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joaquinwhorres · 4 years

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Best of Friends (Ch. 1) {Bucky x Reader}

SUMMARY ››››› When your best friend steals marries Bucky's best friend, the two of you are left with only one solution: to become best friends yourselves.

PAIRING ››››› Bucky Barnes x Reader

WORD COUNT ››››› 3,916

WARNINGS ››››› There is no abuse in this story, no drug use, no depression, and as the only warnings worth putting up throughout the series, will be based around major plot points and surprise, I’m just going to rate certain chapters on the movie scale. This is chapter PG.

A/N ››››› So I love and adore this story so much. I originally wrote it as an OC story and you can find those versions of the chapters on AO3 or FFN

The pounding on the door was seriously the last thing you needed right now.

The first thing you needed was a drink.

Unfortunately there was no way on God's green earth you were going to successfully parallel park that UHAUL, and the idea of going to a liquor store within walking distance of your new place seemed about as safe as letting in the person on the other side of the door. Something told you it wasn't the UPS guy causing the door to rattle against the frame.

You sent up a silent prayer that whoever it was would just go away and leave you to the excellent pity party you had been throwing herself.

The banging grew louder. Which was about right for today.

Since dying probably couldn't make you feel any worse than you did right now, you strode across the apartment and wrenched open the door. In the next second, you were pushed back into the apartment as someone hurled themselves at you.

"You're here!"

Thank goodness. Bernadette.

Your shoulders dropped as you wrapped your arms tightly around your best friend, squeezing your eyes shut and willing yourself to relax into the wave of relief. "Hi," you mumbled.

"Took you long enough to open the door," Bernadette complained, but you could hear the smile in her voice as she rocked you from side to side.

"I thought you were a crazy person."

Bernadette let out a wild laugh right in your ear, and you flinched but refused to let go.

"She is a crazy person," a male voice interrupted your moment, and you opened your eyes to find two hulking figures leaning against the wall behind Bernadette. The brunette smirked at you--or maybe Bernadette--as the blonde seemed preoccupied with scanning the hallway.

"Fuck you, Bucky," Bernadette lifted her middle finger for him to see without releasing you from the hug.

Bucky just laughed in response. "I suggested texting you that we were on your way, but she thought you'd enjoy the surprise." His eyes glimmered with amusement as your eyes rolled on their own accord.

"And you did, right?" Bernadette asked, pulling back enough to look at you eagerly.

"Maybe we should get out of the hallway," the blonde suggested, putting a stop to the bickering and saving you from having to pick sides.

"Yes!" Bernadette's attention shifted as she released you from the hug. "Let's see it!"

Your stomach constricted. "It's pretty rough."

"Of course it is. You just got here like thirty minutes ago," she dismissed, pushing past you. You sighed, opening the door and letting the men enter.

“Hi Y/N. Sorry we didn't text,” the blonde greeted, giving you a quick hug on his way in.

“It's fine, Steve,” you patted his back before dropping back down onto your feet.

“Your Honor,” Bucky grinned, entering the apartment.

“Your Bestness.” You smiled back, following him in and closing the door behind you to keep anyone else from seeing the depressing state of your new reality.

The three quickly fanned out to survey your apartment.

"This is a .....nice place," Bernadette smiled too brightly as she circled a pile of boxes in the kitchen to flip on the tap water. You watched as it sputtered a few times before picking up into a yellow-ish stream. She quickly flipped it off, turning to face you and see if you had seen. Making eye contact, she shrugged. "That clears up."

Bless her. She had to be the best friend to ever exist. Because if you were her, you totally would have hit her with an 'I told you so' by now.

Bernadette had warned you that an affordable single apartment was suspicious. That sometimes landlords blurred the neighborhood lines. That you may need to fix it up in order for it to even be considered a fixer-upper. Everything she warned you about was true.

You had thought you were going to Williamsburg. Instead you were in Bed-Stuy.

The picture on the listing must have been from like 10 years ago. Or maybe it was a neighbor's place. Or straight photoshopped. Because exposed brick was one thing but crumbling walls were another.

Add to that the three locks on the door and the fact that you were eight hours away from pretty much everyone you knew and loved, and you were feeling super great about this life decision.

"Does it?" you asked, making your way over to the living room area where about half of the floor seemed to have been ripped up.

"Sure," Bernadette nodded, moving out of the kitchen. "And if it doesn't, that's what Brita is for."

"You locked the truck, right?" Steve asked from where he stood by a window, staring out to the street below.

"Stop, the neighborhood's not that bad," Bernadette waved at Steve. She made a show of rolling her eyes as she moved past you to open the door to your bedroom."You did lock the truck, right?" she paused to whisper in your ear. You hummed a yes and turned to follow her.

The bedroom was less depressing than the rest of the apartment in the way Mount Everest was less dangerous than K2. It was still a fucking mountain.

"Interesting paint job," Bernadette remarked, staring at the wall which was half royal blue and half blood red. And not even artsy diagonal halves. No, of course not. Vertical halves. "I think I've seen something like this on Pinterest."

You groaned.

Bernadette tilted her head slightly, considering the room. "I think you probably have enough room to fit a twin and a dresser in here if you line them up against the wall."

"It's terrible," you whined. "The whole place is a complete shithole."

Bernadette gave you a sad smile. "It's better than I thought it would be," she brushed past you, walking back into the living room.

"There's a random hole in the kitchen ceiling!" You flung an arm out gesturing vaguely towards the kitchen.

"It could have been way worse. I was expecting it to be like a fourth of the size or for there to be a random dude you had to share it with. And anyway, Bucky's handy."

Your eyes flicked to Bucky, who was surveying the hole in the kitchen ceiling.

"You can't see into the apartment upstairs, so that's good," he commented and Steve snorted. Bernadette slipped off her shoe and chucked it at Bucky. He ducked, and it hit the wall of the kitchen, knocking loose part of the wall.

Whatever.

Bernadette winced. "Sorry," she apologized to you, meekly, shuffling across the apartment to retrieve the shoe from Bucky's outstretched hand. Taking the shoe, she whacked him in the arm with it. Bucky laughed again, making eye contact with you and shaking his head. You allowed a single exhale of amusement to escape you. But that was pretty much all the humor you had to spend on the situation.

"Do you have the keys to the truck?" Steve asked, and you nodded, patting your pockets before finding them and offering the small keychain to him. "Alright, Buck," he nodded with his head towards the door, and Bucky moved around Bernadette, giving her a wide berth as he went to follow Steve.

She started to follow when Steve stopped her.

"We got it. It's just the heavy stuff, right?" he asked you.

You nodded. "Yeah, I got most of the boxes up before you came."

"Are you saying we can't handle the heavy stuff? Did I secretly marry a misogynist?" Bernadette asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Steve shook his head, smiling. "We need someone to watch the stuff up here since the door's going to be open."

"Steve--" Bernadette started to protest again. You weren't sure if she was about to argue about her physical prowess or the apartment's safety, but regardless of the argument this eternal optimist wanted to make, you were fairly sure Steve was right.

"That'd be great, you can help me figure out where to put things as we unpack."

Bernie brightened at the prospect. "I'm glad you said that, because I already have some ideas." She turned back to face Bucky and Steve.

"Bucky, make sure he doesn't overexert himself. I need him fully functional tonight." You hoped that everyone mixed the grimace that crossed your face. Steve blushed slightly, and leaned down to whisper something in Bernie's ear. A grin spread across her face, and you were very thankful Steve was not one of those people who couldn't whisper.

"Ah newlyweds," Bucky made eye contact with you again, and you couldn't read the look on his face. He seemed almost like he was waiting for you to get the punchline of a joke. Maybe if your brain was operating at all correctly, you would have gotten it. Instead, you snorted before turning to Bernadette.

"Kitchen should be easiest and least in the way, right?"

"As long as we get it done in time for Bucky to take a look at the ceiling. And the bit of wall he knocked off."

You knew Bernadette well enough to see the red herring for what it was. You were not going to get distracted with holding her accountable for further destroying your shitty apartment.

"I'm not going to ask Bucky to fix my ceiling," you said, gathering the utensils out of the box and sticking them in a drawer by the stove.

"It's not a big deal--" Bernie dismissed, crossing paths with you to take the utensils and stick them in one of the mason jars you'd already unpacked.

You shook your head, "It's weird to ask one of your friends to fix my ceiling--"

"He's your friend too," Bernadette argued, taking the napkins out of your hands and disappearing with them.

"I've met him twice."

Bernadette came back and rustled through the open boxes, the sound of glass clinking and metal shifting against each other in her wake."Yes, but the second time you spent four days practically attached to the hip with him."

"Because he was the best man, and I was the maid of honor. It was our job to be attached at the hip and make sure everything went well."

"Was creating cute little nicknames part of the job as well?" Bernadette asked, pausing to pin you with a look.

"It's just an inside joke, and they're not that cute."

"Oh, they're pretty cute," Bernie smirked, bending back down to go through a box. "Where did you put your dish towels?"

You stood up from your box, coming over to join her in looking through the box. "I mean he calls you Bernie."

"Everyone calls me Bernie now," Bernadette dismissed. "Besides he has two nicknames for you."

"K is not a nickname. It's a taunt."

"You mean flirtatious teasing."

"I mean a jab at how I'm a shit texter."

Bernadette looked you dead in the eyes before shooting you what was probably supposed to be a sultry wink. " 'k."

You threw the dish towels you'd just dislodged at her and she laughed, picking them back up from where they fell in the box, and moving over to the open drawer. "Setting aside the two nicknames and their quality, he volunteered to come help you. I don't think he'd mind taking a look."

"Maybe," you conceded, knowing Bernadette wouldn't stop until she'd had some measure of success. It's what had to make her such a good law student. You had given in enough times on the promise of maybe that with a glint in her eye she dropped the subject.

It took Bucky and Steve a little over an hour to unload all of your things from the truck. It was another forty-five minutes of Bernadette reimagining the floor plan and forcing the four of you to continuously shuffle the furniture around before she was satisfied. When all was said and done, the apartment did look marginally better. At least some of the punched in outlets were hidden and the worst of the floor was covered.

"Well," Bernadette said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "That's it. You're officially a New Yorker."

"And you can officially stop sending me those sketchy Craigslit ads and Monster listings," you nodded, placing your hands on your hips and surveying the apartment.

"Neither of you are New Yorkers," Bucky shook his head, navigating the words around a hair-tie as he fixed his bun. Bernadette turned to glare at him, and he laughed, slipping the hair-tie around the bundle of hair.

"You married in. Doesn't count."

"Excuse you, I’m fluent in Subway Announcement and I’ve had a rat steal some of my food. If that doesn’t make me a New Yorker then I don’t know what does,” Bernadette huffed.

"You're a New Yorker," Steve soothed, putting an arm around her, and kissing the top of her head.

"Well," you sighed, hoping to stop another bantering fight from breaking out between Bucky and Bernadette. "I need pizza. And beer. And to get out of this apartment. Anyone else?"

"Oh," Bernadette's face fell as she glanced quickly up at Steve and then at you. "I wish we could, but Steve and I have reservations. I wasn't even thinking when we made them, and it's such a long wait list…" she trailed off, frowning sympathetically "I'm so sorry, babe."

"I'm free," Bucky offered. "And I actually know a decent place that's not too far from here. Since I'm a real New Yorker." The jab effectively stopped the sly grin that was growing on Bernadette's face.

"I--"

"What line did we take to get here?" Bucky asked, and Bernadette sulked. "It just slipped out."

"It's a tourist mistake," Bucky shook his head, tsking. "The green line."

"Well," Bernadette hmphed, "Steve and I are going to take the G train back home to get ready for dinner." She moved over to you, placing a kiss on your cheek. "I will see you for lunch sometime soon because we can do that now that we live in the same city!"

You smiled, and reached up to hug Steve as he bent down to say goodbye.

"Bucky, please do not take my best friend to any godforsaken hole in the wall back alley pizza joint that's definitely just a front. I don't care how good their pizza is," Bernadette cut off his protest and he smiled, shaking his head.

"You're missing out on all of the best food."

"Ok," Bernadette dismissed, her disbelief dripping from each syllable. She took Steve by the hand, and you and Bucky walked them to the door. "Love you both." And with that, Bernadette and Steve were gone, leaving you alone in your apartment with Bucky.

He sighed, running a hand through the roots of his hair, despite the fact that it messed up his perfectly done man bun.

"You don't have to get pizza with me," you said, flashing a quick smile at him.

"Trying to get rid of me?" Bucky asked, looking down at you amused.

You shook your head, turning away from him quickly to try to locate your purse amongst the boxes. "No, I just--didn't want you to just come along to be nice. Or because you felt bad that Bernadette ditched so I'm all alone."

"How could I feel bad when you put it like that?"

"I didn't mean it like--" you started, stuttering and Bucky stopped you, coming up beside you with your purse hanging from his finger.

"I know. Just rest assured that I'm happy to put up with you for pizza."

You snatched the purse from him, slinging it across your body as Bucky laughed at you. "Ready?"

You nodded and the two of you headed out the door.

For all of the inconveniences and tragedies that had befallen you today, the walk to the pizza place was not one of them. In fact, second to seeing Bernadette at your door, it was probably the best part of the entire day. The walk was short, and the September evening air was pleasantly warm. With Bucky and his MMA fighter build next to you, navigating through the neighborhood didn't wrack your nerves as much as it could have. Although, it might not have been Bucky's muscles as much as his easy conversation that provided the comfort. He told you about his job, where to find the best bodegas, and one embarrassing story of Steve growing up. By the time you arrived at Tony's Pizza Spot, you had almost forgotten about how awful your day was.

"Hey Tony," Bucky called out, entering the place, and the owner looked up from where he was cutting a pizza. He jerked his head up in a nod. It was a small wood paneled shop with no tables or counters to sit at. Instead, there was one large display case with different meats and breads. You looked up at the simple menu, and Bucky stood closely next to you despite the fact that you had a feeling he didn't need to look at the offerings.

"Pepperoni and sausage ok?" Bucky asked, and you nodded, scanning the drink refrigerators for any sight of beer. "And for your milkshake?"

You raised your eyebrows at him. "I'm getting a milkshake?"

"You are," he nodded.

"Well," you looked up at the board. "Cherry vanilla."

"Excellent choice," Bucky smiled, approaching the counter as Tony tied off the pizza box with twine and then approached.

"What can I getcha?" he asked his eyes flicking between you and Bucky.

Bucky placed the order quickly, and Tony nodded, quickly tallying it up on the register. You reached into your purse for your wallet, but Bucky waved you off. "I got this."

"Pretty sure it's customary for the person who just subjected you to two hours of moving stuff to pay for the pizza. "

"Nah," Bucky shook his head, already handing the cash over to Tony."Think of it as a housewarming gift."

"Just moved to the neighborhood?" Tony asked, passing back Bucky his change, and you nodded. "Welcome."

"She's right down the street," Bucky said, dumping the change into the tip jar and stuffing the bills back into his pocket. "Figured I'd show her the best pizza spot in town."

"Damn right," Tony grinned, moving away to grab out an already prepped cheese pizza.. "How's Clint doin'? Didn't see him last week."

Bucky shook his head. "Broke his wrist last week, so Kate's placed him under house arrest to make sure he doesn't make it worse like last time. I'm guessing one of them will be in soon."

Tony had the same look of exasperation as Bucky as he ladeled sauce onto the pizza. "It's always something with him. Broken bones. Concussion. That boy's a walking accident."

You sorted through your memories trying to remember if you had met Clint at the wedding or either of the times you had been up to visit Bernadette at school. The name sounded familiar enough, but you couldn't picture the face. If Bernadette was here she could jog your memory. She'd remind you who Clint was give you a few facts about his life and a quick story so you felt like you knew him already. But she wasn't here. She was off being married, and you were in this tiny pizza shop with a boy you hardly knew who was doing his best to keep you company.

"You ok?" Bucky bumped shoulders with you. You hadn't realized their conversation ended and Tony had moved away to make the milkshakes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you shook your head trying to clear your thoughts.

Bucky shot you a very disbelieving look. "I can't tell if you're a bad liar or just too tired to try to be good at it."

Your shoulders dropped. Frankly, it was both. "It's nothing...it's stupid," you dismissed.

"Bummed you're stuck here with me instead of Bernie?" Bucky guessed. Very correctly.

"No," you sighed. "I just wish she was here too."

"Yeah, I get it," Bucky nodded, facing back forward to watch Tony making the milkshakes.

You felt bad. After all, Bucky had volunteered to give up his Monday evening to helping you move in. He probably had a whole list of things he'd rather do after work than lug a bookshelf up your stairs, but he'd done it, hadn't complained, and then treated you to pizza. And here you were wishing he was Bernadette.

"It was kind of rude of your best friend to steal my best friend," you commented with a half smile.

Bucky snorted. "Sorry, your honor, but your best friend stole my best friend."

"What?"

Bucky looked back down at you. "You weren't there. He was gone long before she was. Pretty much the second he met her it was over for him."

"What, and you were there the second they met?" you sassed back, placing your hands on your hips.

"Actually, yes," Bucky said, reaching forward to grab a milkshake Tony placed up on the counter. He peered into the top of the cup and passed it over to you. "Steve volunteered both of our services to move in Bernie's stuff."

"I didn't realize you were there," you said, accepting the dessert from Bucky. "She only ever mentioned Steve."

"Maybe he did steal her away fairly instantly then." Bucky shrugged. "Anyway, you realize there's only one solution to our problem, right?"

You gave him a flat look. "I'm not going to kill them."

"Holy shit, no," Bucky laughed. "That's where you went first?" Your face heated up, and you quickly busied yourself with a sip of the milkshake which was very good. Better than alcohol good. "And?" Bucky asked.

"It's delicious," you said, returning for another sip before looking back at him. "But what's the solution?"

"We'll be best friends."

"You want to be my best friend?" you asked, with a small smile.

"More like I want you to be my best friend," Bucky said. "Steve's been doing a shit job recently, and you moved all the way from North Carolina to be with Bernie--I like that kind of effort."

You laughed, and Bucky grinned back, taking his milkshake from off the counter.

"Alright," you agreed, feeling a little bit lighter. "I'm not replacing Bernadette though. You'll just have to be the substitute for when she's not up to par."

"I can work with that," Bucky nodded. "And as my first act as your substitute best friend is to demand to throw you a housewarming party. Don't make plans for next Saturday."

The smile slid off of your face. "No, thank you. I don't want anyone walking into my trap house apartment."

"Your apartment is not that bad."

"Bucky. It's terrible."

"Your Honor, Steve and I shared a glorified closet for our entire sophomore year of college. We couldn't both stand in our kitchen." Bucky leveled you a glance. "And our friends still came over to visit us."

You mulled it over, stirring your milkshake with the straw. It wasn't a terrible idea. It was bad,, uncomfortable, ill-thought out, and overall not good, but it wasn't terrible. You nodded. "Alright, Your Bestness. Saturday."

"Excellent," Bucky grinned, grabbing the box Tony slid across the counter. "We'll discuss details over pizza."

Masterlist

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky x you #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes au #mcu fic #modern!au #marvel fic #marvel imagine #best of friends #bucky fic

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candied-peach · 4 years

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ao3: “ugly like me” rating: T warnings: some remus typical stuff, food mention, sympathetic remus, sympathetic deceit, DRLAMP, creativitwins genre: fluffy hurt/comfort description: Remus has a wish. ( @tsshipmonth2020 prompt: DRLAMP)

Remus wants.

He wants, but he knows that he can never have it. The others are, well, themselves, and he's him. He's dirty, he's gross, he's a trash man and he doesn't hate who he is. Not anymore. But if he could have the wish that dies, unbidden, on the tip of his tongue-

He wants to dive into the soothing tranquility of Logan's room and let it wash him away. He longs to brush Logan's hair back from his face as he devours his mouth and finds out if the logical side tastes like Crofters and coffee. He wants to lounge on a bean bag chair in Virgil's room and make fun of the spider curtains. He would soothe Virgil when he has a panic attack and watch shitty conspiracy theories on the TV at three in the morning, when only the two of them are awake. He wants to wallow in nostalgia with Patton, pretending that the gap-toothed kid in a crown in the scrapbooks isn't two parts of a shattered whole. He would (try to) bake cookies with the moral side, dolloping his freckled nose with chocolate chip-studded cookie dough and kissing it off. He wants to pet Deceit's snake (and it's only partially a euphemism). If he could ever be allowed it, he would lift Deceit's hat free from his head and run his fingers through the fluffy, unruly strands, would kiss his way down the scales of Deceit's face, admiring the glitter of the light on them.

If he could have whatever he wanted, his brother wouldn't look at him like he's nothing but the broken half, the things he wishes he could forget he ever possessed.

But he can't. The others are together now, even Deceit, and he doesn't belong there. The others share sweet nothings in the hallways and kisses in the kitchen. They invite him to movie nights and he tries to take them up on them, because he doesn't want them to know. Dee Dee was obvious, but for once, Remus holds a secret close, like something precious and rotting. But it hurts, watching their easy closeness, the little in jokes that he can never be a part of, the affection that will forever be denied to him. Sometimes after movie nights, he goes into his side of the Imagination and destroys things. When rock chips fly from the impact of his morning star to the sound of blood trickling in the distance, Remus can almost pretend that he doesn't care.

It almost works.

Until Moana is playing on the big screen and he's saying something inanely profane about Maui's oar, but the others are huddled so close and he can't help the longing as he glances their way, and catches Virgil's eyes.

His understanding eyes.

Remus doesn't say a word, he just sinks out, landing on his bed with a careless thump. He scrabbles to lock the door, breaking one of his fingernails and wincing at the sizzle of white hot pain that slashes through his finger.

"Remus," Virgil says behind him, and he jumps, his heart feeling like it's about to rattle out of his chest. He turns and Virgil is there, slouched against the wall, hands shoved in his hoodie pockets.

"Virgey!" He exclaims brightly, trying to pretend that his hands aren't trembling and his eyes aren't wet with incipient tears. "What brings you to my shitty domain?"

"You know what," Virgil says. It's quiet, but it hits Remus like a physical blow all the same. He rocks back and forth on his heels, trying to calm himself. It doesn't work.

"Got bored," he tries, offering a dismissive shrug. "Wanna help me dissect something?"

"No," Virgil says, his nose scrunched up. "Remus, I- maybe I got this all wrong, but-"

"Probably!" Remus interrupts, his voice panicky fast.

"Remus, do you like me? Us?" Virgil asks, his face red.

"Of course I like you, Virgey," Remus says, deliberately misunderstanding the question. "Even my needle in the eye brother!"

"That's not how I meant and you know it," Virgil says, giving him a direct stare. Remus flushes bright red, like a lobster in a pot.

"Maybe," he admits, in a dull mumble. "But it's okay, Virgey. I can just stop coming to movies and meals and shit, that's-"

"What?" Virgil asks in disbelief. "Wha- why would I want you to do that?"

"Because I'm me?" Remus says. It's not quite a question. "I'm gross, Virgey Wirgey, I know that, I'm not like you and the others, I-"

"That is bullshit," Virgil interrupts him. "Absolute bullshit. And I'll prove it to you." Before Remus can pull away, Virgil has seized his wrist and they're both rising up, back in the living room he'd so recently sought to escape.

"Remus?" His brother asks, surprised. "Are you crying?"

"No," he denies. He touches his cheek, startled to find wetness there. "Of course not," he doubles down. "Why would you care anyway?"

"Because I care about you," Roman says. Remus stares at him, wide-eyed.

"We all do," Logan adds. "Virgil, have you-"

"He thinks that he's too gross to be loved," Virgil says bluntly. Remus winces. He wouldn't put it quite like that. That makes it sound...bad. Like it's not the truth. But it is, he knows it is, it has to be-

"Remus-" Deceit is suddenly there, one gloved hand cupping his face. "Remus, you are not and never will be 'too gross' to be loved." He makes air quotes with his other hand.

"But-" He weakly protests.

"I love you!" Patton exclaims. Remus's jaw drops. "I have lots of love to give!" Patton says, noticing his shock. "I wanted to ask you a while ago, Remus, but I thought maybe you just didn't feel that way, and I didn't want to pressure you."

"But me and Deceit thought differently," Virgil continues. "We know your tells, dude. Lived with you forever, you know." Remus flushes harder.

"You're my brother," Roman says. "I know that we've had our differences, but I- I want to work on that. With you. If- if that's okay with you." Almost without his input, Remus's head bobbles up and down.

"Do you believe us now, cephy?" Logan asks.

"Cephy?" Remus repeats. Logan's cheeks tint faintly pink.

"You seem fond of cephalopods," Logan explains. "If you would prefer that I didn't call you that, of course I won't-"

"I love it," Remus says immediately. He would do anything to see that delighted glint in Logan's eyes again.

"Would you join us?" Deceit asks, very softly. Remus looks around the living room, eyes hot with unshed tears, and nods.

"Yes, please," he says.

Sometimes you can get what you wish for.

tag list: @k9cat @paravigilant-virgil @ancient-fruity @airiervessel @did-he-just-hiss-at-me @bexxbeauty @yalltookmyurlideas @ihateitwhenyourejustvague @matthindavick @killjoy-3000 @littlestliu @ambersky0319

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redxblueihateloveyou · 3 years

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This is a personal opinion but from where I see it the Given movie and the anime itself definitely was... something that I would question because somethings just.. didn't make sense to me. The development of the Characters were either super fast or super slow and it made the pacing really really weird for me idk. But I do think that a huge reason so many people love the Given movie is because of the fact that when you compare Given to OTHER JP BL animes, there's very very slight improvement in terms of the story itself of Given. Is the story poorly executed? Fucking hell, who the hell is going to say no here. But is it better then some of the JP BLs out there? That's depended on how you view BL to be. For a lot of people things like Super Lovers or Hitorijime My Hero are super unbearable to watch because it's "problematic" (which honestly okay, you do you BB) which then leads them to look for BL animes that DON'T have such "themes." Leading them to actually liking things poorly executed but just "not problematic", Given for example.

Given is “not problematic”? Debatable.

Their first kiss was right after Mafuyu finally had a courage to sing a song about his ex who commited a suicide. ???

Problematic doesn’t only mean stuff like “he’s underage”. What about using someone to get over your grief or getting into a relationship with someone who is still not over his ex death and is vulnerable at the moment? Is this suddenly “not problematic” bc they’re same age and he haven’t pushed him into a wall in throws of passion?

To me it’s not even about the fact if it’s problematic or not (it’s rarely not tho, no matter what ppl think), it’s about whether its believable and feels genuine or not. It depends on many factors: situation, characters past, traumas, etc, etc. It depends on the story and how you write it.

Change some stuff and it’s gonna be a completely different thing. Make it like Uenoyama only hugged Mafuyu after the song, even tho he wanted to kiss him, but knows that it’s not the right moment. Make Mafuyu heal first, make Uenoyama be in his own angst that he loves Mafuyu so much for example, but cares about him recover more, so he doesn’t expect for it to go somewhere, then he tries to date someone and Mafuyu first starts getting out there, when he feels like he can start trying again. Someday he gets sick and Uenoyama cancels his date to take care of him even tho it’s nothing serious and then the realization comes. Make Mafuyu kiss him first and take the first step. This would’ve changed everything so much. He should’ve made the first step when he was ready, this would’ve felt so right. Uenoyama kissing him after that song is just.. it feels, I was like ehhhmmm.. weird?

Seeing someone saying that Given is a masterpiece is hilarious to me. The fact that it includes heavy themes like suicide, doesn’t make it a masterpiece, esp when it’s handled this badly. Once again, if you pick such thing as a base for a love story, do it right then, not in a “bibbidi bobbidi boo” kind of thing.

BL or not BL, any relationships, it depends on whether you watch it and it feels plausable or not.

For example, if Yuu says that he can’t live with Mika, my tongue won’t even twist to call it “unhealthy” or be like “dude why”. But if some high schooler in slice of life anime who has a caring family tried to end himself bc his two weeks friend left him, I would’ve yelled “bitch go see a doctor”.

Depending on the story you can sell some feelings or not.

Nezumi and Shion are also problematic according to ppl’s logic these days. But I 100% believe they’re each other’s true loves. Only 11 episodes and it’s sold.

In Given I didn’t believe it. Bc it’s ridiculous, ok? It wasn’t the right place or time to start this relationship. It is not a new love story, it’s just a sad story.

Given movie is slightly better compared to other japanese BL? Why would you offend Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Uragiri wa boku no namae, No.6 and many others?

Also better where? They kept the same old “’stop, i don’t want to’, but he did it anyway” stuff AND on top of that the story sucks.

The way he used him knowing very well that he was unrequitedly in love with him for so long is so disgusting that it leaves a much grosser feeling than many yaois combined. You’re saying “it’s slightly better” bc they’re of age or don’t have an age difference? I don’t get it. It somehow makes everything better?

No, thanks. I’d rather watch Onodera sleep with Takano in high school with them being genuinely into each other and it going great than whatever happened in the Given movie. I don’t care if they’re both 18 there, it made me feel bad.

I didn’t feel bad, when Wei Wuxian thought “why the fuck didn't I have sex with Lan Zhan back when I was 15? I've really pissed away all my days, haven't I?”. I wonder why is that.

Like what you’re saying here is that their opinion on BL is so low that they automatically would give it 10 out of 10 bc it’s slightly better than smth that they find “unbearable” to watch? What kind of evaluation is that exactly? Maybe also let’s compare each anime to “boku no pico”, then everything will look like a masterpiece.

Like excuse me for the fact that when I watch some shonen-ai and yaoi, I judge it the same way I judge any other genre and any other relationships (hetero or gay) in animes. On a scale whether I care or don’t care, whether I believe that they love each other or don’t, whether it’s a good story or not. I don’t get what it means “it’s good for yaoi”. It’s just not good. This movie is trash, I mean, the relationship in it is trash. Who the fuck cares gay or not gay. Trash relationships are trash. Bad story is a bad story. Whether it’s a bad gay story or a bad hetero story, I don’t give a shit.

The reason I’m more into boy on boy ships is because I love the relationships there more than relationships in most heterosexual couples. My fav hetero ships are either “from hate/attraction to love” stories like “gone with the wind”, “anastasia” or “pride and prejudice” or stuff like “equals without pink goo, who only see each other and don’t need no one else and would die for each other, epic soulmates” like Richard and Kahlan. In anime 99% of those fit bromances, not romances. Like I don’t find Midoriya/Uraraka appealing at all for a reason that “she said ‘hi’, he blushed as a tomato, now they’re supposed to be each other’s romantic interests” is not what I find romantic. I find romantic the fact that Todoroki is forever devoted to Midoriya bc he knows he’s amazing and is not afraid to say it; and he’ll always be there for him when he needs him, no matter what it is, him just sitting there crying, some villain trying to kill him or if he’s too late out ther grossery shopping. Uraraka most of the times doesn’t even care where he is.

Most hetero romantic animes, I just find ridiculous, too cheesy and unrealistic and I’m not ready to watch 50 episodes for them to hold hands. I’m not in that age and I also never found things like this romantic before either. Stuff like Kisa/Yukine, when you meet someone, find him attractive, wanna fuck him, then fall in love accidentally.. yeah, that’s understandable to me. Stuff like Takano/Onodera “I was an naive idiot in high school, but now life made me a sassy bitch and I can’t open up to people as easily” also yes, relatable.

When you’re turning into a tomato bc someone said “penis” and think holding hands will take your virginity or smth, that’s not my thing.

So when I watch BL, I expect more, not less. So if it’s bad, I just say it’s bad, I’m not gonna be like “hmm... unproblematic... then 10/10″ like what?

1stly, even “little mermaid” and “cinderella” are problematic.

2ndly everyone is so focused on purity these days, like storyline don’t matter at all. It’s like any great love story is automatically trash if they have age difference. Any trash love story is great, if they don’t?

Let’s then also rate “Dororo” as 1, bc it’s like 24 episodes of them falling for each other while she’s 11 and he’s 16. Wow, such gross relationships they have during the whole story. Doesn’t matter that she grew up at the end of the last episode, the whole anime she’s a child. And let’s rate Noragami 0, bc 2000 years old perverted Yato is into 15 year olds.

No one has to fuck asap (heck even in the same hella problematic “Super Lovers” you talk about, Haru refused to fuck Ren even tho he was 17 in s2 and wanted to fuck another guy) and the rule “you can only fall in love after 18″ doesn’t exist. Also underage is not BL thing, it’s all anime thing. It’s time to shut it already. There are zillions of age gap couples out there who are great. Hyakkimaru waited for Dororo to grow up, it’s fine, seriously, they love each other in the right way, he didn’t want to fuck her when she was 11, okay? They did love each other tho already then. Pls excuse them for that.

3rdly, some relationship that ppl here call unproblematic are 20 times more problematic, than what they call problematic.

4tly, why the heck it’s like couples who have an amazing character and relationship progression, who love each other to death and will do anything for each other, ppl go: “wow, at the very beginning, he grabbed his wrist, he needs to go to jail”. Meanwhile a relationship who has no base, no story, no logical progression, no anything are “yes, best love story in the world”. Yeah... who cares if it feels like it’s all been pulled out of an ass and doesn’t make sense, very healthy tho.

It sounds lately like if most ppl here had two stories in front of them and one would be about two men who just met and the next day one proposed and they lived happily ever after and 2nd would be some complicated incredible story with a natural progression of the relationship, but they yelled at each other once, they’d be like “1st is better”. Well, not to me, no.

#answered #anonymous #anime

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bomberqueen17 · 3 years

Text

this cursed hull

I didn’t reblog it but there’s the post going around of the guy who has written a one-minute song about the Clifford Movie and sounds ex-fucking-xactly like John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats (”but I don’t want to tell you how to feel”) and that song is in my fucking head now and i deserve it for listening to it thrice and I don’t care about the Clifford Movie but the song is so funny. “They used this curséd hull to make the Clifford Movie, but I don’t want to tell you how to feel.”

Anyway.

[cut for length; rambling about my day and ongoing work schedule]

[edit: works better if you put in the cut tag, ya dingus]

My gambit yesterday worked out-- came in at 7am, worked for four solid hours to get a huge transfer order done, went upstairs as it was exporting and managed to get a bunch of completed orders shipped before my coworker came in (he sits in the room with the shipping scale and label printer, so when he’s there it’s awkward to try to ship things what with distancing and all)-- and he arrived before I was done but me being there meant he worked on repacking this in-store order we need to ship that had been sitting awkwardly in the hallway since the previous day, when otherwise I know he would have procrastinated on it.

So we both got a bunch of stuff done before noon, and then I ate breakfast finally, and then I ran downstairs to actually burn the disk of the thing I’d left exporting, and then holy fuck it was super crowded downstairs so I ran back upstairs and packed up the order to wait for its DVD, and I’d meant to go work a little more downstairs but between all the employees and all the customers I was like nope. No way.

So I worked a little more on organizing a few things, but then I left before 3, and so I’d done my 7.5 hours or so of work, and I was done, and I chatted with my coworker a bit before I left and got a few more tasks I could do in the future, and then I went home.

Dude was on his way out to run an errand (walking to his absent mother’s house to water her plants), so I went in the basement and did my workout routine I’m trying to get into (riding the exercise bike for the duration of an episode of the Untamed, maybe I’ll actually get through the whole thing?) and then I came up and took a shower and then I made dinner-- a mac and cheese casserole, roughly, but also with vegetables and the leftover chicken from the milk chicken I made this weekend.

(Check out that recipe if you haven’t it is the fucking bomb.)

Dude had to go grocery shopping after dinner. I know! We worked so hard! I got us all stocked up before we left Rensselaer Co with its comparatively idyllic infection rate of 3% testing positive, but his mom had asked if he could do her grocery shopping before she gets home from her risky plane ride, so she can quarantine in perfect isolation. She did the same thing after she’d been trapped in California when the whole pandemic started, so it’s a good routine, it’s just. You know. It meant he had to go out to Wegman’s, here where our infection rate is more like 9% testing positive.

But Wegmans was deserted and he cruised through, and while he was going, I’d come up with a bunch of things we could pick up that would stock us up. (Including toilet paper; we haven’t bought any in almost a year, which is how I like to shop, because it takes us like a year to get through the big pack, and we bought one in like November of last year, so...)

NOT QUITE BONE! NOT QUITE FLESH! CANINE SARCOPHAGUS OF PLASTIC MESH! Fuck it’s really in my head, I apologize.

While he was out, I practiced banjo and worked on my spinning, and I made good progress on both. For some reason, I don’t like to do either while he’s in the room? I don’t know, it’s not like he pays attention to me. I just don’t! It’s weird.

It felt good to be busy. But the problem is that it was a lot. And then I got anxious about the dishes, so I had to go and wash dishes. He got home in the midst of this, and dropped off our groceries enroute to his mom’s house, so I dug out the eggs I’d brought from the farm for her so he could take them too, and then I put the groceries away, and then I mostly finished up the dishes and cleaned the kitchen but then it was 8pm and I hadn’t yet sat on the couch and I was just. So tired.

I was in bed by 9. And that was fine, I fell asleep, I slept well, the cat happily purred on my face, and in the morning I woke gently with her kneading my arm and we snuggled some more and I finally got out of bed and got dressed and was out by 7am.

But I’m so tired, and yesterday I flew through a 25-reel order by 11 am and today I’m struggling through this little 10-reel order like IDK how I’m going to finish it in time, and I’m worried about Unresponsive Coworker-- Dude’s theory is that he hasn’t told any of us his COVID test results because he didn’t actually go get tested and is just waiting for us to forget or something, but fuck he’s the one who actually overlapped with the kid with the positive result, he is the fucking lynchpin of this whole endeavor and it’s really crucial that we know he doesn’t have it. Argh.

So that’s stressful. (Also I am worried about him; he is a cantankerous old fuck and he has been working here since 1987 I am not exaggerating that, and he literally did not understand about the shutdown and thought he was being fired and has been so bitter and confused about it all and he is not a bad dude and i don’t like him but that doesn’t mean I can’t sympathize, he was so upset when his sister died last year but wouldn’t take time off work because he has lived here so long and he wouldn’t let us take care of him and he’s just a fucking weirdo and I am also not exaggerating [it takes a particular variety of extremely deep eccentricity to work at the camera store equivalent of an indie record store for literally 33 years] but like, he’s not a bad person and I don’t want him to have coronavirus and I don’t want him to give us all coronavirus Jesus Christ Almighty.)

Whew. Anyway, if I finish these ten three-inch reels this morning, then the two seven-inch reels tomorrow, then the other two seven-inch reels upstairs pending a Paypal invoice for the balance the day after, that’s the rest of the week and all the outstanding 8mm orders, and we’ll likely have more on Monday. It looks like me working 7-2 or so works out for most people; I overlap a bit with my supervisor, I don’t overlap much with the girl working the VCR that shares a desk with the 8mm machine, whether we lock down or not probably doesn’t affect that much, and then I can do my workouts in the afternoon and, well, I’ll probably wind up cooking every meal and doing all the dishes forevermore henceforth, alas.

I just have to get used to it and probably once I do they’ll lock us down and I’ll have to switch it all around.

Oh, the other good thing is that Dude finally finished cleaning out the guest room (which I did the bulk of the work for in a single day about a month ago, but he’s been sorting papers one at a time since then) enough that he can use the desk in there and is now comfortably set up, and the best part is that the guest bed is the cat’s, and she’s delighted to be able to parade back and forth across his desk and then settle down next to it on Her Bed. It’s really ideal, for her, and she’s been yelling about how great it is, which sounds just like the yelling she does when she doesn’t like something, but, you know, whatever. She’s demonstrably happy.

#about the author #long post #dayjob camera store

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fuckinuchihas · 3 years

Note

Omg, I didn't think I'd actually get it! You're welcome for putting you out of your misery! I sent in a guess the first time and didn't get it but I'm Poppy, 25, and I like Bokuto! Thank You!

- 🦄

Alright Poppy! I finally finished it.

Honestly if it feels like this is not who you are or completely and totally out of character that’s okay just tell me I can absolutely do it again. Or if it just sucks...which it might cause like...I’m hella fucking sick, but my anxiety won’t let me not be productive so here we go.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL A DO-OVER!!! ILYSM THANKS FOR PLAYING WITH ME AND SORRY IT’S SO LATE!!

BOKUTO X READER VALENTINES DAY FLUFF

You’ve been with Bokuto long enough to have mildly convinced him that you don’t really care about the extravagance of Valentines day. You don’t want a huge box of chocolates, to which half of them you don’t even like, or a bunch of flowers that will be dead in a week.

It’s not that you don’t appreciate them, you absolutely do...but it doesn’t feel necessary anymore.

He makes you feel loved each and every single day.

You don’t need cheesy red and pink decorations hung up in the living room or an expensive dinner at a restaurant where you feel out of place.

It just feels like way too much when you’ve already got everything you want and need by simply having him in your life.

It’s more than enough already.

Bokuto looks down at the last page of his ‘special love coupon book’ and grins to himself.

He’s old enough now to know that it’s kind of ridiculous but he’s given one to you for every single holiday or special occasion you’ve spent together and though you sometimes roll your eyes at what he believes are quite frankly generous rates on the slips, you never fail to smile when you see it.

And..you’ve even cashed a few in, though after the first time he made you promise not to actually tear them out again, they were in fact, unlimited.

He’s satisfied with it when he’s done with the design, this year he’s beefing it up a bit and having it actually printed out so he wanted to make sure the colors weren’t overwhelming or anything.

Once that’s complete, and submitted to the print shop...he’s kind of at a loss.

He knows you don’t want anything big. You’ve more than made that clear, though he’s been given contradictory advice by a couple of his teammates.

Still...he knows that he knows you better than anyone and that you wouldn’t be secretly expecting more.

The issue then becomes that he still wants to celebrate the day with you, even if it’s a lowkey thing with just the two of you.

He makes up his mind that he’s going to get some of your favorite food and drinks and a hardback copy of that book you’ve been wanting and he can still feel like he’s celebrating the love he has for you, and that you feel it too...without overwhelming you.

Yeah, that sounds good…

He texts your best friend three days in advance, after setting many, many reminders on his phone and asks if they’ll take you out to coffee or a movie on him, a secret between the two of them. They of course love him and how affectionate he is with you so they agree quickly and he sends the money over before he forgets.

The morning of, you have a nice lazy morning in bed before you bring up the friend date, he makes a big act of begging you not to go but just before you change your mind and cancel, he gets flustered and says he should probably get his workout in early so the two of you can spend the evening together.

You find it a little suspicious given the fact that Bokuto is about as subtle as a sledge hammer and a terrible terrible liar, but you trust that he won’t ask for too much and you put it behind you and go on with your day.

As soon as you’re out of the house he grabs every pillow and comforter he can find and texts someone he knows isn’t busy today and grins when he answers on the first ring.

“It’s just a fort, man. What’s so hard about that. You tie a couple sheets to your ceiling fan and throw up some fairy lights and bam, you’re done and everyone is happy.” Kuroo answers after Bokuto explains why he wants him over.

Sure, building a for looks easy, but ‘ol Bo has learned his lesson and he doesn’t do any kind of large scale (or small scale) project without supervision anymore.

“Just get over here man. I don’t have a lot of time...and what are fairy lights? Y’know what just stop and get those or whatever you think we’re gonna need and I’ll pay you back.”

“No...no what’s the real reason you’re asking for help. Besides the fact that you’re decoratively challenged?”

“I AM NOT! SOMEONE TOLD ME I COULD BE A MODEL LAST WEEK!” he calls out before he realizes he does still need Kuroo’s help.

He ignores Kuroo’s response and continues on. “Anyway, uh,” he rubs his neck, not wanting to admit the truth but Kuroo is kind of like an evil genius sometimes. “I may or may not have sworn an oath that I wouldn’t do any umm projects without help.”

Kuroo immediately starts barking laughter against his ear.

“Stop being such a jerk and get over here dude, I’ve only got a couple hours!”

“Wh-what’s the-” Kuroo is still slightly wheezing from laughter. “What’s the penalty.”

‘Oh no, not telling. I’m hanging up. Be over here in less than 25 minutes or I’ll tell Kenma you broke his lucky switch, bought a used one on a street corner and then filed the edges down to make it look ‘authentic’.”

“Fuck. Ugh fine.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Bokuto hangs up the phone with a smirk splayed on his lips.

He makes a resolute promise to himself to never let Kuroo find out the consequences of not keeping his promise is that he can’t have kisses or cuddles for a full twenty four hours.

What can he say, he’s weak..okay. He’s weak for you.

Kuroo gets there after he’s scheduled the takeout delivery and sloppily wrapped both your coupon book and the one you were itching to read.

He defends his blanket choices with his life but Kuroo insists on using these plain white ones he bought because it would ‘look more romantic’. He rolls his eyes but lets him do what he wants because if it’s one thing he does trust, it’s Kuroo’s eye for design.

“Ooh I forgot you had these ceilings...this is going to look awesome, dude.”

“Good, now what do you want me to do…”

“Nothing, I got this part.”

“Nooo, I want to do it myself,” he says, resisting the urge to stomp his foot. “It won’t mean as much if you just do it all for me.”

“Y’know you might not be the brightest but you’re a good man, Bokuto.”

“Eh?” he says, because Kuroo rarely ever compliments him sincerely.

“Nothin’ man, just get the clothespins.”

They work together and in less than an hour it looks, well...it looks fucking amazing he thinks.

He’ll give up just this once and say Kuroo was right, the white sheets look pretty cool and the little lights they strung up are pretty neat too.

It looks super romantic so he hopes you like it.

He kicks Kuroo out before he can invite himself over, Kenma has a special v-day stream going on and he wants to crash it from a different ip, whatever that means. Well either way he turns him down and swears the secrets he has will yet again, stay between the two of them.

Now he just needs to wait for you to get home.

When your friend texts that they’re about to drop you off, his heart starts beating out of his chest and he gets super excited.

He waits for you at the door, stepping outside when he sees their car pull in and softly closes it behind him.

“He yells out a greeting that could probably shake the ground if it was another decibel louder but you love how excited he gets so it doesn’t bother you.

You make your way over to him with a skeptical look on your face as he starts nervously rubbing at his neck.

“Why are you outside?” you ask and there’s a pink tinge to his cheeks that you’re pretty sure isn’t from the cool weather.

“Umm Happy Valentines Day?” he says, an awkward chuckle quickly following the words.

“Kotaro...what did you do? Why are you standing outside?” you ask, immediately concerned about the state of your home.

“I swear it’s not bad. I just wanted to surprise you so...please?” he asks, a hopefulness in his eyes that you can’t bring yourself to squelch no matter how worried you feel.

“I mean I said I didn’t want anything big but I guess if you want-” you stop mid sentence, breath stuck in your throat when you see your transformed living room.

He’s moved all the furniture except for the couch and the tv stand and it’s gorgeous. The lights twinkle a little in the darkness and you feel the irresistible urge to kiss his face.

So you do.

He never objects to kisses.

“This is really nice… I mean it. I’m sorry I almost ruined your plan or if I made you feel like you couldn’t do anything. I don’t ever want it to be that way. I just also don’t need you to make a big fuss,” you say, trying to be a little logical about it, but your heart is definitely thumping in that cheesy romantic way.

“How about a little fuss…”

“A little fuss feels nice.”

You lay back on the couch, you read to him from your book and share music playlists that quietly add to the ambiance of your conversation. He coaxes you into some weird verbal games that he’s played with Akaashi over the years, because it was something he needed to bring him out of his shell a little and you end up laughing until your belly hurts.

The takeout arrives on time and you enjoy the food and Bo loves to feed you small bites of your favorite stuff, so you let him.

He tells you to unwrap your gift and you feel fondness and warmth rush over you when you see the handmade coupons, this time even more beautifully drawn out.

It’s really easy to see why you’re so in love with him.

Even in the in between moments.

He’s always thinking of you and always wanting to be the best version of himself for you.

I wrote like an extra 600 words cause a lot of it was bokuto and kuroo interaction lol my bad but I hope you enjoyed it!

#not naruto #not knb #haikyuu!!#my stuffl #lucky duck game #lucky duck winner #bokuto loves you and so do i #bokuto kotaro x yn #bokuto x you

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orange-waterfalls · 4 years

Text

Say It Back (2/2)

The Host x gender neutral!reader

@thekillingjoke-haha ty for the request(still)

Part 1

A/N: ok i know i made a playlist called "songs to cry to" and listened to it while writing a sappy fic but..... I didn't think I'd actually cry??? I had no idea how to end it I'm sorry ahvsgsvs. also I feel like should point out that I do headcanon that Host is on the aromantic scale, so that's why you are the literal only person who he has fallen in love with. Because. You're special???? I guess????? But uh I hope u like this. Rated T for cursing. Enjoy???

Word Count: 2.4k

Requests are open!

“Host, what the fuck are we doing?” Illinois asks with his hands on his hips.

Host sighs and stops pacing the floor. He turns to the egos- excluding Bim, who is behind him- who he has lined up in the living room. A day has passed since you went on that date with that guy. Host has no idea who he is, but he doesn’t like him.

“Host needs you all to help him,” Host states, his voice managing to stay flat though he was experiencing many emotions at the moment. Not all of the egos were present. The more serious/dangerous ones(i.e. The Googles, Darkiplier, Yandere, etc.) were not there. He’d also kicked out the ones he didn’t trust with something this important(i.e. Ed, Silver Shepard, King of the Squirrels, etc.). There is still a fair amount of them, however.

“Help? Wit what?” Yancy asks. The Host takes a deep breath.

“Host… wants to tell Y/N he’s in love with them…” A series of cheers, groans, and sounds of money being passed follow his statement.

“Okay, but what do we have to do with this?” Dr. Iplier gestures to himself and the nearly identical people next to him.

“Host… is not the most familiar with romantic relationships…” Host explains softly, “He does not know what to do… he needs help…” The room is silent and the Host’s heart beats softly in his ears.

“Oh, hell yeah!” Bing cheers. The other egos join and agree to help. Host swells with joy. These people are maniacs but, dammit, they’re family. Basically, anyways. “So, what do we do?”

“Hm?” Host is snapped out of his thoughts.

“Well, what are we supposed to do? Is there a plan or something?” Host stares at Bing. He… hadn’t thought of that. A plan… would be useful… in this specific situation… hm…

“Uh…” Host scratches his neck while he thinks. Bim rolls his eyes.

“Oh, Christ. Fine,” he pulls a chair up to the coffee table in front of them while the others sit across from him on the couch and in the seats.

“Does… Does Bim have a plan?” Host’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“I have a lot of free time and believe you me, I knew you wouldn’t be able to do this yourself,” Bim explains. Some of the egos chuckle while Host blushes.

“Now,” He leans forward, as do the rest of them, “Here’s what we’ll do…”

Host does not know how he let himself get into this situation.

He is holding a bouquet of flowers, standing in the middle of your house, wearing a bowtie, of all things, waiting for you to get back. And when you got back, he’d take you to the movies, then to dinner, then the park and he’d finally confess his everlasting love for you while you watched the sunset. And then he’d go in for the kiss. Perfect.

Except… not perfect. Bim neglected to explain what he was supposed to do while all these activities were taking place. He didn’t do romance! He didn’t know how to talk to people! What is he supposed to talk about? The weather? His job? The goddamn election? What?!

Host took a deep breath to slow his beating heart. He could feel the blood threatening to drip from his eyes. He squared his shoulders and faced your door. You should be here soon. Bim said you’d be here soon.

Bim had a plan. Like, a plan plan. An “I have been waiting for this moment for so long that I already have every single detail planned down to the letter” plan. Illinois and Yancy would pretend to get in a fight outside your work. You’d go outside and break it up. You’d ask them what the fight was about, they’d give a stupid answer and you’d tell them to go home. Then Eric would show up, tell you that he thought he left something at your house the last time he was there and he really, really needed it. You’d tell your boss you needed to go home. You’d go home, open your door, and boom! Host takes you out. On a date.

Bim, King, and Dr. Iplier would take care of the rest. Bim would make sure the theater was clear… by doing whatever he does… Dr. Iplier would call the people who reserved a table at a fancy restaurant that they’re dying and need to get to the hospital immediately. King would make sure the park was clear by getting his squirrels to scare people away. It was perfect.

...

What the hell is he doing? He isn’t… like this. This is false advertising for what would actually happen if you two are to date. He’d probably spend a whole day writing and then hug you when you went to bed. Maybe a kiss.

But this? Movies(that he can’t watch)? Fancy restaurants? Watching the sunset? This isn’t him. Is it too late to cancel?

Host stiffens when he hears your car pull into the driveway.

30 seconds to make a decision. A) He can stay and go through with the plan or B) he can throw himself out the window.

He hears your keys in the lock and there is apparently an unforeseen third option where he walks out the back door like a sensible person. He breathes heavily once he’s in your backyard.

Okay. Bim’s plan is officially ruined. Great. What now?

He can go home and tell the other egos how he’s an absolute failure and literally cannot do a single thing right.

Or…

Or he could ask you out. His way. On his own, without any help from Bim. He heard you walk around your apartment, talking with Eric.

“So, what did you leave?” You ask. Host feels the dopamine flow through his brain at the sound of your voice. Unknowingly, he smiles.

“I-I-I don’t know. B-But it w-was i-important!” Eric stutters. He’s a really bad actor…

“Okay, it’s okay, we can look,” You respond gently. Host clutches the flowers tightly. You’re so… gentle. You’re so wonderful with Eric, so patient with the kid. You know what he’s been through, and you try to help and understand him. You did the same thing with Host. Maybe that’s why he likes you so much…

“U-Um, I-I think this is it,” Eric says after a few minutes of rustling around.

“Really? I thought this was mine…”

“O-Oh, uh… m-maybe i-it’s n-not--”

“No, no! You have it! Better safe than sorry.”

“O-Okay… um… a-are y-you sure?”

“Yeah, absolutely. I can get another one, it’s fine.”

“A-Alright… thanks!”

“No problem. Bye, Eric! Have a great day! Don’t forget to take your meds!”

“Okay… B-Bye, Y/N!”

Host bites his lip to suppress the happy chuckle that threatens to come out. He thought your interaction was the purest thing in the world. You’re… so… great.

Great? Really? That’s the best word he can come up with? Not “exceptional”, not “tremendous”, “marvelous”, “magnificent”, “stupendous”, “extraordinary”, “outstanding”...

He’s an author, for Chrissakes!

How was it that you took away all of his cognitive ability by just… being you?

Goodness, he had it bad, didn’t he?

Host jumps at the buzzing on his thigh. He takes the phone out of his pocket and answers. He hesitantly brings the phone to his ear. He has a feeling about what’s going to happen.

“Um… Hello?” He whispers.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Yancy yells. Host flinches at the volume.

“I-”

“What the hell happened to the plan? What is your problem?” Illinois interrupts.

“Well-”

“Dude, we were rooting for you!” Bing takes the phone next. Host frowned, starting to get annoyed.

“If-”

“We’re trying to help you,” Dr. Iplier said, calmer than the rest.

“Everything was ready,” King said from somewhere in the background.

“Host,” Bim finally took the phone, “What happened?” Host was silent for a minute. “Host?”

“Oh, is Host allowed to speak now?” He teases. Bim chuckles.

“Yeah, sorry… Just… what happened?” Host sighs.

“Host… realized… he wants to do this… his way. Without help. He doesn’t need it. Y/N will either like him, or they won’t. All this… fancy stuff won’t change that. Host needs to do this on his own,” Host explains. The phone is silent. He’s begun to realize that silence does not equal upset. Bim snorts.

“Well, you could’ve fucking said that before we convinced that young couple that they’re dying,” He laughs. Host flushes and he’s glad no one’s around to see it.

“Host is sorry…”

“Eh, it’s fine. I’m sure if I ask Wilford, we can do all the shit you were supposed to,” Host can hear Bim’s smile when he talks, “Good luck Host.” He hangs up, and Host is left sitting on your back porch.

Ok. New plan.

Host tears the bowtie off and throws it in your trash, along with the flowers. Hopefully, you wouldn’t mind.

He straightened his back and cleared his throat, raising his fist to knock on your door. He paused.

Wait. What if you didn’t like him? What if you were already dating the guy? Did romantic relationships work that way? He wouldn’t know.

He shook his head and knocked three times. He’d deal with that when he got to it.

The door opens to reveal… you. You’re wearing sweatpants and a Pokemon hoodie. You raise an eyebrow at him, a slightly annoyed look on your face.

God, you’re perfect.

“Host? May I help you?” Your face softens when you see who it is. The Host swallows nervously.

“Uh… may the Host come in?” You nod and step back, allowing him to step into your house. His knees would have buckled with the sheer smell of the house if he hadn’t been here before. The whole place smells like you and he nearly collapsed the first time.

“Would you… like a drink?”

“No, thank you.”

“Okay, well…” You both stand across from each other, a few feet apart. “What would you-”

“The Host likes Y/N,” Host blurts out. You blink at him, hand in mid-gesture.

“What?” You ask quietly. The Host takes a shaky breath and grounds himself. He is going to get through this, no matter how embarrassing or traumatizing it may be.

“The Host… I… I like you. I love you. I am… in love… with you…” He says slowly, not fully comprehending what’s coming out of his mouth. “I like you. Say it back, please.”

“Say it back, please”? Really?! Could you sound any more desperate?

He looks up to see your head tilted slightly. Why were you so cute?

“Okay…” You furrow your eyebrows, “Elaborate?” Host takes another breath and swallows. His throat is very dry. Maybe he should’ve said yes to the drink…

“Host… is in love with you. He has been for a while. He’s not sure when it started, but he knows it’s a very strong feeling. He loves to hear Y/N talk and laugh and… walk around and… do anything. And… he thinks they are such a wonderful person and he wants to be the one to make them happy… he wants to be the one they go on dates with and come home to… because… he loves them…” Host holds his breath while he waits for the response. The suspense might actually kill him at this point.

“I… like you,” You finally say. Host knits his eyebrows together.

“What?” He asks.

“You… you said to say it back…” you whisper, “And… if it happens to be true… that’s not my fault…” Hosts eyebrows raise as high as they can go.

“What?” He repeats, barely louder than a whisper. He hears the floor creak as you walk over to him and he breathes heavily in response. What’s happening? What are you doing? What’s going on?

His breath hitches when you take his hand and intertwine your fingers with his.

“I love you too, Host.” You whisper. The Host feels extremely light headed. You love him? You love him? No, no, no… but…

“But… date… with… guy…” Host murmurs. There goes the brain function.

“I went out with him to try and get over you…” you admitted, “I didn’t think you actually liked me…”

“Why… not?”

“I’m not… anything special--”

“Yes! Yes, you are!” He raises his voice, “You are… exceptional! And tremendous! And marvelous, magnificent, stupendous, extraordinary, outstanding… and… so much more!” You stifle a laugh.

“You really think so?”

“Yes!” You chuckle. You shift your hand so that you’re holding his fingers in your hand. You rub your thumb over his knuckles. He begins to shake slightly. Too much. He was going to pass out.

“So… what now?”

“Hm?” Host turns his head from your hand holding his to your face.

“What do we do now?”

“Host is not sure, he didn’t think he would get this far…” You laugh out loud this time and a smile appears on the Host’s face.

“Well… do you want to awkwardly kiss?”

“That… It would be nice…”

You shuffle forward a bit so you’re very close to the Host. He stands completely still, not exactly sure what to do with himself. You lay a gentle hand on his cheek and kiss him. Not deep, not… sensual, just… a small kiss. Host still gets very flushed by it and his cheek is very hot on your hand. You pull back after a few seconds.

“How… was that?” You squeak.

“Good… it was… it was good…” He pants. You both stand there, unmoving. Then, you start to giggle.

“We… are adults… and we’re acting like teenagers…” You laugh. Host smiles.

“That… we are…” Host starts laughing as well. You laugh at each other and how ridiculous you’re being before you remove your hand from the Host’s. He immediately misses the contact. You wrap your arms around him and hold him tightly in a hug. Host hesitantly wrapped his around you. You stood, swaying a bit, feeling very comfortable.

“This is nice,” you sigh.

“It is.”

“What do you wanna do now?”

“Host is… a bit hungry…” You snicker.

“Alright. I’ll make something.” You pull away and Host chases after your warmth. You lead him to the living room and sit him down on the couch. You go to the kitchen, leaving the Host alone with his thoughts.

You… like him. You… love him. How long have you loved him? Why didn’t he know? Is he really just that stupid around you?

He sighs and traces his knuckles with a finger.

He loves you… you love him…

He couldn’t remember the last time he was this happy...

#the host #markiplier the host #danger in fiction #danger in fiction the host #the host x reader #the host x male!reader #the host x female!reader #the host x gender neutral!reader #the host x you #the host x y/n #x reader #x reader fanfiction #x male reader #x female reader #x gender neutral reader #x you #x y/n #markiplier egos #markiplier egos x reader

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esperwatchesfilms · 3 years

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New Year’s Evil

youtube

I got the idea to start this challenge while stoned in the middle of the night and desperate for a goal. Something to put myself into. And I thought, “COVID has made me a shut-in who only watches films and talks to people. What better way to spend that time than to actually attempt to beat that world record I set out to beat so long ago. Unfortunately, I’m doing it very unofficially so only the people I talk to on a regular basis are likely to pay it any attention. I’ve got to point out here and now that my scoring system for films is arbitrary and is not a true reflection of how much I enjoyed watching a film. My scores are based on silly things that I give and deduce points for as I see fit. The Esper Scale of Entertainment (or the ESE) is understood by no one, but I will give a clear indication of why points were given and taken away at the end of each post. With those two things out of the way, I’ve got to admit I really enjoyed New Year’s Evil despite its 35/100 ESE rating. It starts off with a disappointing horror movie rule-breaking trope. There’s a woman of color in the first scene. Clearly, this means the killer is going to kill her. She committed one of the ultimate horror movie sins by being a woman of color, and thus, the movie gods decided she had to die, which was made even worse by her cliché killer-pops-out-from-behind-a-shower-curtain death. Then we get the opening titles. About eight 80s punk-rockers are packed into a convertible and blasting “New Year’s Evil” by Shadow, the video I attached to this post. So, from the word go, I have no idea what I’m watching, but I’m here for it. The song slaps, so I’m immediately all in. Earlier we saw the Yvonne (the woman of color) talking to a friend over the phone saying, “I’m on my way” before her horror-movie-trope demise, and once the credits end, we are more properly introduced to Diane, aka Blaze, a TV/radio personality who is hosting a party she calls New Year’s Evil, which appears to be a punk show where all the opening title convertible punks were headed. Before going out on stage and starting the show, Diane/Blaze’s son rocks up in fancy coat tails with blue jeans and a crumpled tie. He’s handsome as hell, but holy hell, I can’t deal with this look. I should have probably taken more than five points off for this look alone, but it’s too late now. Anyway, Blaze and Derek (Coat Tails) have a weird mother-son exchange, and their interactions are cringey at best, but incestual-feeling at worst. Anyway, the show Blaze is hosting is a punk rock show where there are some unexplained people on a stage answering telephones (is it a telethon? We don’t know. No one seems to be pledging anything. Are they making requests? It is not explained). So, Blaze is the host and decides to get in on the answering-the-phone action. When she does, a modified voice says to call him “Ee-vil!” He pronounces it exactly the way Mermaid Man does in Spongebob Squarepants, and I could only see the ridiculous face of Mermaid Man in my head any time he said it (because, oh, yes, friends. He can’t only say it once! Anyhow, the man says he’ll be killing one person on the hour every hour from 9 pm to 12 pm. (East Coast’s New Year to West Coast’s New Year) So, naturally, Blaze informs her agent that he needs to get ALL the police there to protect everyone. Meanwhile, there’s a mosh pit happening in a sanitarium, where they are watching the New Year’s Evil show live on television. While we are at the sanitarium, an orderly (I think?) and a nurse sneak off to have some fun. The orderly has a small radio capable of recording external sound (like an oversized Talkboy) as well as the sound being emitted from the radio. The nurse makes some mention of it, to which he responds, “I always come well-equipped.” She giggles, bites her lip and says, “I bet you do!” Which tells us, as the audience, that not only are they about to do the do... but this dude’s definitely the murderer. Because we’ve already seen one horror movie rules death. So, of course, we need to see another. Nurse lady has sex? Nurse lady has to die. From here on out, there are more killings as the police rock up and try to sort out what’s happening. They’re portrayed as very useless, very authoritarian/demanding, and very judgmental -- soooooo, accurately, I suppose, is the word I’d use. They’re portrayed accurately. We see the killer in the car with two women, one of which is a ditzy blonde who just cannot shut up. She talks about all the different types of meditation she’s tried. She tells the killer her friend tried one of the types, too, for her “nervous diarrhea”. You know, just the thing you tell a stranger you’re thinking about sleeping with... that your friend gets nervous poops. The ditzy blonde girl is our next horror movie trope. “The Fool”. Done in by her own stupidity. They stop somewhere for snacks or some such (I honestly don’t remember), and the friend goes in leaving the killer alone with the ditz, whom he strangles with a plastic baggie that is also full of weed. When the friend comes back, the car is gone and in its place is her friend’s shoe. She sees a nearby dumpster with a piece of fabric matching her friend’s dress poking out. She walks over while some generic horror music mixed with some Walmart Brand Jason Voorhees breathing plays, and she opens the dumpster, and the killer is inside with a lighter which he flicks on and grins menacingly at the woman, who is yanked into the dumpster, where we can assume she, too, was murdered.

I should note that somewhere before being murdered, the ditz says, “When a girl doesn’t have a date on New Year’s Eve, she’s in Shit City.” And ditzy girl? I hear ya. From here on out, there are some necessity injuries. He is being hunted down by bikers for what seems like no reason at one point, so he hides at a drive-in movie, where he sort of kidnaps a girl who was getting felt up by her boyfriend. He yanks the dude out of the car and throws him aside after stabbing one of the bikers who was chasing him. We don’t see him die, so I’m going to assume it’s an injury since he seems to only be interested in killing women. He then, later, knocks out a security guard trying to get into the punk party because the police have now determined that Blaze is probably the final target. The police and Blaze are about to check on Blaze's hotel room (the party is being held in the hotel in a ballroom or something, I’m assuming. Convention center? I don’t know. The place is connected to the hotel), where her son is, and they pull a gun on him. She yells that it’s her son, and they apologize and leave, and she apologizes to Derek saying she forgot he was there, and he storms out, “YOU ALWAYS FORGET ME WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”. The police leave, and when another officer comes back, THE KILLER ANSWERS HER DOOR. PLOT TWIST -- THE KILLER IS DIANE/BLAZE’S HUSBAND!!!! He called earlier to say he would be late, and when he shows up? HE’S THE KILLER!!!! I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming. The husband was mentioned briefly, but my brain didn’t connect it, so it was a pleasant surprise that this 80s film done duped me. Good job, New Year’s Evil!!

Anyway, Blaze is seen in the elevator moments later flirting with the officer, who’s married and has two sets of twins, information to which Blaze comments, “What’s the matter? No TV?” Suggest, Blaze. Very suggestive! It sucks that your creepy murder-husband rigged the camera in the elevator, so he knows about your weird suggestive conversations with randos, something it seems his son has also alerted him to, because when he reveals he’s the killer to her, he mentions that ladies are evil in general. Okay. So, it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t speculative. Dudeski really does just hate women. The whole film is just, “Guy hates women. Guy’s New Year Resolutions include killing all the nasty womens.” He tortures her a while by handcuffing her to some chains underneath the elevator, and then making the elevator go up and down with some fuse box of some kind that happens to just be easily accessible and next to where the elevator is. At least I haven’t seen this form of torture in film before, so that’s fun. The end is relatively boring. The police sort out that the husband used to be in the sanitarium we saw earlier where the nurse died. They find him torturing his wife, and they chase him to the roof, where he runs to the edge of the building, quotes Hamlet, and immediately plummets to his death wearing a goofy mask that he’s only worn twice in the film, both for short periods of time. He dies on impact, and everyone goes to investigate the body. The son picks up his mask and ominously stares into the distance, telling us before he’s actually told us that he’s totally going to take up his father’s quest to murder the womens.

Blaze is put in an ambulance, and when it pans to the driver, it’s the son, wearing his father’s mask. The film ends, the credits roll, and I move on to the next one.

Overall, I laughed throughout. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this film, but if you’re bored on New Year’s Eve and feel like a “horror” film, this one isn’t the *worst* one you could watch. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the ESE rating I gave it.

Quick ESE explanation: every film starts with 50 points for being a film. From there, I add or deduct points based on... my whim.

35/100

50 +4 for packed punk convertible +2 for New Year’s Evil 80s metal theme song +1 for switchblade comb -5 for coat tails with blue jeans -5 for creepy incestuous mother-son duo -2 for Mermaid Man pronunciation of “Ee-vil!” +10 for “I always come well-equipped.” “I bet you do” -5 for punks moshing to some funky blues -5 for predictable horror movie trope deaths +2 for maniacal punk laugh +3 for the “Oops” because he pissed off the bikers +5 for punks booing the police at the New Year’s Evil party -7 for the creepy incestual feeling of the interactions between Blaze and Derek +10 for PLOT TWIST!!!! -25 for the woman-hating killer +5 for creative elevator thing +2 for Hamlet quote -5 for highly predictable ending

#movies #world records #most movies watched #New Year's Evil #New Year's #review #spoilers #80s films #punk movies

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davidmann95 · 4 years

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Superman & Lois Pilot Script Review

I’ve been reliably informed that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and indeed as my laptop and everything on it have been unusable for a couple months after a mishap, I went from ‘maybe I’ll write something on the pilot script for Superman & Lois’ to ‘as soon as I can get my hands back on that thing I’m writing something up’. I’m actually surprised none of you folks asked about it when I’ve mentioned several times that I read it; I was initially hesitant, but I’ve seen folks discussing plot details on Twitter and their reactions on here, so I guess WB isn’t making much of a thing out of it. Entire pilots have leaked before and they just rolled with it, so I suppose that isn’t surprising. Anyway, the show’s been pushed back to next year, and also the world is literally sick and metaphorically (and also a little literally) on fire, so I thought this might be fun if anyone needs a break from abject horror.

(Speaking of the world being on fire: while trying to offer a diversion amidst said blaze, still gonna pause for the moment to add to the chorus that if opening your wallet is a thing you can do, now most especially is a time to do it. I chipped in myself to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and even a casual look around here or Twitter will show people listing plenty of other organizations that need support.)

What I saw floating around was, if not a first draft, certainly not the final one given Elizabeth Tulloch later shared a photo of the cover for the final script crediting Lee Toland Krieger as the director rather than a TBD, but the shape of things is clearly in place. I’m going for a relative minimum of spoilers, though I’ll discuss a bit of the basic status quo the show sets up and vaguely touch on a few plot points, but if you want a simple response without risk of any story details: it’s very, very good. Clunky in the way the CW DC shows typically are, and some aspects I’m not going to be able to judge until the story plays out further, but it’s engaging, satisfying, and moreover feels like it Gets It more broadly than any other mass-media Superman adaptation to date.

The Good

* The big one, the pillar on which all else rests: this understands Lois and it really understands Clark. Lois isn’t at the center of the pilot’s arc, but she’s everything you want to see that character be - incisive, caring, and refusing to operate at less than 110% intensity with whatever she’s dealing with at any given time, the objections of others be damned. Clark meanwhile is a good-natured, good-humored dude who you can see in both the cape and the glasses even as those identities remain distinct, who’s still wrestling with his feelings of alienation and duty and how those now reflect his relationships with his children. The title characters both feel fully-formed and true to what historically tends to work best with them from day one here in ways I can’t especially say for any other movie or show they’ve starred in.

* While the suit takes a back seat for this particular episode, when Superman does show up in the opening and climax it absolutely knows how to get us to cheer for him; there’s more than one ‘hell yeah, it’s SUPERMAN, that guy’s the best!’ moment, and they pop.

* While the superheroics aren’t the biggest focus here, when they do arrive, the plan seems to be that they’ll be operating on an entirely different scale than the rest of the Arrowverse lineup. Maybe they scripted the ideal and’ll be pared-down come time for actual filming and effects work, or maybe they’re going all-out for the pilot, but the initial vision involves a massive super-rescue and a widescreen brawl that goes way, way bigger in scope than any I’m aware of on the likes of Supergirl. I heard in passing on Twitter from someone claiming to be in the know that the plan for Superman & Lois is that it’ll be fewer episodes with a higher budget, more in line with the DC Universe stuff if not exactly HBO Max ‘prestige TV’, and whether it’s true or not (I think it’s plausible, the potential ratings here are exponentially higher than anything else on the network so they’d want to put their best foot forward) they seem to be writing it as if that’s the idea.

* This balances its tones and ambitions excellently: it’s a Kent-Lane family drama, it’s Lois digging in with some investigative reporting to set up a major subplot, it’s Superman saving Metropolis and battling a powerful high-concept villain, and none of it feels like it’s banging up at awkward angles with the rest. There are a pair of throwaway lines in here so grim I can’t believe they were put in a script for a Superman TV show even if they don’t make it to air, and they in no way undermine the exhilaration once he puts on the cape or the warmth that pervades much of it. This feels as if it’s laying the groundwork for a Superman show that can tackle just about any sort of story with the character rather than planing its feet in one corner and declaring a niche, and so far it looks like it has the juice to pull it off.

* While the pilot doesn’t focus on him in the same way as the new kid, Jonathan Kent fits well enough for my tastes with the broad strokes of his personality from the comics, albeit if he had made it to 14 rather than 10 without learning about his dad being Superman. A pleasant, kinda dopey, well-meaning Superman Jr. - the biggest deviation, one I approve of, is that he can also kinda be a gleeful little shit when dealing with his brother in ways that remind you that this is very much also Lois Lane’s boy.

* We don’t know much about the season villain as of yet, but it’s an incredibly cool idea that I’m shocked that they’re going for right away, and I absolutely want to see how they play out as a character and how they’ll bounce off all the other major players.

* The way this seems to be framing itself in relation to the Superman movies and shows before it feels inspired to me: there are homages and shout-outs to and bits of conceptual scaffolding from Lois & Clark, Smallville, Donner, and more, but they’re all shown in ways that make it clear that those stories are part of his past rather than indicators of the baseline he’s currently operating off of. We get a retrospective of his and Lois’s history right off the bat with most of what you’d expect, and combined with those references the message is clear: this is a Superman who’s been through all the vague memories that you, prospective casual viewer, have of the other stuff you saw him in once upon a time, but this series begins the next phase of his life after what that general cultural impression of him to date covers. It strikes me as a good way of carrying over the goodwill of that nostalgia and iconography, while building in that this is a show with room to grow him beyond that into something more nuanced (and for that matter true to the character as the comics at their best have depicted him) than they tended towards. Where Superman Returns attempted to recapture the lightning in a bottle of an earlier vision of him in full, and Man of Steel tried to turn its back on anything that smelled of Old and Busted and Uncool entirely, perhaps this splitting of the difference - engaging with his pop culture history and visibly taking what appealed from some of those well-known takes, while also drawing a clear line in the sand between those as the past and this as the future - is what will finally engage audiences.

The Bad

* This is the sort of thing you have to roll with for a CW superhero show, and that lives and dies by the performances, but: the dialogue varies heavily. There are some really poignant moments, but elsewhere this is where it shows its early-draftiness; a decent amount is typical Whedon-poisoned quippiness or achingly blunt, and some of the ‘hey, we’re down with the kids!’ material for Jon, Jor, and Lana’s kid Sarah is outright agonizing. I suspect a lot of it will be fixed in minor edits, actor delivery, and hopefully the younger performers taking a brutal red pen to some of their material - this was written last January and the show’s now not debuting until next January, they’ve got plenty of time for cleanup - but if this sort of the thing has been a barrier to entry for you in the past with the likes of The Flash, this probably won’t be what changes your mind.

* There are a few charming shout-outs to other shows, but much moreso, Superman & Lois actually builds in a big way out of Crisis. Which is a-okay with me, except that what exactly that was is rather poorly conveyed given that lots of people will be giving this a spin with no familiarity with that. Fixable with a line or two, but important enough to be worth noting.

Have to wait and see how it plays out

* The series’ new kid, Jordan Kent, is so far promising with potential to veer badly off-course. He’s explicitly dealing with mental illness, and not on great terms with Clark at the beginning in spite of the latter’s best efforts, the notion of which I’m sure will immediately put some off. Ultimately the commonalities between father and son become clear, and he’s not written as a caricature in this opening but as a kid with some problems who’s still visibly his parents’ boy, but obviously the ball could be fumbled here in the long term.

* Lois’s dad is portrayed almost completely differently here than in the past in spite of technically still being her military dad who has some disagreements with her husband. There are some nice moments and interesting new angles but it seems possible that the groudwork is being laid for him to be Clark’s guy in the chair, and not only does he not need that he most DEFINITELY doesn’t need that to be a member of the U.S. Military, especially when one of the first and best decisions Supergirl made when introducing him was to make clear he had stopped working with the government any more than necessary years ago. Maybe it can be stretched if his dad-in-law occasionally calls him up to let him know about a new threat he’s learned about, and maybe they’ll even do something really interesting with that push-and-pull, but if Superman’s going to be even tacitly functioning as an extension of the military that’s going to be a foundational sin.

* As I was nervous about, Superman & Lois has some political flavor, but much to my delighted surprise, there’s no grossly out of touch hedge-betting in the way I understand Supergirl has gone for at times. As of the pilot, this is an explicitly leftie show, with the overarching threat of the season as established for Lois and Clark as reporters being how corporate America has stripmined towns like Smallville and manipulated blue collar workers into selling out their own best interests. Could that go wrong? Totally, there’s already an effort to establish a particular prominent right-wing asshole as capable of decency - without as of yet downplaying that he’s a genuinely shitty dude - and vague hints that some of the towns’ woes might be rooted more in Superman-type problems than Lois and Clark problems. But that they’re going for it this directly in the first place leaves me hopeful that the show won’t completely chicken out even if there’ll probably be a monster in the mix pulling a string or two; Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics may justify Superman punching a cop by having him turn out to be a shadow monster so as to get past editorial, but it’s still a story about how sometimes Superman’s gotta punch a cop, and hopefully this can carry on in that spirit of using what wiggle room it has to the best of its ability.

So, so far so good. Could it end up a show with severe problems carried on the backs of Hoechlin and Tulloch’s performances? Absolutely. But thus far, the ingredients are there for all its potential problems to be either fixed, subverted, or dodged alright, and even when it surely fumbles the ball at junctures, I earnestly believe this is setting itself up to be the most fleshed-out, nuanced, engaging live-action take on these characters to date. And god willing, if so, the first real stepping stone in decades to proper rehab on Superman’s image and place in pop culture.

#Superman & Lois #Superman #Lois Lane #DCTV #Opinion

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becasbelt · 4 years

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Chapters: 3/12 Fandom: Pitch Perfect (Movies) Rating: T Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell Characters: Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale, Dr. Mitchell (Pitch Perfect), Beca Mitchell's Mother, Aubrey Posen, Jesse Swanson Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, skateboarder!beca, Romance, Angst

* * *

Beca never thought she would see the day when she was excited to go to an a cappella rehearsal.

And she still never thought she would, because today was not that day.

After debating with herself for the better part of the day about whether or not she should actually go through with this whole a cappella thing, Beca ultimately decided that she had to stick it out. If she stuck to something terrible now, her miserable time spent in the horrid purgatory known as Barden would end sooner.

Beca just hoped it wouldn’t kill her before she got the chance to escape.

The doors to the rehearsal space creak slightly as she pulls them open. The large room she steps into smells like old wood and dust. There were steps with seats around the perimeter, and about a dozen foldout chairs were set up in front of a white board in the middle of the room. Most of the girls Beca had met at initiation were already there, sitting in the chairs and conversing while Chloe and Aubrey stood in front of them, discussing quietly with one another.

A black baby grand piano stands next to the set up, and Beca wrinkles her nose at it as she makes her way over to the rest of the girls. Chloe notices her approaching out of the corner of her eye and turns towards her, smiling brightly.

“Beca! You’re here!” she exclaims before leaving Aubrey’s side to skip her way over to Beca. Aubrey huffs in annoyance, but Beca ignores her.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” she says teasingly, stopping in front of Chloe. Chloe giggles and pulls Beca into an unexpected hug.

“I’m not surprised,” she speaks into Beca’s ear, causing a shiver to run down her spine. “Just excited to see you.”

Before Beca can decide what that means, Aubrey claps her hands loudly from the front of the group. “Alright, ladies. Everyone is here now, which means rehearsal has officially started. Please take a seat. Sopranos in the front and altos in the back.”

Chloe pulls somewhat reluctantly away from Beca and rejoins Aubrey at the front. Beca sits down at the end of the back row and tries to ignore the fact that she can still feel the ginger’s arms wrapped around her.

“As you can see, Kori is not here,” Aubrey starts. “Last night she was Treble-boned. She has been disinvited from the Bellas,” Aubrey continues, walking over to an empty chair in the front row and moving it aside.

A vague memory of saying her vocal chords would be ripped out by wolves floats into Beca’s mind and suddenly she remembers part of the oath she’d taken at initiation. “That oath was serious?”

“Dixie Chicks serious,” Aubrey affirms. Beca stares at her in confusion. “You can fool around with whoever you want to, just not a Treble.”

“That’s not gonna be easy,” Stacie in the front row says. She gestures in between her legs. “He’s a hunter.”

Beca smiles and stares in amazement at the busty brunette. “You call it a dude?” Stacie looks over her shoulder at Beca and grins, nodding her head and looking supremely proud of herself. Beca nods her head back, extremely satisfied with this new information.

Aubrey ruins the moment. “Stacie, the Trebles don’t respect us,” she says, staring the girl down, “and if we let them penetrate us, we are giving them our power.”

Rather than fighting Aubrey on the matter, Stacie just closes her legs.

“Not a good enough reason to use the word ‘penetrate,’” the girl called Fat Amy points out.

Aubrey chooses to ignore her. “So, is there anyone here that has anything to confess?” she asks slowly, her eyes skimming the group before landing on the girl sitting on the other end of Beca’s row. Beca cranes her neck to see her shifting nervously in her seat.

The girl visibly tenses, and all at once her confession bursts from her. “It was an accident! I…”

Aubrey gives her a pitying smile and holds out her hand. “Turn in your scarf and go.”

The girl stares up at Aubrey in sorrow, her mouth open and closing for a few times before she begins to untie her Bellas scarf from her bag strap. She places it in Aubrey’s hand.

Aubrey makes a standing gesture, then points to the door. The girl starts walking out, before Aubrey stops her. “Take your chair,” she tells her.

The girl grabs the back of her chair and begins to drag it behind her as she swiftly makes her way to the exit. She starts running halfway and drops the chair back on all four legs when she gets close to the door, crying as she pushes them open and leaves the room.

Beca watches all this with shock. “Was that necessary?” she asks Aubrey incredulously as soon as the girl has left, twisting back around in her seat to glare at the blonde.

“We are at war, Beca,” Aubrey says gravely. “I need to have my soldiers prepped and ready to go with three kick-ass songs,” she continues, starting to get worked up. “And if you don’t like the way I run things than you can just-”

Aubrey suddenly gags, holding up a fist to her mouth and turning around. Beca stares in confusion, and she sees the other girls doing the same.

Chloe rushes over to Aubrey, stroking a hand up and down the struggling girl’s back. “Breath, Aubrey,” she says softly, though Beca can still here her from where she sits. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened last year.”

Beca’s ears perk up at that, curiosity overcoming her. Luckily, she doesn’t have to be the one to ask. The Asian girl next to her – Lilly, she thinks – raises her hand.

Chloe points to her while Aubrey tries to compose herself. “What is it?” she implores kindly.

Lilly whispers something. Although she’s right next to her, Beca can’t even hear what she’s saying.

“I’m sorry, what are you saying?” Chloe asks.

“What happened last year?” Beca can just barely hear her the second time, but everyone else still looks confused.

“Uh, she’s wondering what happened last year,” Beca says louder. The rest of the group starts agreeing. Looks of uncertainty pass across Chloe and Aubrey’s faces.

Ten minutes and a disgusting, puke-filled YouTube video later, Aubrey attempts to refocus the group. “Enough,” she snaps, causing everyone to look back at her. Beca doesn’t know if she can ever look at her the same way. “It’s in the past. Now is time for the future. This is how we’ll become champions.”

Aubrey walks over to the whiteboard, flipping it over to reveal various rehearsal techniques and exercises.

Beca stifles a groan as she listens to Aubrey drawl on about all the things they have to do, regretting her life choices even more than before.

* * *

Beca doesn’t know how long they’ve been at rehearsal for, but it feels as though a lifetime has passed, and they still weren’t done.

She’s standing by the piano, listening to Aubrey ramble on beside her about proper breathing techniques, the importance of scales, and how to produce a good singing tone. Aubrey’s turned towards Beca, one hand resting on the piano’s polished wood surface. Beca opts to keep her hands hanging by her side.

“Stand up straight. You’re short enough that it’s silly that you slouch anyways. And stop leaning to one side when you sing. You should always take full breaths when you sing, that way your voice can carry more and you’ll have more endurance.”

Beca resists the urge to roll her eyes. As if she needs someone to teach her all this stuff. These techniques have been imbedded in her for years.

“It’s important to always have good posture when you sing,” Ms. Heather tells Beca, standing up from the piano bench to circle around her.

“But, I thought I was standing straight,” Beca says, raising her chin in the air in order to make herself seem as tall as possible. Her nine year old body didn’t offer that much height to begin with, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

Ms. Heather chuckles. “Raising your head doesn’t fix you posture, Beca.” She places her hands gently on Beca’s shoulders to pull them back. “You want all your airways to be completely open, that way your voice can carry all the way through your body unrestrained.” With a few more minor adjustments to Beca’s stance, Ms. Heather nods in approval. “There, perfect. That’s how you should always stand.”

Beca holds as still as possible, not wanting to ruin her perfect posture. Ms. Heather sits back down at the piano and smiles up at her. She begins to lead Beca through the remainder of her lesson, joking every now and then when she notices Beca getting frustrated. Beca leaves her house with a smile on her face.

When she gets home, she immediately rushes to the kitchen. Her mom stands at the stove, making dinner.

“Hi, sweetie,” she says, pouring pasta in a boiling pot of water. “How was your lesson?”

“It was great! Ms. Heather gave me a new song to work on,” Beca tells her proudly, holding the sheet music up for her mom to see.

Her mom steps away from the stove to take the piece of music from Beca’s hands. She studies it for a few moments, humming her approval. “That’s pretty exciting! I can’t wait to hear it, Beca.”

Beca grins. “Is Dad home yet? I want to sing it for you and him.”

Her mom walks over to the cupboards and starts pulling plates and cups out to set them on the counter. “Not yet, but he should be getting home any minute now. Why don’t you help me set the table, and you can give us a little mini-concert after dinner?”

Grumbling in disappointment a little, Beca grabs the kitchenware and starts on the talk of setting them out on the table. Her pouting doesn’t last long, though. She sings freely as she works, letting the excitement of a new song and the chance to perform for her parents carry her to dinner.

“Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”

Beca is jolted back to the present by Aubrey’s sharp words. She notices that her hands have strayed to rest on top of the piano and quickly retracts them, folding her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, definitely,” she says breezily. “Have good posture, drop your jaw, keep your air moving. Got it.”

Aubrey’s eyes narrow. “Hm,” is all she says for a moment, studying Beca. She takes in her purposeful slouch. “Well, fix your standing, then. You look like you trying to shrink in on yourself.”

She begins leading Beca through a warm-up that involves saying the word ‘wow’ over and over again. Beca feels ridiculous, but she has no choice but to go along with it. Her eyes wander as she does so, watching the other Bellas work on various things.

Chloe stands in front of a mirror with Stacie, trying in vain to teach the girl how to keep her hands off herself while singing. Things will go well for a few seconds at a time before Stacie starts groping or grabbing herself in some way, causing Chloe to force her hands to remain at her sides again.

The redhead must feel eyes on her, because after a while she turns her head in Beca’s direction. Beca blushes slightly at being caught and quickly looks away. She glances back a few seconds later to see Chloe still staring at her.

Although she’s still doing the dumb vocal warm-ups, she manages to smile sarcastically at Chloe. She raises her eyebrows and shrugs to indicate how done she is with Aubrey’s crap. Chloe giggles and her tongue pokes through her teeth a little as she tries to make herself stop. She winks once at Beca before turning her attention back to Stacie’s wandering hands.

For some reason, Beca’s smile turns more genuine and the voice stuff Aubrey’s forcing her to do doesn’t seem quite as terrible as before.

* * *

After a disastrous attempt at running through some of the choreography they learned that day, Aubrey lets out an exasperated breath. “Okay, I’m calling it.”

Beca sighs in relief. She was ready for this hell to finally be over. Still, she couldn’t help but give in to the desire to rile up Aubrey, just a little more. Plus, something had been bugging her since they started learning the dance steps. She grabs her water bottle and walks over to the blonde. “Hey, Aubrey, did we just learn the same choreography from that video?”

Aubrey slams her water bottle down on the piano, and Beca can’t help but wince at the action. “Don’t forget to pick up your rehearsal schedule,” she says, ignoring Beca.

Beca clenches her jaw and goes to pick up her schedule. Then, at Aubrey’s request (demand), she joins the rest of the Bellas in a circle. They all put their hands in the middle and attempt to sing and put their hands up on (after?) three, but fail miserably. Aubrey tells them that they’ll work on that first thing next time and finally lets them go.

With a snicker, Beca starts moving to quickly pack up all of her stuff. She’s just heading towards the door when she hears her name being called. She turns around to see Aubrey looking at her expectantly.

“What’s up?” she asks, hoping this won’t take long.

“You know you’ll have to take those ear monstrosities out for the fall mixer, right?” Aubrey asks rhetorically, as if Beca is stupid.

Beca feels anger flare in her chest, but pushes it down. Aubrey definitely isn’t worth it. “You really don’t like me, do you?” she says decidedly.

“I don’t like your attitude,” Aubrey replies frankly.

“You don’t even know me,” Beca retorts defensively. She sees Chloe approach slowly from the corner of her eye.

“I know that you don’t want to be here,” Aubrey accuses her, eyes narrowing. “And I have a feeling that the only thing you care about is yourself.”

Beca shrugs. “Guess you’ll never know,” she says simply and starts to walk away.

From behind her, Aubrey lets out a sharp, “I can smell smoke on you! You better not ruin your voice with those drugs of yours, Beca.”

Beca turns around and continues to walk backwards. “I’m gonna need them to deal with you,” she fires back before pivoting on her heel and swiftly exiting the room.

Now that Aubrey mentions it, she really could go for a smoke.

* * *

She doesn’t expect a knock on her door later that evening, but she figures it’s either her dad or her RA, and Kimmy Jin isn’t here so it isn’t one of her friends, so she chooses to ignore them and hopes whoever it is will go away. Instead, the person knocks again, louder and more rapidly this time. “Beca, you in there?” A familiar voice says.

Beca pauses the show she was watching – The Office, sue her – and gets up to open the door. Just as she suspected, Chloe Beale stands on the other side. She’s got her backpack slung over her shoulder and her face breaks out in a grin when she sees Beca. “You are here!”

“Unfortunately,” Beca deadpans. Chloe only giggles in response. “Um, what are you doing here?” she implores.

“I was wondering if we could hang out,” Chloe replies easily. Beca raises an eyebrow.

“And you had to come all the way to my dorm to ask me that? Why didn’t you just text me?”

Chloe shrugs. “I have a feeling that if I’d texted you, you wouldn’t have answered.”

Damn. She was right.

Beca rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. “That’s not true…” she trails off weakly.

Chloe looks at her knowingly. “Mmhm. Sure it’s not. So, can I come in?”

She’s already pushing past Beca as she says it, dropping her bag at the foot of the bed and kicking off her shoes.

“Please do,” Beca says sarcastically, shutting the door. She watches as Chloe starts wandering around the room, looking at the various pictures lining her shelves. “You don’t know boundaries very well, do you?” she asks after a moment, though there’s no malice in her tone like she thought there would be.

Chloe looks away from the pictures and towards Beca, grinning. “Nope, not really,” she says brightly. Then, a rare shadow of doubt crosses her face. “Is this too much? I can go if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

Beca chuckles. “Pretty sure you already did that when you burst in my shower, dude,” she says lightly. She walks over to sit in her desk chair. “I don’t think you could do much worse at this point.”

Chloe’s smile returns. “Good point,” she agrees before turning back towards the photos.

The pictures are mostly of her friends from Seattle, most of them taken at the skate park they always used to hang out at. A fair number are action shots of either someone else doing a trick or Beca herself doing one. Chloe picks one up of Beca.

“Is this you?” she asks.

Beca nods her head. “Yeah, it is.”

Chloe studies the picture for another moment, looking impressed. “How long have you been skateboarding for?”

Beca thinks back. “Since I was… fifteen, I think? Yeah, I started at fifteen and got my first board at sixteen. So like three years.”

The picture gets returned to its place and Chloe points to another one. “And who are they? Friends of yours?”

“Yeah, or, acquaintances, at least.”

“Do you miss them?”

Beca shrugs at the question. “I guess? But not really.”

Chloe looks at her. “Not really? Why not?”

Beca swivels in her chair a bit. “We weren’t super close. We did more skating than talking most of the time.”

“Where are you from?”

“What is this, twenty question?” Beca grumbles.

Chloe has the decency to look apologetic. “Sorry, I just wanted to get to know you.”

“Yeah, well, I think you’ve got that covered by now,” Beca says icily. She notices Chloe looking upset, so she softens up. “So did you have anything in mind that you wanted to do when you came here, or was your idea to actually play 20 questions?” she tries in a joking manner.

Chloe flushes slightly. “No, nothing specific,” she admits. “I don’t know. I guess I just… I guess I just wanted to spend time with you.”

Beca clicks her tongue to fill the silence and looks around the room. “Well, I was just watching The Office when you knocked,” she says awkwardly. “We could watch that, if you want?”

Chloe’s face lights up. “Let’s do it.”

The two of them get settled on the bed with Beca’s laptop in between them and let the show play, but eventually it just ends up as background noise to their conversation. But Beca doesn’t mind; she’s seen all the episodes, and she’s slowly learning that she’d much rather listen to Chloe Beale talk than watch Michael Scott offend his employees anyways.

* * *

The next day, Beca walks into work to find a sight she’s never seen before. Some guy is standing by one of the shelves, dusting. Music blares from some overhead speakers – which Beca didn’t even know they had – and the guy is singing along at the top of his lungs.

Beca narrows her eyes and marches over to the stranger. “Hey,” she barks, poking him harshly in the back of the shoulder. The guy turns around with a grin on his face.

“Hey,” he says, in a much friendlier manner than Beca had. “I’m Jesse.”

Beca points up at the ceiling. “Do you mind?” she asks, indicating to the music.

“Right! Sorry, one sec,” Jesse says quickly. He walks over to the office and a few moments later, the volume is turned down significantly. Beca scowls. She wanted it all the way off, but at least now she doesn’t have to yell over the noise. Jesse emerges from the office. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting anyone here for a while.”

“Who are you, anyways?” Beca questions him with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m Jesse.”

Beca rolls her eyes. “Yeah, you mentioned that,” she says irritably. “But what are you doing here?”

“I… work here?” Jesse says, sounding confused.

Beca’s eyebrows furrow. “Then why haven’t I seen you before?”

Jesse laughs. “Probably because Luke doesn’t need both of us here at the same time.”

Beca’s shoulders slump. She guessed that made sense. “Oh, right.”

Jesse studies her for a moment. “I know you,” he decides.

“No you don’t,” Beca says.

“Yeah, I do,” Jesse says confidently. “I just don’t know from where…” He taps his chin, thinking, before snapping his fingers. “You’re that girl who did the cup thing at auditions!”

Beca groans inwardly. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“That would be me,” she sighs, walking away from him to plop down on the couch. Jesse follows excitedly behind her.

“Man, that was so cool,” he raves. “Could you show me how to do it?”

“No,” Beca snaps at him immediately, glaring in his direction.

Jesse holds up his hands in surrender with a smile on his face. “Okay, okay. Not a big sharer, I see,” he says good-naturedly. Beca fights to keep her cold stare intact. It’s harder to glare at someone who seems genuinely so unbothered by her standoffish attitude.

“Quick learner,” she quips.

Jesse just grins some more. “You got recruited by the Bellas, right?”

Beca nods her head. “Unfortunately.”

“I joined the Trebles.”

“Congratulations,” she drawls dryly, picking up a magazine to read from the coffee table.

Jesse chuckles. “So what’s you deal?” he asks, standing from the couch to continue his dusting. “You’re one of those girls who’s all dark and mysterious, then she takes off her glasses and that amazingly scary ear spike and you realize that, you know, she was beautiful the whole time?”

“I don’t wear glasses,” Beca deadpans, flipping a page in her magazine.

“Then you’re halfway there,” Jesse fires back.

Beca looks up at him for moment before turning her attention away again. “You know when Luke’s gonna be back?”

“No,” is Jesse’s reply from the other side of the room. “He said he was ‘going out,’ so who knows what that means.”

Beca shrugs and stands up from the couch, magazine still in hand. She walks over to the office to see a sound system. She finds the power button and presses it, ceasing the music altogether. Jesse looks at her in confusion and she stares back with an indifferent gaze. She sits down in the chair behind the desk and breaks eye contact, flipping another page in her magazine and saying nothing.

* * *

The empty swimming pool on Barden’s campus would definitely make a great zombie apocalypse movie set, but apparently it was also the perfect place to host competitive a cappella events. All four groups on campus stood (or sat, in the High Notes case) in the middle of the pool, waiting for… whatever it they were there for to start.

When Aubrey had messaged the Bellas group chat telling them to be ready for the “riff off” tonight, Beca had immediately texted Chloe and asked what the hell a riff off was. Chloe had only sent back a cryptic you’ll see with a winky face in response.

It was a miracle Beca came, really.

Observers stood and sat along the pool’s edge at the top, drinking beer and apparently hyping themselves up for the evening’s activity. Beca didn’t know who was lamer- the people willingly participating in a cappella, or the a cappella groupies.

Beca would go with the latter, since she was technically once of the people willingly participating.

Aubrey is busy giving everyone a brief pep talk of sorts when a siren call sounds from the Harmonics. The Bellas all turn towards the center of the pool where one of the guys from auditions, Justin, stands.

“WELCOME TO THE RIFF OFF.”

A cheer rises from groups and spectators alike, and even Beca begins to feel the palpable excitement in the air.

“Who’s ready to get vocal?” Justin asks, causing more cheering to erupt. He continues to pump up the crowd and from her place at the edge of the Bellas, Beca spots Jesse standing with the Trebles. He catches her looking at him and puts on a tough expression.

You’re going down, he mouths to her, pointing to the ground.

Beca shrugs and holds out her hands. I don’t care, she mouths back.

Fair enough, he replies, grinning.

Justin was apparently finally ready to get down to business. “Let’s see our first category,” he says, holding a projector thing up to the wall, showing a wheel with different categories to choose from. The wheel starts spinning and Beca looks to see Chloe and Aubrey watching with avid attention. Aubrey holds her hands up to her mouth and wiggles her fingers in anticipation.

The wheel eventually stops spinning and lands on a category. “Ladies of the ‘80s!” Justin proclaims, and movement immediately follows. Aubrey rushes forward at the same time as the Trebles do, and before she can start singing Bumper stomps his foot.

“Oh Mickey, you’re so fine,” they start singing along with the beat they’ve created, “You’re so fine you blow my mind. Hey Mickey! Oh Mickey, you’re so-”

“Fine,” they’re cut off by a girl from the Harmonics. The Harmonics start doing a rendition of Like a Virgin and Beca watches with slight fascination. She still doesn’t exactly understand how this whole thing works, since no one ever bothered to explain it to her, but she guesses it’s sort of interesting watching the different groups interact with each other like this.

The Harmonics continue to sing while Aubrey and Chloe turn towards the Bellas to form a huddle. Beca can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, but she does hear the firm “watch” that Aubrey says before she walks out to the middle of the pool again. Beca notices Chloe start to follow behind before Aubrey shoos her away. Beca’s eyes narrow suspiciously.

Aubrey butts in to what the Harmonics are singing with, “Like the one in me, that’s okay,” and understanding of how it works starts to dawn on Beca. Aubrey continues to sing and eventually motions for the rest of the Bellas to join her. Chloe leads the rest of them towards Aubrey, and they begin to harmonize. Beca doesn’t sing along with them quite yet, but she does follow hesitantly behind.

It’s actually going surprising well before Beca sees one of the High Notes stumble their way over. She holds up a hand and tries to match the word “away” with “ay.” A few people start laughing at her, including members of her own group and Justin walks over to her with his arms raised.

“The negative side effects of medical marijuana, folks,” he proclaims. “You are,” he claps his hands together, as well as everyone else in the pool, causing Beca to jump slightly in surprise, “Cut off!”

Cheering rises at the elimination and Justin turns towards the wall to pick the next category. The Bellas retreat back to their original spot and Beca sidles up alongside Chloe to make sure she’s understanding things correctly. “So, we match a new song with a common word?”

Chloe smiles at her. “Exactly.”

“And you just pick any song that works and… go with it?”

Chloe nods her head. “Yep,” she affirms.

“Nice,” Beca says, mostly to herself, as she migrates towards the back of the group again.

Suddenly, the next category is announced. “Songs about sex.”

Beca sees the Trebles start to move towards the middle, but before they get far a voice cuts them off.

“Na na na, come on.”

To her surprise, it’s Cynthia-Rose that is singing. She steps out from the middle of the Bellas and makes her way to stand right in front of the Trebles, getting in their faces. The rest of the Bellas start doing background vocals while Stacie prowls forward so that she’s next to Cynthia-Rose. The two start grinding against each other while they sing.

This time, Beca can’t help but join in. She steps up behind Chloe and adds in some harmonies, trying not to look too into the whole ordeal. She does have a reputation to uphold, after all.

Before they can repeat the chorus all the way through, the beatboxer from the Trebles cuts in. “Sex, baby. Let’s talk you and me,” he croons, getting the rest of the guys to back him up. Cynthia-Rose retreats back to the rest of the Bellas, but Stacie holds her ground.

Aubrey marches up to start pulling Stacie away from the Trebles by the arm, but Stacie stops her before they get very far. Once again, she strolls right up to the boys and cuts them off. “Baby, all through the night I’ll make love to you,” she sings, and Amy steps forward to harmonize with her. “Like you want me to, and-”

“And I guess that’s just the woman in you,” Beca’s surprised when Jesse quickly steps in and sings over Stacie, causing her to finally step away. Her face must show her surprise, because he gives her a subtle wink. “That brings out the man in me.”

Jesse looks so smug as the rest of the Trebles join him that Beca can’t help but start to think of some song to interrupt him with. She racks her brain for any options, and comes up with a horribly brilliant idea. She really doesn’t give it any second thought before running forward.

“It’s going down, fade to blackstreet, the homies got RB, collab’ creations, bump like acne.”

The look of shock on Jesse’s face is enough to make Beca forget about what she’s doing, so she’s keeps going and lets the lyrics spill from her lips. She turns around to face the Bellas towards the end of the rap to look at all of them. Chloe’s jaw is basically on the floor, Aubrey has a look of confusion on her face, and the rest of the girls look either shocked or impressed.

An awkward moment of silence follows the verse, and Beca’s heart falls as the Bellas fail to join in with her. Then, she hears Jesse from behind her say, “Keep going,” and that’s all she needs to push through.

Beca smiles at the Bellas and spreads her arms out. “Shorty get down, good Lord,” she croons, and the resulting whistles and whoops give her strength. “Baby got ‘em open all over town.”

At last, Fat Amy emerges from the Bellas. She joins in with Beca on the next line, and Beca sees Chloe turn to start organizing the rest of the girls. “Strickly biz she don’t play around, cover much grounds, got game by the pound,” Fat Amy slaps her belly, and with that Chloe cues them in and the Bellas are off.

As Beca’s voice soars over the brilliant backup the Bellas are providing her, she can’t help but think about how great this is. How great it feels to sing and to feel the music flow through her. It’s a sensation she hasn’t allowed herself to feel in years and in this moment, Beca forgets why she ever stopped in the first place.

Beca takes a turn around the group and ends up next to Chloe. The two of them make eye contact, and Beca’s smile somehow grows even larger. A rush goes through Beca when she realizes Chloe’s not the only one watching her; the other girls are all waiting for her cue to cut them off. So, she raises her hands to let them know to hold out one last note and lets it end with a resounding, “We out.”

Cheers explode from all around the pool, and Beca pays them only brief attention before facing the Trebles. While Chloe hugs her from behind and Amy jostles her arm, Beca lets her expression turn smug. “I mean, you’re welcome,” she tells the Trebles cockily.

She’s so caught up in celebrating with the Bellas that she doesn’t notice Justin making his over to them. “Tough blow, ladies,” he says, killing the mood. “The word you needed to match was ‘it’… and you sang ‘it’s.’” Beca laughs in disbelief. “You are cut off!”

The Trebles and Justin are the only ones that say it this time around, but it doesn’t hurt any less. Anger flares though Beca. “Are you serious?” she demands.

Justin declares the Trebles as the winners and hands them the microphone. The Trebles go wild and Beca glares at them. They got to win by a technicality?

Fuck this.

Aubrey starts gathering the Bellas for some sort of meeting, but Beca ignores her summons and storms off in the direction of the ladder out of the pool. When she gets her foot in the first notch to start climbing out, she feels a hand on her arm, stopping her. She whips around, expecting to see an angry Aubrey or a gloating Jesse, but it’s neither. It’s Chloe.

“Don’t you have a loss to discuss?” she says bitterly, but immediately regrets the tone she used upon seeing the lack of judgement in Chloe’s eyes.

“I don’t want to focus on the loss,” Chloe says kindly. “I just… I just wanted to tell you how amazing you were tonight. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” she squeezes Beca’s arm. “Beca, that was incredible.”

Beca’s eyes soften at the sincerity in Chloe’s voice. “Yeah well,” she says softly, without the malice of before. “I’m glad someone thinks so.”

She meets Chloe’s eyes for a second and gives her a small, sad smile before climbing up out of the pool. She shoves her hands in her jacket pockets and starts walking home, all the while ignoring the small bit of light that she knows was ignited tonight; a light that was ignited by the music.

#fanfic #pitch perfect #bechloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale #life is not a love song #much fast updates #such wow

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fuckyeahnightmares · 5 years

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Review

The movie that was absolutely never going to please anybody. Oh boy. This is a spoiler-free review (Above the Read More Line that hopefully doesn’t disappear)

1. Supernatural or psychological or metaphorical in someway? Supernatural of course. Supernatural but I think the monsters were a metaphor for the draft.

2. How scary was it? It felt like a little geared more towards kids but there were still some really solid moments and creative sequences. 6.2/10

3. Jump scares or nah? A bit.

4. Is there blood and gore? No. Good body horror though.

5. On a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being Alien: Covenant), how dumb were the characters? Yeah they were fairly dumb. “Hey, I had a dream that leads me to believe if I go any further in this place we’re going, I am going to die. I also don’t see why I need to be here for this.” “Fuck you, you’re coming.” 7.2

6. Does that story make logical sense if you think about it too long? I mean, not really.

I know going into this, everyone had their own ideas on what a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie would look like. Some wanted an anthology, which I understand. Some expected it to be rated R, which I understand a bit less, given these are children’s books and children still read them. Anyways, instead of an anthology, which the studio didn’t go with because anthology movies gross like 3 dollars, we’re given a super meta movie about kids who find a scary book that writes scary stories in which they die. It feels a lot like an Amblin movie, but some of the sequences are really disturbing and take this above the kid scare line. Overall I thought it was a fun and engaging movie that looked great even if it wasn’t super scary and the plot wasn’t the most original. Upon exiting the theatre, I didn’t feel as blessed as I thought I would when I first saw the trailer, but that’s okay (mainly because It: Chapter 2 is coming out in less than a month).

One thing I wanted to point out are how amazing the practical effects are in this movie. The monsters look like they do on the page but in real life. Harold looks great and the pale lady from the dream looks fucking nuts. The Jangly Man (a combination of the monsters from a few different stories most notably Me-Tie-Dough-Tie-Walker) moves like a mother fucker and there’s actually a person in that costume. This, paired with a game cast and a fun plot, make it worth the watch. I’ll give it a 7/10.

It’s doing well at the box office and we’ll probably get a sequel. I guess I hope for a slightly stronger story tying it all together.

Spoiler-y thoughts below

I think the monsters are a metaphor for the draft in the way they target young people and then they’re taken away without warning, to someone we can’t conceive, and they’re never seen again. Unless they come back in pieces. Like the Jangly Man.

That Pale Lady sequence was fucked up and probably the best thing in the movie.

“It’s all my fault.” Yeah, Stella, it is.

I thought the phone call between Stella and her father from Breaking Bad was really moving.

The Sarah Bellows story kind of felt like ParaNorman but like, not nearly as deeply impactful.

I am Stella when they run in to save Ruth and Stella just kind of stands there and acts like she was doing something useful after the fact.

I guess they weren’t going to show Harold skinning a dude alive, but the stuffing was still a good sequence.

I was really surprised when the two boys didn’t return at the end.

My dad pointed out that one of Sarah Bellows’s brother was named Harold, a interesting implication of lore.

No, I didn’t like the sequel baiting at the end, but I appreciate that we are almost definitely getting a sequel. The world needs more sources of reliable horror movies.

What stories do we hope are going to be in the sequel? The story that has stuck with me the most is “The Thing” but I don’t see how they put that in a movie.

#mod james #scary stories to tell in the dark #movie review

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tracybirds · 4 years

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okay so like !!!! The Thunderbirds tour was really REALLY cool and you got to see a bunch of the miniature sets up close and I wish we had more time but that’s how it goes!! You could really tell how much Sir Richard Taylor loves Thunderbirds even just from the introduction video and it was a BLAST to see him grinning so giddily like there is SO MUCH LOVE for the work they did!!! You can’t take photos except for the very end which was a bummer but to be expected I guess.... Weta have strict rules about what can and can’t be snapped (like the original series ahaha ;D)

The rest is under a cut bc...... I got very long winded and excited :DD

The first room is kind of an intro to the original series for people who take the tour without knowing much about the show (a surprising amount apparently! but also not that surprising, doing this tour when I lived in wellington was literally what introduced me to the series and convinced me to buy the dvds so clearly it WORKS!!) And yeah it included models of the original thunderbirds and played clips of the show and had info about the original iterations of characters and so on which was pretty neat!! Nothing new for fans I suppose although I was surprised to learn that Virgil was based of a young Sean Connery apparently???? who knew??? I got a good giggle when Kylie (our lovely tour guide) was like “that’s why he looks a bit James Bond” and so guess what’s being added to the never ending fic list ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ also i never noticed but apparently the original TB5 had an outdoor viewing platform and I love how ridiculous that concept is so so much petition to BRING IT BACK!!!!

It also had concept art showing how they developed the characters and ships and that was really interesting! I had a hunt online to see if I could find stuff but that’s not easy and I’m bummed because one of the John’s concepts did have him blonde and it was phenomenal :D Kylie called these versions “the boy band Tracys” and have I mentioned I love her? I love Kylie she was the best :DD There was also a BUNCH of info of like nailing down character details and most are a distilled version of what’s available on the thunderbirds.com website. I did laugh bc Scott got an “effectiveness rating” of 99% and Virgil’s was only 95% like how was THAT measured xDD The others got rated on different things, Alan got a 96% on reflex analysis, and I don’t remember the others.... There WAS however a height chart which I memorised and will reproduce as best I can and then summarily ignore bc I disagree with it entirely xDD

Scott - 185 cm or 6′ 1 Virgil - 178.2 cm or 5′ 10 (BULLSHIT) John - 178.6 cm or 5′ 10 (BULLSHIT AGAIN) Alan - 160 cm or 5′ 3 (A BABY!!!! WHO MADE YOU SO SMOL????? I’M TALLER THAN THAT COME ON KID) Gordon - 174-176 cm or 5′ 9 (memory is vague on this) Kayo - 165 cm or 5′ 5 Lady Penelope - 172 cm or 5′ 8 (Which...... ? Do they mean in HEELS bc I do not believe it xDDD)

Brains and Parker were between Gordon and Virgil but I don’t remember exact numbers for them, sorry. They all had 1/10ths but I didn’t bother to memorise with that level of precision except for John/Virgil where it mattered #noregrets

ANYWAY while I was memorising numbers and laughing at boy band John, Kylie was explaining to us how they built the miniatures and it was really cool how creative they could be when it came to reusing what was essentially old junk to make everything!! And then !!! We saw Tracy Island!! Two of them! Because one is this MASSIVE model that they do all the inside shots from and the other was a smaller one that they took wide view of the island with by dumping the island in a pool with blue food colouring water (bc of course at a small scale the pool water wouldn’t look like the ocean :D) anyway CAN CONFIRM Tracy Island DOES HAVE A BEACH!!!!!!! It is tiny but it is THERE!!!! it is to the right of the villa when looking at the front so yay! Beach days on the volcanic island continue!! Also Virgil apparently leaves Mozart on the piano when he’s not playing :D

My favourite story was how the first time they pulled the pool back to shoot TB1′s launch, the pool was too full with water and it FLOODED THE KITCHEN like someone please hop on that story so I don’t have to it was hiLARIOUS!! And then this lovely guy (who honestly looked like his dreams had come true like omw live your best life dude!!) he got to pull the lever to open up the runway for TB2 and it was AWESOME!! The palm trees bounced back and forth just like they do in the show and it felt very real :D Also found out the red and while balls are fire extinguishers and although I feel like I knew that I was also very surprised bc I had no recollection of that until I was reminded! They’re also made out of old goblin eyes from the Hobbit movies so THAT was cool :D

The hangers were EPIC!!! You really got a good sense of their SHEER ENORMITY OF SIZE bc they felt massive as a big person looking at “miniatures” so like if I were scaled down to a model size they must be HUGE!!!! TB3 is housed in a repurposed hot water cylinder and the space elevator lands on a CD walkman :D It really makes you think twice about the sets AND about random items you have lying around, like being there just made me want to create mini sets of my own which I think is an AWESOME response for them to be encouraging!!

There was also some cool shots of Creighton-Ward Manor and the Hood’s machine from s1 (??? gosh... so long ago!!) and then we were in the photo taking room :D They had the Grand Sequoia Dam set from s2, as well as the dome complex from Attack of the Reptiles - we WERE allowed to take photos of these as well as some models of like TB1 and the TB2 interior (with a bonus Virgil!! Which was really fun!!)

Congrats if you made it through the ramble, I do have photos that I’ll gather together at some point but anyway YAY!!!!! IT WAS REALLY FUN AND I’M GLAD I WENT!!

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atamascolily · 4 years

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lily liveblogs “terminator: dark fate”, part one

In which I write two thousand words about the first two minutes, which is why it takes me four hours to watch a two-hour film.

The DVD says R rated for "Violence throughout". God I hope so.

3 dvd trailers just to get to the menu. thank goodness for fast forward. You can't skip them entirely, but you can skip to two seconds before they're over.

Also I can't help but note that one of the trailers is for Gemini Man, a movie about old!Will Smith battling a digitally de-aged!Will Smih, and I cannot help but admire the irony given how de-aginging software will be used in the film I am trying to see. Another trailer is for the Top Gun sequel. More irony.

the dvd menu is just the first thirty seconds of the theme with random movie clips, which just cuts out as soon as it gets good. not a fan.

grainy video footage of Sarah Connor from T2 with her v/o recounting her vision of nuclear holocaust to Silbermann AS THE COMPANY LOGOS FLASH ON SCREEN, this is (probably) not meant to be symbolic of the destructive influence of capitalism BUT OH MY GOD THE IRONY

Ocean waves on a beach, exposing a human skull. Then slow zoom out to reveal more bones. Old!Sarah narrates the story for those of us just tuning in. Terminators rising from the ocean while HK planes hover above. They see a little girl hiding beside a downed helicopter and aim at her--

--cut to the same (?) beach in Guatemala, 1998. Old!Sarah says "That future never happened because I stopped it," and we see her sitting by the beach in a bar, watching teenage John chat up a girl.

The CGI looks good here. John's face is fuzzy and at a distance, but it works in context, and t2-era!Sarah looks great. I wouldn't guess it was CGI if I didn't know it was CGI here. And this, my friends, is the future of filmmaking right here, and I have a lot of thoughts and feels about it, but that's a rant for another time. Let's just say that it's HIGHLY IRONIC that the people who basically invented Photoshop so they could make T2 are using this face-altering business on real actors, making them effectively shapeshifters just like the Terminators in this franchise. (Iirc, in T2, the CGI was used mainly for the shifting BETWEEN the faces of real actors--not on the actors themselves.)

And then young(er)!Arnold strolls in as John turns, and you can SEE him freeze as he RECOGNIZES the T-800, but doesn't have time to react--and the T-800 fires.

Sarah pulls a gun out of her pants and fires straight into his back. If she'd been facing in the other direction, she would have seen the T-800 and started firing right away, but she didn't. And I bet the T-800 deliberately set it up that way because he knew--whether Skynet told him or not--that Sarah was a threat.

She tries to grab the gun away from the T800 and it doesn't work. He pulls her head back and tosses her away. He could have killed her, but he doesn't. I don't know why. (PLOT!) Maybe because it's not his mission. Anyway, Sarah is like three feet away from her son, down on the ground, as he's shot in front of her. It's her worst nightmare come true, just when she thought everything was okay.

The scan from the T-800's perspective as he registers TARGET TERMINATED is pretty cool. And then he drops the gun and walks away, and Sarah is left with the dead body of her son.

"I saved three billion lives," Old!Sarah says, "but I couldn't save my son. A machine took him from me, and I was terminated."

WHAM.

CUT TO OPENING TITLE AND THEME.

Okay, so this is a controversial opening, and a lot of people hated it, but I am personally okay with it. Partially, it's because I am not emotionally attached to John Connor the same way I am attached to Sarah, or even Kyle. John Connor may be the savior of humanity in the Terminator mythos up until now, but he's also a macguffin in T1 (and arguably in T2 as well). He's not an independent agent, and his actions/decisions don't drive the plot in the same way that Sarah's do. John's story after a certain point in any timeline is very difficult to write well. Case in point: movies that are ostensibly about John Connor--T3 and Terminator: Salvation--are also the ones that "everybody" thinks are terrible, and Sarah is not present. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

People SAY they want a John Connor-centered movie, and maybe it's possible to do a better job that T3/Salvation/etc, but I think it would be very challenging--and I don't think it would be a Terminator movie at all. It would be a sci-fi action/horror featuring humanity vs. intelligent killer robots, but that's a different beast from a Terminator film--which is very much a commentary on contemporary human/machine interactions and therefore NEEDS an oblivious society as backdrop for its metaphors to work. A war movie in which the Terminators are no longer secret is... not as effective.

But anyway, put yourself in the writers' shoes and imagine you want to make another Terminator movie after T2. You want Sarah Connor to be in it. What do you do to make it new and different, while still working within the established formula? More to the point--remembering the unofficial motto of this franchise, after all--what do you do to make Sarah Connor suffer?

And the answer is exactly what the filmmakers did: they took away her son. They took away the REASON she was originally targeted for termination, the REASON her life was turned upside down, the REASON everybody she ever loved was murdered by killer robots from the future. They took away everything she'd worked for, and turned it to dust in an instant. And, you know, they killed YET ANOTHER PERSON she loved. Her last connection to Kyle, even.

(ngl, if I'd been writing this movie, I would have done the exact same thing FOR EXACTLY THOSE REASONS)

Also, can I just take a moment to point out how RARE it is that a male character dies to further a female character's story arc? This happens ALL THE GODDAMN TIME with male heroes and their wives/girlfriends/family members no one bats an eye, but kill off John Connor and suddenly everybody is pissed. I can't help but notice the double standard here.

Look, I know what it's like when someone kills off your favorite character. Really, I do. It sucks. It sucks a lot. (See: Avengers: Endgame and the Star Wars sequel trilogy.) But at the same time, I can't help but notice that a great deal of the people upset about John Connor's death are cishet white males--in many cases, the same people who in other contexts are fine with somebody (usually a woman) dying to "raise the stakes" and make the story "personal" and "dramatic" or even "realistic".

There are a lot of people who gushed about The Last Jedi, calling it "subversive" and "brilliant" specifically for upending everything we knew about Luke and "making our old heroes fallible" (and therefore human). In the case of The Last Jedi, I can't help but notice that Luke's character--and Han and Leia's and everybody else in the movie--is shafted in favor of Kylo Ren, who is depicted as an attractive cishet white dude. I suspect this is not a coincidence.

I'm curious how much overlap there is between those who HATED Terminator: Dark Fate for killing off John, and those who LOVED TLJ, which has a similarly bleak premise and “subversion” of previous story beats. I wonder if the difference between the two films is that it doesn't matter to a lot of cishet white dudes how screwed up everything else gets as long as the character they personally identify with the most/view as "the hero"--Kylo Ren--triumphs.

As far as I can tell, the attitude for some fans is that it’s fine if Sarah Connor suffers, but John is sacred and inviolate. He cannot be touched. He is essential, the lynchpin of the franchise, the one character who makes a Terminator movie work, the one around whom everything revolves. Without him, everything is pointless.

And I wonder if this is the same group who personally identifies with John--one, because they grew up with him, but two, because they look like him. I suspect a lot of people latched on to the idea of John Connor as the savior, because it meant--on some level--that THEY could also be the savior. And they are mad at having that character--and that promise--snatched away from them, and re-invest that energy in anyone else, let alone someone who looks different from them.

(AKA "It's all 'subverting expectations' and 'brilliance' until it's your self-insert/favorite character getting shafted," and then it gets ugly.)

Also, I note that John's death isn't heroic AT ALL. He dies in the exact same way the Terminator in T1 kills the other Sarah Connors. It's quick, efficient, and over in seconds. I suspect this hurts people more than if he'd died some other way. In a way, this scene is probably one of the most "realistic" in the entire movie. But I'm not sure people want "realism" in their movies, no matter how much they say they do.

(and does it say something about audience priorities that this kid getting shot at point-blank range is more upsetting and controversial than ALL OF THE OTHER DEATHS in this movie combined? Like, yes, I know context matters, everybody else who dies in this movie is an adult (I think?), and we have a lot emotionally invested in John from previous movies, but... I mean, yes, I know, the background characters weren't framed as the saviors of humanity, but does that mean they don't also deserve empathy and respect and grief from us? And I can’t help but note that real-life children getting shot in a similar fashion doesn’t seem to engender the same amount of strong feelings on a massive scale, at least in the US.)

Anyway, Sarah fails. Terribly. Irrevocably. In the only way that matters. She fails, and her son dies, and she falls right back down in the abyss she thought she'd managed to crawl out of. And I think that is also hard for a lot of people to watch, because we're so used to seeing her WIN through sheer grit, determination, and stubborness. We assumed she always would. But she can’t, not if there’s going to be another movie...

(another other implication of Sarah's short-lived combat with the T-800 is that it doesn't matter how much of a badass she is, NO 100% HUMAN BEING can go head-to-head with a Terminator directly and WIN. If Sarah Connor can't do it, NOBODY ELSE COULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER THAN SHE DID.)

(and also there's the realization that if Sarah hadn't destroyed the reprogrammed Terminator at the end of T2--the only being who COULD have saved John in that moment--her son might still be alive. That's gotta hurt.)

Anyway, we're two minutes in and I find this plot twist more compelling than 90% of the entire Star Wars sequel trilogy, and 100% more consistent in terms of previously established character arcs. Obvs. ymmv, but I think it goes back to the franchise's horror roots, where everybody except Sarah dies, and it also shows very clearly that we are entering a Very Dark Timeline as we shift to the title card.

I'm honestly impressed the writers had the chutzpah to go through with this and REALLY kill John for good. Though I also see why they didn't advertise it in the trailers....

Before I move on, I want to repeat what Sarah said at the end of this scene, because it’s so gut-wrenching for me: “A machine took him from me, and I was terminated."

I emphasize that last clause because this is how Sarah sees it. It’s not just John who died that day--she believes that SHE did, too. Ever since she was 19 years old, Sarah Connor’s life has been defined as “John Connor’s mother” and she’s built up her whole identity around keeping him alive no matter what. Now John is dead, and she... cannot be that person any more. So who, then, is she?

For better or worse, Sarah Connor is now a free agent. She is liberated both from her role in the future as the mythic mother figure, and any lingering obligations she has to patriarchy. From now on, there is no fate (for her, if not humanity) but what she makes for herself. It’s an awful, ironic twist, and I think it was a valid choice for the franchise to make. As long as John Connor is alive, everybody else will always be in his shadow--up to, and including, Sarah.

Without him, we’re in new territory. Which will look a lot like the old territory because humans are sadly predictable, but different all the same.

#terminator #terminator: dark fate #meta

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honeylikewords · 4 years

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Talk to me about tros!!!! I need to know about Poe!!

Okay, I’m finally sitting down to answer this anon, and a few things before I start!

1. Most of what I’m going to say will really only make sense if you go see The Rise of Skywalker yourself. While it’s far from a perfect movie, it’d take way too long for me to try and transcribe everything that happens in the film, and the context and nuance of certain scenes. So, yeah, while it’s not a good movie, if you’re invested in seeing how the movies have played out, you should probably go see it yourself.

2. I have some... mixed feelings about the movie. I also know that what I don’t like, I can choose to ignore; despite the disappointments of the series, I don’t have to take Rian or JJ’s bullshit as MY canon. I get to decide what I do and don’t adhere to as canon. Everyone else has their own varying scales of how they respond to canon-- some are super adherent to canon, some don’t care about anything at all-- and that’s fine. So although I have beef with how all this unfolded, I also know that I can take my love that I have for the characters (and all the potential that The Force Awakens had) and carry that on through my own interpretations, re-writes, et cetera, and I can choose to ignore the poor decisionmaking on the parts of Disney and Rian/JJ/who-the-fuck-ever.

3. This ask is very open-ended, so I’m going to have to put some parameters down for myself because otherwise I’d get too overwhelmed with the breadth of information I’d need to present about TRoS. A comprehensive review would be really hard to write out, so I’ll just list some initial impressions (I haven’t been able to see it a second time, but likely will in the near future), and some of the relevant Poe-related issues in the films. If you wanna know more, feel free to send in more specific questions (specificity can help, because with my neurotype, I can easily be overwhelmed by large, “general” questions, and getting more granular can help me rein in and focus on a specific idea)!

4. Also, this post isn’t going to be friendly to R*ylo or people who straightwash Poe/are only interested in him as a straight guy. R*ylo is fucking gross, and I’m gonna rip it apart in this post, and Poe isn’t straight. I try not to be too aggressive on here (I’m generally not very aggressive at all!), but the fandom is just so toxic and vile at times that I feel like I need to put my foot down on these topics and say a firm “no” to R*ylos and Poe straightwashers. Oh, and I’ll be talking about the racism in the movie, as well as in the fandom, so buckle up for that, too. So consider this the “bigots begone!” spell as I wave my wand and attempt to shoo them all away!

Anyway...

From here down are spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you’re interested in seeing the movie spoiler-free, please scoot waaaaay past this post! Last warning!

And, with that out of the way, here we go!

Alright, here’s a list of stuff as it occurs to me. I’m almost overwhelmed with information, so it’s hard to condense my thoughts, but I’ll try my best!

1. The whole Zorri thing was a fucking nightmare, but not as bad as it could have been. It was really bad, believe me, but, like, it can be ignored easily (though if you’re anything like me, it’ll still leave a sour taste in your mouth). Like I predicted, Zorri was introduced to straightwash Poe and effectively quash any queer interpretations of his character and relationship with Finn.

But, like, Poe and Zorri had no chemistry. It was almost embarrassing; they were clearly trying to work the “badass woman” angle, but, eh, she was just, basically, a minor blip on the radar; incredibly boring, incredibly useless, and just, like, a “sexy lamp” that could easily have been replaced. She added literally nothing to the film and was blatantly just an insert to try and prevent people from being able to make the case for a queer Poe. But, too bad, Disney! Poe is pansexual, dumbasses!

Oh, and while I’m on the topic of Poe’s queerness, I should add that I’m not really a big FinnPoe, myself; when it got big after the release of The Force Awakens, if felt like just another creepy Tumblr fetishization of male relationships, so that really set the tone for how I’d see it in the coming years. It’s grievously oversexualized on this site, but I also respect that, for many actually queer fans, the ship represents seeing themselves in Star Wars, and I do totally see their bond as canon. I completely acknowledge that Oscar wanted to represent the queer fans who wanted his character to be queer, and in that way, FinnPoe is definitely canon in some form!

So, I do have a complex relationship with FinnPoe, in that it’s not my personal favorite ship (I vastly prefer FinnRey, since I never really felt that Finn and Poe had a romantic tension, but felt that Finn and Rey did), but I do respect the importance of it for queer fans and for trying to push at the limitations a major series like Star Wars has had for so long. Star Wars has been dominated as a straight, cishet, white man’s fandom; it’s time other people got a chance to love it and see themselves in this vast universe, too.

The cast also seems to be leaning into FinnPoe as a form of protest against censorship and homophobia in the fandoms and film world. They’re using their positions as major film stars to push back and say “hey, queer folks belong here, too”, and that’s so great!

But, anyway, the point is, Zorri sucked, and Poe’s not straight. He’s certainly capable of being attracted to women, but he’s not a straight dude, because he’s equally capable of being attracted to men and nonbinary people as well.

Thankfully, Zorri and Poe never actually form a relationship in TRoS. He jokes about asking for a kiss, she tells him to go, and then he, at the end, sort of motions his head as if to say “wanna go kiss?” and she, again, tells him no, which he shrugs off. It’s pretty shitty, but easy to ignore.

Anyway, Poe is pan, Finn is pan, Lando is pan, Luke Skywalker is gay and nonbinary, Rey is nonbinary and probably ace, maybe interested in girls, I’m still ironing my hcs for her out, and no one can stop me! Go ahead and try to kill me, Disney (and homophobic Star Wars fans); if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!

2. Poe’s “backstory” is such a fucking trainwreck. They basically tried to nix a bunch of what was already canonically established in order to, get this, make Poe a drug dealer.

It’s a little more complex-- the idea is that Poe was a pilot for a group of pirates for about six years, from the age of 16 until he was 22-ish, and ran Spice, the drug in Star Wars-- but it’s also not. It’s really bad.

Way to take a canonically noble, hardworking, Latino character and reduce him to the most shitty, racist stereotype imaginable. I’ve already complained about him not needing a “dark” past, but this? This is somehow worse than him being, like, a bounty hunter, because it carries political implications and is just such a stock, trash stereotype that we don’t need in this world or in our fantasies. It’s ridiculous, and I refuse to acknowledge it.

Worse yet, it’s said that Poe “ran away from home” to join the pirates to “avoid responsibility” at age 16... dude, Poe has been shown in EVERY PRIOR CANONICAL APPEARANCE TO CRAVE NOTHING BUT RESPONSIBILITY. Yes, he’s a hothead, but he’s responsible! He wants to labor and take on caring for others because he’s a hardworking, compassionate, headstrong man! Ugh!

I could go off forever about this, but I’m already feeling myself grinding my teeth, and for the sake of my blood pressure and psychological wellbeing I’m not going to make myself go feral over it right now. Deep breaths, K, deep breaths...

3. In things I did like: Poe got promoted to general, and he made Finn a general alongside him. He really grew into his position, and I’m so proud to see him as General Dameron of the Resistance. He deserves it.

4. Poe and Finn had SO many good scenes and such great chemistry. I loved seeing them bounce off each other, and their relationship made me laugh and smile and feel warm, even as everything else was falling apart. I love my boys!

5. Poe gets grossed out by bones. Canon. Love a squeamish king.

6. Oh, ugh, I just remembered that they tried to frame Poe and Rey as having an aggressive relationship with each other and I rolled my eyes. How dumb can they be? Ugh. I don’t even have the energy to try and unpack how ridiculous all that is. More deep breaths...

7. In terms of the worst thing to happen in the movie... R*ylo, like, gets shoehorned in. Honestly, looking back at all the predictions I made a few months back, I’m entirely right; everything I predicted came to pass. This included.

It was shitty and bad and nearly all the cast has spoken out against it now that their contracts with Disney aren’t as binding, and seeing it happen on the big screen was just... oh my god, it was horrifying.

It really was.

But thankfully, Kylo died, so the ship can’t really continue! Yeehaw!

8. I actually did like parts of the ending. I’ll talk about that more if anyone asks more specific questions, but right now, I’m kinda burning out because of the wide net this ask casts, so I’ll have to defer for the moment.

At any rate, it all happened exactly the way I thought it would, bleh. Like, so much shit in the movie went down exactly the way my TRoS predictions post said, it’s almost scary.

Honestly, though, just running through all this is exhausting me; I really can’t make myself go through it all in this particular format. So, I’ll just leave this here as it is, and if anyone has any specific questions-- what I thought of specific moments, characters, scenes, etc-- send an ask! But this is all just really wide and general and burning my brain out to try and process it all again, so more specificity in future asks might help me stay more on track and not get overwhelmed trying to explain every single thing all at once.

I have tons and tons of thoughts about it, ranging from what I loved to what I’d have done different about the whole series, but I just don’t have the psychological wherewithal to make myself write everything out in one giant, dense, indecipherable post: it’s just all too much, so I’d need to break it down into smaller, more specific questions.

This probably isn’t a super-satisfying answer, but feel free to just send specific asks and I’ll answer them, no matter how many! It just helps to have a specific line of thought to follow, so feel free to ask about each individual thing and I’ll try to answer!

Thanks!

#messages #anonymous #gif warning #rise of skywalker spoilers #star wars spoilers #the rise of skywalker spoilers #ros spoilers #tros spoilers #spoilers #sorry i kinda burned out midway through this but i could feel myself getting a tension headache just listing off all the shit i hated and li #like there IS stuff i liked about the movie there's also just so much nonsense garbage that happened and i just. im just #i need more specific questions to help me limit myself from ranting about EVERYTHING and going nowhere #so if you want to know more PLEASE send some asks about specific things #(it's just for the sake of my brain health and helping me stay focused aaa)

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dresupi · 5 years

Text

glow up

Darcy Lewis Crack Challenge 2019 Day 6: Must Include Glow Sticks

Ship: Darcy Lewis/Pietro Maximoff | Rating: M | Other Tags: Swearing, Fade to Black, Crack, Prank War, Friends to Lovers, Snark, Making Out, Groping, Table Sex | Prompt: Day 6: Must include glow sticks | Word Count: 3170

Summary:

She had it coming, and she had it coming hard.

Darcy was actually wishing she hadn't escalated this little slight into the full-on prank war that it had now become.

She had it coming, and she had it coming hard.

Darcy was actually wishing she hadn't escalated this little slight into the full-on prank war that it had now become. Really, Pietro hadn't done anything that bad. He'd just figured out how to change FRIDAY's wakeup call from the soft piano music she'd chosen to 'All I Do Is Win' by DJ Khalid.

It hadn't even scared her. Just jarred her awake in the worst kind of way. It would have been easier, and likely more productive, to just forget it had happened. She could have just calmed her ass down, gotten ready for work, and acted like Pietro hadn't set her heart pounding with his dumb workout mix.

He set her heart pounding just by existing, so she could have just played it cool.

But the speedster's stupidly pretty face was practically taunting her. And he was so smug. He deserved for someone to hit back at some point, right?

That was why she'd unscrewed the salt shaker lid in the kitchen and made sure Pietro was the one who dumped salt all over his soup.

Which had prompted him to bribe everyone, save Jane, to call her 'Darby' all day long. He hadn't even brought it up to Jane, which was funny. Because Jane totally would have called her 'Darby', given the correct bribe.

But that was neither here nor there because none of those things was as large scale as her latest endeavor.

The main problem was, Darcy was pretty sure she'd gone one too far this time. And it was all Wanda's fault. Definitely not hers. Okay, it was a little bit her fault.

Wanda had just let slip that Pietro had glow sticks. Glow sticks that he used when he ran at night. Bright blue and enhanced like he was so they didn't get too shook up on their Mach 2 runs around the outdoor track. They lasted longer than the normal glow sticks one could get at any discount store. These were special. And Tony made them by the gross. So Pietro had a rather large box of the things in his hall closet.

Darcy had enlisted Wanda's help and stolen them. Apparently, Pietro had been pranking his sister for their entire lives, so she was only too happy to help Darcy. Wanda had let her into his apartment. Darcy had done the rest.

And the rest consisted of cracking each of the glow sticks before hiding them all over his apartment. All while he was out on a mission because only while His Speediness was out of the country could she be certain of not being caught in the act.

Anyway, she'd done the thing. Hidden one hundred forty-four electric blue glow sticks and tossed the opened box into his trash can so he'd know how many there were… hiding out there.

Then, she'd waited.

He found them approximately forty-five seconds after arriving home. Or he found some of them. Eight, to be exact. There were still one hundred thirty-six to go.

He'd zipped out to the common area kitchen with them clenched in his fist. He tossed them down on the tiled countertop in front of her without uttering a single word.

Darcy had picked one up, dangling it from between her fingertips. "You going to a rave later, Piet?"

"I will have revenge," he vowed. "Soon. But when you'll least expect it, Lewis."

"Which is it? Soon, or when I'll least expect it?"

He'd simply narrowed his eyes and left. The eight blue sticks still on the counter.

And that's when Darcy realized she was probably in trouble.

The revenge actually came six weeks later, after her Halloween slasher film binge with Jane and Thor. It wasn't anywhere near Halloween, but Jane had been busy in October, so they put it off until the following spring. Anyway, Thor was here to protect them. Supposedly. He didn't lift a finger to help when said revenge act happened, so Darcy was on the fence.

Needless to say, she was already jumpy from the movies, so Pietro had actually picked a great time to scare the shit out of her. Great time for him, a horrible time for her.

Not that she was actually frightened past the initial jump-scare, but that didn't matter.

In Thor and Jane's defense, Pietro had been apparently hiding in her kitchenette cupboards since before they'd arrived, so they likely didn't know that was where he set up spook camp. Or even that he was planning anything at all.

The apartments didn't have a full kitchen. Just a mini-fridge and a sink area. The sink area had a large-ish cabinet underneath, and that was where he was hiding. Crouched down and just waiting to pop out. The bastard.

Darcy went out there to grab a bottle of water and noticed the cabinet was open. So she closed it.

It creaked back open--which was weird, but she just kicked it closed with her foot.

And then it slowly did it again.

Darcy was about mid-sip in her water, which she didn't bother setting down. A mistake, she realized later, but hindsight was twenty-twenty, right? She nudged the door closed once more, only for it to fly open and Pietro to speed out and skid to a halt in front of her. "Boo," he whispered.

"FUCK YOU!" she shrieked, swatting his arms as hard as she could, spilling her water all over both of them in the process. It was cold, but he didn't seem to care. Didn't seem to care that she was hitting him either. Her arms probably felt like limp noodles to someone with his enhancement, but that didn't stop her from exacting justice.

He was laughing and doing very little to dodge her hits and swats. "Fuck you," she repeated. "Fuck you very much for sneaking into my apartment!"

"You snuck into mine," he rebuffed, still smiling.

"That was different! I didn't hide for hours in your cabinets!"

"You hid glow sticks in all my drinking glasses. And in my couch cushions. Zipped up inside. That makes fifty-two I've found, counting the stash folded into all my towels."

"Ninety-two to go…." Darcy drawled, grinning widely.

"No need to look so pleased with yourself, I got you back." He looked as smug as he possibly could, so she played her only remaining card.

"Fine. Get out."

His face fell, bottom lip poking out. "But it's movie night!"

"Only for people who don't jump-scare me in my own house, asshole!" She pointed to the door. "Get out!"

He rolled his eyes and zipped out.

"Awww, why didn't you ask him to stay?" Jane teased from the couch.

"Fuck him, is why!" Darcy got another bottle of water and rejoined them on the sofa.

"Seems as if that's the way you two do business…" Thor mused, almost muttering under his breath.

"Didn't see you jumping to my defense there, big guy!" Darcy exclaimed.

He pulled a face. "You were never in any danger. The fast one would no sooner hurt you than he'd slow down for any of the rest of us. He likes you. With good reason. He has excellent taste."

"He has a funny way of showing it," Darcy muttered under her breath.

"He's only escalating the prank war you called if I'm not mistaken…" Jane said.

"Enough out of you. You're supposed to be my friend."

"I can be your friend and tell you when you're being an ass. And I love you, Darce. You're my best friend. But you're kind of being an ass."

"Pietro's an ass!" Darcy spat.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. You're two of a kind," Jane replied. "But I was the one who had to sit there while you planned to break into his home and hide all his special glow sticks. So like… I don't want to hear it. You reap what you sow."

Darcy exhaled. She probably should go apologize to him. Besides, she wasn't actually mad about him being here. Quite the contrary, actually. She kind of liked having him here. Even if she was screaming at and hitting him. She was just mad he'd bested her. And there was no way she could top this prank.

Not that she wasn't going to try, though. Because Jane was right. Darcy was an ass. And she was going to get him back if it was the last thing she did.

She smirked slightly and Jane smiled too, reaching over to pat her shoulder. "You think of a way to get him back yet?"

"Nah, but I will."

"That's my girl. Just make sure one of these days, you ask him out. Because you'd have to be blind not to see it the way you guys flirt with one another."

Darcy reached for the movie. "Time to stop the talkie-talkie, Janey."

Her friend snorted.

Darcy actually didn't have time to find Pietro to apologize, because it just so happened that Jane had this humongous breakthrough and they were on a two-day science bender to make sure she didn't lose her hunch.

Jane didn't lose it, but she was still there in the lab, going through equations while Tony and Bruce had taken over for Darcy, begging the astrophysicist to sleep while her overworked assistant went home to take her own advice.

She ran into Pietro in the big common room, on the way back to her apartment.

He waved at her, seeming uncharacteristically tentative, probably in case she was still angry.

She gave him a tired grin. "Dude, I'm not mad. And I'm sorry for yelling at you last time."

Pietro shrugged, rolling the words off his back like water off a duck. "It was kind of a dirty trick," he admitted.

"Yeah, it was. But I'm over it. Promise." She wasn't. Not really. But she hadn't figured out how to get him back yet, but a false sense of security didn't seem like it would be remiss.

He had a great smile. Especially when he was laughing. He looked down and ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Somehow, I don't believe you."

She chuckled, "Why do you say that?"

"Because I still haven't found all the glow sticks. They're everywhere. Just when I think there can't possibly be any more, there they are."

"Oh yeah? Well, I can't even sleep since you scared me, so…" She wasn't serious in the slightest, and her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but his face fell, his eyebrows knitting as he held out a hand towards her, reaching for and grasping hers.

"Darcy? Truly, I never meant to frighten you… I only did it because… it felt like the next step down that path we were on. Truly… I am sorry. I never meant for it to cause you any negative… Really. I'm sorry. And call me anytime. I mean it. If you need anything."

His sudden change of heart was touching, and she felt herself jumping to reassure him that everything was fine. This time, actually meaning it. Except she caught the twinkle in his eye. The curl in his smile. The way his teeth bit down on his bottom lip to keep from bursting into laughter. The slightest touch of sarcasm that made her realized. He was kidding.

And she was super tired. So it would be plausible to believe him in her extremely sleepy state. A new prank was formulating as she stood there, her hand still clasped in his. She'd ask him for anything, alright. He was offering, wasn't he?

She schooled her features, better than he did at any rate, before nodding. "I promise I'm fine, Piet. Just joking around. I got off a two-day science bender with Janey. I'm not losing any sleep because you were in my kitchen. But, I might still take you up on that offer."

"What offer?"

"To call you? Anytime? If I need anything?"

His blue eyes narrowed infinitesimally, if she hadn't been staring into them, she wouldn't have noticed. "Yes, call me. I'll come to scare off the boogeyman for you."

"I certainly hope so."

She ended up chickening out. Mostly because she didn't know what to ask him if she called him. The plan was to gradually bother him until he couldn't think about her without being annoyed. And now her mind was blanking. Badly.

Damn.

She slept after her two-day lab stint, but the sleep didn't help her in the slightest. There wasn't any good reason to ask him over. Everything sounded too flimsy. Too fake. Like if she tried anything without a solid idea, he'd see through her ruse in a second.

It was three days later that a good enough idea came to her. In the form of a takeout menu that promised some of the best goddamn orange chicken in the world.

It was even plausible. Tony didn't let delivery people onto the complex, so if you ordered takeout, you had to ride out in a company golf cart and collect it from the security building at the front gate. It was after seven, and she was in her pajamas because of reasons. Reasons pertaining to her laziness, but give her a break, okay?

Plus, this idea would hopefully give her the courage to come up with even more ridiculous tasks to send her very own Hercules on. She had no Cerberus to tame, but maybe she'd find a spider in her bathroom or something?

See? Good ideas come in groups!

She ordered her food, and quickly texted Pietro, asking him to go pick it up at the front gate for her.

"Gladly," he texted back.

He brought it up mere seconds after it arrived, leading her to believe things might be just a little shaken from his run, but he was so prompt, she almost felt bad for even asking. True, he'd been joking when he'd offered, but he seemed well and truly serious now, holding out the bag of food at her front door.

Maybe she was going soft.

Or Jane's words had gotten to her. That their little games were just flirting and wouldn't the pursuit of that be infinitely more fun than this prank war? Also, the reason she couldn't come up with a way to bother him was maybe more telling than simply a brain fart. She didn't want him to be annoyed with her. Much the opposite, actually. So maybe that was why she didn't know what to do. Her heart wasn't in pranking him, because she wanted to kiss him. And do other non-pranky things with him. Her endgame had shifted.

About one thing, she was certain. She wanted him to stay.

"Piet…" she took the bag and held the door open. She hadn't ordered nearly enough food to keep him satiated, but maybe he'd be open for a snack? "You can stay to eat if you want…"

His eyebrows went up. "I can?"

"... Yeah?"

"Okay… I'd love to stay, but let me cook you something…" He took the bag from her hand and zipped it over to the dining table. "Don't eat that. It's got more salt and hot sauce than you were expecting." He smirked and reached into the bag, pulling out her little container of egg rolls. Which was faintly glowing blue. "And some rapidly fading glowsticks I found in my dishwasher."

"You absolute douche!" she exclaimed, reaching for him and grasping a handful of his shirt.

She froze, gazing down at the blue fabric in her hand, he did too, and their eyes met on the way back up. He placed the container on the table beside the bag, licking his lips, his eyes boring holes into hers. Oh, she'd been played.

Not by Pietro, but by her very own self.

Yeah, she'd been aware of the attraction, but this? This was her real goal all along. Her endgame hadn't shifted at all. This had been it all along.

"This had the opposite effect…" she murmured, in response to the entirety of the prank war, but he misunderstood, thinking more in the here and now

"Are you sure about that?" Pietro countered, glancing down at her hand. "Feels like something very definite."

She shook her head. "No. I'm not sure." Her arms wound around his shoulders and tugged him down. He went more than willingly and when his lips touched hers, she whimpered, his arms slipping tightly around her waist, holding her close.

The kiss felt electric. Like it shot through her entire body. Like she had nerves in her fingertips and toes connected to where his lips were touching hers. "I've been wanting to do that for so long," he admitted, smiling when she tugged him back to her little kitchen table. He swept the food onto the floor, laying her across it and reaching for his back pocket to empty it of his phone, his keys, his wallet.

"Shit…" he cursed under his breath. "I forgot condoms…" He zipped off before she could blink.

"Oh, wait…" she began. "I have some…"

But he was already gone, so she just huffed out a sigh, sitting up on the table before sprinting back to the bathroom to grab her box from the drawer.

When she returned, he was standing there, dropping a handful of glow sticks on the table. "Really? Lewis? With my condoms?"

She shrugged. "I put all of those in the next drawer down, I didn't steal them."

"I know. I found them. He dropped a few from his other hand. "And you have some too? Looks like we'll be good to go until tomorrow at least." He grinned widely, the cocky bastard.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked, obviously teasing him.

"You," he replied as if it were obvious. "We're about to do this. Also, you looked for my condoms, so you've been thinking about this for longer than just tonight."

She rolled her eyes. "Wasn't much looking involved, you had them practically out in the open. So like… a bit off topic, but have you found them all?" She gestured to the glow sticks.

"Only up to one hundred forty… there aren't going to be any in your bra, are there?" His tone was teasing, just the right kind as his gaze dipped down to her chest and back up again.

"Why don't you check and see?"

"I'll enjoy looking, but if I find any… " He trailed off and licked his lips, the 'warning' perfectly clear.

It was almost disappointing that she didn't have any glow sticks stashed in there.

Pietro moved in, crowding her back so far she had to hop back up on the table. She wrapped her legs around his hips, resting her left leg in the dip of his lower back. On the shelf his ass made. One hand rucked up the hem of her shirt, warm fingers searching.

Almost being the operative word.

#Quicktaser #Darcy Lewis #Pietro Maximoff #Darcy/Pietro #dlaf2019 #Crack Challenge #Slight lemon

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