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andvys · 1 year

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We'll burn the sky | part eleven

Warnings: 18+, mentions of smut, angst, mentions of substance abuse, mentions of death, mentions of cheating, mentions of reader smoking cigarettes

Pairings: Rockstar!Eddie Munson x Rockstar!fem!reader | Steve Harrington x fem!reader | past Eddie Munson x Chrissy Cunningham

Summary: Corroded Coffin plays at the hideout again, friends, family and.. enemies show up

Word count: 8k+

@mysticmunson thank you for your amazing ideas as always, bestie🥺

Series masterlist

inspo for the outfit reader was wearing

Eddie’s words and actions kept you up all night. His touch lingered, you could still feel his lips on your neck as your mind repeated his words.

I’m yours, I’m all yours, I’ve been yours right from the start, you have my heart, sweetheart. You’re all I want.

You stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on your face as you searched for the dishonesty in his eyes, only to find none. He was saying the truth, he wasn’t lying, he never lied about his feelings for you.

Despite the things he said to you before, despite the girl that he kept a secret from you for months, you believed him. You finally realized that he never pretended, you were never just a placeholder, he never used you for the band. Right then, he let you see inside his mind, all his walls crumbled and he let you see everything.

And all you saw was a broken man who found love and comfort in you.

Yes, now you know that he never lied but now you are all the more scared. You already found out what it feels like to lose him, what it feels like to live without him, what it feels like to get your heart broken by Eddie Munson

What if you will truly lose him someday?

What if he will leave you?

What if he will find someone better?

What if he will get sick of you and abandon you the way everyone else did?

All these what if’s run through your mind but the one that truly matters doesn’t.

What if he stays?

The hideout is bustling, loud music is playing in the crowded bar, laughter and loud voices are heard from every corner in the bar. Eddie looks around in awe. A look of pride is lingering on his face.

Despite performing on big stages, in front of even larger crowds, in front of thousands of people, he can’t help but feel more excited than ever. This is where it all started. No longer is the place filled with emptiness, the place is filled with people, ones that came here just for the band. A lot of them, he doesn’t even recognize.

But he finds the five drunks, still claiming their usual table, just like they did two years ago. He talked to them earlier, all of them giving Eddie pats on the back and telling him how proud they all are.

He smiles to himself.

Wayne is sitting at the bar with Steve and Robin, all three of them are seemingly in a deep conversation as they wait for their drinks.

The teens are here too, sitting around a round table, he eyes Lucas who is the most excited one out of them. He chuckles to himself, knowing that he is only excited to see you.

After setting everything up on the stage, Eddie walks to the small backstage room to get you. He raises his fist to knock on the door but it opens just before he can do so.

He freezes and his jaw drops. You look good, you always do but tonight, you look insanely good.

“Jesus H Christ,” he mumbles to himself.

He lowers his hand and takes a step back, letting his eyes rake over your body. His cheek flush red and his eyes darken as he eyes your outfit, your exposed skin, your cleavage, your beautiful face, your hair that you no doubt spend the last hour on.

His stomach flutters and suddenly he feels very hot.

He whispers your name in shock.

You blush at the way he is staring at you. Crossing your arms over your chest, he suddenly groans, eyes widening as he stares at your boobs in the little top that is laced together in the middle, exposing your skin and covering your boobs just enough.

“Like what you see, Eddie?” you ask teasingly.

He just nods, still staring at all the leather covering your skin.

“Y-You look so fuck… so hot,” he stutters.

You can’t even help but chuckle. That’s the first thing he has said to you after last night, after he went inside before telling you, that he is willing to wait for you.

You wish you could go back to the way things used to be but you can’t, the pain is still so fresh and all your fears have caught up to you ever since the night you found out about her.

You can’t be vulnerable with him, at least not yet.

But maybe you can go back to the beginning.

“Thanks,” you smirk, “Steve helped me pick out this outfit.”

His eyes flash with jealousy and he has to restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

“You should’ve seen all the other outfits he made me try on, just for him.”

He furrows his brows as his awestruck stare turns into an icy one.

“He also made me try on lingerie but that wasn’t very appropriate for the stage,” you shrug.

“Stop that,” he mutters angrily.

You raise your brows, smirking at him, “why?”

“You know why.”

You shake your head, jutting your lip out as you pretend to think, “no, I don’t.”

He looks hot. He ditched the leather jacket he was wearing earlier, left in a muscle shirt that shows off his toned arms and tattoos. He is wearing dark pants with his trusted belt with the handcuffs. The rings you love so much and the highlight of his outfit tonight; the bandana around his head.

You take a step towards him, giving him an innocent smile, “you look nice,” you whisper, running your hand down his arm, “I love the bandana, Eddie.”

He looks a little speechless, as though he doesn’t understand why you are talking to him like this, why you are touching him and acting the way you used to before it all went to shit.

The way you look at him and the way you touch him, reminds him of the way you used to do when you just met but something about you seems different now, perhaps it’s the intensity of your feelings or the pain you have gone through ever since then.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he whispers.

You nod, giving him a small smile.

“You ready for the show?”

“So ready,” he sighs with a smile on his face, “wanna go out together?” he asks, holding his hand out for you.

You look down at it, heart fluttering in your chest.

You always go out hand in hand, it shouldn’t be anything new and yet something about it feels different. Perhaps it’s because you are in his hometown, about to perform in front of his friends and family and he isn’t hiding you or your relationship.

You look back into his eyes, seeing the softness in them, it somehow makes your heart ache.

You place your hand in his and he smiles at you. You expect him to lead you to the stage but instead he raises your hand, “give me a twirl, sweetheart,” he grins.

“Really?” you snort, knowing that he only wants to see what the back of your outfit looks like.

He nods.

Shaking your head, you chuckle and give him a twirl, the groan that leaves his lips gives you satisfaction.

His eyes almost bulge out of his skull when he looks at the way your ass looks in those tight leather pants, “holy fuck.”

The sound of your giggle fills him with warmth. He never thought he would get to hear it again, at least not directed at him.

He can’t explain the sudden change of your behavior towards him, yesterday you still gave him the cold shoulder, side glances and huffs of annoyance, today, things seem different. Perhaps, you finally decided to give him a second chance, maybe you believe him now, hopefully you do.

Holding your hand makes him happy, though he can still feel the tension in your body and see the distance in your eyes. You don’t trust him and maybe you never will but he is happy to at least have you like this. He will take the teasing over the cold shoulder any day.

When you walk out onto the stage, he intertwines his fingers with yours and gives your hand a squeeze.

You smile at Gareth and Jeff, you haven’t seen them since your arrival in Hawkins, you can’t believe it but you missed them.

You look up at Eddie, watching the way his eyes glow with happiness and excitement as the people cheer for him, for the band. He waves at some people he recognizes from school, ones that didn’t give him a hard time.

He looks at Wayne, a proud smile lingers on his face as he claps for his nephew.

He looks at his friends, eying every single one of them with a big smile on his face.

Eddie couldn’t be more blessed to have such amazing people in his life. His uncle and his friends always supported him, they were always there, they were the ones to encourage him to live his dream, they were the ones who had faith in him and then you came along and you made his dream so much bigger.

Despite the pain he caused you, you look up at him with a soft smile on your face, pride and love in your eyes, for a second you push it all away, the pain, the heartbreak, the sadness. You look at him. You see the emotions in his eyes, the gratitude. You are happy for him.

You know that Eddie had a hard time growing up here. This town caused him so much pain and suffering. People treated him poorly, his father abandoned him, childhood friends turned on him, kids at school bullied him, his girlfriend broke his heart and stomped all over it.

The man that stands in front of you is still a broken child on the inside and you can see it behind all the happiness in his eyes.

You let go of his hand, taking a step back from him, you reach for the microphone.

Eddie gives you a puzzled look but you don’t look at him, looking at the crowd instead as you wait for them to quiet down.

“I love you, y/n!” Lucas yells and you can’t even help but laugh, especially when Max hits his chest with a laugh. You form a heart with your fingers at him, laughing again when he places his hand over his heart.

Eddie chuckles at him, shaking his head. He is happy to see you getting along with his friends.

“Hello Hawkins,” you finally speak into the microphone, “thank you for giving me such a warm welcome but first, let’s give the guys some love, let’s give the stars of Hawkins a round of applause!” you say as you look at your bandmates with a grin on your face, clapping for them.

Gareth gets up from behind his drums and starts clapping for himself, giving the audience a cocky grin before he blows you a playful kiss. Johnny chuckles at his friend, shaking his head as he looks at the audience.

Jeff rolls his eyes at his friend, unable to fight the smile off his face though. He looks at the large crowd, this has been the fullest the place has ever been. Corroded Coffin never had much of an audience except for the five drunks who are cheering for them like crazy now. Jeff waves at them, grinning.

“These guys are one of the best people I know. I'm glad you all found each other and created the best band in the world. Eddie,” you pause as you turn back to him.

His gaze softens as he looks into your eyes. His heart begins to race as you bring all the attention to him.

“I hope you can see how loved you are,” you say, gesturing to the audience, to his friends and his uncle, “you are the most talented person I know, the best performer in the world. Thank you for letting me be a part of your dream. Now, let’s give it up for Eddie Munson, my favorite rockstar.”

Eddie can’t even hear all the cheering, the applause and his friends cheering his name. His heart is thumping and the biggest smile is resting on his face as he looks at you, watching the way you clap for him too as you smile at him.

He can’t even help himself, walking towards you, he grabs you, swooping you off your feet, he holds you tightly, he hears your squeal even over the cheers that just got even louder. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly, enjoying the moment you have been craving for so long.

Both of you close your eyes for a moment, hearts racing and fluttering but feeling whole again as you finally hold each other again.

He smells your perfume as your hair falls in his face.

“Thank you,” he whispers into your ear, pressing a soft kiss to your cheek.

“Go Eddie!”

You both laugh at Lucas’s cheer.

Eddie squeezes your waist as he places you back on your feet again, giving you a smile, he steps back and reaches for his microphone.

“Thank you, guys,” he says as he looks into the audience, “we can’t start before welcoming my girl, my favorite rockstar, y/n was the one who made our band whole, she was the one who made our songs even better, the one who made it all better. Let’s give it up for the best rockstar of all time!”

You blush at his words, watching the way he claps for you with the people. Smiling at him, you watch him get his guitar.

While Eddie got to see your walls fall for a moment and he finally met your sweet and soft side again, he didn’t expect it to be over just as quickly as it came. The moment you started performing, you let the devil out.

You were never shy on stage and you never had a problem being affectionate with him but today, you are different, so much more affectionate, intense and intimate. What may look like a normal performance to the audience, looks so much more intimate to Eddie.

Your lust filled gazes, the mischievous looks in your eyes as you press yourself against him or run your fingers down his chest drives him crazy and it doesn’t even stop at that.

As if he doesn’t already have a hard time controlling himself and his feelings, you end up getting on your knees, right in front of him. You lean back and arch your back, running your hand down your chest as you are singing your lungs out.

Eddie’s eyes widen, he clenches his jaw as he stares at your body. You look sinful.

Your hair is tousled, your skin is glowing, a satisfied look crosses your face as you rake your eyes down his body, winking at him before you move onto your knees, reaching your hand out to one of the girls in front of the stage, who takes it right away, eyes lighting up as she stares at you in awe.

Eddie swallows harshly, fingers strumming the guitar as he leans forward to sing his part. He cannot tear his eyes away from you though, lingering on your ass now. God, the things he would do to you.

He is grateful for his guitar, otherwise everyone would notice the tent in his black jeans. The thought of having to perform three more songs, seems like a torture to him and it truly ends up being torture.

Your teasing never stopped, if anything you kept taking things further and further.

He is enjoying himself but he does wonder what brought it on.

When you raise your brows at him and tilt your head towards the entrance, he follows your eyes and finds her, Chrissy. Her arms are crossed and she stares at you with a scowl on her face, angry eyes flashing whenever you look her way.

She is jealous of you, not because he loves you, not because he wants you but because you get the attention that she used to get. Chrissy never loved Eddie and thinking back to it, she knows they should have been nothing more than friends, perhaps things could have been better that way but it’s no use to ponder over what could’ve been.

She doesn’t hate you but she hates that you were the reason for him to turn his back on her. Her anger only sparks when she looks at Jason who stands next to her with a smirk on his face as he eyes you with a hungry gaze in his eyes, the one that doesn’t go unnoticed by Eddie either as he finds him staring you down like some hungry animal.

Eddie’s possessiveness gets the best of him and he ends up pulling you into his chest, leaning his forehead against yours as he grabs your microphone to sing with you. You smirk at him, licking your lips as his hand slides down to your lower back.

You are his and he is yours and he wants everyone to know.

After the concert, you and Eddie get pulled away by his and your new friends, they are still cheering you on, gushing about your performance. You smile as you watch Eddie being pulled into a hug by Dustin and his uncle.

Wayne gives you a hug, patting your shoulder as he compliments your voice. Your heart warms at his words and the smile he gives you. You feel grateful for his kindness and you are very happy for Eddie to have someone as amazing as Wayne in his life.

“Thank you so much,” you smile at him, “you must be so proud of Eddie.”

He nods, “I am,” he chuckles as he glances at his nephew, “boy was always a troublemaker but I knew he was special.”

“Yeah,” you smile, “he is very special.”

The smile on Wayne’s face grows even bigger when he sees the way your eyes soften as you watch Eddie.

“Hey Wayne, come here,” Eddie calls for him, “I gotta tell you something.”

“Yeah, it’s super important,” Dustin chuckles.

Wayne grabs his beer, excusing himself with a smile before he turns to Eddie.

“Hey Rockstar,” Robin speaks into your ear as she comes up behind you, wrapping her arms around your shoulders, she pulls you back into her, “can I take you out on a date? Your performance did something to me.”

You giggle at her words, turning to look at her with a smirk on your face, “sure, where are you taking me?”

“My place,” she winks, flashing her pearly whites at you.

You raise your brows at her, giggling, “let’s go,” you purr jokingly as you reach for her hand.

“Whoa whoa,” Steve gasps as he interrupts your playful flirting, “why are you stealing her from me, Robin? Let me enjoy the groupie life for as long as I can,” he jokes, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry, Stevie,” you pout, “I found my new groupie.”

He clutches his heart, “ouch,” he mumbles, “and here I thought we had something special.”

You slap his arm, laughing, “shut up.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Lucas and Max walking towards you. You turn towards them, smiling at the teens. Before stopping in front of you, Lucas already throws his hands up, eyes flashing with excitement, “you were so amazing!” he exclaims before he grabs Max’s hand again.

“Yeah, you were so freaking cool,” Max smiles, “and I love your outfit, you look badass!”

“You two are so sweet,” you say, smiling at the both of them, “thank you so much, guys.”

Not only did you meet Steve and Robin, who quickly became some of your closest friends, you also met these two, their excitement whenever they see you makes you happy. Meeting them and the rest of the teens was one of your favorite parts about being coming to Hawkins, Eddie wasn’t lying when he told you about how amazing they all are.

“You guys should totally come to LA when we’re back there,” you smile.

“Oh my god,” Lucas mumbles, “we would love to, right?” he asks, grinning at Max.

Her eyes widen, “duh, of course we would love to come to LA.”

“Yeah, I would love that too,” Steve says, “but I still think that you should hire me as your stylist.”

Max and Robin laugh at his words, “you?”

You chuckle at the offended look on his face when he watches them eye him up and down, “uh yes, me,” he rolls his eyes, “who did you think went shopping with her?” he says, pointing to your outfit.

“Yeah, Steve actually gives some pretty good fashion advice.”

“Thank you,” he nods at you with a smile on his face.

You turn around when you feel someone staring at you. He is standing by the pool table, a cocky look on his face as he eyes you up and down, next to him no other than Chrissy causing your smile to fall.

You know who he is; Jason Carver. Blue eyes, blond hair, the mean look in his eyes and the expensive clothes are enough to give away his identity but then again, there must be ten Jason Carver’s in this town. Still, he stands out in the crowd, well, him and Chrissy stand out with their bright and fancy clothes, the disgusted looks on each of their faces as they look at the people around them.

A sudden surge of anger runs through you, he is the one who made Eddie’s life a living hell, both of them.

Your anger only intensifies when your eyes fall on Eddie, who is talking to a girl now. A bright smile is on his face, eyes flashing as he nods at whatever she is saying.

Your heart drops, a weird feeling settles in your chest as you eye them.

She is beautiful, short dark waves frame her face perfectly, her tanned skin looks soft under the dim light, she has tattoos on her right arm, ones that Eddie is touching now.

Oh god, what is that feeling in your chest and in your stomach?

He leans closer to her and it’s almost enough for you to leave, not wanting to see this. It was bad enough to find out about Chrissy, to see her kiss him, to see them hold hands but somehow this is worse.

Suddenly, his eyes meet yours, a surprised look takes over his face when he sees you staring at him with a sour expression. He winks at you, he fucking winks at you before he goes back to the conversation.

What the fuck?

She raises her hand towards his face, touching his curls. Irritation and anger bubbles inside of you and you can’t even stop the curse word from falling. You want nothing more than to rip her hands off of him and drag him away.

But he is letting her touch him and he even finds enjoyment in it, especially when his eyes find yours.

Eddie has never done anything like this before. Sure he talked to his fans, girls that wanted to be his groupies so bad but Eddie never showed interest in them like that, he never even let them get too close, the conversations were polite, about the band or other interests he might share with them and that’s all. He never gave you a reason to feel jealous, you couldn’t even feel true jealousy when it came to Chrissy but right now, you have that ugly feeling in your chest and it makes you realize that you don’t want to see him with another girl.

You down the drink that Steve ordered for you a while ago before you walk away from him and Robin, ignoring their confused glances as you walk towards Eddie. You push past a few people, giving them polite smiles.

“No, it looks good but I still think that you should cut your hair.” You hear her say, you want to roll your eyes and scoff.

Eddie’s eyes fall on you, his eyes light up.

“I think his hair looks amazing like this,” you swoop in, stopping next to Eddie, you look at her with a smile on your face.

Her eyes widen as they lock with yours, her lips part in surprise and she blinks for a few seconds before she opens her mouth to speak, “o-oh my god, hi,” she stutters, “I’m such a big fan, y-you’re amazing and you look amazing,” she says as she takes a step back to look at you, “I’m Tara.”

“Thanks,” you say, giving her a smile that doesn’t reach your eyes and that’s something that Eddie notices right away, he also notices the anger in your eyes and the jealousy.

The girl doesn’t notice anything though, her eyes are wide, staring at you in shock as though she didn’t just see you singing on stage.

Her giddiness would have been cute if you weren’t so distracted by the awful feelings inside of you.

“Tara was just telling me that my hair would look better if it was shorter,” Eddie says, looking down at you with a smirk.

You are jealous and that is something that fills him with excitement, not because he wants you to feel that way, you absolutely have no reason to feel that way but because this proves to him that you still want him, that you still have feelings for him, that you don’t want to see him with someone else because he belongs with you.

You shake your head, stepping closer to Eddie, “no, I love your hair like this.”

He notices the aggression behind your voice, the possessiveness in your eyes. It makes him crave you even more, it makes him want to kiss you right here, in front of all these people so he can show you that he only wants you, that he is all yours.

Eddie notices the way Tara is staring at you and it makes the situation all the more amusing.

He continues his conversation with her, fighting the smug look on his face, especially when you keep glaring daggers into him. You can hear your thoughts, you are mad, downright pissed, especially when she reaches out to touch his arm again.

“I always wanted to get a bat tattoo.”

“Oh, you should totally get one, it would look cool on you.”

You squint your eyes and Eddie almost bursts into laughter. Your jealousy is something so unnecessary but it gives him hope.

You still want him.

And he would be lying to himself if he said that your possessiveness isn’t hot, especially when you finally have enough and drag him away from the girl after coming up with some lame excuse. Eddie can’t even contain the smile on his face. Your hand is holding onto his as you pull him into the backstage room, not wasting a second to slam him against the wall after closing the door.

He almost moans at your action, especially when you press yourself against him.

“What the hell was that, Eddie?”

“What was what?” he smirks.

The angry pout on your face makes you look both cute and sexy.

“Why were you flirting with her?”

“I wasn’t–”

“I thought you said that you’re mine, that you belong to me,” you mumble, tilting your head as you look up at him with a frown on your face.

He stares into your eyes and at your lips, “but you said that you don’t want me anymore,” he mumbles.

You blink, sighing, you lean even closer to him.

“You are mine, Eddie.”

The hopeful and longing feeling has never been stronger than in this moment, especially when you stand on your tippy toes, brushing his long curls back, you latch your lips onto his neck the way he did to you the night at the roller rink.

His eyes flutter closed and a sigh leaves his lips, butterflies going crazy in his stomach as you begin to kiss his neck. His hands fall to your waist, grabbing you tightly and pulling you flush against him.

Out of all the things that he expected to happen tonight, this isn’t what he expected but god, does he love it.

“I didn’t like the way she was touching you,” you mumble against his skin.

He can’t even help but smirk, you are so clueless.

He moans when you find his sweet spot, kissing and sucking on his skin, you mark him up, wanting to show everyone who he belongs to and he will wear those marks proudly. He enjoys himself and the things you say to him as you continue to kiss him.

So long he has gone without your touch. Sleepless nights and restless days haunted him ever since the night he lost you. He has been thinking of you day and night, craving your touch and longing to feel you in his arms, to feel your lips on his skin, to feel your love.

He whimpers your name and you almost grow weak in the knees at the sound.

“Baby,” he whispers, running his hands up and down your back now, a smug smile making it’s way on his face, “as much as I love this, you gotta know something.”

“What?” you mumble as you pull away to face him.

“She was more into you than me,” he smirks, hands gripping your waist tighter so you don’t walk away.

He watches the way your brows furrow and he chuckles, “she’s like super gay, sweetheart.”

Your puffy lips part and realization flashes in your eyes, “oh,” you whisper as you start blushing, suddenly drawing back as you grow embarrassed and annoyed, “why didn’t you tell me?” you mumble angrily, slapping his arm lightly.

He bursts into laughter.

Rolling your eyes, you push his hands off of you, suddenly feeling like escaping the situation but Eddie has different plans, he grabs your hand and pulls you back, this time he slams you against the wall though, pinning both wrists against the wall.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He leans down, copying your actions, he moves your hair back and latches his lips onto your neck, kissing the spots above the hickey he gave you.

“Eddie–”

“You know, I’m flattered,” he whispers as he kisses down your neck until his lips are right beneath your collarbone, sucking on your skin, he leaves more visible hickeys, “I’m glad to know that you still want me.”

You whimper at his touches, throwing your head back against the wall, you let him touch you and kiss you again, even though everything in you screams at you to push him away.

The cold metal of his rings sends shivers down your spine as he runs his hands down your back, you mewl at the feeling of his hands squeezing your ass.

“I’ve wanted to do this ever since I’ve seen your ass in these pants,” he groans against your skin, “you’re so fucking sexy, baby.”

He shoves his leg between your thighs, pressing it against your center.

“Eddie,” you moan, “s-stop.”

“I’m yours, you already know that, sweetheart,” he whispers, “but I hope you know that you are mine, you’re not Steve’s or anyone else’s, you’re mine.”

“Am I?” you ask, whimpering when you feel him against your stomach.

“Mhmm, you are mine,” he says, pulling away from your chest, he stares at the marks he left behind in satisfaction before he faces you again, smirking at the lust filled eyes. Wrapping his hand around your throat, he stares at your lips. The urge to kiss you is so bad but he doesn’t, he leans in though, staring at your eyes and the way they widen when he gets closer to you. He hears the hitch in your breath and the way you tense up slightly.

His lips touch the corner of your mouth, placing an ever soft kiss there.

“I know you still want me.”

You look into his eyes. To someone else, he would look smug and arrogant and yes, he does but there is also softness in his eyes and hope.

“I know you miss me.”

Yes, you do.

“I miss you,” he whispers, “I miss being with you, I miss having you in my arms, I miss kissing you,” he says as he places another kiss to the corner of your mouth, “I miss hearing those pretty sounds you make when I touch you.”

No, no, no….

His words and his touches make you feel dizzy, you want to throw yourself at him, you want to kiss him, you want him to take you.

You can’t even help but stare at his lips and lean in a little. You want him so bad, you want him to kiss you until you're breathless, you miss him, you miss the feeling of him too.

Just as you’re about to say ‘fuck it’ and smash your lips against his, something that definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by him, he pulls away, letting go of you and taking a few steps back, a smirk appearing on his face when he sees the irritated and confused look on your face.

“But you wanted me to stay away from you, so I’ll do that.”

Is he serious?

“If you want me to stay, just say so.”

But of course you won’t tell him to stay, not only are you confused and irritated, you are also really stubborn.

Rolling your eyes, you scoff, shoulders slumping as you lean back against the wall.

Eddie chuckles, “you know where to find me,” he says before leaving the room, slamming the door shut and leaving you standing there.

He walks back into the crowded room, the smug look still lingering on his face. He finds Steve and Robin hanging out with Jeff and Gareth, he orders himself a drink before he joins them, all of them in the middle of a heated conversation about what Christmas movie is the best. Eddie doesn’t listen to them though, instead he keeps his eyes on the door in the dark hallway, waiting for you to come out of the room and when you do, he is not met with the expression he expected.

You look annoyed and frustrated as you push past a few people, coat in your hand as you make your way towards the entrance, you left your handbag behind but he can see the pack of cigarettes in your hand. He follows you with his eyes, chuckling when you turn around to look at him, your brattiness comes out when you roll your eyes at him again.

He drinks his beer, waving at you, he laughs when he sees you mumbling something under your breath before you walk out.

Placing the bottle on the table, he gets up to follow you but before he can even take a step towards the door, Wayne calls his name, waving him over to his friends, “come here, boy.”

Steve raises his head to look at Eddie, watching him leave when his eyes fall on Chrissy who rushes out of the bar, moments after you.

The fresh air cools you down a little. The cold kissing your warm cheeks. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath before you place the cigarette between your lips, a stupid habit you developed over the past few months. You don’t always smoke and probably go through only one or two packs a month.

Rummaging through your pocket, you look for the lighter, groaning in annoyance when you find none, you don’t pay mind to the door closing or the footsteps on the snowy ground, too busy hoping to find your trusted lighter in the other pocket.

“Hey.”

You freeze, the sound of her voice causing you to tense up. Taking the cigarette between your thumb and forefinger, you pull it away and turn to face her.

“Chrissy..”

Her brows are raised, a false smile on her face as she looks you up and down.

“Can I help you?”

She shrugs, smiling at you as her eyes meet yours.

She looks sweet, she sounds sweet, her smile is pretty, overall she looks like a pretty and kind girl but you can see right through her, though you can see how she was able to fool Eddie.

“I just wanna warn you.”

You can’t even help but chuckle at her words, at the faked concern in her eyes.

“Oh, about what?”

“About Eddie,” she says, taking a step towards you, “he is not who you think he is. You know, sweet and loyal– but you know that already, I mean, he cheated on me with you so..”

You frown at her words, wanting to defend him but you opt to hear her out first, curious about the things she has to say.

“Eddie may seem like a good guy–”

“He is a good guy,” you say, interrupting her.

She huffs a little but the polite look on her face remains.

“Is he? He cheated and he lied to both of us.”

Your eyes dart away from her, a sigh leaving your lips as you cross your arms over your chest.

“How long has he kept me a secret, y/n?” she asks, walking even closer to you, “all this time, right?”

Your clenched jaw and the annoyed look in your eyes gives her the answer that she’s waiting for.

“He never told you anything about me because he knew that you wouldn’t want him if he did,” she shrugs, “he used you.”

“Did he?” you ask, eyes meeting her’s again.

She nods, “yeah, I mean why else would he want you to join the band?”

“I don’t know,” you shrug, dropping your arms, you smile at her, “you tell me, he was your boyfriend.”

She squints her eyes and tilts her head.

“He knew who you were, he knew who your dad was. I mean, did you really believe him when he told you that he didn’t know you? His uncle loves your dad’s music and as far as I remember, you were in magazines before you even joined the band, so do you really think that Eddie hasn’t seen you before?”

Her words cut deep but you don’t show it, the amused smile on your face irritates her and you can see it as the nice girl facade begins to crumble.

You swallow harshly, blinking as you stare into her cold eyes. You would be lying if you said that her words didn’t make your stomach drop a little.

She is getting under your skin and she knows it.

“Eddie called me after he met you, he told me how he hit the ‘jackpot’,” she chuckles in satisfaction, “he knew that he would finally get what he always wanted with you by his side.”

When Steve told you about her, he didn’t leave out her special ability to lie and yet, you easily believe her, not because you would ever trust her but because those things lingered in the back of your mind ever since that night in Cincinnati.

“And look, he did get it all. The album, the fame, the tour, the money and that’s all thanks to you. He needed you. I mean thanks to you, he isn’t some useless freak anymore.”

Your breathing quickens, heart racing in your chest as you stare at her.

“You are pretty, y/n,” she smiles, “and your dad is– I’m sorry, was famous, that’s why people like you so much, that’s why he likes you so much but Eddie rarely ever sticks to one girl as you can tell. He will grow sick of you and once that happens, he will run the way he always does.”

‘Don’t believe her, believe him’ you tell yourself, you know what she is trying to do. She is trying to manipulate her, the way she manipulated him before.

You push the pain away, the insecurities and the doubt.

You think about the things Steve told you about Chrissy, about Eddie and her, about their relationship. How she lied to him, how she treated him, how she cheated and manipulated him all these years.

Anger rushes through you, she sabotaged her own relationship and now she is trying to sabotage you and Eddie.

“You know what, Chrissy?”

She tilts her head, giving you another one of her sweet smiles.

Neither of you notice the person walking out of the bar, both too focused on each other.

“Eddie is the sweetest person I know, the best person I’ve ever met and yeah, what he did wasn’t right and I won’t excuse that but he should’ve left your sorry ass a long time ago. You never deserved him. He is way too good for you, he was always way too good for you. You used him, you manipulated him, you treated him like shit and cheated on him and now you’re standing here in front of me and have the nerve to act like the victim? You’re an awful person, Chrissy. If you would’ve treated him right, he would’ve never done this to you, he wouldn’t leave, he wouldn’t lie and he certainly wouldn’t cheat. This is all on you, ” you say angrily, shaking your head at her, “You’re a fucking idiot, Chrissy.”

Her lips part and she stares at you in both shock and anger.

“I’m an idiot?” she scoffs, pointing to herself.

“Yeah,” you nod, “I know he gave everything he could, his love, his heart, I mean he wrote songs for you, you don’t just write them about anyone, he loved you and you broke his heart.”

You search for the guilt and the regret in her eyes and maybe there is some, somewhere behind all the anger.

“He was always happy with me.”

You can’t even stop the laugh from escaping. Shaking your head, you look behind her, finally noticing Steve, who looks between the two of you with a concerned look on his face.

“Oh, is that so?” you ask, looking back at her, “then why did he leave?”

Your words irritate her and you can see it clearly, it only makes you want to throw more fuel into the fire.

“If he was so happy with you, why did he run away from you?”

She frowns and crosses her arms, huffing as she looks away.

“If he was so happy with you, then why was he so desperate for me? Why did he feel the need to come crawling into my bed?”

She clenches her jaw, she is bouncing her leg, cheeks growing red from the anger.

“Chrissy?”

Three pairs of eyes land on the blond man as he steps out into the cold as well. He furrows his brows as he finds Steve standing by the door, he sizes him up before he turns to look at her, eyes moving between the two of you.

“Everything okay?” he mumbles, walking towards her.

“Yeah,” she whispers, her big eyes and pouty lips making her look vulnerable. She steps towards him, taking his hand.

You roll your eyes, scoffing at the innocent act of hers. Stepping away from her, you make your way towards Steve.

“Did you know that Eddie used to sell drugs?”

You halt in your tracks, eying Steve for a moment, he shakes his head at you, begging with his eyes to ignore her words but you still whirled back around.

Chrissy stares at you with a look in her eyes that you should probably be scared of.

You shrug, “yeah, so?”

“He also sold heroin and cocaine.”

Your mouth twists and shivers run down your spine, you know exactly where this is going.

“Did you know that he uses it too?” she asks, tilting her head, “go to his trailer right now, you’ll find some.”

No…

“He used to snort cocaine like every night.”

“Chrissy,” Steve warns.

“Do you really wanna be with someone like that? Someone like your dad?”

Your blood runs cold, you freeze and your eyes widen as you stare at her in confusion.

“You really loved your dad, didn’t you?” she asks, pouting, “it must have been so hard for you to find him dead on the bathroom floor with that disgusting needle sticking in his skin.”

All color drained out of your face the moment those words left her lips, angry tears well up in your eyes.

“That’s enough,” you hear Steve say as he walks towards you, he looks at you in concern, seeing the angry and pained look in your eyes, “let’s go, y/n,” he whispers, placing his hand on your shoulder but you don’t move, you hold your chin up high and raise your brows, urging her to continue.

“You will find Eddie just like you found him. Are you gonna survive that a second time?"

Steve could see the way her words hit you. He doesn’t know whether you want to scream or to cry but it breaks his heart to see you like this.

“Leave her alone, Chrissy,” Jason mumbles, rolling his eyes as he tugs at her hand, “let them ruin each other, that trailer trash finally found himself a princess.”

She chuckles at his words.

“Dude,” Steve warns, glaring at the former jock, “shut the hell up.”

“You wanna say something to me, King Steve?” he says mockingly, “you think I’m scared of you?”

“You should be,” you mutter, pushing away all the shock and pain, “your little girlfriend over here has been trying to fuck him for the past two years, all he has to do is whistle and she’ll come running like a dog.”

Chrissy gasps at your words but he only frowns at you.

Steve snorts but covers it up with a cough.

“You’re Jason, right?” you ask, walking towards the blond.

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you take your girlfriend and get the fuck out of here, you clearly don’t belong here,” you mutter angrily as you step closer to him, eyeing his white button down beneath the black coat, “this isn’t some concert sponsored by your shitty church.”

He grins at you, irritating you further.

“Oh yeah, I just wanted to see what that freak made out of his life, didn’t think he would ever make it out of the trash park, I think he fit in there pretty well. That piece of garbage–”

Your fist meets his face before he can even finish his sentence.

“Fucking asshole.”

He grunts in pain as he stumbles back, Chrissy shrieks as she rushes to his side, “Jason!”

He pushes her hand away, holding his hand in front of his eye, “you crazy bitch!”

Another fist meets his face but this time it isn’t yours, it’s Eddie’s.

If it wasn’t for Chrissy holding him up, he would’ve dropped to the ground. He clutches his nose, grunting and groaning in pain.

“You wanna say that again, Carver?”

Your heart begins to pound in your chest as you look at Eddie, who stares at the blond in anger. Jason pushes Chrissy away about to move towards Eddie.

Steve grabs your waist and pulls you back, knowing that you will jump in front of Eddie, “that’s enough, troublemaker,” he mumbles as he holds you against him.

Chrissy jumps in between both men, placing her hands on Jason’s chest, “Jason, stop! Let’s just go, you’re bleeding already!”

He tries to push her away but she doesn’t budge, “please.”

“Yeah, listen to your girlfriend, Jason,” Eddie spits.

The tension is high and the anger is all around you as you all stare each other down.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Eddie yells at him.

Jason scoffs, “fucking prick,” he mumbles.

Chrissy looks back to you, intense and angry eyes staring at you.

“You’re gonna regret that.”

“Just fuck off, Chrissy,” you mumble.

She rolls her eyes, scoffing at you and Eddie before she leaves with Jason.

“Jesus,” Steve mumbles, finally letting go of you, “are you okay?” he asks with a soft tone in his voice.

Eddie turns to you as well, rushing towards you, his concerned eyes are the first thing you see when you look at his face, he grabs your hand, checking your knuckles for any injuries but you pull your hand away and look down, “I’m fine.”

You take a deep breath and close your eyes, the moment you feel yourself relaxing. Your tears come back, threatening to spill.

Steve whispers your name, still staring down at you in worry. What Chrissy said about your dad was true, he saw it in your eyes when she said it.

“W-What happened?” Eddie asks as he looks between you and him.

Steve avoids his eyes, not knowing what to say.

Your breathing quickens, eyes burning as you open them.

How does she know?

“C-Can someone take me home, please?” you asked brokenly.

Both men stare at you in concern and sadness, wanting nothing more than to pull you into a hug.

Eddie glances at Steve who gives him a sad smile and a look that tells him; she needs you now.

“I’ll walk you home, sweetheart,” Eddie whispers.

“Do you want me to drive you?”

Eddie shakes his head, “no, it’s fine, the motel isn’t that far away.”

“Yeah,” you say, raising your head to look at Steve, you try to give him a smile, “see you tomorrow?”

He nods, taking your hand, he squeezes it softly, “yeah, call me later if you need me, okay?”

Your gaze softens, squeezing his hand back, you smile, “okay, good night, Stevie.”

“Good night, y/n,” he whispers, pulling you closer, he kisses the top of your head, “I’m sorry about what happened.”

“It’s okay, I’ll be okay.”

Your words worry Eddie even more, he frowns, heart aching in his chest when he sees the glint of sadness in your eyes. He reaches for your hand after you pull away from Steve.

The first five minutes of your walk are spent in silence. You don’t speak up and neither does he, despite the concern and the anger he still feels as he thinks of Chrissy and Jason.

You sniffle, trying to keep the tears from spilling. You look ahead, watching the snow fall, painting everything even whiter than before. The cold wind is harsh and it only makes your tears well up even more.

A hollow feeling settles inside of you.

Images of your dad laying dead on the bathroom floor are back in your mind, images you always try to push out, you don’t want to think about it, you hate thinking about it.

You feel nauseous and scared when you think of Eddie being in his place.

Was she telling you the truth?

Eddie never gave any signs that he was using drugs. He never wiped his nose after leaving the bathroom, he never sneaked away, his pupils looked normal, his skin was clean, his behavior was normal and yet, her words left you feeling sick and anxious.

You can’t do this.

You can’t lose him.

You can’t go through this again.

“I can’t do this.”

You stop walking and let go of his hand. Eddie halts in his tracks, looking down at your hand before he glances at you, “w-what?”

Your bottom lip quivers. You don’t look up at him, you can’t.

“I can’t do this again,” you mumble.

Your hands are shaking, not from the cold but from the fear. His heart breaks all over when he sees how broken and scared you look. Rushing towards you, he cups your cheeks, “what are you talking about?” he whispers as he tries to get you to look into his eyes.

“I can’t stay in the band.”

His stomach drops, eyes flashing with fear, “what?”

Tears brimmed your eyes as you finally looked up at him, “are you using drugs?”

You search for the truth in his eyes but you only find shock and confusion.

“I– what?”

tagging mutuals and friends! @prettyboyeddiemunson @littledemondani @wroteclassicaly @corrodedcorpses @mysticmunson @aftermidnightwriting @imjuststeddietrashatthispoint @sherrylyn628 @yearwalker96

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female character #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fic #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things angst #stranger things imagines #stranger things imagine #rockstar!eddie munson #rockstar!eddie

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moronkombat · 6 months

Note

I don’t know if you’ve done this before but I’m begggggging you for a Reiko alphabet 😩😩 no one ever writes anything about him

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Satisfied and quite pleased with himself and his partner's performance. Aftercare is not something he is fond of in terms of giving and receiving. The most Reiko will do is lay close to his partner with them resting against his chest while his hands lay confidently beneath his head

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Reiko is proud of his overall physique. His body has been trained for war and destruction and it shows. He is particularly fond of his shoulder blades. Why? He feels he can carry the weight of the world atop them

Their thighs. He knows just how...powerful those lovely muscles can be and he loves being so buried in them, feeling just how they strain against him as his tongue devours and claims

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Prefers to change it up. Some days he will absolutely fill you to the brim, cumming all over your tender and sore insides. Other times he prefers to paint you as if you a blank and awaiting canvas

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Reiko doesn't have many secrets in terms of bedroom activities with his partner. If he is wanting to do something, he will propose it. He is quite fond of having sex after killing his enemy. He is riled up and wants to share his raptor with you

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Has enough experience to know what feels great and feels even greater. Reiko likes to be well versed in everything, sex is no exception. Though, sex for him is relatively casual. He does not see sex as something you do with someone you love. It is merely an excellent way of rewarding the body

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

His favorite position is you on top of him. He wants to see you riding and bouncing. He doesn't want to miss a single second of the pain and pleasure that is written on your face

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Reiko is not overly serious but he is not exactly humorous. For him, sex is a battle. He is a dominant individual but a switch in the bedroom. If you want to be the dominant one, you need to fight him for it

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Clean and smooth. Reiko is very much a purist in how he portrays his body. He wants nothing to be hidden by hair and so it is all removed

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Not romantic. Well, he is in his own way. For him, to battle his partner is the most romantic thing one could ever do. Will he buy you flowers? No. Will he bring you the head of his enemy? Yes. Sex is not romantic, it is fierce, rabid and untamed

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Typically isn't one to partake in such pleasures. No, Reiko will seek out his partner over everything else. There is no need to pleasure himself when he has a beautiful partner's legs to slide between

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Marking- He will always leave marks on you and you better leave some on him as well. Everyone is leaving that bedroom painted in the glory of love making. He never hides the marks you give him. He wears them with pride and will even boast about them if he catches others looking. Yeah you guys are that annoying couple that openly talk about your sexual adventures. You better not hide those marks either. Not only will he find it insulting, he'll be hurt by it.

Bondage- Reiko is a fan of bondage solely for the purpose of escaping it or having you escape it. It is thrilling to him to break the chains that he keep him from touching you. He relishes in watching you rip the leather he's coiled you in. Liberation is the fun of using bondage

Pain Play- Sex is a battle. In battle there is pain. He will be in pain and so will you. The two of you are always finding ways to tear into each other. Except to leave the bedroom bruised and a bit battered

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Reiko is not too picky. He enjoys having sex anywhere when it comes to his partner. Though he does find himself a bit more excited to fuck you in the barracks or on the sparring grounds

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Victory and glory. When he is triumphant in a battle, he is brought into ecstasy. When he sees his partner's strength he wishes to taste it along with everything else

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Insubordination to the greater cause. He will not tolerate his partner not following the ways that he has been taught. Nor will he be receptive to forms of aftercare following sex. He finds it odd and boring

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Reiko will give and he shall take. He prefers neither over the other, happy to change it up as the battle between the two of you rages on and on

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Expect to leave the bedroom sore and bruised. Everything to Reiko is a fight even sex, especially sex. Sex with him is often incredibly long and full of blood and teeth. He bites, pulls and scratches and he wants you to do the same. The bedroom isn't a place for tenderness.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

They can happen but not often. He prefers when sex takes awhile, that way he and his partner can truly consume and tear each other apart

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Reiko will try just about anything. Danger is exciting. Danger is victory. If you two will be harmed then so be it, that is the fun of it after all

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Long time. Very very long time. Reiko will not allow for anything less than perfection. Expect to be encompassed by him for many many hours

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Reiko has different toys and will use them. Most of his gadgets, however, are related to bondage, and other BDSM related topics

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

It is not that Reiko is unfair, it is merely his partner must earn their place in the bedroom. If his partner wants to cum then they must show that they are demanding it and not requesting it

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Loud. Way too loud for his poor underlings. By gods they will hear the two of you going at it for hours

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

One of the most intimate things a partner can do for him is apply his warpaint. Reiko is completely exposing himself to his partner then and it is a silent affection between the two. There are no words said as fingers dip into tar and mark up a face that's seen and lived horrors of war. He doesn't let anyone get this close. This is a right reserved solely for you

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Muscular and broad. If he looks like he can knock you out with but one punch then he most certain can. He is well defined and shaped. His cock is girthy and ever thick. The head is the most tender area. He also likes shoving it against the back of your throat

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

High. Very high. Being a warrior, he is surrounded in battle and battle is a great turn on. He will seek out his partner often for sex

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He doesn't usually fall asleep, though he is quite spent after the act. He will prefer to admire the marks you've given each other before laying with his partner for a little while

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat fanworks #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat headcanons #mk1 #mortal kombat x reader #mortal kombat smut #reiko #mk reiko #reiko x reader

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liseytopia · 6 months

Text

───★

pairing: rockstar!hobie x bandmate!fem!reader

contents: fluff, very slightly suggestive

warnings: cursing

read pt. ii here!

───★

𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐩𝐭. 𝐢

- 𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯

you & hobie are in a band together, along with his other bandmates. your band decided to go on tour, so hobie reserved a tour bus for you all to use. you weren't super fond of driving around from city to city to perform concerts, but you had to admit, it was exhilarating to be on stage in front of a crowd that's singing along to the lyrics you're spouting out your mouth. you and hobie on guitar, your fingers gliding themselves freely along the neck of your guitar, pressing frets and strumming freely. and with the rest of your band in the background on drums and background vocals, your band sounded surprisingly fucking cool.

the first night of your tour, you played at a pub in london. the crowd was noisy but seemed encouraging. you were nervous about this moment, actually, every time you've ever been on stage you'd been nervous, but regardless every time you feel scared you might mess up a solo or people might boo at you for amounts of reasons you couldn't even count. the thoughts started to get to your head and you didn't realize it was visible how scared you were until your boyfriend hobie popped up next to you and tapped on your shoulder.

"hey luv, everythin' okay?" hobie gave you a meaningful look. "yeah.. yeah, everything's fine. just.. eh, scared." it was obvious you weren't fine. "wha' for? you don' needa be scared about messing up. music's shit without you, y'know that." hobie really means it when he tells you how good you sound and look when you rock out on that pretty pink guitar you wield every performance. nevertheless you were still unsure about performing and show started in nearly ten minutes.

hobie dragged you by the hand backstage and gave you a talk encouraging you to get out there and be the hot girlfriend you are and play that music for everyone to hear and be jealous of. "doll, i swear, you're the sexiest, most talented girl i've known n loved. how do you think i felt when our band first started?" it's visible that you're holding back tears. you choke out a "confident like how you always are." "i ain' always been like this, luv. i was scared." you start laughing. "no way you were scared." "i was, tellin' the truth, mate." "you, the rockstar hobie brown was scared? i don't believe you."

once hobie can assure you're feeling okay, he checks the time.. everything's set up and ready to play and you still have five minutes.. so hobie pulls you into a nearby dressing room and smirks at you for a second before completely covering your face in kisses. "hobie!! come on, we have like five minutes until the show starts!" you're laughing when hobie pauses to say "tha's five minutes for me to show you how much i love you." hobie continued leaving kisses on your face & neck, giving you hickeys (that were concerning you because you knew everyone would see them with the tank top you were wearing), and kissing your lips passionately. he checked the time again.. two minutes. hobie kept kissing you over and over until at one minute you two ran out to the stage. your bandmates throw you and hobie a side eye and when one of them realizes the hickeys on your neck, they say, "we got one minute and you dipshits have been back there making out this whole time? nuh uh." you turn to look behind you where hobie stands, he shoots you a wink, and the show starts.

of course this whole time you'd just had jitters, because once you got to start singing and playing, it was majestic. the way you hypnotized the crowd with your surreal voice and quick hand movements was immaculate. the crowd probably noticed the hickeys with the looks on their faces. and you know hobie was staring at you that whole show and wondering how this beautiful and badass girl could be his. you perfected your solo, crowd cheering and clapping for you as you released a mesmerizing tune from your guitar. and right after the show was over, hobie wasted no time to flip you around to face him and press his lips all over yours. and no, he doesn't give a fuck that it's right in front of a whole crowd. he's hobie, your rockstar boyfriend, and you're his rockstar girlfriend.

───★

ʚ © this subject is copyright to liseytopia. : do not copy, translate, or steal my writing. ɞ

#: lisey's fics!#hobie brown #hobie brown x reader #hobie brown x you #rockstar boyfriend hobie #rockstar hobie #spiderverse #spiderman across the spiderverse

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theromanticscrooge · 2 months

Text

The Shipping Corner: Voxman, A Balm for Capitalist-Induced Angst

Note: I'm sorry this took as long as it did. I've been in a pretty bad slump recently and am just now coming out of it.

Lord Boxman is the black sheep among his peers. This is first established with Professor Venomous' initial distaste towards him and the later reactions he gets when he unexpectedly shows up at Billiam Milliam's villain yacht party. The only kinds of relationships Boxman has with other villains amount to strictly business transactions to create their robot minions. The shareholders that directly fund Boxmore are especially skeptic of Boxman's destroy the Plaza side venture and see this as a misguided, Snidely Whiplash-esque escapade. He's just a Saturday morning cartoon villain and they're the respectable big leagues. When Boxman funnels so much time, effort, energy, and resources towards the Plaza attacks, it takes precious time away from robot production; the one thing he does they consider valuable or worthwhile. They threaten to cut off their support if Boxman's production doesn't increase and then gladly replace him with Darrell when the opportunity arises. Darrell fits the exact mold they need for a CEO: he focuses exclusively on production.

There's no respect. There's no interest in or concern for Lord Boxman as an individual. The dislike is mutual. Of course Boxman doesn't get along with other villains. Most of the known names and faces on screen hold the purse strings and by extension, the fate of Boxman's entire operation. He feels like he has to put on his best face and performance to keep his business afloat. Without Boxmore, he seemingly has nothing and loses everything material. After Boxman was fired by the shareholders, he becomes absolutely depressed and floats around for awhile until Venomous finds him in his trash can. As much as he hates answering to corporate interests, he's locked in as a "robot manufacturer" as much as an Average Joe is stuck at a 9-5 job because of bills, a mortgage; and most frustratingly, how easily someone can fall into the trappings of letting a job define their self-worth or sense of self.

When Professor Venomous gets introduced, he's partly in Boxman's mental bucket of shareholder/necessary business relationships. Boxman goes to great lengths to hide K.O., Rad, and Enid after accidentally booking his business dinner on the same night as an antagonize the Plaza event. He's scared that his 'hobby' would dissuade Venomous from buying any more of his robots and break their already tenuous business deal. Instead, Venomous starts to see Boxman through literal rose-tinted glasses and becomes interested in Boxman's ongoing Plaza rivalry but uses the robots as a continued excuse to check in again on this weird, intriguing man.

Another interesting precedent is that Boxman is more fond of Venomous from the jump. When interacting with other business partners, Boxman is over-the-top and eager to please in video calls and plays the oblivious idiot in casual settings, but behind closed doors, he's bitter towards them. Boxman won't hug his own children and scoffs at open displays of affection. Yet he wants to touch or hug Venomous as often as he can reasonably get away with. Part of his behavior is the same eager to please facade he gives other interested business parties, but the bigger part is a legitimate interest in developing a more personal relationship with Venomous.

The pink shoujo sparkles and elevator eyes Boxman has for Venomous are a blatant indicator he finds him attractive. That's a surprisingly huge part of what kicks off his interest. Look at how he reacts to Dr. Blight in the Captain Planet crossover. Boxman initially shows skepticism and disinterest towards her crazy plans, but the second she flirts with him, the flip switches. The promise of romantic interest grants her access to the full power and force of Boxmore. When she leaves at the end of the episode, Boxman is disappointed. He wanted to continue their partnership, especially their potential interpersonal one.

In Venomous' case, he gets extra points for joining in the fight after the Plaza brats interrupt dinner. He asks about the design and Lego brick-esque connectivity of the Boxbots. He's not above participating in the Saturday morning cartoon skirmish. Rather, he misses that kind of fight and yearns to experience more exploits like it. Venomous is the only on-screen character outside of Boxman's kids that shows a willingness to listen to, try to understand, and engage with Boxman in a more personable, intimate way.

Professor Venomous fell into villainy after he lost his powers and realized how overbearing he found the moral code heroes have. Being a villain comes naturally to him; he likes the fruits of his labor in the vast amounts of wealth, prestige, and material power that he could gain. Fast forward to present-day in the series and he's the picture of a successful villain. He figures out the easy button for amassing stupid amounts of money by threatening a Congresswoman with a death ray. He's sought out for deals involving his scientific prowess. He's respected and liked among other villains to the point he's invited to Billiam's parties. Though while he has a comfortable position, he's become jaded.

Enter Lord Boxman. Compared to the villains Venomous is used to, Boxman dances to the beat of his own drum. He's more interested in defeating the Plaza than an endless vie for prestige, wealth, or power. He says he doesn't care what the other villains think of him and how he does things. No matter what happens, he's going to carve out his own path as a villain and do what he wants to with his life. Somehow, Venomous got tied up in a new, different kind of bureaucratic process as a villain. As a hero, he felt like an outcast and a loser everybody looked down on without super powers. As a villain, he has everything he thought he wanted but it was more of a means to make up for what he lost. It was more compensating and filling in an existential hole vs actually taking meaningful control of his life. In stark contrast to that, Boxman knows exactly what he wants and puts his all into every pursuit, consequences and obstacles be damned.

Collaborating with Boxman is an epiphany. Dreaming up new schemes and plots to challenge the Plaza is fun. It's fulfilling and satisfying to Venomous in a way that heroics and solo villain ventures weren't. There's one scene in particular after Boxman and Venomous join forces for the first time and lose spectacularly. Both of them are smiling; it's joyous. Boxman was down and out without Boxmore, but building Fink's attack trike was a spark of hope that he can rebuild even if its from the ground-up. Venomous just lost his nice house and all of his current material possessions because Boxman blew everything up. But then Boxman turned around and presented the exact existential solution Venomous didn't know he needed by suggesting attacking the Plaza. It's the dinner party attack, but this time, Venomous was a full part of the planning phases. He gets to share in and fully experience the devil-may-care and more whimsical parts of being a villain he thought were long gone.

Venomous offers to buy out Boxmore and root out the shareholders. Finally, Boxman is free of one of the bigger obstacles between him and his all-time favorite venture. Not only does Boxman have free reign, but also the equal partner he so desperately desired; someone that's on his same wavelength and as invested in his kind of villainy as he is.

Another important dimension to Venomous' character is his destructive spiral as Shadowy Venomous. Finding that 'missing piece' in Boxman and Boxmore respectively isn't a magic solution. There's significant baggage in how much emphasis Venomous placed on his need for power. This was such a huge quest and chunk of his life that its difficult to give up on the idea entirely. Its similar to how some people spend so much time chasing after a specific job title or promotion that this elusive thing becomes an important part of what defines them or contributes to their sense of self worth. Venomous left Carol because of a gross misunderstanding that she saw him as weak. He was missing the value he assigned to super powers for so long that every new solution was always a band-aid or a stop gap.

Someone can find a thing or circumstances that significantly improves their life, but they need to see and recognize this psychologically too for it to be completely effective. In other words, Venomous needed to recognize the real-time changes and results from joining Boxmore, then figure out how to weigh those continued changes with his own self-discovery or improvement.

Boxman started improving on being a more proactive parent. Unfortunately, Venomous started getting lost in his own head and pulling away from his other responsibilities or general life. A change as big as a new partner, surroundings, and blended family would be enough to kickstart depression; especially because Venomous hadn't appropriately addressed why he needed this abstract concept of what it meant to be the 'most powerful being.' Success and self-actualization weren't included with the previous accolades he achieved as a villain. It wasn't obvious and forthcoming with Boxman either. The lack of introspection and vulnerable talks with Boxman or anyone else is exactly what led to the wind-up and eventual "I'll destroy everything if it means getting rid of the years of resentment and frustration."

Both Venomous and Boxman have some sort of adult trapped in the shitty corporate world element to their character writing. In a nutshell, Boxman struggles with the existential threat of losing who he is to one specific job he performs; Venomous finds villainy gratifying as more of a hobby or extracurricular activity vs a full-time job. He's successful at it but the version he's successful at is more of a distraction or a means to fill in a missing part of himself than true interest in his corporate role. Boxman's approach to villainy is considered juvenile and worthless. Venomous still loves villainy but he wants the freedom to have fun and go all-out without worrying about reputation or meeting the specific standards that comes with his current position.

In 2024, after the various rise of corporate buzzwords trying to guilt employees back to pre-pandemic work standards and inflation vs stagnant wages, there's new weight to the Boxman and Venomous character allegories respectively. These two are that success story of Boxman giving the middle finger to a crappy boss and Venomous making that leap of faith from an empty, soul-sucking job to the more wild, out of pocket thing. Venomous' ill-obtained funds becomes that treasured pile of "fuck you" money that so many people dream about having and using to take a risk on something personally, meaningfully valuable to them. Or just having a window of opportunity to enjoy life the way they want to without having to worry about bills and necessities.

More importantly though, while they describe themselves as business partners, it's two single, lonely men building a life and trying to healthfully blend their families together. Part of this life is making space for someone new that makes the other man want to work on becoming a better, more thoughtful person. Regardless of where a person sits in their job hunt or even at the height of personal achievement, the most important part is the support network they come home to or regularly interact with.

Thematically, Boxman and Venomous are the opposite side of the coin to the more straightforward found family K.O. builds and maintains. It's a reminder that no one has to be lonely. They can and will find someone that brings meaningful, valuable things to their life; someone that makes them want to change and grow. While this is about an explicitly romantic pair, the message applies whether that hypothetical person and relationship is romantic, platonic, or a new addition to a found family.

#voxman #ok ko voxman #ship analysis #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko #ok ko professor venomous #ok ko lord boxman #character analysis #ship discussion #shipping analysis #shipping #the shipping corner #theromancescrooge #i'm back bitches

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kristsingto · 4 months

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While watching the latest episode of Cherry Magic, it dawned on me that the show does a wonderful job of using different love languages to make the audience feel the amount of love within the office, both romantic and platonic. The series highlights this part of itself through the way characters reflect on and outright bring up different ways of expressing love — but what I loved most is just how ever present it is. Cherry Magic, to me, is about all of the ways people express their love for each other.

A main one is obviously acts of service. Karan is the only one in the office who picks up on the amount of acts of service Achi is performing for the entire office. He keeps things running smoothly, unspoken and unnoticed, and he is always performing acts of service for people. Achi stays longer for people. He helps. He wants to do these things for people, out of kindness, and that is part of what Karan loves and cherishes about Achi.

Likewise, Karan expresses his love for Achi through acts of service, and it is the acts he performs which make Achi sorely feel his absence when he’s gone. The inclusion of the post-it note of times of the day Karan does things simply for Achi, like bringing down the blinds, further exemplifies this. Love is expressed through the small, consistent actions of care that our leads afford each other.

And it isn’t just our leads. What the greater series loves to highlight is the greater community within the main cast, and how they want to help each other. In this episode, for example, we see Pai talk about why she wants to help Achi in whatever way she can. Everyone in the office wants to help each other! To put in the effort to care.

Then there’s gift-giving, which is also used a ton. In this last episode, we see Jinta absolutely delighted over a small gift Min gives him. A book. This is framed as part of the dating how-to steps, and played comedically, but it also reveals how the series itself uses gifts very often.

Karan brings Achi small, considerate gifts with a lot of earnest feelings behind it. He brings him drinks, snacks, and whatever else he can think of, because he loves him. And gifts, little tokens of affection, mean a lot. The show makes great use of objects, like pens in a pen holder or a small origami keepsake of a boat ride to physically show the courtship between the main characters.

Words of affirmation is also highlighted by the story itself. It’s Achi’s words, understanding the effort Karan puts in, that makes him fall in love with him. And it’s through Karan’s words about Achi that he can feel good about himself. Being recognized by someone else, seen in all of your strengths, is important, not only for showing love, but for being affirmed as a person. The main cast all come to adore each other. We can see the way Rock admires Pai’s spirit, or the way all of the co-workers never fail to bring each other up. And we can see the important of words of affirmation in moments like Karan talking about just how great Achi is, even when he won’t see it himself.

Time is needed for connection. It’s always needed between people, and I see it as the currency that people deal in most of all. Everything needs time, and as such, we can see quality time through the ways the characters seek out each other’s time. This is probably the least noticeable, in a sense. But the series does make each opportunity to be together, every moment of joy through being with someone else, whether it’s one person or a group, feel special.

And of course, to top it off, touching people is highlighted perfectly because of the nature of the mind-reading powers. A slight brush of the shoulder. A hug. Touching hands when picking something up. Every small moment of romantic tension through physical touch, or every touch revealing greater community, is all significant to the story. By nature of the premise, touch is dramatized, made huge in each moment for the characters. A slight lean.

A hug. When Karan and Achi finally connect on their feelings, and Achi responds in realization of his own feelings, they hug, and it is all about the way they touch. The closeness. And that is a pure expression of love. The love they have for each other, and how sometimes, there is no need for thoughts. There’s just joy.

Cherry Magic is really skilled at utilizing different forms of love and care for people. Of course, most love stories have characters who use all of these, but I felt like highlighting this series because of how every small action contributes to it in a way that feels very special. Being giddy over being handed over a pen holder. The slight bump of shoulders. Heating up the water. Breathing in the presence of the people in your life. A kind word.

That’s a part of the joy I breathe in when I watch the show. It’s the joy of loving and being loved.

#cherry magic #taynew #karanachi #cherry magic thailand #I don’t know what I’m talking about tbh the more I think abt it the more I think im stating the obvious #ALSO I SAID I DIDNT EVEN CARE ENOUGH TO WRITE SM #???#sou rambles #whatever IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN lemme know if im just talking nonsense

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n7punk · 3 days

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"Our Love Is God" Fic Notes

OLIG finished off yesterday! For once I almost nailed the length, I was expecting 12 chapters but didn’t want to commit early on. HI I TRIED TO POST THIS SO MANY TIMES but apparently it was TOO MUCH TEXT in a single block and it wouldn't give me that error, I just had to GUESS because I knew that's been a problem before. Anyway. Here it is finally.

Playlist:

Obviously the West End and Off-Broadway cast recordings, but also I did still primarily use a separate curated playlist:

Good For You — Dear Evan Hansen (original Broadway cast)

The Worst Person Alive — G Flip

Ego Talking — Fletcher

Take Your Time — Chloe Moriondo

You Don’t Want Me Like That — Rachel Bochner & XANA

leave me for dead — GAYLE

pity — Charlotte Sands

Bodybag — Chloe Moriondo

spite — Charlotte Sands

butterflies — GAYLE

Tantrum — Charlotte Sands

Killbot! — Chloe Moriondo

LOVE IS A… — PVRIS

I Don’t Like The Quiet — The Haunt

Celebrity (Blood Bunny Version) — Chloe Moriondo

Doing Better — FLETCHER

Bad Girl — Daya

Not To Be Dramatic — Zoe Clark

My Perfect — Gen and the Degenerates

Often — Lauren Sanderson

Pretending — FLETCHER

Epilogue Life:

The original cast of Heathers played on stage for just over a year before most of them move on to other projects with the major cast change. Heathers (gay version) runs for about two years, going through two more cast changes, before closing. The original cast does go to see the new cast and cheer them on, but it is kind of weird to see someone else acting out a role that became like breathing to them. Overall the remake is taken very well but has just run its course by the time it ends. There will be another revival in a few years and it actually uses both the straight and gay versions of the musical between cast changes.

Catra carries Shot in the Dark for its entire two year run before it dwindles into a temporary retirement and gets revived with a new cast a few years later (same sets and such). She’s the defining lead for the show and obviously on the cast album. She’s really, really proud to have originated a magicat-led show and makes her new origination goal a sapphic role.

After Shot in the Dark, she takes a supporting role in another musical for eight months before leaving early to join Adora and Netossa on a new project. They don’t actually interact a lot in the show and aren’t love interests or anything, and they’ve long since learned to balance their careers while in different shows, but it does allow Adora to propose to her during final bow (with approval from Netossa). Adora tipped their parents off and they’re both in the audience to watch her say yes.

(Adora knew she was going to accept, hence the public proposal, and Catra’s relationship with her mom has gotten better now she’s a successful, independent adult. Also Felina would have been So Sad to miss it so Adora told them both). Oh also they moved in together as soon as their leases came up lmao.

Adora led one show in the mean time between Chicago and their show together, but it was smaller, not as demanding as Veronica, and she was really excited to hop on a project with Netossa and Catra again. She decides to make originating a gay role and collecting cast albums her career goal, in addition to getting in a few specific shows she and her mom looked up to when she was growing up. She already feels pretty fulfilled with her early career though and considers everything else the cherry on top.

Rest of the cast quick hits: Mermista plays Velma center stage in Chicago along with Adora. Fitting her braid in that wig cap is definitely a challenge lol. Sea Hawk starred in a Hello, Again short revival run which Catra and Adora were dying sitting through, but they support all their fellow cast members when they move on to new shows. Perfuma finally got up the nerve to ask Scorpia out on their very last night performing in Heathers together, getting her flowers and then revealing after the show — when everybody was already crying about it ending — they were from her. It was a very confusing confession until Perfuma was finally able to spell it out for her that she wanted to go on a date with her. Scorpia enthusiastically agreed (still crying before the whole “last show” thing), and then gushed to Catra later about how she couldn’t believe Perfuma liked her while Catra nearly tore her hair out listening to the obliviousness. Glimmer and Bow got to play a couple that were already-together side characters in a musical and that’s what finally gets them together because Bow realizes oh, I can’t risk losing this, and Glimmer is done trying to play the jealousy game because it clearly didn’t work and she doesn’t really have a flirty relationship with any of her new cast so they can finally just be honest with each other.

Chapter 1: Auditions

⦁ Things like homophobia and Christianity are usually world aspects I avoid in my fics, but they’re both present in the musical so they had to at least be mentioned in this.

⦁ Oh I should say this will have mentions of all the triggers warned for in the fic.

⦁ Adora and Catra both gave good but not necessarily the best auditions of the day separately. Catra’s was really good when she got permission to do it in her natural register and threw in a growl (she wasn’t actually audibly straining yet, but Netossa scouted her specifically for her voice and knew she was pushing it up near the top of her range), but her Candy Store was a little more uneven thanks to the lack of practice and register change. Adora did just fine in her regular song and really good in her Beautiful reprise, but there were people that did sing a little better technically. That doesn’t mean they would have been better over the course of the show itself, though, and what Catra and Adora had going for them was it looked like they were considering involving fists (the sexy or the fighting kind, take your pick) the moment they were on stage together. They eyefucked their way through both songs with such insane chemistry Netossa was like oh we can sell Fight For Me with these two EASY.

⦁ (Fight For Me is the second song in the musical where Veronica basically see JD in a fistfight and thinks it’s so fucking hot she immediately falls for him, and then they actually spend time together and it seems like they have similar views of the high school around them. And they do! But they definitely have very different solutions. Anyway, it’s a quick romance plot setup that doesn’t pretend not to be based solely on sexual attraction at first but that works and is realistic! The actors just need to have chemistry to make it read right, and damn do Catra and Adora have that).

⦁ Okay, every Veronica has been pretty, but there was some metric that made them not perfect conventional. For the first two Veronicas this was pretty much being brunette with messy hair lmao. For the West End, Veronica was played by Carrie Hope Fletcher, who I think is gorgeous and has blonde curly hair, but she faced a lot of backlash for being “too fat” to play Veronica. Adora is close to the Hollywood ideal, which is the point Netossa is trying to make: someone who could play Heather Chandler in one version of this show ends up the Veronica because she commits the sin of not meeting society’s hetereonormative expectations. Bigots will throw you out for any association with queerness. However, still meeting all those other metrics is what allows her to slip in with the Heathers as long as she helps them out and dresses femme — that’s part of her transformation, going from jeans in the opening number to skirts for the rest of the musical until the final sequence. When show starts, she’s wearing jeans and a ratty flannel with her hair in a ponytail. It’s a quick change outfit, so she runs behind the set to pull it off to reveal her main outfit beneath, brushes her skirt into place, and lets Netossa fix a scrunchy with a big bow on it on top of her existing ponytail to complete her transformation into a feminine popular girl.

⦁ “Janis Dean” is a reference to Mean Girls, and yes, that’s in-universe.

⦁ Catra got the casting call specifically because Netossa needed someone to match JD’s register — plus the growls in the right places added a lot of emotions to his songs. Including the sex ones.

⦁ Changes in Netossa’s version: - The aforementioned “Pretty Veronica” thing. When the Heathers give her the makeover she puts on the iconic skirt and has to wear skirts for the rest of the show, performing femininity in every extra way she can, to make up for her “deviance” of being bi (also, she’s bi. It’s another thing where any degree of deviation is grounds for rejection). - The line delivery (and some content) has been tweaked for the fatphobic stuff to match the changed metanarrative that comes from Scorpia, someone who isn’t actually overweight, playing Martha. The commentary then becomes that nothing is good enough and society’s fatphobia is thrown into light as completely unreasonable. The whole point of that aspect of the show is that it illustrates how awful the characters are, but genuine fatphobia and using it as a plot device to show a character is morally corrupt looks awful similar, so by having someone who is basically just tall and strong play Martha it makes it extremely obvious that the demands are unreasonable. This ties in well with Heather M’s story, where she does have that model body type and is pretty and popular but develops an eating disorder because she’s afraid of losing that. - Obviously a lot is different with JD. She “chooses” to be a lone wolf/outcast because of her personality and views on society, but there’s obvious undertones in their dialogue in the 7/11 that even if she did want to choose differently, she couldn’t because she would be rejected for being a dyke, so is she really making a choice at all then? She goes by JD specifically because it’s more gender neutral than Janis. She couldn’t ever be a Heather and she couldn’t even be a Veronica either, because Veronica could at least be comfortable putting on a matching skirt with her friends while this JD is butch, so she hangs out in her trench coat at the fringes of society. There’s also undertones to her being the only magicat in school due to her father moving around and not caring if he brought her into a hostile — conservative, racist, homophobic, etc — area. - Heather M. is only in with the popular girls for safety and there’s some dialogue around this in the bathroom scene with Veronica. It’s kind of public information (not officially stated but implied in her social media) that her actress, Perfuma, is trans. This wasn’t planned at the time of the casting call, but Netossa worked on it during workshops and the backstory became that Heather M started transitioning how she could before high school and is continuing to “in secret” now. Some people have clocked her though and she sticks so close to the other Heathers to keep herself from being the target of terrible bullying. As long as the Heathers tolerate her (Heather C is on a bit of an ego trip about having blackmail material on her and essentially owning someone in the palm of her hand), she’s given a pass and “has the best (cishood) assumed” about her. - Veronica and JD’s relationship is a little more secretive in this version, but the Heathers do know and Duke later tell her to just be careful not to “dyke it up” at school or they would out her (currently she’s just kind of clocked by some, not confirmed to the whole school). After Heather C’s death, Duke basically threatens Veronica to stay at her heel like Heather M or she’ll out them both.

Chapter 2: Workshop

⦁ You would have to be fucking blind to not realize Adora and Catra have history even in the glances of them Netossa and Spinnerella saw, and Netossa spent the first part of workshop trying to unpack whatever was going on with them. She had to put together the clues to figure out what it was. Once she decided exes was a likely story, she confronted Catra about it because she figured talking about it was the only way to handle the resentment. She was partially using reverse psychology and partially being honest about not resolving all of it being good for the show.

⦁ I made Freeze Your Brain more homoerotic. In the musical, JD does his entire song facing Veronica or walking around the stage and then offers the drink to her at the very end. He does not get in close and offer her the drink and then sip from it after her in an indirect kiss with her lipstick prints on the straw, but mine’s better.

⦁ In the actual show, Heather Chandler doesn’t put on any death makeup. The Off-Broadway would shine a blue light on her after she died to give her an other-worldly appearance and the West End didn’t seem to do anything at all, which was a mistake imho. In this one, when she “rises from the dead”, she does it a bit more dramatically and zombie-like under a blue light, and then she on-stage reaches over for her vanity and starts powdering her face, looks back at Veronica and says “What? I want to look good for eternity” and finishes as Veronica and JD write the rest of the suicide note before collapsing so the cops can find her.

Chapter 3: Previews

⦁ Once again changing the staging for my version (jokes on you, this isn’t just a Catradora fic, it’s me writing my ideal version of Heathers). Usually Heathers has some kind of bi-level stage. This one has catwalks hidden along the backs of the lockers, but they also have more sets. They have house facades they slide in front of the high school set/lockers for the croquet scene (Freeze Your Brain is the closest song) through to Heather’s murder, sliding them away again for The Me Inside of Me. They come back for Our Love Is God, although the second level with JD’s window isn’t brought back until the very end of the show. Kurt tries to climb the same trellis Adora used to get into JD’s window to escape JD as he chases him down. The full facade doesn’t come back until it’s time for Meant To Be Yours so JD can climb through Veronica’s window (that was once his). It is wheeled out as the entire stage narrows in on the center stage for the pep rally and finale.

⦁ Veronica doesn’t rebutton her shirt until after the nightmare scene in the West End version (I honestly can’t remember for off-Broadway), but for this show Adora just isn’t super comfortable hanging out shirtless in front of crowds every night, especially knowing some people are perverted about the lesbian version of Dead Girl Walking, so Netossa said buttoning her shirt and putting her clothes back on before they fall asleep was fine back when they were deciding what Catra was going to do since JD rips his shirt off undoes his buckle during this scene. Adora could have done it (she wears the bodysuit for Mona, after all), but Netossa didn’t mind making that small tweak for her. Catra cared less, but also because she’s not in the kind of underwear that straight guys like. They decided she would have a high-coverage sports bra, the kind that can pass for a binder, on (for this scene and for the entirety of the show since Janis Dean is supposed to be firmly butch). Catra does most of JD’s usual choreo here, minus the belt thing, because they do the version of the choreo where they never stand up and Catra isn’t wearing a belt at all.

Chapter 4: Candy Store

⦁ No wonder she was what way indeed, huh, Catra? Well, multiple. No wonder she was so frustrated, because Catra is infuriating when she wants to be. No wonder she was so hung up on her, because Glimmer also wants to fuck her inexplicably. No wonder she lived and breathed the word homoerotic, because Catra made sure they lived on the razer edge of it at all times. No wonder she was down bad, because again — see the last two point. This line is less of an insult and more of Catra being too magnetic for anybody’s good, honestly, but that annoys Glimmer because she doesn’t want to like her (like that, or at all) so it definitely comes out like an insult and Glimmer is good with that.

⦁ I need you to picture Catra’s “What?” after the brat comment in the same tone of voice as Elle Woods saying “What, like it’s hard?” because Catra definitely wants it hard.

Chapter 5: We Can Start and Finish Wars

⦁ I was nervous about doing this scene just from a trigger perspective, but I figured it would be okay if I kept it all contained to this one chapter, and it was something I really wanted to cover. It was my first thought when I heard You’re Welcome (since it was a new song). I also wanted to explore the support a cast really gives. You don’t have to improvise every night or anything, but there’s always something that pops up over a show and you have to adapt for when you’re doing shows night after night. This is why casts really have to have each others’ backs and are often close. Every person on that stage would have done what they could to help Adora get through the show, but Catra, Bow, and Sea Hawk were the only ones who could have helped in that specific scenario due to their roles, and Adora was good enough at covering it up that only her best friends noticed.

⦁ This chapter was a turning point for them between the lines with the show and reality blurring and Catra realizing (though trying to repress it) how important Adora is to her.

⦁ They do workshop a version of the scenes where Kurt and Ram just don’t come as close in contact to Adora and end up being even more slapstick with each other in place of the more aggressive choreography moments, and during Never Shut Up Again they don’t even come close to Veronica, instead running around the stage to tell the audience/school. They only use it once on Adora’s signal, and Bow voluntarily opts for it once based on vibes and Sea Hawk immediately adapts, but Netossa is right: it’s a good thing to have, and she’s really glad Adora agreed to collaborate on something.

⦁ This last scene wraps up the rest of the show to verify it goes well, but it’s mostly here just to showcase Good Director™️ Netossa. She really cares about her people a lot even when she’s a hard ass.

⦁ Adora doesn’t keep up too much with comments due to what she mentions about knowing there will be homophobia in them, but she’s not totally tuned out on them and a long flood of notifications still draws attention. After this time she becomes more committed to not reading them much, though.

⦁ Yes they’re going to the same dinner place featured later.

⦁ While out at dinner, Glimmer and Bow try to ask her how she’s doing and she gives them an even more abridged version of what she told Netossa and Catra because she just doesn’t want to think about it anymore, but of course Glimmer and Bow are super supportive, and Bow is really enthusiastic about them choreographing an alternate version of the scene because he just wants Adora to be okay and is proud of her for taking that step.

Chapter 6: No Time to Knock (I’m a Dead Girl Walking)

⦁ Chapter title from DGW

⦁ Dead Girl Walking honestly didn’t look that different that night, and Netossa did miss them making out after the lights went down because she was scrambling looking for a scrunchy, but she could tell Catra was going further with the choreo than she was supposed to, especially with the kiss during the kitchen scene when Netossa had given up looking for it until the show was over, and in a situation like that Adora couldn’t say no or stop her without changing the intent of the scene, hence Netossa threatening Catra about the consent issue despite how Adora didn’t seem upset. It’s just something she has to do as director. I ended up reducing it to a one-sentence mention later in the fic, but I thought about having a scene where, after a few nights of them kissing on stage, Netossa goes to Catra’s dressing room and asks her if Adora ever gave her permission for that, to which Catra says yes she’s fine with that, and Netossa corrects her and says did Adora ever give you verbal, explicit permission for that at which point Catra goes quiet and Netossa then demands she go to Adora’s dressing room and secure it before she’s allowed to leave for the night. Cure Catra awkwardly standing in Adora’s doorway asking Adora if it’s okay for them to kiss during the show as Netossa stands down the hall and waits for her. Adora was very bewildered but could tell Catra was being put up to it from the way she kept glancing to the side so she just agreed because she didn’t want them to get in trouble and Catra quickly fled. It just didn’t even up fitting in the flow of the story because it meant verbally acknowleding what they were doing earlier than they were supposed to so that’s why I changed it to Netossa privately asking Adora instead of forcing a confrontation, which is the better thing for Netossa to do anyway rather than force Adora to deal with it if she really were uncomfortable (the reason she did it in this version of the scene was because she was 100% certain it didn’t bother Adora but was doing her duty as director).

Chapter 7: Happiness Comes / When Everything Numbs

⦁ Chapter title from Freeze Your Brain.

⦁ Forever thinking about ND’s “and it was” comic.

⦁ Real shoutout to the person who informed me about the official stage recording of the later version of the West End Heathers because I definitely did not remember any of the dialogue outside of songs and it let me take notes to write scenes like the croquet scene, which is like 50% similar to the one that actually takes place in the musical. A lot of the dialogue not overtly related to Veronica’s queerness is the same, but a little bit of the action was changed around to extend the scene for the extra dialogue and include using an actual ball, because Glimmer being frighteningly accurate at hitting things with a giant mallet felt right.

Chapter 8: Fight For Me

⦁ Heather tries to get Veronica to admit she’s into girls so much so that she can have blackmail over her to keep her in line, although she doesn’t actually need her to admit it, she just knows Veronica would be more afraid of the threat whenever she makes it if Veronica is aware it’s something Heather has 100% confirmed to be true.

⦁ I didn’t include it because I didn’t want to have to cover every scene with differences in here, but in the 7/11 Heather bothers Veronica more about clearly being into girls and is mildly homophobic to JD. Then, in the scene after Dead Girl Walking and Veronica’s nightmare, as Veronica is freaking out about getting to Heather and making amends before Monday, she tells JD in clear terms “She’s going to out me and tell the school I’m bi” which is what Adora was referring to in chapter three when she mentions this version of the musical having the word bisexual in the opening act.

⦁ I know what y’all are going to think this was inspired by, but it’s actually inspired by a fucking Try Guys Korean bbq video where they went karaokeing afterwards. I’ve never been to a karaoke place like that and it got me thinking.

Chapter 9: Big Fun!

⦁ When the show started, Bow and Sea Hawk were both given like packs of the exact same underwear (one in blue variants, one in red variants, and one in black variants) so they could match throughout the show. It’d be easier to coordinate if it was all the same pair, but they wanted the variety for people who came to multiple shows. They actually have a lot of fun coordinating and then, on their own, decided to get a pair of those classical heart-print boxers that they throw in occasionally. Sometimes that’s just based on a day when they don’t want to wear something as revealing as the tighty-whities they usually wear, but usually it’s as a gag.

⦁ It was too awkward to shoe-in here, but part of reworking the choreography around You’re Welcome included the decision to have robes backstage for Bow and Sea Hawk, which they don’t often use, but if it’s a night where Adora is getting overwhelmed intermission is a lot more comfortable if Bow and Sea Hawk aren’t wandering around naked. Sea Hawk’s has feathers along the collar and cuffs.

⦁ Glimmer’s best friends all have abs and she has no idea how sharp her elbows can be.

⦁ Glimmer did realize she was flying a little too close to the sun with Adora if she responded to Catra’s flirting.

⦁ Yeah Catra brought her strap.

⦁ Catra was just a little tired during that show, so she asked Entrapta for some of the drain cleaner as a pickup since it has a lot of sugar, and she was taking a few seconds to rest before she had to go be feral on stage again.

⦁ When I first told my friend Meta I was doing a Heathers fic, Catra downing the fake drain cleaner like shots was one of the first jokes they made and I had to include it.

⦁ Adora thinks there is — a chance — that Catra wants to be dating after this exchange where she says it’s not “a problem”, but she’s definitely worried about saying anything too soon or too presumptive and scaring her off, so she’s just going to lowkey keep acting like they’re seeing each other and hope Catra will open up enough for them to have a conversation about it eventually.

⦁ The people at stage door the night they got “dinner”, and the night they actually got dinner, and the night they went home together, all definitely thought they were dating but only the ones from the first night even thought that might be news. The girl who was a big fan of Catra kept it to herself and her friends, but one half of the couple publicly tweeted the picture they got with Catra and Adora that night mentioning they got to take photos before they went off on a date, but that picture didn’t make its way back to Catra because she wasn’t tagged in it and not that many people “noticed” per se. Final bow was when everyone was like ah so there is something fruity going on there, but even then a lot of people weren’t sure, and it’s something that just got solidified over the coming months as they were seen together more, kissed in public, got a little sappy on Instagram, etc and everyone retroactively realized they were right.

Chapter 10: Beautiful

⦁ Usually the chapter titles are either lyrics that match the chapter or a song that features in a chapter, but in the case of “Beautiful”, it was a thematic match. Beautiful features Veronica picturing her future and the next phase in her life. For this chapter Catra is also exploring her future and her next steps. And also she’s gay for Adora.

⦁ The First Contact scene started as a Mass Effect joke (iykyk) and then I ended up including it. I honestly thought I was going to cut it because it’s kind of random but the point was to show how long they’ve known each other and they have their own world of games and jokes that they lost when they lost each other, so I ended up keeping it.

⦁ Cheekbone > Clavicle > Cupid’s bow (aka Achimenes longiflora) > Gums (aka Alveolar process).

⦁ Catra freezes up after Adora asks what she gets for a good show because she can’t bring herself to say “Me.”

⦁ Shot in the Dark is one of the episodes of the show I’ve rewatched the most, when they find Melog and Catra learns about the power of friendship. The musical was either going to be called that or White Out tbh (real ones know my relationship with that episode) but Catra is playing a magicat specifically in this role so going with the Melog episode felt right.

Chapter 11:

⦁ The blanket came from Lance, actually.

⦁ What’s my ideal choreography for Meant To Be Yours? So glad you definitely asked. This scene is usually presented so abstractly I don’t think someone unfamiliar with the musical/movie would even know Veronica is hiding in her closet. My ideal version (with the staging already set up in this play) is the house facade with the window being rolled in on one side of set (only one just cuz there isn’t time) and JD appearing on the other side of the window (with the light off so it’s more like he’s creepy in the dark) and doing his knock knock thing. Veronica in the middle of the stage panics and runs to the back of center stage, where it’s carefully choreographed for the ghosts (Kurt and Ram) to be rolling in an open doorframe that she runs through and Heather slams behind her. Then Kurt and Ram would lean against each side of the doorframe making fed up and “can you believe this dude?” faces at each other as JD has his whole villain speech in center stage before going to pound on the door and finally wrenching it open to reveal Veronica hanging on the other side with Heather kind of “in the corner” making a comedic fake shock face looking between JD and Veronica as JD breaks down. When he leaves and Veronica struggles to get down for a second, Heather would roll her eyes and help as Kurt and Ram wheel off the door and then quickly move the house facade off stage as it transitions to Dead Girl Walking (Reprise).

Chapter 12:

⦁ My idea for this AU was that Catra would have a “stage mom” and then their acting coach would have been Shadow Weaver to get that Trauma Backstory™️, which means Catra needed actual parents. I already had the pair from Trade Today For Tomorrow, so I wasn’t going come up with a new set of names, but it does feel kind of wrong to have changed Leona to be a “bad” mom. In general, if/when I do use them again, I’ll be using their TTFT personalities. Also, in this AU Leona isn’t awful or anything, but she really wanted to be an actress and it didn’t work out so she has been pushing her child in that direction even when it was painful, which gave them a tense relationship. Most of my other Catras would be thrilled to have parents like this, but Catra doesn’t have that context for None or Very Bad parents, so she’s just another person with an awkward relationship with her parents and doesn’t think about it too much.

⦁ Catra used to spend Christmas ever at Adora’s house and then Christmas at her own/moms’ when they were kids.

Chapter 13:

⦁ My original idea for a childhood dream musical was to stick Adora in Wicked because you know Mara is a sucker for that show, but for mezzo-soprano it’s mainly Elphaba, and the whole point was giving her a role that wasn’t lead. I settled on Chicago because something LGBT is happening in that prison and I think Mara and Hope would both like the show. Adora is going to play Mona in Chicago, a fairly minor character who gets a solo verse in Cell Block Tango when describing why she killed her lover for cheating on her. She appears (namelessly) in more songs but also gets off-stage time, and that song is absolutely ICONIC, so Adora is really excited to get to take part in it, even if it’s pushing the absolute limits of her dancing ability. She does a lot of practicing leading up to the show, so Catra is worried for a bit about her getting too busy and their relationship faltering about, but it balances out after the initial push. Adora’s moms are super psyched when they hear she’s going to be in the show and the marketing team ends up releasing the Broadway cast’s version of Cell Block Tango online at the open of the show to drum up hype for it, so Adora really hits one of her big career dreams — though still with room to grow, if she can get it with a larger role and a full album. This role shows her that headlining isn’t all there is to musical theater, though, and having smaller parts can really by worth it for the off-time.

⦁ Uh so. Mona’s outfit. The outfits for the inmates in Cell Block Tango are usually pretty close to lingerie. Adora has a bodysuit, because it works for the song and she’s more comfortable being covered in something skintight than just wearing two pieces, but it’s still quite a Lot for her parents to see it. They know what they’re in for though and everybody just neglects to address it after the show when they praise her voice. Catra loves Adora in the outfit though.

⦁ Based on my previous formatting Shot in the Dark, Chicago, and Hello, Again should actually just be written out without italics, but because the nature of the titles (length and formatting) make it confusing without italics and clunky with quotes, so I ended up just being inconsistent between them and Heathers.

Original Outline:

I outlined this one pretty heavily going into it, in the way I used to for my fics where I’d write like a one-sentence summary of every scene planned in a chapter going in. Of course, I knew I would add and change scenes as I went, but I was pretty faithful to the outline outside of additions. I was outlined out to chapter 8 but thought it would expand to about 12 chapters between the ending I hadn’t outlined (I needed to be closer to it to know what the right conclusion was) and scenes adding themselves in along the way to up the count, and I finally put that count on the fic when I was writing chapter 10 or so, but then I realized I fucking forgot about the cast album and I got the idea for the bar scene so all of Chapter 12 ended up getting added and expanding it to 12 chapters.

The only “big” thing that didn’t happen was the catnip thing, which was mostly a joke I outlined anyway, but it was just too much from several angles so I cut it before I finished it. The idea was someone pulling a prank on Catra by putting catnip on her vanity and getting her lowkey high. Non-destructively pulling something on a castmate’s dressing room is pretty common antics, but this felt… very targeted and tense even though the castmate was doing it fairly innocently and just ignorant of that angle to it, so I didn’t want to go through with it. Catra was going to corner Adora though and demand if she fucked with her dressing room, and when Adora was obviously confused by the confrontation, fall into her arms and aggressively scentmark her even as she growled explaining the vandalism, which Adora offered to clean up for her and let her use her dressing room to change so she didn’t get more exposure to it. Again, the “getting a castmate a little high” thing, even accidentally (they didn’t realize it had much of an effect) was just not a line I — or the cast — wanted to cross, though.

Upcoming:

The 4th anniversary SPOP Big Bang is going to run May 12th-18th and I’ll be posting daily for the first few days with my magical realism AU Lightbeam along with my amazing artist partner who made an illustration for every chapter! Keep an eye out for it :)

#olig #ficmeta #fic notes

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hoodharlow · 1 year

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Any Given Sunday

AN: this for my bisexy people, I love y'all and you're all valid 💗💜💙

Requested? No

Warnings: trashnitta, biphobia showm through threesome jokes, brief mentions of grooming and Jack being corny and singing T-Pain

Word Count: 2.9k words

One thing about Miriam is that she loved a good mirror selfie to send to Jack to get him 'bricked up' as he put it. She was in the dressing room of a strip club and she was trying on several bodysuits and catsuits. She was filming a music video with Kehlani for their song 'any given sunday'. Miriam was going to play their love interest who was a stripper.

She was excited, 'any given sunday' was her favorite off Kehlani's album. She listened to it with Jack on facetime. Though the one thing she was nervous about was the dancing part. Thankfully Tinashe was choreographing for them and reassured Miriam that she would be fine. She was right for the most part. The dances she taught her were tangible. Miriam learnt them fairly quickly. All she needed was to figure out what outfits to wear with what scenes. So she sent pictures to Jack for a second opinion.

She hadn't seen him since earlier that week when he stopped by her new place after he did his meet and greet. After that their schedules didn't sync up because of their filming schedules. Then Jack flew to New York to perform at a sweet sixteen that Miriam later found out was for Fat Joe's daughter. And today they were supposed to meet in Las Vegas because Jack was performing at the BBMAs but Kehlani dmed Miriam if she was interested in being in her music video. She accepted without any hesitation.

Jack knew Miriam had the hugest crush on Kehlani since she heard 'Get Away' and that their music really helped her with accepting herself and her sexuality. Their music was there for her when she went through a dark patch in her life. It was a no-brainer that she was gonna choose them over him.

Miriam zoomed in on her nipple poking out of the mesh jumpsuit and snapped a picture. She sent it to Jack and before she saw that he saw her message he was facetiming her. She propped her phone against her makeup bag and leaned against the top of the vanity, answering him.

"You're a fucking pain in the ass, Miriam." He said. He was leaning against the headboard of his suite bed.

"What did I do?" She asked innocently.

"'What did I do?'" He mimicked her in a high pitched valley girl accent. "You know damn well what you were doing when you sent me your tit."

"It wasn't even my full chichi, just my nipple." She giggled.

Jack flipped the camera showing Miriam the tent in his basketball ball shorts. "Look at what you did."

"Tomorrow I'll make up for it, but for now I need your expert opinion." She said, sitting back on the chair.

Jack flipped the camera and gave her an inquisitive look. "What's up?" He asked.

"I kinda need help picking what to wear for the music video. Since Kehlani is directing it, she's giving me creative freedom with the outfits, but like I don't want to disappoint them, you know." She explained.

"How do I play into this?" He scratched his beard.

"You've been to your fair share of strip clubs while I haven't. I tried watching Hustlers for research but JLo was annoying me." She said.

"Wait, you bi ass hasn't been to a strip club?" He asked her.

"No," she shook her head.

"When we're not busy, I'm taking you to my favorite one in Atlanta. They have the best wings." He said doing a chef's kiss.

"Not you using wings as a way to convince me to go to a strip club with you." She giggled.

"I know my girl." He shrugged.

With that Miriam showed him all the options the wardrobe stylist brought her. She modeled all of them for him. She did some of the dance moves Tinashe showed her. Jack stayed silent while she tried everything, taking mental pictures of her so he could relieve himself after they ended their call. In the end, they picked three sets since she was having three different scenes in the strip club.

"Any final thoughts?" Miriam asked him, changing into a short silk robe.

"I'm in love with a stripper." Jack began to sing, making Miriam fold over laughing. He continued singing the chorus. "She poppin, she rollin, she rollin. She climbin that pole and I'm in love with a stripper. She trippin, she playin, she playin. I'm not goin nowhere girl, I'm stayin, I'm in love with a stripper. She poppin–"

"I'm hanging up." She cut him off.

"Good, that means I can beat my meat." He said.

"You swear like I haven't seen your dick."

"I'm shy, Miriam."

Jack was annoyed and it was getting harder for him to hide it. He was finishing up the red carpet. The whole time the interviewers way too personal questions, completely dismissing the fact that he already explicitly said that he's in a relationship. Fortunately he was on his last one before he could go back to his dressing room and wait until it was time for him to go on stage.

"Here we have Jack Harlow!" The interviewer said. Without skipping a beat she went on, "We had Anitta on here earlier and she was telling us how you guys were hugging at New Years."

"Uh," Jack furrowed his eyebrows.

"She said, how you were the first person she hugged this year." She told him in a tone talking down to him as if he was slow.

"Probably," he shrugged. "I was working at Miley's New Years event. A lot of people were there."

The interviewer pursed her lips, evidently not liking that response. "She was telling me how she's down to be your third since your girlfriend is bi. Isn't that funny?"

"How is my girlfriend’s sexuality funny?" He asked the interviewer calmly.

"Well it's not…it's funny that…" she trailed off. She looked down at her cue card. "That's all the questions I have for now."

"Thank you." Jack said, walking off.

He took some more pictures then went back to his dressing room.

"That was so rude of you, Jack." Neelam scolded him when she caught up to him.

"I'm the rude one? She was talking shit about Miriam." He retorted.

"It was a joke!" She exclaimed.

"Tell me the fucking punchline? I must be a fucking idiot because I didn't get the 'joke'." He yelled back. Jack turned to Chris. "The jet is still on standby right?"

"I'll make the arrangements. " his other manager nodded, knowing he wanted to leave right after he performed.

"Thank you." He said.

Jack went into the changing area and traded his suit for what he was going to wear to perform. He stayed there collecting his thoughts. Urban sent him the video of Anitta and the interviewer that made those comments. They both laughed at Miriam, talking about how it would be easy to share Jack because she's bi.

Jack couldn't stomach the rest of the interview. He exited from the video and scrolled through some comments. Some were rightfully calling them out, others were arguing claiming that it a joke and a few were confused because they didn't know Miriam was bi and accused her of queerbaiting. All that just made him more upset. He texted Miriam that he was flying in tonight. She replied soon after telling him that she just got home and that she couldn't wait to show him all the moves Tinashe taught her.

They texted back and forth until it was time for him to perform with Diddy and Bryson Tiller. After that he changed out of his performance outfit to a black hoodie and sweatpants. With that he and his team were on their way back to the hotel to get their things.

Jack cursed seeing that Neelam was talking to Anitta. There was a camera crew ready to take pictures of them. He took a picture with her and kept walking until he heard her joke that her turn with him because Miriam was in LA.

"Can you not talk about Miriam like that?" Jack told Anitta. "I let a lot of shit slide but one thing you're not going to do is talk shit about my partner. Miriam hasn't done shit to you and yet you're talking down to her and treating her sexuality like it's some kink and not part of her identity. It's fucked up. I would appreciate it if you stopped and left us alone."

He waited a bit for her to apologize or at least defend herself, but she didn't. The singer muttered something in Portuguese and walked away. Jack turned on his heel and caught up to Urban.

Two hours later, his Uber pulled up to Miriam’s house. She bought (she put the down payment and her parents covered the rest) it early in the year. She hadn't fully moved in until she started filming her movie because she had most of the house remodeled. There were some things left to do to make her house really her home, but she wasn't in a rush to have it done.

Her house was smaller than her parents house but it was bigger than her place in San Francisco. Her house was a few streets from where Calum and Claudia lived, and she lived about twenty minutes from her parents. Jack was there when she told her parents she planned on moving out. They had been caught going at it in the back seat of her G-Wagon. He lost all color in his freckles when she explained to her parents that she needed her own place to have sex with him because she was tired of having sex in a car.

"Hey!" She said running to his arms before Daisy could.

He buried his face into her neck and hugged her tighter. He grabbed her face and kissed her. "I need you."

"Give me a sec, so I can change into a set I just bought," She said.

"Not like that, I just wanna hold you." He mumbled.

Miriam pulled away and they made their way to their bedroom. She took off her baggy lounge pants, staying in its matching oversized button down top and her plain panties, and settled under the blankets. Jack followed suit and took everything off but his boxer-briefs. He waited for Miriam to settle in first then he joined her. He unbuttoned her top and laid on her chest.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked him, gently scratching his beard.

"Later, I just want to lay like this for a bit." He mumbled.

He gave her a tight squeeze, nuzzling against her. Miriam played with his hair for a few minutes, until he fell asleep. She reached for her phone and texted Urban, asking him why Jack was acting so off. He sent her Anitta's interview. She opened the drawer on her nightstand and grabbed her headphones, connecting them to her phone.

She stopped watching when Anitta started talking about she's also bisexual and therefore does a lot of threesomes and that it was okay for her to speak on Miriam. She watched the other videos Urban sent, one with Jack getting interviewed by the same interviewer that was in Anitta's interview and one of Jack talking to Anitta.

She was stunned. She didn't expect Jack to answer the interviewer like that. He usually went along with them and joked, but he was curt and acted confused when the woman brought her up. Then with Anitta he flat out defended her and asked the singer to leave alone.

Miriam exited the videos and pulled up her notes app, writing:

It's fucking 2022. People need to learn to mind their business and stop making comments about relationships that they're not a part of. It's weird, invasive and quite frankly just disrespectful. What my partner and I do or don't do is between us. It's not for your entertainment. Larissa, what do you gain about talking about a guy, who has explicitly told you that he's not interested in you, and his girlfriend. Don't you have something better to talk about? I'm pretty sure you have an album coming out soon? Focus your energy on that and not on my boyfriend and me.

While I'm here, just because you also identify as bisexual doesn't give you the right to dictate how I express myself nor does it allow you to fetishize my relationship, reducing it to jokes about threesomes. Bisexuality is a wide spectrum for people who are attracted to more than one gender. There's no correct way for someone to be bi. There's no list that they need to check off in order to be bisexual. It's harmful to think that way and enforce it onto people, especially for younger people learning about themselves and their sexuality. Believe me, I learned that the hard way. All in all, just mind your business and learn to shut the fuck up when you're supposed to <3

-M :)

Miriam read over what she wrote and took a screenshot of it. She posted the screenshot both to her Instagram and Twitter with 💗💜💙 as the caption. She muted her notifications and played Candy Crush. Not long after Jack stirred awake.

He sat up and stretched, twisting so his back could crack.

"Urban sent me the video of Anitta wanting to be our third." Miriam said, hugging her knees.

"I was going to tell you. I was just overwhelmed by it." Jack rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He looked at her defeatedly. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing, Jack?" She asked him.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "Maybe I could have– should have defended you better…"

"What you said was more than enough…I know I don't tell you enough, but I really appreciate you. I feel so safe around you. You never pressure me or make me feel like what I do isn't enough." Miriam wiped a few tears from her face. She looked at him and asked, "You know how I've joked about accidentally breaking up my professor's marriage?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well that's because we dated when she was married to her wife– in my defense I didn't know she was married until my grandma and I ran into them at a store." She added, seeing the incredulous look hebhad. "But, um…yeah. I was in her human sexuality class my first semester at Berkeley. I was one of the few queer students in the class and she immediately took interest in me. She took me under her wing because she was also bi and wanted to show me the ropes on 'how to be bi'", she finger quoted, "then I turned eighteen and it shifted to where she was fixed on making sure I was being bisexual enough. It was like she was living vicariously through me…I'm not sure how our relationship started. But it escalated quickly and it took over my life. I put off my school work, labs, projects…everything to be with her and to prove that I'm enough. The semester ended and she blew me off, eventually breaking up with me. I later found out she moved on to another student."

"How did you break up their marriage?" Jack asked, fully invested in the story.

"Oh so I told my 'uela Tere what happened between us, in vague details of course, and she told me that I was groomed by my professor, she was in her 30s at the time and I was seventeen when I met her, and I have to report her. So I did. She tried to make it seem like I made it up and that was trying to get back at her. But a bunch of other students spoke up and it became a thing in the local news. Her wife found out and reached out to me since I was the first to come forward. And I told her what went down and she was disgusted with her and I'm assuming she filed for divorce or something because my professor showed up to my place drunk one night, yelling that I ruined her life. She tried to break in but Beto was here to prevent it. I got a five year restraining order…which reminds me, I have to renew it. All this to say that you're amazing and I love you for many reasons. One of them being that you're accepting of me and don't question or judge me for my sexuality."

"That was a lot to hear." Jack said when Miriam finished. He reached for her and pulled her to him. "I know that must have been a lot to share and I admire you for it. You didn't have to tell me any of that and it means a lot that you trusted me enough with it. I'm sorry you had to go through that. You should be able to be yourself and not have to prove yourself to anyone. You are enough. I love you because you're you, Miriam."

"I love you too." She said, burying her face into his chest. Jack wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. Miriam murmured into his chest. "I kinda made a statement."

"About?" He asked, curiously.

"The interviews." She handed him her phone so he could read.

He read the post then passed her phone back. "Who's Larissa?" He asked.

"Anitta, this was a government name situation." She answered.

"This whole time I thought that was her name." He hummed, pensively. "Also I'm pretty sure her album came out last month…yeah because she Urb to her party."

"That proves my point, she should have focused on promoting her music and not talking about us."

Taglist: @cherryxcreme @heavyhitterheaux @carma-fanficaddict @youngharleezyxo @youngharleezy @babyharleezy @that-90s-girllll @alinaharlow @whywontyoulovemecami @meyocoko @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @webinurcloset @gassyandsassy1 @jackharloww @awhore4moree @noescapricho-essentimiento @a-moment-captured

#jack and miriam #jack harlow #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow oneshots #jack harlow one shots #jack harlow fluff

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sery-chan-13 · 22 days

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Older Now

Ch. 14 of "My Sunshine" [Treech x Reader] Warnings: Swearing and suggestive content(Spicy poetry that implies but is not explicit)

You thought it was funny, hilarious even.

When the expected "no funny business" line was delivered from his mom, his face turned so red you thought he would die.

"Ma!"

Oh yes, you had missed this.

You giggled and looked up at him.

"It's alright, come on now..." you whispered. "You promised you would show me your poetry and I still have one notebook for you."

——

I find solace in sitting in the woods. The ghosts of our youth call out. I replay the memories in my head over and over again. Some days, I feel certain I see you, but you're always just close enough to trick me, yet too far for me to reach you.

------

When my name got called, I froze, I wondered if you were watching. So for that reason, I didn't cry. I marched up there and glared at the ''peace'' keepers. If you were watching, well, I didn't want to see weak in front of you.

The handwriting was messy and quick. He had hidden it haphazardly and ran back out before the Peace Keepers could pull him out. He hugged his Ma and promised he would be back.

-----

District Seven will always be home. No matter where I am, I will always go home. Home is the creeks rushing downstream, the tall trees and the smell of pine. Home is the dirt road and hiking trails we took. The still lake, the birds chirping, the frogs croaking. That is home. The wooden walls, your arms around me, our hands interlocked, and my head on your chest. The sound of your heart beating, your sweet words filling my ears. You are home. And district seven is not home without you.

You were proud of this one. One you'd give to him as soon as he stepped out of that arena. You gently put it on top of your desk.

____

I feel like a circus performer. I get dressed up and parade around making a show of myself. Capitol people love the circus. They love entertainment. What could be more entertaining than a district girl pretending to be one of them?

——

I've always wondered how I've survived so long without you.

There were no other words he wanted to say. That was the only sentence he could think to write. There was no space within him to write long beautiful prose about how much he missed you.

____

I decided to stop writing for a bit. My mind runs through everything. One second I feel like crying, at another time I am angry. How have I survived this long without you?

The writing on the paper was short, you admitted to yourself, but after a month of not writing this was all you could get out.

____

I play pretend like we used to. I pretend you never left. I pretend I'm not alone.

____

Most nights, you invade my thoughts. Your pretty hands, your lips, and those beautiful eyes. One hand on the pen as I write, the other distracted. Soon, it's one hand over my mouth; paper and pen forgotten as my mind runs wild with thoughts of you. Ink spills over my lap and I curse myself as I pick up.

He looked at the paper in shock as if he hadn't just written that. As if it just magically appeared. He groaned, running his hands through his thick dark hair, and hitting his head on his small desk. It shook and he winced hoping no one would wake up from the noise.

____

I sit and write at my desk till late. I fill pages and envelopes... fill other things. Until my hand becomes shaky and the writing falls off of the page. I force myself to continue, to focus. To write. The shaky letters will be obvious. When I give them to you, you will notice. I can't focus on that thought for long as I knock my ink over. It spills and covers my hands.

You stared at the writing, blushing, as if those words were not your own. What are you doing (Y/N)? you thought to yourself as you hid the poem.

____

Quick breaths. It feels like waves crashing against me. I'm glad my imagination can imagine things. Redundancy at its finest. I'd put this crudely, but you've always liked pretty words. So I'll write pretty words for the pretty girl. On every other paper but this one. Here, I'll say this: I want you. Hell, I need you. I need you to touch, to feel. I want you to need me to.

———

By the end of finishing each other's writing, your faces were bright red.

"I... um..."

"Yeah..."

You then laughed and hugged him, peppering his face with kisses. He protested, saying you were getting your lipstick on his face. In reality, he didn't care.

"(N/N) st-stop it!" He laughed, finally gently cupping your face.

You smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips before grabbing his hands from your face. You intertwined your hands with his and then put your head in the crook of his neck.

He let out a content sigh as you did this, placing his head on top of yours, and hiding his face in your hair.

"I haven't been this... happy... since... well, since you were here. And I mean, there's no objections to us... Ma loves you. And I'm sure Pa will be happy too. You know he used to say that when I finally opened my eyes and really saw you, I'd realize I was in love... I used to tell him that we were just friends and he was gross," he laughed. "But... after you left... well... I guess distance makes the heart grow fonder."

You smiled at him talking. Just hearing how he didn't sound exhausted or scared made you happy. There was the thought in your head that he would snap. But right now, he was ok. And when he wasn't, you would be right there to hold him, comfort him, and make everything okay again

There was a comfortable silence between the two of you holding on to each other. There was no talking needed for the words you were both thinking. The silence said all that needed to be said.

—

It was a few hours later when his father came home. He was overjoyed at seeing his son.

You had never seen anyone cry as much as they all did. It made your eyes tear up as you stood off to the side. They were so happy, and seeing them be so overwhelmed by the joy that they were crying made you cry.

No, you weren't upset about his reunion.

You were... jealous?

Seeing his family be a family. Loving and hugging each other. You hadn't felt your family's love since the beginning of your father's relationship with the Capitol. Your mother becoming a living ghost in your house. Elusive. Your father said that affection was unnecessary and only the lowly gave any comfort to their children. That affection was how you

They talked and talked and you quietly stepped out onto the steps in front of the house.

You should be happy! You should feel ecstatic about him being with his family again! The one thing he missed the most while in the Capitol were his Ma and Pa and now... Now you were upset? No not upset... you just longed for what he had...

You felt horrible. You should be inside celebrating his return, and helping him not feel like a horrible human being...

Yet you sat outside.

It was about two hours later when the door opened behind you. The steps behind you creaked and groaned as someone stepped down and sat next to you. You gave a glance and saw Treech.

"Hi..." you whispered.

"Where did you go? I mean we just noticed but um..." he trailed off.

Don't be upset, you have no reason to be upset don't be upset.

You kept repeating that in your head.

"I've been out here for about... two hours? I uh... needed fresh air," you whispered.

"Oh? Two hours? I'm sorry I didn't notice before then (N/N)..." He mumbled, sitting on the step next to you.

His hand found yours and you sighed, leaning into him. He brought your hand to his lips and softly kissed your fingers, then your palm, and finally the back of your hand, before looking up at you.

"You doin' ok?" He whispered, noticing how sad your eyes looked.

You could not, absolutely under any circumstance, tell him that you were upset. He had way more to be upset about, and you were supposed to be happy and be there for him. How come every time he needed you, you somehow seemed to need him in the same way?

"You can be upset... It's ok..." he mumbled.

You smiled and kissed his forehead, "I promise... Now, how did they react to the news?"

His smile widened, and he stood up taking both of your hands in his.

"They're excited. Both of 'em... But, they will kill me if they find out that I haven't taken you on a proper date. So, that is our plan for tonight sunshine," he said.

You blushed at the idea of going on a 'proper' date with him. Of course, you had only imagined the moment, but now that it was finally happening, you became nervous. The prospect of going out alone for the first time as a couple with him made you squeeze his hand tightly.

_____

It was later in the night, around 8, when you said your goodbyes and headed out into the woods behind his house. He had a medium-sized bag on his shoulder, and he would not tell you what was inside.

You remembered the path, one of the hikes you two used to take up to the lake. This one led straight to the old willow tree you spent so much time at.

"Is it still...?"

"Yeah, it is still there. And it is still just our secret spot. I never brought anyone else there," he reassured, offering his arm to you.

You happily took it, hooking your arm in his as he led you through the woods, a lantern being your only form of light.

There was a warm breeze flowing through the leaves, fireflies blinking around you two.

Soon, you reached the lake and the willow. You smiled widely at seeing the spot. It looked the same. Nothing had changed about the spot. Treech put the bag down and grabbed your hands.

"Ok, well, let's go," he said, spinning you around.

You laughed at him twirling you and looked confused.

"Let's go? But we just got here," you questioned with a pout.

He laughed, taking his hat and placing it on top of the bag.

"Sorry, let me rephrase that: Let's go swimmin'," he smirked.

"But I didn't bring any swim-"

"Don't need it. I brought some towels and a blanket for later. But if you want your clothes to stay dry then..." he gestured to you and your clothes. You got the memo.

"Let me get this straight... for our first official date, you take me to our spot and are asking me to go skinny dipping with you?" You said, a smirk playing on your lips. "If you wanted to see me naked you could have just asked."

His face turned bright red at your words as he tried to defend himself, panic-stricken that you thought he would only ask you out here for that. You laughed, and went over, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Treech, darlin', I was just teasin'. Now, I bet I can beat you in," You giggle, beginning by taking off your shoes and socks, and tucking them neatly by the bag.

He scoffed and laughed, "Oh you're on (Y/N)!''

You took your time, knowing that when he got competitive, he got clumsy. You were so cocky as to neatly fold all your clothes as it came off. You laughed and ran into the water, deciding to keep your underwear on. It could dry later. Treech did the same.

He shook his head and groaned as he waded over to you.

"Can't believe I lost. God damnit,'' he jokingly groaned.

You laughed and kissed his cheek before grabbing his hand and pulling him a little deeper. You could both stand, yet were up to your chests in the water. He quickly wrapped his arms around your waist and leaned his head into the crook of your neck.

"I love you so fuckin' much (Y/N) (L/N), I can not wait to be completely and utterly yours," he mumbled into your neck.

"And I love you, Treech Mori, as much as there are stars in the sky. Hopefully, you can be as patient as them too."

#×reader #fluff #treech tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #treech x reader #coriolanus snow #hehe they’re so cute #he’s so bbg #Alexa play so american by olivia rodrigo #This is too happy rn isnt it?#Sure would be a shame if something were to... ruin their peace

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whatislifebesidesrehearsal · 6 months

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Hello, do you speak in hypotheticals by chance?

Let's say that, hypothetically, your show's lead actress quits 2 days before performance day. Let's also say that, hypothetically, you have been removed from stage management and placed onto the cast in a panicked frenzy.

In this completely hypothetical and not-real-life scenario, is there any kind of advice you would give yourself for learning an entire character in 48 hours?

(Yes everything's fine why do you ask?)

So, hypothetically, I've never had to learn a role on this tight of a time line, but here's my like. General Memorization Strategy™:

You've been part of the SM team, you've got a general idea what's going on, you're not going in completely blind, you can do this.

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. (spoiler: this is also in every other point.) Run it as much as you can.

You need a line partner. You will read the script (Several times! Out loud even!). You will go 'yeah know what the lines are.' You will not. Get someone on book while you run. It can be a cast member, it can be your friend, it can be your mom, it can be some guy you stop in a grocery store aisle, whoever, Someone needs to check you.

Adding to 3, my favorite method to have them check me, is where I start at the top and go until I mess something up at which point they correct me and I start over from the very beginning. This makes the scene take ages and gets boring fast and it is Absolutely Crucial to making sure you know the scene in context (also. free repetition).*

Do this on your feet. ** I like to run lines under my breath while I'm walking places, which can be anything from around the block, the aforementioned grocery store, or just straight up pacing. You're never just speaking on stage so try not to practice like that. Get your body involved

Don't forget the Everything Else you're doing. You know the lines but do you know where the next entrance is? Props? Costume change? Quick turnaround? Make a list***. Run the list often so you can recall things backstage

Also uh..i've never been concise but 30 Second Character Workshop:

Feet and shoulders. Bam. Like 85% of character body movement right there. How does the character hold their feet and how do they hold their shoulders. If you know that it will lead pretty naturally into the rest of the movements.

*I am absolutely guilty of bailing on my own method and only going back part way bc I have said that dialogue forty times in the last five minutes thank you very much, so this isn't like a hard rule but try to start from different places each time so that the memorization is cohesive and run it all together at the end. I also personally like my partner to make me be word perfect but that is dependent on both directorial and personal preference.

**This is more of a step 2 bc it can be a lot esp if you're trying to read at the same time, but you want to get to it as soon as possible. Also a great place to run blocking if you know it but if you only run things on your feet when you have space to do blocking you're losing out on ages of practice time. Just get your body moving.

***Given the fact you're stepping in so last minute, I'm going to hazard this list already exists in some way but make it your best friend. If you have time to rewrite it (by hand ideally) that can help cement it into your memory. My personal format is "In Scene X, I am playing X in X costume. I enter from X carrying X and exit X carrying X. After I leave, I X" but do whatever format and information makes the most sense to you, cause you're the one who's going to use it.

That's like. kinda a lot but I hope it helps! Anyone else got something they think would help (hypothetically)?

#You got this! I believe in you!#these are all my personal methods so if anyone else has something different please feel free to add!#theater #theatre #behind the scenes #theater tech #techblr #theater class #stage management #smblr #acting #not a quote #ask and ye shall receive

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wolves0nmars · 7 months

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i loved cal bowman's arc in season 4 of sex education. it was one of the first times i've ever felt seen in any trans rep on television.

SO so much trans rep is so white. and all of it is so passing. when i look at the trans people i see on screen, specifically the trans kids i see on screen, and then i look at the trans people in my life... something does not add up. one of the biggest problems the trans community is facing rn is access to medical transition between crisis in the NHS, and growingly restrictive laws in the US. and it all applies so much more heavily on trans kids. but the trans teens i see on screen are all... um. well, they're played by 24 year old models. they've been on HRT for years, and they'll typically have ffs/top surgery. which is really not the slightest bit relatable to actual trans teens.

but back to cal. because cal is a complete rebellion of all this. cal is not white, cal is not transfemme, and most of all, they are very early in their transition.

throughout season 4, they literally compare themselves to the other transmasc kid on the show. 2? in 1 show? i know right!!! roman has top surgery, and has clearly been on HRT for at least a couple months. this is the trans teen representation that we see all the time!!! something that is so out of reach from most trans kids. but cal is not like roman. cal is on a waiting list for top surgery, and can't afford it if they go private. the private HRT is already expensive enough. they are also literally just starting HRT. that is a lot more relevant to real trans kids, who are probably kind of just starting it or haven't at all. looking at roman makes cal so dysphoric and envious, because it's everything they can't have. that is the reality of a lot of trans kids. that is the precise discrepancy between trans rep and real trans people. and when cal literally runs away, not to get anywhere, not to run to the netherlands or something. but just to sit on a rock and look out at a world which they don't belong in.

i have never felt more fucking seen in my life.

and some even more stuff, 1, cal's mom. she supports cal... but she doesn't really... get it? its giving left leaning centrist. it's giving average joe or josephine. its giving... my mother!!! hahaa ha

and 2, roman. i said roman is kind of a representation of a lot of the trans rep we see but thats not actually completely true. most of the trans rep we see is white, thin, and minimalist. and also transfemme but thats a conversation for another time! what i mean when i say minimalist is that the androgyny and gender noncomformity of it is very... nothing. i guess it's the difference between being enby as in neither gender, and being enby as in both genders. the androgyny we see all the time is very masculine, with short hair, short nails, no boobs, no bulge, no color, no nothing. i think this post describes that pretty well. i would definitely recommend reading it.

but roman on the other hand, is not white, has long hair, and long nails. he isn't performing that kind of masculinity that's... expendable?blends into the background. he's performing a kind of femininity which is loud, which is something to be looked at, something to be admired. and thats the kind of androgyny we need to see more often.

overall, i really really enjoyed the trans storylines in this season, and i would definitely recommend watching it. just skip over all the otis parts cause hes a annoying little bitch

#sex education #sex education season 4 #sex education s4 #cal bowman #trans #transgender #trans kids #trans representation

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danceofthephilos · 10 months

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Langa Hasegawa Character Intro & Chiaki Kobayashi Interview (spoon.2Di vol.71)

"Right now... I'm having fun!"

Langa Hasegawa

"S" Name: SNOW Birthday: February 8th A returnee* transfer student from Canada, and a high school second year who's always spacing out. He sometimes shows a stubborn side.

(*note that "returnee" here refers to a child with Japanese nationality through their parent(s) who's come to Japan after living elsewhere, but includes children who were born overseas - this doesn't imply anything one way or another about if Langa was born in Canada or Okinawa.)

Chiaki Kobayashi Interview

—When you were playing Langa, what sort of direction did you receive from the staff? What did you consider important to your portrayal?

My own impression of Langa is that he looks cool at a glance, but is an unexpectedly expressive and aggressive boy. So when we were recording the first episode, I played him really lively, like he could keep up with Reki. And then in direction I was told "we want him to be more spaced out and out of touch", "he should go at his own pace without discussing things with Reki." Moreover, that as the story progressed from here, he'd gradually show more expressions. I think it was exactly because I received that direction that Langa began to come to life as a character to me.

—In episode 5, Langa has his first BEEF with ADAM. Could you give us your impressions from when you were performing, and tell us how you perceive what ADAM is to Langa?

I think, to Langa, ADAM is someone who can show him sights he's never seen before, and can teach him a kind of excitement he's still never experienced first-hand. So, when I was recording episode 5, he pursued him without any negative feelings like fear or worry he could lose. But because I got direction that I was coming on too strong and it felt like Langa would win from the beginning of the race, I had to be conscious of the balance between being overwhelmed when he was supposed to be overwhelmed, but still chomping at the bit. I was really overjoyed to be able to talk everything until now out with a great veteran on the front lines like Koyasu-san. (laughter)

—Episode 6 turned out to be a really fun episode. What were your impressions and memories from recording?

We, the cast, will enjoy ourselves! After this, we're over the hill! That's how we got through it. (laughter) The episodes right before and after this were particularly hard, so this was a pretty extreme difference in intensity. But thanks to this episode, we were able to deepen the camaraderie between the characters, and dig into each character in more depth, so I think it was a really important episode.

—Are there any other scenes in the story so far that have made a lasting impression on you, or episodes you remember recording the most strongly?

Episode 2 made a lingering impression on me. Episode 2 was an important episode that really condensed Reki and Langa's deepening relationship and the joy of skating. Episode 1 was still the episode where they first met, so Reki and Langa weren't really opening their hearts up to one another yet. But in episode 2, they're dealing with the same things, they're sharing their "fun" with one another, and gradually start to get along. It was an episode without a race in it, but I think it's this episode that really solidified Reki and Langa's friendship. On top of that, because the episode's crammed full of things that beginner skaters go through, people who've never skated before can have the sense that they're growing alongside Langa, while experienced skaters can have a taste of nostalgia and think "I used to do that!", so I thought the composition of the episode was amazing.

—Is there anything coming up in the story that you thing we should pay close attention to?

I think you should look out for the outcome of the tournament, that everyone will be staking their hopes on when they compete, and what will happen to Reki and Langa. Of course the main draw of a tournament is who's going to battle who, and which pair is going to end up competing in the finals, but underneath that, there's an intricate web of human relationships depicted from all sorts of angles that you can't tear your eyes away from. I think you'll enjoy it, even when it's heart-wrenching. (laughter)

—Finally, please send a message to all our readers.

Will Langa go down the same path as ADAM? What will happen to Reki and Langa's relationship? There are a lot of things to be anxious about, but please keep watching over those two! The staff and cast are working together as one to do our best to show you those things, so please keep waiting with infinite anticipation! I think there will be more and more developments unfolding that you won't expect. Thank you, and enjoy!

(from spoon.2Di, volume 71 - February 2021)

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #langa hasegawa #chiaki kobayashi #translation #spoon.2Di

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brighter-by-the-daly · 1 year

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Rachel Daly x Reader

Part Seven - You Forgot Something

Posted: 18/03/23 Edited: 10/08/23

In the pub with your friends after work you were a little tipsy on cocktails; about an hour ago you posted a picture on your story of you and your friends. Rachel had spotted it and asked where you were, replying with ‘this little gay bar in town called The Queer Lion’ a play on The Black/Red Lion pubs you see up and down the country. Then sent her a short video of the drag queen that was performing that night. You didn’t think anything of it until about 90 minutes later when you were all on the dance floor, you saw your girl moving through the crowd towards you like something out of a rom-com. She was wearing a baseball cap that covered her face so nobody would recognise and swamp her. “What the hell are you doing here?!” you asked unable to hide your excitement as she wrapped her arms around your waist to dance with you. “You forgot something!” she shouted over the music, you raised an eyebrow as if to ask what? “Me!” her face lit up with her cheeky smile “no it’s in my car I’ll give it to you later” but you felt inquisitive “shouldn’t you be at practice?” you asked as you danced together. “Sarina let us go early so I thought I’d come meet your friends…. and kiss your beautiful face” smiling as you obliged to her request. Your friends who were off dancing with randomers finally realised what was going on and immediately dragged you both back to the table, Rachel’s arm was around your shoulders while your hand rested on her thigh under the table. They wanted every single detail but from Rachel’s mouth this time, you tried to tell them that they already know everything but they insisted in hearing Rachel’s side. They squealed in excitement at the details of asking you to be her girlfriend and meeting her family and with the meet and greet out the way, it was soon time to head home. “Can you stay tonight or do you need to get back?” you proposed hopefully. “I can stay, I don’t need to be there until 5pm” - the girls suggested staying at theirs as your mum probably wouldn’t appreciate waking up to her daughter’s new girlfriend first thing in the morning, she’d want to clean the house top to bottom first. Rach saved you a taxi fare by driving you all back to the flat. You all went straight to bed as it’s going to be a long day tomorrow, the girls shared one bed while you and Rach shared the other - under strict instructions ‘no hanky panky’! With your legs draped over each other you made out for what felt like forever, hands feeling each other’s body but nothing more as you respected your friend’s boundaries.

In the morning you’d gathered in the kitchen, Katie had bought McDonald’s for everyone but didn’t realise that Rachel wasn’t allowed to eat it so you raffled hers off with each of you getting an extra item. “Do you have any fruit?” Rachel asked naively “hunny, we’re three women in our 30s, the only fruit we have is in a bottle of wine” Georgia laughed. You said you’ll stop off at a shop on the way to mum’s, you told the girls you’ll pick them up later for the game and left to head to your home to introduce your girl to the family; grabbing Rach some breakfast on the way, she also picked up some flowers for your mum which you thought was extra adorable.

Your mum had kept the secret, her and your dad aren’t together anymore but he’d come over as you said it was urgent. You introduced Rachel to everyone and they said how excited they were for both of you and couldn’t wait for the game later, they thanked her for getting them tickets. They all seemed to get on so well, mum was a bit sceptical that you were moving so fast but Rachel insisted that she cares about you so much and promised she wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. You showed Rachel your bedroom but you spend most of your time at the girl’s place, you didn’t have the heart to move out and leave mum by herself while your sister’s at uni, which Rachel respected and understood. “This is cute” she said pointing to a poster of the Lionesses on your wall, you cringed a little “I really should have done a sweep before bringing you up here” you squirmed “I like it” a big smile spread across her face as she pulled you in to her and kissed your forehead. You packed a bag with some clothes to take to Rachel’s, seeing as you’ve been spending so much time there you really needed some of your own items. Rachel remembered she had something for you and went to get it out of the car, it was another shirt with her name and number. “Will you wear this tonight please?” she asked politely and adorably a little shy. “You’re quite possessive aren’t you babe” you laughed, “there’s just something about having my girl in the stands with my name on her back that makes me feel empowered. I’ve never had a girlfriend in the family stand before and I want everyone to know I have the most beautiful girl there” she pined. “You can be a right cringey little git yknow” you laughed at her “of course I’ll wear it, I want everyone to know that’s my girl on the pitch playing for our country at Wembley Stadium!” Her face lit up as she squeezed you tightly and kissed your forehead. She said she should probably get going and gave you the tickets for everyone then walked her out to her car. Sexily leaning up against it as she wrapped her arms around the bottom of your back, you rested yours on her shoulders, linking your fingers together behind her neck and sharing a kiss. As she said goodbye she winked making you let out a small grunt and shake your head as it filled you with fanny flutters. “Don’t do that when you’re leaving me!” you pushed her away gently, “why not?” she smirked knowing what she was doing. “Because that was fucking hot and now I want you” you poured “you’ll have to wait” she smiled and winked again before driving away, biting your bottom lip as you watched her disappear in front of you.

On the drive home Rachel was singing to her favourite songs thinking to herself that the only other time she’s ever been this happy is when they won the Euros. She called Millie on the way to ask if she wanted a lift to the stadium, Levi wasn’t coming tonight as he had his own boxing game. Rachel pulled up outside her best friend’s house and bibbed her horn to get her to come outside. They picked up coffee on the way and spoke about meeting your family. “You’ve already fallen for her haven’t you Rach, I can tell on your face, you’re so happy all of the time, you need to wife this girl up!” Rachel told Millie it was way too soon for that but she is fighting with herself not to say the L word just yet. “It keeps going to slip off my tongue and I have to stop it, honestly I think this was love at first sight!” she gushed. “Wow, who is this where is my best friend cause this ain’t her!” Millie laughed.

Part Eight - Fantasies 🔞

#rachel daly #rachel daly x reader #woso masterlist #woso x reader #millie bright #lionesses

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be-netz · 1 month

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a quick recap of the previous episode opens up this week’s show, reminding the audience of the twenty-odd idol hopefuls who have joined this year’s competition. it’s certainly a colorful bunch this time around with a few familiar faces peppered in among the crowd; do better plays in the background as the screen focuses on STEVEN and the winners of last season, now coaches for the new contestants, before bursting into the title screen and logo.

the scene shifts abruptly to the three judges, ceos YOON JIHUN and SEO RAN of studio delta and sr media respectively and YUNA, the face of lime entertainment. the trio sit at a shared table draped in a thick black cloth, elevated just slightly to give them a good view of a stage specially set up for this week’s evaluation, decorated in purple, teal, and pink like the show’s logo.

“who are you most looking forward to seeing?” yuna asks her fellow evaluators, hands clasped as she leans forward to glance over at both ran and jihun.

“personally, i can’t wait to see more of HANGYEOL,” ran admits. a short clip of the contestant’s audition from last week and his subsequent first-place rank at the end of the episode plays across the screen. “he’s a talented young man and i have a feeling he’ll do well with this challenge.”

“actually, i think i’m looking forward to STEVEN,” jihun considers his words for a moment before continuing, “he’s already familiar with this type of mission, even though it’s a different song and dance from last year. i’m hopeful that he’ll show us a new side of himself this season.”

“since i asked, i should answer as well,” yuna smiles, “while i agree with both of you, i’m personally looking forward to seeing AHYOUNG’s performance. she has a strong personality and a lot of energy, so it’ll be interesting to see how that fits into the group.”

it’s no wonder that the judges are looking forward to the top three from last episode. they chatter for a few moments more before the talented emcee RHEE JIAN takes her position in center stage, ready to announce the first contestant.

ASAKURA TOUMA is the first contestant up, taking the stage shortly after a brief introduction from jian. the camera focuses in on his silhouette, silent except for the exaggerated sound of his breathing, as he waits for the music to start. just as it looks like the performance is about to begin, the scene abruptly changes to the very same contestant in the practice rooms provided for the NEXT GEN participants.

it seems that touma is quite the practice-bug, staying late hours in the practice rooms with KAITO and separately with HYUNKI, and stretching with JIHYUN. “i understand that i was doing more than i can chew, back then.” touma’s voice plays across a scene of him helping jihyun lean further into his stretch. “i’d like to think that i was able to balance things a bit more clean this time, focus on what i can do first.”

the scene fades back to the judges, their sharp eyes digging into the contestant even as the song has yet to start. “this will be… interesting,” jihun remarks. the two women remain quiet.

do better starts playing and the very first performance begins. touma is clearly enjoying the stage and while he starts strong with the rapping and his dancing isn’t bad, it’s singing where his performance begins to fall apart. the edit seems to highlight this, featuring every shaky note or slightly missed beat and making the boy’s performance out to be much worse than it may have been without the repeated cuts, replays of imperfect moments, or quick zooms into the slightest shake or wobble.

even touma admits that he struggled; “it’s different from training,” he tells the camera, the scene suddenly cutting to the young man seated in a simple room. “i had to keep in mind the pitch and everything. i had to keep it stable while dancing too, somehow it’s easier with rapping.”

the performance comes to a close with an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air as the judges seem to collect their thoughts.

“i suppose i’ll start,” ran picks up her microphone and begins to address the contestant directly. “touma, i can tell that you took our advice to heart from last episode. we appreciate a trainee who’s coachable and applies feedback to their efforts, however…”

while ran seems at a loss for words, perhaps looking for a softer way to say what’s on her mind, jihun has no such delicacy. he takes over immediately: “just because we thought you were doing too much last time doesn’t mean you should have neglected your vocal training now.” he sighs, perhaps regretting that they were not more clear with their expectations, or that the contestants understood the assignment so poorly.

“it’s a good thing that you can rap and dance,” yuna takes a more balanced approach to her critique, the carrot and stick method in a sense. “but for your sake, you should focus on learning to sing better. no matter how good of a dancer or rapper you are, the public will always perceive you as untalented if you can’t sing.” she speaks from a place of experience, her advice genuine.

there’s one last scene of touma in the interview room. “i’m happy i did it. i’m confident that i did my best, and i’m sure all my hard work will shine through somehow.” his optimism despite the rough critique is admirable. perhaps he’ll become a contestant to watch closely as the competition goes on.

“ah, well,” jihun sighs, “hopefully the next will be better.”

perhaps disappointed that the first performance was not a show-stopper, the judges moods brighten anyway as jian announces that CHOI HANGYEOL will be the next contestant on stage.

“mr. first-place,” yuna smiles warmly as the young man takes his place on stage. he bows politely and greets each of the judges.

“i’m sorry,” hangyeol announces, “i’m a little starstruck at the moment. thank you for this opportunity, and for your kind words of support from before. i’ll do my best to make sure you won’t regret them.”

“he speaks well,” jihun remarks, low enough that the contestant on stage can’t hear her just yet.

“he was working with my NAYOUNG this week,” ran informs the other judges, the scene shifting for a moment to show hangyeol and the trainee-coach in a practice room.

“how does it feel to have them say they want to sign you on day one? i'm pretty sure they didn't say that about anyone last season," nayoung asks her question of her student for the day, her competitive spirit obviously not at all dampened since her last appearance on television.

humble as always, hangyeol’s response is as perfect as if written in a storybook: “it’s an honor, but one that i still feel like i need to earn.”

the scene shifts again, this time to just backstage as the young man stretches in preparation for his performance for the judges. a paper armband displaying his number one position wraps snugly around his upper arm, lest anyone forgets who wears the crown this week. suddenly, his arm flops down. “tsk…it’s heavy isn’t it? nobody tells you that part.” his tone is light, as if joking, but the viewer can read into the meaning behind it. first place is a heavy burden for a contestant to bear. will he live up to last week’s performance that earned him the title?

hangyeol once again seems to be a professional on stage. his mistakes are overlooked by the camera and the editors, zooming into his flawless expressions and sharp-yet-fluid movements which suit the heavy beat of the song well. it’s like it’s his personal music show… the captions praise him, the cuts suddenly looking very reminiscent of an idol performance as it cuts between different angles of the same performance. he’s stable, if a bit imperfect, but it’s clear that the powers that be behind the scenes are much more forgiving of their first number-one than they had been of the previous contestant.

all three judges clap their approval in a tiny applause as hangyeol finishes his performance.

“i’ll be honest,” jihun doesn’t smile, but he doesn’t look displeased either, “i didn’t expect you to be able to sing. you were surprisingly stable for someone who hasn’t done this before… have you?” he suddenly questions; it’s not out of the question that there may be small idols that disbanded or retired without the general public’s notice.

“there were mistakes, but you never let them slow you down,” yuna nods her appreciation of the performance. “that’s hard to do, even for seasoned performers. it’s easy to get caught up on a mistake and make more because of it. your resilience makes you a stronger performer.”

“if i had one bit of advice to give, it would be to practice your enunciation more,” ran suggests, not unkindly. “your details with dancing are top notch, so i’d love to see the same attention given to your voice, whether you decide to pursue rapping or singing going forward.”

“good job, hangyeol,” yuna congratulates him, smiling warmly.

“if i can get yoon jihun himself to smile, i’ll consider it an accomplishment,” hangyeol’s voice is heard momentarily as he leaves the stage. for a moment, it seems as if his mission has failed. but after he’s gone, the tiniest upward curve is revealed on jihun’s lips.

“this is the part where i have to give you some not-so-good news,” jian announces to the judges, who frown as they listen to the emcee. “HAN YURA and MOON SOOYOUNG have both withdrawn from the competition for personal reasons. we wish the both of them the best of luck in their future endeavors and hope to see them on stage again soon.”

while the expressions of the judges don’t brighten they do give the two withdrawn contestants a round of applause to send them off of the show.

“with that, we’ll move on to our next contestant,” jian announces, “please welcome HAN JUEUN to the stage!”

the young woman walks out with a confidence rather uncommon among the contestants, which the judges pick up on immediately.

“she hardly looks nervous at all,” ran remarks.

“she doesn’t look nervous at all,” jihun corrects his fellow judge as all three stare down at the girl on stage.

“i’m pretty confident,” jueun herself confirms her aptitude for the stage, smiling at the cameras as she sits in the interview room. “with how hard i’ve been working, i don’t think i’m going to slip tremendously with this next ranking, at least.”

and she has been working hard; the scene cuts to the practice rooms, a montage of her sessions with various fellow contestants displayed. in each clip, she’s seen practicing a different skill, seeking advice from more experienced participants, and even giving advice of her own.

the scene settles on a moment shared between jueun and JIAYI, the two women talking together during a short break. “this whole thing is being televised,” jiayi reminds the other, followed by a confession, “i'm worried about that too, but i try to ignore all the cameras.”

“they’re kind of hard to ignore though, aren’t they? i mean, they are literally everywhere,” jueun laughs, perhaps betraying the slightest sense of nervousness with the sound. “but i’m trying my best as well.”

back to the present, to the woman standing confidently before the judges, and the music begins playing yet again.

jihun notices something, though.

“she’s staring at me a lot, isn’t she?” he remarks. the women to his left and right have to stifle their laughter.

the performance wraps up and yuna is the first to speak this time. “you’re comfortable on stage, aren’t you? your expressions are good, and you didn’t look even a little bit nervous. do you have any acting experience?” she questions appreciatively, curious more than anything.

“like yuna said, it’s clear that you have experience on stage. i just can’t help but wonder why you seemed to only perform for ceo yoon?” ran’s tone is light enough, though her words more biting than typical of the soft spoken ceo. perhaps this is a sensitive spot for her. “yuna and i are also here, and also judges. picking one place to look is good for ballerinas who need to keep their balance while spinning, but performing to one person alone in the audience can make the rest feel a bit uncomfortable.”

“it’s clear that you practiced hard and put a lot of effort into this performance,” jihun shuffles the papers in front of him as he speaks. “your expressions are good and make for an engaging performance, but your skills could use a little more work. keep practicing, you’re doing well.” small words are a large compliment from the pickiest judge.

jueun is seen in the interview room one last time as her portion comes to an end. “i would love to see how much i grow skill-wise. i came onto this show like a blank canvas, and it’d be nice to see how colorful i become at the end!”

“HAN YUWOL,” jihun realizes who the next contestant is, echoing jian as she announces the next name. “he’s one of the odd ones, isn’t he?”

“this should be interesting,” ran agrees, though she appears to be more looking forward to this than jihun is.

the scene cuts abruptly to yuwol in the practice room, coach SEOJUN talking him through his session and addressing the contestant’s weaknesses as he approaches this challenge.

“i’ve never actually done any dancing before, much less performing dance,” yuwol admits. no dancing at all? certainly he has a daunting task ahead of him.

“i can help with that,” seojun assures his student, “i’ll do my best to having you knowing the whole routine in no time.”

the scene changes in such a way that it’s hard to notice that it’s a different time, a different person in yuwol’s company. it’s AHYOUNG now, abruptly pausing the music during their dance practice session. “enough!” ahyoung shouts, seemingly frustrated with the lack of progress either from herself or her companion. “i’m putting a random song on and dancing to that,” she proclaims. the camera focuses on yuwol’s face, taking in his reaction.

“like we’re supposed to… freestyle it?” yuwol asks, as if it’s an entirely foreign concept to him. and, based on his discussion with seojun, maybe it really is.

how is he going to pull himself together for the judges? the captions drag out the tension, setting the contestant up for a disappointing performance if some miracle isn’t pulled off. the scene shows a few more seconds of awkward, stiff dance movements before fading to black. yuwol reappears on stage in front of the judges not a moment later. the young man takes a deep breath– is he also afraid of the results of his practice?

the poor thing. the cameras pan to the judges’ pained expressions as yuwol opens with an awkward rap, only made better by how the dance is somehow even worse. if ran and yuna try to mask their expressions, or at least soften them slightly, jihun does nothing of the sort. he frowns openly, disappointed with the performance before them.

an uncomfortable silence hangs in the air as the music concludes, the judges seemingly at a loss for words for a moment.

“yuwol,” jihun finally breaks the silence, “i think you know what we’re going to say. that just… wasn’t good. we thought you were a good singer in your audition, but we didn’t see any of that talent tonight. frankly, you have a lot of work to put in if you’re going to make it in this competition.”

“learning to dance is hard,” yuna tries to smooth over the harsh words of her fellow judge, giving the poor young man the benefit of the doubt. “it’s not something that can be done in a few days. i think you did your best to learn as much as you can in a short time. i can congratulate you on that.” somehow, even as she tries to find something nice to say, it falls flat.

“there’s nowhere to go but up from here, yuwol,” ran smiles, the kindest of the three despite the pity in her eyes.

the interview room makes another appearance, yuwol now seated in the center of it. “i looked… rather stiff, i’d be the first to admit that,” he confesses to the camera, “i’m new to all this, though that’s not an excuse… of course, it’s far from a perfect performance… there’s a lot to learn from it.”

“next,” jian’s lovely, smiling face takes over the screen after a brief pause in the wake of yuwol’s poor performance, “we’d like to welcome HWANG JINGREN to the stage!”

there’s not much preamble to jingren’s entrance to the stage. there’s only a short clip of him in the practice room, chatting with JAEYOUNG. “i don’t know if i’m any good. especially, considering how i ranked near the bottom,” jingren confesses, “i don’t have the natural beat at all.”

“everyone loves an underdog story,” jaeyoung offers encouragingly, “someone rising from the very bottom to the top. you have a whole arc ahead of you.”

will jingren rise or fall?

as the music starts and the young contestant begins his solo performance, smiles are seen across the judges’ faces. the audio finally kicks in so the audience can hear what the judges do; a surprisingly stable voice, despite shakiness during the rap and imperfections in his dancing abilities. it’s not a winning performance, but it’s solid.

the judges applaud him regardless when he’s finished.

“to be honest, i wasn’t sure how this would go,” jihun confesses. “i was ready for another trainwreck on stage. you pleasantly surprised us, thank you for that. it wasn’t a perfect performance, but we can see your improvement already.”

“like jihun said, it wasn’t perfect. but we don’t expect perfection at this point. you’re all looking to become trainees, not to debut tomorrow. so i wouldn’t worry too much about being the best right now and just focus on continuing to improve your skills. you’re doing well, jingren,” yuna smiles through her feedback, encouraging the young hopeful before her.

ran is the last judge to speak, a little slow as she tries to find something to say that hasn’t already been shared by her peers. “it might be nice to see you enjoy the stage a little more,” she comments, “you looked a bit scared up there. i know this is all new and nerve-wracking but i’d love to see what you’re capable of if you can become a little more comfortable.”

“thank you, jingren,” jian congratulates the man on his performance as he’s ushered off the stage. “next, we’re excited to welcome HWANG YEJUN!”

“i like the way you dance,” it’s actually INHO’s voice that’s heard, the scene cutting to a practice room where the two young men rehearse together. yejun, the one on the receiving end of the compliment, looks flabbergasted more than anything.

“thank you,” he sputters out.

the editors do him small favors to be a little more interesting, peppering the scene with rosy pink hearts and painting a picture of a practice room crush, at least on one another’s skills if not literally in a romantic sense. clips of yejun in practice, both in the main group classes, alone, and with inho and other contestants play in a short montage. and then, a clip of his singing voice, without dancing. he has skill, to be sure. will he be able to show it to the judges?

the camera catches his deep breath, the tremble of his hands as he stands before the judges.

“are you nervous, yejun?” ran smiles into her microphone. “it’s alright, we just want to see what you’ve learned.”

kind words can only do so much for the poor man’s nerves. but like it or not, the music begins regardless.

his nerves don’t completely disappear even as his performance starts, a shake in his voice and a wobble in his step even as he does his best to project confidence during his song and dance. that voice that was heard in the practice rooms lacks some of its power now, yejun’s energy split between singing and dancing. had inho been right to compliment the other contestant? yejun’s not terrible, but he may be his own worst enemy.

at least he hits the final note and pose, ending the song on a high.

the judges applaud for a moment before yuna is the first to pick up her microphone. “yejun, do you have stage fright?” she asks suddenly, “we could all tell you lacked confidence in this performance. you shouldn’t, you sing well and your dancing isn’t bad either. but when you make yourself seem so small, how are we supposed to react?”

“my trainees like you,” jihun adds.

his commentary is interrupted by a clip of RENYI and DOHYUN discussing the contestants they’re supposed to be coaching. the camera shows yejun’s profile photo in renyi’s hand. “i think he’d be really good at a company that encourages his creativity, and we already know we get along well with him,” the trainee reveals the friendship he’s already fostered with yejun, though it’s yet to be caught on camera.

“i agree,” is all that’s heard from dohyun, though the cut is awkward as if he had more to say.

the scene returns to jihun, who has more to say: “but i don’t see why just yet. keep practicing and show us a better version of yourself next time. whatever it is your friends see in you, i’d like to see that too.”

“you’re here because we saw star potential in your audition, yejun,” ran cleans up the conversation kindly, unwilling to beat down a nervous contestant more than he’s already been beaten by himself. “i hope you’re able to show us that side again.”

yejun bows, utters his thanks, and leaves the stage. a gloomy atmosphere seems to hang in the air.

“well then,” jihun claps his hands together and leans back in his seat. “what do we have next?”

ITO SEIRA is the next contestant to showcase her skills, but before showing her on stage the screen cuts to the girl working in the practice room with HYUNKI. and then the screen splits to show her with JAEYOUNG. it splits again, now in quarters, to reveal her practice sessions with JIAYI and EUNWOL, and then into eight pieces with TOUMA, INHO, JIHYUN, and YUWOL, with the coaches CHAERIN, NAYOUNG, and SEOJUN, with JUEUN, STEVEN, and JORDAN.

the audio is filled with each time seira introduced herself to her fellow contestants, the voices multiplying clip over clip until it’s a whole chorus of introductions.

is there anyone who seira isn’t friends with? the captions suddenly question. it’s clear that the girl is quite the social butterfly, already befriending most of the contestants and half of the judges in the first week of practice alone.

“almost everyone was willing to help me,” seira appears in the interview room in the next shot, telling her story with a fond smile. “i was so surprised, nobody turned me away when i asked for help… we’re all in this together, we help each other. i don’t think there’s a single person i’m thankful for, i’m thankful for everyone, i hope people keep being willing to help, after all, this is a competition”.

and then, finally, seira appears on stage. the camera captures her bright personality, making it easy for the viewer to understand just how she was able to befriend the majority of the competition so quickly. “hello i am ito seira, my korean name is sunah, i am twenty-one years old, i’m thankful you’re willing to watch my performance, i hope you enjoy it!” the girl introduces herself, seemingly without so much as stopping for a breath.

“she must be a rapper,” the cameras catch jihun making the remark quietly to his fellow judges, who smile and suppress their giggles at the man’s rare attempt at humor.

the music plays again and very little is shown of seira’s performance, perhaps neither so good nor so bad that the editors felt the need to draw any special attention to any point of it. they are sure to capture the ending though, zooming in on the woman’s face as if an ending fairy in a music show. the camera catches the way she breathes heavily, despite trying to hide it.

“you’re a hard worker, aren’t you, seira?” yuna is the first to address the girl on stage, a fond smile on her lips. “we have staff report to us on your activities throughout practice as well watching your final performances, to see if you’ll be a good fit in any of our companies. i have to commend you for your collaborative efforts, even on a solo evaluation like this. it’s easy to get caught up in the competition but it seems that you have a knack for bringing people together.”

“you have some skill,” the ever-unimpressed jihun rubs his chin as he considers seira’s performance, seemingly undecided about his feelings on the matter. “you’re not perfect, obviously. you’re not debuting tomorrow. but there’s promise. and, as yuna so aptly put it, you have other talents that are just as important to have in an idol group. i think we’ll have to watch you more closely.”

“i heard you had a fall in practice, are you alright?” ran is the first to show concern for the contestant.

the scene suddenly cuts back to the practice room and seira’s practice session with JAEYOUNG. as they begin the dance, the girl somehow loses her balance and ends up flat on her back in the middle of practice.

silence fills the room for a moment, uncomfortable as if about to welcome in bad news to the wannabes working so hard.

jaeyoung breaks that heavy quiet; he laughs aloud. “how did you get on the floor like that?”

it turns out seira isn’t hurt, she’s smiling in return. “who knows? maybe i was adding breakdance into the dance.”

the screen returns to the evaluation stage and ran smiling warmly at the young woman before her. “i’m glad to hear you’re alright. please be careful when you practice, we’d hate to have to send you home due to any injuries. i’m excited to see what you’ll be able to show us next time.”

with those kind words, seira is dismissed from the stage.

"it wasn't exactly pleasant to see my name so close to the bottom," the scene fades into the next contestant, JANG HYUNKI, sitting in the interview room. clips from the previous episode play, the judges’ harsh words echoing over a clip of hyunki sitting quietly, as if haunting him like menacing ghosts. “it did make me want to work ten times harder to show everyone here and at home that i'm much more than what i showed in the audition."

will hyunki be able to show a better side of himself this time?

the scene cuts to the practice room, of hyunki and JUEUN standing in front of the mirror. "look,” jueun instructs him, “everybody knows you're a skilled dancer, but you've got to convince people that you're really feeling the music, and that involves using your face!"

hyunki, responding to her advice, straightens his posture and adjusts his face. “believable?” he asks.

“it looks like a customer service smile, if you know what i mean. your eyes are pretty much empty." jueun is honest with him, even if it’s not the results he probably wants to hear.

as the pair continues to rehearse, hyunki’s voice is heard over the scene: "i worked exceptionally hard, and felt more confident this time around. i had the critiques to work off of and those all gave me a good starting point."

the scene changes again, this time to just backstage. SARANG is seeing the contestant off, playfully slapping his backside as hyunki steps up to take his turn on stage. "go kill it! one slip up isn't gonna kill you. you're gonna dominate this whole thing!" the trainee assures his student.

"all the coaches were super helpful," hyunki is shown in the interview room once more before his performance begins. "if i had to pick one, sarang's advice was probably most helpful for me this time around."

clips of sarang’s time on last season flash across the screen in a quick montage. if anyone could teach hyunki to be more expressive on stage, it would be mr. charisma sarang himself.

the camera pauses on hyunki as he stands on stage, building tension in the silence as he waits for the music to start. when do better finally starts playing, the young man begins moving, rapping, singing. it’s immediately clear that he took the criticism to heart; this performance blows his audition away entirely.

the song comes to a close and the young man bows, awaiting the judges’ response. all three are smiling, a much better sign than the last time they evaluated this contestant.

“well, hyunki, i feel like we owe you an apology,” ran begins, her smile wider than all the rest. “what you were able to accomplish in such a short time is a testament to your skill. we recognized your good foundation, but your ability to apply critique is unmatched so far. you worked closely with sarang? that was a good choice. he won last season for his charisma and stage presence, which was exactly what you lacked in your audition. excellent job.”

“i never regret my words,” jihun leans back in his seat, showing he’s impressed in his subtle mannerisms. “but you did make me eat them this time. you overdanced a little to the point your vocals suffered, but i can’t say you weren’t engaging to watch this time. good job.” rare praise from the strictest judge.

yuna pauses, smiling at hyunki before she speaks. “well done,” she congratulates him. “the audition was a bad time to have an off-day. i’m so glad to see we were right to bring you on the show, and that one off-day is not indicative of your abilities. i’m excited to see if you can continue to improve at this rate throughout the show.”

“great job, hyunki,” ran praises the young man again as jian gestures him off stage.

“he really did a one-eighty,” jihun murmurs aloud.

“did he actually impress you?” ran teases.

jihun shrugs. “maybe. maybe not.”

“i feel for whoever has to follow up that performance,” yuna remarks.

the lucky contestant is KIM ARA. a short clip of the girl stretching with KAITO in the practice rooms floods the screen. “next time, i’m going to bring my foam roller here too,” she announces, seemingly dissatisfied with the quality of her stretch without it. still, she bends in half easily, still having the breath and strength to chat with the other contestant even as she stretches. it’s clear that she’s flexible and a skilled dancer.

“i won’t be defeated by my placing,” ara tells the cameras in the interview room, suddenly reminding her that she’s fourteenth, rather low in the ranks. “but i will use it as fuel to further my ambition. there is room for me to improve and hopefully rise up.”

the girl is seen climbing up the stairs to the stage next, ready to show the judges what she’s prepared.

the music starts and her flexibility in the practice room pays off as she reaches out to each movement in its fullest completion, never skimping or leaving a step incomplete even if the choreography is easy.

“i really did try my best to give a balanced performance and work on my singing,” ara’s voice is heard over the music just before the singing portion starts. and in the next moment, it’s her singing voice that’s heard through the speakers, surprisingly stable despite the dancing. her performance passes by quickly, the camera continuing to highlight the best parts of her dance ability, until the final pose is struck and she’s being greeted by the judges.

“ara, you did well,” yuna praises her immediately. “i wasn’t sure if you were going to sing well or not, but you even did well with rapping. i don’t think any of us expected that from you, so i want to congratulate you if you learned that well in such a short time or apologize if we overlooked your skill during your audition.”

“i do wish we saw a little more of your personality come through,” ran adds to yuna’s thoughts, “but honestly, it’s such a minor critique in the grand scheme of things. this was a solo performance but it felt like you were holding back a bit. it’s alright to be a little greedy in this stage. this is a competition, after all.”

jihun is quiet for a moment, collecting his thoughts. finally, he picks up his microphone. “i don’t think i have anything more to add,” he admits. “ran and yuna have more or less said it all. you’re very talented and we’d like to see what you’re able to do with this talent going forward. thank you.”

“we’re excited to welcome the next contestant to the stage, MOON JORDAN,” jian announces as the camera shows a brief clip of the contestant climbing up to the stage to take his position in the center.

the scene cuts to jordan in the practice rooms, rehearsing choreography that’s distinctly unfamiliar. what is he doing? the captions question as the young man runs through movements that the other contestants certainly had not been doing. was he given a different assignment than the rest?

“i attempt to turn things into my own to make it fun and enjoyable for those watching me,” jordan tells the camera in the interview room, a sort of confidence in his demeanor even as he’s sitting there. some might find it attractive; others might find it cocky.

back to the present—or at least back to the stage and the performance in front of the judges. jordan’s performance begins the same as every other contestant, dancing, rapping and singing do better in front of the three people who will decide his fate in this competition. but, as he nears the end, something is different. it appears that jordan has added his own dance break, something that no one else has dared to do before. it’s a risky move; just how will the judges respond?

silence falls on the room as the performance comes to a close. the cameras pan across the judges who scribble notes down on the papers in front of them before they give their verdict to the young man before them.

it’s yuna who speaks up first.

“moon jordan,” she reads his full name off the paper in front of her. “do you have a problem with following directions?”

a hush falls over the room again. yuna has been kind, if a bit strict with the other contestants so far. her voice nearly shakes, as if she’s holding in her anger for the sake of all the people watching her through the camera right now. a veteran idol knows how to take care of her image, after all.

“this was a test of your performance skills so we could better evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. this was not a test of your creativity or an invitation to modify the song given to you. this song may not have been performed by anyone else before this group of contestants, but that doesn’t give you the right to change it on a whim.” she sighs, trying to relieve some tension. “you know you’re all expected to perform this together on mcountdown later this week, right? how do you expect to do that when you’re incapable of following simple directions?”

even ran looks rather displeased, though she lets yuna do the bulk of the scolding. this was a mission right up lime entertainment’s alley anyway.

“you should keep in mind that we’re looking to sign trainees from this competition,” ran’s words are phrased more as suggestions for improvement than yuna’s had been. “your performance skills are important of course, but we’ll also be teaching you to improve your natural talents throughout this competition and if you’re signed to one of our companies. your intangible skills are just as important to us. that includes things like teamwork and listening skills and your ability to take critique and direction.”

jihun, the scariest of the judges, is the last to speak. he’s silent for a moment, scowling at the young man in front of them. “i can’t say anything,” he finally raises his microphone to his lips. “you did not complete the mission assigned to you, you just made up your own. i can’t critique a performance that doesn’t even remotely fit the rubric that was given to you.”

perhaps the lack of comment is the greatest insult of all.

jordan is dismissed from the stage. the scene changes to a staff member approaching the contestant backstage, pulling him aside from the other contestants as they deliver a message from the judges.

“i’m sorry, but it’s been decided that you will not be performing with the rest of the next gen contestants on mcountdown this week. the judges’ decision is final on this.”

a camera hangs onto jordan’s face for a moment longer, displaying his reaction for the world to see.

a moment later the scene shifts to PARK AHYOUNG backstage, chatting with various contestants as she awaits her turn. a staff member taps her on the shoulder and lets her know that it’s her turn on stage. jian’s voice can be heard announcing the girl to the stage, but just after the camera watches ahyoung hurry off to her position it shifts to her in the interview room, speaking her mind.

"i guess i've never really danced before outside of like, the club,” the young woman shares, her words met with an uncomfortable silence after she speaks them. “i'm a great dancer in the club, don't get me wrong, but it's not really the same thing.”

the scene cuts to her practice session with YUWOL, the same that had been shown earlier in the episode. now, however, the camera focuses on ahyoung’s dance moves as the pair shake off their nerves with random dancing. how did you learn these moves…? the captions question, though no outright accusations are made.

finally, the camera cuts to ahyoung on stage before the judges. as the music begins, so does her performance, and the judges’ sharp eyes watch her every movement, their ears listening to every word, as they assess her performance.

she starts strong, as many of the contestants do, but as do better goes on, she seems to be losing steam. her voice becomes more strained and breathless, her dance lacks some of the energy it had in the beginning. the camera flashes to jihun for a moment, his stern glance as ahyoung’s heavy breathing is exaggerated on the audio.

as the song wraps up, the judges scribble down some final notes on the papers in front of them.

it’s jihun to speak first this time. “i think we may have rated you too highly based on your audition,” he admits a mistake, though only to point out the failures of the contestant in front of him. “let’s just say what you and i both already know; you lack endurance. if you smoke, quit now. work on cardio at the gym. you won’t survive this competition with your current condition. i’m saying this for your health.” he seems to attempt to extend some kindness, even if it’s still tough love.

“i’m more concerned with your work ethic, to be honest,” yuna frowns at the wannabe before her. “plenty of your competitors came in with little experience in dancing. they’ve improved their endurance a lot in the short time they’ve been with us. i think you’re taking practice too lightly. do you want to be here? or would you rather be at the club?” yuna becomes vaguely accusatory, perhaps a bit sensitive as an idol herself who has heard all of these criticisms before. maybe it’s better for ahyoung to hear them now from someone who genuinely wants to see her improvement instead of blasted a thousand times at her online by anonymous netizens who have nothing better to do but complain.

“you’re a naturally gifted performer,” ran starts with compliments, perhaps trying to soften the blow of her fellow judges before her. “you definitely shine and capture attention easily on stage. but that’s not enough past this point. please continue to improve your skills, you’re here because we saw your potential and we want to see how great you can become. thank you, ahyoung.”

the contestant is dismissed from the stage.

"i'm not gonna pretend i'm an expert, but i had fun.” ahyoung tells the camera in the interview room. it almost seems like she didn’t take the judges’ criticism to heart at all…

“up next, we’ll be watching the performance of RYEO JIHYUN!” as jian announces the next contestant up to the stage, the camera cuts to jihyun climbing the steps and waving to the judges with a smile, a confidence in his movements even as he approaches what’s likely the most nerve-wracking part of this competition so far.

“why are you even here?" the scene cuts suddenly, TOUMA and jihyun in a practice room stretching together as they prepare to run through the dance again. the camera seems particularly interested in touma’s question, however. it seems a bit inflammatory, bordering on accusatory. is this a rivalry budding already? touma sighs. "is this a side gig to you? are you here to feel something again?" neither is a very charitable interpretation of jihyun’s participation in the show.

“can you guess which is right then?” jihyun retorts, seemingly not giving an answer to the other contestant. at least he can handle himself well without starting a true altercation, verbal or otherwise.

“there was some fear and guilt that was lingering at the back of my head.” the scene cuts to jihyun in the interview room quickly. is touma bullying other contestants? the accusation is never verbalized or written anywhere on screen, but the viewer may start to get a sense of the story that’s being told here.

regardless of backstage practice drama, jihyun takes the stage anyway. his performance begins and jihyun seems to capture the spirit of the song well; tough, fighting for glory and recognition, and unafraid of anyone in the room, yet still having fun with every step. maybe his supposed spat with touma had helped him find his attitude for the performance. he’s captivating on stage regardless, almost sensual in the way he moves.

but the illusion of the competitor is shattered at the very end when jihyun sends a heart to the camera instead of maintaining the same persona he had for the entire duration of do better.

a laugh bubbles up from the judges without their permission, both jihun and ran having to cover their mouths to try to stifle the giggles. yuna just smiles, though it’s obvious she’s also amused.

“what happened at the end?” jihun questions immediately, too amused to think about anything else. “you spent the last three minutes convincing us that you were really here to ‘do better’ than all the rest of the contestants… and then ending with aegyo?” it appears that jihyun has not yet earned his way out of the ‘strange crowd’ among the contestants. “i’ll be honest with you, it ruined the performance. it doesn’t matter how well you sang and danced, all i’ll remember is feeling like you played a joke on us at the end. staying strong and following the mood for the entire song can make a performance. in this case, it broke.”

“aside from the heart,” yuna picks up her microphone next, “your rap skills are… well, they’re lacking. while not every idol needs to be an all-rounder, it is important to have some foundations in all skills. if you debut as a soloist, it allows you to release a more diverse portfolio of music. in a group, it allows you to fill in for a member if a situation should occur that demands it. you may not enjoy it, but i still recommend developing your basics better in the future.”

ran smiles warmly at the contestant before speaking. “first, i’d like to apologize for laughing. that was unprofessional of us, but you did take us by surprise. i didn’t think i could still be surprised like that,” she admits. “you’re already showing signs of improvement, but i think we would have liked to see a bit more from you this week. i don’t think we saw anything surprising, like your skills didn’t improve so much from the last time we saw your perform that there’s much to talk about. please continue to practice and improve. you’re here because we want to see everything that you’re capable of.”

“thank you, jihyun,” jian announces his departure from the stage.

“it was something relatively new to me,” jihyun admits to the interview camera, “i think i did quite well for my first time, and i’m satisfied with it. but of course, i’m not stopping at just being satisfied. i’m going to be even better the next time and come back with an improved version of myself.”

the camera flashes to touma’s face for a moment once more, gauging his reaction to his supposed rival’s critique and response.

“RYU INHO?” the scene cuts to the next contestant quickly, CHAERIN calling out a contestant’s name from a clipboard in front of her as she meets some of the participants she’s in charge of. "is this your first time singing and dancing at the same time?"

"ya, noona, so formal," inho starts joking with her immediately, obviously comfortable with the coach far more quickly than his fellow participants had been. is his familiarity disrespect to the young woman in charge of helping him grow?

he does admit it, though: "i'm not much of a dancer at all, let alone singing and dancing at the same time."

cutting to the interview room, inho addresses the camera. "i wasn't expecting such a high ranking," he admits, but then after a short cut to remind the viewer of inho’s fourth-place ranking, he issues a promising statement: "i plan on continuing to do what got me there in the first place. that is giving everything i do my absolute best effort, and then some. alongside ensuring i use my resources, such as the coaches.”

oh, so is the young man trying to schmooze with the coaches? the editing certainly seems to imply such.

chaerin, seemingly only slightly ruffled by his overfamiliar greeting, clears her throat and looks down at her clipboard again. "have you memorized the choreography, at least?" she steps toward inho, not backing down in the slightest, her brow knit together in concern. chaerin, at least, is all business.

the scene cuts to a different time and place, now with inho and SEOJUN. again, inho greets the coach with unprecedented familiarity: "didn't expect to see you here. how have you been? it's been a while."

seojun makes no attempt to hide the friendly relationship he apparently has with inho. "didn't expect to see you here either," he responds amicably, “i've been good. busy since i've been training a lot. glad i get to see you again."

the scene cuts abruptly again to seojun in the interview room this time. “would it be biased if i mentioned inho?” he asks.

yes, it most certainly would be.

at least the cameras don’t do anything further to damage inho’s reputation on the show, cutting away again to the young man taking the stage in front of the judges. his smile is confident, cocky, as if already in character for the performance he’s about to give.

the music starts; inho dances, raps, and sings. there’s moments when the camera catches that confident smirk fading from his face, unable to remember to hold it throughout the performance. it catches the moments where he pauses and catches his breath; while it’s in the choreography, the heaviness of his breathing almost becomes distracting. his voice stays stable for the most part, and the raps are decent from a contestant who doesn’t have a ton of experience in this area.

inho is gasping for breath as he holds the final pose. the judges furiously scribble notes down in front of them, capturing their last thoughts for when they have to rank all of the contestants later.

“inho, i think you also need to work on your cardio,” yuna half-teases the contestant with a smile on her lips. “i was disappointed in your performance not because of your skills, but because i felt that your breathing distracted me from your abilities. ‘ah, if only he had the strength…’ that sort of feeling.”

“you sing well and your rap and dance wasn’t bad,” ran compliments the contestant, “especially for your first time attempting these things. but you’ll have to work harder to maintain your position in this competition. there are so many talented participants this season… it’s not enough to only be a good singer anymore. i hope you can improve quickly.”

jihun is the last to leave his remarks: “taking advantage of the resources offered to you is good. however, i’d be more careful to watch your image,” he advises on the content the coaches have seen of the practice sessions rather than the performance in front of him, which the other judges had already covered well. “please be sure to mind your manners with our trainee coaches. even if you’re friends outside of work, it’s important to give them the proper respect in our buildings and in front of your fellow contestants. they’re trying to help all of you improve, so they need to be taken seriously.”

“otherwise, your performance was mediocre. i expected better.” jihun shrugs.

inho is dismissed from the stage just after, the cameras following him to capture the initial reaction on his face to the judges’ critiques.

“RYU SIWOO is next,” ran reads from a cue card in front of her. “wasn’t he the one with all of the luxury brand clothes?”

the camera cuts to siwoo in the practice room, somehow still wearing luxury clothing items as the camera identifies the sweat-soaked t-shirt he’s wearing as ralph lauren.

a disembodied staff member’s voice is heard behind the camera in the interview room, the cut trained on siwoo and his reactions as they ask the question: “you were introduced as someone who comes from money and luxury brands. how do you feel about that?”

siwoo pauses uncomfortably, seemingly put on the spot. “i’m…thankful for the interest,” he words his response carefully, “i’m really interested in fashion and i like to dress up a little. so i guess they aren’t completely wrong.”

he seems to address the camera a little more directly in his next statement: “i’m a lot more than just that though. i hope it shines through on the show.”

and just what does he show? the scene cuts to he and NAYOUNG in a practice room, the trainee coach trying to help him learn do better and perfect his performance.

“fix your posture,” nayoung barks orders like a drill sergeant. “stand up straight and keep your head straight as you sing. it'll support your diaphragm and make this easier." she seemingly has an endless tirade of critique for his performance. the editors animate a hammer dropping on siwoo’s head. this is almost as tough as the military… the captions read.

but nayoung wouldn’t say such things unless the critique was warranted. the next several seconds play several of siwoo’s failures and shortcomings and nayoung’s quick corrections, her words as sharp as a whip as they lash out at every little mistake that her student makes. is siwoo really more than the money and luxury he comes from? at least he seems to take the critique well.

the scene cuts to the stage, siwoo already introduced by jian and ready to begin his performance. while he may seem a bit nervous in the beginning, he’s smiling by the end. there’s mistakes in his performance and he’s breathing heavily like many of the previous contestants; maybe nayoung wasn’t harsh enough on him.

“siwoo, do you think you can get by on looks alone?” jihun rips into the contestant early, not pausing for more than a moment before tearing into his performance. “i heard that you worked closely with the coaches, but i doubt that any of them would have let you come on stage with a performance like this. please take advice from the song next time; do better.”

“ah,” ran seems a bit taken aback by jihun’s harsh words. he’s not incorrect though. “this is still a bit unfamiliar, isn’t it?” she tries to sympathize, “you don’t look like you’re enjoying being on stage. when you smile, it looks like it’s just something you think should be done rather than something you’re actually feeling. even if you don’t like the song, you should be trying to make your audience fall in love with it. convince us that it’s the best thing ever, even if you secretly don’t agree. it’ll make you a better performer.”

yuna frowns into her microphone. “this choreography was rather simple, but you still struggled to execute it. i understand we’re trying to move quickly through this competition, but please do not neglect your basics. strong fundamentals will help you move farther down this competition than quickly learning one dance and forgetting about it immediately afterwards. this goes for your singing too.”

just as it seems that the judges are about to dismiss siwoo, jihun suddenly adds one more complaint: “also, what’s wrong with the name NEXT GEN?” he accuses the contestant.

the scene changes, giving context to jihun’s words, as it brings up a practice room with JAEYOUNG. “i was just thinking about the name next gen,” siwoo complains, “an idol survival show called next gen. who comes up with these names?”

the cameras cut back to siwoo before the judges, jihun’s arms folded crossly in front of his chest. “i thought we made it clear that we’re looking for the talent to lead the next generation of kpop. you might want to decide if you really want to be a part of that.” there’s a subtle threat to jihun’s words; disrespect the judges and face the consequences.

siwoo is finally allowed to exit the stage.

the scene cuts to the next contestant and, coincidentally, the very same as the young man siwoo had been complaining about the name of the show to: SONG JAEYOUNG. jaeyoung starts in the interview room, a disembodied voice questioning him from behind the camera. “you didn’t seem very happy with your current placement,” a soft feminine voice remarks.

“yeah, i’m not,” jaeyoung scoffs, “but that’s not surprising, is it? it’s not a very good ranking, all things considered.”

a quick reminder that jaeyoung placed sixteenth out of twenty-one total contestants last week plays across the screen.

“what did you find challenging during training?” the same voice asks him.

jaeyoung’s answer is unhelpful. “a bunch of things,” is all he says.

to try to shed some light on his practice experience, the camera cuts to jaeyoung and JUEUN practicing together. during a quiet moment, jueun strikes up conversation.

“i heard you’re good at spinning things,” jueun asks, “can you spin this?” she hands him a water bottle.

“i swear, people will only remember me for that now,” jaeyoung appears in the interview room once again, clearly annoyed with the question his fellow contestant had asked him.

"it's funny that that's what's making rounds and not the performance itself,” he responds just as wryly in person as well, though he ultimately takes the bottle to demonstrate his unique ability. “jueun. this is for you…” he somehow still sounds sarcastic.

and, frankly, the cameras focus more on jueun’s reaction than they do on jaeyoung.

little else is shown of his practice sessions before jian is announcing jaeyoung’s name on stage, inviting the competitor to begin his performance for the judges. his introduction is short, though maybe that’s for the best considering how hostile all of his moments in the interview room have been thus so far. instead, he wastes no time showing his performance.

jaeyoung is a little different from the other contestants. while there’s others also proficient in rap, he spits the words out with a particular kind of venom. the words seem like a challenge, like an attack on anyone who dares to critique him.

the performance is cut midway to the interview room again. “do you think you did better with this performance?” the same disembodied voice asks.

“i put my all into it, that’s what i can say,” jaeyoung responds, “i danced, i sang, i rapped. it’s not easy, anyone here can tell you. but i wanted to make sure people hear; that i’m not just yelling.”

it cuts back to his performance, where it does very much seem like he’s yelling as he sings and dances, his perceived anger boiling over in the face of the judges. jaeyoung bows at the end of his performance, punctuating it with a polite gesture at least.

“you certainly have spirit,” ran decides to speak first, cutting off jihun who was reaching for his microphone first. “and passion is so necessary in this industry, it’s good to see. i do think your performance was a little… intense for this song. we want you to do better like the song says, but it shouldn’t sound like you’re declaring war either. if you could work on your balance in your performance the same way you’re able to balance things on your fingers to spin them, you’ll be able to really shine in front of us.” ran, as always, advises kindly.

jihun is never nearly as kind. he’s ready to jump in and say his piece before yuna can also stop him. “you need an attitude check,” he condemns the contestant in front of the panel immediately. “you’re not the best contestant here. you’re just not. so instead of complaining about your rank, do something about it. being angry at us and our staff will not change your performance. if anything, it’ll make your life harder here. i’ll tell you the same thing i tell dissatisfied trainees: you can get with the program or get out.”

an uncomfortable pause falls over the room as yuna attempts to pick up her microphone and say her own advice and critique. that is, assuming jaeyoung and his supposed hot temper will still listen to anything after being scolded by jihun.

“one of the most important traits a trainee can have is their ability to accept critique,” yuna tries to explain. “it feels like you lack that ability right now. until you’re able to hear us with an open mind, there’s nothing we can do to help you improve.” she keeps her feedback short, turning her mic off and placing it on the desk in front of her as soon as she’s done.

jaeyoung marches off stage as soon as he’s dismissed. the judges don’t look worried about whether they’ve offended him or not, though the atmosphere still seems tense even in his wake.

“i don’t know about you, but i could use a break,” ran suggests to her fellow judges.

jihun shakes his head. “we’re almost done here. let’s just hope our next performer is a breath of fresh air.”

they watch as jian introduces SONG JIAYI and welcomes the young lady to the stage. jiayi smiles brightly to the judges as she takes her spot on stage. but the performances never start so quickly. instead, the viewer is taken back to jiayi’s time in the practice room, working with JINGREN. the pair are talking in a different language, mandarin based on the chinese flags that suddenly appear on screen around them. are they keeping secrets? are they gossipping about their fellow contestants?

after a few comments back and forth, the broadcast finally replays them with subtitles in korean.

“you seem to be a natural at catching on to the choreography compared to me,” jingren compliments the woman.

“i’ve always been a dancer,” jiayi explains with a rather vain flip of her hair. “i’m confident i’d do it perfectly.”

the cameras show jiayi in the interview room, now speaking korean with the staff asking questions from behind the cameras. “i have to rank myself number one until proven otherwise,” she tells the staff confidently.

she seems to have a bit of an ego… the captions spare no moment to criticize the woman’s confidence. however, it’s only empty boasting if she’s unable to back it up with her actual abilities. the scene shifts back to the stage in front of the judges and jiayi’s confident smile. "i practiced long and hard to show the judges something i'm proud of.” her voice echoes over the image of her meeting the judges’ eyes.

the music begins and it’s clear immediately that jiayi’s confidence in her dancing is not completely unfounded. she’s sharp, precise, and fluid when the movements call for it. where it begins to lack refinement is in her voice. yuna had called her voice weak in the previous episode, and it seems that that critique comes back to haunt jiayi even now.

at least her breath control is decent. by the time she’s wrapping up the song, she’s not half as gassed as some of the previous contestants had been.

the cameras cut to the judges, who don’t look nearly as frustrated or upset as they had been when giving feedback to the previous contestant. jihun may not be smiling and ran may smile even when she’s upset, but the smile on yuna’s lips tells the viewers all they need to know about the atmosphere at the judges’ table.

“jiayi, you’re right to be confident in your dancing,” yuna begins, addressing the girl rather frankly. “you clearly have a strong foundation there and there’s not much for me to say. but your voice is still lacking. work closely with your vocal instructor for the next challenge. just like your body, your voice is a muscle that needs to be trained and exercised. since you haven’t done that much before, it’s not going to develop overnight. but keep working at it diligently to improve.”

“just because you’re a good dancer doesn’t mean you’ll make a good trainee or idol,” jihun gives his critique much more harshly, as per usual. “do you want to be a backup dancer or an idol? listen to yuna and follow her advice, or else your future will be at the back of the stage supporting the main show.”

“be nice,” ran chides jihun gently, seeming to think he crossed a line with his latest criticism. “jiayi, you’re a beautiful girl and an excellent dancer. as yuna and jihun have said, that’s only half of what you need to be an idol. the good news is that there’s still time to work on the other half. we enjoyed your performance and i can’t wait to see you continue to grow.”

ran leads all three judges in a round of applause as they release the girl from the stage.

“up next we’d like to welcome back a familiar face,” jian announces from her spot in the center of the stage. “back again to chase down his dreams of being an idol, please welcome STEVEN PARK!”

a shaky smile from the young man floods the screen before fading away to a short recap from last season’s appearances. steven had been a little… unrefined at that point, to put it lightly. he joked around in practice, he never took anything too seriously. ultimately, it had been his downfall and the reason he was removed from the show before the finale. and despite the humiliation, the harsh words from the judges, and not even making it to the end let alone earning a chance at a contract, he’s back. not only is he back, but he took third place in the last episode. has steven park turned over a new leaf after all?

“i kinda missed the grind,” steven’s voice is heard as clips of him practicing with the new group of contestants flicker across the screen.

a voice is heard from behind the camera as steven sits in the interview room. “compared to last season, do you think you’ve improved enough?”

“i’d like to say that i have,” steven smiles.

the scene cuts to the judges briefly as they wait for the young man’s performance. they had already mentioned looking forward to him once; will he surprise them? or will it be the same old steven park who they had to eliminate last year?

“ah, finally,” yuna smiles as she watches steven take the stage. “he looks a bit nervous… good.” one might think that she wants to terrify the young wannabes if they didn’t know better.

“be on your best behavior in front of the cameras,” another flashback to the practice rooms shows steven with JUEUN, the latter receiving advice from the more experienced contestant on this show. he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “i’m not sure how great of tips i can give you… i didn’t last a long time here.”

steven’s performance finally is set to begin. the camera focuses in on him, capturing the slightest twitches in his expression that betray his anxiety. he’s taking this more seriously than he had last season, that’s immediately apparent. the music starts, and steven begins.

“he dances well,” ran murmurs to her fellow judges midway through the performance, the cameras suddenly picking up on her instead of focused on steven. “but he’s not making eye contact with any of us, is he?”

the other two judges shake their heads to confirm ran’s assumption.

steven is a talented dancer, that’s for certain. he controls his movements well, leaving himself with enough energy to breathe (and therefore sing and rap). “i think i could have probably worked a little more on the vocals,” his voice is heard over the dimmed sounds of his do better performance for a moment, before the original audio turns up again and the shakes and instability in steven’s voice can be heard more clearly by the audience now that they’ve been pointed out. he succeeds in finishing the performance though, and the judges remain quiet as they wait to dole out judgement.

“steven,” jihun begins, the slightest smile tugging at his lips, “are you afraid of us?”

a chorus of giggles goes up from the judges. of course steven is nervous around them, who wouldn’t be? perhaps steven doubly so after his previous experiences.

“you should know that we’re only hard on your when we think you’re not living up to your abilities or when you need a little tough love to reach your potential. there’s nothing for us to scold you about right now.” the man smiles a little more openly, suddenly softened in front of this contestant. “in fact, you did really well. it would have been nice if your voice had improved more since last season, but we can work with that.”

“congratulations on getting a compliment out of jihun!” ran exclaims, acknowledging that this is a major accomplishment for the man on stage. “those were probably the best words we could have told you, weren’t they? it’s true, we can tell already that you’ve matured a lot since we last saw you. however… i wish you weren’t so afraid of us.”

a short clip replays of every time steven had looked toward the judges but never quite at them, always above, below, or to the side of where they were actually sitting. the avoidance seems painfully obvious in the compilation.

“remember that until we invite others to sit in, we are your audience. you’re performing for us, so you should try to connect with us or… at least have the confidence to look at us. you’re a good performers when you’re focused, steven. i’d like to see you shine.” ran smiles warmly, hoping her advice is taken to heart.

yuna is the third and final judge to speak. “as a final word of advice, i’d try to keep in mind that you are the single most experienced contestant on this season. the others may start looking to you for leadership and guidance. try not to shy away from this opportunity; you’ll have more chances to shine by helping the people around you grow quickly as well. and it’s good to see you again, steven,” yuna smiles herself.

it seems the judges have laid aside their past perceptions of steven and are looking forward to what he can show on this season. the three whisper and nod approvingly among themselves as they prepare for the next contestant.

“up next is YAMAMOTO KAITO,” jian announces, but rather than show the contestant on stage the scene shifts instead to kaito in the interview room.

"what was the greatest challenge during this mission?" a voice from behind the camera asks him.

"i think that the greatest challenge was probably pushing myself too hard,” it may sound like a humble brag from kaito, but clips of him practicing until the wee hours in the morning, only to return nearly at the crack of dawn the next day fade into the screen, still overlaid with his own voice. he’s seen at different times with TOUMA, INHO, and ARA. “i tend to overwork myself when it comes to various things, in this case practicing and not being completely satisfied with my personal results."

the scene is overtaken by a particular practice session with TOUMA. it’s late, based on the quick cut to the clock on the wall, but things seem to running well as the two young men run through their rehearsal of do better again. it all comes to a halt as kaito makes a mistake, cutting himself off with a loud groan and kicking the air in frustration. “seriously!” he shouts out his frustration before turning to touma apologetically. “one more time…. just…. one more…”

kaito’s exhaustion is clear. from the way his shirt is soaked with his own sweat to the dark circles under his eyes, it’s hard to miss. touma picks up on it too, if the short temper tantrum hadn’t been enough to signal something was wrong.

“this is a pretty good place to stop, i think,” touma suggests, laying a hand on kaito’s shoulder gently, “you did a lot already, you can pick it back up another day?”

“touma actually I've known for a while now.” the scene cuts back to kaito’s interview. “he's one that really helped when i was pushing myself too hard, again, and helped me realize that i needed a break before i ended up probably passing out, or worse."

back in the practice room, kaito has to acknowledge touma’s suggestion. “maybe you’re right…” he admits.

“you’re already doing great. you’re getting fluid!” touma encourages his friend. “take a deep breath.”

you’re already doing great, kaito! even the captions cheer him on with soft sound effects, trying to ease the young man’s pressure on himself.

“i just feel like i could be better. you know?” kaito confesses aloud and surely the other contestants can relate. so many of them must feel the pressure as the competition is kicking off with such a difficult challenge, and the looming threat of a live performance.

"i'm actually really confident,” kaito tells the camera once more, “with the amount of practice that [i] put in i'd like to say that i did the very best that i could.”

the scene cuts to kaito standing on stage before the judges. the camera catches his deep breath, perhaps the only thing betraying his nerves, as he waits for the music to start. and kaito’s practice does pay off; he dances well, though his singing and rapping struggles some with the sheer amount of effort he puts into his movements. he’s breathing heavily by the end of the performance, not unexpectedly, and the judges give him a short round of applause as he’s finally able to relax and prepare himself for their feedback.

“you’re really fun to watch perform, kaito,” ran begins with a smile. “you look like you’re genuinely enjoying every minute on stage and that’s always a pleasure for the audience to watch you do what you love. i do think your singing needs some attention. we can tell you worked hard, but i’d like to see you improve further moving forward.”

“we heard that you’re quite the practice bug,” yuna takes over next, “and it’s great to hear that you’re taking this competition seriously. it’s what we want to see from our contestants. but we don’t want to see you get hurt. things will only get more challenging from this point onward so please be sure to keep yourself healthy even as you’re rehearsing. we would hate for you to have to exit the show early due to injury or illness.” the judges seem genuinely concerned for the participants’ health.

jihun is the final judge to speak, his words never overly kind or as soft as those that came before him. “ran saying you need to work on your singing was an understatement,” he’s as harsh as always. “even rappers need to be able to understand how to carry a tune. while the future will allow you to play to your strengths more, please do not disregard practicing your vocal fundamentals. they’ll only help you as a rapper as well.”

“great job, kaito,” ran congratulates him once more before he’s dismissed from the stage. “i like him,” she tells her fellow judges once he’s out of sight. yuna smiles her approval, though jihun only frowns.

“our final contestant performing today is YOON EUNWOL,” jian announces from the stage, drawing the judges’ attention back to the next contestant up.

the scene shifts to a practice room, eunwol sitting by himself as other contestants practice nearby. is he hurt? he seems to be fine, physically. but a rather forlorn expression on his face seems to betray that there’s more going on in his head that meets the eye.

“my greatest challenge?” eunwol is seen in the interview room. “working with others, acquaintances and strangers. well not strangers, fellow contestants, challengers. i’m not sure what we are called.”

is it awkwardness that keeps him from interacting with others? thankfully, there’s a social butterfly ready to help everyone out at next gen. SEIRA approaches eunwol with a smile. “wanna go over the moves with me? i keep forgetting them,” she offers.

"are you sure you want my help? i didn't place high and blanked," eunwol’s self-deprecation doesn’t cease even in the face of next gen’s friendliest participant. “i am currently debating with myself about walking out that door. i don't belong here."

the editors leave an awkward pause between eunwol’s confession, before seira has a chance to respond. she’s determined not to be rejected, though. “last year’s season, the person who originally placed last made it all the way to the final,” she smiles warmly again, “who says you don’t belong here? do you know how many people auditioned for the show, and only twenty-one made it, you passed the auditions, you deserve to be here”.

it seems to convince eunwol enough and the two begin to work together, seira helping him to feel more comfortable in this competition through being the one to ask him for help.

eunwol survives, despite the hardships, and finds himself standing in front of the judges for his performance. the three wait patiently for the music to begin again; they may very well be sick of hearing do better after about twenty times today.

the music begins, and it’s clear very quickly that eunwol has taken a different approach than many of the others. a cut back to the interview room, and the young man explains himself: “well i’m not sure if it will work, but i did try and be cute,” he tells the cameras. the scene cuts back to his performance and the movements he modified to fit his vibe better. the performance plays in its entirety uninterrupted, not once betraying the judges’ reactions to the rather bold choice until it comes to a close, eunwol smiling brightly as he holds the final pose.

a pause takes over the room as the judges frown into their notes.

“eunwol, what about do better made you think that it was a cute song?” jihun wastes no time with his criticism. “this is a solo performance, but keep in mind that you’ll be performing this with a group very soon. we’re here to evaluate your performance skills but you covered them up with your cutesy act, so i’m forced to believe that you’re actually quite lacking. is that the message you meant to send us?”

jihun doesn’t stop laying into the contestant with his harsh words. “if you don’t want to be here, you’re welcome to leave. there’s thousands of children and young adults around the world who want to be exactly in the spot you’re in right now. if you’re not grateful for this opportunity, you may as well do them a favor and drop out now.”

quiet uneasiness lingers in the few seconds after jihun finishes his tirade. it’s ran who’s bold enough to break the silence. “eunwol, even if you don’t trust yourself, you need to trust us as professionals who have been discovering and refining talent for years now. if we didn’t want to see more from you, you would not be here right now. i hope to see better effort from you in the next challenge, but i do hope to see you still with us for that.”

yuna sighs, the tension in the room still hanging vaguely in the air around them. she’s not so much of a fan of when jihun gets heated. “you’ll need to re-learn do better to do it properly for the mcountdown performance with the other contestants. in a team, you can’t just do your own thing. that’s going to be more important going forward, so please try to make an effort to be more of a team player. working with others is how you’ll succeed.”

eunwol all but sprints off the stage as soon as he’s dismissed. he’s looking a bit green, so the judges make no further comment.

with all performances complete, it’s time to gather the contestants to the stage as one big group. jian smiles at them as they take their places, the judges’ deliberation finishing up in the background behind them.

“contestants, you’ve been re-ranked based on your performances today. we’ll be revealing your positions from last place to first.”

one by one, the numbers are revealed. it shouldn’t be a surprise that moon jordan takes last place, his punishment for going rogue still weighing heavily on his shoulders. things start to get exciting with the top five, however. stevie, hangyeol, hyunki, and ara all have a shot at being the centers of their respective genders.

“in fifth place is… one of the girls,” jian announces. “so we’ll know who our female center is once this rank is announced. who do you think it will be?” she asks a few of the contestants, most declining to give an answer. jueun and ara’s faces are watched closely by the cameras.

“our fifth place contestant for episode two is… han jueun,” jian finally announces. the participants congratulate ara and applaud jueun, now that the battle has been decided. stevie, hangyeol, and hyunki are all still in the running.

it’s revealed, however, that stevie took fourth place for this particular episode. it’s still a great rank, but it brings hyunki and hangyeol, rivals set up by the judges since the first episode, into the final competition.

“in third place…” jian draws out the tension, the camera zooming in on each potential center’s face as they try to guess whose name will be on her lips in mere seconds. “please congratulate… choi hangyeol!” the top three ranks are revealed at once, hangyeol in third, just below ara, and hyunki taking first place for episode two. “congratulations hyunki, ara, you’ll be our male and female center for your performance of do better on mcountdown next week. everyone, please give yourselves a round of applause!”

a roar from the contestants goes up, though some may be lamenting their ranks.

“i have good news for all of you; there will be no eliminations this episode. however, next episode they will begin. those of you in lower ranks should do everything you can to rise quickly. those in higher ranks, don’t get too comfortable! you’ve seen how high hyunki jumped up, the same thing could happen in the wrong direction to any of you,” she warns the idol wannabes carefully, hoping they know how serious the next challenge will be.

“your next mission is the PERFORMANCE EVALUATION,” she announces. “this will be a head-to-head teamwork mission lead by our trainee coaches,” the camera pans to SARANG, RENYI, SEOJUN, NAYOUNG, DOHYUN, and CHAERIN briefly. “each of our trainees will be overseeing their own team. coaches, your responsibility is to be a guide and resource for your team, but not a leader. the contestants are being challenged to come up with their own unique performance of a senior’s song from each company.”

“this is your chance to show your creativity and how you can transform an existing song to be your own,” jian instructs the contestants. “but here’s the twist: two teams will have the same song. you’ll be battling head to head for who was able to create the better performance. the winning team will be entirely safe from eliminations. the losing team… not so much.” a hush falls over the crowd as the stakes are finally revealed.

“take a look at your team assignments,” she gestures up at the massive screen, which already shows six teams, their assigned coaches, and what song they’re tasked with making their own. “we can’t wait to see what you’ll show us next week.”

do better plays one more time as the title card takes over the screen, episode two finally complete.

#be:ngs2p2 #be:ngs2

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