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boldlyanxious · 3 years

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Love in the Time of Taco Trucks

Jasonette July SC 2: fluff

Part of bittersweet ever after

My masterlist

Marinette had been stuck on a series of buses all evening and she was exhausted. Her work day was long and the subway was backed up. The bus should have gotten her back over an hour ago, but she was not the only person who switched to the bus after waiting too long at the subway platform. She was hungry and tired and didn’t want to have to cook when she got home. Luckily she had spied the taco truck down the block so she had a plan for that.

She smiled as she approached Grant, the taco truck guy. She had been there a few times when her tips were good, so she was familiar with him. He was so proud of having called his taco truck Tuesday so it could always be taco Tuesday. He told her that joke every time. She rushed down the block and waved at him when it seemed like he was cleaning up for the evening.

“Please serve me before you close, Grant. I’m desperate,” she begged.

“Long day?” she nodded at him. “I have just enough for one order.”

He looked to his left and made a sad face at her. Marinette looked over. There was a man with a mask approaching.

“Sorry Marinette, I can’t serve you tonight.”

She didn’t even get a chance to protest because Grant had turned and greeted the masked man.

“Good evening, Red Hood.”

“How is it going Grant? Is it too late for tacos?”

“It is never too late for you. I’ll have them right out.”

“Seriously?? This day sucks.”

Marinette felt silly at the rage that filled her but she couldn’t help it. Her whole day was filled with people expecting special treatment and then her commute home was so long and full of more people who had no concern for the inconvenience they caused others. She had been so happy at the simple solution only to be denied when someone else showed up to get special treatment.

She barely felt the first couple drops of rain when she stepped away from the taco truck. But before she was even halfway down the block the water was pouring down on her. She ran for the nearest awning to get out of the deluge. She dug through her bag but she must have left her umbrella at work. She heard footsteps splashing the wet ground behind her and then stopped. She turned when the man’s voice spoke.

“Hey, Marinette?”

She hadn’t expected him to know her name. She wondered what Grant had told him about her. She was trying to place who he was. She didn’t know all the costumed alter egos in Gotham and always felt awkward when others talked about them. Most Gothamites already knew most of them and assumed others would as well. She supposed it was the same way with how it had been in Paris when Hawkmoth had been active.

“Yes?” she said hesitantly.

“Grant said you had been ordering food but he only had enough for one. I had him make it into nachos to spread out the ingredients so that way there would be enough for both or us.”

He handed her a box. She looked up at him when she accepted it.

“Um, thanks. I was really disappointed.”

“Probably how I felt watching you walk away.”

“What??” Marinette looked up at him quickly.

“Can I walk you home? I have an umbrella.”

Marinette nodded. It may not have been the best idea. She found that out more the next day when she mentioned that she had met the Red Hood. Her coworkers wanted to know how she had gotten away and if Batman had come to rescue her. She chose not to give any additional details. He had seemed very sweet walking her home. They had started off in silence but he asked a few questions and worked out that she had a really rough day. He listened to her and wished her a good evening before he left.

---

She was starting to think that Red Hood was planning their meetings. Grant refused to confirm, but it was the third week in a row that he had just happened to show up when she was walking past the taco truck. Each time he insisted on getting her tacos because he had made her think that she would have to go without on a day she really needed them. The first time could have been a chance. The second time it could have been his routine. The third time was definitely suspicious. But now, she looked down the street and Grant was already closed.

It was a shame. Red Hood had surprised her with tacos three weeks in a row and now she was craving them today. Oh well, she had food at home she could make. Somehow tacos always sounded better. Even if they weren’t free courtesy of the notorious crime lord Red Hood.

She was a little surprised when Grant called to her from behind the taco truck. She had thought he was closed up and gone already. She was really surprised when she rounded the corner and saw the set up. There was a blanket laid out and lights strung around. The area was hidden enough that someone would have to look around the truck to see them. That was probably best for a crime lord who may not like to stay out in the open. He was sitting there at ease, waiting for her, with probably enough tacos to feed an army. Marinette couldn’t help the smile at seeing it all.

“What is all this?”

“Tacos.” he said with a laugh.

“Okay, smart guy. Why did you get an entire taco truck worth of tacos today?”

“Sit with me.”

Marinette tucked her legs under herself and sat in front of him on the blanket. He handed her a plate with tacos and picked up one himself. Neither spoke for a few minutes. Marinette followed his lead and started eating. He stopped eating and watched her for a moment.

“I like you,” he said simply.

She almost choked on her taco. She suspected as much since he kept showing up. She didn’t think he was just interested in her thoughts on how to improve fashion to be useful to workers or how to improve the look or the various heroes and villains in the city. But he stated it so clearly and easily that it somehow made it more difficult to take in.

“Oh-uh-aahh. I like you too.”

“Really? You don’t sound so sure.”

“You just came right out and said it. Who does that?”

“Well, I do.” he paused. “So I guess Jason does.”

“Jason?”

“Yes. Jason. Me.”

“You told me your name. Isn’t that like vigilante 101? Keep your identity secret.”

“Probably. But I don’t want to be a secret from you. I want to know you.”

---

It was much easier for Marinette to date Jason than it would have been to date Red Hood. He had managed to keep his identity and personal life away from his home life because of the mask. Even those who knew who he was by given name had no idea where he lived or that he was dating a waitress. Grant knew but he was very loyal to Red Hood. They may have met through the protection racket, but Red Hood had proved he was worth it when the Black Mask had come knocking. Literally.

They had come on a night Grant’s daughter was running the truck for him. She usually only helped out on busy nights and wouldn’t be alone but Grant had been sick and she set up for him. They must have decided that she was easy to convince and went after her when she was there alone. But she refused to pay so they trashed the truck and knocked her around a bit as a means of convincing her. Red Hood had heard the shouts and crashes and saw her land on the ground after being shoved into the door. She had turned the handle to help her escape the onslaught but she broke her leg in the fall. Her lip was already split from being slapped.

Red Hood did not even need to ask what had happened. He saw Black Mask’s goons exit after her and walk up to her menacingly. He waited until they were fully out and focused on tormenting the girl before he attacked them. He never found out if they survived the beat down he gave them. He didn’t even care. He stayed with Kara until her parents were able to come and get her help. Red Hood visited Grant a couple days later. He assured him that his truck would be in business again and covered all the expenses not covered by the business insurance. Property and injury. Grant never complained about the protection money and Jason never paid for another taco.

It was their first time visiting the taco truck together after officially starting dating. Grant didn’t say anything about the boyfriend Marinette showed up with who had the same build as Red Hood. He served them with a smile, not even a wink when he told them their meals were on the house.

He had even taken Marinette’s favorite picture of them. Jason was teasing Marinette as he snatched her last taco. He was putting it up to his mouth but rather than trying to fight with him over it, she lunged at him and bit the other side. The picture was snapped right as they both were appearing to eat the taco. She cheered in triumph for besting him. He laughed and put her taco down before he leaned in and kissed her for the first time.

---

Jason grasped Marinette by the shoulders and kept her upright. He ended up having to leave her for a few minutes to handle something that couldn’t wait. He was incredibly frustrated at the interruption but she just took the bumps in their relationships as they came. It was one of the things he loved about her. She never shamed him when his work interfered with their relationship. She knew he worked hard to make sure that his work wouldn’t interfere but that their decision to keep her hidden from everything in his criminal life would sometimes take precedence over their plans.

She had been perfectly happy to sit and wait. But she had wanted to wait for him to order food. She had a bit of bread with her drink. Jason had left the instruction to keep her happy while he was out back on the call. He found out when he returned that they might have kept her too happy. Her drink was full when he returned but based on the check she had drunk several of the drinks in the time he was away.

She was drunk. She was teetering on the line between tipsy and happy drunk. He liked her like this. Happy and affectionate. He almost decided to just carry her back home but she squealed with delight when she saw the taco truck. She hadn’t had more than a couple pieces of bread and plenty of drinks. He looked over and Grant was waving at them.

Jason smiled down at her while he let Grant fix them the usual. Marinette turned and kissed him while they waited. She usually didn’t like to be overly affectionate in public but when her inhibitions were lower she cared far less about them being noticed. He could see that Grant was trying not to laugh at him as he tried to keep her from doing more than he knew she preferred before they got home. It was much easier once the food was ready. She clapped in excitement to get her tacos. She probably enjoyed the food more than the fancy dinner he had planned.

He watched her sit to eat, not even wanting to wait until they made it home. She looked back up at him and smiled then looked devastated as her taco dumped out onto her tray. He got up to retrieve her a fork. He didn’t think she would even hear his wistful comment in her current state.

“You silly beautiful woman.” He kissed her on the head before he sat back down. “I was supposed to be asking you to marry me right now.”

He was looking at the small box from the fancy restaurant. He just took it with him, planning to remove the ring and come up with a new proposal plan. He glanced back at her. She was looking at him, frozen. It took him a moment to figure out what had made her react like that. Her eyesb were wide but somehow got even wider when he opened the box. A gleaming diamond ring was displayed in the fancy slice of cake.

“You want to marry me?”

“I have never wanted anything more.” he said seriously.

Marinette didn’t even answer. She lunged at him and hugged him. He tried to stop everything from falling but her tray of tacos and the slice of cake hit the ground. He had to hold himself steady to keep her from knocking him to the ground with the force of her enthusiasm. He pushed her hair back from her face and leaned down to kiss her deeply.

“Marry me?” he asked when he pulled away.

“Always.” she said as she leaned to kids him again.

---

It was a small ceremony. Jason had family but he didn't talk to them and Marinette’s situation was even more complicated. They kept the engagement short and invited only a few people. Jason’s idea was to do it behind the taco truck since it seemed to always make an appearance in their lives. But Marinette wanted some place prettier. She found a park with an old stone stair path that came out of the trees and into a clearing. It wasn’t by the seating area in the park but with a few flowers and battery powered fairy lights it turned out perfect.

They did it at dusk when the city was quiet. Darkness had just settled. Jason almost fell over when he saw Marinette walk towards him. She hadn’t let him see anything of the dress ahead of time but he knew she had spend countless hours working on it. A pale gold dress with thousands of tiny rose gold beads sewn on and tiny fairy lights attached to the dress. Her hair was swept up with glittering jewels and curls cascading down her back.

He was the luckiest man alive. Not even because he was alive for the second time. He had her and he was better for it. He couldn’t even bring himself to think of the 'what if they had never met' or he had never followed after her that first night. He wouldn’t have anything in his life if she weren’t smiling at him like she was right now.

Having the taco truck cater for the small wedding was the first decision made after they found the ring in the cake and dirt. Grant had come out to congratulate them and Marinette had happily declared that they had to have tacos at the wedding. It seemed fitting since Grant had been at all the big moments from the beginning of their relationship. He felt like family.

---

Marinette ventured into their living room to see that Jason had already set out coffee and was bringing a tray that presumably had breakfast if the smell was anything to go on. She sat at the breakfast bar and poured coffee into the two mugs he had set out. She paused with the cream halfway tipped toward the coffee when she spotted a familiar logo on a take out box.

“What’s this?” she asked, pointing at the offending box. “Did you get tacos without me?”

He pushed the box towards her with a grin.

“Open it,” he said.

She looked at him skeptically but opened it like he suggested. There were a couple bits of food in the empty box but not the tacos she was hoping he would surprise her with.

“Gee, thanks.” she said, before pushing it into the trash.

The grin melted off his face and he frantically went for the box in the trash. He pulled it out and opened it before flipping it over and checking the bottom. He stuck his finger through a small hole and wiggled it. He dug back into the trash briefly before dropping the box in the can and tearing frantically around the apartment. Marinette was worried at the unexplained reaction as he crawled along the floor and flipped over cushions. She abandoned the coffees on the counter to follow him when he moved towards the bedroom.

“Jay, what’s wrong? I’m not mad about the tacos. I know you were out late and I was already asleep.”

“It was your gift.”

“You got me tacos and they escaped into the apartment?”

“No, I got you a hamster and it escaped in the apartment.”

“A hamster?”

“I know we said anniversary gifts weren’t necessary and that we both prefer spontaneous gifts but it was. I saw it in the window on the way home last night and remembered that you had always wanted a hamster.”

“Maybe the taco box wasn’t the best place for it overnight.”

“I’m not that ridiculous. I put it in the box just a few minutes ago when I heard you waking up.”

He opened the closet and pulled down a box from the high shelf. It was full of all the things they could think to need with a hamster. The hamster case was set up and looked to have a little snuggly area where it had spent the night. The only thing missing was the hamster. They looked all over. It was an exhausting day and they ended up missing their dinner reservation for their 2 year anniversary. They ended up sprawled on the couch snuggling at the end of the day with no sign of the hamster.

Taglist

#maribat #jasonette july 2021 #jasonette july #jasonette #fluffy #fluff #fluffy saturdays #boldlyanxious

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misscrawfords · 3 years

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17+32, Catherine and Henry (Northanger Abbey)?

War AU + Pregnancy fic

My anon, are you sure about this? Because this sounds hella angsty and if Catherine and Henry are anything, it's not angsty!

So I'm really sorry for completely ruining your desire for angst here.

Catherine goes to war in maternity leave.

Not literally, don't be ridiculous. She's an English teacher; what on earth would she be doing in a war zone? (She did once fancy herself a member of the Royal Navy but she had been 13 and mostly inspired by going on a high ropes adventure course on a school trip. The craze had not lasted.)

No, maternity leave is simultaneously boring and freeing. Since she started as a teacher, she's never had so much free time to just think. Henry's around some of the time, of course, but he has sermons to write and parishoners to see and tedious parish council meetings to chair. She flits in with cups of tea (waddles, really, at this point) and homemade cake that they at least pretend to like. (Sometimes she likes to give in to all the stereotypes of a vicar's wife. It makes her feel strangely cosy.) But when she isn't baking, she's at war.

At war on the internet. With the dog over her feet and a cup of tea at her side.

It started with a fun looking show on Netflix. Henry pointed it out to her one evening. "It's aimed at people who really loved Twilight when they were teengers and now lead depressingly generic lives in suburbia. People like you," he added pointedly.

Catherine narrowed her eyes and didn't let on that she'd already seen the trailer. "You're going to make fun of it."

"I mean... yes... obviously, but also, I really want to see whether the Dawn Angel gets together with the..." He squinted at the summary on his phone. "Immortal Night Demon or with her high school ex-boyfriend turned firefighter, Jordan. Golly, tough choice there, right? It's going to be compelling drama - breathtaking fight scenes, symbolic dark and light imagery, the epic highs and lows of high school football. You name it!"

They binged the whole thing in two days. Henry's next sermon, on the possibility of redemption even for demons and the devil himself, had been written in a fever dream by both of them at 2am after staying up far too late on Saturday arguing over the fate of the Night Demon and other related topics.

Old Mrs. Evans was heard to mutter sourly to her daughter Carys after the service, "That'll put the cat among the pigeons, that will alright. Too much Milton, not enough St Paul!"

"I always find Milton very inspiring!" Catherine replied bravely and loyally, as she helped them to a cup of tea in the church hall. She smiled at Carys, whom she'd taught Paradise Lost to at A Level a couple of years earlier. "St Paul too, of course," she added quickly, quailing under the mother's righteous glare. "Very inspiring."

But without marking or admin or driving to and from the high school in the large town half an hour away and without groups of teenagers to debate books with on a daily basis, Catherine found herself bored.

So she booted up her tumblr once again, abandoned since teaching had taken over her life and spending time with her wonderful, clever, funny, loving husband had seemed more interesting than scrolling aimlessly through social media, and discovered to her gleeful pleasure that fandom had not changed much and neither had she.

Or so she thought. Nowadays, she realises, everyone is moralising. The prevailing view seems to be that teenage girls in fandom aren't capable of distinguishing fact from fiction, that if they want a fictional heroine to rule hell with a sexy demon overlord at her side that must mean that that's what they want in real life. That the only moral thing to do here would be to marry the nice but boring guy who's been there for ever.

Catherine is an English teacher married to a vicar. If anyone knows anything about morality and fiction, it's her. This is all sounding very similar to the male critical outrage at women's novels in the 18th century. It seems nothing ever changes except that this time it's girls doing it to each other. Catherine writes several essays explaining all of this. She gets sent death threats and called an abuse apologist.

"It's so strange," she muses to Henry, as they eat homemade Thai curry in front of the aga.

"What is?" he replies. (She's told him everything, of course.) "The teenagers sending you anonymous death threats on tumblr? Because-"

"Nah, that's just standard for tumblr. I mean, it's so strange that anyone would want Griselda to be with Jordan. He's just so... normal and not in a good way. Just always going on about football and how great he was in high school. He really peaked then and he's a firefighter so that should make him brave but he never seems to actually do any fire fighting. He just talks about it as if we're meant to be impressed. We all know a Jordan and nobody wants to date him."

She'd know. Her first boyfriend had been a Jordan. They'd dated for five minutes. (Literally five minutes. Then she'd realised she'd been asked out and not to do a singing gig. Thorpy had been so subtle as to be unintelligible. Then she'd run for the hills, more disappointed in not having her vocal talents finally recognised than in being asked out by such a bore.)

"So a literal demon is a better bet?" Henry asks. "Just asking for clarification. Next year's Halloween costume depend on it."

"He's interesting and sexy and treats Griselda as an equal. What more do you want?"

"Well, speaking as a clergyman...." Henry begins with faux pomposity as he often does, his expression very fond.

She leaves him to do the washing up and lecture the dog. (She frequently hears him discussing doctrinal issues with the dog from the other room. It's adorable. She wonders if he'll be like this with the baby too. She can't wait.)

Back in her study, she boots the kitten off her chair and settles down for a long evening of defending a fictional relationship against antis, maybe reading a bit of a 52 chapter fanfiction where the Night Demon owns a tattoo parlour in New York City, and continuing to work a little on her new scheme of work for Year 9 when she eventually returns to work. It has the working title of "Sexy villains through history and why we should stan them".

She might need to edit that before she pitches it to her Head of Department.

There's a wonderful smell coming from downstairs: Henry is spontaneously baking apple cake. If she glances behind her computer monitor to the window, the graveyard looms dark and comforting in the autumn night, illuminated just by one of the outside lights on the old church. On a cushion by the bookcase, the kitten is lightly snoring and twitches in her sleep. She feels the baby shift slightly within her.

Shipping wars and the thrill of being so engaged in a fandom once more might fill a current space in her life, but goodness, she knows the difference between fact and fiction! Why would she want anything other than what she already has? Life is good.

#northanger abbey #jane austen #fanfiction #henry tilney #catherine morland #henry x catherine #i am strangely overcome by emotions at this sickly sweet and fluffy slice of life for modern married Henry and Catherine #I LOVE THEM SO MUCH #and sorry not sorry for the fandom meta #i actually love how modern AU Northanger Abbey just has to be about fandom #and attitudes towards certain kinds of YA fiction #and it just blows my mind that anyone doing a modern NA might think it was about anything ese #*else #rose writes

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juneviews · 3 years

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axelle judges non bl shows > 46 days

/!\ SPOILERS AHEAD

shitty summary: Ying Ying, a fallen net idol, must help her best friend Noina court the handsome Doctor Korn, who was Noina’s first love. The only problem: Doctor Korn is getting married in 46 days.

where to watch: youtube

grade: 8/10

pros:

- the characters were amazing. ying ying is a great main character as she’s quite reasonable in her choices & feels very relatable to the viewer. noina is a little more over the top, but she’s so cute it’s hard to be mad at her, even when she’s too desperate & pushy for her own good. korn is extremely bland & boring at first, but for once in a male lead it’s actually on purpose, and seeing him come out of his shell little by little was very satisfying. as for pat, he’s basically the perfect man. he’s mature, a great friend & boyfriend, but still very funny when he’s scared & as an ex-playboy. wisa is frankly one of the best villains ever? she’s both completely cartoon-ish in her villainy, yet has very real moments that show her struggles to define herself outside of how her parents view her. I kinda stan her ngl :’)

- the acting was really good! whoever thought of pairing baifern & mild as bffs deserves a raise, bc the chemistry of these two in emotional scenes is THROUGH THE ROOF!!! you feel every emotion they’re going through. as for nonkul he did great, and this is actually the first role of his where he leaves a positive impression on me as his other roles were honestly just too bland. ploy was also amazing as wisa, she feels like a whole other person from her usual sweet roles so it was great to witness that! all of the other actors were great in their own way too!

- the chemistry was also top-tier, which is pretty amazing considering ying ying & korn spend most of the show apart, and even when they’re together ying ying is trying to make him like noina so it’s not like too much romantic stuff can be going on. even with that, the way those two look at each other was enough for the viewer to completely feel the love between them. pat & noina were an amazing side ship who are way more light than the main one, but the chemistry which already existed in girl next room: richy rich absolutely continued & even deepened in this series :)

- the friendship in this series is great, and showcases why exactly female friendship is simply superior™. gonna be honest I almost feel like this show is more about ying ying & noina than their love stories, and I loved seeing how close & loyal to each other they are. these two are basically sisters, and it was great to witness such a beautiful friendship on screen.

- the story is entertaining as hell, it definitely has a lot of over the top elements that come with lakorns & simply this type of story, but behind all of that it still feels pretty realistic. the choices made by the characters make sense, their character development is written well and it all fits very well into a cohesive story.

- I literally never comment on it, but the costume design was TOP-NOTCH!!! I loved how ying ying’s outfits are a bit more boyish & streetwear compared to noina’s hyper feminine & cutesy outfits. I love how wisa’s extravagant clothes match yoo’s top-tier wardobe compared to korn’s bland one. I love that the two doctors dress very simply as fashion is clearly not their priority, but that pat is often seen wearing stripes, as if it was his favorite pattern in clothing. this costume design was just very well done in my opinion, and it’s one of the rare times I actually noticed & appreciated the clothes used in a show.

cons:

- I gotta say the transphobia in the show made me pretty uncomfortable. I feel like there’s two separate things about it: firstly they’re trying to show the transphobia that pang faces, but it does feel pretty clumsy considering her transphobic dad accepts her out of nowhere after having completely denied her gender for years... secondly there are other instances that just feel insensitive, like when ying ying introduces pang to korn as her “big brother... oh, I mean big sister.” that remark really bothered me bc ying ying has known pang’s gender for years at this point & is very close to her, so there was no reason to introduce her like that apart from making it clear to korn that she’s transgender, which... is simply not her place to say that at all. idk, I know the show had good intentions, but for me that wasn’t what was translated on screen.

- like every romcom, this does fall into pretty cliche territories. ying ying & korn HAVING to be each other’s first loves was v obvious & pretty unoriginal, though I like that they’re balanced by pat & noina who are not each other’s first loves. there’s a few moments in this show that feel like that, and it’s not like the show as a whole isn’t incredibly predictable. I don’t think you’ll be surprised once during this show, there’s no plot twist whatsoever. but I don’t think it was the point anyway, so... yeah. it’s just what keeps me from giving it a higher grade.

would I rewatch it: why not!

This was a really lovely show that completely exceeded my expectations compared to its trailers. In terms of straight romances, this is definitely one of the best I’ve ever watched from Thailand so I’d definitely recommend it! It also gives pretty good lessons about love & marriage that feel way more realistic than most romcoms.

#46 days #46 days the series #axelle judges non bl shows #bypiningbisexuals #my gif as alwayyys

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aquariusshadow · 3 years

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Live!Blogging HSMTMTS s2x7

So. I’m excited. Portwell impress me. Sorry this is out later than usual ehehe.

Man episode 7 already? Damn

Udghvlasfhdvbfsdhfbvjsdfkv

STOP

YALL

PORTWELL MONTAGE

EXCUSE YOU

EXCUSE ME

STOP THAT WAS CUTE

THEYRE SO HAPPY IN THOSE PICS—

Thank you carlos for posting the song

‘ricky supportive’ Mhmmm

He’s not gonna freak out over the song?

Oh yea he’s not happy lmao

Ricky and ej having fun and laughing that’s cute too

Ahhhh yay costumes

I get stupidly giddy about things like that haha

We love happy kourt

“oh my god is your phone hungry? I don’t understand what I’m hearing” im sorry kourt but that was really funny

Eh yea

If theyre sending lily to spy (seriously what is the point of her character?)

Then honestly? Wouldn’t surprise me if they did actually steal

Ashlyn you are COMMITTED to this rendezvous

Hello new guy flirting with gina

Ej where you at

Someone’s hitting on gina

Hellooooooooo

GHJKLFDAF

SI WASKDJFASJDLFHA;SLGSLFD;JKFG

SDGALSDKAGJSDALHSDG

AASDJGLHASKLKASDJHFLAKSDFHLKASDFHKASLDF

AASKJDFHALKSDHFLKASDJKHFLASDJAKLHFSDFHALSDFHAKSJDFAKLSDFAHSLDF

STOOOOOOOOOOOOP

I WAS KIDDING

OH MY GOD

I WAS KIDDING HOLY SHIT

Fake!couple trope for portwell

Lily stop ruining this cute portwell moment I swear

Yea nini do it!!! That’ll give you such good musical exposure

“why are you giving me ‘handsome eyes’?”

That’s a good line ahaha

Gina smiling at ej as soon as lily suggests a dance off

I love gina sticking up for Ashlyn like that “no one outbelle’s our belle”

Im sorry

But

The auto tune on miss jenn and zack’s voices

It’s a bit much ngl

So how many love interests does miss jenn have?

…..i am enjoying this duet tho haha

The chemistry here is pretty strong I feel

Im vibin

Oh good lord lily

I really wish ricky figured out the meaning of nini’s song on his own instead of lily pushing it on him

We love Ashlyn staying loyal to big red

Hiofchjgkvlugfhjgufyghgufygjh

Foreign exchange student: im sorry if I say something rude, I’m not that good at the English language yet

Also foreign exchange student: your boyfriend is an idiot date me instead

Ok that’s a really pretty set design

RICKY

SIR

WHAT

Rini’s communication issues are biting them in the ass now

Ooooo I like this acoustic duet with ricky and the NH beast

Im really into this dance/song off

No thoughts only gina’s awesome dancing

Wait what

That’s over???

Damn I was hoping that lasted longer

Ricky sir

Mr sir

You really don’t know how to stick up and support your girlfriend do you

So zack took the mask

We really surprised?

Nah

Portwell co-anchors? As long as gina and ej are both happy im content

OMG

I HAD A THOUGHT

EARLY ON

I DIDN’T SAY IT

BUT I WAS THINKING

Lemme guess howie’s scuff

But I didn’t wanna believe it

Goooooooooood

I should’ve said it earlier

“I’m nina”

Yea rini’s dead

No thoughts only happy Portwell.

Fr though, I’m so mad I didn’t say my suspicions about Howie at the beginning of this. Him and Kourt were pretty cute and I vibed well with them!

The song and dance off with North High was very good--I wish there was more too it honestly.

We love Hapina TM (Ginaxhappiness). I’m missing some serious Rickerapy content and....if Rini doesn’t break up the next episode then I’m officially an idiot I guess cuz that means I have absolutely no idea where this show is going lmao.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2x7 #live!blogging hsmtmts #portwell #gina porter #ej caswell #rip rini #nini salazar roberts #ricky bowen #hapina tm #rickerapy tm #no thoughts only happy portwell

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a-little-slice-of-fandom · 4 years

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A) hi how ya doing? B) I miss you C) can you analyze anything of Aragon? Thank you :)

Hey anon! I’m doing good ❤️❤️❤️ thanks so much for asking! I hope you’re doing well too!

Aragon is really interesting to me, because her song is kind of like the bohemian rhapsody of six. Very few people will say that it’s their favourite, but everyone will instantly sing along because it’s so catchy! Plus, it’s a great song to follow ex-wives with. It keeps the energy up and introduces the audience to the plot of the show.

I will say this until the day I die: while I would love if more songs were as scathing as say AYWD...you could never start with those songs. It’s too much too quickly. You need the more catchy, light-hearted songs of Ex-Wives, No Way and DLUH to start with because it helps get the audience invested in the show and the plot as a whole. Six, first and foremost, will always need to work dramatically. That’s why the old, more openly bitter No Way was changed to something a little more light-hearted.

The first thing that always comes to mind when I think of Aragon is regal. She’s the queen who was married to Henry for 24 years and was a Spanish princess as well. She’s the refined, confident queen who knows her own worth and honestly? I get the vibe she just wants a little bit of respect from the other queens. While some people characterise Aragon as rather cold, I honestly don’t get that? The show portrays Aragon as a very loyal person despite all that Henry put her through, and she clearly cares for Mary and also, to a lesser extent, Parr as her god daughter (remember she calls Howard “the least relevant Katherine”...meaning she does see Parr as relevant.) and she often refers to other queens as “babe” even though she was just arguing with them five seconds earlier (harking on the idea of forgiveness, something I think Aragon is very good at in the show!). Plus, while there’s only one line referring to Mary, Aragon is always so protective of her and warm to her. In the album, Renee’s “aw, hi baby!” is the most adorable and heartwarming part of the song and it’s clear she adores her daughter, while the “oh, you don’t remember?” in the live versions is so protective of her baby. It’s honestly something we don’t discuss enough. Moreover, Aragon’s song is one of the most energetic, but she has her earnest moment of pleading as well, along with her undisputable strength of refusing to back down and accept Henry’s lies. She is also incredibly passionate when talking about something she loves or defending herself when she has to (which make sense! This was the woman who rode with an army wearing armour while pregnant. Aragon was not to be messed with!).

I personally disagree with people who try and claim that Toby and Lucy wrote Aragon as the “angry” queen because she never truly gets to the levels of boleyn or seymour (yes there’s the miscarriage argument where she does raise her voice but like...are we ignoring Seymour’s “boohoo Mary had the chickenpox” or the fact that Boleyn is also shouting in that argument??? And she usually goes louder than Aragon???) and yet she’s so often defined by that trait even though other queens share it and are even more extreme. And yes, Im fully aware of why certain people characterise aragon in this way and I’m so annoyed that even though we continually call out the fact that’s it’s problematic, it continues to happen. However Aragon does have flaws like every good character should. Aragon just won’t try and listen to the other queens. She refuses to accept that Boleyn or Seymour might have had a worse time than her. Now I personally never got the feeling that Aragon blames the other queens for anything. Her feelings are directed at Henry. Notice in now way she talks about how henry is “running around with some pretty young thing” and she refers to him having “one son with someone who don’t own a wedding ring”. Those people? They’re clearly supposed to be Boleyn and Bessie, two people who are actually on stage at the time. But Aragon doesn’t take an easy shot at either of them in her song. She doesn’t say their name or call them out or try and involve them in her song. Contrast this with DLUH where Boleyn grabs Aragon, forces her to be front and centre in this verse and then insults her constantly (“three in the bed” = airing Aragon’s and Henry’s ✨ intimate issues ✨ with the entire world while “Don’t be bitter, cause I’m fitter” and “he doesn’t want to bang you, somebody hang you” are both pretty self explanatory). I think it’s absolutely key that Aragon doesn’t blame Boleyn or Bessie or direct any misplaced feelings towards them in no way or the show. Her (very justified) feelings of anger and betrayal are (generally) directed at Henry. And that’s something so many people ignore! And I personally wish more people would be like Aragon in this regard in the real world. I don’t know if other people agree with me, but it’s your boyfriends/husbands job to not cheat on you, not someone else’s. I do know some people think that Aragon is slighting Boleyn and Bessie in that verse but if we’re sticking to tudor ideals, Aragon not mentioning them by name (in essence keeping their “dignity” and “honour” intact) would be the kinder thing to to. (Note I’m only saying this with Tudor ideals in mind. I also think Aragon fully knows that Bessie was 13 when Henry started making advances on her and again, refuses to blame Bessie for what happened because she knows she’s a victim).

However...Aragon doesn’t ever try and listen to other queens and will insult them if she has to. She (along with the other queens like Boleyn and Seymour) gets more and more defensive and petty as the show continues. However, she never gets to the same levels of hard hitting insults has say Boleyn. But I mean...Aragon was a queen who went through so much in her lifetime and never was able to really talk about it. Yes, she resisted Henry trying to get their marriage annulled, and she was one of the strongest women at the time, but she couldn’t deal with her emotions the same way that we can today. She never got to told Boleyn to go away or leave her alone. She never got to bad mouth Henry because he was the king. She was, first and foremost, a lady, and she was expected to act in a certain way all of her life. And now that she’s reincarnated in modern days, she doesn’t have to do all of those things. She can be annoyed and let it show, she can tell Boleyn all those things she wanted to do back in the day. Some actresses even lean into the idea that it’s sort of cathartic for Aragon to FINALLY just say what she wants to say without having to worry on how it would reflect on her as queen. Mind you, I still think that Aragon considers how her words would reflect on her (much more than any other queen) but she definitely has more wiggle room within the show than she did during her reign.

In addition, while the fandom also like to reduce Aragon to obsessed with her religion, I actually really like how her relationship with Catholicism is portrayed in the show. While I do concede that Aragon’s faith is sometimes reduced to the butt of the joke, that’s not always the case and I personally really enjoy how Aragon seems to gain a lot of strength from her religion, instead of it holding her back or hindering her. While I do understand why so many characters in media struggle with their religion or find it suffocating (my relationship with Catholicism is...fragile at the best of times), but I genuinely love this idea that Aragon’s faith is what guides her and gives her inner strength in times of need. I mean,,,when she’s pleading to Henry during now way, the music slows to something that sounds more like a gospel song, Aragon is kneeling with her hands clasped and there's bright white light around her (i also vaguely remember something that looks like a crucifix behind her as well? But I'm not 100 percent sure on that). At the time where Aragon is most vulnerable and needs to find inner strength and wants guidance...she turns to her religion and that's seen as a very positive thing!!! The same with Aragon's verse in Sox. Moving to a nunnery and finding friends there is something that's now postive and liberating instead of being stuffy and boring and restrictive like nunnery are often portrayed as in media. (yes I know that's also a play on Henry wanting to send Aragon into the nunnery after their divorce but I do think that there’s no malicious religion-basing in Six is a nice touch that’s often overlooked).

Finally, Aragon’s costume is quite important to her character. It is one of the more feminine outlines (especially the updated version on broadway) and I do think it’s an inadvertent issue that the queens with the more stereotypical feminine costumes are more catty whereas the more stereotypical androgynous or masculine outfits (aka Parr and Cleves) are often the voices of reason, but I don’t think that’s intentional or is intended to comment on anything. It’s just a coincidence. However, the gold of Aragon’s outfit obviously symbolises her love, courage and passion, along with indicating her status as a noble. While yes the rest of the queens were all noble in some way before they married Henry, Aragon was a Spanish princess and the daughter of two incredibly powerful monarchs. She was probably the highest standing out of any of the queens, and her costume reflects that. I also think that her wearing gold to flaunt her status could be her trying to make up for the years between her marriages to Arthur and Henry (where she didn’t have many provisions made for her as far as I know) and also the last few years of her life. (I’ve seen differing reports on how Aragon was provided for after Henry divorced her, with her claiming that she was living in poverty while others state she got 3000 pounds. If anyone has any confirmation then let me know). Either way, her wanting to flaunt her status after her reincarnation by wearing lots of bright gold makes total sense. I’ve also seen a few people say that the bust on Aragon’s costume is the most historically accurate but I can’t confirm that, although if it is then that’s a really nice touch.

Well this took ages, but it was fun to finally get to analyse stuff again AND do it on a queen who doesn’t get discussed very much!!! Aragon often gets reduced to “catholic” or “angry” within this fandom, even though she is just as complex as any other character within the show but she just expresses things in very different ways. And that’s okay! This whole show is about how women (and NB folk!) are different and do have different experiences and do express things differently and have different personalities and that’s okay! We should celebrate our differences.

#six the musical #six #sixthemusical #ask #anon ask #anonymous #anonymous ask #anon #ask answered #enya discusses: six

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jaegerboob · 3 years

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WIP ROUNDUP!!

i was tagged by @trashpocket (hey bae ;)) and since im lonely here on tumblr and have no one but the void to yell at, i won’t be tagging anyone :((

okay let’s start off with my published WIPS lol i have quite a collection and boy do i regret posting most of these, but anyway that’s here’s my hot girl shit

"i’ll figure it out with a little more time” - (if u knew me at my thai BL phase no u didn’t :)) anyways this was a supposed to be a pretty short fic that features an oblivious Sarawat not knowing how to navigate his feelings towards Tine and Tine being an equally giant dumbass. their school is hosting a school dance and Sarawat’s emotionally constipated ass doesn’t know how to SPEAK and just ASK Tine to go w/ him. i swear i might be the author of this story but i also get mad at these fuckers

“we’re boyfriends?” - ah yes another Thai BL fic, i will admit. i have NO idea where to take this story lmao. i still wanna finish it tho cuz i hate disappointing ppl. the fic starts with Ae and Pond making a dumb bet so Pond will stop jerking off in their shared room and promises that he won’t do that as long Ae dates someone random and based off of Pond’s choosing. sweet bby Pete wanders into their campus accidentally and gets picked. Ae does the deed and tells Pete they’re dating. Ae thinks that Pete and Pond are scheming to make his life a living hell but lo and behold Pete has actually fallen in love with him (heheheh)

“i wanna ruin our friendship” - hello lgbtq+ community :). we all know where this fuckin title is from don’t be sneaky. so here’s my KilluGon college fic. I initially wrote this like two years ago and uploaded it on wattpad lmaooo then i edited it and posted on ao3 and once again i have no idea where to take this (ive forgotten what my original idea for this was lol) so basically Killua and Gon are really close friends and Gon is sortof a player in this AU idk why khdkadha but anywayz all of Gon’s exes have left him bc they’re jealous of Killua but Gon would never pick his current S/O over him so HAAA. it all goes to shit tho when Retz decides to trick Gon to taking her back for the school dance and idk what path to go for T_T

AIGHT now for my UNPUBLISHED WIPS buckle up yall this is a LOT. all the titles are WIPS so that’s why theyre iffy lol

“pussy talented”- (don’t mind the title lmao i just wanted a cat pun in there somewhere) basically, Bokuto is a firefighter and Akaashi an editor. They work near each other and Bokuto often visits Kuroo, who works with Akaashi. Ofc Akaashi falls in love at first sight but then he overhears that he has a "Kenma" waiting for him at home. Akaashi assumes that he's probably Bo's boyfriend and then leaves him alone, making Bo confused as hell. Little that he knows that Kenma is actually a grumpy calico cat.

“killugon flower shop AU” - Wing owns a flower shop and Killua helps out with Zushi along with Alluka out of boredom and one day Alluka asks Killua to help out with her client then he meets Gon and is immediately smitten until Gon says that he's looking for something that he can give to a girlfriend (it was actually Ging's request lol), lots of misunderstanding, Killua being too shy to ask the handsome stranger out and Alluka and Zushi being done with his shit

“rice isn’t the only thing getting crushed here” - Osamu falls in love with one of his most loyal costumers—Akaashi and he thinks he might just have a shot at it until one day while Akaashi is ordering a bunch of riceballs, Bokuto Koutaro of Japan's National Volleyball team enters the restaurant and sweeps Akaashi of his feet, unexpected angst and a generous helping of unrequited pining :)) dw this fic can go two ways: Bokuto is just Akaashi's best friend who he hasn't seen in months or b. Bokuto is actually Akaashi's fiance maybe i’ll write both endings heehee

“killua is sad and gets lovebombed” - while staying in Whale Island, Killua thinks he that he doesn't deserve Gon and tries to leave him while he's asleep but his plan is stopped when Gon wakes up and they both end up revealing their true feelings for each other

“excuse to write charles getting fucked by two delicious men” - Erik and Charles have been in a relationship for years now and basically fell out of love so when Erik gets promoted and has to move, Charles agrees and so they break up. Charles turns to Logan (who harbors a giant crush on Charles) for companionship and sleep together once. Logan says it was an accident but Charles wants more and they establish a FWB situation of sorts since Charles isn't ready yet. But then Charles gets into an accident and can't remember what happened the past year and a half so he still thinks he's with Erik. Meanwhile, Erik is living a luxurious yet empty life and when he gets the call from Raven about Charles' situation, he immediately goes back running.

“killua in whale island” - KilluGon are like 20-ish and Killua visits Whale Island and Ging just happens to be there as well. Killua thinks about how even though Gon and Ging are near identical, Gon just looks so much more handsome. (probs just a oneshot)

“another horny cherik fic” - Charles is a demon who was accidentally summoned when Raven, Hank and Ororo uses Erik's blood to perform a demon summoning ritual (as a joke) they didn't know it would actually work so now Charles is stuck with Erik because the human absolutely refuses to sell his soul

“IwaOi overboard AU” - Oikawa is a rich pretty boy and Iwa a college dropout who works at his uncle's repair shop with his younger brother Tobio and cousin Kyoutani ( both 5 yrs old). One day he gets called over to fix one of Oikawa's cars and after a failed and disastrous encounter with a drunk Oikawa, Iwa leaves the mansion fuming. Later in the day, it's discovered that Oikawa got in a car crash that took away his memories and since Oikawa apparently lives alone, he has no one to get him. not until Iwa comes ofc and with a malicious and vengeful intent, he tells Oikawa that they're dating and live together in his crappy apartment

“dancer Akaashi” - Akaashi is a dancer, Osamu is a bartender at the bar he works at and has also been in love with Akaashi for the past two years. He doesn't confess since he knows Akaashi doesn't like romance but then enters a bright eyed cheery Bokuto who sweeps the unreachable Midnight Moon off of his feet, bokuaka but im leaning towards bokuosaaka since akaashi deserves two boyfriends

“watch me be poetically horny for Akaashi Keiji” - Akaashi is a vampire and Osamu, a skilled artist. Akaashi posing nude and delighted at how beautifully Osamu portrays him. Osamu says otherwise.

Cherik College AU - drift by great gable.... late teens cherik... Erik being a misanthropic horny bastard and Charles a snarky piece of shit.... they get paired up for 7 minutes in heaven... turns out Charles has been ogling him for a while now.. hmmmm,,,.,. ( i wrote this when i was drunk and my og draft is too long so take this instead lolz)

“ BokuAka (NSFW) ” - Bokuto pushing off a guy who tried to hit on Akaashi while they're at a club. Akaashi gets so turned on he immediately drags Bokuto to the bathroom where he gets his facefucked in one of the bathroom stalls or Akaashi getting his face fucked in a dirty alley at the back of a bar after Bokuto gets into a fistfight.

“KuroKen (NSFW) ” -Kenma does top during sex but but he's just really lazy to put in the effort

aight that’s it oh damn i just now realize how much i have T-T bruhhhhhhh and this isn’t even all of them damnnn

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ailelie · 3 years

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a nohorcrux!au in which Dudley decides to be decent sooner; aka, how Dudley got a boyfriend

Hermione became friends with Dudley by dint of being the only one of Harry’s friends who could use a telephone and Dudley being allowed on the phone when Harry was not.

Harry traded Mrs. Weasley’s sweets for a recap of Dudley’s conversations with Hermione.

The arrangement had started thanks to a confluence of circumstances that had led Harry to requesting Hermione’s phone number in the first place and buying extra cauldron cakes on the train.

When Hermione visited Number Four, she did so as Dudley’s friend. Harry and Dudley did not mention she had magic. Hermione brought toothbrushes for the whole family--a move Harry thought was a bit much, but somehow solidified her worth in his aunt and uncle’s eyes.

After that, Hermione became “just a friend, Mum, seriously” and welcome at the house whenever she liked.

Harry and Hermione spent hours at the local park--with Dudley, of course, who was their excuse and who loomed awkwardly keeping his old friends away.

Hermione didn’t mean to draw Dudley into the conversation, but she talked to him for a half hour every other night of the week. Not everything was about Harry. He was a bully, Dudley that is, but he’d confessed once to wanting to be better and, well, Hermione liked a project.

And he did want to be better, but only because Hermione was a proper girl and decent and Dudley wanted to be worthy of her friendship.

Ron remained in the loop via letters to Hermione, which she passed on to Harry through her conversations with Dudley.

The whole matter was a tangle, but the practical effect was that, when school resumed, she discovered she rather missed the frequent chats. Dudley had a very direct way of thinking that cut through her own snarls sometimes.

For his part, Dudley had never resented Harry Hogwarts until befriending Hermione.

During the school year, Dudley wrote letters and Hermione returned novels. He took to carrying his letters around and adding on throughout the week until he had a respectable enough length to send. The practical effect of this was that each letter became a diary. He didn’t realize how much he opened himself to her.

He told her about his black eye earned defending a first year from upperclassmen.

She congratulated him and sent a packet of sugar quills.

Which is how Dudley learned one of his classmates also had family at Hogwarts. Apparently sucking on a Wizarding sweet where anyone could see was not the smartest of things to do. The classmate had always been a strange one, but he informed Dudley that was because he was a Squib--someone without magic born into a magical family.

Dudley got plenty of opportunities to put his new altruism to the test defending the squib--Christopher Clearwater--from their classmates. Piers thought him mad, but followed along with the new regime with merely a roll of his eyes. The rest thought they could now challenge ‘Big D’ since he’d clearly gone soft.

Dudley disabused them of that notion, but did not resume his friendships, contenting himself with weird Christopher and ever-loyal Piers. Christopher was okay, but he was relieved to have kept Piers.

When the school year ended, the Clearwaters invited Dudley to visit and thus he received his first foray into the magical world.

He didn’t tell Harry. Matters between the cousins remained purely business. Dudley was Harry’s personal telephone and Harry was Dudley provider of sweets. The arrangement worked. They had too much history to mess with the arrangement.

The point is, Dudley and Christopher went to Diagon Alley and Hermione was there with her parents.

If Hermione’s parents were surprised by the appearance of the young man Hermione had been calling for a half hour every other night for the past couple years, they did not show it. Hermione knew their calm demeanor was a mask, though. She had endured too much teasing for her regular phone calls for it to be anything but. It did not matter how many times she explained she was really calling Harry.

The Grangers invited Dudley and Christopher for ice cream. Hermione ran damage control. Her parents’ comments flew over Dudley’s head, she was sure, but his friend looked cannier. Then again, judging by Dudley’s flushed face and the amount of attention he was paying his bowl, maybe the comments were hitting exactly as intended.

“Sorry about them,” she said later all in a rush. “It isn’t that I don’t like you. As a friend. But. I don’t--”

“Like me,” Dudley finished, forcing a smile. “I get it.”

And he did. And, to be honest, he didn’t want her to like him. Not really. He just wanted to be worth her liking him.

When school resumed, he appointed himself the defender of the first years, instructing them all to find him if any upperclassmen did anything to them.

Piers responded with the sarcastic gift of a cheap costume cape.

“Did you get one for yourself too?” Dudley asked.

Piers smirked. “Naturally. You don’t mind being my sidekick, do you?”

“Sidekick?” Dudley’s brows raised. “I’ll show you ‘sidekick.’“

They scuffled and Piers laughed against Dudley’s neck before yielding.

Dudley included the moment in his weekly letter to Hermione. He did not realize how much detail he had placed into describing the exact sparkle in Piers’ eyes until five or six letters later when Hermione returned that section, with others, to him all neatly cut his letters.

In this reply, though, she only asked him to tell her more about his friend.

Five or six letters later, she asked if he liked him.

Dudley had not planned on having a sexuality crisis as a teenager. He did not thank Hermione for foisting one onto him.

Piers and Christopher both noticed something was wrong, because of course they did. When Piers finally confronted him, demanding, “What’s wrong?”

Dudley said the first thing to come to mind. “You’re fit.”

“What’s that got to--oh.” Piers shifted from foot to foot. “Do you want me to stay, or should I--?”

“Just go.” And Piers left.

Dudley still liked girls. Still thought Hermione was beautiful. He just really, really liked his best friend.

Everything went mostly back to normal, but Piers did not tease him quite as much and Dudley missed that.

He deliberately missed the whole first week of phone calls in retaliation. When he finally accepted one, he and Hermione spent the whole conversation arguing. The gist of his position being, “I didn’t need to know I fancied him!”

Harry later asked for a recap and Dudley had nothing to tell him. For once, his conversation with Hermione hadn’t been about Harry at all.

Hermione, for her part, organized every piece of information she could find on bisexuality and coming out until her parents bought a little rainbow decal for their car and told her they loved her no matter what. She felt a bit guilty for forcing a revelation Dudley hadn’t been ready to have yet, but if her Hogwarts experience had taught her anything it was that boys were impossible when it came to feelings.

Long story short, Piers visited later that summer and locked himself and Dudley in Dudley’s bedroom and said, “I think we should try it. Kissing.”

“And then?” Dudley asked, faint at the idea of kissing Piers.

“And then we decide what’s next.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Dudley asked, approaching Piers.

Piers gave him a familiar smirk. “Hey, who’s the brains of this operation?” But his voice shook. His hand, when it fell on Dudley’s shoulder, did not.

They kissed. It wasn’t fireworks, but it wasn’t a disaster either. And when Piers pulled back and said, “All right. I could stand doing that again” before pulling Dudley back to his lips, well, it was perfect.

The point of this all being--Dudley got a boyfriend because Hermione was the only one of Harry’s friends who could use a telephone and Dudley was allowed to accept calls while Harry was not.

#harry potter #dudley dursley #AU #hermione granger #dudley/piers

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punchdrunkdoc · 4 years

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Updated K-Drama list (8)

After almost a year of watching KDramas, I’ve finally found a show that has knocked CLOY off the top spot!

The GREAT:

1. Its Ok To Not Be Okay - NEW ENTRY

A children’s author with antisocial personality disorder becomes obsessed with a handsome (but closed-off) carer in a mental health hospital.

I could (and already have) written loads about this show - it became my all-encompassing obsession for the 8 weeks it was on telly. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! I had a feeling only 1 episode in that it might become my all-time favourite K-drama, and I was right. The quality never dropped for a moment, and it absolutely nailed the ending.

I pretty much love everything about it - the whimsical, fairytale-esque tone, the music, the costumes, the supporting characters, the side plots exploring different mental health issues, the humour, the set design, even the opening credits!

The two leads are so beautiful with SO MUCH chemistry that you could watch them read a phone book and it would be hot. But it became a real three-hander of a show, with the male lead’s autistic brother forming an integral part of the relationship dynamic.

Honestly, I can’t do this show justice with such a short review - just WATCH IT!!

Male lead: Soooo handsome, quiet and compassionate but with a steel core; it’s so fun watching him come out of his shell. Actor also seen in (AASI): My Love from a Star (honestly, he didn’t make much of an impression in that show, but he was amazing in this - he conveys so much emotion with the most subtle facial movements)

Female lead: Absolutely fascinating; so wounded and vulnerable, but projecting this awesome, no-fucks-given, blunt-as-hell exterior. Actress also seen in (AASI): Lawless Lawyer, Hwarang (minor character)

2. Crash Landing on You

He’s from North Korea. She’s from South Korea. They never should have met, but they’ll change each other’s lives.

This was my first K-drama, and although it’s been knocked off the top spot, it’s still fantastic. Its the full package - the entire cast of characters is great, the lead romance is ANGSTALICIOUS and its genuinely, laugh out loud funny (when its not making you cry or swoon). I’ve since discovered that they had a North Korean defector as a consultant working on the show, so apparently the NK scenes are fairly accurate which is SUPER interesting.

Male lead: Officially the best boyfriend ever - absolutely nails the small, romantic gestures. AASI: Hyde, Jekyll & Me.

Female lead: Smart, sassy, and funny. I love her.

3. Healer

The lives, and pasts, of a hot shot reporter, a spunky young tabloid journalist and a mysterious thief-for-hire intersect.

I ADORE this show and its so rewatchable. The plot was tight and engaging, and this is one of the few shows I’ve watched where there didn’t seem to be a lot of filler. The central 3 characters are great, and the romance was amazing. I especially loved that the male lead started off such a brooding loner, but he became super-affectionate as soon as he admitted his feelings. So many good hugs and lots of face-cradling in this one. There’s also a great riff on the Superman/Clark Kent dynamic which was fun!

Male lead: Effortlessly beats up 2 henchmen while comforting his girl over the phone. What more do you need? AASI: The K2, Suspicious Partner, Melting me softly, Backstreet Rookie

Female lead: She doesn’t let her vulnerabilities stop her from getting the story or being with the man she loves. AASI: What’s wrong with secretary Kim, I’ll go to you when the weather is nice, Her private life

4. Itaewon Class

A young man’s life is forever altered when he runs afoul of a powerful family.

This felt like a big step up in quality from everything else in this list, in terms of the production, soundtrack (which was brilliant), the lack of annoying sound effects, and just the overall ‘real world’ feel of the show. All of the characters were fleshed out and 3-dimensional, and they all had their ‘moment’ to shine. The story itself was gripping and so well done - some of the twists and reveals had me gasping! And what can I say about the 2 leads? I love them, both separately, and together. He is so wise beyond his years, and his journey will break your heart and inspire you. She is borderline sociopathic, but I adore her.

Male lead: Tenacious, principled, kind, innocent, caring, driven, loyal…and he can cook! AASI: What’s wrong with secretary Kim, Fight for my way, Hwarang

Female lead: One of the most original Kdrama female characters I’ve seen. Plus she retains her agency all the way through, which is (unfortunately) not always the case with these shows.

5. W - Two worlds

A surgeon gets sucked into the world of her father’s webtoon when the main character’s life is threatened.

This was a WILD ride! The first 4 episodes barrelled through plot at an amazing rate and certain events happen in episode 5 that had me wondering how the show could even continue! But it did…and the plot just got more insane! I loved this show SO much. It kept me guessing, had me on the edge of my seat, and even had room for some of my favourite romance tropes. The central relationship was great, and (because of the insane plot) you basically get 2 love stories for the price of 1. I’ve already watched this whole show again, which is why I’ve bumped it up the ratings a bit!

Male lead: Just a really, really cool guy. Can’t think of how else to describe him! Always in control, calm, unflappable, analysing the situation….but he can break out the cocky charm when needed. AASI: While you were sleeping, Doctor Stranger

Female lead: I really liked her - she had more agency than a lot of other female heroines and I really related to her freaked-out panic in the beginning when she didn’t feel like she was a capable enough doctor to save a life.

6. While you were sleeping

Not to be confused with the Sandra Bullock rom-com from the 90s. Instead, this is about a young woman who can dream the future who has her fate changed by a young prosecutor who suddenly develops the same ability

I was thoroughly and utterly charmed by this show. Everything was so beautifully done - from the cinematography, to the music (OMG the music!), even the title cards were interesting and quirky. The characters were all great - the main leads are so sweet and relatable, the second lead is cute-as-a-button, the villain is properly hissable, and none of the supporting characters/extras annoyed me! The storyline itself was brilliant, with so many great set-ups, pay-offs and twists, and the romance was lovely.

Male lead: A bit of a hot mess of a human being (basically, the polar opposite of his character in W!)…but all the more loveable for it. AASI: W: 2 worlds, Doctor stranger.

Female lead: Smart, sweet, loyal (I really loved her relationship with her mum) and quietly brave.

7. Descendants of the Sun

A special forces Captain meets a capable and beautiful trauma surgeon. They feel an instant bond, but their jobs and philosophy on life get in the way, threatening to tear them apart.

I absolutely LOVE the male lead character, and the romance in this was beautiful. Plus its chock-full of CompetencePorn, with lots of scenes of people being really, really good at their jobs (this is one of my favourite things!). However, it didn’t quite nail the angst, and the last minute was a bit twee which dropped it down the rankings a bit.

Male lead: A cocky, charming, absolute BADASS with the most adorable, cheeky smile.

Female lead: Sweet and a bit out of her depth in the dangerous situations…but put her in charge of a patient and watch her go!

8. Love in the Moonlight / Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

A young woman poses as a eunuch in the Royal Palace and falls in love with the Crown Prince

This was the first period piece I watched and it’s still my favourite - almost entirely because of the male lead and his beautiful face! The start had a really light, comedic tone (and a lot of modern anachronisms - high fives everywhere!) and I loved all the identity-concealing hi-jinks. But then the romance kicked into gear and the DELICIOUS angst started flowing, and I became obsessed with it. It’s like loads of bits of my favourite regency historical romances were mashed up and transported to the Joseon Dynasty. I loved it so much!

Male lead: Manages to look amazingly handsome despite all the period headgear, kicks ass with a sword, and doesn’t allow himself to be manipulated by the corrupt officials surrounding him. Also acts like an adorable goofball when he’s in love.

Female lead: Loved her at the start - she’s scrappy and independent and capable. Unfortunately, becomes too much of a plot device by the end. AASI: Backstreet Rookie

9. I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice / I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day

A cellist disillusioned with life in Seoul returns to her small home town for the winter.

This was achingly sweet and wonderful. The slow unfolding of the story, the beautiful scenery, and the simple yet moving score all combine to make this feel like the type of small town contemporary romance novel I love to read on a rainy day in front of a fire. Whilst long-held, painful secrets are eventually revealed, there is no massive conflict involved, with no antagonist or over-wrought external drama. Its just the tale of two sad, lonely people who have withdrawn from the world forming a connection with each other and trying to overcome their issues (she has a fear of abandonment; he’s a loner who has a tendency to disappear). As a bonus, there’s a bookclub with a wonderful cast of secondary characters - I wanted to spend more time with all of them.

Male Lead: Precious Cinnamon Roll, to be protected at all costs. AASI: Are you human too

Female lead: Wears her heart on her sleeve. Refreshingly, she’s the instigator of the relationship and isn’t the usual passive, coy female. AASI: What’s wrong with secretary Kim, Healer, Her private life

10. Goblin

A 900yr old immortal guardian finally meets the ‘bride’ who will end his existence

Once I got over the slight ick-factor of the age difference between the two characters at the beginning, I really fell for this show and it’s world. It had me in floods of tears at some points, and it was laugh out loud funny at others. I especially loved the secondary character of the Grim Reaper and his reluctant bromance with the Goblin.

Male lead: Surprising innocent and funny for a 900 year old

Female lead: Also innocent, but in some ways wise beyond her years. Her tears will make you cry (the actress is very good at sobbing her heart out!). AASI: The King, eternal monarch

11. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim

An personal assistant decides to quits her job in order to get a life. Her boss has other ideas.

This was my first Park Seo Joon drama, and he’s great in it. He somehow turns a self-centred, entitled and vain boss into an endearing character! The central romance is amazing - I can rewatch their scenes again and again - and its a bit more mature than some of the others on this list (be sure to check out the extended scene!!). It has some of the best kisses in Kdrama.

Male lead: Like I said, somehow makes vanity and narcissism endearing. Also not afraid to get his shirt off and flash his 6-pack. Bonus. AASI: Itaewon Class, Fight for my way, Hwarang

Female lead: I’m a sucker for uber-competent people so I loved this character. Park Min Young has become one of my favourites, and she is STUNNING in this. AASI: I’ll go to you when the weather is nice, Healer, Her private life

12. Legend of the Blue Sea

A mermaid comes onto land to find the man she loves

The (literal) fish-out-of-water scenes in the first half of this show were hilarious - the actress is a comic genius! The romance was nicely done, and there wasn’t a lot of extraneous plot or too many characters. It also nicely incorporates scenes from the Joseon era, so you get a partial historical romance thrown in for free!

I couldn’t stop watching this one and I’ve since rewatched it too! Definitely one to check out.

Male lead: Cocky, arrogant conman with a soft mushy centre. AASI: The King, Eternal monarch, Heirs.

Female lead: Steals the show - funny, smart and beautiful. AASI: My love from the Star.

13. Into the Ring/The Ballot - NEW ENTRY

An out-of-work young woman decides to run for office and faces all sorts of challenges in her quest to right some wrongs and earn a living.

This show has one of my favourite ever female characters - she’s headstrong, hard working, and quick to violence but so cute and charming with the most adorable laugh! She tries to act all cynical (that she’s only in it for the money) but she is actually really caring and kind. I sooo wanted her to succeed against the establishment of corrupt assholes that she worked with. Seeing her become disillusioned with politics and her colleagues was heartbreaking, and watching her fight back was great.

Her dynamic with the male lead was also great - he’s quietly in awe of her even when he’s exasperated and borderline scared of her. And he’s super supportive. It was so much fun watching her drag him out of his monotonous, dull life. They also weren’t stingy with the PDA which was so refreshing.

On a superficial level, the show was also visually interesting, with loads of cool angles and blue lens flare. And the overall light, funny tone made it so watchable.

Male lead: Adorkable

Female lead: The literal embodiment of sunshine and determination. I have a bit of a crush on her!

14. The King: Eternal Monarch

The reigning King of the Kingdom of Corea discovers a gateway to a parallel world - the Republic of Korea

This is the first drama I’ve watched in ‘real time’ but I think it would work better as a binge - there are a LOT of characters, and many have dopplegangers (because of the parallel world thing) so it became hard to keep track of who was who. I also think the progression of the romance is better appreciated in a binge (I wrote about it here - ignore the speculation; i got it so wrong LOL!). Unfortunately, the plot also had major holes in it (the ‘rules’ for the gateway/magical flute didn’t make sense) and It was difficult at times to differentiate Corea from Korea - a major failing of the editing.

Buuuuuut, it still made my ‘Great’ list because all of those issues were outweighed by the sheer epicness of this show. The gorgeous sets, the dramatic scenery, the ANGST-filled, beautiful romance…at one point the King rides a majestic white horse into battle with a sword on a neon-lit highway to save the woman he loves. I mean, come on! Plus, its really funny - the ‘fish out of water’ scenes when the King first arrives in Korea, the chalk and cheese dopplegangers Yeong and Eun-Seob, the King’s constant threats of beheading…I loved those elements so much!

Male lead: Gives Ri Jeong-Hyeok from CHOY a run for his money in the ‘Best Boyfriend’ competition. AASI: Legend of the blue sea, Heirs.

Female lead: A bad-ass cop. Takes a while to believe Lee Gon’s story, but once she decides to go all in…she goes all in, and loves unreservedly with her whole heart. AASI: Goblin

15. Tomorrow with you

A time-traveller struggling to live in the present meets a woman trying to let go of her past.

This reminded me a bit of ‘I’ll go to you when the weather is nice’ in terms of the melancholic tone, the simple but effective music, and the beautiful lighting etc. There were also some really interesting, innovative shots which I appreciated.

It took a few episodes to get into and it was a bit frustrating in the middle - so much could have been solved if people just TALKED to each other!! Plus the rules for this version of time travel weren’t really clear…But the last few episodes were brilliant; the way the story came together, and all the little bits of set up were paid off was really well done. These episodes alone were enough to bump this up to the ‘Great’ category (especially, given there was a bit of a Lake House vive at one point - I’m a sucker for that movie. The romance was also beautifully portrayed; I could endlessly watch their domestic scenes - they had such good chemistry and banter.

Male lead: Absolutely, but endearingly, terrible at relationships. He ends up falling in love against his will and largely without realising it.

Female lead: A bit of a mess and a borderline alcoholic, but so cute and innocent. I love the way she talks to herself, she’s so funny! AASI: Oh My Venus

16. Fight for my Way

Two life-long friends decide to go after their dreams

I fast-forwarded large chunks of this (I wasn’t interested in the secondary couple at all), but it still made my ‘Great’ list because this is one of the best friends-to-lovers stories I’ve seen. You truly buy that these 2 have known each other their entire lives (their bickering and teasing feels so natural). And then when they take the next step, they’re so affectionate and refreshingly open with their feelings. Speaking of which, this also has some great kissing scenes (Park Seo Joon is the master!)

Male lead: I love his contradictions. He’s goofy and childish…but can really turn on the sexy charm; he’s a badass MMA fighter…who loves when his girlfriend sticks up for him and protects him. AASI: What’s wrong with secretary Kim, Itaewon class, Hwarang

Female lead: Takes no shit from anyone and will fight for her man! AASI: Descendants of the sun (secondary character)

17. Suspicious Partner

A young, hardworking lawyer has her life turned upside down when she is put on trial for murder.

This was officially bumped up the list a while ago, and I stand by the decision. Its still overly long, but the serial killer plot had some nice twists and it was central to the story, so it didn’t feel extraneous like some of these types of plots do. Mainly, I just loved the central romance - the 2 characters sparked off each other so well and I loved their evolution from sort-of enemies to lovers. This is another show where I can endlessly rewatch their scenes together.

Male lead: Its Ji Chang Wook! He’s so good at playing serious guys who are secretly big dorks. AASI: Healer, The K2, Melting me softly, Backstreet Rookie

Female lead: Fate deals her a shitty hand, but she perseveres with grace and determination. She’s great. AASI: Shopaholic Louis, 100 days my prince.

The GOOD:

1. I Am Not a Robot

A man who is allergic to human contact finds companionship with a robot…or does he?

I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it passed a couple of episodes of this - the concept was just too ridiculous. But I’m glad I persevered, because it developed some real depth and some proper good angst towards the end and I LOVED the central relationship. I’ve rewatched loads of this one.

Actress ASI: Piece of Your Mind; Love in the moonlight (secondary character)

2. I Remember You - NEW ENTRY

A famous criminal profiler gatecrashes the investigation of a serial killer, hoping it will restore the missing memories of his childhood trauma

I really liked the set up of this - the lead character is introduced like a young Sherlock Holmes (the music even reminded me of the score for the BBC Sherlock series). The super-observant, socially awkward thing kind of dropped off as the series progressed, but I still enjoyed how the plot developed, especially with Park Bo-Gum’s character; I’ve only ever seen him play innocent cutie-pies, so this role was a bit of a surprise!

The female lead was like an anime character come to life (she was petite and cute with enormous eyes), but I also loved her personality; she was tenacious, and dogged and took no shit from anyone. She had a cute, antagonistic relationship with the profiler at the start (which I loved) which eventually led to some really sweet, touching moments.

Actor ASI: Shopping King Louis

3. Hotel del Luna

A hotel for wandering spirits gets a new human manager - and he forms a surprising connection to the enigmatic 1300 year old owner

If I had to describe this show in one word it would be ’lavish’. It’s a feast for the eyes - from the set design, to the costumes, to the CGI views of the hotel towering over the moon-lit Seoul cityscape, its stunning. It also plays with aspect ratios in a cool way (watch for the shots where the action spills over into the black bars top and bottom of the screen).

In terms of the characters, I really liked IU in this; her character may be uncaring, world-weary, and money-hungry, but she’s also immensely charming. I admit I got more platonic vibes with her and the male lead, but I still liked their relationship. I also really liked the stories of the ghosts passing through (some reduced me to tears with very little screen time) and there were a couple of GREAT cameos. Especially the one at the very end - I want more of him, please!!

Actress ASI: Scarlet heart

4. My Holo Love

A lonely woman falls for a holographic AI and then meets his creator…

I love the concept of this show (I’m a big sci-fi nerd), and I think this stayed in my ‘favourite’ list for so long because it was the first Kdrama of this genre that I saw. I still love it - especially because of how beautifully it’s shot, and how well the story comes together - but I’m not dying to rewatch any of it, unlike all the others shows that are now on the ‘great’ list.

5. Extraordinary You

A high school student discovers she’s a supporting character in a comic book

The plot of this was so cool, and the way the comic story played out interspersed with the characters ‘real lives’ was really well done. Plus the central couple were so adorable. It dragged in the middle section (several versions of the same conversations were had, and the same exposition was spelled out multiple ways for no apparent reason) which kept it out of my favourite list, but it redeemed itself with some good angst at the end, and it had a really lovely ‘epilogue’.

AASI: A couple of the secondary male leads have a mini-reunion in ‘I’ll go to you when the weather is nice’!

6. Just Between Lovers - NEW ENTRY

Three people impacted by a tragic shopping mall collapse start working on a building project together, unaware of their shared past.

I absolutely adore the male lead in this - he is the archetypal tortured hero (I constantly wanted to give him a hug and a warm meal). He’s also wonderfully romantic in his own, straightfoward, no-nonsense way. The female lead was really likeable - l love capable women and she is the definition of that (she even drives a lorry at one point!). There’s a lot of pain and angst in this show, with very little levity, but it strangely never felt heavy. I really liked it.

Actress ASI: Melting me Softly

7. Strong Girl Bong-Soon

A woman with inherited super-strength gets a job as a bodyguard for an eccentric young CEO

The lead couple in this are AD-OR-ABLE and I loved their relationship. But there was a weird tone issue in this show. The romance is super cute…but there’s a whole dark sub plot involving multiple women being held captive by a psychopath, and a really grating cast of ‘bad guy’ extras. I ended up fast forwarding most of that, and just concentrated on the romance - If someone could do a supercut of all their scenes, I would watch it on a loop.

Actor ASI: Hwarang, Heirs (minor character)

8. 30 but 17/Still 17 - NEW ENTRY

A 17 year old girl gets into an accident and wakes from a coma 13 years later.

I was worried going into this that the romance (between a 30 year old man and (essentially) a 17 year old girl) would feel icky and uncomfortable. But the writers made the wise choice of creating a 30 year old man with the emotional maturity of a 17 year old. He is so awkward and unworldly, that they actually work really well together. In fact, I loved their relationship. The secrets in this show took faaaar too long to be revealed, which made me worried that the eding would be too rushed, but there was actually time for a nice ‘epilogue’. Plus, all the supporting characters were great (including the wonderfully weird housekeeper Jennifer) and the cutest dog in the world was in this. So I definitely recommend it.

9. Mystic Pop-up Bar - NEW ENTRY

As punishment for past sins, a woman must solve the grudges of 100,000 people by entering their dreams

This was an unexpected delight. I started watching it after spotting a cute gifset on tumblr (which I didn’t realise contained huge spoilers!). The story and tone is (mostly) light and quirky, and I particularly enjoyed the worldbuilding - the banal bureaucracy of the afterlife in this even reminds me a bit of The Good Place. I’m a sucker for a ‘found family’ theme and this one was done really nicely. It also had 2 main ships - one really cute and innocent, the other took me by surprise with how moving it was. Similarly, some of the episode-specific stories and characters (i.e. the individual grudges) made me tear up.

10. 100 days my prince

A Prince loses his memory during an assassination attempt and ends up living as a peasant for 100 days.

Another period piece; the plots of these seem a little repetitive (Crown prince’s life is threatened by scheming Minister) but the central cast and the romance usually makes up for it. Same for this show - I really enjoyed watching the spoiled, grumpy puppy of a Prince try to cope with manual labour, and the female lead was capable, and endearing.

Actress ASI: Suspicious partner, Shopaholic Louis

11. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo

A young talented weightlifter experiences first love

Honestly, I wasn’t sold on this at first; the female lead was a bit much (lot of gurning and over-acting) and there was a weird disconnect between how she was described (big, overweight, manly, unfeminine) and how she actually looked (thin and beautiful!). But the back half of this show saved it; her relationship with Joon-Hyung was sooooo cute. He is adorable, and they were both so supportive of each other’s dreams. I finished this with a big smile on my face.

Actor ASI: Bride of the Water God, Scarlet heart (tertiary character)

12. Are You Human Too

A mother separated from her son builds a robotic replacement. Decades later, he has to take the place of the ‘real’ son.

I loved the evolution of the robot in this - it never went the way of a full Pinnochio story, but it was fun to see him learning about the real world and how humans interact. It also posed some interesting questions - what does it mean to be human? And how would you react if you were ‘replaced’ by an artificial version?

The actor in this was fantastic. The way he could change from the real Nam Shin to Nam Shin III with the most subtle shifts in posture and facial expression was really impressive. It took me longer to warm to the female lead, and by the end she was given very little to do…but her unflinching support and unconditional love for Nam Shin III won me over. Some of the supporting characters didn’t work for me, and it was far too long…but worth a watch for the lead actor’s performance. Plus, Nam Shin III is an absolute cutie-pie.

Actor ASI: I’ll go to you when the weather is nice

13. Shopaholic Louis/ Shopping King Louis

The young, shopaholic heir to a large department store empire loses his memory and has to live as a poor man

The male lead in this is an absolute puppy dog and I ADORE him. He squeals when he sees bugs, he can’t run to save his life, and he’s the type of guy who will punch someone and immediately apologise and ask if they’re ok. He’s spoilt, entitled, demanding and has no concept of the value of money…but thanks to the actor portraying him, he just comes across as innocent, sweet and lonely (he spends all his time shopping and accumulating stuff because they fills up his empty life). The female lead is just a really nice, kind person; at first Louis seems like he’ll be just one more burden she needs to take care of, but he makes it clear from the start that she can count on him to help her too - something she’s never had before. Their relationship develops so naturally and thoroughly that you cant help but feel they are perfect for each other. I watched this with a big smile on my face.

Actor ASI: I Remember You

Actress ASI: Suspicious partner, 100 days my prince

14. Oh My Venus

The previously much-lusted after ‘Venus of Daegu’ fulfilled her dream of becoming a lawyer - but she gained weight and lost her self esteem in the process.

I adored the female lead - she was so relentlessly bright and optimistic that you couldn’t help but love her and root for her. I was a bit worried going in that there was going to be a lot of fat-shaming, but the male lead made it clear that he was more interested in her internal health than her external appearance (and you could tell he started to fall for her when she was chubby, so it wasn’t superficial in that way). I wasn’t expecting for him to become so much of the focus in the second half of the show (I thought he was just going to be a hunky trainer; I should have known better - in a Kdrama there is always a Tragic Backstory looming!). Their relationship was so natural and cute - the bit with the dimples never got old - and overall, this was a fun, easy watch.

Actress ASI: Tomorrow with you.

Actor ASI: My secret Terrius, Master’s sun.

15. A Piece of your Mind - NEW ENTRY

A classical music recording engineer meets an AI designer.

I struggled to sum-up the concept of this in one sentence, because the ‘plot’ is so arbitrary (and the AI stuff makes no sense whatsoever!). It’s really more of a mood piece - the lighting, the music and the performance combine to make this a strangely ethereal show, dealing with unrequited love, grief and the importance of human connection. It’s slow and contemplative and a little odd in its structure (there’s very little set-up, so you feel like you’ve been dropped into episode 3 of an established show). This may put some people off, but I really liked it.

I started watching it because of the leads (who I’ve loved in other shows) and they didn’t disappoint. She is so kind and lovely; he’s a little odd - like a robot learning about life. But their relationship is so beautiful (it even included one of my favourite niche tropes: insomniacs who can only sleep around each other).

Apparently the episode run was cut down from 16 to 12 because of poor ratings, which is a real shame because i think a bit more time was needed to really sell the female lead’s emotional arc. It all felt a little rushed at the end, but I still enjoyed it, and admired that it tried something a little unconventional.

Actor ASI: While you were sleeping (secondary lead).

Actress ASI: I am Not a Robot; Love in the moonlight (secondary character)

16. Rookie Historian - NEW ENTRY

An independent, educated woman choses to become one of the first female court historians, rather than get married.

This show had a really interesting premise and I enjoyed watching the rookie female historians navigate court-life (battling workplace harassment, misogyny and patriarchal values) and developing a real friendship with each other.

The female lead was fantastic - she was headstrong, pragmatic, unapologetically intelligent, a lover of books and a hater of injustice. She shared that love of books with the male lead, who was sensitive, soft-spoken, and innocent. The ultimate beta hero, who’s romantic fantasies involved him feeding her cookies and fanning her while she sleeps!

Their romance took a backseat for a lot of the show, but I didn’t mind as the plot was exploring interesting topics such as intruders from the West, catholicism, and censorship, etc.

Actor ASI: My ID is Gangnam Beauty

Actress ASI: Bride of Habaek

17. Tempted/The Great Seducer - NEW ENTRY

In an act of revenge, a wealthy heir makes a bet with his friends to seduce a hardworking female college student

10 minutes into this I started to get major Cruel Intentions vibes…which made sense when I found out it was also an adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons! It doesn’t have the dark edge or overt sexuality of Cruel Intentions (which is one of my favs) but its still good - mainly due to the male lead. I ADORED him in TKEM and he’s really good here. I’m a sucker for the ‘bad boy falls in love for the first time’ trope and he played it so well. The female lead was also good - she was self-aware, strong, intelligent and took no shit. I was less interested by the love affairs of the adults around them, but overall it was a good show.

Actor ASI: TKEM (secondary character)

18. My Love from the Star

Alien stranded on earth meets an actress soon before he’s due to be rescued.

It took a couple of goes to get into this one, but I’m glad I finally watched the whole thing (the female lead was initially very irritating, but she improved a lot). I enjoyed the present-day romance and all the flashes back to the past. However, the ending was really abrupt and disappointing (which kept it out of my favourite list). There should have been 1 less filler episode in the middle, and a decent, fleshed out finale instead.

Actor ASI: Its ok to not be ok.

Actress ASI: Legend of the blue sea

19. Because this is my First Life

A rational-to-a-fault software designer and an aspiring screenwriter come up with an unconventional way to solve their housing problem

When I started this, I thought it was going to be all light and fluffy (the main character’s job in the beginning was to insert the product placement in Korean dramas - hello, Red Ginseng! - which I found hilarious and meta) but it had a surprisingly melancholic tone throughout and touched on issues of workplace harassment and gender roles. I didn’t warm to the male lead until right at the end (which was probably partly intentional - he’s very remote and closed off) but overall I found the story quite lovely. Plus it had a really great central female friendship and their conversations actually passed the Bechdel test!

20. My shy boss / Introverted boss

An extroverted actress takes a job at a PR company working for a man with crippling shyness

This was another deceptive show; I thought from the title and the synopsis that it would just be a light opposites attract comedy about an introverted man and an extroverted woman. But I was almost in tears by the second episode when the Tragic Backstory came to light, and we saw the full extent of the Boss’ struggles to communicate with other human beings. He has such a rich, funny, and smart inner monologue, and the way he overthinks every interaction is really endearing…which makes the contrast with his silent and withdrawn external persona all the more stark and heartbreaking. You really root for him to find happiness. This was overly long (a common pitfall with these shows) and there was some distracting shaky camera work in some of the close ups. There were also implications early on about workplace sexual harassment and possibly dubious consent in a one night stand which were dropped, leaving a bit of a sour note. Despite that, it was overall fairly enjoyable and has one of the cutest confession scenes!

The OK

1. The K2

An ex-mercenary takes a job as a bodyguard protecting the illegitimate daughter of a politician. A sort-of Snow White retelling.

This started off really well; there are some amazing fight sequences (hello, shower room scene!) and JCW has never been hotter - its worth watching for him alone. However, the back half became really bogged down in double crosses and manipulations, and it focussed too much on the politicians. The writers did well to give these characters some layers, but they were all essentially doing bad things for the wrong reasons, and I just didn’t care about them. The show was much better when it was following K2’s journey. The romance also started off well, but was a bit underdeveloped (mainly because they barely interacted).

Actor ASI: Healer, suspicious partner, Backstreet rookie, Melting me softly

2.Bride of Habaek / Bride of the Water God

A God of the Land of Water visits the human realm to fulfil a task before ascending to his throne. He enlists the help of a ‘divine servant’, a down-on-her-luck psychiatrist.

I started this because I liked the lead actor. His baby-face can’t quite pull off the intensity needed for this role, but he was still cute as the arrogant, imperious God brought low by his circumstances - no money, house, powers or (most importantly to him) driving license. I also liked the female lead - she so desperately wanted to hide her kind, compassionate heart from a world that had battered and bruised her. There were some good individual scenes (especially the 'confession’ moment, which was just lovely), but the show ran out of steam towards the end, and ultimately felt like a waste of potential.

Actor ASI: Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok-joo

Actress ASI: Rookie Historian

3. Her Private Life

A talented art curator tries to keep her professional persona separate from her fangirl obsession with a pop idol.

This was cute and I loved the central relationship - he was so supportive of her, and their interactions were refreshingly mature and their banter felt really natural. Ultimately, it was a bit forgettable (I’m not dying to rewatch any of it), and the last minute tacked-on childhood trauma subplot was really unnecessary.

Actress ASI: Healer, Whats wrong with secretary kim, I’ll go to you when the weather is nice.

4. Touch Your Heart

Star actress rocked by scandal works at a law firm to prepare for her comeback role

This starred the secondary couple from Goblin and I really like them, even though they are playing very different characters in this (more opposites attract, than doomed lovers). It’s a bit too ‘cutesy’ and I had to fast forward a lot of the secondary romances which I wasn’t invested in.

5. My Secret Terrius

A secret agent on the run gets embroiled in the life of his next door neighbour - a mum of young twins.

The romance in this was underwhelming; the two characters ended in a really cute place, but it felt like set up for a story I probably would have liked more than this one. In saying that, this was still a relatively enjoyable watch; the female lead was great - she was constantly underestimated as ‘just a housewife’ but she was smarter, and more determined and resourceful than the spies around her. The male lead’s interactions with the twins were adorable, and there was a good cast of supporting characters. However, I’ve already pretty much forgotten the main espionage plot!

Actor ASI: Oh My Venus

6. Lawless Lawyer

A gangster-turned-lawyer moves to Gisung to take on corruption with the help of a suspended female attorney

I liked this more at the beginning; it reminded me a bit of Itaewon Class, with a charismatic lead, an intricately plotted revenge scheme that the audience only becomes aware of as the series progresses, and a take-no-shit female lead who was introduced hitting an authority figure! However, it never really gripped me (it took me weeks to finish) and a couple of the villains were overacting and hamming it up all over the place. But I loved the two leads, and their relationship was good, despite feeling a bit rushed.

Actor ASI: Scarlet Heart

Actress ASI: Its ok to not be ok, Hwarang (tertiary character)

7. 1% of Something - NEW ENTRY

To gain his inheritance, an arrogant, aloof CEO has to enter into a marriage contract with a sweet primary school teacher.

I liked how streamlined this was: it was just a show about two people who fall in love despite their best intentions. There was no overly complicated plot, and even the conflict that keeps them apart towards the end felt very organic and unforced.

She is a delightful ball of sunshine. He is a little overbearing but has his own charm. And bear with the bad haircut and appalling fashion sense - he improves at the end!

8. Melting Me Softly

Two people are accidentally cryogenically frozen for 20 years. They have to navigate the modern world and their new lives together.

Another good concept, but it ultimately descended into little more than a light work-place romance. Had a couple of good kissing scenes, but it was overall a bit forgettable.

Actor ASI: The K2, healer, suspicious partner, backstreet rookie

Actress ASI: Just Between Lovers

9. My Sassy Girl

A 'sassy’ princess meets an ambitious scholar in less than ideal circumstances…

I enjoyed the fact that this Joseon period drama focused on a Princess for a change, and not a prince. She came across as more 'obnoxious and immature’ than 'sassy’ in the beginning, but once it was made clear that she was actually a decent, kind person underneath, I soon warmed to her. I also liked the relationship with the male lead, which amounted to a pretty good enemies-to-lovers story. It took a bit of an unexpected turn right at the end, but my independent, feminine self was good with it. Overall, this was a pretty easy watch, but nothing special.

10. Hwarang

Follows a peasant who joins the newly-created Hwarang (Poet Warrior Youths in ancient Korea) to enact revenge for the death of his best friend

I enjoyed the scenes of the Hwarang hanging out and bonding - so many cute bromances in this! But I couldn’t really connect with the central story and romance, due to a major case of SLS (Second Lead Syndrome) - as much as I’m a fan of Park Seo-joon, I adore Park Hyung-sik, and I found his character, journey and relationship with the female lead much more compelling. The ending still managed to feel somewhat satisfying, but I won’t be rewatching any of it.

Actor ASI: Itaewon class, What’s wrong with secretary kim, Fight for my way

The BAD

1. Hyde, Jekyll and Me

A woman becomes involved in the lives of 2 men, who share one body

Hyun Bin is sooo watchable in this, especially as the slick-haired, glasses-wearing, uptight Seo-Jin. And the show started well…but quickly went off the rails into a convoluted, dragged-out revenge plot. It was a bit of a slog to get through, to be honest.

Actor ASI: CLOY

2. Queen: Love and War

The long lost twin of a recently assassinated Queen assumes her identity to enter the Bridal selection to wed the resurrected King and seek revenge.

This was a bit of a mess (as you can tell from that synopsis!); it felt like the first few episodes were rushed through as a sort of ‘prologue’ before the main thrust of the story…but that prologue contained A LOT of plot with some major character revelations that were rapidly skimmed over (e.g. the female lead was introduced as having complete amnesia; but almost out of nowhere she casually mentions that she got all her memories back and now knows who she is). Because of this, it took me a while to get a sense of who the characters really were. A lot of the usual Joseon plot points played out (scheming ministers and untrustworthy queens) but it had some unique features - I especially enjoyed the bridal selection scenes and seeing the lead female outwitting her rivals in the various challenges. But ultimately, I fast forwarded a lot of this and it was pretty forgettable.

Actress ASI: Doctor Stranger.

Actor ASI: Backstreet Rookie (secondary character)

3. Backstreet Rookie

A struggling young woman takes a part-time job at the convenience store run by her high school crush.

I was really not a fan of this show, and probably would have stopped watching if it wasn’t for Kim Yoo-jung. Her character was really likeable - kickass, but vulnerable, and so loving and kind. You were really rooting for her throughout. The show also had some interesting things to say about inequality (there was a lovely scene between the male leads’s parents in episode 10 touching on this theme)…but that’s about it for the positives.

Overall, it was just too OTT and manic and most of the characters were barely more than cartoonish caricatures. One character was actually repulsive, and the fact that he got his own romantic subplot was just gross. I’m a big fan of Ji Chang-wook, but I didn’t like some of his acting choices in this, and his character spent far too long in a relationship with another woman, which meant the main romance felt underdeveloped.

And…it ended without a kiss. I was so pissed off! I put up with 16 episodes of crap, expecting a decent pay-off at the end…but no. I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Actress ASI: Love in the Moonlight

Actor ASI: Suspicious Partner, Healer, K2, Melting me Softly

The UNCLASSIFIABLE

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

A modern girl is transported 1000 years into the past where she becomes embroiled in the lives of the Royal Princes.

I honestly don’t know where I stand with this one! Did I love it? Did I hate it? I seriously don’t know!

I was reluctant to start this (I knew it didn’t have a happy ending) but I was told its a rite of passage for KDrama newbies to watch this show. And there were some great things about it - the male lead was amazing! So intense and tragic, with the most arresting face. The music was also GORGEOUS, as was the scenery - the whole production felt very sumptuous. The palace intrigue stuff was also more compelling than most of the other historic dramas I’ve seen. I recognised several of the Princes from other shows, and I became really invested in 3 of them…which made the constant threat of them betraying each other/killing each other AGONISING. This show was heavy on the Emotional Torture Porn, and some of it felt gratuitous, because I just didn’t understand the motivations behind some of the plot points/character’s actions.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the female lead; partly because the actress only seemed to have 2 facial expressions to work with, but partly because and any hints that she was a modern girl with modern sensibilities quickly disappeared. It was this independence and spunk that made all the princes fall for her (to varying degrees) but she lost all of that and it left me wondering why they bothered with the time travel aspect at all.

I finished the show feeling wrung out and with the overwhelming sense of “Why? What was the point of that?”

Buuuuuut…it has lingered with me - as @talenevertold said when we were discussing the show, “Nobody enjoys it in the process… but it leaves this unique bittersweet aftertaste…” and that’s absolutely true; and it probably true that this show IS a rite of passage that everyone should watch. But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

and...The MEH (i.e. DNF):

This list is getting long! I have a bit less patience with shows than I did in the beginning - there are so many to get through, so I’m not willing to waste my time on anything that either doesn’t grip me from a story perspective, is far too slow, has mediocre acting and/or is too soapy.

Master’s sun

Tale of Nokdu

The Heirs

Meow, the Secret Boy

Love Alarm

One Spring Night

Suits

Chocolate

Doctor Stranger

The scholar who walks the night

If I’ve made a heinous mistake by dropping any of these - get in touch and plead the case for why i should give them another chance!

#kdrama #kdrama recommendations

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queerchoicesblog · 4 years

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The Handkerchief

Hiya, folks! So, as previously announced, the wlw writing project continues after a break with a miniseries set back in the City of Lights - & Love - at the time of the Belle Epoque, at the turn of the century.

Time for Léa to go back to the Moulin Rouge to return a handkerchief..

Hope you enjoy it: if you do, please consider spreading the word!

Next chapter out on Monday....

Tagging: @scottishqueer

Previous chapters: Paris, Paris ; One Night At The Moulin Rouge

_________________________

The following day I wake up with the notes of the can can still echoing in my ears. What a night! We kept talking of the Moulin Rouge in awe when we found a table at our usual bar in Montmarte. Marcel and Alain, rather tipsy, even tried to perform the high kicks and we burst into an irrefrenable round of laughters. As a result though...this morning Marie and I are both late for work. The boss is not happy: our supervisor, the most hideous old lady you'll ever met in your life, informs us that we will work extra hours to make it up for it. We nod, wincing, and she adds to go find her later: for now we just have to hurry, clients are waiting. In the end, she assigns us both extra hours for the week. My heart sinks yet I find myself laughing thinking of how she reminds me of my Mother dear: she would surely believe this is the right punishment for my foolish night out.

One week later I go to the roof to eat the fresh baguette Marcel kindly delivered us early in the morning. Marie and I always go there unless it's pouring rain or snowing, even if it's cold. It just gives us the impression to be finally out of this building for a while since we're not allowed to leave during working hours. To be precise only for deliveries, but most of the clients come directly to the atelier to collect their orders and we have a bunch of boys hired specifically for the deliveries. So it's awfully rare that one of us leave during the day: our hands are needed here, the supervisor use to say, cold and dry. It never fails to amaze me how she shifts into a complete different person with our clients. Whenever they're admitted to the laboratory for taking their measures or trying a finished dress, she even sings praises of our hard work and mastery. Two-faced bastard. Marie and I often joke that this atelier is not that different from a factory. On the roof we can catch our breaths. The ocean of black roves in front of us, punctuating the blue of the sky gives a new perspective even to the worst days. A chilly gust of wind blows in my face and I wrap myself in my coat. "Getting cold, huh?" Marie comments. I nod and bury my hands in my pockets: if they're too cold, working will be harder than usual, I should try to keep them warm...or get myself some new gloves since my old ones are worn out beyond salvation. My fingers touch something soft and I pick out a plain white handkerchief. The dancer's handkerchief! I totally forgot about it...she must think I've stolen it or something! I will bring it to her tonight after work, with my deepest apologies. She was so kind to give it to me even if there was no need to, it was an accident...Élodie was her name. Our time is up and we go back to our work. For the first time in months, I receive a generous tip from a loyal client out of the view of our supervisor and as the other colleagues leave around closing time I am left with a little moment for myself. A foolish idea crosses my mind. I retrieve my needle and some burgundy thread from my desk and start sewing roses at the handkerchief's edges. When I'm done, I contemplate my work and I'm quite satisfied: it's one of my favourite motives. But something is still missing...after a moment, it hits me. I pick up my needle again and sew the name "Élodie" right in its centre. When we're finally allowed to leave too, I tell Marie I need to return something to a friend, I will join her home later. She nods, she will save some stew for me for when I'm back. As I walk alone towards Pigallle I realise one thing: this time I have no ticket. That could be a problem...fair enough, I'll try knocking at the secondary door of the backstage. Luckily I still remember the way and thank God it's open: a couple of musicians -I wager - are smoking in the little court on the back. I approach them and asks them where I can find Élodie. Is she performing already? The two men look clueless. They ask me to repeat the name but no, it doesn't ring a bell. I'm confused... They call others from the inside and a couple of colleagues and another man I recognise as the male dancer of the show I attended join them. They repeat the name but nothing. I explain that she works here, I saw her dancing last week with the only other dancer present there. He looks pensive and asks me to describe her. "Maybe I know her by another name" he adds, encouragely. I oblige and before I can complete my description he stops me, nodding. "Yes, yes I know her and you're lucky, mademoiselle, she's here tonight" I let out a relieved sigh and he smiles at me. "Follow me, I'll lead the way" He guides me inside, explaining that generally they know each other by their stage names there, he only knows the birth name of another dancer and it was by accident. There isn't much time left before the next act but he will go call her, he says when we reach a room I've never been before. "Wait here, away from the cold" he smiles and disappears into the corridor. I thank him and look around. Wooden lockers cover the walls, on each one a different name: this must be where they keep their belongings and coats if the changing room is somewhere else. Naively I thought the two rooms would be just one. I hear the voice of the kind dancer in the corridor. "Lila" he calls, knocking loudly at the door to be heard over the lively murmur on the other side. The sound of the door clinging open. "Lila, there's someone for you" "Right now? But we're on stage in ten or so Ziegler said" "Don't shoot the messenger, darling! Locker room" When I hear a groan and steps approaching, I feel like dying. I picked the wrong time, she will have one more reason to be mad at me aside from keeping her handkerchief for so long. I close my eyes for a split second and take a long breath to calm me down. It's fine, Léa, you couldn't know, you don't belong to this world...you will just return the item, profusely excuse and leave before she's late for the act. At last, Élodie walks in and freezes in place, taken aback by my presence. But it lasts the blink of an eye. She quickly recovers and crosses her arms. Her face relaxes almost immediately. "Well well who have we here" she playfully starts, sauntering closer. "Bonsoir, seamstress-poet Léa, long time no see" A genuine smile brightens up her face and I'm surprised she remembers my name: our encounter was brief and accidental, she must meet tons of people in a week. I also cannot help but notice that she's glowing: she's ready for the stage and her costume is simply perfect for her. Whoever picked it must have a good eye for this things: the blue bolero and gown enhance the pale complexion of her skin and the red stockings add a playful tone to the whole outfit. "Yes, I'm very sorry about that, for taking so long...I've been working overtime these days and...but I picked such a terrible time, I'm so-" "Oh that's fine, worry not about that: I'm ready to dance" She spins in front of me, making her skirt twirl. The hems stroke my coat like gentle waves. "What brings you here tonight? I started thinking you forgot about me" she smiles, a childish pout on her lips. "Oh no, I would never!" Again, just like when she assumed Marcel was my boyfriend, words come out a bit blunt out of my tongue. As I feel my cheeks warming up, I bury a hand in my pocket. "I came to return you the handkerchief you kindly lent me. I wanted to give it to you sooner but..." I say, handing her my work. "Oh right!" she laughs softly. "You're just in time, I was thinking of complaining to the gendarmerie tomorrow, first thing in the morning" she winks. She examines the handkerchief with a puzzled face. "But this is not my handkerchief" "I forgot to tell you: I took the liberty to add a little embodery while I was at the atelier. To make it up for such a long wait" I explain. "I did it without thinking, I realise now that you may dislike my idea" She blinks and looks back at my work, the roses and her name. When she meets my gaze again, she's smiling. "Dislike this? Don't speak nonsense, this is gorgeous!" Another dancers steps in to put back a scarf in her locker. "Carmine!" Élodie calls her, excited. "Carmine, look! My friend here made this. Now I have a handkerchief with my name and decor just like a real gentlewoman! It's a fancy thing, isn't it?" The dancer takes a look over her shoulder. "Very fancy" she confirms before nodding at me. "Great job, Lila's friend" Then she takes her leave, reminding Élodie that it's almost time to go. She nods but her eyes are still fixed to my work. She looks back at me whispering "thank you" and throws her arms around my neck, swaying the two of us. I'm taken aback by her sudden gesture: I try to minimise as I hug her back. Before parting, she presses a kiss on my cheek. "It's not nothing! It's a beautiful thing you did and I will cherish it. Look, I'll wear it tonight on stage" She gently places it into a small pocket on her bolero, one hem showing. She flashes me another smile, shier than her usual ones. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble for me though" I protest that it was a great pleasure, no trouble at all. She reaches for my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze before giggling. "But look at me! You're so kind and I always find a way to grow a stain on you" I look at her confused, looking down at my coat. I find nothing wrong? That's when I feel her thumb run on my cheek. She must have left a mark with her rouge when she kissed my cheek before. I lean to the touch, out of instinct, and I feel suddenly nervous. Ashamed of my reaction even if it felt so easy to just lean to that caress. I'm saved by a baritone voice in the corridor. "On stage! On stage, ladies! Who performs in la quadrille?" "Coming!" Élodie answers to the call. "I'll take my leave too" I say, clearing my throat. Her hands find mine and I look into her eyes again. "Oh no, don't go...stay! You can watch the show from backstage" She guides me back into the corridor, never letting go of my hand and surfing through the row of dancers lining up behind the velvet. When we reach one end, the curtains goes up and the first row of dancers starts running toward the centre of the stage. She places her hand on my cheek again. "Wait here and enjoy the show, I'll be back before you know it" she whispers leaning close to be heard over the furious notes of the can-can. Before I can say anything, she turns with a smile and joins her colleagues on stage. The view from here is no less magnificent than the paying spectators' one. A multitude of colours, cheerful shrieks and the enraptured faces of those witnessing this crazy wonder. I hide behind the curtains not to be seen even if I doubt anyone would notice me with the crowd on stage. The dancers are impeccable as usual, the same grace and perfection I remember...I find myself wondering if they're real or made of the substance of dreams. I feel so honoured to be here tonight, a secret spectator away from the crowd. I cannot refrain myself from clapping my hands to the maddening rhythm even if I swore to myself to be as quiet as possible...one simply cannot not join in when the can can is on. It pumps so much joie de vivre into your veins! From time to time I catch Élodie looking in my direction as she dances. I smile and clap my hands faster as if to encourage her. When they line up for the cartwheel line, she runs up to the last spot, the closer one to the end of the stage and to me. I wonder if she did it intentionally and I shake my head at the thought. What a silly girl I am! The dance goes on until the spectacular routine isn't over and the whole room echo with applauses and appreciative whistles. Some even throws roses to the stage. With playful reveries, the dancers take their leave and run into the backstage corridor, laughing and sharing comments about the perform and the audience. I press myself against the wall not to obstruct their way. One hand grabs mine and I turn to see Élodie. Her hair askew, sweat glistening on her forehead at the light of the gas lamps, her grace is still intact, maybe even enhanced. "You stayed" she says, panting for the furious dance but with a smile on her lips. I nod, giving her time to catch her breath. "Another breathtaking performance, I don't know how you do it but you were all amazing" She flashes me another proud smile. "Flatterer" she giggles. "Listen, wait for me as I change, will you?" Before I can say anything and after a quick squeeze to my hand, she disappears into the changing room. When the door closes, I can only do one thing: wait for Élodie.

#wlw writing #wlw writing project #original work #wlw miniseries #lgbtq #belle epoque #paris

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nautiscarader · 4 years

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Smutember 2020 day 1 - Dirty talk (show), Zalissa (Melizack)

Smutember 2020 day 1 - Dirty talk (show),

Zalissa (Melizack) (Milo Murphy’s Law), E, 1.8k

(Ao3)

If you liked my story, here’s a Ko-fi link if you’d be so kind ❤️.

Prompt suggested by @vickyships

=================

- Nervous, mister Underwood? Is it your first time live on air?

Melissa's voice brought Zack from his short moment of thoughtfulness.

- Me? - Zack returned a cocky smile Melissa blessed him with - Are you kidding? We've been through tougher times. And why did you call me that? - Journalistic integrity. Gotta stay professional, since, you know, we are a thing. - Uh, babe, the entire school knows we are a thing, so- - I know, but let's pretend. - she cut him off - Ssh, we're going live.

Melissa gave him a quick wink and slid the headphones on, just as Lydia, sitting behind glass in the director's room opposite them was giving them signals. She silently counted from five to one, and when the red "On Air" lamp above them turned on, her confident, alluring voice filled the recording room.

- And now, Danville, welcome to another episode of "Chased into the spotlight", a programme where your humble host, Melissa Chase, interviews your favourite local celebrities, idols, oddballs, or whomever is available.

She spoke the intro on a single breath, giving her boyfriend a subtle wink at the end of her opening line.

- Today's guest has moved into our town only a couple of years ago, but he has already made a name for himself, though I will most certainly try to uncover a bit of his past. How are you doing, Zack? - I am fine, Melissa, and thanks for inviting me. - Oh, it is my pleasure for having you.

Her smirk widened just a bit as she spoke those words, prompting a sudden twitch from her interlocutor sitting opposite her. As if nothing has happened, Melissa casually looked at her list of questions and continued.

- Zack, most people know you for being cool, laid-back guy and a loyal friend, but only some of us have heard about your passions and talents. Would you care to tell us about them? - Well, I guess it started when I was a young kid, I liked dressing up for Halloween and that kinda led me to getting interested in theatre and dancing, and I guess singing. - Interesting... - Melissa toyed with her pen, and took one end of it into her mouth, gently grazing it with her teeth - Were you interesting in role-playing? Wearing costumes? Assuming different characters, to enact some of your... fantasies?

Melissa might have wondered about it before, but there was no mistake now - in the lights of the recording studio, she could easily see droplets of sweat on Zack's forehead forming as her words left her mouth, still forming an alluring connection with the pen.

- Uh, well, you-you can say tha-that... - And you have played roles, singing in your boy band, "Lumberzacks". - Melissa interrupted him - Oh, uh, yes. - ... which was of course called "Lumbermaxes", before the lead singer, Max, left, leaving you in charge. Tell me, how does it feel to be chosen as the dominant alpha male of your group? - Wha-what do you mea-AA!

Zack yelped and put hands over his mouth when he felt something smooth sliding up his leg, right up to his crotch. Neither the listeners, nor Lydia could see what Melissa was doing with her feet underneath the table, but neither the pop-filter, nor the equipment could hide his ecstatic voice.

- Impressive vocal range - Melissa commented without missing a beat - Why don't we listen to a clip of your song, long enough to let our viewers experience your talent, and short enough to avoid our channel being taken down by copyright bots?

She nodded towards Lydia, and the familiar tune of a lumberjack-themed song started seeping from the speakers, giving the two a short moment to breathe, though Zack evidently needed it more.

- Mel! - he spoke in half-whisper - What the what was that?

His girlfriend graced him with another smirk, as her foot slid from her shoe and started climbing up his leg again. She looked at the equalised of his microphone and watched as the waves of his breathing osculate with each inch she was travelling up. Their eyes met, and as she travelled up, Melissa wondered if she made the right choice. Though he was nervous, her boyfriend didn't let her know she has won, until her toes found the familiar thickness hidden in the left leg of his jeans. She moved her toes back and forth around his head, until in the corner of her eye Melissa noticed Lydia signalling the end of the clip.

At once, Melissa retracted her foot from between his legs, seeing longing in his eyes and fixed her position in the chair.

- And that was "Forest Fire of My Heart", which I understand you also co-wrote? - Uh, yes - Zack grunted - Usually Max was the head writer, but this is the one song where I proved that I am skilled not only in using my mouth, but also my fingers...

Zack leaned forward, eager to see Melissa's eye widen as hers, but instead, Melissa let out a short and quiet snort.

- Be-because I had to ty-type the song on-on my PC... - Of course.

Melissa restrained herself from bursting into laughter.

- Tell me, in the song, you sing about "Burning wood" and "Fire consuming your body".

She once again half-closed her eyes, and lowered her voice into a seductive, alluring range, accentuating the innuendos.

- Were you describing- - Love.

Zack answered at once.

- I was writing about love, warming one's soul, heart and mind, love that if left unspent can burn bridges and forests. I was thinking, seeing into the future, perhaps, about a flame with a flaming red hair that I will meet one day and make her cheeks burn with the same fire...

It was time for Melissa to stare at her sly-looking lover with a dumbfounded, empty expression on her face, while the room and the airwaves were filled with nothing but silence for a solid twenty seconds.

- Uhm, this-this is all the time we have for today, Lu-Lumberzacks are about to have a- uh, reunion charity concert on Saturday, and you can buy the-the tickets on our website, though I should warn you, the first row is already sold out because I will buy all of them.

She waved quickly at Lydia to end the recording early, and soon as the red light above them and the one behind the glass were turned off, Melissa regained some confidence in her voice.

- How much time do we have till next classes? - Fifteen minutes. - Perfect. - And keep the headphones on, you look sexy in it - Zack spoke just as Melissa was about to take it off.

The sound-proof walls contained Melissa's shriek that escaped her mouth when Zack grabbed her waist and lifted her up just so he can slam her against the table. Anticipating his move, she spread her legs, and the second he slid between them, they closed behind his back in a tight lock, and a quick kick to his ass made him press his crotch against her wet sex.

While his lips found hers, her hands at once dashed between their heated bodies, to the same length she was massaging through his jeans, and after a few seconds of fumbling, he slid into her delicate palm. She wished they had time for delicate foreplay, but the heat burning between her legs told her she needs a far, far quicker fix for that.

She ended their ravenous kiss just so she could hear his voice cracking when his cock's head pushed aside the strip of her soaked panties and parted her puffy lips, followed by a savoured, blissful moment of tranquillity. But metaphorical tables were turned pretty quickly on her, when Zack used those few seconds to gather strength and sank inside her in one, smooth move which made Melissa's body arch as her senses were overwhelmed by her lover's filling her up.

- You... you would like this to be live, on air, wouldn't you...?

Melissa taunted him, eager to see his eyes widen at her salacious proposal.

- I want to proclaim my love to you to the who-whole school... - he grunted leaning against her for a kiss - And the nation. Even world. - And space, don't forget that. We know they got your songs out there...

Picking up speed, the two lovers moved in unison, racing both together and against each other, with the words of Zack's song still in their heads. Melissa didn't know whether it was poor air conditioning, or maybe their bodies grinding against each other have made the wooden table catch fire, but with each second she felt her core superheating.

- Me-Melissa... - Zack groaned, feeling the same overwhelming need in his loins - Where- - Inside - she answered at once in a broken voice - i want your seed to extinguish the fire inside me...

Those were the last words Melissa could speak with a clear mind. Melissa's final moan rivalled his grunts, and the sound-proof room trapped them around the two, just as their mouths joined again, rocking their shared climax that made the table slam against the wall with each thrust of Zack's hips and each portion of his cum that flooded her womb.

After another minute or so, the aggressive noise died down, just as the first wave of blissful afterglow began engulfing the two young adults. Zack gave Melissa a charming smile, leaned against her, and Melissa automatically closed her eyes, waiting for her lover's lips... But after a while of waiting she realised something must have gone wrong.

When she looked at him again, she saw a terrified look in his eyes, fixated at some point behind her, and when she tilted her head back, she noticed a single figure in the director's room that was lit once again.

Even with the image of her friend upside-down, Melissa could spot Lydia's burning cheeks and equally frightened look on her face, as the poor soul didn't know how to react to finding her friends in flagranti. Slowly, she decided to back away, though she never took her eyes (nor her phone) away from Zack and Melissa's half-naked, tangled bodies, until the director's room was empty once more.

- Well, I think we should count our blessings. - Zack huffed - If it was Milo, we would be live and everyone would hear us. - Are you saying everyone won't hear about it? - Melissa raised her eyebrow, and cupped his face to give him a kiss. - Get ready for an extra amount of awkward interviews for the next few days. Also, I am going to take the headset home, if you like me wearing it. - Yeah, shame it doesn't go with anything, so you'll have to be naked.

Zack laughed when Melissa gave him a light punch just as the two began to cover up their mess.

#melizack #zalissa #melissa chase #zack underwood #milo murphy's law #nautiscaraderfics #lemon #smutember #smutember2020 #day 1

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retvenkos · 4 years

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“can you teach me to cry on command?”

WE ARE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE NINI SALAZAR ROBERTS ALL GROWN UP AND AN ACTRESS - OH, AND YOU’RE THERE TOO...

so, to start, let me explain

our girl nini is an accomplished actress and she has been cast as the lead on a television show

she decided that the stage was not for her because she breaks character too much

and she’s vvv into slow burn story lines and deep character growth

so tv was the clear option

you, my friend, are in the acting industry as well, and you just so happened to land a part as the third person in the show’s iconic trio

for laughs we can say that seb is the other person in the trio, big red is working cameras, e.j. is the director (he learned he’s better behind screen), ricky and ashlynn make the music, kourtney does costumes, hair, and makeup, and gina and natalie are the scriptwriters

but back to the basics

so nini has grown up and has come into her own

don’t get me wrong - she is still sweet and kind and loyal, but she has confidence now and doesn’t wait around for things to change, she changes things herself

honestly, you admire her

a lot of people do

she is the queen of instagram, she has the most followers and posts a lot

she’s that celebrity that does a live stream like, every day while they are getting ready

she’s also really good at interviews because she has a sweet and charming personality

ricky claims that she learned charm from him, but no one quite believes him

she also has a lot of talents that interviewers love to uncover

“so we heard you like to sing...”

“is it true that you can tap dance?”

“there’s a rumor going around that you write music with your boyfriend, ricky bowen...”

“we found your secret photography account...”

and surprisingly, all of them are t r u e

she proves it too

she is the celebrity the people deserve

and when you meet her, and you a little intimidated???

of course

but is she so sweet and kind that it’s impossible to not feel like she thinks of you as family?

you know it

and honestly, the two of you together are a riot on set

because nini is not exactly,,,, mischievous. you on the other hand...

there are a lot of outtakes and blooper reels

nini will do the “we are all in this together” dance from high school musical, but you have to be the one to turn on the song and start

once you break character, she breaks

there was definitely a day on set where you grabbed the sword props and tossed nini one

and then the two of you were sword fighting in the middle of the set, and it somehow gets leaked and the two of you are asked about it in an interview

“well, (y/n) tossed me a sword, and what else was i supposed to do?”

“you seem to be the bad influence on set.”

“i would say i inspire people to live life to the fullest.”

“they’re not lying.”

and you know that the producers of the show realize early on that you and ninis friendship is a goldmine for promoting the show

they definitely ask you to do more things together for promotion, and neither of you complain

you guys already had plans to go to the mall anyway, and now you’re getting paid for it???

but let’s talk about the television show you two do for a minute, because i have i d e a s

so it’s definitely an urban fantasy show aimed at the 16-24 year old audience

there’s magic, there’s swords, there’s nightclubs, there’s zombies in the denny’s parking lot

it’s kind of grungy, and that’s part of why everyone was shocked when nini salazar roberts was going to be in it

girl has been in romances and period pieces set in the 50′s.

but she plays her character so well???

she’s that aloof, perceptive character that has witty one liners and catches the knives of trained assassins

she does fight sequences

it’s honestly a testament to her great acting

of which she most definitely went to school for because a transformation like that takes time and she’s only in her mid 20s.

and you are the friend that she and the other character pick up along the way because you have insider information because you betrayed someone, somehow

and the emotion you deliver is on point

your character is also the one that, when stuck in a tight situation is like,,, “guys, we have a plan, right?”

you’re not really comic relief, because it’s not that kind of show, but you have the light-hearted moments

but the two of you can also do those heavy, emotional scenes???

and you definitely get tips from nini on how to cry on command, because lord knows she can do it whenever, wherever

and you both most definitely cry during the season finale

it was 22 episodes of pure emotion

and, in the final episode nini’s character dies and she passes on her legacy to you

very poetic, seeing as nini passed on some of her acting chops to you

and when you get signed on for another season, you scream

and maybe we meet a character in the next season that can talk to ghosts just so we can get nini on set one last time...

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

#high school musical: the musical: the series #hsmtmts #nini salazar roberts #x reader #reader insert #imagine #headcanons #would include #platonic!reader #platonic #au #niniheadcanons

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leftabit-leftabit · 5 years

Text

Two faced friends - Prinxiety - one shot

Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers and blah, blah, blah. That’s the play they were getting ready for. Auditions, set pieces, props, the full whack! They were due to perform in a few weeks, and Virgil was creating the set for it all, while Roman auditioned for the part of the beloved Romeo.

Virgil had managed to bag the job of ‘Art Director’ which pretty much just included painting numerous set pieces such as castle layouts, the drop down background, and even fake trees. Yes, fake trees. As a result of this, Virgil’s once white overalls were now a literal rainbow of green, brown, grey and even yellow. He didn’t mind it though. Virgil had always been quite good at art, and found that it calmed his nerves, especially when he was anxious… which was all of the time.

The twenty year old let out a satisfied sigh, dipping the paintbrush into the pot of brown paint, wiping off the excess on the side of the tin. Virgil smiled, gently sweeping the brush over the paper-mache tree trunk, swirling and spreading it neatly across the structure to create ‘tree texture’ as Mr. Sanders, the leader of the drama club, would put it. Virgil wrinkled his nose, wiping it with the back of his free hand, smearing brown mixed with green paint across his sniffer and cheek.

Virgil didn’t mind the hard work. After all, he was doing this for Roman, his boyfriend of two years. Roman was the only reason Virgil had joined the College Drama Club in the first place, since it was his dream to become an actor, and Virgil just wanted to show how much he supported his boyfriend. That, and he also wanted to keep a close eye on Roman and the people he called his friends.

Grant, according to Roman, was his best and most loyal friend. Virgil thought differently. Especially whenever Roman auditioned for a play, Grant always seemed to be up his ass with praise and fake adoration. Virgil hated him with a passion. Grant with his dirty blonde hair, that was always swept back into a pathetic looking man-bun due to the length of it. The guy couldn’t even act! Virgil was surprised that Roman couldn’t see right through Grant like he could.

Virgil hadn’t noticed the fact that his grip had tightened around the paintbrush. He hadn’t noticed the fact that he was grinding his teeth, and clenching his jaw. He didn’t notice his magenta locks falling into his eyes, too blinded by the raging thoughts of Grant using Roman as a means to an end -

“I GOT THE PART!”

The young males head flicked to the side, negative thoughts completely dispersing as quickly as they had developed. A smile quirked at the corners of Virgil’s lips upon hearing the familiar smooth, yet vibrant voice he knew so well. He could hear Roman before he could see him. Virgil watched as the backstage door breezed open.

Roman sauntered through the doors, dressed in full ‘Romeo’ costume; a dark beige tunic, that clung tightly to his waist and rested just above his knees, a pair of moss green tights, which clearly well defined his thigh and calf muscles, and shoes that looked more like socks.

Virgil set his paintbrush to the side, his footsteps echoing against the hardwood as he made his way over to his boyfriend with a smirk on his lips.

“I knew you would!” The smaller male chuckled, eyes scanning over his boyfriend’s outfit, before letting out a low whistle. “You look good in tights,” he teased, watching as Roman wrinkled his nose with embarrassment.

“I’ll have you know, that tights aren’t as comfy as they seem.” The older of the two grimaced, trying to adjust himself accordingly.

Virgil took a step closer, getting on his tiptoes to press a kiss on the end of Roman’s nose. “Romeo, wherefore art thou?” He cooed, catching Roman playfully roll his eyes. “What scene did you audition with?” Virgil asked curiously, taking in the view of Roman’s flushed and freckled cheeks.

“You want me to recite it to you?” The taller male rose a mischievous brow, his thumb gently grazing over Virgil’s paint covered cheek.

Virgil bit at his lip as the heat rose in his face, tingeing his ears a light pink. He nodded dumbly, staring up and into Roman’s sweet, pea green eyes.

Roman chuckled quietly. “Well alright.” He smiled, leaning down a little to peck a kiss on Virgil’s forehead, who blushed at the action. “Did my heart love till now?” Roman began slowly. “Forswear it sight!” Roman cupped one of Virgil’s cheeks with his hand, while the other rested on his waist, pulling him closer. “For I never saw true beauty till this night.”

Virgil’s speckled green and golden eyes sparkled with awe. “Roman, that was -”

“Aren’t the little love birds adorable, Angel?” Grant’s gravelly voice interrupted, echoing throughout the backstage arena. His deep, pale blue eyes flickered with amusement.

Angel, Grant’s girlfriend, had a smirk pulling at the corners of her rose painted lips. “Oh, they are just precious!” She batted her false lashes, too long to even be considered natural, and let out a forced giggle.

Roman beamed at this, smile wider than humanly possible. “Grant! Angel! Where’s everyone else?” Roman chuckled as his hands slipped from Virgil’s waist and face, leaving the younger male a little dejected.

Grant and Angel made their way over, arm in arm. It was clear to everyone that they were a thing. Though, Virgil knew that Grant hadn’t been all that faithful… Angel was nothing but his little side piece. Not that Virgil cared. Why would he? They were both as stupid and vindictive as each other.

“They’re in auditions,” Grant explained with a smirk. “I have mine in about an hour.” He added quickly, eyeing up Roman’s outfit a little longer than he needed to, causing the corners of Virgil’s lips to twitch.

Virgil took a step so that he was by Roman’s side, in a sort of protective stance, which went unnoticed by his boyfriend.

“A little birdie told me that you got the part of Romeo.”

“Yes! Mr. Sanders said I smashed the audition! Isn’t that amazing!” Roman let out with an exuberant giggle that made Virgil’s heart flutter. Virgil had always loved Roman’s passion for his love of theatre. The fact was, Roman didn’t even know how amazing he was at it. He always felt the need to be reassured, and Virgil just wished Roman could see what he saw.

“Fantastic!” Grant unhooked his arm from Angel’s, and rushed to give Roman a overly enthusiastic hug. Virgil had to refrain from rolling his eyes so Roman didn’t see his lack of excitement he had for Grant’s presence. “I wonder if you could put in a good word for me with Mr. Sanders?” Grant smiled as Roman hugged back.

“Of course! That’s what friends do, right?!” Roman pulled away from the hug with a large, genuine smile on his lips. He turned his attention back to his boyfriend, trying to encourage a smile from Virgil.

Virgil noticed Roman’s stare and quickly slapped on a grin. He shoved his hands into his overall pockets, wishing he had his hoodie on so he could hide his face in his hood.

Grant’s gaze shifted from Roman to Virgil. “Ah, Vincent! It’s so good to see you again.”

Virgil’s hazel eyes narrowed into thin slits. “You know that’s not my name, jerk-bag.” He muttered bluntly, letting his cheery facade slip, giving a side glance at Roman, who gasped in response.

“Virgil!” The older males face flushed pink, shocked at the outburst of his usually sweet and kind boyfriend. Yes, Roman agreed that Virgil could be sarcastic at times, but the way he had said it with such disdain made Roman wonder. Roman knew that Grant wasn’t very good with names, sometimes even calling him Romoron by an accident. Roman knew that Grant hadn’t meant it. “Apologize, please…”

Virgil’s eyes flickered to Roman, and he scoffed. “What?” Virgil could see Angel grinning smugly from the corner of his peripheral vision. How he loathed them. Roman actually wanted him to apologize to Grant… the person that only used Roman to get better parts in plays? “I am not apologizing to that douche bag! I don’t even know why you’re friends with him and the others in the first place!” Virgil felt his hands clench into fists, heart pounding against his chest mimicking a drum beat from one of MCR songs.

Hurt flashed across Roman’s features; his eyes becoming less vibrant and almost hollow, lips less full, brows creased. “Virgil…”

Grant offered a glance at Angel, who seemed to be enjoying this outburst a little too much so he gave her a nudge on the arm.

“No, Roman.” Virgil couldn’t stand it anymore. He hated the fact that Roman couldn’t see what they were doing, what they had been doing. “Are you completely blind?! They use you. Talk about you behind your back. They make fun of you!” Virgil screeched, voice cracking slightly.

The blonde man stepped forward, blocking Roman’s view of Virgil. “Listen, you creepy, raccoon wannabe. You need to take a much needed chill pill, don’tcha think?” Grant’s voice was dangerously low. Virgil knew it was because he didn’t want Roman to hear what he was saying.

“Both of you… Just stop.” Roman mumbled softly, face flushed and desperate. Roman’s eyes filled with tears that he was trying to hold back.

Grant whipped around to face his ‘best friend,’ lips overly pouted with sympathy. “Oh, now look what you’ve done, Vincent!”

The hairs on the back of Virgil’s neck pricked up like tiny soldiers. Virgil wanted nothing more than to slam his fist into Grant’s face. “Look what I’ve done?” He rose his brows which were hidden by his mass of purple bangs.

“Come on, Roro.” Grant wrapped an arm around Roman’s shoulder, looking up slightly at his friend. “Let’s get you calmed down, shall we?” The taller of the two sniffled in response, leaving the way they had came in, Angel following close behind them.

Virgil watched on as Roman left. He watched as Grant peeked over his shoulder, smirking smugly. He watched as Roman hugged Grant, resting his head comfortably on the others shoulder. He watched until the doors closed, leaving him alone in the middle of the empty arena.

----

Once Roman had calmed, thanks to the help of his friends, he made his way back into the audition room to put in a good word for Grant and the others. Roman had left his friends outside of the door, smiling at them as he entered.

Roman bit his lip, doubling back on himself about to open the door as he noticed that Mr. Sanders was no longer in the room… when he heard voices.

“What an idiot.” Grant mumbled when he thought Roman was gone.

Roman’s brows creased softly as he listened, resting gently against the heavy door. Who was Grant talking about?

“I don’t know how anyone can be that stupid!” Another one, Roman recognized the voice as Michael, snorted. “How can he be an amazing actor, and not know when someone is acting!” He added with a click of his tongue.

Confusion washed over Roman, still not fully understanding. Who on earth were they talking about?! Roman listened more intently, hoping for some kind of hint on the subject of whom this was about.

“Did you see what he was wearing?” Angel piped up, not bothering to hold in her cruel and high pitched giggle. “It didn’t even fit him properly! He looked like a fat sack of potatoes.” She added with a snort. “I don’t know what his boyfriend sees in him other than he can act.”

Roman found himself subconsciously looking down at the costume he was wearing, covering his stomach with one of his hands. Sure, it was a little tight… And maybe he wasn’t the best looking… Though, Virgil would tell him otherwise. Everything they were saying seemed to niggle at his insecurities. Roman gulped back tears despite the pure burning of his throat. Were… were they talking about him?

“Romoron is an absolute dimwitted, dunderheaded fool!” Roman heard Grant let out a loud, pompous chortle. “You’d think after all of this time he would notice that we were just using him.”

Romans gut tightened into knots, his eyes becoming blurry with unshead tears. This was how they really felt about him? What they thought of him? For a year and a half, this was what they had thought?! A tiny whimper pushed past Romans lips and he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut, finally letting the tears spew over and down his cheeks.

He’d had enough of their taunting, their mocking words. Virgil had been right all along. Why hadn’t he listened to the only person that seemed to care?!

Roman sniffled, pushing the door open with shaky hands, storming past his so called friends. He didn’t care that they were calling after him. He didn’t care that he could hear them laughing as he ran away crying. He didn’t care. He really didn’t…

----

Virgil, now out of his dirty overalls and in his hoodie, made his way into the bathroom. He felt awful for what had happened. Roman probably never wanted to see him again, ever. But Virgil couldn’t just stand by and watch Roman get used by some actor wannabes.

The young male made his way over to one of the sinks, sighing as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Plum coloured bangs obscuring his eyes, as dry paint was still slightly smeared across his face. Virgil gave a light roll of his eyes before grabbing a few paper towels and wetting them a little. He was in the middle of wiping his face when heard sniffling and muffled sobs coming from one of the toilet stalls.

A frown made itself present across Virgil’s features. “Hello?” He asked softly as he shuffled his way over to the stall that was letting out whimpering noises. “Is… Is everything alright in there?” Virgil bit at his lip when the sobbing suddenly stopped. He waited for a second, unsure.

“V-Virgil?”

Virgil’s heart sank to his stomach, and his stomach twisted vigorously. He felt sick. Virgil heard a few more sniffles before he spoke up. “Roman? C-can you come out of there for a minute?” The younger male waited until he heard the small click of the lock.

Red rimmed, swollen and watery, pea green eyes peeked from behind the bathroom stall door. Roman stood there, flushed and blotchy faced from crying, mousy brown hair messed up to an inch of its life, tunic frayed and splitting a the seams a little.

“Oh, Roman…”

“I-I…” Roman sniffled, tears threatening to spill from his eyes once again. “Yuh-you were ruh-right…”

The younger of the two felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. He rushed over and wrapped his arms around Roman, burying his face in his chest. “I’m sorry, Ro! I should have done something sooner.” Virgil felt Roman’s hands rest around his waist, pulling him closer.

Roman choked back a whimper and shook his head. “Nuh-no… I-it’s my f-fault…” His arms tightened around his boyfriend’s tiny waist. “I shu-should have listen to you…”

Virgil could feel Roman’s breathing stutter as he sobbed. He could feel his heart thud faster against his temple. Virgil could only snuggle closer, holding him tighter, in the hopes it may comfort the twenty one year old.

“The-they use me and… and I…”

“Hey,” Virgil began rubbing tiny circles at the bottom of Roman’s back. “None of this is your fault, okay? None of it.” He glanced up at his boyfriend with soft, and sincere eyes. “You didn’t ask to be used, Roman.”

“I feel so st-stupid, Virgil…” Roman snivelled, quickly wiping at his eyes. “They said I l-looked like a f-fat sack of potatoes!” Pulling away from Virgil, Roman buried his face in his trembling hands.

“Babe,” Virgil cooed, brushing his fingers against the others hands, gently removing them from his face. “Look at me.” Roman’s nose crinkled, whining out a no with a shake of his head. “Look at me,” Virgil urged calmly, resting his palm on the older males cheek. “You are my prince perfect, you know that.”

Roman’s green eyes glistened with tears, shining like little gems, salty trails dripping from them as he blinked. The younger of the two grazed his thumb over his cheek, wiping them away.

“You are the most amazing thing in my life, Ro. You are my life, and you’re so perfect. If those assholes can’t see that, then they must be freaking blind!” Virgil pointed an aggressive finger toward the door. “You can act. You sing like an angel, and not to mention that you look super sexy wearing those tights!”

Roman couldn’t help the choked up chuckle that pushed past his quivering lips. “I love you, Virgy.”

Virgil hummed in endearment, stepping on his tiptoes and pecking a kiss on Roman’s cheek. “I love you more!”

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nataliedanovelist · 4 years

Photo

(I did not draw this, my friend, @missinspi, drew this for me) (https://www.deviantart.com/missinspi)

Wanna read fics with this OC in it?

For a fic close to canon Gravity Falls (season 3?), read this.

For an AU about Stan and Ford getting a new neighbor at seven-years-old, read this.

Miscellaneous Oc Asks

@cityandking created a (relatively short) list of random, weird, hopefully interesting OC asks. Feel free to specify a character or just send a couple of questions, and then share it around!

What six CD’s would your OC keep in their car? Is it just a taste/preference thing, or do any of them have particular significance? I can’t think of any particular CDs, but as far as artists go... Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Queen (or in the Gravity Falls world, the band called King), ACDC, a disk full of instrumental piano music, and a Dolly Parton CD her friend Madeline Ingrid probably gave her.

What does your OC smell like? What does your OC wish they smelled like? Coconut butter, japanese cherry-blossom perfume, and occasionally disinfectant (she works at a hospital). She tried every hard to smell nice, as most women do, and if she feels like work is ruining that, she might use her favorite “stress relief” lotion to help overpower the smells of rubber gloves and baby spit up.

How aesthetically-oriented is your OC in their clothing? Their living space? Their general presentation? If their look™ is mismatched, is that on purpose? Hephzie has a plain, easy-to-follow fashion sense: blue-jeans with t-shirts for casual events, jeans with blouses for nicer days, and occasionally a sweater for the winter. She also has a small love for boys’ clothes; she won’t shy away from mens’ t-shirts or button-ups if they feel nice and look OK. Her living space is relatively tidy (having grown up with grandparents who needed clean floors to avoid falling) but she’s not a clean freak. Her living space is very artsy and mitch-match, having friends all over the world and she loves learning about different cultures. She might have a rug from India by her bed, but a quilt from Ireland on her bed and a small statue from Hawaii on her dresser. With a bunch of hand-me-downs and mis-match tastes, her overall aesthetic is old and comfort.

What one word would you use to describe your OC’s vibe? Chill.

What’s one mundane thing that would throw them off-kilter? Why? Nuclear families. She grew up with her Grandma and Grandpa on her mother’s side. She never knew her father and her mother abandoned her at a hospital, not even waiting to see what would happen to Hephzie. So Hephzie values family very much, but she sees no reason why blood should be the most important factor in the definition in “family”. The idea of a “normal” family, one with two parents who are married and in love, siblings, and occasionally cousins and aunts and uncles, is like a dream to her. It’s nice, but not for her.

What kind of AU is your OC best suited to? What kind of AU would be the worst? Is there any AU that would be, objectively, just really funny? Hephzie is in 2 AUs: one pretty close to canon Gravity Falls, and one in which she grows up as neighbors to Stan and Ford. Both AUs are very interesting and I love seeing how she responds to each scenario, but I think the more “tragic” of the two is the canon-like one. I’ve toyed with an AU of her becoming a singer and I can see it going either two ways: either she crumbles under the pressure and gets into drugs and overdoses, or she flourishes and uses her money and power for good, like feeding the hungry and helping the homeless find homes.

If your OC could pick a different name, title, or pseudonym for themself, what would they pick? Why? Have they ever been given an alternate name/title, and how do they feel about it? Well, her birth name is Alicia-Sarah Hephzibah Fisher Cece, but she HATES the name Alicia-Sarah and only goes by Hephzibah/Hephzie. In one AU, she legally “fixes” her name.

If your OC were playing D&D, what would their race and class be? What backstory tragedy™ would they give their character? Does that reflect their own life in any way? Be honest. Okay, because a certain extra-special person in her life loves D,D, & More D, she plays, too. She’s an woodland elf, a healer, and has very little interest in her character, but she likes the storytelling and the praise she gets if she manages to heal a wizard with pointy-ears and fluffy brown hair named Rokuro the Righteous.

Star Wars or Star Trek? A certain boyfriend of hers likes Star Trek better, but she likes Star Wars better. It’s been a bitter rival since the beginning of time.

If your OC is from a fantasy world, where in the real world would they come from? If your OC is from our world, which fantasy world would they most want to live in? Bonus: Would you ever write/RP them in that world? Hephzie grew up on Irish folktales (her grandmother’s family is from there), so she would love to meet færies and see magic and meet a selkie. Screw being a mermaid, she wanted to be a selkie! And... no, don’t expect a fic about this.

What plant, animal, and color does your OC feel like today? A Venus Flytrap, a mongoose, and the color dark-green. It’s been a rough day but she’s keeping a level head.

If your OC were a superhero, how flashy would their costume be? Also, what would their superpower be? Does this go with their costume at all, or are they all about fashion? #Can’tFightCrimeIfYouAin’tCute Well... in the canon-like AU, she’s kinda a superhero already, so... think something like a knight’s armor on the arms and legs with a maroon cape. Power would be healing, but she can also fight hella well with a sword and bow-and-arrows. And she’s never cared about looking good, she just wants to survive the war...

Does your OC thrift? Buy designer? Where would they shop irl? GOODWILL FOR THE WIN!!! She and her friends called it “treasure hunting” in high-school and it stuck. She loves it, and when a certain somebody came out with a song about it, she was livid (even if she was fifty-something years old).

Is your OC superstitious? If so, what superstitions do they believe? If not, what do they think of superstitious people? She’s constantly around the supernatural and abnormal... and loves it. She thrives off of what is different. So, superstitious?... Hm, she isn’t paranoid or afraid; she welcomes it with open arms.

Is your OC religious? Do they want to be? Have they ever been at some time in the past? How complicated is their relationships with worship/the gods/the church/etc? Her grandparents took her to church growing up and she loved the music. Her grandmother was the choir director and her grandfather played the piano, and she had “the voice of an angel”, so she happily sang in church, but she kinda stopped going to church when she went to college, but if you ask her she’ll tell you she’s a Christian. She says it just makes sense to believe in a god; there’s too much that science can’t explain. She also likes studying Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism to learn more about other people and cultures.

Hardwood, tile, or carpet? Hardwood. But she will NEVER say no to a fluffy rug.

What’s their go-to parlor trick? Are they actually that good at it, or do they just enjoy it? Do people tell them they’re good, even if they aren’t? How do they handle criticism? I can’t really think of a good parlor trick. She has a lot of talents she keeps on the down, like singing and stand-up comedy (don’t ask). On another note, she takes criticism overall pretty well.

If your OC could request one boon from a god, what would it be? The extermination of a certain three-sided demon.

Favorite comfort food? Do they enjoy junk food or are they more of a foodie? Can they cook? What’s their favorite thing to cook? OREOS are HERS! DON’T TOUCH THEM UNLESS YOU WANNA LOSE A HAND! She also secretly loves watermelon (doesn’t like to tell people this) and her comfort food is either hot tea or hot chocolate. Something to warm her hands. And no, she can’t cook; she burns everything. EXCEPT, she can brew coffee and she’s a pretty good barista (was one during college).

Any major theme(s) or conflict(s) in your OC’s life? How have they dealt with that? Are they aware of it, or do they ignore it? Did you design them with such theme(s)/conflict(s) in mind, or did they evolve naturally? Loyalty is a huge one for her. I think so many people have forgotten what it means to be a true friend and what real loyalty looks like. You’re willing to go far and wide for the people you care about because you want to, because you get fulfillment out of doing the right thing. Hephzie will have your back, no matter what. She doesn’t care what race, background, gender, sexuality, religion, she doesn’t give a shit. If you’ve got her, you’ve got a loyal friend. IOne thing she struggled with - and is only semi-aware of it - is loneliness. She finds it suffocating. It’s slight PTSD from losing so much in her life, and she’s not terribly clingy, but she’ll wallow about it and sink into depression if she feels abandoned or alone. She NEEDS that reassurance that she is not a freak and not alone and that SOMEONE would care if one day she was gone. This evolved naturally when shaping her backstory and realising it needed to have realistic consequences.

If they could steal one major piece of art with no consequences, what would it be and why? Bonus: how would they pull off the heist? Anything Bob Ross. Loves that guy. And she’d probably just recrute Stan to help her with either blackmail or her “Please, for me?” line.

Now it’s YOUR turn!

#gravity falls #oc #hephzie cece #ford pines #stan pines

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rpdrficexchange · 4 years

Text

New Traditions (Sashea) - Peridot

A/N: Merry Christmas folks! I wrote this for the lovely roza @leljaaa for the @rpdrficexchange 2019! Feel free to leave any feedback here or over at @artificialperidot :) Hope you enjoy!

To Roza: Merry Christmas darling! I’ve never written Sashea before but I gave it my best shot and I actually really enjoyed it! I hope you enjoy this little coffee shop au with a festive twist, and that you appreciate the little theatre references I just had to sneak in there for you. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas angel!

Shea’s heart was in her throat.

Fingernails dug into her thigh. A strong arm was held firmly around her waist, binding her like a rope. The words he said in her ear blurred into nothing.

This was it.

This was the last straw.

She was done. She had to leave. She was going to leave, right now.

She felt a kiss on her cheek as the hand around her waist clenched tighter.

Fuck no.

Shea pushed him off and slapped him in the face, and ran away as fast as she could.

She heard him call after her.

But there was no turning back now.

***

Sasha was one of very few odd people who actually didn’t mind working on Christmas.

Now don’t get her wrong, she still loved Christmas. She loved the coloured lights, buying gifts for others, the Christmas carols, even the cold weather - it reminded her of her home in Russia. And of course she missed spending Christmas with her loved ones, but she didn’t mind waiting just one more day to open her presents and eat her turkey. After all, that meant her family had two Christmas Days, and she didn’t mind missing out on one of them.

Christmas was actually one of Sasha’s busiest working days. She owned a quaint little café in the middle of New York City, and it was usually the only place open for miles on the 25th. Her café was her pride and joy. She was so happy to be able to create a safe space for everyone who entered through the door, and let them forget about the outside world for a little while. Each detail of the café had been hand chosen by her, from the books on the shelves along the walls to the different coffees and teas they served.

She had spent a few years (and probably too much money) designing it in her own vision. Clean, white walls with bookshelves, wooden counters, glass tables, low hanging neon coloured lights, and brightly coloured chairs, in magenta and bright yellow and electric blue. She wanted to create a comfortable, welcoming space for artists in New York like her, of which Sasha knew were many.

The colourful chairs had since been wrapped in silver tinsel, and the coloured lights set to reds and golds and greens to create a warm, festive atmosphere. Besides Sasha busily working behind the counter, the café was desolate, just as she had expected. She had a few loyal employees, but she would never expect them to work on Christmas, even for double the pay. And, she never expected anyone to come into the shop on Christmas either- even those who didn’t celebrate Christmas usually didn’t want to face the snow and ice. Though, Sasha still prepared the usual cakes and pastries if any customers did decide to brave the cold, as well as some festive treats (gingerbread and shortbread and Christmas cake) which she would likely bring home to her family at the end of the day, having remained untouched.

Instead of busily serving customers from behind the counter as she usually would, Sasha had a new task on Christmas, one that made missing the day with her family all worth it. Every December 25th she would spend her morning kneading and stirring and creating the most magical Christmas desserts and cookies and cakes, complete with fondant icing and Christmas decorations. Sasha wouldn’t necessarily call herself a baker, but she was most certainly creative, and so she made use of her creative streak to invent a multitude of new sweet creations, and had received some pretty great reviews in the past. She would use up all the ingredients she had in the café making as many treats as her brain could come up with, each new addition as delicious as the next.

Whilst they were in the oven, she’d start her next task- wrapping as many shoeboxes she could. The café collected empty shoeboxes from their customers from the beginning of November, and thanks to their generosity, easily over one hundred would be donated. Then, using a combination of customer donations and her own money, Sasha would buy gifts to put in each box – warm clothes and bath products and blankets and sweets and toys for children.

Once everything was wrapped and baked, Sasha would gather each present and dessert and load them into her car, before driving down to the local homeless shelter, where she would stay until midnight. She would hand out her gifts to all of those who gathered there for a warm meal, and serve her cakes and cookies and pastries, which everyone loved. She would talk to them and sing carols with them all evening, and had formed a close friendship with the staff and the homeless people over the years for her generosity.

She wanted to make sure that everyone had a good Christmas, and give back to the community that had done so much for her over the years.

And this Christmas was no exception.

Sasha was busily kneading a lump of dough for her mince pies with her flour covered hands and absentmindedly humming to ‘Hark the Herald’, when she heard the shop door open. She jumped a little in surprise, and turned her head sharply to see who was the source of the footsteps that were headed her way.

Sasha hadn’t expected anyone to come into the café on Christmas Day.

Especially not a woman dressed as an elf.

Especially not a women dressed as an elf who was crying her eyes out.

To say that Sasha didn’t know what to do would’ve been an understatement.

She approached the counter, her running mascara staining the green collar of her shirt with black smudges.

“Uh… can I get a black coffee, p-please?” the girl muttered in a weak, shaky voice, as if she was on the verge of crying again.

Sasha stood silently for a second, eyes wide with utter bewilderment. She could’ve laughed at the sight of the poor girl – she’d never seen an elf with such little Christmas spirit. But, that wasn’t Sasha’s nature, so instead she started making the beverage, giving her time to think about what to say.

She handed over the drink and collected the girl’s money with a small smile, trying desperately to comfort her but not having a clue how to. The girl muttered a quiet “thanks” and turned to leave the store.

Sasha knew she couldn’t just let her leave.

Not on Christmas.

“Hey,” Sasha called out, “how would you like some company while you drink that? We could sit a while, talk?”

The girl wiped a tear from her eye and smiled hopefully. “Um, okay. Thanks.”

***

The pair spent the next hour or so talking to each other, losing track of time. Sasha had laid a table and made two hot chocolates with marshmallows, one for her and one just in case her new companion wanted something sweeter than her coffee. Free of charge, of course.

Sasha learned that the girl’s name was Shea, and that she was originally from Chicago, but moved to New York 3 years ago to study fashion design at college.

Sasha could’ve said how ironic this was considering her Elf costume, but she bit her tongue.

Besides, Shea still looked pretty good in it regardless.

“Then, after I graduate, I wanna design costumes for Broadway shows,” Shea continued on.

“That’s awesome! I used to do loads of theatre when I was younger,” Sasha reminisced.

“Same! I was such a theatre kid!” Shea laughed fondly. “I played Heather Chandler when we did Heathers in my senior year of high school.”

“No way! Heathers is one of my favourites!”

“Me too!” Shea exclaimed. “Fuck, I got to see Falsettos with the original Broadway cast a few years ago and it was honestly the highlight of my life.”

Sasha’s jaw dropped. “I am so jealous!”

Shea laughed and looked down, her dimples and the creases by her eyes forming a beautiful picture that Sasha never wanted to unsee.

And there wasn’t a single tear in her eyes anymore. Shea’s sadness seemed to be forgotten, at least for now.

Sasha tried to convince herself that she was looking for traces of teardrops in Shea’s eyes, but who was she kidding. Shea has the most warm, welcoming eyes Sasha had ever seen, eyes that drew her in and sparkled under the Christmas tree lights and allowed Sasha to catch a glimpse of the fiery soul that lay behind them.

She couldn’t help but stare. Although she had just met Shea, she was sure that she wanted to stare into those eyes for more than just an hour.

Sasha shook herself back into reality, now quite aware that she had been staring for a little too long. Embarrassed, she quickly tried to draw attention away from her staring.

“So, Uh, what stopped you from pursuing the whole acting thing?”

Shea shrugged. “I don’t know… I always wanted to do it, but people kept telling me it was unrealistic.”

“People like…”

“Mainly my boyfriend,” Shea mumbled. “I mean, my ex-boyfriend now.”

“Ex-boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I…. I left him today, actually.”

“Is that you were upset earlier?” Sasha asked.

Shea bit her lip.“Sorta… I just felt bad doing it on Christmas.”

“Don’t feel bad! I’m sure he probably deserved it anyway,” Sasha said, shaking her head.

“Trust me, he did,” Shea scoffed. “He was a dickhead.”

Sasha smiled and met Shea’s eyes for a second, before she quickly glanced away. “Um, can I ask why? It’s totally okay if you don’t wanna talk about it and I get it if you-“

“No, no it’s fine, I’ll tell you, don’t worry,” Shea replied, a sad sort of smile forming on her lips. “In all honesty… he was a jerk. He would, um, try and control my life, and what I wore, and what I did and stuff. Even today he was being a control freak. We both work part time jobs at Macy’s, as Santa’s helpers, and I had booked the day off to spend Christmas with my family, and he was still working and he, uh, he wasn’t too pleased about me leaving him on Christmas. So, uh, he changed my work schedule to make sure I was working on Christmas and didn’t tell me.”

Sasha felt her heart rate quickening. Oh my God. “Fuck, really?”

“Yeah. At first I thought he just didn’t wanna spend Christmas without me, but really, he just wanted to show off to his friends who took their kids to see Santa Claus. He didn’t even get me a gift.”

“Shit,” Sasha said in disbelief. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It’s fine, I guess. I’m so done with him now though,” Shea said through gritted teeth. “I tried to talk to him earlier, to tell him how I was feeling, but he didn’t listen. He just started flirting, playing it off as if it was nothing. And then he was grabbing me, and I slapped him and ran off.”

“Fuck, Shea.” Sasha furrowed her brow and bit her lip until she tasted blood.

Shea pursed her lips and inhaled sharply. “I know, it was really fucking bad, Sasha. I’m never going back. I don’t wanna see him ever again.”

Sasha genuinely couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This girl had been through hell and back, and yet was still able to articulate everything so perfectly, and Sasha felt priveleged that she trusted her enough to tell her story.

Sasha wished she knew the right words to say. She wished she could rewind time, reverse what happened to Shea. She wished that she could make sure that it would never happen again. “You’re so brave for leaving him. So brave. I’m so proud of you.”

She saw tears start to well in Shea’s eyes, before her face crumpled and she allowed her emotions to come out. Sasha grabbed the girl’s hand across the table, squeezing it tightly and trying to show her how loved she was, how she didn’t deserve any of this shit.

Shea allowed the tears to flow, each wave of emotion overflowing her senses, until she calmed down and started to feel okay. She wasn’t sure why she had allowed herself to be so vulnerable in front of Sasha. Something about her made her feel safe.

Sasha’s fingers remained interlocked with hers as her breathing began to slow, and she saw a smile creep back her Shea’s face.

“Sorry,” Shea eventually murmured, “for getting upset and shit.”

“Don’t say sorry. Emotions are healthy,” Sasha smiled sympathetically.

A weak smile appeared on Shea’s face as her rising chest settled and she was back in control.

“Well, I guess if that shit never happened I never would’ve ended up coming here,” Shea chuckled, the final tear rolling silently down her cheek before being flicked away. “You’re the only place open on Christmas for miles. Except McDonald’s.”

“McDonald’s doesn’t count,” Sasha scoffed, a sarcastic eyebrow raised making Shea giggle.

“Shhh, Ronald will hear you!” Shea exclaimed, before the two found themselves in fits of laughter.

“Well, I’m certainly glad you came in,” Sasha smiled.

“I am too. I’m really glad I met you, Sasha.” Shea beamed, the twinkle of sadness in her eye fading to a spark of hope. Sasha stared for a little longer than she probably should have. It was so easy to lose herself in her kind eyes.

Snapping back to reality, Sasha quickly glanced down and cleared her throat. Damn it. Shea must have noticed her staring that time. She’d need to be more careful about that.

When she dared to glance back up, Shea’s eyes were waiting, staring back into hers. Fuck. There was something so special about this girl.

No. Sasha had only just met this girl, they barely knew each other, and she had just broken up with her boyfriend for Christ’s sake.

This wasn’t happening.

This was crazy.

But maybe, Sasha liked crazy.

Maybe it was the fire in Shea’s eyes, or her fingers still interlocked with Sasha’s, or even her dumb elf costume that gave Sasha the confidence to say what she said next.

“So, uh, if you have no plans for Christmas anymore, then maybe you could stick around and help me with a few things.”

Shea smiled. “I’d like that.”

***

The next few hours blurred into clouds of flour and the sweet smell of gingerbread, as if Shea had stepped into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for the first time. Sasha was grateful for the extra pair of hands around the café to help her prepare for the evening, but even more grateful for the company. Being with Shea was always exciting, always fun, and Sasha somehow felt at ease around her. The empty café was now renewed with a sense of Christmas spirit, with a cacophony of laughter and Christmas music and the whirring of whisks filling the air around the two. Shea’s terrible Christmas had been long forgotten, and instead filled with candy canes and sugar and sweetness.

Shea didn’t have a clue how to bake, so whilst Sasha handled the difficult parts, Shea was set the task of decorating the gingerbread men, which she did with glee – she gave each biscuit a name and a different outfit and told Sasha made-up stories about each cookie character, making the smaller girl giggle. There was something infectious about Sasha’s laughter. God, she was adorable.

Once Sasha had seemed their collection of baked goods satisfactory, they began on their next task - wrapping. Shea felt more in her element here, given her experience with fabric, and so set off on a mission to show Sasha how amazing her wrapping was. She covered her first shoebox with glittery gold paper and streams of ribbons and bows, as if the present was fit for Broadway itself. She proudly handed it over to Sasha with a nod, before glancing over at Sasha’s gifts. Each one was precisely wrapped with crisp, neat folds, tied up with a flourish of ribbon. Not to mention the fact that she had wrapped 7 boxes in the time it had taken Shea to wrap one.

Upon noticing Shea’s gawking, Sasha laughed time herself. “It’s all in the math. Wrapping is essentially geometry,” she said, curling a length of ribbon with her scissors. “I like your wrapping more though. It’s more fun!”

Shea smirked. Damn. Smart and nice? Did Sasha know how perfect she was?

Shea knew alright.

***

The sound of a chorus of voices singing ‘jingle bells’ poured out from the homeless shelter, which was buzzing with life and activity. It had been decorated in rainbow-coloured fairy lights, a beacon of hope and magic in an otherwise dark and cold December night.

The two girls walked through the double doors side by side, arms bundled with seemingly endless wrapped boxes and silver tins of desserts. They were greeted by friendly faces and handshakes and hugs from volunteers and homeless people alike, thanking them for contributing to their Christmas.

Shea was sure she hadn’t understood the meaning of Christmas until now.

They began handing out the gifts along each row, Sasha offering hugs to those she had gotten to know over the past few years. Seeing the genuine, heartfelt reactions of those who appreciated such simple gestures as shoeboxes and cakes made Shea’s heart soar. For the first time in a long time, she felt alive.

Maybe it was Sasha who made her feel alive.

She couldn’t really tell.

After an evening spent singing carols and eating Sasha’s Christmas desserts, the two left arm in arm.

“Hey Sasha,” Shea said. “Thank you for all of this. For saving me.”

Sasha beamed. “You make it so easy.”

And thus began Sasha’s brand new Christmas tradition.

She would still go down to the homeless shelter and bring her desserts and her gifts. Of course.

But now, she would bring Shea with her too.

And now, they both dressed as elves on Christmas.

#rpdr fic exchange #rpdr fanfiction #peridot #for roza #sashea #sasha velour #shea coulee #lesbian au #christmas au #coffee shop au #fluff #angst #TW mentions of abusive behaviour #submission #Posted Fics

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