Tumgik
#i mean its not shakespeare but like still
blusheher · 17 hours
Text
I always hear fellow trans peoples argument to identity boil down to one thing- "its my right"- now everyone rn thinks Im going to go on a tirade- no- not at all- it is our right- life- liberty- pursuit of happiness- freedom of speach and freedom of expression- however please bear with me and listen- I see people dissagree and wont call people neos- and it gets heated- but shouldn't that person also have the same rights? I see this weird grey area a lot- both push- but I mostly hear fellow trans people and neos say "its my right" constantly, if someone dissagrees with a trans person why does it need to get so heated- can't we just go "ya we both have rights- can't take them away- and trying to silence eachother is just rude" why can't we just call eachother by name if someone dissagrees- I think that's a good common ground- but a lot of people tell me "NO THEY HAVE TO CORRECTLY CALL ME XXXXX" and- no- they don't, like it or not its their right to call you anything they wish I'm very sorry- but Im also aware of HATEFUL people- Im not talking about them- just people who simply don't want to call someone who has a beard and is jacked like mike tyson wearing a dress a women bc to them- its weird- (thats a hyperbole but Ive seen it- you get what I mean- Im not being rude- just factual) just like to us seeing a preist in a daycare would be weird (dark humor)- or a toddler reading Shakespeare might be weird to everyone lol- point is can we just coexist?
Im agere- trans- a system- therian- so is my husband
Im also hypersexual and greysexual (I don't feel sexual attration for anyone except my husband and when I do get attration twards him goodluck getting me off)- and pansexual- Im also poly possibly but I wouldn't sleep with anyone else- I'd just want cuddles lol- but thats wht I have friends for :P Idk still figuring it out
Please be kind- Im not hateful- all info above is just what I've seen- maybe others have seen different- again Im not talking about hateful people, please inform me if you think Im missinformed- my alter gets mean when others are and I also regress when people are really rude and don't even try to guide- they just see something dissagree withh them and attack- please know Im sensitive
And maybe there is something Im missing if so please peacefully discuss
31 notes · View notes
angstyteenpoems · 2 days
Text
A clip of a fanfic I’m writing where Todd and Neil reconnect after years
Words: 501 Rating: Mature (mention of pornography) Pairing: M/M Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
They’re driving on the road, Neil’s hands on the steering wheel. The car hums as it works its way down the paved roads. Neil and Todd are both silent. Todd doesn’t know if it’s awkward or comfortable. Anyway, Neil breaks the silence.
“Do you have a wife or girlfriend?” Neil asks, his grip on the steering wheel tightening
Todd stares out the window and considers his best possible response and settles on one.
“Never really had an interest in girls.”
Todd’s shoulders tense up, and he doesn’t dare to look at Neil. He doesn’t know what sort of gaze will meet him.
“Oh.” Neil says, pausing for a bit.
“Figures” Neil says nonchalantly
Todd turns to look at Neil who is just smiling at him.
“What do you mean figures! I didn’t even know until a few years back!” Todd says, his voice going higher as he gets more worked up
“Oh come on! You were going around reading and idolizing Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde and Emily Dickinson, the signs were right there!” Neil says laughing, still driving down the road .
“Everyone reads them! You just listed some of the most famous poets!” Todd says, smiling a bit.
“Yeah Todd, everyone reads them but you actually read them, a few do that!” Todd is about to say something back but Neil doesn’t let him
“A few know what In The Forest was about after one skim.” Neil says, his hands have loosened around the wheel.
“I can’t believe you.” Todd says smiling and leans back in his chair.
It’s silent for a while but Neil picks up the conversation again.
“And it wasn’t just that.”
“What?” Todd says, a bit surprised
“You had this magazine…” Neil continues, he turns a bit red and so does Todd as he realizes what he’s talking about.
“Oh god! No don’t say it!” Todd says smiling burying his face in his hands.
“Physique Pictorial, July 1959” Neil says still blushing but laughing
“It was a joke gift from Jeff! He said it was fit for a poof like me. Sad to say he was right about that.” Todd says frantically explaining and also laughing at the absurdity of them talking about his gay porn magazine that he hid under his bed.
“What did I say, the signs were right there!” Neil says, almost victorious.
Caught in the heat of the moment, Todd fires back “Oh you have no right to talk! You were always gushing about Marlon Brando and his “acting talent” I probably shouldn’t even mention but you were obsessed with Shakespeare. You always said he inspired you. Inspire my ass.” Todd says laughing. He expects a laugh from Neil or a clever comeback or anything else than what he’s met with.
Neil’s tightened his grip on the wheel again and his whole body is tense.
Neither speaks, Todd quickly turns to look at the road again.
“Todd, I’m married.” Is Neil’s only response.
“I know.” Todd says, softly and quietly
“Good” Neil says.
In The Forest by Oscar Wilde
Out of the mid-wood's twilight
Into the meadow's dawn,
Ivory limbed and brown-eyed,
Flashes my Faun!
He skips through the copses singing,
And his shadow dances along,
And I know not which I should follow,
Shadow or song!
O Hunter, snare me his shadow!
O Nightingale, catch me his strain!
Else moonstruck with music and madness
I track him in vain!
32 notes · View notes
missmouse25 · 2 years
Note
Me again 😂
Can you write something where the reader (you can call her Louise that’s my name hahah) and Max F are very close best friend and it’s one of them birthday, we can say that is the reader birthday and them and their friends are all going out for the night and the night ends with Max and the reader making out on the dance floor (but that’s not the first time because every time they are drunk they kiss and sometimes more). The day after they both wake up and decided that maybe be they should take a step further to their relationship
Thankkk you again :)
Hi friend... 😬 sorry that your asks are taking so long but! im back into my writing now so they should be coming soonish (not making any guesses as to when though) please enjoy ❤️
Drunk on You - Max Fewtrell
gender neutral first person pov // 1034 words // minor warning for drunk reader, that's it really.
--- The day had been wild already and I knew it would only get wilder as the sun set. My phone hadn’t stopped beeping or ringing since I woke up; there are only so many ways you can reply to a ‘happy birthday’ message and I think I’d used all of them.
I stood in front of my wardrobe, not getting any further than I had since I started five minutes ago, when my phone buzzed once more.
‘Hey. I heard a rumour that today is a special day or something 😏happy birthday. I’m sure it’s only just starting to get good though. See you later.’
Involuntarily, my eyes rolled as I read Max’s message because he wasn’t wrong. If he was going to the club with us later; I knew exactly how that was going to end and I wasn’t going to stop it.
~ The bass thumped through my body. In the middle of the club, my friends and I danced to our hearts content, downing another drink and generally not caring about anyone or anything else. But in the tiny part of my brain that was still thinking clearly, I was caring, continuously glancing at the entrance hoping that he’d show up already.
‘He’s not your boyfriend, stop thinking about him and enjoy yourself!’
But no sooner had I thought that when a hand slipped around my waist and a voice in my ear.
“Having a good time?”
I didn’t need to look to know it was Max: that flirty voice would be the death of me one day.
“Took you long enough to get here,” I retorted, continuing to dance.
I tried to move away from him, knowing it was a tease, but he was faster and pulled me flush against him. His hands slid down onto my hips, holding me tightly.
“Don’t run away so fast, I haven’t given you your present yet.”
Even through the hazy air of the night club, his eyes shone and he flashed a naughty smile. We both knew what he was going to do but the game was half of the fun.
“A present? I don’t see any gifts?”
“It’s not a gift you can open… You have to close your eyes and I’ll give it to you.”
With an exaggerated sigh, I did as Max said but for a moment nothing happened. The music kept playing, the people kept dancing. The space between us stayed exactly the same.
‘Why is he hesitating?’
Then his lips found mine. He was gentle but hungry, and it didn’t take long before I was pulling him into the shadowy corners of the club to take it a bit further. It always felt good having his hands on my body, his breath on the skin of my neck.
But when the night was over and I found myself at home, I knew I felt different somehow. Something had changed between Max and I. My head was still too floaty to figure it out. I fell into an uneasy sleep.
~ It was midday by the time I crawled out of my bed, the remnants of my hangover clinging to me like Cinderella’s rags after the ball. I splashed some cold water on my face and I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, seeing the marks from where Max had been last night.
“Is this all our relationship is?” I asked no one. “Just quick hook-ups in night clubs for special occasions?”
I caught my own eye in the reflection and my expression told me everything I needed to know.
I had only just gotten my first cup of something warm when Max came into the café. He still had dark circles under his eyes and his hair had been hastily brushed but he still looked good.
“Hey,” he said, sitting down opposite me.
“Hey.”
Max ordered his coffee before looking at me.
“What do you wanna talk about?”
He asked it so casually and not as if our whole relationship was about to change – for better or for worse.
“Max, you’ve been my friend for a long time now. You’re one of my closest friends. But I can’t keep going on like we are,” I said as I fiddled with the handle of my mug. “Either we’re friends and we act like friends, or we’re more than friends but then it has to be serious. It has to be real. I can’t keep doing what we did last night because…”
Taking a deep breath, I gathered all the strength I could muster.
“Because I want to be more than that. I want us to be more but if you don’t want it then we have to stop doing what we’ve been doing.”
The sounds of the people around us was almost deafening. Every clink of a spoon. Every buzz from the coffee grinder. It all sounded too loud in the silence between us.
“You’re right.”
Max’s words take me by surprise. Of all the things he could’ve said, I wasn’t expecting it to be that.
“You’re right, we can’t keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t want to.”
‘That’s why he hesitated last night.’ I thought. ‘He doesn’t want to do this at all. This is the end of us.’
I looked down at my drink letting his words wash over me and accepting my fate. That was until Max gently took my hand in his own.
“I’ve wanted to be more for a while now but I thought that you didn’t. I nearly didn’t go to the club last night and even when I was there… I wanted it to be different. But I was willing to do it if it meant I got to have you in any kind of way.”
It was taking time for my brain to process.
“Max, what are you saying?”
This time, it was him who sighed dramatically, before he smiled.
“I want to be with you properly. I want to be your boyfriend,” he said. “If you’ll let me.”
My mouth turned up and I felt my cheeks grow warm.
“This is a much better birthday present than last night.”
We laughed quietly as we began something new together.
39 notes · View notes
why do teachers insist on going around and making everyone say their name and something about themself??? like what the fuck, what do they want from me hi I'm ellis and my fun fact is this is making me want to fucking combust, nice to meet you like I'm not gonna remember any of this I'm just suffering for no fucking reason
#i hate this teacher immediately#she did put her pronouns in her introduction slide but still#if you somehow dont know im autistic which the school knows#and that means i dont have to answer any questions if i dont want to#with no represcussions 🤙🏻🤙🏻#however it felt way more awkward to just stare at her this time 🧍🏻‍♂️so im going to throw myself off something /j#we're now watching some of hamlet and i fucking love hamlet i am a complete shakespeare nerd so she is gaining back some points#cause this isnt my shakespeare lecture but shes bringing him up anyway 🤭#i still hate her 🤺🤺 how dare you make me speak#NOW WE'RE WATCHING SOME OF LION KING COMPARING THEM HEHEHE i love the fun fact that lion king is an adaptation of hamlet#its a quite well known fact nowadays but in case you didnt know#lion king is an adaptation of hamlet 😚😚#hamlet and the tempest >>>> everything else#theyre my faaavveess#i really like literature#one of my broader special interests lmfao#i do have focuses#like shakespeare and marlowe#and then gothic fiction like dracula and frankenstein and jekyll & hyde and DORIAN GRAY#i fucking love dorian gray i have 5 copies 🤭🤭 possibly 6 i have a complete oscar wilde thing but i dont know if its just his plays or not#im very off topic but im trying to stop the autism panic by talking to myself about autism interests in tumblr tags lmfao#modern problems need modern solutions <3#the new and improved grounding technique#one of my favourite topic is the origins of vampires in literature 🤭#and how they went from mythical grave yard monsters to hot seductive nobility lmfao#OH FANTASTIC NOW SHES MAKING US SIT IN GROUPS AND TALK WOW I FUCKING LOVE THAT /SARCASM SARCASM SO MUCH SARCASM I WANT TO SCREAM AND RUN
12 notes · View notes
heartyearning · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
not trying to get at this person specifically and to an extent i understand that this movie could be polarising but anyway none of that is impt i just. i know i rage on letterboxd one liners so often but this is the disease of star power and let me be clear i suffer from it as much as anyone but this concept of person > character (by which i mean: celebrity character created by media maintained by audience and made personal by fan > story and functional element of the media engaged with) is crazy. it's fucking crazy. can't exactly remember who started this trend but wasnt it that shakespeare actor in the 18th/19th century who put special effects in his costume anyway he was a bitch and when you get to heaven you can tell him i said so
3 notes · View notes
britneyshakespeare · 7 months
Text
i finished twelfth night. 25 out of 38 shakespeare plays completed.
#after finally reading othello and twelfth night in the past 10 days im not sure which are the most famous plays i still havent read#bc like ive mentioned previously ive always read the plays in arbitrary order. whatever piqued my interest#hence why i read the henry vi plays relatively early on. or some of the more obscure comedies#but lately since i past the halfway mark this year some of the more talked-about ones im like 'geez i should just get to that one already'#not that that makes me enjoy it any less. i think i mentioned that in my post i made while reading othello#i fucking loved othello. that shit was 10/10 although i very much was reading it bc i felt like i had to at that point.#doesnt mean i wouldnt love it. after all i only read shakespeare bc i love shakespeare! not bc theres a gun to my head#its more like i just want to know what everyone's talking about already#tales from diana#i think at this point the most famous one i still havent read is... much ado about nothing? which isnt THAT famous all things considered#but some of you ppl do seem to be awful crazy about it so ill see#i already knew the plot of twelfth night i had just never read the original. now i have#so i kinda already knew how much enjoyment i could get out of it. some! a good amount!#but i found it a quick read and i wasnt THAT excited about it#the next one i want to read is pericles though. ive read 8 shakespeare plays in 2023 but none have been romances!#i do love the romances. the romances are still the only genre where i havent read more than half of them#ive read 2 out of 5. the tempest and the winter's tale... two of my favorites overall#in a way ive kind of been holding myself back from reading more romances bc i needed to check some of my 'required reading' boxes lol
5 notes · View notes
Text
What’s really fascinating to me is the main characters in Always Sunny are all objectively terrible people, at times quite possibly some of the worst™️ human beings you could ever meet, their schemes almost never work out and they usually get what’s coming to them (and usually deserve it), but that’s not all they are, and in spite of it all, after everything... I still care about them, truly and genuinely; in the end, I still... want them to be happy in some form just once. They do bad things but... good and bad people don’t exist, people are people are people.
And that’s such a testament to how they’re written I don’t even know how to describe it.
10 notes · View notes
jonny-versace · 2 years
Text
have done very little over the past few days than think about that twenty year old on twitter who posted a thread of problematic authors and it's literally just dozens and dozens of authors who wrote about difficult topics and the poster was there acting like a character's actions = endorsement of the actions by the author and/or a reflection of what the author themselves believe as opposed to..... you know..... writing a story
15 notes · View notes
fromevertonow · 7 months
Text
Suzanne Collins is one of the few contemporary writers who realizes the importance of names in her stories and the significance they bear. They add so many layers to the story, additional meanings that otherwise would not have existed.
The original trilogy:
Katniss: named after a plant of which you can eat the roots. Her father taught her where to find it and told her that “as long as you can find yourself, you’ll survive” (quote may be a little bit off, but it’s from one of the early chapters in THG). Additionally, the leaves are in the shape of an arrowhead, referencing her skills with the bow which her father also taught her how to use.
Peeta: literally bread lmao. But bread is one of the basic nutritions humans need, a little bit goes a long way to keep you alive. Peeta’s presence in Katniss’s life also kept her alive, literally and figuratively—the burned bread he threw her in the flashback and their complicated relationship.
Primrose: a plant with medicinal purposes, even more significant in light of her work as a medic in Mockingjay.
Gale: literally means “strong wind” and considering that in every encounter with Katniss he’s caused some reaction, he pulls her into directions she maybe initially doesn’t want to go in. Additionally, his name also represents his determination and steadfastness in his beliefs.
TBOSAS
Lucy Gray: named after William Wordsworth’s poem “Lucy Gray” which is about the titular character of the poem who got lost during a blizzard. She literally got lost in snow. Rachel Zegler sang this poem in two parts on the original soundtrack of the movie. When Snow asked who the girl in the song is, Lucy answers that she’s a mystery, just like her.
Snow: aside from the obvious snow references, I think his name is most significant in relation to Lucy and the poem. The only one who knows what caused her disappearance is Snow. He is the reason that Lucy is gone. But her traces in the snow are still visible. He will always remember her because the memory of Lucy has manifested itself in every part of his life.
Coriolanus: named after the Roman general (and also the titular character of Shakespeare’s play), Coriolanus wanted to attack Rome and become its ruler. He was scorned and celebrated by the people, only to be later exiled from the city by them. In TBOSAS, Coriolanus is the star pupil at the Capitol’s academy but sent into exile to the districts after he won the Games with Lucy through cheating.
Volumnia: Coriolanus mother who played a part in his ascent to power. In TBOSAS, she almost serves like a mentor to Coriolanus, teaching him how to think in terms of power.
(Edit) Sejanus: a roman soldier who was betrayed by the roman emperor Tiberius, just like the future president betrayed him.
(Edit) Plinth: got this info from here, but it was too good not to include here. A plinth is a base for a statue or vase to stand on. After Sejanus’s death, all of the Plinth fortune was given to Snow for being such a good to friend him. It was this money that skyrocketed the Snow family from poverty to filthy rich. The Plinth money was the foundation upon which Snow built his power.
There are so many other names that have historical (mostly Roman and Greek) connotations—Plutarch, Seneca, Cinna—but also regular names like Trinket and Beetee bear meanings that represent the character beautifully.
Names are important. For any lover of literature or (aspiring) writers, please look closely at them. They can shape your story into something unique.
Feel free to correct me if I’ve said something wrong. I know there are many names missing, but I can only add so many examples ✊🏻😔
13K notes · View notes
sheerling · 1 year
Text
never understood why they make us /read/ shakespeare in school KNOWING kids often struggle to understand it ALSO knowing it is INTENDED to be viewed as a stageplay and ALSO knowing its often considered easier to understand when watched performed as opposed to read on paper. you could watch a movie or play and get, generally speaking, the same if not better experience of the text
1 note · View note
cuddlytogas · 3 months
Text
So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.
See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.
But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...
What is the difference between this and this?
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.
But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.
But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.
See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!
As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?
Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.
In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.
Tumblr media
This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).
Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.
Tumblr media
More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.
This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.
A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.
But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.
1K notes · View notes
tayytayy12 · 2 months
Text
I hate it here (a lot less when I’m with you) | OP81 x Reader
Summary - Reader just got out of a mildly toxic relationship and released a song about what her coping mechanism was during that time, but when her new relationship gets leaked by the paparazzi, she decides to show off her new favourite person.
Warnings | Mentions of a past toxic relationship/ breakup, swearing
FaceClaim | Gracie Abrams
Requested | Yes - No
Type | SMAU
Yourusername
Tumblr media
Liked by | AaronDessner, PheobeBridgers and 2,987,425 others
Tagged | @/AaronDessner
Yourusername | Long Pond Studios has always been a place where I’ve let my emotions and feelings guide my songwriting completely, every song that I’ve written and recorded in this place has been a complete raw reflection of my feelings, and I’m forever grateful that I can trust you enough to share them all with you without the slightest moment of hesitation. That’s why, I’m surprise releasing my brand new song, ‘I hate it here’ now. This song is about a method I’ve used to cope for the past few years of my life when I wasn’t in the best situation, and I hope that it will help any of you who are or were in the same situation I was. This song was made with my soulmate of a collaborator, chosen friend, found family of mine, Aaron and were so incredibly proud of it and we can’t wait for you to hear it. Sorry for being away for so long, I love you 🤍
View all comment
User1 - OMFG SHES ALIVE !!!
User2 - ONLY TOOK FIVE MONTHS TO CONFIRM YOU’RE ALIVE AND BREATHING
AaronDessner - My favourite one together so far 🤍
Yourusername - Love you forever 🤍
User3 - WTFDYM ‘I HATE IT HERE’ EXPLAIN?
User4 - GO LISTEN TO IT ITS SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD
User5 - A SURPRISE DROP? WE’RE SPOILED
User6 - When Aarons a co-writer AND the producer, you know for a fact the song will change your life (and make the therapy bill triple)
Liked by author
User7 - Girl don’t apologise
User8 - FR like she gets cheated on, takes a brake and then apologises to us 😭 like girl it’s okay
JackAntanoff - *Alexa play Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo*
Yourusername- Your times coming synth man 🤫 LOVE YOU STILL
User9 - WDYM HIS TIME IS COMING YOU CRYPTIC WOMAN
User10 - “I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind.” That’s all I have to say.
User11 - Y/n could write Romeo and Juliet but Shakespeare couldn’t write I hate it here
User11 - “I place you need a key to get to, the only one is mine” girly I hope someone makes you want to make a copy one day
Yourusername - God I love you lmao
User11 - OMFG Y/n loves me I can die happy
User12 - “tell me something awful, like you are a poet.” BC HE ALWAYS PAINTED HER BLUE SKYS THE DARKEST GREY, RUINING HER DAY BY TELLING HER AWFUL SHIT LIKE HES A TORTURED POET !!!!!! (I knew Coney Island wasn’t fictional you fucking delusional people, no one in a happy relationship writes that shit 💕💕💕)
User13 - “This man made me feel worthless.” Y/EX/N ISTG WHEN I FIND YOU. COUNT UR MINUTES
User14 - “I'm lonely but I'm good, I'm bitter but I swear I'm fine” bitch where did you find my diary
Liked by author
Yourusername
Tumblr media
Liked by, SabrinaCarpenter, OscarPiastri and 2,191,910 others
Tagged | @/SabrinaCarpenter
Yourusername - I’m sorry who’s this woman debuting at no.1 on the billboard hot one hundred? My god it is me, I can’t believe this, I love you I love you I love you thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart, I mean it, I really do. MY GOD I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. (And my baby with her first top ten entry, I love you Sabby, Go stream espresso, it is that sweet 🤍💕) OKAY ONE LAST THANK YOU. 💕🤍💕🤍💕
Okay I lied but being among names like Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, SZA and Kendrick Lamar is one of the biggest honours ever, I’m huge fans of them all and to be in the same space as them is an honour no words can express, I love you all, the most caring sweet fans on the whole planet 💕💕💕💕
(And yes, it was a reference to a physical key, this is it)
View all comments
User14 - We made the right one famous guys
User15 - I’m actually crying, when did she stop being our little secret
SabrinaCarpenter - My biggest fan 🩷
Yourusername - Your biggest fan 🩷
User16 - Oscar in the likes for what?
User17 - Who?
User18 - Oscar Piastri, he’s a 23 yr old f1 driver
User19 - What is vroom vroom boy doing here
AaronDessner - Truly blessed to work with you
Yourusername - I’m the blessed one don’t even
User20 - Only y/n could send a five minute long, slow, alt pop song with a main piano background, basically a depressing lullaby bop, to number one above all these TikTok songs
User21 - She’s actually adorable
OscarPiastri - Been on repeat!
Liked by author
User22 - UM HELLO WHAT ARE U DOING HERE LITTLE ORANGE MAN?
User23 - This is all bc of me btw
Celebrity.updates
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Liked by, user24, and 82,828 others
Tagged | @/Yourusername @/OscarPiastri
Celebrity.updates - NEW COUPLE!!! Fast upcoming pop star, Y/n Y/l/n (21) seen out late at night on the streets of London with Formula one driver, Oscar Piastri (23), according to the source of these pictures the two were laughing and running around the streets together, when Oscar caught up to her and hugged her to him and kissed her. Rumours say that Y/n met Piastri through her ex partner who’s an engineer for f1 team Alpine, the pair seem to be quite smitten and loving with each other. What’s your thoughts on this?
View all comments
User25 - WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN
User26 - Posting these photos is bad enough, but tagging them in it is crazy
User28 - Neither of them have even been hinting at a relationship at all, they clearly didn’t want anyone to know yet
User29 - Can’t these sickos just let them live, they’re people too
User30 - Whoever took these is messed up
User31 - They do look rlly happy together though
User32 - The fact that her ex is an alpine engineer makes this situation so much more funny and interesting
SabrinaCarpenter - You’re actually disgusting
User33 - TELL THEM SAB
User34 - The fact that she’s not even wrong
User35 - the fact that she defends Y/n with no hesitation
User36 - The friendship we all need in our lives
Yourusername
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Liked by, OscarPiastri, SabrinaCarpenter and 2,928,198 others
Tagged | @/OscarPiastri
Yourusername - I hate it here a lot less when I’m with you 🤍 my favourite polite cat xxxx
View all comments
LandoNorris- Finally. The pair of you at the paddock hiding in MY divers room bc you were scared someone would see you in Oscar’s. Sigh.
Yourusername - You love me
User37 - OH MY GOD
User38 - I need to know the bears name
OscarPiastri- She named him Gerald
Yourusername - Don’t sound so disgusted, that’s our son
OscarPiastri - Sorry baby
User39 - Hysterical
OscarPiastri - My favourite smiling dog 🤍
Yourusername- Excuse me did you just call me a bitch
OscarPiastri- NO I DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT
User40 - The dynamic is already everything to me
User41 - Even his GF knows he’s a polite cat
Yourusername - He so is (he’s in denial)
User42 -“ I hate it here a lot less with you” Shut the fuck up
OscarPiastri
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Liked by, Yourusername, LoganSargeant and 1,872,001 others
Tagged | @/Yourusername
OscarPiastri - She made me a copy 🗝️🤍
View all comments
User43 - Someone sedate me
User44 - SHE. MADE. HIM. A. COPY.
User45 - WTFFFTTFTFTD
User46 - Literally the ultimate Oscar on Alpine revenge
Liked by author
Yourusername - I don’t need my secret gardens, or my lunar valleys anymore, because I have you 🤍
OscarPiastri- My favourite and only girl 🤍
User47 - I’m taking a nap on the highway
///////
775 notes · View notes
loveinhawkins · 2 months
Text
While he’s still not recovered enough to play the guitar, Eddie takes up writing again. He uses a scrappy notebook, nothing special: to start with, it’s more a record of his handwriting slowly becoming clearer; gripping the pen, moving it across the page, no longer seems such a daunting task.
And look, it’s not like he’s Shakespeare here, somehow churning out masterpieces from a hospital bed. Sometimes he’s just doodling, flooding the margins with black ink until it bleeds through to the other side, looping spirals over and over for no reason—or maybe just to prove that he can.
He always keeps the notebook close by: folded over, the spine broken so it can rest propped up on the bedside cabinet. Sometimes he forgets, has to quickly put it under the sheets if he’s still writing whenever a nurse comes in.
He doesn’t know what he’s afraid of them seeing, exactly. Just remembers the fear of middle school—a boy ripping his notebook out of his hands and just laughing at Eddie’s desperate attempts to get it back.
It had been a lesson—to not be careless. To not leave pieces of himself lying around for others to handle.
Gradually, he fills more and more pages. Diary entries emerge in between mindless scribbles, and they help even if he’s not ready for talking about March yet, not even to himself.
He painstakingly logs conversations had during visiting hours; just focusing on one word leading into the next is calming, helps bring him out of his head. He’s got whole pages devoted to Wayne’s birdwatching, and actual full-blown diagrams thanks to Robin Buckley filling him in on obscure band kid drama.
On nights when his heart races for no apparent reason, he stays up writing—usually drifts off to sleep by the afternoon, notebook slipping through his ink-stained fingers.
He stirs awake on one such day, and he doesn’t know why until he hears the rustle of pages, the gentle thunk of something being set down.
His notebook.
“Did you look?” he murmurs, more asleep than awake. Maybe that’s why he asks: time is strange in dreams, long buried fears drifting up to the surface.
“No.”
And Eddie manages to open his eyes just enough to see Steve standing by his bed. He’s neatly set the notebook in its usual place on the cabinet, except he’s shut it so the edges don’t curl up all that much.
“No, I didn’t look. Eddie, that’s yours, okay?” Steve says softly, but no less serious for it.
And Eddie wonders if there’s more to the pages he’s filled, even the scribbles—if he’s revealed more of himself than he thought.
“You can if you want,” Eddie mumbles into the pillow.
“Shh. Go back to sleep.”
“Don’t mind if it’s you,” Eddie says. He reaches for words, clumsy with drowsiness, and he surprises himself with what he says, but he finds that he means it. Feels it, so certainly. “Want… want you to see.”
The thought would’ve been terrifying years ago.
But this isn’t middle school, and he trusts Steve Harrington with his heart.
458 notes · View notes
pandorem · 14 days
Text
Obviously going feral over the Orpheus and Eurydice quote but also can’t get over the fact that Orpheus and Eurydice are real people in this universe. Like Orpheus is literally Dream of the Endless’s son. I don’t have anything insightful to say about it, even via stories repeating and reiterating and that being such an important theme in the Sandman universe and how some truths become stories and some stories are more than true etc etc.
Also now just thinking of Hob mentioning that people have given King Lear a happy ending and Dream saying that it won’t last because all the great stories will return to their original forms (Shakespeare was actually the one to change it to a tragedy, and yes Neil knew this when he wrote that line). Still nothing coherent to say, just about how Charles and Edwin beat the odds and just how much of Dead Boy Detectives is like… a rejection of the queer tragedy we’ve grown so used to. Saw some people groan and comparing it to the mess of Supernatural and superhell etc which is wild to me because it feels like a conscious commentary and rejection of it.
Like. Simon and his internalized homophobia landed both him and Edwin in hell and its both made clear that the in universe reason that they were there is not because they were queer but because of the ritual sacrifice/prank, but that the symbolic and writing reason is because of the internal and external homophobia that the world subjects them to, and it is Simon and Edwin recognizing each other and Edwin saying that the way they are does not mean they deserve to be there, that it doesn’t have to be torture, that gives Simon the way out of hell. It isn’t Edwin confessing that sends him back, a demon interrupts him from confessing. Edwin has to confess at the door back to freedom so he can leave all of that internalized poison behind him back in hell where it belongs.
This post got super away from me and maybe I’ll actually write something coherent about all of these themes one day but yeah. Charles and Edwin at the gates of hell defied the trends of two tragedies, one very very old, and one that (while building off of tragic stories that have been around for ages) is far more recent
124 notes · View notes
onesidedradiostatic · 3 months
Note
Do you ever think about the shifts and changes of terminology and meaning of words in the context of the denizens of Hell? An obvious example would be like, havin a gay old time. Since Alastor doesn’t really keep up with the times but Vox very much does, there could easily have been a moment where Vox mistakenly thinks Alastor is coming out as gay but Al was actually just using the old meaning. This is all made even worse when you keep in mind that television has sped up the process of language shift and the internet sped it up even faster. Their friendship ended early on clearly, but how many miscommunications happened because of this plus how many more would’ve been inevitable if for some reason they were still friends?
I guess the Vees are all inclined to keep up so when they find out a word changed its meaning they update accordingly. Still, there’s that initial moment of someone saying the thing.
This gets worse when Zestial gets involved; you know how people read Shakespeare in school and then later find out that most of his works are full of sexual innuendo that goes over a modern reader’s head? There’s also the Terry Pratchett quote, “the Elizabethans had so many words for the female genitals that it is quite hard to speak a sentence of modern English without inadvertently mentioning at least three of them.” I’m choosing to believe that Zestial has silently died inside so many times listening to the other overlords accidentally making innuendos that there’s nothing left in him to die. Maybe he and Alastor have bonded a bit over everyone saying words and phrases that definitely meant something other than what they know it to mean.
hm!
Tumblr media
considering vox died in the 1950s, low-key this checks out LMAOOOO. alastor: "feeling quite gay today :)" (vox: !??!?!?!? I have a chance??? "GHHSJKME TOO")
while zestial and alastor COULD bond over that keep in mind zestial is YEEEEEARS older than alastor and alastor's terminology is probably closer to the newer sinners atp so there's a chance zestial would just run into the same problems with alastor.
216 notes · View notes
manicpixiefelix · 5 months
Text
head, heart, hand. {Felix Catton/Reader/Oliver Quick}
Part 11.
Summary: It's good to finally getting back home to Saltburn. There's just a few things to work out, such as where Oliver's staying, and why.
{ masterpost }
Need to Know: They/Them. Explicitly NB Reader. FWB!Reader/Felix. Reader is from a well off family but has pretty much been adopted by the Cattons.
Warnings: implications of child neglect
A/N: 3989 words. I think about Jacob Elordi saying that Felix would have Artic Monkeys on his personal playlist, about once a day. um okay so not only is this uneditd, but i definitely got very drunk halfway through it, so that's.... that. (im drunk as i publish this) BUT WE'RE AT SALTBURN AND OLLIE GETS HERE TOMORROW!! (which means the next chapter, which dw will be tomorrow irl) ((is this anything?? im worried its ooc please feedback??))
TAGLIST IN COMMENTS!! // TAGLIST ALWAYS OPEN ! (just message or comment to be added)
----
There is no reverence in you anymore for the castle in the countryside that is Saltburn.
Once it had towered before you, trembling, a child alone in every way that mattered until the doors opened before you. Saltburn was a haven away from the bitter hypocrisy of both expectations and apathy, though it took you quite some time to learn as much. At first, there was reverence; Saltburn was the place where every script you'd learned to smile through, every societal expectation you'd been trained to uphold, would be put to the test.
And if you couldn't keep up, if you messed up in this holy house in the face of their kind smiles, you were sure their gazes would turn blank with inevitable disappointment.
But that was years ago.
And mistakes made you interesting, your quirks made them laugh, and Saltburn became less holy each Summer as you found it to be far more human.
It's what occupies your mind for the entire trip back to Saltburn, with you and Felix sharing an earbud each from his iPod, and Farleigh reading - pointedly not not ignoring Felix after he'd found out the news.
You wonder what Oliver will see in the house; the sum of it's parts, or each room and inch of the grounds as their own storage space for memories worth so much more.
Felix hums along under his breath like nothing in the world could ever worry him. Farleigh licks the tip of his finger, glancing with ire at his cousin for just a moment before turning the page of his book. Play. You squint at the cover; Richard the Third. Shakespeare. Farleigh holds the play up further to hide the rest of his face from you both.
You'll get to the station before midday, and a town car will be waiting for you all. Most of your things from Oxford are on their way to a storage facility in the city for the Summer, but you've still got a few precious things you're bringing back to the estate in a suitcase a the front of the carriage, and a bag overhead.
Felix has been trying to look nonchalant and look out the window for a good part of the trip now, but he keeps glancing at you with a strange look.
"Does this change us?"
This time, you make sure to catch his gaze before you reach for the iPod. Most of the ride has been on shuffle, quiet otherwise between you two, if not for his humming, or yours. Flipping through the few albums he had saved, you clicked through to the one you had been looking for. The sunshine is beating down on him just outside the window, almost directly overhead, shining on him and everyone in behind him in the window seats, painting them in sharp relief if they had their curtains open.
You pressed play on You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights But You Were Staring Straight at Me by the Artic Monkeys.
Felix, who knows and loves the song, can't look at you. Actually, properly can't look at you, hiding his embarrassed smile behind his hand as he forced himself to look out the window.
And you hum along, grinning, leaning just past him to also focus your gaze out the window.
"Stop that," he mumbles under his breath from behind his hand, clearly still smiling. All you do is continue to hum along as the band thrashes along in your heads. After a moment, you slide the iPod towards him, as if taunting him, daring him to change the song himself.
"- they're not half as bad as me," you sing under your breath. Felix is turning pink around the ears, but flips the iPod over onto it's face, letting the rest of the song play out, "say anything and I'll agree -" your smile grows wider and you sit back, but continue to hum.
If Farleigh's judging either of you, he doesn't lower his book enough to indicate as much.
The town car ride back to the estate was far more eventful, as the three of you began to properly discuss Oliver's impending arrival. Apparently he hadn't thought much about packing up his room at Oxford, what little there apparently was to pack up, so he was taking the extra day students were allotted to gather himself together for the Summer. That meant one night at Saltburn before he'd be there.
"I actually, genuine can't believe you sometimes," Farleigh had started two separate tirades in the past twelve hours exactly like this, and both about Oliver. It was no secret what this third was going to be about, "you honestly couldn't give me six weeks of peace? Six weeks?"
"You'll have plenty of peace, mate," Felix had insisted, eyes wide and pleading with his irate cousin, "and honestly, I think you'll really start to warm up to him."
"I appreciate that your optimism springs fucking eternal, Felix, but -"
"No, seriously, give him a chance outside of all the academics and what everyone else thinks," Felix was beginning to plead for a moment, all big brown eyes and imploring tone of voice. Farleigh, however, was not as well swayed as the rest of the world would be by his theatrics.
"I'm not going to play nice with your little -"
"Hey, he might be into that," you cut Farleigh off before he could say something too incendiary, but Felix still cast his frown between you both.
"Not helping, Y/N," he admonished, turning back on Farleigh who was suddenly overcome with mild revulsion at your implications. When Felix wasn't looking, you wiggled your eyebrows at him suggestively, teasingly adding to the bit. He fake-gagged, much to Felix's disappointment.
It wasn't a long journey, however, and soon enough the three of you were pulling into Saltburn, and there was something amusing about the collective sigh of relief you all shared once the door opened.
"Feels like ages since we've been back," Felix stretches, leaving his bags for the chauffer and doormen, as did you. Farleigh made a start towards the trunk of the car before the chauffer climbed out, giving him a confused look and he thought better of it.
"Christmas, right?" Farleigh stuck his hands into his pockets, sauntering up the steps beside you all, gazing up at the large, blue doors.
"Duncan taking his time," Felix muttered under his breath after a moment, to which you grinned.
"Probably wants to keep them closed on us as long as possible," though just as you say that, as Farleigh and Felix snicker, the doors creak open, and there, gaunt as you've ever seen him, Duncan somehow manages to loom impressively large, even as you've grown into an adult.
"Master Felix," he nods to each of you with the same stern civility he's always carried, "Master Farleigh, Captain Y/N." You nod in turn, voice turning cordial as you greet him warmly, despite your two companions barging through ahead of you.
"Duncan, always lovely to see you," you incline your head towards him the way you always have, and for a brief moment he allows himself a faint, but genuine smile.
"God, you're so fucking weird sometimes!" Farleigh calls over his shoulder at you. You roll your eyes, but Duncan is stone-walling again, so you slip past him to catch up. In time to hear Farleigh's voice lower and ask, "have you told your mother yet?" Felix makes a face.
"I texted her before we got on the train," it sounds uncomfortable, "she sent me an incomprehensibly long text back which I only got when we had service again. I think she's fine with it."
Farleigh hangs his head, his last defence against Oliver's impending arrival foiled. After a beat, he forced a smile, sliding up to get in step beside you and wrapping an arm around your shoulders.
"Oh, we're gonna be best friends this summer," he tells you, as if you have no say in it, "you, me, and my fucking weed guy -"
"Say it fucking louder why don't you," Felix rolled his eyes, but you simply shook your head at the altercation, wrapping your arm around Farleigh's middle and giving him a squeeze.
"You're impossible, Farleigh," you told him, "and so lucky I love you."
Farleigh quietly cheers for what small triumph he had won, before both you and him look to Felix's vaguely sceptical expression, taking in the both of you.
"It's a fair trade," Farleigh told him easily, "you get your new best friend Oliver -" still yet to say the name without disdain, you note, "- I get Y/N."
"I did also promise Venetia I'd spend some time with her," you chime in, but Farleigh can't help himself but snort.
"You sure she won't pick a fancy for Oliver too?" You can hear his lip curl, but Felix pulls ahead where he's been casually leading you all through the house to his room. You can't see his expression.
"Fuck off, Farleigh -" you start, coldly pulling away from him, but Felix's tone is light, almost forcibly casual as he cuts you off.
"Ollie's lovely but I don't think he's much of her type."
"Everyone's Venetia's type," Farleigh spits, unable to stop himself from putting his foot in his mouth. The implication hangs in the air for a long few seconds before Farleigh catches himself. The unneeded reminder. The real reason for the sudden coldness. Felix turns, smiling bright with nothing behind his eyes as he cheerfully tells Farleigh -
"You know where your room is, right?" And says he's going to rest before hunting down the rest of the family amongst the estate. Farleigh meekly nods, and departs from you both. Both you and Felix follow him with your eyes; Felix's smile doesn't drop before the door closes behind him, and it's the two of you in the blue room, alone.
And you know he's thinking about Eddie.
You wish Farleigh knew how to keep his mouth closed, how to stop pressing buttons when he always knew what they did.
"Where's Ollie going to be staying?"
Felix's eyes flash to you, and you wonder if it were the right or wrong question. Is there a question in this moment that isn't loaded? Is there a question you could ask that wouldn't make him think of Eddie right now?
Eddie had stayed in Felix's room. In Felix's bed. At least he was supposed to. But Oliver wasn't Eddie, so he needed his own space.
Oliver was different to Eddie, you reminded yourself, and hoped that Felix was thinking it too. That was good. That was good.
"Dunno," Felix finally admitted with a sigh, draping himself over the cream sofa, looking up at the ornate ceiling. You sat on the stool for the broken piano, lifted the lid and idly played a few notes, listening to the little hammers in the instrument tap uselessly against broken strings.
"Vennie wouldn't do that again, would she?" Felix muttered so quietly you almost miss it. He doesn't call his sister Vennie often; you know he's dwelling, he's hurting the way he tries to pretend like he doesn't.
"Farleigh's talking shit because it's his job at this point," you tell Felix flatly, and he angles his head towards you, even if it looks like it hurts, so you see him contemplating, "but Ollie isn't Eddie."
Something lights up in the back of your mind as you read faint disappointment on Felix's face as he processes your words. Nodding, he sighs again, looking up at the ceiling.
"Last night was fucking beautiful," Felix's tone turns wistful; he hasn't told you properly about what happened between him and Oliver, but clearly it went well, "I hope Ollie likes it here." Then, closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath before offering, "I've been meaning to thank you, actually," he admits. You shift from the piano stool to sit on the arm of the sofa he was laying across, "for giving me space to spend those moments with Ollie last night."
His face scrunches up a little, then, as if sensing you by his head, he cracks an eye open. Slowly, almost embarrassed, he starts to smile.
"He's like you, you know?" He says gently, before he really considers what he means, and his face falls; you watch, you wait patiently, "can't go home ever again," apology in his eyes, "that's what he said to me."
There's that love, that desire to do good, to be good, that Felix has always craved. He's in his own head, all kinds of thoughtful and melancholy that he often isn't around the rest of the world. Felix shuffles himself over on the plush, wide sofa, making himself as small as possible, and you know it's an invitation. One that you take. It's awkward, but he holds you tightly so you won't fall off.
You wonder if he even realises that you're there, that you're in his arms and listening to the way his thoughts spill out of him from a moment of connection he craves but doesn't often get. If you're so much of his mental wallpaper that holding you like this, the way you listen, the way you are so gentle in these moments, if you're more like a simple diary, an easy, comfortable way to get these thoughts out of his head without the fear of his secrets being spilled upon someone who might use them against him.
"I don't think I'll ever understand not being able to come home," Felix admits softly, "I can't even wrap my head around how Ollie became the man he is with parents like that; and after all he's gone through, for this to be straw, the thing that means he'd rather live in a world alone than be around the people - person - who was mean to love and protect him and yet failed him over, and over, and over again? He's so bloody strong for how long he's gone through it all."
Swallowing hard, you're surprised by the way your eyes are clouding over. Trying not to break the moment, you press your face against his chest; Felix doesn't seem to notice, still trapped in his own thoughts, but he instinctively holds you a little tighter.
"'Home' doesn't mean the same for you as it does for me," Felix whispers softly, almost to himself, and it hits you square in the chest. The tears start to come, and you can feel them dampening his shirt, "that's what he'd said to me," oh, Felix hadn't even realised you were crying.
It takes another half a minute before he even seems to realise something is wrong, but you assured him you were fine, that you were just very glad that Oliver would be staying here instead for the Summer. He'd almost connected the dots at the start of the conversation, but now he couldn't seem to see them.
Still, you knew Felix, and you weren't sure if his heart could handle making you cry twice in two days. So you lie, and he lets it go.
Felix is sitting up and stretching, his mood having improved for having voiced his thoughts it seems, and you're drying your eyes when the door to the Blue Room opens.
"Darlings, Duncan just let me know you'd arrived and were on your way to freshen up before the afternoon," Elspeth was as bright and flighty as always, looking between you both, "so glad I caught you both." Felix is the first on his feet, warmly greeting his mother with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which she returned in kind. Seeing your red-rimmed eyes, she's immediately concerned, but you brush it off quickly, telling her that you and Felix were simply discussing Oliver's situation and that you were incredibly excited to have him joining you all. She, of course, lit up at that.
"It will be such a treat, if I'm to believe my darling son," and of course she is to believe darling Felix, everyone at Saltburn always did. His admiration was worth it's weight in gold to the people who loved him, Elspeth especially. She latches onto the elbow he doesn't offer and you're left to catch up to them as they make their way through the familiar rooms to Felix's, her voice filling the space all the while.
"You must tell me all about dear Oliver," Elspeth insists; she, like her son, was made for Saltburn. She catches the light, beautiful and timeless and made to live amongst its timeless walls. Your face still feels hot; you don't know why but you feel out of place - home doesn't mean the same thing for you as it does for me - Felix pet's his mother's hand on his arm and assures him that she'll love Oliver. He's thoughtful. He's gentle. He's beautiful. Her eyes shine; even his mother is not immune to his light.
"Now, I hope you don't mind," Elspeth begins when the three of you get to the long gallery before Felix's room, "but it was rather last minute, so it's been something of a rush to get everything ready -"
"Get what ready?" Felix asks, and you watch them like a play, like a film, like a third party without any kind of say.
"I thought it would be best if Oliver stayed in the room attached to yours," Elspeth said, and it takes a moment, but you feel your stomach drop. This was worse than last Summer; at least then you had your own room.
"Y/N's room?" There's some victory to be taken in the way Felix seems ready to fight for you in this matter.
"Oliver is a guest, dear," Elspeth didn't even look at you in this moment, "we didn't want to have him set up, all alone, on the other side of the house." She smiles, and gives a fond, if condescending look over her shoulder to you, "you'll be alright, won't you sweetheart? It's just a bedroom, it's not a big deal." You try and smile, and nod, and be placating -
"They can stay with me," Felix insisted, "sleep over, like when we were kids." For a moment, he looks to you. The nod he gives is solid, is reassuring; it eases your heart.
"I don't know if that'd be appropriate."
Elspeth knows. Everyone fucking knows. No-one will say it, but it effects every damn thing they do. How they treat you. You know this, but no-one talks about it out loud.
Saltburn thrives on the unspoken.
"Why not?" Felix forces his mother's hand, "Y/N's my best mate, has been for years, we share a bed all the time." And Elspeth is too polite to do anything but concede, and lets you both know with a faint, awkward smile that your things will be moved to Felix's room before the day is out.
"And Y/N, darling," she does finally, properly acknowledge you, taking both your hands in hers, kissing you on both cheeks, "it's wonderful to see you, of course, so glad to have you home."
Home.
You smile warmly at her. After a beat, however, she casts a faint frown to the window.
"And I feel I'd be remis not to tell you that Venetia is refusing to get out of the pool until you go down and join her."
"Oh," there's an amused kind of warmth that blooms in your chest at that, at being sought after and missed; Felix rolls his eyes but it's fond, "how long has she been there?"
"Not long before you arrived," Elspeth gives a genuine, warm smile, clearly either wilfully or genuinely ignorant about the nature of your relationship with her daughter, "please just take it as a sign that we have all missed you dearly."
She leaves you both to it, reminding you of when supper was to be held, as if the time ever changed, and you and Felix quietly made your way into his room. Your room.
You watch from the doorway as your best friend breathes in familiarity of it all. His childhood bedroom, always left immaculate and untouched, a museum to him whenever he was away from the house. A place of so many of your firsts, yet never a place you'd really called your own. Felix falls onto the bed, face-first, swearing muffled by his expensive duvet.
"Every bloody person's determined to get on my nerves today," Felix sighed, flipping himself over, legs hanging off the end of the bed. "Not you, you don't count," he adds idly, flicking his wrist in your general direction, but still managing to warm your heart, "I'm glad Ollie's staying close by, but can you believe she thought you'd stay anywhere but here?" He sounded genuinely miffed, finally turning to look at you. When he sees the abashed way you're smiling at him, his frustration drops, "what?" He can't help but match your softness in this moment, and you shake your head, trying to tell him it's nothing. "It's not nothing, look at you," he insisted brightly; your smile widened, as if on cue, "you were getting teary thinking about Ollie just minutes ago; go on, what's on your mind now. Is it Venetia?"
"'s not Venetia," you insisted, finally joining him in the room, sitting yourself on the edge of the bed looking around.
Your room; the room you share with Felix, and so close to Oliver too.
"It's our room, isn't it?" It's like he can read your damn mind, practically giggling like a high schooler at the mere thoughts of what the two of you were bound to get up to.
"You were so insistent," you finally teased, grinning wide and leaning back against him, "it's almost like you like me or something."
"That's fucking lies and slander!" Felix crows, your head on his chest, "I'll sue you for that -" but you're already moving, straddling him, pinning his hands to the bed either side of his head as you grin down at him.
"Felix Catton's sharing his bed, call the tabloids!" You teased, leaning in, and when he captures your lips in a kiss, it's like he wants you to taste how sharp his amusement is. He bites and teases and frees his hands to pull you in. Quickly everything shifts and moves and there's something possessive about the way he kisses you, holds you, has you under him and pinned and breathless before you realise what had happened.
"You think I'd let mum kick you out like that?" His pupils are blown so wide with want you think they could swallow you whole in this moment; "never want you that far away if I can help it," it comes out as a breathless admission, almost like it escaped him, like he's caught up in the moment, and you never want him to stop talking to you like this, "can't say that at Oxford - fuck Oxford," he mumbles, his lips on your neck in the next instance. His teeth sting without breaking the skin, sucking with intent to leave an ache that would remind you of him every time you touched it for the next few days.
"Us and Ollie," his lips are gentle when he kisses across your chest, your collar bones, "I'm sure between the three of us we'll end up getting into proper tabloid trouble," you can feel his smirk, and there's something electrifying about the possibilities you find yourself considering.
"Us and Ollie," you agree with a roughish grin. Felix captures your mouth once more in a kiss, matching your energy, your enthusiasm, but adds, "Ollie tomorrow."
And at that, you remember; giddy laughter escapes you.
"Our room," you can't help but remind him, and Felix's grin stretches wider.
"Venetia can wait for you a little longer."
282 notes · View notes