#his stressed “thank goodness he's gone” sigh 💔

[onestepbackwards]

I just saw you write for Guzma and it says your askbox is open so I’m giving this a try cause there’s so little love for him💔 may I please request just Guzmas partner giving him alllllll the love (hugs and kisses and cuddles?) it can be written any way you want❤️

Sure thing Anon! Guzma deserves a lot of love (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) Finished this as soon as I finished work! I hope you enjoy! Summary: Your boyfriend has had a rough few days as of late. Being the good partner you are, you decide to surprise him with breakfast in bed! CW: None, just fluff Word Count: 605 words It was early in the morning when you arrived at the former Team Skull base. You had woken up early today in order to surprise your boyfriend. Guzma, the leader of Team Skull, had been going through a rough patch lately. He had been in a bad mood the past few days, something about someone messing with some of the grunts on one of the other islands. He was still kind to you, but it was easy to tell it still had been bothering him. So, you got up early this morning, and made some breakfast, a little bit of everything he enjoyed. You saw how hard he had been working on his act lately, especially after the team disbanded. You felt he deserved a break, and a bit of a treat. It hadn’t taken long to arrive at the small mansion the team still used, and when you arrived, it was mostly quiet. Usually the area had a few grunts hanging around, but you supposed it was too early for anyone to be in the area. As you maneuvered your way throughout the building, you caught a glimpse of Plumeria, who gave you a small wave as you headed to Guzma’s room. When you arrived, you quietly opened the door, and closed it behind you, and held back a laugh. Guzma was sprawled out on his bed, in a tank top and some boxers, with his legs tangled up in his sheets. Cute. Gently, you sat the box of food down, and began to shake him awake. “Guzma. Guzmaaaa. Come on sweetheart, I have a surprise for you.” Guzma began to stir with a sleepy groan, and rolled over towards you. He opened one of his eyes, and sighed. “Babe… What are you doing here?” He asked with a yawn, before sleepily reaching out to you. You reached down and gave him a hug, laughing when he pulled you down next to him on the bed. He pulled you close, and put his head in the crook of your neck. “...Too early. Sleep.” He mumbled, and held you tighter. You laughed again, before trying to wiggle out of his grip. “And miss out on the homemade breakfast I made just for you?” you teased. Guzma immediately sat up. “Wait- shit- you made breakfast!?” he asked, immediately looking around the room. You sat up as well and pointed to the box on the side table. He lunged for the box, and let out a whoop of joy when he saw his favorite inside. Putting the box to the side, he tackled you into a hug. You hugged him back, and he held you close. “What’d big bad ol’ me do to deserve breakfast in bed?” he asked, turning to hold you to his chest while he reached for the box. “You seemed stressed. I wanted you to wake up happy!” You told him, giving him a smile. Guzma then leaned in, and kissed your cheek, before digging it. “I’ve got to be the luckiest guy in Alola. Homemade breakfast in bed, and I get to see your cute face? I can die happy.” Guzma said between mouthfuls. You giggled, before gently relaxing into his arms. After a few moments, Guzma set the food aside, and gently grabbed your chin. “Hey. Thanks for doing this for me. I really appreciate it.” he told you, his voice having gone soft, with a tender look in his eyes. You smiled at him, and pecked him on the lips. “It’s no problem! I did it because I love you.” Guzma pecked your lips back. “I love you too, Babe.”

#pokemon #guzma x reader #pokemon x reader #guzma #pokemon guzma #team skull guzma #team skull #pokemon imagines #reader insert #x reader #long post #ask #request #anonymous #zed.writes

[pebblysand]

[THOUGHTS ON PEAKY BLINDERS, EPISODE 5 - SERIES 6, “THE ROAD TO HELL”]

sorry, i’m late. i suppose i have a life outside of fandom (*sigh*).

overall, i absolutely adored this episode. i think it’s the first this series where i was like “oh god, oh god, oh god,” 😱 in literally every scene and could not believe an hour had already gone by when the credits rolled. i know loads of people didn’t like it but to me, it felt like a fantastic blend of old school peaky blinders (the opening scene, all of the throwbacks, etc.) but staying true to the tone and darkness of this season. i just cannot expressed how much i loved it.

now, here are some more precise thoughts in no particular order, just as i’ve had them. obviously, spoilers ahead. if you missed my recaps of the previous episodes, see ep1, ep2, ep 3, and ep 4.

first, i cannot stress enough how much i looooooved the intro sequence. the classic peaky walk, the music. back to the roots, are we? i love how, strangely, the fact that he’s dying seems to have brought tommy some peace and calm, this episode. he doesn’t really give any fucks anymore - it really reminded me of that quote after john’s funeral “everything afterwards was a bonus”. this is clearly his bonus - you can tell he’s enjoying himself in that scene with the chinese and i loved it.

also i loved how the scene was sort of a parallel to s2: when he's at aflie's and he pretends he’s ready to blow himself up. now, he’d totally do it 😆.

“by order of the birmingham district council” is possibly the quote of this series. there, i’ve said it. 😆

ada, my queen. i’d be furious as well if tommy had dragged me out of bed for this. ada and i are not morning people, she’s my spirit animal i swear.

finn is married 🎉🎉 congrats finn! double-congrats that the show remembered you existed lol.

this whole scene with duke being introduced was so cringe. bar for tommy, no one in this scene wants to be there. also, is it me or did duke sort of sounded like michael? like in tone and speech? and, god, i feel so bad for lizzie.

loved the little duke&arthur bonding moment, though.

linda is hustling. good for you linda. i respect it.

that whole scene in the church, though, knowing that tommy is dying. i just 💔. i like that linda thinks she’s doing him a favour when actually, he just wants to 1) protect arthur but 2), also buy himself a conscience. i’ve had this conversation with @uncontainedhybrid before but i really like how the show goes about showing that very catholic tendency to give money to the church/good causes to literally pay for your sins, and also the very obvious limits of that.

as the guys from the peaky blinders podcast pointed out, that lad in the liverpool warehouse is in the wrong trade and should charge for being the shelby men’s therapist.

“is that why you do it? for people to say thank you?” this. whole. scene. just - so many feels. i really don’t know who’s right. is it love and validation that tommy is really looking for? it is very likely. he’s the second born, the one who parents usually don’t care about, and tbh, they never really did seem to have parents to begin with. there's always been the almost pathological desire to prove himself, wanting more, showing that he was worth more than people were giving him credit for. it was outlined in that scene with jessie eden when he told the story about the coconut and the top hat and you do wonder if deep down, that was all he wanted. just nice things ("i still want things that feel nice") and a bit of recognition. for people to notice him, say thank you. there’s definitely been a recurring theme in the later seasons of the show (and specifically this one) of “what was it all for?” it reminds me of that scene in s1 when polly is praying for the boys ahead of the battle with kimber and she says: "he does what he does for us. i think."

this being said, when tommy counters “feel it? junk doesn’t even come close -” i’m pretty sure he’s lying to himself there. i don’t think it ever really was just power and control that he was after. there's definitely more to it than that.

on another note, i don’t know man that scene with the referee stressed me out. i’m glad it’s over.

additionally, huge congratulations to tommy for finally having sex with his wife, rather than literally anybody else 🙃. jokes aside, there’s obviously a lot to be said about this scene, so let me unpack:

+ first, i couldn’t help but think back to that scene last season, the infamous “lizzie/tommy ground rules” scene, where lizzie made him promise: “and this, always,” and the contrast between then and now just broke my heart 💔. obviously, their relationship has always been very much based on sex (“in my head i’m still paying for it,”) but when lizzie said: “there was a time we said nothing afterwards, because we didn’t need to say anything. now, we don’t have anything to say,” i just. 🥺. and i also wonder, is that entirely true, though? because when we first started seeing him having sex with her, he was just paying her and leaving. then, it was like "there's not much talking when you're bent over a desk" from s3. and, let's not forget that the day they conceived ruby, he was "fucking someone else inside [his] head." i love lizzie, but she is romanticising their story quite a bit, there. and, as i've said before, i love the two of them as characters but their marriage just hurts. i hurt for the both of them.

+ i think the “list of regrets” exchange also just felt like a continuation of those vibes. obviously, what we will probably all remember from that scene is tommy saying “i love you,” which doesn’t happen often (did he ever actually say it to grace?), and honestly, it really got me in the feels. i think he truly meant it. and, i’ve said it before but i think there’s a lot of love between him and lizzie, it’s just probably not romantic love, or at least not romantic love like it’s generally pictured. i wrote this quote in a non-peaky fic a few weeks ago, but it really is what comes to mind, here: ‘They certainly loved, but perhaps, not the way they should have.’ it’s like they love each other, but they’re not “in love.” they married because of ruby, because of happenstance and tommy wanting to do things right and perhaps, that was his downfall.

+ and, i’m surprising myself by talking past tense here, but isn’t it really what this scene felt like? just their goodbyes. tommy knowing he is dying and will have to do things that will drive lizzie away (perhaps he wants to drive her away before he becomes a burden, doesn’t want her to see him lose his mind), and her also knowing that she won’t be able to last much longer. just completely heartbreaking.

+ as a side note, i think it's very interesting that tommy seems to consider just letting the illness take him. i said it last week but the way they have chosen him to go is probably The Worst Possible Option for someone who values his own brain and intelligence as much as tommy. he's literally losing the one thing that's made him who he is. and i would have thought that that would be very much a reason for him to commit suicide in the end, because he wouldn't want to see himself basically "become a vegetable". and i find it interesting that he just seems to go with it, talking to lizzie about "what's to come" etc. i suppose he could be referring to his death, but it doesn't sound like it ("you'll need people who love you very much") and i find it interesting that he doesn't seem to consider suicide for the very natural option it is.

+ lastly, i really loved the camera work in this scene, the way it moved almost like it was “sea sick,” which obviously reflects tommy’s symptoms.

on another note, we got confirmation billy was the snitch. a very disappointing development, a very obvious one. i stay convinced that this was supposed to be a red herring prior to helen mccrory’s death and became the real thing once she did die and they didn’t want to bother with last year's black cat plot anymore. a real shame cause i truly loved that plot and considering it was the Main Plot in s5, i really feel like even with polly dying, the idea that tommy wouldn't have hunted down a snitch and risked keeping him within his organisation is So Unlikely.

that whole scene with billy and jack nelson, though. i mean, is it bad that i loved it? 😬😬

i will also include this direct quote from my notes: “omg arthur and linda. i’ve missed this trainwreck.” haven’t we all?

whilst i did say last week i would scream if duke really turned out to be tommy’s son, i am not actually screaming anymore. i kind of like duke. i like that he’s ambitious and very tommy-like, but also very different. “this boy has hills to climb,” and “people piss me off,” cracked me up. i also think this is meant to highlight that there is no "heir" for tommy, but for michael.

aside from the obvious 🤢 of tommy/diana, i wanted to take note of something. when she tells him “it’s much harder to lie with your body than your words,” he says: “this, i have learnt.” first, when did he learn that? when was this ever a thing? but also, interestingly, it is the exact same turn of phrase that when jessie eden (i think?) points out to him in s4 that no amount of money or power can get you to transcend class and he sort of snorts and says: “this i have learnt.” i’m not sure what to make of it but i doubt it’s unintentional.

other than that, directly taken from my notes: “omggg he slept with her 😭😭😫😫😫 thank god it was quick.” thank god indeed.

on the topic of tommy’s seizures, the guys @ the bbc podcast pointed out that his guilt/visions are always strangely always related to france. like, tommy has killed countless people in the past ten years, but he always gets back to france. i think it’s definitely true and interesting, but i do wonder what to make of it as well.

the shot of him sat on the stairs, smoking under grace’s portrait. 💔. just loads of 💔 this episode. a very 💔 episode 🥺. and, again, i love how nothing is said. grace’s name is not spoken, not mentioned, but she’s just there everywhere and it’s peaky blinders as a show, entrusting its viewer to do the work. such clever writing.

i loved how they used that deleted scene with helen. again, way to tear my heart into pieces lads. i just miss her so much.

“it’s like the bomb’s stopped ticking and i’m waiting for it to explode” - the good thing about doing my recap three days late is that having seen all the gifs going around, i now know this is the quote everyone has retained from this episode, which is fair enough. such a beautiful quote and way to put it.

i wrote this in my notes: “omg what is wrong with mosley?!?!?” i’m not sure in reference to what exactly but for the record everything is wrong with mosley 🙄🙄.

also directly taken from my notes: “lizzie is dead inside,” and “tommy is bored.” both of those very accurate statements 😆

diana 🙄🙄. aside from the whole diana v. lizzie issue, i do wonder: fundamentally, why do mosley and diana want to break tommy and lizzie up? like, is it really only matter or public image? is it asserting their power? to fuck with tommy’s life? i mean, why do they hate lizzie so much?? i don’t get it.

this being said, omg. that whole sequence where tommy goes to get a whisky from behind the bar, i genuinely thought he was going to get a gun and shoot them all 😆😆. but then, his tirade of “you’re right, she doesn’t belong here, but i do. i belong with fuckers like you,” i loooooooved it. and i don’t think it’s literal. i don’t think tommy is genuinely a nazi. i think he’s just like, the three of them are complete nutters and in fairness, he kind of is as well. amongst these fuckers who have no morals is genuinely where (he thinks) he belongs, and lizzie doesn’t (obviously, debatable. i think he's a bit self-deprecating, here). i just absolutely adored the way this was written and framed. it was funny, but also oh-so-devastating. “for all i try to hide it, i’m just one of you,” - ouch. and indeed, “could there be a sadder ending?” loved that.

about michael, is he lying, is he not, i don’t know, and i don’t care. both options suit me. ultimately, i think michael will take over, but i'm not sure whether he will shoot tommy or not. first, i don't know that he has it in him/really wants to and second, i think tommy might be like "yeah, shoot, i'm dying anyway" and i don't think michael will want to shoot a dying man. i did really like, though, that a) he was visited by a priest (such a throwback… 🤢) and b) i like how he used the word “nevertheless.” i don’t know why but it felt like such a tommy word (“nevertheless, john, nevertheless. despite the bad blood, and the provocations, from the cavalry…” you know those people who can deliver monologues from memory on tiktok without seeing the screen? yeah, that's me with the No Fucking Fighting scene 😎). i don’t know if it was on purpose, but it really reminded me of why i used to love michael and why he was often seen as tommy’s heir, in a way. this season, tommy spent so much time looking for someone to “take over” and i think the show is making it very clear that there is a natural heir right there would you just look! and although he’s The Worst right now, we do still love him. he’s family. so, we’ll see.

overall, as i said at the start, i really, really enjoyed this episode. it really felt like a banger and one that reassured me on the rest of the season’s future. i am very excited about the finale this sunday, although it is a bit bittersweet, i will admit. i was talking to someone on discord (can’t remember who, sorry), but i was saying that when peaky blinders started in 2013, i had just turned 20. i am now 28 and this series, for better or for worse, has been such a staple feature of my 20s. it’s been my comfort go-to during the pandemic, an endless source of inspiration and thoughts, and seeing it end is a very nostalgic process. it's like i'm also slowly grieving that part of my life and i’m feeling the same way i was when the last harry potter film came out, saying goodbye to my childhood and adolescence.

obviously, knowing there is a movie coming up is a source of reassurance, knowing that it’s not really the end yet, but still, it is quite an emotional time. thank you all for reading these, and looking forward to next week’s (last 😭) recap!

#peaky blinders #the road to hell #season 6 #episode 5 #recap #thoughts