#you talk very smart and act very posh but you think like you’re sixteen I see you

[fisherrprince]

Slightly worried about alphinaud actually. He’s … very optimistic about this whole cross-nation company thing, and I haven’t had the BEST of luck finding people because optimistic kumbaya ventures don’t often work perfectly especially if they’re militarized and threatening and it’s all rather dangerous politically I think and are you going to run the thing? You, sixteen year old fancy lad? He has good ideas but they’re not incredibly careful despite his planning… I’m watching you kiddo ok

[turning-the-frigging-frogs-gay]

Underneath The Spotlight- A Sanders Sides Fic

Taglist: @sophiexteresa

Chapter 11- Logan Berry: Dancer, Organiser, Techie... Boyfriend?

(Read chapter 1 here!)

(Read here on ao3!)

Warnings for this chapter: mild curse word

A/N: did anyone order Logince??? Also, I love how this chapter came out, I hope you do too :D

Harrison and Bailey were the two techies stationed at stage left of the theatre where the show was taking place, however their distinct personalities had earned them the nicknames Heart and Brain. The two had become inseparable throughout their time managing the theatre lighting and made a great team, Brain making sure every performer could be seen and Heart adding the symbolism and meanings to the lighting designs. Heart loved his job and was awed at getting such a close view of every performance that came and went from their theatre. Earlier in the show, during the ballroom dance, Heart had been watching the routine with curiosity.

“Brain, hey Brain!” he whispered, nudging his partner.

Brain sighed. “Yes, Heart?” they asked, turning to him.

“Look, look! That little guy in light blue, with the freckles and glasses! The really short one!”

“I see, yes.”

“Look how he looks at his partner. Brain, he’s in loooooveee!!!”

“I do see the signs, yes,” Brain replied. “How he never takes his eyes off of him, and the smiling and blushing. However his partner, the one in yellow, is probably doing it even more.”

“OH MY GOSH, YOU’RE SO RIGHT!”

“Heart, keep your voice down!”

“Sorry... but I totally see what you mean! Those two are absolutely smitten, it’s so cute! Oooohhh, let’s see if we can spot any other couples!”

“Over there, those two,” Brain said immediately. “Both really tall, one in red, one in dark blue.”

“Oh my gosh yeeessss!! They’re both such good dancers as well! It’s almost like they’re trying to impress each other. They make such a perfect couple, Brain!”

The other gave a small smile.

“Oh and look, over there! Green and purple, green and purple!”

“Ah yes, although their dancing skills are more... lacking, shall one say?”

Heart nudged them lightly. “Don’t be mean! They don’t have to be perfect dancers, but you can see they’re supporting each other and both trying their best. I bet they really take care of each other.”

Brain moved closer to their partner. “Like I take care of you?”

“Braiiiinnnnn! Not nowwww!” Heart whined, blushing.

“I apologise. Let’s leave the romancing to them, shall we?” they said, gesturing to the three waltzing couples.

Back at the current stage in the show, well into the second half, Logan and Roman were waiting in the wings for the tap dance, containing Logan’s big solo. His tap solos were fast, furious and one missed beat could ruin the whole thing. However he always seemed to execute them perfectly, captivating every single audience member with his rhythmic and technical precision.

“Are you nervous?”

“Slightly, although thanks to your talk earlier I now have no doubt that I am capable of doing this.”

“That’s the spirit, Lo! You’re gonna do amazing! And don’t forget I’ll be supporting you all the way.”

“Thank you Roman...”

The lights came up and the music began, signalling the start of the routine. The main part of the dance went well, everyone putting in their all with the technique and performance, delivering a great routine. Towards the end, all the other dancers retired to the back of the stage, ready for Logan’s solo.

“You can do this Logan,” he swore he heard Remus say

“Show everyone how great you are!” Patton’s voice came in his head.

“You got this, you nerd,” Virgil seemed to tell him.

“You are a fantastic dancer, never doubt yourself,” Janus’ voice said.

“Logan... I love you,” were the final words Logan heard from Roman.

They were all right. He could do this. Step... prepare... five, six, seven, eight-

The rest of the dancers watched with pride as Logan began his tap solo, most of them barely following the moves he seemed to be doing at hyper-speed. Logan did move after move perfectly in time, never once missing a beat, tapping out an extremely fast and complex rhythm with his shoes. The audience watched, in awe... they weren’t the only ones. Roman stood, watching his boyfriend, mesmerised...

“God, I love that tap-dancing nerd...”

There was little time to marvel over Logan’s skills after the routine, as most of the dancers had another routine soon, Roman almost immediately. After his very intense solo, Logan took a walk around backstage in order to catch his breath back a bit. While wandering around stage left, he overheard a couple of the techies talking.

“Oh no, Brain, it looks like the centre-stage spotlight is broken!” the shorter of the two techies said.

The other, taller techie winced. “That is the spotlight we need for the next dance, the best dancer in the school is performing a solo. What will we do?”

“I dunno, Brain, maybe we could try-“

Logan pondered. The best dancer in the school... they must be talking about Roman. Logan recalled his boyfriend did indeed have a solo as part of the next routine, and the broken spotlight would bring him even more unneeded stress. Logan himself had some tech skills. He sighed- it was worth a shot. He approached the techies, the tap shoes he was still wearing tapping against the floor.

“Salutations,” he said. “I overheard that the two of you were having an issue?”

“Aren’t you one of the dancers?” the taller techie (Brain?) asked.

“Indeed I am, however I thought I may be able to assist you with the broken spotlight problem.”

“I dunno, I mean we’re really not supposed to let performers use the lighting unit, let alone kids...” said the smaller techie Logan believed to be called Heart.

“I am sixteen, there is no need to belittle me or act like I don’t know anything.”

“Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to belittle you or anything! I just don’t think there’s anything any of us can do about this.”

“I agree,” said Brain. “The dancer will just have to dance without his spotlight.”

That made Logan livid. He knew full well that Roman, his boyfriend, deserved only the best. He was a stunning dancer and deserved to perform under the most flattering conditions, so everyone could see just how amazing he was. And if no one else could provide that for him, Logan was more than willing to take it into his own hands.

“Look, okay? We have a few minutes until the spotlight is needed, and I don’t need to be onstage for a while now. I think you’ll find that it is very much possible, and that I will be fixing this spotlight.”

He stamped his tap shoe on the floor in determination, making Heart jump and cower behind his partner. Even Brain took a step back, in shock.

“He’s being scary! It’s like those really demanding people from the posh ballet school all over again! Brain, do something!”

Brain shrugged.

“I trust the guy. Go ahead and see what you can do, umm...”

“Logan. Logan Berry.”

“I think you can fix it, Logan,” Brain said.

“Me too, I believe in you!” Heart chirped.

The problem was relatively simple. Logan had it fixed within a few minutes, and the techies did not do well at hiding their shock.

“Wow... you actually fixed it,” Brain said, looking over the lighting unit then giving Logan an impressed glance.

“Oh my goodness you did it!” Heart half-squealed. “Logan you are so clever and kind and skilful and selfless and helpful and smart and you saved our butts and you-“

Just as Heart looked as if he were about to lurch forwards and hug Logan, Brain placed a calming hand on their partner’s shoulder.

“Heart. Calm. Remember to be professional.”

“Sorrryyyy,” Heart shrank back, a blush dusting his freckled face.

Logan smiled. “You are very welcome.... I should probably return to my dressing room now. I don’t doubt that some catastrophe may have occurred in my absence.”

Brain chuckled. “My sincere thanks, Logan, we couldn’t have done this without you.”

Logan smiled, one of his rare, genuine, not just plastered on for a performance smiles. “You are most welcome.”

Roman was already dashing out of the dressing room when Logan returned. He stumbled towards him and frantically placed his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“Logan! I heard about some trouble with lighting, is everything ok back there?”

“Yes, do not worry, everything is fine now,” Logan replied, however his words did not have their desired calming effect.

Roman immediately frowned. “What do you mean ‘now’?”

“Oh, there was a small trouble regarding a spotlight for the next dance, but I managed to fix it, nothing major really. I merely examined the lighting unit, I spotted the issue and it was quite simple so I recalibrated the...” Logan’s words tailed off as he took in the look on his boyfriend’s face. “...wh-what’s the matter?”

“Logan... you did all that so I could have my spotlight?”

“Well, of course... because I love you-“

Logan was immediately cut off by Roman throwing his arms around him, holding him tight as he seemed to fight back tears.

“Thank you. Logan... you didn’t have to do that... I... has anyone ever told you how incredible you are?”

No words were necessary, as they both held each other tight, forgetting for a moment the chaos ensuing around them, as everything melted away into-

“ROMAN! So that’s where you’ve been!” Emile Picani once again thrust his head through the backstage door, this time looking even more infuriated than the last. “You’re literally on right now, we’ve had to stall the music for you! Get your ass in here now!”

Logan and Roman exchanged a shocked glance. If Emile swears at you, you know you’re in for it. Roman began sprinting towards the stage without a word. Logan was left stunned, with more confidence than he could remember having in a long time. He stood there, grinning like an idiot for a good few seconds until Remus approached him, mockingly wiggling his eyebrows.

“Jeez, dude, stop simping for my bother,” he said, causing Logan to blush bright red and snap back into his usual serious manner.

“Remus, cut it out,” he snapped. “You should be getting ready, we all have the big group number soon, where’s everyone else?”

Remus gestured awkwardly inside the dressing room. “Comforting Patton,” he whispered. Logan suddenly remembered the bold red mark he had put on Patton’s column of the spreadsheet, the seemingly impossible feat his childhood friend had been anxious about for months. He sighed.

“Then I suggest we join them...”

Next chapter

[afoolsingenuity]

The Hate U Give // It’s A Must Read For Everyone

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

Published: 6th April 2017 Source: Bought Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction My Rating:

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice. Movie rights have been sold to Fox, with Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) to star.

A book about fighting for what's right has never felt more apt than right now. I mean, the past few weeks has once more demonstrated that racial equality has not been achieved and it has never been more obvious than in the US. I would go into my rant about the racism demonstrated by the white supremacist nazis who were protesting but I don’t want to work myself up to rage about it. I don’t need to when this book will help fire up that feeling of outrage.

This book has been raved about and hyped up and I was so wary about picking it up and being disappointed so it is safe to say I am thrilled it met all expectations and firmly placed itself as a must read for YA lovers (and book lovers in general). It’s an eye-opening read that will hit you in the feels and it’s certainly one I believe everyone should be reading. I should have read it far sooner but it’s sad to see even after the Black Lives Matter movement has been alive and well for a while it’s a book we still need today as there are still people out there who hold racist beliefs and whose voices are still being heard and not talked down enough.

I wasn’t sure how to talk about this book. I’ve tried three times to write a review which fully captures why this book is important and how it packed such a punch and I’ve been failing epically. At first I thought about writing five reasons why you should read, but there are far too many good reasons to read than that. Then I tried to write my normal review and couldn’t find the write words to explain why this book is good. I kept getting drawn off into tangents and I began talking politics and it all went wrong then. And so I’ve been sat staring as screen with about three different takes on this book all in one post. I’m going to try and be concise. Wish me luck.

This book was eye opening for me. I was aware of the struggles which were on going in America (and around the world, race is not an exclusively US struggle) and I knew about the Black Lives Matter movement. I was even aware that racial profiling was done by the police. I know the statistics for the number of black lives taken by the police last year and I know that more black people are killed by the police than in terror attacks. I know the statistics but actually reading a book where this happens is very different.

Angie Thomas speaks from a place of knowledge in this book. As her acknowledgements say, she grew up in an area very similar to Starr and had similar troubles reconciling herself at home and that at school as she had two very different personas. She knows the struggle of getting out of a poor neighbourhood and making her way in the world and you can see her experiences shining through on the page. You heard it in the way that Starr is viewed by those in her neighbourhood as seeing herself above them as she doesn’t hang out with them as much now she’s at a private school. You see it how she modulates her own self to fit better with her rich, white friends at her private school. There are certain phrases and speech patterns she won’t use so she doesn’t come across as an angry black girl. She is viewed as inherently cool by her white friends simply because she is black she must know what is cool whilst with her black friends at home she isn’t cool. She hangs back. The perception of her in both places is very different. I wouldn’t have even thought about it but it’s something which people do to fit. I know it’s now the same but we all alter ourselves from at home to how we act in a professional environment, like work. We alter ourselves slightly to better fit in. Starr has to do that in everyday life. Seeing her reconcile her two selves into one through the book was interesting. Especially as it was triggered by her witnessing the police shooting a friend and it being a spoken about topic both at home and at school meant her two worlds collided when she had managed to keep them very separate before that.

The skill at which Thomas shines a light on everyday things you don’t even notice was amazing as well. For me, getting pulled over by the police would be nerve-wracking (it’s the police, it’s always a daunting experience) but only in the way you mentally catalogue anything you’ve done wrong and try reassure yourself you’re not guilty. Not because you fear how the police will react to you and whether or not you have to fear the police themselves. Not because you fear they will look at the colour of your skin and you will be at risk. The fact that this is a normal occurrence for many a person and they have a reason to fear not because they’ve done something wrong but simply because the colour of their skin is shocking. It was not comfortable to acknowledge that although we like to believe we are beyond such thing racism is still obvious in the everyday and people get treated differently due to the colour of their skin. That has been very obvious in recent weeks seeing white folks gathering with firearms in a public place and there has been no rollout of the army whilst when black people protested for the killing of someone from their community there have been curfews and a large police presence.

It is not always comfortable seeing Starr’s friends and the way which they act and some of the comments said. I wasn’t always a fan of Starr’s boyfriend, especially with some of the comments he made… but he was good at demonstrating incorrect beliefs and when being taught why they are incorrect. Like the comments about black names being weird and then Starr and her friends demonstrating that in fact white names are weird (different cultures people!) and white people insistence that they split up (fatal horror film choice you should never make and it made me laugh when this then happened in a book I was reading, guess what everyone ended up captured!). Those lighter moments which highlighted comments which are racist but made fun of them were great because those are the comments people are likely to make. That fun interaction of learning about different cultures was good and it was fun and it meant this book never came across like it was preaching at you.

This is just a brilliant book. It’s brilliantly written and it’s smart. It talks about relevant issues in the world and thus should be read by everyone. For me it gave a different perspective and it taught me knew things. It led me to question my immediate response to events like a police shooting and reminded me that there are people involved and now be too quick to believe everything being said on the news. It will make you laugh and make you cry and make you care about all these characters and want to keep them safe. You will rage at the injustices seen and cheer on the small moments of success. When a character learns they’re being racist and stops you will want to let out a small cheer. And when someone is being an idiot you will want to smack them upside the head for being dumb. It’s chock full of all that good stuff I like in a book and I will be trying to force everyone I know to give this a read.

Have you read The Hate U Give? What did you think?

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