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#i’m about to go like posts and make it EVERYONEs problem so RIP to y’all’s notifs
gogandmagog · 5 months
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“A love story with a psychological interest … a rather doubtful experiment with a public who expects a certain style from an author."
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Selected Journals of, on the subject of 'Kilmeny of the Orchard'
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hakirachan · 3 months
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Hey guys. Hakira here. Just a rant below the cut, read if you want. Or don’t. I don’t care.
I usually don’t vent on this blog. It’s mostly full of crack, shits and giggles, which is why you probably weren’t expecting this kind of post. But I just need to explain something in case I suddenly stop posting one day. (I know you guys probably don’t care; in fact, most of y’all probs won’t see this, but I needed to post this anyways. Sorry.) It’s kinda depressing so feel free to keep scrolling now that you know that.
So, I’m at a really shitty point in my life. It feels like everyone’s against me, like I’ve got almost nobody supporting me, and I feel like I’m hated by everyone I’ve ever looked up to. I know, sooo original. Well, it’s deeper than that.
I’m still living with my parents (somehow), but it’s always been pretty toxic ever since I was a kid. As the youngest, I can guarantee that the “youngest sibling is the favorite child, oldest gets all the work” stereotype is complete bullshit. I was told to do some things that kids that age shouldn’t have had to do. At just 6-7 years old, I was forced to take heavy bags & boxes (and I mean 40-50 pounds each) of my dad’s old shit down to the curb and wait there until they got picked up by his friend (“to make sure it didn’t get blown away” or something like that) in the middle of a fucking snowstorm, with temps below -10 degrees Fahrenheit [around -23 degrees Celsius]. Almost lost my fingers from that. They made me set out & pack up most things for a family campout on my own when I wasn’t even staying at the campsite; I was staying home with a mean, nicotine-addicted (took out a cigarette the moment my parents pulled out of the driveway; refused to stop smoking even though the smoke was making my 8-year-old body nauseous) babysitter because I had a B- in one of my classes. I know this doesn’t sound that bad, but the problem is that I wasn’t even 10 when these things were happening. It’s not really anything too serious, but I was still basically ripped out of my childhood way too early. But, enough about my childhood; now my present life. I’ve relied on my friends for comfort for most of my life because of my dysfunctional home. Recently, though, my friends have become more distant and toxic. Spreading rumors, talking shit, leaving me out, and pulling pranks that go too far (like ruining the outfit I worked so hard to make the day before my band concert). I’ve only got three friends I trust; however, 2 of them I hardly talk to anymore (not because anything happened, we’ve just got different things going on in our lives). So, there’s only one real friend who’s always stuck with me. However, there’s nothing he can do about my family at home. As I said earlier, my family’s always been toxic and dysfunctional. It should have gotten better over the years, but no. It’s gotten worse. They’ve cussed me out, threatened me, and recently, I’ve even been a victim to some domestic violence. I talked to the cops about it, and to a lady from the state who deals with these kinds of things. However, since there were no visible marks and no proof of it, they couldn’t log it as abuse because they can’t just go off of what is said; they need some hard evidence to actually do anything. So, since I don’t have the money to move out of my parent’s house, I had to watch my only hope at escaping this mental and verbal (and now some physical) abuse quite literally walk out the door. I’ve been having suicidal thoughts and self-harm urges for the longest time. And, I’m ashamed to admit it because I’ve talked so many people out of it irl, but recently I have been self-harming. Thing is, while I had helped so many other people, nobody ever helped me through these dark times in my life. In fact, some people (who I helped through their trauma) literally told me to self-harm and to just kill myself when I tried venting to them. I just can’t deal with this shit anymore. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but I can’t see the “bright side” anymore. There is no more “bright side” for me. I’m on the edge right now, literally. But I’ve got you guys to thank for getting me this far. Thank you so much for being here for me, even though I don’t usually vent, and you guys didn’t know what I’ve been going through up until now, so you weren’t actively trying to support me. Even so, thanks for appreciating me and not treating me like I’m more worthless than a dead plant. I love you all, and I hope you guys have great lives. So, if I change my mind, then I’ll see you guys later. If not…well, don’t mourn me, I’ll be in a better place. So long, guys. also im gonna give this a few days in case things get better (though let’s be honest, they’re probably not gonna) so don’t miss me just yet. If I’m gone for like, over a week, then you can assume I finally freed myself from this hell
shoutout to my mutuals, you guys are awesome and were great help to me (im not gonna pin you so you don’t feel obliged to read/reply to my dumb rant): dumb-mc-sheep cldhart08 acronym49 cricketproofreads im-an-angy-alpaca trash-opposum
And special shoutouts to my two fav mutuals (sorry other moots) @family-disappointment and @avatarofstars! You two were some of the greatest motivators for me to keep going. I’m sorry that your efforts (while unintentional) probably weren’t enough this time. I love you both and wish you both the best lives you can have! (And sorry for bothering you with the tag, just wanted you to see this last little note to you both💜)
This is Hakira, signing out.
:)
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sciencesara · 3 months
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The Palworld Discourse
Why is it so bad…
I actually have a nuanced take but seeing the two sides is just irritating.
One side is mad and saying it’s a cheap ripoff of pokemon and that it used AI (how??? unsure) and the other side is just like, loll who cares, bad look defending the biggest IP by Nintendo, what’s wrong playing a parody that a smaller company has made, looks fun!!
Alright, I’m breaking this down into some overarching problems I see, and why everyone is having a weird knee jerk reaction one way or the other.
Gameplay and why it is (or is not) the pokemon game you are looking for
The company model is not anything to write home about
As an artist who loves Pokemon, I’m not mad that they ripped off Pokemon, I’m just mad that they did it in the laziest way possible
AI and the artists in the current climate
I love media analysis, let’s goooooo
Gameplay and why it is (or is not) the pokemon game you are looking for
Okay yes, the images below are pretty great, definitely selling the edgy dark “this is an adult parody of pokemon – with guns!” complete with animal abuse and exploitation vibes. Funny to see, but that’s not my kinda game, and even if it were…
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That’s not what you are going to see most of the time. It’s definitely a more basic looking open world game/survival/base building/automation with menus and lists that you will be staring at, grinding and leveling up. The Pokepals are just a part of the game as a whole. It’s also early access, so the game is still not completely done yet. I can definitely see why it’s such a hit – it’s a genre crossover we haven’t seen before, even though it’s not…a great game, it still will be enjoyable for its audience. Presumably people who liked South Park growing up, idk
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Syntac on Youtube
The company model is not anything to write home about
Y’all thinking I’m defending Nintendo by criticizing another game company can know I can hold hate for both simultaneously, thank you very much. The developer/publisher Pocketpair has done other games that are on Steam – one is called Art Imposter, a game similar to drawful that uses AI to generate the art (I will touch on AI later) and Craftopia. Craftopia is also an early access multiplayer survival action game by them, maybe you can tell what other game is mentioned when talking about this game…
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How about an upcoming game they have in the works, in addition to the two early access games?
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If you can’t tell where I am going with this, their whole premise is making riffs off of popular works, and in my eyes, do not make them out of love, or make them in a transformative way.
As an artist who loves Pokemon, I’m not mad that they ripped off Pokemon, I’m mad that they did it in the laziest way possible
The fan game Pokemon infinite fusion uses an AI to generate a mash-up of two different pokemon, but a large fan base has been making unique pixel art to replace favorite fusions, and has some amazing takes! There are rules and peer review of the submitted artwork, and a guide of how to make these look like pokemon – complexity of the design, color scheme, shading, etc. There are some hilarious deep cuts, and sometimes multiple versions of the same fusion, so you can pick your favorite.
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SnooDrawings7091 on r/PokemonInfiniteFusion
Next, we have r/fakemon, a subreddit for fans to post their own designs, and they are amazing! They range from reimaginings and regional redesigns to original creatures, see below
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Expert-Discount-3311 on r/fakemon
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And here are some pal to pokemon comparisons
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If you notice, all of these match the color scheme and body proportions of the one or two pokemon shown – all of them. There are original pals, but that is not the point. If you want a knock off pokemon game, go ahead, but in my book, even a few of these absolute fake prada bags are lazy. I love the creation of new, original designs that look like pokemon but are not. Look at the below image for an original pal that I love the design of -
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Give me more of this!!! These look like new pokemon, because they use the same basic shapes, colors, and eye shapes of the pokemon style.
But others can just shrug and won’t care that much, and find it kinda funny that the company is so blatant about it (and find it weird that I have such strong feelings on the subject)
And that brings me to                                   
       
AI and the artists in the current climate
As you might know, AI has been a nightmare for digital artists, sending them into a survivalist defensive against the rise of generative art.
AI, that takes existing good art, puts it through a blender and makes something derivative with the same-wait a minute-no, I shan’t say-
If there were weird vibes of people throwing AI accusations against Palworld, this is probably why – they are so primed to be defensive right now against the use of AI that stuff like this hits that same spot in just the right way.
I have a whole other rant about how I do not like AI, but suffice it to say I feel kinda depressed that I have to scan digital photos and digital artwork now to make sure it is not AI generated before I can rely on my immediate gut instinct of liking or disliking a photo or artwork. The problem with AI generation is one of use – it makes so much chaff that the wheat of actual human work gets lost in the noise. Good luck for any new digital artist to join the market when AI can do it better off of stolen work for free. Something something the rise of derivative works overshadow smaller original ones
Anyways Palworld is meh to me and I’ll sit this one out and eye Slime Rancher 2 instead
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absolutebl · 2 years
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hi again
how are you? i hope you had a good week so far
i have two questions
1. i’m watching manner of death and the sound quality is driving me mad. i tried on yt and then switched to we tv site and it still is not good. like it’s way too quiet (you can barely hear the background when they talk) or the music comes in and it gets too loud. i wonder if it’s me or if the mixing (?) got messed up. i’ve seen a few clips of other series (can’t name them of the top of my head) and just wanted to ask why does it happen? is it a budget problem or mic one or maybe copyright? or just honest mistake or my laptop is just weird.
2. how did the pairing in thai bls stared? like did they just randomly decided to pair the actors who did good together and keep casting them both for roles? because they got popular with fans or was it more planned and conscious effort to sell that?
side note just wanted to thank you for all of your commentaries and reviews and language posts. they make me super interested in the dynamics of characters and make me pay attention to stuff i normally wouldn’t. so thank you for making me a little bit more perceptive.
Hi hi again!
So far so good, it's a slow week, I got a lot of stuff out that I'm waiting to come home again with work, which means I am sitting around twiddling my thumbs doing busywork (as the gran would call it) and distracting myself on Tumblr.
At some point in the not too distant future a big project is gonna hit and I’m gonna disappear except for the weekly updates and y’all are gonna think I’m dead. 
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Manner of Death = terrible sound production?
1. i’m watching manner of death and the sound quality is driving me mad. i tried on yt and then switched to we tv site and it still is not good. like it’s way too quiet (you can barely hear the background when they talk) or the music comes in and it gets too loud. i wonder if it’s me or if the mixing (?) got messed up. i’ve seen a few clips of other series (can’t name them of the top of my head) and just wanted to ask why does it happen? is it a budget problem or mic one or maybe copyright? or just honest mistake or my laptop is just weird.
I think I remember it being pretty bad always. But then I watched MoD grey so everything was terrible, rips and all, and thre were random ads and threats of viruses. Count your blessings in that regard, trust me, it could be A LOT worse. 
I’m just getting around to a rewatch on WeTV but I’m not expecting much. I’ll let you know if I feel like the sounds is significantly worse than I remember. 
Honestly, with very few exceptions Thailand is TERRIBLE with sound, even worse when they go on location. Their looping is bad (if they bother). I mean we JOKE about how terrible they are with boom mics so much that Our Days referenced it. 
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For goodness sake they use wired mics for intimacy scenes, and cheap wireless mics at WINDY locations. It’s just *throws hands into air.* 
Speculation is there just aren’t any sound techs in Thailand. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 
How do Thai BL Pairs Happen? How did it start? 
2. how did the pairing in thai bls stared? like did they just randomly decided to pair the actors who did good together and keep casting them both for roles? because they got popular with fans or was it more planned and conscious effort to sell that?
SOTUS started it. Ironically, we get to blame SingtoKrist. 
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OffGun made it popular and caused everyone to realize it was possible to make more money as branded pair (sponsorship deals). 
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But it was MewGulf who actually broke the internet. They caused Harper/Vogue something fashiony (?) Thailand’s website to crash when they appeared on the cover together, also won best kiss Asia against all the het couples. 
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Originally I believe it was unplanned, but KirstSingto did so well on variety shows and with fan meets when promoting SOTUS and then SOTUS S they got given their own travel-esk show (by GMMTV). Say what you like about Krist he’s really good on a “yes, and.” Then GMMTV started to just sort of do a hard push with any pair they could, to try to get them to stick and recreate this magic. 
For the first few years 2016-2019 or so, the boys were just farting around and not really intentional about it. I think as the IRL shipping got worse (especially with MewGulf and ZeeSaint), expectations started to be different from within the industry (as well as from outsiders). Things have changed after multiple fissures and problems with pairs disbanding (and this having a career impact). 
Sometimes GMMtV’s intentional approach works (EarthMix) sometimes it fades away (PodKhaotung) sometimes it’s purposefully made-over by the studio (BrightWin). 
Career-minded and more savvy actors and managers are now, understandably, both wary and intentional in their approach to pairing up (and IF they will have an approach at all). Watching how Nanon and Ohm handled it for Bad Buddy was eye opening. (Ohm’s previous pairing from Make It Right seems to have left in industry for... not great reasons... So I’ve always assumed Ohm is relatively jaded and definitely guarded about BL.)
On the flip side, indie pairs started to form with specifically an eye towards acting together as the leads in dramas (e.g. KaownahTurbo and SantaEarth).
I talk a lot about it and the history of pairs in this (OLD AND NO LONGER UPDATED) post here:
A Guide to Thai BL Actor Pairs for New Watchers 
and a little bit on the new ones in 
Thai BL Actor Pairs... REDUX! (newer pairs)
and
GMMTV and Co-Branded BL Couples - pairs and marketing tactics
I keep meaning to do an update on all the pairs, but the skinship side of BL fandom makes me very uncomfortable so I keep avoiding it. 
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jordanprice · 11 months
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June 11 - Himeji-jo
Dear the fans back home,
I hope you are doing well and that you are ready to hear about today’s adventures! I’m sorry this post is late, and I apologize for making you wait. Hope y’all are well :)
Today we visited Himeji-jo to see the Himeji castle. It was a long way there, but I would say it was worth seeing it.
When we arrived in the area, we split up for lunch. I went with Lauren, Bianca, and Emily to get food. It was some vegan restaurant that Emily found. When we got there, it said that they had a 90 minute wait, but they kicked out a group of people who had apparently been there for over an hour after finishing their meal, in favor of seating us. The others seemed to like their food good enough, but there was a problem with mine. The problem being it never arrived. The lady confirmed our order and everything, then I never got my food, and we didn’t get charged for it. So, I just literally didn’t get to eat for that meal, but it was whatever I suppose. I’m glad the others enjoyed theirs.
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We then went to the castle. When professor smith pointed out all the positions for defenses and archers and stuff for the castle, Lauren made the joke that we seemed to make it in easily and that their defenses were lacking. It was really funny, and she kept joking about it throughout our time there. Every time we made it through another gate, she would comment on its ease.
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I was then making a joke of my own throughout it on asking whether things were original that obviously weren’t (like tvs and ac and stuff). Just being like “do you think that’s original?” Lauren was then also joking about how much it would cost to rent out a room there, saying like it’s gotta be like four yen or something, and at least two yen. I always like gross over and under exaggerations as jokes. It’s been really fun having someone on this trip that gets my humor well and has a similar sense of humor themselves.
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The castle itself was really cool to look at, and I do genuinely wonder how much of it is original and how much of it is like restored and stuff. Overall, I must agree with Lauren though… it was way too easy to invade.
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Also, there was this well that was said to have some lady be thrown down it after she broke/was robbed of the tenth plate of a set of ten. People say that they can still here her counting to ten at night and stopping at nine. And all I’m saying is she is swimming in money down there. Literally as there are definitely at least thousands of dollars worth of coins down there, as well as I’m assuming water given it’s a well.
(You can sort of see the coins glimmering in the bottom of the well in this photo. Also, yes, someone from our group is trying to salvage a coin using an umbrella in the left of the photo.)
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Lauren wanted to make it up to me for not getting lunch, by letting me decide where to eat for dinner. She’s vegetarian, but was trying to convince to go to a steak place to make up for it. Obviously I’d feel bad dragging her to a steak place, especially since the whole lunch thing wasn’t her fault at all, but I knew it would make her feel better about things. The problem is though, that everywhere either had no menu at all, had a set menu that did not sound appealing, and or was way too expensive. The one place we found was impossible to get to, and the replacement we found literally didn’t exist anymore. We ended up in what I could only describe as a cyberpunk speakeasy, and I ended up getting yakitori and it was really really good. The vibes of the place were so crazy on point I can’t even explain. I felt bad for Lauren as there weren’t really any options for her. She ended up getting strawberry pancakes, and I know she doesn’t particularly like pancakes, so it wasn’t the best for her, but she just seemed happy I liked my food, which was very sweet of her.
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Overall pretty good day, but rip everyone’s suica cards. The suica carry is real, and it’s service will not be forgotten o7 (it’s the train pass for anyone wondering, and the round trip today used up a solid fourth of our total original funds).
Academic Reflection
Today I learned about Japanese castles and castle towns. I found it interesting how, as opposed to the tall European castle walls, those of Japanese castles were shorter. This was made up for, however, by the fact that they were on top of hills. This allowed for them to fire down on any possible intruders, without needing to have high walls to maintain high ground. I also liked how the walls were. More naturally sloped, and following that the of the land. This was better for bearing loads. Walking through the castle today, I could see why intruding it would be so tricky. It is on a hill, has multiple layers of defense with many archer holes in the walls, and it honestly kinda confusing if a layout if you don’t know your way around.
An interesting story we learned about was that of this lady who was thrown down a well. She was found to be missing one of ten plates by who I think was her husband, and out of anger he threw her down the well. The theories are that either she broke one or that this samurai whose proposal she turned down stole it from her. The well itself felt like a gold mine looking down at it. The bottom was covered in coins which I thought was actually pretty cool.
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lunarticxenia · 3 years
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Moon Signs Pt. 1
My take on moon signs based off people I know! Now personally, I tend to have more strong opinions on my favorite moon signs than favorite sun signs. I feel like moon signs really indicate more about a person’s personality than their sun sign, imo. It does rule emotions and behavior after all. With sun signs I struggle with picking favorites because I do genuinely have people I like of every zodiac sign. I just go by the number of people I like from each zodiac sign. Anyhoo, here’s my view on each moon sign! 
Note: These are p long bc I have such strong thoughts on moon signs so I’m splitting it into two parts. :) 
🍂 Aries Moon: Ahhh, my moon sign. I won’t be biased though, I promise. So Aries moons based off other people I know is that we low-key got anger issues LMAO. Every single Aries moon I’ve met besides myself has anger issues, with the exception of one person and she still gets irritated easily. Aries Moons are also extremely sensitive, and they tend to be overlooked for that since they’re fire signs. I’ve found that a lot of what they get angry about has to do with their feelings, if they feel they’ve been wronged this really can make them angry as they are super sensitive. They also get angry when they feel like people aren’t listening to them, as they take this very personally. I’ve also noticed that Aries moons are EXTREMELY honest, they will tell it how it is and they are extremely blunt. They don’t like to beat around the bush, and they are very direct with how they feel about something. Aries moons are also extremely passionate and spontaneous especially in relationships; they’re the ones who wanna kiss in the rain and ride horses into the sunset, that is if you can get them to settle down with you LMAO. Nah all jokes, they’re picky about who they want, but once they really fall for someone it’s very hard for them to let go. They’re also so competitive, they will play dirty. My grandpa used to let me win in checkers as a kid, my dad (who’s an Aries moon) NEVER let me win. He said me losing would help build character LMFAO. He just didn’t wanna lose.They also have strong personalities and can be SUPER impulsive. Also, if they wanna do something, they WILL do it. No one is gonna stop them. If they wanna go somewhere at 3am, they’re doing it. Sorry. You can’t stop them. LMAO. Aries moons also love to be in touch with their inner child, my dad is an Aries moon and bought himself an arcade machine out of nowhere LMAO. I also like to collect shells and watch Disney movies to remind me of my childhood. They also tend to change their views and opinions on things a lot, and mind you they have intense emotions about these things. So it can be hard to keep up w them. 
🍂 Taurus Moon: Taurus moons are just so calm, it’s scary LMAO. I know a few of them, and even if they’re anxious about something you can never tell. They always have this calm demeanor and just seem so unbothered by everything. Taurus moons also LOVE money and the finer things in life. The male Taurus moons I know work a lot just so they can have a lot of money. One of them literally said to me “Money talks” after explaining to me why they work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day doing two jobs. The crazy thing is, despite doing all that extra work, he just seemed so unbothered about it LMAO. The female Taurus moons I know tend to love really expensive clothes and dressing up. This Taurus moon I work with has such nice clothes and always dresses like she’s on a Vogue cover. Like I said, Taurus moons LOVE money and the finer things in life like expensive clothes. If they aren’t the types to dress up or be workaholics, they desire comfort. They would rather lay in bed and take hot bathes than be bothered to do all that extra stuff. They also might like to eat out at expensive restaurants, and are “foodies”. They also might be big lovers of music and have lots of different music tastes. Also, Taurus moons? STUBBORN. Good luck trying to get them to change their mind on something. Also, despite them wanting all the luxuries and comfort of life, they are SUPER grounded. They do not live in a dream world, they see life for what it is, and prefer to be on the ground than have their heads in the clouds. Also, Taurus moons, I’m sorry, but y’all can be lazy. I work with three of them, and they can be lazy. They will not do more than the bare minimum. Also, their anger is low-key scary. Especially since it can come out of nowhere since they’re calm all the time, you never know when they’re angry and if you catch them at the wrong time... well, rip. They also tend to be introverted- even if they’re social, you will not know anything about them unless you’re besties with them or related to them. Doesn’t matter how well you know them, they don’t air their dirty laundry and keep their private life private. Also one last thing, omg these people sing all the time. They love singing to themselves, every single one I’ve met does that LMAO. Anyway, love my Taurus moons. 
🍂 Gemini Moon: Gemini moons love to make people laugh LMAO and love to just sit down and have good talks with people. Their minds NEVER stop working. Good luck trying to get them to stop talking once they know you. They can and will talk about anything for hours. Now, I do admire that, but sometimes I just wanna relax and they won’t stop talking to me LMFAO. My dad’s girlfriend is a Gemini moon and at family gatherings she loves to dance around and try to get everyone else to dance. I find that Gemini moons are very active and love to move around, and try to get everyone to have fun. Definitely the life of the party. They’re super amusing and also love to tell jokes and funny stories. Now not all of them are extroverts especially if they have an earth sun sign. So that is something to consider. My cousin is a Gemini moon and tends to be more introverted, however, once she’s comfortable around someone and knows someone she’s super goofy and loves to make people laugh. Gemini moons also love to learn, they’re always teaching themselves about something. My cousin who’s a Gemini moon just randomly started teaching herself how to do sign language (she’s good at it also)! These people are also SUPER adaptable, they can get along with any kind of personality and can adapt to any situation. I’ve also noticed that they love to playfully roast people and annoy them LMAO. I have noticed that they struggle with reading the room, they tend to just continue to annoy someone and can take it too far, which can get kind of annoying. They’re also extremely curious and are always asking questions. They love to ask random questions without any context. It’s a quirk a lot of them have. Trying to tell a story to them can be frustrating because if you mention certain terms they’ll ask you what they mean LMFAO. My dad was telling a story about how he used surfing to explain physics concepts in class and his girlfriend asked what the concepts were and what they mean. Also, they’re really good at giving advice. These people would make great psychologists imo. This girl I used to talk to (who’s a Gemini moon) actually is becoming a psychologist, so there you go LMAO. 
🍂Cancer Moon: Oh Cancer moons...you guys are so sensitive. They feel everything and anything. I haven’t met a Cancer moon that isn’t an empath. They are extremely good at reading other people and sensing their motives. My mother is a Cancer moon, and she’s always been able to tell who’s toxic in my life. She doesn’t even have to meet them either, just based off of stories I tell her, she can pick it up right away. Now, everyone always says Cancer moons are super close with their family and that’s definitely not always the case. The Cancer moons I’ve met have actually had a lot of problems with their family. Now the thing that I’ve noticed with these placements is that despite how toxic their family is, they always stick by them. Even if they’re not close. So I wouldn’t say they’re all super close with their families, but they always stick up for them, which can be an issue if their family is toxic. Also, Cancer moons, SUPER MOODY. I’m sorry but like I’m a Cancer sun and they’re ten times more moody than I am LMFAO. I’ve always said they act more like the stereotypical Cancer than Cancer suns. Also, this is a super underrated placement for humor. Every Cancer moon I’ve met has been super funny. Also, a super underrated placement for anger issues. Everyone says oh yeah Aries moons have anger issues, like yes, BUT HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN CANCER MOON ANGER?! Y’all Taylor Swift is a Cancer moon and wrote a whole album about how fed up she was about the media mistreating her and the whole Kimye thing (rightfully so) but y’all see my point. They can and will fight you. They also tend to be introverted, even if they’re social, (which I rarely see), they would much rather keep to themselves. I’ve also noticed that they’re very nostalgic a lot. My Cancer moon ex used to just randomly go through childhood photos and would show them to me. They’re also EXTREMELY protective over people they love, they will KILL for the people they love. They also love to talk about their dream homes and interior decorating a lot? My Cancer moon ex was OBSESSED with coming up with his dream house and would literally draw out diagrams for me to see. My mother too, she wants to redecorate her apartment and was showing me all the potential furniture that was gonna be put in. Oh Cancer moons, LMAO. 
🍂 Leo Moon: Oh Leo moons. You guys can be so dramatic LMAO. Every Leo moon I’ve met is so dramatic; these are the types of people who get up and move around when telling a story and also do dramatic hand gestures. These are the types of people who post a black screen in middle school on Snapchat saying “Don’t hmu.” LMAO. My Leo moon friend gets so mad when I make that joke, but it’s so true. These people are also naturally super creative, the Leo moons I know love to decorate and draw. Even if they don’t do any outright creative hobbies, they have a creative streak to them. It’s weird though because despite them being very dramatic when it comes to them being angry, they struggle with expressing their personal problems to other people. (This however can be changed with other placements, but I’ve found this to be true in many cases). They don’t want people to think that they’re weak, so they put up a tough front to hide that they’re hurting. Also, Leo moons, are indeed the hype friends. My Leo moon friends gas up my Instagram posts so much. They’re also extremely loyal and don’t like to leave people out, they hate that kind of shit. They’re also extremely accepting of others, my Leo moon friend was the first person I came out to, and they accepted me right away. They also love to take pictures of EVERYTHING. Like when you go out with them, they will make you wait before eating your food so they can take video of your food together LMAO. They love to capture every moment, I personally find it very endearing. Also, a lot of people say Leo moons are super cocky. I don’t find this to be true. They can come off that way, but I’ve found they tend to actually be pretty insecure and they try to hide it by coming off as confident. I feel like Leo moons tend to put on a show a lot to hide how they truly feel, which makes it hard to get to know them. It makes me sad because they truly are such kind hearted people and all they want is to feel validation. I also found that they love to go above and beyond to make sure everyone else is happy and tend to put themselves last. I wish y’all didn’t do that, you deserve to be happy too. ;( 
🍂 Virgo Moon: Workaholics. That’s how I’m starting this LMAO. My friend is a Virgo moon and works her ass off. She goes above and beyond in school for starters. For this anatomy course we had together, she sent me a whole diagram she made of the human brain on Notability and it was so intricately made. She also works her ass off at her job and takes care of her siblings. I feel like this falls into Virgo placements putting others before themselves. Virgo moons are definitely the types to be like this. They want to make everyone happy and they want to feel useful so they do all these extra things to feel that way. Virgo moons are also super smart, and have the best study methods. Low-key jealous. They have this incredible drive and are always on top of things and have a routine. Also Virgo moons LOVE animals. My friend who’s a Virgo moon, works at a dog sitting business and has 6 pets at home. They LOVE animals. They also like honesty and bluntness; they will provide you with that as well. They don’t like beating around the bush or lying to make other people feel better. You wanna know if you look bad in a dress? Ask a Virgo moon, LMFAO. I’ve also found that they struggle with wanting to be perfect all the time, and struggle with anxiety. As I said, they want to be the best at everything, and this can be a big source of anxiety for them. These people also find themselves attracting people who they want to “fix”. They also give amazing advice and are super reliable. Also, last minute plans? They HATE them. Want a Virgo moon to hate you? Try making spontaneous plans with them LMAO. Virgo moons also have great memories; they’ll remember every little detail about you. Also Virgo moons are the types to take charge in a group project and run the whole thing because they don’t trust anyone. Virgo moons also always appear to be calm and collected, even though many of them frequently deal with anxiety a lot. Also, they’re low-key underrated for humor. They have a very dry and self-deprecating sense of humor LMAO. They also go above and beyond in relationships because they enjoy seeing the people they love being happy. 
Anyhoo, this wraps up part one!  Also these are just my opinions, so don’t get offended I tried to praise and drag all of them equally <3 
Part 2 here. 
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darylsgirl · 3 years
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He’s just like the sun. Daryl Dixon x Reader 18+ Smut
*Second ever Fanfic! Exciting! I hope you guys enjoy this! Please let me know if there is anything you’d change about it or anything you like! I would love some tips on how to improve!  I will warn it does get pretty dark at points, but the story just kind of got away from me again haha! Younger reader and Older Daryl for the anonymous request! Hope this has lived up to your expectations! Hope y’all having a lovely day <3*
Warnings!: Domestic violence, Heavy cursing, Violence and Smut 
Summary: Daryl had saved you from a herd of walkers, When you reached Alexandria he became distant and you started dating Spencer. He stayed away from you fully until Carol brought it to his attention that Spencer could be hurting you. Long slow burn. Smutty ending with Confessions of love :) 
Part Two              Part three 
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“Good morning baby” He said rolling on top of you kissing you swiftly. 
“Good Mornin’ Spence' You replied squirming uncomfortably.
He enveloped you in his arms around you pulling you closer to him. 
“Sorry Spence, but carol’s expecting me. I really have to go!” 
His eyes flashed dark, He finally released you. “So just Carol? Or is there anyone else you will be seeing today?” 
You pushed your hand to the back of your neck rubbing it uncomfortably. “Urm yeah i think it’s just carol, She did say something about Rosita popping by to give us a hand” 
“Well you know what to do if anyone else turns up right? Or should I remind you?” He said with a smirk now. 
Your eyes met his panicked now “No i promise only Carol and Rosita. I know what to do i promise baby”
Ugh you hated calling him that but you knew it worked. You looked back at him and could see your words had placated him for now. Running to the bathroom you quickly got ready for the day, Checking over your appearance in the mirror you were satisfied that everything would look normal to anyone looking at her. You tucked your shirt into your jeans wincing as you did to make sure this didn’t rise up and left the bathroom. Sighing a breath of relief when you saw that Spencer had gotten up and left. Running a hand through your hair you ran downstairs, laced your boots up hastily, Leapt off the porch and headed towards Carol’s house.
You always loved your days with Carol, She was the most incredible woman. Tough, unrelenting and takes no nonsense but yet the mother of the group and loves everyone unconditionally, You’re pretty sure she would die for any one of you. She made you feel safe and at ease which is two feelings that were hard to come by these days. 
Smiling as you saw Carol in the front garden digging. You ran over and saw that there was a tray sitting on the porch with two cups of tea and some pancakes waiting. She nodded towards the porch “Go on help yourself Y/N. I'll be over in a minute” Another reason you just loved Carol. She. was. The. best. Cook. Even something as simple as pancakes you knew were going to be delicious.  “So I heard through the grapevine it’s your birthday soon?” Carol asked. You smiled at her “Yeah,I’ll be 22 on April 16th. Not that i’m even sure when that is now” 
“It seems silly now but sometimes i wonder what it would of been like to have my first drink, Never got a chance with the end of well….everything”
Carol looked over at you and checked the calendar. “Deana told me the date when we got here and I've been marking it ever since. Looks to be a week on Tuesday! Got anything nice planned?” “Nah, Just another day to me now!” You said shrugging. 
“Is Spencer planning anything?” 
“Um not sure, I don’t think i’ve told him if i'm honest”
“Well tell me then. If you could have anything in the world what would it be” 
You smiled the answer coming so easy to you now “A sunflower, I would really love to see a sunflower again” 
Carol nodded at you. “Now that would be something” 
Smiling happily again as you sat down you pulled a plate of pancakes on your lap and ravenously ate groaning as you did. “Carol, these are sooo good. What’s the secret?” 
“Y’all know if i tell you, i’d have to kill you” She said with a light hearted laugh and a wink. 
You had quickly finished your plate using the tea to wash it down. You thanked Carol, Grabbed the tray and walked in to clean the dishes. Carol followed in behind you talking about the day’s tasks. You didn’t really pay much attention as you were happy to do whatever as long as you weren’t stuck at home or with him. 
That’s when you heard him “Mornin’ Carol any o’ those fer me?” You body froze with fear, You needed to get out of here NOW. You scrubbed the plates and mugs as quick as you could and set them on the side of the sink to try. Spinning around you grabbed a dish cloth and wiped your hands. “I’m so sorry Carol, I just remembered I promised Spencer something, I have to go. I’ll see you soon?”
You started making your way briskly towards the door when a hand grabbed your wrist. “Y/N There a problem here?” You were too scared to look him in the eye, Those were your weakness so bright and beautiful. “No Daryl, Just cant be here” You muttered staring at your feet silently begging him to push and save you, But in true shy Daryl fashion he released your arm still staring at you. 
Carol cleared her throat “I thought you had made a promise not that you couldn’t be here?” She walked over to you, also staring at you intensely. “Same thing, Not allowed. Promised Spencer” Carol’s eyes burned looking at you she grabbed your face pulling your eyes up to meet yours. “Not allowed?” She asked softer than you expected. You nodded your head slightly “Please Carol i have to go” You begged her scared. She gripped your face tighter, Her eyes wandering quickly across your face. You ripped your face from her hands and Carol gasped. Panic building in you again you turned and ran through the front door with Carol and Daryl hot on your heels. 
As you hit the pavement you ran straight into him, You froze again,Fear in your eyes, your eyes downcast..
Spencer looked at you then looked at the porch seeing them both there he wrapped his hand around your lower back digging his nails painfully into your side. You jumped slightly. Spencer put his lips to your ear and whispered “Smile and wave and say goodbye to your friends” Putting an emphasis on the word friends. Tears stung your eyes. 
You looked up at carol placing an unconvincing smile on your face, “Bye guys, Thank you for breakfast Carol” The second the words had left your mouth Spencer was dragging you by the hip back to the house your eyes still not leaving Carol’s in a wordless plea. 
Back on the porch Carol turned to Daryl “Fuck, We gotta do something about that” “Bout what?” he asked puzzled “God Daryl you can be so blind sometimes!” “Didn’t you see her neck when she was leaving, Those bruises were finger marks. I’d bet my life on it” He looked over at Carol shocked “He like Ed?” She nodded mouth forming a thin line “The one thing that bastard was good for is he taught me to see the signs of that evil in others, That fear was mine not too long ago” She continued “We can’t just get involved that won’t help we need to watch him and catch him at it so he can’t make her lie” 
Daryl felt like something inside him had broken, He couldn’t believe that prick was doing this to her, To Y/N, A Girl like that deserved to be treated like an angel. He wished he could have told her how he felt before all this and saved her the pain. 
He had loved her from the first moment he had laid eyes on her. He had been the one to find her when they were on the road to DC. She was alone trying to fight off a herd of walkers with a determined look in her eye. Daryl had known he wasn’t supposed to get involved; he was supposed to be just observing and reporting back to the group. But the look in her eye  had made him charge forward “Hey!! Over here! Follow me!” She hadn’t even given it a second thought she just ran towards him and swung her leg over the back of his motorbike and they had ridden off. It had happened so quickly neither of them had the chance to wonder if the other could be dangerous. They both had connected at a base level without suspicion. 
Daryl had forced his bike to its limits, hightailing it back to the group with her arms around him. When he got back to them Rick had rushed forward to greet them looking warily at the pair, Daryl stopped the bike and started trying to explain to his friend when she fell sideways from the bike. Having to explain to the group that he didn’t even know her name was difficult but he just had to save her. By way of an explanation he just said “Any woman tha faces down a hoard alone earnt her chance” 
Daryl hadn’t left her side until she woke up. Seeing his reaction to this woman the group didn’t question it and just accepted her as one of their own. 
Daryl smiled thinking back to all the moments you two had been together on the road to here, To alexandria which had quickly become home. Before here he had barely left your side, He had thought you were incredible. A complete badass. From the first day you had defended and helped the group as if they were already family. You were a perfect fit. You were everything he wasn’t Light and beautiful. He knew a woman like you would never want the dark twisted man he had become but he couldn’t stop himself from being around you. You were magnetic. 
He never had the guts to tell you all of this, He knew you would reject him and everything your presence had healed in him would be shattered again. When they had gotten to Alexandria he had started seeing less of you as you had taken up your post at the infirmary and he had been going on more and more runs to keep the community fed and taken care of. He had started to wish for injuries just so he would have an excuse to feel your eye’s meet his again. He craved your touch with everything in him. But of course he could never tell you that, It would be so wrong of him. He was no good for you, he was atleast 20 years older for a start, An old redneck like him could never deserve a young beauty like you. 
About a week after you had all gotten here someone else had noticed you. You seemed to rebuff his advances at first which gave Daryl hope. A few weeks later Daryl was sent on a long run and when he came back there you were on Spencer's porch wrapped in his arms, Laughing at his words. That memory was the most painful for him, He had just gotten up the guts after a very close call to tell you how much he loved you and needed you to be his and there you were, Someone else’s now.
He couldn’t help but imagine what would happen if you had in fact been his, He spent all of his nights wondering what it would be like to have you in his arms lay next to him, Wondering what your lips would feel like on his, How your skin would feel under his fingers, Your breath on his skin. All of these nights ended in a hurried and urgent tug as he let his mind imagine your hands were his. Moaning your name night after night. Always opening his eyes to the empty space beside him and the gripping pain in his chest. 
“Daryl, Come in Daryl” Carol was waving her hand in front of your face. “Uhh Sorry, What did you say?”
“I said,'' Can you make an excuse to go to the infirmary tonight?” He balled his fists. He could definitely do that. He waited a few hours and then stormed towards the garage with Carol hot on his heels. He drew a deep breath and then punched his hand through the glass cabinet. Drawing his hand back and watching the blood seep down his wrist. Looking up at Carol expectantly “That’ll do nicely Daryl” With a glint in her eye. She turned and grabbed a rag off the side and wrapped it around his wrist. You go to the infirmary ill get Y/N. Daryl couldn’t feel the pain of what he had done yet, He could just feel the adrenaline rushing through him. 
Carol ran across and down the street stopping to take a deep breath before knocking she heard a whimper from inside. Fixing a panicked look on her face she knocked urgently. A few moments later Spencer tore the door open, “What?” He demanded. Unfazed Carol replied “Hey spence! I’m sorry to intrude so late but we need Y/N Its urgent” She smiled sweetly at him. “Whatever you need her for you either tell me or you can wait till tomorrow” Showing him the blood on her hands. “Well um there was an accident and we can’t find denise.” She said in an innocent voice. Hearing this you appeared at the door and looked up at spencer. “I need to go, I promise i'll be quick…. Please?” You smoothed your hair over your neck again and started out of the door towards Carol when Spencer caught your wrist pulling you back to him. “You better be, I aint done with you yet” He growled into your ear, Then pushed his lips to yours put a fake smile on his face “Okay honey, Be Careful”
You took this moment to pull your arm from his following Carol pressing her for more information. You arrived at the infirmary and saw Daryl on the steps blood dripping down his hand onto the steps. You unlocked the door and ushered him and Carol inside. 
Sitting Daryl down and not meeting his eyes you delicately removed the rag from his wrist and grimaced. Knowing better than to ask questions you set to work with a pair of tweezers and started removing the glass shards from his hand and wrist before cleaning the wound, Stitching and bandaging it as quick as you could. You braved a glimpse upwards and saw his eyes searching your body and then your eyes. 
Seeing those beautiful blue eyes hit yours you were fighting the tears. You wanted to spill and tell him everything. He had always had that effect on you all he had to do was look at you and you wanted to pour yourself into him. You had loved him from the very beginning, From the moment your eyes met you had craved him, Craved those beautiful strong arms around you keeping you safe from the world. 
You had always wished he would show even a spark of interest towards you, Well he was always around but he acted so indifferent. 
Engrossed in his eyes just staring at each other it was like there was no one else in the world, He was the sun pulling you in. His hand came up and moved the hair from your face, His fingers lingering before moving your hair completely away from your neck, his eye’s darting downwards inspecting you. His eyes grew dark then “Please Y/N what has he done to you?” his eyes were fixed on your neck as he reached forward and brushed his fingers across your throat tracing the bruises. 
Your breath hitched in your throat enjoying his touch. Carol cleared her throat from the corner “Guys we got company” Daryl dropped his hand and darted forwards blocking the doorway as it flung open. 
Spencer, He was fucking everywhere. 
“Can i help you?” Daryl growled. “What are you doing man, Where’s my girl?” Spencer asked. “She’s Busy and she’s gon be busy for a long time. Why don’t you take off kid” Daryl said still not moving from spencer’s way “I’ll take off when i’ve got my girl, Get the fuck out of the way” You could hear the change in his tone turn from polite to the voice that sent fear through your bones. 
You stepped forward. “I’m right here. It’s okay i won't be long” Daryl looked back at you pained “Yeah ya will. We aint letting ya go back with him” Roaring “Fucking look at yaself Y/N look at those bruises!” He span back at spencer “Ya needa take a fuckin hike, Touch her again ill kill you” He growled. Spencer looked amused “Yeah, Ok redneck scurry on to your moonshine and skinning possums'' He half laughed. “You think that little bitch wants you? She’s mine. Now get your ass here Y/N before i get fucking angry.” 
Daryl was heaving now Carol rushed forwards and grabbed his arms as he went to lunge forward. You forced your body forward in between them both tears freely running down your face now. “It’s okay, Daryl I’m okay. I’m not worth it” You winced when you felt Spencer's hands dig into your already bruised hips again. Daryl saw this “Ya gotta be kiddin me Y/N Ya worth 10 o’ him'' His eyes searched yours again desperate. “Please Daryl don’t make this any worse” “You heard her white trash” Spencer then pulled you from the room back down the infirmary steps, Daryl watched as he pulled her down the street and threw her back through the front door” 
Anger boiling through his veins he took off in the other direction, grabbed his bike and took off out of the gate and into the night. 
A week had passed since that night, It had taken a week to recover from the beating he gave you. You knew the rules No talking to either of them now. You were to go to work and come home, No more out of hours calls. You watched when Daryl finally rode back into town. Covered in walker blood his face still contorted in anger when he rushed back into the house. You saw the light come on in the basement and watched as he smashed up what few belongings he had before settling onto his bed. This had become your favourite pass time you loved that you could see straight into his room and the garage when he was in there. Spencer had already noted they could see into this house and had kept the curtains drawn on all rooms at all times. 
When you finally did go back to work Spencer walked you to and from the infirmary for the first week until he started to relax again. You liked it better when he relaxed, He could be sweet and loving towards you and you did everything you could to prolong it to avoid his rages again. 
On the tuesday you now knew was your birthday, You went to work with a half smile on your face. Denise pointed over to a desk “That was dropped off for you earlier” You walked over and found a slightly dirty Pin. Flipping it over you saw it was a beautiful painted sunflower. Beaming you turned back to denise “Who was it?” “Ahh sworn to secrecy! Sorry Y/N” You playfully growled at her “ooh terrified! I’m more scared of them, than I am of you Y/N Sorry still not telling!” You laughed and decided to let it go and just enjoy your beautiful thoughtful gift. 
Since Spencer had relaxed he had let you walk to work and back alone on the second day of this you heard him. “Y/N wait up!” Shit not now! What if he’s watching. You darted your eyes around and picked up the pace towards home. Running to catch up with you, Daryl ran in front of you and made you stop. 
“Please not now Daryl, If he sees...I’m not allowed….I’m not allowed to be near you” You stuttered. You gazed up at him pleading. His eyes went hard. “No! NO! I aint allowing it! Ya not going back to him Y/N I aint allowing him to hurt ya again!” You started shaking at his raised voice. Daryl noticed this and looked to be struggling with himself before finally lunging towards you and taking your head in his hands making your eyes stay on his. There it was again he was the sun and you couldn’t pull away even if you wanted to. 
“I love ya Y/N, I fuckin love ya! I can’t watch him not treat you like how you deserve! I’ll take care of you please, please let me i'll protect you with everythin i have!” His eyes looked wild and desperate. You couldn’t stop yourself, you pushed your lips forward meeting his hurriedly matching his desperation. The world could have ended again right then. You wouldn’t have cared one bit as he wrapped his arms around you and you melted into him feeling safe at last. 
Your hands made their way to his hair no longer caring who was watching and pulled him closer to you. He pulled away reluctantly. “Come on we’re getting ya stuff now. I’m not having ya there for another second '' Your brain still foggy you nodded giggling and let him pull you towards your house. Panic setting in again. Spencer should still be on guard duty the house should be empty so why were you so afraid. 
You looked back at Daryl and melted again. “Wait here, I won't be long, there's not much I need” He nodded at you taking a defensive stance and staring into the street. 
You ran up the stairs and threw the door open shutting it softly behind you and ran up the stairs grabbed your bag from under the bed and stuffing clothes in at random, Next you turned to the bathroom and grabbed your tooth brush and other bits. Smiling at yourself in the mirror not recognising the happy woman in front of you. 
It was then you saw him leaning against the doorway behind you. “That was quite a show Y/N, Well there’s only one thing for it! You ain’t goin nowhere with him with fuckin nobody but me bitch” He smirked at you and dove forward grabbing fistfuls of hair in his hands he threw your head forward smashing it into the mirror. You screamed begging him to let go as he continued to pull your head back and hit it back into the wall. You could feel the blood running down your face. Clouding your eyesight. Suddenly the hands were gone you gripped the sink fighting to stay up right. Grabbing a cloth and rubbing the blood out of your eyes you saw Spencer being dragged from the room. You followed as quick as your stumbling legs would carry you. 
You made it out onto the street to see spencer in the middle of the road and Daryl over him punching everywhere he could “I fuckin told ya, I’d Fuckin told ya i’d kill ya” He was screaming into his face. You looked around and saw a crowd had formed. Deana, Spencer’s mother was screaming for Daryl to stop. Which brought Rick and the others running. Carol ran straight for you taking your head in her hands and pulling you close. Whispering “It’s okay now Y/N. It’s okay i’ve got you” 
Rick ran straight at Daryl pulling him away from Spencer. Spencer pulled himself up and spat the blood from his mouth glaring at you now He pulled himself to his feet stumbling, eyes locked on you glaring he screamed “You little bitch” and ran at you. Rick couldn’t restrain Daryl any more as Daryl ran forward grabbing Spencer and throwing him to the ground again just before he reached you. Rick and a few others ran forward again and stood in front of you guarding you from Spencer. Daryl saw the fear in your eyes and rounded back on him. 
Crouching over Spencer on the floor Daryl yelled “Ya don’t listen do ya, Rick was trying to save ya miserable piece of shit life” He punched him again. “Me, I want to see ya as an undead asshole and I wanna be the one to do it, So keep pushing it Spencer” He pulled his crossbow from off his back and pointed it at the man on the ground, his chest heaving now. A strangled cry left your throat then.
Pushing yourself out of Carol’s arms you made your way to Daryl, You put your hand over his on the bow and pushed it down. Internally begging him to look at you. He finally did “Please Daryl it doesn’t matter, I don’t matter. I won’t have you being a murderer for me” 
Daryl’s eyes softened before turning back to spencer “Twice in a day someone else has saved ya fuckin life. Don’ even think about coming near her again. I even smell you near her or catch you looking at MY WOMAN again. ill rip ya fucking eyes out” He roared
Deanna was at her sons side now “He gets it please, Please leave so i can take my son home”
Daryl turned to you “Come on baby, We need to go home too” He dropped his crossbow back over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around your shoulders pulling you to him and pressing his lips to your forehead. You instantly relaxed grinning into him and you let him guide you again over to his house and down to his basement. You looked at him sadly when he pulled his arms from around your shoulders and turned to lock the door behind you pulling the deadbolt across. 
He turned smiling at you “Come on let’s get a good look at ya” Putting his hand in yours he brought you to the bed and sat you down inspecting the gash on your head. “We needa get you to Denise to get ya patched up” You grimaced “No she will be busy with him, I can do it. You got a needle and wire?” He looked at you shocked “Um yeah somewhere here” He busied himself getting those for you. He came back to you with them and some rubbing alcohol and bandages “Ya sure ya don’t want Denise? I’d do it but i'd probably make it worse” You smiled at him again sighing “It’s okay Daryl, It’s not my first rodeo” You made your way to the mirror and calmly cleaning and stitching yourself up. 
Daryl was half fascinated and half horrified as he watched you work. You looked so calm and didn’t even flinch when you were stitching yourself. It disturbed him to know you had probably gotten used to giving yourself medical attention. He waited patiently for you to be done. When you finally made your way back to him he pulled you back into his arms breathing deeply “I ain’t ever gonna let anyone hurt ya again Y/N not ever.” 
You reluctantly pulled yourself away now looking up at him with tired eyes. “I um didn’t get a chance to get my bag. Could I borrow something? I think I need to lie down, If that’s okay? Or I could go ask Carol if she minds me going upstairs?” 
“Ya kiddin aren’t ya? I aint letting you out of my sight” Getting nervous suddenly “Unless ya don’t want to be here. I aint gonna force you to stay or anything else'' You smiled at him again “Daryl i want to be here, With you. It’s all i’ve ever wanted” He grinned relieved, turned to his dresser and pulled out one of his shirts. “This alright?” You pulled the shirt up to your face smelling it briefly, It was clean but still smelled distinctly like motor oil and cigarettes. Just like him. You smiled sweetly at him “It’s perfect, Thank you” 
You looked pointedly at him, He laughed awkwardly, lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling above giving you your privacy. You slowly started removing your clothes wincing at points where your skin was still tender. Gratefully pulling his shirt over you and Scooping your hair out of the neck. 
“I don’t suppose the infamous Daryl Dixon owns a comb or brush does he?” You said amused. He jumped up again grabbing a brush from another drawer and bringing it over to you. His eyes assessed you “I don’t think ya going to manage to brush that out. Needs washin” 
“Oh and you're the authority on washing now?” You winked at him. You brought your hand to your hair and realised he probably had a point, Looking at him meekly this time. “Sorry I'm being such pain. Would you mind?” “Course not Darlin” He led you to the bathroom just off his room. He grabbed a towel and some shampoo from the cupboard and handed them to you, He turned the shower on “Give it a sec, Generator needs ta kick in” 
You shooed him out of the bathroom, Unwillingly pulling his shirt back off you and stepped under the shower. You couldn’t help but cry out the pain in your head was back, You ran your hand through your hair and felt a sharp pain in your palm. Reaching back you pulled out a piece of mirror that had embedded itself in your scalp, dropped it and let your head back into the water again, Whimpering again as you did. 
Daryl came crashing back into the bathroom “Y/N You okay?” “I'm okay” You stuttered. Not convinced he lingered in the doorway a moment more before leaving. 
The pain had started to recede and you enjoyed the water cascading over you. Once you had managed to wash the blood from your face and hair you turned the water off and stood naked in front of the mirror assessing the general damage to your body. This isn’t something you usually liked to do but it was time for the denial to be lifted and face facts. 
Daryl heard the water shut off and when you hadn’t reappeared after a few minutes he went to check on you again and thats where he found you on the floor sobbing holding your chest. He rushed down to you and scooped you into his arms still naked and shaking from the cold. 
“It’s okay Y/N I got ya now, I got ya always” He carried you to the bed pulling the towel with you and wrapping it around you. He lay you down on the bed stepping back. He finally saw the marks he had been searching for on you for weeks and he wished he hadn’t. They were everywhere old and new mixed together indistinguishable from each other. 
He dropped to his knees at the side of the bed burying his head into the mattress at the side of you. “Y/N please tell me what to do, Ya want him dead. I’ll do it, Ya wanna leave, I’ll take ya. Ya want to be alone, Ya can have my home. Please tell me what you want. Anything. I’ll get it Ya.” 
You looked at him sleepily “I just want to sleep” He looked at you standing and pulled the covers over you. “Okay, Ya need me shout and i'll be upstairs” You looked at him and panicked “No please don’t leave me” He ran his hand through his hand and was suddenly nervous again. 
“Ok, Y/N move over” He put his arm around your shoulder and pulled you toward him, You nuzzled into his shoulder. “Thank you” You murmured groggily and fell into a deep sleep instantly feeling safe.
Daryl lay by her side all night. Watching over her as she slept. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins from the day's events, He looked over at you worried as you started mumbling and thrashing in your sleep. He tried to calm you by pulling you closer to him and whispering “It’s ok Y/N Your safe now.” Her mumbilings became more frantic “noo, Pleasee stop” Daryl’s heart felt like it was breaking as he held you. 
Suddenly you jolted upright sitting up with the ghost of a scream on your lips. You jumped up and dove across the room panicking, Collapsing into the corner hyperventilating. He was on you in seconds pulling you close again. Telling you it was going to be okay. It took you a minute to realise you really were safe and you relaxed into his arms allowing him to carry you back to the bed. 
You stayed by Daryl’s side for the next few days, They had been amazing, Everything was starting to feel like it was before Spencer; Spencer had been staying with Deanna while he recovered from the beating Daryl gave him which gave you a chance to clear everything of yours out of there. You were offered the house but with the memories you had there you couldn’t stay and besides you were much happier in that little basement room with Daryl than you had been in that huge house with him. 
Rick had agreed with Deanna that Spencer was to stay in her home and be monitored for as long as it took to see he had learnt his lesson and would stay away from you. The alternative being that Rick would let Daryl do what he wanted to him or he would be banished from the town. Depending on the severity of his possible future actions. 
Daryl hadn’t said a word to you about that day since, You can understand him not mentioning Spencer or those events but he hadn’t brought up the kiss or made any form of move since. You had come to think that he hadn’t meant it and that was just him trying to get through to you.
You really wanted to hate him for it, For making you believe someone as amazing as him could possibly care about you but Maybe Spencer was right, Maybe he was the only one who could ever love you. The thought was painful but just as you had decided to face facts about what he had done to you, You also needed to face facts about yourself and your limitations. 
It was only when you were both alone in bed that he ever slightly lowered his walls, When he would open his arms to you in bed and you would both snuggle while you slept. You would always wake alone with Daryl either working in the garage or out running jobs for Rick. 
One morning you woke up alone as always and found Daryl in the kitchen waiting for you, Trying to keep the grin from your face “Good morning!” You said brightly. He looked at you exhausted. “Mornin Y/N, I have to go on a run may be a day or two, You gonna be okay?” 
“Oh, Yeah sure. Do you need me to find somewhere else to stay while you're gone?” The happiness at seeing him already dissipating. “Course not, Me and Carol want ya here. Ya welcome for as long as ya want.” He then muttered “I don’t ever want ya to leave” under his breath. 
“Thank you Daryl, You don’t know how much this means to me, so…? when are you leaving?” 
“Uhm, Now actually. Just wanted to wait for ya to get up to let ya know, Anythin ya want me to keep an eye out for?” “No Daryl it’s ok. I couldn’t live with myself if anyone got hurt looking for something I wanted. The only thing I need is for you to come back to me, Unhurt…. Promise?” He smiled briefly at her taking her hand in his. “I promise Y/N. I promised to protect ya, It’ll take more than a few walkers to stop me keepin tha promise” 
Cuddling up in bed that night you knew it would be difficult to get any sleep, It always was when he left even before when you were with Spencer. You could never quite get a decent night's sleep until Daryl was home safe. You snuggled up to this pillow on his side of the bed breathing in his scent imagining his arms were wrapped around you safe. 
Half way through the next day he returned. Daryl and the group came flooding through the doors of the infirmary carrying an unfamiliar woman between them, She was passed out with blood covering her clothes. Wishing you had a moment to greet him, You and Denise flew into action looking over the woman and cleaning any wounds you could find. Once you were done and determined that she hadn’t been bitten and had no life threatening wounds, You stepped back “Is it ok if i leave you to finish?” You asked denise. She looked to you and then to Daryl pacing at the other end “Yeah” She nodded. “Can you fill those guys in?” You nodded back at her and walked over to them. 
“Hey, She’s ok. No severe injuries Just a bit dehydrated and probably hungry. Shouldn’t be too long before she wakes up.” A few relieved mutters were shared around the group before they departed for home to see their loved ones. You ran into Daryl’s arms and then held him in front of you checking over him for any cuts or marks that may need to be seen to. “m’ok , Really Y/N I’m ok jus’ tired. Can we go home? I needa talk to you” He looked at you desperately.
You nod your head taking his hand and following him towards your house. 
As you were walking you could feel his fingers nervously gripping your hand. He stopped suddenly and stepped in front of you. Reaching his hand to your jumper brushing his fingers over your sunflower, You looked at him with sudden realisation. “It was you?” 
“I heard ya with Carol that day, I couldn’t let your birthday go by and not get ya anything” He blushed looking away from you. 
You reached up and caressed his face gently pulling his face to face you again. “Thank you Daryl. That was incredibly sweet.” You pushed yourself up towards him pressing your lips to his softly, He moaned and tangling his fingers into your hair pulling you closer.” Just like last time it was over far too quickly, He started pacing in front of you. 
“No.no.no” he muttered “I can’t do this, It will take me weeks to forget again” He started pacing faster, his hands ripping at his hair. 
“Daryl stop!” You grabbed his hands pulling them out of his hair. “Please look at me! Why can’t you do this?! You told me you loved me for fuck sake and then act like it never happened! Tell me why!!” You were almost screaming, battling with your tears. How could he turn a moment so perfect into such a mess! 
“I’m 24 years older than ya, Did ya know that Y/N? I’m a filthy good for nuthin OLD redneck, I aint go no right to be with someone like ya! No matter what i want!!” He stopped pacing and looked straight at you again.
“I don’t care about your age! Why would that matter? What about what I want Daryl? You told me that night if i wanted anything you would get it for me, Well i’ve decided. I WANT YOU! It’s always been you!” Your tears are flowing freely now. The nosey neighbours of Alexandria started to gather at the noise, Trying to tune them out and you turned back to Daryl. “WELL? Don’t go all broody Dixon on me now!” 
He looked torn between pain and anger at the scene you two were now creating. Still not speaking to you. 
“You know what, Fuck you Dixon” You put your hands up to the sunflower pin he had got for you, You pulled it off and threw it at his head. He caught it easily, finally breaking his silence. “Ya got any idea what i went through to get this for ya!” He charged back at you, stopping inches from you.
“Ya should care, I’m no good Y/N, I don’t deserve ya” He gazed into your eyes those brilliant blue eyes misting over. “That ain't your decision or your place to tell me what i deserve. It’s mine” You glared at each other for a moment before he couldn’t take it any longer he gripped your face again slamming his lips to yours now, His tongue urgently pressing against your lips begging for entrance. You opened your lips moaning as his tongue touched yours and took charge of it, Kissing you furiously. You moaned into his mouth feeling your eyes rolling back in your head. 
You had never had anyone kiss you like this before, Everything else melted away all of your anger, pain and fear. All that was left was him, Glorious, Gorgeous all consuming Daryl fucking Dixon. 
You heard Carol chuckle behind you “Hey guys, You might wanna think about getting a room. You’ve got quite an audience here” Daryl smiled into your lips as he pulled away. He turned to Carol “Ya know what i think we will” Quick as a flash he had bent down and grabbed you behind your knees throwing you over his shoulder and running with you back to your home and down into your favourite place. When he had locked the door he turned to the bed with you still over his shoulder and put you down gently on the bed. 
“Did ya mean it Y/N? Ya really want me?” He looked down at you searching your eyes for an answer. “I have never wanted anything more in my life, I want you. I want all of you and i want it right now Daryl” You replied feeling the hunger from him burning you. 
Still standing over you, His eyes growing dark. “Lie down” He growled.. 
Grinning you kicked off your shoes and pushed yourself up the bed laying your head on the pillow. He followed you shadowing your body with his pressing himself to you before leaning close to your face lips barely brushing yours. 
“Tell me what else ya want Y/N…..Exactly what you want” 
You looked at him nervously for a second seeing the lust in his eyes matching yours you decided to just go for it. 
“I want your hands….Everywhere” As you spoke you felt his hands grab your hips moving slowly to your stomach then up and under your top. Frustratingly slowly, Your breath hitched as he finally pushed his hands to your breasts gripping them roughly. 
He pulled his hands away and back down to the bottom of your shirt grabbing it and pulling it upwards you raised your arms and let him remove it fully. He reached back down to you, His hands quickly unclasping your bra and throwing it harshly at the wall. His hands were back to your chest, Rolling your nipples with his thumbs.��
You moaned arching your back pushing your chest into his hands. He hit his hips into yours grinding on your core. “Oh shit Darylll” You moaned feeling how hard he was for you. 
He moved his mouth to your chest feverishly kissing your breasts and nibbled on your nipple making you squirm. Daryl then kissed a line down your stomach to your hips stopping to bite each one gently. 
Every touch was heaven, Every time he dragged his tongue over your soft skin it was like a thousand shocks spreading across your skin. He was undoing the zip on your jeans now, You lifted your hips to help him pull them off you. He settled between your legs pushing them wider open and running his finger over the material of your gratefully black lace underwear. 
Daryl looked up at you. Lifting and turning you slightly to look at the back “Holy Shit ya need to wear these all the time!” Still without removing your panties he pressed his lips to your sensitive nub while his fingers scooped the lace out of his way. His fingers then moved to your opening feeling how dripping wet you had gotten for him. 
“Shit Y/N that cuz of me?” He moaned as he pressed his lips back to your clit starting slowly circling his tongue around it and sucking gently. “Oh godd” You had never even get close to going down on you before, It was everything and more. You had to fight yourself from coming undone too soon, You wanted to savour every delicious second of this.
He plunged two fingers into you eliciting an even louder moan from you “Oh goddd Daryl! Please don’t stop, Don’t ever fucking stop.” You moaned between breaths. His mouth and fingers started moving quicker as he could feel your walls tightening on him and your breaths growing shorter, Panting for him. You couldn’t take any more and erupted feeling the wildfire of sensations running across your skin, Screaming his name. He slowed his fingers allowing you to ride your orgasm out onto him. When you slowed he put his lips further down on you licking every drop that gushed out of you. You entwined your fingers into his hair gently pulling him up towards you. 
“You taste so sweet baby, I could do that all day” Your eyes grew hard as you felt your core growing hot again and the wetness returned at his words.
He leant down and gave you another kiss, You put your hands to his chest and pushed him onto his back on the bed. 
“Your turn baby, I've been dreaming of getting my lips around you” You purred. “But first i need to see you, The man i’ve been dreaming of all this time” Moving your hands to his buttons he nodded at you briefly watching you crawl over him almost naked. 
You quickly pulled his shirt off of him, Roaming your hands all over his tight muscled chest and down over his thick arms. Biting your bottom lip trying to memorise every single inch. 
“If ya don’t stop biting that lip woman i ain't gonna give you a chance for those dreams to happen” He winked at you eyes blazing. You quickly dropped your hands to his jeans, Ripping his jeans and boxers down together and throwing them without a thought. You knelt between his legs licking your lips as you saw the size of him. He must’ve  been at least 9 inches long. Your eyes went wide with need as you wrapped your hands around it you brought your mouth to his tip slowly licking the dew from the eye. Moving your hands you licked him from base to tip and swirled your tongue around the tip. 
“Fuck Y/N Get that cock in your mouth now” He demanded. You didn’t need telling twice! You lowered your lips over him, Sheathing your teeth and pushing most of him in your mouth moaning as you felt his huge length hit the back of your throat.
“Y/N no gag reflex? Oh god how did i get so lucky” He groaned putting his hands into your hair and pushing your head back down. You choked as your mouth hit his base, your eyes watering, You hummed to vibrate your throat on his length before pulling up again. It was your turn to watch his eyes roll into the back of his head “Fuck Y/N fuckkkk Your mouth’s incredbile” You could feel your pressure building as you watched him fall apart under your lips. You bobbed your head faster and faster over him. 
“Oh shit, Stop Y/N I’m gonna cum ” He moaned looking down at you seeing you had no intention of stopping. He started thrusting into your mouth meeting your lips in perfect time. It wasn’t long before he exploded down your throat holding your head down to his hilt while he emptied his load straight into your stomach. When he released your head you pulled off slowly then licked his full length clean swallowing every drop. 
He watched you in wonder “Come here Y/N” You crawled back up him straddling his hips staring down at him sweetly. “Ya soooo fucking good at that” You brought your lips to his hungrily biting his bottom lip and started to grind your core onto him. You both moaned into each other's mouths enjoying the friction. You could already feel him below you growing harder again by the second. 
“I need to feel you baby” You moaned into his lips. Daryl pushed himself upright and pulled you with him as he sat up against the bed head. Daryl put his hands under your hips lifting you up and positioning you over his cock, Swiftly moving your panties to the side he started to lower you on to him. 
You wrapped your arms around his shoulders holding your weight as you tried to fit more of him into you. 
“Yesssss, So tight Y/N”. He groaned trying to push further. His eyes locked yours and saw you were struggling; he held you in place for a moment. “Ya ok?” 
“I’m good, You're just so big.The biggest i ever…. It hurts a little” Softening his gaze He kissed you softly. “Let me help ya with that. He brought his mouth to your nipple swirling and nipping here and there while his hand snaked its way to your clit again following the same circle as his mouth, You could feel yourself getting wetter and able to take more of him in. You cautiously tested it out moving your hips slowly up and down until he had filled you fully. You thought he had felt good before it was nothing on this. Pure unadulterated ecstasy. You started moving faster, becoming more confident with the lack of pain. 
Soon you were bouncing wildly onto his length screaming his name as he quickly brought you to another earth shattering orgasm. He brought your mouth to his kissing you swiftly “Shh baby ya know how thin these walls are. Carol & everyone on the street will be listening to ya!” 
“Mmphh, I don’t fucking care let them hear how good my man is fucking me” You rode your high out enjoying every second when you slowed again Daryl lifted you again standing up with you still skewered on him, Carrying you over to the wall beside the door he slammed you into it. Bucking his hips into yours furiously. 
“Y/N I’ve been waiting all ma daym life for a girl like you” He pushed his lips back to yours again. You melted into his lips his words dampening you for the third time, You hadn’t even known it was possible for someone to turn you on so much, To make you want them with every fibre of your being. 
Daryl started panting faster now sweat dripping off of his glistening muscles, You could feel his cock twitching inside you as he jackhammered into you harder and harder each time. 
“Ahhhh” You screamed “That’s it baby….Right there....Your cock is filling me so fucking good. Cum in me Daryl i need it” 
“Oh fuck Y/N Ya so fucking tight, Ya fuckin incredible, I’m gonna cum for you Y/N” 
You both hit your highs at the same time, You screaming his name into the air, eyes rolling backwards and him sinking his teeth into your shoulder exploding deep into you. You collapsed into his chest seeing stars as you felt him pulsing inside you, Your tight pussy milking him of every drop. 
Panting Daryl carried you back to the bed laying you down gently and collapsing with you, He leant forward and pressed sweet loving kisses on your lips. 
You curled into his chest exhausted, Looking up at him with pure love in your eyes. 
“By the way, What you said that day….” He looked at you puzzled brain still cloudy coming down from his climax. He murmured into your hair. “What baby?”
“Well...I love you too. I always have” Daryl smiled into your hair. He chuckled “Well what a relief, How could i have ever known otherwise”
You jabbed him in the ribs gently “Hey, Not fair!” He pulled your face up to his and stared lovingly into your eyes. 
“Ya know i love ya Y/N” His eyes grew serious. “I’d do anything for ya, I’d die for ya even” 
Your lips met his in a sweet kiss. You couldn’t believe he was finally yours, Allll yours. 
You snuggled into his chest feeling him tighten his arms around you and fell into a relaxed deep sleep. 
Next Chapter ---->
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I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE SH ACTOR AU (per ur tags on the sh1 post), PWEASE,
LITCHERALLY SHAKES AND CRIES AND MOUTHBREATHES SO HEAVILY THANK YOU
SO i wrote a little bit a while ago, and there's even some art i did to go with it, as well as a piece i commissioned in its honor
however A LOT has changed since then lmao like So Much it's kinda insane. the first post i linked has a lot of incorrect information now, BUT i thought i'd slap it there for some basic ideas, and reiterate what’s still true here as well
THE STORY GOES that, because i love my own work, Get Out Of My Town (GOOMT) has been adapted into a Netflix series from the books series themselves. (yes; GOOMT is a published book series. how blessed and unfortunate for everyone ur welcome. WHICH LEADS TO AN
IMPORTANT NOTE: i, as the author, actually have no place in this. i don’t put myself in it at all, like i wrote it, published, and then fucked off lmao just blip bye y’all can deal with this LOL - not the “death” of the author but. yeah i’m just not involved, like an absent parent. this is ur problem, enjoy)
it’s advertised as a “inspired by Konami’s Silent Hill series” and some other legal mumbo jumbo that makes this possible, and to reiterate, it’s an adaptation of GOOMT. because of this it’s a little controversial on the notes that the two main male characters will end up in a romance; the various, deeply uncomfortable themes; why tf Netflix is choosing to take this big a risk; why the hell it’s getting a TV adaptation in the first place, etc.
so it’s getting a bit of publicity, to say the least.
there are four seasons planned, though, of course, the future of it is hinged on its success. they will move on to shoot s2 if it does well.
WELL GUESS WHAT IT SURE DOES AND HOWDY DO HERE COMES SEASON 2
(ALSO ALSO IMPORTANT NOTE: for ease and to avoid confusion, i refer to the actors (who actually have real person names) as their characters - even when they haven’t been cast yet.)
WE GONNA NEED A CUT HERE MY GOOD SUCKERS SO AWAAAAY WE GO
(no like seriously there's so much text under here lmao rip in fucking pieces all ye who dare enter)
the director cast a C-list character actor to play Harry, whose resume largely consists of minor roles in TV and barely known by name, more by “hey it’s that guy!”, and a new and upcoming actor to play James, who, thanks to his debut comedy film, has suddenly rocketed into fame and the public eye.
naturally, casting James for such a serious role directly after cementing himself as a comedy actor has people scratching their heads and already saying he’s going to nuclear bomb it. he’s brand spanking new to the big time entertainment industry, possibly on the way to being an A-lister, and he’s gonna risk career death already??? ur fuckin nuts but ok sure whatever dude
the doubts that he can even go on an Ambien-powered DREAM of doing a small serious role any justice are high, as when digging into his resume, his theatre credits are primarily comedic roles. he’s shown himself as pretty relaxed and funny as person in interviews while, to his merit, holding an air of maturity. he’s very fun and interesting to interview, and his social media is rather chill. he posts every few days, answers fan questions and general interaction, does the occasional expected promotions, his pictures/videos are a total delight, and seems to be taking near-instant fame pretty damn well.
James has loads of nerdy interests, mostly in prop replica, but include collecting playing card and baseball card decks, preservation of Las Vegas history, gambling machines (including pachinko! but not as much as American machines; and no, he’s not a gambler), SPAAAACE, and the evolution of toys.
on the other side of the concert hall, also casting an essentially no-name actor to play his first huge role is getting some chatter. people’ve dug up Harry’s credits and done some nitpicking, many believing that there’s no way he has the actual talent and range to do barely a pebble’s throw of a good a job as other main listers could. there were rumors of other well-knowns potentially slated to take on the role of Harry Mason, which were obviously all just that: rumors.
some speculate that he was chosen thanks to his SURPRISINGLY CONVENIENT natural, deep widow’s peak hairline, AND his left-handedness. (imagine that. what a coincidence. wow. what good luck indeed!!) Harry obviously nailed the auditions and if he didn’t, he was ready to retire from acting. he’s been in the business for decades, was tired of the small character roles. he stopped looking for his Big Break a long long time ago, and suddenly he’s Harrison Ford’ing it by getting a leading role in a Netflix show. Whew.
he hasn’t gotten to do an interview yet, only releasing a statement about how pumped he is (with some old photo from one of his TV roles for reference), so the public is left wondering what kind of a guy he is until he’s sitting across from some journalist.
so these are pretty gutsy casting choices, which pushes more publicity and anticipation onto GOOMT, ensuring a healthy viewership for, at the very least, the first episode. phase 1 of evil genius complete. suckers
James is 25 to his role’s 27; Harry’s 43 to his role’s 48. they tried to intentionally cast a bit younger without jeopardizing the “wrong look” of their characters, thinking ahead that, should GOOMT get its four planned seasons, it’s going to take years to shoot, and so James and Harry will age and “grow” into the look/age of their characters.
(this thought process was based on the evolution of the cast of Stranger Things; no, the adults didn’t really have much differences in their appearances to show for in terms of age during the years it took to shoot, and they of course have modern makeup to fix any problems, but they are working against time. this sounds very confusing and contradictory to the above “they have time to grow into their characters so cast young” to a lot of critics and such, but the director is so fucking weird that people have given up on trying to figure that one out.)
other changes include dyeing James’s hair from auburn to blond (which will then be decided that he’ll be wearing a wig to avoid killing his hair lmao), and dyeing the correct grey pattern into Harry’s naturally dark brown hair. neither have to wear contacts, as WOW LUCKILY ENOUGH, James bears green eyes, and Harry, brown. Harry does get to have prosthetics made for his ears to make them elfin :3c
Harry was required to gain weight for the role and, contrary to the first link’s information, was NOT as pleased. James just has to maintain. it sucks a little (lot), for, to the knowledge of absolutely NOBODY and they’d like to keep it that way, they both suffer from eating disorders. that are the opposite of each other. and they have no idea they’re about to be each other’s triggers lmao RIP IN PIECES KEK
i honestly flip flop between how they first meet: was it a part of their final audition process, doing a couple scenes together to judge their chemistry, or did they meet the first time when they met everyone else (crew, production team, big wigs, etc)?? i have actual scenes/ideas as to how both scenarios play out, but i’ll spare y’all for now LOL
IRREGARDLESS (god i hate how that’s actually in the dictionary now), they hit it off splendidly. they make a point to hang out outside of production time, text, get to know each other. Harry gets to enjoy (not) the paparazzi experience for the first time and thanks he hates it :) so now the public gets better pictures of him, unflattering and flattering, out on his own and also out with James. it really fucking sucks and it makes Harry so anxious that he’s This Close to actually backing out, but.. can’t do it, for a multitude of reasons; the show must go on.
he eventually gets used to it and, with James (and in the future, Douglas and Heather), get to have a bit of fun with the paparazzi, on their own terms.
Harry hails from West Virginia Appalachia. he worked hard to get rid of his VERY thick Appalachia accent, and somehow got out of that holler when he was seventeen, right out of high school that day. there isn’t a person out there that could confidently snitch on Harry’s “normal” American accent (aka, Midwest). there have been a couple roles he was able to use it for, though. these days he practices it in private, feeling attachment to it after being so ashamed of his roots for all his life, finally trying to preserve a bit of his own history.
he’s also mega fudged personal information in order to scrub himself free of being a deep mountain hick (which he’d say himself that he was.. is). but now that he’s stepping into the limelight, he’s just waiting for that shoe to drop, knowing how snoopy people are and how information can just be plucked out of thin air, and he’s always HIGHLY valued his privacy.
yeah. he hired a therapist. there’re a lot of triggers he didn’t even know existed for problems he didn’t even know he was repressing.
Harry’s lived in the Los Angeles area/suburbs for about twenty years now, and along the lines, bought a house. he paid off the mortgage on his house just a couple years ago. his house is time capsule frozen smack dead in the 70s and in the “ranch” style. it’s a modest, unassuming abode, with shingles painted brown and wood strips hatching diamonds onto the smaller windows. the door is an orange-yellow with four textured smaller glass diamonds in dark red, orange, blue, and yellow.
mustard yellow curtains shield the living room behind the large and wide front window, where built-in planters with the same white border and hatch pattern hold seasonal flowers. a huuuge old oak tree shades most of the lawn, which is kept such a pretty green, and even partially shades the lazy snake of a walkway. it’s cement and bordered by earthy, multicolored bricks, a few lanterns alternating in distance to guide the way, and annuals planted amongst them.
the house had seen an exterior remodel, and when he saw the original pictures, it drove him absolutely crazy LOL so he fully plans to get someone else in and DO IT AGAIN and return his goddamn house to its proper exterior glory. and fix a few things. anyway,
the most important thing about his house is that he has a conversation pit. thank you for your time
he also drives an old 1987 Toyota Corolla LE sedan in that wonderful light blue metallic (8D8), totally unremarkable, and he loves it so much.
James moved to Los Angeles from Portland, Oregon. he was born in Idaho and went to Portland at seventeen to try to get his foot in the door in doing some theatre, make friends, have weird experiences, meet a girl, break up with her, meet another girl and have an exciting two-year romance, dabble in plaster sculpting, get REALLY super into/discover the nerdy interests he has now, come to kinda super hate Portland,
he went to audition for the comedy movie on a fuckin whim. he was in San Fransisco of all places when someone mentioned it and he was like. okay fair when is it?
and he jokes about this a lot in interviews, how it was a literal race against time and all odds to make it to the audition before the cutoff, like he was in some late 80s-mid 90s feel-good movie. James had about no knowledge of what he was auditioning for other than it was comedy, had nothing prepared, a fly’s sigh worth of knowledge of the character, and blew it all right out of the park, home run, won the championship.
life has been BONKERS since then. he’s been nominated for awards, been on red carpets, getting starstruck meeting people he thought that the potential to be meeting them would be through a wild LSD trip - and so busy, and so stressful, and he’s turning back to unhealthy coping mechanisms. he’s seeing a therapist - and just glad he never got into substance abuse.
too much of that one at his childhood home.
James doesn’t like the flashy mansions - or any really huge house. it’s only gonna be him most of the time! truth be told, he’s no party boy, and the vibes gotta be good. he instead got himself a sweet little industrial/exposed brick wall/repurposed warehouse/firehouse type loft. a LOFT! with BIIIG floor space to skateboard on. (oh yeah; he does that. it’s kinda cute seeing him nyoom through the sets/backlots all dressed up as his character James Sunderland, backpack and all)
AND A FIREMAN’S POLE! FUCK YEAH he’s having a great time dressing up the place in all his nerdiness and yeah.. buying some expensive bells and whistles like telescopes, outfitting the garage into a workshop.. some collection items.. installing an enormous fish tank in the wall in his bedroom so he can have his bed right up against it and stare at the fish..
it’s weird and lonely and James isn’t sure how long it’s gonna take to get adjusted. yeah, he has friends over, has been making new friends, busy schedule, blah blah.. but just.. weird. he likes the fish though, and that he can skateboard indoors without anyone saying jack shit about it, and really didn’t like the Dolce and Gabbana suit at all……. not much of a fan of the brand so far, anyway….. god, rich people are stupid about brands. (hipster of him; you can take the man out of Portland, Oregon, but..)
James thinks that it’s SICK that his character drove a 1977 Pontiac Ventura but can’t see himself ever driving one. he can appreciate vintage/classic/hot rods/vintage muscle cars (Road Runners are fucking SWEET and they go MEEPMEEP and the Firehawks are REAL cool), but…… he likes motorcycles. yeah, he rides motorcycles - and he’s not about any discourse. straight up doesn’t care.
he owns a 2017 Yamaha YZF-R3 ABS that is custom painted with (yeah, sparkly) He-Man/KISS theme. look. he’s 25 and stupid as fuck and he unironically loves He-Man and KISS. actually he doesn’t really know about KISS, he just likes a lot of the KISS merch he always saw in Spencer’s and the pinball machine was cool. anyway, KISS
BUT ANYWAY
Douglas pops up out of total nowhere. GOOMT has wrapped its first season and they’ve already been green lit for s2. fame is comin to the cast and crew, and god pls leave Harry alone!!! he was doing his best to go incognito one night, wearing a stupid beanie to hide his hair (nothing can be done about his beak, rip), dressed casually and Not-Harry Mason (which he’s figured out has more of A Look than he thought it could), and for the most part, he’s been flying under the radar tonight.
so he was heading down the sidewalk after having dinner with James and his girlfriend (met her on set; was a monster girl extra lmao), going for his little car waiting for him at a meter. but parked a car ahead of his Toyota, there’s this REALLY stunning beige, four door Chrysler New Yorker, circa late 1960s.. but couldn’t tag the exact year. Harry’s not too much of a car guy, but he can appreciate a good looking car.
so he goes to take a look. it’s evening, about 9p. Harry doesn’t notice someone sitting in the front seat, so when he bends to look through the passenger window he gets a HUGE jump scare when he sees someone peeking at him lmao, and when this enormous, 6’4” dude (in his early fifties, Harry guesses, with beautiful, fully grey hair, built Ford Tough like kinda soft but undeniably STRONG underneath, whew) steps out Harry wants to die but for two reasons and the first one goes in the fucking trash—
anyway Douglas apologizes for spooking him, Harry says sorry for being creepy looking at his car, they have a little talk about the car. vibes are amazing. Harry, after that weird lull of silence after conversation you can’t figure out how to proceed with, says his thanks and goodnight and goes to leave, when Douglas is like hey wait. you wanna come to trivia night?
Harry’s like, h u h ? and Douglas explains that he was heading in to trivia night at the bar/lounge right up the street, he’s meeting some friends there, wanna come along? Harry bluescreens a bit, gets some anxiety about Being Seen but. doesn’t let that hold him back. his gut says go, so he says sure, drops quarters into the meter so his car doesn’t get towed and LA is HELL, and away to the bar
packed place. Douglas’s (rather big) friend group are wedged onto two couches (and perching on the coffee table) in the back. they all say their hellos - and, realizing he didn’t want to use his actual name because people are already giving him the curious ‘i think i recognize you’ squint, Harry grabs a name and profession out of the air to hide behind for the night.
Dusty Farlow the home carpet cleaner gets to know a great group of people during the Los Angeles History Trivia Night (with a bonus round of landmarks haunted by celebrities from the silver age of Hollywood!) he’s amongst a mixed group of people ranging from age 22 (it seems) to about 60 (it seems). and yet. none of these people (except a couple of amused/curious looks), not even the old-timers, recognized the pseudonym he chose for the evening.
guess no one watched Dallas.
ha.
anyway the night wears on and Harry learns that Douglas is a glassblower and he “moonlights” (as he calls it) in making glass tiles, glass paperweights, Crown glass for windows, and kaleidoscopes. he didn’t get to hear much more on that front and only got bits and pieces about him where he could cuz it was hectic, and loud, and the conversations were everywhere.
anyway eventually Harry has to make his excuses and ago, he’s kinda getting claustrophobic and super tired, and starts to say goodbye but can’t see Douglas :( probably went to the bathroom but hhhh he’s seeing a cluster glancing at him and whispering and not-so-sneakily holding up a phone so it might be time to make like a tree and scram
he gets out into the night and starts down to his car and Douglas catches up to him, apologizes for having disappeared into the bathroom at the wrong time, they say their “thanks it was great hanging out” and then Douglas asks for his number……. ……. and Harry surprises himself by giving it to him, and Douglas returns the favor, sent a text, now they have each other’s numbers for sure
another goodbye, shyer? shy from Douglas too? and Douglas goes off, leaving Harry standing there like. what the fuck just goddamn happened here on this one night and Yeah so There’s That
i can jump WAY ahead to how Douglas gets cast BUT GOD I’VE GONE ON SO LONG KDFLKSFGHSDIG
ANYWAY that’s essentially the basics of actor AU, it’s a TV show, shenanigans ensue, there’s So Much and by god it goes even HARDER on set and how their professional lives flow and all those other interpersonal relationships and i have so much lore it’s so stupid lmfao
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND GOD BLESS I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS GREAT BIG MESS 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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sluttyminghao · 3 years
Text
stress relief | b.sk
w.c: ~2k request: Idk if you’re still taking requests, but if you are can you do a Seungkwan request where y’all are fucking and you moan another members name, and he thinks it’s because you want that member or you’re cheating but in really it’s because that member walked in room or opened that door and left or sein thing. Thanks! Also. You’re a really good writer and I always look forward to your posts!!! genre: smut pairing: seungkwan x reader warnings: switch!seungkwan, mingyu walks in, angry seungkwan, rough sex a/n: thank u so much for liking my posts! I hope that you like this! :)
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[Kwannie] 8:45pm: Hey babe do you think you could come over? I have a bit of a problem...
The text came to you by surprise that Wednesday evening while you were trying to complete an assignment for one of your classes. While he couldn’t see your voice crinkle in concern, you immediately texted him back, asking if he was okay and how soon he wanted you to come over.
His response came before you could even turn your phone off and put it back on your desk, a text that was punctuated with weird emojis as well as the words “now please”, which made you worry even more. You sighed and began packing up your assignment, knowing you could just do it in the morning before the class began.
[You] 8:54pm: I’m just heading over now, I’ll be over soon :)
He sent a smiley face back just as you hopped in your car and turned the ignition on. Your mind wandered to what his problem could possibly be, it could really be anything from him having a small paper cut on his finger, to one of his members having an argument with him and he wanted to be cheered up, or he was needy.
It didn’t take long until you reached his dorm room he shared with a few of his band mates. Upon knocking lightly on the door, Vernon swung the door open, breaking out into a huge grin upon seeing your face. “Y/N! We weren't expecting to see you tonight, is everything okay?” He asked, shuffling aside so you could step in and toe off your shoes.
“Seungkwan text me and asked me to come over, do you know where he is?” you questioned, Vernon tilting his head in the direction of Seungkwan’s room. He gave you a small smile just as you walked past him, but grabbed your wrist before you could walk any further. You spun back around with a questioning look on your face, when Vernon opened his mouth to speak. “He’s been a little...off today? I’m not sure why but...just be careful” he spoke slowly before letting your wrist go.
Now you were even more concerned for your boyfriend with Vernon’s words hanging around in your mind, wondering what could have put him in such a foul mood that he had been off all day. You stood in front of Seungkwan’s closed bedroom door, taking a few deep breaths and mentally preparing yourself for what may lay behind the door. You knocked softly on the wood, and the door instantly opened.
Seungkwan looked like he had been through hell and back. His brown hair was sticking up in every direction, bags under his eyes and hadn't even bothered to put a shirt on. Your eyes raked down his body, taking in his lightly toned body and soft skin. Before you could even open your mouth to say a word to him, he had pulled you into his room and shut the door. 
You flipped around to face him once you had gotten your surroundings, trying to distinguish what his problem was. “Seungkwan...are you okay?” you spoke, moving towards him to comb your fingers through his hair. The action seemed to make him relax a little, leaning into your touch and slowly wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you closer.
“Sorry if I scared you with my earlier text, I just...need to let off some steam, or vent, or eat something i don't know” he rambled, eyes now closed as you played with the hair on the nape of his neck, something you knew he adored. “What happened baby?” you asked, leading him to sit down on his bed so you could both be more comfortable.
He blushed at your pet name for him, glancing into your eyes that held so much adoration for him. “I’m so stressed about this singing cover I have to do in a few weeks, it’s for a big movie and I just can’t seem to hit the notes they want me to. It’s been bugging me all day, I hope you aren’t mad that I interrupted your studying” his voice trailed off, eyes cast downwards to play with his fingers. You simply smiled and pulled him in for a big hug, him immediately wrapping his arms around you.
“It’s okay baby don’t worry about it, I’m here to look after you okay?” you spoke gently, pulling his jaw up gently so you could meet his eyes, before leaning in to kiss him softly. He kissed back with passion and adoration, letting his hands wander up to your neck to hold you in place as he continued to kiss you. Your hands gripped his shoulders, letting your fingers dance along the skin as he deepened the kiss, a small sigh leaving your lips.
He pulled away from you so you could both catch your breath, his lips swollen and a pink hue dusting his cheeks. You moved up so that you were standing above him and he was still sitting on the bed, before leaning to kiss him once more. “Go and lay at the top of the bed Kwannie, I wanna help you get rid of your stress” you smiled, watching as he quickly wriggled his way up toward the headboard, hands resting on his side as you crawled towards him and sat on top of his thighs.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as you skimmed your hand over his chest, mouth moving down to leave kisses and small marks all over his neck. While you continued moving your hands over his burning skin, he moved his hands upwards to grasp your hips, trying to keep a somewhat stable hold on reality. His eyes met yours and he pulled you in for a deep kiss, opening his mouth to explore your own, a small moan emitting from his lips.
“You taste so good” he remarked, his hands wandering up once again to fondle with your breasts, playing with them over the cotton fabric of your bra. He was satisfied when you whimpered, before you became impatient and all but ripped the bra off yourself, freeing yourself while Seungkwan hummed in appreciation, taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking gently.
The pleasure was getting to your head, and fast. You hadn’t even realized that Seungkwan had flipped you onto your back and was now pulling your panties down, while rushing to get his boxers off to free his straining erection. Without thinking, he had dipped two fingers into your pussy and began thrusting them, making your back arch off the bed in surprise. A loud moan escaped your lips, before Seungkwan shoved one of his hands over your mouth, effectively silencing your moans.
“As much as I love hearing how good I make you feel, you need to stay quiet so that no-one else can hear you. Got it?” His voice was rough at the end and you nodded at his sudden dominant behaviour, it turning you on even more. He lined his cock up with your entrance and thrust in with one push, your loud moan still silenced by Seungkwan’s hand as he began a brutal pace almost immediately, his face crinkled in concentration.
You could see how much stress he had been under by the way he was thrusting hard and fast, and his hands were gripping your hips in a way that was sure to leave bruises. His hand was still covering your mouth, and he was whispering filthy words into your ear about what he wanted to do to you and praising you for taking his cock so well.
He was so immersed in thrusting into your pussy that he hadn’t realised that he forgot to lock his door, meaning that Mingyu just opened the door and strutted in, not even knocking or glancing in his direction as he was immersed in some video game on his device. “M-mingyu !!” you managed to squeak out between his thrusts, which made Seungkwan halt his moving altogether.
“Did you just say Mingyu’s name?!” hurt was laced through his tone as he stared you down, waiting for an explanation. “Do you want him? Or are you seeing him behind my back?” His rapid fire questions toward you made Mingyu finally look up from his device and immediately he turned crimson, his legs failing to move at the sight in front of him. “Seungkwan no!! He’s standing right there...” you trailed off, and Seungkwan whipped his head around to see the lanky man standing in the doorway, jaw dropped and his device willing to drop from his hand.
“Mingyu get the fuck out! Can’t you see I’m busy?!” Seungkwan shouted, the older male profusely apologizing as he shut the door quickly, still apologizing through the door. Seungkwan turned back to you and thrusted with a renewed vigour, now thrusting even harder and faster than before since he was now mad at one of his housemates for barging in. His hand moved off your mouth, now letting you moan freely and not caring who heard.
“That’s right baby, let everyone hear who’s making you feel this good. I’m the only one who can make you feel this good right? The only one who gets to fuck this tight pussy” with each thrust and word he spoke it sent you further and further into bliss, your orgasm threatening to spill over any second.
“Kwannie, m’gonna cum, please let me cum!!” you squealed, his thrusts growing sloppy as he too, neared his desired release. “Cum for me baby girl, cum all over my cock and get me all wet” he groaned, reaching a hand down to roughly circle your clit and throw you over the edge. A scream ripped from your lips as your orgasm hit you, the waves of pleasure continuously rolling through you. Seungkwan came not long after you with a few more thrusts, a loud groan leaving his lips.
He rolled to the side once he had pulled out of you, both of you breathing heavily and trying to finish riding out your highs. Seungkwan moved closer to you, pulling you into his side as he stroked your arm softly, leaving soft kisses up and down your neck. “I’m sorry about all that stuff I said earlier...” he whispered, kissing your cheek and blushing. You simply shake your head and “It’s fine Kwannie, I know you were stressed. Did I help you with your stress at all?” you spoke softly to him, tracing patterns on his chest.
“You sure did baby, thank you for being my stress relief” he sighed, before grabbing some tissues from his nightstand before wiping you down gently, apologizing profusely when you winced or whined in pain. He got up and grabbed you a bottle of water from his desk, which you downed quickly to redeem your parched throat.
You snuggled into his sheets that smelled like a mixture of coffee and cinnamon, and were slowly being lulled to sleep. “I’ll be back in one second baby, I just have to step out for a second” and you nodded, immediately knowing what he was going to do and a small giggle left your lips. The bedroom door shut and you could hear Seungkwan calling for Mingyu, asking him what his problem was and you could barely just hear the tall man begging for forgiveness. 
Your boyfriend returned a little while later and rolled in next to you, his warmth seeping into your skin and you moved closer to him with a content sigh. As if on instinct, he pulled you in and spooned you, his arm draped around your waist and his nose nestling into the crook of your neck. He was much more stress free now that you were with him, and he couldn’t thank you enough.
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theleftovertaco · 3 years
Text
Put Your Hands in The Holes Of My Sweater
I got a few asks for Charlie Weasley, and I got two that fit together well so I’m gonna go ahead and combine the elements of both of them. 
In this fic, we get a rather girly person (this will likely be more on the feminine side so i will probably use she/her pronouns for this one just a heads up if your gender non conforming i don’t want my fic to cause any dysphoria) who is dating Charlie. Molly has pretty much the same initial reaction as she does with Fleur so there will be a little angst involved. 
uhhh TW: angst, very light Molly bashing (it will be resolved tho)
Your boyfriend and you were polar opposites. Charlie was buff, stocky, and could rip a log in half with his bare hands. You were delicate. There was nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, that was the draw for the both of you. 
There was nothing wrong with being stereotypically girly. You knew that. You’d been told that countless times by your friends, you had told yourself, and your boyfriend. You knew there was nothing wrong with wearing flowery perfume and flowy skirts and lace and makeup and doing your nails and hair and wanting to look pretty.
So you weren’t sure why one person was able to make you feel like you were a problem for wanting that. 
So in the field outside the Burrow you lay with Ginny and Hermione as you sniffled. Hermione and Ginny didn’t really have a problem with you, it was Molly who seemed to find a bone to pic with you. 
Molly made sweaters for each family member. Even though you’d been dating for years, she still hadn’t accepted that you were together and pointedly made one for everyone accept you.
You could hear the arguments in the house.
“But Charlie, don’t you want someone who can keep up? She seems more interested in her hair than you?”
“Keep up? Mum, she’s smart as a whip, and the Dragons like her. I like her. Do you really need anything else?”
“Yes! You need someone who can fulfill you, she can’t!”
“You have no idea what she can or cannot do.”
“But Charlie-”
 And furthermore, I don’t need your approval to date her!”
‘Well of course you don’t, but I can tell she isn’t the right choice!”
“You can tell? What the bloody hell does that mean?”
“All she cares about is her appearance!”
“She does not! She’s caring, and inquisitive, and intelligent, and I love her!”
“You might change your mind!”
If you won’t even give her a chance, then I see no reason for either of us to stay. You clearly aren’t willing to listen to your own son”
“Well just wait one moment-” Charlie stormed out through the back door and sprinted out to the field where he saw you. You wiped your tears and stood up to give him a hug.
“You okay? Come on, we’re leaving.”
You shook your head, “No, Charlie, you deserve to spend Christmas with your family. Don’t leave on my account. I can head home.”
“No way, she won’t listen, I don’t need to spend any time with her. I’m not obligated to.”
You thanked Ginny and Hermione and then the two of you apparated home. 
The moment you were in your shared apartment, you just sighed and headed off to your bedroom. 
Charlie followed you in and dug around in one of his drawers, clothes flying every which way. 
“HERE! Put this on.” He threw a red sweater with a yellow C stitched on the front. There were worn holes where the thumbs were and it was soft with use. You slipped in on and melted in the warmth, slipping your thumbs into the holes of his sweater. 
“Thank you. I’m sorry I ruined your Christmas.”
“My dear, any Christmas with you is perfect.” You pressed a kiss to his lips and carded your fingers through his hair, giggling when he sighed. 
“Oh! I forgot about your present! Hold on just a second… Here!” You dug through your bag and found a moving photo to give to him. 
“Why are you giving me a photo of… wait a second… is that?”
“An Alaskan Sharp Stall Dragon? Yes, my dear, yes it is. I called a sanctuary, they have a mother and her two younger babies. She has a teared wing and they don’t have the facilities to treat her at the moment, so I asked if we could take her. She arrives next week.” A grin broke out on his face before he tackled you and peppered your face with kisses.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” you giggled and kissed him again. 
“I have a gift for you.” He grabbed a small box on his bedside table and handed it to you.
You opened it and inside the box was a charm bracelet that upon further inspection, had charms that reminded you of important shared moments. A fork for your first date, a dragon egg for the first baby dragon you had raised with him, a tiny picture of him and you during your one year anniversary, and a small beating heart. 
“It syncs up with my own heart, so I’m always with you.” You smiled and kissed him once more. 
“It’s perfect, thank you.”
“Of course, my dear.”
With that, the two of your turned your lights out and cuddled up to go to sleep
----------------------------
To be honest, you didn’t expect an apology from Molly, you barely expected her to acknowledge you existed. 
That’s why you were shocked when in the afternoon on the 26th, you opened the door to find Molly Weasley standing outside of your apartment, asking to come in. 
You sighed and motioned to let her in. You figured Charlie had contacted her, but when she turned to you and broke down in tears and apologies, you weren’t sure what to do. 
“I was awful to you! I’m so sorry!”
“Uhhhh-”
“I wasn’t willing to look past your looks and i-”
You sat her down on the couch and brought her some tea so she could calm down. She accepted the mug with a smile. 
“Thank you. I, I wanted to apologise. Yesterday, I was so rude, and I didn’t take the time to get to know you. I should have not jumped to conclusions. Merlin, I thought i had learned my lesson after Fleur.”
“Honestly, it’s ok Mrs. Weasley.”
“No, it isn’t. I didn’t take the steps I should have to really know you.”
“Well, I accept your apology. Can I ask what changed?” Molly sighed and took another sip of her tea. 
“After you and him left, Bill talked to me, so did Ginny and Hermione. They made me see what I had done.” She paused, “Charlie is so clearly in love with you, Besides Anyone my son is willing to leave a christmas gathering for must be someone special.”
You both laughed and the conversation deviated. You found shared interests. You both loved knitting, and cooking and baking, and she complimented the peonies you had planted in your garden out front “I have never seen a set that bright before!”
Maybe the two of you could be friends after all.
Yeeeeeee thats it for this one y’all. Uhhhh the next one i have is either an ask or a more personal one but ether way it should be posted by friday. Thank yall for reading, and please tell me how i can improve!
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koreanmadeingreece · 3 years
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Why, why, why (3)
University student!Yuta x reader
Genre: slight enemies to lovers au, a bit of angst, a lot of fluff, and several mixups
Summary: You just got into uni and decided to move in with your childhood friend!Taeyong at the city where you are going to study. As you’re about to start your new, adult life, you meet his friends, and you realize that not everyone likes you. Nakamoto Yuta in particular almost seems like he hates you.
A/N: In this fic, Jonghyun from NU’EST appears for a while (just to avoid confusion). Also, wow I never thought I’d post this. I hope you guys like it. Also I thought I’d update every Sunday but I couldn’t restrain myself. Welp. 
Warnings: n/a
Word count: 1.8K (I should let you know that I’ve finished writing it so I’ll update it every 3 or 4 days!)
Part 3/I don’t remember First / Previous / Next
Taglist: @melitadala @chxotickpoptrash (please let me know if you’d like to be tagged!)
When you entered the house, V ran into your arms for an embrace, calling you his savior, as you had just brought the food, which made the others laugh. When you reassured them again that you were okay with treating them, you all sat down in your freshly cleaned living room to eat. 
That was when you noticed Yuta sitting a bit further than the others, eating quietly, and decided to come a bit closer to him.
“You’re not very talkative, are you?” You tried to joke around since no one would listen to you. The others were arguing about one of the professors at uni and if he’s single, so they wouldn’t even notice you switching places. 
“Oh, sorry, it was just that I was thinking about something. It shouldn’t make you worry, really,” he answered.
“Are you sure? Because you haven’t talked to me all day. I mean, I know you just met me this morning and that I’m not your friend, but I’d love to get to know you a bit better.” 
“I’m okay with that, don’t worry about me. I’m just paranoid sometimes and I’m thinking a bit too much about certain things, so just ignore me when I do that, okay?”
“So, we’re off to a good start, I guess.”
“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” He smiled at you. This was the second smile he had offered you ever since this morning, and it kind of made you light up a bit. You still didn’t know what made you so interested in him. You just had to get to know him. 
The next day was similar to the first, as you had to finish cleaning and start unpacking both yours and Taeyong’s things and decorate the living room. Thankfully, Taeyong didn’t have a much different taste than yours, so it was actually easy to decide what you’d hang on the walls and what color the couch pillows would be. The biggest issue was your rooms and what you’d do with them. 
You took the boxes with your stuff and Johnny immediately came to help, offering to also help you with your room. V followed you and Yuta went to help Taeyong. You enjoyed their company a lot if you were going to be completely honest, and you secretly thought they’d let you join them sometimes. You really thought you weren’t a burden for them, as they’ve been friends for years and you just came to disrupt their lives. You’d never even think of causing a problem to them, so you waited patiently for any signs that would show you how they felt about you. There was just one thing you had to ask.
“So, how did you guys meet?” you asked, as you were placing your clothes in the closet.
“Do you mean us two, or…”
“All of you. How did you become like… a group?” 
“Ah, funny story,” V said, “I got into a fight on my first day of uni. Someone just came straight to me and called me names because I was zoning out, and Johnny with Taeyong came to my rescue.”
“Aw, they’re true heroes,” you laughed.
“Something like that. Taeyong and Johnny met right there in front of me, and then we all decided to go to lunch together. Then Yuta came. Taeyong had met him a few hours earlier and told him to go to lunch with him, so we all sat together. And we clicked.” 
Johnny nodded in agreement and gave you a stack of clothes to put away, while V was telling the story from your bed. You hadn’t put the sheets on it yet, so it was only a mattress, but it worked well for him. 
“I don’t know if I should be asking this but are Taeyong and Yuta that close? I mean, he doesn’t tell me much over the phone, and with all the stuff going on because of the house we haven’t really talked yet,” you asked.
“They’re close. They’re not together if that’s what you’re asking. They’re just really good friends. If you ask me, we make a great group. It’s just that he always was a bit more protective over Taeyong, but Yuta’s definitely straight. If he wasn’t I’m sure they’d already been together by now,” Johnny told you and you continued putting clothes away, when Johnny interrupted your thoughts. “Don’t mind him. He might seem a bit distant, but he’ll open up eventually. It’s probably that you’ve been friends with Taeyong for so long and he feels kind of left out.”
“Oh my god, have I done anything like that?”
“No, no. Don’t worry about it. He was thinking about it ever since he found out you’d move with Taeyong but, trust me, you haven’t done anything. I mean, you didn’t make any of us feel bad. You’re actually fun to be around. You can come to hang out with us whenever you want, okay?” Johnny’s words were music to your ears. What you were hoping for was coming true. Your new life had officially started taking its form, and you were ecstatic about it. 
Your house was finally ready, your posters were on the walls and your clothes were in the closet. After you made your bed and had V try it out, you could finally sit and enjoy it.
“Did you call your mom? She’s probably scared to death that she just let you handle a new house on our own,” Taeyong told you after the guys left.
“I did and I also sent her pictures. She’s thrilled.”
“Your dad?”
“Mom said he just nodded. I wouldn’t expect anything else.” You sat on the couch next to Taeyong.
“He doesn’t get really involved, does he?”
“Only when he’s in the mood. Which happens about… five times a year?”
“Sucks to be you.”
“Yeah, especially when he missed my gymnastics performance.” You took a bite of your sandwich. 
“Well, now you’re here. If he doesn’t want to lose you, he has some work to do. Now, will you give me a bite?” And that was how the evening passed with Taeyong. You were calm, relaxed and it was exactly how you imagined it to be. All you had to worry about for the time being was the first day of uni. 
You woke up the next morning and looked too pale to be human, as you had barely managed to sleep last night. You got dressed in one of your favorite outfits, a loose red shirt and black ripped jeans, and washed your face before putting some mascara and lipstick on. When Taeyong confirmed you looked hot, you were ready to go. Taeyong left you outside of the building of your first class and left for his class.
You went inside and found a seat not too close to the professor, and soon after, you noticed a tall guy approaching you and taking the seat next to you.
“First day, huh?” he asked you. “Are you excited?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I’m kind of stressed too. What’s your name, by the way?”
“I’m Yugyeom. It’s nice to meet you.” He extended his arm to you for a handshake. 
“I’m Y/N.” And that was your first acquaintance. He seemed really nice. Kind, at least. You liked him at a first glance. He turned to speak to you quite a few times during our first class, but he didn’t annoy you. He was quite pleasant to be around. 
After a while, you heard someone enter the room, stumbling on the stairs. 
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” he said and took the seat next to you, on the opposite side of Yugyeom. “Was I too loud?” he whispered to you. 
“No, don’t worry about it. No one’s going to remember it tomorrow anyway,” you smiled at him. 
“I hope so. And, if they do, at least I made them laugh.” He smiled back. “I’m Chan.”
“I’m Y/N and this is Yugyeom,” you said and shook hands with him as well.
When the first class was over, you headed to the other classroom for the next period and sat next to the two boys you had just met. They were extremely fun to be with, especially Chan, who was a walking mess and extremely clumsy. 
You suggested going for coffee after class, so you texted Taeyong not to pick you up and walked next to Chan and Yugyeom, who knew a nice coffee shop around the corner. You found a table and sat down when you saw a guy approaching your table. 
“Hey, Yugyeom, wasn’t he sitting close to us in class?”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. Should we tell him to sit with us?” And, before you could even answer, Yugyeom was already standing up from his chair. “Hey! Wanna sit with us?”
“Uh, sure.”
“We saw you in class, we’re not creeps, I promise,” you reassured him. “This is Yugyeom and this is Chan.”
“I’m BamBam.”
“BamBam?” Chan asked. “Is it a nickname?”
“Yeah, I’m from Thailand and no one actually remembers my real name, so I use this one instead.”
“Oh, that’s so interesting!” Yugyeom was amazed and started talking to BamBam nonstop, which he didn’t seem to mind, so you just talked to Chan until Yugyeom’s rant ended.
“Would you like to order?” The waiter interrupted you. He was standing next to your table for a while, but no one had noticed him.
“Yeah, sorry,” you said and turned towards him, as he was standing beside you. That was when you noticed how hot he looked and, right after everyone ordered, you turned to Chan. “I don’t know if you’re gay, straight, or anything else, but that one was hot as fuck.”
“I’m bi, and yes he was. You should ask for his number.”
“Chan, I’m not that bold.”
“Yeah, but you have nothing to lose. Look, we can send you to pay when we’re done, so you can talk to him without us there. That doesn’t involve any flirting, right?”
“Fine. Give me your money, y’all.” The other two guys turned to you in shock, but Chan promised to explain while you were gone. So, you got up and walked towards the register. 
“Hi,” you told him. When he turned towards you, you deeply wished you hadn’t agreed to this. He was too handsome for you to handle.
“Ah, they sent you to pay?” He laughed.
“Yeah, they did.” You paused and contemplated if you should continue the conversation when your thoughts were interrupted.
“Um, I’m sorry if it’s weird to ask, but what’s your name.”
“I’m Y/N.”
“Ah, that’s a beautiful name. I’m Jonghyun. Do you happen to go to uni here?”
“Yeah, film major. This is my first year. What about you?”
“Me too! But I’m in the third year.” He smiled at you, but he was called to a table and had to go. “You should come by again tomorrow. I can treat you to a cup of warm coffee. My shift ends at 6.”
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steve0discusses · 3 years
Text
S5 Ep 14: So If You Put a Fraction Into a Duel Disk, the Card Explodes
We left on quite the cliffhanger last episode, so I’ll fill you in:
I did not get the haircut.
Like I seriously considered getting a Zigfried for a cool 3 or 4 minutes there, but then I decided to wait a couple of days and I basically forgot.
But, back to the arc finale, Seto has decided to walk, not run, to the Kaiba lab in order to fix the virus rapidly eating his entire company.
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I just want to point out that Zigfried went through a LOT of work to get Seto Kiaba to go “uggggh” turn around, and pretend to calmly walk away. I’m used to Seto losing his nut kind of a lot and blowing things up but this season he’s like “be chill be chill be chill” so that the entire world doesn’t think he’s a spaz on TV.
And little aside about Seto’s design choices here, I fell down a hole of interior design videos, and can I just say: apparently these wood frame things on the wall are back in style? Good on you, 2002(3?) Seto Kaiba. Don’t think that current designers are painting them purple but...we’re halfway there to Yugioh fashion.
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Meanwhile, Pharaoh decides to remind everyone that these stakes are hella low. The worst that happens is that Zigfried deletes the plane that Yugi needs to fly home...which would be an impressive virus.
Like it’s hard to tell if Yami even has a solid concept of “capitalism” and whether or not he cares about or understands the makeup of Seto’s company (which up till now has operated like a small country and not a business...which is a little more Pharaoh’s understanding. Either way...hard to tell if Yami would shed two tears for the loss of Kaiba corp.)
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And, despite what I say in the caps, I feel like Leon and Zigfried are the first villains we’ve ever had that Yugi and Pharaoh didn’t unintentionally disclose that they are 2 people to. Zigfried and Leon are just...completely oblivious to how effed up Yugi’s bean is. They think that’s just a normal kid and lol no dudes...y’all got distracted by Seto Kabia but you have a literal Egyptian God just hovering around in the background and dating 3 people by accident.
Like when the show shelves the main storyline, it is very funny how it’s all “And we’re gonna put the Pharaoh crisis on hold--just put a pin in it. No one will notice this child is two nervous wrecks stitched together” and then Yugi and Yami just kinda hold it in and watch all patiently until it’s their turn to get off the bench.
(read more under the cut)
In the giant computer tower, Seto Kaiba shouts out a string of orders and numbers, admired the many sonar detector looking windows open on every monitor, and then sat down at his desk to like...check the firewall, I guess?
The virus is past the firewall. It’s um...it’s inside the firewall, pretty sure that was the point, but youknow, it’s a kid’s show so they’re just throwing out computer stuff that has no meaning to the writers of this show.
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Mokuba thinks fondly of how Seto Kaiba has never screwed him over (which I mean...maybe not on purpose, ((except for that one time he did screw him over on purpose to get Gozaburo Kaiba to accidentally give Seto Kaiba the company, but you could say that was a grander scheme that he knew Mokuba would see through, which...)) but Seto certainly has screwed Mokuba over accidentally. At least once.)
And meanwhile, Yami fixes everything through card shenanigans.
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So here’s the shenanigan this episode: I don’t go over cards here but this one requires a limited amount of explanation.
So every round the golden castle deletes half of Yugi’s cards. So he was like...I’ll just draw down to one card. They can’t delete half a card...so that means the card must delete one of the two cards on the field which means it must delete itself.
...which is like the closest Yugioh will probably ever get to abusing a glitch to do a speedrunning tactic like GDQ.
Anyway, like I stated in the title: there are no fractions allowed in Yugioh. If you do that to your priceless one-of-a-kind card you got from winning one of Pegasus’ murder tournies, it will irreparably bust the card.
I’m sure at least one of you will correct me with the proper way to insert a fraction into your duel disk. Cuz like...as I say multiple times so we never forget, I barely pay attention to this card game and I’m just flying by the seat of my pants.
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I want to say Seto and Mokuba were in the hacker chairs for like...3 minutes maybe before they realized “oh...Yugi fixed it...” and walked the half a mile back to the duel arena.
and also, as I’m looking at Seto’s glasses here, I just realized...all of Kaiba’s team wears sunglasses all the time. Inside, outside, night, or day...
They haven’t outright said this...but what if those aren’t sunglasses?
Is Roland and that other Roland wearing fancy cyber glasses? They are, right? Because they wear them indoors?
Damn, they can’t take a piss without being on call with Kaiba Corp, can they?
Now the problem is...Yugi played all of his cards (he has two in front of him face down, but none in his deck) and after milling himself, this means he’s now basically a sitting duck for Leon to take the title of “King of Games.”
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Leon insists that he defend whatever scraps are left of his card honor and not duel a person who is carrying no cards and Yugi was like “COME AT ME BRO THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I KNOW I’M ALIVE.”
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He didn’t even have to do a horror on Leon, he just...played cards good? I skipped it, I’ll be honest, but overall Leon’s card honor was...saved? Maybe? I mean he also go destroyed when his competitor had not a single card in his duel disk so...
...Leon will have to work on his card honor off screen because he’s pretty well humiliated at this point.
But stumbling onto the playing field like he’s half dazed/daydrunk, Zigfried is like “You forgot I already won, bastards!”
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Which is when we find out that Zigfried’s “delete all” virus failed to press “enter” and deleted basically nothing. Just like when my Mom attempts to send something in Gmail but doesn’t press “Send” and tells me that Google is down and broken.
Sorry my bro has informed me that he ALSO has had to help my Mother locate the “Send” button and I just...I know she absolutely did that but I’m in denial that this Riddle of the Sphinx has happened to her multiple times.
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Honestly, the pep talk we get from Leon at the end to cheer up his bro was a whole lot of “we will pick ourselves up and we’ll do better next time. Together.” and sure you can translate that as “we’ll be honest next time” or you can translate that as “next time we will be not nearly as obvious about inserting a virus into their computer until it is done doing the job, bro.”
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Just like Dartz, we didn’t really get a whole lot of retribution or closure when it comes to Zigfried. But, unlike Dartz, Zigfried didn’t do too much murder, so I guess this is fine. He tried to cheat in a card game...
...and I guess tried to delete Kaiba Corp but youknow...
...people let him have that. The police saw the ticket of “this man tried to delete Kaiba Corp” and they just...didn’t arrest him. The judge saw that ticket and didn’t put out a warrant. They just let Zigfried have this, almost like “better luck next time, ya?”
And then Roland clocked out for the day and went home, thus ending this arc.
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Look at all these characters, most of which we never saw duel even one card.
We also got one shot of Mai for some reason although she was not in this arc.
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AAAHHHH. Every time I’m like “the show is done screwing geography” we get another freakin geography spook!
But we went back to California in order to get a scene of these guys in an airport to get a flight to Japan...
which means Rex and Weevil just...were they shipped home by the Kaibas? Because way to ditch getting arrested by the American Government, hot damn. They are...literally terrorists who destroyed a Caltrain in a plot to kill everyone in the world so like...really surprised Rex and Weevil are in public...but maybe all the FBI were dead at the time so they just didn’t know?
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Meanwhile, Duke has to go back to Death Valley and call a tow truck for his car, RIP.
I sure hope he got PTO during this stunt and isn’t going home to a pink slip.
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I’m not sure of Dukes life or anything going on with Duke. I’m sure the thing about Serenity is him joking because we have all forgotten about that girl by this point...but also...is Duke...still living in the Tenderloin? The crime rate is very, very high and the ground isn’t solid, so it will liquefy if there’s an Earthquake, but it is one of the few places in the Bay Area that doesn’t light on fire every year. He has that going for him.
I just really hope Duke moves out of the Tenderloin one of these days, he needs a better life.
Meanwhile, Rebecca does one last crime.
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This is like a post-epidemic reaction to a hug, but in 2002(3?).
I don’t think I’ll miss Rebecca too much. Wanted to like her more, but she was under-utilized, like most of the characters on Yugioh. Not even just talking girl characters here--most characters on Yugioh are super under-utilized, just Tristan Wallflowers doing nothing, but also being selectively OP as hell about very specific things they never, ever need to do.
Speaking of the devil:
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Yugi...just saved his entire company...
But Mokuba is just has to make sure to make it seem like they owed Mokuba and not the other way around. Just in case.
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So off they go on this massive plane. It’s probably more to do with the length of the trip as to why the plane is so big but also...
This plane is overcompensating.
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But before we analyze that, lets close the book on Seto Kaiba’s very short therapy arc. Overall, it was a nice distraction, but I can see why people call it a filler arc, as it really doesn’t affect...anything going on in the major plotlines, which makes me think it could have been a movie or a game or something. But overall, it’s not bad, it’s just not what you’d expect if you were a Western audience.
Like I’m preaching to the choir, but typically, Western stories are entirely plot focused, and so our arcs always give or take away from that plot. But in a Eastern story arc, it may instead be character focused, where the climax is a character evolving or coming to some sort of cathartic realization, which this arc was, in a big way. We still had some plot, because this is a Shonen, but overall it was about characters, and specifically whether or not Leon and his bro would reconcile or change--which they did.
We did get to see a little more growth on Seto in that he...didn’t go bonkers and hallucinate during a card game. It’s been a while since we’ve had him not do that. Seto was very chill this arc, which makes sense, it was a very chill slice of life arc for everyone involved.
So, next we move on to the next one, which bro has informed me...is
still not Bakura.
According to Bro, the next arc didn’t even air in the Japanese version of the show? Like he’s got a lot of spicy Yugioh headcanons so he could be wrong (He did tell me that he thought that Zigfried was Seto Kaiba’s ex boyfriend when he saw this as a kid which...that sure is a way to interpret this arc, and it probably wasn’t just my little brother who went down that thought tube there...)
(Bro Note: To be fair, I didn’t watch much of this arc as a kid.)
But he says the next arc was originally a movie. But they released it in the States as episodes to be part of S5, just to put more episodes in there. Which, if he’s correct, makes it seem like we’re getting like the Mulan 2 experience kind of shoved in between this arc and the next
But um..
according to bro it has virtually no card games.
.......
I’m so used to only capping 10 minutes an episode, what?
Anyway, until then, here’s the link to read the rest of these from the start in chrono order:
https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono
I’m kinda itching to do a Season Zero, it’s been a hot minute--so those take a little longer to do, especially since I need to go to a different site I haven’t...checked out yet...I’ll be back...eventually? I just know that at some point in Season Zero they fight it out with yo-yo’s and I want to see it.
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katnissmellarkkk · 3 years
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Alrightttt, I’m on a roll so we’re going onto chappy five 🥳🥳🥳😎😎
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I know the movies made the Capitol — re: basically only Effie and maybe Caesar — have those ridiculous made up accents but .... I actually feel like the description of the Capitol accent in the book is supposed to be like the Kardashians or Paris Hilton’s voice. 🤷🏼‍♀️
“Why do these people speak in such a high pitch? Why do their jaws barely open when they talk? Why do the ends of their sentences go up as if they're asking a question? Odd vowels, clipped words, and always a hiss on the letter s. no wonder it's impossible not to mimic them.” Like this is a pretty good description of how Kim Kardashian and her sisters talk. And Suzzy C did say she was inspired by the juxtaposition between war news footage and ridiculous reality television shows so... I think my theory of the Capitol all talking like they’re on the Real Housewives of LA is pretty valid.
Just imagine Paris Hilton as Effie and Nicole Richie as one of her preps
Lolololol this whole section of waxing is reminding me to go get my legs waxed 😭😭😭 straight up calling me out here, Suzanne
I like how Katniss says her stylist “apparently has no interest in seeing her until the prep team has addressed obvious problems.” Like you can tell from her narration she was expecting to feel the same was about Cinna that she does about Effie and her prep team.
The “gritty loam that takes off dirt and three layers of skin” is probably just a strong exfoliator 😭😭😭 my girl knows nothing about quality skincare 🤧🤧 someone build a Panem Sephora
She mentioned them waxing her underarms.... girl, did you have hairy armpits before this? Idk why this revelation is new to me
“Grease her down!” Just sounds wrong 😅😅😅😅 I need to stop being annoying omg I’m like a twelve year old
Hmm it’s funny to me that Katniss refers to Octavia as plump. You’d think in a place like the Capitol body image and weight would be very important. Unless it’s like back in the old, old days when being overweight was a sign of wealth. Which would make more sense so this was an unnecessary thought process curtesy of Samantha
Katniss faking a smile and thanking her prep team shows she does know how to play the game and fake it better than she says.
So ... okay, hear me out, I’m not trying to get over the top or make this into something it’s not but ... the whole stylists / Cinna coming into the room and staring at her naked is a little weird. Especially considering Cinna isn’t Lenny Kravitz who’s like a bit older than her but actually like a twenty-something year old dude.
But okay, here’s the thing I was getting at ... Cinna’s one of the best people in this series and you can’t deny that. Even if you find him boring, he’s still one of Katniss’ closest people. Also he’s probably gay. But like ... what about the other stylists? I don’t wanna be that person who makes everything more than it is, but like, this scene just sounds like a perfect opportunity for some Capitol creep to assault a teenager idk I’m probably making a mountain out of a molehill just ignore Samantha okay.
That’s nice that he complimented her mama though 🥰🥰🥰
So Katniss calls District Twelve the least desirable district but ... doesn’t District Eleven suck too? Like she also later says District Twelve is the smallest and the poorest but doesn’t she also say Rue is worse off than her and Prim? Make up your mind, Suz.
Cinna claims he asked for District Twelve but did he really get an option? 😅 If it’s his first year and Katniss claims the newbies get them anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️ Samantha is once again, reading too much into this.
Awww, Katniss is thinking about how long it would take for her to assemble this fancy meal at home 🤧🤧🤧 it would take her days and the Capitol just has the necessary resources at their disposal and they just takes it for granted. And yes, I’m aware this is supposed to be calling all us readers out who take so much for granted I know. We’re the Capitol.
“How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by?” It’s honestly so sad but so vital to her character that Katniss has zero hobbies or real free time. Her life is about surviving. She doesn’t get to live or enjoy very much of her time. She dedicates everything to keeping Prim — and her mother — alive, sacrificing everything a teenage girl should be doing. Sacrificing even the things the other girls in her world get to do. She mentions the merchant girls and the Seam girls who are more experienced romantically and sexually and socially than her. Because she doesn’t get to be a kid or innocent or even happy, in order to focus on her and her family’s survival. And the things she does enjoy, like spending time with Gale or dancing with Prim (mentioned in Mockingjay) she downplays in case they’re taken away, because nothing good is secure in her eyes. 🥺🥺🥺
Okay but what did Katniss’ facial expression give away that Cinna knew exactly what she was thinking? Or is she just less emotionless than she and Haymitch both claim? Ironically I think they’re the only people who call her emotionless which can easily be chalked up to their self-hate and terrible self-esteems.
Katniss is so afraid they’re gonna make her be naked for the parade 😭. Honestly though they’re children that’s so creepy that they’re even allowed to make 15/16/17 year olds be naked in a parade. I mean I know they kill kids every year but isn’t there like child pornography laws in Panem? 😭
“You’re not afraid of fire, are you, Katniss?” Is so foreshadowing 😭😂😅😎 Caesar Flickerman’s voice “Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire!”
Honestly though Cinna is smart to make Katniss recognizable in the arena by leaving her with simple makeup. I know and the sky is blue we all know this already beating the dead horses until the farmer comes home.
“It crosses my mind that Cinna's calm and normal demeanor masks a complete madman.” It’s true though 😅😅😅😭😭 he was always a rebel. I actually think he may have asked for District Twelve after Katniss volunteered, because he saw the potential in her. Poor Peeta. Baby, I’m rooting you for even if no one else is.
Also I always found it a bit .... curious? That Peeta had a female stylist and Katniss had a male one? Not just because of the required nudity, you’d just think men would do better as a boy’s stylist and a woman would make a better girl’s stylist. So yes, my whole Cinna was interested in District Twelve because Katniss seemed like a good symbol for a rebellion idea seems very plausible.
I know I know I know I read wayyy too much into this stuff sometimes a cigarette 🚬 is just a cigarette 🚬
Katniss being relieved when Peeta shows up 😭😭😭 because even if she won’t admit it and even if she won’t let herself trust him, she still sees him unconsciously and completely against her will as a comfort because they’re in this thing together in a way, even if they’re supposed to try and kill each other
And honestly, it’s such a like... relatable feeling? To feel alone and nervous and uptight and then someone who you recognize — even if you maybe aren’t even friends with but you at least know — shows up and you just instantly feel less alone. I’m totally looking at this through shipper goggles and I’m not even ashamed you all knew who’s blogging you were reading ight? 😂🤣🤷🏼‍♀️
“He should know about fire, being a baker's son and all.” And he’s gonna learn a lot more about it when he falls in love — for real, falls in love, not a childhood infatuation — with the girl on fire. 🥰🥰🥰
But also, I love this particular line on a reread because it totally is an indicator towards their future. Like Peeta knows about fire, he’s experienced with how to handle it, and later on, he becomes the only person who truly comes to understand Katniss, who represents fire, in a way that no one else could ever imagine.
Hmmm, Katniss’ point of view here, talking about how Portia and Peeta’s team seem all giddy and air-headed and it’s only Cinna who seems reserved makes me rethink my previous imaginings of Peeta’s stylist. Maybe she’s just a Capitolite idiot and nothing like Cinna. And my baby got a raw deal here then too. Good thing Haymitch loves him more. Just kidding 😅😅😅
But also I wanna know why Cinna is hesitant to accept congratulations for his and Portia’s idea? Wasn’t he at least lowkey excited about it when he pitched it a page ago?
Their horses are coal black 🐴 😅. I like that they went the whole nine yards with the theme. Nothing but the best for the kids on Death Row.
Aww Katniss asking Peeta what he thinks about being set on fire is so sweet and pure for some reason. I just find their commodore here cute ok
“I'll rip off your cape if you'll rip off mine” this is literally their first friend type of interaction and it’s so pure y’all leave me be I’m emotional for them
🙃 Also lowkey reminds me of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Everyone look away ok I’m sorry
Peeta’s shady/annoyed Haymitch comment and Katniss’ joke at his expense 🤣🤣😂🤣😂😂🥲🥲☺️🥲🥲 they’re bonding it’s so presh
“And suddenly we're both laughing.” I hope they laugh a lot together post-canon 🥲🥲🥲. If they can make the other laugh during their terrible circumstances, then they can make the other laugh anywhere. 🤧 Except in Thirteen because he’s hijacked and she’s certifiable and they’re both so used and abused and 🥺🥺🥺🥺
Okay I have to say, Suzanne Collins really builds up a lot for certain events and then just like grazes over the actual action of said event? Like she builds towards the tribute parade but then kind of rushes through off the actual event itself? It’s a common theme in her writing. And I don’t like it at all ngl.
Oh wait she doesn’t actually rush the parade events the paragraph before just looked like she was about to I jumped the gun 🤣😂🤭 but what I said is still completely true for many events in these books sorry not sorry
I’m definitely reading too much into it but the fact that District One — the favorite of the Capitol — gets snow white horses and District Twelve gets coal black horsies kind of ... seems to imply something .... 🤭
Cinna just lets out a sigh of relief “it worked” like ... way to fill your tributes with hope, dude. “Yeah, you’re totally safe, don’t be scared-OH THANK GOD THAT WORKED I wasn’t actually sure you wouldn’t blow up.” But actually this answers my previous inquiry about why he seemed hesitant I guess he wasn’t even sure this wouldn’t burn them up that’s nice 🤭🙃
It’s a literal trial by fire *cue drum hit* 🥁 aww, I just cracked myself up 😭
“Then he gently tucks a hand under my chin. "Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you!" This is caught halfway between being very Capitol-y and very father-brotherly and idk which way to take it but it’s kind of cute 🤭
“For the first time, I look at him and realize that ablaze with the fake flames, he is dazzling.” This is such a significant line because Katniss isn’t saying Peeta is technically good looking (like when Haymitch said they were decently attractive) or someone else thinks he’s good looking (i.e Gale, her mother and lowkey Finnick) but she’s saying she herself thinks he’s attractive. Girl, your crush is showing.
"I think he said for us to hold hands," says Peeta.” I’m sure Cinna actually did say that but this just seems like a very good opportunity for Peeta to hold the hand of the girl he has a massive crush on. 😭😭😭
Okay Cinna gave a thumbs up so he actually was saying that but can you imagine Peeta’s excitement right now?
I mean, yeahhhh, there’s the certain death looming over him too but like live in the moment, babe. 🥰😘🤗👌🏻
I like that Katniss says the crowd is at first like 😳😳😳 before they start cheering like they’re thinking “what are these backwoods, hillbilly kids doing this year?”
“At first, I'm frozen, but then I catch sight of us on a large television screen and am floored by how breathtaking we look. In the deepening twilight, the firelight illuminates our faces” okay they both have to be pretty naturally attractive people objectively, because you illuminate my face without much makeup and no one is gonna be cheering.
“Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you! I hear Cinna's voice in my head. I lift my chin a bit higher, put on my most winning smile, and wave with my free hand.” I wonder what the true difference is for Katniss between Cinna and Effie saying this to her? Maybe it’s that Effie is just outright mean to her sometimes whereas Cinna shows her nothing but kindness from the start and expresses sympathy and understanding? It’s probably that he’s already earning her trust versus Effie who’s just cruel I’m not over her comments on the train ok
“I'm glad now I have Peeta to clutch for balance, he is so steady, solid as a rock.” Right from the start, Katniss refers to Peeta as solid and steady. Idk, I feel like this is something that the movies really misses along the way. Katniss wasn’t always strong or confident at all and Peeta, at least publicly, exuded those qualities pretty well. Samantha’s complaining again ™️ 💁🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️
Also this is just outright foreshadowing how Peeta will eventually become her rock. Or that he will be soon painted a rock ... pick and choose which way you wanna go with this. 🤷🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️😅🤣
“As I gain confidence, I actually blow a few kisses to the crowd.” Okay, see I feel like Peeta really gives Katniss confidence in herself. If he’d been there in District Thirteen and they’d done propos together, she probably would have been a thousand times better.
But also this makes me think Katniss actually has it in her to be a charismatic, confident, alluring celebrity. She just chooses not to. 🤗🤗🤗
But this also reminds me of “She has no idea the effect she can have” okay imma move on and stop focusing on every little detail
I say that every chapter 🤧😅
“The pounding music, the cheers, the admiration work their way into my blood, and I can't suppress my excitement.” Say whatever you want, Katniss is still such a girl underneath it all. She gets excited over people liking her and cheering her on. And I know it’s because it increases her chances of getting sponsors but still
Honestly Peeta trying to showcase Katniss and let her take the spotlight is so selfless and indicative of his ultimate plan to help her win but also ... I can see how Katniss would believe it’s too good to be true and he’s messing with her. That he’s just playing the game to earn her trust, get her guard down and manipulate her later.
See, Peeta is actually framed at the start like the typical, standard YA love interest turned villain. In majority of YA books, at this point the boy is kind and sweet and helpful to the girl until she trusts him completely and then he turns on her and uses everything she gave him to destroy her. But the difference is, Katniss refuses to truly trust him and she is guessing his game incorrectly at every step. And then it’s revealed that it was never a game and he truly isn’t messing with her and everything he’s done that’s seem too good to be true and not even remotely plausible has actually been genuine and heartfelt and that, my friends, is why Peeta is above all other YA love interests. Because Everlark is actually the foil to many of the cliches. That was a long speech over some incoherent thoughts I’m so sorry if you suffered through that.
“It's not until we enter the City Circle that I realize I must have completely stopped the circulation in Peeta's hand. That's how tightly I've been holding it.” Awww he is her rock 😭🤧🥺
"No, don't let go of me," he says. The firelight flickers off his blue eyes. "Please. I might fall out of this thing." Okay this part is so cute and so blatantly setting Peeta up as her main love interest omg 😅 this isn’t the least bit subtle or disguised. But first off, the fact that Katniss is also Peeta’s stability here too 😭😭😭 and second of all, she takes time to notice his blue eyes against the firelight? She was attracted to him from the very start, y’all. That’s indisputable. 👌🏻😎🤧
“It's not really fair to present us as a team and then lock us into the arena to kill each other.” I agree with you, baby, it’s not fair at all. But you two take care of that situation nicely. Or not. Y’all do start a dang war. 🤭🤭🙃🙃
It’s rather ... ironic that it’s District Twelve’s chariot of them all that is pulled up and stopped directly in front of President Snow’s mansion. I know it’s a book, certain details like this are definitively contrived, I know get over it. 🤦🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️
So uh. Snow is a small thin man? Why do I suddenly imagine Danny Devito as Snow 😅😅😅😅🤣🤣🤣🤣 y’all know he’d kill the role
“The darker it becomes, the more difficult it is to take your eyes off our flickering.” Okay, this is such a great line and it’s so significant to the rest of the series? The fact that Katniss — and Peeta, let’s not forget our boy — became symbols of the revolution. Like this line is deep if you think about it. The worse things in Panem got, the more the civilians looked towards Katniss and Peeta for hope 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰🥰
Omg now after Songbirds and Snakes, we know the national anthem. I’m sorry, babies, that you have to endure that I’ll get you out of there 🙉🙉🙉
I feel like in part, the Capitol camera crew — Cressida, Pollux .... Pollux’s brother... is that you here???? — put so much attention on District Twelve because it would create some resentment and competition between them and the careers 🤭🤗
“I notice a lot of the other tributes are shooting us dirty looks, which confirms what I've suspected, we've literally outshone them all.” Insert Gretchen Wieners “I can’t help that I’m popular!” 😅😅😅😅😅
“I realize I'm still glued to Peeta and force my stiff fingers to open. We both massage our hands.” — they were hanging on so tight 😭😭😭😭
“Thanks for keeping hold of me.” He’s so sweet ☺️☺️☺️ I love him even if he’s kind of an idiot sometimes but so is Katniss so let’s not point fingers
“I'm sure they didn't notice anything but you. [...] And then he gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness” Omg I know Katniss views this as him trying to manipulate her but the fact that he’s actually just admitting the way he’s felt for years is so 😭😭😭😭 if only you’d spit it out sooner, Bready
“he gives me a smile that seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me.” She literally has a crush on her fellow tribute and her first line of defense is to decide he out to get her for making her feel this way 🤣😭🙃
“The more likable he is, the more deadly he is.” The more my crush grows, the more deadly he becomes. I know I’m reading this with shipper goggles but guess what? I’m unashamed. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ who feels guilty for reading this book with an Everlark bias not this girl right here 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️
“I stand on tiptoe and kiss his cheek. Right on his bruise.” Okay first off, she says cheek here but according to a chapter ago, she claimed the mark was on his jaw... so in other words, she’s incredibly short. If a medium height guy has a bruise on his jaw and she has to stand on her tip toe to reach it... well... hashtag LittleKatniss
And second off.... can you even imagine how Peeta must feel. He genuinely complimented her here, the girl he has had a crush on forever, and she responds by kissing his cheek. He was probably really happy at this moment. And also this probably played further into his buying into her false display in the arena. That here we have her clutching his hand, smiling and laughing with him and kissing his cheek. Idk what I was trying to say necessarily but I made myself sad wow way to go me 🥺🥺🥺🥺🤧🤧🤧
Anyways! Those are my very over the top and too detailed thoughts! Hope you enjoyed if you read this! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳😎😎😎😎😎😎😎🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
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musical-chick-13 · 3 years
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Control Z: S2 Final Thoughts™
-Very torn on Alex being The Bad Guy™ (*cue Billie Eilish*). It was a very interesting choice that I genuinely didn’t expect, and I think there’s a lot of room for compelling storytelling if we get season 3 in regard to the fallout. It’s also hilarious to me that she had, like. No help or money and still did this more effectively than Raúl.
-However, there was...nothing? To suggest that she was capable of this? In season 1 Raúl was just...kind of always a jerk. His very quick fixation on Sofía made sense when recontextualized with...everything the show revealed about him. And when the logos showed up during his house party, logistically he kind of was the only one who could have put them there. Alex has always been a pretty nice person, I feel like? She helped a lot with Isabela coming to terms with what happened to her, kept trying to be Javier’s wingman, recognized and seemed very sympathetic toward and reluctant to enable what everyone felt forced to do to prevent their secrets (including her own) from coming out. And she, unlike...basically everyone else, recognized and owned up to what she did in said sequence of events.
-And like. It just looks. Bad. To make the Overarching Vigilante Villain™ who Targets Innocents Who Weren’t Even Involved (sidebar: I still don’t understand why Luis was mad at Maria, and they never explained his issues with his mom?) a proudly out, underage lesbian girl who’s been preyed on by her adult teacher (whom she later has to solely depend on for housing and support). Like. Yeah, let’s demonize the happily queer, statutory rape victim. 🙄
-We have a lot of queer characters, but one of them is Luis (who is now dead), one of them is Gerry (the one who killed him and is also terrible), one is Gaby (who is a predatory teacher), one is Isabela (the best character on the show, but is sadly no longer on it), and now Alex, who was turned into a villain. Claudia and Maria are sapphics and good people, and I guess Felipe is all right (though I doubt we’ll be seeing him again), but we’re at the point where, even with all these queer characters, the ones left who are creepy/bad/dangerous outnumber the ones who aren’t, and I’m...not really sure that’s better than having fewer queer characters.
-RIP Javier/Natalia :’( I get why Javier felt creeped out with the whole thing regarding his dad meeting up with her via Creepy Tinder, but Javier really...should have heard her out. As one-of-my-fave-characters-of-all-time says: The situation’s a lot more nuanced than that. But this show is about flawed people, so I'm not just too frustrated.
-Speaking of which...do we...need?? The narrative glossing over Raúl’s shit and trying to make Javier look bad by randomly having him act out violently? He tried??? To protect Raúl?????? The whole season?????????? He took a bullet for this asshole in the season 1 finale??????????????????? Like...I get that it was motivated by a desire to protect Natalia to be sure she got the money she needed to pay off her debt, so it’s not just completely unmotivated, but given how dedicated he’s been to not using force to solve his problems, it still makes zero (0) sense??? Writers do know that they can just...write their characters consistently, right? If they REALLY didn’t want to put him with Sofía, they don’t have to make him look like The Worse Choice™, they can just have him and Sofía deciding they’re better as friends or have him move on peacefully with Natalia, THERE WAS?? NO REASON????? FOR ANY???????? OF THIS???????????????? God, I hate mainstream writers, I hate them so much.
-MARIA/CLAUDIA!!!! I AM VINDICATED!!!!!!!!!! And I do have to say, if they were going to make Proud Lesbian Alex a villain, I’m glad they at least had the sense to build up a healthy sapphic relationship to make sure there was still positive wlw representation. And the fact that I could see it before it happened is a good sign, both for the writing team and for the actresses involved. See, I can still give this show compliments!!!
-I think Maria and Natalia had the best growth this season, and I didn’t expect to end up caring about them as much as I did. Also, I’m a sucker for sisters y’all. :’)
-I still hate Gerry, but they did a much better job of making him relatively interesting this season. I’m glad he accepted that he likes men, and him choosing to turn himself in was an actual, genuine moment of growth. He finally did something I could wholeheartedly support, so that was kind of cool. And...tbh, good on him for recognizing that him bringing a gun to a confrontation has a bad history of ending in blood and that he refused to take that risk again. You know what, I actually think I simply don’t like Gerry, I’m not even sure I necessarily hate him.
-Pablo didn’t do a whole lot, but honestly I don’t think there’s much he could have added to any of the plotlines this season. Good for Maria for a) dumping his ass and b) making her OWN choice about not carrying her pregnancy to term (which, wow, for once wasn’t condemned by the narrative!).
-The writing for Sofía was...a mess. But I talk about that in a much longer post, so I’ll spare y’all. If we get season 3, hopefully they’ll return to giving Sofía the kindness, sense, and moving mental health representation she had in season 1.
-Speaking of which, I think it’s telling that the episode after she peaced out on Raúl, she almost immediately went back to the generous, kind, forgiving character we know during her scene in the hospital with Rosita. And the show actually took the time to, like...mention her mental illness. And then she set up a Master Plan, showcasing the intelligence we knew she possessed. It just proves that the show is better and more consistent if she’s NOT around Raúl.
-I never really liked Susanna. I still think she should have been the Bad Guy™.
-I’m not talking about Raúl because I hate him. But him doing one last selfish thing was very on brand and a good writing choice.
-So...how about that final scene, huh? If we get season 3, I wonder if we’ll get a flashback of exactly what happened that led to Susanna falling off the roof.
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artificialqueens · 3 years
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Level Up, Chapter Twelve (Branjie) - Holtzmanns
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AN: I can't even lie, the support on the last chapter and about this fic coming back made me so so incredibly happy. If you're still here and reading and leaving reviews, THANK you, I love hearing your thoughts and reactions and it honestly is why this chapter came pretty speedily. Enjoy and tell me your thoughts! Thank you writ for betaing <3
“How on earth are there seven thousand people watching this Instagram live? They got nothing better to do than talk to our sweaty asses?”
Monique’s eyebrows push together in disbelief as she looks at Vanessa’s phone screen, her eyes scanning the comments and it makes Vanessa snort, turning the camera towards her.
“It was your idea. I was perfectly content catching my breath and drinking some water now that class is done, or maybe, y’know, taking a shower,” Vanessa quips, her eyes flitting across the screen as she watches the comments fly by at light speed. “But you wanted to say hi to your ‘fans.’”
“They love me,” Monique tosses her braids over her shoulder, batting her eyes at the screen. “Right, guys?”
“Oh my god, you’re ridiculous,” Monet drops down beside Monique on the ground, popping her head in front of the screen. “I’m the one that everyone loves. I mean, how can you not?”
“Very easily.” Monique’s deadpan expression makes Vanessa burst into laughter, shaking her head.
“Y’all are nuts, I swear.”
It’s still strange to Vanessa, the way that this is her new normal. The fact that she can open Instagram and start a live and have an audience, the fact that she can post a picture and have famous people showering her with comments. It’s as if her world has tilted, little slivers of light that are shining upon new opportunities she would have otherwise never been able to see.
Like the fact that Detox has inked her a deal with fucking Fenty Beauty, of all companies, as a brand ambassador and now she has a shoot next week and Rihanna, Rihanna, knows who she is.
Rihanna.
It still doesn’t feel real. Hell, maybe Vanessa actually had hit her head real hard during her last match and the whole period since has simply been vivid dreams while she’s in a coma at this very second. Maybe that’s a more likely scenario.
“Hold up, pass me the phone, I got something to say,” Asia holds out her hands, wiggling her fingers, and Monique sticks out her tongue, handing the phone to her.
“You better be quick. I was having fun with the filters.”
Monet scoffs, nudging Monique’s shoulder as she looks over at Vanessa. “Forget about the filters for a sec. Where are we thinking for dinner? That’s the more important thing to focus on.”
Monique pauses. “Well, see, while I’m a fan of that burrito place we went to last week, it did give me major gas, and I don’t wanna smell up any subway cars on the ride home-”
“Nasty- ”
“There’s a such thing as too much information when the people on Instagram live can overhear you, doofus-”
“As I was saying,” Monique continues, her voice a little louder, “I’m down for some Korean food, maybe. Thoughts?”
Vanessa giggles as Monet shakes her head at Monique, who looks entirely nonplussed. “I’m good with Korean.”
As much as things have changed, from the brand deals and the sponsorships and the people on the street who do a double take when they recognize her, Vanessa’s glad that one thing hasn’t. Her friendships.
She’s not sure how she’d take it if Monet and Monique and Asia started to treat her differently, if maybe they’d think she was a sellout or hate her for having a meme that she has no control over. Her friends don’t pretend as if the whole thing hasn’t happened, either, which she’s sure would feel worse. Instead, they roll with everything, getting excited when Vanessa brings them free sponsored items that show up in her mailbox or scrolling through her Instagram comments and screenshotting the hilarious ones. It’s as if they’re all going through it together instead of just her, and honestly, it feels kind of nice.
The Korean restaurant three blocks away from the gym is one that they’ve frequented quite a bit over their weekly dinners, the booths cozy and a perfect bubble for the gossip they can’t necessarily have while in front of a punching bag. And sure, their last few dinners have revolved around Vanessa’s random celebrity encounters on social media, but today the spotlight is on Asia. Or rather, the grumpy manner in which she’s eating her gimbap.
“I said, there’s nothing wrong. I’d tell you if there was,” Asia mutters, shoving a bite into her mouth.
Vanessa exchanges a look with Monet and Monique. Asia’s the queen of denial, the one who draws attention to problems precisely by trying and failing to hide them. When Asia says that nothing’s wrong, she’s fibbing. Majorly.
“You wouldn’t tell us, you’d stew about it like you are now. So, there’s something wrong. Checkmate,” Monique raises an eyebrow, and Vanessa can’t help but turn towards Asia and nod because hey, Monique’s right.
Asia, though, sulks. “No, there isn’t.”
“Asia. Just tell us!” Monet waves her chopsticks in Asia’s face, who wrinkles her nose. “Did we do anything?”
“No, no, not you guys,” Asia sighs, sinking down lower in her seat. “Not you. You know I’d be quick to beef with y’all if you did something wrong.”
Monique nods. “She’s got a point.”
“Then what? Is it Kameron?” Vanessa asks, and Asia’s expression change is immediate, the way her eyes dart a telltale sign that Vanessa’s hit the nail on the head.
“What’d she do? Do we need to fight her? Though, to be fair, not sure if any of us could fight her. Bitch is ripped,” Monique takes a sip of her drink before she can dig herself in a bigger hole, and it makes Vanessa snort.
“That’s the thing, she didn’t do anything,” Asia scowls, as she grabs another bite. “Nothing at all.”
“Nothing? What do you mean, nothing?” Monet’s eyebrows furrow and Vanessa’s sure that she’s making the exact same expression, too.
“Yeah, what’s nothing?”
“Exactly nothing!” Asia huffs. “It’s been months of us just smacking and that’s all we do, aside from talking about the weather or maybe about Bachelor in Paradise ‘cause she watches that too, but...nothing. We haven’t even been on a date or anything. Nothing!”
“Oooh… ” The way Monique’s realization trails off is comical, and Vanessa has to press her lips together to keep from breaking into a laugh because she does feel for Asia, she really does.
Vanessa’s seen her and Kameron come out from the change rooms or from behind one of the punching bags more than once, the two of them looking ruffled from their little makeout sessions. And sure, Vanessa’s thought that the two of them had more going on. At least, more than what she’s seen with her own two eyes.
But evidently not.
“So you’re waiting for her to make the first move?” Monet gives Asia a look. “C’mon, girl. If you want to date her, then ask her out yourself. Stop waiting around if you want more.”
Monique leans forward. “Yeah, what’s that saying? Follow your destiny?”
“Never heard of any saying like that.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Vanessa clears her throat, trying to shoot Asia a reassuring look. “I think the point that these two are trying to make is that Kameron’s definitely into you, too. She wouldn’t be sticking around if she wasn’t. So what’s the worst that can happen if you ask her out? Maybe she’s shy, or something. Wants you to make the first move.”
Asia scoffs. “Shy? That bitch never stops talking once she starts. I swear, that quietness is totally a facade.”
“There you go,” Vanessa nods, smiling. “See? You know her enough that she’s comfortable around you to loosen up.”
“Doesn’t mean I can ask her out,” Asia mutters, letting out a sigh. “What if she says no? What if all she wants is just this casual not-even-a relationship? What if this is the most I’m gonna get without her running for the hills?”
“And what if she doesn’t?” Monet counters. “Hey, anyone who can swap spit with you for months on end has gotta be into it, right?”
“Nasty. Truly nasty,” Asia grumbles, but her posture is less slouched, less defeated. A little more hopeful.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to feel like she’s using her position of power over you, being a coach, and that’s why she’s letting you take the reins,” Monique ponders, as she lifts up a bite of noodles. “So that she doesn’t feel like she’s pressuring you into saying yes.”
“She really wouldn’t have to pressure Asia at all, she’s jumping at a chance to...” Monet trails off when Asia shoots her a narrow-eyed glare. “Sorry.”
Vanessa reaches out to pat Asia’s shoulder because she feels for her, she really does. “You have two choices, really. You either gotta be happy with this current situation you two have going on with all the smacking and breath mints, or you gotta be willing to take a risk for a higher reward. For a chance of more with her. Though it is a huge risk to take-”
Monet winces. “Vanj, ending on that is not encouraging-”
“-look what you can get out of it,” Vanessa finishes, leaning forward in her seat. “Are you really going to be happy with the absolute bare minimum that you’re getting with Kameron? Is it the way you want things to stay? ‘Cause it seems like Kameron is fine with it.”
“Alright there, Doctor Phil,” Asia grumbles, resting her cheek against her hand, “maybe I’ll talk to her. Maybe, though. I don’t do talking.”
“Tell that to my eardrums who had to listen to you complain about your leggings for twenty minutes straight in the change room yesterday,” Monique mutters, before letting out a squeal when Asia kicks her under the table. ” Ow !”
Asia does look lighter, though, as they head out of the restaurant and towards the subway, a spring in her step that definitely had not been there during dinner. Vanessa just hopes that it’s enough, that Kameron’s feeling the same and maybe Asia’s springboard won’t break from under her anytime soon.
It’s one thing to put yourself on the line, but to risk it all? Vanessa’s a romantic and all that, but she’s not sure that she’d be able to go through with something like that herself if it all went sour.
Brooke’s not really sure of what to make of the way that Kameron’s pacing in front of her closet, to the point where she’s about to wear a hole into the floor. That being said, it is fairly entertaining to watch.
“Y’know you haven’t even looked in your closet yet, right? Aren’t you supposed to be picking an outfit to wear for your d-”
“Don’t even finish that word,” Kameron bites out, holding up a finger and Brooke snorts before taking a sip of her water. “What am I even doing?”
“You’re going out with-”
“Ugh,” Kameron sighs, flopping down on her bed beside Brooke. “This isn’t going to end well, is it?”
Brooke turns on her side, facing Kameron. “Not if you keep dithering like this. You’re putting my anxious self to shame.”
Brooke gets it, though. The way that Kameron’s leg is bouncing and the way she’s unable to keep still are both sure signs that her mind is running at a hundred miles an hour. Considering what Kameron’s about to do this evening, Brooke can’t blame her.
“What if I can’t come up with anything to talk about? What if we just sit there awkwardly and twiddle our thumbs for an hour?” Kameron covers her face with her hands, letting out a groan.
“Is what why you only make out with her in a closet like two teenagers?”
“Shut up.”
“You gotta learn how to have big girl conversations sometime or the other, Kam.” Brooke pats Kameron’s shoulder. “You can talk to me just fine. You can talk to Asia too.”
“But you’re just you. Asia is… Asia,” Kameron mumbles, her voice uncharacteristically soft, and Brooke can’t help but let out a snort.
“Thanks for that non-compliment. Very sweet.”
“You know what I mean,” Kameron sighs. “What if she won’t like me when she gets to know me?”
“You’re a catch. Definitely not my kind of catch, but someone’s kind of catch. Maybe Asia’s,” Brooke dodges before Kameron can whap her with a pillow, grinning when she misses. “Besides, Asia already knows you. You two bicker throughout classes and definitely had things to talk about when driving back from the last tournament. Or was that arguing for the entire drive about the appropriate speed limit on the highway? I can’t remember.”
“You’re terrible at pep talks,” Kameron grumbles, rolling onto her back.
“But you’re feeling better, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Regardless,” Brooke announces, rolling off the bed and grabbing Kameron’s hands to pull her up, too, “we need to pick out an outfit for you. Can’t have you dazzling your star student and date for tonight in your current wine stained joggers. Unless Asia’s into that.”
Brooke gets Kameron into jeans and a tank that shows off her arms and tattoos and Kameron begins to perk up a little at least, looking at herself in the mirror, as Brooke presses an eyeliner pen into her hand.
“Go on. Do your makeup.”
“Do you think she’ll-”
“Yes she’ll find it hot, no you can’t make out with her instead of going on the date. It’ll mess up your lipstick.” Brooke leans back on her hands as she watches Kameron from the bed.
It makes Brooke think, though, as Kameron tousles her hair and slips on a leather jacket and stands a little taller. The fact that Kameron is going on a date with Asia. It’s no secret that the coaches at Brooke’s gym sometimes hook up with the students, despite the fact that it makes Brooke’s nose wrinkle sometimes. It’s relatively harmless, never turning into anything too dramatic. Kameron’s had her own share of them, but this feels...different.
Maybe because Kameron actually cares about impressing Asia, past just the shallow looks and first impressions. She likes Asia and wants Asia to like her too, for more than someone who holds a punching bag for her. Kameron’s toeing the line with Asia from something casual towards something that could be more, and to Brooke, the drop feels real high.
It’s not like they have that much to risk, not really. Sure, a shitty date could make classes awkward for the two of them, though no harm done in the long term. But then why is Brooke’s heart turning over in her chest at the mere idea of it?
She doesn’t know. But she’s going to make her friend look good for her date, that’s for damn sure.
“What shoes?” Kameron holds up a pair of boots in each hand, and Brooke squints as she looks between the two of them.
“The docs.”
“Not too stereotypical?”
Brooke grins. “Way stereotypical. But Asia’s going to eat it up.”
She feels like a mom helping her daughter get ready for her first date. Considering how few dates Kameron has actually been on, how little she takes the leap to get to know people past a shallow level, it somehow feels appropriate.
The sun is beginning to set as Brooke leaves Kameron’s apartment, painting pinks and purples that cast an iridescent glow along the buildings and reflect off of her watch. It’s her second favourite time of the day after sunrise - instead of charging her batteries the way that the oranges and yellows of the morning do, the sunset calms her system, slowing down the thoughts in her brain that go just a little too fast for her liking.
Her phone buzzes when she’s waiting at an intersection, and Vanessa’s name on her screen makes her face break into a smile without her even noticing at first. Maybe it’s just the way that Vanessa’s always so funny, never failing to make Brooke laugh with whatever she comes up with over text.
Vanessa: alert alert Asia is going out with Kam tonight!!!!! Monique and I wanna follow them and see where they go but Monet won’t let us lol
Brooke: LOL. That’s probably for the best. Let the two of them figure it out on their own, y’know?
Vanessa: boooo but that’s boring
Vanessa: Asia said they were going to play something called lob???
Vanessa: tf is that do u know
Vanessa: cuz I thought lob was a haircut
Brooke: Picture mini golf but with small balls that you throw. And without the golf clubs.
Vanessa: haha small balls
Brooke: Really?
Vanessa: IT’S FUNNY
Brooke: It’s a fun game. Went there once some years back and honestly, it feels harder than mini golf. Not that I was good at mini golf.
Vanessa: ok but I’m good at mini golf, does this mean i’d school ur ass if we played
Brooke: Well we’d have to find out and see, wouldn’t we?
Brooke watches the clock at the top of her screen pass by one minute, then another, and Vanessa hasn’t replied, wait, did Brooke say anything wrong? She reads their conversation through again and when her eyes hit the last text…
Wait.
No, it doesn’t sound like she’s asking Vanessa out. Because she’s not trying to. Vanessa’s not, they’re not…
Unless Vanessa’s taking it that way and wants to run for the hills and never speak to Brooke again-
Vanessa: ok lets square up then punk
Phew.
Brooke: Did you just call me a punk?
Vanessa: and what about it??
Brooke: That’s extra burpees for you next practice.
Vanessa: playing dirty!!
Brooke lets out a laugh but it’s more of a shaky exhale than anything else, running a hand through her hair as she walks past the front desk of her apartment building and pushes the button for the elevator. Getting into the elevator alone is a blessing, a chance for her to lean her head back against the mirrors and close her eyes for a second, trying to ignore the way her heart is beating in her chest.
It’s not that she hasn’t thought about it. Brooke has eyes, Vanessa’s beautiful but also now such a good friend but she’s also her student and they’re not like that, they’re not and Brooke doesn’t do relationships-
Ding.
The doors open and it’s almost a relief, in a way, because for a second Brooke gets to pretend that she can leave her worries in the elevator and not bring them into her apartment. But they sweep up on her shore as she unlocks the door, the way they always do when she wants to avoid thinking about something.
Maybe Brooke’s just in her head. Maybe Vanessa hadn’t noticed how her text could have sounded suggestive at all, hell, maybe Vanessa had just been in the bathroom or something and that’s why she hadn’t answered Brooke’s text right away. There’s a million different ways to interpret what had happened, and Brooke’s just working herself up at this point. She knows that.
Problem is, her brain doesn’t always listen.
Yvie’s frowning at a pineapple at the kitchen island when Brooke hangs up her coat and walks into their apartment.
“Not going so well?” Brooke raises an eyebrow at the bent knife in Yvie’s hand and the still-intact pineapple.
Yvie scratches her head. “I really should have just bought the pre-chopped pineapple. But all that wasted packaging, y’know? Figured this was better for the environment.”
“Not for the knife, though.”
“Sadly,” Yvie sighs, letting the knife roll onto the cutting board with a clatter. “I think there’s another one in the utensil drawer somewhere. I’m gonna try again.”
Brooke raises an eyebrow. “Why don’t you look up a tutorial first or something? Maybe there’s an easy way to do it.”
“And ruin the surprise and excitement? Nah,” Yvie shrugs, before grinning. “I’m gonna defeat this pineapple on my own.”
“Have fun with that. And let me know when you’re done so I can have some, too,” Brooke snorts, sitting down on one of the stools at the counter.
Yvie lets out a woo when she pulls another knife out of the drawer, waving it around. “Found it! Nice.”
Brooke leans back on her stool even though Yvie is a good six feet away, because she also remembers the time Yvie accidentally threw a pair of scissors across the room while animatedly telling a story complete with hand gestures. “Careful, Yves.”
“You’re fine. The pineapple is the only one getting murdered tonight.”
“Comforting.”
“Anyways,” Yvie starts, twirling the knife in her hands before lodging it in the side of the pineapple, letting out a curse under her breath. “Is Kameron ready for her date? Did you lend your fashion expertise and all that?”
Brooke shrugs. “Kameron has that part under control. She needed more cheerleading than anything else to actually get herself on the date without clamming up. You know how she gets sometimes.”
Yvie snickers as she yanks the knife back out of the pineapple. “You mean her complete lack of game whatsoever?”
“Yvie!” Brooke admonishes, rolling her eyes when Yvie grins. “I think she’ll be fine with this girl, though. From their constant bickering, they have enough chemistry to warm even Kam up a little bit.”
“Aww. I remember that stage,” Yvie’s face is almost nostalgic, her bottom lip pushing out. “Scarlet and I would always clash in class. Of course, I still found her hot when she was being stupid, but that’s beside the point.”
“And now the only thing you two argue about is about who’s going to hang up first.”
As nauseating as the two of them are, Brooke has to admit that Yvie and Scarlet are kind of cute. The way that they’re making it work despite the fact that they live far away from one another is sweet, as ‘temporary’ as Yvie says their distance is.
“God, I love that bitch,” Yvie’s eyes are almost dreamy, a jarring sight when combined with the knife she’s dangling from her grip. “Speaking of love, what’s the situation with your new lady like? Miss internet sensation herself?”
“What?” Brooke yelps, and the heat that floods to her cheeks is annoying, because from the smug grin on Yvie’s face, she definitely notices. “She’s not my lady. Jeez. I train her.”
“Yeah, yeah. Because that’s what the cuddling on the couch during Chicken Little night looked like. Completely.” Yvie’s look is knowing, too knowing, and it makes Brooke want to fold in on herself, sink under the counter.
“It’s not like that,” Brooke mutters, reaching a hand out for one of the pineapple cubes that Yvie’s successfully chopped and throwing it into her mouth, because it gives her more time to think of something to say.
It’s not. They’re not together, they’re not flirting for Pete’s sake, they’re...they’re Brooke and Vanessa. A washed up coach and an athlete with enough potential and talent and drive to have already made a splash on the boxing world without any professional fights under her belt. Vanessa’s special, more than she knows, and Brooke wants to be the one to nurture that and have a front row seat to her greatness. She’s more than a random person to flirt with and then ghost, she’s more than a sham of a relationship. She’s permanent. At least, Brooke wants her to be.
Desperately.
And not losing Vanessa in the future means that Brooke has to avoid doing anything to ruin whatever it is that they have between them.
“Okay. Tell that to the way you guys were snuggled together like two little puppies or something. It was kind of adorable.” Yvie pops a cube of pineapple into her own mouth, throwing another towards Brooke.
“We weren’t snuggled together,” Brooke mumbles as she chews the pineapple, shrugging when Yvie scoffs and rolls her eyes. “What?”
“So what was it, then? Huddling for warmth? In an apartment with a broken AC that’s always warm, anyway?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Yves,” Brooke lifts up her hands in surrender. “She’s my student. We’re not doing anything.”
“Y’know what I think? I think you don’t know what to tell yourself. And that’s why you’re avoiding thinking about it,” Yvie says, holding up another cube. “Want some more?”
“Don’t you have to go Facetime Scarlet or something instead of pressing me about Vanessa? God,” Brooke grumbles. “Yes to the pineapple, by the way.”
Yvie snickers as she grabs a bowl, filling it with a handful of cubes. “You’re grumpy when you’re forced to confront your feelings.”
“There are no feelings.”
“Keep telling yourself that. Denial may be a river in Egypt, but it’s also very entertaining on you.”
“Oh, shut up,” Brooke groans, resting her cheek on her palm with her elbow against the counter. “Now go have phone sex with your girlfriend while I get my earplugs out.”
“And I’ll enjoy it, thank you very much,” Yvie singsongs as she waltzes into her bedroom, kicking the door closed and leaving Brooke alone in the kitchen.
She’s sure about what she’s said to Yvie. There are no feelings. Well, friendship feelings, and feelings of caring for Vanessa as a person because she’s pretty damn great and a wonderful person, but...not those kinds of feelings.
Brooke doesn’t do those kinds of feelings. Not when they end the way so many other things do, not when relationships don’t ever last the way that they promise to. Brooke doesn’t need her time with Vanessa to end anytime soon.
Besides, platonic cuddling is a thing. Brooke has snuggled up against Kameron’s bicep more than once during their athlete days on the drives to tournaments. Not that it was ever that comfortable back then, but hey, maybe Asia will like it now.
Maybe she and Vanessa can go play lob at the bar one day at the bar that Kameron’s taken Asia to - not as a romantic thing, because they’re not like that, they’re not, but because Vanessa’s competitive streak is adorable. Something that Brooke loves to see but also something that pushes Vanessa to be a great athlete and is almost mesmerizing to watch.
So, yeah. Lob as friends.
Brooke’s going to emphasize the ‘friends’ part when she asks Vanessa. More to calm herself down about it, than anything else.
14 notes · View notes
shreddedparchment · 4 years
Text
Pseudo Princess Pt.27
Beaten and Lost
03/24/2020
Pairing: King!Steve x Reader          Word Count: 5,109
Warnings: language, canon level violence, injuries, wounds, blood, smidge of angst
A/N: So...I should really edit this more but I’m tired and I’m sure you all want this more than you want my edits. lol I’m pretty satisfied with it. Hopefully y’all like it too. If you happen to reblog, thanks for helping me spread my work! xoxo
PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY STORIES. Reblogs are appreciated!
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“No! Clint! Get to those citizens. I’ll handle James.”
“Oh, you’ll handle him? Much like you handled those bandits in Bosset?”
“I did handle them.” Nat argues, ducking as another flaming ball of tar goes soaring over their heads. “We got out of there, didn’t we?”
Shielded for the moment behind an overturned vendor’s stall, she and Clint find themselves catching their breath as chaos reigns around them.
Nat can see Peter flying across rooftops, shooting his web at Hydra soldier after Hydra soldier. Incapacitating them by grabbing them and knocking them out or suspending them from the streetlamps and balconies.
She can’t see, but she can hear the whoosh of wind as Sam flies overhead, aided by his specialized wing suit.
“Barely.” Clint nods. “It’s all over after today, you know that, right? Everyone in the kingdom…in all the kingdoms will know who you all are now.”
“It was bound to come out.” Nat shrugs. “It was Steve and Tony that wanted to keep things quiet, for their families’ sake.”
“I can relate.” Clint sighs.
“I’m sorry, Clint. I didn’t mean to drag you back into this.” Nat assesses her old friend, dirty blonde hair, handsome features only slightly aged and looking more exasperated than tired.
Time with his family has done him good.
“It was inevitable.” He nods. “Alright, on the count of three.”
Nat nods, reaching down to take hold of a long metal rod that has broken off from a carriage in place of her usual adamantium daggers.
“Is that really a good idea?” Clint asks, eyeing her sheathed daggers now out and visible with her lack of cloak.
“I love him, Clint.” Nat shakes her head. “I’m going to marry him. I won’t kill him.”
“You might have to.” Clint insists.
Nat only meets his gaze, defiance written all over her scratched up and dirty face.
“One…Two…Thr-” As Clint and Nat make to rise, the weight of their temporary shield falls out from behind them and they have to scramble up onto their knees as they watch the stall levitate up into the air.
“What the-?” Clint begins and they both watch as it rises higher and higher, a strange red energy lifting it into the air.
It swirls around the stall like smoke, vibrant in spots where it pulsates with power.
“Looks like we aren’t alone anymore.” Nat says, bringing Clint’s eyes to her.
He sees her watching the road in front of them and follows her gaze to a young girl, no more than twenty with her hands in the air, clearly directed towards the stall that had just been ripped away from them.
She’s wearing a form fitting red leather tunic and jacket over a pair of dark gray pants. Inexpensive clothing that looks as if it were once new, but now tattered and torn.
Nat at least wears a collection of torn up skirts woven together around her hips making it look as if she were wearing a skirt while leaving the front of her legs exposed so that she can reach her weapons.
This girl is wearing just the pants. No weapons, nothing but the strange red energy.
Her hair is also red, but duller than Natasha’s, and waist length. Left to do as it pleases, it floats around her body as the red magics that she is clearly manipulating dances about her.
With eyes like scarlet fire, she suddenly brings her hands down and both Nat and Clint scramble up just in time, diving out of the way as the stall crashes into the cobbled road and explodes into splinters.
As she approaches, they get to their feet only to feel the strange rush of air and force along their fronts and get knocked to the ground again.
“Do you see-?” Clint begins.
“No.” Nat replies.
They rise again, attempting to get to their feet only to feel the same rush of air and force against their back.
They’re shoved forward and fall onto their hands and knees, landing roughly so that the frozen stones beneath their hands draw a little blood.
Annoyed, Nat glares.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
“The girl is a witch. Could she be doing this?” Clint wonders.
“No, I don’t think so.” Nat sighs and makes to stand again only to get pushed hard in the stomach. It sends her soaring backwards into the air a few feet until she makes impact with something large and hard.
It catches her under the arms and the heat suddenly makes sense as she’s helped to her feet.
“It seems you’re having a bit of trouble, Lady Widow, shall I help?”
“Thor!” Nat gasps, grateful to be up on her feet, but she frowns at him all the same. “How many times must I tell you? It’s Black Widow.”
Thor smiles at her. “It seems you’ve found yourself a bit of a nuisance.”
“Indeed.” Nat nods.
“Hey, how about a little assistance, your Majesty?” Clint gestures at the girl whose stopped advancing at the sight of Thor.
“That girl is not your problem.” Thor says, pointing at the girl and watching her with a furrowed brow.
“Then what is it?” Natasha asks.
“It’s the boy.”
“Boy?” Clint pushes himself up onto his knees and looks around, confused. “What boy?”
Without warning Thor draws his arm back, calling into it his hammer which very nearly reaches him when the body of a man wearing head to toe silver appears with his hand around the handle midflight.
As it reaches Thor, dragging the boy along with it, Thor quickly grabs him and slams him into the ground only to place his hammer on his chest.
“This boy.” Thor smiles down at him.
Nat’s mouth is slightly agape as she stares down at Thor’s catch, Clint then rises and moves over to look down at the lad as he struggles and grunts against the weight of Mjolnir and attempts to push it off.
“Why couldn’t we see him?” Clint wonders.
“He was moving too quickly for your eyes to see.” Thor explains. “He didn’t know that he wouldn’t be able to lift my hammer.”
“Not so quick now, are you?” Clint taunts.
“I think Hawkeye and I can handle the girl.” Thor says, turning to Nat with a look of stern approval. “Barnes and Hydra are regrouping in the town square. You’d best head there and help the Spiderling, Pigeon, and Stark.”
“Spiderman and Falcon.” Nat corrects, but she’s already backing away from them. “Clint?”
“Go. I’ve got a God on my side.” He watches as Nat turns to run, then looks to the girl whose fingers are still dancing with red waves. “How are we going to handle this one?”
“You could never handle my sister.” Says the boy still struggling, glaring at both Thor and Clint. “The Scarlet Witch will warp you into your darkest nightmares. She will tear your mind apart piece by piece until you are nothing more than a sobbing, whimpering fool.”
“You promise?” Clint asks, then turns to give him a smug smile.
~~~~~~~~~~
She can hear it before it hits. She can feel the heat against her skin before she can even form the plea for Tony to stay his hand.
“James, please.” She begs, holding his arm back behind him with as much strength as she can muster.
Behind her the Falcon has lost a wing as is fighting hand to hand against a mob of Hydra foot soldiers.
Peter is with him, attempting to help as much as he can while also pulling the occasional bystander away from the fight.
Nat has been able to hold Bucky off for only a few minutes. Seven? Eight minutes? Maybe ten.
They feel like hours. Every punch avoided, ever kick expertly maneuvered feels like another thorn in Nat’s heart.
“Please, my love.” She whispers into his ear as he grunts and with a surge of strength pulls his arm from her hold behind his back.
He turns around and grabs her by the neck, squeezing with his flesh arm so tight that her eyes grow red as her hands hesitantly travel down to the blades along her thighs. As her fingers make contact with the cool metal, she realizes that she can’t do it. Nat can’t hurt him.
She mouths his name, a haggard whisper through the constriction of her throat, and brings her hands up to hold the one choking her to death.
Nat thinks she sees a shift in his eyes, a return of warmth, but if it was real it came and went too quickly for her to be sure it wasn’t just her oxygen deprived mind wishing he’d remember that he loves her. That he asked her to marry him.
She wishes that she could have a chance to tell him yes. That she’ll marry him. That even if she can’t give him the life he deserves, if he will have her, she will happily live out the rest of her days by his side.
He flips her, then slams her down against the cobble road. Nat gasps in as much air as she can as the darkness in her vision begins to clear. Her head is pounding, she can feel blood pooling along her scalp.
Wheezing, she forces her body to move, to shift. She wants to see him.
Bucky has turned and is moving towards Tony who has somehow found one of his gauntlets. At the center of his palm is the gleaming blue shine of his blaster. The magic and lightning that he seams to have weaved into his suit and tamed it to use at will.
He raises his glove, holds it up towards the approaching threat.
Nat pushes herself up and throws her and out towards Tony, almost mimicking his movement as the blue light grows brighter faster.
“Tony, n-!” She tries, but he fires, and it hits Bucky square in the chest.
He’s sent flying back into a heap on top of a pile of wooden crates.
Nat falls onto her side, staring at him in relief that he’s down, but she knows it isn’t over. She moves as quickly as she can to subdue him and manages to get onto her feet.
Racing to his side, she reaches for his arm, but he throws it up towards her and she’s sent flying back into one of the now broken lampposts.
She hits it hard and crumples with a pained groan around the base. Somehow, she manages to refocus, pulling herself back up onto her feet with the assistance of the broken post.
By the time she’s up, searching for Bucky, she finds him charging at Tony who has found the rest of his suit probably kept safe in his carriage. Hidden, like Steve’s shield had been. Like all of their tools.
Bucky races at full speed at Tony, not stopping as Tony sends shot after shot towards him. He dodges each blast of energy. He even grabs Tony’s wrists and points his hands up at the sky rending his shots useless.
Tony counters with a kick to his chest, sending Bucky skidding back only to readjust his footing and dive at his target.
Tony punches and kicks, avoiding Bucky’s metal arm as best he can while also trying to blast him with his hands.
It takes only a minute for Bucky to get Tony down on the ground. On his back, Tony is at a disadvantage.
Nat begins to race for them as Bucky brings his metal fingers down around the blinding circle at the center of Tony’s chest.
With his swollen cheek, cut lip, bloody nose, Bucky huffs with the strength he uses to pry his fingers in around the orb.
Nat can hear Tony’s own wounded grunt, one hand pulling at Bucky’s normal arm to pry it away from his neck and the other squeezing and tugging at the metal one around his power source.
“Don’t make me do this Barnes.” Tony gasps.
“Don’t!” Nat cries, still too far away.
The orb within Tony’s chest begins to glow brighter, more blinding, more chaotic in its pulsing energy.
“Tony, don’t!” Nat pleads, pushing her leg to run through her limp.
“I’m sorry.” Tony whispers, and the light in his chest explodes shooting up into the air with a twenty-foot beam.
Nat is thrown back by the force of the blast, but she recovers quickly, forcing herself to scramble up towards them.
Bucky lays motionless a few feet away from Tony’s gasping form his metal arm gone. Severed by Tony’s energy beam at the shoulder. Shards of sharp metal protrude from the wound.
“James!” Nat calls, falling to her knees at his side. “James, please.”
But he’s so still.
For one breathless minute, Nat watches the love of her life lay before her, not breathing.
But then his chest moves, and she’s saved the grief of mourning her one true love.
Turning to Tony, she finds him sitting up, one leg bent with his arm resting over it as he watches her and Bucky.
“Are you alright?” She asks him, ignoring the rage she feels towards him because she knows it was necessary.
“Alright?” Tony gets to his feet. Groaning and grunting as his body protests the movement. “I’m a king. I am…perfection. Urghhh…”
“Perfection my ass.” Nat mutters, turning her gaze back to Bucky.
“Is it my turn?” A shaking elderly voice suddenly speaks.
“By all means, old woman. Assist away.” Tony waves her over, walking with her as she exits one of the shops where she’d been hiding watching the entire fight.
Agatha stops beside Nat and gives her head a quick inspection.
“Get this bandaged up right away, unless you’d like to lay unconscious beside your lover.” She orders.
Nat frowns but tears a piece of fabric from her open skirt and begins to wrap the strip around the worst part of her wound. She doesn’t have time to do it justice.
Agatha drops down beside Bucky and begins to look him over. She opens his eyes and they look as normal as ever.
“Well?” Tony asks, impatient.
“He’s out. It also appears as if whatever spell he was under, it has been broken. His injuries are extensive. He will not wake.” She assures them. “Perhaps ever.”
“What?!” Nat demands, voice panicked.
“This wound.” She suddenly rips Bucky’s tunic open then unbuttons his shirt to show a massive amount of black bruising along the left side of his body. “This will not heal easy. We need to get him somewhere safe. The quicker the better.”
“Tony…” Nat begins, turning to him, but Tony is watching the crowd in the distance.
“We can’t just leave them. There are still too many Hydra soldiers running around the city.” He frowns, his mind also jumping to you and Steve.
Are the two of you alright?
“You won’t.” Thor says from above before he lands with a small earth-shaking boom beside them. “I will stay along with the Pigeon, the Spiderling, and the Hawk. The two of you should take Barnes and the other prisoners back to your castle.
“Someone also needs to begin the search for Steve and the little bird. From what Peter said, Steve was gravely wounded. And Y/N is pregnant. I need to know she’s safe.”
“Prisoners? What prisoners?” Tony wonders.
“Don’t worry.” Thor assures them. “They too will not wake before you reach the castle. Go, my friends. I will provide what assistance I can here.”
“Thor…” Nat begins, desperate to thank him.
“Natasha…” Thor cuts her off, turning a serious and suddenly terrified gaze on her. “Find her. Find Steve. Make sure they’re alright.”
Nat agrees, knowing that she too will not rest well until she knows that you’re home safe and that your little prince is hopefully, unharmed.
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You’re exhausted, trudging through overgrown fronds and grass as you struggle to weave your way through densely packed sycamore trees.
The forest is old, the canopy all but obscures the night sky above.
In the darkness, you cling to Steve’s hand as he leads you through the trees. Every now and then the late winter wind blows and scatters the branches overhead to give you a stunning view of the clear sky. A jeweled sky dazzles you, then retreats behind the leaves once again.
Your arm is yanked forward, and you gasp tripping over your dress which you quickly yank up with your free hand to keep from falling.
Steve’s cloak, still around you to stave off the frigid air, nearly does you in with a second trip but you managed to find your balance.
“Steve…” You begin, a warning in your voice because he’s your guide. He can see better than you can apparently and you’re relying on him to keep you upright with your little prince at stake.
What you find is Steve slumped against a tree, still somehow standing, but clearly weak and unable to stand upright. He drops his shield where it falls with a muted clunk.
“Steve!” You gasp, releasing his hand which he was still holding onto tightly, and rush to his side.
Getting in close is the only way that you can see his face, so you get right up against him. His nose only a few inches away.
He has both eyes closed, one swollen and black, bruised so darkly you shudder to think what that might look like under proper light.
His lips are slightly blue and that gives you such fright. You throw the cloak off of your shoulders and quickly wrap it around him.
With a split bleeding lip, now crusted in the corners where he allowed the crimson to dribble and pool, he protests.
“No.” He says, still managing some volume and a stern tone despite the exhaustion he’s clearly feeling and the pain his body is fighting.
The longer he stands there pressed against the tree, the lower slides along the thick trunk.
“Keep it on. It’s c-cold.” He shudders and you frown at him.
“You need it more than I do.” You assert and clasp the cloak at around his neck then draw the rest closed to help him keep what little heat he has.
“But our baby.” He sighs, finally reaching the base of the tree where he sits with his legs bent but weakly splayed out as you make sure his cloak is secure.
“Our little one is warm and safe in my belly.” You give him a smile but begin to notice the way his shield arm is resting at an odd angle. “Steve, your arm…”
“It’s nothing.” He tries.
“Don’t lie to me Steven.” You frown.
“It’s dislocated.” He relents quickly not missing a beat, knowing the tone you’re using well from the night you found Sharon in his bed.
“Shit.” You bite your lip but move to position yourself beside him. “Steve, why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“We had to get away.” He shakes his head but meets your eyes. “I needed you safe.”
“I am safe. But what will I do if you pass out here, in the middle of the forest? You should have told me. We should have stopped when I asked hours ago.” Your worry is outweighing your anger, and he seems to see that because he smiles weakly.
“Is this really the time to rub it in how right you are all the time?” He teases.
“Steve…” You fuss.
“I’m alright, my flower. Truly.” He lies.
You growl and move around the base of the tree sticking close to the ground. You move all the way around it, circling until you come up on Steve’s other side.
“What are you doing?” He wonders, curious but also wary.
“Looking for something. Do you still have your dagger?” You reopen his cloak and begin to feel around his waist.
He shifts for you, shoving his hips out a little and arching his back which makes him grunt with pain.
“Center of my waist. On the back.” He instructs.
Quickly you reach for it and pull it out before you pull his cloak shut again then turn around and begin to crawl away from him.
A tug on your skirts stops you and with his dagger in hand you turn to look back at him.
“Where are you going?” He frets, brow furrowed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t go far.” You promise, reach back, and pull his hand away from your skirts.
You crawl around for maybe ten minutes, picking up every stone and pebble that your fingers blindly encounter. At one point you swear you feel a silky scaled body slither past your outstretched digits but you ignore it and swallow down the panic as you convince yourself that it was probably more afraid of you than you are of it.
At last, several trees away and just out of Steve’s sight, you find what you’re looking for. You reach around for the long thin branch that you’d felt earlier. With the knife, stone, and branch, you crawl back to Steve to find him sitting up, craning his neck for sight of you.
Upon it, he sits back and releases a long-held breath.
His legs are a little more relaxed, stretched out but still wide open in his fatigue. You settle between them, scooching as close as you can but turn back forward as you sit up as straight as you can.
“Can you undo my bodice?” You ask, with your collection of tools placed before you, you move your hair out of his waist.
“You can’t take off your clothes.” Steve says, not understanding what you’re trying to do.
“Steve…just do it. Open my dress and once you see my corset strings, open it and then rip the driest part of my underdress. As much of it as you can.
“Y/N…” Steve begins, defiant.
“Please.” You beg, but you make it clear it isn’t an option.
After a moment of hesitation, he huffs out a gust of air before he gets to work on your dress.
It takes him five minutes to undo it and your corset, then another three to find and rip as large a piece of your underthings as he can.
“Is that dry enough?” He checks, holding out for you a strip long enough to wrap your arm several times.
“That’s perfect, my love.” You gush, taking the strip to feel how damp it might be.
Your skirts would have been too wet, trudging through snow all night.
Steve does your dress up as best as he can or attempts to before you’re up on your feet moving away from him.
“Wait…” He complains but you don’t stop and instead begin to feel around the large trunks you pass.
“You can dress me again in just a moment.” You tell him, but he growls.
“You’re going to catch your death with your back open like that!” He fumes.
You ignore him in favor of your search and after only two minutes this time, you find what you’re looking for. A knothole almost just out of reach.
Licking your lips, you push yourself up onto your toes and with trembling fingers search the space within.
You shut your eyes and refuse to think about what animals you may be disturbing.
Luckily, you find none, and instead find what you’re looking for.
With your stick and fabric in hand you scoop out as much dead and dried foliage as you can into the fabric with your stick placed in the middle of it all. The knothole is abundant in material, so you take as much as you need before you wrap it up around one end of the stick.
You cut a few small holes into the fabric to give the twigs and leaves and dried grass some air before you move back towards where you can hear Steve groaning in pain.
As he hears you near, he makes sure to stop.
Because he needs it more than you do at the moment, you find your spot between his legs again and turn around for him.
Quickly he begins to do your dress up, fighting the pain of his dislocated shoulder.
He’s pushing himself too hard and you know that he will pay for it. You hate that!
By the time he laces up your bodice, the spark from his steel dagger on your flint rock strikes a spark and your torch comes to life, blazing bright in what was only a second again pitch dark.
It’s blinding and you blink against the light before you grab it and turn to look at your husband.
He’s impressed, his face full of it, but what a face it is all beaten, black and blue.
“Oh, Steve.” You cry, your heart breaking.
“I’m okay.” He promises, reaching up with his good hand to stroke your cheek.
“No, you’re not!” You smack his hand away and shove the end of your torch into the ground to free up your hands.
With his cloak already open from him dressing you, you reach for his shoulder and feel for the shift.
Giving him time to fight you on this is not an option so you quickly force him back against the tree.
“Stay still.” You order, and without waiting for him to acknowledge what you’re saying, you begin to pull his shoulder up in small smooth circles.
“No, Y/N, wait.” He groans.
“Shh.” You frown but continue to lift his arm up.
“Y/N…” He repeats, his voice fighting the agony.
“Shush!” You insist, then finally feel the shift as his arm pops back into place.
“AH!” Steve cries, his breathing hard and his eyes shut tight.
You guide his arm across his chest and push it towards him to make sure he knows to keep it there while you tear more fabric from the thick layers of your skirts.
With his arm in a sling, Steve seems a bit more relaxed.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Steve wonders as you get up and fix your dress before you reach over for the torch.
His eyes are glued to your face, full of admiration and adoration, bloody lips curled slightly in a smile.
“I grew up alone, remember? I had to take care of myself.” You move to his good arm and hook your own through them. “Come on, your Majesty. On your feet.”
He groans and grunts as you pull him back onto his feet and tired legs. While he gets used to the sensation again, you hand him the torch and lean him against the tree. Then you move to grab his shield and with a long spare piece of your skirts available, you tie the disc to your back where you know it will be safe.
“You look good in my insignia.” Steve flirts.
“Of course, I do. I’m your wife.”
Steve huffs a small laugh.
“Come on, King Flirt. Lean on me.”
He wraps his good arm around your shoulders and leans as much weight against you as he’s willing which gladly is enough that the two of you can get moving again. And with the torch now out to show you the forest, you gasp as you realize just where you are.
“What is it?” Steve asks, sensing your glee.
“I know where we are!” You smile. “Come on. If we make good time, we’ll get there before the sun rises.”
It takes two more hours of you pulling Steve forward, forcing him to move faster just as he’d first forced you away from danger. You’re starting to feel the bite of the cold, but you don’t dare take the cloak from him. Only now are his lips beginning to show a bit of color. His cheeks aren’t so pale. His eyes are a little brighter.
You’re at the top of a hill when you finally stop and you’re breathing hard as your eyes take in the sight you’d thought you’d lost forever.
If not forever, then at least for a long time.
Below you both, nestled into the hillside is the Village of Bright Rise. A dozen and a half thatched roofed buildings that were once the only home you thought you’d ever know.
The church is on one end of the square, old and crumbling but still made with materials far better than the village houses that look to be in the midst of repairs.
The mill to the farms is on the right, and the old manor home—long since abandoned by the lord that had settled Bright Rise way before your parents had been born—sits derelict and half destroyed about a mile away from the village.
Still, despite the poverty you see before you, there is beauty in the large trees and the flower fields that you can only remember from your memories now with winter having taken the blooms. The small pond is frozen, and the roads are blanketed with fresh snow from earlier in the night when the sky had filled with clouds before being whisked away by winter winds.
“Where are we?” Steve wonders, staring at the little village below.
“We’re in Bright Rise.” You declare. “This is Bright Rise, Steve. This is where I was born. This is where my parents died and where I grew up. Just outside of the village, just before you reach that abandoned manor, you see that main road?”
Steve follows where your gaze to the spot you mean and nods.
“I see it.”
“That’s where my life changed. That’s where I found Grandmother fallen over in the mud. Where I searched, elbow deep in a bog for her purse. That’s where Father found me. Took me. Changed me.
“That’s where my destiny to be your wife manifested. This…this was my home.” You turn to him, watch as his face changes and devours every inch of the small place he sees below him.
“Do you see that small cottage over by the farms? To the right of the mill? With its crumbling walls and overgrown vine?” You ask, watching him.
“I see it.” He says, “Is that-?”
“That was where I lived. We’ll be safe there for a bit.” You whisper, suddenly nervous about him seeing your home. “Will you stay?”
Steve hears the insecurity in your voice, the fear of what your old home might say about who you were. Who you are. Because even if you are no longer that same girl that was taken at the side of the road, she is still within you. She’s your core. The base of who you have become.
“Anywhere.” Steve says. “So long as I’m with you.”
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