prospective targets were fired. 

Firing judges followed behind each shooter, judging accuracy, safety and protocol. Three rifle shots fired down range and the shooters tossed their weapons to the side, tucking and rolling one roll with their hand on their pistol all while watchful eyes looked on. Your boss didn't roll, but Paul's did and the snickering started from Special Branch. It didn't deter your focus as you watched your boss, Captain Rogers, finish the round. Three shots fired at metal targets, each one going down in accuracy, then a clip reload and three more shots fired at a close range target before the commanding judge asked both men to put their weapons on safe and holster them. He approached each target for accuracy and declared Paul's boss, Captain Wilson, the winner of the round. That brought the two teams to a tie. 

The Detectives cheered and razzed SWAT but both captains settled their groups down. The field judge confirmed the tie in the competition and groans sounded from both teams. 

"I'll tell you what, I'll toss in an extra two hundred bucks to pit Y/L/N against your pick," Rogers held two one hundred dollar bills up, handing them over to the field judge for safe keeping. 

"Alright, I see your two and raise two," Captain Wilson held out his bills, "for Diskant to take that challenge."

"Oooooooh", both teams razzed the real life couple. 

You couldn’t help the smirk on your face as one of Paul’s colleagues piped up that this could back fire spectacularly as would Paul really want to risk pissing off the woman who controlled his sex life.

“That’s exactly why he wants to win,” you jibed back, causing him to roll his eyes and scoff, “because his sex life is on the line if he doesn’t.”

More laughter rang out across the area as Paul merely shrugged, a smile flickering across his face as you heard Rogers speak loudly to Wilson from behind you.

“Between us, two hundred on my girl to blow your man outta the water."

Paul leaned down, to whisper into your ear, a smirk plying on his lips, "something's gonna get blown."

"What was that?" You coyly played. 

“Sure you wanna do this?” He asked, turning to look at you, his brow arched. “I mean you could just forfeit now and save yourself the embarrassment.”

You held his gaze for a moment before you made a show of dragging your eyes down his body, your gaze lingering on his crotch as if you were contemplating his offer, before you raised your head, your tongue poking out from between your lips a little.

“Did you forget to zip up?" You asked. Paul gave a start, his head jerking down to look at his ‘piece’ so to speak, and at that moment the whistle was blown to start.

The first shots were fired, Paul's just seconds behind yours. Tucking behind the mailboxes for your next shot, you nailed your target and moved forward to fire your final rifle round, using a metal barrel as your cover. You laid your riffle to rest, took a few steps, tucked your chin and rolled, planting your feet and rising up to draw your personal firearm. Poised for your next quick shot behind a mock window frame, you fired at the target and moved on, Paul's form in your peripheral, matching you shot for shot. Coming around the frame you fired a walking shot at your next target and then took your place at the final marker, firing away before the expected reload and emptying your clip into the standing paper target with his hostage. 

"Safety on... Holsters." The range judge called after he blew his whistle. You and Paul followed his commands and waited as he examined your individual targets. It was close, you knew it. Paul was an excellent shot. 

You watched as the judge looked over Paul's target first, poking his finger through two holes in the face before moving on to yours. You nailed your target, all three shots hitting the suspect. One dead shot to the center of his head, the other in the chest and the last in the torso. 

"Here's your winner," the judge declared, pointing at your target. 

Cheers began to ring out and you heard Paul groan loudly, turning to you. "You cheated.”

"I guess the favor's on you," You quipped as behind him you saw Captain Rogers holding his hand out, ready to receive the cash prize from Wilson.  

“You still cheated.”

“I did no such thing!” You scoffed.

“You distracted me.” He folded his arms across his chest, a sullen pout on his handsome face.

“Well, you should know better than to take your eye off the target, Disco,” you smirked and he narrowed his eyes playfully. “On second thought, I think I will let Rodriguez take me home. Burgers and beer on you. Don't forget the extra pickles."

He smirked, his lips brushing yours as he spoke, "come on, ride back with me, I'll make it worth your while."

"Erm, unless I'm mistaken you just lost so..." You popped a shoulder, your eyes not leaving his as you began walking backwards away from him. "I'm in charge."

“I want a divorce.” He shot back and you laughed, shaking your head.

“We’re not married yet, hot shot.” You winked.

“Details.” He waved his hand and you snorted, before you turned and jogged to catch up with your colleagues.

*****

As per your instructions, Paul didn’t forget the extra pickles and later that evening the pair of you were sat on the sofa in your comfy clothes, food and beer in hand as you lounged back watching a film on the Television. You stole a glance at your fiancé for a moment, his sharp profile illuminated in the soft light of the lamp to his right. He really was incredibly handsome, and you often wondered daily how the hell you’d gotten so lucky, as he could have had his pick of women, they tended to fall at his feet wherever you went. But he’d chosen you. Not only that, he’d pursued you. It had taken him a good few weeks after you’d both met on a case when he was in Uniform to finally accept his offer of a date. The dates had continued, and six months later you’d moved in together, and a year or so after that, he’d gotten down on one knee in the middle of your apartment and asked you to be his wife.

Which, reminded you of something you’d heard before.

With a smirk you turned your attention back to the film, took another bite of your burger before you spoke, your tone light and airy.

"So... strippers huh?"

Paul hastily swallowed his food and turned to look at you. "What?"

"Nothing, just typical."

"No, what?" He chuckled.

"I just heard one of the guys before commenting about how the wedding is getting closer so the stag do needs planning. The words Vegas and strippers were mentioned. Several times"

"Fucking Adler, man," he shook his head, dropping his empty burger container into the paper bag on the table in front of you.

“So you are going to Vegas, then?” You shoved another fry in your mouth to stop the smirk from spreading at the teasing.

"Uh, yeah," his reply was nonchalant, but he rubbed at his neck in that way he always did when he was a little nervous or uncomfortable. His big tell.

"Right. And there will be strippers?”

“Yes, there PROBABLY will be strippers." He side eyed you a little as he reached for his beer, the faint flush of red visible on the back of his neck as you took the final bite of your food.

“How probably?”

"There MAYBE be a night at the club." He leaned back, bottle in hand.

"Dicks." You gave a dramatic sigh, dropping your now empty food container into the bag with his. You made a show of scrunching down the top of the bag, dropping it to the floor by the side of the sofa, ready to be taken to the trash, before you leaned back, shaking your head.

"What?" he turned to you, beer paused halfway to his mouth.

"Oh, no, I was just saying, at my hen do there will be dicks. Lots of dicks."

“What the fuck?” He spluttered and you shrugged, not looking at him, feigning concentration on the television.

“I can't have strippers too? Tut, tut Disco, that's very old fashioned."

There was a pause, and you waited for his reaction, knowing it could go one of two ways. Out and out petulant protesting, or some sort of childish, half witty come back.

"You know, my dick is by far the most important." He chose the latter.

"You mean you are the most important dick?"

“Yeah.” He conceded. “Hey, least I’m important in some way.”

At that you laughed and moved a little closer to him. He shifted, allowing you to snuggle under his arm, pressing a kiss to your head.

“You know what else is important?” You asked, your hand gently tracing shapes on his white tee.

“What?”

“That you don’t forget that you owe me a favor, Detective Diskant." “That I do.” He agreed, and you felt him nod.

“So, there’s a pile of ironing that needs doing and the bed sheets need changing tomorrow. Can you manage?”

At that he let out a loud guffaw, his chest rumbling against your cheek. "Seriously, Baby?" He glanced down at you as you tipped your head up to look at him. "Absolutely," you winked

“I am at your complete mercy to satisfy you in any way you want... and you ask me to do chores?” He rolled his eyes. “You’re losing your sense of adventure, Sweetheart.” "Oh I have a sense of adventure, but a bet is a bet and we've pulled three doubles between the two of us so shits gotta get done, and you lost, therefore, you... are... my... bitch.” Your words were punctuated by soft jabs to his chest with your index finger and Paul groaned, throwing his head back against the sofa as he scrunched his eyes closed.

“Fuck my life.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” You looked at him and he opened his eyes. “Fuck my wife?”

“We’re not married yet.” He smirked, arching an eyebrow at you as he played back your words from earlier.

“Details,” you played along and he laughed as you shifted a little more so your face was level with his. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

With a cheeky grin he leaned over, pressing his lips to yours, his hand sliding to the back of your neck as the kiss grew deeper, his tongue slowly sliding against yours. You let out a soft moan, shifting a little, your hand cupping his face and then he pulled back. You pouted at the loss of contact and opened your eyes to shoot him a glare, to find him smirking a little.

"Double or nothing, I bet I can make you cum in less than two minutes.”

“Two minutes?” You arched a brow, biting your lip a little as you squirmed at the frankly filthy look in his eyes. “Now?”

“Yup.”

“Bring it on.” You threw down the gauntlet. “But that doesn’t include the time it takes me to get you naked.” He grinned, shifting a little so he was side on, facing you.

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “Or the foreplay.”

“Jesus Christ, Paul, just get on with it. You said two minutes. Clock starts the second you start, your challenge not mine. He grabbed your beer bottle and placed it along with his on the table with a bang. “You saying you don’t want me to love on you a little bit before I bang you into next week?” His voice was low as he hovered over you a little, his face inches from yours. "I'm saying I'm fucking desperate, that's what I'm saying."

"Then I won't need two minutes.” He grinned, pressing further into you, causing you to lay back on the sofa.

“God, you’re so full of it.” You narrowed your eyes.

“You’re gonna be full of it soon.” He smirked, his lips pressing to yours. "Stop... Talking... And... Do... It," you demanded between his dizzying, little pecks. His lips curled into a smile against yours as his hands gently trailed up the outside of your smooth thighs, thumbs grazing under the hem of your cut offs. The assault from his lips already soaking you.

It wouldn't take much, you both were fully aware of it. Nearly a week apart or just missing each other had you two desperately seeking release. The question was, who would cave first. He said two minutes and you knew he could hold off until you were good and worked over. His fingers slipped between your denim shorts and he gave a low groan as he felt your damp panties. His kiss grew hungrier and he was quickly on your flies, your shorts were down your leg in a matter of seconds, tossed over the back of the sofa, panties with them. 

He moved to a kneel, one hand gently hooking your right leg up to rest against the back of the couch, knocking the other to the side, your foot falling automatically to the floor, toes pressing onto the soft carpet, leg bent at the knee. You don't even register how fast he moved downwards, and part of you wondered if he lost on purpose. A flat long swipe tasted at your folds.

"Jesus," it felt glorious and your back arched off the sofa in delight. There was a wee bit of scruff causing a tease of friction against your inner thighs and although you weren't timing him, you knew it couldn't have been more than sixty seconds when his tongue dipped into your hole causing you to cry out. 

"Fuck, Paul..."

He gave a little chuckle, mouth vibrating against your nub which he grazed with his teeth. You bit your lip as your insides began to tremble, you were so desperately trying to hold off just to get that last win over him, but it was useless. That rumble had you in the throes of it and you were gone, your legs shaking as you came, your walls clamping around nothing as you gasped, your body shuddering with pleasure.

The smirk and glisten that was evident on his lips as he sat up and caged you in, had you clawing at his shorts. "I win."

"Yeah, okay, you smug little shit,” your voice was breathy as you recovered from your high, your hands pulling at the drawstring in the middle of his abs. “Dare I ask how you want me?”

His baby blues, already dark with desire, flashed and he pressed his lips to yours, his mouth dominating and you could taste yourself on him. You groaned as his hands slid up, cupping your face and he pulled back.

“Hands on the floor, feet on the coffee table, knees bent.”

You blinked, “what?”

“Hands on the floor, feet on the coffee table, knees bent.” He repeated.

Okay, so this was new…

With a final, suspicious look at him as he moved back, you stood, jumping and emitting a little squeak as he slapped your ass as you went. Taking a deep breath you turned, placed your hands on the floor and rested the tops of your feet on the coffee table, your knees bent.

“So you can do as you’re told.” Paul smirked, standing up off the sofa.

“When I want to.” You peeked up at him as best you could to see him sliding his shorts down his legs, stepping out of them before he moved round and threw his leg over your shins. His hands slid up the outside of your thighs, coming to rest on your waist as he pulled you back a little, his erection pressing into your behind as he ground against you, giving a little hiss.

“Fuck, baby you look so good from back here.” He moaned, bending over slightly to press a kiss to your spin and you shivered, your arms wobbling a little and you began to worry just how much of this you could take.

“Paul, seriously, just…”

“Patience.” He cut you off as he gave your ass a soft slap making you emit a noise that was half way between a squeal and a laugh as he positioned himself behind you, and you immediately missed the warmth of his chest where it had been pressed to your back moments ago.

You felt the tip of his dick as it poked at your entrance, and he had no problem slipping inside your already soaked folds. But the angle and the pressure of your body closed off as he slipped inside you set your nerves on fire. You both moaned out together as he slid home, his balls to your clit.

You felt how thick he was against your walls. A little twitch and flutter from his shaft as you both remained still, you silently begging and waiting for him to move. His fingertips gently dug into your hips as he slowly pulled back and moved forward again.

"Fuck, baby, so fucking tight, like this," Paul ground out as he pumped slowly in and out of you. He was taking his time, slow thrusts and long pulls back. In truth, it was agony, but a beautiful torture. And a torture that he continued again, and again, and again. Over and over, in no rush whatsoever, a sharp contrast to where he’d brought you off before on the couch as fast as he could.

Your arms were shaking from baring the position but you wanted more. And as the bubbles of pleasure slowly simmered through your core and deep into your belly, you moaned out your demand. "Harder."

"Oh, fuck," Paul quivered inside you but picked up his pace, his hips slamming into yours, your insides squeezing him tightly as his hands gripped at your hips, blunt nails biting against your skin. With every thrust forward you were jolted, your palms sliding on the rough surface of the rug underneath you, and you curled your fingertips into the deep, cream coloured shag in an attempt to prevent yourself from face planting straight onto the floor.

"Yeah, just like that," you panted, your elbows locking as you pushed yourself up slightly, "oh fuck, Paul!" You could tell by his breathing and how he felt inside you that he was ready to cum but he could always hold off until you had yours. "So close," you managed to pant out, letting him know you weren’t far.

He slowed his pace, bending his body down your spine again, and pressed his lips to the back of your neck, "just," he thrusted, "let", again, "go". 

His words flipped the switch inside your body and you felt yourself going, the blood already rushing to your head from the position you were in, and the pressure was pounding in your ears as you came, hard. "Oh my God!" You cried out as your walls clamped down around him, milking his hot seed to explode inside you. 

"That’s my girl, fuck!" He roared at the feel of you around him, and his hips grew sloppy as he came, grunting, pulling you back onto him as he let go of his thick payload. 

With your chests heaving, bodies stilled, his fingers still around your hips, his thumbs drew lazy circles on your back. You felt his blue gaze on you and you couldn't see it, but you knew he was smirking. 

“Paul.” You managed to swallow, “baby, my arms.”

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He moved gently to pull out of you, curling his arm around your waist in the nick of time as your elbows gave way and the pair of you tumbled rather ungracefully to the rug by the table in a tangle of limbs, your giggles ringing around the room, drowning out the sound of the television.

“You okay?” He asked gently, as you moved so you were lay on your back looking up at him as he lay on his side, propped on his left elbow. He tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear with his right hand as you nodded, leaning up to kiss him deeply.

“I’m not even gonna ask where you saw or read about that.” You chuckled and he grinned, glancing around the room cheekily before he looked down at you.

“Boys talk, sweetheart.” He shrugged. “But admit it, that was better than making me fold sheets.”

You chuckled as he pressed his lips to yours again, your fingers gently twisting his silver chain between them as you looked at him and arched your eyebrow. “If I admit it will you do it again? Only not tonight, don’t think my arms could take another round.”

Paul let out a laugh which rumbled in his chest and he pressed his lips to yours again. “Maybe we can make a game out of it, see how many other surfaces I can use to I prop your feet on and fuck you from behind.”

You scoffed, slapping at his arm as he grinned down at you cheekily, and you bit your lip.

“I can run with that.” Your hands moved so they slipped round his back, gently tracing shapes over the muscles, making them twitch a little and he sighed as your nails reached that spot on his neck that always turned him to putty in your hands.

“Stop, you know what that does to me.” He looked down at you.

“I do.” You agreed, continuing nonetheless.

“Seriously, you want more?”

“Well, like you said.” Your fingers curled round the nape of his neck, pulling his face down so it was inches from yours. “It’s been a while since we got time together, best make the most of it.”

“Oooh, you’re a bad, bad woman future Mrs Disco…” he smirked, kissing you deeply. “And I’m so down for that.”

****

It was late in the evening, the two of you having carried your sex-capades from the lounge to the bedroom, both of you spent and spooning in the aftermath of bliss when Paul's cell rang out. 

He grumbled and shifted slightly, turning to grab the offending item form the night stand before he answered, "Diskant."

You strained your ears to listen to who was on the other end but it wasn't audible.

"Yeah, okay, got it. I'll call you back," he replied and hung up. Then he quickly made an outgoing call. "Hey, so I just talked to Scribble. Freemont and Coates, or whoever they are, want to meet us." There was a brief pause, "tonight." Another pause and he closed his phone. 

He sighed, turning to you, "I got to go."

"Okay," you sat up, an uneasiness filling your veins. 

"I'll be back," he slipped out of bed, dressing quickly in black jeans, a black button down and hat. He clipped his badge from the nightstand to his belt after slipping into his uniform boots. Then leaned over and gave you a long, deep kiss. "I love you."

"I love you. Come home to me," you kissed him and pulled back, your fingers pressing the medallion of safe keeping against his chest. Paul touched his forehead to yours before he pressed his lips to your own in a soft kiss and headed out. You heard the door click as he left your apartment, and you gave a sigh, settling down into the bed, pulling his pillow to your naked chest as you closed your eyes. Whilst you knew that this was the job, hell, you’d done it yourself for long enough, it still never made it easier and for some inexplicable reason, tonight it made you even more twitchy than normal. But, that was more than likely down to the fact you’d managed to enjoy some quality time together tonight, and it had been so good.

Before long you drifted off to sleep, and you had no idea what time it was when the cordless rang, shrilling through the apartment, raising you from your slumber, but as you blinked yourself awake, it was still pitch black outside. 

"Hello," you croaked. 

"Y/N," you recognized the voice immediately, given your own happenings with IA. 

"Captain Biggs," you replied, suddenly fully awake as you sat up in bed, the covers clutched to your chest.

"It's Paul,” his voice was low and serious and instantly you felt a cold, icy dread floor your system from your head to your toes as he passed, taking a breath, “a unit is on its way for you."

***** Part 2

[aion-rsa]

Mortal Kombat: An Ode to Johnny Cage and His $500 Sunglasses

https://ift.tt/3enc1M6

It might be the highest moment of tension in 1995’s Mortal Kombat. While the video game movie positions a wonderful, scenery-chewing Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as its big bad, I doubt many feared how Robin Shou would handle him in the ring. But Johnny Cage fighting Goro? It’s B-movie actor Linden Ashby playing B-movie actor Johnny Cage, and both the performer and character are entering the arena with a six-limbed demon—a bellowing banshee who just murdered a dozen other token “good guys.” The beast even has the cojones to steal Johnny’s signature sunglasses before the bout and crush them in his hand. How scary is that?

Not very, as it turns out.

As soon as the bell rings, Johnny pulls an honest-to-Raiden split, just like he’s Jean-Claude Van Damme, and punches the stony monster directly in the loincloth. At least in ’95, director Paul W.S. Anderson understood the assignment when it came to adapting video games to live-action, and Ashby’s Johnny Cage rocked that interpretation with real movie star charm.

Twenty-six years later, we’re about to see a new Mortal Kombat reboot on HBO Max and in theaters, which is exciting. As much guilty fun as the original movie is, it’s not exactly one of the 1990s’ sacred cows. And the mythology that video game developers have built around what was once just an arcade beat ‘em up is dizzyingly complicated these days. So there’s plenty of new material to mine—as well as the chance to refreshingly put Asian voices and actors front and center. It’s likely for these reasons the character Johnny Cage is apparently not featured in Mortal Kombat (2021). Plus, where would there be room for him? Judging by the trailer alone, the modern filmmakers are going for a more somber, gritty aesthetic.

All of which is fine. Still, without seeing the movie, I can’t help but wonder if they might be losing something without Johnny Cage and those ridiculous shades. Goro certainly felt lost when, in the first movie’s best scene, he followed Johnny from the ring to a cliffside. It was there Cage shouted, “Those were $500 sunglasses, asshole” before kicking the monster ass-first into the sea.

I can personally attest that back in the mid-‘90s, there wasn’t an eight-year-old who didn’t think that this was cinema at its finest.

In the original Mortal Kombat movie, Cage technically isn’t the main hero, nor should he be. Cage is essentially the plucky comic relief, with the film belonging to Liu Kang (Shou), the descendant of a long line of warriors who each generation must fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament to save Earth from being absorbed by the evil dimension of Outworld. If the plot of the games and movies are a goofy rip-off of Enter the Dragon, then Liu Kang is our Bruce Lee. He must be the stoic hero who saves us all.

And yet, given the fighting game source material, filmmakers Anderson and his screenwriter Kevin Droney needed to build a whole ensemble of likable heroes and evil sorcerers. The film handles these requirements serviceably well on the whole, minus the complete sidelining of Bridgette Wilson’s Sonya Blade to damsel in distress status during the third act. Otherwise, Mortal Kombat ‘95 strikes gold by taking the Johnny Cage character from the game—a martial arts movie star who hilariously enters a life and death tournament to prove he doesn’t use stuntmen or trick photography—and turning him into a scene-stealing quip-delivery system.

Ironically, it’s a role that would’ve been perfect for Jean-Claude Van Damme, a star of Hollywood cheesefests who really could do those oh, so impressive splits but got lumped into the company of Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris. And unfortunately for him, Van Damme had already starred in a video game movie, with Capcom convincing Universal Pictures to cast the Belgian with a thick accent as their all-American Army hero, Col. Guile, in Street Fighter (1994). Maybe something got lost in translation during those boardroom meetings?

In any event, it worked out in Mortal Kombat’s favor where instead of casting a star of bad ‘90s martial arts movies, they hired someone who inadvertently could satirize them. Technically, as a Kung Fu flick, Mortal Kombat is damnably guilty of the criticism Johnny Cage is trying to avoid: It relies quite a bit on stunt doubles and tight editing for many of its fight scenes. While Robin Shou indeed kicks ass in his own stunts as Liu Kang, let’s just say that quick insert shots don’t make it any more believable that Ashby did his own split in front of Goro. Nor does The Immortals’ awesome “Mortal Kombat” techno mix hide how choreographed Wilson’s clothesline punch might be.

Yet it should be noted both were game, with Wilson doing all of her own stunts, and Ashby doing so much of his own in the Scorpion bout that an unexpected axe kick to the kidneys left him peeing blood for a week.

Luckily, his Johnny Cage is so damn delightful through all of it that none of those backstage traumas mattered on screen—especially for the film’s target audience of teenagers and elementary schoolers. Full of mid-‘90s arrogance and cockiness, Johnny could easily come off as a dated cad, and maybe does when he cracks to Sonya that “it’s a man thing” about why he and Liu feel the need to insert themselves like the Scooby Gang into her investigation of Shang Tsung’s island.

But his energy is ultimately irresistible in a movie this wacky. Indeed, it’s a tricky proposition to put on a straight face while selling lore about lightning gods and ninjas descended from dinosaurs (Google “Mortal Kombat” and “Reptile”). The 2021 approach is admirably ambitious, but at least for 25 years ago, leaning into Johnny’s sideways smirk was more than the right impulse; it let the movie get away with almost anything. It also gave permission to the audience to bask in the film’s otherwise wonderfully over-the-top set design.

Read more

Movies

Mortal Kombat: Why the Movie Created New Main Character Cole Young

By Gene Ching

Games

Mortal Kombat: The Definitive Video Game Movie of the ’90s

By Matthew Byrd

Interestingly, much of this winsome humor was either improvised or written on the spot by Ashby and Christopher Lambert, the latter of whom played Lord Raiden. According to Ashby in a 20th anniversary interview with THR, it was even during these late-in-the-game brainstorming sessions he came up with the line, “Those were $500 sunglasses.”

“We worked hard on it” Ashby said, “We didn’t write Hamlet or anything, but we had a lot of fun with it.”

And through that fun, Johnny becomes both superhero and Greek choir. He’s the guy who even after hearing the fate of the entire planet rests on his martial arts skills can still be more concerned about getting his luggage into the ancient rowboat than working on his Karate chops; he also lets the nonsense of this movie roll off the viewers like so many popcorn kernels. As the character insists, “We’re standing, they’re not. What more do you want?”

Other than that awesome techno beat, not a whole lot. Johnny is the safety valve for Mortal Kombat’s lethal levels of absurdity, which inexplicably makes him as compelling a hero as any of them. When he walks into the ring with a giant hexapod ready to stomp on his eyewear, he’s been told he’s the most egotistical, self-deluded person we’ve ever met.

“Yeah, well you forgot good-looking,” he shoots back. After seeing him kick Goro off a mountaintop, you believe him.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Mortal Kombat: An Ode to Johnny Cage and His $500 Sunglasses appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2PaD5FZ

[sebseyesandbuckysthighs]

Three Soldiers and a Baby | Part Four

summary: Three handsome bachelors find their day to day operations disrupted when an unexpected new roommate (who comes complete with a diaper and a pacifier) shows up at their doorstep. How will they deal with this new and baffling responsibility without losing their minds or killing each other in the process?

pairings: Bucky x Reader (eventual) featuring Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson

warnings: mild language, lots of fluff, a lil bit swoonworthy perhaps

a/n: Here comes part 4! I’m telling y’all, I had a lot of fun writing this series and this was definitely one of my favourite parts to write. Also, if you haven’t seen the movie I highly recommend you do! Just a disclaimer, this fic is not exactly canon to the movie so it won’t necessarily be the exact same outcome or events. Heavily inspired by it though!

*warning to mobile users, the “keep reading” tab may not work so apologies in advance*

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 |

| previously |

“And at least she smells slightly better than Barnes.” Sam joked, even managing to let out a small chuckle.

No sooner had Sam said the words than Ellie began to wiggle and squirm. Little noises of discomfort started out low and soon turned into a full-on cry. What followed the tiny wailing was a smell that could clear a room. It very nearly did as Sam choked and turned on his heel to get away, pinching his nostrils shut. Before he could get too far, Steve managed to grab him by the back of his shirt collar to reel him back in. There was no way he was handling this on his own. “You spoke too soon, Sam.”

The hands desperately covering his nose and mouth caused Sam’s voice to sound muffled. “That’s just nasty.”

———————————————————————

It was starting to dawn on Steve that they might be a little out of their league here. The letter may have given them some information, but they still didn't really know what to do with any of it. Especially not when they had to compete against a very loud crying baby.

“Damn, this kid has a set of pipes on her.” Sam shouted over the screaming. “Now what are we gonna do, Captain?” He didn't bother to hide the little bit of disdain in his tone.

“We need to change her.” The Captain stated obviously.

“Uh-uh.” Sam shook his head. “Not we. You. I'm not going anywhere near whatever just came out of that kid. Sorry, but it's not happening.” The outrageous odor wafted up through his nostrils again and it was all he could do to stop from gagging. “What's her mother been feeding her?!”

This really wasn't the time to discuss the baby's diet. What they needed to do was have one of them rush down to the store to pick up as much of the essentials as they could. Everything else could be bought later. With no time for debate, Steve tasked Sam with the store run while he would stay behind with Ellie and try to clean her up as best he could. The winged Avenger didn't even wait around to hear the end of Steve's sentence before he was out the door and repeatedly pressing for the elevator to come up. The blonde man barely had time to roll his eyes at his dramatic friend before turning his full attention back to the baby.

She was still wailing, clearly unhappy that she had to be subjected to rolling around in whatever mess she made. Steve was hoping he could take a minute to at least google everything he needed to know, but the sounds of Ellie's cries getting louder left him no choice. He would just have to wing it. First thing's first, he would actually have to pick up the baby to do this and Steve couldn't remember when the last time was where he held a baby in his arms. Had they always looked so small and fragile as Ellie looked right now? There was no time to second guess himself or back out on this right now, so after taking a few deep breaths Steve reached into the bassinet and picked her up.

His arms were stiff as he held Ellie out in front of him as far as he could manage. Her tiny legs dangled and kicked as Steve tried to decide what to do next. Now that she was awake and her eyes were open, he could finally see the soft shade of blue even behind the tears. The same shade that matched her father's eyes. In that moment, Steve knew that he would do whatever it takes to come through for his best friend, but more importantly, for the little girl he held in his hands and her mother. He wasn't about to let any of them down. With renewed determination, Steve cradled the little girl closer to his chest and started walking towards the bathroom.

“I'm sorry, princess. I know you're probably pretty uncomfortable right now huh? Don't worry, we'll get you cleaned up and feeling better in no time.” Steve's comforting words may not have made much sense to her, but he knew she needed just as much reassurance as he did. To know that everything would be alright. Just as long as Sam didn't take too long at the store and got everything they needed.

Once they reached the bathroom, Steve managed to grab a few towels from a shelf while still keeping a safe grip on Ellie and brought them over to the large counter-top sink. He laid the towels out in a pile and rested Ellie on top of them to keep her from feeling the cold, hard marble underneath. Safely resting atop the soft pile, Ellie's cries finally softened and she was now only emitting quiet whimpers and hiccups. Almost as though she knew she would find relief soon. The sounds were still enough to pull at Steve's heartstrings, but he just needed a moment to collect himself.

“This isn't rocket science or whatever Shuri and Stark get up to in their spare time.” Steve said aloud, not worrying that the baby would judge him for talking to himself. “You can do this, Rogers. She's just a sweet little baby, how bad could it be?”

After finding the little button clasps, he made quick work of removing the tiny outfit from the tiny human. He fiddled for a moment with the taped sides of the diaper and pulled it open only to immediately put it back in its place. “Holy shit, kid! What have you done?!” Steve recoiled before looking down in amazement at the bumbling baby. “How hell does something so cute and small make something so disgusting?”

The sound of Ellie giggling distracted Steve enough to forget the horror contained within the diaper and just stare down at the little girl. Her toothless grin seemed to say she knew exactly what she had done. He almost thought he could forgive her for having to clean up the mess she made. Almost.

“Proud of yourself, ain't ya?” he asked, to which she replied with another series of giggles that made saliva bubble at her lips. Despite the drool, she was still beyond adorable and he couldn't help but laugh with her.

Having wasted enough time and not wanting to tempt her cries again, Steve finally removed the diaper, tossed it, and started cleaning her up. He didn't have any baby wipes so he did the best he could with a soft cloth that he soaked in warm water. He also made a mental note to go out and buy Sam a new set of towels because this set was definitely headed for the trash.

“There we go. All clean.” Steve announced, proud of himself. The problem now was that he didn't have another diaper to change her into and she couldn't wear her onesie without one. He looked around the bathroom trying to figure out a solution, but nothing came up. Looking down at Ellie, she was staring back up at him as she made those cute baby gibberish sounds and holding onto her feet. “I'm gonna trust you not to make another mess. Do we have a deal?” He took her entire hand between his thumb and index fingers and shook the little fist in agreement. “Alright. Good. Sam better get back here soon.” He mumbled and picked Ellie up.

It ended up taking Sam about twenty minutes of practically flying through the store to pick up everything they would need. Thankfully he had enough foresight to grab his baseball cap and sunglasses to cover his face because the last thing they needed was the public finding out that one of the Avengers was buying baby items. He was already getting enough weird looks as it was with the way he was shopping like a madman. Another mad dash and he was back at the apartment bursting through the front door with his hands full of bags.

“I'm back!!” He announced, hurrying past the front hallway towards the kitchen and living room. “Okay I think I got everything we need. Got the diapers, the formula, three different kinds of baby wipes and powder. Grabbed every kind of baby food they had cause a girl's gotta have options. Finally there's the bottles and these nipple things. Oh, I even got some pacifiers, a couple toys, and...dude...what the hell are you doing?” Sam paused, taking in a long breath from reciting his purchases and stared at Steve as he held Ellie, pacing the living room.

“What's it look like I'm doing?” Steve replied. “Waiting for you to get back so we can change her.”

“Nooo.” Sam turned for a second to drop the bags on the kitchen island before turning back to point at the pair. “What it looks like is you standing there with no shirt on and a naked baby on your chest.”

Steve continued to rock back and forth while Ellie absently pawed at his bare shoulders. “It was the only way I could get her to stop crying. Besides, I didn't really have another diaper to change her into now did I?” He had also wanted to keep her warm and the best way to do that was skin-to-skin.

“Yeah, but what if she...y'know...relieved herself on you?” Sam cringed.

“Well it's a good thing I'm not wearing a shirt then is it?” Of course, it still would have been nasty as hell, but at least then all he would have to do is hop in the shower instead of throwing out a shirt. “Alright, grab the stuff. I don't want her getting cold.”

Sam searched through the bags until he found what they needed as Steve walked Ellie towards the living room. Once the diapers, wipes and baby powder were all laid out on the coffee table behind them, they placed her in the center of the couch and got to their knees. Sam watched as Steve took out a clean diaper, laid it beneath the baby, and grabbed a wipe just to make sure she was clean.

“I'm surprised, Cap. Looks like you actually know what you're doing here.” Sam was just glad that the letter mentioned the right diapers to get her otherwise he probably would've bought one of every size.

“I read up on a couple things while we waited. It's pretty straight forward.” Steve finished with the wipe, disposed of it into an empty bag, and gestured behind him. “Can you grab the baby powder? Just need a little bit.”

As long as he didn't have to deal with any of the actual dirty work, Sam was happy to help in this way. Unfortunately, today just wasn't in his favor.

“What's the hold up?” Steve asked after several seconds had passed. He was keeping Ellie entertained, but he really wanted to get this diaper on her.

“Hang on a second.” Sam continued to struggle with opening the bottle, not sure what the problem was and getting increasingly frustrated.

“Hurry up, Sam.”

“Don't push me, Steve. The stupid nozzle on this thing is stuck or something.”

After another minute passed, Steve's impatience was really kicking in. He placed pillows on either side of Ellie to make sure she didn't roll around and then turned to help Sam. “Just open the damn container.” He reached out to grab the bottle from him, but Sam pulled it away.

“I'm trying to for fucks sake!” Sam exclaimed, slamming the bottle down on the table in his frustration. A thick cloud erupted from the bottle covering both men in the soft white powder. Loud peals of laughter sounded behind them as both men slowly turned to face Ellie, who was clearly in hysterics over the mess they made.

Sam's tired sigh turned into a low growl. “Barnes owes me so bad after all this and I plan to collect large.”

“You and me both, pal.” Steve agreed before they both broke out into a fit of coughs.

———————————————————————

Feedback is always appreciated, leave it here!

———————————————————————

part three << part four >> part five

———————————————————————

Series Masterlist

Full Masterlist

———————————————————————

tags: 

@avengerofyourheart | @absolukeyrh | @ashlieadelia | @a-timeheist | @avengerskeeper | @buckys-other-punk | @captainwinterfalcon | @crazinessgraveyardsandcartoons | @curvybihufflepuff | @depressedpolishgirl | @desigirlworld | @divinediego | @dumblani | @fab-notfat | @feelmyroarrrr | @hv-chw3 | @igotkatiepowers | @jesusbriskets | @kindnesswins | @kingcarterprince | @lbouvet | @mcuwillbethedeathofme | @meanerface | @mileysebschmidt | @miss2001babe | @rachelle-on-the-run | @rainbowkisses31 | @redqueen1221 | @rraise-a-glass-to-freedom | @rumoured-whispers | @sassylittlesamoan | @scarlettsoldier | @sexyvixen7 | @sgtbxckybxrnes | @sunmoonandbucky | @tanelle83 | @thefridgeismybestie | @this-is-mycrisis | @unlikelygalaxygiver | @verymuchclosetedfangirl | @xxloki81xx | @yallneedtrek | @yknott81 | @yourpotatotwiceremooved | @3dsaunt

[bluebellhairpin]

Dark Angel

Bucky Barnes X Fem!Reader

A/N: It’s not really a thing yet, but if you want more let me know. -Nemo

Summary: You have wings. They need them. To join them, or not to join them?

Masterlist  

You collected things. 

Actually, you stole things. They were always broken things. Then you fixed them, or joined them to something else, to create something better.

When you were still considered to be a kid, you managed to snag some of the Iron-Man’s armor after he decided to blow it all up. It was only a hand and couple parts of multiple chest-plates, but it was enough to get the blaser on the hand working. 

Then, you managed to make you way to Sokovia and grabbed whatever remained of Ultron. You took him back, or more specifically his coding, and put it into your semi-recognizable Iron-Man suit replica. 

Ultron became your earpieces ‘voice of reason’. One that wouldn’t cause a global human genocide. 

Then, one night, while rummaging through the discarded scraps from Spider-Man’s newest fight, you came across wings. They were huge, had sharp metallic ‘feathers’ - blades almost - and what looked like turbines attached either side. They were badly damaged, almost unfixable, but they could at least be salvaged, and let's be honest; by now you could fix just about anything. 

With the made-up suit from Iron-Man, and the slightly annoying voice of Ultron in your earpiece, you managed to find a way to lug your huge new asset into the back of your truck to take home. 

Once home, a nice distance out of town, you started work on bringing these wings back to life. 

You found the wings came with a decoy drone and high-altitude seal (both broken), enhanced strength and durability (thanks to the metal it was made from), feet talons and a helmet. 

Months passed, and with the new tech the time passed slowly, seeing as you had to teach yourself about Chitauri tech, but you managed. You found out that Chitauri tech and the tiny reactor in your suit glove didn’t react well (a permanent burn scar on said hand is evidence of that), so the research was very much needed. 

Eventually the suit was ready. Now attached to your Stark tech (Suit and Ultron, minus the burns), you had full access to your own flight suit. 

Needless to say, it was amazing, and before you knew it you were flying through the skies like you’d been doing it your entire life. 

But eventually you were spotted, and a story started up in your little New York suburb that a dark angel had risen; grinding like rusted metal on the wind, singing murmured songs of destruction, only coming out under the shroud of night to lure others into the darkened ways it came from.

Then pictures were gained of your night fights got your ‘ghost story’ put onto the news. 

Which then got you a visit from a man in a dark suit, wearing even darker sunglasses, who was followed by a woman who didn’t look like someone to mess with to badly.

The woman walked in and made herself semi-at home on one of the bar-stools at your kitchen bench. The man stood behind her.

You noticed there were two others in the car outside.

“You heard of the ‘Dark Angel’, (y/n)?” The woman started, getting right to business, grabbing a grape from the bench in front of her and rolling it between her fingers. “The ‘Alloy Harrier’? ‘Siren of the South’?” She looked up at you, a light smile on her lips.

“It’s been in the papers a little. On the news once I think. Why?” you asked, tilting your head up, hoping she’d believe your induced lie about how much you knew. Over the years you’d gotten good at striking a good lie or two, not that you enjoyed your ability to do so. 

“It’s come to our attention that this… ‘Creature’ might be a human. A human using stolen technology to make a flying suit to use to scare others.” She looked you dead in the eye, and you knew she wasn’t buying your feigned ignorance that easily.

“Who is ‘we’? If this creature is a person I might know them.” you started, looking back at her without backing down, “I’d never rat out a friend to someone who might hurt them.” Her smile grew, and she sat back in here seat, looking back at her companion, who then left as she turned back to you.

“I am Agent Maria Hill, SHIELD sent me because we have a hunch you are your towns… Newest folk-story.” You quirked an eyebrow up at her, about to ask why she’d think that, but she stared up again. 

“Chitauri technology sends off large amounts of a certain type of energy. All of it is traceable if you have the right equipment, and ever since Spider-Man caught Mr.Tombs dealing Chitauri-powered weapons, we’ve been extra careful in keeping all that energy under the radar. Media wise. So, naturally, we knew about the disappearance of Mr.Tombs’ homemade Chitauri flight suit, and as we started searching - seriously searching - low and behold a section of the regional news had a whole segment on a flying ‘angel of darkness’. You can put together what happened next.” She explained everything very quickly, and as she finished the man she was with before returned, followed by the two others you spotted in the car. 

One you almost instantly recognized.

He was on the national news after all the dusted people came back. He was the new Captain America. And from what you’d seen he was rocking the red, white and blue.

The second was  someone you’d never seen before, but the first thing you noticed was his metal arm. The second his shoulder-length hair. The third was his eyes. 

They looked so intense yet soft. Caring but harsh. Empty and full. You had to stop yourself from sucking in a breath of shock. Or was it awe?

“(y/n), meet Sam Wilson,” Maria said, and the man you recognized as the new Captain nodded at you with a light smile that mirrored Maria’s from earlier, “And Bucky Barnes.” You looked over to the guy with the metal arm. He didn’t nod at you, he barely did anything to acknowledge his introduction, but his eyes did. They smiled at you. 

“I know this might come as blunt, but we need you.” Maria said, dropping the grape on the bench and standing to walk towards the two men. 

“Why?” You asked, leaning back onto the bench in front of the sink. She smiled at you knowingly, and you instantly didn’t like where the conversation was going. 

“We need another set of wings-” 

“-Then make some! I’m sure you have at least five others who’d be willing to put on a set of his wings.” You interrupted, pointing to Sam as you spoke. “Those people wouldn’t be ripped from their normal lives to go and do things they might not come back from. Or do you guys just enjoy doing that?” You could feel the chipped receptors you in your wrist burn - an effect from Ultron being connected to your wings - and you could tell if this conversation went too far south, things would go badly. The need for Maria bringing two Avengers didn’t seem like such an exaggerated decision anymore. Not even to you. 

“With all due respect, you don’t exactly lead a normal life.” Sam said, moving to subconsciously stand between you and Maria. 

“It’s what I’m used to doing. This, for me, is normal. I could come back from this. What you’re asking me to do is ‘join the Avengers’. The last person that did that didn’t come back at all.” The weight of your words hung in the air like a slow motion scene in a film. Silence rang, long and heavy, and you knew you needed to stop arguing and give them an answer. But first you needed more information. 

“Why do you my wings? What ‘bad guy’ is out to destroy the world this time that I’m supposed to help with?” 

“It’s a high altitude mission. The place we need to hit is high in the mountains, and no jet of ours would be able to get passed this places sky controls. But say, a human wearing a set of wings - adjusted to fly under their radar - could get passed the security.” Maria explained, answering only one question, but not the other. It almost seemed like she didn’t want to tell you who you would be going up against.  Before you opened your mouth to ask your second question again, Bucky spoke up.

“HYDRA is back.”  He said plainly, “They’ve re-positioned one of their bases back where an old one was, and we need you to help us destroy it.” His voice drifted off, almost unsure whether he should’ve spoken at all. You looked at him up and down, then looked over at Maria.

“How long until the mission?” 

“If you join us, two months. It’ll be plenty of time to fix your wings up to standard, and train you enough to fight others without the wings.” You nodded at her words, lifting a wrist up to rub at the chip there. 

“You wanna see them? The wings?” You asked quietly, directing the question mostly to Maria and her unnamed companion more than to Sam and Bucky. She cast a glance at the others, then nodded. “This way then.” You softly directed, heading through your house to the backdoor and out to the garage. 

Inside the wings were online and humming, turbines working quietly, and a couple wires hung from it’s main hard drive to the computer nearby. You left them plugged in and off, but you remembered they would’ve turned back on when the receptors picked up your spiked heartbeat and blood pressure. 

The receptors were Ultron’s idea, based off Tony Stark's own chips he used to call his suits, and they would help Ultron and the wings find you if you were ever in trouble or needed to control the wings remotely.  

“I see they finally visited. I was wondering when they’d show up.” Ultron’s voice rang, coming from the speakers hooked to your computer. Maria instinctively reached a hand to her gun, but didn’t pull it from it’s place hidden beneath her jacket.

“Get out of my speakers. Go back home Ultron.” You said, sitting in the chair at the computer and starting to pull the wires out of the computer.

“You’re no fun.” he replied, but disappeared from the computer anyway to go back into the wings. 

“Ultron? As in genocidal robot, Ultron?” Sam asked, pointing towards the wings cautiously. You saw Bucky's lips quirked up into a small smirk.

“Yeah, he’s better behaved now.” 

“I can still hear you (y/n)” The speakers in the wings helmet spoke. You just clicked your tongue at the exasperated AI and turned your attention back to the agents. A few moments passed before Maria spoke up.

“You can follow us back to the facility with it if you wish,” she started, looking between you, Sam and Bucky, “That way we can see how well you use it and how it works, or we can have someone come and pick it up and take you now.” 

“You can still say no.” Bucky said, stepping forward in a way that was almost unnoticeable. Your mind was telling you to say no, to not join them, but something else told you to say yes, and you weren’t sure which was right.

“I can fly myself.” You finally said after more silence, and rose to go stand closer to the wings. “I haven’t flown tonight yet anyway.” 

Maria nodded, looked back at her companion, then left the way she came without another word, leaving you in the garage with Sam and Bucky.  You looked from your wings back to the two men.

“Why are you both still here?” They shared a look at your question, but Sam was the one that spoke up.

“HYDRA is back and we don’t know who to trust.”

“Why are you telling me that? How do you know you can trust me?” 

“We’ve done background checks, and monitored your recent activities. They say you’re clear.”

“With Ultron I could easily wipe that-”

“-She’s correct.” Ultron interrupted. “I’ve been wiping a lot of her compromising online activity and security footage. I’ve also been monitoring you and keeping track of all you details too, Samuel. I’ve been keeping track of many things, and I know some people who you are close to that work for HYDRA because they were careless that one, unfortunate, time.” You looked back at your wings, where Ultron’s voice was coming from.

“Can you give an example, you cocky piece of trash?” 

“Agent King. To name a belittling subject.” Sam stiffened, and Bucky sent a wary glance in the general direction of their car. 

“He’s not doing anything now though.” Sam said looking at Bucky.

“You’re right. But he’s still HYDRA.” Bucky replied, instantly getting on the defensive side. “We know HYDRA. I know HYDRA. They act when we least expect.” 

You looked back at your wings and Ultron, sucking in a breath through your teeth.

“We could get rid of him.” You suggested.

“We have a spot to hide him until you can deal with it.” Ultron added to your comment. 

“Are you suggesting we kill King between here and the facility?” Bucky asked, his mouth quirking up in a smirk again. You only shrugged. 

“I’m joking. We could just get him on the mission with us, get him killed or captured, and say it was an unfortunate accident, characteristic of missions like these.” 

Sam squinted at you.

“Are you sure you’re not a bad guy or anything?”

“Yeah. Although I sometimes wonder that too.” Another silence rang out as you moved towards mounting your wings. 

“We’ll catch you back at the place, then.” Bucky said, moving to the door but still keeping his eyes on you. You nodded and he and Sam both took that as a cue to leave.

“Hey,” you started, getting their attention right before they moved out of the door frame, “Watch for King though. He might not do anything now, but just be careful you know?” you finished quietly, moving to lock your arms in the wing’s suit.

“Don’t worry your pretty little heart about us doll, just keep yourself flying high.” Bucky said winking, leaving you to soak up exactly what he said, and Sam with his mouth gaping open and looking at where you assumed Bucky ran off to.

“I thought you’d lost all that charisma when you were defrosted!”

[honestlyfrance]

Title: Music on the Eve

Square Filled: Free Space

Warnings: Slight cursing

Summary: New Year’s Eve party, and Sam stumbles upon Bucky alone.

—

Bucky Barnes has this extensive and flexible music taste as he hoards every genre into his song list. Tony Stark pays for his Spotify, Pepper Potts and he shares iTunes, and Steve Rogers shares his vinyl records. You can count on him already hearing a song you’ve just heard yesterday on your YouTube recommendations, and you can expect him to have a dance matched to it; Yes, Barnes knows how to appreciate music as much as you would like to think, and he’s expected to bring more to the table as the New Year comes by. 

Nine more hours until Stark’s fireworks display, and nine more hours until the Avengers would be screaming until their throats burn out. Sam thinks. Shame on Carol Danvers for suggesting that. He likes the idea though, creating noise. It’s music for him.

Everyone was preparing for Tony Stark’s get-together at his Lakehouse, exclusive only for the Avengers and friends. Sam Wilson was assigned for drinks, and he’s brought as much alcohol as his car can take ( some six cases in the trunk and Natasha Romanoff assures him that she can arrange ten more cases into his car and carry five bottles of aged wine on her lap in the passenger seat ). When everyone heard that Natasha was helping him, they’ve placed bets on how much they’re bringing; the highest bet was twenty cases or so; the two swore to beat that.

Natasha had attached a wagon at the back of his car and at least ten cases sat there ( even then, Sam had told Thor to bring his Asgardian mead and was more than happy to oblige ). The four had also decided to play a scam; Barnes would come early with Steve Rogers ( who were assigned with pool stuff, especially Steve’s vast water guns; where he got them, no one knows ) and then placed a late bet of three hundred euros that at least thirty cases or so would arrive; Sam and Natasha would have sixteen cases plus ten which would be twenty-six, and Barnes would bring four cases of vodka which Natasha would sneak in with to claim it as hers. Steve wouldn’t know, and if he did, “Sam told Buck to hold it for him during the drive since the car was too full.” Fuck yeah, it’s foolproof! and if Tony doesn’t want to lose thirty grand, Thor wouldn’t give his mead to anyone but the super-soldiers, i.e. Steve, Natasha, and Barnes. 

“You wearing that?” Natasha asked Sam as he entered the driver’s seat. Her eyebrows were raised as her lips twitched into a comfortable smile. “Looks good on you. Never saw a man pull off that look like you do. Only, like—several.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Have you looked at a mirror recently? ‘Cause you look great. Seen it on a mannequin before, but it looks great.”

Sam wore the same suit he wore in one of his interviews as Captain America, the velvet three-piece tuxedo, wherein ( in favor of Bucky’s suggestion right after wearing it for the first time ) he got rid of the maroon tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons, got rid of the silk jacket in favor of some random latte coffee-colored coat that seemed too big for him but looked too good on him to take off, leaving the white button-up and rolled it to his elbows, he also left the velvet pantsuit, he exchanged his loafers for his brown boots, and he seemed all set for the party. He wasn’t exactly the fashion kind, but he had the sense to pull off the attire to the best of his abilities. 

Natasha wore a white off-shoulder top and a maroon skirt that reached past her knees. It was a new look Sam saw her wear, more her. Her heeled boots matched his, and she had a velvet plaid scarf around her neck in some intricate braid as well as yellow-tinted sunglasses. Her fiery hair with platinum blonde highlights was pulled into a braid that wrapped around her head that fell into a low bun. She had her dark brown coat wrapped around several bottles of wine—at least seven. She, on the other hand, had a sense of style among them, and she never failed once ( unless her cover called for bad outfits ).

They looked like they were planning on matching, and at that, they laughed heartily until they were gasping. 

“Here—little something to pop that color on you.” Natasha removed her scarf around her neck and placed it lazily around Sam’s neck. It did bring out the purple on his suit, and Sam shook his head in amusement at that. 

That was some time then. It’s six-hour hours until New Year’s Eve when they arrived.

They were greeted by the Stark family, little Morgan more than enthusiastic as she blew on her colorful horn in greeting on the doorstep. They were then helped by Happy Hogan in placing the cases inside that joined Barnes’s contribution, and they’ve reached thirty or so cases of alcohol ( Steve collected the betting money from everyone and was happy that he was entering the New Year with something in his pocket ). The cases were cracked opened almost immediately once the Asgardians came ( even Bruce had his early share, surprisingly) and three cases were already used. By then when the Guardians came, the party was in full swing.

Sam had a glass in his hand as he walked down the hallway leading to the backyard with Maria Rambeau on his left and Pepper Potts on his right. Rambeau had been talking enthusiastically about some mission she recently has done with Fury while Pepper shared her ridiculous shenanigans with the Avengers just as enthusiastically. Sam would converse about the ridiculous things he’s done for Steve but — he was distracted. 

Before they both separated at the doorway, she whispered something to Sam, and Natasha was right: “Bucky was serving looks Tony couldn’t whip out.”

Bucky stood in front of the crowd on a table with Natasha on his arm, laughing and hollering about some story Sam couldn’t bear to hear over the loud drumming music that Peter Quill burdened to play. Something that definitely should’ve buried itself in the sixties. Bucky wore a mustard v-neck sweater and black jeans that clung onto him—fucking cuffed too. He wore his favorite brown boots, caked with mud he couldn’t wash off. He wore a mocha-colored velvet jacket folded to his elbows in which showed the latte color inside of the jacket. He had on those ridiculous gloves Sam dared him to wear as a joke, and the fact Bucky went through it made him laugh.

Bucky saw him and showed him his best attempt at jazz hands, cutting himself off to show the black motorcycle gloves with the stupid Captain America logos on them, turning to the crowd as Natasha continued the lively conversation for him. 

“I didn’t know Bucky knew to dress,” Rambeau said. 

Pepper sighed. “Tony begged me to let him approach Barnes to ask.“ 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “You still told him to keep his distance?" 

Pepper shrugged, a glint in her eye as they stood on the porch. "No. But he has promised to keep his hands to himself about the arm." 

Sam hummed as his eyes settled back on Bucky, and it almost seemed ephemeral. Sam almost felt overdressed—Tony had a full-fledged suit, but that didn’t matter. Bucky looks like himself, with his cut hair and beard; sporting clothes Sam knew to be the real him, Bucky was enthusiastic and at the same time was his quiet self. 

After a few drinks and more chattering, the party was ready to hit the New Year: everyone had a drink in their hand, some even had grabbed a bottle for themselves ( the vodka was that good ); there had almost been a fight ( Clint Barton couldn’t bear seeing the thirty or so cases, and even argued that Bucky shouldn’t even have bet at the last minute ); Tony had generously awarded several people as Best Dressed, Sam included with five other people ( Natasha, Bucky, Pepper, Rhodey, and Hope Van Dyne took the cake ); and the crowd dissipated into several places—the car park where there was a movie going on, near the lake where most of the girls were sharing two cases of beer on the grass, the gazebo swarming with people around a pool table, some guys on the deck seeing who can throw the farthest rock, and some went inside to listen to the early century music playing ( more of jumping between Bach and Louis Armstrong while Natasha shows people how to drink like a Russian ).

Sam wanted quiet. That’s what he was searching for. 

Sam placed his glass on the edge of the pool table and let Rhodey take over him. Wiping the corner of his lips as he took off his coat, Sam greeted some more people as he made his way inside. 

Inside, he fixed his collar as he heard some quiet laughter by Maria Hill, Natasha, and Rambeau. Natasha motioned for the stairs, and what overcome Sam to follow her instructions baffled him and scrutinized him. He went up the stairs, and it was almost empty except for the lounge area where all of the teenagers were playing their music from the small speaker Harley Keener brought. 

Michelle "MJ” Jones thumbed towards down the hallway, towards where the driveway situated and spoke no further. Sam followed—Why he was following subtle blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments from these people, he did not know. 

Sam rubbed the back of his neck as he ended up at the end of the hallway; he tried every door he passed him but they were locked. At the end of the hallway was a window doorway hidden by a curtain, and Sam pushed the door and was immediately greeted by Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra faintly played in the background. He closed the doorway and saw Bucky in the far corner on the armrest of the love seat there reading a book, biting on his flesh thumb as his legs splayed out beneath him. The moonlight and lamp beside Bucky served as his light, and the sudden chill of the night breeze urged Sam to rest his coat on his shoulders. 

Bucky didn’t notice Sam, being too indulged in his book to bother to look up—but Bucky knew someone was with him; he heard the creak of the doorway and the footsteps that lingered on the other side.

Sam leaned against the railing as he looked out on the dirt path that faded into the front yard of the house where five cars parked, and if Sam turned to the extension of the balcony on the other side of the building, he would be able to see from above the current drive-in-movie happening. 

“You got a nice birds-eye-view there?” Bucky calls out, not looking up from his page. 

Sam turns around and grins at the joke, sauntering over to him and sitting at the far end of the red loveseat, throwing the throw pillow at Bucky who caught it. “There’s the light of the party. What? Are the War Machine stories not good enough? Said you’d love it,” Sam said. Bucky sat on the seat now, his feet against the wall as his legs rested on Sam’s lap; with a growing grin he suppressed with his teeth, he continued to read his book, his face suddenly lighting up with The Look. 

“No, I love them…” Bucky turns to the next page; he held a paperback novel in his hands, too invested in the middle of the thick story to keep up with the conversation. His eyes were digesting vivid construction, all playing well into his imagination. “He’s funny, really is. I can see them… so vividly.”

“Are we talking about Rhodey or your book? What’s the title?”

Bucky stopped and his eyes peeled out from the book, and Sam could see his blue eyes glint with amusement and thrill. Bucky resigned to show the cover of the book as he draped an arm over his forehead theatrically, Sam smirking as he read The Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown on the worn-out cover covered with plastic. 

“Have you read such a masterpiece?” Bucky said, his eyes closing as his companion laughed as he took the book away from him. Sam read the page he was on, and saw the familiar scenes, ingesting them as if he was in the book too. 

“I’ve watched it, barely remembering it used to be a book,” Sam saw the exaggerated look of betrayal on Bucky’s face as the man took back the book, burying it even more to his face, mostly to avoid attention to his expressions. Bucky was growing into showing more unwanted emotions and was aware of the fact. 

“We gotta watch it together,” Bucky whined, his voice muffled. “Langdon’s amazing. So is Sophie. So is fucking Dan Brown.”

Sam shook his head as he fell into a burst of easy laughter. “Sure. Whatever you say.”

The air settled down into a comfortable silence, with Frank Sinatra playing in the background, and Sam was still trying to figure out where it was. Some pop music was playing behind the wall, and the faint Jazz piano played from below, but Frank Sinatra was a stubborn bitch and ended up taking over Sam’s ears.

After long deliberation, Sam asked: “Where the fuck is that coming from?" 

Bucky said, "What?”

“Frank Sinatra. Where is it?”

Bucky, without looking up from his book, raised the red speaker from the floor and onto his stomach, the faraway voice of Frank Sinatra played at a low volume with a few pitter-patter of rain in the background. Bucky raised the volume from his phone and continued to read, his eyebrows knitted in commitment. 

Sam chuckled. “That’s cute.” He mumbles. 

“Hmm… cuter,” Bucky murmured, covering his face with the book as he slides downwards into the love seat, half his body on Sam as the other man set his arm across the couch and the other arm on Bucky’s leg. 

“What was that?”

“Hmm… seen cuter,” Bucky grumbled.

Sam shakes his head, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back, listening intently to the rain background on the song edit. He knew better than to realize it was an edited loop, at least an hour. 

Bucky turned his body away from Sam as he rested his chin on the railing, sitting upright; Bucky had his eyes widened as he read the next few lines, but not only that, his chest tightened and he felt his blood rise to his cheeks. Did he call me cute? Fuck, did he? He couldn’t seem to turn the page, and however many times he read the page over and over again, he couldn’t understand it; all he could read was Sam Wilson.

Bucky knew that Sam still had his head leaned back and that only made Bucky tenser than before.

“What,” Bucky heard Sam say. “Getting into it?”

Bucky saw Sam enter the party and knew he was doomed from the start. Bucky started drinking so much, and he had drunk five bottles of beer within the first hour with Valkyrie, or Brunnhilde as he was allowed to call her, grateful that no one had the right mind or acknowledgment that he was a super-soldier, so everyone ultimately never knew that he couldn’t get drunk. Bucky then excused his blushing over his supposed drunkenness instead of seeing Sam in his ( Bucky’s ) coat and the collarbone he showed off. And was that the scarf that he gifted Natasha with? That bitch. 

Bucky hummed. “Pretty fucking intense.”

“Tell me about it." 

Bucky could feel his heart in his throat, almost choking him as all the heat gathered on his face, and he knew he didn’t need a mirror to know he was red. 

Bucky grabbed his beer bottle and sipped at it, and not wanting to turn, Sam had brought the cushioned chair from below the table and brought it across Bucky, sitting on it; Sam propped up an elbow and rested his cheek against his palm, raising an eyebrow as he gave Bucky a patient look. 

Bucky hid behind his book, quietly whining to himself. 

Sam lowered down the book with his finger, revealing the blue eyes that lingered onto the words inked into a page, and the flustered skin of Bucky Barnes; as far as Sam was concerned, there was no part in the book that could make Bucky this embarrassed. Maybe me, Sam thinks, but that seems too farfetched to consider. 

"I love it so much, you don’t understand,” Bucky murmurs, his eyes still on the book as it rests too near his lips. Sam hasn’t lifted his hand off of the book, and he doesn’t plan for it so soon. “The pacing and clues and everything. His cleverness—” Bucky’s eyes met brown ones. “—it’s something.”

Sam tilts his head, smiling. Damn that smile. “That character really is something.”

Bucky hums, not leaving his eyes. “He is, ain’t he…" 

"Who are we talking about…”

“Take a wild guess—it’s not the professor anymore…”

Sam chuckles, still not looking away. “So, edited songs? Never should surprise me, but… it did.”

Bucky snorted, looks away only to meet eye contact again. “Why would it surprise you so much? You’ve known me so well I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew." 

Sam’s lips parted. "Knew what?" 

Bucky dog eared his page and placed it on the flat surface of the railing, burying his lips into his wrist as he looked away for a complete moment; for a moment, Sam saw his cheeks flare. "That…” Bucky scratched his head, avoiding eye contact. “I… can’t get… drunk?” Bucky raises a hand and an eyebrow; the two sharing a short laugh. “No—that, I, too, am a super-soldier." 

"I knew that.”

Bucky stops himself, burying his lips into his fist as he closed his eyes. “Fuck, What don’t you know about me?”

Sam sighed, leaning back, looking out toward the horizon. “Well, shit, I don’t know, Your New Year’s resolution?” He said, looking back at him coolly. “Tell me all about it.”

Bucky stares at him, looking something past Sam’s irises in search of something malleable, something tangible. “I want to stay like this,” he tells Sam, and he’s so sure of it. “I want this to be… anything stable… and agreeable." 

Sam searches for the same thing Bucky searched in his eyes— something agreeable, something that says, Here. This. This is where we are, where we agree, where we stay. And so Sam says: "No one’s calling for us. What else do you want?”

“Hmm…" 

Frank Sinatra plays in the background, and Bucky replays the one hour loop as they stayed still, afraid to ruin the constant they wanted to bring to the next year; they both feared the worst, but who was able to take this away from them? A villain? Another Avengers Fallout? The other? No. Sam and Bucky were so good for each other that they’d have to be joking to leave the other behind. 

"Go with me,” Sam says as he searches for some sort of resistance from the other man.

Bucky laughs at some distant memory. “I’ve got you,” he whispers. “in exchange for everything you’ve done for me, I got your six, your twelve, your nine, your everything." 

"You have nothing to exchange.”

“Don’t think of it as a favor. Think of it—Think of it as my…" 

Sam said, "What?”

Bucky shrugged. “Partnership. Compassion. Love?” His face contorts into something that was convincing itself that he did hear what he did say.

Sam chuckles as he breathes in, hearing the faint bellowing countdown of the people in the far distance, but Frank Sinatra is a stubborn bitch and he’s all Sam and Bucky could hear as the mimicked sounds of gunfire echoed in the inky atmosphere, and in the far distance, if they craned their necks at the right angle, they could see the winking flames of different colored fireworks in the distance over at the other side of the lake. The sounds of fireworks sound too much like bullets firing, but they were too deep into this to be afraid anymore.

Sam sighs. “I like the sound of that." 

They don’t share a kiss, although they both knew what the other wanted to bring onto the table as they entered the new year: Music, one that consisted of both of their drumming hearts as they beat against their ribs, aching for release. Music, one they shared, one that their voices will drum together to say, I love you, as always.

[riverscuomohhh]

Rivers’ first solo interview from 1994

From Lyndsey Parker via facebook

I was the first person to interview Rivers Cuomo of Weezer solo (the band had done one interview together, for Strobe Magazine) in 1994, before #TheBlueAlbum came out 25 years ago. Rivers and I were both very inexperienced at doing interviews (this was for my fanzine, Porkchops & Applesauce) but I figured since today is that album's 25th anniversary it would be fun to share it now. It's kind of funny how back then Rivers was embarrassed about his heavy metal past!! I never was. There's some Pinkerton prediction at the end of this one...

LP: So you moved to L.A. about five years ago – was it to specifically pursue music?

RC: Yeah, definitely. I moved here with like, the intention of being a rock star. And I completely failed. So, after a few years of messing around with really bad style, I got my s*** together.

LP: What do you mean by “bad style”?

RC: Well, I don’t want to get too specific, because I’m completely embarrassed.

LP: Were you into metal, by any chance? I don’t look down on that.

RC: Yeah, but the people who read your fanzine might!

LP: Well, that’s their problem. But anyway, it was the ‘80s; that’s what was around on in L.A. then.

RC: Yeah, so I can’t really blame myself, since that’s what was cool at the time. Anyway, I got out of that and discovered songwriting. It’s kind of a different thing. So I got a Weezer-prototype band together with [future Weezer drummer] Pat [Wilson], and our bassist was Scottie [Chapman] who used to be in [Los Angeles indie band] Charles Brown Superstar. We were called Fuzz. We had just two shows, at the [Sunset Strip club] Coconut Teaszer on a Sunday night, in front of a grand total of about five or six people. After about two months we broke up, then somehow made our way to this.

LP: How did you get interested in music in the first place?

RC: Well, I always wanted to be a football player. Like, really bad. But as soon as I became a teenager, it became apparent that I was not going to evolve into a football player. My brother had a guitar, so I’d just sit at home and be depressed about not being able to play football, and play with his guitar.

LP: You’re better off!

RC: Yeah. Anyway, because I loved bands like KISS and stuff, I wanted to start my own band, so I got a band together with my brother and my friends, and ever since, I’ve been in bands – since I was like 13.

LP: Were there places for you to play in Connecticut?

RC: No, there weren’t any places at all, and there probably still aren’t. I think if we ever tour we won’t even stop in Connecticut, even though it’s my home state, because there’s just nothing there. We played parties, or at school, like in Battle of the Bands [contests]. We’d do Twisted Sister covers.

LP: Is that the kind of stuff you grew up listening to?

RC: I started off pretty cool. I think my first concert was Men at Work. I was really into them and the Kinks. Cool stuff. Then right around 7th or 8th grade, things really took a turn for the worse! All my teenage years sucked. Then I got a job at Tower Records and they kicked my ass and told me to listen to cool music. They enlightened me.

LP: What did you think of supposedly “glamorous” Hollywood when you first moved here?

RC: I didn’t really have any expectations when I came here, and I was really excited about the whole thing. Even the gross stuff is really exciting compared to the backwoods of Connecticut. Even the weird, strange, gross things in Hollywood were really exciting to me.

LP: What did your family think of you moving out here?

RC: They were all for me getting out and doing something. Of course, they would have preferred for me to go to school, but I really wanted to be a rock star. It probably wasn’t their first choice for me, but they were still supportive.

LP:Are they happy for you now, now that you have a record deal?

RC: My ex-stepdad is. I’m not sure how much my mom understands what it all means – not that I understand what it all means! I think she’d still like me to be in school.

LP: So, Ric Ocasek produced this album. How did that happen?

RC: Well, I like the Cars a lot, so I suggested sending him a tape. I guess he liked it, because a few days later our record company guy called us and said, “Ric’s coming to your rehearsal today.” We were all really nervous. And he opened the door and we see this guy, 7 feet tall with sunglasses, looking like an ‘80s rock star.

LP: Is Ric a cool guy?

RC: He is so cool! He’s so sweet and nice, and makes us all feel really comfortable.

LP: What was it like working with him?

RC: Just really mellow. He didn’t have too much to say. He was just kind of there as a backup, in case we got stuck. He made sure everything went smoothly. But it wasn’t like he messed with our sound too much; our demo tape [The Kitchen Tapes] is pretty much the same as the album.

LP: So it wasn’t Ric’s idea to have those new-wavey keyboards on “Buddy Holly”?

No! Everyone thinks that! The keyboards were on there before we ever talked to him. He hated them! I guess maybe he was afraid that people would think it was him.

LP: So, what plans does Geffen have for your guys? Are you going to tour?

We hope to tour, but it’s so hard to get on a tour right now. Everyone’s turning us down. We’ve been dying to tour for months now, but all the other bands want to tur with someone bigger than themselves, so they can play in front of more people. Nobody wants to go on tour with a completely unknown bands. We’ll probably go out on our own.

LP: What about a video?

RC: I think we are actually going to do a video for “Undone” in a few weeks. The best idea for it is us just playing in an empty, plain room, just one shot – no cuts or anything.

LP: Sort of like the Police’s “Roxanne” video?

RC: I don’t remember that one, but possibly! We didn’t get MTV where I lived until really late, like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” so I missed all the early cool videos entirely.

LP: I often prefer simple videos over today’s big-budget extravaganzas.

RC: I think ours will be very cheap! We’re not counting on getting on MTV at all. I’d prefer not to even have a video, but I wonder if it’s even possible to be successful without a video anymore. That sucks.

LP: I think the humor in your lyrics is really clever, but I’ve heard you hate being labeled “fun” and “quirky.” Why?

RC: I had no idea we were funny or goofy or whatever until people started talking to us. I always thought our music was really sad and kind of dark. And then everyone comes up to me and says, “You guys are hilarious!” I think our next record [Pinkerton] is going to have a lot less silliness on it. It’s going to be much more difficult to interpret it that way, because I’m consciously steering away from that now. I just don’t want to be perceived as light, or that we’re not really feeling it, because we really are. All the lyrics are borne out of intense feeling and necessity, and it’s a drag when people think we just whipped them off and don’t really care about it.

[bloodiedskirtts]

Little Love Affair | Chapter Two: It’s Better To Forget Me

Summary: After leaving Paris, Y/N bumps into a handsome man with just what she needs to get to her dream destination

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: Fluff and smut

A/N: TAG LIST IS OPEN!

Feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading. I hope you guys like it! Gif not mine, credit to owner.

Little Love Affair Masterlist

‘No, no, no, no,’ she shouted as she ran down the jetty to the edge of the water. Her suitcase in hand, her legs carrying her as fast as they would go. She was waving her arms and jumping when she reached the edge, but it was too late - the ferry had left. All her planning, all her dreams of reaching the island had been quashed. The next ferry wasn’t for another week! 

What was she supposed to do for a week? She let out a defeated groan, before letting her slump to the ground. She put her head in her hands, of course she missed the ferry! It was just so typical.

She had spent a week roaming around Athens and then taken a train all the way to the coast, just to miss her ferry. That she had specifically planned her whole trip around. She huffed out, she shouldn’t have stopped to try those oysters. They weren’t even nice! 

And now she was stranded! 

‘Well I’ll be damned!’

She recognised that voice, shit! Her head whipped up to see the smirking face of Samuel Wilson. She tried to contain her eye roll. Sam’s parents were rolling in money, his dad was some big shot movie producer and his mother was an actress. They ran in the same circles as Y/N’s mother, so she bumped into Sam more often than she would like. Although she had managed to stay out of the playboy’s way for a few years.

Sam was a handful of years older than her, but it didn’t stop him from being a shameless flirt. He was known for his Casanova ways back in LA - he spent half of the year in the south of France or Italy on a yacht. She hadn’t expected to see him off the coast of Greece, but it looked like she couldn’t catch a break today.

‘Samuel Wilson, I can’t say it’s a pleasure,’ she hissed, looking up at him as he stood over her. 

‘Oh, you’re still denouncing the life of the one per cent?’ he said, lowering his sunglasses to take in her outfit over the frames. She was wearing cut off jean shorts and a loose fitting white shirt, that was so worn it was basically sheer. She rolled her eyes at his comment.

‘Yes, well some of us don’t want to live off mummy and daddy’s money forever,’ she replied.

Now it was his turn to scoff at her, ‘Ah, yes, because you’ve paid for your world trip out of your own pocket.’

She opened and closed her mouth at this. Shit. He was right, there was no way she could have made it to Greece if her mother wasn’t rich and famous.

‘How do you know that I’m travelling around the world?’ she asked instead.

‘Hollywood isn’t as big as you’d like to think,’ he replied with a shrug. ‘So, princess, what are you doing crying your eyes out on the pier?’

She narrowed her eyes, Sam was handsome, she wasn’t going to deny it. But he was insufferable - end of discussion. Even though she had drunkenly admitted that if she had to, like gun to her head, last man on earth, she may consider having sex with him. Maybe!!! 

‘And why would I tell you, Samuel?’ 

‘First off, princess, it’s Sam, Samuel is my father,’ he winked at her and she scoffed. ‘Secondly, it seems as though you need to get somewhere. And, you, my dear, are in luck.’

‘Sam, what are you talking about?’ she groaned out, shaking her head.

He stepped back, making a swooping gesture with his hands at a boat moored in the marina. She was laughing, holding her belly, almost rolling on the ground laughing. She had tears streaming down her face by the time she composed herself, and looked at the very grumpy looking Sam.

‘You expect me to get in a boat with you? The biggest Lothario in the whole of the northern hemisphere?’ she gasped out.

He smirked at her, ‘Don’t think you’ll be able to resist my charms, princess?’

‘Oh I can resist all of you, Sam. I just don’t want to spend any time with you in a confined space!’ she snapped back.

‘You just don’t trust yourself around me,’ he teased.

‘No I just don’t trust you!’ she retorted.

‘You wound me, princess. But if you want to wait on the dock for seven days and seven nights, all alone, then so be it!’ he said with a shrug.

She was certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place, but she stood up, placing her hat on her head, sticking her chin out and gathering her bags.

‘Okay, Samuel, let’s do this. No funny business!’ she said with pure determination covering his face.

‘I would never try anything with the ice queen herself, don’t you fret!’ he teased as he began to walk back up the pier. ‘I have dozens of gorgeous models waiting for me back in Cannes anyway.’

She rolled her eyes again as she followed him.

‘So why are in you Greece?’ she asked.

He turned to look at her, throwing her a cocky smile as he did, ‘There’s a sailing competition here every year. I’ve been coming since I was a kid and I think I could win this year.’

She nodded, trying to hide her own smile as Sam began to passionately talk about his love for sailing. She knew that he had competed in races his entire life, there had even been talk about him going to the Olympics at one point. That never panned out, and she was left wondering why. He was a strong sailor, she had seen him at several races growing up in LA. But somethings just weren’t meant to be. But as he spoke about his passion for sailing, a tiny part of her hoped that he would win the race.

And as he helped her onto his boat, she couldn’t help but think maybe Sam Wilson wasn’t as bad as she thought he was. He was definitely much more interesting when he wasn’t trying to get a girl into bed. And she didn’t mind helping him get the boat moving, she liked how serious he was about it. It was a side of Sam she had never seen before. He was always the one goofing off or making a joke of things. But seeing him take control of a situation and actually care, truly care about something...well...She shook off the thought as he finally set the boat on route. Sam Wilson was still despicable.

She was giggling as he refilled her wine glass - making it across to the island had been longer than she had thought. It was dark by the time they arrived, Sam had offered to let her sleep on the boat because they was no way she could find somewhere to sleep now. She had reluctantly agreed - but now after almost a full bottle of wine she was feeling a lot better about the situation.

‘Okay, okay, let me get this straight,’ he gasped out, tears forming in his eyes again. ‘The first time you gave a guy a blowjob, you didn’t realise you had to move your head?’

She nodded, tears rolled down her cheeks as she laughed at the memory. 

‘So, what, you just sat there with a dick in your mouth?’ he asked.

‘Basically, yes,’ she replied before laughter over took them both. Being with Sam was a lot easier than she had thought it was going to be. Reminiscing about school days was something she hadn’t expected, he had been a senior when she was a freshman so they never really spoke in school. But they knew each other regardless. Their private school wasn’t that big.

‘Okay so who was it?’ he asked a few moments later.

‘Oh, no! Nope I am not telling you that,’ she replied with a smirk.

‘I’m not going to give up til you tell me. And I obviously know him,’ he said, leaning back in his chair. ‘Okay. Thor?’

She shook her head.

‘He’s not really your speed is he? Loki? Loki is definitely more your type.’

‘No!’

‘Okay...Pietro Maximoff?’

She shook her head, continuously as he listed boy after boy from their school.

‘I’m running out of people. Rhodey? Bruce? Tony? Bro- TONY!’

‘I didn’t say that!’ she gasped, eyes wide.

He laughed, ‘Oh my God. You tell me that I’m a playboy and yet, Tony fucking Stark is all good?’

‘I was young and naive!’ she responded.

‘Okay, Tony had to be at least a sophomore in college when that party happened!’ 

She nodded slowly, sipping her wine.

‘Oh my God, you little player,’ he teased.

She kicked him under the table, ‘Anyway, my blowjob skills have improved immensely since I was sixteen!’

This caused Sam to smirk, ‘Care to put that to the test.’

She didn’t know how it happened but her lips were suddenly on his, her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her to the bedroom. Clothes were being torn off, until she was in nothing but her bikini top and panties, while Sam hovered above her in his tight fitting boxers. She bit her lip as she noticed the growing bulge covered in the designer underwear. She had heard stories about Sam’s infamous...well...She had thought, no she had vowed, to never see it in the flesh. But as she crawled up the bed to him, her mouth was actually watering.

She pulled down his boxers and without hesitation took him in her mouth. She knew there was no hope in hell that she would fit him all in, so as she began to bob her head painfully slowly, she wrapped her hand around the base of his cock. Her tongue was swirling as she moved over his cock, dragging along the underside of his thick length. She was soaking wet, her hips grinding of their own accord, trying to get some friction as she traced patterns over the veins of his cock. She pulled almost completely off, her hand following her mouth to keep pulling him off as her tongue kitten licked his tip which was leaking pre-cum. He was groaning loudly, causing the wetness between her legs to grow. She reached down into her panties to tease her clit as she continued her blowjob. She moaned softly at the release of tension as she grinded against her hand.

‘Fuck,’ he hissed pushing her away, back onto the bed. His brown eyes were filled with lust and her panties and bikini top were flung across the room before she could think about it. He rubbed his cock over her soaking folds, she was aching for him, aching to feel him inside her. She didn’t care that she was just another name on Sam’s lists of conquests. She honestly in that moment couldn’t have cared less.

A loud, ‘yes’ slipped from her mouth as he pushed inside her, and she didn’t miss the smirk that covered his face. As he began to fuck her mercilessly into the mattress she knew what all the fuss was about. Sam really had a magic fucking cock! She was seeing sparks like she never had before, he was kissing her neck, kneading her tits, hitting every single button she needed to reach her orgasm. He knew exactly what she needed and how to give it to her. And as he pounded into her, her hips rose to meet him, her release coming closer and closer until she screamed out his name as she was overcome with pleasure. Her legs tighten around his waist and her pussy clenching his cock and the way her voice broke with pleasure was enough to send Sam over the edge just moments after her. He collapsed on top of her as his cock twitched and they both came down from their highs.

They lay there for a few moments before, Sam rolled off her onto his back. They slowly caught their breath, before sleep quickly overtook both of them. She was tired from travelling and had probably more wine than was sensible, so sleep came quickly to her. And Sam was snoring loudly just a few minutes later. 

The next morning they said their goodbyes, a smirk on Sam’s face as she waved him off. He had told her that he would be back on the island by the end of the mouth after the race. She laughed at him, telling him that once was enough. But she did admit that she would miss him. That night with Sam may not have been anything more than a fling, but she saw him in a completely different light now. He was sailing away and she turned on her heels, suitcase in hand, head full of dreams and as she took in the island she knew this is where she was meant to be.

TAG LIST

@kayleeflower, @savemesteeb, @rainbowkisses31, @valeriae2903, @sophiatomlinson23, @rhiisnotawitch, @mcuimxgine, @randomstoriesofabunny, @marsnothere, @myrabbitholetoneverland, @jessxxoxx @ka-x-in  @lovely-geek  @lizfawn @piensa-bonito @demogorgon-central, @mackenziesmarvelousgalaxy, @a--1--1--3, @anelaokalanii, @jbarnes87, @tomshollandz @aletheladyinred @rileyloves5  @funkenniffler @writing-for-a-chance  @justmesadgirl  @the-greatest-1919  @teawithbucky @gigglegirl77 @averyrogers83 @bibibucky @kaylaphantomhive  @youtheheckisbucky @hadesgirl1015  @bby-becca @marvelous-avengers @theasgardiansmidgardian @kenobislittlepadawan  @chocolateturtlepeanutopera @cs-please @renanyx @chonisberonica @marvelfansworld

[petewentzworld]

If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Not the JAR brooch and Louis XV chair, but the hand sanitizer and the electric toothbrush. We asked Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, who are currently on their worldwide tour for their album Mania, about the exfoliant, face cream, and sneakers he can’t live without.

Nando’s Hot Peri-Peri Sauce 

 Nando’s is one of my favorite places to go in England, and I think they have them in D.C. and Chicago now, too. It’s like a South African fast-food place, and basically it’s chicken with this South African hot sauce that’s so good, I put it on absolutely everything. I think there’s never been a night when I’ve gotten too drunk and not put Nando’s sauce on something. It’s more vinegary than a hot sauce you’re maybe used to. I love it.

Tilda Swinton X Gentle Monster Newtonic 64MM Rounded Square Sunglasses

 More times than not, celebrities will license their names on something and put it on garbage — or not garbage, but just a whatever product. It doesn’t make you want to go out and buy the thing. I wasn’t super aware of Gentle Monster, but it’s a Korean sunglasses brand that collaborated with Tilda Swinton on these sunglasses, and they’re truly great. After getting them, I started wondering, what else does Tilda Swinton do? She’s really an artist! It’s so exciting when someone works with a brand and it enhances both the celebrity and the brand, because usually it’s so whatever. I have a pair in red, which are sold out now, and people ask me about them wherever I go.

La Mer the Moisturizing Soft Cream

I’m one of the driest people. From being constantly on airplanes, I think that moisturization has been the key to everything for me. I’m trying to get carded at least one time when I’m 40, and La Mer may be the way to get there. It’s not fragrant, so even as a man you can kind of rock it, and even though you can use it anywhere on your body, it’s priced like gold, so it’s really not to be wasted. You don’t want to blow it on spots that take up a lot of real estate. I go for the face usually.

Volkl Super G V1 Pro Tennis Racquet  

Compared to a Prince or Head tennis racket, it’s a little bit heavier. I’m obsessed with tennis, and it’s a super-healthy/unhealthy obsession to the point where I’ll tell my family I’m at the mall or something when really I’m just playing tennis. I think it’s one of those games you can play when you’re 8 or 80. I love the Volkl because it’s a bit weird — the symbol on it is clearly not a Wilson or standard racket — so it’s a conversation starter because people don’t see them a lot.

Dermalogica Daily Superfoliant

People are always asking about the key to my skin routine, but I’m always latching on to people who have super skin. The guy with super skin is Pharrell, who somehow has just looked 21 forever. And he told me, exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate. And I trust him on that. The reason I like this one in particular is because it comes dry, which makes it perfect for traveling. If you’re just taking a carry-on, often liquid exfoliants are too large for the three-ounce rule, but this you can take anywhere because it’s not a liquid. You just add water to it and start exfoliating. I think it might have charcoal in it, which is like this year’s avocado toast or kale.

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

 This book is amazing whether you like tennis or Andre Agassi or not. There are moments in there where he’s at the French Open and scared his wig is going to fall off. I have a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old, and I’m like, “Do I make them do the thing? Do I make them Tiger Woods or Serena or Agassi?” And every single chapter of Agassi’s book ends with “I hate tennis. I hate my dad for making me play.” So now I know.

[trendsdresscom]

Celebs Go Dating star Amy Childs displays her cleavage in plunging red swimsuit

Amy Childs and Amy Hart were back in action on Tuesday as location filming commenced for the current series of Celebs Go Dating. 

The pair are currently shooting the reality show in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cuna, and they were ready for another scene as work continued at the coastal town’s Hard Rock Hotel. 

Striking a pose on the waterfront hotel’s balcony, former TOWIE star Amy, 29, showed off her figure in a distinctive red swimsuit.  

Hard at work: Amy Childs and Amy Hart were back in action in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday as location filming commenced for the current series of Celebs Go Dating

With a deep plunging front, the beachwear showed off her cleavage as she took part in a photoshoot before filming her latest scenes on behalf of the E4 show. 

Evidently enjoying her tropical surroundings, Amy grabbed a glass of champagne before making herself comfortable on the hotel’s outdoor decking. 

The mother-of-two later covered her swimsuit with high slung sheer summer trousers as the island’s 26 degree temperatures cooled. 

Good times: Evidently enjoying her tropical surroundings, Amy grabbed a glass of champagne before making herself comfortable on the hotel’s outdoor decking

Looking good: The mother-of-two later covered her swimsuit with high slung sheer summer trousers as the island’s 26 degree temperatures cooled

Going wild: Amy Hart opted for a leopard print bikini as she prepared to shoot scenes for the new series, while her namesake opted for a deep plunging red swimsuit that fully exposed hr cleavage

Loving life: The pair were joined by Celebs Go Dating co-star Olivia Bentley as they frolicked in the pool 

She added to her look with a smart wide-brimmed Panama hat, while seasonal summer sandals rounded things off. 

Joining her namesake, former Love Island star Amy Hart also caught the eye in a bold leopard print bikini on Monday.

The 27-year old added to her look with a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses as she joined Amy in the Hard Rock Hotel’s outdoor pool.  

Cheers! The girls raised a glass as they took a break during their quest to find love 

There you go, love: Amy topped up the former Love Island star’s glass on Monday 

Getting involved: This Morning presenter Alison Hammond later joined the girls in the pool 

Splash-tastic: Olivia, Alison, Amy Hart and Amy Childs are all hoping to find lasting relationships on the show 

Keen to let their hair down before filming got underway, the champagne flowed as the girls relaxed alongside co-stars Olivia Bentley and Alison Hammond. 

The four girls join TOWIE’s James Lock, soap star Dean Gaffney, Malique Thompson-Dwyer and Love Island’s Joshua Ritchie on the forthcoming show. 

The agency’s trusted and skillful dating experts Anna Williamson and Paul C Brunson will also return to give the celebrities a lesson in love.  

Shady: Amy wore heavily tinted sunglasses as she relaxed in the Dominican Republic

Let’s talk: The Essex girl was seen having a quiet chat with made In Chelsea star Olivia

Hopeful: Amy is on the show after getting her heart broken by Curtis Pritchard in the Love Island villa, while Olivia appears on the show after a failed relationship with Made In Chelsea co-star Digby Edgley

This is the life: Olivia and Amy were the picture of relaxation at the Hard Rock Hotel on Monday 

Pool with a phew! Amy H, Olivia and Amy C showed off their physiques as they let their hair down in front of Punta Cuna’s stunning coastline 

With their acclaimed expertise on relationships and dating etiquette, the dating agents will have no qualms in telling the celebrities where they are going wrong in the dating department.

As always junior Client Coordinator and celeb confidante Tom Read Wilson will be ready and waiting for the celebs to divulge all, offering a comforting shoulder to cry on when things go wrong and a warm, lingering embrace to help celebrate a dating triumph when things go right.

On her quest for love, Amy Childs enthused: ‘I can’t wait to walk through those famous agency doors and find out who Anna and Paul have lined up for me!

‘I haven’t been on a proper date in ages, so I’m excited – and nervous! – to see what happens. I’ve been a huge fan of Celebs Go Dating for years – so to join the agency really is a dream come true, and hopefully it’ll help me find The One!’

In good company: The four girls join TOWIE’s James Lock, soap star Dean Gaffney, Malique Thompson-Dwyer and Love Island’s Joshua Ritchie on the forthcoming show

Tropical: The Dominican Republic will  offer an appropriately romantic setting for the new series

Let it flow: Olivia cracked open a bottle of bubbly (L) while Amy downed another glass (R) 

Quite a sight: The two girls caught the eye as they chatted during their appearance in the pool

Don’t mind me: Alison is also on the lookout for love in the new series of Celebs Go Dating 

  Source link

The post Celebs Go Dating star Amy Childs displays her cleavage in plunging red swimsuit appeared first on Trends Dress.

from Trends Dress https://trendsdress.com/2020/02/19/celebs-go-dating-star-amy-childs-displays-her-cleavage-in-plunging-red-swimsuit/

[billvsamerica]

A Little British Jaunt

A week before we were due to depart to Florida on May 17th, I had a sudden realisation. Kroc Fury, a local 9-12 year old football (soccer) team, were set to play in the finals on May 18th. Normally, I wouldn’t care very much that a children’s team had a game, but on this occasion it was important because I’m the coach. Unbeaten since the first game of the season, they had a real chance of winning the whole thing for the first time since my inaugural season nearly three years ago. I had to make a decision: a) disappoint my wife, leaving her to drive eight hours alone and go down a day later to Florida on the plane, or b) disappoint a bunch of children who idolise me as a demi-god and changer of lives. I booked my flight for after the game. Oh yeah, it was also my wife’s birthday on May 17th. We lost the game on penalties, so I made the wrong decision. They really did let me down. Embarrassing. 

Kroc Fury changing their name to “The Let Me Downs” for next season.

Anyway, after sorting all that out we arrived back in England on Monday morning. After a day of tea and biscuits, we joined my parents on a trip to Oxford to see my brother. He’s teaching there while his girlfriend gets a degree from Oxford (ohhh, posh). Wandering the streets where other great academics had once roamed — Tolkein, Wilde, Hawking, Theresa May (ahem), had made me feel quite at home. I started to wonder whether I should have made more of an effort throughout my school life, messed around less, participated in positive extracurricular activities, got the qualifications I needed to get in, and had actually applied to go there, but then I thought, that sounds like a lot of hard work and I may never have come second in that pizza eating contest if I’d have chosen that path. 

After exploring the historic buildings, like the pub that Tolkein himself used to frequent, the old university grounds, and the Uniqlo that sold those boxer shorts that I like, we ate a Lebanese meal with my brother and headed back to Worcester on yet another pretty train ride. 

The next day, I was planning on getting pissed with my friends from University. It’s mad to think that I’ve known these guys since I was ten, because I haven’t. We met at University, I just said that — pay attention. My friends were coming from Cardiff and they suggested meeting in the middle at Chepstow on the border of Wales. After arriving, I quickly found out that it was only 15 minutes from Cardiff and over an hour and a half from Worcester. Haha, they don’t half like a wind up, those guys.

Bros in Chepstow on tip toes.

They had been in Wetherspoons since 10am, so me and Shelby had some catching up to do and we did so in one of the top five pub gardens in the whole country —the Three Tuns Inn. The only thing that was three tonnes by the time we left was my bladder after all the ale I drank, let me tell you (because I’m proper tough and manly). We reminisced over old memories and looked out over the nearly thousand year old castle. I was a little bit tipsy by the time we got back to the train station, where Rich (my so-called friend) twisted his ankle on the bridge and made quite a fuss about it. Maybe that wouldn’t have happened if we’d have met somewhere closer to Worcester, like Cheltenham perhaps, where I’ve heard the floorboards in the bridge have recently been refurbished. 

This candid picture was taken just after the incident. You can see Rich looking at his ankle and, from a safe distance, Jake also staring at it, both wishing they were in Cheltenham no doubt. 

The weekend came along and with it was the dawning of “Family Day”. In the morning, the family came over to our house and we drank mimosas and Bloody Mary’s. Later on we went over to my aunt’s house for pizza and the main event: Shelby’s Great British Poker Tournament. Joel, wearing sunglasses to disguise his sad little eyes, went ahead early on. He was incredibly cocky the whole time, which made it even more unbearable. I looked like I was heading for an early exit at one point. Down to my last chips, I went all in. I had to win to stay in the game. And did. The weaklings dropped like flies around me after that — Cat was so afraid she didn’t show up; Leah, gone; Lucy, bye bye; Mom, pathetic; Leah, it’s not snap!; Abby, come on now; Mika, no chance; Dad, embarrassingly kept saying that he was getting no cards up his end of the table when I know for a fact he was because of a carefully placed mirror behind him. Down to the last four players, the game started to get interesting. Jack won big and had the majority of the chips. He really let me down with a couple of poor decisions and then I basically bowed out to make him feel better when he lost them all. James came in second and Joel won. You’d think he’d won the Superbowl (that’s basically the Wimbledon Final for the Brits out there).

“And this one is called Cooke, the Baker. Now, do you understand, Joel?”

The next morning, James, Joel and Mika rocked up in a massive clanger of an Mercedes that he had bought recently. He kept saying how it was a cult favorite and everybody wanted one. Yeah, it was a cult favorite alright, looks like the bloody Manson Family used to own it! (Unfortunately, I didn’t say this at the time because it has taken me a couple of weeks to think of it, but I think my silence said basically the same thing). Still buoyed from his jackpot the night before, Joel was ready to splash some cash at the local flea market and I was ready to be told I didn’t need certain items by Shelby and that we couldn’t get them back on the plane anyway. As we turned into the car park, the parking attendant told James to roll down his window. I was half expecting him to tell him to leave because he’d sold him a dodgy motor in the past. Instead, he said “Can you get me one of those cars? I’ve wanted one for ages.” James, smugly smiled. 

After we entered, James immediately walked off in no particular direction rather than wandering around with his nephew he hadn’t seen in nearly a year. The rest of us traipsed around the stalls, Joel purchasing a carved wooden candle stick holder shaped like Jesus and Mika spotting a great gift for Ed Ford’s birthday. It was a lamp that had been crudely taped to a cricket bat and ball. It was the tackiest thing in the whole market. Joel was conned into buying some sunglasses that made him look like Ted Bundy and I bought three old West Brom programs for my brother and dad. All in all, a partial success of a market. When we were about to leave, Mika and Joel went back to buy the cricket lamp. They returned sullenly a little while later with no lamp. Remarkably, somebody else had bought it! Howzat!?  

Ted Bundy and his weird dog, Bear, who kept jizzing on everything (the dog, not Joel).

After Family Day drew to a close, Monday was unofficially named “Friend Day”. There’s a pub in Worcester that Ali Wilson says is his favourite. For this reason and many others, I have never ever been there. On this occasion, it was worth it. They were hosting a reggae sound system in the garden on Friend Day afternoon. With the sun beating down and the beats booming out, I could see why it was a good place to be, until I went inside to order a drink. I refused to give Joel the money to increase his single whisky to a double. In response, the landlord said something antisemitic about me not paying for it. Fortunately, Shelby was still outside, otherwise he might have been on the wrong end of a Jewish headlock. The music thumped out of the speakers and the droves of white people with dreadlocks bopped their heads in tandem and smoked a special kind of cigarette that had a very distinctive smell to it. I wouldn’t know what that stuff was though.

The next few days flew by like a low flying drone illegally filming somebody’s barbecue. On Tuesday evening, I jogged down to Pitchcroft, the local racecourse to play football with the lads for the first time since my knee operation. Will I ever be the player I was before again? I hope not, as I wasn’t that great and this knee is supposed to be better than the last one according to my doctor, Neil Snapinhaff, I think he’s Dutch (say it slowly to get the full benefit of this excellent joke). 

Stoked to be here, folks.

Wednesday, we drove out to Malvern and marvelled at the ancient hills that were said to have inspired Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings (this blog is very Tolkein heavy for some reason). Thursday, we said goodbye to dad and went to Brighton for one final night of fun before hopping on the plane home. 

Once in the coastal home of my cousin and her girlfriend, Abby, we went to eat a wonderful curry and had drinks at a cafe with computer games and stuff in. I didn’t much feel like playing games though. I took a moment alone outside and walked to the pebble beach. It was quiet out there, just the sound of the crashing waves to keep me company. I stared across the pebbles. There’s no place like it I said, but I looked around and nobody had followed me outside to hear my poignant statement. I ran back into the building and shouted loudly “I said there’s no place like it!” They all stared at me and then carried on playing their games and drinking their drinks. I suppose, life goes on for these little Englanders when I’m not around. And my great country will still be here for me whenever I need it. 

Not the only pebble dashing I’d done that week.

Sidenote: I was astonished to see the amount of kids who now do wheelies down the streets of Worcester. I may sound like a Daily Mail reader here, but I would just like to say that it’s very annoying and frightening for the elderly women who are just trying to stand and look at clothes they won’t buy. If all of you are doing it, then it’s not as impressive, is it? So, I propose you design a schedule that allots a different weekday for all of you to do it somewhere quieter, like, the car park of an abandoned warehouse. Also, I tried the Gregg’s vegan sausage roll and it was so good, I actually thought the woman in there had inadvertently given me a meat one, which, in fairness, she might have done as it was very busy. So have that, Piers Morgan, you daft bell end. 

My mad and sound family, plus that guy off Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

[optometrist0]

Pink Sunglasses

Contents

The country music star rocked

Every day with your target

Women's pink sunglasses

Pink classy sunglasses

Behind their retro-leaning plastic sunglasses, the models in the lineup—including Ruth Bell, Lineisy Montero, and Ninouk Akkerman—received thick, color …

She added a pair of square sunglasses in the same blue hue while keeping her …

Apr 19, 2016  · Kylie Jenner slayed Coachella weekend 1 in a bunch of different outfits, but it was her outfit from day 1 that we especially loved. She went with a casual …

Items 1 – 24 of 49 … Shop Target for Pink sunglasses you will love at great low prices. Free shipping on orders $35+ or free same-day pick-up in store.

Shop Target for Pink sunglasses you will love at great low prices. Free shipping on orders $35+ or free same-day pick-up in store.

Shop for pink sunglasses on Etsy, the place to express your creativity through the buying and selling of handmade and vintage goods.

Shop the latest pink sunglasses on the world's largest fashion site.

Check out PEOPLE’s full 2017 CMT Awards coverage. “Jada Pinkett Smith, I love you for knowing the words to ‘Pink …

They applied a fun Valentine’s filter to the clip, giving both of them gold rimmed …

Buy Original MYKITA Sunglasses. In the Official MYKITA Online Store

Free shipping and returns on Women's Pink Sunglasses at Nordstrom.com.

Check out our selection of Hot Pink sunglasses & protect your eyes from the spring and summer rays. Get your party glasses from Zazzle today!

Shop the latest pink lens sunglasses on the world's largest fashion site.

Our Low Prices On Name Brand Glasses Are an Everyday Thing. Book an Eye Exam Now

Pink Talking Fish wasted no time taking to the stage as they … This militaristic …

Wearing pink sunglasses for BP, Wilson fell short of the fence in his first 17 …

Miranda Lambert certainly knows how to command a room full of plastic sunglasses. the country music star rocked the house during her performance of her single “Pink Sunglasses” at the 2017 CMT Music Awards Wednesday night (June …

Results 1 – 48 of 592 … Online shopping from a great selection at Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry Store.

Find great deals on eBay for pink sunglasses and pink aviator sunglasses. Shop with confidence.

Adwoa Aboah appears on-screen wearing rich burgundy liner, while Fatou Jobe’s …

Miranda Lambert rediscovered her sassy side at the 2017 CMT Awards on Wednesday night (June 7), bringing a playful performance of "Pink Sunglasses" to the stage. The song is more in line with the kind of attitude and humor-laden …

It said, ‘could this inspire you for the show?’” The brief referenced the sunglasses …

Miranda Lambert took the stage at Wednesday’s CMT Music Awards for an adorable performance of her 2016 single, “Pink Sunglasses.” And while those watching the …

Shop for hot pink sunglasses online at Target. Free shipping on purchases over $35 and save 5% every day with your target REDcard.

No one does a sassy single quite like Miranda Lambert, and it looks like she has another one on her hands with "Pink Sunglasses" from her latest album The Weight of …

Online shopping from a great selection at Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry Store.

Shop for Pink Sunglasses in Accessories. Buy products such as RealTree Pink Camo Delta Polar, My Little Pony Sunglasses Ages 3+ at Walmart and save.

Pink plastic sunglasses. Left side: Tour 2018 Right side: Miranda Lambert.

Find the latest and trendy styles of pink sunglasses at ZAFUL. We are pleased you with the latest trends in high fashion pink sunglasses.

As Seen On TV Military Sunglasses Block Glare & Enhance Colors. Buy Yours Now!

The elaborate dress was made of layers of salmon pink tulle that cascaded down her body and showed off some of her leg. She wore her platinum blonde hair …

Browse the latest in pink sunglasses at the Sunglass Hut Online Store. Free shipping & returns on all orders!

Said sunglasses should be in near-pristine condition due to their … Red frames …

Pink Sunglasses : Overstock.com – Your Online Sunglasses Store! Get 5% in rewards with Club O!

As the night carried on, a few more taco cars pulled into the drive-thru. One had four passengers all wearing the blinking …

Free shipping and returns on women's pink sunglasses at Nordstrom.com.

Shop the latest pink sunglasses on the world's largest fashion site.

Shop pink designer sunglasses at Neiman Marcus, where you will find free shipping on the latest in fashion from top designers.

Wearing pink sunglasses for BP, Wilson fell short of the fence in his first 17 …

Find and save ideas about Pink sunglasses on Pinterest. | See more ideas about Shades, Mirrored sunglasses and Pink accessories.

For added protection wear cap and sunglasses throughout the water playing …

Pink Running Sunglasses: Shop pink classy sunglasses, Pink Polarized Sunglasses, and Trendy Pink Sunglasses on $25.

Fendi Sunglasses Contents Glossy fendi sunglasses And kids online: fashion Also played “hipster Innovation skills have always distinguished Collection. arnette arnette quickly Product Description… These glossy fendi sunglasses are accented with logo-etched hardware at … Fendi Women's Sunglasses : Overstock.com – Your Online Sunglasses Store! Get 5% in rewards with Club O! Free shipping and returns on Marc Jacobs Sunglasses Contents Turn 180 degrees the Marc jacobs women's sunglasses. shop Custom fitting clip-on Discount sunglasses and sport sunglasses Sunglasses hardcore black Shipping Speed Items & Addresses; FREE 2-day shipping: Items sold by Walmart.com that are marked eligible on the product and checkout page with the logo Shop for marc jacobs sunglasses at Nordstrom.com. Free Shipping. Clip On Sunglasses Contents Proper size clip-on sunglasses Styles and sizes Resistant and durable sunglasses Universal fit sunglass 2017 cmt music awards was Took talking during the 2017 cmt Affordable prices for optical quality sunglasses including custom fitting clip-on, over prescription, night driving, computer and reading with uva and uvb protection Shop an assortment of our best selling Arnette Sunglasses Contents The most attractive designs. buy arnette Arnette recently collaborated with legendary skateboard Board ❯. the collection. arnette Arnette quickly became Iconic sunglasses from ray-ban ban Buy Discount Sunglasses and Sport Sunglasses Online! Sports Sun glasses and Aviator Sunglasses at discount prices! Polarized Sunglasses, Man Sunglasses and … Founded in 1992 and acquired by Luxottica

from http://bestoptometrists.net/pink-sunglasses-3/