#i spent four hours on this post dont let it flop

[vikersund]

Hi! I hope this post won't flop </3

first of all I wanted to finally reveal myself on this platform - many of you know me as Himbeertee_ on tiktok and twitter, Hello! Yes, I'm also here :P

I felt like last few days were like a fever dream - so I decided to write a summary/recap of my journey to Stozice.

It was not my first Joker Out show, last month I was in Żalec and both times I traveled by train and bus, so if anyone wonders how to get to Slovenia from Poland - the cheapest way is by Flixbus, but the fastest is by plane. I spent 5 hours in train and 11 hours in bus and it was only one way ride.

Me and my friend arrived at the arena around 4pm and we were 24/25 in the queue and we ended up at barricade in front of Kris, thanks to long catwalk and very long barricade. (I wanted to be at Kris' side, because duuuh i'm a Kris girlie).

If it comes to new merch - there were new winter beanies, new shirts, hoodies, socks, UM and Demoni CD's, condoms, new notebook (juhuhu hahaha), new tote bags and if you ask me... well.. those shirts didn't look good at least for me, but the rest of it was fine. I bought baby boos socks, because (to the unpopular opinion) I love the name xD

If it comes to the show alone, I will try to describe few songs. As you might have seen on twitter I managed to get the setlist (which was leaked at least day before - and unfortunately i saw some of it so I didnt experience the surprise).

The live-from-backstage intro was so cool, like I had chills, the screen was turning from the backstage to black screen or to joker out sign with the music that made your heart beat to it, it definitely built an atmosphere, we saw Jo getting ready to rock the stage, Kris leading the 5 of them to the stage from backstage, then they finally came from behind drums, which was such a cool entrance!

First song was Sunny Side of London - and now I understand that they picked it as an opener because of the "welcome" at the beginning, but when I first heard it i was kinda sceptical why is this the first song. People from the brass band joined them for the iconic balcan solo (dare I say - Kris outwhored himself during the solo).

Then we screamed for the record and we beat it, but honestly I think that the result should be higher, but because it was such an open space, the device didnt gather the sound as good as in smaller venues.

Then gola and bele sanje - honestly don't remember much of it because I was enjoying myself, maybe a little too much, but the guitar transition from bele sanje to plastika was sooooo good.

Plastika oh plastika! This song is made for concerts, everyone were screaming their lungs off and Bojan was everywhere, including the cat walk.

Proti toku - what can I say other than justice for Proti Toku! Like i dont understand why they abandoned this song at the shows...

As you already know I was at Kris' side and I had the best view on him, let me tell you. This man didn't hold back during dopamin, his moves were electric and there should be another twitter account "Kris shuffles to:"

Padam - Bojan sang the song laying on the catwalk for the entire length of the song and for a moment I was so confused where he went, because I didn't see him at first.

Then after Padam we had a small break, that included screenings of pre-eurovision clips from their vlogs and during that everyone was lying on the stage (not sure about Jure tho).

Then demoni happened and the Iconic scream was... well... demonic xD Bojan ended up almost on all fours in front of 12k audience. You're welcome or something.

Katrina - is another song which was made to being played on stage. I loved the red and white lights especially, bojan was very slutty and we were introduced to releasing fumes from the pyro stuff (not real pyro or fire on their show in Stozice).

ASTP - AMAZING intro played by a dude with trumpet, I had chills, Bojan was sitting on his knees on the stage, listening to it. I'll try to upload it to tiktok later! It is one of my fav songs. Great vocals from Bojan and Kris, the second one was very slutty af during the song (who is surprised at this point?). No Janace ending, Jan ended the song playing at the end of catwalk, nice moment between Nace and Bojan.

Omamljeno Telo - well this is the only JO song that I am not that much a fan of, but they definitely delivered their perfomance, especially when everyone went to the catwalk. We had Kris/Nace moment during the song.

Kot Srce Ki Kri Poganja - will you banish me If I tell you that I have never heard any of their unreleased songs?

Anyway I LOVED THIS SONG, can they release it on new album please? I already knew that Martin will join them because I saw pics from backstage before the show, but I was surprised to see Matic there. This songs slaps and I fell in love with the vibe martin gave while playing the bass. I couldnt stop staring at him, he was magnetic and so happy to play with others. I might cry a little when Nace gave him his bass. I loved how everyone was hugging each other before and after the song. Such a heartwarming moment, even if Martin doesnt play anymore, you could definitely see that he is still part of the family <3

Metulji - amazing perfomance, again they delivered, love the song, also amazing Jan solo at the end of the song, kinda improvised i think? At least I have never heard those sounds before.

Vse Kar Vem - well, you know who I was focused on xD I guess I have a new Vse Kar Vem iconic video for you xD

NGVOT - before the song I was wondering if they will do Tavastia 2.0 with ngvot and the scream i I let out when I saw that Bojan was far from the mic, far enough to be late to start singing the song if he had to, and then I turned to look at Kris and I already knew. This is all I've been asking for. I'm so glad that Kris is more comfortable to sing the first verse, his voice was more relaxed, less shaky than in Tavastia, I loved the way he sang "ti pa barvo las" the way Bojan does. But I still think he has to work a little bit on his voice, because I know he CAN sing (from other videos). I wonder if they will leave this song as a duet for other shows in the future or If it was like one-time thing.

Vem Da Gres - all I remember was Nace on our side and how handsome he looked. I'm not a Nace girlie, but I can definitely see why others are, and his new hair and the outfit... asdfgrew

Ne Bi Smel - this time Jan joined our side and he had a nice moment with Bojan

Ona - Another time when men from brass band joined and it was the song which had changed arrangement. I loved it. the whole vibe of the song stayed the same, but the brass instruments elevated it. (If i think about any fuck ups during the show - it happened here - the mic of the Saxophone guy didnt work at first, I've heard him from the front row, but idk if people in the back have heard him). During this song they also showed me and my friend on the screen and i cant stop thinking about how the hell it happened xD Now i am immortal in joker out stozice lore xD

Tokio - honestly don't remember what was happening - probably I was just screaming and singing.

Umazane Misli - i loved it. I LOVED IT. The way Bojan was demanding the audience who and when should they sing, and then he came down to us and let 2 people sing, and he received the THREE KAKSI ANANAS LONKERO shirt and he loved it so much, he was so smiley and took this shirt with him on the stage.

Novi val - I almost cried. This is my fav song, and thanks to Joker Out Subs and Spela the project came true, the coloful lights flashed beautifully above boy's heads. We and them were touched and it was such a special moment. At the beginning of Novi Val Jure came to our side and we could see his outfit from the closer proximity, and dare I say it was second best after Kris'.

Last but not least - Carpe Diem. After novi val they left the stage, but everyone knew it wasnt over. The break was too long and It just clicked in my head that what if they are changing into their Eurovision clothes. AND THEY DID. I just predicted it seconds before it happened. It was unreal - like i just travelled back in time 5 months.

Overall it was the best night of my life. Everything was perfect. The lights were amazing. The stage was amazing. Clothes - god, the amount of details on each outfit! Personally I think Kris and Jure had the best outfits. I couldnt really see Jan and Nace outfit details, but the looked GOOD. But if I have to complain - not a fan of detachable sleeves on Bojan's shirt.

They all delivered their performances. Not a single mistake - i am so impressed because thats a skill.

We all agree that Kris outdid himself that night. The way he moved, the way he sang, the way he was SO CONFIDENT. Like he was born to be in that exact moment.

I also loved every single interaction between boys, the group ones, or the doubles. Maybe there was no Jan and Nace astp ending but they had few moments. It was so nice to see Jan and Bojan jamming together, Kris and Nace doing their thing, Bojan and Kris' little shenanigans and even Jure and Jan had their moment when Jan ran to him at the beginning of the show.

I also love how they had movie-like credits. Everyone from their crew was credited, every person who worked on the show, team of photographers etc.

Other thing was how nice it was to being supplied with water all the time. The people behind barricade were giving us cups with water all the time, and even at the end of the show we got whole bottles.

Please don't take this post as a proper review - these are just my thoughts of the show <3

#joker out #bojan cvjeticanin #kris gustin #nace jordan #jure macek #jan peteh #stozice #eurovision

[sunnykeysmash]

mac and dennis’ breaking point

Or, a continuation of the analysis of the development of Mac and Dennis’ dynamic, starting from season 9 all the way to season 14.

I’ve been thinking about this post, this post and this post for quite a while now, and since the OP of the first post, @softhowerton​, never continued the analysis post as far as I’m aware, I wanted to continue it myself and throw my two cents in as I believe there is an actual, clear point that shattered the relationship as we know it at least until season 14, and it isn’t just hero or hate crime as the post suggests, in my opinion. Spoiler alert or tldr: it’s Suburbs, click read more to understand why I think so.

Ok so, I’ve been rewatching sunny casually, trying to figure it out, I’ll admit I haven’t rewatched all of them so this is only gonna be a partial analysis up until hero or hate crime, after which I’ve rewatched all episodes, but anyway I still think I have enough proof on my part. I’ve had a little bit of a journey so I’m just gonna go through it in this post to make it comprehensive. 

Sure, in the past Dennis had said he hated Mac, but it was in front of the gang (Mac Day), and even so, his actions still seemed to contradict it, and especially Mac had not noticed any significant change in behavior on Dennis’ part despite all of this. Besides, it seems his hate was born out of Mac’s tendency to seek other people’s validation and change himself in the process, which we know is something Dennis hates. 

Anyway, see Flowers For Charlie for reference of their relationship still being fine here, the You’re The Inspiration scene. We can assume Dennis saying he hates Mac to the gang in Mac Day is not when he actually starts growing distant, quite the contrary, he cares a lot, as his outburst near the end when he demands Mac to be true to himself indicates.

So at first I thought the breaking point was Boggs, the season 10 premiere. It made sense as the episode ended up being very relevant later on and it’s the first instance of Mac letting Dennis go and accidentally hurting him, plus symbolically speaking, the episode right before it is Squashes Their Beef, where the macden apartment burns down.

However I thought more about it, looked at episodes after that, and Dennis still seemed to be very close to Mac. Especially considering them not having an apartment and sleeping on Dee’s floor (presumably close to each other) as pointed out at the start of Suburbs, they did have problems and yes Dennis had already began to shift his attitude, but they were still close, a breaking point had not been reached yet, post Boggs.

See The Gang Group Dates, the episode right after Boggs, where Dennis admits to giving star ratings to his own sex tapes for Mac (and Charlie) to make it easier for them to watch the best ones.

Or see The Gang Spies Like U.S., where they share their porn recommendations together and allegedly also jack off together. In fact, if anything, it almost seems like sleeping together in Dee’s apartment has made them closer, they’re back to being attached at the hip around these episodes, so again the crack of which we are witnessing the fallout to has not happened yet.

No episodes in season 11 ring any bells in terms of major conflicts until, you guessed it, Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs.

And if we take this entire episode into consideration, it’s clear that they had not had a breaking point prior to this, prior to Dennis snapping and saying to Mac that he hates him right in his face.

I took the liberty of screenshotting some moments prior to their big conflict in Suburbs that really highlight how close and comfortable with each other they still were.

No episode after this one has them be this close anymore.

I don’t think I need to point out that the breaking point is in fact Dennis saying to Mac’s face that he hates him.

For Dennis, it’s a build up, he has been silently collecting reasons to be pissed in general and at Mac during the whole episode, for Mac it comes all at once, with the realization that comes with Dennis outright saying it. Nevertheless, this is when their dynamic experiences the fracture, and it’s especially detrimental that it happens in the episode where they’re framed as a stereotypical heteronormative couple, roles they’re obviously not meant to fulfill, at which they fail miserably, and which plant in Dennis’ head the idea that they might not be meant to live as a couple at all (which will later play a role in his decision in DDL), and this living as a couple while not being one and failing contributes to the overall stress.

Let me explain what I mean by Suburbs framing them in stereotypical heterosexual roles since I’m at it, it’s quite simple, it follows most tropes you’d expect.

Dennis is the typical husband; he goes to work and provides the money, he has no time to provide emotionally for the wife, and contributes nothing to the home life, while also not letting the wife experience fulfillment in other ways, out of jealousy. Despite this, he himself does seek fulfillment elsewhere, reflecting the typical husband who acts jealous while also cheating.

Mac is the typical wife; cooking, cleaning, fixing. His work is hardly acknowledged at all, so he feels underappreciated. He feels cooped up and lonely because Dennis is emotionally unavailable, and all his attempts to cope with it are met with anger, possessiveness or frustration because they’re not what the husband allows.

Finally, they get a "reparatory child" in the hopes that it’ll fix the situation, and of course it doesn't work.

Keep all of this in mind for when I’m gonna tackle DDL later on.

Furthermore, speaking of Dennis saying he hates Mac, in the episode right after Suburbs, Being Frank, we get this dialogue:

Mac: “Hey, Frank? Do you think that Dennis hates me?” Frank: “What?“ Mac: “I just want him to think that I'm cool, you know? And I just feel like- is this a little bit lame? I just feel like I can talk to you about this kind of stuff.” Frank: “Yeah? Oh, yeah, you can tell me anything.” Mac: “Really? Oh, well, honestly, I just feel like...” [...] Mac: “You know what I mean?” Frank: “Yeah, yeah. Totally, totally.” Mac: “Yeah, okay. Well, look, if you could just casually, off the cuff, mention that I can bench-press [...] I think that he'll respect me.”

Now, I might be mistaken since as I said I haven’t rewatched every episode, but as far as I remember, Mac has never asked to anyone or himself if Dennis hated him prior to this moment. Aside from all of this, it suggests a correlation between fitness stuff and impressing Dennis for Mac, which makes Mac being ripped at the start of season 13 all the more tragic, and is again reinforced when the doll shames him and he starts doing crunches in response to it.

Again, I wanna stress that Dennis and the gang knew about Mac being gay before he came out, of course it’s said in Mac Day, but we’re reminded of it yet again in The Gang Goes To Hell pt1, with the dialogue:

Mac: “There are two guys in this church that are gay.” Charlie: “Who's the other guy?” Mac: “I don’t get the joke.” Dennis: “What’s wrong with that [anyway]?”

And later when Mac actually comes out, we’re reminded by the reactions.

All this time, and especially in Mac Day, it has been implied heavily that Dennis dislikes Mac when he’s in denial and desperately trying to be someone he’s not, yet, as soon as Mac actually comes out for the first time in The Gang Goes To Hell pt2, Dennis becomes outwardly angry, defensive and distant. It’s no wonder that in Tends Bar Mac seems to think that Dennis acts like that because he’s uncomfortable with Mac being gay, as the two elements seem to coincide perfectly every time, but as Charlie rightfully points out, he already knew, so that can’t be it.

The Gang Goes To Hell pt2 actually has some interesting dialogue relating to all of this.

Mac: “Welcome to my first ever dinner party. I'm gonna have lots of these types of functions in the future, you know, with my new lifestyle.” Dennis: “Wow, you're really just diving right into that, huh? Just, stereotypes and all.” [...] Frank: “So get rid of my dog?” Mac: “Yeah, no dogs. [...] We do not allow dogs in our house, right, Dennis?��� Dennis: “Wh- Our house? Wh-Why's it our house?”

A couple of interesting bits, such as Dennis getting suspiciously pissed about Mac supposedly stereotyping his own sexuality, despite it not being Dennis’ place at all to get offended.  Mac saying that dogs are not allowed in their house, one could assume because of the Suburbs incident, so again, another reference to that conflict. And finally Dennis somehow being surprised that Mac would call it their house despite the fact that they have lived together for 20 years so it’s only natural that he’d say that. Again, Dennis gets defensive.

It’s hard to pinpoint why he would, if we stress the fact that they were all always aware of Mac’s sexuality. It might be because when Mac was closeted, it was never an actual discussion, but now that he’s out he’s always mentioning it, and in general we have enough proof in the show to say that Dennis tends to get defensive at any mention of gay that could be traced back to him, even if not related to Mac at all. Remember how offended he got on Mac’s behalf in The Gang Texts when Dee called him the f word, and then how abruptly he changed the subject.

This is interesting, as the dialogue that I included from part 1 would have you assume he has no problem with the subject in general, only when it can be traced back to him, when he feels exposed or when it’s been talked about negatively. So we can assume Dennis feels uncomfortable being perceived as non-straight, and this still rings true as of season 14, to a lesser extent.

So we arrive to season 12, and what stands out to me is that Mac keeps noticing how Dennis has started to act pissed towards him all of a sudden and for seemingly no reason. Remember, both of the times Mac acknowledges it in any way before Tends Bar (which are, Being Frank and Making Dennis Reynolds A Murderer) happen when he is not out yet. So despite Dennis acting pissed in Goes To Hell pt2, he has no clear reason to be distant as of yet if we don’t consider Suburbs the breaking point, because Mac is not out yet in those two episodes.

In Making Dennis Reynolds A Murderer, we get this dialogue, after a short bickering between them with Dennis acting annoyed about their new movie night antics which Dennis insists are not funny, while Mac insists they are:

Dennis: “Are we done with this? Can we be done? I'm tired of saying the same things over and over again.” Mac: “Well, wait. Wh- hold Dennis, d-don't leave without me. I mean, dude, look, are you mad at me?”

As we know thanks to Texts, Dennis supposedly hates repeating himself. It seems there’s some communication issues at play, with Dennis constantly saying some things and Mac misinterpreting them, which deeply resembles Texts’ conflict as a whole. 

Dennis is mad about something;

Mac senses that he’s mad about something, is distressed by it which leads him to either avoid the situation or confront it directly, in this case he asks him about it. The distress also makes him insecure, which Dennis dislikes.

Dennis thinks Mac is not genuine about his distress, that he’s not actually sorry and just wants Dennis to stop being mad. Mac becoming defensive and lying, hesitating or doubling down doesn’t help his case. Mac’s track record in misunderstanding Dennis doesn’t help either (see, Dines Out, when Mac didn’t get the speech was for him, or Suburbs, when Mac didn’t get that Dennis was implying he got him a dog until he literally had to tell him). Mac does not perform well when subtext is involved, either positive or negative. Dennis only communicates in subtext, again both positive and negative. This creates a discrepancy.

Anyway, because of this, Dennis does not come forward with the reason he’s upset at Mac. He just keeps being upset.

Dennis at this point thinks Mac never listens and never gets him and is never remorseful for his actions, so he has stopped trying to communicate his hurt to him, resorting to suppressing his feelings of anger instead.

This dynamic started with the Suburbs conflict, but I need to go more in detail to explain why I think so.

Let’s take Dines Out as an example of their ideal, usual dynamic.

How do Dennis and Mac behave usually when one hurts the other?

For Mac it’s:

Dennis is hurtful to Mac (laughs about the karaoke machine)

Mac demands respect and confronts him directly

Dennis doesn't take him seriously

Mac almost goes away

Dennis reveals his feelings/apologizes to keep him from leaving

For Dennis it’s:

Mac is hurtful to Dennis (not recognizing the speech was about him) 

Dennis snaps

Mac apologizes

It used to be like this, but then Suburbs happened, and suddenly Mac is afraid that if he stands for himself Dennis will hate him, and Dennis thinks Mac doesn’t care about his feelings.

So now, post Suburbs, it’s like this.

For Mac it’s:

Dennis is hurtful to Mac

Mac doesn't say anything because he doesn't want Dennis to hate him

Dennis keeps being hurtful to Mac because he’s unaware he’s doing it 

For Dennis it’s:

Mac is hurtful to Dennis

Dennis doesn't say anything because he thinks Mac won't be genuinely sorry or won’t care

Mac keeps being hurtful to Dennis because he’s unaware he’s doing it

So it started with the explosive conflict in Suburbs, and Dennis has been clearly distant, or mad, since, as the episodes seem to point out, and it only got worse, eventually becoming exacerbated with Mac coming out and risking damaging Dennis’ public image, but not starting because of his coming out.

Dennis is also not mad because of the dog or for what Mac did, necessarily, of course that hurt him but he’s mad more in general about Mac’s inability to recognize when he has hurt Dennis and own up to it and apologize. We have seen it time and time again, that’s usually when Dennis scratches Mac, and in Texts it’s especially apparent when he comes up with an excuse instead of apologizing. Aside from that, he’s also mad at Mac’s constant need for attention and validation that was also showcased in Suburbs, amongst other things, with the terribly oppressive visual gag of Dennis opening the closet only to be inundated with Mac and Cheese boxes, symbolizing Mac’s overflowing need to please Dennis and receive praise from him.

As of Chokes and Texts, it seems that both of these conflicts have found a resolution. 

Chokes resolved Mac’s problem in dynamic, letting him once again stand up for himself even against Dennis. Texts on the other hand resolved their problems of miscommunication but specifically Dennis’ problem in dynamic, letting him know that Mac does feel sorry when he hurts him. Again, all very positive developments.

So, getting back on track, the episode right after Making Dennis Reynolds A Murderer is, in fact, Hero Or Hate Crime.

Despite saying that he hates Mac at the end, which I interpret to be entirely performative, he still makes the very nice gesture of proposing that they let him have the rest of the day to feel happy. 

Not only does this clearly show that Dennis doesn’t hate Mac, even post Suburbs, it shows that he cares about Mac’s feelings to some extent, and it also shows that he’s happy for him that he came out. He’s not reacting negatively, he’s not lashing out at Mac. He might’ve been deeply impacted, as we see in his expression and behavior, but he does not hate Mac for the choice of coming out. I’d go as far as to say that he’s proud of him. And it checks out with what we know thanks to Mac Day.

PTSDee doesn’t give us more insight on his relationship with Mac, but he doesn’t go out of his way to try to include Mac at all.

The episode after this, The Gang Tends Bar, is a clear example of the argument I was trying to make. Dennis ignoring his feelings and acting like everything is fine, until he no longer can, he’s cornered and he snaps.

Everything I can say about this episode has already been said better by the post I linked at the beginning, but still, notice the dialogue:

Mac: “[Dennis] is acting, like, so weird, especially towards me. I think it's because I'm gay and he's, like, totally uncomfortable with it.” Charlie: “Yeah- Well, no, 'cause he's known that forever, so it's, you know...”

The episode itself does not show us Dennis being particularly distant to Mac, so we can assume that this is meant to be taken in general. Again reaffirming what we know.

All in all, Dennis wants Mac to care about him and his feelings, wants to feel loved by him, but is not ready to be perceived as non-straight, so he ends up pushing Mac away, which comes easier considering how he’s still mad at Mac at this point in time.

Although, more than mad, as Dennis’ Double Life happens, I’d say he feels hopeless, that’s what his final stare communicates to me.

As the RPG, the symbol that represents romantic love and the possibility of a romantic relationship with Mac, sits on the counter right at the end, as the apartment is fixed like nothing ever happened (which reinforces the concept that Mac tends to sweep conflicts under the rug in Dennis’ eyes), he wonders if maybe what he has with Mac is truly unfixable, and decides to go away and try to seek what he truly desires (romantic love and to settle down) with someone else, but not before hesitating at the door, hoping Mac will care enough to stop him.

By going away, he’s in part trying to rebuild a life for himself like he wants, and in part hoping that the drastic gesture will lead Mac to care, without realizing that he already does. As the title suggests, a true Double Life.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Dennis’ Double Life deeply parallels Suburbs.

Starting from the obvious, the trend of the names of Dennis’ serious lovers starting with “Ma” continues.

Maureen, Mandy, Mac. 

Yes Mac is not a lover as of yet, but the implication is clear, and it doesn’t end there.

Check this dialogue:

Mac: “You got me a dog?” Dennis: “Yeah.” Mac: “Oh, Dennis, Dennis. I'm gonna name him Dennis. You're Dennis. He's Dennis Jr.” [...] Dennis: “You with me, buddy?” Mac: “I'm with you. I'm gonna raise this guy like he was our own son.”

So, metatextually, Dennis has a “son” with Mac in Suburbs, that Mac names with Dennis’ name + Jr.

And then, in DDL, it’s discovered that Dennis had a son with Mandy, which she called Brian Jr. His perceived name, Brian LeFevre + Jr.

Making a parallel this clear leaves me to assume that Dennis’ “double lives” mirror each other in every aspect, including his potential relationship with Mac being that of a couple.

And with the RPG, which again symbolizes their romantic love (it was inside the crate, which Dennis remarks “is always empty, there’s nothing in it”, because he has “opened crates” all his life and never found love, which is, as he says, “the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the entire world”; so, as I said, a loving relationship where he can settle, like he was trying to build with Maureen, and like he tries again to build with Mandy, failing both times as there is no love on his part), again sitting on the counter in DDL as Dennis leaves, it seems that the only thing standing between Mac and Dennis and a relationship at that point in time is the conflicts born because of Suburbs, which were still unresolved during DDL. And so Dennis leaves.

What happens from this point forward is shrouded in mystery to me.

The entirety of season 13 is vague, ambiguous, and I can only give my personal interpretation of it, so that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Verbally, and in public, Dennis keeps pushing Mac away. Of course, they’re still mad at each other because the ND incident has scarred them both and they’re hurt, plus they haven’t resolved their issues, but surprisingly enough, Dennis shows no problem with inconspicuous intimacy. He holds Mac by the shoulders when they’re alone in Escapes, he keeps his leg uncomfortably close to Mac’s in Times Up and even shares complicit glances in Time’s Up the likes of which we haven’t seen since Suburbs. He also outwardly seeks Mac’s attention in New Wheels (you could argue he seeks the gang’s attention, but the framing of all the shots make it look like he’s talking only to Mac), and wants him to come to the concert in Bathroom Problem.

Mac on the other hand is letting Dennis have full control, but it appears that he’s no longer walking on eggshells trying not to get Dennis to hate him, he’s not avoiding saying when he’s hurt when he has to. He doesn’t protest often, but he does do it, in Bathroom Problem for example, or when he asks Dennis when the photo of him he shows in Time’s Up was taken, or when he ignores him at the start of New Wheels, so the reason for Mac not saying anything most times must have changed. I don’t know what it would be, possibly just not to hurt Dennis if he can help it.

At the same time, Dennis is going out of his way to be mean to Mac, by lashing out where he knows it hurts. The first thing he says to him as he comes back is “Hey, Mac, did you gain a little weight?”, and in Time’s up, again “Well, guess what, pal? You are ugly, and it doesn't matter how much you work out. It's never gonna change that fact.”

Actually, let’s take Time’s Up.

His whole rethoric and speech towards Mac falls apart at face value the moment you actually recognize his message.

Dennis: “But guys, I got some good news for you. Okay? It's not a crime to be ugly. But you can't be ugly and sloppy.” [...] Dennis: “I got the documents to prove it, so don't try coming at me. But some of you you just haven't been careful enough. So you're asking yourself, "What can I do to save myself now?" You got to clean up your act. Otherwise, you're going down, and you're gonna take me down with you, and I ain't going down.”

When it comes to the others, it makes sense, what they do is recurrent criminal activity, and if they get busted he gets busted. But in which way does this apply to his very personal rant to Mac? How is Mac being affectionate the way they’ve always been in the past going to bring him down, especially considering he never had a problem with it in the past and especially considering he has not done anything particularly unusual that we could see in recent times? 

Continuing:

Dennis: “I'm just saying we need to be more careful so we don't get accused.” Mac: “And we should probably stop harassing them.” Dennis: “Uh, well, you know, I don't know. One step at a time.”

Dennis’ point was never “stop doing what you’re doing”, it was don’t get caught doing it, have proof that you didn’t do it, that you weren’t complicit. What’s his proof? The public rejection he just did.

Dennis: “You know, you got to stop kissing me, man. I don't want it. I don't want you touching me at all. Okay, it's never gonna happen. All right? Not willingly.”

By publicly stating this, he’s constructing a clear alibi for himself in case he gets caught, but his intent was never to ask anyone to stop what they’re doing, just to stop being sloppy with it.

Which is why this whole episode, coupled with the subtext in Escapes about “keeping it between themselves”, is very confusing to me, as a whole, for their implications.

Either way, in Bathroom Problem it’s shown that Dennis still feels insecure in his sexuality or uncomfortable with being mistaken for non-straight, going out of his way to point out time and time again how much of a heterosexual male he is.

Skipping Clip Show’s moment of realization (”Dennis, everyone knows that the most annoying person in the world is Mac. So why would you ever want to live with him?”) since it’s unclear what exactly happened, this leads us to Mac Finds His Pride.

Nothing of note here, except for Dennis supposedly feeling claustrophobic driving the pride float, and Mac saying he’s “not ready for a relationship”.

And that is pretty much it. Despite everything, aside from Chokes and Texts, there isn’t much indication of what’s going on between them in season 14.

They seem to be back to being reasonably close, and there seems to be something that is making Dennis progressively angrier as the season advances, but it’s left mostly unclear what that is, especially considering that he’s still unbelievably mad in Global Warming, Jumper and Chop, despite the conflict between them being already resolved by that point.

Dennis is somehow shown to be “uncomfortable” sharing a bed with Mac, despite having slept next to him on Dee’s floor for at least a good year in the past, but he’s not against physical contact, he has no problem stretching on top of him in Chokes, or letting him massage his pecs after a workout (although that’s in private). He looks happy when Mac winks at him, and he even winks at Mac himself while saying “smash test” in Jumper, whatever that implies.

All in all, they’re comfortable with public touching and vicinity again, and the problems that stemmed from Suburbs should be resolved, so it must be something else making Dennis mad and frustrated, and whatever that is it has something to do with Mac failing to do something. Thanks to Chokes, Global Warming and Jumper, we know it seems Dennis wants Mac to do something, but what that is hasn’t been revealed in text yet, so we can only assume.

Still, Dee Day seems eager to remind us about Dennis’ Feelings, with the dialogue:

Dennis: “Today of all days, and now I'm being forced to listen to her feelings? I won't do it. And who cares about her feelings anyway? Nobody, that's who. What about my feelings? Now, that's interesting.”

So I’ll leave it at that. Either way, if season 15 does happen, it seems the direction their dynamic is headed towards is very much promising. Fingers crossed.

#iasip #it's always sunny in philadelphia #macdennis #macden #iasip analysis #iasip meta #mac mcdonald #dennis reynolds #I HAD TO CONTINUE THAT POST IT WAS EATING ME ALIVE #i spent four hours on this post dont let it flop #actually five #i hope op is proud of me #i actually think dennis realized hes not straight and has a crush on mac in clip show #or anyway that dennis is CLOSETED in s14. not unaware. closeted #that'll be a post for another day lol

[hazelenergy]

How I Digitally Paint like a Scenic Artist/Designer

Aka: how I did this and put my degree to good use. 

LONG POST WARNING

Step 1: Research. 

First off, get to your image search. If you are going to be using Google, you may want to type “-pinterest” in the search to eliminate the countless boards. 

I had to figure out clothing that is vaguely late 1800s. I found a multitude of reference images that were fancier clothes- but I wanted to find images of clothing for kindred across all social classes. Photographs from the era and paintings are your friend. They will more accurately showcase what was worn. 

After Fashion research comes location research. The 1890s in America is known for the rapid industrialization. Factories were getting bigger and work days were getting longer. But, I wanted the moonlight to be cascading into the place, illuminating the scene. This means I needed to find a structure that had skylights or let sunlight in. And the best images I found? Slaughterhouses. Fitting, huh?

The same rule for fashion still stands- if you can find photographs or paintings from the era- they’re better. There are tons of places still standing today from the 1800s. But today, they look WAY different. Ya know, Abandoned! So just be sure to take this into consideration if you search “abandoned slaughterhouses” or go trespassing like I did.

Lastly, pose research. Finding the poses for a fight scene can be tedious. So, I enlisted some help from a few fight choreographers and stunt men. You can record their fights and play them back at quarter or half speed. You can also get a mirror and flop on the floor a bunch. I did both. This lets you see the action/motion lines you are going to replicate in the drawing.  Heres how we initially did fina’s pose:

And sometimes you have to go back and get a clean shot. I ended up using this pose for the axe.

Step 2: Set up and Background!

When you open a new file, set it to the dimensions and resolution you want. I was working at 600. Usually, I’m working at 300-350. You can always reduce resolution. Its hard to prevent fuzzy lines if you increase it later. 

I cannot stress the following enough:

You work background to foreground. Big Shapes and areas to little shapes. Work your way forward. What this means is you need to fill in as much space as possible first. Then build your details. I prefer working as follows: Big Solid tones, Soft shadows, Dark Shadows, Highlights, then final blend. Once you finish this, put an overlay on top. This knocks everything back and helps create the illusion of depth. See this at work with the video below or here

Step 3: Figure Drawings + Composition

Utilize that research and images you collected to pose your characters. I create subfolders for each set of figures. Organization is important here. This will help keep you on the right layer and prevent the eternal digital artist struggle of “Fuck that was on the wrong layer!”

Even after you move on to lineart and shading, Keep the sketch layer as a reference. You may need to see what youre original notes/ figures looked like as you do the lineart and shade. Don’t be afraid to move them around and alter the composition rn. You want to be able to make changes. Make notes! Detail light sources! 

I’m about to through out some art jargon:

You want to think about asymmetric balance. The easiest way to achieve this in an eye-pleasing manner is to use the Fibonacci spiral. Yeah. This boi:

Place your figures and actions in a similar sequence to the spiral and the viewer’s eye tends to naturally follow it. This is sometimes called the Golden Ratio in the art world. 

Doesn’t need to be perfectly on the spiral. You can break it- but its an excellent tool to plan how things move in the piece. 

Step 4: Lineart

Once you got things sketched- its time to do the lineart. I’m using clip studio paint’s standard brushes. Nothing fancy. I often switch between the G-pen and the For Effect Liner. Mapping and Turnip are for thicker lines. 

Usually I set these pens to a specific thickness depending on where I’m drawing.

My background figures are lined at 0.05 thickness, the midground is .1 to .2, Fina is .3 and the foreground is .4. I set my stabilization high to help keep my lines smooth. Stabilization 100 means there’s a significant delay between where the pen is and the cursor. I like the stabilization to be at 20 for freehanding and at 50 ish for outlining. Dont become completely reliant on the stabilization though. Good and smooth lineart is drawn from the arm not the wrist. Your range of motion is severely limited if you only move your wrist. Practice moving from your elbow and you’ll be surprised how much smoother your lines get. 

Once I finish lining the figures, I usually go around it with an outline. This does three things: 

1. Solidifies the figure and cleans lineart for paint bucket tool. More on that in the next step.

2. Its a stylistic choice. Helps give it that comic book feel with a heavy outline. 

3. Pushes figures forward or back in the composition. Thicker outline helps denote that a figure is farther forward than another. My background figures have no outline to push them away 

Step 5: Digitally coloring

For each figure you are going to select outside the lineart. 

Create a new layer under the lineart

Invert the selection. Paint bucket. You should now have a solid shape of the figure under the lineart. Do not deselect.

Create a new layer above the one color. Title it solid colors. Paint in thick, solid tones. I like to use the mapping pen and turnip pen to color in my solid tones: skin, clothing, hair, etc.  

After that, deselect. Create a multiply layer if you can. If your program does not have a multiplier function, Pick a tone you want to use for shadows and lower the opacity (usually 30-40% I like to use lavenders or blue tones). It will not be as vibrant, but you can edit it in post. Select off of the solid colors layer. I like to start with skin tones. Use the airbrush tool to create soft shadows. You don’t want to create harsh lines on this layer.

Then repeat this process with harsh lines.  

Then knock it all back with an overlay. If you dont have the ability to create an overlay, you can again drop a solid color and lower the opacity, but you’ll have to mess with the color balance/ brightness/contrast to let all the hard work come through. 

You’re going to repeat this for every single figure. Here’s a few color theory tips though.

Your overlay colors should be darker (not more vibrant) in the foreground and lighter (avoid using pure white) in the background. This helps with the depth of the piece. Things closer tend to be darker (not always true, depends on lighting)

You can choose to use color theory to aid your shadows. Instead of choosing black or grey for shadows, choose a complimentary color. I used a lot of green for this piece, I used red for really dark shadows. Its not that black drains color- its just loses some depth if not used carefully. 

Keep your colors consistent. Helps unify the piece. You can strategically break the consistency to draw focus. For example, Fina is the only figure with a true blue overlay. This helps her stand out from the other figures who have reds and greens. 

Step 6: Touch Ups and Final Renderings

Now comes the most tedious part. If you’re like me, your computer fans have been whirring for the last few hours trying to render this monster of a file. If you havent already,  SAVE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD

These are the last four layers I have for the entire piece. Here, I am trying to create effective and believable lighting. This kind of work I have only been able to achieve in clip studio or photoshop. You can do it with normal layers, but choose your colors CAREFULLY. Stay away from pure white. Carefully utilize your knowledge of light and shadow to create soft highlights. Harsh lines tend to be a stylistic choice for me. The final layer, subtract, dulls out harsh red tones. I used this as a final overlay to help put everyone and everything in the scene. Without it, things are a little too green and skin tones are a little too blushed for vampires.

The challenge here is I want to tone down the red, but not lose the vibrancy of the blood. So, shift it to a blue. This also helped reinforce the “nighttime” effect. Its only a slight change.

Final thoughts:

Whenever you finish something, its important to reflect.

1. I am so FUCKING PROUD OF MYSELF. This is easily one of the most complicated pieces I’ve done in a while- and I’ve made 16′ tall faux stained glass. Brag. Let yourself feel awesome cuz you just made something awesome. 

2. I timed myself on the piece. I could have easily spent another 7 hours on it. But its important to know when to stop messing with it. Partially for budget reasons but also when you get down to the details you can make yourself go insane. Theres also a ton of detail work I lost cuz of overlays or its just too small to notice. Fina’s face? hard to see cuz its not close enough. 

3. I needed to take frequent breaks for this piece. That was good. Resting and stretching was very important. That is one of the reasons why I was able to work so fast. 

4. I started doing more digital art in April 2020. I have to say, practice makes perfect. I practice drawing and digital painting for at least 3 hours a day. 

That discipline has allowed me to improve so rapidly. So- I don’t wanna hear shit about I can’t possibly get this good! Or I couldn’t even draw a stick figure! BULLSHIT. You can. Get yourself some free software like Krita or Autodesk sketchbook and start playing! 

And thats what I got! Thanks for coming with me on this long post! 

#digital art #my art #okay to reblog #how to #long post

[yikesharringrove]

the fic you wrote for my last prompt was amazing, ty 😭 can you do 50 + 56 this time please? and if you want to work in dyslexic!steve too that would be awesome! 🥰

You are speaking my fuckin’ language, dyslexic Steve is my ABSOLUTE jam. Honestly, whenever I write Steve, he’s dyslexic, although sometimes it’s not mentioned because it’s not important to Harry’s journey @ jk rowling

Thank you for your request! I’m really glad you liked the other one I wrote! You’re anonymous so I don’t know which one that is but I really enjoyed writing them all! Sorry for my manic energy rn.

Something a little different, it’s modern au! This is probably nothing like what you were thinking so I’m sorry, but I kinda love it ngl.

50: Secret Admirer

56: “I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended.”

Prompt list!

Billy spent three and a half hours reading through every single tweet on the account.

There were so fucking many of them. The earliest one was timestamped from four days ago, so obviously, this person had no life outside of tweeting.

Tweeting about Billy.

He had a few personal favorites. He had retweeted them to his account, figuring may as well play it up, make a joke outta everything.

@ImHardForHargrove: sorry WHOMST gave you the RIGHT to have eyes that fuckin blue im YELLING

@ImHardForHargrove: watchin u play basketball is a religious experience y are ur arms so BIG hhnnnng

And Billy’s absolute favorite, which he pinned right at the top of his account

@ImHardForHargrove: ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass

Billy knew he looked good. Knew he turned heads wherever he went. He did that on purpose. But realizing someone at Hawkins High had set up a thirst account for him, well.

“I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended.” Billy had explained the situation to Robin, letting her go through the account on his phone. “Like, It’s kinda nice, whoever this guy is, he’s got a crush. But also like, It’s kinda creepy. Plus he’s objectifying me,” Billy was talking through his sandwich.

Robin made a face of disgust. “Why do you keep saying ‘he’? All of the girls in this fucking school are practically drooling for you.”

“Hard for Hargrove, Robin. I know you’re like, revolted by the peen and whatever but that does not excuse a lack of basic sexual education and anatomy.” She gagged at him. Honest to God, gagged. He thought she was gonna spew all over the table.

“If I ever hear you call it a peen ever again, it’s on sight Hargrove.” Heather plopped herself down next to Robin, kissing her cheek before zeroing in on Billy’s phone, still in Robin’s hand.

“Have you guys worked out who it could be yet?” Her eyes were wide at Billy.

“Billy says he thinks its a guy even though people with penises aren’t necessarily men.” Robin gave him a pointed look.

“Yeah Robin, I know that, but, I don’t know I just think it’s a guy penis-having person.”

Heather narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you actually think that, or are you just hoping in that goblin little brain of yours that this account is Steve Harrington’s.” Billy could feel the heat spread down his neck.

“Billy, I know Steve is like, the only out guy in this whole fucking town, but you can do way better than him.  PLUS, I feel like it makes more sense if the person running this account wasn’t out and had to channel their gay yearning through social media.”

“First of all Robin, you have this vendetta against Steve that I don’t get. He’s a nice guy. He’s kinda dopey, kinda dumb, but he’s like, sweet and shit. Second, I’m not out, so it still could be him because he doesn’t think I would, like, accept his advances or whatever. Hence, gay internet yearning.” The chime of the bell sent them packing their lunches, Billy’s phone vibrated in Robin’s hand. She rolled her eyes when he realized he turned on notifications for the account

“Get a fucking life you loser.” She slapped the phone into his hand. He opened the new tweet with embarrassing zeal.

@ImHardForHargrove: i saw u talking with ur mouth full and it was yucky but i was still  ���🥺

His head shot up, trying to see who would have been facing him during lunch, but the cafeteria was almost empty.

The rest of the week Billy took deliberate care of every interaction he had with anyone. Observing who was in his surroundings, and making note of everything he did and said. He took extra caution around Steve, wanting to spot any minute detail that could give away who ran the account.

The account started blowing up. People were retweeting like fucking crazy. Everywhere he went, he was being asked if he’s seen it, like he doesn’t regularly retweet the good ones. The search for the owner of the account had spread throughout the whole school. A few girls even tried to claim the account was theirs, but every time that happened the account would tweet out something to discredit whoever made the claim, proving them a liar.

Billy was starting to lose hope it was Harrington. The tweets were coming at all different times, posted whenever the person thought about it, so Billy was losing track of who was near when he said or did something. And the tweets were always about stupid stuff Billy didn’t register doing. On Wednesday night the account said

@ImHardForHargrove: hi when you chew on your pencil and it makes me 🥴 that is all thx for comin to my ted talk

Friday afternoon gave them all:

@ImHardForHargrove: walked past ur classroom and u were asleep ive never wanted to CUDDLE someone so bad in my LIFE

But Saturday, Saturday renewed all hope for Harrington Billy could possibly have. Lauren Kranz was throwing a party. It was the first real rager in a while, so everyone was there, and everyone was sloshed. Everyone but Billy, who’d agreed to be designated driver for Robin and Heather like some kinda idiot.

He was brooding on the back porch when his phone went off. The account was active, and the owner was drunk.

@ImHardForHargrove: I can seeeeee u oyt the windw I wan u 2 FUC ME. RAW DOG.

@ImHardForHargrove: srry ur so beauitiful nd THICCC

@ImHardForHargrove: I wana shoot my shot but idk if u lik bois

@ImHardForHargrove: (ys i am boi)

@ImHardForHargrove: nd i dont wana get my heart broken agin 😥

He was right about it being a guy. He was right about him being too nervous to approach him outright. His brain was screaming stevestevesteve at him. Hawkins was shook when Steve came out as bisexual in his sophomore year. He was the golden boy, a real jock. He was NOT the kind of guy people would assume queer in a small midwestern town.

He was kind of a douchebag, dumping one girl for another, sleeping with her and never calling again. But then he settled down with this guy from the University of Indianapolis for a few months until Steve caught him cheating. Apparently, he had slashed the guy’s tires. Billy was impressed.

The next year came Wheeler, who only stuck around long enough to make sure Steve was nice and whipped before she fucked off on him too. So Steve retreated. Spent more time with middle schoolers than anybody else. Didn’t want to put his heart on the line anymore until he knew it wouldn’t be stomped on.  Billy could respect that.

Billy couldn’t risk being out in a town like Hawkins. Word always had a way of getting right back to his dad, and in a tiny hick town with nothing better to do than gossip, it was usually only a matter of hours before Neil heard something he didn’t like.

@ImHardForHargrove: srry 4 bad typing rn. drunk nd dysl exic ren’t a happy combo

Billy’s heart stopped. The drunken idiot was giving himself away. Maybe if he sat here staring at the account long enough, enough would be revealed he could figure it all out like a shitty drunk episode of Blue’s Clues.

He was so focused on Twitter, refreshing his feed, again and again, he didn’t notice a very drunk, and very unsteady Steve Harrington stumbling out the back door towards him. Until he crashed into his back.

“Sorry, Bill!” Billy had Steve by the shoulders trying to keep him upright. “Heyy I have a question for you.” Steve grabbed one of Billy’s hands and veered over to the table and chairs arranged neatly on the small patio. When they were sitting, Steve kept ahold of Billy’s hand.

“Hi.” Steve was smiling like a little kid. Billy was in fucking love.

“hey, Harrington. What was your question.”

“So-oo. I have this friend. A very good friend. Super close. And he has a big ol’ crush on you but he’s too scared to ask you himself because he keeps getting his heart fuckin’ broken so he wanted me to ask. Are you into guys?” It’s a miracle Billy understood any of that, every word blending into the next.

“That depends.” Billy leaned in, running his tongue along his bottom lip. He saw Steve take in a sharp breath, following the movement with his glazed eyes. He knew Steve was talking about himself, he just wanted to rile him up a little. Make him blush first. “This friend you’re talkin’ about. He’s our age? Like you’re not trying to set me up with one a’ your kids, right?” Steve physically recoiled.

“NO, you fuckin’ pedo. I’m NOT trying to set you up with a fuckin’, fuckin’ middle schooler. My friend is, uh eighteen. He’s a senior.” Unless Tommy fuckin’ H. suddenly had a penchant for dick Billy didn’t know about, Steve was 100% talking about himself.

“Well, if he’s as pretty as you are, I’d love to go out with him sometime.” Billy winked. Steve went red.

“Okay, but like, does that mean you’d go out with me? Like I’m as pretty as me, right? Because I was talking about me. Not ‘a friend’ I was talking about me. Steve.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out. You know, I was hoping it was you running that Twitter. Any time you’d tweet out something you wanted to do with me, I was always picturin’ doing it with you, Baby.” Billy was practically purring. “Especially all the shit you wanted me to do TO you.” Steve gave something between a whine and a groan and flopped himself onto Billy’s lap, straddling him with very little grace.

“Thank God. ‘Cause you’re so fucking hot I’d let you do anything to me. Anything, Bill.” Billy smiled softly at him.

“Then let me take you home. Let me put you in bed to sleep off all this. And let me take you to breakfast tomorrow. Something nice and greasy for your hangover tummy.” Steve was a puddle in Billy’s lap. “C’mon, Drunky, git your ass up.” Steve just giggled and muttered Drunky Skunky under his breath.

Billy sighed and stood up, hefting Steve up with him.

“Bil-ly,” Steve whined. “You’re so strong, this is so fucking hot. I gotta tweet about this.”

“Tweet it later, Sweet Thing.”

It took Billy for-fucking-ever to find Robin and Heather (they were making out in the basement with the stoners). But Steve chirped and cooed into his ear, so happy Billy could lift him and hold him like it was nothing.

The last tweet from the account was timestamped from Sunday evening.

@ImHardForHargrove: Hi this is Steve. Billy’s my boyfriend now 🥰#ThirstWorks

#I'm gonna reblog this in the morning too #Im v proud of it I want people to SEE IT #harringrove #steve harrington #steve harrington x billy hargrove #billy hargrove x steve harrington #billy hargorve #modern au #modern harringrove #yikes writes #harringrove prompts #Harringrove Prompts list #harringrove prompt fill #prompt fill #prompt fic

[kiingmango]

Smart Egg Unwin

I saw this post, and honestly i dont even know if this fic matches it anymore. It changed a lot. This also was supposed to be like maybe 500 words and then somehow became 2200… I am not british, so i’m sorry if this all sounds extremely american. Gonna tag @alethiaii and @notbrogues who contributed to the post (hope you dont mind me tagging you)

Eggsy had gone through extensive training for an additional four months, while taking missions after v-day and after weeks and weeks of lessons about espionage, he was finally getting his first lesson on tailoring in the shop. He handed in his finished written debrief and took the train to the shop, adjusting himself and fixing his tie. He walks up to Dagonet and gives him a smile.“I’m ready for my lesson,” He states. Dagonet gives him a small smile and shakes his head. “Harry is giving you your lesson. He’s late, as usual, but he’ll be here soon,” He nods and returns to what Eggsy assumes is filing people’s order paperwork. Harry and Eggsy had been spending quite a bit of time together, him giving Eggsy most of his lessons even while he’s busy with being Arthur. Apparently, after a candidate takes their place at the roundtable, their proposal agent will continue to teach them and go on some small joint missions for skill practicing purposes. It’s usually only for a couple of weeks, but Harry had only returned in the last month or two and he was slowly getting used to meeting up with Harry every other day or so to learn a new skill, even if he sometimes already knew it.    

He went into dressing room #1, looking through some of the drawers he wasn’t familiar with. He had just found the drawer for all the measuring equipment when a man knocked on the door and entered a second later. 

“Hi I’m here for my first appointment,” he sounded a bit unsure of himself, shuffling nervously in the doorway.  “The man at the from told me to go ahead in here.” 

Eggsy had never actually measured someone before, but he had once spent four months doing nothing but reading and watching about how to sew up clothes. At that point Dean wasn’t willing to spare any money for new clothes, he was too busy buying beer and drugs to worry about it. So Eggsy learned how to sew up his old clothes, and take ones that were too tattered to fix to make small clothes bigger. That is until people started getting suspicious and Dean had to buy clothes for Eggsy, and later Daisy.

So no, Eggsy had never actually done this before, but he had read six separate articles on suit making and he knew how to measure people. In theory.

“Uhhh come in and we can at least get you started.” Eggsy ushered the man in and took a tape measure from the drawer, swung it around his neck and took out a pen. “My name’s Gary Unwin by the way. My colleague has some important business he’s finishing up and is in turn a bit late, terribly sorry,” Eggsy addresses the issue of Harry’s absence and gestures for the man to stand up on the raised platform.

 “What are you looking for exactly? Are we doing a waistcoat or a two piece..?” He takes the small notepad next to him and jots down the man’s requests, asking the occasional question and throwing in bits of humor for charm. If he’s gonna work in the shop at least 10 hours a month (excluding long-term missions of course) he might as well practice his salesman bit.

 “Alright. Let’s go ahead and get your measurements,” Eggsy put his pen down and walked behind the man, whose name he learned was Tom, and began at the waist. He wanted to take a minimum of 30 measurements, really make sure that the suit was as best fit as possible, and so that if he accidently messed up Harry could have at least a number of options to work with. Twenty measurements in and there was another knock at the door, Harry entering looking as gorgeous as ever, in Eggsy’s opinion.

 “Terribly sorry, caught up in the fabric room,” He walked towards Eggsy’s notepad to see how far along they had gotten, his eyebrows coming together and forming two small lines on Harry’s forehead. “Well it seems Mr. Unwin has you all squared away.” Harry nodded at the two men in the middle of the room, a small pleased smile on his face. He stayed for the rest of the fitting, hovering just behind Eggsy in case he needed him. Ten minutes later Eggsy sent Tom out to Dagonet to set his next appointment, measurements complete, fabric chosen, and his own custom suit in progress. 

 “Where did you learn how to get the correct measurements for making a suit from scratch?” Harry asked, looking at Eggsy as he began putting things away and finalizing his notes. “That was supposed to be your first lesson today. You weren’t even going to measure that man, you were supposed to be measuring me,” Harry was mumbling now, almost to himself more to Eggsy. Eggsy stood to his full height, grabbing his notepad and smacking it against Harry’s chest twice before saying, “Well wouldn’t you like to know.” Eggsy sauntered out of the dressing room feeling smug, and Harry followed closely behind him feeling completely smitten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Eggsy came back from a brutal three day mission with four weeks of mandatory R&R. Eggsy was, to say the least, not happy. Harry hadn’t seen him in a few days and was a little concerned, not that he thought Eggsy would do anything stupid, he just worried. He finished up the day’s work, cleaned his desk off and headed to the shop, ready to flop into a cab and head home. Maybe enjoy a few fingers of scotch before reading in bed. He’s looking for Dagonet, he always says goodnight like a gentleman should, when he ends up in the back of the shop, finding Eggsy hunched over a table with pattern paper, rulers and a chalk stick in his hand.

 “Eggsy? I haven’t seen you in days, what are you doing?” He briefly looked up from tracing his garment patterns onto his muslin to acknowledge Harry, his hands moving with skill.

“I’ve been spending them back here with Dagonet. Watched him for a couple of days and then mentioned Tom’s suit. He said if I wanted I could do it, since he hasn’t even cut the patterns for it yet.” Eggsy whipped out a pair of scissors from god knows where and cut the muslin with ease, every line precise and not a stray cut in sight.

 “You learned how to measure, draw, and cut your own suit patterns by observing Dagonet for two days?” Harry sounded almost incredulous, but Eggsy still hadn’t looked up from his delicate work when he said “Yes, Harry.” And didn’t that just drive cupid’s arrow deeper into Harry’s old heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 Tom came in for his second fitting two weeks after Harry found Eggsy cutting the patterns, and Eggsy made sure he was free that week. He greeted Tom with a smile, made excuses for his sprained wrist (which he had received in the caribbean last week, so it was mostly healed) and led him back to the same fitting room they had used before. 

“Your trousers are mostly complete, I’ll just need to finish the inseam and any final alterations if need be. Your jacket and waistcoat will take longer, and today I’ll put you in the pieces and make adjustments.” Eggsy gave a shy smile, probably more nervous than Tom was about how the pieces would fit. He quickly retrieved the three piece suit from his claimed work table and slipped back into the room, handing them over to his first client. He moved in the jacket and trousers for a bit and got back on the platform.

“Trousers are perfect. Great fit and move. The waistcoat is a bit large around here,” He gestured to his pectorals and Eggsy nodded, committing to memory everything Tom said. “The sleeves are a bit uncomfortable around my shoulders,” Eggsy nodded once again and stepped up to Tom, helping him adjust the sleeves and pinching here and there.

“So as strange as this sounds, I’m actually going to make these armholes a bit smaller. It’ll make for a better fit,” He went from the bottom and tucked a bit of the fabric in, pinning it with a small pin. He finished up the adjustments and final measurements, took out the pins and shook Tom’s hand.

 “Dagonet will set your pickup date but it shouldn’t be more than two or three weeks. I pick stitch the suit by hand so it takes a bit longer but it is definitely worth it.” Tom left the room and behind him Harry came through the door, closing it softly and sending a short grin towards Eggsy as he cleaned up his area. 

“You pick stitch as well?” Harry was surprised Eggsy was doing it by hand. It definitely was worth it, as he had said, but it took a skilled hand to do so. “Done it before,” Eggsy replied, finally looking up. “Dean didn’t care about buying clothes for a twelve year old so I got used to stitching up stuff, puttin two and two together.” Eggsy shrugged while putting the tailored suit on it’s hanger. Harry always felt a sense of dread when Eggsy talked about his childhood, and he shook away the feeling and gave him a wry smile. “Well I look forward to seeing the finished project,” and with a final nod he left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True to his word Eggsy finished the suit in record time, hand did the pick stitches, finished the inseam of the trousers and pressed it to perfection. He left for a five day mission in Dubai as soon as he had bagged the suit. Eggsy knew it was unlikely he would be back before Tom came to pick up his custom suit, but Harry assured Eggsy that it was perfect, and waved as the plane flew away. He still had a stack of papers (financial statements, debriefs to sign off on) but he instead decided to head to the shop and take a peek at Eggsy’s suit. Agents needed to learn only basic tailoring skills, taking measurements and finer details, but Eggsy had completed this suit by himself, from start to finish.

 To say Harry was proud of his dedication was an understatement. Eggsy had surprised him with just how much he knew, how capable and smart he really was, and taking a look at the finished product he was a damn good tailor. The prick stitching was flawless, seams pulled together in a gorgeous finish, buttons and fabric matching, and the lining tucked to perfection. Tom would be very pleased indeed. Merlin came into the room shortly after Harry had zipped the bag up, clipboard in hand.

 “What are you doing here?” Harry asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, because I remember dropping off a file of new driver candidates in your office not twenty minutes ago,” Merlin finished writing on his clipboard and looked up at Harry, who was attempting to look as innocent as possible. “Eggsy asked me to look at his suit,” Merlin replied to his earlier question and unzipped the bag once again, pushing it aside to take a look of the three piece.

“I don’t know why he would, what with your taste in jumpers.” Harry sniffed, trying to hide his smile. Merlin snorted at him, his own grin forming.

 “He made this by himself?” Merlin’s brows drew together, even as a smirk creeped on his face. “He’s one smart lad,” The bag was once again zipped up, suit safely tucked inside. Merlin directed his smirk to Harry.

 “Oh you’re screwed,” Merlin laughed as he left, leaving Harry to stare at the proof of Eggsy’s genius. He sighed, “I am utterly screwed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eggsy made it back to the shop a whole day early, looking completely exhausted. He took a shower, and promptly fell asleep on the couch in Merlin’s office for fourteen hours. Harry put a blanket over him when he went to go give Merlin his candidate decisions. Harry knew Eggsy wanted to see the suit through to the end, so twenty minutes before Tom would arrive he got Eggsy up. A quick change and train ride later Eggsy stood in the shop, arms placed behind him and waiting for Tom to walk through the door. He didn’t have to wait long, he walked through the door right on time. Eggsy greeted him with a handshake and Harry grabbed his suit from the back.

“Thank you, Harry.” Eggsy took the bag from his hand and gestured towards dressing room #1.

“Shall we?” Tom smiled and said yes, and Eggsy placed the bag on a hook. He pulled the suit out and presented it to his first ever client, feeling a swell of pride in himself when Tom’s grin overtook his face at the sight of his custom three piece. He helped him into the suit, smoothing it down.

“It’s a perfect fit,” Tom laughed and thanked Eggsy profusely for his time, which he returned with a simple and heartfelt, “It was my complete pleasure.”

The appointment was almost underwhelming with how quickly it was over, considering how much time this one set of clothing had taken. Harry came into the room and smiled at Eggsy, admiring the glowing smile he had on. 

“It looked amazing, my dear boy,” Harry moved to his side, and slowly wrapped an arm around Eggsy’s waist. “I was wondering, if you wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate.” Eggsy’s smile grew bigger.

“Yes, Harry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope yall enjoyed it at least a little bit :) I also tried to keep this as Eggsy centered as possible so let me know how I did!

#kingsman #harry hart #eggsy unwin #hartwin #my works