#but if we’re forcing kids to do that (and i think it’s kind of fair as a) some of his plays are so good and b) he is so influential) we need

[afieldinengland]

i do think there’s something to be said re: the fact that some people resent / dislike shakespeare purely because of the fusty and by-rote way in which they were taught his plays in school. which is fair! because it strikes me that teaching shakespeare to kids purely with a view towards exams drains the plays of the very things that make them beautiful, and that make them so deft in what they have to say about the human condition. it’s like people who say they don’t like vegetables, but really they’ve never had them prepared properly. of course you’re going to hate shakespeare if they’ve boiled him within an inch of his life what you need is shakespeare fried in butter

#i was very lucky to be taught shakespeare on the whole by incredibly engaging teachers— and to love it anyway because i’m a freak #but if we’re forcing kids to do that (and i think it’s kind of fair as a) some of his plays are so good and b) he is so influential) we need #to do it in a way that doesn’t make them hate it. i do know what teenagers are like however

[laundrybiscuits]

The officer leans close, jabbing a finger into Steve’s chest. “You’re damn lucky it ain’t ten years ago or one state over,” he growls. “You could be looking at a felony charge, serving 15 to life. We didn’t stand for this kind of thing in Hawkins when I joined the force.”

Steve just folds his arms and gives the officer a bored look. “Okay,” he says. “Good talk. Can I see my boyfriend now?”

The officer sneers, but he steps aside to let Steve through. They’ve got Eddie cuffed to the hospital bed with another gun-toting guard in the corner. 

“Jesus christ,” snaps Steve. “He’s not gonna escape, he can’t even walk right now. Why don’t you clear out and give us a little privacy, huh?”

“Sorry,” says the guard, not sounding all that sorry. “It’s for his own protection.”

Fuck. He’s gonna have to hope Eddie can follow his lead. All that practice pretending to be a wizard or whatever has to be good for something, right?

He perches on the side of Eddie’s bed and takes his hand. He can do this. “Hey, gorgeous. How’re you feeling?” 

“Uh,” says Eddie, eyebrows doing something hilarious. “Steve?”

“It’s okay,” says Steve. He rubs his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles. This is the most they’ve ever touched, he thinks—the most that was just skin, no layers of denim or leather in between. Not even a layer of blood and dirt. 

He swallows and keeps going, willing Eddie to develop freaky mind-reading powers all of a sudden. “I know you didn’t want to tell anyone about us, but I had to, baby. I’m sorry. I had to tell them you were, y’know, with me when…when Jason killed Chrissy.”

“You didn’t have to tell them about us,” says Eddie slowly. He’s giving Steve kind of an intense look. “Honey-pie. I’m sure there’s gotta be another way. One without as many consequences for you that you might not have thought all the way through.”

“There really isn’t,” Steve says. Thank god Eddie’s so quick on the uptake. Sure, he’s being a stubborn dick about it, but at least it doesn’t seem like he’s going to let anything slip. 

“Fucking hell,” sighs Eddie. “Don’t suppose we can put that pesky little cat back in the bag. Okay. Darling angel, light of my life, corndog of my soul, who else knows?”

Corndog of my soul, Steve mouths to himself. “Just the cops. And Robin and Nancy, obviously. And—oh, remember Hopper?”

“Do I remember Hopper, he asks. Oh, pudding-pop. The late Chief Hopper and I spent so, so much quality time together over the years; he was practically a father figure to me. And just as with my actual dear old dad, his departure was cause for great rejoicing in Casa Munson.”

“Sorry to break the bad news, then. Hop’s alive, and he—uh, he knows everything.” Steve tries to communicate the scope of everything by kind of tilting his head back and forth. “He’s been…helping.”

“Huh. No shit,” says Eddie. Steve can’t tell whether or not he’s getting it. To be fair, there’s a lot to get. “Okay, gallant knight errant of mine, any news on whether or not I’m getting sprung from this charmingly appointed dungeon?”

“We’re…Hopper’s working on it. That’s why I’m. Y’know. Here. To tell you that they know about us.” 

“Cool, right, understood.” Eddie closes his eyes, leaning back on his pillow. It’s so strange to see him in nothing but a hospital gown against white sheets. He looks like a wrung-out dishtowel. 

There’s a commotion from outside, raised voices saying something like you let him what and haven’t even interrogated the Munson kid yet and not a legal status you fuckin—

“Time’s up, sweetheart,” says Eddie, mouth quirking up into the ghost of a smile. “Anything else you wanna say before they decide to upgrade my security?”

“Uh,” says Steve. He’d mostly been focusing on getting the basics of Eddie’s alibi across in a convincing way, and he can’t remember if there were any other details Eddie should know. 

He hears the door slam open behind him, and panics. “Love you, bye,” he says, and ducks in to brush a quick kiss across Eddie’s chapped lips. The last thing he sees as he’s hauled bodily out of the room by a pissed-off detective is Eddie with his eyes gone enormous and shocked, lifting his uncuffed hand to his mouth, looking and looking at Steve like something is always going to be different from now on, forever.

(ETA: small continuation here!)

#dashed off 90% of this a little while ago based on a post that I now cannot find; I’ve been traveling and finished it up on a train this AM #but yes this is literally the same general premise as bonitabreezy's I Like to See You in the Morning Light #pls go read that instead #I know I’ve lied about this before but I’m really not planning to continue this at all! it is just a silly little thing! #also IANAL but afaik IN decrim’d sodomy in ‘76; 15 to life was the max sentence in MI for first-time & repeat offenders respectively iirc #steddie

[starsfic]

Stupid Ex

Summary: An ex of Qi Xiaotian tries to claim his and Red's new baby is his. The flaming calf. The flaming calf that looks just like Red.

“Look at her…”

“She’s so little!” Long Xiaojiao cooed, snapping a picture with visible tears beading up in her eyes. Pigsy and Tang were close to bursting into tears as well, either gripping each other or the frame of the bed that their son lay in. Qi Xiaotian smiled happily, even with exhaustion glazing over his eyes.

Their smiles and tears surrounded the little bundle Xiaotian held. A small scarlet calf slept in the soft gold blanket, nestled safe and close to the baba she had just come out of screaming barely an hour ago. According to the nurses and the doctor, she was very healthy and very adorable, both of which Xiaotian agreed with. Even better, she had inherited Red’s features, including the bull true form. (Hey, sue him, he was still adjusting to his monkey form.)

“Where’s Red?” Xiaojiao asked, breaking him out of his admiration. “I thought he would be here, all over you two.”

Xiaotian felt a snicker come out at the mention of his spouse. “He burst into happy tears when he saw her,” he said. Red had barely been able to hold his daughter, sobbing threats at the Buddha for making something so defenseless so small. “I honestly thought he would pass out with how hard he was crying, so I sent him to get some air and let his parents know Huiying’s here.”

The doors slammed open.

“Oh, speak of-” Xiaotian felt the words die down when he saw the look on his spouse’s face. Sun Wukong and Red’s parents trailed behind, exchanging concerned looks, and Xiaotian could see why.

Red looked pissed. The quiet kind, the kind that couldn’t even light his hair. The set to his jaw and the cold fire in his eyes relaxed, just a little, when they met eyes. So Xiaotian was pretty sure he wasn’t pissed at him.

“Oh, look at her!” Sun Wukong was there, forcing Xiaotian to look away from Red. “Mind if I hold her, kid?”

“Sure!” Xiaotian passed Huiying over. His daughter made a little noise, but settled in the king’s arms easily. “Be careful around Red, we don’t him to pass out from all the tears.”

“Nah, DBK’s the guy you wanna be concerned around,” Wukong chuckled, flashing a grin at his former sworn brother. “Right, bud?”

DBK snorted about how he was a mighty demon king, he didn’t cry over a baby, only for him to see Huiying and have tears bead up. The scene of his father-in-law, the mighty Demon Bull King, crying over his daughter should’ve delighted Xiaotian. It did, but Red’s anger burned at the back of his mind. A warm hand wrapped around his, and he looked away from Iron Fan cooing over Huiying’s little hooves up at Red.

His spouse met his eyes.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said, too quietly for anyone else to hear them. “Once we’re home.”

“...Okay.”

-_-

Red didn’t explain when they got home. At least, not immediately.

Three days passed. To be fair, they were an extremely busy three days, with adjusting to having the actual baby home, greeting guests, and planning Huiying’s 100th day celebration. His family were all great help, but it was still an adjustment. Xiaotian had nearly put Red’s weird expression out of his mind until the fourth afternoon, when he was feeding Huiying. His spouse settled across from him.

“Hey, what’s for lunch?” Xiaotian asked, coming to a pause when he looked up. Red had that same cold fury in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“So, I must ask…do you know of a man named Chen Zixin?”

Xiaotian blinked at the random question. “Zixin? The name sounds familiar, yeah, but…” Something tugged at his mind at it. The name sounded familiar, and Xiaotian’s gut twisted unpleasantly. “I think he’s an ex of mine?”

Red nodded. “I figured.” He took in a deep breath. “Now, I need to let you know, I am not accusing you of doing anything. I am not upset at you.”

Something cold shot down his spine. “What…what happened?”

Red pulled out his phone. “He called me while I was trying to call my parents. He texted me when he couldn’t get in touch with me. I did block his number, but I saved the texts in case.” Xiaotian exchanged Huiying, still contently sucking on her bottle, for Red’s phone. He had already pulled up the screenshots.

Unknown Number: Hey, you're Red, right? Married to Qi Xiaotian?

Me: Do you care to explain why you are trying to communicate with me? I am very busy today.

Unknown Number: Okay, easy, dude. My name is Chen Zixin and I'm an ex of Xiaotian's.

Me: I do not see the point.

Unknown Number: I hate to drop this on you, but Xiaotian and I got back into contact nearly a year ago. I swear, I didn't know he was with someone. But I need to tell you that there's a good chance that his baby's mine.

The moment he read the last line, his stomach dropped.

"Red, I swear, I didn't-"

Warm lips pressed against his forehead. "I know you didn't." Red glanced down at his phone and barely managed a chuckle. "He's so stupid. I asked him what his proof was. Go to my files, I labeled the proof as Idiot."

Xiaotian did, barely resisting a snicker at the file name. What popped up were the screenshots that Red had shown him and more screenshots. He felt a brow raise as he looked the other screenshots over. It looked like a few weeks' worth of talking between Zixin and "him." It was all steamy sex talk, including nudes. At the first one, conveniently cut off under his face, Xiaotian felt himself pause, connecting the dots.

"He doesn't know you changed your number, for one thing," Red chuckled, sounding a bit happier. His tone turned sweet and adoring as he looked down at Huiying. "And he doesn't know Baba got top surgery before we were blessed with you, yes, he doesn't know..."

Xiaotian chuckled. "Plus, I am not that skinny." He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, should we tell whoever's picture this is that he's using their picture?"

Red chuckled a little bit harder, sitting down next to him. "No need. I reverse-Googled it. It's an art model picture, and it’s literally the first image that pops up when you Google “art model”." 

"Oh, great!" Well, that left one other thing. "What should we do about Zixin, though?" The fact that an ex he barely remembered had popped out of the woodwork to try and claim paternity of his daughter was... worrying. “Did you tell him off or something?”

"Don't worry." Red grinned like a cat who had gotten the cream. "I told him that he was an idiot, and since our wonderful daughter has not inherited your lovely features-"

"Stop it."

"That he was an idiot, that his accusation alone showed that he had no knowledge of who you were as a person, and I pray that he never passed down his genes if he ever actually had a child."

"...Wow." Scam callers alone never bothered them again once Red got on the phone, so Xiaotian's concern was washed away by a wave of relief. "So, since that's dealt with, what's for lunch?"

"I have that handled."

-_-

The next week or two were quiet. Qi Xiaotian assumed that Zixin had gotten the hint and had decided to leave his weird quest to claim Huiying as his child behind. Good for him. Xiaotian was more focused on his family.

Like today!

Pigsy had finally gotten the money and permission to extend the noodle shop. It was now bigger and better but still affordable and delicious. People were gathered around, watching as Pigsy pulled out big scissors. Xiaotian, Tang, and Xiaojiao stood on the side, with Tang beaming and Xiaojiao snapping a hundred photos. Xiaotian felt his chest squeeze tight with pride as Pigsy cut the red ribbon.

Or maybe that was Huiying, rubbing her cheek against his chest from where she was nestled in her sling.

It was probably both.

Yeah, it was both.

As people trickled in, Tang calling dibs on getting the first bowl, Xiaotian found himself next to his Dadsy, hugging him tight. "Oh, I am so proud of you!"

Pigsy patted his back. "Couldn't have done it without you, kid," he said into his shoulder. "You've been a massive help with everything."

"I don't feel like I was," Xiaotian grumbled as he pulled away. "I barely got in a week of helping the construction." The moment Pigsy learned he was expecting, Xiaotian was banned from helping. All he could do from there was help Pigsy make sure that everything legal was squared away, do some marketing on social media, and taste-test Pigsy’s new dishes.

Pigsy sighed, reaching up and patting his head. "You were there for me, son. That's more help than I'll ever need. Plus," His tone turned even more adoring as he reached out, stroking Huiying's little cheek. She made a little noise at the affectionate gesture, and Xiaotian felt his heart melt. "I wanted things to be ready so my granddaughter has something to be proud of!"

Xiaotian chuckled at Huiying's little snort. "Oh, yeah. I can't wait for her to be old enough to help out-"

"MONKIE KID!"

"Oh great." The peace couldn't last this long, could it? Red wasn't even here yet to provide commentary. Xiaotian sighed and turned to the twin demons, striking a pose. Was it just him, or did they look pissed? "What do you two want?"

"We finally have a way to defeat you!" Yin bellowed. "Although I expected better of you!"

"Yeah!" Jin said, and yeah, that was a glare. "Who knew the Monkie Kid was a filthy cheater?"

Wait, what. "I'm not a cheater."

"That's not what this fine gent says!" They moved, revealing a guy. "Remember him?"

Xiaotian squinted. The guy looked familiar, he guessed? He looked like a hundred other guys he saw on the street. "Not really?" Yin, Jin, and the guy all blinked. He glanced at Pigsy, who was also squinting. "Pigsy, do you know him?"

"I...think?"

"Oh, come on, enough of this bullshit!" The guy yelled. "You know me! I'm the father-" Wait. Waaaait. “I can’t believe you’re still lying!”

"You're Zixin?"

The guy paused, blinking. Yin and Jin looked a little nervous, jumping when there was a yell of "YES!" The guy moved forward, but one of the twins grabbed his arm. "And I know that baby's mine, you can't deny it."

"My dude," Xiaotian felt a snicker rise up. "My dude, I barely remember you. Why would I fuck some guy I barely remembered?"

"I don't know! You're probably lying." The guy gestured to Yin and Jin. "But these fine blokes are gonna help me take back my baby!"

The demon twins blinked before exchanging looks.

"Oh, yeah."

"Right!"

Xiaotian blinked, and then, instead of standing on the sidewalk, he stood on a stage. Several people, including Pigsy, Tang, and Xiaojiao, sat in the stands. A big, flashing sign lit up, spelling out WHO'S THE BABY DADDY in neon.

Xiaotian sighed, glancing over at his family. Pigsy had pulled out his phone while Xiaojiao was snickering and recording. Tang just looked amused. Good. He wanted to save this. Maybe he could get some videos from the cameras perched everywhere?

"So!" Yin and Jin appeared, both dressed in suits and ignoring Zixin throwing up in the background. "We have a contested custody battle here!"

"This fine gentleman claims that the Monkie Kid's baby is his!"

"And the Monkie Kid's husband..."

"Isn't here," Xiaotian said before the spotlight could move. "And, I would like to make a point before you three humiliate each other even further." Yin and Jin blinked again. Xiaotian didn’t wait for the response. “My baby,” he said. "You mean this baby?"

Xiaotian couldn't help the smirk that rose up when he revealed Huiying's little face, and Yin and Jin's faces dropped. "This baby," he repeated, holding her up for the cameras to see. Several coos and gasps of adoration filled the stadium- before Huiying sneezed. As people screamed in shock at the flames, Xiaotian stared down Yin, Jin, and Zixin. "This baby," he said. "You're claiming that this baby isn't Red Son's?"

Red snorted, looming over them. All three of them jolted, meaning none of them had seen Red stalk through the audience and now loom, Xiaotian's inner sex kitten purring at the beast.

That was his husband.

That was the only possible father of this and any future children.

"Heyyy Red Son!"

"Look, we just wanted to make sure-"

"YOU STOLE MY-"

Yeah, definitely the only father.

#LMK #Monkie Kid #LEGO Monkie Kid #Spicynoodles #Spicynoodleshipping #Qi Xiaotian #Red Son #Yin #Jin #Pigsy #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing

[hannahmanderr]

24 for pitch pearl. unless i sent that one already. in which case. 27 for pitch pearl.

JOKE'S ON YOU I'M PUTTING BOTH IN ONE DRABBLE

~ 24. kisses for a cover ~ 27. desperate kisses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Phantom, please!"

Phantom didn't understand what was being asked of him. He was only marginally aware of someone shaking him. Vigorously. It was slightly annoying, if he was being honest.

"C'mon, you gotta get up!"

"I don't wanna." That much was true. One thing he was very aware of was his pounding head. So much so that nausea churned in his stomach and he wondered if he was about to throw up.

Could ghosts even throw up?

“God Phantom, they’re coming! Why won’t you get up?”

Well he certainly didn’t know who was coming, but it had to be urgent if Danny was being so insistent with him.

Wait, Danny?

He cracked open an eye and sure enough, he was met with the sight of the blue eyes he’d fallen for so long ago. In spite of his swimming head and blurry vision, he grinned. “That’s what she said.”

It only took an instant for Danny’s face to transform from one of worry to one of utter disappointment. “Seriously? You take a hit like that from Mom and Dad and all you can do is crack jokes?”

“Only for you, darling.” Phantom allowed his head to loll backward. Maybe he could convince Danny to take a nap with him. That sounded nice.

“Oh, nuh-uh. You are not passing out on me now.” Warm hands wrapped around his shoulders and yanked him back forward. “Not until you get out of here before they find you!”

Phantom pouted. Was that something he usually did? Probably. “I don’t wanna,” he said again. A sly smile bloomed on his face. “Not unless you gimme a kiss first.”

Danny threw his head back. “Ugh! I swear, you - no, you know what? Fine.” 

If there was one thing Phantom would never tire of, it was the feeling of Danny’s lips on his. Even now, sitting half-conscious in some random alley with a boyfriend on the edge of panic, he couldn’t get enough of it. Eager to keep kissing, he prodded Danny’s closed lips with his tongue. At least he was pretty sure he did. Maybe it was less of a prod and more of a shove. He couldn’t quite tell.

Much to his displeasure, Danny pulled away. “Are you kidding me right now? You seriously wanna - no, no! We’re not getting into this right now.” Somewhere in the back of his mind, Phantom wondered if he was supposed to be participating in this conversation. “You got your kiss, now get your tail out of here before they get here!”

New voices tickled Phantom’s ears. He tilted his head. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but everything still sounded muddy, in all fairness. “Oh yeah, they’re right around the corner,” he said brightly. Really, he wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. He just wanted to get back to kissing.

Danny groaned, and Phantom found himself drawn in by the sound. Only he got the impression that was not the kind of groan Danny was intending. 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Danny muttered to himself, clutching his head in between his hands. “Think Fenton. Think.”

“Nooo, no thinking,” Phantom whined. He pawed listlessly at Danny. “Kissing.”

He couldn’t find it in him to care about the angry glare shot his way. “I swear…”

The voices grew closer.

“Argh!” Danny threw his hands up in the air. “You so owe me for covering for you like this,” he hissed, bringing his face close into Phantom’s.

Before he could respond, Danny had once again sealed his mouth over his own, and Phantom melted instantly. See? This was so much nicer than thinking. It was about time Danny saw it his way.

“Danny?”

The incredulous cries of Jack and Maddie Fenton forced the two apart. “Gah!” Danny whirled around. “Mom! Dad! Haven’t you heard of privacy?”

“Privacy?” Jack scratched his head. “But… we’re in the alley.”

Maddie held up a weak finger. “You a-and… and him?” she asked, clearly still in disbelief. “But… I-I don’t… Danny?”

Phantom smiled widely and draped himself over Danny. “Hi!” he said, greeting the two warmly. “Your son is a reeeaallly good kisser!”

Danny buried his face in his hands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~ Send me a ship and a number from this ask game and I'll write a drabble or draw a sketch!

#danny phantom #danny fenton #pitch pearl #ask game #ask hannah #scarletsaphire #did someone ask for silly goofy shenanigan kisses #bc that's apparently what this is #alternative title for this drabble #Phantom Is A Typical Teenage Boy #ANYWAY #thanks for the ask!!

[capturethechaos]

In collaboration with - @earthlysorrows

Masterlist

Josh Kiszka x Reader

Words - 4.2k

Warnings - 18+ONLY, explicit sexual content, NSFW, smut, fingering, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it)

a/n - This was so much fun to work on, and I can't thank Madi enough for writing this with me ♡

“Well good morning to you, darling, how’s this Sunday morning treating you so far?” 

You recognized the voice the moment you stepped out of your car, and your eyes lifted to see Pastor Kiszka leaning against the entryway of the church, a wide smile on his face as he watched you walk towards him. 

“Good as I can be Kelly. Are the boys in yet?”

“Yes they are hun, Jake is up in the sound booth getting stuff ready for worship, and I believe Josh is in the youth room setting something up.” 

You stopped by the sound booth first, cracking open the door and finding Jake sat at the booth fiddling with the slideshow for worship. 

“Working hard Jake?” Your question broke his concentration, and he turned to you with a wide grin. 

“Always, are you feeling nervous about being the lead for worship today?” He had spun himself around in his chair to fully face you, an eyebrow raised as he absentmindedly played with the buttons of his shirt. 

You caught yourself glancing downwards at his fidgeting hands “I’m as confident as ever, you’re the one that seems nervous.”

“Yeah… Well, I usually stick to just playing guitar. I don’t know how you convinced me to actually sing with you and Josh.” 

“I guess it’s just this beautiful face, it tends to convince a lot of men to do what I ask.” You tease with a soft punch to his shoulder. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

You turned to leave, tilting your head back just before you closed the door, “And if not, I’m sure the congregation wouldn’t mind if you decided to step back into your usual spot.” 

The hall was quiet as you made your way down to the youth room in search of Josh. You passed Karen in the office on your way, giving her a wave and smile before slipping through the youth room door. 

You caught sight of Josh across the room, his face looking down at a list of what you assumed were the activities he had planned for the kids. 

“Can you believe that we’ve been planning these since highschool?” You snuck up behind him, chin resting gently on his shoulder. 

He leaned his head against yours, his arm finding its way around your waist to pull you around to his side, “We’ve been waiting to be youth leaders since we were in the youth group, this has been years in the making.”

Comforted by his warmth you let a gentle sigh fall from your lips. “I remember sitting right over there with you giggling about how we could have done better.” 

He chuckled in response, looking up at you with a toothy grin, “Not that it would be hard, no offense to Keith, but he was not a good leader.” 

Your cheeks puffed out at your attempt to internalize the laughter. “To be fair you do make it look a lot easier than it is. Either that, or we were just horrible kids.”

“We? That’s a joke. Me and Jake sure, but you,” He lifted a finger to brush against the cross hanging low on your chest, “you were a little angel.” 

“I’m still an angel. Thank you.” You pretended to be offended and playfully pushed him away, “Do you think we’re going to be doing this forever?”

“I hope not.” His eyes moved away from your face for a moment before returning. “Don’t get me wrong, I love this place, and the people, but I feel like I’m not here anymore because of faith, I’m just here because my dad is the pastor… it’s kind of expected of us.” 

His momentary lack of eye contact forced you to glance across the room as he spoke. “Would it make you feel better if I said I felt the same way? With the lack of faith I mean… It just seems like the older we get the less I follow what we’ve been taught.” 

He stood suddenly, causing you to take a step back. You didn’t get far as the arm around your waist pulled you back to him, his free hand lifted to your face, running his thumb against your bottom lip. 

“You, everyone’s favorite little angel, has had your faith shaken. Who could have done such a thing?”

You were taken aback by his motions and mulled over the idea of honesty. Who could have done such a thing? YOU. It had always been you. God you wanted to say it, scream it at him, but instead you looked down at his finger pressed so gently across your lip and lied through your teeth. “No one.” 

He tsked at you, his eyes narrowing slightly as he leaned towards you, his breath tickling your ear. “Now now, angel, you know lying is a sin.” 

The air you had been holding escaped your lungs through parted lips as Josh approached you. Once he was fully leaned in, you couldn’t stop yourself from firmly planting your right hand against his lower chest . Through his church attire, you rubbed your thumb back and forth with caution, feeling every muscular divot that laid below your hand. 

You physically tried to bite back your words by pulling your bottom lip to your teeth. It failed. “You.” There was a part of you that hoped he hadn’t heard it but you couldn’t stop your tongue from rolling out what your mind had produced. “You’re the reason.” 

“Me?” His voice rolled out in a low pur, sending a shiver down your spine. “I have a feeling your parents would be very conflicted on that one… cause on one hand, you’ve bagged one of the pastor's sons, congrats… but on the other hand, it’s the pastor's son’s fault that you don’t believe in God anymore.” 

“I’m going to ask you something personal, and I don’t want you to show judgement towards me… Okay?” You took a deep breath and let your eyes make full contact with his. Your hand was still placed firmly on his chest only now inching down ever so slowly. Lowering your voice to a whisper you continued, “Have you ever touched yourself? While thinking about someone you knew?” 

Your eyes trailed along his features, watching as a crimson blush rose to his cheeks, and his adams apple bobbed. When your eyes locked with his again, they seemed to have darkened a few shades, and he had taken his bottom lip between his teeth as he tentatively nodded his head. 

You lifted yourself to the tips of your toes, tilting your head slightly to the side, your lips brushing against the shell of his ear, “Who?”

“Why should I tell you?” He murmured, leaning his head closer to your lips to just get a glimpse of physical contact that he was now desperate for. 

You released a breathy laugh, turning until your lips were just barely grazing the skin of his cheek, enough that you could feel the heat radiating from the delicate surface. “Because it seems like you really want to.”

“You.” He whispered, it was hardly audible but it was there, and exactly what you wanted to hear slip past his lips. You had wanted nothing more than to get the validation you so desperately dreamed of. Just that alone had your legs nearly numb with overstimulation.

He pulled away from you, nervous about what had just slipped from his mouth, and coming face to face with you. Despite the innocent look painted across your features, he watched the most miniscule smirk grow on your lips, parting only enough for a single word to pass through them. “Good.” 

“And is it safe to assume who you were thinking of then?” He eyed your smirk as you couldn’t control the rate of which it spread across your face. “That is, if it wasn’t a one sided question.” It was then that his hand met at the curve of your side, thumb circling around your hip. 

Your smirk shrunk beneath his stare, leaving you with heat creeping its way up your chest, and a diminished capacity to give a verbal response. So you just nodded your head. The chuckle that rumbled from his chest slightly startled you, and the hand not on your hip lifted to brush along your jawline. “Words, angel, let me hear your pretty voice.”

Mustering up all the confidence you had left you followed his command. “Yes. I did. And to the thought of you, Josh.” You moved your hip so his thumb dug deeper into your skin. “And it got me thinking… If God loves us as much as the Bible says. Why would he make something that feels so damn good, such a sin?” 

You turned your head towards Josh’s hand and let your lips run across his thumb, pressing forward to take the tip if it passed your lips with gentle suction. “Someone that loves you shouldn’t keep something like that from you. Something so phenomenal.” 

The words fell from his lips as he stared intently at the way your lip creased beneath the pressure of his thumb. He let his thumb slip away, gliding along your cheekbone until the rest of his hand came to rest at the curve of your jaw, and he could tilt your head back enough for your lips to brush against his own.

You were yearning for more, for him to put the hand pressed upon your cheekbone on every inch of your body. Remaining patient, you took your hand from his torso and looped it around the nape of his neck. You tried to fully press your lips against his but felt him pull away just enough to keep your lips at a constant hover. “Please, Josh.” You beg, looking up at him through doe eyes. “I need you.” 

His eyes rolled back a small groan rumbling his chest. He held back for a couple more seconds before caving and moving both of his hands to your face, cradling it in his grasp as he finally pressed his lips to your own.

It was everything you wanted and more, feeling the warmth of his lips transferring to yours. A hum vibrated through your throat and up towards his lips as you pressed harder with greed. Your fingers interlaced through his soft hair and you gave it a gentle tug downwards, separating his lips from yours. “How does this compete with your imagination?” 

The laugh he released could have almost been more accurately described as a snort as he ran his tongue along his bottom lip. “Nothing in my imagination could compare to this.”

Without a response you connected your lips back to his once more, a soft moan floating towards his tongue  from yours. Josh let his hands explore your body, running his right hand down low to the base of your thigh. Slowly, he began to walk his fingers in place, bunching up your Sunday dress until it was fisted in his hand.  

There was no warning when the table he had just been lesson planning on turned into your new seat, and you yelped when he picked you up and nearly slammed you down against the cold wood. Dying to be closer, Josh nudged his knee between your legs, coaxing them open enough to let his body rest flawlessly between them. He pulled the bunched up fabric higher up your leg until his thumb snapped against the lace laying flush with your hip. “Hmm. Wearing a lace thong? To church? Did you come here with this plan in mind, sweetheart?” He rumbled luxuriously against your ear, his tone deeper than before.

You shook your head, sure that he could feel the heat radiating off of your cheeks.

“Remember what I said about using your words, angel. Now, did you-” You felt the pressure of his thumb dipping beneath the band of your panties as he spoke, “-or did you not wear these on purpose?”

The squeeze of his thumb had your head tilting back slightly. “And what would you do if I told you it was for you?” You controlled your breath to the best of your abilities and tried your hardest to remain confident. “That I woke up this morning and the only thing I could think about was fucking you.”

He was taken aback for a moment, blinking slowly as his eyes stared deeply into your own. You watched the way his lips opened and closed a few times before he cleared his throat and straightened up, pulling you closer to the edge of the table, pressing his thigh against the inside of your own. “Then I must be God’s favorite.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from hooking your leg around his back and forcing him closer by pulling him in. The sudden friction sent a deep huff through your nose as a delicate moan quickly followed. “Consider yourself his Prophet then.” 

You wished you could commit to memory the silky moan that fell from between Josh’s lips at the contact of your soft skin against the rough denim of his jeans.

Stuck in a trance that was the feeling of your heat radiating to his thighs, his body remained stationary. You didn’t care if he was just marinating in the moment, you needed more of him. Now. So slowly, you put your hand upon his that was resting under the strap of your thong and pushed it downwards towards your center. 

“That’s all for you Josh.” You cooed, biting your bottom lip as you felt his finger absorb your heat. Once again guiding him, you pressed his forefinger between your folds and was rewarded by yet another chest rattling moan slipping past his lips.

“Fuck, Y/n.” It was the first time you had heard your actual name pass his lips since you had walked in, and the raspy tone of his voice sent another rush of heat to your core. 

You left his hand alone once he became situated with rubbing circles against your clit, and you used your own to push against the top button of his shirt. You tugged at it softly before a small triangle of his skin was exposed at his chest. Your finger traced down that newly exposed sternum until the second button barricaded you. That one was pushed undone and out of the way quicker than the first. 

Intrusive thoughts winning,  you leaned forward to nip at his soft skin before sucking at it with enough force to leave a soft purple bruise behind at your release. “May I undo more?” You pleaded for permission. 

A soft ‘please’ escaped Josh, and you moved to unbutton more of his shirt as you felt the added sensation of another one of his fingers brushing along your slit. The feeling drew a breathy gasp from your lips

Eventually all of the buttons were unlatched and his whole chest was exposed to the chilled church air. Proceeding with caution, you pushed your hands up and past his shoulders, taking the shirt down with it. There was a soft pat, as the fabric fell to the hardwood flooring. Hands taking control, you guided it across his skin, running your finger between every single crease in his muscles. 

You’ve seen it before, his bare chest, when you went swimming together in the summer or when he had to change into a fresh shirt before dinner with your family. However, it was never in a setting like this. His skin was glistening in a way that demanded your mind to wonder. With his fingers placed against what was said to be your sacred temple, his bare chest now felt like a right of passage. 

Overtaken with emotions, you lifted your free hand to grab hold of your breast, massaging it gently as if coaxing Josh to take over for you. You saw the hesitation within his lust-filled pupils. “Please. I want you to touch me.”

His free hand slowly covered your own, you could feel the subtle shaking of his hand as it gently nudged yours out of the way and grasped your breast through the fabric of your dress. If there was any time to find out just how thin your dress was, you weren’t going to complain about it being as Josh’s fingers splayed over the swell of your breast, his thumb brushing over your hardening nipple.

Your mouth connected with his once more and your tongues danced flawlessly in rhythm as Josh gained more confidence by the second. Letting out almost a feral grunt, his grasp on your breast tightened and he leaned down harder against you, his chest now flush with yours. You fed off of this energy, rolling your hips against his hand and in return he slipped his middle finger into you without warning. 

“Fuck.” You moan out through your exhale, and in return your hips shyly rocked back and forth against his single digit. Josh had enough of playing with your breasts through the fabric so he took it upon himself to run his hand up your stomach. He pulled your bralette down with a force that cracked a few of the seams apart before he grasped your bare breast within his palm. “Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t praise him right now, praise me.”

The tone he used, in addition to the teasing of a second finger against your entrance made your muscles tense, rolling your torso further into his own. 

“Do me a favor, angel.” You turned your gaze to his face, watching as his gaze traveled over your chest, all the way up to meet your eyes.

“What Josh?”

He smirked, sliding his middle finger out of you as he opened his mouth to speak. “If you’re going to make so much noise baby, maybe say something that a good girl of faith would say… that way if someone walks past-” He slowly pressed his middle and index finger into you. “-they think we’re actually doing our jobs.”

He began moving his fingers in a steady rhythm, watching as your mouth opened and closed a few times before  your strained voice finally came through. “Bless me father for I have sinned-”

You could feel the chuckle that rolled through Josh’s chest as his fingers slowed their pace. “That's Catholic, but I appreciate the effort.”

You rolled your eyes at him, letting out a giggle of your own, that quickly turned to a moan as he curled his fingers. His face suddenly dropped to a serious expression, and he slowly pulled his fingers out of you.

You groaned in protest, but as he distanced himself from you, you couldn’t help but watch in awe as he lifted the fingers he just had inside of you to his parted lips, cleaning them of your desire as he stared you in the eyes, apart from a moment in which his eyes fluttered shut. 

Your hands travelled down his chest to the belt he had holding up the nice pair of jeans he was wearing, pulling on the buckle. He smirked at your eagerness, dropping his hands to cover yours. “Use your words, angel. What do you want?”

He felt his knees buckle a bit when you looked at him with your doe eyes and parted your lips to speak.

“I want you to fuck me Josh.” 

He leaned into you, capturing you in another heated kiss, and you melted into him. Josh used that to his advantage as he slid you off of the table and slowly disconnected from your lips.

“Are you sure, angel?” He was searching for any indication of hesitance from you, but your pupils were blown, and your fingers continued to play with the leather of his belt.

You nodded your head, tilting your head up to press a chaste kiss to Josh’s lips. “I’m sure Josh.”

He smiled at you, a big toothy grin that reminded you that this was in fact, the same Josh that you had known your whole life, and you were about to fuck him… in the youth group room that the two used to go to… and now will be leading. You felt his hands land on your hips, pressing gently against the skin and turning you to face away from him. 

You were left somewhat confused, with one of his hands disappearing from you while the other remained. You could hear the sound of his belt coming loose, and the zipper of his jeans being undone. He leaned forward enough to press his lips against the shell of your ear. “Lean forward for me, angel. Elbows on the table, hands together.”

You did as he said, feeling his warm hand push your dress up passed your hips before slowly dragging his knuckle along the soaked fabric of your thong. He shuffled for another minute, continuing to drag his knuckle up and down your clothed core as you bit down on your finger to keep from moaning. After a minute of the minimal contact, Josh pulled your panties over the swell of your ass, leaving them to rest against your thighs. 

“The sinners' prayer. Recite it to me.” There was a rasp in his tone, like he was physically attempting to hold himself back as he took his cock into his hand and closed the distance between your bodies. 

You snorted a laugh, releasing the finger from between your teeth and turning your head just enough to address him from behind you. “You’re joking.”

The slid the head of his cock between your folds, coating himself in the pleasure he had induced. “Do it.”

You made it through a few false starts as he pressed into you, entering you inch by glorious inch. 

“Come on, angel, you know it.”

“Dear Lord Jesus,” Your elbows collapsed beneath you with a particularly deep thrust from Josh, leaving you flat against the table, sliding in tandem with Josh’s thrusts and reaching out to grip at the edge of the surface.

“I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness.” The end of your sentence sent Josh’s hips thrusting with passion against you. “I believe You died for my sins and …Fuck Josh that feels so fucking good..” Your chest was no longer pressed firmly against the table as Josh reached his hand around your throat and used it as a rein to pull your body from the wood. 

“That’s not how it goes, my angel. Start over.” With a firm push you were laying back against the furniture.

“Dear lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgivenesses. I-I believe you died for my sins and…” Antagonizing you to fail again, Josh looped his arm around your hips and pressed his middle and index finger directly on your clit. The circling started slow, but you could already feel the pressure and rate rising by the second.

“...rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life.” His free hand moved down your spine and once it curled against your hip you let out a sharp gasp. His smirk was reflecting in the painting on the wall ahead of him as he patiently waited for you to screw up the verse. “ I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior...” 

He could feel you clenching around him, and it took every ounce of his strength not to burst at the feeling of you hugging his cock so securely. “Are you close, angel?”

You nodded your head against the arm you were resting on, your voice rough as ‘so close’ tumbled from your lips like a mantra.

Josh wasn’t sure he had ever heard such heavenly sounds as you came apart in front of his eyes. The coil that had been winding up steadily since your endeavour began snapped, and a mixture of muttered curses and moans drifted from your lips as Josh worked you through your orgasm. 

Josh leaned down to press a kiss against your temple, whispering a soft ‘amen’ into your ear and smiling when you giggled. He pulled out once you had pulled through the pleasure, finishing himself off and walking over a few steps away to grab some tissues to clean up.

Josh noticed the glimmer of your golden cross necklace laying on the table and picked it up, shuffling over to stand behind you as you straightened out your dress, and placing his hands over your shoulders. 

“Move your hair for me, angel, your necklace must have come off during our… activities.” You giggled at his phrasing, but lifted your hair away from your neck to allow Josh to do up the clasp of your necklace before letting the cool metal rest against your flushed skin. 

“Thanks Josh. I think my mother would have scalded me for not having it on.” You ran your fingers over the small pendant before the brushing of Josh’s lips against your throat distracted you. 

“I guess it’s just lucky I noticed it, wouldn’t want anyone knowing that you’re less than holy, would we, angel?”

Neither of you were aware of the presence, but on the opposite side of the door stood Jake. He had his hand lifted to twist the doorknob, but he was frozen in place, the soft sound of your moans replaying in a loop through his head.

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[pedgito]

Hiya! I hope you're well! Id love to request an eddie x femreader who are best friends with feelings with these three prompts please❤️ thankyou !

❛ do you mind if i sleep here tonight? ❜

❛ are you wearing my shirt? ❜

❛ don’t you know what you’re doing to me? ❜

author's note: for my 1k celebration. this got a little long and i'm sorry for that. i wanted to keep it shorter but my mind wouldn't let me. i hope you enjoy!

cw: mostly sfw but 18+ to be safe, there's nothing other than a small mention toward reader's breast (nothing descriptive). just your cheesy love confession during a rainstorm/power outage, also lots of eddie being his lovely himbo/unaware self.

word count: 3.4k

Hawkins rarely floods—it had its fair share of horrible midwestern weather, but it’s never been this bad. Eddie’s peering over your shoulder, your mind battling between forcing yourself to drive home through the immense downpour or convince Eddie into letting you take the couch until the storm calmed—though the end seemed nowhere in sight. 

“Eddie—“ Your voice is distressing, worried, eyes glancing up toward him. The words are on the tip of your tongue, “Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?” But Eddie knows, he always knows.

“You’re not driving home,” Eddie says, not much room to budge against it, “don’t even suggest it.”

You nod dutifully. The last thing you needed was to get stranded on some winding road this late in the evening, knowing everyone else was probably tucked into bed.

Eddie reaches around to slip the door closed, flipping on the light to the living room area of the trailer, the lightbulb struggling to revive itself, flickering until it finally stills, the insistent buzzing like white noise to you now.

“We’re gonna have to start calling you Eddie The Chivalrous if you keep this up.” You joke, tugging at his arm playfully, scooting alongside him to sit on the couch. “Would it kill you to be an asshole every now and then?”

“That’s reserved exclusively for Henderson and his ragtag group of friends,” Eddie smacks the ceiling cover, the buzzing immediately dying out. “Someone’s gotta humble Dustin every now and then.”

“He means well.” You say fondly, remember how often Dustin offered to help others, regardless of what it meant for him. “You two bicker like brothers anyways.”

Eddie laughs knowingly, his relationship with Dustin having grown over the past several months—he really couldn’t imagine a life without that kid. 

“So, what? Are you asking me to be dick to you more often?” Eddie teases, flopping down into the cushion opposite you, feet propped up on the cluttered coffee table. “Because I can, I’d just hate to be on the receiving end of that—“

Your eyes narrow, vicious but sweet. He’d seen it enough times during Hellfire to know what it meant and he always steered clear. It was either Mike or Gareth pissing you off with their irrational decision making, which always ended in them agreeing with you in the long run. Those two were not built for survival, their brooding and boyish thinking constantly beating out the more sensible parts of their brain. 

“—see, that’s terrifying.” Eddie points out, hand motion in your direction.

“Someone’s gotta keep the hellions in check.” He knows your right, he can’t even argue that. “If not you, then me.”

“Hey,” Eddie’s hand shoots to his chest, “I do a great job, you’ve just got that effect that girls have.”

“That’s a little sexist, don’t you think?” You suggest wearily, watching Eddie’s face morph from confident to worried, smile lines disappearing in an instant.

“No, no—that’s not what I meant—“ Eddie clamors, fear turning into annoyance as he watches you curl around yourself in laughter, hand grabbing into his knee. “Oh, okay. I see what kind of night it’s going to be.”

“I’m kidding, Eddie.” He knows you’re being sincere, he does. But, he can’t help feeling the shot straight to his ego. In the years you’ve known Eddie, he’s more sensitive than he lets on. Though, maybe that was reserved for you. 

You couldn’t remember a time where Eddie had said anything hurtful toward you, in any way—aside from the time he called you stupid for tripping over him in third grade (Eddie, who was in fifth grade, and towering over half the kids already), it was the first and last time he’s ever spoke like that, because the moment he spotted your Def Leppard shirt that you had so coraguesly worn to school that day, despite the constant snickering from other girls, he was enamored by you. 

“I hate you.” It’s meant with no malice, his true feelings shown through the smile that stretches across his face.

Eddie struggled—a lot, dealing with the feelings he’s been harboring for years toward you. He’s dated and dated, even with your assistance, which felt horribly wrong, but nothing ever landed where he wanted. And Eddie had friends, he had plenty, but you were the only one that stuck. You knew the darkest parts of him, the happiest, the most embarrassing, Eddie didn’t have to force up whatever persona he felt like wearing around you—not to say that he wasn’t always unapologetically himself, but he did have some reservations.

“I hate you too.” You smile cheekily, pushing yourself from the couch. “Can I take a shower here? I hate going to sleep without showering—makes me feel gross.” Eddie nods jerkily, hand waving toward the direction of the tiny trailer bathroom. 

“Yeah, I’ll uh, give you some privacy.” He says, rubbing the tip of his nose with the back of his hand. “Need a smoke, anyways.”

“Okay,” You eye him skeptically, confused by his sudden aversion to you, “well, don’t drown out there.”

The sigh you let out when Eddie closes the door is long and drawn out. He must be disgusted by you, obviously—why else would he bolt out of the door so fast? You didn’t even know where to begin, where your love for Eddie transformed from something that was familial to not being able to calm that twitch in your heart anytime he spoke your name or smiled at you. It felt like betrayal against what you two had built, your strong unbreakable friendship—yet despite that, it would crumble if either of you acted on something more. Wouldn’t it? It was a dying war you've fought with yourself for months, trying to hint at him in the most subtle ways, but too ashamed to say it out loud. You wanted to scream it in his face, making it as blatantly obvious as possible, but that didn't seem rational.

The shower is hot, scolding, the sting assisting in keeping your mind off your racing thoughts. You fumbled for Eddie’s shampoo—he still uses the coconut one you told him about in ninth grade, a small reminder that he’s always valued your opinions and took them into consideration—that and he really likes the smell of it. 

You shower until the water runs cold, snatching the towel from its holder and wrapping it around your body. You dig through your bag, hoisting it up onto the bathroom sink. Okay—underwear, shorts, shirt—where the fuck was your shirt? You always packed a spare pair of clothes in your bag for school, depending on how late Hellfire ran and if you felt like changing into something more comfortable, but when have you ever forgotten a shirt? It was silly, trivial even. You could put on your shirt from earlier, but it was soaked on the floor—of course, those cheap fucking shower curtains. 

You pause, trying to redirect your frustrations toward something else. Weigh the odds—go out there shirtless and risk Eddie having an aneurysm or borrow one of his shirts? As much as you would enjoy seeing Eddie’s usual stone-face, cynicalness broken by the sight of your bare breasts—you were also freezing now and didn't feel like making yourself suffer any longer.

Eddie won’t mind. He won’t, you know that. You peek through the sliding door, still no Eddie in sight. Luckily, he has some of the best pickings you’ve ever seen, thousands upon thousands of graphic shirts, similar to your own, but specific to Eddie’s personality. 

You throw on a worn out Dio shirt, but Eddie would know that shirt anywhere—of course he would. You ignore that itching feeling, shoving the drawer to his dresser closed and inch your way toward the front door. He had to be done by now, unless he was in the mood to smoke out a whole pack. You reach for the handle, swinging the door open.

Eddie looked like a drenched, wet puppy—mouth downturned, hair sopping wet and dripping down his shoulders, the jeans rolled up around his ankles somehow more soaked than anywhere else, his bare feet covered in specks of mud and grass.

“I dropped my pack,” He frowns, “I tried running to my van to grab my spare and slipped.”

You cover your mouth, forcing yourself to hide the smile that crept up. This was not the time to poke fun, absolutely not. But, that’s squashed when Eddie can’t take himself seriously either, watching the way your eyes squint behind your covered expression. He snorts, shoving the wet hair out of his face.

He strips down at the door, sans his underwear, sparing with the last piece of dignity he had left. You force him to shower first, arguing with him that you could grab his clothes—“It really isn’t a big deal, Eddie. It’s not like I haven’t seen your underwear before.” Not that Eddie had any kept secrets hidden in there, aside from his small stash of top-grade weed that he selfishly had tucked away in the back of his top drawer, labeled ‘DO NOT TOUCH’. You didn’t smoke often anyways—so you never mentioned it or Eddie's horrible choice of hiding spots.

You pile his clothes into your open palm, reaching your arm inside the bathroom door to set them on the edge of the sink, the steam from the shower billowing out the door. There’s a distinct zap sound, like a transformer sparking up outside, before the entire trailer goes black, leaving you both standing in darkness.

“Fuck me,” Eddie groans, hands slapping against tile from behind the curtain, “this shit never ends.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” You assure him, glancing around his room. “Do you have candles or anything?”

Wayne, bless his heart, was more a worrier than he let on. He was also always prepared for any situation—more importantly, a power outage. “Yeah, under the sink.”

You hurry around the corner, digging under the sink for the necessary items—candles, matches, a very old and worn out flashlight. You flick the button a few times, wondering if it even works. It doesn’t. You toss it back under the sink, gathering the candles in your arm and placing them around the house; the living room, the hallway nook that stowed a lot of random knickknacks that Eddie and his uncle have collected over the years, and one on the windowsill in Eddie’s room. It wasn’t much help, but it was something.

“Sorry about this,” Eddie speaks from behind you, towel drying his hair as he makes his way toward you, “this place is a shithole.”

You turn slowly, amused at how wildly he’s rubbing the towel against his damp head, before tossing it onto the growing pile of dirty laundry in the corner of his room. “Not a shithole, Eddie. It never has been.”

Eddie huffs softly, collapsing on the end of his bed. He’s staring, watching thoughtfully, eyes dragging over you. It wasn’t odd behavior for him, Eddie often couldn’t be bothered to fill the silence and would rather stay quiet—and right now, you couldn’t be bothered either. 

“Wait,” Eddie says, finger pointed at your chest lazily, his frame leaned back against his mattress, held up by his elbows that dug into the material, “are you wearing my shirt?”

“Oh,” You squeak out, glancing down at the shirt, “yeah, I forgot one and my shirt from earlier was soaked—I’m sorry, I should’ve asked.”

Eddie shakes his head, scooting aside to make room for you as you sit beside him, flicking his damp bangs away from his forehead, most of his hair already sufficiently dried. “I don’t mind.”

“Still,” you shrug, left knee brought to your chest as the other hangs off the edge of his bed, foot planted against his shag carpet, “probably should’ve asked.”

“Looks good on you,” He comments offhandedly and it really shouldn’t make the pit in your stomach clench the way it does, watching his eyes scan you again—those beautiful omniscient eyes doing nothing to snuff how painfully your heart tugged at the thought of him. “Keep it.”

You gasp softly, hand clutched over your heart, “Come on, this one is your favorite—you don’t mean that.” Eddie never shut up about his love for Dio, it was pretty adorable.

“I do.” He smiles softly, fingers running over the fabric of your sleeve.

Selfishly, he liked the idea of you wearing his clothes. It wasn’t the idea of you wearing his clothes specifically, but the idea that he knows how much you cherish them. It was the one way he expressed himself to others, through his style and the way he presented to people. 

You can’t deny how different it feels now, being around Eddie. Sleepovers were normal for a while—your parents loved him, Wayne loved you, it was easy. You’d spend endless nights listening to music or helping Eddie work through a campaign, sometimes having the rest of the club over for impromptu game sessions or normal hangouts, or watching Eddie fiddle with his guitar, practicing his songs on you before he’d jam out at The Hideout the next night.

“Eddie,” Your voice is timid, fingers playing with the bracelet around your wrist, something small that Eddie had given to all of Hellfire as a gift—the giant sap he was, “can I ask you something?”

Eddie leans forward, suddenly tense, like there’s some impending doom that’s creeping up on him. “Yeah.” You could talk to him, you always could. This wasn’t different.

It was okay.

Just ask him. Just say it. 

“Why do you treat me so differently?” Eddie visibly shifts, watching as your legs curl underneath you, hands planted in your lap.

“Come on—“ Eddie laughs awkwardly, motioning toward you, “you’re you—is that not obvious?”

“I don’t scare you, Eddie. Don’t try that bullshit.” You look down, picking at the week old nail polish on your thumb, “I just—I need to know.”

With graduation rearing its ugly head, you weren’t sure how much time you had left with him. Eddie was bound to graduate, he was—you’d made sure of it. He’d been stuck to your side all year, allowing you to help guide him through his classes, take shit seriously—give himself the chance he deserved. It wasn’t that Eddie couldn’t do the work; he wasn’t dumb or naïve, it was the idea that he didn’t think he could, stuck in the never-ending cycle of having to drag himself up that mountain for the past three years. 

Eddie’s silent for too long, eyes glancing to every item in the room that wasn’t you. It wasn’t even worth waiting for an answer that wasn’t going to come, he’d never be able to understand how you felt or how things changed—or when, or how intensely you cared about him, beyond the threshold of friends. 

“Nevermind,” You sigh, standing from the bed, “forget I asked—“ 

Eddie’s hand dwarfs your wrist, the way his fingers wrap around the skin. It’s not rough or demanding, but he doesn’t let you go. 

“Do you not see it?” Eddie asked, voice soft, unnatural. You’ve never heard him speak that way, like he was broken down and exhausted. “Don't you know what you’re doing to me?”

The hand that isn’t prisoner in his grip wraps around his own wrist, pulling his attention toward your face. There’s a vulnerability when your eyes connect. You’ve seen it before, but not like this. 

Was this all it took? Was this all you needed to do? Had he really been that scared to say something without you taking that first step? 

“That’s why I’m asking, Eddie.” He can barely hear you over the pounding rain on the roof of the trailer, you step closer, in between his parted legs, kneeling until you’re eye level with him. He can’t hide from you now and you’re not sure he wants to. “It wasn’t always like this. You get quiet around me all the time, make weird excuses about having to leave. You can talk to me, you know—I’ve known you for half of my life, I think that counts for something.”

“I don’t want to ruin this.” He’s got his hands clasped between you both, grip tightening as he speaks. You can’t tell if he’s trying to hurt or ground himself, using pain as leverage. You gently pry his hands apart, twisting them into your own.

You’ve held hands before, it’s a familiar feeling. He’s got a warm touch and rough, calloused fingertips, small cuts on his hands from how often he worked with them. Eddie even let you paint them sometimes, his pinky fingers still left with the remnants of some cheap black nail polish you used. 

“This? Our friendship?” You asked, feeling where he was headed—knowing he thought this was going nowhere and you were going to bolt any second. “Eddie, I’ve been in love with you for two years now.”

Eddie can’t find the words to speak, so he listens. 

“It’s probably been longer—and maybe I always have been, even when you were that annoying middle schooler who ran around scaring people for fun and picking on me because I started to like Abba and you thought it was the ‘ultimate betrayal’.” You mock his voice, pulling a quiet laugh from him. 

Eddie wasn’t always as open with his feelings as you were, not that you cared. But, it would’ve made things a hell of a lot easier if he had told you this from the start, when things started to change. It would’ve ended all the running in circles, tiptoeing around certain things to avoid making each other uncomfortable, you would’ve had more time. 

“I’m an idiot.” He shakes his head, pulling his hand away from you to rub his palm into his eye. “I think I knew—I just didn’t want to believe it.”

“Believe what? That I liked you?” You ask, disbelief evident in your voice. “You’re shitting me, Eddie.”

He shrugs. He fucking shrugs. 

“All the times I tried holding your hand? All the times I invited you to sleep over, knowing there was only one bed? How many times have I sat on your lap during lunch in front of the boys?” It all seemed trivial, in hindsight.

“I thought you were just doing that to fuck with me.” Eddie says, “It wasn’t that out of character—you always ask to cuddle with me when we watch movies or listen to music—“

Your eyes narrow, hoping he would catch on to the words that were coming out of his mouth. It was obvious, so blatantly obvious. And he does, thank god.

“Oh,” Eddie says softly, but then, “Oh—why didn’t you say something then?”

“Aren’t I asking you the same thing?” 

Eddie chuckles, muffled by the way his hands rub over his face, eventually letting his head hang in his hands. Eddie was the human embodiment of doubt and procrastination. He had been, for years. Fortunately, you knew exactly how to counter that.

“Look, I’m gonna save us both a lot of grief and kiss you.” You tell him, hands curling around his face, pulling his own hands away. “You can decide whether you hate me or not after.”

And Eddie, he doesn’t give you the chance. It’s the first time he’s ever done something for himself, that he wanted, that he needed—and he does it without hesitation, hand slipping around the back of your neck and pulling you toward him before you can even comprehend what’s happening. 

You grunt softly, falling into his chest. You never thought his lips would be this soft—but they taste exactly like you expect; cigarettes and fresh mint, like the toothpaste he kept in his bathroom cabinet. It’s him, it’s all him—aside from the artificial cinnamon scent from the candles scattered around the house, providing you with light to see his face.

When he pulls back, he’s staring right at you, eyes desperately searching for your own, wondering if he’d been too crass.

“Dude, you’re always stealing my thunder.” You laugh, shoving his face away playfully.

“You’re welcome.” He smirks, eyebrow quirking up in amusement as he pulls you back toward him, hand slipping behind your back to nudge you into his lap and off that dingy carpet of his bedroom floor. Eddie doesn’t waste another second telling you exactly how he feels.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fanfic #my writing #i hate this the longer i look at it #so i'm posting it now before i start over #1kfc

[dozing-marshmallow]

Can you do some fluffy Chris x non-binary!reader where the reader is a 19-20 year old camper on the island, please? ^v^

Sorry If you’re getting too many requests and this is annoying! :(

It’s okay, my love! Your request wasn’t annoying at all, and though I’ve had to temporarily close my asks, you don’t have to worry about it! In the end, I chose to receive them under my own awareness, but I appreciate all the concern!❤️Enjoy!!

CHRIS MCLEAN X NB! (ADULT) CAMPER! READER FLUFF

The host wasn’t shy with favourites.

Hence why you were summoned by him on the beach, at a time where everyone else was too tired to strategise.

You arrive, finding the ambient to be carefully idyllic with the swish of the sea and Chris sitting at ease.

His face was dark orange in certain angles from the effulgence of the campfire he crafted not too long ago. Though that was the only source of light in the wildlife nighttime, you can see his eyebrows tilting at your appearance,“Why are you wearing a hoodie?”

“It’s Canada, Chris.” you gently rub your shoulders,“That campfire isn’t enough to warm the entire air.”

“Fair enough.” he reaches over in his sitting position for an opened bag between his feet,“I had some leftover marshmallows. Thought it’d be nice to toast them together.”

You come to sit down next to him on the log, noticing two conveniently thin sticks on his other side,“I’d like that.”

He squeezes a marshmallow from the packet onto the top of a twig and handed it to you. He repeats the same with the other twig and sticks it out lightly above the flames and snuggles against your shoulder,“Talk to me. Remind me how it’s like to be two decades old again.”

“You’re such a funny man, Chris.” you rub your hand on his thigh as you slowly spin your stick with the other,”For one, I finished college, the funniest years of my life. My first year, I didn’t take anything seriously and neither did my friend. During our class tests, we would share an earbud on one of our ipod players and we would leave more than half of the paper blank.” your lips widened upwards as your mind relives the glassy experience of reckless youth.

“Terrible, dude.” clear Chris didn’t feel the same,“I couldn’t care less about academics, but ranking lowest of the low on purpose? You better not be thinking about doing the same here.’

“That’s what my mom was saying after parents evening. So, thanks to her wise words, I graduated, two years before my friend, who’s in catchup school right now.” a laugh forced its way out of your dry mouth after you finished narrating.

“Right now?” he blinked consciously,“An evening class?”

You drew your tanned treat out the smoke for a bite, confirming,“It only seems late because we have no energy left after putting up with your challenges all day and you call it night the minute it’s dark. You ruined our perception of time.”

“Sure did.” his teeth takes a proud dive into his toasted squishy,“Someone’s gotta teach you kids that staying up late isn’t good for your well-being.”

Says him who made the entire second challenge about just that!,“We’re not kids, Chris! We’re adults. We can drink, vote, smoke, fuck. Do all that you can.” the kind of contestants he was dealing with. You hoped that would put things into a new perspective for him.

“Yeah yeah, secure yourself something that pays you at least six figures a month, then come back to me.” he rolls his eyes, fishing another marshmallow out in the fiery centre,“Soooo? Where are your plans for that? You going to work after this? Uni? Apprenticeship?”

You silently shiver.

Only the crackling of the campfire occupied the air.

“Uh, dude?” he waves his hand in front of your wordless face,“Helloooo? (Y/N)?”

“Yeah?”

Chris didn’t appreciate that,“If you didn’t know, it’s kinda a poor show of manners to not reply when people are speaking to you.”

“I know...” you thought the silence was a better answer,“Sorry.”

“Are you saying that because you have nothing to tell me?”

You nod.

“Oh. Wow.” he wasn’t actually expecting that,“Really though? Like you’ve never thought about what you wanted to do after you left school? Not even when you were younger?”

“Nunca. I had other things to worry about.” feeling awkward, you removed your shoes to allow your bare feet to explore the grains of the sticky sand.

“Well! It seems like another inexperienced troubled thing has stumbled across my path, still not knowing what they wanna do with their lives even if they are too old to go back to elementary.” Chris’ time as an actor paid off in his voice at the pretend moment of theatre,“Why don’t you work for me?”

“And end up paralysed for the rest of my life?” you sneer at his suggestion,“No thanks.”

“Don’t be so down, (Y/N)!” he exclaims, pinching your cheek,“Am I that bad that the first job you assume I’ll give you is internship? Heck no! You can be my assistant, secretary, something. Whatever the title is, it’s not really important, but it won’t be internship. Genuine!”

“I don’t know...” hesitation dresses your tone,“Wouldn’t this be obvious to the other contestants that there’s some favouritism if I worked with you after the show? I don’t want them to ridicule me.”

Laughter from Chris in this context was...a reaction you didn’t wholly list out,“Why do you care about what a bunch of lifelong jobless people think? Besides, it’s in the contract, you’re legally obliged to do any role I may ask of you. I’m the one in charge here.”

You quickly remember Chris by his job. The host. The host with the most.

An accepting exhale longs out between your lips,“I guess you’ve decided my fate then, Mr McLean.”

“Practicing formalities already? Hm.” he dramatically puts a finger to his chin, a smirk tapping on his face,“I think I’m liking this employer and employee relationship between us.”

“Gross!” you guffaw, shoving him jokingly on the shoulder, already having his title shattered in your brain,“We’ll have plenty of time for that once I’m in a suit.”

“Who said I want you in one when it happens?” your eyelids disappear. He did not just say that,“We’re on an Island for God’s sake! I’ll allow you to wear something more casual.”

Oh my God, he’s good.

Oh my God.

“W-We’ll see...” you stuff your stutter with another soft goodie, way before it could get golden.

“You bet I will.” Chris had winked at you there, similar to the flash of the campfire, melting your marshmallow as he did your heart.

Cheesy, but it’s the truth. Your life’s barely started and it’s been signed away to an anticipating celebrity.

Ha! When you’ve already won him over, who needs a hundred thousand dollars?

#chris mclean #total drama #tdi x reader #tdi #td chris #chris mclean x reader #request #td chris mclean x reader #total drama chris mclean #total drama island chris #total drama chris

[sitp-recs]

hello liv! thank you for your service to the fandom, i spend such an inordinate amount of time sifting through all your reclists! i’ve been seeing drarry authors do their first line/last line posts for patterns and was wondering how that might pan out for reccers, so i had a question for you— what are some of the fics you find yourself reccing most often, across lists? do they speak to your own tastes? does a pattern emerge through them about the kind of asks you get? you always rec a really diverse range of fics but i do see some recurring favourites cropping up and was wondering if you had thoughts on it!

Thank you for your kind words and for the ask, anon! This was a very interesting way to adapt that ask game to my blog and I appreciate you for including me 💜 I had to take a minute and think about this because despite knowing that I’ve recced some fics over and over across lists, I’ve never stopped to analyze it in detail. Taking a quick look, I’ve tried to identify some patterns and I think these examples offer interesting insights:

1) I Am Not Who I Became and A Sword Laid Aside - two long fics I mention a lot (often alongside each other) because they combine some very popular tropes: recluse & powerful Harry, competent Draco, forced proximity, fast smut + slow emotional burn, D/s undertones

2) Clear as Mud and Unfinished Business are two personal faves I don’t see in rec lists often, they’re more like old-ish hidden gems and I love getting the chance to sneakily include them!

3) Take the Moon and Life goes not Backward: two favourites written by my friends! Funnily enough, they’re both kid fics which is a trope I don’t really care for lol. Reccing friends is one of my biggest pleasures in fandom, I’ve seen a lot of criticism/questioning around it which makes absolutely no sense to me - appreciating each other’s work and finding things in common is what brings us together in the first place 🤷🏻‍♀️

The main reason why I include any fic on a list is because I believe it’s a good fit. I always try to get a sense of what the reader is looking for bc it helps me find the right tone, but it can also get challenging if the request is too vague or too specific. Because I publish lists on demand I try to be as trope agnostic as possible, but at the end of the day I can only rec what I’ve read and enjoyed, so this will always be a subjective process (which I love! Imo rec lists are special and unique exactly because they are personal).

Back to the pattern discussion, I think seeing the same works mentioned on a regular basis reflect not only my own preferences but the ways it matches some emerging trends among the readers who follow me. Now the blog’s been around for a while and I don’t rec as much as I used to, it’s fair to assume that those who stick around have found in my blog similar tastes and fandom approach. In the last couple years I’ve noticed more requests around themes such as powerful Harry, competent Draco, bi and gay awakening, or fics where they take care of each other, bond over shared trauma and redeem or heal together. I think those reading trends are largely influenced by writing trends and vice-versa (especially in the Tumblr bubble!) so in a way we’re all collectively setting those trends and de-constructing or giving new meanings to old perspectives. That’s the true transformative power of fandom! Love that for us 🙌

#wow this got a bit too long #sorry for the rambling there #asks #hopefully I was able to answer it? #lovely anons #thank you! 💜

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: “Spark of Rebellion”

With the Ahsoka show coming up here in August, I have just enough time for a full refresher so, you know, I Might As Well.

This is going to be different from my normal liveblogs, obviously, less real-time reactions and more commentary and meta analysis, though you’ll probably still get some incoherent nerdery and feelings spew here and there.

All right, let’s get into it.

You know with the benefit of hindsight, Vader’s speech to the Grand Inquisitor here is actually a perfect encapsulation and summary of the premise of the show.

“Hey so the Jedi are dead and the Empire reigns but the Emperor is still worried about threats to his rule, so your job is to hunt down and kill anyone a little bit too Force Sensitive and also anyone Order 66 managed to miss.”

It’s an interesting choice of phrase too.

“The Children of the Force”

Emphasizes the villainy of our bad guys in that they’re hunting down literal children and also seems to suggest some kind of protectiveness from the Force here; these are its children, people born into its “family”, so to speak.

Anyway.

OKAY WAIT NO I NEED TO STOP BECAUSE I STILL CAN’T GET OVER HOW THIS SCENE IS PARALLELED IN THE FINALE.

SHOT FOR SHOT.  SHOT.  FOR.  SHOT.

The show opens with the “boy who was lost” and closes with the “girl who was broken”, Sabine’s move into more narrative prominence S3 onward was not a writing mistake, it was purposeful, it was deliberate, the show is their coming-of-age arc, they are co-protagonists, they are each other’s Most Important Person and have so much influence on each other’s character development and it’s reflected so perfectly in that seventy-something episodes later we’re going to see Sabine standing right here where Ezra’s standing now.

*sobs*

Okay I’m good.

Right here is also when we hear our first classic Star Wars leitmotif, as the Imperial March blares out with obnoxious brassy flair.

Followed almost immediately by the short excerpt of the Rebel Alliance theme that functions as our stinger.

(I’m going to be talking about the score A LOT this time around, better get used to it lol.)

Ugh, there was this one stupid post that was like, “What’s so bad about the Empire regulating commerce anyway?  Controlling food safety is a good thing!”  REGULATIONS ARE A TOOL OF THE STATE TO CONTROL ITS PEOPLE SHARON, you notice they harass this vendor specifically because he hasn’t asked permission from the oh-so-benevolent Empire to make a couple credits selling a single basket of fruit, as if that’s something the Empire needs to control, and when he dares to complain about it they immediately want to toss him in prison.  That’s the epitome of petty state authoritarianism.

This is also such a wonderful character establishing moment for Ezra, because as much as he says he’s only out for himself and doesn’t stick his neck out for people the very first thing we see him doing in the show is surreptitiously sticking up for this harassed vendor.

We learn three main things here: 1. He’s clever and agile, 2. He’s a street kid trying to survive, 3. He actually really does care about people.  All in less than a minute.  Very tight writing.

I love the sound effect they use to signify Force use.  It’s very pretty.

Aaaaand of course accompanying it, the quiet string prelude to the classic Force theme.  An immediate auditory clue cueing us into the fact that Ezra is also Force Sensitive.  So unconsciously, we’re already primed to expect that.

Snrk, I still love how casually Sabine tosses the grenade onto the speeder.

There’s a strechiness and elasticity to the character models here that I think they lose later, as the tone evens out into being more serious, but it’s very Disney-esque.

Actually hilarious and kind of fascinating that instead of stopping Ezra, Sabine lets him keep part of the shipment and have a fair shot at escaping.

She definitely sounds like she likes his gumption.

If no supposed to ship, why let Tiya say the line so playfully here?

Zeb’s resigned thumbs up always cracks me up.

It bears repeating but the animation?  Very Disney-esque.  The whole way characters move, their design, how they emote and express.

I was always particularly impressed by the hair.

Look at it.

It’s always shifting softly around Ezra’s face and blowing in the wind and reacting to his movement shafkjghkajh.

SO much better than early Clone Wars.

No, shut up, go back and watch those awkward early episodes.

The faces don’t emote.

Kanan’s fond little smile. :)  He already loves that kid so much.

Again with the animation being very 2D Disney hand-drawn inspired in the way Kanan sloughs his shoulders here replying to Hera.

Hgnnnglllll the little shine in Ezra’s irises shifts like it’s an anime sparkle, I love this animation I love it I love it your Clone Wars could never.

If no supposed to ship, literally why have this moment with the classic Sees Her In Sparklevision trope?  (Okay so I added the actual sparkles but still.)

Seriously Filoni.  “I think there’s an automatic instinct to ship them.”  WELL WITH THIS COMING DAY ONE EPISODE ONE WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?!

Hi Kallus!

Right so after this sequence where Ezra feels inexplicably guilty for not doing more to help the people of Tarkintown despite him literally only finding out they existed two minutes ago there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to love him.

I think my brain subconsciously recognized, “Oh, he has a Hero Complex.” annnnd yep, yep, that did it, he’s my son now.

Interestingly, this is also I believe the first time we hear Ezra’s leitmotif, which like Luke’s theme is primarily in brass but in a minor key, slower, more somber, more introspective, almost a thematic foil to the adventurous bold excitement of Luke’s theme.

Luke’s theme, AKA the Star Wars Main Title theme, by the way, is primarily used throughout Rebels to denote heroism.  Typically it comes in whenever we have a Gunship Rescue from the Ghost or some other kind of Big Damn Heroes moment.

Side note appreciating the animation again, the storyboarding and blocking is very cinematic.  The camera moves as it might on a modern Hollywood production instead of a weekly TV serial, which I think helps makes Rebels feel closer to the Original Trilogy.

And here the full Force theme breaks through. :)

Note: At this point, behind the scenes, Hera and Kanan have already discussed Ezra’s potential Force Sensitivity, and agreed to test him.  I am still sorely in need of fanfics that cover that conversation.  Just saying.

AGAIN.  WRITERS.  YOU NEED TO BE A LITTLE MORE AWARE OF JUST HOW SHIPPY THINGS COME ACROSS BETWEEN EZRA AND SABINE THIS FIRST EPISODE.

Like, there’s a reason why this conversation and footage is used in a million Sabezra amvs.

Ezra rubbing his hand on his neck, Sabine’s soft looks of concern at him, how warmly she finally reciprocates on telling him her name...

(Also notice how Ezra, empath that he is, immediately cottons onto the fact that Sabine considers the Ghost crew her family and discerns that something or other happened to her bio family.)

Gremlin child Ezra. <3

I’m sorry, I just noticed this:

What is that look, Sabine?  Lolol.

Hera going into Mom Mode immediately.  Her cheeky look back at Kanan, lol, she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Edgy TWC bros complained so much about the humor in early Season One and I say they have no taste, “rare hairless Wookie” is hilarious.

Part Twooooooooo!

For all his bluster and his devil may care facade, Ezra had that Jedi compassion and drive in him from the very start, I will hear NO slander otherwise.

Something in this escape sequence I absolutely love?  Ezra clinging to Zeb’s back.  Just the way he grabs Zeb’s legs and climbs him like a feral cat.  And Zeb does not appreciate it lol.

Oh hey, we’re at The Scene That Basically Sealed Ezra As Tari’s New Favorite Whump Target.

Yeah, protip to all showrunners, you put an emotionally vulnerable young male protagonist in mortal peril and you basically guarantee that I will obsess and fixate on them forever.

EVERY SINGLE FRAME OF THIS SHOT IS MORE HEARTBREAKING THAN THE LAST.

Hngl and you can hear him hyperventilating too ow my heart.

A brief excerpt of Ezra’s theme plays right here too, as if to compound Zeb’s guilt about the whole thing lol.

Like the score itself is saying, “HEY AREN’T YOU MISSING SOMEONE?!”

Sabine automatically assuming Zeb did something to Ezra. <3

Hera full-naming Zeb. <333333

A couple people pointed out before that Ezra flinches pretty noticably when Kallus reaches for him, and Kallus definitely marks that reaction with his eyes.  It’s such a quick little sequence but it’s fascinating in the layers it suggests.

I reiterate: The subtle facial animation is this show is fantastic.  The minute little emotions that you can pick up tell so much story.

Chopper voting with Hera to go back for Ezra. <333333333333333  The murder hobo does have a heart.

I love the little sideglance these troopers give each other after Ezra seals them in.  You can’t even see their faces but you know they’re chagrined all, “Oh.  Ohhhh we’re in so much trouble.”

And the joke is even followed up on when Kallus demands to know how Ezra escaped and this poor dude just has all the notes of, “This is the worst day of my life.” in his voice lololol.

I gotta gives props to Taylor Gray, he pulls off Ezra’s impersonations really well.

So how much do you want to bet Kallus had unfortunate flashbacks every time one of Sabine’s bombs threw him?

“I’m sure your parents must be worried sick.”  “I don’t have parents.”

*URGE TO ADOPT HIM INTENSIFIES*

(Also, same, Hera, same.)

Speaking of entire stories being told in the subtle expressions...

Tangenting here a little bit, I’ve seen more than one bad faith reading chiding Kanan and especially Hera for “manipulating Ezra into being a child soldier” and hnnghghghgkjgdksh could you guys have any worse comprehension?

Ezra’s fate, narratively and meta-textually speaking, was sealed the moment he volunteered the information about the Wookies and actively took part in their rescue.  He didn’t have to do any of that.  He could have stayed quiet.  He didn’t.  He could have made Hera drop him off first.  He didn’t.  He could have stayed on the ship the whole rescue.  He didn’t.  And yeah, some of the reason why is because Hera told him it was better to fight for others than only for himself, but also have you considered that Ezra maybe is just that selfless at heart?

(See above where his Establishing Character Moment was saving that fruit vendor.)

ANYWAY, if he hadn’t done any of that, Kallus would have never seen him leap far higher than he was supposed to be able to, and would never have marked him as a Force Sensitive, would never have alerted the Inquisitor to him and basically marked him as a target.

Any time the local Lothal garrison spotted him, their impetus would be his capture and/or extermination.  Ditto for when news eventually reached the Inquisitorius.

The safest place for him was absolutely staying with the Ghost (where he could be trained to protect himself) and they even gave him the choice about it.

To say that he was manipulated or guilted by Hera into following instincts that were already inside him denies Ezra his narrative agency; he chose to become a Rebel and fight against the Empire.  Hera might have awakened his heroism but it was Ezra who Answered The Call.

All right, tangent over.

Oh ho man, you can tell they went into this with zero plans to redeem Kallus.

I mean, I’m glad that it happened, I definitely enjoy that aspect of his character.  But there was noooooo groundwork laid for it in these early episodes lol.

Writers got halfway in and realized, “Shit, we like him.” and then had to scramble to come up with something, which, I mean... I relate.

Ah, here’s what I mean when I say Luke’s theme is used primarily as a shorthand for the element of heroism.

And for an example of what I’m talking about re: cinematic camera motion, there’s the bit right where the crew charges out of the cargo hold onto the platform on Kessel.  The camera is behind our subjects and instead of immediately cutting to an exterior shot (which would be perfectly acceptable), instead it sort of rolls out behind them, pushing down and forward with them, for a more dynamic shot.

Add several tracking shots after that, that basically follow specific characters, and with that simple cinema magic, the action sequence feels more frenetic and energized.

Gosh, Ezra was so tiny back in Season One.

I do like this cue right here, when the Imperial ship drops in, don’t know if it’s generic action filler or it becomes a leitmotif later, will have to pay attention I guess.

With context from A New Dawn, we know that Kanan has not ignited his lightsaber since Order 66, though he apparently came pretty close it in that book.  I just find it rather beautiful and poetic that the Force tells him it’s time right when he has a padawan to protect. :)

And this reveal is still excellently done, fine candidate for my personal No Context Signature Scene Test (that being a scene which, when shown in isolation, showcases off the best of a movie or show and entices watchers to check out the rest, it must do a good job of selling the work, essentially).

POV shot as Kanan stands up out of cover, cut to in front of him, the action music drops out and fades into the Force Theme and Kanan just kind of... casually walks through shots, leaning around them, the sound gets muted slightly, we get the gunslinger shot of the lightsaber pieces clicking together and then the Force Theme gets a bass drum flare to emphasize the moment.  Awed looks from everyone.  A triumphant musical cue.

Even Kallus is unnerved for a second lol.

And I love the verbal hesitation when he says, “Focus your fire on... on the Jedi.” like he can’t even believe he’s saying that.

Is it any wonder why I love the whole Rebellion Era Jedi aesthetic?  It does such a good job of encapsulating pure eucatastrophe, the sudden happy turn for good, a beacon of light and hope breaking through the darkness and despair.

The Wookies look at Kanan like a living legend has stepped out of the pages of their storybooks.

HNGH no one touch me.

And of course, Kanan stepping up immediately inspires Ezra to do the same, I love these two so much.

Wilhelm scream, lol.

See people, Kallus already associates Ezra with Kanan and has marked them as a master-padawan pair, there was no chance Ezra was going to just be able to keep his head down and live his life after this.

And again with the subtle expressions, there’s just a flash of sadness from Ezra here as he watches Kitwarr reunite with his dad, HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HOW UTTERLY EXPRESSIVE THE FACES ARE IN THIS SHOW?

I do kind of wonder what made Ezra decide to swipe Kanan’s lightsaber.

He had a thought to sell the holocron but honestly it seems like he wanted to keep the saber.  As a keepsake?  To use?

Honestly though I love it when writers have Force Sensitives just kind of compulsively drawn to Jedi artifacts and tools.  Like some part of them is called by the Force within the items.

There’s a really cute, almost shy way that Sabine ducks into her shoulders here.  I see it in amvs all the time but no one ever really talks about it.

I mean, along with Chopper’s sad little moan I think it’s meant to convey that they’re already fond of him and regret him having to leave.

Chopper loved Ezra from the beginning and only gave him grief because that’s how he shows affection change my mind.

Ezra does not take Zeb’s playful hit well, flinches like he did with Kallus.  Of course later he’d get used to it but right now Ezra definitely does not associate roughhousing with affection.

Ezra gets so timid in his body language here.

I... I would really love to know how Kanan got up the tower.  Where exactly is the turbolift in this thing?  Is it in Ezra’s room?  How’d Kanan sneak past?

I know we’re meant to believe Kanan is physically there and just Batmans in and out but honestly I don’t blame the people with the wild theory that Ezra’s having a vision of Kanan in this moment.

Speaking of Ezra’s timid body language, have you noticed how often he crosses his arms, in an insecure kind of self-protective fashion?  This all but goes away in the later seasons as he grows up.

Aaaaaand we hear a snatch of Leia’s theme as Obi-Wan’s message plays again, a little musical Call Forward to the princess’s iconic plea for help perhaps?

Interestingly it fades into a very understated version of Luke’s theme, without the full orchestral accompaniment, just a single trumpet and then some quiet strings playing the notes.

I’m going to have to pay attention but I’m tentatively hypothesizing that Leia’s theme will primarily represent the aspect of hope in the series, to accompany Luke’s representing the idea of heroism.

Hope and heroism, two classic archthemes of Star Wars, lol.

Maybe it’s fitting that Ezra’s theme kind of blends the feel of both of the twins’.

On a completely different note, nice to see composer Kiner keeping in the tradition of assigning the Ominous Latin Chorus to the villains, lol.

I like Grand’s theme, it’s reminiscent of the Emperor’s, all bass male voices and dark minor chords in the strings.

I warned y’all I was gonna be talking about the soundtrack a lot in these.

And that’s the pilot premiere down.  Some people said they found it hard to get into the series at first, but I was never one of them, the pilot had me hooked from the get go.  Granted it was my birthday and I was a bit, ah... sloshed at the time.

Still, there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to be into this show.  The classic Star Wars feel, the lovely animation, the fact that Ezra was basically exactly My Type... (Orphan, tragic backstory, Hero Complex, heartwarming relationship with (surrogate) father figure, this boy was ticking off boxes left and right lemme tell ya.)

Pilot still holds up.  Not every show’s first episode does but this one does.

This was a fun exercise.  I think I’m going to try to knock one of these out a day at a time until Ahsoka drops, maybe not as in-depth and rambly as this one, but we’ll see.

Until tomorrow then.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #sabezra #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #liveblog #rebels rewatch #music #soundtracks #tari has a type and apparently it is shonen #your clone wars could never #agent kallus

[violivs]

NMTDaily: VOX POPS

- Hi all! I’m going to be rewatching along with TCWs NMTDaily and making posts about each episode, or as many as I can (I might miss some, but I hope not!)

- I want to start by saying thank you again to The Candle Wasters for making my favorite thing. Just, the amount of joy and creative fulfillment and friendship and delight I’ve gotten from this show and this fandom is still unmatched. Thank you so much for making it and sharing it. The love and care and skill with which NMTD was made still shines through and I’m still so awed by it. I think I was probably somewhat overdramatic about my reactions to Lolilo in places where you, TCW, could see, on my main blog, and you didn’t deserve that. I really hope I didn’t send you any aggressive asks about it, or make you uncomfortable in any way. I’m a little afraid I did, but I don’t know for sure. If I did, I apologize. I’m older and more mature now, I promise. I hope you’re all doing so very well now!

- I didn’t realize until today that Project I: VOX POPS was posted first, before any other video in the series. I didn’t start watching NMTD until right around the time Benedick’s first Q&A video was posted, so I binged the first chunk of episodes around that time. It will be interesting to watch them at a slower pace this time!

- I am immediately overwhelmed with warm fuzzies at seeing these characters again. They’re such babies! I love them!

- I never made a post about this, but Ben’s first line being about how he shares a (differently spelled) name with a Pope is both a great first line for him on a character level since he starts as kind of a cocky overconfident asshole (a cover for his soft sensitive insides) AND it’s evidence for my theory that he’s probably Catholic, but lapsed/non-practicing/maybe agnostic or atheist solely because I WILL keep projecting parts of me onto this character, it’s just what I do at this point. Other evidence: he has a confirmation name. We don’t get his full name til Lolilo, but still. And he’s partly Scottish, which can account for the fact that English people usually are not Catholic.

- “you need to imitate an eagle, that’ll scare them away!” That’s Ben’s second line and first bird reference! Already! Wow.

- The favorite band question! Mumford and Sons! Fife and the Drums! Sheep Dog and Wolf! The LORE! The REFERENCES! We’re already off to the races.

- “I don’t need chat-up lines” Beatrice I love you , and you have no idea what’s coming.

- I forgot about Beatrice’s Favorite T-Shirts Ranking System lol

- Extremely funny that Ben says bananas are his favorite food and then he goes on to become synonymous with mangoes instead. Sorry, buddy, you will always be Mango Skin Boy to us. xD

- I forgot how delightful Dogberry and Verges are in this episode

- “that you would leave me” oh Meg. Oh honey. Oh no.

- I’ve seen nine seasons of Doctor Who and only five episodes of Game of Thrones since 2014. Sorry Bea, I side with Ben on this one. And I’ve seen one season of Community. I’m slowly hacking away at the list of media referenced in nmtd that I need to watch!

- love it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, it will set you free! ❤️

- Balthazar plays every instrument, of course.

- Bea must not have an ear for music if she hated that question enough to force Ursula on-camera so she doesn’t have to answer it… Unless Ursula asked her something else she didn’t want to answer! Lol

- Ben makes me cringe so hard a couple times this episode. And yet I still love him. To be fair, that’s just every Benedick at the start of Much Ado, though. The cringy lines are completely in character.

- I decided to save the full story of how I discovered NMTD for whenever the NMTDaily email for Ben’s first Q&A episode goes out, because then it will actually be ten years almost to the day since I started watching. But I’m so impatient and excited to tell the story!

- It’s amazing how back then, these kids were my contemporaries and the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast felt impossibly old compared to me. Now the NMTD kids are babies and I’m older than Lizzie Bennet! Trippy. It sure has been a nice ten years.

Until the next one! Happy NMTD Day, fellow flamangoes!

💖🥭🦩

#nmtd #nothing much to do #NMTDaily #webseries #violivs NMTDaily liveblog

[mopillow]

He Cheng Week Day 3

I have sad news, chances are He Tian is going to leave soon, it could take a whole year but is closer than before, the thing is that if there’s no He Tian what are the chances that we would get He Cheng in any more chapters??? Do you understand? There’s a chance that there would be no more He Cheng in the near future and I’m not ready, I’ll never be ready and there’s not enough alcohol in my house to help me, kids don’t drink I have issues it’s too late for me but you guys still have a chance in this life, the thing is that we’re gonna lose this

I’m going to need support for that day, to be fair OX gave us enough time to get ready and HC has been giving HT enough chances to say goodbye but as far as I know HT hasn’t told shit to Mo

This doesn’t count, even if Mo suspects something HT need to talk to him, they have been running since 2021, at the very least they have been together for more than 2 weeks since She Li’s Inferno, I just want for them to have a proper goodbye since I won’t be able to say goodbye to He Cheng, fuck my life, fuck everything, I’ll take this opportunity to say that at no point this sad episode is going to be He Cheng’s fault, he has done all he can to give HT time to talk face to face with Mo, so far he hasn’t force HT to come back home although he has enough subordinates to do so, he gave the phone to HT knowing perfectly well that it was a trap, He Cheng has been understanding with his baby brother but time is running out and if HT doesn’t hurry tf up he won’t have any more chances, please be kind to my beloved when the time comes and if you guys don’t hear from me after he goes away chances are I’ll be on a ditch somewhere, can’t promise I’ll comeback if he isn’t with us, my besties Mr. Cuervo and Jack are here with me and we’re about to have a threesome were thinking about inviting Julio but I need to go get the ladder for him and I’m not sure I can get on top of it, you know what? Fuck it… I have lived enough

#19 days #He Cheng week2023

[catchyhuh]

i bet you were insufferable as a child

and since we know this about lupin and jigen for a fact we’re actually just gonna focus on the other three for now! yippee!! the "tms forgot i exist" special lineup!

fujiko:

i know she was a weird girl. i KNOW this bitch had a gigantic bookshelf filled with all the standard cute, girly beginner chapter books, but also those big fucking scholastic book fair pretend spy kits and shit. i don’t think she was ever the “play in the dirt and come home covered in grass stains and mud” type of kid, mostly because it just felt gross to her, but i DO think she was completely unhinged in an indoors sense. the kind of child who just starts talking your ear off acting like they know everything there is to know about frogs because they read one book so OBVIOUSLY they know ALL about FROGS!! 

absolutely adored those cheap horrible nail polish sets where the brush is the size of a q-tip swab. she also chewed on her nails though, so imagine the standard tiny hand with thin, watery, glittery purple polish on just the roundest, bluntest nails possible. that same hand is also thinking really hard about how to best pocket your coin purse though so like,

i think she had siblings. she was in the perfect spot where she wasn’t in the league with the older, more achieved kids, but wasn’t young enough to be babied and spoiled like the little ones. which takes quite a strange toll on you growing up. it’s why her demeanor now tends to go between taking advantage of the fact a lot of people don’t expect anything from her, to “why are you ignoring me?! what’s that about!!”

fujiko def developed her evil selfgaining tendencies before she even left the fifth grade. if you think she’s difficult to bargain with NOW, imagine what she was like in middle school when [pogs/pokemon cards/silly bandz/insert era appropriate cafeteria currency here] was big. she went through the school system curating personal black markets. it would be impressive if she wasn’t so terrifyingly cutthroat about it

in the nicest way possible, if the stars had aligned, and by some miracle all five of them were the same exact age and met in kindergarten, she… would not have been friends with any of them. well, partially. there’s a very sharp gender divide when you’re first starting school, so i think she kind of “made friends” with nice enough girls, but she absolutely thought lupin was obnoxious, she thought goemon didn’t like her because he rarely spoke to her, jigen thought it was hilarious to antagonize her, and zenigata was just kind of whatever, like he wasn’t a jerk, but he wasn’t exceedingly nice. like he gave her a colored pencil to borrow and that was the extent of that. at best, if goemon was forced to really socialize, she and goemon would get along well enough, but that’s also because she’s bossy as HELL and goemon just goes along with whatever, even now, so ESPECIALLY back when he was an impressionable child!

goemon:

god. you know the kid that sits on the edge of the playground that the teachers all go “aw, bless his heart. just a little old soul.” poor baby goemon

i don’t really think there was as much pressure on goemon to live up to his legacy the way there was for lupin. i’ve mentioned it before, but goemon’s relationship with the original goemon is very different from lup’s relationship with his grandpa, or even dad, and it’s not just because of the time gap. goemon CHOSE to emulate his nakesake’s abilities and talents, where lupin kind of had no choice. and because of this, goemon’s transition into his current lifestyle was much more gradual. i’d say he probably only started making an effort to BE “goemonlike” when he reached his mid-to-late teens. i know hes like 17 in the og manga so if any of this contradicts that Shh no it doesn’t

his quietness wasn’t entirely the result of being shy either. he just didn’t really know what to say at most points? he was (and still is) pretty blunt, and realized pretty quickly and very naturally that people outside of his immediate family didn’t know what to make of him when he answered rhetorical questions completely honestly and sincerely. so he kinda just. retreated inward a bit. he started to get a bit more talkative as he grew, but then he committed to his training and learned the importance of “meaning every word you say” so then he started getting quiet AGAIN

you would think he would be the easiest kid to look after. uh no. even in a pre-slashy slashy era he’s very naturally destructive, which is insane given how tenderly he treats certain stuff within the house. you go “ok goemon this is my dog’s favorite food bowl. it belonged to HER mom so that’s very old for dogs.” and he gives you this exceedingly serious nod and uses both hands to slowly set it down on the ground for the dog to eat out of. but then you go “goemon is that your great great great grandfather’s handmade teapot?” and he goes “is it?” and just in the process of him setting it on the counter it has shattered in two. little man is devastated but hey nobody was drinking out of that thing anyway so just krazy glue that fucker and the tears will subside

zenigata:

is there anything at all funnier than an angry 6yo. yeah. an angry 2yo. and even funnier than that, an angry infant. he didn’t even have anything to actually be pissed about, that’s just naturally how his eyebrows sit and HAVE been his entire life. i would give up my pinky just to see even a glimpse of the absolute comedy jackpot known as his baby pictures

not a revolutionary take by any means but he was definitely the “YOU CAN’T DO THAT WE’RE GONNA GET IN TROUBLE!!” kid. however he was absolutely not even REMOTELY the “didn’t we have homework?” kid because you know damn well he never remembered to do that shit. unless he knew a kid he didn’t like ALSO didn’t do the homework, then yeah, he’d absolutely go down with the ship just to get back at the little bastard. 

in that same vein he would absolutely be the easiest to babysit. “but his demeanor--” shh you are thinking too far ahead. this guy has no obligations. this guy has personal beef with like two random kids in his neighborhood. he has yet to grow a taste for calling superiors idiots who don’t know what they’re talking about. so as long as you actually tell him in plain terms “please do x” or “don’t do y because z” he’ll be fine. you tell this kid to set the table and he’s tripping over his feet putting the spoons and forks in the wrong places. also you’re just having chicken nuggets so i don’t even know why he did that. he didn’t grab plates.

do not mistake the above for him being a “good” kid because this just means he was unfortunately one of those horrible kids who are very polite in front of certain people and absolute monsters in front of those he doesn’t like. does that sound contradictory to the above bullet points? that’s just how children are. he was not a bully at any point in his life but he was so extreme with his ANTI bullying shit that he ended up in the principal’s office just as much, covered in bruises and star wars bandaids. all throughout his school years. he was still doing this shit in high school he’d overhear somebody being a douchebag and just push them off the bleachers. let ‘em fall 10 feet it builds character.

#i had 6 baby cousins growing up baby neighbors and work with children TRUST me bro i KNOW this stuff #lupin iii #lupin the third #fujiko #goemon #zenigata #sorry for midnight posting btw i was exhausted after halloweening and only started my day at like 5 pm! oopsie!

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

Speaking of the little vitas, do you think vita actually cares about them or is she just treating them well on a whim?

I think it’s complicated.

I think she started out caring about them very much (though probably out of loneliness rather than as genuine parental or filial love) but grew bitter over time because

(spoilers from ch41)

the kids died and were recreated nine times already— she complains about raising them being repetitive in chapter 40, if she had to start over each time, no fucking wonder.

Additionally, she’s their big sister, and they’re copies of her in a similar way to herself being copies of Sa, so they’re clearly related— but considering that Phosphorus is Sa’s creation that gets destroyed and remade on a whim (the reason the children have died repeatedly) she probably didn’t choose to raise them at all, she calls it part of her job in chapter 40 and Hua points out that detail specifically.

So like… imagine being a big sister but you get forced to raise your seven little siblings alone, as part of the job you’re desperately trying to escape. And then once they’ve finally grown up enough that they don’t need you, you leave, visiting occasionally and bringing back souvenirs, and one day your mom tells you ah yeah something went wrong we’re starting over. They all died. Here they are again.

And no matter how many times this happens, the kids haven’t changed, haven’t grown, haven’t matured more than they had before, they’re no closer to giving YOU emotional support despite how alone you are or the grief their death puts you through.

She seems annoyed about how naive they are, how they’re good little kids who have no fucking clue what she’s going through or what the world outside is actually like, what Sa is like… But they’re just innocent and ignorant little children, it’s not their fault.

Who wouldn’t be bitter, really?

Additionally, in chapter 40 she reveals that while raising them, she was questioning whether her own rotten personality was similar to Sa’s due to nature or nurture. Was it inevitable with how she was made or just her?

She tried to find answers through the little Vita’s, and they’re good kids. I don’t think it’s much of a leap to think that she deeply resents being alone with that struggle too, how the children are effortlessly selfless and hard-working and kind, while she turned out to be a selfish villain.

Of course, it’s not fair for any of them. The children were raised in and live in a peaceful city where one of their greatest trouble lately was finding shelter for stray animals. Their job is a much more peaceful one, they don’t need to be liars, thieves or murderers. Vita’s entire life, she’s been keenly aware that she’s a slave of a maniac, forced to perform a cruel job she has grown completely numb to, and that life has been somewhere around 250 millions years (not counting the unknown amount of time she spent forced to sleep, but even if she slept 99% of the time, she still beats Hua’s lifespan multiple times over!)

Sure, she could have decided her job is too horrible and tried to kill herself instead of other people, but you can’t resent her for preferring to put up with it and hope for herself. Being selfish and detached from the interests of others was probably the only way she could stay sane throughout, and she’s a person who has a burning desire to live, a product of her circumstances with the simple wish to one day be free. Compared to the kids joyfully giving their all to their line of duty… yikes.

And even then! Vita found wiggle room in her life by avoiding Sa’s gaze and staying lowkey as much as possible, but she still never had much of a choice when push came to shove— her odd behavior in chapter 39, where she confirms multiple times that her friendship was sincere and she would’ve rather spent more time with the Salt Snow gang while also having no moral issues killing them, is a good example of this dissonance. At the end of the day, even when she comes to care, she can’t be a hero and put other people’s lives before her own, because she wants to live more than anything else… which leads me to my next point:

In chapter 41 she seems to deeply resent that the children care more about Phosphorus than their own lives, she becomes especially curt towards them when Blue mentions that they have to be ready to sacrifice themselves (though it’s not clear to the player that’s what he means at that point, that’s what he’s implying, and she doesn’t like it).

But of course they couldn’t understand why she would want them to prioritize staying alive. Their duty is the meaning of their life. They don’t know what that would mean for her and her own job, if she acted the same.

So she’s angry with them, and takes it out on them. Yeah, Vita is mean to the kids and bullies them a little bit, lies to them. In one of the secret scenes from chapter 40 she jokes about taking Orange with her on her travels— it’s one of many instances where the children and her are having very different conversations.

For the children, it sounds like it’s favoritism, but also taking Orange far away from them and their home, which is why they do not like it.

For Vita, it’s most likely a threat to break Orange with the horrible reality of her job because she’s way too kind. She’s also well aware that the kids would hate to be separated and makes fun of Green for being dependent on Orange.

You may end up thinking she doesn’t care at all because of how she takes out her frustration on them… but as Moriarty later points out, she still showed up when they were in danger. Her mood worsens when the topic of them dying again comes up. Finally, we know from Salt Snow that Vita is a sensitive person who can get attached easily, she’s just prone to ignoring her attachments because of her job—

All signs point towards Vita caring for the children on some level, even if she’s deeply bitter towards them. I doubt she’d do anything heroic to rescue them. I’m pretty sure the museum scene in chapter 40 is meant to imply she was planning to abandon them without looking back if she could free herself.

She still feels something if they’re going to die. Anger, if they let themselves die, even for a good cause.

It’s complicated.

#honkai impact #hi3 #asks #honkai spoilers #vita

[bil-daddy]

Heard that we could spill the tea abt our love life, so here’s mine:

There’s this girl who I sit next to in maths, and she used to have a crush on me, like she was ABSOLUTELY WHIPPED. Everyone around us was teasing her for having a crush and I was still oblivious.

So it turns out I’m lesbian and have a crush on her too! But she’s been out of school for a while, and when she comes back, she says she’s straight. Rumours are that she was sent to conversion therapy. So I confess to her one day, and she tells me that I’m being “sinful” and all that stuff. So she tells everyone and now I’ve been outed. Her friends constantly harass me about it and she goes along. I don’t think we’re friends anymore, but I still really like her. so yeah

Hi, anon. Sorry that this is happening. To you, and to your crush.

Conversion therapy is abusive and traumatic, and even if she wasn't actually sent there and that was just a rumour, it sounds like her family isn't accepting of her sexuality and is forcing her to deny it. You confessing your feelings to her made her feelings for you more difficult to deny, and so now she's taking it out on you.

It's not right, it's not fair, and it's not your job to tolerate it just because you like her and she likes you. This isn't a healthy situation for either of you, and whatever she's going through--and it seems like she's going through a lot--it doesn't give her an excuse to out you or to start a harassment campaign against you with her friends.

It has to stop.

Now, I'm not going to suggest you tell the bullies to stop or to just ignore them. That never works. Some kind of action will have to be taken to get them to stop.

You know your school and the region you live in better than I do. Would going to the school administration help end the bullying without getting your friend in any more trouble with her parents? Or will going to the adults just make it worse?

Do you have a friend group of your own that can stand up to the harassers? They might back off if it's not all of them against one of you, but rather all of them versus you and all your friends.

How big is the school? Is it big enough to just avoid your crush and her friends? Are they seeking you out deliberately? Or does it just occur when they happen to see you around?

If you have access to your phone, try to get a recording of what they are doing. They might stop just to avoid being the next homophobic karens going viral. Not to mention future employers and universities probably don't want the bad publicity of hiring or admitting people like that. Plus, you'll want to have the evidence in case you do need to go to the school authorities.

At this point, though, I'd advise against trying to talk to your crush directly, online or in person, and avoid being alone with her.

There's nothing you can do to help her right now. As long as she's living with her parents, she will have to deny her sexuality. It's sad, cruel even, but it's the reality. For her own safety, she will have to hide who she is until she can get out.

And for your own safety, you will have to stay away from her.

Years from now, she might reach out to you and apologize for everything that happened. And then you can decide if you want to forgive her, be friends again, maybe even more. But right now, you can't be with her. I'm sorry.

Your crush won't instantly go away. It'll take some time to get over. But focus on getting the harassment to stop, so you can then focus on living your life without this hanging over your head. It won't be easy, but I know you can do it.

Take this ox rib (platonic) for strength. Good luck, kid (human)

And if anyone who's gone through something similar wants to chime in with their own advice and experience, please do (platonic)

#bildaddy answers (eventually) #life advice from bildaddy (results may vary) #bildad the shuhite #bildad nation #bildad brainrot #bildad the shuhite army #oh bildad we're really in it now #oh bildad the shuhite we're really in it now #have an ox rib (platonic) #bildaddy answers #bildaddy #bildad the shuite #bildad my beloved #bildad #shuhite sunday #bilday

[archer-kacey]

Joey Drew is Gay and there's no way around it (Pt 1)

I want to immediately preface this by saying I never want to assume that a character is gay, straight, bi, etc. Usually the creator will confirm this type of thing, or it will end up being confirmed or implied later down the line. Joey, however, has something unique in comparison to the rest of the cast- we have his autobiography. This paired with information found in the games themselves and additional novels already give us a pretty big library of information to draw from. We have most of his life story given to us on a silver platter, and in my opinion, the non-heteronormativity speaks for itself.

Let's start with Dark Revival, because it's an easy starting point to offshoot from.

Memory Joey tells Audrey this: for Joey Drew, a family was something he always wanted, but could never have. For most people, this probably translates as Joey being too absorbed in his work, himself, and the studio to raise a family. While Joey did have a big ego and undoubtedly had his hands full, I struggle to believe that this would prevent him outright from even trying.

First off, if Joey's end goal was "a family," then there are a million questions that immediately come up. What kind of "family" was Joey striving for? Dark Revival seems to at least confirm that he wanted a child of his own, and to be fair, solely having Audrey seemed to complete him.

When Joey was alive, there were some pretty easy ways to accomplish having a family. One would be the heterosexual route, marrying a woman and having a child, and arguably this would be the easiest. He could have also adopted, especially if he was Ace, or if there was a possibility he was just an infertile man.

Here's the thing, though- he didn't do either of those.

Now, I fully understand that if Joey were a mouse stuck in a maze, he would take the longest possible route to get to the cheese. He's a bit stubborn and childish, and developed his god complex faster than a Polaroid camera photo. BUT, his two brain cells kick in whenever there's something he truly wants.

Joey doesn't operate on brute force. He outsources absolutely everything. He'll wrap up an entire web of people into doing his dirty work, but he himself wants to take the path of least resistance. So, when dealing with a personal matter that can be very easily tended to...why the hell ignore the entire thing? Having a kid would have worked pretty smoothly with his self-interests.

The way Joey goes about actually "having" kids is very strange. Firstly, there's Bendy, born via Ink Machine. Secondly, there's Audrey, also born via Ink Machine.

Hey Joey, quick question...why are all your kids birthed via giant metal box?

Oh, I'm not kidding about Bendy being Joey's child, either.

In Illusion of Living, Joey states that he views Bendy as his son, and this is specified to not be a hyperbolic statement. Nathan also volunteers the information that Joey felt the same way about Bendy as he did about his own son (Nathan Jr.) Joey also describes Bendy as his muse and his messenger. Joey's philosophy, The Illusion of Living, is the belief that fiction and reality are the same thing, which feeds into a heavy insistence that Bendy is real, and he scoffs at the idea that people would dare think he isn't.

Illusion of Living was released in 1942. So, starting in at least 1942 (though I suspect earlier,) Joey was very protective of the image of this character, and convinced himself that this creation was his own son.

In short, he was already attempting to fill a childless void with a fictional substitute.

However, the sad fact is that Bendy was ultimately a filler child that still couldn't satisfy him. But when Audrey came into being, that was it. Joey wanted a human child, and Audrey was the closest thing to that, hence why she was his last attempt. So he settled down and raised her until his passing.

But we’re not done talking about Bendy yet. Joey's intense connection to Bendy has far-reaching implications.

PART 2>>

#there will be multiple parts to this by the way. I don't sit around and read Illusion of Living for nothing #I like Joeysplaining and I want to finally force you guys to look at it too #joey drew #joey drew is gay #archer writes

[destinyc1020]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and offer such a detailed response.

The reason why I am alarmed at her answer goes back to the industry that she is apart of. Acting does not afford you the time to figure things out like a normal 27 year old, especially at the current level she is at. If you don't know what makes you happy and how to live life on your own terms early in that industry, you run the risk of being taken advantage of or being pulled in too many directions. This is what happened to Jennifer Lawrence

"I think that I was people-pleasing for the majority of my life. Working made me feel like nobody could be mad at me: ‘Okay, I said yes, we’re doing it. Nobody’s mad.’ And then I felt like I reached a point where people were not pleased just by my existence. So that kind of shook me out of thinking that work or your career can bring any kind of peace to your soul.. . I didn’t have a life. I thought I should go get one.” Vanity Fair

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/11/jennifer-lawrence-on-love-fame-boundaries-and-dont-look-up

Zendaya is not a robot and this is what can happen when you go from job to job with no breaks. You can lose track of who you are and what makes you happy. I am glad that the strike happened last year because it forced her to stop and examine her life. Just based on her responses she is still figuring things out. Some good things I see happening, is Zendaya limiting her time on social media and removing all her followers, thereby reducing the noise in her life. Personally if she took another long break after these promo tours to really figure things out even better.

Yea Anon, I think this happens to a LOT of ppl (people-pleasing).... Especially for us as women, and not just in the ET industry either. I know I've been a victim of this mentality as well (people-pleasing), but the older you get, the less you stop giving a crap about what other ppl think about you or trying to please everybody.

I'm not surprised that Jennifer and Zendaya have felt this way. Like I said, when you've been acting since you were a KID (or even just as a young adult), like Florence said, you don't realize the amount of power you really actually have. You're told certain things, and sometimes you keep quiet so as to not ruffle feathers.

It's not uncommon (even for those of us NOT in the ET industry) to not really know what we want to do in life, or if we want to continue in a certain profession. That's not abnormal at all! And a lot of times, what you wanted at one stage of your life might not be what you want in another older stage of your life. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I recall Zendaya saying in an interview that when the pandemic hit, it was a difficult time for her because it really forced her to think about WHO she really was without work. Like, when you've been working for SO long like she has, you can kinda forget or lose touch with who you are and what your self worth is outside of work, because you've been linking the two to your self identity for SO long. 😔

I don't think that's weird at all. It can happen! So I'm glad that's she's learning more and more about herself as the years go by. 😊

BTW, just wanted to correct you: Zendaya didn't remove her followers, she just UNFOLLOWED those who SHE was following.