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userchappell · 2 years

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so take your time while you're mine and smoke slow

steve harrington x reader (no specific gender use of pronouns), and platonic!eddie munson x reader

requested: nope, not at all

warnings: spoilers for stranger things 4 (both volumes), smoking (does it even need a warning, smoke is literally in the goddamn title), st*ncy (it deserves its own warning), also if you can't tell already, I am apart of the nancy protection squad and i will defend her in anyway possible so if you hate her: please leave, a helluva lot of mutual pining that's confused for unrequited love, eddie playing matchmaker, a huge bowl of angst with an eventual and fluffy happy ending

a/n: after reading like a bajillion fics of steve, I wanted to make one for myself out of boredom, and I tend to make people cry. and in honor of joshua bassett's new song, "smoke slow" that's officially out, I decided to do a fic of said song because the snippet that has been out since may has been stuck in my head on a loop so I wanted to do something with it. but go check out the song please, I am begging you. it is so good. also, the pronouns in the original song are gonna be switched in the story, but the original lyrics are there. so in the story it's from she to he (he as in steve) and he to she (she as in nancy) as the fic goes on so you'll understand. I don't think I need to explain myself further anyways so...

*not my gif btw*

she asks for a light

as our secrets spill on the window sill

we're buyin' more time

while we kill ourselves as we both inhale

you didn't exactly hate steve harrington, you could tolerate him to a certain extent. the boy wasn't entirely unbearable and was sometimes entertainment at points. you were dragged into the whole upside down stuff since 1983. and you weren't usually around steve very often when the world goes to shit to care about him.

the only time you formed some type of connection with him was at tina's halloween party you saw him while walking home, sulking on the sidewalk. and as someone who wasn't entirely heartless, especially after seeing the look in his eye that just made him look like he's on the verge of sobbing. you didn't need that tonight, cause you just wanted to have fun and act normal for once. sitting down beside him as the two of you talked it out, about how nancy wheeler called him bullshit and that their entire relationship is bullshit and then he just left.

"so you just left her at the party... drunk?" you looked shocked, still trying to process it, "dude, what she said wasn't cool but come on!"

he didn't say anything else on the matter, just wanted to forget everything, "do you have a light?" you nodded and went into your pocket, bringing out cigarettes and a lighter. the two of you just sat there, getting high off your asses and watch as the night went on. both of you had opened up about your own personal lives and finding some kind of understanding.

after that, it was now four in the morning and you took him home. after what had happened at the party, he needed to rest before being hit in the face with reality before school. then heading home and heading to bed yourself, then just wondering maybe there is a good side to steve harrington that you just haven't seen yet, and even some part of you wished to see more of a vulnerable side to steve.

makin' believe there's a future

is it naive to think we could work?

the night el had closed the gate back in eighty four, you and steve didn't talk at all after that just between the both of you, after that for at least a year. the only somewhat time you saw one another was at the snowball when he dropped of dustin. he saw you, who was currently chaperoning the dance with nancy and jonathan, but you were currently smoking a cigarette. you had noticed him staring at you and all you did was wave before he drove off.

during the summer, you didn't exactly had a proper conversation with him. he was with robin, dustin and erica at the mall where there was a secret russian base underneath. meanwhile, you were with mike, el, will, max, lucas, jonathan and nancy, trying to find out how to stop billy and the mind flayer.

he hadn't noticed the tiny little glances you gave him once you saw him again. you honestly had no idea why you couldn't stop staring at him, there was just something that just made you infatuated that you were not self aware of your current actions. even in jonathan's car as he drove you, steve, robin, nancy, will and lucas away from the mind flayer and as they all had overheard dustin and his girlfriend, suzie singing "neverending story" over the walkie talkie, your eyes were on him, at least 90% of the time. there were times that you couldn't while the rest of you were in peril that very same night.

then after the events of starcourt, you were imagining these dreams of your future. like, wanting to be successful and rich, wanting to be loved, maybe have a couple of kids or two. but in those dreams about that potential future, steve was there. what part did he play in it, who knows honestly? being your boyfriend, or a friend, or something, he was there but for what purpose? you two weren't that close, yet again, not even aware of the fact of how much you stared at him.

but honestly, he couldn't even be the only there (with 'there' being the future, your future). you both are apart of the same friend group, even though said friend group consists of mainly middle schoolers. you obviously didn't mind hanging around them of course, more fun to be around then most people your age.

the second it's out, then i lose her

we're already here, so one more won't hurt

it won't hurt

it's now the spring of 1986, and this was the year where you and steve had to be in close proximity of one another. and ever since spring break started, you saw more of that same steve from that halloween night, vulnerable and kind and sweet and caring. that even something in the air had developed some type of non-platonic feeling. but with this itching feeling that steve is still in love with nancy, you refused to say anything. in order to cope and try to forget for a few minutes via smoking as your mind had went away, it wouldn't hurt, would it?

but obviously that didn't last, because you were forcibly pulled back to reality. you guys did anything to stop vecna and clear eddie's name. eddie has been your friend since the start of your senior year, he taught you how to play guitar. it felt nice to be around a guy without it being awkward. you and eddie were strictly platonic, like what steve and robin are. so, of course you would do anything to make sure he's able to walk in broad daylight without people calling him a murderer and with the cops on his trail. you and dustin were the ones that were the most passionate on clearing eddie's name.

then, in the last couple of days, max got cursed by vecna and almost died, but another victim was added which was lucas' basketball teammate was the next one. and then here you currently are, in the upside down with steve, nancy, robin and eddie, after a bunch of vines had dragged you down the lake and into the upside down because you refused steve to put himself in danger (again). where steve, by no hesitation had jumped in after you first before the others.

you could not handle the steve and nancy flirting going on, so you needed some type of excuse to be away from that. and that you'd rather have someone shoot you in the head with a nail gun, repeatedly than having to watch the two of them give each other heart eyes the entire time. and even eddie looked like he was over it and he's new to the group. the sight of steve looking at her made you wanna vomit, but the munson had noticed your reaction to the other two and knew what to do.

the five of you were walking over to the wheeler residence so nancy can grab the guns she has in her bedroom. eddie walked right next to you and immediately started the conversation with, "you know, i'm not particularly an expert when it comes to romance cause i have never been in a relationship. but, i've seen the way you act around harrington."

you risen your eyebrow at the munson in confusion, "i have no idea what you're talking about..."

"come on, y/n!" he pats your shoulder, "whenever he says one word, your eyes are immediately on him and solely focus on whatever he says."

"that's because he's talking..." you looked even more confused at what eddie is trying to tell you. the munson rolled his eyes, "you practically looked in awe of him. whenever i talk, you don't look at me like that." he then snaps his fingers and points our, "oh, and another thing, the look of disgust on your face whenever him and nancy flirted."

"and that's also because one: she has a boyfriend, and honestly she honestly did not look comfortable at his advances and I do not blame her. and two--" you held up two fingers as you proceeded, "we're practically in hell. so maybe flirting while we have a high possibility of dying isn't exactly the best time."

"fair points." eddie agreed, "then, let's talk about how harrington feels about you."

"and what about it?"

"personally, i would have never jumped in, not under any normal circumstances. outside of d&d, i am no hero. i see danger and i just turn heel and run. or at least that's what i've learned about myself this week. give yourself a break, y/n. see? the only reason i came in here was 'cause harrington and the two ladies over there chit chatting came in straight after you. now, i was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind." he explained, "i just played follow the leader."

you had a fake smile on your face, "so what is your point? you're wondering why other people care about me?"

"if you let me get to the point--" eddie says, "but harrington right there, he didn't waste a second. not one second. he just dove right in. now, i don't know what you guys had before i came in, but if I were you, i'd confess my love while i still can. cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen."

"that is..." you had paused for a second, taking in a deep sigh, "the most cheeziest shit i have ever heard. and it's pretty damn stupid. steve is selfless and such, he would've dove in after anyone... like nancy."

"maybe..." the munson shrugs at you, "but it's just the worry and the concern on his face while you were dragged down the lake. honestly the look on his face didn't look like he'd have that reaction for anyone. not even nancy wheeler."

"so you're basically just finding this--" you proceeded to had put in quotes, "'love story' between steve and i, your entertainment?"

"yeah..." eddie had let out a chuckle, "watching you silently pin over him with those sad lost puppy dog eyes was tugging the heartstrings."

"glad you find my pain entertaining." you sarcastically responded, "but even if i had these 'feelings' for steve. what makes you one hundred percent sure he feels the same?"

"it's in the eyes." he points out, "sometimes the voice, but mainly the eyes. look, if you don't want him, you can let wheeler have a second shot with him." and that made you gag a little and eddie couldn't help but laugh, "i knew it, you are jealous of her."

"no, i'm not."

"i'll let you be in denial."

"i just don't wanna ruin everything." you had blurted out, and then further explained, "i confess how i feel, then he doesn't feel the same and our friendship is ruined. i would rather have him as a friend than not have him at all."

but all that we are is all that we'll ever be

'cause he's the one waitin' at home

finding out the upside down has been stuck in the day will went missing for over two years, the five of you had went over to eddie's trailer. since dustin had explained that there must be a gate at every murder sight. him, lucas, max and erica had found a way to get you and the others back to your world safely. and then a pit of rage and jealousy had pondered when you made it through and looked up to see only steve and nancy left. and with nancy now being possessed by vecna which left everyone in a fit of panic.

but suddenly, she was out of the trance and you saw steve cradling her face. and that made you wanna grab eddie's guitar and shove it down your throat. both of them made it back through as they all snuck over to max's trailer as nancy explained to what vecna saw her see. after that, and a lot of convincing to go back into the upside down but with protection and weapons. as well as max using herself as bait to make vecna's physical body defenseless so he can be killed with breaking a sweat. and then they had stolen an rv from one of the trailer park residents with steve driving and nancy in the passenger seat.

you couldn't help but roll your eyes but also stare at them with your head lying down on the small table with robin and eddie on both of your sides. god, why would you be jealous of nancy? she has boyfriend for crying out loud and you know how much she loves jonathan. you honestly didn't know if they were still going strong, but that wasn't any of your business. after hearing steve talk about wanting six kids and seeing the two looking at each other that made you want to die. but also another part of you thinks, god, poor nancy, hasn't she had been through enough? for a split second, you could tell that she didn't look exactly comfortable, especially that you can tell by that fake smile on her face cause that smile did not seem anywhere near genuine. personally, who could be comfortable in that situation? if steve is really hinting at her being in that dream (especially the way he was looking at her), then you felt more bad for nancy constantly being flirted by her ex boyfriend while he knows she's in a relationship and saying all of this to her, specifically out of anyone.

your mind just wondered off, after that. still really having the urge to open the door to the rv and jumping out while you still can, and hopefully get run over by a nearby car, but that's definitely not gonna happen.

it's just all that you and steve is, is probably what you were ever gonna be. best friends and completely platonic. even though what you felt for him, was not platonic at all, and everyone else knew it but steve and sometimes even yourself.

she holds my guitar as i pluck out a melody

there's only so far we can go

and then after dropping off max, lucas and erica at the creel house, you and the others were in the upside down. you went with steve, nancy and robin to go to the upside down version of the creel house to take out vecna, while dustin and eddie were being the distraction against the demobats.

and the walk, felt like it had been forever, your feet were hurting, robin ran off with nancy chasing after her. and now it was just you and steve alone. and god, did that terrify the fuck out of you. for a split second the thought of you being alone with steve with all of these confused feelings going on scared you more than vecna himself. but, you try and stay calm and started talking about robin being a super clutz and how it took her longer to walk then most babies. that had made steve brought up how when he was a baby, he used to crawl backwards.

"what? how, exactly?" you had looked entirely confused, but couldn't help but laugh. he laughed along with you, as he explained, "come on, it makes sense. you push to move, right?"

"no, no, it doesn't make sense whatsoever."

"well, it did to my tiny little harrington brain. that is, until i reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good."

"that explains a lot." you snorted.

"yeah." he chuckles, "i think it kinda does. i think, like, right out of the gate, like, i'm super confident. but i'm also, like, an idiot. which is just... i mean, it's a brutal combination. but, i mean, the good news is, i get a big enough thump on my head, i can change, you know? i can learn. i can crawl forward." he had finished explaining, "honestly, thanks to nancy for giving my head the biggest thump of it's life two years ago, it's changed my life. i really needed it, and now i'm crawling forward. slowly."

you then had brought up to remind him, "also jonathan too, since he did beat the ever living shit out of you. it was satisfying to watch."

"that too." he then went on further, "for so long i was dwindling in the past over a girl who couldn't love me back. which is not her fault, people just can't control how they feel. i thought these things i've been feeling this past week have been about old flames that should've never died out. but honestly, realizing these past twenty four hours, there's a new flame in my life that i just never realized til now."

you had looked a tad bit confused, both of you stopping while you looked directly at him, "what are you saying exactly?"

"you heard the talk i had with nancy, right?" you shrugged and nodded, "all of it is true. every last word. for so long, i saw nancy in that dream with me, but i just don't see it anymore."

"you don't?"

"no, actually and surprisingly, i don't." he replied, "there was just this one important part that i had left out." you noticed him giving you this look as he said those two words that had rocked your world and that it changed your guys' friendship so much from that point on, "you're there."

oh.

you didn't know what to say. how can you respond to something like that? like you felt this relief on your shoulders that he wasn't talking about wanting a family with nancy straight to your face. he saw you. it was still something difficult to process it all. this was as hard as trying to teach steve how to play the guitar a few weeks ago cause he noticed it in your room and asked for you to teach him for fun. but instead of him plucking the strings of your guitar, it is the strings of your heart. with said heart on the verge of beating out of your chest and exploding everywhere.

literally, what can you say to that? like having a life long commitment with someone who imagines and wants six kids with you? you'd die on the spot.

but, just in time before you had the chance to pass out or something, robin and nancy had found you both. interrupted this moment you and steve have, and it just felt like another relief lifted from your shoulders. you were put on a pedestal and expected to have a response of some kind, at least one word. but said words were just too hard to form.

i'm next to you but i'll never be close

so take your time while you're mine and smoke slow

two days after everything that happened. eddie is dead, max is in a coma and you were still processing everything that had happened. like holy fucking shit, what just happened? and now, it's been two days, you're helping nancy clear out some of her old things to donate it to people that are in need of stuff ever since vecna's gates had opened. then, you all suddenly heard honking from a small distance with a pizza van showing up out of no where. and conveniently said pizza can had mike, will, jonathan, el, and some other guy coming out of it. you immediately had embraced el and will with dustin, "i've missed you kiddos so much! how are you, are you okay?"

you also had noticed el's hair is gone, and you just couldn't say anything cause you were in shock. all you did was just give her a meaningful kiss on the forehead. you then had walked over to mike and gave him a quick hug, "god, you leave for one week and everything goes to hell."

"same thing happened on our end too."

"well i'm glad you're okay." and then you walked in between jonathan and nancy's little reunion, "so glad so see you two back together. a major relief for me, actually." and then you gave jonathan a big hug, "you've grown out your hair, byers. i'm so close to grabbing some scissors and getting your old hair back."

"i'll think about it." he says, he let's go and the other dude who you didn't know walked over as jonathan introduced him, "this is my friend, argyle. he was honestly a big help on our end."

"sup." argyle says. you just nodded and shook his hand, "pleasure to meet you."

after the reunions and such, you, steve, robin and dustin went to the school and volunteered to help out the people that are in need. you were helping steve fold clothes as the both of you had noticed robin talking and smiling with her crush, vickie. and then you had broken this two day silence with steve after what he said, "about that night--"

"no, no, it's fine." he cuts you off, "i shouldn't have dropped that on you while we were on the possibility of not making it. it's not fair to you, and i was crossing a million boundaries. and i--" you stopped steve from rambling further by kissing him to shut up. you pulled away with a smile on your face, "i understand, really. because, i had imagined my own future for you apart of it for a while. in like, any possible way, you were there. maybe not the six kids in an rv, traveling across the country type suburban dream. but just, a nice one where we don't have to worry about demogorgan's, and the mind flayer, and vecna, and just the upside down in general." you stopped yourself for a second to catch your breath before proceeding, "i just personally didn't wanna say anything because i didn't wanna ruin this friendship we had built if you didn't feel the same. but hey, you do, and that's great! but, maybe we just take our time slow. cause i'm definitely not ready for six kids."

"i can see that." he smiled, "we don't have to have six kids if you're not comfortable with it. that's totally fine."

you returned a smile at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back to folding clothes, "thank you." then you had also adding, "i'm glad i was there whole you were sulking on halloween night two years ago."

"i'm glad too."

a/n: hope you guys enjoyed! honestly, I wouldn't mind getting some stranger things requests for steve and other characters like nancy, jonathan, robin, max, lucas (I may need to make a new post on who you guys can requests from which fandoms again and a new masterlist but not at the moment)

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington angst #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #joe keery #joe keery x reader #jaiden writes things #x reader oneshot

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lilover131 · 1 year

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Clear Card Chapter 72 Analysis

Sorry for the delay y’all! Still dealing with some real life stuff, but I’m in a much better place emotionally! I’ll try to make sure I’m not so late next month!

In this chapter, not a lot actually physically happened, but we DID get answers, some of which I’m not sure how I feel about. Enjoy my “gif of the month” above (trademark from Cinzia. Hahahaha) and my thoughts below under the cut! I apologize again in advance for the crappy red page screenshots from youtube. I currently have no way to get good quality English scans, so this is how it’s gotta be for now!

The color spread is GORGEOUS as always, but has a rather lonely and somber feeling to it. Sakura has an expression like she is empty and missing something, and maybe the ‘jewels’ in front of her represent the memories she has lost as a result of the timeline change. Beautiful, sparkling memories, and she absentmindedly reaches towards one with such a gentle looking cradle. The crystal she reaches for reminds me quite a bit actually of the crystals that actually showed memories in Clockland. I could be overthinking it, but honestly when you’ve read CLAMP mangas as long as I have, you find yourself doing it a lot. Hahahaha.

The chapter itself starts off with Lilie and Sakura meeting in the dream world, right where we left off in the last chapter. Sakura remarks about how Lilie looks just like Akiho, and Lilie seems overjoyed by this. But of course she would be, she’s her mother! However, the tone shifts not long after when Sakura asks her if she knows Akiho, and the look on Lilie’s face is so painful. She’s clearly saddened to never know her own daughter, and to know in this timeline that she’s not even her daughter at all anymore must be heartwrenching. To make matters worse, this version of Lilie is still only a child, so it must have been so difficult for her growing up just knowing everything that would happen after. She probably had to grow up faster than most children, and especially with so much pressure from her clan on top of things!

Lilie explains that she had tried many times before to talk with Sakura directly, but she seemed to get mixed up in her premonitions instead and was unable to say anything. Flashes of dreams Sakura has had in the past show, such as the beginning where her key was being pulled, the dream with the dragon, and all of these were apparently intended to never have a cloaked figure at all. Every dream with a Cloaked Figure appearance was literally just Lilie trying to talk to Sakura. LOL.

We then finally get an answer to a big question, and that is regarding the Cloaked Figure Syaoran. Turns out Sakura was having a dream of Kaito pretending to be Syaoran, and Lilie got mixed up in this one too, so it blended together to make what we saw as Cloaked Figure Syaoran. I’m glad we have answers, but I’m also somewhat…frustrated? It feels awfully anticlimactic in the end and turned out to be a Lilie oopsie, but I’m also frustrated cuz’ I made like a BAJILLION THEORIES ABOUT THIS AND ALL OF THEM ARE WROOOONNGGGGG!!!! -huffs- I give up. Clearly trying to theorize about CLAMP series is futile and they will always, always trick you.

-deep breath-

I was kinda hoping for a slight Syaoran brainwashing for funsies and drama, but alas it seems that is not the sort of story CLAMP is going for, and that is all right. I have seen plenty of amazing Syaoran moments in Clear Card (WHICH WE GET TO SEE ANIMATED NOOOWW), so I really can’t complain.

Lilie also clears up another question we’ve had by stating the cards Sakura made in the previous timeline no longer exist, but her connection to the Sakura cards are stronger than ever. She also mentions that the power of the forbidden magic can only rewrite history so far back and cannot go beyond the time the caster was born (aka Kaito). Because of this, there are parts of Lilie’s past he could not rewrite due to her being older than him. This is also why Lilie is reaching out to her at this age, since this is a time before Kaito is born and could not be touched by the magic.

She tells Sakura that she has a message for her, and when asked if she’s able to see the future, she advises that she can, and even the future beyond her death. Sakura, being the caring person she is, seems worried about her. Surely she’s heard stories from Eriol about how tough it was for Clow to always see the future, and he never wanted that for Sakura. She asks Lilie if it hurts to always know what is to come, and Lilie, although seeming sad about it, has a absolutely beautiful response. “The things I can do…and the things I can’t…make me the person I am”.

Honestly, what a wonderful thing to say. I feel like this can really be taken to heart for nearly all situations in life. You are you. Do what you can, and don’t distress over what you cannot. You are still you, and these are all pieces of the puzzle that makes you.

Lilie then gets to brass tax and tells her exactly what she needs to hear. She tells her straight up that her memories and life have been rewritten. Sakura is obviously very surprised by this, and Lilie goes on to state that Kaito even mislead Momo into thinking his intention was to swap Sakura and Akiho (now I feel much less bad for thinking the same, considering even Momo was fooled, but it also confirms that this is exactly what CLAMP wanted us to believe). He deceived Momo so she would not know his true intention was to take on the artifact himself, because clearly she would’ve absolutely smacked the shit out of him and talked him out of it. Because Momo believed he intended to switch the girls, she tried to give hints to his ‘motives’, but because she too was deceived, she was off the mark in her warnings. Lilie even calls him an idiot basically in a whisper, and I just find this hilarious. He’s just going to be marked ‘idiot’ for eternity. But one thing Momo said still reigns true even though she was wrong about his intentions, and that is the question of “What is Happiness to you?”. Lilie tells her that her answer and the ‘other Alice by her side’, are one in the same. And we all know very well what this is about. Obviously happiness to Sakura and Akiho is to have the ones they love by their side, and dammit that includes Kaito!! Lilie confirms this by stating that what happiness could there possibly be in a world where the people you hold dear are gone (I’M LOOKING AT YOU KAITO).

It's at this moment that the dream starts to break, and Lilie advises that she likely will not remember the conversation they had after she wakes due to the forbidden magic being able to reach her, however Lilie is safe due to existing in a time it cannot touch. Before Sakura is kicked out of the dream, Lilie tells her she believes in her, and goes on to elaborate the both of them, which includes Akiho.

With that, Sakura wakes up in Syaoran’s arms, and he is clearly very worried about her. But one very interesting and telling thing is how Syaoran responds to her here. Sakura says “huh..?” and he says “Don’t you ‘huh’ me!”, which very much reminds me of the somewhat snarky Syaoran we knew and loved from the original series.

Cinzia very graciously confirmed that the Japanese speech isn’t much different here, and that it has the same tone. So what this tells me is that Syaoran never actually changed at all. The version we have seen of him in Clear Card so far was him essentially constantly worried and trying his best to protect Sakura. But in this timeline, where none of this has happened, he is far more at ease and can be his true self, like Yue once spoke of. He mentioned Syaoran was always honest in his feelings and how he expressed them, and he has been hiding that. This is a flash of Syaoran’s true real self!! So to all the people who said they didn’t like Syaoran the way he is now and how he’s changed, I leave you with this.

Sakura says she had a dream about someone who looked like Akiho, and even Syaoran teases her a bit and says something about a “sister complex”, and honestly I find that really funny. Syaoran legit thinks Sakura is just dreaming about her own twin sister. Hahahaha. But he quickly realizes this is different and that she might’ve had a premonition. Sakura states she can’t remember, but she does remember that whatever it was that was said to her was important, not just for her, but for everyone. She seems determined, so I’m sure she’ll figure it out.

The chapter ends there, and I think in the next chapter, it will likely have a lot more Akiho, perhaps something to do with the watch she’s been left by Kaito, and I think this will help trigger Sakura breaking through the forbidden magic. What happens from there, I have no idea…but it should be fun!

Until next time!

#cardcaptor sakura #clear card #manga #chapter 72 #spoilers #analysis #chrissy talks a lot #sakura #lilie #akiho #syaoran #momo #kaito #I HATE BEING WRROOONGGGGG #But I was at least right about some things

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whump-n-comfort · 9 months

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🔪 this is a sideblog! if you see interactions from a blog called @halorocks1214 in your notifications, that's me :)

🩹 on that note, I go by Halo! I use she/her and he/him pronouns and am proudly aroace 💚💜

🔪 I'm one of those guys that has always been into whump as a kid—I REALLY enjoyed the kidnapping episodes in animated shows lol—but didn't have a name for that enjoyment until I got onto Tumblr and immediately felt at home with all y'all cool people 😎

🩹 as you may have seen by this blog's title and description, most of this blog's motif is sharing hurt/comfort content! I will be upfront and say that I project a loooot onto my faves, which is why I like to see them comforted so much (touch starvation is a bitch 😔) and in general prefer "soft whump" most of the time or explicit happy endings for the harder tropes i'm into

🔪 however, I still also enjoy whump because of its core foundation: being able to beat the shit out of your favorite character. sometimes, I will find something that does not have comfort in it that I want to share because it's simply too good not to! if all you're here for is that sweet sweet comfort, feel free to blacklist the tag #no comfort to avoid those sparse posts :)

🩹 outside of that, I tag art as #art and gifs as #gif as well as gifsets as #gifset when applicable; #whump trope for the posts that get more descriptive and #whump prompt for the posts that are more quotes/"fill in your characters here"-type interactions; #whump meme is self-explanatory and #whump community is for sharing love to all you lovely people out here browsing this corner of Tumblr; I occasionally tag #fave whumpee on characters that have stuck with me through the years (characters in the tag liable to change as time goes on); and of course, #~my stuff~ are the posts where I'm OP; #before whump was here is a cheeky tag I use for specific moments I remember feeling strong whumperflies for growing up but still had yet to learn about the term "whump" lmao

🔪 everything else is up in the air as tagging goes. I try my best to catch as many descriptors in a post as I can, but I'll admit some stuff could slip through. let me know if you think a post is missing something and I'll be sure to add proper tags 👍

🩹 my squicks are mainly things like pet whump, mind break, forced full-nudity, betrayal/broken trust between close characters (if it's because of a "twist villain" then that's fine), and heavy NSFW, so, for the most part, you won't see those on this blog, but my philosophy has always been that if it has comfort, I'm willing to give it a shot, so even if it's really rare, it could happen. remember to just let me know if I'm missing a tag!

🔪 my inbox is always open under the "💌 insert rambles here 💌" button if you ever wanna submit whumpy thoughts. I try to post everything I get, so feel free to hit me up! all answered asks regardless of what they contain will be tagged with #ramble tag

🩹 I will occasionally take requests in the form of "[A] replied to [B]" scenarios, sentence starters, or if you are feeling particularly nice, requests about my OCS! (questions and inquiries about them are always welcome regardless of request status) be sure to watch the "REQUEST:" blip in the description to see whenever they are open as I will switch "CLOSED" to "OPEN" to signify they are, and if they are open because of something like an ask game, I will convert the status into a link that will take you to the original game so you don't have to scroll through a bajillion things to get to it

🔪 as mentioned, this is 99% a SFW "soft" whump blog, but I still support my more NSFW and otherwise "dark" whumpers! I am a firm believer in that there is no "correct" way to enjoy whump. whatever your reason is that makes you enjoy it is valid and as long as you are properly tagging your content then keep on doing stuff that brings you joy :) we may not interact with each other all that often because of squicks or personal preferences, but just know that I will have your back and defend your right to write whatever you want ❤️‍🔥

🩹 I do believe those are all the topics I wanted to cover, so if you managed to make it this far, thanks for checking out my blog, and most importantly, the whump community in general! If you decide to stay, well, then hope you enjoy it to your fullest capabilities :D

#about me #GOD i wanted to make a shorter info post and just ended up making one twice as long how do i ACHIEVE these things-#regardless i got an influx of new followers (hello!!) and figured it was time for me to update a few things #esp since ive been attempting to interact with my blogs in a new way #also next post is my 800th post and thought it would be funny if this was it lmao

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chronically-fangirls · 2 years

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Hey!!

What Robert De Niro film did you see that made you a fan of his?

Howdy!! 💕

Ooooo good question!!

Honestly, my initial response would've been "hmm. Taxi Driver!" Bc like. That was what ignited my interest in him initially.

But... then I had a second thought (a rare event occurring🤓).

Y'know, I've seen like 3 or 4 of his movies before (like probably everyone did at some point of their lives), and Taxi Driver was the first movie made me appreciate him as more than just "oh, this famous actor everyone knows", but the movie that really, really, really made me fall in love with him was Bang the Drum Slowly.

I admit I haven't watched it in a while - I should some time soon - but this movie literally made me just fall in love with Robert as an actor and a person. I mean. His wholesome portrayal of goofy &silly baseball player who gets the news he's about to die, has to hide it and has to deal with the bullying of the assholes in his team... tore my heart into 25 bajillion pieces. He did such a wonderful job, this movie was so beautiful and inspiring. It just got to me, really.

This movie is one of those who will forever have a corner in my heart saved for it 💕

There are so many gifs I could barely pick one 😭 (tumblr whacks my posts if they contain more than one pic or gif so unfortunately I had to pick just one) but this is gotta be my favourite moment in the entire movie - look @ this sweet lil goofball. His. SHIRT. 😭😭😭 And like. You can see how Henry (his roommate and his only friend in the team) actually cares about him... god don't get me started on that bc I will go on and on about it for DAYS!

Thank you for asking, and sorry the answer's too long - I can't speak about my beloved SpIn (or blorbo, if you'd like) without spiraling into an entire goddamn lecture. Lots of love 😘💕

#ask #robert de niro #bang the drum slowly #bruce pearson #henry wiggen #michael moriarty

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galactic-magick · 4 years

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Secret Darling: Logan x Reader

Request: Hiya! I was wondering if you could maybe make a Logan x reader, (Gender neutral or female), where Logan's just casually sitting on the couch, (and I mean casual like he's not wearing his tie and is just, casual for once), typing away on his laptop when reader just wants attention and affection? Like just pure fluff, and a lot of it? XD - @zarieslayer

Summary: None of the sides know you and Logan are dating and you wish you could be more openly affectionate.

Words: 1300+

Warnings: Lots of kiss kiss

Author’s Notes: Combined this request with an idea I had for a secret dating AU lol. I also got very flustered writing this so hopefully it meets your fluff standards 😂 also this gif is gonna give me a stroke geez louise

Taglist: @luluwinchester @nerve-ous-love @zarieslayer

Logan wouldn’t be caught dead like this except when he’s with you. He maintains a strict image of professionalism at all times. It gives him confidence, puts him in an intellectual mindset, and convinces everyone around him he’s serious and not to be messed with. He never as much as loosens his tie outside of closed doors.

Only with you does he allow himself to breathe, especially since you’re the only person he shows the softer part of himself to. None of the other sides know you two are together. It would completely destroy his reputation if they knew he has feelings, after all. Still, he does make an effort to spend as much time with you as he can when he’s not working. You meet him in his room nearly every day, and he gives you attention whenever he can when the others aren’t watching.

When you come in, he’s lounging on the couch, laptop on his lap, with the top few buttons of his shirt undone. His tie is completely off and his hair is a bit messy, but he’s still incredibly focused.

“Oh, hello darling,” he greets you.

“Hey,” you sigh, sitting down next to him. “How long have you been working on that?”

He doesn’t look up, continuing to type furiously, “Just a few hours,”

“A few hours?”

“Yes,”

“Don’t you want to take a break?”

“I will when I’m finished,”

“When will that be?”

“If I stay on schedule, approximately two more hours,”

“Two more hours?!”

He locks eyes with you, “You seem to be distressed over the normal passage of time, darling, are you quite alright?”

“Yeah…” you rest your head on his shoulder. “I was just hoping to get a bit of affection, that’s all,”

“Oh,”

“I know you’re super busy, but I just don’t think taking a break would really hurt,” you shrug, sitting up. “Did you know that in many people cuddling and kissing releases hormones that benefit your health? And people who hug a lot tend to have lower blood pressure levels?”

He smirks, “Sweetheart, are you trying to use knowledge against me?”

“Plus the happy chemicals or whatever can help you fight off sickness and sleep better, and we all know how much you love getting enough sleep,”

“Is that all?”

“Well you probably know more about science stuff than me, but there’s definitely bajillions of other benefits too, maybe kissing can cure allergies or something,”

“I don’t believe that’s correct,”

“Prove it, then,” you grin. “Kiss me ‘til I never sneeze again,”

“Darling, if all you wanted was for me to kiss you all you had to do was ask,” he closes his laptop and sets it aside. “You know I’d do anything you desire,”

You giggle as he interlaces his fingers with yours and pulls you close to him. He kisses your forehead first, then your nose, then each of your cheeks. His kisses are deliberate yet adoring, slow but not teasing. He presses his lips along your jaw and then stops to look into your eyes, taking a moment to memorize your flushed face before finally kissing your lips.

Your heart flutters as he moves his hands to cradle your face, running the pads of his thumbs across your cheekbones.

“Don’t you ever wish we could do this in front of the others?” you ask between kisses.

Logan pulls away, his fingers grazing down your neck and landing on your shoulders, “You…want to do this in front of everyone?”

“Well not this exactly,” you hesitate. “I mean like just casual quick pecks, holding hands, being able to cuddle when we have group movie nights,”

He looks down, “Would that…would that make you feel loved? Would that make you happier?”

“Oh, Logan,” you lift his chin up. “I do feel loved, and I am happy. I’m just saying it would be nice, that’s all,”

“It’s settled then,” he nods. “We won’t keep this a secret anymore,”

“Really?” you squeal, falling onto him and wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Yes,” he hugs you back tightly. “Although we should consider breaking it to them slowly, possibly have a bit of fun,”

“Fun, huh?”

“Are you questioning my ability to have fun?”

“Maybe a little bit,” you laugh.

“I simply think the best way to tell them is by acting as if they already knew, isn’t that fun?”

“You want to gaslight them?”

“That’s a bit of a strong word, but essentially, yes,”

“Have you been spending time with Janus?”

“Absolutely not,” he runs his knuckles down the side of your head. “You know I spend all my free time with you,”

“Ah, yes,”

“Would you like to resume?”

“Please,”

The next morning you meet everyone for breakfast and coffee in the kitchen. You give Logan a quick smooch before sitting down, and the others stare in disbelief.

“Please tell me I was not the only one who just saw that,” Roman gasps.

“What’s the matter, never seen a kiss before?” Virgil rolls his eyes.

“Excuse me, I have seen and experienced many kisses!”

Patton starts making indistinguishable noises, something between screaming and hyperventilating, “Logan!!! When were you going to tell us?!”

“Sure, whatever Princey,”

“You’re not at all shocked by this Virgil?”

“Not really. I’ve seen them going into the closet to make out a couple times,”

“What?!”

You give Logan a look, and you can tell he’s really struggling to stay composed. This is not going according to plan, especially since this didn’t seem to be as much of a secret in the first place as you thought.

“Alright, fine, you got us,” you surrender. “We’ve been together for a while now,”

“Awwww!!” Patton bounces in his chair.

Roman bursts out laughing, “Ha! Logan’s in looove,”

Logan turns his head to him and tightens his tie, “I don’t quite understand why that is so humorous to you, Roman. Love may be nothing more than chemicals in the brain, but it is nothing less than an exquisite experience that brings a multitude of opportunities for growth and learning. I for one find it quite exhilarating, and I hope one day you too will find someone who makes you feel the same,”

The table is dead silent for a moment.

“Wow,” Roman exhales. “How do you manage to sound so nerdy even when you’re being mushy?”

“It’s a talent only for the true intellectuals,” you butt in, reaching your hand across to grab Logan’s. “See you guys later,” you wink and dash out of the kitchen, pulling Logan along with you. You go into the closet and shut the door.

Logan let’s out a long sigh of relief, “You know, we don’t have to hide in here anymore,”

“Yeah…” you chuckle. “Did Virge really see us? We were being so careful,”

“I suppose not careful enough,” he grins. “But it no longer matters,”

You smile, pressing yourself against him and he wraps his arms around your waist, “That was really sweet what you said,”

“Well it’s true. Loving you has taught me much, and I wouldn’t trade it for the knowledge of a thousand books,”

“You’re adorable,”

“Only for you,” he smirks. He tightens his arms around you and gently captures your lips. You grab the collar of his shirt and deepen the kiss, only stopping when a bright light hits your eyes.

You both look towards the door to see Patton standing there with his mouth wide open.

“Oh! Uh, sorry kiddos,” he grabs his coat. “Just needed to get this, uh, thing,”

You cover your eyes and slam your head into Logan’s chest in embarrassment.

“Anyways, have fun! Stay safe!” Patton waves and closes the door.

“I’m beginning to think it would be favorable to find a new designated affection spot,”

“Yeah…but not yet,” you pull him back to you, kissing him hard.

#logan sanders x reader #logan sanders #sanders sides x reader #sanders sides #ts logan #how ironic is it that i'm posting logan fic at 1am when logan himself would be so dissapointed with my sleep schedule

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a-walking-fandom-reference · 3 years

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Uh hey so i had a question?? Maybe you could help idk but I'm having trouble finding a stim that works right now?? I don't have any stim toys but i normally find other things that work for me and i keep flapping my hands but it's not really helping?? Idk it's very frustrating and i feel like im trapped in my skin

Hey! Sorry i didn’t respond sooner but i totally get this. I definitely have times where i super need to stim but nothing feels right or works and it’s so so frustrating. I didn’t have any stim toys either till a couple years ago and even now i just have some fidget spinners, a fidget cube, and a chew necklace. i’m gonna list some stims i do or stim with besides those and hand flapping (which i do a lot too) and hopefully it’s helpful for you. warning: this is wayyyyy too long and has way more information then you asked for but finally got those adhd meds again so i’m like oh can’t stop typing (typing stim right there).

(p.s. if you or anyone ever wants to talk or ask about neurodivergent stuff feel free to i’m always happy to talk about or help and my inbox and dms are always open)

chewing: i chew on stuff a lot to stim (even though it’s like the worst stim for my tmj) and sometimes find myself eating stuff just to move my mouth. but mostly i chew on my shirt collar a lot or just have it in my mouth a lot of the time, i also love gum and hard candies but tic tacs are my favorite but i end up eating a whole container of them when i have them because i just love chewing them. also uncooked pasta is a favorite to chew on. i also sometimes chew on pens

listening: i listen to songs, tv episodes, and podcasts on repeat a lot like a lot a lot. i don’t like quiet most of the time or not really quiet because i can hear everything around me all the time but like i don’t really like that either so. i listen to my brother my brother and me like 24/7 i’ve listened to all the podcast episodes? like way too many times, i also listen to bojack or bob’s burgers a lot because i’ve also seen the episodes so many times i know exactly what’s happening in every scene, the music i listen to on repeat is either a single song or an album, so show yourself, rewrite the stars, words fail, etc or frozen ii, jatp, dear evan hansen albums. i also cover and uncover my ears a lot because i like the noise.

touching: i love feeling stuff mostly soft stuff so petting my cats or rabbit, feeling blankets, holding and rubbing stuffed animals

smell: i’m super sensitive to like 95% of smells but the smells i do like i can smell for hours and are big stim i’ve been doing for a long time specifically laundry detergent so i put my shirt over my nose a lot also my haunted mansion themed body wash is my favorite scent ever and so i just smell that and it really calms me

vocal: i don’t talk a lot i’m a fairly quiet person and could and have gone days without speaking but i can be loud and talkative when hyper or infodumping and have always stimmed a lot vocally. i hum a lot or just make noises or beats, i have a kind of odd vocal stim where i just kind of sing old mcdonald randomly (i don’t know why but i’ve done it for a while) and also echolalia, a lot of them are just weird and everyone around me is like please stop saying, “it’s not just food, it’s fourth meal” but i love echolalia i think it’s a super cool thing autistics do!

body stims/stuff with my hands: i rub my hands together, crack my knuckles, clap, drum with my hands on anything and everything (i was a percussionist in middle school band and have always loved the drums so) i also use pencils/chopsticks/paint brushes or anything and drum on tables or just air drum with imaginary drumsticks. i twirl my hair a lot and now that it’s longer i do little braids braiding is such a nice stim. i also do body stims that aren’t good for my joint hypermobility but like i just need to do them sometimes, such as doing circles with my wrist or ankle or hyperextending my elbow. one of my favorite stims i do and one i do mostly in public because i need room (and since covid and like barely ever leaving my house when i do go out i do it a lot) is i kind of jump up and lift one leg in the air and clap under my leg. that probably sounds weird and like it kind of is but whatever stims can be weird and that’s great! i also rock back and forth on my heals a lot.

visual: i’m not a person that gets into a lot of like stimboards and stuff because a lot of stim gifs aren’t stuff i like but my favorite stim gifs or videos are calligraphy writing ones, cooking/cake decorating, nail painting, and just food recipe videos. sometimes i’ll just end up in a wormhole on pinterest of food recipe vids, like they are never foods i could actually eat or ever need the recipe for but i just love watching them (except meat heavy ones i just don’t like looking at meat). also i love watching fandom video edits on instagram i have like a bajillion saved and watch them all the time. i also love love watching gifs of characters stimming and sometimes just go through my autistic collection to watch these gifs for hours.

random stims: one of biggest stims is playing with toy cars and toy skateboards. i just kind of roll them on my arms/hands/legs or tables. i actually take a mcdonald’s clone wars anakin skateboard toy like everywhere with me, and i love it i found it at my gramma’s house years ago and it’s become like a comfort item at this point and of course because of adhd i lose everything i touch so before i leave the house i’m always like where is my anakin skywalker skateboard. i also have a lightning mcqueen car that was my comfort stim toy before anakin and i still take him a lot of places too. i also love wear rings to stim with, i don’t have any like spinning rings or anything yet but i just like twisting them on my finger a lot, my favorite to do that with is my great grandmother’s spoon ring it’s the perfect thing to twist and i love it. i also like pressure stims sometimes if my body can handle it like putting couch cushions on me or my weighted blanket. i also just play with my pop socket a lot and use it so much i broke the top of it off but i don’t know what i would do without it.

sorry that was way too long and way too much information and i don’t even know if any of that was helpful at all but i really hope something was or it gave you an idea for a different stim. like i said before you can literally ask me about anything especially neurodivergent stuff.

#rey suprisingly gets an ask #rey actually speaks #actually autistic #stimming #actually adhd #food mention #coronavirus cw #long post

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andthebandbeginstoplay · 5 years

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My Two Fandoms Collide: A Paul McCartney x Taylor Swift Masterpost

Hello friends. It has recently come to my attention that there is crossover between my two favorite fandoms. I am here to answer all your Paul McCartney Taylor Swift questions, and generally provide support for the idea that there will be a collaboration between the two iconic songwriters on T’s new album. Are some things a stretch? Sure. But I want to explore all possibilities. Buckle up because it’s gonna be a wild ride.

This all seems to have started when Paul McCartney told BBC that the song Who Cares, on his new album, Egypt Station, was inspired by Taylor Swift and her relationship with her fans. The song is about internet bullying and Paul said:

"I was actually thinking about Taylor Swift and her relationship to her young fans and how it's sort of a sisterly thing. And I was imagining talking to one of these young fans and saying, 'Have you ever been bullied? Do you get bullied? Then I say, 'Who cares about the idiots? Who cares about all this? Who cares about you? Well... I do.’"

Basically Paul McCartney is the sweetest best person alive and I love him very much.

This all came to the attention of Swifties when Taylor Swift said that Paul McCartney was one of the top three things influencing her in a video for Time Magazine. She called him a role model, and praised his incredible abilities as an entertainer. (Another influence she said was tumblr :D Also interesting that both Paul and T have crazy strong and supportive tumblr communities...although i have no idea if Paul has ever been on tumblr, but if so HI PAUL WE LOVE YOU)

Given the bajillion clues that Taylor has been dropping about her new album recently, we can reasonably assume that this comment needs a fair amount of dissection. So here are all of reasons that Paul McCartney and the Beatles are going to be important in TS7:

1 - We’ll start with the most obvious clue, which is on Taylor’s Instagram. In February Taylor publicly started her TS7 era with a new instagram aesthetic, basically on February 10th everything went from red, white, and black to sparkly, dreamy pastels. In the very first picture of this era she is wearing a fairytale worthy dress. Guess who she credited for the outfit? Stella McCartney, a designer and Paul McCartney’s daughter. This is also interesting because when she credits people (style, photography, etc.) she typically just lists them at the end of the caption, but in this post she thanked Stella as part of the caption, so it seems like she was specifically calling attention to the McCartney family.

2 - Paul & Taylor have one very unique thing in common - they are both “dead”. The old Taylor, of course, died in Look What You Made Me Do on Reputation. However, Paul’s death was not self inflicted. Basically in the 1960s rumors started to fly that Paul McCartney had died in an accident and the Beatles had replaced him with a look-alike in order to keep their fame and upward trajectory going. People thought that the band had left clues in their album art and lyrics, and went on a crazy easter egg hunt to find the truth (sound familiar, Swifties?) “Paul is dead” was basically the best meme of 1969 and the story went 1960s-viral and was picked up by radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.

3 - In 2018 Taylor Swift interviewed Pattie Body who is a FUCKING ICON. She was one of the most famous models of the 1960s, was married to the Beatle George Harrison for most of the time the Beatles were together, and inspired a million incredible rock songs (like Something by The Beatles and Layla by Eric Clapton). In the interview they talked a lot about Beatlemania and what it’s like to deal with an extreme amount of attention and pressure, especially at a very young age. I particularly found this pairing interesting because T hasn’t listed the Beatles as a main influence before, so I was excited to see the crossover beginning. Full article here.

4 - In the ME! music video there’s an entire section where we are randomly taken to a 1960′s concert. Tbh this is super unrelated to anything else that is happening and doesn’t really make much sense with the rest of the video, that exists in a fantasy city. All of the outfits in this scene are very Pattie-Boyd-like, but what I think is even more significant is the screaming, crying crowd that Taylor & Brandon are performing for. People in the crowd are going CRAZY for the performance. A couple of the close-up shots of people in the audience completely losing it look identical to fans at Beatle’s concerts at the height of Beatlemania.

5 - THIS ONE GOES OUT TO THE GAYLORS. One of the most popular theories about the Beatles, specifically on Tumblr, is that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were in love. Their couple name is “McLennon”. There is evidence for days that the bandmates were more than friends and a general consensus that WE LOVE THEIR LOVE. However, they always had to keep things hush hush because #the60s and #PR. There is a lot of speculation around Taylor’s sexuality and the idea that she might come out in her seventh album. From rainbows to pronoun usage, there are a lot of clues that T likes girls, but had to keep quiet about it for the sake of her PR.

6 - LAST AND CERTAINLY LEAST both Paul and Taylor are known for dancing their butts of at awards shows, even if no one is dancing with them. I’m mostly putting this in here because I wanted to post these cute gifs of them:

OKAY THAT’S ALL I HAVE FOR YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME I NEED TO LOG OFF NOW BEFORE I COMBUST

#the beatles #paul mccartney #taylor swift #ts7 #fandom

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misssophiachase · 6 years

Photo

Gifs above from the brilliant Moni @joey-prue not mine!

Truth or Dare

How good was our Klaroline road trip? So, just before the recent episode I was asked what my hopes and dreams were and responded HERE. I can’t help but think what could have been based on the awesome episode and also my road trip ideas so I just had to write it. Hope you like it : )

Dialogue from the episode interspersed, but most is mine. Points of view will alternate. I might just be prepared for part 2 if interested (my preview post will let you know what may or may not be coming)...

Somewhere near mile marker 79, outskirts of New Orleans, LA

“Must you play with the radio, Mikaelson?” She asks banging her hand on the steering wheel, her frustrated tone not lost on Klaus. The Original hybrid thinks he’s minding his own business but obviously he’s found some way to annoy his travelling companion.

It feels like old times and for some reason he’s content, even as everything unfolds with his truant daughter.

When Caroline came to him earlier, Klaus had initially been buoyed. After all, this was the second time they’d met in as many weeks; first in France and now his beloved hometown of New Orleans. The same place he promised to show her one day. Klaus didn’t think it was possible to be so in love with her still but he was, the fact she smelled and looked so heavenly was only toying further with his fragile emotions. If only the circumstances of their reunion had been different he might have kept his promise.

“I see you have the headmistress act down, love,” he replies, lazily. For someone who’s in an extremely bad mood, Caroline can’t miss the slight tugging at the corners of his crimson lips. Ass. One for touching her stuff and two for drawing her attention to that mouth she still remembers so well.

Showing up in New Orleans had been a difficult decision, she was caught between being the responsible principal of his daughter’s school and revisiting her very present feelings. Being close to him again was a challenge to say the least. France had been difficult enough and now here she was again tempting fate and trying not to imagine him naked wearing only a dimpled smile.

She chooses not to respond, only prompting Klaus to elaborate on his many issues. “Look, if the music was a little better, I might be tempted not to touch,” he hisses, pressing all the buttons at once and giving it an extra hit for good measure.

“Sorry I don’t have any of your one thousand year-old favourites on my playlist,” she mutters, sarcastically. “I swear if you break it, you bought it,” she snaps, clearly feeling somewhat out of control having to drive while he fiddles with god knows what, he always did love that control-freak side to her, amongst others.

“You realise that even if I do break the radio, with your substantial vampire capabilities you can easily acquire another?”

“That’s not the point,” she murmurs.

Like that night you asked for a prom dress, he thinks, but doesn’t verbalise.

Klaus is struggling with the myriad of memories racing through his mind, she always has that effect on him, again amongst others.

“Seriously, you’re worse than my students who think it’s okay to get through life purely on supernatural powers alone.”

“Well, I can’t completely disagree…”

“Of course you can’t but I suppose after being on this earth for a bajillion years you don’t know any better.” Again the memories race back.

Like the supposed fifty bajillion messages he left on her phone after mistakenly being staked by Silas.

“I realise there’s an age difference, love, but no need to rub my nose in it,” he quips.

“You started it, grouchy,” she replies childishly, but he can’t miss the sly smile she flashes in the rear view mirror.

“Apologies for my impatience, I’m just plotting how I’ll kill this boy when I find him. Skinning seems to be the preferred option before ripping out his heart.”

“What did we discuss about those unhealthy thoughts?”

“Not to have or entertain them, but have you met me, sweetheart? We all know that was wishful thinking on your part,” he chuckles. “Or I could throw on some petrol and set him alight before a nice stake to the heart?”

“You are having way too much fun at my expense, although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.” She grins surprisingly. “Maybe you just need something to take your mind off those death wishes?”

“I’m listening…” And he actually is, in fact his mind is going a million miles a minute wondering just what she is going to suggest. Klaus can definitely suggest a few tactics to keep them both occupied.

“I think we should play a game,” she suggests, turning to glance at him briefly before returning her concentration on the road ahead.

“I’m listening…” if he had a heartbeat, Klaus knew his heart would be racing right now. What could she possibly have in mind?

“Oh, so now you decide to be quiet and stop ruining my stuff,” she scoffs. “How about Eye Spy? I was the Eye Spy champion three years running in primary school.” Klaus isn’t surprised given her competitive nature, another thing he finds eternally endearing about the bubbly blonde.

“I don’t doubt that,” he shares, a knowing smile escaping his lips. “But I have a feeling it’s not going to quite cut it in terms of keeping my mind fully occupied.”

“Trust me, you will,” she offers. “You go first.” Klaus sighs knowing she means well in all of her Caroline Forbes perkiness but he’s disappointed this is her first choice. He gives her another look and the raise of her eyebrows tells Klaus she’s back in headmistress mode.

“I spy…” he falters.

“With my little eye…” he gives her a look which plainly says he’s not one of her younger students she needs to prompt.

“Are you going to let me finish?”

“Call it the competitive, teacher in me.”

“You don’t say,” he growls. “Fine, I spy with my little eye something beginning with R.”

“Really Klaus? You couldn’t have thought of anything more original than road?”

“How do you know it isn’t road but some brilliant idea you’re never going to guess?”

“Because I was the eye spy champion 3 years…”

“In a row, I got that, Caroline,” he shoots back, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. “Of course I can come up with something else but I would rather name all the ways I can kill that boy starting with the letter R if I’m being truly honest.”

“Fine, what will get your mind off maiming your daughter’s boyfriend then?”

“Certainly not calling him that,” Klaus replies, emitting a low wolf like growl and Caroline knows she’s gone too far.

“What can I say, old habits die hard, spoil sport,” she mutters. “What do you want to play?”

He stills for a moment and suddenly she’s feeling self conscious about how he’s interpreting her rather loaded question given their past. Damn him for being so gorgeous in that henley and making her want to do things she’s only dreamt about.

Klaus is finding it difficult to breathe, mainly because his arousal is growing steadily and threatening to escape his jeans and give his intentions away. What does she expect saying something so suggestive and looking so delectable?

He’s long dreamt of games they could play together, even a car scenario wasn’t completely out of the realms of possibility in his mind.

“Fine,” he coughs, attempting to regain some control of the situation. “Truth or dare.”

“You cannot be serious,” she drawls by way of response.

“I’m deathly serious love, what do you have to hide?”

“Next you’ll suggest spin the bottle,” she scoffs, avoiding the question, a healthy blush crossing her face yet again and doing nothing to contain his budding excitement.

“That was my first choice but unfortunately no bottle,” he teases, sending her a wolfish grin from the passenger seat.

“I have nothing to hide,” she murmurs. “You’re going to wish you never challenged me Mikaelson, I win everything I play.”

Caroline wasn’t so confident; in fact she was terrified. Terrified of the fact that Klaus would see right through her and the feelings she’d kept so carefully hidden for years. But now they were alone, emotions threatening to be laid bare and she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to talk her way out of this.

“I suppose we’ll have to wait and see,” he boasts.

Klaus knows from their past, he was the one who was always honest, always wore his heart on his sleeve. It was Caroline who continuously hid their burgeoning attraction and if anyone had anything to lose, it was her.

“Do you regret the time we spent together?

“Seriously?” She stalls, her blue eyes widening. “Okay, if it'll take your mind off of wanting to murder an innocent teenage boy, then no, I don't regret our time together.”

Klaus is fairly certain he feels his heart torn from his chest given the loud interruption but the steering wheel is moving erratically and he knows it’s something more mechanical.

If the universe was listening to their conversation, Klaus was fairly certain it had a plan and he wasn’t altogether upset about the interruption.

#truth or dare #klaroline drabbles #misssophiachase #what an episode #what could have been #road trip

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home-working · 5 years

Text

Powerlunching with Mary Dauterman

I’d normally avoid posting two interviews in a row, but honestly my life is a bore, and this one’s been burning a hole in my e-pocket for over a month, so why not!? Happy March, y’all!

I met Mary when my friend Jackie invited us to a friendly lady dinner because we all had a background in advertising, and when Jackie moved away, Mary and I kept hanging out due to us both being art director-types that like graphic novels and are into doing funny projects. Mary has great glasses and is both younger than me and has some legit awards/recognitions under her belt (Young Guns, anyone?), so if she wasn’t so damn nice and creative, I would probably have to claw her face off (because women can’t be happy for each other’s successes, of course). Every once in a while we meet up to work from home together, brainstorm ideas, or just hang out; a little while ago we met for lunch at baba cool to do just that!

(This is also the first interview I’ve done in person instead of via emailed questions, so like, please bask in its authenticity and the novel way I can ask follow-up questions.)

What’s your full name? My full name is Mary Margaret Dauterman.

And where are you from originally? I’m from Dallas, Texas.

What do you do for a living? I’m a freelance art director and director, and I do lots of crafts and stuff I guess.

Where did you go to school? I went to University of Texas, it was in-state tuition, and I have no loans, so that’s great.

What’s in-state tuition? Because I’m from Texas, it was super cheap. But it was a pretty good school, and I got to live in Austin, and I love Austin. I was majoring in straight-up advertising, but in year 2 I found out there was a creative sequence you could apply to, so I got into that program and we made fake ads for 2 years, so I had a fake ad portfolio to get other jobs. That’s a thing only University of Texas has that was purely lucky.

Do you have a bachelor? Yeah, I have a BS.

HAHAHA… so advertising is sciences? I took so much biology and I thought I had every dramatic disease cause that’s all I was learning. I was like, I definitely have Marfan syndrome. It’s tall people who are near-sighted and have very long limbs and oversized hearts and a lot of them drop dead in their early 30s. The case study was this woman named Flo Hyman who was a volleyball player, and they think Abraham Lincoln had it, too.

Marfan syndrome!

I know you’ve done a lot of non-client side projects, can you tell me about them? I do so much non-client work. I just made a video about an influencer who shits her pants. I have written and illustrated two books. I made a tortilla towel a few years ago. I guess I made more web-based stuff at first; I made an awards show for gifs when I lived in California.

Do you code? No, not at all. That one, I had the idea at work and so there was a web developer who made it with my photoshop files. I’ve made a few tiny sites that I’ve made [my boyfriend] Kirill code, like yulebra.com. It’s just like a yule log, but a bra was burnt.

How do you find the time to do self-directed projects in between client work? I guess now I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it. Now I’m really excited when I have downtime in between clients, when before I used to be mad stressed [about money]; you just don’t know what’s going to happen. And then if you’re making an expensive project you’re like, I need money for my project. But now I’m psyched about my downtime cause I can focus on my weird shit. If I get obsessive about an idea I just want to work on it all the time, just literally squeezing it in any time I don’t have to respond to other stuff. I’m a big old dork and I like working.

How do you negotiate work or rates as a woman? The best thing is to keep it all in email, which I’ve actually been told not to do, but you can be as emotionless as possible and just send the info without making it about the fact that you’re a woman. Give yourself an hour to respond so you can think about it before you send something. Every time I send something out of anxiety it’s bad. Be a slower emailer!

So you work from home a lot of the time. I know you were in agencies before, so how did you make the transition? My first freelance gig was in Portland, and every time they’ve hired me since they ask if I can come out there. Sometimes I’m like, “Sure”, and other times I’m like, “I don’t want to come live there for 3 months again, that was intense, and my life is in New York”. So for them I work remotely a lot. And then a couple of places here, I’ve said, “Hey if we don’t have meetings, I can just work from home”, and they’re cool with it. The best way to do it is to have a client that is nowhere near you so there’s no way to go into an office.

How do you find clients? Do they come to you? Mostly the places I freelance for had recruiters that reached out to me asking for me to become full time and I said, "No, but I will freelance for you”. So that’s how it’s happened a lot. Sometimes, since I’ve worked at so many big agencies, all the people I’ve met there have dispersed and will sometimes reach out or I’ll bug them and find gigs.

What would your dream job be? I think in terms of lifestyle, I like my [current] lifestyle, it’s great. Project-wise, I’m wanting to do more short films, so I’m planning on that. But it would be such a dream if someone else paid for that, not me.

I’m pretty certain I want to focus on directing but the aesthetics of things are still very important [to me], that’s part of why I like [self-producing projects], cause it’s all that stuff at once. I’m thinking I want to be directing commercials and then getting to do passion projects with that funding, but if there was no financial concern, it would be cool to just be directing movies… but that’s like, NOT REAL, haha.

But probably [my dream job is] no real job. Just lots of things at once.

In regards to working at home, what do you find yourself wearing? Well I only have one pair of sweatpants. I’m looking for recommendations for a second.

I was in UNIQLO recently and I’m considering getting a pair. I know we’re both kind of tall, and you’re taller than me, but I have a hard time finding sweatpants that are long enough. Long sweatpants are important. I bought some online and they had a drop crotch and I’m like, this isn’t going to work, even if no one’s ever going to see me. Just, no.

I also hate the ones that are low-rise. I need a high-rise on my sweatpants! You want to be cozy!

Do you wear them everyday? Lately, embarrassingly yes; sometimes leggings, sometimes I will put on comfy jeans. My boyfriend was making fun of me because sometimes I will get dressed from the waist up because I have video calls, but sometimes it’s literally the t-shirt I slept in the night before and then I’ll put on pants.

What’s your favourite thing to eat when you’re working from home? I’ve basically been trying to recreate sweetgreen bowls. I’ve been doing lots of stir fried veggies and grains and stuff, which would be $15 if I weren’t at home.

What’s the most shameful thing you eat? I eat handfuls of chocolate chips a lot. I went through a phase where I was just making myself a giant grilled cheese every single day, and then I was like, Why do I feel horrible?! It’s so delicious! Actually no, I take that back; the most shameful thing is when I just Seamless something to my house when I have plenty of time to cook.

How does your boyfriend like living with someone who works from home? Recently I was bragging to someone about how I was really clean, and [my boyfriend] was like, “Uh NO, sometimes I come home from work and wonder, what the hell happened in here?!” If I’m intensely in a project I will still cook myself lunch and then just leave everything out, which is gross.

I get that, you don’t want to spend your precious time cleaning. You’re like, Huuuhhhh I have a deadline!!

What do you listen to when you work? Sometimes I watch movies when I’m working if it’s something mindless. I listen to podcasts and recently I’ve been listening to lots of classical music but it kind of makes me feel like I’m a serial killer plotting a murder.

How do you practice self-care* and work/life balance? Well I just came from the gym. I have 2 gym classes I really like going to but I can only go to them if I’m working from home because they’re at 10am on weekdays. And I’m like, who are all the other people in here?! They’re packed classes!

I think a lot of people either work in the service industry at night, or they’re like us, or maybe they’re housewives? I think at the Park Slope location, all housewives. And there’s always one 40-50yr old guy in this one pilates class I take and I decided he just sold a bajillion dollar company, that’s his deal. Although he would probably go to Equinox if that’s his story, not Crunch. So I dunno what he does.

Do you have any weird skills or talents I don’t know about? I should be talented but I’m not. I took piano until I was 18 but I am not good at it.

Anything else you want to plug while you’re here? I recommend getting a cat while you work from home. It makes you feel less alone, even if they’re passed out asleep. [My cats are] Lemon, from Liz Lemon, and Bobby, after Bobby Hill. Lemon loves conference calls and she comes running and sits on my lap during them which is really nice.

Mary with Bobby, last August

Are there any tv shows or books you're really into right now?* Ooh ok I JUST binged all of Russian Doll in one day and I'm pretty sure I loved it. I'm also always re-watching old eps of King of the Hill and X-Files. I'm currently reading The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson. I'm really into the graphic novel Beverly and got Sabrina by Nick Drnaso (your suggestion!). It was DARK and sad and good.

What are you wearing? I’m wearing a sweatshirt that is red, a shirt that I sleep in a lot, and leggings that I think are my mom’s, and some Nikes, and a coat. I’m *so* glad this is my outfit for our interview, but it’s pretty accurate.

*Shoutout to Chanice Hughes-Greenberg and her inspiring bi-monthly interview newsletter Who Is She, who I blatantly stole these great questions from. Subscribe!

#cats #tortilla towel #advertising #chocolate chips #art director #marfan syndrome #sweatpants

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