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rachelthompsonauthor · 4 years

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The past two quarantine months have been like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime, and I turned 56 in January. So rather than regurgitate what you’ve likely read in the news or on social media, I’ve decided to share how I’ve spent my time these past two months along with random thoughts. I hope you’ll continue along with me as I share what I’m doing each week.

Books

Oh, how I’ve missed reading! With my business so insanely busy (for which I’m truly grateful) these past few years, I’ve barely had time to read little more than Slack, emails, texts, and social media updates. Not exactly satisfying for this lifelong, avid reader. This quarantine has allowed me a little bit of extra time, which I’ve put to good use.

In no particular order, here’s what I’ve read:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow is fantastic. Read it in one sitting because I didn’t want any of the details of this lacy, incredibly intricate work to fade. I highly recommend it. A mix of fantasy, drama, and a love story (because in the end, aren’t all stories love stories?), anyone with a working brain will love this novel.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is also superb. I’d heard about this book for a while, yet only got around to it because it’s also now a mini-series on Hulu (which I watched afterward – also very good, though the character arcs and the plot changed in crucial, at times startling, ways).

Curious if you’ve read the book and watched the series, what your thoughts are? I could write an entire post about it, yet I’ll only share this…

As a child, my parents hire a housekeeper. My folks both work full-time and we are not in any way rich or well-off. Neither of my folks has college degrees – Dad is an assistant manager at a chain drugstore and Mom has just completed x-ray tech school and works nights at San Bernardino County Hospital. We live in a small house on a long street in the smoggy Inland Empire of California.

There are two of us, my older sister and me. Then my mom gets pregnant when I’m nine and has my baby sister when I’m ten. My folks advertise for a housekeeper and Miss Louise answers. She’s African American and willing to work for the little they can pay her. She smokes a lot (outside only, so as “not to hurt the babies”), insists on wearing a uniform though my mom tells her it isn’t necessary and comes looking for us in her big old white Caddy if we aren’t home from school exactly 20 minutes after it lets out.

(Miss Louise’s husband’s name is George. If you are alive in the 70s and watch The Jeffersons, you understand why this is an endless source of amusement to my sister Caren and me.)

Being that young, neither Caren nor I understand what privilege means. We didn’t get whatever we wanted because my parents are always strapped, yet there is food on the table, and the lights are always on. Except for the occasional venture to Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm that one time (mom hated it), our vacations consist of driving to visit our Zayde (great-grandfather) in a nursing home in Santa Cruz, or some other relatives we don’t know somewhere in L.A. (I remember one great-aunt who drank. A lot.) We’d always stop at Cantor’s for a soup and sandwich (the highlight for us), and be back on the road. We don’t mind because it is anywhere but home.

Anyway – my entire point is that in Little Fires Everywhere – the show – Kerry Washington’s Mia is an artist who takes a maid job with Reese Witherspoon’s Elena Richardson’s family to keep an eye on her daughter Pearl, who is quite taken with the teenage Richardson clan. The racial and financial dichotomy is blatantly obvious: a rich family who’s seemingly got it all vs. a seemingly poor black single mother, which adds to the ‘fires’ mentioned in the title.

The book really made me think about my own privilege and despite how well my folks treated Louise, and how much we loved her, and she us, there would always be that wall. Granted, it was a business arrangement and my folks paid her for her services, and in truth, anyone could’ve answered the housekeeping ad. The fact that she was African American and we were white created a racial divide that’s undeniable.

The third book I read is Certain Cure by Jennifer Valoppi, also excellent. It’s the first in a series (parts two and three aren’t out yet, darn it). The novel chronicles the life of three generations of the Cummings family; Claire, a woman in her 70s who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Helene, her television journalist daughter and Justin, the teenage grandson whose adoration of his “Grams” leads him to discover the dark secret behind the miracle technology that is not only curing Claire of her cancer but tempting his mother with eternal youth, as traditional medical industries wage war against the mysterious doctor from China who threatens them all.

I had no idea what to expect with this one, and I’m glad I read it. Valoppi is a former TV journalist from NYC so she knows her stuff. I’m not particularly religious (or scientific), yet I didn’t find either the science or religious stuff bogged me down. Fascinating read. I highly recommend it.

Movies and Shows

Gosh, so many. With four of us in the house (and two teens), it’s worth it to me to pay for Hulu and Netflix, Amazon Prime Video comes with my Amazon Prime membership already, plus my internet plan comes with AT&T Direct, Showtime, HBO, and other premium channels. For the amount of entertainment, it’s worth the money.

I watch movies and shows on my iPad at night, once I’m finally off my computer. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like a super loud TV with stereo surround-sound barking at me after a long day of noise and stress. So I go upstairs to my cozy bed, surround myself with blankets and pillows and cats, and snuggle in for a few hours to watch a movie or a few episodes of something I enjoy.

Another note: not a big ‘reality TV’ watcher, mostly because, as a writer, I prefer well-written shows. I also don’t like the negativity and yelling normally associated with those shows. That said, I do watch Vanderpump Rules (on Bravo) with my daughter (age 20). We bond.

Shows

Here’s what I’ve binged these past few quarantine months, show-wise (no links because you can Google):

Ray Donovan – ggggggreat! Heard it was wonderful, yet truly had no idea how awesome. Liev Schrieber is captivating as Ray. Flawed, human, sad, and, in case you don’t know, a childhood sexual abuse survivor (church abuse). I had no idea going in this would be a theme of the show, yet it was handled with care and truth. The entire supporting cast is also amazing. Every season is great. Watch it all. I hated to see it end.

Homeland – the first four or so seasons were mesmerizing. Then, I got bored. This last season had me falling asleep and then WHAM! that ending. Worth it.

Hunters – Good, not fantastically great. The twist in the last episode will get you, though.

Upload – Loved it! Thought it would be silliness (and in some places, it was, but that’s okay – we need a little silliness right now). Had a ton of heart which I love.

Bosch – come on, it’s Titus Welliver. He’s fantastic. This last season didn’t draw me in as much as the entire rest of the series, though. You?

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – terrific, all of it. Every season, every episode, every character.

Tales From The Loop – amazing. Anything having to do with time-travel or the bending of time, I’m a total sucker for. This hurt my brain in a good way.

The Feed – weird but good and thought-provoking.

Dark – by far, my favorite show year. A German show dubbed in English (you get used to it – don’t let that scare you off), this time-bending, decade-moving hit show spans two seasons and every episode is worth watching. And the music – my god. Amazing. Here’s a Spotify playlist link.

Movies

Parasite – thought-provoking. Took a while to get into it and then boom! It just goes full-on insanity. Well-written, well-acted, and the message of the movie is just, wow. No spoilers in case you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

Hustlers – loved it. Whatever issues people have with strip clubs and ‘dancers,’ get over it. These girls are amazingly talented, are in amazing shape, and work hard to make money for their families. What I loved the most about the movie is that it’s all about the women; the men are only there as a plot device. It’s a movie entirely shot through the ‘female gaze’ (though of course, men will enjoy the dance scenes which are sexy, yet not unclothed). How many movies can say that?

Memento – I think I’m probably one of the few people who had never seen this neo-noir psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce looking like Brad Pitt (who was originally considered for the role). It was great, I think? LOL. My brain still hurts.

Call Me By Your Name – Lovely, sad, gorgeous. (And I will not make a juvenile peach joke.) And the music! Oh, my.

Zombieland – I hate zombies, I hate horror movies. I hate gore and squishy sounds. This movie was cute. (Not ready for the sequel, yet.)

Music

As mentioned above, the music in Dark sent me off on a ‘who are these talented musicians?’ lark. I’ve discovered so many. Here is who I’m listening to right now (all free on Spotify) and links provided here:

Apparat (you’ll recognize the opening theme of Dark and stay for the rest).

Agnes Obel – wondrous. I’ve played her entire catalog repeatedly since discovering her music on Dark. She’s become a commercial favorite as well now. Familiar is the song used in the show that’s received the most play.

Alev Lanz – otherworldly. I’ve not heard anyone like her. Her songs on the Dark soundtrack and Black Mirror are what she’s most noted for (May The Angels, and Fall Into Me, respectively), however, I love all of her work. Her harmonies are like nothing else. One song is layered with her voice and African throat singers – it’s gorgeous (May The Angels). She’s active on Twitter and we’ve interacted a few times. She’s beautifully transparent about her love of music and it shows in all her work.

Patrick Watson – I heard this song, Good Morning Mr. Wolf, on the Ray Donovan soundtrack and immediately clicked my SoundHound app. Who is this talented being? This song, in particular, sounds so large and cinematic – I wondered – is he is a film composer? (yes). A band? (yes). And so much more. I cannot get enough of all of his music, and still, I play this one song on repeat – repeatedly.

London Grammar – I discovered this band a few years ago and still adore them. Strong is still my favorite song, though Rooting For You is a close second. Hannah Reid’s vocals are big and beautiful.

Hilary Woods – ethereal and lovely. Especially the song Kith.

Sufjan Stevens – many of us just discovered him from the movie Call Me By Your Name soundscore, however, he’s been a working musician since the early 2000s. Talented beyond.

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. I made a Female Rockers list on Spotify which you’re welcome to.

Thoughts on Quarantine

My Business

Living in California, I’ve barely left the house in two months, with the exception of going to the pharmacy for meds or for the occasional physician appointment for me or the kids, because of the quarantine restrictions in place. And I’m okay with that.

I’m fortunate that my business is primarily online-only: I work with authors and small businesses on their branding, marketing, and promotion, so given that all real-life events are off the table, I’ve been quite busy working with my clients to ensure their products and services are still viable.

This doesn’t mean I don’t need help as a small business. I applied for an SBA loan and couldn’t even get onto the website the first time – it was pretty ridiculous – like the end scene in Beetlejuice. You all know who those first small business loans went to, right? Not small-potatoes people like me. So the second time around, it went much smoother, and I’m grateful to have received a small loan which will definitely help me keep going with rent, insurance, and other expenses.

I still did my annual non-profit initiative for writers, NaNoProMo (National Novel Promotion Month) this year over on my business site, BadRedhead Media, yet only for two weeks instead of the entire month. Daily blog posts from experts on everything publishing-related plus amazing giveaways. It’s always exhausting, yet I find enormous gratification in helping writers.

This year, however, getting writers to comment to win amazing, FREE giveaways was like pushing a house up a hill. I get it – people are focused on putting food on the table instead of commenting on blog posts, even if the giveaways were worth $500. That’s why I wanted to do this initiative this year – to help writers who are in a jam – yet only a smattering of writers participated.

I’m seriously rethinking if I want to do it next year given the financial cost as well as the personal toll. My first therapist, who I started seeing after I gave birth to my daughter Anya (I was terrified to leave her to go back to work, given my history with childhood sexual abuse), gave me this tip whenever I had trouble deciding whether to do something:

“If you ever aren’t sure if you should do something, ask yourself this question: Is this good for Rachel? If the answer is yes, do it. If the answer is no, don’t. It really is that simple.”

Self-care, y’all.

Social Media

I’ve stopped interacting with the crazies on social media (and who knows, maybe you’re one of them so truly, no offense), but I’d rather stay safe and keep my family safe by working exclusively at home – which I mostly do anyway – than venture back into face-to-face meetings with clients. I support four people with my business and if something happens to me, four people are doomed.

So the answer is simple to me: stay home, work from home, and don’t risk dying from this virus.

I don’t buy into any of this ridiculous conspiracy crap. Sorry, not sorry. You can if you want to. Spending time arguing with people online about it takes away time from my business, my kids, my guy, and my own sanity. Speaking of which…

Mental Health

There were a few mix-ups with my meds when this all started, and I couldn’t get my prescriptions filled and delivered before I ran out, so I ended up having about a week of insomnia which I’ve never had to deal with. I was a zombie (the non-squishy kind) and it sucked.

If you have insomnia, I’m sorry. I feel for you.

It’s all straightened out now, thank goodness. My son Lukas and I donned our masks and drove to the local CVS the other day because I couldn’t wait two days for my meds to be delivered. It felt like walking into a dystopian future walking in there: everyone in masks, tape six feet apart for the waiting line, plexiglass between us and the cashiers.

I’m thankful for these measures, of course, and wonder how long we’ll need them, or if this is our new normal?

My Writing

I finished the final edits on Broken People and sent it back to my editor. She’s had some health issues, so the delay is understandable. To be honest, I’m not in a huge hurry to launch a new book right now. Here are the questions that run through my mind:

Do people have money to purchase a new book?

If they do, will they want to read my new book?

If they do want to read my new book, will they take the money they do have to read mine, and then review it?

Does it even matter in the grand scheme of life?

I’m an author just like any author – I want to get my work out there so people can read it, engage with it, connect with me. I hope they’ll like it, feel something, reflect on their own lives, learn something new, particularly about being a childhood sexual abuse survivor. It’s a weird limbo to be in right now.

Our New Normal

This phrase is bandied about quite a lot yet let’s face it: it’s life as we know it, now. The anxiety is real, too. I haven’t hugged or kissed my elderly parents who live two miles away in two months. I bring them toilet paper and cookies from our favorite bakery (drive up and trunk drop off, pay online only) and drop it on their porch.

All these scenarios run through my mind: If I go to do this, what happens if? I know I’m not the only one. And yet, we can’t predict anything. So I sit here, writing this post, safe inside my little house bubble, grateful I can pay my rent, put food on the table (delivered by Instacart, thankfully), and everyone around me is healthy.

What’s your new normal? What have you been reading, watching, and listening to? If you’ve stuck it out this far, I thank you. Would love to hear your comments! Safe hugs, y’all.

***

Read more about Rachel’s experiences in the award-winning book, Broken Pieces.

She goes into more detail about living with PTSD and realizing the effects of how being a survivor affected her life in

Broken Places, available in print everywhere!

The post This is How To Spend Quarantine With Me appeared first on Rachel Thompson.

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solastia · 6 years

Text

The Dragon’s Lair | 1

Pairing: Dragon Hybrid Namjoon x Reader (The others will show up one by one)

Word Count: 3,141

Genre & Warnings: Hybrid au. Fantasy themes. This will have a little bit of everything. Lots of fluff, some angst, perhaps eventual smut. Mentions of physical abuse and possible other trauma or emotional issues in the future. Brief mentions of death but no MCD.

Notes: I’ve been ‘hoarding’ this in my drafts forever. It was literally only missing a paragraph. I’ve considered the idea of doing something for hybrids for a while, and I kept getting asked about it, so this is my attempt! I wanted to do something other than the ole’ cat and dog thing. Also, keep in mind that the plan for this fic to is write it in a way that I can keep adding to it for as long as I want to. I have no definite end in mind as of yet. I figured I’d release it to give you guys something to read while you wait for Faith.

Some days you praised Kwon Soonyoung for being the best friend and overall human being on the planet. Other days, you cursed the day you became friends. Today felt like it was going to be the latter.

“I really don’t know about this, Soonyoung. It just seems so wrong,” you grimaced as he pulled you along towards the grey-bricked and incredibly ridiculous building.

The Fairy Pawmother was one of the most popular businesses in town these days. And, in case the name didn’t give it away, was styled ostentatiously to look like a small castle. There were koi ponds instead of a moat and a cobbled walkway instead of a drawbridge, but it was painfully obvious the entire place with themed purposely. The two towers on either side of the building were actually a popular cafe and a Hybrid specialty shop that employed the adoptable hybrids themselves.

“You’re thinking about it the wrong way, that’s all. I mean, sure. It would be nice if they all had their freedom and people stopped treating hybrids like lesser beings. The law is easing up on them little by little every year, so maybe someday there will be hope. Until then, there are all these hybrids without anyone to care about them. They are all alone, no one to care whether they live or die.” Soonyoung sighed dramatically and wiped a nonexistent tear from his dry eyes.

“The guilt trip route? Ugh, fine,” you groan and follow him towards to entrance.

Soonyoung smiles gleefully, as he usually does when he convinces you to do what he wants. Which is quite often, sadly.

“Come on. You won’t regret having a hybrid of your own. Since your Grandma died, I worry about you. She was all the real family you had left. I know you have me, and I consider myself your family too, but you could do with more. Just remind yourself you’re saving them from someone that won’t feel about hybrids the way that you do. You’ll treat them good, whereas they could have gone to a sex fiend or something.”

“Who says sex fiend? Weirdo.”

“Your weirdo,” Soonyoung drapes himself across your back, squeezing softly.

“Disgusting. Get off me,” you kick your foot back, hitting the giggling Soonyoung lightly, but you can’t hide your soft smile fast enough before he catches it.

“This place is great too. They treat the hybrids well. They feed them properly, have good rooms and jobs if they want them. They even bring in teachers for homeschooling and stuff. It’s where I got Jihoonie.”

“My point exactly. Jihoon is a little brat.”

“A brat that you spoil as much as I do. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you suddenly have jugs of milk in your fridge when you hate milk. Or that you guys have movie marathons where he comes back so stuffed he doesn’t want to eat dinner. Or the fact that those headphones you claimed you won in a contest at work and gave to him were almost $3,000. And you forgot that I share your Amazon account.”

“Having a nosy best friend is the worst,” you grumble, looking around the lobby of the Hybrid shelter.

It looked bright and welcoming, with ivory painted walls covered in pictures of past adoptions and a lounge filled with plush crimson couches. There were several nice looking families waiting, presumably to pick up their new Hybrids, but Soonyoung pulled you away from there and towards the front counter.

The man at the counter was stunning, with beautiful dark eyes and pouty lips. When you couldn’t see any evidence of him being a Hybrid himself, you were almost disappointed. His eyes glimmered with mischief as he caught you checking him out, his gaze piercing you in a way that made you wonder if he could hear your thoughts. You blushed and looked away, glad for Soonyoung’s interference as he excitedly greeted the man.

“Heechul hyung! How are you?”

“Better, now that you’ve brought me something pretty to look at. Jihoon’s class doesn’t get out for another hour if you’re here to get him.”

“I know! I actually brought my friend Y/N here to look around. I think she’d give someone a great home,” Soonyoung pulls you forward, and you wave shyly.

“Allow me to introduce myself, then. I am Kim Heechul, the Fairy Pawmother himself,” he catches your cringe and laughs.

“I know, it’s a silly name. I wanted to just call it Heechul’s in sparkling lights, but my partner Leeteuk told me this isn’t a Casino so I couldn’t do that.”

“It’s not a casino. It’s not a real castle either, but that didn’t stop you. So don’t blame me,” a yell comes from the office behind Heechul.

“Are you getting mad already, babe?” Heechul turns and smirks at the door.

“I’m not mad!”

“You’re yelling.”

“Well, I’m mad now!”

Heechul giggles and turns back to you, observing you from head to toe with a thoughtful look.

“I don’t think a cat or dog will do for you.”

“If you’re about to suggest a hamster, I’ve already got one,” you smirk and jerk your thumb to point at Soonyoung, who huffs.

“That’s great! I totally see it.” Heechul laughs, slapping the counter a couple times.

He slowly sobers before rounding the counter and gesturing to the two of you to follow him down a spacious hallway.

“No, I mean something...a bit more challenging.”

As you follow him down the hallway, you look through the enormous windows that stretch all the way across, revealing what appeared to be common rooms on either side. You observed the Hybrids, pleased to note that they all looked healthy and happy. There were multiple televisions and game consoles for them to use, toys for the younger ones, plenty of comfortable lounge chairs. The walls were lined with bookshelves, most of them packed full of all types of genres, some used for organizing board games. All in all, it didn’t appear to be the type of shelter that you’d heard horror stories about.

“What do you do for a living, Y/N?” Heechul suddenly asks.

“I’m a graphic designer. I work freelance taking on commissions for various companies.”

“That’s good. That means you are at home a lot, right? Your hybrid will appreciate that. So you’re the artsy type?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” you laugh softly. “It’s mostly making promotional stuff. Ads and things like that. Pays well enough. I still try to draw and paint what I want on my own time, but I don’t get paid for that.”

Heechul nods, continuing on silently, but with that same thoughtful look on his face. Maybe he was trying to think of the right hybrid for you? That would explain the questioning, anyway.

“The halls for exotic breeds are right in here,” Heechul explains as he stops you in front of an elaborately carved door. “Normally, you’re only allowed to see the exotics if you’ve been thoroughly vetted. Most don’t even know they are here, because many of them are the only ones of their kind and we only want them to go to the right people. But I have a good feeling about you. Not to mention, any friend of Hamster's is a friend of mine.”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you hyung?” Soonyoung sighs next to you.

“Not in a million years. Sorry, Hamster. Anyway, there is a class in session right now, and I thought we could sneak in there so you could look around. See if anyone catches your eye,” Heechul leads you to a room that had an open archway instead of a door. You could hear a deep voice rumbling above the rest, presumably the teacher as he was answering questions.

Heechul leads you into the classroom, and the three of you sit in the very back of the class. The room was set up like a small college classroom, with one long table and four seats at each one. The room was bright and covered in educational posters, most of them cheesy. There were probably fifteen hybrids here, most of them with no characteristics to tell you what they were.

When you finally glance at the podium, you feel like the breath has been knocked right out of you. The man standing there is so very tall, with a small waist and long, toned legs. His tan skin was practically glowing, his cheeks slightly flushed with excitement as he enthusiastically explained something to one of the hybrids. When he finished his explanation, he smiled, and you swear your heart stopped. His full lips alone could have caused that reaction, but the sweet grin was accompanied by two deep dimples on either side. You’d never understood the fascination with dimples, but you had to agree they added a touch of innocent appeal to his face, making the overall picture irresistible.

As you looked closer at the man, you realized he was a hybrid too. His eyes glowed a sparkling golden shade that would be impossible otherwise. He was, unfortunately, wearing a beanie so you couldn’t tell if he had any ears or something under there. His nails were different too. Either he painted his nails, or they were naturally a shimmering blend of silver and gold.

“Class dismissed! Don’t forget to do your reading, I’ll pop quiz someone at dinner,” the man smirked at the grumbling hybrids as he collected their things.

You watched the hybrids file past, curious what made them “exotic.” You couldn’t really see much that struck you as something that different. Just the occasional odd eye color or hair that could be brushed off as coloring if one didn’t know better. The golden-eyed man stayed at the front, writing something into his big notebook.

“Hi, I’m Yixing,” a handsome hybrid plopped into the seat next to you, smiling gently. He was so adorable you couldn’t help smiling back.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. And this is my friend Soonyoung.”

“Oh, we all know him. He’s old news,” he teases Soonyoung with a poke to his cheeks, and he tries to act offended, even if the effect is ruined by his giggle. The hybrid turns back to you. “Are you here to adopt?”

“It seems so.”

“That’s great! We exotics don’t get adopted out very often, but you look nice. I’m sure you’d take care of one of my friends very well.”

“Not you?”

“Yixing here is already adopted. His owner had to go to some conference thing for Doctors, so Yixing was staying with us until he comes back. Which will be tomorrow. I bet you’re excited to see your Baekyun again, huh?” Heechul grins at Yixing, who starts babbling excitedly.

“Yes! I hate when he goes on those trips. I miss him. At least I can come here and still take my classes and stuff, so I’m not lonely.”

“That’s nice of you guys to do that,” you quirk an eyebrow at Heechul in surprise. “Usually once a hybrid is adopted out, the shelter wipes their hands of them. Or so I understood.”

Heechul nods. “Most places, yeah, that’s probably true. But we let all the hybrids here know that they can always come back, no matter what. Even if it’s just for classes, or for respite care like Yixing here. This is a safe home for all.”

At least you knew you’d be adopting from a decent place, even if the idea of ‘owning’ something that was whatever percent of human they were made you feel uncomfortable.

“So, I don’t know if it’s rude of me to ask or not, but I can’t tell what kind of hybrid you are,” you ask hesitantly.

Yixing’s eyes shine mischievously as he grins.

“I see Heechul brought someone back here without telling them everything again. He did that to Baekhyun too. He loves to watch peoples faces as they discover the truth,” Yixing giggles as he and Heechul share a look.

“I’m a Unicorn.”

“Har Har,” you respond flatly.

Yixing winked before closing his eyes. A glittering pastel glow appeared around his forehead, and slowly what appeared to be a horn grew out of his forehead. The color of the horn reminded you of the inside of an abalone shell, truly beautiful and shining brightly with a myriad of colors. You blinked a couple of times in disbelief.

“And before you say anything, no, I’m not a Rhino,” Yixing laughed as he took in your befuddled stare.

“But...Unicorns aren’t real. They’re a myth,” you stammer, unable to take your gaze from the still shimmering horn that refuted that statement.

“Myths had to come from somewhere, didn’t they? In fact, most of our exotics could be considered “myths,” Heechul countered softly. “Hybrids themselves shouldn’t exist, according to science. And yet, here I am with a building full of them.”

“Does it...what is...um,” you floundered, trying to search for the way to ask about him without seeming rude.

“What does a Unicorn do? I have healing magic. I’m also able to emit a calm aura, which is probably why you’re not running out of here screaming about crazy people right now,” Yixing giggles.

You nod, unsure of how else to respond. It was a lot to take in. And you weren’t quite sure what to believe yet.

“So you thought I should adopt a mythical hybrid?” you mumble to Heechul, who merely nods and gestures towards the golden-eyed man who was still scribbling away at a desk.

“Not just any. I wanted you to meet Namjoon. He’s been here for a long time because I was waiting for the right person to care for him. I have a gut feeling that you’re the one,” Heechul explains.

“OH! Y/N would be perfect for Namjoon! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself!” Soonyoung squealed.

“Wait, if you know all of them and aren’t surprised by all this, is Jihoon an exotic?” you ask with a frown.

“Yup. He’s a Bakeneko. So, still technically a cat,” Soonyoung laughs. You make a mental note to remember to look that up later.

You couldn’t even imagine being the one to try to care for someone like Namjoon. Namjoon. You tried the name out in your mind a few times. It fit him. However, he was almost intimidatingly gorgeous and obviously smart, judging by the fact that he was in here teaching a class. What use would he have for you?

“What is he?” You ask, almost terrified to hear the answer.

“I’m a dragon,” a deep voice replied in front of you. You quickly meet Namjoon’s eyes as he grins reassuringly at you.

“Hello. I saw that Yixing had his horn out in front of someone new so I thought I’d see what was going on. I’m Namjoon.”

“Did you say a dragon?” you ask, unable to keep the shock and worry out of your voice. You realize your mistake when Namjoon’s face falls, and his easy-going grin was replaced with a polite smile.

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Oh, no. Don’t mind me. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I’m just learning that you all exist is all,” your laugh is a little self-deprecating, but Namjoon seems relieved.

“You’re very pretty.” Namjoon mumbles, a little blush growing on his cheeks as he studies you.

“Thank you, Namjoon,” you're flattered that someone as beautiful as him would think so.

“Are you here to pick someone up for adoption?” Namjoon asks as he pulls up a chair to the table and gets comfortable.

“Uh, yeah,” you blush from the intensity of his stare, his golden eyes flickering as he observes you.

Heechul is grinning as he watches the two of you interact.

“I brought her to meet you, dummy,” Heechul snorts.

Namjoon’s eyes widen in shock. “Me? You want to adopt me?”

If you’d had any doubts before, they were gone now. The way that his voice wobbled and his eyes filled like it was unbelievable that someone would want to adopt him broke your heart.

“If you’ll have me. I have a lot to learn, I think.”

Namjoon’s smile was so wide and bright, and he reached over to pull you into a hug.

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” he mumbled into your neck. You squeezed him gently back then turned to Heechul.

“So what all do I have to do?”

“I can take care of all the boring paperwork myself. Why don’t you and Namjoon hang out for the day? Get to know each other. He can show you his room, so you have an idea how to decorate his. You probably have enough rooms in your Grandma’s house to even build him a studio.”

You stared at Heechul in shock.

“I never told you I inherited my Grandma’s house.”

“Whoops,” Heechul smirked, not concerned to be caught out in the least.

“You’re not quite an ordinary human either, are you? Are you a hybrid?”

“I’d be offended to be called an ordinary anything, sweetheart. Come along, Hamster. Let’s leave them to get acquainted.”

#kwriterskollection #kpopwritingnet #btswriters #bts #bts fanfic #Kim Namjoon #Namjoon fanfic #Hybrid!bts #Hybrid!Namjoon #Dragon!Namjoon #Hybrid au #fantasy au #kpop #kpop fanfiction

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior September 25, 2020 – New York Film Festival, THE WAY I SEE IT, KAJILLIONAIRE, STUNTWOMEN, MISBEHAVIOUR and Lots More!

A mite bit late this week, but it’s another busy week of movies though considerably less than usual in terms of ones I have any interest in watching. Oh, wait, did I say that out loud? Yup, we’re getting to that point after six months, even though I did go out to Jersey City to see The New Mutants on Saturday. It was fine. I didn’t hate it. Josh Boone didn’t rape my childhood.

Before we get to the new releases, we’ll start with the New York Film Festival (NYFF), since that just kicked off on Thursday night with Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock, which is one of five relatively shorter movies he’s made as part of his “Small Axe” anthology that will eventually air on Amazon Prime. Maybe they’ll get some kind of theatrical release then but who knows? I’ve always kind of been up and down on McQueen’s work, loving his early movie Hunger, but then being mixed on his next few films (including the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave) but then loving Widows from a couple years back. There is no question that McQueen is a true auteur in terms of filmmaking, although sometimes he loses track of the storytelling in order to get artsy, and that’s the case with Lovers Rock. It essentially takes place in and around a “Blues Night,” basically a rowdy house party fully of music and dancing and singing, but as much about the meeting of Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn’s Martha and Micheal (Blue Story) Ward’s Franklyn at this party. It’s a fairly short “film” of just over an hour that beautifully captures the music and dance of the time, although it also gets a little too “arty” as tends to be McQueen’s wont. I don’t want to spoil too much about what happens, but I think mileage will vary on this one.

There are two more chapters to be shown at NYFF, spaced out by a week each-- Mangrove and Red, White and Blue – and I’m interested enough in what McQueen has to say about this West Indies heritage and some of the stories he’s telling within the series.

Other movies that have screened for critics already including Sam Pollard’s doc MLK/FBI, which as one can probably can figure out is about the FBI’s attempt to discredit King and take him down as leader of the protesting that led to the eventual passing of the Civil Rights Act. I feel like I knew a lot of what was in this movie from other films, and I didn’t really find that this added much towards my appreciation of King than what already existed. Honestly, I liked Pollard’s other film, Mr. Soul!, which he co-directed with that subject’s daughter.There just feels to be something more personal there compared to the rather clinical MLK/FBI.

At least that has a much stronger narrative than Song Fang’s The Calming, starring Xi Qi, which is the type of movie I almost definitely would have walked out of a press screening annoyed that I was dragged up to Lincoln Center, because it’s very much like some of Hong Sang-Soo’s worst work or some of the work of Zhangke Jia, both who regularly play the New York Film Festival. Sure enough, Zhangke produced this film, so that explains that.

I decided not to even bother with Cristi Puiu’s three-plus hour period piece Malmkrog. I was a fan of his earlier films The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and Aurora, but there just isn’t enough time in the day to see if this one goes anywhere. It’s the kind of thing that I could oddly justify sit in a movie theater and watch, but sitting at my laptop? No, thank you.

I also ended up watching Pedro Almodovar’s English language debut, the short film The Human Voice, starring Tilda Swinton as a woman who buys an axe at a hardware store and walks around a colorful and elaborate set with a dog, and then she gets into a long dramatic conversation (mostly yelling) over the phone with her lover or ex-lover. So yeah, basically a great showcase for Swinton, who we already know as a fabulous actor, and for the movie’s production design and cinematography. I guess I’m a little mixed on this. At least it’s only 30 minutes long?

There are a number of other festivals going on, including IFP Week in New York, which used to be one of my go-tos in terms of screening more obscure stuff between TIFF and NYFF – it’s where I saw Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy one year and a few other cool movies since. But over the past few years, it seems to have less and less of interest, and I’ve barely paid attention to what’s in the cards with its shift to virtual. Either way, it’s going on now and through Friday.

Texas has two film festivals starting up this week, the more prominent one probably being Celebration of Fantastic Fest, which as can be expected is a virtual version of the annual Fantastic Fest, which I’ve heard is one of the best genre festivals in the country, showing some of the best of previous fests’ midnight tracks as well as many premieres. It will kick off on Thursday with Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, which Neon will release a week from Friday, and then there’s a combination of new and vintage genre and horror films. You can see the full schedule here, as it runs for one full week and then through October 8, closing with Jim Cummings’ The Wolf of Snow Hollow. The opening and closing night films are at the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane, but all the other movies being offered free to anyone in the country, and then there are a few events like the annual Fantastic Feud, which is available to watch worldwide. Some of the film’s to try to catch include Chad Faust’s Girl, starring Bella Thorne; French filmmakers Ludovic Boukherma & Zoran Boukherma’s Teddy, and Amelia Moses’ Bloodthirsty.

Not too far away in Waco, Texas, the Deep in the Heart Film Festival runs for the next couple weekends. Nothing really jumped out from this year’s line-up, but only because I haven’t seen any of the movies being streamed. What’s great about regional film festivals like this one is that they’re “discovery fests” where you can go and watch a lot of smaller indies by filmmakers who you may not hear about since they don’t have “ins” at the big festivals where they’re guaranteed placement.

Before we get to this week’s new movies, I wanted to draw special attention to a movie from last week, I didn’t get a chance to watch before posting the column, and that’s Dawn Porter’s THE WAY I SEE IT (Focus Features), an amazing doc about former White House chief photographer Pete Souza, whose amazing career working in the White House under Presidents Reagan and Obama led him to becoming a conscionable objector to the current Trump regime by using social media to throw shade. In fact, Souza’s most recent photo book is called Shade, and it collects his social media posts and tweets of some of his amazing photos of Obama during his 8 years in the White House. This is just an amazing film from the director of John Lewis: Good Trouble, which came out earlier this year, and this one does just as much to show Obama’s humanity (and actually, the fact that Reagan had a lighter side we rarely saw in public) but also to contrast those two Presidents with the monster we have in the White House now. I immediately bought Souza’s book after seeing it, and I’m hoping more people will learn about him through this film. This might already be gone from its limited theatrical release by the time you read it, but it will air on MSNBC on October 9 at 10PM.

Because I like to start or continue with the good, I will follow up one great doc with another one, and that’s April Wright’s STUNTWOMEN: THE UNTOLD HOLLYWOOD STORY (Shout Studios), which is fairly self-explanatory. It builds on the ideas in Mollie Gregory’s 2015 book and has interviews and anecdotes from some of the youngest and newest in the stunt field to some of the legends, like Jeannie Epper from the Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman TV shows, and Donna Keegan, who has been almost all of the coolest ‘80s and ‘90s action movies including Robocop, True Lies and others. Narrated by Michelle Rodriguez, the movie mixes the actual stuntwomen like Amy Johnston, Jennifer Caputo, Debbie and Donna Evans and Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez with a few directors like Paul Feig and Anne Fletcher. (Before you ask, Zoe Bell is mentioned but doesn’t actually talk about herself or her career on camera.) I just really enjoyed hearing these stories and learning more about a profession I really don’t know much about. I definitely recommend this doc to anyone who wants to know more about film history and the behind-the-scenes stuff. (I also wrote a feature on this movie with interviews with three of the stuntwomen from the movie over on Below the Line.)

Focus Features is also releasing Miranda July’s new movie KAJILLIONAIRE, presumably at one point on PVOD but now theatrically as well after picking it up at Sundance where there were rave reviews for it. It stars Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger (yes, that one) and Evan Rachel Wood as a family of thieves who are always planning their next grift to get the $1,500 for their overdue rent. It’s then that they meet Gina Rodriguez’s Melanie, and bring her into their plans, much to the chagrin of Wood’s “Old Dolio,” (Yes, that’s the name of her character – don’t ask!), who already has issues with her parents not showing her the love a child usually expects.

You know, I absolutely loved July’s earlier Sundance film You and Me and Everybody We Know, so hearing that she was making a heist movie and one with such an interesting cast definitely made me curious about Kajillionaire, which got absolute raves out of this year’s Sundance. It just sounded like it could be very cool, and I genuinely have been a fan of both Evans and Jenkins for a long time. I wasn’t nearly as familiar with Rodriguez’s work on Jane the Virgin, but I definitely became a bigger fan of her after this movie.

If you’re familiar with July’s other work, you know that she’s first and foremost an artist and maybe can be considered a bit of a performance artist with film being just one of her mediums. Being familiar with some of her past work might prepare you for how strange Kajillionaire is, especially in the set-up when we meet the Dyne family – Robert, Theresa and “Old Dolio” (ugh) – and we learn about their suitably quirky lifestyle of trying to con people out of money in order to pay their aggravated landlord Stovik (Mark Ivanir). When we meet them, they’re three months past due, and Stovik has had enough, so they have to come up with a quick scheme. “Old Dolio” has an idea to scam an airline, and during this plan, they meet Rodriguez’s bubbly Melanie, who is keen on joining this strange family, for one reason. Robert seems more interested in Melanie for sexual reasons.

Going into Kajillionaire realizing how strange July tends to go with her material – whether it’s the Dyne’s living space or their general behavior – I still had trouble getting past not only the name of Evans’ character but her entire dour, emotionless and ultimately monotone performance. (Imagine Evans auditioning for the role of Bill or Ted in a female remake, and that’s her character.) Evans is such a vibrant performer and maybe she wanted to play down her looks that are played up on HBO’s Westworld, but this character goes so far into the world of July’s headspace that I’m not sure who could possibly relate to her. As with much of July’s work, there are elements that people can relate to, possibly the way Evans’ character doesn’t feel the love from her parents that they immediately give to Melanie, as well as the sapphic bond that develops between the two younger women, but it’s all wrapped up in the most cockamamie attempt at a weird remake of The Grifters possible. Except that the Dynes are really bad scam artists, and the movie as a whole never really goes anywhere.

On the other hand, Rodriguez is almost the polar opposite of Evans, being vibrant and with a big personality and so many more layers, and she almost saves the movie at times. Otherwise, I had high hopes for Kajillionaire and was extremely disappointed, because July has yet to deliver on that earlier film I loved so much, and this is no different.

Honestly, I have no idea why Brad Pitt’s Plan B, let alone Focus Features, shelled out money for this movie thinking it might make them money, as there’s just nothing sellable about it… not the cast, not the premise and certainly not the overall tone. I guess this will be one I will never figure out. (Even so, if you like Jenkins, at least there’s another movie with him out this week, but that one isn’t much better unfortunately.)

On the other hand, one of the nice surprises of the week was Philippa Lowthorpe’s MISBEHAVIOUR (Shout! Factory), starring Keira Knightley as Sally Alexander, a young woman going to university who falls in with the Women’s Liberation Movement of London and their plots to disrupt the 1970 Miss World competition due to the way it depicts women. The movie also stars Jessie Buckley as one of the pluckier young women trying to take down the “patriarchy,” Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Miss Grenada, Rhys Ifans as Eric Morley, who runs Miss World with his wife Julia (Keeley Hawes) and… here’s where it gets weird… Greg Kinnear as Bob Hope.

As far as the latter goes, the movie opens with Kinnear’s Hope performing for the troops in Vietnam for the USO, and I honestly had no idea it was Kinnear, nor did I realize it until about Hope’s third appearance and I finally looked it up and realized it w as him.

But Hope is a very small part of the movie that focuses on three specific women, all real people, as played by Knightley, Buckley and Mbatha-Raw. Alexander is a divorced young woman with a daughter who is trying to get through life with some help from her disapproving mother, but she’s also adamant about being able to break through the glass wall and meeting Buckley’s Jo Robinson and her group of rebellious young women gives Alexander the motivation to do something.

On the one hand, Misbehaviour is a quaint British period piece, much like a lot of Knightley’s previous films, but it’s also another important story from the struggle of women to get equal rights that seems appropriately-timed to current times. It’s as pretty amazing story what the Womens Lib movement got up to in terms of trying to hijack the Miss World competition – watch the videos, this really did happen, though slightly modified – where young women were literally treated like eye candy or meat. What I particularly enjoyed was that the movie didn’t just focus on Alexander or Robinson, but actually oscillated from the various characters in the story as they would come together on the fateful night.

I was already a fan of the three female leads, so seeing them in a movie together was quite grand, and while Kinnear may have been oddly-cast as Hope, the movie isn’t really about him. I actually liked seeing Ifans playing a very different character, more boisterous and with a different accent, as he adds to what ended up being a fairly entertaining movie that deals with a lot of different things, including the controversy over having a white and black contestant from South Africa decades before Apartheid was abolished.

Philippa Lowthorpe, best known for The Other Boleyn Girl, does an amazing job pulling all of these pictures together but never losing sight of the real women who are being portrayed and the amazing story they had to tell. Misbehaviour is a great example of how a message movie can be done in a thoroughly entertaining way without putting off potential male viewers.

On Wednesday, Netflix begins streaming ENOLA HOLMES, an adaptation of Nancy Springer’s Y.A. book series about Sherlock Holmes’ sister, played by Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things. Her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft are played by Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin, their mother is played by Helena Bonham Carter, and it’s directed by Harry Bradbeer, director of Fleabag and other British series. Methinks that Netflix is hoping this will be another franchise for the streaming giant. The film takes place in 1884 England with Enola waking on the morning of her 16th birthday to find her mother having vanished. Her brothers choose to send Enola to a finishing school but instead, she goes looking for her mother in London and falls in with a young runaway named Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) to unravel a great conspiracy.

I never really became a fan of Stranger Things – more due to the lack of time than interest – so I haven’t really been generate much of an opinion for Millie Bobby Brown except for her role in Godzilla: King of Monsters. That said, I DO have an opinion on Sherlock Holmes, as I’m a huge fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, and that’s partially what drove my interest in this adaptation of Nancy Springer’s Y.A. twist.

Enola Holmes begins with a rather strange whimsical tone, as Enola constantly breaks the fourth wall and talks to the viewer, but it eventually falls into a steadier rhythm that’s much more palatable. If you’re into the mystery aspects of the Holmes lore, you may be a little disappointed by some of the simple word games concocted for this Holmes’ investigation, but it more than makes up for it with some fun fight and action sequences that made me think this would have been great as a theatrical release. (Just by being on Netflix, I’m sure it won’t have a problem finding an audience.)

All in all, I generally liked Brown in this role; she reminds me a little bit of a young Saoirse Ronan, so she clearly has a lot of potential. I wasn’t as crazy about some of the other casting, including Cavill as Enola’s older brother, nor the cutesy romance stuff with Partridge, but I know I’m also not the primary target audience for the film either. Still, coming so soon after Armando Ianucci’s David Copperfield adaptation, this generally pales in comparison. Probably the biggest bummer is that Helena Bonham Carter barely appears in the movie at all, which seems like such a waste of talent, although her scenes with Brown are some of the best in the movie.

Enola Holmes will find its fanbase for sure, and while it might not be the best or strongest iteration of Holmes, as much as a fun girl-friendlier spin on it, there’s no doubt that it’s perpetually entertaining.

Lena Olin and Bruce Dern star in Tom Dolby’s THE ARTIST’S WIFE (Strand Releasing) in which Dern plays crotchety artist Richard Smythson, whose poor beleaguered wife Claire (Olin) is now living in the shadow of her celebrated artist husband, giving up her own art career, but now having to deal with his memory losses and deteriorating behavior.

Claire (Lena Olin) lives a quiet domestic life in the Hamptons as the wife of celebrated artist Richard Smythson (Bruce Dern). Once a promising painter herself, Claire now lives in the shadow of her husband’s illustrious career. While preparing work for his final show, Richard’s moods become increasingly erratic, and he is diagnosed with dementia. As his memory and behavior deteriorate, she shields his condition from the art community while trying to reconnect him with his estranged daughter and grandson from a previous marriage. Challenged by the loss of her world as she knew it, Claire must now decide whether to stand with Richard on the sidelines or step into the spotlight herself.

Watching this, it’s almost impossible to not be reminded of the excellent The Wife, starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce, but this is a different film from The Wife despite having similar themes of a woman who has allowed her own life and career to come second to that of her husband.

This is first and foremost a showcase for Olin, who at 65 years old, still looks amazing but also gives a fantastic performance, one unlike any we’ve seen from her in quite some time. A lot of the film deals with her character reuniting with her husband’s estranged lesbian daughter (her stepdaughter) Angela (Juliet Rylance) and her son Diego, who is being taken care of by a hunky manny named Danny (Avan Jogia). They all get together for Christmas, and Richard’s behavior just gets worse and worse as Claire vacillates between worrying about him and being infuriated by him.

Sure, it’s a little predicable at times but still a decent little film from Dolby that includes a number of incredibly touching and even some weepy moments. I ended up liking this film way more than I thought I would from the premise and my own preconceived notions of what this movie would be.

The Artist’s Wife is a really nice movie – and honestly, another one I’m shocked isn’t being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics! It’s far better than The Leisure Seekers, for instance, not only in dealing with early-stage dementia but also in the way women often have to put aside their own aspirations to help their elderly spouses through it.

Richard Jenkins also stars in Andrew Cohn’s THE LAST SHIFT (Stage 6 Films) playing Stanley, who has worked at the fast food restaurant Oscar’s Chicken and Fish in Albion, Michigan for over 35 years, but he’s planning to leave to go take care of his mother in Florida. Hired to replace him is a younger lad named Jevon (Shane Paul McGhie), who has just been let out of jail and needs the job to fulfill his probation.

I’m not really sure who this movie is intended since Jenkins plays such a sad sack slacker that I’m not quite sure who might be drawn to his character, and other than his relationship with Jevon, which definitely falls into the Finding Forrester school of movie cliches, I’m not sure that the film offers much else. Ed O’Neill does appear in the film as Stanley’s best friend, but he seemed to be playing down his role as to not steal any of Jenkins’ spotlight.

Much of the movie deals with the odd characters and situations Stanley and Juvan experience on the job, but it feels like such a hodge-podge of ideas thrown together without a suitable and conclusive arc for either character. Also, Stan is kind of a jerk, and there were only so many jokes about his mother’s bad memory – probably due to dementia -- I was willing to put up with. It’s just hard to fathom what Jenkins saw in this role or movie other than to allow the lesser-known McGhie shine a bit.

The Last Shift is a movie that tries to be a comedy without ever being particularly funny, and it just comes across like a flat and rather mundane attempt that never really goes anywhere. (Note: Days after this review was posted, I was informed that the screener link I watched did not have the final music cues and mix that the filmmaker intended. With that in mind, I will make an effort to rewatch the film when I have the film’s final version.)

A few docs of interest this week (other than the ones mentioned above) include Laura Gabbert’s doc OTTOLENGHI AND THE CAKES OF VERSAILLES (IFC Films), which follows Yoam Ottolenghi as he puts together a huge gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the opening of an exhibit about Versailles. Ottolenghi decides to bring together a number of pastry chefs from all over the world, including Dominique Ansel (inventor of the Cronut), Dinara Kasko and more to recreate the look and feel of Versailles through a series of pastries and desserts. Honestly, I really don’t have that much to say about the movie, which is only about an hour 15 minutes and still feels long. It basically just documents the preparation for the event and the event itself, and the whole thing just seems rather pretentious and high-falutin’, and more like the movie that might play at Lincoln Center than anywhere else. It will be playing in theaters (but probably not Lincoln Center) as well as on digital and cable VOD. (I told you I didn’t have much to say about it.)

Premiering on HBO (and presumably HBO Max) on Wednesday (today!) is the first part of Alex Gibney’s AGENTS OF CHAOS, a two-part documentary by the Oscar-winning documentarian about the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Another example of a movie that just wasn’t something I cared to watch right at this minute, despite being a big fan of Gibney’s excellent investigational skills in terms of getting to the bottom of a subject. The first part airs tonight (9/23) and the second part airs tomorrow night (9/24).

There’s also Ric Burns’ doc OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE (Zeitgeist Films), which will premiere exclusively as part of Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema on Wednesday (today!). I really tried to get to this, but there’s only so much time in the day especially with NYFF, and everything else going on in my life right now. I do hope to get to it, and maybe it will be like The Way I See It or Mr. Soul! and I can talk more about it in a future column. Burns’ doc essentially covers the work of a neurologist and storyteller called “the poet laurate of medicine,” who talks about his struggles with drug addiction, homophobia and a medical establishment that only began to appreciate him decades after some of his work. Sacks is also known for writing the book on which the Robin Williams movie Awakenings is based, but otherwise, I never had really heard of him before or any of the people interviewed. Again, I’ll try to get to this soon, because he sounds like an interesting man for sure.

If the title of Mike Gunther’s ROGUE WARFARE: DEATH OF A NATION (Saban Films) makes it sound like it would be as a video game, then you probably aren’t aware that this is actually an action trilogy with Stephen Lang playing “The President,” who I guess is the villain of the piece. Will Yun Lee plays one of a team of elite soldiers who must put a stop to detonate a deadly bomb in 36 hours. No review screeners for this one, which will be in theaters, on demand and digital this Friday.

Oddly, advance screeners were also not available for Tate Taylor’s action-thriller AVA (Vertical Entertainment), starring Jessica Chastain, which is a movie I was curious about since I’ve generally liked most of Taylor’s previous films – The Help and Get On Up more than Ma or The Girl on the Train. This is the spy thriller he’d been talking about making for a while, and it costars John Malkovich, Common, Geena Davis, and Colin Farrell. What it doesn’t have is screeners for review. It must be fantastic!

Again, lots of movies this week, but I just don’t have the time or mind to spend nearly as much time watching some of them before writing this. There’s many more docs, including Jay Sebring…Cutting to the Truth (Shout! Studios), the Netflix doc Kiss the Ground, yet another doc called Red, White and Wasted (Dark Sky Films), We Are Many (Area 23 Films), Myth of a Colorblind France (First Run Features) and Public Trust (Patagonia Films). There’s also even more non-docs in I’ll Be Around (Indie Rights), LX2048, Foster Boy and Shortcut (both also from Gravitas Ventures), The Swerve and Dead (1091). See what I mean? A ridiculous amount of movies this week and even more next week. Who can possibly watch, let alone review them all?

If there’s one thing I truly miss in this pandemic is being able to go over to my local movie theater, the Metrograph to catch whatever they’re showing, but they’ve still been killing it with their Live Screenings digital series. Tonight, the Metrograph is screening Shona Lynch’s debut political doc, Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed, which follows Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy rep Shirley Chisholm, who became the first person of color and first woman to seek a major American’s political party’s nomination for President, as she fought ridicule and racism. On Monday, Metrograph will present “Matador Records - Revisionist History,” which is a celebration of the artist on the indie label that kicked off in 1989 and released records by the likes of Liz Phair, Yo La Tengo, Pavement and Sonic Youth. Monday’s premiere will include introductions by Matador’s Gerard Cosloy and Chris Lombardi and Yo La Tengo and will be made up of a series of short films and videos. Friday, the Metrograph starts a Robert Kramer retrospective with his 1969 film Ice, and honestly, I don’t really know much about Kramer so not sure what else to say.

Next week has so many frickin’ movies that if I start watching them all without sleeping for the next week, I probably won’t get to all of them. Either way, there’s no Wonder Woman 1984, so you can blame Governor Cuomo and the assholes railing against movie theaters reopening for that one.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#Movies #reviews #NewYorkFilmFestival #Stuntwomen #Digital #VOD #Streaming #EnolaHolmes #misbehaviour #TheWayISeeIt

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izanyas · 7 years

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fic writer appreciation day 2k17: ro’s multifandom fic rec list

10 years of frankly delirious amounts of fic reading, shoved into one tidy list. some of them are even in french. some of them are from fandoms whose base media i have never watched or read in my life. some of them are way outdated, but i still like them. some i can barely even remember reading.

so many were deleted and never made it to this list, and honestly i teared up at least twice while putting this post together in the past 4 hours because i felt so sad that these authors and stories are now gone forever

anyway! fandoms and fics listed by alphabetical order! happy fic writer appreciation day and please enjoy~ (this is long, just a warning)

Ao no Exorcist

To Catch a Ghost by blackgoliath (complete) Summary: The cram school kids are split into teams and given a mission to finish on their own; when Rin and Suguro are paired up, Rin finds out why Suguro has been acting so weird since they fought the Impure King.

Boku no Hero Academia

Aegis by gayhacker (complete) Summary: Certain their feelings are not requited, Iida and Midoriya pine for each other on the winter skiing and snowboarding trip.

black dirt under your feet by simkjrs (complete) Summary: villain AU.

but you gotta get up at least once more by simkjrs (WIP) Summary: Izuku’s never run into this problem before with anyone else, but it’s still not much of a problem. “Oh, that’s alright,” he says. “I don’t have a Quirk.” Tsukauchi stares incredulously at him, and then looks at the iron bar that Izuku is currently straightening with his hands. Midoriya Izuku does not let his lack of a Quirk prevent him from being strong. Also known as that one AU where Izuku follows the ridiculous training regimen of Saitama from One Punch Man and becomes stronger than anyone ever imagined he could be.

Coloured Bricks, Pick Up Sticks by wyrvel (WIP) Summary: Anything can be a superpower if you get it hot enough.

come @ me bro by SportsAnimeRuinedMyLife (KnightOfRage) (complete) Summary: Bakugou works at a convenience store, flirts like a loser, blows up nineteen aprons, gets a hashtag trending for all the wrong reasons and maybe manages to make a friend. Or... being Bakugou Katsuki is suffering.

Yesterday Upon The Stairs byPitViperOfDoom (WIP) Summary: Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the quirkless weakling, he has to be the weirdquirkless weakling on top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually quirkless. Even before meeting All-Might and taking on the power of One For All, Izuku isn't quirkless. Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.

Bungou Stray Dogs

Dance With Me by TheGreatCatsby (complete) Summary: Chuuya had to admit that the Agency handled some things better than the Mafia did.

debt by TheGreatCatsby (complete) Summary: It's been a week since Odasaku died, and Ango gets attacked while walking home from work.

don’t you chase me by nemui (ribbonelle) (complete) Summary: No one else would understand this feeling.

Gifted by TheGreatCatsby (WIP) Summary: The government's experiments with genetics to induce "gifts" in children is a well-kept secret. Dazai is sent to infiltrate one of the facilities and gather information. He is assigned to be the nurse of one of the facility's oldest and most successful experiments.

Illustrations of Lying by writingfromtheshadows (complete) Summary: It is more difficult, perhaps, to bear with fortitude the little daily trails of life, than great calamities, because we summon up all our spiritual and moral strength to resist the latter... Upon faced with the culmination of Mori's plan, Dazai does not go to Odasaku's side. Instead, he relieves Mori of his duties.

i saw you by TheGreatCatsby (complete) Summary: After everything is over, Dazai takes the time to notice everything about Chuuya.

Once More by TheGreatCatsby (complete) Summary: Chuuya's phone is filled with messages from a partner who seems to want to get back in touch.

Paradox by nitilia (complete) Summary: Atsushi tries to figure Dazai out, and fails at every stage.

The Naming of Cats by cyan96 (complete) Summary: SummaryChuuya does not actually make it a hobby to pick up stray charity cases, now nominally on the side of law and justice or not. There had just been something about the kid, even skin and bones and so undernourished Chuuya could count the blue webbing of blood vessels under his skin, something in his bleach-white hair and the uneven, florescent colour of his eyes that had sent the alarm bells blaring. The reason behind this becomes pretty evident the following morning, when he walks into his living room to see a tiger in place of his couch. So this is where Kunikida's newest job had been hiding.

tiger and dog series by nemui (ribbonelle) (WIP) Summary: With each encounter, they seem to understand each other more.

Where Your Loyalties Lie by anonymous (WIP) Summary: Loyalty is the foundation of the yakuza code, something that was drilled into Chuuya at an early age. However, his lessons did not cover how to manage a political marriage with his organization's oldest rival.

D.Gray-man

Café Crème by TheoryofChaos (complete) Summary: Il est de ces amours, merveilleuses et inattendues, qui fleurissent sur les ruines d'un champ de bataille. Ficclet Marie/Miranda

Sand Castle - metisket (complete) Summary: -

Durarara!!

A Cheap Imitation by Spoontasti (WIP) Summary: “Attached to your neck is a collar that will inject a poison into your jugular vein two days from now. Forcibly removing the device will also trigger the poison. Somewhere on this island is the antidote.” His hands reached up to his neck and he felt the cool metal of the collar. “Live or die. Make your choice.”

A Cigarette’s Lifespan by guuzenkamo (WIP) Summary: Izaya's plans go a little awry when he attempts to frame Shizuo for murder.

A Little More Human by guuzenkamo (complete) Summary: Case against and for Izaya.

Allegiance by guuzenkamo (complete) Summary: where Shizuo is a homicide detective and Izaya is an informant.

An Almost Valentine’s Day by InsertImaginativeNameHere (complete) Summary: Yahiro is trying to be a good boyfriend but is awkward as hell so asks advice from someone who probably knows these things. Kuon isn't trying to be a good boyfriend and is fairly trash. Still. Their first Valentine's goes...sort of well. Although technically it isn't even Valentine's Day.

a vision too removed to mention by revolutionaries (complete) Summary: '"We match now," he says, a quiet laugh in his voice. Izaya's lips curve up into a wry smile. "You could say that." What he doesn't point out is that their scars are on opposite sides. Mirror images. If he raised his hand and pressed it to the space between them, would Izaya mimic it?' Izaya, Shinra, and the space between them.

Dual Intrusion by kowai_no_ouji (WIP) Summary: Aware of the relationship between Shizuo-san and their Iza-nii, Mairu and Kururi cannot help but to be curious. It's with both annoyance and reluctant relief that Izaya discovers how quickly his sisters grow attached to Shizuo. Undoubtedly, his days with the monster are about to be a little more crowded.

Fight or Flight (or, sometimes, Fall) by yonnna (complete) Summary: After leaving Non to wait for Chikage, Rio wonders whether she should have done more.

Gaijin by TheoryofChaos (complete) Summary: Ce soir, Tokyo pleure et accompagne dans son désespoir l'un de ses enfants égarés. Ficclet Kida/Mikado.

kama sutra by izayas (complete) Summary: in which izaya's borrowed a book and offers shizuo a challenge. "so… what do you say, shizu-chan? a hundred different sex positions. are you up for it?"

stranger than earth by zigur (complete) Summary: So when a stranger saunters into your office one evening, with a face cut from marble, half-lidded eyes sharper than any knife you ever held and full lips quirked into the most ill-intentioned grin you've ever seen, you don't quite expect them to open their mouth and say, with a voice so smooth it could trick a grown man into parting with his kidneys: "What a pleasure, to finally meet such a famed Awakusu executive." The smile grows, and it doesn't turn any kinder. "I'm Orihara Izaya– I believe we'll be working together from now on."

The Depths of the Belly by FinalRemuneration (WIP) Summary: "Who wants to go three floors down into an old abandoned asylum just to copy a document? There's no power, and the back up generator will only activate the emergency signs. You know how people are nowadays. Believing in ghosts and stuff. It sounds like it's coming straight out of a horror movie, so of course no one wants to do it.” Izaya takes on what seems to be a simple job in a scary setting. It only takes twenty-three seconds to convince Shinra to go along, and Namie agrees to drive them only because she may have warmed up to the informant in the worst possible way.

the grace in monsters by revolutionaries (complete) Summary: '"It's funny, isn't it?" Shinra says. "How the four of us gravitate towards one another. Me, you, Celty, Shizuo-kun. And all of us monsters.""You're wrong," Izaya replies, narrowing his eyes. "Shizu-chan and your headless girlfriend are the only monsters here. Me and you, we're not." Shinra just smiles serenely. "Izaya, we're the biggest monsters of them all."'

Things About Izaya by ScarletCake (WIP) Summary: Shizuo observes the things he loves about Izaya.

til the war’s won by izayas (complete) Summary: heiwajima shizuo's killed someone, and the first person he calls is the person he broke up with eight months ago: orihara izaya.

Unique Perspective by InsertImaginativeNameHere (complete) Summary: For obvious reasons, the way Tsukumoya sees the world is distinct, even compared to another similar being. Some snippets of this, and various interactions with those around him that usually lead to some level of frustration, and a conclusion that needed to be made; possibly for his own sake, as his safety potentially is compromised. Or potentially not. Who knows?

vacant land by revolutionaries (complete) Summary: "In the aftermath, there are days when Shinra feels crueler than usual. There are days driven by the thought of what might have happened had he not stepped in to take that knife wound, had let Izaya be stabbed instead of him. There would have been no need, then, for Izaya to fashion a monster out of his own blood and bone, to follow Nakura step-by-step to ensure that his life was a living hell. No need for Izaya to fashion a monster out of himself again and again until he finally went up against a stronger one. In the end, Shinra knew this was coming, had deemed it inevitable from the very beginning, and did absolutely nothing to stop it."

Final Fantasy XV

Father by ohmyfae (complete) Summary: Noctis tries to recreate the bond he used to have with his father before his accident, but all the rules seem to have changed. A fic I'm filling on the FFXV meme, in response to this prompt: "Instead of Regis saving his son from the Marilith, Ardyn saves him but instead takes him away from his home. Ardyn raises him in the best(read: worst) ways he knows."

It Figures by ohmyfae (complete) Summary: Prompto's art class has a figure drawing session scheduled. Noctis has a new summer job.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Crazy!Ed verse by metisket (complete) Summary: -

Gundam Wing/AC

Joue le jeu by Calamithy (complete) Summary: [Au, schoolfic sans prétention] Chapitre VII : Ceux qui veulent une chance de croquer des noisettes devront au moins pleurer des pierres euh… passer par le torture quenottes. Duo est envoyé en service commandé par Quatre. Le souci...

Harry Potter

(i lean heavily toward lengthy gen/political/plotty fics for hp, just a warning)

On the Way to Greatness by mira mirth (WIP) Summary: As per the Hat's decision, Harry gets Sorted into Slytherin upon his arrival in Hogwarts—and suddenly, the future isn't what it used to be.

Practicing Liars by Lomonaaeren (complete) Summary: HPDM preslash, Severitus, AU. Harry found out he's Snape's son in his fourth year, and concealed the truth from Snape. Now, in his sixth year, he's dodging Snape's suspicions about him and trying to figure out Draco Malfoy. Life is complicated.

The Sacrifices Arc by Lightning on the Wave (complete) Note: this links to the author’s FFN profile directly, as all 7 of the books are gathered there. Retelling-of-canon in which Harry’s twin brother Connor is the Boy Who Lived. HPDM slash. Extremely fucking long and plotty.

Inception

(inception remains today the fandom where i enjoyed the greatest amount of actual perfect story-telling, characterization, biting humor, and erotica. blessed fandom. forever in my heart. also all of those are arthur/eames you won’t find any other pairing sorry)

A Fake Handshake Don’t Make No Man by recrudescence Summary: Spaghetti's straight until you heat it up. Or, how Arthur learned not to use pasta as a pickup line and Eames learned to enjoy long walks on the Kinsey scale.

Allowed by the_ragnarok (complete) Summary: It’s like there’s an Eames-shaped hole in Arthur’s defenses.

Breaking and Entering by Resonant (complete) Summary: Eames is very good at pretending.

Breathe Into It by rageprufrock (complete) Summary: When Mal leans into his office and asks Eames what he did to his back, he can't exactly say, "the new graphics intern," so he says, "Oh, just stress, love."

Call Your Own Bluff by starbolin (complete) Summary: What does it mean to know a person? Eames takes Arthur on holiday. They fuck, bicker, and surprise one another into a leap of faith.

Can’t Get Enough of You (Baby) by eternalbreath (complete) Summary: Eames vanishes from dreamshare and Arthur goes a little crazy looking for him until he stumbles across him -- with a baby.

Higher Emotions Are Out to Get Us (and we soldier on, together) by Ciircee (complete) Summary: A typical 'boy meets boy' story about building a relationship, making it work, and having it last. Only it's Arthur and Eames so…yeah.

Impossible Object by perceived_nobility (complete) Summary: When he’s sixteen, Arthur steals $25,000, flies himself to Florida, and has top surgery. This is the story of what happens next. AU insofar as Arthur is trans and Inception takes place circa 2020.

I Strive by indysaur (complete) Summary: Love means something different to Dom, to Mal, to Arthur.

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York) by gyzym (complete) Summary: Arthur's a corporate lawyer, Eames owns the coffee shop across the street, and all good love stories start with a quadruple shot latte.

No One Gets Out Alive by hackthis (complete) Summary: “I hate giving a shit, it never ends well.”

out of the blue by saintdogstreet (complete) Summary: "Is this the part," Eames says, "where I tell you not to jump?"

Pants on Fire by Helenish (complete) Summary: "Ah," Yusuf says, lifting a reproving hand, "are we calling less than 24 hours of memory loss amnesia now?"

Patron Saint by witling (complete) Summary: "You don't have Cobb here to throw you into harm's way, so you're doing it to yourself.”

Presque Vu by rageprufrock (complete) Summary: Or, "on the tip of the tongue." Arthur meets Mal first. He inherits Dom, after. Everything else is on him.

The End of The Celibate Life by fermine (complete) Summary: Arthur/Eames, R, prompt: "Arthur has a son and after dating Eames for almost a year, he decides to tell the forger about his son."

The Most Extraordinary Life of Professor Snuggles by catalinacat (complete) Summary: prompt - "Eames discovers Arthur's teddy bear/security blanket from when he was a child. Adorableness ensues."

The Music Makers by mami_san (complete) Summary: A. Graham Cole was twenty-one years old when he was killed in action in Iraq. This is the official story. The truth is, of course, somewhat different.

The Waking Years by weatherfront (complete) Summary: After the Fischer inception, Eames goes back to work as an extractor, and Arthur joins his team. Due to circumstances involving a guy who may or may not be from Greenland, pop astrology, someone's broken limb, hormones, and convenience, they end up learning that love is what starts down below (and makes its way up your spine).

This Lonely House by tourdefierce (complete) Summary: Life is not full of grand gestures. Life is not full of dramatic exists and entrances or perfect camera angles or explosions. Life for someone like Arthur, is like constantly feeling like a secondary character in his own storyline. That's not anyone's fault but his own because Arthur is Arthur, a protagonist here (and probably an antagonist as well because he can be). This is a story about Arthur, who happens to love people and who happens not to love them. But the point is, this is a story about Arthur who doesn't know it's a story about him. This is story about finding out what it means to be a hero to the right people, what it means to know yourself and, by accident, to let other people learn to know how to love you. Arthur is figuring his shit out.

t on the timeline by battleofhydaspe (complete) Summary: He doesn’t know how Eames tells reality from dream, but Eames seems very sure of what he’s saying.

Toxic by witling (complete) Summary: Eames tackles him from behind, brings him down onto his belly on the carpet, and plants a knee in his back. “What,” he pants, “the hell.” Arthur gets into trouble, and can't remember how he got there. Eames lends a hand.

We Can Do This Until We Pass Out by delires (complete) Summary: Disturbing London, baby, we about to branch out. (The one where Eames is a chav)

we were once cinema gods in the night by gyzym (complete) Summary: That's the thing about Hollywood--everyone has a Hollywood story.

Your Longest Missed Connection by anonymous (complete) Original Prompt: Arthur tries to be nice to Eames, really. But unfortunately, everything he says or does is misunderstood by Eames as being condenscending or sarcastic. I would prefer Arthur to be the pursuer in the pairing, and for Eames to dislike him initially (thinking Arthur's a real prat :D) Oblivious!Eames and Pining!Arthur ftw!

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

À plus tard dans nos rêves by TheoryofChaos (complete) Summary: A quinze ans, c'est connu, on est le dernier des cons. Je ne faisais pas exception à la règle. Je t'ai laissé t'enfuir et maintenant je ne peux plus te rattraper. OS 8059.

Concrete Feet by double_exposure (complete) Summary: If her job had a title, it'd be something along the lines of 'lab assistant/frequent abductee/up-and-coming asskicker.' Or, the story of how Haru carves out her vague, not entirely unimportant place in the Family.

Countdown by metisket (complete) Summary: -

Dead-Eyed Tsuna by wyrvel (complete) Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi is cold, aloof, constantly exhausted, perpetually doubtful, and has the resting face of an axe murderer. He's resigned to being a complete failure for the rest of his life, and is pretty satisfied with himself, as long as he has people like his best friend Sasagawa Kyouko to help him along the way. But his dull, emotionless status quo is shattered when Kyouko decides he should join the Disciplinary Committee and do something with himself. The Disciplinary Committee, as in the thinly veiled school gang run by the Scariest Teenage Boy Alive. And yet, against all odds, it's not the Committee itself that led him into mass international criminal politics, magic powers, and casual murder. (Tsuna is in the Disciplinary Committee, and somewhere else, Timoteo's son is the heir to the seat of Vongola Decimo. Featuring: Ensemble Cast, many OCs, and fully original story arcs. Humour/Action/Drama, contains dark themes. Heavy AU.)

ease it off by kilewolf (complete) Summary: Yamamoto thinks about some things. After all they've been through, going back to middle school is kind of weird.

En attendant demain by TheoryofChaos (complete) Summary: En attendant demain, Tsuna imagine partager avec lui plus qu'un bout de chemin. Et laisse son jumeau maléfique lui faire toutes ces choses dont il rêve en secret. 2700.

Game of Life by exocara (WIP) Summary: From the moment he had woken up to see names and levels floating over people's heads, Sawada Tsunayoshi knew that something was really, really wrong. Drabble series, crackish, very, very mild All27 that will show up later.

Kou’s Guidelines For Organized Crime by wyrvel (WIP) Summary: Sawada Kou is a fast-paced fourteen-year-old girl in her second year of middle school, plagued by low blood pressure, her status as a social pariah, elaborate extended family drama, and her hapless attempts to whittle anything more inspired than a series of increasingly fat birds. But that's nothing in comparison to what the man from Italy brings to her door... (Gen, fem!Tsuna adult!Reborn non-Decimo AU.)

Like Dust by wyrvel (complete) Summary: "You missed me too, right?"

like the edge of a knife by kilewolf (complete) Summary: Yamamoto has that look in his eyes again.

On the Outside by metisket (complete) Summary: -

Pinch Hitter by Scuttlebutt Inc (complete) Summary: Post-Millefiore arc, the boys are back in their own timeline and experiencing a new landscape fraught with dangers: High school. Bullies, mid-terms and relationships present their own unique challenges. Yaoi, 8059, 59- 27, TsunaxKyoko

the rain falls gently by kilewolf (complete) Summary: Yamamoto's not a hitman. (Or so he says/Definitely not/Not yet.)

The Sun Always Rises by lacewood (complete) Summary: In another world, Kyoko lived a very different life - and Tsuna had a different Sun guardian.

Tsunahiki by metisket (complete) Summary: -

Vigilante Tendency by Kyogre (complete) Summary: There's such a thing as being too much like the 1st generation. Tsuna didn't mean to start a vigilante group, but somehow it happened anyway. Well done, "Neo Primo," well done.

What We Fought For by metisket (complete) Summary: -

yesterday’s tomorrow by misamiera (WIP) Summary: Tsuna had dreamed of some crazy future where babies were hitmen and he'd become a mafia boss, but he never imagined it would come true. Gen, AU/timetravel-ish.

you’re a king and i’ve always wanted to be a lionheart by kilewolf (complete) Summary: A collection of scenes from Yamamoto's point of view, up to the Varia arc. He believes this is what you call "falling head over heels".

Naruto

Baby Animals, Weddings, And Other Things Not Normally Associated With Uchiha Sasuke by prettypriestess (complete) Summary: In which Konoha needs to upgrade their plumbing to be more resistant. (Or, the one where Sasuke and Naruto get genin and maybe someone buys a house.)

Telephone by rageprufrock Summary: It's rough being Team 7.

Sherlock BBC

Alone On the Water by Mad_Lori (complete) Summary: Sherlock Holmes never expected to live a long life, but he never imagined that it would end like this.

Star Trek

(you enter the Jim Kirk Appreciation Zone)

For Gladness Of You by kariye (complete) Summary: In which shit goes down in no particular order: Jim almost starts a war, Spock gets tortured, Jim gets kidnapped, Jim gets tortured, Spock gets not-quite-kidnapped, Jim takes the Enterprise joyriding, and mysterious Vulcans with their even more mysterious leader hop a ride for a few weeks. But that’s not what the story’s about. It’s about this: Jim was always going to fall in love with Spock – boldly, recklessly. He just didn’t expect to stay that way. A story about getting over all that.

Leave No Soul Behind by whochick (complete) Summary: If you're Starfleet, you spend your whole life wishing you never see an EPAS uniform right up until the moment they become your only hope. Whether you're dying a slow, cold death in space, or a long painful one on some godforsaken planet, they're going to come for you. So count your last breaths, son, and hold on tight. They leave no soul behind. (Note: this is it. This is my favorite fic of all time. The one that’s as close to perfection as perfection’s gonna get.)

Magpie by waldorph (complete) Summary: Spock met Jim when he was 7 and Jim was 6. It has since been generally agreed that this was a mistake (or: the one where they grow up together and things are simultaneously better and worse for it).

Spoctoria series by deamlet and waldorph (complete) Summary: Spock is heir to the Federation throne, Jim is Prince of America because his fucking brother abdicated, and the Klingons are on the verge of blowing shit up--a love story.

Still Life by dogpoet (complete) Summary: Traumatized by his experience on Tarsus IV, Jim Kirk runs away to Vulcan to undergo kolinahr. Reboot AU.

Twenty-Six and Legend series by Ilethe (complete) Summary: Bones didn't know it then, or even in the weeks and months after, but it was the last time Jim was Jim, before Enterprise changed him in infinitesimal ways, day by day by day, until he was laying sightless inside a radiation decontamination compartment, the last star falling even as Enterprise ascended into the sky.

We Two Alone by shoreleave (complete) Summary: Academy fic. Dr. Leonard McCoy thinks he has nothing in common with command-track cadet Jim Kirk, until a series of events forces them together. When a simple training mission is derailed into a seemingly hopeless situation, both have to learn to trust one another, and they’ll need all their wits and survival skills to stay alive.

Supernatural

(yeah ok so i was destiel once)

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built by MajorEnglishEsquire (complete) Summary: Castiel travels with the angel tablet and without the Winchesters. One day, Dean gets a text from some anonymous number. (They speak in the language of need.) A post-08.17 Goodbye, Stranger story.

Oscillation by nekosmuse (complete) Summary: Sexual identity crisis aside, Dean's man enough to admit he's in love with Castiel. Has been for years. Which would be fine, really, if he could get past the whole unrequited, unworthy business, because maybe then he could move on with his life, get back to having sex on a semi-regular basis. Aaron's the first person to pique his interest in far, far too long. Aka the one where Dean's pining for an angel, starting to accept that he maybe wants to fuck men, and he's got Aaron Bass' phone number burning a hole in his wallet.

The Law of Conservation of Energy by peroxidepest17 (WIP) Summary: The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one state into another. And what is grace, if not energy?

The Mirror by cloudyjenn (complete) Summary: When Dean touches a strange mirror, he's whisked away to one alternate reality after another and it doesn't take him long to realize the universe is trying to tell him something.

The Soul Piece by cloudyjenn (complete) Summary: When a human child is born, their soul is shattered into bright gleaming pieces that scatter to the winds.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit by pyrebi (complete) Summary: In which angelic marriage bonds are apparently stupidly easy to trigger, Cas wages multidimensional war in Heaven, Dean can't catch a break like ever, Sam rather enjoys being a dick, love saves the day, and nobody consummates anything.

Wait and See by oncethrown (complete) Summary: After the apocalypse doesn't happen, Dean goes back to Bobby's house alone. He burned Bobby's body in the field. There wasn't enough of Cas left to burn or bury, and Sam was gone. After a few weeks of drinking and researching, Dean's ready to finally off himself and join his whole family, but a discount easter card and a sudden reappearance save him. Eventual Destiel. Human!Cas.

The Dark Knight Rises

in the family of things by Sibilant (WIP) Summary: They're saying there's work in the tunnels of Gotham. But one boy has already turned up dead. John's not going to let that happen again.

X-Men

(there’s probably a bunch here that i wouldn’t rec anymore considering how sketchy cherik fic can be about oppressed/oppressor dynamics & putting the blame on magneto. all of the following were written after x-men: first class came out, and i haven’t kept up with later x-men movies. i don’t have the time to reread everything, so just... take them with a grain of salt and sorry if i end up reccing something bad. i’m a lot more aware now than i was in 2011-2013. those that i do rec here i remember mostly for the relationship aspects, not so much for the social commentary.)

Boden’s Mate by kaydeefalls (complete) Summary: "Shaw has information that we need, and we need him alive to extract it," Moira says, and there it is: the job is on the table. Extraction. XMFC/Inception fusion AU. Erik is an extractor, Alex is his point man. They're assembling a team to go after the most dangerous mind in dreamsharing: Sebastian Shaw. But unless Alex and the team can keep him in check, Erik's desire for vengeance might just rip the whole job apart around them -- and then there's the shade that haunts his dreams...

Enemy of My Enemy by Thuri (complete) Summary: The CIA can't let a telepath of Charles's power stay free. Erik can't let him stay prisoner.

Fighting Fit by jemisard (complete) Summary: Charles fights people about his disability every day. Except the odd occasion when he doesn’t.

I, We, Us by winterhill (complete - restricted access!) Summary: Daemon AU: When he was a child, Erik was forced to split from his daemon. It’s only when he meets Charles that he thinks he might have finally found someone who he could safely leave her with. Missing scenes from canon and a few re-written scenes, plus what happened after. Somewhat loose interpretation of Pullman’s ideas.

Limited Release by rageprufrock (complete) Summary: When Alex Summers broke out of supermax to rescue his stupid kid brother, he had no idea it was going to be so fucking complicated.

Linger by waldorph (complete) Summary: Erik had been warned, to be fair. The realtor was very explicit that the last seventeen tenants had run from the premises screaming about the Exorcist or The Ring or some other terrible horror show.

Look This Life in the Eye by MonstrousRegiment (complete) Summary: There's a locked door in Xavier Hall to which no one has access. In making inquiries, Erik realizes he's built his opinion on Charles on the wrong foundations. “You thought I was going to hit you?” Charles’ eyes dart away, shoulders pulling in as if he were trying to curl in on himself. Erik feels something tight inside his chest coil in even tighter as his stomach turns.

Make Sure You Call Before You Leave by cm (mumblemutter) (complete) Summary: Erika happens to Charles.

No Yesterdays On the Road by pocky_slash (complete) Summary: It's been two months since Cuba and things are settling down for Charles, Erik, and the beginnings of their mutant school. Right up until Charles disappears, that is. Faced with the possibility that a bitter Emma Frost has kidnapped Charles, Erik is forced to team up with Moira to hunt down the remainder of the Hellfire Club. From there, they hope to locate Frost and retrieve Charles, without killing each other along the way. (Or: Erik and Moira Drive Across the Country and Talk About Their Feelings.)

Our House, In The Middle Of Our Street by Clocks (complete) Summary: Charles is a social worker who fosters troubled kids, and one day he meets Erik, an ex-convict, who reluctantly agrees to stay for only a while, but ends up staying for good and helping Charles to raise the kids. Awkward parenting ensues.

Paper Monsters by Clocks (complete) Summary: Fill for this prompt: Charles meets Erik Lehnsherr, his favorite novelist of all time at a coffee shop, but doesn't know it's him, and Erik just criticizes his own writing in front of his biggest fan.

Rumor Mill by ikeracity (complete) Summary: Erik is the grumpiest, most foul tempered worker at Stark industries. His grumpiness is the stuff of legends. So it's obviously the talk of the office when Erik is being made to go to the company party and he's bringing his husband. There's rumors flying round about how much of a masochist or equally antisocial bastard Erik's husband must be to put up with him. Others think he must be a meek mouse perhaps bullied by Erik. What they weren't expecting was the confident, charming, adorable and unbelievably nice Charles that turns up on Erik's arm. What they certainly weren't expecting was how much Erik obviously adores his husband and how happy he is to let others see this.

South of the Border by sneakertime (complete) Summary: Post-Divorce AU. Charles Xavier saves Logan from Emma Frost in Mexico. They have a lot of sex, and things get progressively more complicated.

The Better Men by TurtleTotem (complete) Summary: "I do believe the two of you were in the same year as boys, were you not?" Headmaster Shaw said. "Charles is the most competent deputy any headmaster could ask for, Erik, and he's been doing this for years…" He trailed off, as if finally noticing something odd in the way his Potions and Divination masters were staring at each other. "Of course," Charles said quickly, his voice only a little hoarse, and stuck out his hand. "Welcome back to Hogwarts, Erik."

The one where Erik own an antiques shop and Charles is a professor by aesc (complete) Summary: Even though Charles loathed people using "I must have a genetic predisposition for X, Y, or Z" as an excuse for personal shortcomings and peccadillos – he was a professor at Columbia and a well-respected researcher in the field, he couldn't not get riled about scientific inaccuracy – he suspected the Xavier family had a strong expression of the gene responsible for squirreling away every random object that came across their paths.

Time to Grow by zarah5 (complete - restricted access!) Summary: In which you'll find chess dates which aren't dates (or maybe Charles is wrong about that). -- Based on First Class, this turns (slightly) AU during the beach scene.

Us by Pangea (complete) Summary: “Charles,” Erik says, and if his voice hits a pleading note then who can really blame him, “Charles, it’s me.” It takes several longer moments before Charles musters up the strength to answer, breath stuttering horribly as he tries to breathe. He’s shaking, entire body trembling. “Erik,” Charles says, his voice cracking, “Erik, I want to die.”

Crossovers

Accidents Happen by metisket (Desden Files/FMA - complete) Summary: -

Getting Things Done by metisket (FMA/DGM - complete) Summary: -

I Hold With Those Who Favour Fire by infraredphaeton (KHR/Naruto - complete) Summary: When Gokudera died, taking a bullet for Tsuna, he expected to go to hell. Not wake up as a pink haired girly-boy in a world full of ninja. How's he meant to be the Jyuudaime's right hand in a world that doesn't even have a mafia? Clearly, he'll have to clean this place up before Tsuna gets here. REINCARNATION, Gokudera-as-m!Sakura.

langlocked lurid. by esquitor (DGM/Harry Potter - WIP) Summary: the one where allen walker puts up with draco malfoy trying to recruit him into his little gang, and his uncle neah campbell tries not to drink himself into a stupor before cross gets to hogwarts. meanwhile, sirius black hunts a rat.

Thicker Than Blood by AvocadoLove (Inception/500 Days of Summer - complete) Summary: "My brother, Tom, has been missing for three days."

#fic recs #it talks #ITS DONE FINALLY

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writtenwordsoffic · 7 years

Text

In Your Head - Part 11 - Flashback 2

Jughead Jones x Reader

Reader: Y/N

Brother: Y/B/N

Word Count: 4,581

Summary: You are almost 3 months into a relationship with Jughead Jones. You are going through a tough time being too much in your head as the anniversary of “that night” comes closer. Jughead can sense something is wrong.

Warnings: Features sexual content, as well as a rape flashback and parental abuse. Please don’t read if easily triggered. This one is more smutty than usual.

*wham*

“Whore”.

Your left shoulder collided with the lockers and you looked up from the floor seeing Chuck walking off with a joy in his step. 1…2…3…

Breathe. You just had to breathe through it. You just had to get through today, as today was the last day of school and you could get some freedom back. As you got back in your feet with books back in hand you peered up to see Jughead and a ginger haired boy walking together. Jughead gave a slight nod in your direction while you gave a small smile in return. Your focus was brought back to just heading to class.

– Jughead’s POV

“Who was that?”, Archie’s eyes were draped back to Y/N getting back up.

“Uh. Y/N”, I wasn’t sure why my words weren’t precise.

“Right. I’ve heard of her. How do you know her?”, Archie’s eyes seemed to perk up now.

“She uh met my sister a few weeks ago. I don’t really know her. She was just nice to Jellybean was all”, for some reason my face felt a little flustered.

Archie’s eyes went back to Y/N. “Okay then”, he gave a smile and I couldn’t tell what was behind it. I was focused just on our door to class now.

—

Jughead’s POV

I greeted Pop with a nod when I walked in and he gave a usual smile while his eyes drew back to the last booth. I could see feet dangling out of the side and wanted to know who would take my booth in a rather empty diner.

As I made my way, I couldn’t see anyone’s head still but just a plate of fries on the table. When I finally faced the inner part of the booth is when I saw her. Her thoughts were elsewhere with her nose in a book. How I usually saw her in the last few weeks.

Her head was against the glass behind her and her hair sprawled out falling every which way. She still hadn’t seemed to notice me staring at her.

For some reason I had to swallow up some courage before mustering up my next words, “You know just because I invited you here once doesn’t mean you can just take my booth now”.

Y/N POV

You peered out of your book and began to sit up as your eyes were drawn to the darkly clothed boy in front of you. You looked into his eyes for a second but decided to focus on sitting up instead. “Last I checked, you could sit anywhere in the whole diner if you really wanted”. He began to sit down across from you in the booth.

“Yeah well, I like this one”, he gave a slight smirk. “You okay by the way? I thought I heard someone push you into a locker earlier”, his voice seemed to have some concern behind it. You ignored touching your left shoulder, “Yeah I’m fine”. “Oh I have something for you by the way”, he looked into his bag and reached out your copy of The Princess Bride.

You reached for the cover and barely grazed Jughead’s grasp on the book. Your eyes slightly flinched, not out of fear but rather nerves. Don’t do this Y/N. Don’t fall for someone who clearly wouldn’t be into you - was all you could think. “No one could ever love someone like you”, the words ran through your brain as if a mantra now.

You put the book in your bag snapping yourself out of your thoughts. “What did she think of it?”. You tried to appear happier in your words now.

“She loved it”, his words came to a pause. “She uh, wanted me to ask you if you would meet her at the library and suggest a few books one day”. His words seemed less steady than usual.

“Of course. Let her know I plan on being there every Wednesday. Probably around 11 or so”. I was starting to think of a list of what to get Jellybean into.

Jughead gave a chuckle. “Every Wednesday huh? Your family must not travel anywhere in summer”.

“Uh, well. My Dad has business trips here and there but we rarely go on vacation. Besides I’m excited to have a summer in a small town”, your head looked out the window a bit.

“Well don’t let Riverdale fool you, not everything here is so peachy keen”, Jughead was reaching for a fry from your plate now.

“Yeah, I know that”, your words spat out and didn’t want them to seem as mysterious as they had appeared to Jughead. “So what are you up to this summer?”, your goal was to take the focus off of yourself now.

“Well Archie and I are doing a road trip in July otherwise maybe just visiting my grandparents…”, his words didn’t seem that excited as his thoughts seemed to go elsewhere. “That and just working. I work at the drive-in”.

“Oh that’s cool. I still haven’t been but that’s what will happen with a lack of a car and a license”, you now reached for a fry.

Jughead gave a small chuckle again, “what, your parents don’t like going to the movies?”

You tried to think of an answer, “Nah, they’re generally more homebody people…”.

Jughead could see you tense up but decided to shrug it off on why. “So what’s your favorite movie?”, now taking more fries to his mouth you were trying to make sure you weren’t staring too long at his face.

“Loaded question. I guess I…” Your words were cut off.

“Have a favorite for every genre?”, Jughead gave a large smile and his eyes didn’t draw away from yours. He had seemed to remember the conversation a few weeks ago just fine.

You gave a small laugh. “Yeah. But that happens”.

“So favorite black and white?”, Jugheads eyes were still on yours.

“Arsenic and Old Lace”, at least you were sure in your words now. Feeling more comfortable in the conversation yet nerves went through your body as you couldn’t seem to stop staring at Jughead’s eyes.

His face seemed questionable in your answer. “I don’t think I actually know that one…” you could tell he was trying to place the title.

“Well it’s actually a Halloween film. I mean nothing horror or anything like Hitchcock for that matter. It’s actually a comedy but if I went into the plot it would give everything away. Cary Grant is in it though”, a fry came to your mouth as you realized you were babbling again. You looked to Jughead’s face which had seemed to hang on every word.

A chime went through Pop’s but neither Jughead or you seemed to pay attention to it. “What about you?”, you were curious to know his answer now.

“Hey Juggie! Thought I’d find you here!”, Jughead’s body seemed less relaxed as his ginger haired friend seemed to be standing by the booth now. Archie dived into the booth sitting next to Jughead while you got a little tense again.

“Y/N right?”, you nodded. “Archie”, he gave out his hand to shake. You gave his hand a slight shake and then returned your hands back under the table, pulling your sleeves to your palms. Jughead seemed a little annoyed as well as red while he scooted closer to the window. “So how do you know Juggie here?”, Archie gave a slight nudge with his shoulder to the rather perturbed Jughead.

“Uh…I met his sister at the library a few weeks ago. She borrowed a book”, you glanced towards your bag. Another chime rang through Pop’s and Archie’s eyes were drawn to the door. He slightly waved his hand for people to come near. You were just hoping it wasn’t any of the football team.

“Hey guys, can we join you?”, the tall blonde that was Betty Cooper was standing over the table now. You had known the Cooper girls to be nice in school, Betty once even helped you grab your books when you had a run in with Chuck. Standing next to her was the sheriff’s son, Kevin. Who had also seemed to be the only out guy in the whole town. Which was rather a change of pace from your last school.

Archie perked up, “Of course! Sit next to Y/N”, Archie gestured to you.

Betty gave a slight wave, “I’ve seen you around. Betty”.

Kevin then shoved his hand in front of Betty’s body making sure it could reach you. “Kevin Keller”. He gave a slight nod with his greeting. After shaking his hand you looked towards Jughead that who seemed comfortable by his friends but not by their current company with you.

“So you guys are all coming tomorrow night right? Before we send Betty off?”, Kevin’s eyes glanced to everyone at the table.

“I got an internship for the summer in L.A for my writing”, Betty was filling you in now.

“That’s cool”, you tried to seem sincere in your words again.

“I’m having a party. You should come Y/N. My Dad is out of town helping on an ACTUAL case and I couldn’t not do something being newly branded a sophmore”, he seemed proud in his words.

“Uhh…I don’t know. Parties aren’t really my thing…” Archie cut you off.

“Oh come on! If I can get Jughead here to come, you’ve got to!” Archie gave Jughead a nudge while he returned with a slight glare before his eyes met yours again.

“Uhm. Yeah. You should come. I could at least wallow with someone who is also annoyed by top 40”, he gave a slight smile.

“Sure then”, your eyes looked to the clock on the other side of the wall. “I actually have to get going though”, you slowly grabbed your bag. Jughead seemed a little disappointed but his eyes were still on you.

Both Betty and Kevin got up so you could get out of the booth while Archie grabbed the phone on the table and gave it to you. “Here. Put your number in here and we’ll send you all the details”.

“Okay, thanks”, your eyes were drawn to the screen that didn’t really look like Archie’s type of background. You gave the phone back to him. “Well nice meeting you all”, you gave a wave to everyone but your eyes were on Jughead before you left. You resisted the blush once again. You turned and headed towards Pop to pay and you couldn’t shake the feeling that eyes were still on you.

*chime*

Jughead’s POV

Both Archie’s and my eyes followed her out the door and when then chime was gone, I turned to my best friend. “What the hell was that?”

Archie gave a laugh, “oh come on Juggie! You clearly like her. I was just helping you out. And look now you have her number”, he gave me my phone back. I was trying to shake off any flustered feeling that still remained.

“Seems odd though. From what I know of her, I thought she would have been more excited by my party,” Kevin was now playing with the straw to his newly arrived shake.

“…what do you know about her?”, my curiosity perked me up a bit.

“Oh you know. Cheryl tweeted at the start of the year that Y/N hooked up with half of the football team at one of her parties”.

I was a little saddened, my eyes followed her walking away from the diner as I glanced out the window. She didn’t seem the type. She seemed a little shy, but intelligent as well as a bit mysterious.

“Oh that’s just a rumor Kevin. You know Cheryl barely tweets anything true”. Betty saw my look dissipated and tried to give me some encouragement.

“Yeah well, doubt I’m her type”, I drew the remaining plate of fries close to me.

“That isn’t true Juggie. You’re a catch. And by the way you two were smiling when I came in, I’m sure she likes you back”, Archie once again nudged my arm.

“I didn’t say I like her”, my disdainful tone came back.

“You didn’t have to”, Archie’s smile was from ear to ear.

Still, I couldn’t help thinking what more this girl was like. She certainly wasn’t like anybody else in this town. I looked down at my phone and smiled as I read her name and number in my phone. Maybe going to a party wasn’t going to be all bad.

Y/N POV

J- “Hey. This is Jughead”.

Y/N - “Ah. I didn’t think that background was Archie’s style”.

J - “Are you going to come tomorrow?”.

Y/N - “Maybe”.

He texted you Kevin’s address and that it started at 9. Kevin only lived a block down which at least meant one last hurdle. You went downstairs and lightly tapped the door to the office. Your dad motioned to you to come in. “Hey uh, I got invited to this end of the year thing tomorrow. Is it alright if I go?”. Your words were a little unsteady but as him being the reasonable parent, you were pretty sure he’d day yes.

“Yeah. Just be home by 1. Do you need a ride?”, your dad was shuffling papers around looking for something.

“No, it’s just down the street”, you motioned your head behind you.

“Alright”, your dad’s eyes shifted to the upstairs where you both knew your mother was taking a nap.

“I’ll tell her, don’t worry about it”. You gave a smile, “thanks”.

You went back upstairs.

Y/N - “Yeah I think I’ll go”.

J - “You need a ride, my dad is lending me his car”.

Y//N - “Nah, it’s just down the street from me, but I’ll meet you there”.

You felt yourself blushing again but you tried getting any of this thoughts out of your mind.

J - “Alright”.

It was a warm summers night but you still had a long sleeved shirt on, at least it was lightweight. You turned away from the daunting house and tried to focus on the positives of tonight. Your walk was short and you could lightly hear music as you walked up to the porch. You knocked. “Hey Y/N!”, Kevin grabbed you by your hand and then your shoulder while closing the door behind you. “Welcome to my humble abode. The party isn’t in full swing yet but everyone’s in the kitchen”, his face motioned towards the back of the house while he held a grasp on his beer and followed you.

You were greeted by Betty while Archie shoved Jughead’s foot to get him to stop reading Kevin’s newspaper. There was a girl in the corner with curly hair and glasses talking to what you knew to be a guy named Dilton. “So what will you have?”, Kevin motioned his arms to the counter that was covered with bottles.

“Uh I’m not really a drinker…”, your eyes went to the 2 liter of coke and you tried to dismiss the smell of alcohol filling your nostrils.

“Oh come on! Please?”, everyone but Jughead had some sort of mixed drink in a red cup.

“Just a beer then…”, Kevin passed you a bottle while Jughead sat up in his chair from the table. Archie, Betty and Kevin went back to a discussion that they were having before you had arrived. You made your way to the table and glanced at the chair.

“This isn’t your space too, is it?”, you weren’t sure where the coy remark came out of.

Jughead gave a smile. “No, you can sit here”. You reached for the local newspaper reading the mundane headlines. One including the Blossoms doing a fundraiser at Thornhill. You didn’t want to look at that house, you flipped the paper over and decided to make your interest into Jughead.

“No drink?”, you motioned to your beer bottle a little bit, you still hadn’t taken a sip.

Jughead reached down to the beer on the seat next to him that still had a cap on it. “Not a big drinker either. I just took one to get Kev to shut up”, his eyes motioned to the rambunctious teen who seemed to already have a couple of drinks.

A knock occurred and while on the other side of the house, you could hear Reggie’s voice and knew Chuck couldn’t be far behind. You made your way to the porch outside, “I’m going to get some air”.

Jughead seemed perplexed at why you needed to leave the room but decided to join you. You didn’t realize for a second that Jughead followed you outside. You decided to make conversation. “I’m still deciding if I like this town or not”.

“Well gee….what’s not to like?”, Jugheads eyes rolled a bit while giving a smirk.

You gave a chuckle. “Yeah well, everything being close is nice. But the people seem a bit behind in the world”, you motioned back to the kitchen.

“How so?”, Jughead finally popped off the cap of the beer using the porches side rail.

“Eh. The whole clique thing. My last school was less broad in who could really hang out with each other. That and the football team wasn’t the pride and joy”, you took a swig.

“Seattle right?”, Jughead took a sip.

“Yeah well a little outside of it but it wasn’t very far to go into the city. Different atmosphere for sure. You’d probably like it”, you motioned to Jughead himself.

He gave a laugh, “why’s that?” “A beanie, suspenders and flannel with a grasp of good music? Trust me, you’d fit in just fine…”, you took another sip not realizing how open you were being.

A slight wind picked up in the air. “Come on, let’s go back”, Jughead had seemed a little tense. Archie greeted Jughead back and messed with his beanie a bit. You made your way to Betty and Kevin who seemed engrossed in their conversation.

“Nah, I’m not really the bear type”, Kevin took a drink while very slowly swaying to the music. Betty just seemed confused by Kevin’s wording.

“He means burly men”, you gave a slight nod as they realized you were to the side of them.

Betty blushed, “oh”.

Kevin gave a glance with a slight eyebrow. “What? Your not the first gay guy I’ve known”, you took a deep swig of your drink while Kevin gave you a smile.

“How about you Y/N? What’s your type?”, he motioned to the party itself as it seemed the amount of people had quadrupled.

“Eh. I’m more drawn to a certain type of personality I suppose…”, you were trying to resist looking towards Jughead. “Betty?”

Betty choked up a little while blushing. “Oh those two are endgame. You know if she ever chalks up the courage to tell him”, Kevin motioned with his drink towards Archie and Jughead.

“Which one? Archie or Juggs?”, you weren’t sure who they were eyeing. “Archie of course”, Kevin tried keeping his voice to whisper now. “I don’t think I’ve seen Jughead interested in anyone”.

You figured that hadn’t changed.

You headed towards the living room, avoiding the central area where people were dancing. The lights were dim but it’s also where Kevin laid out a table with snacks. You grabbed a chip still just sipping at your beer. You saw Archie and Jughead from the kitchen looking like they were almost arguing until Archie pushed Jughead out to the living room. Archie then turned to Betty and seemed to ask if she wanted to dance and they made their way to everyone else. Jughead kept to the walls slowly inching his way towards the table in the back. “Having fun?”, you decided to start the conversation again. You took a bigger swig of your drink.

“Loads…”, Jughead practically growled his word.

Slowly your eyes were drawn to Chuck dancing with a girl. Your body began to tense up. Out of nervousness you were peeling the label of the beer bottle with your finger. He looked at you, as he didn’t realize until now that you were in the house. He stared for a bit until your eyes shifted. “I’m going to find the bathroom”, you handed your drink to Jughead and made your way to the hallway almost in a hurry.

You locked the door behind you not realizing you were having a panic attack. Your ears began to ring, your knees weak. You tried to breath through it while kneeling to sit down on the cold tile floor. Your head was unsteady and all you could hear was Chuck telling you to “shut up” and how much he knew you wanted him. You took deep breathes while a few minutes went by.

The feeling came back to your legs and you stood up splashing some water to your face. You looked at yourself in the mirror and appeared calm enough again. You had to get out of here. You opened the door and saw someone waiting to use the bathroom and passed them, making your way to the door.

“Hey you leaving?”, Archie had found you almost reaching for the knob.

“Uhh yeah. I don’t feel too great. I think I’m just going to go home”. Archie grabbed the arm behind him.

“Well Jughead will drive you then”, Archie was pushing Jugheads body again.

“He doesn’t need to. I only live a block from here”, your hand went to the knob again.

“He’ll walk you then. It’s late”, Archie smiled.

“Um. Okay”, your prided yourself now on making sure you weren’t really alone with a guy ever anymore unless somewhere public. But it being a block and it being Jughead you weren’t too worried. You also weren’t drunk let alone buzzed. “Have a good night”, you gave a sullied smile to Archie as Jughead followed you out.

“You know you really don’t have to walk me. I mean I can see my house from here”, you gestured to the second to last place you really wanted to be.

“It’s fine. Do you have to go home or did you just not like it in there?”, Jughead could tell your nerves had sprung up but didn’t know why.

“The latter…” you still weren’t sure why Jughead was walking you in the first place. “Again, I’m not a big fan of a parties”.

“That’s fine. I’m not big on parties myself. Archie and Betty usually just drag me to those things”, his shoulders tensed up after he played with the back of his hair.

“Um well this is me, I have to use the garage though". You motioned to the door.

“Do you want to go in or would you like to go somewhere?”, he seemed less certain in his words again. You pulled out your phone and it was barely 11.

Your eyes looked to the house behind you and you didn’t feel welcomed to going inside. “I have a bit”.

“Well do you want to go to Pop’s or something, I have my dad’s car…”, he motioned back to the house.

However being in a car with any boy still didn’t seem like your comfort zone yet. “No. We can walk around though. It’s nice here in May…”, you could feel the slight breeze on your face again.

“Alright”, Jughead gave a slight smile while sticking his hands in his pockets. “So is it not nice in other places in May?”.

You gave a chuckle, “Well May in Seattle has a lot more rain than here. Honestly the best time of year is the end of June and all of July”.

“So…why else would I like it there”, you could tell he was making conversation. You gave a smile again.

“Well I would imagine I need to know more about you, but you seem like a city guy stuck in a small pond”, you motioned to the town itself.

“Maybe. I kind of always wanted to go to New York myself. That’s where the real writers are”, you could tell he was getting more talkative like in the booth again.

“You want to be a writer? What do you write?”, your curiosity lead you.

“Mostly just short stories right now but hopefully a novel one day”, he looked down at his feet as if he was almost embarrassed.

“I’d happily read something of yours”, you gave a nod attached with a smile.

“Heh well there’s one copy sold of something I suppose”, he gave a smirk. “How about you? With all that reading I wondered if you had an itch for the ink”.

“Nah. I’m a reader through and through. A publisher for a press company or something though, that would be in the stars for me”, you looked up. There wasn’t a night cloud in sight.

“Ha. Well then when I write a novel, you can get it published”, it almost looked like he wanted to give a wink but resisted.

You realized you had almost reached Pickens Park, and you didn’t want to enter there. “Let’s turn around”. Jughead gave a slight nod.

“Oh!”, a thought had finally came back to your mind. “So what’s your favorite movie?”

Jughead gave a smile after almost jumping to your realization. “Like you, I have many favorites. But probably Reservoir Dogs”.

You interjected trying to do your best impression of Steve Buscemi, “All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth the effort, I’ll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it’s for the birds”. You gave a small laugh while drawing your eyes back to Jughead. “Sorry, I’m a Mr. Pink fan myself”.

He seemed a little in awe before giving a big laugh. “That was the worst impression though”.

“Well I’m not an aspiring actor so I didn’t think it would be”, you gave a nod still smiling.

“So what other movies do you like? Like what movie could you watch a thousand times?”, his hands were still in his pockets.

“As long as your not going to laugh at me, Back to the Future. It’s like my Godfather”, you said it in glee.

Jughead gave a look, “How so?”.

“Well the first one is a classic, great plot, story and your drawn to the characters. The second is possibly better than the first and the third you have to watch to appreciate the whole thing within itself. Therefore, like the Godfather trilogy”, you realized you were babbling again and decided to shut yourself up.

“Well then, fair enough”, Jughead gave a nod while looking up back at your house.

“I think I’m going to call it a night. But thanks for the walk Juggs” you gave a slight nod with a heavy smile. Dammit Y/N stop it. It’s not going to happen.

“It was a good walk. Good night Y/N”, Jughead once again gave a nod and you watched him walk away. He seemed to have almost skip in his step. You quietly made your way into your house.

Jughead’s POV

I opened the door again seeing a rather similar scene to the one I left. The smile that was stuck on my face slowly started to dissipate. Archie’s eyes found me and he made his way to me. “So?”, Archie had a smile once again on his face.

I slumped a little, trying to avoid eye contact, “She’s perfect”.

#jughead jones #jughead x reader #jughead imagine #riverdale #riverdale imagines

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fangirl-overload13 · 7 years

Text

Write my love and draw my heart

Based on this post

Ch.1

Will Solace has always been well liked by everyone who knows him and he has a way of getting along with pretty much everyone, he’s kind, caring, and athletic, so it went without saying that he was very popular.

Nico di Angelo is the dark and lonely artist type that most people stay clear of because they are a little scared by his dark clothes and quiet personality but most of all his drawings that are always done in red and black ink on stark white paper making the images more dramatic and horrifying.

No one would have ever expected these two to ever have anything in common or to even get along, so imagine the surprise when these two pair up for a class project and get closer than anyone could have guessed.

Senior year had been going pretty well so far, Will was captain of the basketball team, his grades were going well, he had plenty of friends and he thought that he could handle anything that came his way, that was at least until his AP English teacher assigned a project that required partner work and he got paired up with Nico di Angelo, his secret crush. The project was a writing assignment that could include any accompaniment such as artwork, dioramas, video trailers, or dramatic reproductions (read: short plays). Will had some confidence in his writing abilities but he knew that with Nico working with him then they were sure to get an amazing grade if Nico’s artwork was involved.

…

Will had admired Nico and his artwork for years now, it had all started in freshmen year when Will had been taking a breather after first trying out for the basketball team and had decided to catch his breath over on the bleachers. He had been about to head to the locker room to shower and change before heading home when he thought he heard the sound of music playing faintly somewhere nearby. He stood and looked around and as he got closer to the edge of the bleachers the sound became clearer and when he found the source his heart skipped a beat. Sitting beside and a little behind the bleachers in a small alcove was a boy about his age dressed from head to toe in black with headphones around his neck, the music playing loud enough that Will could hear it from where he stood, the boy seemed too absorbed in what he was working on to notice Will. Will was curious about what he seemed to intent on so he moved closer to get a better look, as he got closer he saw that it was a sketchbook that the boy was holding, and he had his supplies sitting next to him Will noted as he saw a pencil, eraser, and black pen that went with the red one that he was currently using on whatever it was he was working on.

Will loved art and was really interesting what it might be that this boy was drawing with only these two colors so he decided to announce his presence. “Um hey there… what are you working on?” Will felt bad when he saw the boy jump when he heard Will speak to him “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you like that, I heard your music and saw you drawing something so I was curious.” The boy looked up at him and Will couldn’t believe that he had never noticed this boy before, his eyes looked a little sunken in and had faint dark circles under them like he had lost sleep recently but those same eyes drew Will in even more, they were on the larger side and were so dark he couldn’t tell were iris ended and pupil began, they were like twin pools of shadows that he felt like he could get lost in…

Will snapped himself out of his oddly poetic thoughts when he realized that he was staring and likely making the other uncomfortable as a result. “Sorry I guess I should probably introduce myself or stop bothering you and mind my own business…” he trailed off when he received no response from the other “Sorry I’ll just go and leave you alone now.” He could feel his face burn from his embarrassment as he turned away to head over to the showers like he had planned on doing before.

“It’s okay; you can look at it if you want…” Will stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the other boy speak to him, what really caught his attention was the faint accent that he couldn’t place. Will turned back to see that the boy had set down his pen and was just holding the sketchbook in his lap, he seemed kind of shy though so Will tried his best not to act too excited about getting permission or that the boy had spoken to him so he calmly walked over to where the other sat and took the sketchbook when the boy passed it to him. He looked at the page that it had been open to; he assumed that it was the one that he had just been working on. Will was totally mesmerized by what he saw, the bold outlines, the shark angles, the bright red ink mixed with the black ink and white paper gave the image the illusion of leaving the page. Will was blown away by the level of skill he was seeing and though he wasn’t quite sure what it was that he was looking at exactly he still knew that this was incredible talent.

“Wow you are amazing; I’ve never seen anything so cool. What is this?” he smiled as he looked at the artist sitting in front of him. Apparently this talented artist wasn’t used to receiving such praise because his face turned as red as the ink on the page “A demon...” he said it hesitantly as though he was sure that Will would criticize him for his choice of subject, but Will just looked closer at the drawing and now that he knew what he was supposed to be looking at he was even more blown away by it “Whoa seriously?!” Will smiled even brighter at the boy sitting in front of him, now looking at Will as if he was some kind of strange creature “what?” clearly he was confused by Wills response.

“This is amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before. It would look so cool in a horror movie or in a video game or something! Do you always draw things like this?” now the other boy was completely speechless and could only nod in answer to Wills question. “Really can I see?” Will was excited to see more of these drawings and the amazing work like this. When the other nodded again Will flipped to another page and saw a drawing of a skull with what seemed to be a single red rose and black thorns encircling the two, again Will couldn’t believe the awesome artistic skill shown on a single page. Will sat down next to the other boy and showed him the page that he was looking at “This is so cool, does it have some sort of meaning behind it?”

But then he remembered being told that an artist’s sketchbook could be the same as a diary or journal and therefore should be treated as such “Oh sorry, I guess that’s probably personal. But really you have so much talent! Oh and by the way my name is Will, nice to meet you.” He held out the sketchbook to hand back to its owner. “Nico.” Well now he had a name to go with the face. But before Will could say anything more the coach blew his whistle and signaled that tryouts were over and that it was time to head home for the day “Well I guess it’s time to go, I’ll see you around Nico.” Will said as he stood up and headed over to head to the showers. He hoped that he’d get the chance to talk with Nico again sometime.

…

Over the next few years following their first encounter Will and Nico had sat together and talked from time to time, Nico liked to sit in that same spot and draw whenever he found the time, he claimed that it was secluded enough that people other than Will that is, wouldn’t bother him there. It also meant that when Will finished with practice he’d have a bit of time to talk to Nico and see more of his artwork. You might be able to call it a friendship but they didn’t talk much other during these times or spend time together any other time. Will blamed it on the fact that he was always busy with something or always taking to someone and couldn’t get close to Nico, but his heart soared when in his final year he walked into his AP English class and saw that Nico was in his class. He hoped ever since for a chance to spend more time with Nico and get to know him better.

When their teacher announced this writing assignment Will saw it as a gift from above. “And the best story and accompaniment will be displayed in the upcoming school wide showcase so I want all of you to put your best effort into this with that in mind.” Well that was unexpected but Will wasn’t worried, as long as he could convince Nico to draw some illustrations to go with the story that they come up with then they were sure to do well.

…

The bell rang and the class let out for lunch. Will quickly packed up his things and headed out to meet Nico by his locker, it was close to the gym which Will had learned one day after leaving practice and finding Nico standing at his locker grabbing a pencil case before heading back to where he had left his sketchbook at his usual spot.

Will was glad to see that Nico was still by his locker when he finally made his way over to him “Hey Nico!” Will called cheerfully, causing a few curious passersby turn and look at the two of them, as far as anyone else knew these two were as different as night and day so seeing them talking to one another was an odd sight. Nico turned when he heard Will call out to him “Oh hey Will, is this about the English assignment?” even after four years Will still loved hearing that slight accent when Nico spoke, it had taken some time but Will had eventually learned that it was Italian, though what with Nico’s last name it was no surprize. “Huh? Oh yeah!” Will chided himself for getting distracted again but he always got distracted when talking to Nico.

“So I was thinking that we could come up with the story together and you could add some drawings to go along with it, I’m sure that whatever we come up with your drawings would be incredible!” but Nico didn’t seem as sure about it as Will did. “You’re the only one who would think that Will.” Nico said as he grabbed his bag from his locker, it was only lunch but Nico looked like he was getting ready to leave school for the day. “But it’s the truth, your art is so amazing I’m sure it could really help bring our story to life better than anything else could.” Will tried his best to sound convincing.

Nico still didn’t seem willing to go along with it though “I don’t know Will, but could we talk about this some other time? I have somewhere to go this afternoon so I won’t be here after lunch, good luck in your game later.” Will was a bit surprized by that last part but then again Nico’s favorite spot was in the gym so it should come as no surprize that he knew that Will had a game today after school… “Huh? Oh right thanks.” But before Nico could walk away an idea came to Will and he pulled out a pen and reached out for Nico’s hand stopping him as he was about to leave and Will wrote his cell number on Nico’s arm “There, this way you can text me later after you’ve had some time to think things over, no rush though. Just brainstorm some ideas for our story if you want.” he gave Nico a bright cheerful smile before turning and heading to his own locker.

Next chapter

#solangelo #solangelo fanfiction #write my love and draw my heart

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fangirlingatthreeam · 7 years

Text

Write my love and draw my heart

Story idea by: fangirlingatthreeam

Solangelo Highschool Au where Will is like basketball team captain and really popular and sun shiny and Nico is that one art student whoes drawings are amazing black and white and red but theyre really dark and creepy and they kinda scare people so a lot of people avoid Nico but then Will gets assigned to write a creative piece from his advanced english class for like a school showcase so he talks (read:bugs) Nico into helping him and their exhibit just wows everyone even if it freaks them out a little.

And if Nico is later seen wearing Wills varsity jacket before a big game? Well, no one comments.

Ch.1

…

“Wow you are amazing; I’ve never seen anything so cool. What is this?” he smiled as he looked at the artist sitting in front of him. Apparently this talented artist wasn’t used to receiving such praise because his face turned as red as the ink on the page “A demon…” he said it hesitantly as though he was sure that Will would criticize him for his choice of subject, but Will just looked closer at the drawing and now that he knew what he was supposed to be looking at he was even more blown away by it “Whoa seriously?!” Will smiled even brighter at the boy sitting in front of him, now looking at Will as if he was some kind of strange creature “what?” clearly he was confused by Wills response.

…

(P.S. If you liked this I will continue.)

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