#in the scheme of me watching this whole show since tuesday afternoon

[skzsauce01]

love you to limx

Anniversary Request Special

Description: Jisung’s secret crush on his childhood friend, you, might not be so secret after all, especially when your tutee starts laying moves on you right in front of his iced americano.

Warning: none!

Word Count: 2.6k

Pairing: fem!reader x Jisung

“Y/N?” Jisung calls out as soon as you walk past the library doors.

You smile and wave to him while flashing your ID card for the person at the front desk. He waves you over so you go to him.

“Jisung? What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d make some extra money this semester, so I signed up to tutor underclassmen during this hour.”

You let out a gasp. “Same!”

“What are the odds?” he chuckles, feigning surprise. It isn’t like he bribed Chan, the head of the program, to tell him what time slot you signed up for, nor is it like he fought Hyunjin tooth and nail for this time either. The only reason why you and him are at the same place on a Wednesday afternoon is pure coincidence. Really.

You pull out the seat in front of his and take a seat. “I wonder who’s going to show up,” you ponder mindlessly.

“Someone who needs help with not math, I hope,” he mutters in reply.

“That’s what I’m here for,” you laugh. “There’s a reason why they ask you whether you’re in liberal arts or STEM on the application.”

“Ahh, right,” he blushes and distracts himself with his backpack. After a few seconds of digging, he realizes a new problem.

“Oh, shoot,” he mutters.

“What’s up?”

“I left my pencil case at my apartment!” he panics with wide eyes.

“Honestly, Jisung. You’re supposed to set an example for the underclassmen!” you tch, harshly pushing your pouch between you two to share.

“Thanks, Y/N~” he sings, choosing a pen. This one is bunny capped, how cute.

At that moment, a new voice interrupts,“Excuse me, is this the SKZ tutoring club?” 

You smile at him and shift the organization’s logo for better visibility. “Yes! I’m L/N Y/N. And you are?”

Jisung’s jaw drops when he recognizes the boy.

“Yang Jeongin,” he replies, “and I desperately need help with calculus.”

He takes a seat besides you while smirking at the other male. Jisung knows this kid. He knows him alright; he’s best friends with his housemate and scheming math wiz, Kim Seungmin. The fact that he is here now sending snide looks at him cannot be good.

“Don’t worry; limits can be tricky,” you reassure him, unaware of the tension between the two. “You’ll get a hang of it in no time though.”

“Thanks,” breathes Jeongin innocently. “I’m counting on you, noona.”

“‘Noona?’” you giggle. 

Jisung grits his teeth.

The hour goes by rather uneventfully other than the few times Jisung nearly screamed when Jeongin gets something he was “struggling” with before and your whole face lights up as you compliment him. A student came over with a question for Jisung too, but that only took twenty minutes of his hour. Besides that, he just sat with his head on the table, getting lost in your focused eyes and waiting for Jeongin to leave-- he means, for time to pass by.

Unlike the boy who came for Jisung, Jeongin’s session with you lasts the entire hour. Finally, when the clock strikes five, you two begin packing up your things.

“Thank you so much! I think I finally get it now!” Jeongin bows slightly.

“You’re doing great! Just have a little more confidence in your work, and if you ever get stuck again, SKZ tutoring is here to help.”

“I’ll be sure to come back during this time then. You were so clear and easy to understand.”

Yada yada yada. Save it and leave, Jisung wills while glaring daggers at his junior.

Jeongin doesn’t seem to notice or care as he leisurely zips up his backpack. Even worse, he insists on walking you to the door before you two finally wave goodbye.

“Finally,” Jisung mumbles when the boy at last walks away.

“What was that?” you ask.

“Nothing,” he hums. “Anyway, want to get ice cream to celebrate our first day at work?”

“With what money?” you joke. 

Jisung scoffs. “Come on, I’ll buy if it’s such a big deal.”

“No. That’ll make me feel bad,” you pout.

“It’s fine. Think of it as thanks for lending me a pen,” he suggests, walking towards the shop. “Mint chip?”

“How’d you know?” you chuckle, clutching on to his arm to optimize your puppy-look angle. He is buying after all.

Jisung nearly goes into cardiac arrest the second he feels your fingers around his sleeves. It takes him a moment before he’s able to reply, “You’ve liked that toothpaste ice cream since you were five.”

“Hey! It’s not toothpaste flavored!”

He rolls his eyes and looks at you. You’re smiling. He loves it when you do that, especially when it crinkles the corner of your eyes. You’re doing that now, but not when you were with Jeongin, he recalls to console himself. That’s right; this smile is exclusive to him, your childhood bestie, only. 

Before long, you two are seated on some questionable bench behind the statue of your school’s legendary football coach with frozen treats in hand.

“--and now I have to wait for her to finish that before I can even get started on the powerpoint.”

Jisung lets out a sympathetic hum before eyeing your ice cream. “Ah,” he says, pointing to his mouth.

You groan. “Why do you insult my ice cream then ask for some every time? Just get mint chip yourself if you like it so bad.”

“Hey, I paid,” he reminds you.

“Yeah, yeah.” You scoop some ice cream with your spoon and place it in front of his lips, and he opens obediently before clamping his lips over it to get all the ice cream from the dip of the spoon.

He then watches as you thoughtlessly scoop more of the treat and place it into your own mouth while continuing your story. Jisung turns away because of a creeping blush when you complete the indirect kiss. So what if he’s been tricking you into doing this since forever? He’ll still never get used to it; not unless he gets to try the real thing, at least.

After ice cream, you decide to head home to get in some studying. Jisung heads towards his own complex with feather-like steps. That is, until he opens his front door and sees what-- or rather, who-- is inside.

“Yang Jeongin?”

“Oh, hey, Hyung!” he chirps, not looking up from his game with Jisung’s housemates.

“What are you doing here?” Jisung demands.

“Relax,” sighs Seungmin. “We invited him cause we needed another player and you were too busy with your date.”

“S-she-- I-- It was not a date!”

“Oh really?” Hyunjin challenges.

“Oh really?” Jeongin piques hopefully.

For some reason, Jeongin irks him more despite Hyunjin being the one trying to purposely annoy him.

“Well, I-- uh--”

“You’re blushing,” Seungmin says without even looking up.

Jisung lets out a strangled noise and slams his room’s door behind him.

For the next few weeks, Jeongin shows up at tutoring a handful of times, each time annoying Jisung more than the last. His favourite days though are not only Jeongin free but tutee free all together because one, he gets paid for just sitting there and two, you.

Today, to his fortune, is one of those days. You lay with your head rested on an arm that’s stretched out in front of you on the table, invading Jisung’s area. He doesn’t mind though, mindlessly playing with your fingers and sipping iced americano.

“I seriously need a tutor myself,” you lament aloud. “That chem midterm is going to kill me on Tuesday.”

“Oh, come on. You still pass every time you say that.”

“But still,” you gasp dramatically.

Jisung rolls his eyes with a smile. “Well, if all else fails, you can still fall back on your education minor and become a teacher. You’re pretty good at that from what I see.”

“You really think so?” you squeak.

He nods.

“That’s only because all my students are so talented themselves. I mean, the only ones who come to tutoring are self motivated kids. Especially Jeongin.”

There his name is again. Jisung doesn’t respond and instead breaks the lead of his pencil against the paper. The motion shakes his hand which accidentally tips his coffee forward, covering the front of your t-shirt in brown.

“D-do you really like him that much?” Jisung stutters.

“Is that important right now?” you exclaim, quickly repositioning the beverage.

Your voice snaps Jisung back into reality, and he apologizes and digs in his backpack for tissues. Minutes later, the mess on the table is thankfully cleaned up before anything leaked to the ground. This means there is only one problem left: your clothes.

“I’m sorry…” Jisung apologizes for the hundredth time.

“It’s fine,” you sigh. “I’ll just see how much I can clean off in the restroom and sit here for another” --you check your phone-- “twenty minutes. It’s pretty quiet today anyway, so it should be fine.”

“But you have to walk home for another fifteen minute after. Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable?”

“Well I don’t have another shirt, so…” You bring your hands up and shrug your shoulders.

“Here,” Jisung offers, taking off his hoodie. “Just put this on. It should be better than a wet sticky shirt.”

You look at him from the corner of your eyes.

“It’s clean! Jeez!”

“I’m just teasing,” you joke, gratefully taking his sweater and promising to be quick in the restroom.

When you returned, Jisung was not ready for what he saw. Sure, he isn’t of large stature himself, but he likes his clothes loose, especially his hoodies, so with it on you, you exuberate hug-ability potential.

“Thanks again for the clothes,” you say as you sit down. You bat your sweater paw around a few times before grabbing your pen, trying to find your hand from under there.

Jisung coughs something incoherent while draining the rest of his beverage.

You two sit quietly as you work on your own things while waiting for students to show up. Jisung can’t stop peeking over his books at you though. That is until he shows up again, right as the two of you are about to pack up.

“Noona!”

“Jeongin!” you return, recognizing the voice. 

He slides into the seat besides you and Jisung reopens his book to duck his head behind.

“You look so cute in that sweater!” he compliments.

Jisung bites his thumb. He wanted to say that!

“I’m older than you, you rascal,” you scold though obviously pleased.

“Age doesn’t have anything to do with the truth,” he shrugs.

You roll your eyes and lightly swat his shoulder.

“So, did you have a quick question?”

“Actually, I just came here to show you this!” The boy whips out some papers from his bag and hands it to you.

At first, you are silent. Jisung comes out from behind his wall to see what has gotten you so quiet. Then you stammer out, “O-oh my. Oh my! Jeongin, you did it! You got an A on your midterm!”

Disregarding your surroundings, you throw your arms over the boy. 

“It’s all thanks to you,” he strangles out from under your embrace.

And then Jisung sees it. He sees it, the smile on your face as you pull away. The smile that crinkles your eyes. Before he can say anything though, Jeongin beats him to it.

“I also came here to ask you something.”

“What is it?” 

“Well I know we have kind of a teacher-student relationship…”

You nod, prompting him to go on. 

“But even so, you’re so patient and caring and smart that I can’t help but ask. Will you go out with me?”

“NO!” 

The entire library turns towards Jisung after he slammed down his book in exclamation. He feels heat rising to his face as he looks around and sees all the eyes on him. He slides his foot half a step back, papers crinkling under the grip of his fingers, before he dashes out of the building without another word.

“Jisung!” he hears you call after him.

He runs and runs until he can’t anymore without even seeing where he is going. Once he finally stops to catch his breath, he realizes he is in front of the football coach statue. He has many memories with you here at this place; not only is it your favourite place to hang out, it’s also where you both opened your college acceptance letters at the same time, promised to be best friends forever as kids, and gazed at the stars whenever someone was feeling down. It’s also where he first realized he is in love with you.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Jisung looks up and you toss his backpack at him.

“I’m sorry for making a scene back there,” he mumbles.

You either don’t hear him or don’t care, for you sit down at the bench and wave him over.

He defies your wishes and stands in front of you, head down and looking dejected.

“Shouldn’t you be with Jeongin?”

“Why would I be with someone else when my best friend is upset?”

Best friend. Is that all he’ll ever be to you?

“Well I’m okay, so just go.”

“No, you’re clearly not,” you object, taking his hand and pulling him next to you. “So tell me, what’s wrong? Do you not like Jeongin?”

It’s not like he dislikes Jeongin. The younger male is cute and funny, which is all the more reason Jisung hates him.

“No…” he admits quietly.

“Then why are you so upset?”

Jisung can feel his nails through his jeans as you press his head against your chest comfortingly. He’s about to explode; how can you play with his heart like this?

“Fine, you want to know why? It’s because I like you, that’s why! I like you and I don’t like it when other guys take you away especially when they’re tall and handsome and--”

You shut him up by pressing your lips against his cheeks. He turns to you with eyes as wide as discs.

“I didn’t accept his confession,” you tell him. “You wanna know why?”

“B-because of my outburst?” he mumbles incoherently.

“No, because I like you too, Jisung. And only you.”

“Y-you’re lying. Is this a prank? Are there cameras--”

“I’m not lying,” you promise, holding his arms down when they start flailing around in excitement.

“Well then, I think you missed my lips earlier,” he pouts.

“Oh, you cheeky little--”

He cuts you off this time by swooping in and holding you against him.

“Finally!” 

The two of you break apart when you hear the voice. 

“Jeongin?” you call, recognizing it.

A sheepish boy steps out from behind a tree followed by a few of his friends.

“Seungmin? Hyunjin?” Jisung gasps. “What is this?”

The trio look at each other before Seungmin speaks up. “We got tired of you two dancing around each other and not expressing your feelings, so we decided to expedite some things.”

“You mean--” Jisung points at Jeongin.

“Yep. I was all a ploy to get you to break,” he admits.

“For three months?” you exclaim.

“I think you mean, ‘thank you,’” Hyunjin interjects.

You turn towards Jisung. “I have a feeling we’ll be third, fourth, and fifth wheeled a lot.”

“Then let’s make them go away on their own accord,” Jisung smirks. He leans down and locks your lips into another kiss while dramatically tangling your limbs together.

“Okay, ew, bye.” The three yelp and scramble to get away from the scene, making Jisung snicker.

“Shush,” you scold, tugging on his collar with your sweater paws.

Oh, Jisung will shush alright, and he’ll make sure you do too for a good long while.

~ ad.gold

A/N: Thanks for your (actual) request! Hopefully this brings you back to campus during this shut down. #Pappy Waldorf

#han #han jisung #stray kids #skz #childhood friends #college au #skz fic #stray kids fic #stray kids fluff #jisung fluff #han fluff #stra ykids imagine #han imagine #jisung fic #fem reader #20200815

[heronwritingx]

chapter 4

here is a chapter 4 of my heathney fic. I do believe I called in Raining Lavender on AO3, if you'd like to go over and support it on there too that would be great!

Courtney took a deep breath and shut her car door; she was surprisingly nervous. She wasn’t this nervous when she announced her own campaign for presidency. A part of her was worried this would all backfire. She was worried Heather would stab her in the back, and she was prepared to do the same if need be. She was worried people would see it as a gimmick, she was worried Noah would somehow turn it against them – Courtney was just worried. She couldn’t trust Heather and she couldn’t trust the other students in her school.

She shook her head and made her way into the school, her backpack full of badges as well as a bag in her hand full of the posters they’d designed. It was surprisingly quiet outside and there wasn’t many students hanging out in the carpark like there usually were. She could however hear a commotion inside, there was loud chattering and Courtney’s stomach was in knots.

Courtney entered the building to not so much a commotion but something indeed. She could see cheerleaders handing out buttons, the different sports teams putting up posters and wearing badges. Her posters were everywhere. Her badges were everywhere.

“Huh…” Courtney blinked.

She could hear Heather’s voice blaring through the halls, not over the intercom but as if she was shouting into a megaphone of sorts. Courtney was becoming overwhelmed, was this the plan Heather had!?

“Courtney!” Lindsay called out, the blonde girl bouncing over to her.

Lindsay was Heather’s closest friend, but Courtney never quite understood why. Heather was cunning, cold and manipulative, whereas Lindsay was innocent and rather sweet. She never could quite grasp how two complete opposites could be friends.

“Heather’s been looking for you, for like ever! Hurry up and come with me.” Lindsay told her.

She linked her arm through Courtney’s and pulled her into the cafeteria, where Heather stood on a table surrounded by people. Heather was wearing her usual cheer uniform along with a jacket, and her hair was pulled up into a ponytail with a new ribbon – one that matched their colour scheme. It was…cute.

“Courtney!” Heather shouted into the megaphone she was holding in her hand – confirming Courtney’s theory, “Finally!”

The school hadn’t been opened that long, had Heather gotten here with her team and friends in hand to set this all up? Was she really that committed to this? Lindsay gently pushed Courtney towards the table and gestured for her to step up, like Heather was. She did so and Heather turned off the megaphone for a moment.

“What is all this?” Courtney asked.

“We needed to start with a bang. Everyone is talking about us.” Heather answered, handing her the megaphone, “Now say something – you’re the one who’s going to be president,”

Courtney took the megaphone and took another deep breath, trying to think of something to say.

“Oh, and don’t make it lame, obviously.” Heather smirked a little, folding her arms.

Courtney scoffed and she thought for a moment, she had to say something that would stick. She had done this before, and she lifted the megaphone to her mouth.

“Vote for Courtney and Heather! Together, we’re going to make a difference at this school!” Courtney took Heather’s hand and lifted it up into the air, “We’ll be giving our first speech next Friday and we want all of you to help us! Tell us what you think needs changing!”

Heather noticed Courtney’s huge smile and she never let go of Heather’s hand for as long as they stood on that table. The students around them cheered and Courtney continued to spout her beliefs and her plans for what she would do if she became president. The morning period was coming to an end and teachers had come to end the campaign via megaphone. Courtney kept holding onto Heather’s hand and pulled her away from the cafeteria into an empty classroom. She hugged Heather tightly and Heather’s body stiffened up, her heart stopping for a moment.

She didn’t know what she was reacting too. The hug itself or Courtney hugging her. No one had hugged her in so long that wasn’t Lindsay and Heather usually avoided that as much as she could. She couldn’t even bring herself to lift her arms up and hug the girl back. Her face flushed red and she couldn’t breathe. Her stomach felt so strange – it was fluttering, and she wanted nothing more than to push Courtney off.

“I can’t believe you!” Courtney was giggling and she was so excited, “I would have never thought to do something so bold!”

Courtney let her go and Heather’s feelings got even more confusing. As soon as her arms were no longer around her, Heather found herself wanting that moment again. She didn’t want to be so shocked; she didn’t want to be confused. She hadn’t felt something like that in so long. No one had hugged her, held her in so long.

“It’s called making a statement…” Heather grumbled, turning away, “We wanted everyone to know, after all.”

“I was so surprised when I walked in, I never thought you’d do something like this.” Courtney continued to giggle.

“Like I said—”

“Thank you.” Courtney said.

She sounded so sincere and her smile was so genuine, Heather couldn’t remember the last time someone – aside from Lindsay – was like that with her. She didn’t even know if she could trust it. She’d always said she couldn’t trust Courtney and she still didn’t.

“Whatever…” Heather muttered.

“Now that everyone knows, we need to polish up our speech for Friday. I’ve started writing it, of course, but it can be better. It can always be better.” Courtney said, “I’ll email it to you tonight, then we can work on it tomorrow afternoon and next Tuesday. I know you have cheer practice Monday, Wednesday and Thursday so tomorrow will have to do.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever. Class is about to begin, so I’m going.” Heather said, huffing.

Courtney didn’t know what to say to stop her and the girl stomped off, Courtney still confused by her strange moods. Heather was right though; the bell was about to ring and she wasn’t about to be late to class. Courtney and Heather were in the same homeroom class and Heather wasn’t sitting in her usual seat when Courtney walked in despite the girl leaving first.

Courtney glanced around and there he was. He looked mad. He looked furious. He was keeping it under wraps though. She knew he was bubbling with rage; she knew he wanted to snap at her. Her eyes met Noah’s and the shit-eating grin that crossed her lips was indescribable, she wished Heather was here to rub it in more. She wanted Heather there. She wanted to be able to giggle and laugh about his fury with her. Why wasn’t Heather there? She couldn’t have gone anywhere else!

Courtney’s stomach sank when Heather never showed up for homeroom at all.

Heather found herself sitting behind the school, hidden in a little place where she was sure she wouldn’t get caught. She was on her phone watching videos as she tried to ignore whatever the hell she was feeling before. Courtney left her so confused, yet the entire time she planned her bang of a campaign announcement, she wanted to only impress Courtney. She didn’t care what anyone else thought, all she cared about was what Courtney was going to think. She would never say it but she was happy, ecstatic even when she saw how happy Courtney was. That girl made her heart race and deep down, Heather knew what that meant.

She took a deep breath and leaned her head back; it wasn’t possible though. It couldn’t be. Heather couldn’t have feelings for Courtney. Heather was just overthinking things, that had to be it. Courtney was annoying, she was almost unbearable most days. Yet, Heather liked the competitions they had, and she even wasn’t hating working with Courtney. Heather let out an annoyed groan and she almost wanted to smack her head against the wall, but she didn’t, she was so confused! She didn’t know what to do!

“Stupid Courtney…” Heather muttered.

She waited for the bell to ring and she stood up, stretching her arms high up and made her way back into the school. She couldn’t skip class all day, people would think something may have happened. She stomped into her algebra class, one of the few classes she didn’t actually share with Courtney.

The day passed as well as the next and Heather found herself alone in the debate room with Courtney after school. Courtney, as the captain of the debate team, was allowed to use the room whenever she wanted so they had that advantage. She had her laptop sat on the table in front of her and Heather sat across from her, the pair sharing the table.

Courtney hadn’t seen her since the morning of Heather’s big stunt and although they didn’t really speak during class or at lunch, Courtney felt a distance from her VP to be. Heather’s eyes weren’t on her and she kept them squarely focused on the phone no matter what Courtney said. She couldn’t bring herself to ask what happened, where she went or even relish in Noah’s anger. Heather didn’t seem to care, and Courtney didn’t know why it affected her so much.

“Well, let’s begin working on this speech then.” Courtney broke the silence between them, the girl unsure what to say for a moment or so.

“Go for it.” Heather replied, rolling her eyes.

“My goal is equity. Noah’s whole idea is that he wants these “lower groups” to rise up, to have a say,” Courtney said, using her fingers for quotation marks, “That’s only going to segregate the students even more. That’s why I say we use equity as a big theme.”

Heather kept her eyes on her phone and was definitely not finding the meaning of “equity” but nodded along. After all, she just assumed Courtney would write the speech for her.

“Everyone at this school deserves a chance to strive and succeed, equity is our way to do that. Students like you and I don’t need as much help as some others, I want to make sure those students who really need help are getting it. That’s my focus, that’s my plan. That should appeal to everyone.” Courtney explained, “I want to crush Noah’s notion that one group deserves more than another, I want to crush his idea that the cliques affect this school. He’s blindsided by his hatred of what he calls “popular” people. I think we can challenge that; we can beat Noah but only together.”

“Hm?” Heather blinked, this time looking up at Courtney.

“The two of us working together. We’re from two completely different groups, after all. I think if we could even get someone else on our side, someone Noah would hate for us to have.” Courtney told her, her eyes lighting with joy when Heather finally looked up at her, “We need to prove that his idea of cliques is bullshit. We need to move away from that and support those students who need it most, no matter what group they’re in.”

“Oh, you’ve really thought about this.” Heather said, her lips parting in awe.

She was honestly taken by surprise. She knew Courtney was clued in and beyond smart, but this was something else. Courtney was in all honestly, quite impressive. Heather pushed the thought away however and focused on what Courtney had actually said – they needed someone similar to Noah. Someone like Noah but not so…awful to be around.

And Heather knew just the person.

“Now that you say that, I think I know someone who could help us,” an unnerving (to anyone who wasn’t Courtney) smile crossed Heather’s lips, “Noah would hate it too.”

“Who?” Courtney questioned, almost lifting up off her seat in intrigue.

“Let’s keep it a surprise for now, I need to see if he’ll go along with it, after all.” Heather said, standing up, “You work on your speech and whatever the hell you want me to say, and I’ll recruit them.”

“Wait—”

Heather waved her off and walked out, leaving Courtney alone in the debate room – without even a goodbye. Courtney huffed but begrudgingly agreed to Heather, she somehow knew she’d get stuck with the writing job anyway. Heather’s speeches were half-assed at best, so it was probably for the best – after all, Heather had admitted she only ran to beat Courtney. Courtney turned her focus back to her laptop, but she wouldn’t deny it, it stung when Heather left. This was supposed to be their thing and Heather felt like she was already pushing it away.

Courtney couldn’t lose her. She needed Heather to win. She wanted her to stay.

#total drama #tdi #tda #tdwt #heathney #heather td #Courtney td #td heather #td courtney

[ohwhatamessiam]

Self Control - Chapter 12

Summary: The end of the semester is upon you, but the drama is not done yet! 

Pairing: Professor!Chris Evans X TA!Reader

Word Count: 3.5k+

Warnings: Language, uncomfortable feelings, and maybe some secondhand embarrassment. 

A/N: Hi y’all! I’m back much sooner than intended, but you know, quarantine and social distancing dictate life now! There’s 1 chapter left in Self Control, and if you’re lucky, I might spring an epilogue on ya (we’ll see how the next month or so goes)! Thank you to @fangirlisms-22​ for beta’ing my sudden writing binge. I tried to tag everyone, but some blogs have deactivated, changed urls, or won’t let me tag them. Let me know if you need me to change your url on my list. Here’s the Spotify playlist for the entire fic.

I love feedback, so send me your thoughts, feelings, wishes, etc!

Tags are still barely open for this story, so send me an ask here to be added to it or my permanent list!

Self Control | Masterlist

You had no idea how much two weeks could change your life. 

You and Chris had barely spoken to one another, only given polite greetings when running into each other at the office. The rest of your communication was through email. 

And Robert had sent the story you were working on from before break to a few of his friends and former students at literary magazines. The story you had started during break was becoming more of a means of therapy, a confessional of your relationship with Chris. And it was helping you process what happened.

It was the last day of classes, and the last day before semester papers were due. The assignment was for the students to choose their favorite story or writer of the semester and then to expand upon what they learned in that specific unit. Whatever specific story or person they chose, they were supposed to research who else has used it as inspiration for work since. It could be modern television or film, or another story or author that was influenced. And then they had to explain why they chose that subject. What made them interested enough to do further research upon it, and how it might affect their future consumption of art and literature.

It was a relatively open-ended subject and for the first time the whole semester, students were actually using your office hours.

And one student in particular who’d been giving you the cold shoulder turned up. 

Tom.

He’s perched on the edge of the seat across from you, his laptop on the ground as his hands dig through articles he’d photocopied at the library. He’d chosen Keats as his essay topic, and knowing that you also held a soft spot for Keats, he wanted your opinion. 

And the deadline was approaching dangerously quickly.

“So I covered all the adaptations and inspired works, and his legacy. And I wrote about how his work is going to change my perception of poetry moving forward. I just think I’m struggling with why Keats was my favorite unit this semester.”

“That’s okay, sometimes when you get so used to academic writing, it becomes hard to write about yourself, and your own feelings. But putting sources and quotes aside to examine your own mental processes is an important part of literature and writing.”

“Okay, I understand that. But I don’t think that my honest answer about why I took an interest in Keats is appropriate for this paper.”

“If you’re worried about Chris or I reading something personal, you don’t have to be. Anything you write will be private. We won’t say anything to anyone.”

Your mind wanders to what could make Tom so worried. Did it have to do with family or his childhood? Keats had a difficult and tragedy filled childhood. Did it have to do with Keats dying so young, or the discussion of his possible addiction to opium?

His eyes drop to the folder on his legs, his fingers picking at the edges of its pages. “Are you sure?” You nod but his nerves aren’t done. “My reasoning might not be very appropriate for an academic setting.”

“Tom,” you say, your eyes softening as you watch him. “Your reasoning doesn’t have to be an expansive philosophical or literary reason. It can be, but it can also just be as simple as you liked his poems. That you found his life tragic but fascinating. Or that the words and rhyme schemes were pretty or interesting.” His eyes meet yours, the edges of his mouth ticking up the slightest bit. “Don’t overthink it. Just be honest with yourself and the text.”

He nods, letting out a deep breath. “Okay, (Y/N). I will be honest. And I’m going to try to trust you and Prof. Evans.”

“Thank you.” You give him a short nod, showing your gratitude in a punctuated fashion. He watches you for another moment, his brown eyes searching for something. But then he gulps and stops. His fingers place his materials back in his bag. 

You sit up in your chair a little, almost saddened that your time with him is up. It was nice speaking with someone who didn’t look at you with desperation (because of finals) or pity (because of Chris). Tom’s thoroughly preparedness had made this the most interesting and easy conversation in weeks.

He packs his bag quietly and you let him. He’s a student, no matter how much you appreciate this time with him, there are clear boundaries. You will not cross them. After everything, that’s something you’re damn sure of.

At your door he pauses and says thank you. You give him a small smile, “You’ve done well this semester. I look forward to reading your paper, Tom.”

He cracks a smile, and you notice the slight rosiness that colors his cheeks. He raps his knuckles against your door for the last time this semester, and then he goes. 

A pang of guilt lands in your gut, but you don’t know what to do with it yet. His blush probably meant nothing, he was just flattered. But that guilt stays nestled there, a reminder of what has happened, and a warning about what’s to come.

_______________________________________________________________________

Finals pass without a hitch, for both you and your students. You’re able to read the final papers from your apartment, away from any pity or other heavy feelings. You and Chris had decided to randomly split up the workload so you could get through them quickly and give thorough feedback. But final grades are due on Tuesday and you plan on going into your office to enter them and pick up the last few things you’ll need for next semester.

You get to your office in the afternoon Monday, hoping to miss Chris who said he’d come in early if any students wanted to dispute any last grades with him.

You did not end up with Tom’s paper in your final stack, and you wonder what he ended up writing for the rest of it. You’ve been in your office for almost two hours when you decide you’ll let your nosiness win, and you find Tom’s submission online. As you're opening the file, a heavy knock echoes from your door.

He speaks before you get the chance to look up, “Uh (Y/N)?” The way he says your name reaches your skin, your pulse, well before you find the strength to see him. You close your eyes for a moment, letting out a shallow breath before you answer.

“What can I do for you, Chris?” 

He’s still the Chris you first met, clean, crisp lines composing his appearance. The Chris he might have always been. Maybe you just got a private viewing of him, a show for only your eyes. Maybe your Chris was a piece that he never let out. Maybe just an alias. A way to distance his actions from who everyone thought he was. 

There is no trace of your soft or rumpled time together.

His eyes catch yours, and there’s something there. A pain, a distance, a longing. But it goes away.

And then he’s stepping into your office, “I wanted to ask you something privately?” He closes the door behind himself, but remains standing.

Does he want to get back together? Is he going to divorce Jennifer? Is he ready to choose you?

With your mind running wild, you make a conscious effort to clasp your hands together and keep your face blank, eyes steady.

“What is it?”

“Have you read Tom’s final paper yet?”

All that hope, gone. A pang of annoyance settles in your core. And it’s accompanied by that hint of guilt.

“I have not. Since you graded it, I didn’t need to.”

“Well… I think you should.” There was something in his eyes again, a spark nearly indicating intensity or concern.

“Okay, um. I’ll take a look at it.” You do not tell him you already have it open. You skim the first page, finding nothing but brief analysis and lots of references. “So far, there’s nothing unusual here. It’s a solid paper.”

“Keep going.” The tension of him standing in your office, waiting for you to finish reading agitates your nerves. Your eyes flick to his, but there’s something else mixed in with his previous intensity. There’s an edge, a little too sharp to ignore.

You keep reading. The second page is finished, and it’s literally everything you two had already discussed. The third page is where things get interesting. 

Tom wrote that he enjoyed the lyricism of Keats, but what really cemented the poet as his favorite was his TA. 

You.

He wrote that since Keats was one of your favorites, he paid more attention to it. That he saw you view Keats’ work as beautiful, giving it a reverence that he argued Keats should even be honored to have. That he looked up to your opinion and your interests, and that’s how he fell in love with the poetry.

Heat spreads across your chest, your face. You’re honored, but also, this is not what you expected from Tom. You look down from his paper, trying to search your mind for any conversations you had with him that would indicate that he was paying too much attention to you. And unfortunately, it’s there. So is the guilt you felt the last time you saw him. 

But you know nothing happened here. You would have never entertained anything more than your positions in this academic institution allowed.

“Seems like he really learned a lot from you this semester.” The edge is there, and this time you can identify it. Humor.

“What are you trying to say?” Your words come out more defensive than you intend.

“(Y/N). This kid has a crush on you. Hell, in his hormonal mind, maybe more. Did you know?”

You shake your head. “No. No, if he has a crush on me, that’s his business. I was nothing but kind and open to Tom, but I didn’t know about this.” Truly, you’re referring to the paper more than Tom’s supposed crush.

The humor leaves him. “Kind and open? Are those two things strictly professional?”

The warmth of your skin turns into something worse, anger. “They were. I would never cross that line with a student.”

His hands brace his body as he leans onto your desk. His face mere inches from yours. “But you’d cross it with me? Your colleague and your boss.”

His words hit you like a slap. You flinch in response. How dare he insinuate that you might be a problem here, a repeat offender of an inappropriate relationship. 

You want to yell at him, to let your rage out. But instead, you put on your best passive aggressive smirk. You remind yourself of everything that’s happened. He doesn’t get to see you angry or upset anymore. He gets a civil, bare minimum now.

“I will repeat it. If Tom has a crush on me, that is his business. I know he dropped by my office hours pretty often this semester, but I figured my hours fit his schedule better. And no. I was not crossing any boundaries with him. I would not do that.”

He opens his mouth, his eyes clouding with a hint of regret.

“And I don’t know if you noticed, but I’ve been pretty occupied trying to hide a different relationship all semester. I didn’t have the time to consider Tom as anything but a student, when most of my time was occupied by someone else.”

The guilt you felt before dissipates, but Chris’ downturned lips and furrowed brow just indicates that it has found another home. 

“I’m sorry (Y/N).” He sighs and pulls back from your desk. “I know. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Well, you can’t take it back.” Even though every ounce of you wishes he could. Hell, you wish you could take back this entire interaction. That he had never walked to your door. “So let’s just move on.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

Yeah, he’d been doing that without you for a while. 

“I don’t know how you want to handle this situation though,” he adds, still standing over you. “If you want to talk to Robert or call Tom in to talk to-“

“Robert doesn’t need to be involved. Tom may have crossed a line into a personal territory, but he’s never acted upon his feelings. So there’s no need for administrative intervention.”

“Are you sure?”

“Chris,” you sigh. You know what you’re going to say next will hurt and may not be completely true, but you don’t need your professional reputation questioned again. “I already lied for your sake once this semester. You could return the favor by keeping this to yourself.”

“I don’t kn-”

“Don’t put a target on Tom’s back.” Your voice comes out strong, authoritatively. You’re settling this now. “I remember being his age and getting dumb crushes on TAs. It doesn’t mean anything, and it doesn’t need to be mentioned again.”

He freezes in front of you, fully taking you in. Maybe he only got little pieces of you this semester too. Maybe it was time you both saw each other for who you fully were. 

“Okay.” He nods to himself, letting out a deep breath. “Okay.”

He stays stuck in that spot, accepting your argument.

“So, if that’s settled…” you begin. But his hands squeeze together and his eyes focus on the edge of your desk again. You watch him, wondering what would cause him to look as lost as he did the last time he had been in your office.

“I uh, I wanted to tell you something else.” His blue eyes are back on you, and there’s that twinkle again. Is it longing or pain? Just the fraying of his nerves? You don’t say anything, just let his gaze burn through you, waiting for him to work up the courage. 

“I’ve been writing again.” Sebastian had told you he’d been writing when you two were together. You hoped selfishly that he’d stopped when he went back to Jennifer, but apparently not. “The novel I’m working on. It- it’s inspired by some of what happened this semester.”

So you weren’t the only one working through your feelings with writing. But your writing had been vague. It was different characters, different situations, just some of the same emotions and complications. What was he using from the last 4 months? You’d made it through your affair without ruining your career here. Hopefully, he wouldn’t blow your life up with some story about you two now. 

When you don’t answer, he turns his back to you. His breath comes ragged, he’s worried. “I just thought you should know.” 

“As long as you don’t use my name, or anything too specific, I guess that’s fine. I can’t stop you.”

He turns back quickly, his eyes wide. He must not have expected you to let this go so easily. But you can’t blame him for using the same coping mechanism as you are.

“I don’t even know if it’ll turn into anything important. I just didn’t want it to be a surprise if it did.” 

“That’s fine.”

He leans onto your desk again, making sure his eyes are level with yours. They’re so earnest, it hurts. There’s a piece of him there that you used to see so often. That you used to think was yours. 

But it had been three weeks. And it makes it a little worse knowing you might never see that sincerity again. 

“I’ll make sure if it does go somewhere, that you get to see it first. I owe you that much.”

You nod, your eyes trained on him. He doesn’t look away. 

The intensity between you two is still there, pulling you toward each other. But you said you were done with that. You couldn’t change his decision, and it seemed he hadn’t taken it back either. 

His face moves to you, his mouth nearly on your own. You hadn’t been this close since before Thanksgiving break. You can feel his breath on your lips, it tickles your skin. The person you were before break would have used his mouth to relieve the itch. But that’s not who you are anymore. 

You pull back from him, putting the necessary distance between you two. He stands up straight, his expression somewhere between confused and upset. 

You tell yourself something very important in the moment: he doesn’t get to be upset that you’ve changed. And you don’t get to be upset anymore that he wouldn’t. All that is past you.

“Thank you, Chris.” You say loudly, but without malice. “If you have nothing else to add, I think we’re done here.”

“Of course,” he whispers. He closes his eyes, and the next time he opens them, all those previous emotions are gone. Like no part of the last several minutes happened. He leaves your office door open, just as it had been when he’d come in. 

And as you look up, you notice two sets of eyes watching you from the hallway. It is Elizabeth, and her friend and fellow grad student, Letitia. They watch you with pity. You want to be done with that. You force a smile to them, and then close your office door.

_______________________________________________________________________

Two hours later, all the final grades are submitted, and your stomach aches for something to eat. After the day you’ve had, maybe you’ll pick up Italian on your way home. You deserve large amounts of wine and pasta.

As you’re walking on the path to the parking lot, the sun setting around you, you hear feet pound against the pavement behind you. Looking over your shoulder, you see Sebastian jogging toward you. ‘Hey (Y/N),” he calls out. You slow your pace so he can catch up. 

He takes a moment to catch his breath, his hair is all messed up. The soft and fluffy look works for him. But then you chide yourself for noticing that. 

Once he composes himself, there’s an apologetic smile smeared across it. “Look, I’m sorry about how I acted toward you at Thanksgiving. I didn’t know what was going on with you and Chris.”

If you’re done with the pity, you’re done with this too. “Don’t mention it, Seb.” He grins at you, his eyes crinkling as his apologetic face disappears. “Yeah, I’m trying out the nickname.”

“Good. But are you sure? I was absolutely a dumbass about you two this semester.”

“Sebastian. It’s over. I’m done with Chris. I’m walking into winter break ready to be done with this last semester. I’m ready for something new.” He watches you, his eyes wide. He must notice that you're serious because he settles into a nod.  

“Okay. I’m right there with you. My semester has been messy too.”

You quirk a brow at him, wondering how messy his semester could have been compared to yours. What, was he living up to his reputation by sleeping with his TA too? Or did Chris say that to scare you away from him?

“Look, I’m going to tell you a secret, (Y/N). And when I meant messy, I meant messy.” You watch him as he looks around the campus to see if anyone is nearby. “I know Chris has already suspected part of it, but while he was with you, Jennifer was with me.”

Instinct takes over and you slap his arm. 

“Hey, they were on a break. And she’d been flirting with me for a whole year!”

You want to be mad at him for him sleeping with his friend’s wife. He violated a serious code of friendship. But for some reason you can’t. And you’re feeling something dangerously close to relief.

You can’t stop yourself, you laugh, loudly. If anyone else had been around, their lives would have been interrupted by the sound.

“I can’t tell if you’re taking this well.”

You smile at him genuinely. “I am actually. And I feel almost sort of, relieved?”

“Oh, have my fuck ups made yours feel less bad?” You wouldn’t have called your relationship with Chris a full fuck up. You didn’t regret it like that. But Sebastian wasn’t wrong. You reach the parking lot where your cars are and he turns on his heels. He gives you a little bow, “I’m so happy my stupidity could be of service.” 

You pull your keys out, ready to unlock your car. “Thank you for that, Sebastian.”

“By the way, keep working on that.” He leaves your side as he heads for his vehicle.

“Working on what?”

He unlocks his car from his key fob as he pivots. “My nickname. I want to make sure you have it down for next semester.”

“Is it really that important?”

He gives you the most devious smile you’ve ever seen from him. And from the time you’d spent together, he’d given you many. “It is to me. I prefer that all my TA’s are comfortable enough to treat me as a friend.”

Your jaw drops. You hadn’t heard who Robert was pairing you up with for next semester. You knew it wouldn’t be Chris, but you’d been hoping that he might give you a semester off of assisting.

This time his laugh rang out through the campus. 

“Yes (Y/N). Take the break to recharge and prepare. We’re gonna have a hell of a time teaching creative writing next semester.”

_______________________________________________________________________

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[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales 87 Reviews: A Drain On the Economy (CACC Part 1) (Commission)

Commissioned by @weirdkev27​. The start of a whopping four episode commission as I review the original Ducktales Four-Part Serial, Cash as Catch Can! The Kishke of Macaroon decides the best way to market his once in a life time find of glowing, power producing fruit is to have the two richest men in the world weigh their money to see whose richer. Seems Legit. Glomgold of course can’t play fair but since this is the 87 version he simply hires and outfits the Beagle Boys to steal scrooge’s money instead of leaving a shark filled with c4 on the doorstep of the bin as a distraction while he tries to saw it in half with a giant buzzsaw. Tanks, childen nearly drowning and outbidding yuppies ensue. Full reviewcap with spoilers under the cut. Sadly no Sea Monsters eating Ice Cream Yet. 

Huzzah! Another day another commission! And it’s a massive one too as i’m covering not one, not two, not three, but FOUR episodes of the original ducktales for 15 bucks! Thank you once again WeirdKev27 for the commission. Not saving this for the end this time, if you’d like to commission your own review, just pm me, it’s 5 dollars for one episodes, and now you get 5 dollars off for each episode you commission after 2. So for instance this multiparter was 4 episodes, so Kevin payed for only three, for a total of 15 bucks! Whatabargin! But enough shilling let’s get down to bidness.  As usual for first episodes a quick rundown of my history with the show: Being a fan of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which I fully intend to cover here at some point and yes you can commission duck comics too if you were curious, I did want to watch Ducktales for a while but didn’t really try to until the Reboot came out. As a result I got the first season dvd for Christmas, bought the second, and while I haven’t watched all the series, what I’ve seen is pretty good. It’s a fun, fluid adventure show that captures the spirit of the Carl Barks comics while doing it’s own thing with them. Sure some aspects of the time or even of the original comics that this adapted wholesale haven’t aged well, and we’ll get to some of them, but for the most part the series has a timeless quality to it that really makes it work. I may prefer the reboot.. but I still enjoy this series and i’m glad to revisit it. 

So with that, we come to one of the series handful of multiparters. For the most part Ducktales was just one off adventures, episodes that could easily be aired at any time with little regards to a strong continuity. 

But unlike most shows including the rest of the Disney afternoon that at most had one pilot movie and one or two two-parters, Ducktales had 4 multi-episode story arcs. The episodes were still written with about the same episode of the week format, it’s just instead of being all wrapped up there was an ongoing storyline that tied each episode into the next and drove the action. It’s honestly not a bad format and not all that dissimilar to the Sardonyx, Out of This World, Heart of the Crystal Gems, and Diamond Days arcs Steven Universe would have.. and if your wondering yes I would cover those for the same fees, but that’s not what we’re here about. 

However even among this format this four parter was unique.. and not just for the “A Sea Monster Ate My Ice Cream!” bit we’ll get to next time. The other 3 mini’s were 5-part Season Premires that either set up the show period (Treasure of the Golden Suns) or introduced a major new character for the rest of the series (Fenton/Gizmoduck for Super Ducktales, and Bubba and Tootsie for Time is Money). Though weirdly in the case of season 2 these 5 parters were also the ONLY episodes, but one oddity at a time I suppose. My point is Catch as Cash Can is not only the only one not to start a season, instead coming in mid-way through season one, but dosen’t change the show and is only 4 episodes instead of 5. It’s still from what I can remember, which only came back when watching part 1 as I got it confused with treasure of the golden suns, pretty good.. apart from the third episode but we’ll get to that, it’s just worth noting is all. So with that out of the way is this four parter any good? How do the episodes hold up from a few years ago? Well I was paid good money to find out so let’s do it to it shall we? We open in Macarooon which.. I THINK is a play on Moroco, but still dosen’t make a whole lot of sense given it’s a cookie, this episode about fruit and Hamilton’s accent as the Grand Kishke, the country’s ruler, is a vauge indian stereotype with a touch of middle eastern sterotype. Sing it with me now....

Still not great having a white guy do a vaugely foreign accent that’s played for laughs, and yes again acceptable at the time, I don’t hold it against Hamilton camp, still dosen’t make it at all comfortable. Though it’s still, and this is VERY faint praise, better than Carbomya, an ACTUAL CANON LOCATION in the 80′s transformers cartoon that’s as offensive and dumb as it sounds and, no joke, caused Casey Kasem, who I was reminded by the article linked above quit over this.. and found out from said article is Middle Eastern himself. Huh the more you know. And SOMEHOW this isn’t the most offensive thing the franchise has ever done, as japan had mexican stereotype transformers and kiss players.. just kiss players you do not want to know, and Micheal Bay later gave us skids and mudflap and I die a little on the inside remembering that happened. Back on point there’s been worse, dosen’t make this okay, but it’s not so offensive it ruins the entire episode. Just makes the Kiskhe’s seens wince inducing. 

Scrooge and Glomgold are having a poker-esque dick measuring contest over whose wealthier but for once i’ts not just because it’s tuesday in duckberg but because the Grand Kishke has called both here. As he explains, and as they know but we don’t, while going down the stairs he fell down and found a vast cavern beneath his pallace with tons of glowing fruit that could soon replace lightbulbs if marketed correctly as they never spoil and never run out, thus putting his country ont he map. While the vauge “wacky foreigner” stereotype thing is unfortunate, the Kiske is likeable and does have good reason for not doing the marketing of his biggest export himself: He’s not a businessman and has a country to run. So he felt going to the richest man in the world was the right call, but Glommy and Scroogie are tied in assets so the Kiske decides to tie break things by having the two weigh their fortunes instead as the two you know.. have large piles of stealable money around for sentimental reasons.. and because they don’t trust banks.  So yeah with the contest set Glomgold sets out to do what he does best... set himself on fire with a hairbrained scheme.. no wait that’s the other glomgold. Cheat.. which this one can actually do without ending up in a bear trap, so we cut to the Duckburg jail.. which is at least in this episode just one giant cell surrounding the Beagle Boys, though given their responsible for 80% of Duckberg’s crime, and a good chunk of this series as a whole, it probably IS just that. But Glomgold using ... a .. giant floating cow balloon.. wait.. 

I mean I love this because .. just what the hell is this, why a cow balloon.. was it the only one he could rent? Who rents those? Did he buy this thing? How’s he going to get rid of it? How’s he not getting caught for buying this thing? Did he make this? Did he spend a good few hours building a giant cow balloon fortress/ did he dump it in the river? 

You know, maybe it was schemes like this that made Frank decide to make Reboot!Glomgold into the loveable incompetent maniac he is today. I mean this sounds like one of his schemes: If your going to do something right do it in the most insane, over the top, nonseical, costly, overcomplicated way possible.  As it stands though the rest of 87 Glomgold’s plan actually makes sense: he throws down gas masks and gasses the guards, though the boys think it’s ma at first. However they quickly are fine with it being their dad as Glomgold has a job for them.. though they nearly nope out when they find out it’s scrooge. This is a neat contrast to the comics where, under both barks and rosa while the Beagle Boys would get discouraged or bemoan their defeats they still kept coming. While it’s likely only for this episode it’s nice to see them have some hestiation.. at least about going after the bin directly. Which given the bin is the most heavily guarded location in duckburg no matter the contniuty and while it’s been attacked and broken into millions of times at this point, no trick works twice because Scrooge adapts. It’s what makes the continual nature of the beagle boys assualts on it here and in the comics work and why their still a threat despite always getting beaten down: sure they get in once in a while, but scrooge outwits them and then presumibly offscreen makes adjustments for next time while at the saame time their too stupid and stubborn to ever fully give up and to stop coming up with new ways to get scrooge’s fortune for themselves. 

It’s a good dynamic but I like some hesitation since even the dumbest crooks get wise eventually and their being hired by someone whose utterly ruthless and might kill them or worse if they fail. But Glomgold actually has a resonable counter, that since he’s rich he can suply them with everything they could need instead of whatever they can steal he just needs the manpower and the plausible deniability. They shake on it and the die is cast.  At the bin Scrooge is annoyed at having to put up with the beagle boys again ow of all times, and we soon get the second best scene of the episode as the beagle boys, and cousins storm the bin, basically doing a zap branigan and trying to throw wave after wave of their own boys at them till Scrooge’s defenses falter. It’s a great and tense action scene as the boys send beagle after beagle with some great names I sadly forgot and should’ve written down. It’s a fun sequence, though it does show why the series updated burger as he gets distracted with food... because... 

That’s literally the joke and I can see why Matt and Frank retired it entirely. But other than that it’s a joy to watch. The finale is notable as Bigtime uses some armor to tank things.. until scrooge actually brings up a tank.. with just one caliber larger shells than what his armor can take, a nice little gag. But yeah scrooge pointing a tank at someone is badass and one of the only two times this episode he really gets to be. More on that in a sec.  But while the boys celebrate Scrooge’s victory Scrooge dosen’t, knowing they’ll just be back in in greater numbers and thus has gone to the ludicrous extreme of setting up an automatic cannon in his money bin that fires at anyone entering.. and then forgot his cane. You can probably guess what happens next. 

Yup Scrooge is thrown back, because apparently he’s immortal in this reality too, and the bin starts to break down, while the Beagles storm in and seconds up. This scene just.. annoys me. I get Scrooge isn’t unstoppable, if he was the show, and the comics and the reboot of the show wouldn’t be as fun if he wasn’t challenged at all. Scrooge himself would be disappointed if his life had no stakes. My issue here is the beagles go from evenly matched with scrooge, if both using weapons to.. casually brushing past him and the boys. And they HAVE beaten them plenty in the comics, but usually it’s through surprise or threatening the boys.. who they have right there. Instead they just.. easily beat scrooge for no real reason. It just smacks of laziness: they need the boys to get in so like scrooge and his own boys they can see the money go down a crack and thus into the sewers, but instead of having a fight or them just you know hold the triplets hostage or use a ray gun or something since it’s plausible in this setting, their backed by a billionaire for this ep and it’s an acceptable substitute. This just makes no sense to me and really baffling bit in an otherwise great episode.  But as noted the money went down the tubes, so the beagles retreat.. if only because they now can just go fish it out of the sewers like that’s somehow legal. But given how the Calisota supreme court seems to never change the various terrible loopholes that nearly loose scrooge his money all the time, it’s not surprising. Seriously it was used by Carl Barks more than once: Some asshole using a bet, wager or old timey agreement to try and take something from one of our heroes usually scrooge, and other writers followed suite naturally given he set the pace for them on everything else why stop now? Though really “Slimy assholes use loopholes to run roughshod over innocent people” is such a common thing nowadays and presumably was even more so then, I commend barks for not only picking up on it but using it frequently in a CHILDREN’S COMIC. God damn man that’s some balls.  Anyways Scrooge can’t quite literally slip through the cracks, but the boys can and given they are as one, they all go down follow that dough while Scrooge tries to figure out where it is from above. Scrooge goes to city planning or something like that and gets the maps to the water works, and I like the fox clerk here, but the beagles also have them. And while Scrooge chases them above the boys continue their trek bellow eventually finding the cash stash with good detective work and call scrooge , who happens to have tracked the cash and is in the general area, over from above.. but get swept out because the beagle boys open the floodgates and into the city’s reservoir. ON the bright side I now get where “Open the floodgates comes from” Scrooge heads to the pumping plant to pump them out, but finds the beagle boys and a fight ensues to see who can accidently kill some children the fastest as the triplets are buffeted back and forth over, and over, and over and over and over...

And over again till the valves break and shove the Trips into a swanky condo just as a real estate lady, who according to the Disney wiki also showed up in “Magica’s Shadow War”, good for her with the yuppies naturally wanting the condo, though the boys stop them from buying it, trick them into the elevator and then use the override to shut it down so they can’t get back up. So the Trips hold onto the loot, while Scrooge arrives.. and again since Duckburg legal policy is chosen by spinning a giant wheel and going with whatever it lands on, Scrooge can’t just you know have someone come and get his property. His solution however is clever as after a bidding war over the condo he just decides to buy the whole blasted building. And at first I wondered why their wasn’t a bit of him grumbling over the price.. but then I realized his fortune, and doubling it is at stake. While Scrooge will spend as little as ducking possible, when the chips are down he will throw his money around. And I like that it’s a nice subtle character moment showing that he knows when not to throw a big tantrum about spending money  and that he has more important things going on right now, such as keeping his hands on most of it. But naturally this wins though the real estate lady wonders how he did that. Lady he owns a good chunk of the city, is in the news frequently even in this series, and owns the largest building in town which towers over every other on a massive hill and is frequently broken into or attacked, how the hell do you NOT know who he is?

Regardless Scrooge regroups with the boys but the beagles are close and are even bright enough to cut the power. I LIKE these versions better than the reboots. With the exception of a lack of character actress Margo Martendale and you know the fat shaming and all that, these beagles, while having less personality are more compient, mor eof a threat and more enjoyable to watch instead of just petty crooks who only get involved when the opportunity strikes. IT’s one of the few changes i’m just. eh on. Most of the changes, making Glomgold more insane, making Gladstone just less obnoxious enough to be tolerable, making donald less of a scallywag and more of a responsible father, not having Daisy leave donald at the drop of his hat but be an actual supportive partner.. all good. This one’s just lukewarm though ma herself is awesome, the boys are just incompitent and I forgot when watching the series that while stupid and stopped constantly the beagles just aren’t. It’s something I can give this series more than the original easily.  Scrooge is about to give up and is fading out on them, tired and exausted. This DOES feel in character as scrooge, like anyone can feel worn down and he’s tried damn near everything only to be ready to loose. The boys snap him out of it.. or rather Dewey does by hucking a wad of bills at him as seen at the top of the article and it’s easily the best gag of the episode. Though it’s also the ONLY time i’ve been able to refer to the boys actions by name as while one may do something.. their the same character. Now what they are varies as the show bounces between the classic HDL characterizations: They can be like they are in the barks comics and this episode, upstanding young woodchucks who are clever, loyal to a fault, and bring scrooge down to earth when he needs it as well as an utter asset to him, mischievous young boys screwing up as children often do but learning from their mistakes or short sided goal like they are in the other half of barks comics or the later theatrical shorts.. or hyperactive , sexist little shitheads who are selfish and lazy like in the early shorts minus the sexisim or quack pack. Though I now realize just from writing that that while Huey is based on barks and ESPECIALLY Don Rosa’s version of the boys, just taken to a logical extreme as well as being autism-coded, the other boys are based on other aspects of them with their sometimes scheming nature being given to Louie and their more energetic spells and overly 80′s attitude from this cartoon given to Dewey, with again both amped up considerably. It was a neat way to give them actual personalities instead of being one person sharing the bodies of three characters. 

Yeah as you can tell while I WILL say upfront I love Russi Taylor and none of this is her fault.. i’m not a big fan of the classic versions of the boys. They aren’t BAD It just baffles me why Disney, and i’m blaming theme more as some foreign comics apparently did try as did Quack Pack, never let people differentiate them or thought to really try hard at that until the reboot and it smacks of their stubborn refusal to really change their iconic characters in a significant way. I’m honestly surprised the reboot got away with it and hope the 2017 personalities are the default. I also apologize for that rant but it was going to come about at some point might as well nip it in the bud now.  But that smack to the head got Scrooge back in gear and it gave him an idea.. give them the money.. specifically pile money on the elevator, breaking it, after all he’ll need to fix it anyway might as well go all in, and sending the beagles crashing down.. to the waiting police. Who called them.. probably condo lady to make sure Scrooge wasn’t lying and to report strange men breaking in. Point is Scrooge is exhausted, but triumphant.. for now. TO BE CONTINUED. 

Final Thoughts:  This is a solid 87 Ducktales episode: it’s fun, fast paced, has a simple but enjoyable concept, and feels like a Carl Barks comic come to life without directly adapting his stories. It’s good stuff. I had my problems as mentioned but their outweighed by the great jokes, pacing and action in this one. A great note to start out on.  In the Next Part: A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!  A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!   A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!  A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM! A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!

Until then, you can follow this blog for more ducktales every monday, check my various sub pages for more ducktales reviews of the reboot, i’ve done every episode of season 3 so far and one season 2 episode as well as a recent review of the first darkwing ep, and as noted before you can comission your own review of any animated series, ones i’ve covered and otherwise. Reblog this to spread it around if you liked it, like it if you don’t want to do that, and until next time stay safe, check your house for gary busey,  and hopefully we’ll meet again. 

#ducktales #review #reviews #a seamonster at my ice cream #catch as cash can #a drain on the economy #scrooge mcduck #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #flintheart glomgold #bigtime beagle #burger beagle #the beagle boys #macaroon #ducktales 87

[purplesurveys]

932

What's your favourite sport? Do you prefer to watch it or play it?: I love pro wrestling, if you count that as a sport. I definitely prefer to just stay in front of a TV – I have never been in a ring, nor am I physically fit to even give it a shot without getting harshly injured. Conversely, I love table tennis but I’d rather play it than watch a game.

Who was the last person to send you a friend request on Facebook?: It was a stranger who, upon checking, seems to be some sort of spam account promoting a pyramid scheme. Happy to nope the fuck out of there.

Have you ever been to that person's house?: Definitely not. I don’t add people I didn’t know on any level, anyway.

How recently did you wash your hands?: This morning when I cleaned up after Cooper.

How many girls do you know named Emma?: Not a common name here, so I don’t know any Emmas.

[trigger warning under this I guess. Lots of angst going on at the moment.]

Are you upset, for any reason at all?: Yeah. I’ve been feeling very upset and under stress lately...to give you an idea, I find it a personal achievement to have gotten up and taken this survey. I’m at least self-aware that this is a temporary slump, but while it’s here hanging around, it really sucks to be in it.

How did you feel when you woke up today?: Shitty. The only reason I got up at all was to feed my dogs but otherwise I’ve been glued to either the couch or my bed.

When you're stressed, what helps you to relax or calm down?: Lately, it’s episodes of Good Mythical Morning. Rhett, Link, and their crew will never have any idea just how much they’ve helped this 22 year old, now-wondering-what-her-purpose-is-in-life fresh college graduate keep sane, but I’m glad they have hours upon hours of content and podcasts lying around to keep me company while no one else can.

What were you doing before you started this survey?: I finished another survey that I abandoned yesterday, and was watching GMM to fill up the silence in my room.

Is there something else you should be doing, that's more important?: I’ve been job-hunting 24/7 but lately I’ve been giving myself a break on weekends since no one will be processing applications or booking interviews on a Saturday anyway.

When was the last time you neglected to do something that you'd planned?: Around noon today.

Is there someone that can always make you smile no matter how bad you feel?: Apparently not. I’ve been a wreck all month so far and nothing has worked. Before September, I certainly thought animals or certain humans worked as cures for me.

Do you have any friends that you feel don't fully appreciate you?: I don’t feel that way about them. I think my friends care for me a whole lot, which I appreciate. I’ve had friends come to my DMs quite a few times in the last few days with messages of support since I’ve been a little vocal about how sad I’ve been feeling these days, so I for sure don’t feel invisible. Making me feel present is the best gift anyone could give me.

When was the last time someone told you that you were beautiful?: Last week when Gab came over.

Who was the last person that apologised to you?: Myself.

What were they apologising for?: Haven’t been looking out for myself recently.

Do you think they meant it?: I guess not, because I still haven’t stopped being destructive towards myself.

Would you be embarrassed if your parents looked at your Facebook?: I have them as my friends so they see everything. But I’m 22, so while they can complain about some of my posts (and it’s usually the political ones lol), they can’t tell me to take anything down anymore the same way they were able to do so when I was younger.

Describe the personality of the person you have feelings for.: She’s very warm, understanding, generous, and immeasurably protective of the people she loves.

What does your pencil case look like? What's in it?: I have a plush dog pencilcase that I use for my pens and pencils (given by my sister) and a pink pencilcase with a floral design that holds my highlighters (given by Jane).

In your Facebook friends list, who is the first person listed under 'D'?: Some girl named Abby whose surname begins with D. She was someone from my high school and we mutually know each other, but we’re not friends and we’ve never even talked.

How did you meet him/her?: I’ve never talked to her but I’ve known of her since grade school I guess? since she’s my sister’s batchmate.

Did the last person you kissed have facial hair?: No.

You're locked in a room with your ex. Any problems?: It would just be my girlfriend too so there wouldn’t be any problems, except that I’d probably break down crying upon seeing her again because I’ve barely pulled myself together over the last week and have had to go through it alone.

Be honest. What are you most afraid of?: These days I’m definitely doubting my capabilities and achievements and all the shit I’ve put on my resumé and portfolio, and now I’m scared if any company will even give me a chance. I’m honestly holding a little bit of resentment for every employed person right now because I have seen absolutely no one talk about how brutal this whole process/waiting game is, lol. This is so SHITTY, is it just difficult for me or what???? I’m so baffled.

In the last 24 hours, have you seen or spoken to anyone you dislike?: I’ve dealt with myself, but that’s it.

What colour are the eyes of the last person that told you they loved you?: Dark brown. 

What is a word or phrase that you say often?: I like saying “I guess” because it makes me sound unsure about most things and thus makes me not 100% accountable if things go wrong hah. I do have another answer that’s more in line with the angst and depression I’ve been going through recently, and it’s that I’ve repeating BoJack Horseman’s ‘piece of shit’ monologue to himself, but this time saying it to myself.

Name 3 songs that remind you of someone special.: Sparks by Coldplay; anything by Mitski; and anything by St. Vincent.

How much chocolate do you have in your house atm, if any?: We have...a lot. We still have the chocolate cake from Nina’s birthday and we recently received an entire pack of various fun-size chocolate bars like Twix, Three Musketeers, etc. from my aunt. We also have chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that I normally would finish up in a day, but I’ve been saving it for every future job rejection I receive. 

Who is the most intelligent person you know?: Chesca.

Do you have younger siblings? If you do, are you protective of them?: Yes. I’m protective of my sister but I don’t show it lol. We are not showy in this family.

Who was the last person you insulted?: Idk probably a politician on social media.

What are the other members of your household doing at this moment?: I have not gone out of my room all day...I did not miss this sensation. It’s been a while since I’ve locked myself up for this long.

Do you have any neighbours that you don't get along with?: There’s a house behind ours that loudly plays 80s and 90s power ballads and love songs and it gets insanely irritating and makes the neighborhood feel cheap, but I keep my feelings to myself and I’ve never actually confronted them about it and asked them to stop or decrease their speaker’s volume.

How recently did you speak to the last person you kissed?: Like 30 minutes ago. I’m not very talkative these days and it was actually just the second time today that I initiated a bried conversation. I feel bad for her, and I can’t wait to get better so I can start treating her right again.

Who was the last person you told to get lost, or something similar?: I don’t usually tell this to people.

Give me a random line from the last song you listened to.: “We know better so we’d both better go.”

Have you ever had an argument with the last person you Facebook messaged?: Lots. She’s my girlfriend lol.

Do you have any plans for tonight?: I don’t know. If I feel any better, I’d practice and review for my upcoming interview this Tuesday, but if I’m not okay by then...I don’t know. I’ve stopped planning my days out recently and just go where my legs take me.

Where were you at 9 o'clock last night?: I was at the dining table trying to take a survey, but I quickly lost interest in it.

In the past week, have you slept past midday?: Kind of. Like I mentioned, Gabie’s on the night shift so I’ve been keeping her company, which means I occasionally take naps in the afternoon.

Is there anything happening tomorrow, that you're looking forward to?: No. I’m so scared of tomorrows now.

Is there anyone you used to be friends with, that you now dislike?: I dislike Athenna only because of her attitude and the way she treated Angela during the last few days of their friendship. I don’t have any personal beef with her, at least I don’t think I have. She likes stirring up shit though and I won’t be surprised if she was able to make up a story about me to get our other friends to dislike me.

What is your least favourite chocolate bar?: Eh, I’m pretty picky about chocolate bars so I have more brands that I dislike than the ones I do enjoy. I only like Reese’s, Butterfinger, Twix, and Whittaker’s. 

Do any of your friends or relatives have the same birthday as you?: Just this girl I went to grade school with named Mitch. Otherwise, April 21 babies are a rare breed apparently.

Name the last song that made you cry.: O by Coldplay.

Who do you miss at this moment?: The me from like two weeks ago lol. How far I’ve fallen.

Where is that person?: Stuck in August, I guess.

Have you ever dyed your hair an unnatural colour?: No.

Have you had any deep conversations today?: No.

Is your television on atm?: It’s not, but I have my phone playing GMM videos on YouTube to keep me company.

If it is, what are you watching?: It’s one of their product test videos.

Are you wearing anything blue?: My shirt is blue, actually.

Who were the last 5 people to make you smile?: Rhett and Link, and that’s pretty much it.

Do you use Twitter?: Sure.

Tell me about the last YouTube video you watched. They’re pitting brand name cleaning products and natural cleaning products against each other and seeing which one is more effective. I love these videos of theirs, hahaha.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?: No, I feel like I’ve grilled myself enough in this survey.

#survey #surveys

[latvian-parisienne]

Day 12-15 - Staying home and doing nothing is also a nice thing to do...apart from visiting Versailles

After you have spent the first week and a half in Paris and you have seen every monument there is to be seen and are kind of getting tired of purchasing additional metro tickets (because your dearest Navigo still has not arrived) or walking around, you start to also enjoy the joy of being at home... because you feel like you have a home to go to.

Apart from going to a meeting of the school’s journal and cheerleading trial, I decided not to leave the house for two days in a row. And it was amazing! Waking up whenever you like, napping, preparing some food, watching TV shows and doing laundry also should make a part of your stay in Paris.

And then the exhausting Tuesdays arrive, full of four lectures in a row and flour products, because that is the only thing you can manage to eat during the 15 minute breaks. Still nothing interesting happens, nothing worth talking about at least. Life in Paris can get pretty bring once you are used to it.

That is why one needs to explore more and more whenever the time constraints and sleep levels allow. Today we went to explore the beautiful palace of Versailles and it was, of course, breathtaking; however, I had somehow expected something more, something different.

We decided to go on our Versailles mission on a cloudy Wednesday morning, hoping that it would save us from the endless masses of tourists. We were slightly wrong - tourists were still there, stopping at around places, sticking selfie sticks into your face, creating guided groups which just tended to stay in the middle of a small corridor...it was all there even though we arrived at 10 a.m. And it can also be understood since the palace is beautiful and it is definitely worth visiting it at least once in your life. However, the endless crowds of people did not allow us to fully enjoy the beauty of Versailles - it was simply overcrowded and the only thing I managed to capture into photos was ceilings. They also were really impressive and full of various paintings, but most importantly, no one covered the view of them and it was easy to enjoy their charm.

Gold, glass and marble is basically screaming from every corner you see at Versailles. Although some of us might be willing to live in a similar building at some point in our lives, for me it felt too much. I could never imagine someone living there at all, that’s how over-polished and posh it looked. But that’s kind of the case with all of those big castles - they look majestic, not liveable. Maybe that’s even good - what would I do if I decided that I wanted to live in one someday?

The gardens were pretty indeed. Red and yellow coloured flowers were decorating the beautifully cut garden, which created several ornaments and figures in the ground. From the windows of the castle, the gardens looked even better. 

However, if you take a long walk towards the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon, you will get a much better experience of Versailles. There are less people, less posh and more of the feeling that someone has actually lived there or at least would be willing to live there. Grand Trianon was my personal favorite, filled with pastel colors, cosier and smaller rooms and beautiful violet-schemed garden. It felt more put-together and less screaming-in-your-face than Versailles palace itself. Petit Trianon was also cute and worth-visiting, since it also gives you a completely different feeling from the vibe you get at Versailles. When visiting the Trianons, you suddenly feel like in a countryside - a small river, owners with dogs walking around, baby swans swimming in the lake, small chapel in the middle of a meadow and no tourists. It’s an amazing feeling when you know that a 15 minute walk away the people are getting crazy over Versailles. It cannot be felt at the Trianons.

So, am I happy that I went there? Yes. Would I have chosen any other day or time? Probably not, since it was still summery and sunny in the afternoon. Would I go there again? Definitely not in the upcoming 10 years. I feel like I saw everything there and there are plenty of castles of similar style around the whole Europe.

#latvian #paris #france #versailles #erasmus #exchange #experience #student #sciencespo #travel #blogger

[my-one-love-is-music]

The Proposal Proposition

Summary: Tim knew getting involved with a scheme that required him to be in any form of pretend romantic relationship with Jason Todd was a terrible idea. He'd had a crush on him since they'd met during his first year of college and now they were going to get married to win more financial aid. Tim was an idiot for doing this and he knew the fallout would kill him when it came but he was finding it hard to care when it meant he got to have Jason pressed against his side as they walked across campus and matching rings decorating their fingers.

A/N: My prompt fill for day four of jaytimweek: vegas wedding/college. I had a lot of fun smashing these prompts together and have wanted to write a fic with this premise for a long time so I'm happy to finally share it with all of you!

Also on AO3!

Jason: Okay, so I know this may seem kind of weird and I know you don’t exactly need the money, but have you ever considered those schemes where people get married to get extra help with their financial aid?

Tim stared at his phone, eyes wide and trying to make sense of the text that he’d woken up to. The text that was timestamped at 3:45 that morning.

He didn’t even bother typing out a response and called Jason instead. He didn’t know if he would be up, but he didn’t have a class, so any loss of sleep was his own fault because you didn’t just text people talking about getting married for financial aid and in the middle of the night no less.

He tapped his finger against the back of his phone as he walked across campus, mug of coffee held tightly in his hand. The air had a bit of a chill to it. The cooler fall weather would be coming soon. He’d need to remember to unbox his countless hoodies that he’d managed to collect over the years to keep warm on his way to class.

“Hello?” Jason finally answered, sounding groggy. “Is this…? Tim? Why are you calling so early?”

“Maybe because you decided to text me in the middle of the night asking about people who get married to get additional financial aid benefits for college,” he answered, taking a sip of his coffee. “And I have one question in response to that: what the fuck?”

“Oh that,” Jason said, sounding more awake and Tim could almost imagine him flopping onto his back in bed, one hand resting on his stomach as he stared at the ceiling with his phone pressed against his ear. “Yeah, I found out that you can get added financial aid if you’re married and I know you don’t really need it, but I’ve kind of been struggling with finances and figured that the less debt I have to pay, the better.”

Tim froze, coffee halfway to his mouth. “Jason,” he asked slowly, “are you asking me to marry you for financial aid?”

“Kind of?” he said. “I mean, I guess, yeah. There’s no one else I can really ask, and I know it’s kind of stupid, but I thought…I mean if you don’t want to that’s fine…”

“Okay here’s what we’re going to do,” Tim said, fighting down the butterflies in his stomach. “I’m going to go to class and you’re going to go to class. And then tonight when we’re both done with class, we’re going to order a pizza and sit in your dorm room and talk about this because I’m still really confused.”

“Oh, sure,” he agreed. “We can do that. You want pepperoni and mushroom?”

“Duh,” Tim said with a grin as he rolled his eyes. “And don’t forget the breadsticks.”

“What kind of monster do you take me for?” he scoffed. “We can’t order pizza and not get breadsticks.”

“Is five good?”

“Not today. I have to meet with my advisor after my afternoon class. Make it six?”

“Sure, works for me,” Tim said, finally getting his feet to move again.

“Cool. See you later.”

“Later,” Tim said, ending the call. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and adjusted the straps of his backpack on his shoulders. Today was going to prove to be an interesting day and he knew that his curiosity over what Jason was proposing was going to make his classes nearly insufferable to sit through.

~~

“So, what you’re saying is that you want me and you to get married so that you can get more financial aid benefits for college?” Tim asked around a mouthful of pizza.

“Yeah, basically,” Jason said, finally getting over his initial embarrassment at having to explain the whole situation.

Tim nodded and continued to chew. He was a little amazed at how much work Jason had put into the whole idea and the research that had gone into it. It also explained why he’d gotten the text in the middle of the night and not a more reasonable hour.

The idea wasn’t terrible, and they could get a divorce once college was taken care of. They’d been friends for years so getting along wouldn’t be a problem, even if Jason kind of deplored Tim’s living habits when he didn’t clean for a few weeks.

The only hiccup that could happen would be Tim’s problem. Which could prove to be difficult if he was in close proximity to Jason for a long time.

“You do realize we’re going to have to live together to make this work, right?” Tim asked, trying to make Jason reject the idea instead of him since he liked the thought of them being married a little too much.

Jason shrugged, and Tim squinted when he thought his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “Yeah, I thought about that. But I don’t have a roommate right now, so you could always move into my dorm with me. I’m sure it won’t be too difficult to work around with housing, especially when we show them our marriage certificate and all that,” he explained, reaching over to swipe a breadstick from the box.

Tim nodded. “Our friends are going to lose their shit.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I assumed as much.”

“The media probably will, too. Are you prepared to deal with what comes with being with a Drake?”

Jason shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t deal with.”

Tim nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Jason asked. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “You’ll do it?”

He nodded again, trying to push down the sour feeling that none of this would mean anything to Jason, but it would mean the world to him. “Why not? It’ll help you and I’ll get some benefits, too. And I think it could be fun. We just have to figure out who’s doing holidays.”

“We’ll probably have to do Christmas with your parents since they throw that big party every year,” Jason said, finally sitting back to munch on his breadstick.

“Yeah,” Tim sighed, rolling his eyes. “Plus, all of the socialites are going to want to see my new husband.”

“Am I allowed to scandalize them?” Jason asked with a grin.

Tim grinned. “Stumble out of the coat closet with our clothes rumpled to make them think we were doing things?” he asked.

“That’s not a bad idea,” he mused. “I was thinking more of sticking my tongue down you throat under the mistletoe.”

“That would give them the chance to take more pictures, but the closet would really get them talking. So, if you want to be the hot topic of all the gossip circles, that’s how it’s going to be done.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jason said, snagging another breadstick. “And for Thanksgiving we can chill here and watch ridiculous movies while we eat takeout in our pajamas.”

Tim groaned. “That sounds so much better than the four-course meal my family usually sets up for the holiday. I have to wear a suit. There’s three of us and I’m expected to wear a suit. It’s ridiculous.”

Jason made a face. “Ew. I’m surprised your parents don’t host a whole charity gala since it’s the perfect time to be thankful and help others be thankful too or some shit.”

“That’s Bruce Wayne’s thing,” Tim said, waving his hand. “And my mother and father don’t want to seem like they’re copying or trying to compete with him. Even though everyone who’s rich is actually competing with each other to hold the best parties and have the best houses and belongings, there’s this unspoken rule that it can’t look like they’re competing. Although we might win Christmas this year thanks to you.”

“We could probably win Thanksgiving too if the media scandal doesn’t die down enough.”

“Speaking of,” Tim said, straightening. “When are we doing this?”

Jason hummed and twisted around, grabbing his planner from his bed. He flipped open to the current month. “We’ve got fall break coming up. We could fly out then and make this happen if you’re good with that.”

“That’s just a couple weeks away, right?” Tim asked, pulling his laptop from his backpack.

“Yeah,” Jason said with a nod.

“Let me pull up flights to Vegas to see what we can do…”

Jason chewed on another slice of pizza while Tim skimmed the flight times and prices to get out there.

“Hey Jay?” Tim asked, looking up with a smirk pulling at his lips.

Jason raised an eyebrow in silent question.

“How do you feel about flying first class?”

Jason grinned. “I think it’s only appropriate for a pair of newlyweds.”

“And the honeymoon suite?” he asked, pulling out the credit cards his parents had given him to keep him occupied and out of their hair.

“Could we really stay in anything less?” Jason scoffed.

Tim snickered. “We can fly out there on a Tuesday morning and fly back on Saturday so we have time to settle in. We’ll have to start working out the legal stuff as soon as we’re back though.”

“Sounds like a great vacation,” Jason agreed. “Do we have to make reservations at Vegas chapels?” He opened the lid of his laptop and started on a quick search of Vegas wedding chapels. He grinned when he clicked on the first service that popped up. “Hey Tim, how do you feel about getting married in a Gazebo at sunset?”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “Fancy.”

“We can get the cheapest package since we’re not going to have any guests. What are we going to wear?”

“Tuxes, duh,” Tim mumbled, reading over something on his computer. “We have to make it look good.”

“Oh my god,” Jason breathed, feeling glee fill him.

“What?” Tim asked.

“You can live stream other people’s weddings,” Jason said, mirth shining in his eyes.

Tim frowned and set his laptop to the side, crawling over to him so he could look at his screen. “You mean you can just watch a complete stranger get married?”

“Yes,” Jason said, laughing. “We should totally do this! The media would go crazy!”

Tim grinned. “I can tweet out the video link before our wedding.”

“We even get roundtrip limo service to the venue from our hotel through this package,” Jason continued.

“What do they have open?”

Jason hummed and clicked on the dates for when they’d be in. We could do that Wednesday at 8?” he asked, looking at Tim who nodded.

“Sounds good. Let me get my wallet and we can reserve it.” Tim grabbed his wallet from where he’d been sitting and leaned against the bed next to Jason, their thighs pressing together as Tim took Jason’s laptop and continued to the booking page.

He typed in his personal information and paused when it asked for a phone number. “Do you want this under your name or mine?”

“Do you know anything about wedding decorations?” Jason asked.

“No. Do you?”

“Nope,” Jason said, crossing his arms. “But you do have more experience with fancy parties and shit.”

“Okay,” Tim sighed and shrugged, putting in his phone number. He waited as the screen refreshed and their package page was brought up. “Do you want to change any of these details or are you fine with the default?” Tim asked, scrolling down the page.

“How do you feel about red roses?” Jason murmured.

Tim shrugged, changing the color scheme and the rose petal choice to red. “Works for me. Anything else? We aren’t exactly going to have any guests unless a sudden influx of reporters show up.”

“What about a cake or reception?” Jason asked. “We can’t not have wedding cake. You only get married so many times.”

Tim chuckled. “We can order champagne and dessert from the hotel. I’m sure they’ll have lots of options that are ten times better than whatever grocery store cake these people buy.”

“Fair enough,” Jason agreed.

“We don’t need their tuxedo rental either,” Tim said. “I have my own and I know a place here in Gotham we can get you fitted at.” He clicked through the rest of the options, confirming the details before he was brought to a payment page. He selected to pay in full and pulled his credit card out of his wallet, filling in his information.

The mouse hovered over the ‘Pay’ button and he looked up at Jason.

“Last chance to back out,” he said.

“Do it,” Jason agreed.

Tim hit the button and the screen changed, wedding bells and confetti floating down over the screen as a large ‘Congratulations!’ flashed.

“You are the one who’s going to carry the bouquet, right?” Jason asked.

Tim rolled his eyes and shoved at Jason’s shoulder as he laughed. “I’m so going to be the one who proposes the divorce,” Tim muttered.

“Damn, we haven’t even gotten married yet and you’re already planning on pulling the plug.”

“I would say I’m marrying you for your money, but you don’t have any,” Tim said, sticking his tongue out at Jason.

“Why you little…” he grabbed Tim around the waist as Tim screeched, kicking out his legs to try and get away from the merciless dig of Jason’s fingers into his sides.

He dissolved into giggles, bucking and squirming in Jason’s arms during the relentless attack.

“Jason noooo,” he cried around gasps for air. “Let me go!”

“Haven’t you realized it yet, Tim?” Jason said, voice low and dangerous in his ear. “We’re about to be married. You can’t get rid of me that easily anymore.”

Tim hoped his shiver was hidden while he continued to try and extricate himself from Jason’s grasp. He didn’t need the lick of heat in his stomach to get the better of him and make him do something stupid.

But he was already doing something stupid. Because he’d agreed to marry his best friend for financial aid when he was already practically in love with him.

~~

School helped to keep Tim’s mind off the countdown to the wedding. What sent him spiraling back into horrified acceptance as he tried to deal with his little problem was the phone calls from the wedding chapel.

“Hello?” he asked, picking up his phone that was vibrating for attention in his pocket.

“Hello is this Tim Drake?” a woman asked.

“Yes,” he hedged.

“Hi Tim, this is Debbie with Chapel of the Flowers. I’m going to be your complimentary wedding planner as we approach you and your fiancé’s big day,” she explained brightly.

Tim’s steps faltered. “I thought that everything was already taken care of through the booking on the website.”

“Oh most of it is,” she reassured. “But in case you want to change any arrangements we can take care of that over the phone. And we’ll also confirm your hotel details to make sure the limousine picks you up at the correct place and time. Now, I noticed that you didn’t include a wedding cake or reception in your service. Is that correct? Because I can assure you the cakes we supply are absolutely to die for.”

Tim smiled wryly at the statement. “We’ll keep that in mind, but at this point we weren’t planning on a reception. This…ceremony,” he said carefully, “is more of a private matter between my fiancé and I. We don’t have any other guests who will be attending the wedding.”

“I see,” Debbie said, sounding unhappy. “Well, if you do change your mind, we have a staff that can come and act as guests for your wedding if you do decide you would like other people present.”

Tim practically gaped, trying to find something to say. “Um, thanks,” he said slowly. “I’ll let you know if that’s an offer we’d like to take you up on.”

“Of course the pricing for that arrangement is dependent on how many guests you would like, but we can work out the details of that later.”

Tim nodded even though he couldn’t see her and rubbed his finger against his temple, wondering what the hell he’d gotten involved in. “Well, if that’s all…” he hedged.

“Right, of course!” she said. “I will mark down that you would like everything as you’ve already specified. I’ll give you another call when we get closer to the date of the wedding and if there’s anything you’d like changed before then or if you’re anxious about the big day you’re more than welcome to call me back at this number.”

“What do you mean anxious?” Tim couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Oh you know, we have some couples who’ve had anxiety with something that’s such a big commitment and they might have a little bit of doubt after making the deposit. Small cases of cold feet and things like that. I help counsel couples through it.”

“Okay, well if I need to talk to you about any of that I will certainly let you know,” Tim said, starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Certainly! Have a good day, Tim!”

“You too,” he mumbled before hanging up the phone. He shook his head and shoved it into his pocket, hurrying up the steps to the dining hall where he was meeting Jason for dinner.

He swiped his student ID as he walked in and slipped around the corner to get to the back corner of the dining hall. The table he usually occupied with Jason was empty. He dropped off his bag and made for one of the food stations, grabbing a burger and fries for dinner.

Tim sat sideways in the chair closest to the wall so he could lean against it and prop his foot up on the chair next to him. He swiped a fry through his ketchup and looked up to find Jason stomping over towards him, fists clenched at his sides and scowl gracing his face like he was on the verge of murdering someone.

“You okay?” Tim asked.

Jason dropped his backpack in the free chair across from him and held up a finger. “I need food first. Maybe dessert before anything else.”

“Grab me a brownie if you’re going over there,” Tim called as he spun around and made his way to the meal lines.

Tim managed to finish his burger and was almost done with his fries before Jason made it back with his own bowl of stir-fry and a generous plate of desserts in tow. He set the plate in the middle of the table and angrily scooped up a bite of stir-fry with a spoon, shoving it into his mouth.

“What happened?” Tim finally asked.

Jason glanced up at him and sagged against his chair. “My fucking science professor has a paper due next week and we were supposed to get the assignment for it two weeks ago and he expects all of us to write this eight-page paper with graphs and an appendix by Monday even though he just gave us the assignment. And that doesn’t even count the fact that he hasn’t returned our last papers so none of us have any idea if we’re on the right track with what he wants as far as writing style goes.”

He huffed and stirred the food in his bowl. “I wouldn’t even be in this class if it wasn’t required. I don’t know anything about science,” he mumbled, finally losing steam.

Tim frowned. “So, he’s making this paper, that he just gave you, due right before Fall break?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Shit.”

“I know.”

“Good luck.”

Jason smiled ruefully. “I’m going to die.”

“I’ll mourn you.”

“You’re going to be a widow.”

Tim smirked and swiped a brownie from the plate. “Can’t be a widow if we’re not even married yet.”

“Hopefully the police won’t come after you.”

“If they do, I’ll just tell them what happened: you had a heart attack from the stress of having to write a paper.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “So, you already know how I’m going to die? That’s not suspicious at all.”

Tim grinned, his teeth glinting dangerously underneath the dining hall lights despite the flecks of brownie stuck between his teeth. “I know how to make things look like an accident.”

“You’re evil.”

Tim shrugged. “Maybe a little bit. But I can’t be that evil if I agreed to marry you for a scam to get more federal loan money.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jason said, some of his good cheer returning. “It’s not a scam. We’re actually getting married. We’re not lying about anything.”

“Except our undying love for each other,” he muttered, even though it wasn’t exactly a lie for him.

Jason waved his hand. “That’s what marriages of convenience are all about. By the time senior year rolls around, the stress will have become too much for us and made our marriage fall apart.”

“Now who’s being suspicious and planning things ahead of time?” Tim asked.

Jason scoffed. “You love it.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He swiped another brownie from the plate just to make a point.

~~

Tim carefully cradled one of the two coffee cups in his elbow to free his other hand to knock on the door. He heard a muffled groan come from inside before something creaked. A shout sounded and a loud thump.

Tim stared at the door when the lock and handle started to rattle. It was pulled open to reveal an exhausted and messy Jason in the doorway. He fought to keep his gaze off how Jason’s hair stuck up in four different directions, wondering how it would feel to run his fingers through it and comb it back into place.

“Oh my god, is that coffee?” he asked, staring at the drinks in Tim’s arms. “I fucking love you if one of those is mine.”

“One of them is,” Tim said, holding out the right cup. “I didn’t buy two coffees for myself.”

“You have before,” Jason mumbled against the lid as he proceeded to chug half the cup. He stepped to the side and let Tim inside. He walked over to the beanbag in the corner of the room and sat down while Jason closed the door behind him.

The coffee table was covered with books and papers, Jason’s laptop sitting open in the middle of it all. Jason sat down in front of it, legs splaying out over the carpet.

“What was that thump earlier?” Tim finally asked when Jason was slowing his coffee intake.

Jason coughed and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, cheeks turning pink. “I um…I tripped and fell.”

Tim stared at him for a minute before he broke out into hysterical giggles, hand clutching his side as he fought to keep from spilling his coffee.

“Oh my god,” he gasped when they finally started to subside. “How tired are you that you tripped in the middle of your own dorm room?”

“I’m exhausted okay?” Jason snapped, setting his cup down on the coffee table. “I’ve been working on this paper all weekend and haven’t even touched the reading I have to do for my three literature classes.”

“How much do you have left?” Tim asked, taking a sip from his cup.

“I just told you I hadn’t started on it! It’s 600 pages of-“

“Not the literature reading,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes. “How much of the paper do you have left.”

“Oh,” Jason said. He grinned, and it looked as manic as he was probably feeling after foregoing sleep and busting his ass to write a paper over the weekend. “I just have the conclusion left to write and then I need to slap together a works cited page.”

“Then don’t let me stop you,” Tim said, waving his hand. “Get it done.”

Jason looked at his computer and grimaced. “I think I’ll finish my coffee first.”

“Yeah, but the sooner you get done, the sooner you can nap,” Tim pointed out.

“This thing isn’t going to get edited.”

Tim snorted. “Do college papers ever?”

He grinned. “Nope.”

Tim kicked off his shoes as Jason bent over his computer and started typing. It wasn’t long before the last paragraph was done and he was flipping through the articles he’d borrowed from the library to take down his source information.

“There,” Jason said, clicking something on his computer before he sat back. “I’m finally done.”

“Time for a nap?” Tim asked.

“I think I might be too wired from sleep deprivation and caffeine to sleep. Movie?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I don’t have anywhere else I need to be.”

Jason pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his computer. He climbed onto his bed, pushing all the pillows against his headboard as he pulled up Netflix on his computer. Tim didn’t hesitate, climbing into bed next to him and fluffing the pillow behind his head as Jason rested the computer on both of their thighs.

Tim sighed, relaxing into the unforgiving university-distributed mattress as best he could as they settled in for what was probably going to be a t.v. show binge or mini movie marathon as Jason fought to forget the horrors of the past few days.

~~

Jason pushed through the door to Tim’s dorm room, stomping angrily across the floor. Tim raised an eyebrow where he was seated on his bed, shoving a handful of cheeseballs into his mouth while sitting around in one of Jason’s hoodies that he’d stolen and his boxer briefs.

“What’s up?” he asked, setting his business ethics textbook to the side.

“So you know how my professor assigned that stupid paper that he made be due today and I busted my ass all weekend to get done?”

Tim felt his stomach sink. “Oh no.”

“Oh no is fucking right,” Jason snarled, staring down at the floor. “He decided to postpone the deadline until after fall break so now I’ve got this monster paper done and haven’t done any of my literature reading for my classes today or tomorrow.”

“On the bright side…at least it’s done?” Tim offered, knowing nothing he could say would be enough to cool the fury that was consuming Jason. And which had every right to consume him when it was caused by shitty professors and a stupid educational system.

Jason deflated and walked over to his bed, leaning against the edge next to him. “Yeah,” he sighed. “You’re right, but it’s still so frustrating.”

“Cheeseball for your sorrows?” Tim asked, holding out the bag.

Jason gave him a soft smile and reached into the back, pulling out a handful.

“And on the other bright side,” Tim continued. “Tomorrow night you get to leave on an awesome fall break vacation with me that’s going to let us fool the student loan system so we can get more money.”

Jason laughed as he chewed on his snack. “Yeah, you’re right. And at least I don’t have to worry about interrupting our vacation with stupid homework troubles.”

Tim’s stomach twisted at the word ‘our.’ “See?” he asked, trying for a smile that didn’t feel like it was concealing his rolling emotions. “Now you’re thinking!”

“What are you doing anyway?” Jason asked, finally changing the topic.

“Some class reading for business ethics for tomorrow,” he said with a shrug. “It’ll be my last class of the day and I know it’s going to drag, especially with the topic.”

“Which is?”

Tim smiled, knowing it was as ugly as it felt. “Ethical management systems of course.”

Jason made a fake gagging noise and Tim nodded, completely in agreement.

~~

Tim took a shaky breath and held up his phone, his camera open.

“You ready to do this?” he asked, glancing around at the few people in the seats around them at their departure gate.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jason said, scooting closer despite the armrest separating them. He threw an arm around Tim’s shoulders and pulled him against his side.

“Smile,” Tim said, holding up the camera. He tilted his head towards Jason and snapped a picture of them leaning close, obviously in the middle of the airport.

“Is that going on Instagram or Twitter?” Jason asked as Tim lowered the phone to inspect the picture.

“Both,” he answered, opening Instagram first. “Might as well cover all the bases.”

He typed out a quick caption. “At the airport with the fiancé! Can’t believe we’re finally headed to Vegas to tie the knot. Been waiting for this for so long.”

He swallowed and added a bunch of heart eye emojis.

“Seems kind of cheesy,” Jason commented over his shoulder.

“Then it’s perfect for you,” he shot back.

“Hey…” Jason said, pulling Tim against his side.

Tim chuckled and switched to Twitter, posting the same photo and message. It had barely been posted before his notifications started to climb.

“What the hell?” Jason asked, looking at the bottom of his screen.

Tim bit his lip, thumb hovering uncertainly over the icon before he opened them. A string of likes and frantic comments appeared. There was a mixture of incredible excitement and shock. More than one person was desperate to know if it was true or not.

“You’re going to have so much damage control to run,” Jason muttered.

Tim smirked, trying to feign more confidence than he actually felt. “Don’t speak too soon. You’re going to have to deal with as much of this as I do. Be glad I didn’t tag your accounts or your stuff would be blowing up. Although they’re probably going to track you down anyway.”

“You can’t be serious?” Jason asked. “That’s kind of creepy.”

Tim shrugged. “Check your phone.”

“I swear to god, I’ll never forgive you if you basically ruin my social media experience.”

Tim laughed. “What experience?” he asked. “You barely post and even when you do it’s pictures on Instagram. You hardly use Twitter.”

“Shut it,” Jason grumbled. He sighed after checking both of his accounts. “Okay, I’m safe for now,” he said, sagging back in relief against his chair.”

“Now boarding for flight 2335 for Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“Well, that’s us,” Tim said, standing up. “Time to get hitched.”

“Don’t sound like you’re dreading it,” Jason said, pulling him over to the gate.

“Are you kidding?” Tim scoffed. “Being married to you is probably going to be a nightmare,” he said, the statement going soft because of the grin pulling at his lips.

Jason laughed and pulled out their tickets, both of them completely unaware of the pictures some of the other travelers were sneaking of them as they passed.

~~

The heat of Las Vegas smothered them when they stepped through the door to the line of taxis waiting outside the airport. The air was cleaner than what they were subjected to in Gotham, but the humidity pressed down on Tim’s chest.

“Are we sure an outdoor wedding was a good idea?” Tim asked as Jason helped the driver load their suitcases into the trunk of the taxi.

“We’ll make do,” Jason said. “If anything, it’ll prove to be a very interesting ceremony.”

“Ah, you two are getting married, how splendid!” the driver interrupted with a grin. “I’ve had many, many couples ride in my car and all of them have stayed together many years! My taxi is very good luck.”

Tim and Jason shared a skeptical look as they climbed into the back of the car, both knowing there was no way he could know the people who’d come here to get married were still together.

“Now, where am I taking the beautiful couple?” he asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

Tim rattled off the name of their hotel, glad it was immediately recognized. He squinted against the bright sunlight when they pulled out from underneath the overhang. He took a deep breath, his heart gaining speed in his chest now that the wedding was on the horizon.

He hoped he wasn’t about to destroy his life with a colossal mistake.

~~

Tim fell back heavily on the mattress of the resplendent bed of the honeymoon suite. The air conditioning was a sweet relief from the few seconds of oppressive heat they had to walk through to get through the sliding doors of the hotel. He could feel the beads of sweat pressing into his back, making a face at the ceiling.

“So,” Jason said, falling onto the covers next to him. “What are we going to do until tomorrow?”

“Hell if I know,” Tim said, rolling his head to the side to look at Jason.

Jason grinned. “Think we can fuck with the concierge?”

“Isn’t there a pool here too?”

Jason nodded. “Think so. Did you bring swim trunks?”

“Nope,” Tim said. “Shopping?”

“Meh,” Jason said.

“Yeah,” Tim agreed.

~~

Tim tugged at Jason’s tie, securing it around his neck as he shifted in front of him. “Stay still,” he admonished.

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “I feel like I’m being suffocated.”

“Well get used to it,” Tim said. “You’re going to have to wear ties at least every other month from now on.”

“Only if you promise to take them off for me,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Tim rolled his eyes. “Keep that up and you’re sleeping on the couch over there.”

“Not even married yet and you’re kicking me out of our bed.”

Tim felt himself flush and didn’t say anything. “Let’s just…get going,” he muttered. “The limo is going to be waiting downstairs for us and we don’t want to be late for our own ceremony.”

Jason chuckled and slipped the hotel key into his pocket. Tim stalked past him, valiantly trying to keep his mind off what was coming. And that his first kiss with Jason was going to happen because they were getting married for financial aid and not because Jason harbored any sort of feelings for him.

“Hey, you need to tweet out the link to the livestream, right?” Jason asked as they stepped into the elevator.

“Oh shit, yeah,” Tim said. He pulled out his phone and pulled up the wedding chapel website on his phone, scrolling through the weddings from that day until he got to his own. He copied the link and opened Twitter, typing out a quick message for all his followers before hitting send.

He let out a shaky breath before he shoved the phone into his pocket, knowing he’d have a million notifications before the ceremony even started.

They stepped out of the elevator when it reached the first floor and strode through the lobby. A white limo was waiting in front of the steps of the hotel. A man in a suit holding a sign with Tim’s last name on it smiled at them.

“Welcome,” he said, pulling open the rear door. “Are you excited for the big day?”

“You have no idea,” Jason said genially, placing a hand on Tim’s lower back to guide him into the backseat.

“There is champagne and snacks in the fridge and you’re welcome to help yourself, although I would recommend waiting until after the ceremony in case your nerves get the best of you,” he said with a lowly chuckle.

The statement left Tim knowing that he’d probably witnessed more than one couple spew chunks before or during the ceremony.

Tim took a shaky breath as the driver climbed into the front seat and pulled away from the curb. Jason’s hand found his on the seat and gave it a squeeze. He looked over at him and Jason offered a small smile that Tim returned.

“We can still back out if you want to,” he whispered.

Tim shook his head. “No, we…we already agreed to do this, and I wouldn’t want you missing the chance to get more financial aid. Besides, it’ll be fun. An adventure of sorts.”

Jason chuckled and squeezed his hand again. As they drove through the streets, Tim belatedly realized that Jason didn’t pull his hand away.

~~

Tim was valiantly trying to keep his breathing under control and stave off a panic attack as the officiant made it to the vows. Jason was holding his hands in a death grip as they stood under the wooden canopy of the gazebo. White string lights wrapped around the rafters and the sky was pink and purple above their heads because of the sunset.

He hoped the camera that was carefully sweeping around them to capture the video from all the right angles wasn’t picking up on his inner turmoil because he didn’t need hundreds if not thousands of people picking up on his panic and questioning what he was doing getting married to Jason if his heart wasn’t really in it.

Jason met his eyes, gaze soft and supportive and Tim knew if they were anywhere else, he would’ve been asking Tim if he rally wanted to go through with this. Tim gave him a small nod, hoping the reassurance would be enough to counter the panic in his own eyes.

Jason squeezed his hands tighter as he began to repeat the words the officiant said to him. He released one of Tim’s hands to reach for the silver band resting on a velvet pillow on the pedestal beside them.

Tim swallowed, straining to hear over the blood rushing through his ears and discern the words being said aloud.

The kiss of metal that slid over his finger was shocking and Tim looked down, hoping it didn’t look as jerky as it felt. He wiggled his finger, catching the movement of the light from the string lights as it wiggled and waved over the curved top of the band.

“Tim?” the officiant prompted.

Tim swallowed and nodded, slowly repeating the words that Jason had just said. He picked up the other ring, holding it tightly between his shaky fingers. Jason’s hand was warm under his touch and he slid the band on his ring finger, leaving it to settle into its new home.

As soon as his hand fell away, Jason gripped his hand, linking their fingers together.

The officiant smiled at them both, closing the book in front of him.

“I now pronounce you, husband and husband. You may kiss the bridegroom.”

Tim tried to smile but knew it was shaky. Jason lifted his hand and cupped Tim’s cheek, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. He stepped forward and ducked his head, pausing long enough that Tim’s thoughts started to run in a panic. This was his first kiss with Jason and it was because they were getting married, not because they were actually in love.

It made his heart ache.

The ache didn’t last long when Jason’s lips pressed against his. His eyes slid shut, but they broke apart quickly, Tim mourning the loss of contact. Their first kiss was their wedding kiss. Their first kiss was their wedding kiss that had just been livestreamed over the internet to an unbelievable number of people.

“Congratulations Tim and Jason. I wish you the best in your marriage.”

Tim smiled. “Thank you.”

Jason squeezed his hand and the man held out his hand, directing them back into the main building. Tim was glad to see the camera had been lowered and they were given their privacy once again.

“We can take a few wedding photos inside now that the ceremony is complete,” he continued, walking behind them.

“Sounds great,” Jason said, and Tim wondered if he was imagining the tightness in his voice.

Tim swallowed then the photographer arranged them in front of a tasteful backdrop, directing Jason to keep an arm around Tim’s waist which he apparently had no trouble doing. They were arranged in five different poses, subjected to the click of the camera as they smiled, trying to seem as relaxed as possible.

“Now kiss for me,” he said with a grin.

They both froze.

“Just one little kiss,” he prodded.

Jason was the first to move. He turned to face Tim, placing a warm and comforting hand on his hip. He cupped Tim’s cheek with his other hand, giving the camera an open view of their profiles. Jason’s eyes searched Tim’s and Tim rested a hand on his chest.

Jason ducked his head and then they were kissing again. It was different from the first kiss and he knew in the back of his mind he’d have to get used to this if they were going to make everyone believe they were ridiculously in love.

Jason’s lips were soft, and the kiss lasted longer than the one during the ceremony, the shutter clicking several times as the photographer took their pictures.

Jason pulled away and it took a minute for Tim’s eyes to flutter open. He met Jason’s sharp gaze watching him intently, searching his face for…something.

“That looked wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. If you’d like to head to the front of the building, your limo should be waiting to take you back to your hotel. I can have these developed tomorrow and delivered to your hotel before the day is over.”

“Thank you,” Jason managed since the words stuck in Tim’s throat. He was still watching the side of Jason’s head, trying to capture every moment and movement and feature of him.

He knew they’d be stuck together for three years at least. They had to get through the rest of college and he wasn’t sure how long they had to stay married after they graduated to make sure it stayed legit, but once that day came and they were no longer tied together, Tim was sure he wasn’t going to be the same.

He’d break, coming apart at the seams. He just hoped that Jason could stand to be around him and stay friends once it was done. Because torturing himself for three years was one thing, but torturing himself and then losing one of the few good people in his life would drive him insane.

“Tim, you okay?” Jason asked, meeting his gaze when Tim hadn’t made a move.

Tim forced a smile on his face, aware the photographer was still standing close by, listening to their conversation with intense interest.

“Of course,” he said, making his voice light and airy. “I was just wondering how I managed to snag the best man in the world for a husband.”

He saw the photographer grin out of the corner of his eye and Jason’s expression softened but he could still see the question lurking behind his eyes.

“Come on,” Jason said. “We should get back to the hotel and start celebrating.”

Tim grinned, his stomach tightening as he wished that he was actually going to get a true wedding celebration.

~~

“So,” Jason said as he clacked away on his computer while Tim sat next to him and fiddled with his phone since his Twitter notifications hadn’t slowed down at all. “I’ve already emailed housing to let them know what happened. Once they get back to me you’ll probably be moving in with me in the dorm. Unless they decide to make special arrangements. Now we just need to take care of the financial aid paperwork to get this finished.”

“Do you know what we need to fill out?” Tim asked absentmindedly as he scrolled through several tweets that featured screenshots of the wedding ceremony. Most of them included their kiss.

“Yeah, I’ve got all that pulled up. We just need to change our marital status and submit the forms for review to get more aid. It shouldn’t take too long and if they need proof, we can scan our marriage certificate and send them a copy when we get back on campus and can access a printer.”

Tim nodded. “Okay. You want to get your stuff done first and then I can do mine?” he asked.

“Sure,” Jason said, clicking and typing in the silence between them.

Tim glanced up at him and found all his attention on the computer where he was reclined on the bed of the honeymoon suite that was eagerly provided for them. Although knowing Vegas and this hotel, there were probably a hundred more just like it so everyone could experience their honeymoons at once.

He pursed his lips and looked back at his phone, clicking the link to one of Gotham’s online tabloids that was constantly posting stories about him. They had several screenshots of the wedding video and were making their own suspicions as to the purpose of the wedding, but no one had tried to get in touch with him for a comment and he was more than a little grateful.

He’d already been put through a major emotional step the night before and he wasn’t ready to play the part of the newly married husband yet. He’d get enough of that when they returned to school. The isolation that came with their hotel room was the biggest comfort he had.

Tim’s phone vibrated in his hand and he swallowed when his dad’s name flashed across the screen. He winced and slid his thumb across the screen.

“Hello?” he croaked.

“Timothy, we need to have a talk,” his father said, voice low and stern.

“Yeah, sure Dad. What’s up?”

The sounds of Jason’s typing stopped, and Tim glanced at him. His eyebrows were drawn down in concern and Tim grimaced, catching his thumbnail between his teeth to chew on it lightly. Jason sat up, setting the computer to the side so his focus was on Tim.

“I’m…concerned,” he started.

“Oh?” Tim asked, hoping he sounded innocent.

“Is there a reason that the tabloids are covered with pictures of you getting married and that I’ve gotten calls from more than one socialite asking why you haven’t introduced your now husband at any of the social functions you’ve attended in the past year?”

Tim swallowed. “He’s not exactly partial to social functions and we were aiming to keep things discreet,” he lied easily.

Tim wasn’t sure where his ability to lie was coming from. Maybe from the years of distance he already had with his father. He could say anything, and it would probably sound believable. Most of his antics were overlooked because his father failed to pry into his life, they never came because he needed to make up an excuse for what he was doing.

“And it never occurred to you, or him, to share the little bit of information that you were engaged? He never thought to ask for my blessing or I don’t know, meet me in person before you decided to fly off to Vegas to tie the knot?” his father asked, voice filled with disappointment and what Tim was sure was anger for the trouble their recent nuptials were sure to cause.

Tim winced, trying to pick his next words very carefully. Jason’s long fingers wrapped around his free hand, pulling it from his mouth so he wouldn’t do even more damage to his nails.

“Look, Dad. I’m sorry that this seems sort of backwards and confused. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision as much as it seems to be. We didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and getting married in Vegas seemed like the best option,” Tim explained, his fingers wrapped tightly around Jason’s hand to try and ground him.

“And you didn’t think that I might want to be there for this? You only get married once if you’re lucky.”

Tim blinked. His relationship with his dad hadn’t always been the best one. There had been times when they’d gone days without talking simply because his dad hadn’t taken an interest in his life. It had never occurred to him that his dad might feel hurt over not being included on such an important day.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” he admitted, a potent sense of guilt weighing down his stomach. “I’ll introduce you as soon as we get back to Gotham. We can go out for dinner and you can sufficiently question and threaten Jason since you missed out on all those opportunities in the past.”

Jason huffed a snort and Tim glanced up at him, offering him a small smile.

There was a pause on the line. “I’d like that. When are you set to get back?”

“We’re flying back on Saturday. Does Sunday dinner work for you?”

“I’ll make the reservations,” he agreed.

Tim nodded even though he couldn’t see him. “Okay. See you then.”

“Bye, Tim.”

“Bye, Dad,” he said, ending the call. He sighed and dropped his hand to his lap.

“You okay?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” Tim sighed. “Yeah,” he said again, voice stronger. “Dad wants to have dinner with us when we get back. Sunday dinner. He wants to meet with you since we kind of bypassed all of that.”

“Meeting my father-in-law already. We’re moving fast, aren’t we?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow. “We’ve been married less than a day.”

Tim huffed a laugh, feeling himself relax. Things were going to be fine. Jason was his friend and they were going to work through all of this together. Tim might struggle with his feelings and Jason was completely oblivious to it all, but they had each other.

“Moving’s going to be a bitch when we get back,” Tim mused.

Jason squeezed his hand where he was still holding it. “You’re the one who has to move, but I guess I can help you to make it more bearable.”

“People might question it if you didn’t. We wouldn’t want to seem distant in our relationship,” he drawled, rolling his eyes. “You done with that paperwork yet.”

“Oh,” Jason said, pulling his hand away to turn back to his computer. Tim missed the warmth of their hands together. “Almost,” he said, typing a few more things on the computer. “There. Now it’s your turn.”

Tim took the computer and set it in his lap, logging into his account. Jason waited patiently next to him as he went through the necessary forms, getting everything filled out.

“You haven’t heard back yet from housing, have you?” Tim asked as he skimmed over his information to recheck the necessary changes. He’d never get used to being listed as married. And certainly not being listed as married to Jason.

Jason leaned to the side and pulled out his phone, checking his email while Tim was using the computer.

“Nope,” he sighed. “I just emailed them a few hours ago so should hopefully be hearing back soon. It’s break so I would think they wouldn’t have too much on their plate. Unless they’re making special arrangements for us,” he muttered.

“I don’t know why they’d need to. I’m perfectly fine moving into your dorm room. It’s not like we need our own apartment or anything.”

Jason shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll find out soon, so no use worrying about it.”

Tim nodded and saved the changes in his information as he submitted the new forms for financial aid. “There,” he said, passing the computer back to Jason. “Now, we wait.”

Jason grinned and closed the lid of his computer. “What do you say we have some fun?”

“Might as well. We have the rest of the week.”

Jason slipped off the bed and held out a hand to Tim. He swallowed, trying not to focus on the silver band wrapped around Jason’s fingers as he let himself get pulled to his feet.

~~

“Oh hey, I got a response from residence life,” Jason said as they lounged on the deck chairs next to the pool.

A large umbrella was keeping the sun off Tim and despite the layer of sunscreen he put on earlier, he was glad to have the added protection.

“Really?” Tim asked. “What did they say?”

“They said that they can put us in one of the on-campus apartments if we’d like that, but you can also move into my room. Normally they wouldn’t allow a room change in the middle of the semester but considering we have pretty specific circumstances, they’re allowing it with no added charge. We can get you moved within the next week. I’m sure it’s going to take more than one day to get everything packed up and moved over,” Jason said, typing out a reply email on his phone.

Tim sighed, thinking about everything that would have to get packed up and then he’d have to unpack it again. “I’m not looking forward to this.”

“Don’t worry,” Jason said before locking his phone and tucking it away. “I’ll help you out and it won’t be that bad. At least you’re only moving from one room to another.”

Tim groaned. “That almost makes it seem worse. I won’t even get to ignore the boxes for a few days because I’ll need everything that’s packed up.”

Jason hummed. “You could always put the essentials in a duffle bag to make it easier to live out of and get the rest unpacked as you go.” He smile turned into a smirk that immediately put Tim on the defensive.

“What’s that look for?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“You could always share my bed if you don’t want to make your own.”

Tim huffed even as his chest tightened at the thought of getting to be wrapped around Jason as they slept. They were kind of already doing that, but this would mean it wouldn’t have to end.

“I doubt the two of us could fit in one of the twin beds we get blessed with by the university,” Tim muttered instead.

Jason shrugged. “People do it all the time.”

Tim swallowed, trying not to think about all the implications that statement held.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Tim looked up, blinking in surprise at the hotel waiter that stood in front of him, holding a tray.

“Yes?” he asked.

“I have a bottle of champagne and two glasses for you and your companion. They were purchased as a gift from the pair across the pool.”

He set down the drinks without another word and Tim looked across the pool to see two men with their chairs pushed together. They had their own bottle of champagne and one of the men raised a glass towards them, his other hand twined together with the man next to him.

Tim caught the glint of gold on their fingers. He cleared his throat and tried to ignore the flush that flooded his face as Jason had no issue pouring them each a glass.

“Cheers,” Jason said, handing Tim one of the glasses.

Tim clinked their glasses together before taking a large gulp of the champagne.

~~

“I don’t know how I’m going to get this all packed,” Tim groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. He was surrounded by piles of clothes. His bed had already been stripped of its bedding and Jason was nice enough to take that back to his room and make Tim’s bed for him.

“You’ll get through it. You have a couple of days to get everything moved over so just worry about the most important things first,” Jason said, rubbing Tim’s shoulders where he was standing over his kneeling form.

Tim swallowed and glanced over at his roommate who was studiously working at his desk and ignoring them. He hadn’t had much of a reaction when Tim had told him he was moving out and Tim didn’t know if it was because of the photo of his wedding that was plastered everywhere on the internet that kept him from being surprised, or because he was never the type of guy to put up much of a fuss.

Tim’s gaze dropped to the piles of clothes in front of him and the suitcase he was valiantly working to stuff them with. He knew that some of his added stress was because he’d be going to dinner with Jason the next night, but nothing could make packing up his life much better.

Especially when it was because he was getting ready to fool the federal loan system with Jason for the next few years to make college expenses easier on them.

He grabbed a stack of clothes and shoved them into the last available space in his suitcase before he let the lid fall shut and yanked the zipper around the edge.

“I’ll take this over,” Jason said, reaching over him for the handle.

“Do you mind taking my backpack too?” he asked, looking up at him and trying not to jerk back at their proximity.

“Sure. Is it ready to go?” Jason said, straightening and navigating the suitcase around where Tim was sitting on the floor.

Tim nodded. “Yeah. It’s got my computer and my schoolwork and books inside. Well, most of my books. I’ll have to shove the other ones that don’t fit into another box.”

Jason slung Tim’s backpack over his shoulder. “I’ll be back in a few. Try to have some more stuff packed by then. We might be able to get this done tonight if you keep going like you have been.”

Tim pursed his lips as they twisted into a smile. “If I do get this done, don’t expect me to have all of this unpacked by tonight.”

Jason chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I’d have to seriously bribe you with something and since we’re having dinner with your dad tomorrow, I don’t think there’s anything I could use.”

Tim watched as the door shut behind him. He checked the heavy sigh he wanted to heave when he glanced over at his roommate. He went back to studiously packing and was glad when the piles started to shrink and his side of the room looked less like a warzone.

~~

Tim tried not to pace across the floor of Jason’s dorm, but he knew it was futile. Having moved to a new dorm in the span of a day and now being faced with dinner with his father was wearing him down. His nerves were on edge and he’d seen more than one man with a camera hiding out in the bushes on campus.

“Tim, it’s going to be fine,” Jason huffed from where he was sitting on the edge of his bed, tracking Tim’s movement across the floor.

Tim sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t ready for this. He wasn’t ready for anything even remotely close to this.

Jason stood from his bed with a squeak and stepped in front of Tim. He wrapped his hands around Tim’s wrists and kept him in place. “Look, I know you’re worried about how your dad is going to react, but it’s going to be fine. He’s met me before and liked me well enough. This isn’t going to be the end of the world.”

“I know, but we’re going to meet him and have dinner as a married couple and he’s already hurt enough that he didn’t know about the wedding let alone that we had to supposedly date before this and I just…I don’t know how this is going to go.”

Jason sighed and threw an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. “It’s going to fine, alright? I promise. And if it all blows up then we don’t have to worry about having dinner again and we can just come back here and goof off and watch movies before we have to go back to class tomorrow.”

Tim slumped against him, his head coming to rest on Jason’s shoulder. “Okay,” he muttered. “I hope you’re right about this.”

“Just trust me on this. What could possibly go wrong?”

Tim made a noise in the back of his throat and Jason chuckled. “I could list about ten different things that could go wrong,” he muttered.

“Think positive, Timbo. Think positive.”

~~

Tim bit his lip as they stepped out of his car in front of his father’s house. He shut the door and Jason walked around to meet him and grabbed his hand, linking their fingers together. Tim jolted and stared down at his hand.

“Married couples hold hands,” Jason murmured next to him.

Tim swallowed. “Right,” he agreed, squeezing Jason’s hand as he took a steadying breath.

Jason took the lead while Tim reluctantly followed and knocked on the door.

It was pulled open moments later to reveal one of the manor staff in all black.

“Welcome home, Tim. Your father is waiting for you in the dining room,” she said, standing to the side as they stepped in.

“Thank you,” Tim said as she shut the door and walked away. He led Jason through the hall to the dining room, surprised to the find the door had been propped open.

His father was sitting at the head of the table with the two adjacent spots having waiting place settings for them both.

“Welcome home, Tim,” his dad said, standing. “I’m eager to hear all about your trip. And Jason,” he said holding out a hand. “Nice to see you again.”

“Mr. Drake,” Jason said, shaking his hand politely.

“Let’s have a seat and we can get our evening started,” Jack said, taking his seat again.

Tim and Jason slipped into their chairs and Tim took a sip of water to steady him as the first appetizer was brought in and set before them.

“So,” Jack started. “How long were the two of you dating before you decided to run off and get married?”

Tim checked a sigh and picked at the vegetables on his plate with his fork.

“We’d been dating for about a year,” Jason supplied smoothly, punctuating the sentence with a bite. He watched Jack as he chewed, and Jack did the same.

“And why didn’t you think to tell me about this little arrangement? The fact that you were dating or that you’d decided to get married?” Jack asked, gaze sliding to Tim.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d take it,” Tim hedged. The statement wasn’t a complete lie but would give them something to work with.

“Were you afraid I’d react badly? Because of how soon it’s been or were you worried because Jason’s a boy?” Jack asked.

Tim hesitated, it was the perfect opportunity. The only opening that would make sense in the grand scheme of things.

“We never really talked about my sexuality or the other politics surrounding the queer community,” Tim said slowly, keeping a careful eye on his father. “And I always thought there was a part of you that would prefer me to marry a socialite who was prominent in Gotham’s business venues.”

Jack sighed and when Tim looked at him he was startled to see he looked older than he’d ever seen him before.

“Tim,” he started, sounding exhausted and hurt. “I know that my views on business have always been intense. But I never wanted you to feel forced to have to comply with my life in who you married. Sure, I had dreams of you marrying someone prominent who attended our fundraisers and that you’d take over the family business one day, but I never would’ve wanted that at your own expense.

“Now I see that I probably should’ve talked to you about other options, but I’d hoped that you never would’ve felt the need to hide something like this because you were afraid of how I might react.”

Tim swallowed, losing his appetite as guilt coiled in his stomach. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t realize how important this was to you.”

A little bit of sadness cleared from Jack’s eyes as he looked between Tim and Jason.

“Thank you, Tim. But I’d like to see you both more often. We should have dinner once in a while,” Jack said.

“I wouldn’t mind having dinner once a week,” Jason broke in. “I know that I’d like to get to know you better now that you’re my father-in-law.”

Jack smiled softly. “Then I’ll expect you here next week at the same time.”

“Sure thing, Dad,” Tim said, meeting Jason’s gentle gaze across the table. He couldn’t help but smile and ducked his head to stare at his food.

~~

“Tim! Wait up!”

Tim looked up from his phone and glanced over his shoulder, finding Jason running after him. He grinned and turned to face him.

“What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t have class until later.”

“I have to get to a meeting with my advisor. I have a few questions about the courses being offered next semester and want to make sure I can take what I want,” he said, falling into step beside Tim.

Tim opened his mouth to reply when he saw a couple of people watching him on the other side of the quad, looking inquisitive. Before he could second guess himself, he shoved his phone into his pocket and moved his coffee cup to his left hand. He grabbed Jason’s hand and linked their fingers together.

Thankfully, Jason kept from looking down at their hands and gave him a curious look instead.

“A group of people are watching us,” Tim whispered. “We have to keep up appearances.”

Jason chuckled and squeezed his hand. The warmth of his palm and the slide of Jason’s callouses across his skin made his stomach swoop and Tim quickly took a drink of his coffee to hide the smile that pulled at his lips.

He was in deep shit with their idea to get married, but he couldn’t find it in himself to really complain while he was walking across the quad to class.

“Are we still on for lunch later?” Jason asked as they reached the main cluster of academic buildings.

Tim nodded. “Yeah. Meet in our usual spot after class?”

“You know it.”

“Cool. Since I get out an hour before you, I’ll probably head to the library to get some work done on my research paper.”

“Don’t work too hard,” Jason muttered. “I don’t need to come and drag you out of the library because you forget to eat.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s only October, there’s no reason for me to fall down that hole yet.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t be so sure. You’re always on the verge of pushing your boundaries even when you don’t need to.”

Tim huffed and tried to pull his hand back, but Jason tightened his grip. “Are you going to let me get to class?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jason hesitated, looking a little uncertain as he glanced to the side. Before Tim could follow his gaze, Jason ducked his head and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“There are a couple people staring at us,” Jason murmured.

“Oh,” Tim said, hoping it didn’t sound as forced or strangled as it felt.

“See you later?” Jason asked, looking like he was about to be drop-kicked across the quad for offending Tim.

Tim let his expression relax and smiled. “Yeah. Meet you at lunch.” He squeezed Jason’s hand and let it go, turning towards his academic building. His eyes did a sweep of the quad and he saw the people who were watching them, clearly interested in their relationship.

He didn’t look back as he hurried up the steps and pushed through the double doors to the building. Several gazes followed him through the hall and Tim was really starting to regret the huge media spectacle he’d made of their marriage.

Tim slipped into his classroom and made his way to one of the tables in the back. He set up his computer in front of him and curled up in his chair, eyes flicking around the room to gauge the reaction to his presence.

People kept glancing in his direction while talking to their friends and Tim ran a hand down his face, feeling the cool metal of his wedding band. He just had to trudge his way through class and in a couple weeks, no one would even remember that he was married to Jason. And if they did, they would probably stop caring.

He hoped they would, anyway. He really hoped they would.

~~

The door to his private study room burst open and it still took Tim another five seconds before he was able to tear his gaze away from his computer screen.

“Jason?” he asked, brow furrowing. “What are you doing here?”

Jason huffed and crossed his arms. “We’re supposed to be meeting for lunch remember?”

“Yeah, but don’t you still have class?” Tim asked, gaze flicking down to the time in the corner of his computer screen. “Oh,” he said softly.

“Yeah, oh. I knew you wouldn’t be able to pull yourself away from your work once you got started.”

“Sorry,” Tim said, rubbing the heels of his palms against his eyes. “Guess I lost track of time.”

“What am I going to do with you,” Jason muttered. “Let’s go. I’m sure you’re starving and just haven’t realized it yet.”

Tim nodded and packed up his things, tossing them into his backpack with less grace than he normally would. He slipped his arms through the straps and Jason pulled him through the door, keeping an arm around his shoulders as they walked.

Tim fought down a shiver, wanting to lean into Jason’s warmth and plaster himself to his side. Anyone looking at them wouldn’t question it, but he wasn’t willing to have that conversation later when Jason inevitably called him out on it.

“Are you cold?” Jason asked as they crossed the quad from the library towards the dining hall.

“Not really,” he mumbled, burrowing further into his hoodie. The temps had only dropped slightly so it wasn’t bad enough that Tim was at the point he couldn’t get warm no matter what he did.

“You get cold when the temps drop though, don’t you?” Jason asked, tugging him up the steps to the dining hall.

Tim ignored the warmth that spread through his chest that Jason knew that. It was from their years of friendship and not because he cared enough to remember that.

“Yeah…” he muttered.

Jason directed him inside and he relaxed at the warm air that surrounded them. He pulled out his student ID and handed it to the woman working the sign in for the dining hall. Jason did the same and they slipped through the lines of students towards the back where they usually sat.

He caught sight of a few glances that were shot in their direction but ignored them. They would go away soon enough and he didn’t have the energy to worry about it.

“Grab me a soda?” Jason asked once they set their backpacks down in the extra chairs.

“As long as you get me dessert,” Tim countered with a grin.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason said, throwing an arm around Tim’s shoulders as they moved back towards the lines of food. They split off, going to their favorite food stations. Tim grabbed his food quickly, glad to have missed the lunch rush because of his focus on his homework.

He gripped his plate tightly in his hand and stopped by the soda fountain, filling a cup for him and Jason. He pressed one into the crook of his arm and carried the other one. He made it back to the table before Jason did and set the second drink in front of Jason’s seat.

Tim tucked into his burger, glad for the warm food. Jason offered him a smile when he set the dessert plate between them both and started in on his own food.

~~

“Follow my lead,” Jason hissed next to his ear.

“What-“ he started when Jason pressed a quick kiss to his lips. He kept the shock off his face when Jason pulled back, keeping his head tilted up towards Jason, letting the question seep into his eyes.

“Paparazzi,” Jason explained.

“Where?”

Jason put on a small smile despite their conversation and let his features soften. “Behind you,” he said, the geniality from his expression not seeping into his voice. “They can’t see your face, but other people are watching too since it’s not a small group of people toting cameras around.”

Tim nodded, snaking his arm around Jason’s waist. “Are they following?”

“Not right now. I think it helps that it’s late. Although we are headed back to our dorm so that’ll get them talking.”

Tim sighed, ducking his head against any possible scrutiny. Jason’s arm tightened around his shoulders and pulled him tighter against his side.

“Almost there,” Jason whispered.

Tim nodded and smiled. “You know, you’d think from your attitude, you’re the one with experience dealing with the cameras instead of me.”

Jason chuckled. “Yeah, but I’ve been around you long enough that I know how to handle it without making it into a big deal. We just have to put on a show for them.”

Tim nodded even though his stomach sank at Jason’s words. He didn’t need another reminder that for Jason this was still just pretend and something he was only doing to make sure he didn’t suffer crushing debt for years to come.

Jason trotted up the steps to their building quickly, pulling Tim along until they were safely inside the doors of their building.

“You okay?” he whispered, pulling him into the stairwell.

“Fine,” Tim said, feeling more exhausted then he had in a while. “Just tired.”

“Sounds to me like a night of Netflix in bed is just the thing you need.”

“You know what? I think you might be right,” Tim said.

Jason grinned and pulled his arm from around Tim’s shoulders to unlock their shared room door. He pushed inside, and Tim shut the door behind them. Jason pushed Tim’s backpack from his shoulders much to Tim’s amusement and dropped his own on his chair.

He pulled out his laptop and shoved Tim onto his bed, grabbing his own pillow before he settled down on top of the covers with him.

Tim watched as Jason pulled up Netflix and pulled up a show they’d both been watching, loading the next episode.

Tim wiggled around on the bed as it started, getting comfortable. After a moment of hesitation, he rested his head on Jason’s shoulder, curling into his side slightly. Jason pulled his arm out from in between them and shoved it under Tim’s head, giving him another pillow to lean against.

Tim smiled and lost himself in the show, ready to enjoy an hour or two of relaxation time before he’d be forced to return to the realities of his life and school.

~~

“Tim. Hey, Tim.”

Tim groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, curling into the warmth against him.

A chuckle washed over his head, warm breath ruffling his hair.

“You have to get up Tim. You’re going to miss your class if you don’t get out of bed.”

“No,” he grunted. “Fuck class.”

“You’ll miss breakfast. You won’t get any coffee once breakfast is over.”

“Lies. The dining hall always serves coffee and if they didn’t I could just go to the campus Starbucks.”

Jason heaved a sigh, causing Tim to be jostled where he was suddenly very aware he was leaning against him.

“You can’t stay in bed and avoid class all day, Tim. If I have to go to class, you do too.”

“Noooo,” he whined.

“You can stay if you want to, but I’m getting out of bed.”

Tim made a strangled sound in the back of his throat as Jason pushed him off his shoulder. The bed shifted as Jason swung his legs over the side and stood up.

Tim tried to find a comfortable position and settle back in for a longer bout of rest, but he tossed and turned, rearranging the blanket over him and the pillow under his head, unable to relax now that the warmth against his side was gone.

He huffed a sigh and stared at the ceiling for a moment, listening to Jason in the bathroom brushing his teeth before he shoved off the covers and climbed out of bed.

“So, you’ve finally decided to join the land of the living?” Jason asked behind him.

“Shut up,” he grumbled. “I couldn’t get comfortable.”

He pulled out a change of clothes and was about to push into the bathroom when Jason stopped him with a hand.

“You going to the library later?”

Tim nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to get some work done on my paper later this afternoon after lunch.”

“Mind if I join you when I get out of class?”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you need to ask? You usually just come and sit down and tell me to deal with it.”

Jason shrugged, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Sorry, just thought I’d ask.”

Tim cleared his throat and slipped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He took several breaths to calm down his heartbeat as it hopped and skipped joyfully.

This was bad. This was so very bad.

~~

Tim didn’t look up when the chair across from him was pulled out and someone took the seat across from him. He assumed it was Jason but when no books were set on the table he paused his own work to look up.

He blinked at the strange, smiling woman sitting across from him.

“Uh…can I help you?” he asked eloquently.

Her smile widened into a grin. “How’s married life treating you?”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “And why would I tell you that?” he asked. “I don’t even know you.”

She rolled her eyes. “You can’t blame someone for being curious. You’re the talk of all the tabloids. Everyone’s dying to know all about your new husband and the things you do together.”

Tim narrowed his eyes and shut his laptop. “None of that is any of your or anyone else’s business,” he said, grinding his teeth as he shoved his computer into his backpack.

“Look, you really don’t need to leave,” she stared, putting up her hands.

“No, I really think I do,” he growled, shouldering his backpack.

Her gaze slid past him, face lighting up with delight. She slapped her hands on the table and stood up.

“Just the person I was hoping to see.”

Tim turned and found Jason standing behind him, eyes narrowed at the woman.

“I really think I’m not who you want to see,” he said. “It looks to me like you’re bothering my husband.”

“I wouldn’t really say I was bothering him,” the woman said, raising a hand.

Jason rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around Tim’s shoulders. He guided him away from the table even as the woman called for them to wait.

Tim glanced up and saw Jason’s face set in a scowl. They were out of the library before Tim worked up the courage to say something.

“Are you okay?” Tim whispered.

Jason stiffened before he let out slow breath, the tension seeping from his shoulders. “I think I should be asking you that. She wasn’t too much of a nuisance, right?”

“She was just searching for information about us. Wanted to know more about you and our relationship. I’m thinking she was probably a reporter posing as a college student,” Tim explained.

“Sorry,” Jason muttered.

Tim shook his head. “How about we just go back to our room? We can worry about this later.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“At this point I’d rather order in than deal with all of the stares we’ll get otherwise. Not to mention the paparazzi that are going to be hanging around campus. Especially after that last encounter.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jason agreed, dropping a kiss onto the top of Tim’s head.

Tim’s heart stuttered, and he forced himself to keep walking and stay calm. Jason was relaxed beside him and Tim glanced around trying to find any paparazzi or students that might have been watching them but couldn’t find any overt gazes staring at them.

He swallowed and forced his feet to keep moving.

~~

Tim’s stomach grumbled as Jason unpacked the bag of Indian food that had been delivered minutes ago. The floor was covered with books and papers and both of their laptops sat open with half-written papers on the screen.

Tim pulled up Netflix and scrolled through the list of movies he had saved that he hadn’t gotten to watch yet.

“Does this look good?” he asked, turning the computer to face Jason.

He glanced up and nodded.

Tim left it to play and took a spoon and the container of curry he’d ordered. Jason pulled two sodas from the mini fridge next to his bed and crawled around to sit next to Tim, their sides pressed together as they leaned against Tim’s bed.

After a moment, Tim let himself relax against Jason, soaking up his warmth and the comfort that came with being together.

Jason stared into his food, stirring it around.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Tim froze and looked over at him. “What?”

“This is all my fault. People are bugging you because of my stupid idea.”

Tim shook his head before Jason even finished talking. “I didn’t have to go along with it. I chose to do this with you. It’s not your fault that people can’t keep their business to themselves.”

“Are you sure?” Jason asked. “I’d understand if you wanted to call it quits and stop.”

The thought made his stomach turn. “Do you want to?” he asked instead.

Silence fell between them. It stretched on, the only sound was the soft dialogue from the film.

“No,” Jason finally admitted.

“Then I’m okay with keeping this going,” Tim agreed, looking down at his food. “Besides,” he said trying for a smile as his tone lifted, “my dad already approves of you.”

Jason grinned. “He hasn’t seen me at any of his fancy parties yet, though.”

“I might never forgive you depending on what you’re planning,” Tim said.

“So what would you forgive me for then?”

“I don’t know. It depends on what you’re planning and how much entertainment I get from it.”

“I will start plotting with gusto.”

Tim chuckled and scooped up a spoonful of his curry, shoving it into his mouth. His earlier anxiety was gone. He was happy. As happy as he could be while trying to pretend his feelings weren’t so real.

“What do you think about a rainbow tuxedo?”

Tim choked and coughed, trying to clear the food from his throat he’d just inhaled. Jason thumped him on the back and offered him his soda.

“What?” Tim asked.

Jason chuckled. “A rainbow tux. It would make any black-tie event I go to with you more fitting for the two of us.”

Tim grinned. “Only if I get to wear one that’s hot pink.”

“I knew there was a reason I married you.”

Tim kept his grin steady even as his heart skipped a beat. The words felt too true to be meaningless, but beyond that Tim knew Jason couldn’t mean he held anything more for him than friendship. Life didn’t work out for him like that.

~~

Tim skirted around the refreshments table. He’d been pulled away from Jason twenty minutes ago and although both of them were wearing black, they’d still been stared at by Gotham’s elite because of their newfound reputation.

He had no idea where Jason had gone and was hoping that being around him would offer a reprieve from the questions being directed at him and the sadness that the parents had exuded over him not being able to marry their daughters. Not that that was ever an option anyway.

He jumped when an arm wrapped around his waist and a low voice chuckled in his ear.

“Looking for someone?”

Tim sighed, relaxing into Jason’s hold. “Just you, you ass,” he grumbled.

He grabbed Jason’s hand that was around him and tugged him towards an array of potted plants, hiding behind the leaves. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure no one had followed them.

“I swear I need a break from being paraded around this ballroom.”

Jason hummed. “I think I could offer a pretty ample distraction.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to face Jason. “By doing what?”

Jason grinned, and Tim blinked, his heart jumpstarting from a mixture of arousal at the heady look in Jason’s eyes and slight fear at what he was about to do.

Jason looked around before walking him backwards. Tim swallowed, feeling heat lick underneath his skin when his back hit the wall. He sucked in a breath and Jason cupped his face. He tilted his head back and covered Tim’s mouth with his own.

Tim grabbed Jason’s shoulders, nails digging into the soft fabric of his suit jacket. Jason bit down on Tim’s bottom lip before he swiped his tongue over the soft skin.

Tim unconsciously parted his lips, letting Jason’s tongue into his mouth. Tim’s eyes closed in bliss and he sucked greedily on Jason’s tongue, earning a low groan from Jason.

Jason pressed closer, covering Tim’s body with his. Their proximity made him squirm as he tested the boundaries and learned how little room he was given to move.

A throat cleared, and Jason pulled back harshly. Tim’s eyes flew open and he tightened his grip on Jason to keep him from moving away. His father was standing a few feet from them.

“Sorry to interrupt but you were drawing quite the audience from your antics Timothy,” he explained.

Tim’s face flamed, and he saw several older women behind his father’s shoulder who were watching them curiously and one camera that had snuck into the mix.

“Sorry, Dad,” he mumbled.

He smiled. “Socialize for a bit longer and I’ll let you leave early if you’re that impatient.”

“Thanks.”

Tim slowly dragged his gaze up to meet Jason’s eyes. Jason grinned at him.

“Care to dance?” he asked.

“You know how to dance?” Tim asked, quirking an eyebrow as the heat in his veins started to dissipate.

Jason chuckled and tugged Tim away from the wall and towards the couples dancing along to the string ensemble.

~~

Tim sighed and opened his eyes when his alarm went off. He stretched his arms over his head and groaned as his muscles tensed and relaxed. Something heavy was draped over his waist and Tim reached down to shove it away.

He froze when his hand touched skin and became aware of the warmth pressed against his back.

“Jason?” Tim asked, voice soft.

“Go back to sleep,” he groaned, burying his face in the back of Tim’s neck.

Tim forced himself not to shudder at the feeling. This early in the morning, Jason had stubble prickling his chin and cheeks, giving Tim beard burn on the back of his neck.

“Jason, I have to get up for class.”

“Since when do you care about going to class. Sleep. Sleep is good.”

Tim couldn’t help himself, he giggled. The change was so different compared to the other morning they’d woken up together. Jason’s grip tightened around his waist.

“Come on,” Tim said, patting his arm. “Let me up and we can go have breakfast before my class.”

“Fine,” he huffed, pulling his arm back.

Tim pushed himself up but Jason didn’t make any move to get out of bed. Tim rolled his eyes and made to climb over Jason, but an arm snaked around his back and pulled him down. He sprawled against Jason’s chest, arms splayed out to the side.

“What are you doing?” Tim grumbled, his face smashed against Jason’s chest and muffling his voice.

Jason heaved a sigh and pulled his arm back, releasing the pressure on Tim’s back.

Tim felt his face heat up and climbed off the bed. He kept his gaze away from Jason and dug around in his dresser, pulling out a fresh pair of jeans and a tee. He slipped into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, shivering as the warmth in his limbs started to dissipate.

He stripped out of his pajamas and shoved his legs into his jeans, jumping in place to tug them up his thighs until he could button the front. He threw his shirt on and quickly brushed his teeth.

Tim stared at his reflection and met his own gaze. He took a deep breath, trying to center himself when all he really wanted to do was throw himself back in bed with Jason. The pull to him never waned and one of these days it would become too much and he’d crash.

He nodded and forced himself towards the door. He pulled it open and blinked when his eyes met Jason’s chest.

“Aren’t you-“

Jason made a noise in the back of his throat and shuffled around him.

“Give me a minute and I’ll go with you to breakfast,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

Tim blinked and shook himself. He stuffed his books and laptop in his backpack and tugged a hoodie over his head.

The toilet flushed in the bathroom before the door was pulled open.

Jason sighed as he stepped out. “Much better,” he said, sounding more awake than he’d been a minute ago.

“Ready to go?” Tim asked, shouldering his backpack.

“Yup,” Jason said, shoving his feet into his shoes. He plucked his leather jacket from the back of his desk chair and grabbed his backpack, following Tim out of their room. They’d barely made it a step before Jason’s arm settled around his shoulders and pressed him close to his side.

Tim smiled and settled into his warmth.

~~

Tim groaned and buried his head in his crossed arms on the table in the study room he’d snagged. The research paper he was working on was killing him even with the head start he’d gotten.

The door opened to his room and he expected someone to splutter out an apology for walking in on an occupied room.

He huffed and raised his head, finding Jason standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

“Time for a break?” Jason asked.

“Only if I get to take a break from the rest of this semester. This research paper is killing me,” he sighed, letting his eyes slide shut.

“Come on,” Jason said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Pack up your stuff and let’s head back to the room. You’re going to feel like shit if you fall asleep at this table.”

Tim grumbled but did as Jason suggested. He shoved his things into his backpack and lethargically pushed his chair back, getting to his feet.

Jason grabbed his hand and linked their fingers together, pulling him from the room.

Tim felt heat flood his cheeks and ducked his head, hoping to hide it. Jason squeezed his hand, looking perfectly content as they walked through the main doors of the library.

Tim shivered at the sudden chill of the late autumn air. He stepped closer to Jason, hoping to steal some of his warmth. Almost as though Jason was on the same wavelength as him, he pulled his hand from Tim’s and draped his arm around Tim’s shoulders, pulling him tight against his side.

Tim smiled, finding comfort in the silence between them. Whatever was going on between them, Tim was finding it less heart-wrenching then he had when they’d first gotten married. He was starting to think that maybe he could make it through the next couple years of their marriage regardless of the paparazzi and the other people who made their relationship into a spectacle.

Tim hesitantly slipped his arm behind Jason’s back. Jason tightened his hold on Tim’s shoulders and he slipped his fingers gently into Jason’s back pocket.

He let Jason direct him towards their dorm. He caught sight of a few people giving them curious looks, but he was starting to think their attention was beginning to wane.

They climbed the stairs sluggishly and Jason unlocked their door before manhandling him inside. Tim pulled away from Jason once they were inside and let his backpack drop to the floor next to his bed. He stared at his rumpled sheets, wanting to toss himself onto it, but a hand on his hip stopped him.

He furrowed his brow and turned to look up at Jason who stood over him.

“Jason?” he asked.

Jason pressed their chests together, fingers tangling in the strands of hair at the back of Tim’s neck. He ducked his head and covered Tim’s lips with his own.

Tim gasped, eyes going wide as Jason kissed him. Jason’s tongue slipped between his lips and a high noise sounded in the back of his throat. Jason groaned and wrapped his other arm around Tim’s back and Tim clutched at his shoulders, nails digging into the fabric of his hoodie.

Jason broke the kiss with a sigh, pressing their foreheads together as Tim sucked in desperate breaths, trying to calm his pounding heart.

“Jason?” Tim asked, feeling more raw and vulnerable than he thought he’d ever be with him.

“Sorry,” Jason apologized. He stepped back, releasing Tim from his hold and Tim felt cold.

He turned on his heel and stalked towards the door.

“Jason, what-“

Before he could finish the question, Jason pushed through the door to their room and disappeared. Tim stood frozen next to his bed as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

The door slammed shut with a finality that chilled Tim to his core.

It took him too long to snap out of it before he was crossing the floor of their room. He threw the door open and looked up and down the hallway, but Jason was nowhere in sight.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.

He slipped back inside and the let the door shut behind him, pulling his phone from his pocket. He dialed Jason’s number, pacing back and forth across the small floor space they had around their furniture.

It rang five times before going to voicemail. Tim growled and ended the call before he redialed. The same thing happened and he huffed, waiting for the beep to come.

“Jason, I don’t know why you decided to kiss me like that and walk out but you need to get your ass back here right now.”

He hung up and tried calling him again. It didn’t even make it to the second ring before he was sent to voicemail.

“You fucking idiot,” he hissed under his breath.

Tim opened their text message thread and angrily tapped against his screen.

Tim: Jason get the fuck back here.

Tim: Jason I know you’ve got your phone and you’re seeing this.

Tim: We need to talk about what just happened so don’t fucking ignore me.

Tim: Jason I need to talk to you.

Tim: Answer me you asshole!

He stared at his phone, waiting for a reply even as the read receipts kept coming back to him. But Jason never started typing.

“He has to come back sometime,” Tim fumed, gripping his phone so tightly that if he was thinking clearly he almost would’ve worried about breaking it. “And I’m going to be ready for him.”

Tim made sure his ringer was on so he wouldn’t miss any text or call, as unlikely as they were. He tried to find a comfortable spot on the floor and pulled out his homework, determined to get something done while he waited for Jason to get back.

He managed to last through five frustrating minutes of homework before he gave up and pushed it away, too distracted by what had happened and the lack of response from Jason. He pulled up Netflix and left something to play, not really focusing on what happened on the screen, mind still too preoccupied with thoughts of Jason but needing the background noise.

Tim stared at the door, eyes locked on it as he waited. He crossed his arms. He’d outwait Jason. He could do it. He would do it. And when he did, he was going to get to the bottom of whatever the fuck was happening.

~~

Tim groaned when he woke up. He blinked his eyes open and found his face smashed against the floor. He’d fallen to the side after passing out. He straightened and stretched his arms over his head, feeling his muscles and neck pop from sleeping in such an awkward position. He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing at the kink and the soreness.

He didn’t feel rested at all and going to class was the last thing he wanted to do, both because of how awful he felt and being away from the dorm would give Jason a chance to sneak in and out without him knowing about it.

He sighed and pushed himself to his feet. He grabbed a change of clothes and slipped into the bathroom, turning the water on as hot as it would go in the hopes of washing away the gross feeling that was overwhelming him.

Tim stared at his reflection before the steam eclipsed the mirror. He had bags under his eyes and looked exhausted, face and hair rumpled. He sighed and stripped out of yesterday’s clothes, leaving them in a pile next to the door.

He stepped into the shower and braced his hands against the wall, letting his eyes shut as the hot water beat against his back. He could get lucky if he went to breakfast and Jason ended up being there too. It wasn’t a guarantee that he would catch him, but there were so many places on campus that Jason frequented that there was no telling where he’d be hiding out.

Tim reached for his shampoo and lazily popped the cap, squeezing some into his palm to wash his hair. He didn’t come back during the night which meant Jason had no intention of coming back to the room while he was here.

But most of the time Jason was a stickler when it came to class. There had been more than one day when Jason had dragged Tim from his room to make sure he got his ass to class and got his homework done.

Tim tilted his head back and let the water run through his hair, washing the soap down his back until it swirled down the drain. He was going to fix this. He was going to make it better even if Jason decided to be an idiot about it.

~~

Tim felt like his skin was too tight. He was seated in the middle of the dining hall for once, giving him a view of both entrances. He did a walkthrough of the hall when he got there to make sure that Jason wasn’t already there and found their usual spot empty. His eyes kept shifting, waiting for Jason’s familiar figure to walk through the door but he hadn’t shown up yet.

It was getting close to the start of Tim’s class and breakfast continued for another hour after he’d have to leave. Jason would have plenty of time to sneak in after he was gone to get something to eat and the knowledge that Jason was avoiding him made his stomach twist.

“Hey, aren’t you Tim Drake?”

He stopped chewing and glanced away from the door he’d been watching to find a boy standing in front of his table.

“Yeah?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and fighting not to let his eyes flit to the entrances of the dining hall again.

“Didn’t you just get married or something? Where’s your husband?” he asked, bracing a hand on the table across from Tim.

“He’s got class,” Tim lied, pushing his chair back. “Which is where I need to be in five minutes.”

He slipped his backpack on and grabbed his dirty dishes, heading for the return line as the boy spluttered behind him and tried to call after him.

Tim tossed his dishes onto the belt with little care what happened to them. His stomach was twisting in on itself and his heart felt tight. He swallowed, trying to clear his throat but something was stuck, lodged there and making it difficult to breath.

He glanced behind him and when he didn’t find anyone giving him much attention he slipped around the corner from the doors and into the blessedly convenient single stall bathroom. He locked the door shut behind him and pressed back against it before sliding down to the floor.

Tim tried to even out his breathing, but everything hurt. He wanted it fixed. He wanted Jason.

He hugged his knees close to his chest and tried to let his breath out, but it hitched and stuck, sounding on the verge of a sob.

Tim’s eyes burned, and his vision became blurry. He buried his face in his knees, heart clenching with every hitch in his breath and the first few tears that slid down his cheeks.

“I hate you so much, Jason,” he whispered into the tile around him. “I hate that I love you so much.”

~~

Tim stayed in the bathroom until someone came knocking on the door asking if it was free.

“Just a minute,” he croaked, voice sounding raw.

He pushed himself onto shaky feet and stumbled over to the sink. His eyes looked red and sunken, irises dull in the low light of the bathroom and his cheeks adorned with a splotchy flush. He turned on the tap as cold as it would go and cupped the water in his palms, wiping it over his face to cool his overheated skin.

Tim patted his skin dry with a paper towel and tossed that into the trash. He was steadier on his feet when he moved to open the door.

“Sorry I took so long,” he apologized, unable to meet the next person’s eyes.

“No worries,” she said, voice bright as Tim moved out of her way.

The door snapped shut behind him and Tim wrapped his arms around his stomach. He felt drained and was already late for class. He didn’t have the energy to show up late to his first class and couldn’t even contemplate going to his second one.

What he needed was Jason. Jason, who’d consumed his every waking thought for months. They’d laughed over movies and eaten takeout together and worked to fight off the stress that came with school. And now he was going to lose him.

Tim bit his lip, twisting his wedding band around his finger.

He took a shaky breath before finally forcing his feet to move. He was sluggish at first as he made his way down the stairs to leave the dining hall, but his desperation made itself known when he hit the sidewalk and started sprinting towards the academic building Jason had his morning class in.

Tim checked his watch. He had ten minutes before Jason’s class started and if he was lucky, he could catch him before he went inside. If he wasn’t lucky, maybe he could convince Jason to step out of class to talk to him.

Unless he was done pretending, they still needed to look convincing in front of other people and Tim knew Jason wouldn’t want to jeopardize that my ignoring his supposed husband when he came to talk to him.

Tim took the stairs two at a time and reached the second floor in seconds, bearing a sharp right and barely managing to avoid a couple of tired college students on their way out of their early morning classes. He caught a few looks of pity from them and they were most likely thinking that he was incredibly late for class.

Tim turned the corner, his breath catching in his throat when he spotted Jason stepping onto the second-floor landing. He looked exhausted, hair disheveled and bags under his eyes, movements sluggish as he shuffled along.

He glanced up and froze and Tim took that as his chance, barreling down the last distance between them until he skidded to a stop in front of Jason, chest heaving. Jason’s hands instinctively reached for him to keep him from crashing into something or tripping over himself.

They retracted a moment later as Jason’s eyes became guarded and he stepped back.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, voice cold and accusatory.

“Looking for you, you dumbass,” Tim huffed.

“I…what?” Jason asked, his defense falling away.

“You’re a dumbass,” Tim said. He stepped into Jason’s space and wrapped his fingers around the back of his neck and pulled him down, smashing their lips together.

Jason made a sound in the back of his throat, arms snaking around Tim’s waist to pull him close.

Tim broke the kiss and Jason made a low sound in the back of his throat, trying to follow him.

“Why did you run off last night?” he asked.

Jason blinked his eyes open, processing Tim’s words before he sighed, looking tired. “I thought you wouldn’t want me like this,” he admitted, voice low.

Tim huffed, feeling the anxiety that had lingered in his frame since the night before finally disappear. “Jason, I’ve had a ridiculous crush on you that’s probably bordered on love for at least two years now. I’ve been dying to kiss you since I first saw you. I agreed to marry you. Of course I wouldn’t be against this.”

Jason’s eyes widened, and his lips parted as he struggled to find something to say. Tim laughed and pressed closer, wrapping his arms around Jason’s shoulders.

“So, does this mean you’ll finally come back to our room tonight?” he asked.

“Why wait until tonight when we could go back now?” Jason asked instead, grip tightening around Tim’s waist.

“Aren’t you concerned with missing your class?” Tim asked.

“Nope,” Jason said. “I’d much rather be with you.”

Tim chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Jason’s lips, stepping back and forcing Jason to release his hold on him before he could get any ideas.

“Go to class,” he said, keeping a hand pressed against Jason’s chest when he tried to close the distance between them. “I’ll be in our room when you’re done. You made me stress since last night. It’s your turn to agonize over being separated and you only have to struggle through an hour.”

“An hour and fifteen minutes,” Jason grumbled.

“Well too bad,” Tim said, smirking at him. “Time for you to learn some self-control.”

“I have plenty of self-control,” Jason argued, trying to get closer even as Tim took a step back for every step forward he made. “I’ve kept myself from kissing you senseless for months. And then from ravishing you in bed these past few weeks.”

Tim grinned. “Go to class. And you can ravish me all you want when you get back.”

He turned on his heel and walked away as Jason groaned behind him. Tim glanced over his shoulder and shot a wink at Jason where he pouted after him.

He felt so much lighter than he had since the night before. He was happy. And he could finally enjoy himself and everything he was going to be lucky enough to have.

Tim bit his lip as he started down the stairs to the first floor. He was giddy and couldn’t wait for Jason to get out of class. There were so many things he could do now. So many things he could do with Jason that he’d wanted to do for so long. And now he finally had the chance.

~~

Tim scowled at his computer when he heard the room door open. He clicked several times, trying to get the program for one of his classes to work properly instead of what it was currently doing shitting all over his efforts to get his homework done.

His laptop disappeared from under his hands and he opened his mouth to shout something accusatory at the culprit when Jason’s smiling mouth pressed against his.

Tim made a happy noise in the back of his throat, arms automatically going around Jason’s shoulders as Jason crawled onto the bed, forcing him backwards.

Jason swiped his tongue along Tim’s lower lip and he parted his lips eagerly, letting his tongue slide inside to brush against his own.

“And to think we could’ve been doing this for years,” Tim grumbled when Jason pulled back to kiss across his cheek and down under his chin.

“Well we’re doing it now,” he mumbled into Tim’s skin, dragging his teeth along his pulse.

Tim shuddered, tightening his hold on Jason’s shoulders.

“You better not try and leave again,” he said, voice low and serious despite the arousal that was starting to flood his veins and cloud his mind.

Jason pulled back, meeting his eyes and Tim wanted to mourn the loss of contact but Jason’s gaze held him in place.

“I agreed to stay by your side in sickness and in health, Tim,” he said, reminding him of the vows they’d shared in Vegas mere weeks ago. “I meant those words with every fiber of my being even if you didn’t think I was serious. I’m not going to leave you again. Not now that I know you feel the same. You’re stuck with me the rest of your life so you better get used to it.”

Tim beamed, smile nearly painful as his eyes crinkled in happiness. “I wouldn’t want it any other way,” he whispered before he pulled Jason’s lips back to his.

If you enjoy my work, please reblog or consider buying me a ko-fi!

#jaytim #molim writes #jaytimweek #fic: proposal proposition #vegas wedding #college au

[secret-captain-swan-blog]

Castle on the Hill

English Literature PhD student Emma Swan just needs money to pay for her last semester of grad school tuition. Killian Jones has always dreamed of opening a bookshop but has never been able to afford it. So when the small principality of Misthaven is looking for their lost princess, the pair decide that this might just be the perfect money making scheme.

A Multi-chapter Modern Day + Lost Princess (think Rapunzel/Anastasia-esque) + Book Lovers in a Coffee Shop AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 40791/ ?

Prologue (Part 1 + 2) // Ch 1 // Ch 2 // Ch 3 // Ch 4 // Ch 5 // Ch 6

Read on: Ao3

Emma’s rejected kiss stings Killian all weekend. He tries to throw himself into work. To make up for taking Friday night off, he works the day and night shift on Saturday. It is just as well, the intense schedule keeps him busy and that is all he can ask for.

“What are you so down in the mouth about?” Ruby asks, when they swap shifts on Sunday.

“Tis nothing,” Killian mutters.

“Yeah, uh huh,” Ruby teases, folding her arms on the counter and propping up her chin on her hand, “Seriously, Killian, I’ve never seen you so forlorn. Tell Madame Ruby and she’ll sort out all your troubles.”

“Rubs, I said it was nothing,” Killian replies. It comes out more aggressive than intended.

“Woah,” Ruby says, “What the heck?”

She pauses and surveys him, “It’s a girl, isn’t it?” She’s smirking, before adding, “Or a boy? We’ve never talked about that specifically, and you can’t really assume these days.”

Killian rolls his eyes. While he’s seen Ruby sneak both lads and lasses up to her apartment, avoiding her Granny’s watchful eyes- Killian hasn’t brought anyone back to his apartment. He’s had occasional dates, one dreadful bathroom hook up that may have done permanent damage to a sink, and a two-week fling that he ended before anyone could get hurt. But he hasn’t really dated anyone, not since he arrived in Misthaven. Not since he left his painful romantic past behind him.

But there was something different about Emma. He could tell she got it. He could see her being the exception to rule, mostly because she would understand the rule in the first place. She knew about survival.

And maybe that was why she drew away from his kiss. If it was, he could deal with that. He could pick at her walls till she was ready for love.

But there are a million other reasons she might not be interested in him.

Reasons like the fact that she nearly has a PhD, while he’s never gone to a day of college. Reasons like she teaches classes on literature, while he works drawing pints and breaking up bar fights. Or that she lives in a nice apartment in a hip neighborhood, while he lives in a cramped apartment above a noisy bar. Or that he has a criminal record. Or that he’s spent most of his life without a family and that the one time he tried, it fantastically fell apart.

There are more than enough reasons for Emma Swan to not be interested.

“Shoot,” Ruby murmurs, “It is a girl. Or boy.”

“Girl,” Killian huffs.

“Right, girl,” Ruby says, nodding, “So who is she?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Killian shrugs.

“Why doesn’t it matter?” Ruby asks, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow.

“Because I tried to kiss her and she pulled away,” Killian admits, letting the bottled-up words out.

Ruby pulls a sympathetic face. “Tell me more. What’s she like?”

“She’s bloody fantastic. She’s American, blonde. She’s brilliant, a graduate student in literature. She likes all the same weird books I do.”

“Hmm, she sounds like your dream girl,” Ruby muses, “And I can’t think she isn’t interested in you- I mean, look at you. You’re attractive. You’ve got a quirky, but sexy accent. You’re charming as hell.”

“Ah Rubs, you flatter me so,” Killian jests.

“So what’s holding her back?” She asks.

He lifts a shoulder.

“It could be that she’s guarded,” Killian says, “I can tell she’s been through a lot, but I’m not sure what really and I’m not sure how it’s affected her. That’s the thing about Emma. She gets the ‘tough past’ thing. You can see it in her eyes and little things she says. She gets it. She likes books for the same reason I do, which I never known anyone like that before.”

“So, you think it’s the guarded thing?” Ruby says, “Because you know you can work on that. She’ll come around with more time.”

Killian shifts uncomfortably.

“Or it could be me. Maybe she wants someone,” He pauses, “More?”

“More what?” Ruby asks. “You can’t play that game. At least not yet. Give her more time. She’ll either come around and fall into your arms fairy tale style, or you’ll know she’s not interested but gain a friend. Just have patience, young grasshopper.”

“Oh like you are the yoda of dating wisdom?” Killian teases.

Ruby shrugs and gives a hum before leaving for her time off.

Killian takes Ruby’s advice and decides not to give up on Emma quite yet. Besides, they are in a business deal together. Wounded as his ego may be from her rejection, they still have to work together to pull off their scheme. And well, he still really fancies her.

He heads to Mamie’s on Tuesday afternoon. He’s given her the weekend to have time for herself, but he hopes he’ll see her today. After all, tomorrow she’ll be meeting with the queen and he reckons it’s a good idea to be on the same page before that happens.

He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees her. She sitting by the window as usual, her laptop and bowl of cappuccino in front of her. She dressed casually, skinny jeans and black t-shirt. Her red leather jacket is draped over the back of her chair. She also The Red Stilettos sitting on her table as well.

Killian flinches at the book. It’s a Blanche Neige, but by the far the darkest. While Killian’s reread most of her novels several times, he’s only read this one once. It was too haunting, too grim to touch again. The Red Stilettos tells the tale of a young girl forced into a career of exotic dancing for The Dictator after a cruel pimp in Dark Times Misthaven forces her into a pair of stiletto’s that force her to keep dancing. Her only solution is to cut off her own feet.

“Well that’s some jolly reading for the afternoon,” Killian remarks.

“Hello Killian,” Emma says, rolling her eyes.

Good old Emma. Always rolling her eyes.

“I can’t stand that one,” Killian tells her.

Emma gives him a puzzled look and then glances down at The Red Stilettos.

“It’s pretty dark,” Emma admits, “But I think it’s one of the most important of Blanche Neige’s work.”

Killian side into the chair across from her, resting a hand under his chin, “How so?”

“Well, her other novels are about people saving Misthaven, delivering it from oppressive dictators. But this one isn’t. The only person that that the protagonist manages to save is herself. And she has to cut away part of herself to do it, but she does. She saves herself. It’s not about daring resistance schemes, but personal resistance. It’s about the little things that we can do every day to rebel, to fight for hope.”

Killian looks at her with a sense of awe. She’s brilliant. Here he had just thought of it as a bleak, gritty novel, but Emma had found a way to see it as something both academic and inspirational.

“I think that it might be how Blanche Neige felt herself. Like she couldn’t bring down a whole regime. She couldn’t be the hero of her books, but she could do something. She could write these stories and use them as her own act of resistance,” Emma adds.

“Do you think they made a difference?” Killian asks.

“They made a difference to us,” Emma says, stirring a spoon in her cappuccino.

“They changed our whole lives,” Killian murmurs.

Emma licks some foam off her spoon and adds, softly, “So I think that counts.”

“Listen, Emma, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable on Friday,” Killian says.

“No, it’s okay, I was just being,” She hesitates and shrugs. He wonders what she’ll say- stubborn, guarded. “Me.”

“Well, I don’t ever want to come in the way of that,” He tells her, “But please, Emma, if you don’t want me around, if you don’t want to work with me- just say the words and I’ll disappear.”

“It’s not that,” Emma nibbles on the edge of the spoon, “I really like having you around. It’s just… I need to focus on my thesis. With this money-making plot as well, I really don’t have time for other… distractions.”

Killian isn’t sure if this was the whole story. Emma has so many walls and layers, he isn’t sure he’ll ever know her fully. But he knows that this is part of the truth. He knows how important her dissertation is to her. He wouldn’t ever want to stand in her way of following her ultimate goal.

“Just know that, um, if you change your mind, I’ll be here,” He says softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She looks up and meets his eyes.

Then just a blush begins to creep up on her, she lifts up her cappuccino bowl to cover her face. When she puts it down, the blush is gone and Emma is back to business. The emotionally intimate moment is pushed aside, or bottled up, or whatever it is Emma does to compartmentalize.

“So, I thought you were going to show me more of Misthaven,” Emma says, “It’s been what- a week- since you promised that and all I’ve seen so far is more of the Misthaven University library.”

Killian doesn’t mind the change in subject when it allows him another opportunity to take Emma on a date. Or maybe a not-date. Whatever, he’s happy for the excuse to spend more time with Emma.

“Your wish is my command, milady,” Killian says, “What would you like to see?”

Emma shrugs and runs her hand through her hair, “Something to get me out of my head.”

“Hmm, I thought you were avoiding distractions,” He teases.

Emma looks startled for a moment, before sticking out her tongue, “I can spare two hours off.”

Killian tries to think of something to do. It’s a gorgeous day, so maybe a hike in the mountains. Or a picnic in one of Misthaven’s many parks. Or a visit to the memorial gardens.

But she’s still so new to Misthaven, he thinks she needs another chance to get acquainted with the city.

“How do you feel about heights?” He asks.

Emma closes her laptop and smiles, “I don’t mind them.”

“Grand,” Killian says, “Grab your things. Let’s go.”

Emma follows Killian into the warm afternoon air. She stuffs her jacket into her purse, realizing that it isn’t necessary in the early autumn heat. They weave through Old Town. It’s buzzing, as usual, but slightly muted as the lunch crowd has headed back to work.

Killian stops in front the main church in town. Emma’s seen the dreamy steeple of the Cathedral de Sainte Ann many times, but she hasn’t ventured into the church before.

She isn’t really a church kind of person. Well, except for one time when she’d been fostered by a particularly religious family. They’d taken her and the three other foster kids to church every Sunday. She hadn’t minded it. There were always good stories. Men trapped in lion dens, others who walked on water- they were fascinating to listen to- nearly as good as fairy tales. But when one of her foster siblings had planted a handful of stolen money under her pillow, she was sent away and that was the end of churches.

She’s a little unsure of what they are doing outside of the building when Killian opens the door and gives her a little nod. Inside, glittering stain glass is scattering light everywhere. There is beautiful grey stone everywhere, like a portal to the past. The ceiling is decorated in little stars, with angels swirled in between.

“Chagall did the windows,” Killian whispers, “Take your time to take it all in.”

Killian goes to sit in one of the pews while she explores. Emma weaves around the church taking in each display of sparkling glass. She can’t tell what any of them are really. They are most dizzying displays of color and images. She loves the details of the place, the bits of gold decorating the alter piece, the ambo.

“It’s really nice,” Emma says, wishing she had better words to describe the fascinating building.

“It’s one of the oldest things in Misthaven,” Killian explains, “That and the castle, really.”

Emma hums, imagining all the history that took place here.

“But come on,” He says, “It’s time to see the true gem of this place.”

They walk together to entrance of the church. There is a small door there, the kind that might go unnoticed to a different eye. It could be leading to a closet, or maybe a space for a choir.

Killian puts a code into the lock on it and swings it open.

“You weren’t lying about the heights, right?” He asks.

Emma’s never been one to mind heights. After everything she’s gone through in life, a nice view has never turned her off. She shakes her head.

“Up we go, Swan. You never forget your first church tower.”

Emma follows him up into a small passage. The climb to the top of the tower is made up of several wooden ladders that lead up from platform to platform.

“Lady first,” Killian says, gesturing to her to begin the climb. “Or should I say Princess first.”

The name brings thoughts racing back to her head, thoughts that she’s been putting off all weekend because she can’t. She isn’t ready to think about them. She shoves them off for a moment more.

Emma begins the assent. The ladder isn’t rickety, but she is relieved that she doesn’t have any fears of heights or claustrophobia because that would make this a lot more difficult. When she reaches the first platform, she hears Killian begin on the ladder below her.

“How do you know about this?” She asks.

She doesn’t peg Killian for a church go-er. He’s a little too rogue for that kind of thing.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I used to be something of a Quasimodo? Living up in this very bell towers, ringing the bells, naming them all,” He rambles.

Emma rolls her eyes at him, even though he can’t see her.

“No,” She says flatly, reaching the second platform.

“Aw, come on. I named the biggest one after you. I call her the Swan,” He says.

“Still no,” She replies. “And are you calling me fat?”

“Of course not, love. Biggest for biggest heart, of course. And actually, she’s called The Vicious Swan,” His voice adds.

“Oh my god, Killian, I’m going to climb down and shove you off the ladder.”

“Only jesting, darling,” he says. “Would you believe me if I told you I worked odd jobs when I first arrived in Misthaven. During the Dark Times, the churches were destroyed and ransacked. This one in particular. I’m surprised the Chagall windows survived to be honest. The whole thing was in disarray. I spent a few weeks helping out here, just trying to be helpful. My biggest task was rebuilding these stairs and platforms.”

“So if they ever break- I’m blaming you?” She asks, stepping up to a higher one.

The image of Killian, hot, sweaty (and probably shirtless- What? A girl can dream!) building things, fills her head. She smiles to herself at the fantasy.

And then promptly cuts off her fantasy. Honestly, this “no Killian” plan is probably doomed.

“Precisely,” He says, “But they won’t. I’m excellent.”

“Are you really?” She asks.

Gesh, there are a lot of stairs to the top.

“Yes, Swan,” He says, mock annoyed.

“But yeah, I’d believe that,” Emma says.

She does, a lot more than his Killian of Notre Dame story.

“Well that’s the truth,” He says.

Emma’s nearly to the top, she thinks. Or at least she hopes. She may be fine with heights, but she isn’t in shape for a stepmaster workout.

“I slept on pews at night for my first week here because I didn’t have anywhere to stay yet. Just me fixing up the church and sleeping in it,” He tells her. “Eventually I paid for a room at the pub and then Ruby offered me the job and the rest was history.”

“Yeah, sounds like a literary classic right there,” Emma jokes, trying not to start puffing, “Killian Jones, Foundling.”

Emma can see a light peeking out of the top and finally climbs the last bit to reach the top of the last ladder.

Emma gets to the top of tower before Killian does. The final stairway gives way to small chamber lookout. There are four windows, each allowing a view of a different part of the town. She can hear him moving below her, but for now it’s just her and the city.

The whole city looks miniature below her. She can see the main sights- the river, the mountains, various spires of other, smaller churches. She can see the main building of the university. The rows of Old Town sprawl below her, winding along the curving roads, the buildings jutting out adorably.

If Killian is still talking, she can’t hear him. There aren’t any distractions here.

And her thoughts, the ones she’s been shoving down all weekend, the worries that rattle in her chest, twist in her stomach- they come full force forward.

How is she going to do this?

How is she going to have tea with the Queen of Misthaven?

Emma has never really been a daughter. Ingrid was the closest she came, but the way things ended there has left Emma even more uncomfortable with idea of family than she was before. She had just thought that it was something sure and loving, when the rug had been pulled out from under her.

How is Emma supposed to be someone’s daughter now?

Is she just going to sashay into the Queen Mary Margaret’s tea room and have a chat like old friends? All the while as she stars at her, looking to see her daughter in her eyes, her smile. All the while as Emma straight up tries to live a lie.

She feels her hands shaking before the enormity it comes crashing down on her.

“Swan?” Killian asks, as he reaches the top step.

A lump has settled in her throat and she can’t find the words. She rests her elbows on the ledge of the open window, leaning forward to busy herself looking over the city.

And to hide her face from Killian lest she does something embarrassing. Like cry.

“Emma, love? Are you alright?” He asks. She can hear him striding across the small room.

She doesn’t move. She doesn’t say anything. She can’t. Anything will make her guard drop at this point.

“Is it the heights?” He says, his voice right behind her. “If it is, we can go back down. I won’t even tease you about it.”

She turns to shake her head, words still sticking in her throat.

Killian extends his hands tentatively. She doesn’t shy away when he places his hands gently on her shoulders, or when he pulls her close for a hug.

She should, she definitely should be pulling away. A hug is one step away from an emotional make out session. But she doesn’t have the energy to resist. She steps awkwardly into his embrace.

Emma has never been good at physical contact. Hot and heavy? Sure. But this, this vulnerability, this gentleness- this is foreign. She never grew up with moms and dads who gave hugs or tender squeezes of a hand. Even Ingrid had been scarce with hugs, afraid of frightening Emma with contact after her previous home. This is so stupid. She doesn’t know even know how to hug someone.

Honestly- how is she going to do this?

But then Killian’s arms tighten around her and she melts.

She lets herself relax so that she fits inside the tiny curves that his encircling arms make. She lets her forehead fall to the crook of his neck. She knows that she’s going to make a mess of tears on his t-shirt, but something tells her already that he won’t mind.

He brushes a hand into her hair. It makes her feel like melting again, a soft, relaxing feeling starting at her head and passing calm through her body.

“What is it, love?” He asks, his voice soft.

It’s many moments later when she gathers her breath, finding the words to begin an answer.

“I’m not sure I can do this,” She whispers.

“Do what?” He asks, another gentle hand through her hair.

It soothes her enough to begin to answer.

“I’m not sure I can be someone’s daughter,” Emma says.

He gently, ever so gently, puts his hands on her face to guide her to look up at him.

“You’re an orphan?” He asks.

She swallows, wondering how he put it together so quickly.

He runs a thumb under her eyes, smearing the tears.

“I know that look,” He tells her before she can ask. “You’ve got a look in your eye of someone who has been left alone for too long.”

“How do you know?” She asks.

“I was too,” He tells her.

All of a sudden the intimacy of the moment hits her. Here they are, alone in this church tower, above Misthaven, faces just inches from each other, sharing the deepest of secrets. It’s way more than Emma is comfortable with, especially after running away from Killian the other night.

But she can’t run away, not now, not in his arms, not at the top of a freaking bell tower. Not after he just revealed a deep secret to her.

So, she lets him continue.

“My gran died when I was twelve. I ran away to England. I ended up lost in foster care with no one at all to care for me,” He explains. “I made a lot of mistakes. I spent a lot of time alone. I tried to have family and the bloody thing came crashing down on me.

“What I’m trying to say, Emma, is that I get it.”

And he does. She knew that they were kindred souls, but not to this extent. She didn’t know how similar they really were till this minute.

“It was the same for me,” She reveals, “Going from foster family to foster family. Some were good, others were really, really bad- but they never really felt like home.”

“It’s okay, Emma,” He says softly. “Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn’t it?”

She sniffles and nods. Then she looks up at Killian. He’s smiling a gentle, reassuring smile. It lets her keep going, letting her full worries pour out.

“I don’t know how to be Princess Emma. I don’t know how to be a girl who grew up with hot chocolate with cinnamon and ponies and parents who loved her.”

Killian makes a sushing sound and sways gently, a rocking motion. His hand is still coaxing her through soft brushes through her hair.

“I don’t even have a middle name. I had to make up my own last name. I’ve never known my birthdate or my parents name. I was just found; left in an airport. And it sucks. At least you had a brother one time. I don’t even know if I had siblings. I don’t know anything about my origins, just that whoever I belonged to didn’t want me.

This is why I’m so freaking terrified to have tea with the queen. She’s going to see right through me because I can’t possibly be like her. I can’t ever be someone so loved, so cared for.”

Killian is silent a moment. And Emma wonders if she is getting snot on his shirt and if he can tell.

“Oh Emma. First of all, you don’t have to be her. If you go in there demanding a hot chocolate with cinnamon and talking about ponies, it will be obvious that I told you all I know. It will look staged and silly. You don’t have to be a modern characterture of a three-year-old Princess,” Killian is rambling now. There is still something calming to it. She can tell he’s really trying to reassure her.

She sniffles again as he keeps going.

“Let’s be honest, Princess Emma is very likely dead. If she isn’t, she could be anyone. She could be someone in Misthaven or someone halfway across the world. She could be someone who was lonely, who grew up in foster care. For all we know, she could be a man now. There is no way to tell what happened to Princess Emma or what she’d be like now. You just have to be you. Just you Emma.”

He strokes his thumb along her jaw, rubbing over her chin. His smile is so sincere, bordering on tender that it melts her heart.

He continues, “And if the queen happens to believe you are her long lost daughter, then that’s amazing. You’ll become a pseudo-princess and you’ll have money to finish your studies and maybe help me with my shop. But if it doesn’t work- you haven’t failed either. You’ll get to sip tea in a bloody fancy house. You’ll get to talk to the queen about books, maybe make a new friend. Who knows, maybe she’ll even pay your school fees anyway, she’ll like you so much. The thing is, I really want this to work. I know we both do. But it doesn’t have to. And you don’t have to stress yourself out trying to be someone you aren’t. Be yourself and the rest will fall into place.”

She gives him a little nod that she understands. Her tears have lessened now. Her breath is still unsteady, a few stray hiccups sneaking in.

He pulls her back into a hug. It’s gentle and sweet and she just wants to stay in it forever. Silly Emma, not being used to physical attention and getting sappy about hugs. She wants to chastise herself, but she also just wants to be in this moment and take it in. Killian Jones, her kindred soul, her fellow foster child, comforting her in the simplest of ways.

“Come on Swan,” He finally says, his voice soft, “You’ll miss out on the greatest view in Misthaven.”

He runs his hands down her arms till he reaches her wrists. He tugs on them slightly, pulling her over to the window.

It’s just as lovely as it was moments before, the whole city laid out in front of her.

“Look,” Killian says softly, pointing, one hand still in hers, “You can see your apartment way over there. And over there, in Old Town, is my pub.”

“Hey, I still haven’t been there,” Emma points out, “I want my free drink.”

“All in good time, Swan,” He teases. “If you look over there, you can see the harbor. The opera house is just below us. You see the dome, right?”

Killian continues pointing out little details to her- the library, a few good museums, parks he promises they’ll visit on a nice day.

“And do you see that castle looking thing over there?” He asks, nodding at the mountain opposite.

She follows his gaze, taking in the small chateau tucked into green of the mountaintop. Even from far away, she can see it’s opulence.

“That’s where you’ll be having tea tomorrow. The queen doesn’t live in the main castle. You probably know that. She’s taken up residence in that little one. It used to be their summer home.”

Right, their summer home is just a slightly smaller castle. That’s totally normal. And so completely out of Emma’s league.

As quickly as Emma feels her fears return, they vanish as she lets the memory of Killian’s earlier words wash over her. She just has to be herself.

“You’re going to brilliant,” He says, his voice soft, “Just watch, you and the queen will get on perfect.”

Emma feels herself blush and smile demurely.

“Now love,” He says, “Enough adventure for today. I think you have a free drink to claim.”

“Really?’ She asks, turning back to face him, cheerfully.

“Yes, now come along Swan, before I change my mind,” He says, wrapping an arm around her to guide her back down.

@sambethe @lenfaz @pocket-anon @the-corsair-and-her-quill @kmomof4 @kiwistreetswan @princesseslikepirates @timeless-love-story @shady-swan-jones @katie-dub @1handedpiratewithadrinkingprob @midnightswans

#cs ff #captain swan #emma swan #killian jones #cs au #cs modern au #cs fic #cs mafia #cs crew #cs mc #cs

[grizzlefur]

WWEm - Too Much Shit For One Man to Kick

In which Emma’s heart grows three sizes.

Broadcast date: Monday 4/Tuesday 5 September 2017

Now that I've torn myself away from the combination of Destiny 2 and trying to fix my phone, it's time for MONDAY AFTERNOON RAW!: The Nacreous Gem Around The Intrusive Sand Of Roman Reigns Trying To Cut A Promo

trialling a new slogan

daniel's uncle's idea

apparently owning the building means you can give production advice

price of free offices, i guess

anyway, i'm like 70% sure he doesn't read these, so i can say whatever

but yes, the actual show

the bright orange blur in this tumbnail suggests we may be hearing from one mr cena

straight in on a recap video of the contract signing from last week

only presumably without cena kicking a hole in the fourth wall like the fucking shockmaster

also they've edited it to remove roman forgetting how to english

some damn good promos, though

i'm just loving all the shots of kurt in the background gawking like oh god what have i wrought

oh, apparently this is labour day

you'll pardon me for not exactly giving a shit

and we're in omaha

and here's the cena himself

here to cene all over us

oh, apparently we're just kicking straight into a match

and booker's back

i never thought i'd be glad to hear that slurred bullshit

and here comes jason jordan and his dodgy synth music

here to fight cena for unspecified reasons

oh, so we can play the clip of cena debuting against kurt 15 years ago

back when he was ruthlessly aggressive

who doesn't love cross-generational parallels

omaha is super behind cena, possibly for his music containing actual instruments and vocal tracks recorded at the same time

jason goes straight into the amateur mat game, which is not exactly cena's forte

lots of lingering hugs

i think booker just managed to get jason and cena mixed up, but let's be real, i wasn't listening

my mind just levels out everything booker says into a kind of mealy blur

but hey, that's better than the unignorable shittiness of the jerry

(my favourite kundera book)

cena gets a comeback phase, including whipping jason so hard he also faceplanted himself into the mat

that seems poorly thought out

tries to deploy his five moves, jason manages to counter out my backflipping out of a suplex and dropkicking him

fuck you, cruiserweight division

jason takes a five knuckle shuffle, then counters an aa into an indescribably weird rollup

takes an stf for ages, then reverses into a crossface/chinlock thing

cena says fuck you, i'm john cena, stands up out of it and goes for another aa

jj counters out into a beautiful rolling double nothern lights suplex

straps come down, jj unleashes his true power level

and immediately eats an aa for the pin

way to disprove roman's argument that cena buries young talent

oh hye, speaking of

-slips into pre-emptive coma-

and  he's got a mic

fantastic

roman's like why the fuck did that take you 20 minutes that guy's been on the show for like a month

roman really needs to work out what point he's making

so yeah, argument today is that cena's not as great as he thinks he is

and is a lion

fake-ass little bitch

"Roman, I'd say I'm happy to see you, but...I'm disgusted by your whole face."

cena is all out of shits to give

like stop trying to use your brain, it's not your thing

cena immediately addresses roman's inconsistent point

and that his fly is open

which roman turns into lol cos i'm the big dog

ew

men

and cena counters with a balls joke, and roman with a gay joke

fuck's sake, guys

there's a bar, at least make a cursory effort to get over it

cena takes it to roman for having everything handed to him, like damn dude i fucking hate the miz but at least he works for his shots

this is all true

cena's mostly just exasperated

like damn dude, get a clue

so roman's like hey if you want to beat me up let's do that

roman, stop being smug

or just, yknow, go away

cena does not beat him up, so roman's like hey fuck you dude and walks off

that worked, i guess

but later, we apparently have braun/show in a cage

so we can play the gif of those two crushing the ring

also later jeff hardy has an ic title match

but now, enjoy this advert for total bellas

or don't, very much up to you

but now, here come the not-shield

entering to dean's intro

they're gonna be on announce for slater and rhyno vs the kkb

seth and dean should totally rebrand as the sword

god, i love that they've managed to get a dragon ball reference into their entrance

dean's like welp, that's a great entrance,can't take that away from them

confirmation that we've got their title rematch at no mercy

dean goes off on a tangent about jurassic park and getting your face eaten by velociraptors

seth starts giggling

send for the man

corey asks if seth and dean are getting on as a team, dean's like eh, i've had five years to punch this guy in the face, i'm kind of over it by now

back in the ring, heath slater is getting the fuck kicked out of him

but then, that's what he does

inevitable hot tag so rhyno can get some offence in

and then eat a brogue for the pin

dean starts talking smack on the bar, then he's like well we're the bar now hey we should steal their name

dean talks like he fights

cesaro and sheamus do their fusion dance in the ring, and i'm like 90% sure their fusion would be goro from mortal kombat

although more the plasticine fantasticine version from the film, tbh

that's science right there

toasty

cut back to the announce team, where seth and dean have evaporated

and they talk to book about the hurricane

briefly

but now, renee interviews the hardyz

matt breaks in with a semi-broken accent

crowd goes mental

and jeff's like yuuuup gonna win this or get myself killed with the FIRE THAT BURNS WITHIN ME

man can preach

so that's next, i think?

after this ad for randy/shinsuke on smackdown

insert comment about what competition means

and here comes the match

starting with the hardyz

jeff's wearing a connor's cure tabard over all his other clothes, and seriously, i think the man has a problem

it also makes it very hard for him to rock out to their music

cole makes a reference to them wanting to delete paediatric cancer

well played

and enter the miztourage

maryse has a new vest/pvc leggings/sparkly knee boots combo, and as ever, i want it

also perilously close to real human clothes

apparently it's just over 10 years since jeff had the ic belt

bell rings, jeff goes straight for a rollup because fuck wrestling

miz cowers against the ropes like please mr hardy don't beat me

and uses it to throw jeff out to his cronies

a scheme

who would have thought

back in the ring, jeff just punches the hell out of miz's oh-so-punchable face

whisper in the wind for a nearfall

it's taken this long for jeff to jump off something, he must be taking it seriously

sets up for a swanton, bo distracts the ref so curtis can pull jeff off the turnbuckle

sparks a brawl outside the ring, ref is just like fuck this noise all three of you can fuck off

matt is deeply offended like how could you do this to me i was defending my brother's honour

miz counters out of jeff's crotch leg drop, which is good to see, because it is such a trivially easy move to counter

this match is actually p good

it's been like 60% reversals

maryse is still at ringside, which can't possibly be foreshadowing anything

ooh, she's gone with acid-green nails as well

maryse is just my style icon

(as if you didn't know)

miz pulls jeff off the apron, then collapses against the barricade in fornt of a small child in a cena shirt who's like um what

miz gets a figure four one, jeff just goes to counter by punching miz in the face

makes sense when you think about it

eventually gets to the ropes

then hits miz with a stunner, nearfall when miz gets the rope

live by the rope break...

miz crawls out of the ring while the ref shouts at jeff, then immediately eats a baseball slide

and then poetry in motion off the steps

kind of feeling sorry for miz atm

he's bumping like a demon

maryse pulls her husband out fo the way of a swanton, leaving jeff to fuck himself upon the mat

goes for a twist of fate, miz counters into a finale for the pin

damn good match, solid finish

but now, women do things

or so i am assuming by this recap package of banks/bliss

oh yeahb, and nia's inevitable betrayal

announcement: sasha has her rematch at no mercy

and now nia accosts kurt backstage

she's not impressed that she doesn't get a title shot

and emma interrupts to talk about her twitter analytics

she also wants a title shot

nia's just like fuck off or i will actually break you

kurt holds them apart, and hatches a plan

nia/emma v sasha/alexa tonight

if the undercarders win, he'll make the title match a four-way

foreboding shot of the cage, insistent mentions of the ring being reinforced

and have some more recap videos of brig showman fucking the ring

never noticed how hard the ref bumps to the outside when it happens

caught it now, of course, because they've replayed the clip from SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN FUCKING ANGLES

but now it's time for cruiserweights to not get an intro

dar, nese and gulak already in the ring

and cedric and gran metalik get to enter with enzo, because seriously, nobody's getting a fucking intro

except enzo, who's brought a mic as usual

enzo tries to spin cheating to win matches as some kind of god-given right because it gets you wins

babyface?

despreately hypes 205 like please watch my show

he introduces cedric and metalik in the shittiest way possible

i spoke too soon, his smacktalk introductions for the other three are even worse

match kicks off with cedric/tony doing the cruiserweightiest wrestling ever

and enzo tags himself in to ruin everything

drew tags in to kick a non-trivial amount of shit out of enzo

not all of it, of course

the man contains too much shit for one man to kick

the heel team start doing rolling tags to take turns fucking up enzo's shit

and then they all just cruiserweight over everything and i can no longer narrate

stereo topes from cedric and metalik, during which enzo tags himself in because he's a twat

and then sticks a thumb in drew's eye to get his stupidly-named finish for the pin

the alleged faces celebrate as drew's outside with his friends like aaaaaaaaaaa i am blind

end segment

and now alexa collars sasha in the locker room to bitch about their opponents tonight

alexa has a cancer shirt too because she's a face by default tonight

this conversation quickly turns into a huge row

that match'll go well

up next, finn bálor wears a shirt

boo

and an advert for the myc, which continues to be great

and here comes everyone's favourite irish possible serial killer

-does the arms-

goes 'this is bálor club' like he's introducing his new talk show

waxes lyrical on his previous titles and how bray wyatt's a dick

finn has chosen his fate

or possibly faith?

this just in, he has an irish accent

calls bray out, immediate wyatt cut

and now we're in the void with bray

talking about learning to hunt as a kid

and the day he decided to stop using a bow and just kill things with his bare hands

i think we could have all filled in that backstory, tbh

taunts finn for only being able to beat him using the demon as his weapon, rather than doing it with his own power and will

and obliquely challenges him for no mercy

finn starts shouting back at him, which is a rarity for these segments

bray calls finn a rabbit, wyatt cut, end thing

so yeah, bray v human!finn for no mercy, presumably

oh hey, more ads for smackdown and total bellas

and now it's women's tag time

cole claims total bellas stars alexa bliss, corey's like um dude that's just a lie

she is here though

this much is true

oh my god i had forgotten how fucking angry i was about emma's new music

although that said, i think it's changed again

it's still not as good as her proper music, but better than last week

cfo$ are clearly going through a weird phase atm

corey is critiquing emma's hashtag efficiency

someone had to

the basic theme if this match thus far is 'tagging yourself in for giggles'

my inner bitch is loving the reluctant passive-aggressive teamwork in this match

(also my outer bitch)

(aka me)

as the smaller woman in the team, emma is performing her proper function of getting fucked on relentlessly

this rule does not apply to alexa, because her rage gives her virtual height

she's like one of those tiny dogs that will FUCKING HAVE YOU

emma finally gets a tag to nia, alexa gets a chance to vent at her

and get creamed

eats a big-ass samoan drop, sasha breaks up the pin after a moment of internal conflict

gets the tag, shining wizard for a nearfall

emma blind tags, nia leg drops sasha, emma gets the pin

i'll be honest, i was not expecting that

four-way should be good, though

emma celebrates extravagantly in the middle of the ring, nia's like um

and samoan drops her

nia will also fucking have you

back to the ambiguous backstage room, where renee has acquired a braun

asks what he's thinking before his first cage match

he's like really what the fuck was kurt thinking, this match might hurt me before my title match at no mercy but will definitely hurt company property

the man does a surprisingly good promo

but up next, seth and dean are back

their walk backstage is briefly interrupted  by elias thrashing out a new song

long beat as they just kind of stand there like what's up with this guy, then shrug and carry on, dean playing along on the air

but next, they fight the good brothers

after these ads for every show we make

back from ads, sheamus and cesaro are in the ring arguing with gallows and anderson for some reason

who am i kidding, you don't need a reason to bitch on those guys

seth and dean still using dean's intro

like, if you're going to just use one, seth's is way better

BURRRRRN IT DOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWN

ref eventually manages to usher the kkb out of the ring, match can commence

sheamus and cesaro seem to have settled on just sarcastically applauding from ringside

someone needs to get them popcorn

this match is a little formulaic, but damn do i love how in sync seth and dean still are as a team

seth/dean v jordan/gable v gargano/ciampa v dawson/wilder

give them a whole show, best tag match possible

as opposed to this particular long-ass superplex setup that didn't even work

dean counters a chokeslam into a dropkick, which is p cool

seth gets the hot tag, commences to jump off every goddamn rope before braun and show fuck them up

dean tries to join in, does a shitty suicide dive

seth hits a lovely top-rope frankensteiner on anderson, the kkb try to interfere, seth gets the pin anyway because they're just that good

and then the good brothers take sheamus and cesaro out while they're distracted

they take a long moment to consider their options, then go back to the ring to fuck up anderson and gallows

and now here's the connor's cure video basically the same as last year, because history and cancer haven't changed much

and they've got the wwe makeup department in to give kids superstar redesigns

that's kind of sweet

and steph giving them all hype ring announcements is cute

dammit, i've fallen for a cute ill kids advert

and they brought alexa, miz, and finn

which seems like a super weird collection

to inspire these kids with cancer, we've brought our resident bitch, a self-important asshole, and a guy who draws power from being possessed by a demon

perfect sense

but up next, main event time

but first, cruiserweight recap vt?

because now we see enzo and his mates in the locker room being annoying

cue sarcastic clapping from neville

and news that those three have all qualified for a five-way elimination match for a title shot at no mercy

neville sows dissesnsion with a few ominous geordie words

closeups of techs reinforcing the ring

and now charly interviews the ref from the ring explosion match, of all people

oh, apparently the ring's double reinforced

not just reinforced

fancy

he's like welp this match is gonna be carnage i'm just going to focus on dodging

and now renee gives big show a hype chat

gah, i'd forgotten his new hairlessness

come on show, give us a YOUUUUU DID THISSSSS TOOO MEEEEEEEEEE

Shockingly, Giant Baby Show says Braun ain’t shit

the dramatic climax of the promo is just show telling us his own nickname

you know how i said braun could promo surprisingly well?

well...not that

seriously guys, how many ads do we need for total bellas?

it's back

we know

ad for 205, in which we learn that the other two slots in the 5-way are kendrick and nese, for no adequately established reason

wait, has anyone seen kurt and show at the same time?

feels like we might have a dr angle and mr show thing going on

corey just referred to braun as "the steam-breathing monster"

um

i have no clue what to say to that

is he coal-powered?

bell rings, braun kicks show in the face

ha

and starts bodychecking him into the cage

weirdly, it goes wrong on the fourth one

show counters with a magic fist, doesn't climb the cage for some reason, cut to ads

cut back and nothing at all has happened

ecept show is now taking his turn to throw his opponent into the cage walls

show starts climbing, braun follows

weird scale going on, since they can both stand on the top rope and touch the top of the cage

show gets crotched really hard

guys, stop doing that spot

it is not good for you

show sets up on the top rope, everyone goes wtf

and does an elbow drop for the first time in like two decades

doesn't connect properly, but still a good moment

goes for the pin, braun kicks out at two because fuck you i'm braun strowman

show crawls for the door, braun walks over, grabs it, and hits show in the face with it

then braun tries to walk over show to get the door himself, and show does eexactly the same thing back to him

see, that was just dumb

braun kind of wanders into a chokeslam, then counters into a ddt for a nearfall

few spots later, show manages to land the chokeslam, braun kicks out because see the above re: fuck you

show goes for a magic fist, braun counters into a powerslam, show counters out and throws braun into the wall

show goes for the climb, followed by braun

gets his chest over the top before braun drags him back down because NOT FINISHED WITH YOU

i have never seen big show on the top rope this much before

braun gets a superplex in, the double reinforcement does its job

still a hell of a crash

and running powerslam for the pin

okay, i'm not usually one for large man punch fights, but that was actually really good

braun looms ominously over his fallen foe, then somehow acquires a mic

calls out brock to see big show's corpse as an object lesson

long ominous beat, then tells big show it's time to go to pasture, picks him up, and powerslams him through one wall of the cage

crowd goes wild

next time they should maybe think about also double reinforcing the cage

show lies on the broken cage wall going aaaa i'm dying, braun stalks off and roars, end show

in all senses

right, well, i've got some bad news

the horizontal line's off in Marbella this week, so we're gonna have to roll straight on

-checks the list of test slogans again-

MONDAY AFTERNOON SMACKDOWN!: Takes Hotter Than Your Dad.

i swear, the things i do so we can have somewhere to record this show that's only occasionally filled with vengeful woodland animals

so yes, the raccoon incident aside, let's watch mackdown

or indeed smackdown

mackdown is the wrestling dating sim i am now going to have to make

opening on a weirdly-saturated recap package of the orton/nakamura situation

the worst holmes story

and yes, the best thing about smackdown today

i'd had it spoiled, but still

JBL IS FUCKING GONE

he's off to do charity work, so we get the double whammy of disadvantaged kids getting support and me not having to listen to his voice

and they've replaced him with corey, making pretty much the ideal announce panel

Tom: "Did you miss me, Graves?" Corey: "Yes!" Tom: "I...am surprised!"

i live for these two talking shit

so yes, orton/nakamura tonight for a title shot at hiac

and here's randy, standing in three-quarter profile in a dimly lit corridor

yknow, like people do

and giving a speech about how he' gonna fuck shinsuke up

cut to shinsuke shadow boxing in the locker room

tells us about how he's gonna fuck randy up, i mostly get distracted by his left shoulder, which i hadn't noticed before

it's kind of fucked

i'm guessing that's a dislocation that healed weird

cut to the ring, and ellsworth announces his bae

only to be interrupted by...kevin?

he's decided he's going to be guest referee for carmella's match with nattie

begins trying to intimidate the ref into taking his shirt off

here's shane

who may have opinions on this fuckery

takes a moment for a cheap pop before getting into professional mode

he's just like kevin

dude

sort your shit out

long tense faceoff

shane's like maybe take responsibility for all these failures which are in all ways your fault

kevin's like fuck you i don't even want to be on this show

shane's like well yeah, cos this isn't the bullshit show where we just give people belts

kevin calls shane out on him needlessly inserting himself into eveything on the show

mentions his dad, gets an ooooooh, mentions his kids, shane immediately gets in his face like fuck you

kevin spins the helicopter crash into this, says his family would all be better off if he'd died there

mentions his kids again, shane explodes on him

well, he did warn him

trips getting out of the ring, killing the moment a bit

throws kevin over the announce table and just absolutely goes to town on him

security pull them apart, bryan turns up to be like the fuck are you doing dude that's an employee

and give the most disapproving dad look you've ever seen

and...cut to an ad for total bellas

way to maintain the mood, guys

and recaps of what happened thirty seconds ago

in which they've edited out shane tripping

ha

backstage, kevin staggers through the room supported by three officials

bryan comes out to apologise

kevin promises to sue shane, wwe, and the entire mcmahon family

bryan's like wow, that seems wildly disproportionate

kevin's like fine, i'll go press assault charges insteads

cut back to announce, corey and byron are both like well he totally deserved that

but yes, now we actually have that carmella/nattie match

recap from last week reminds me precisely how fucking awful carmella's singlet was

thankfully, she's back to normal gear today

provided you count bright orange leggings with leopard-print piping as normal

announce team start spinning next week's 'Sin City Smackdown'

carmella gets her face punched off, retreats to her ellsworth

pan out to naomi watching the match with a look of deep concentration as carmella does a long-ass guillotine choke

nattie powerslams her out, gets a comeback

carmella superkicks nattie, gets a nearfall, ellsworth gives the ref the briefcase

carmella's like wtf no i'm not cashing in give my that back, throws it at ellsworth, and gets rolled up for the pin

ellsworth comes back into the ring to apologise profusely

carmella starts being all magnanimous, then opens up on him

including using the same line twice

calls him a 'genetic defect'

and asks how he's still employed at wwe

really, the question we were all asking

"You are a charity case, and your mother should have given you away at birth!"

wow

harsh

and officially dumps him

takes her case, struts off

leaving james in the ring and the depths of despair

backstage, here's shane looking conflicted

up next, dolph ziggler re-debuts

i have no clue how this is going to go

expect everything

after these ads for the myc and no mercy

and tom giving us a talk about paediatric cancer

roll the video again

refer to my comments above

well, that gave me plenty of time to curate my itunes library

fringe benefits

and here's the dolph

looking...exactly the same

he's got a mic

presumably to tell the fans to go fuck themselves

yup

railing at the fans for not appreciating the greatest performer in the company

and they'd prefer some dumb gimmick

lights go back down, and here he is again

doing cena's entrance

all credit to the crowd for the DOLPH ZIGGLER SUUUUUUUCKS singalong

dolph's like hey, did that not work? i'll try another

lights go down again, and now he's...who had land of hope and glory?

-research break-

yeah, thought it was him

dude, if you're gonna do a macho man entrance, you could at least have the shades

gives up on it, shouts at the crows for not doing the usual nostalgia pop

sends his valet away

and now he promises to have exactly what the crowd want and deserve

and...now he's naomi

the fuck is this

does the knee slide, then gives up

all gimmicks are defeated by ennui

and now he's back to railing against the idea of gimmicks, because anyone can do them

says he, after clearly showing that not everyone can dance like naomi

tells the fans they make him sick, stomps off backstage

so that happened?

up next, sami zayn v aiden english

because this is 2014 nxt, apparently

aiden gets about one line into his aria before sami's music interrupts him

oh yeah, this is the rematch from last week when kevin fucked on everything

and aiden gets a rollup out of nowhere

that lasted about 90 seconds

the bookers have some sort of problem with sami

and aiden's got his mic back

so he can give us some more singing

swiftly tailing off as sami chases him out of the room

let's have yet another recap of shane brutalising an employee

pan out to bryan rewatching it

only to get interrupted by the new day

here to lift his spirits

oh, and here are the usos

to do the opposite

announcing the stipulation for next week

street fight

which seems ill-advised when you're fighting a team of three

bryan gets a call, ushers the new day out

someone bryan calls 'sir' (so vince) wants him to do something in the ring

i know what, because i have a dreadful habit of going on twitter and getting spoilers, but i'll maintain the mystery for now

bryan disagrees, is shut down

and he's going to do............IT right now

(couldn't resist)

and here he is in the arena

gets in the ring, calls shane to come too

he doesn't

finally, here he comes

with nary a HERE COME THE MONEYYYYYYY

not sure i've ever seen either of these this sombre

bryan's like remember last year when the miz was pushing me every week and i made the bold choice to NOT FUCKING ATTACK HIM?

bottom line, you can't assault our employees

fair policy

shane's like yeah sorry but when people talk about my family i go crazy

bryan's just i don't give a single shit you've endangered this entire show because we both know kevin's a vindictive bastard who'll take us for everything

shane offers to go and reconcile with kevin

bryan's like no, i talked to your dad, you're suspended indefinitely

and leaves

shane's left in the ring like welp

why would you leave him there if he was suspended?

eh, wrestling logic

many crowd chants later, shane slumps off

gets a lot of thank you chants for a man who's just been suspended for attacking an employee

and now renee is in the blue curtain room to interview jinder

in an ugly-ass houndstooth suit

asks which guy he'd rather fight, he doesn't give a shit

claims he represents asia better than shinsuke ever could, despite shinsuke actually being from fucking asia

does the promo again in punjabi to speak to 3% of the great nation of india

back in the arena, aj's on announce

to talk about paediatric cancer

(i feel like i'll be writing that phrase a lot in the next few weeks)

and here's baron

sidebar fact: "Won the Money In The Bank ladder match earlier this year"

guys, maybe stop reminding people of that

recap vt of styles/dillinger last week

and of baron being a tool

i feel like i might need to specify that more

and here's tye

and they haven't synced his music with his new tron, so the sexy number voice says 10 when the video's on about 6

kind of love the KO'S A BITCH sign in the crowd

works on many levels

baron slides out of the ring to face off with aj, so tye just jumps out and fucks him up against the barricade

solid advice: maybe keep an eye on the other guy in the match

cut to ads, come back to a really slick spot of baron lariating tye's head off

tye tries to set up for the tye breaker, is thwarted by his opponent being large and heavy

and baron continues to stop having the match he's actually having so he can shout at aj

and i love the complete lack of shit aj gives

baron scores a cheap shot to tye's throat, angering aj, and end of days for the pin

actually a pretty good match

you forget that tye's got a lot of skill in the ring

aj is shocked at baron's lack of honour

because he doesn't watch the show, i guess

up next, "a special look at bobby roode"

ok, whoever edited it to go directly from saying that to a total bellas advert needs firing

backstage, aj congratulates tye on his fight and says next week, the us open challenge will only be open to him

dude

that's not an open challenge

that's just a challenge

and now for a bobby roode video package

enhanced by corey being on this show now so he can run hype for him

and now we're backstage with ellsworth pleading for carmella to forgive him

and being like yes i'm subhuman and i don't deserve anything please take me back

this is not healthy

carmella says from now on, they're doing things her way

gives him a huge kiss, then slaps his face off

flounces off, leaving ellsworth to be like the actual fuck is my life

but now we have a main event

here comes the very finest in flailing japanese men

and adverts for all our other shows

and also a fucking snaaaaaaake

loving the contrast of entrances

incredibly theatrical alien dance vs walking slowly down the ramp

cut over to jinder and the singhs in his skybox

tom mispronounces kinshasa even before the bell rings

this is why we got corey on here

whoever you are trying to get your MAGA sign to constantly show up on hardcam, kindly fuck off

randy does a massive hotshot, aided by shinsuke being an extremely floppy man when he wants to be

randy goes for his draping ddt out to the floor, shinsuke reverse out because that would be dangerous as fuck if he hit it

throws shinsuke into the announce desk, corey's like this is the worst first day ever

shinsuke just decides to get a comeback spot like oh hey maybe i should just kick him in the face a bunch

superplex to shinsuke, and the setup only took a small percentage of my life this time

lovely spot as shinsuke's reeling on his knees then just leans back into doing his cmoooooooon

goes for a kinshasa, randy counters into a snap powerslam

into a draping ddt, because you know randy's spots

strikes up the snake, which is still weird when your whole thing is hitting it out of nowhere

goes for an rko, shinsuke counters into an armbar then transitions to a triangle

that was fucking lovely

randy powers out, shinsuke counters an rko into a backstabber

see, this is how you preserve finishers

and kinshasa for the pin

oh, sorry corey

KINSHAAAAAASSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAA

(totally why corey's here)

well thank fuck for that, i'm not sure i could have taken another orton/mahal rematch without taking up amateur tattooing or something

backstage, bryan tells kevin they're done

kevin's like fuck that, imma run the show next week

and bryan drops the bomb that vince'll be there next week to sort shit out

great

ah well

and brief cut back to shinsuke partying so we have something to end on

and thus we finish the week's shows

by which i do of course mean last week's shows

one day i'll actually get my shit together and be punctuahahahahaaaa sorry i couldn't get through that

[Don’t forget to follow Emma on Twitter, where she’s @Waruce]

#WWE #WWE Raw #wwe smackdown #Wrestling

[onesevennine]

WHOLE WOMANS HEALTH Fort Worth, Texas November 2017

The mural site is one of 2 fences that run along the perimeter of the building facing the parking lot, visible from the main road. It’s 8’ tall and 8-12’ wide. 

The mural will serve to comfort women and embodies the values and messages critical to women’s empowerment and reproductive freedom. The site is one of the most heavily protested women’s clinic in Texas by anti-abortionists (Read more about sister clinic in McAllen TX). Simultaneously the mural will also send the message to members of the community:  “When you come here, bring only love.” 

How better to say this than a mural with glowing green leaves reading into the words;  Harmony, Love, Respect & Dignity.

This project was brought together by the brilliant ladies of Shout Your Abortion who thought to combine a Call to Artists from Whole Woman’s Health, Abortion Conversation Projects, and Shift Stigma they’d started earlier this year to paint murals on their clinics. I’d been working with #SYA doing illustrations for their promotional material (La Rosa) and really wanted to contribute more the best way I know how; with art.  I agreed to the trip knowing I was leaving the liberal bubble of Seattle. I had to be aware of my surroundings and be patient when confronted with ideas counter to mine. Here is a small journal of my experience in Fort Worth, Texas.

Day 1 Saturday: I flew in, got my rental, and drove right to the clinic to meet my contact Fatimah. The clinic was closing for the day so she gave me a brief tour of the mural site, space, clinic, and I met some of the nurses. The picture above is the other fence that flanks the clinic (non-mural fence). Naively when I agreed to paint, I didn’t realize what the fence represented and protected. My contact informed me they weren’t just to place property lines, these were specifically installed to protect women from protesters who would camp in the areas beyond to harass and berate them as they came and left the clinic. This particular space is the exit, where women would have to walk confronted with (mostly male) protesters attacking them with anything from racial slurs to manipulative cries of empathy. The space left between the fences (their property), was purposely made so if anyone climbed over the chainlink fence, they would be arrested for trespassing. These precautions are like a game of chess and were a stab of reality that I truly was in place that did not care about protecting women.

Day 2 Sunday: Today the clinic was closed. I was joined by videographer Brady who has worked with SYA in the past. I focused on placement and building colors for the mural. Someone must have seen activity at the clinic because a sole protester showed up mid-day and stayed. He gibberishly sang loudly to call attention to the sign he held highlighting statistics of lives lost to abortion. When he realized we weren’t there to use the clinic facilities, he came around the other side of the fence where I was and tried to engage us. He thought it was a shame I was using my god given artistic talent for such nonsense. I told him he looked liked an artist himself referencing his sign and he responded his daughter made the sign and he hoped she’d never use her talent to support the killing of lives. I told him I hope he continues to love and support his daughter throughout her life. My thought is that if she ever gets into a situation where she might need him to challenge his convictions, he’d chose love over hate, compassion over propaganda and love her unabashedly. When he left, I was told he was the mellowest of them. I made great progress on the mural and had most of my placement and color scheme laid out. That night I ate really good Fried Chicken and made the most of my Texas eating experience.

Day 3 Monday:  Today was the first day the clinic would be open while I painted. I arrived after opening to not have the nurses overwhelmed with patients while simultaneously trying to set me up. In order to get into the building I needed to press the buzzer and come in like all patients. 

“Do you have an appointment?” 

My heart stopped. No, no I don’t.  But I realized that this entrance might be the first place a woman’s verbally been confronted with her reality, that yes, yes I am here for an abortion. In a state where abortion is a 2 day affair and is still highly stigmatized and looked down upon. This resounded greatly for me. When I walked through the door I was walking the steps many women had to face alone. 

Precautions like this are standard since clinics are not only a target for verbal abuse, but for physical and sadly at times fatal.

Without Incident, I was able to work through the morning and early afternoon. Brady and I ate Waffle House which was heavenly. 

Day 4 Tuesday: I finished the mural, but this was the most eventful and emotionally hard of the days. We had a second protester. His protest calls were toxic and specifically targeted the women coming in and out toned with sugar coated manipulation. Here’s a few I remember;

- “Think about your baby” He’s already given ownership to the woman. - “I’m glad your mother gave you a chance.” He’s personalizing her actions. - “Take a pamphlet for a clinic 2 minutes from here, there’s a better way, they can help” The clinic 2 minutes away was most likely a front for anti-abortionists to counsel women OUT of getting an abortion. They will lie and say they offer services to mislead women. - “You’ll never be able to undo this…” 

Ultimate guilt trip, matter not what the circumstances of the woman’s decisions are, these men take it upon themselves day in and day out to harass, interrogate, and manipulate these woman who only need help.

It was infuriating.

I finished the mural early and afterwards we lunched with the nurses. They planned a potluck to ease the tension of the work week and to take a break and eat with each other. As the holidays near and new scheduled hours, they are seeing a large influx of patients. I was explained daily routines of what the patients and nurses go through, asking questions and being answered with patience and love. There is’t enough staff. There isn’t enough time. There isn’t enough funding. Each room was named after a couragous woman Amelia Earhart, Alice Walker etc. The clinic’s theme the color Purple. 

Observations: Both protesters tried to engage me through the fence after. The first used his daughter to fuel his argument, the second was a little more aggressive, using the phrase ‘putting pearls on a pig’. In a petty moment I sprayed paint in his direction, hoping the fumes would make him leave me alone. In my experience painting murals in communities, when viewers watch a mural being painted they walk away with a certain ownership. Both referenced my talent and that the mural was beautiful. I wonder what mindfuck will occur if someone damages it. If they will think about the small Mexican woman that worked 3 days on it and feel anger, do they think this space belongs to them? 

When I asked the clinic nurse why there's such a need for abortion her answer right away was; Education. There's not enough reproductive education in schools on how students body’s work, how they can protect themselves from STD's, and ultimately pregnancy. There's so much body shaming it creates a stigma of ignorance. There's many parents that still think their children knowing about your body is "gross" and don't trust they're old enough to make those decisions. The reality is that abstinence is NOT a viable solution. Knowing how your body works and utilizing ways to protect it are. Reproductive Coercion is now a new threat our youth have to face which is defined by “Any behaviour aimed at establishing and maintaining power and control by restricting a woman’s reproductive autonomy, denying her control over decisions related to her reproductive health, and limiting her access to reproductive health options.”

On the most positive of sides of this trip, I met Wildstyle, who invited me to her weekly radio show co-hosted with Embo Slice as they life coach with their listeners. So while these 2 men might have been trying to tear down women, I had the immense pleasure to build with these ladies the night before I flew out. Mark 52:30 if you’re short on time, but I suggest listening to the entire show. You can also donate from their page so they can continue their incredible work empowering women in Hip Hop. 

LISTEN HERE 

As a closing thought, this trip armed me with the experience to fuel my dedication to my community and my convictions. Women and our allies may collectively support and love each other. Each day is another day to advocate, fight, create art, and to speak up to defend our rights and the future of our rights. In order to ensure my bonus daughter retains her own rights, I must keep painting.

I am super thankful Washington is a state with programing and legislation that protects the rights of young adults. FLASH, WA States health ed starts as early as the 4th grade. Confidentiality for our young adults at 13 allows them to take the reigns of their mental, physical, and reproductive health without parental consent. This protects them from parental political agendas and ignorance, and allows them to make decisions they'll be in charge of for the rest of their lives. It also safeguards them from potential mental or physical abuse and allows them to get the help they need without the stigma of their parents judgement.

Special Thanks to Organizers:  ShoutYourAbortion.com | IG @SYA_206  ShiftStigma.org | IG @Shift_Stigma AbortionConversationProjects.org  Videographer: bradyhallstuff.com Radio: Good Girls, Bad Thoughts | IG @GGBT_ |  @Embo_Slice_ | @IAMWildstyle

LOVE to all the amazingly strong and dedicated woman who advocate, work, and support within this field. You have my respect, love and admiration. Stay Strong <3

Angelina V.

#gif #whole woman’s health #stop abortion stigma #shoutyourabortion #onesevennine #179progress #goodgirlsbadthoughts #SYA #bluestreamradio #WholeWomansHealth #StopAbortionStigma #LatinXArtist #muralsoffortworth

[areswriting]

a x e : xxvii

Sunday

@dyer: yeah? So is malachi…

@dyer:  do you think they’re planning a mass murder/suicide instead of a wedding?

“Abram,” says Malachi from over my shoulder. “How about you put your phone down and spend some quality time with your old man?”

I lock the screen and respond only by turning to face him. He wears a smile, too big and teeth-y to be genuine, and clamps a firm hand on my shoulder. Guiding me to a rack of suit jackets, he swirls his glass of whiskey but has yet to take even a sip of it.

“There is no way I’m wearing this!” Jason shouts from the dressing room.

“At least let us see, Jase.” Malachi looks at me and winks. “Come on.”

The dressing room door flies open and Jason steps out—and I can’t stop the laughter that follows, even when I realize it sounds a lot like Malachi’s.

“I look like Don Cherry!” says Jason as he looks down at his soft pink, paisley suit.

“You do,” I say, hand over mouth, as if it will hide my amusement.

“Cerise picked the color scheme,” says Malachi. “She was very specific—peach pink, light grey and white.”

“Dad—please—I can’t wear this,” Jason pleads.

Malachi shakes his head and waves him away. “I just wanted a good laugh and the suit is too small for Abram. Go change into the grey suit.”

Jason doesn’t hesitate and within seconds I’m left alone with Malachi. He sets his glass down and pulls a suit jacket off of the rack.

“I think we’re about the same size,” says Malachi. He pulls the jacket off of the hanger, but instead of handing it over, he prompts me to turn and helps me into it one arm at a time. I pull it together and fasten the buttons, and I’m not sure why I’m surprised that it fits so well. Because lately I’m more my father’s son than my mothers.  

“It’s honestly surreal,” he says, looking at my reflection in the mirror. “How much you look like your mother.”

I close my eyes and my whole body tenses. Beating me in a store is bold, but not unbelievable, and I wait for the first blow.

“I think you should wear a bow-tie with it,” he goes on. “Mia adored them.”

I catch his gaze in the mirror. “Mia?”

“Emilia, I called her Mia,” he says.

The truth hits me square in the chest. My mother had a life outside of being my mother—a life before being my mother. A life that I know nothing about. A life in which Malachi might have been the center of.

“I want to show you something,” Malachi says, pulling his wallet from his inner suit pocket.

He produces an aged photograph that he doesn’t look at, but offers to me. My heart is in my throat as I stare at the picture of my mom, a man and a little boy.

“Is this…”

“You, Mia and me,” he says. “You look surprised. I suppose she never told you.”

I press my lips together and shake my head.

“You were too young to remember, and she was always fond of creating her own version of things.” He sits on the edge of an armchair and folds his hands, his eyes fixated on the knuckles that have left me bloodied and bruised. “Before she—before the accident, we were speaking again, and I was doing better—”

“You and Mom were talking?” I say, face screwed up.

He looks at me and breathes out a laugh. “She didn’t want you to know, she was adamant about that. At first, anyways. But there’s a reason she left me custody, and I think we both know it had nothing to do with money.”

▲ △ ▼ ▽

Tuesday

“Are you ignoring me?”

Elise stands in front of my table with her dinner tray shaking along with her hands. “Because if you are, I understand, but you could at least tell me you’re going to ignore me—”

“I’m not ignoring you,” I say with a mouth full of broccoli.

She slams her tray down so hard that food flies off of it. “Then where have you been?”

“Malachi kept me out of school yesterday,” I reply.

Her demeanor changes from anger to concern and she quickly takes a seat. “Why—oh my God, Abram. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head. “No—not physically at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just some stuff he said about my mom,” I reply. “Look, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Elise nods and reaches across the table to squeeze my hand. “Have you heard about Sophie and Jason yet?”

“No?” I say, my eyebrows creasing together.

“Someone caught them kissing in the library,” Elise says. “I thought maybe it was just hearsay but their absence leads me to believe otherwise.”

“You know, I think she would be good for Jason,” I say, poking my food around my tray. “He needs someone like her.”

“I agree,” she replies, smiling fondly. “She’s loyal and supportive and beautiful.”

“So are you,” I say.

“Abram.” Elise says my name like she’s chastising me. “Friends, remember?”

I roll my eyes. “Please, Elise. I’ve said more romantic things to Brody.”

“Then treat me like you treat Ellie,” she says.

“That would be impossible, because I don’t think about kissing Ellie,” I say.

“How’s Sylvia?” asks Elise, taking a sudden interest in her dinner.

“I wouldn’t know,” I say. “I blocked her like a week ago.”

A look of relief smooths Elise’s features, but she only nods in response.

▲ △ ▼ ▽

Saturday

I watch the ice instead of the clock winding down—and I swear, two minutes has never passed any slower. The Cornwall Coyotes are dominating the puck so effortlessly that I wince every time they shoot at our net.

“Five seconds,” says Roger.

I jump to my feet and out of the door as soon as it opens. By some miracle we killed our fourth penalty—three of which belonged to me—and I skate into the action.

“Abram, go left!”

I look over my shoulder to see Jason rushing behind me, the puck dancing at his stick’s will, and I veer left, allowing him to pass me. What he lacks in speed he makes up for in agility, darting by two eager Coyote defensemen and into the offensive zone. A third goes in on him and he shoots the puck backwards, giving me control.

I swing my stick back and send the puck soaring over the goalie’s left shoulder—only stopping when it crashes into the back of the net.

We come together to celebrate our first goal in a three goal game, and while I’m the one who scored, Jason is who we are really honouring. Even Coach has nice things to say to him when we settle on the bench.

“That was amazing,” I say, knocking my shoulder into his. “Seriously.”

Jason, of course, is too modest to admit how genius his set up was, and simply shakes his head.

Unfortunately it is our first and only goal that night and the Coyotes leave the building with a four to one win. Coach reams us for an hour before he allows us to shower and leave the locker room.

Walking alongside Jason, who stares diligently at his phone, I nearly trip over my own feet when my eyes fall on Gigi standing between two men in expensive suits.

“Finally,” Gigi sighs. “I was about to send them in after you.”

Jason stops in his tracks, his mouth hanging open. “What are you doing here?”

“I was watching you two play, of course,” says Gigi, smiling. “And as luck would have it, I was sat between these two.”

“Mitchel Greene,” says the shorter of the two as he offers me his hand. “A college recruiter from Notre Dom.”

I take his hand, just as the second man introduces himself to Jason as Rhys Darling from Boston University.

“We weren’t supposed to come for another week, but we were informed you two wouldn’t be playing in next Saturday’s game,” says Mitchel.

“Did you have them come here?” I say vehemently, my eyes burning into Gigi’s.

“Mr. Dyer, that isn’t how this works,” says Rhys. “We aren’t swayed by anyone other than the players we are looking to recruit.”

“We noticed you when we were in Boston—we were there scouting one of their players and you two really caught our eye,” says Mitchel. “Is playing hockey in college something either of you are interested in?”

▲ △ ▼ ▽

My sneakers screech against the floor as I come to an abrupt stop. Fingers balling into a tight fist, I bang on Elise’s door until it flies open.

“Abram, it’s after one in the morning—what are you doing?” She yelps as I pick her up and nearly throw her over my shoulder.

I kick the door to a close with my foot and squeeze her legs as I spin around her room.

“Did you take something?” she says, digging her nails into my back as she clings to me. “Are you drunk?”

Setting her down on her bed, I straddle her legs and hold her face between my hands. “The college scouts came and talked to me and Jason. We just got back from a long meeting with them. It’s happening, Elise!”

She gasps and places her hands on my face—shocking me with a kiss that she pulls away from too quickly. “Sorry—I—I’m just—”

I silence her with my lips; and soon the only thing punctuating the quiet is our separate heavy breathing and the noise me make shifting on her bed. She lays underneath me, hands in my hair, less hurricane and more the calm before. This is the first time we aren’t crashing into each other’s bones—reckless and destructive. We are careful, soft. We are exactly what we need to be.

“Êtes-vous sûr?” I whisper.

“Oui,” she breathes.

▲ △ ▼ ▽

Monday

“Is it really necessary that we miss the whole week?” Elise says. “The wedding isn’t until Saturday afternoon.”

“Since when do you complain about missing school, Mon Cher?” says Cerise as she pinches Elise’s cheek.

“We have a lot planned for this week,” Malachi says. “Prepare yourselves, because you won’t be doing much relaxing.”

“Oui,” says Cerise. “At least not until the reception.”

I turn my attention to my phone, because I want nothing to do with this conversation or this car ride.

@Dyer: still kinda hoping for that murder suicide.

@Dyer: please, distract me.

@liselaire: I wish I could shove a sock in her mouth.

“Abram,” says Cerise. She doesn’t look at me, but instead her black finger nails. “Are you excited to have finally have Elise as your sister?”

I look between the Allaires, my tongue against my cheek. Elise looks out the window, while Cerise smirks, moving her engagement ring around her finger.

“As excited as I’m sure you are to being a step-mother to five children,” I say, forcing a smile.

“I’m overjoyed,” she says as she looks at Malachi. “Nothing makes me happier than family.”

#ae #my writing

[flauntpage]

Getting Torched by Ryan Fitzpatrick – Ten Takeaways from Buccaneers 27, Eagles 21

Listen –

Sometimes you hang 41 points on the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

And sometimes Ryan Fitzpatrick hangs 402 yards and four touchdowns on you.

Sunday was one of those days for the Birds, a day where the opposing quarterback carves up your secondary and then has the audacity to show up at the podium looking like a cross between Conor McGregor and two of the three members of ZZ Top.

I guess that’s the glass half empty part, the fact that the Birds were torched multiple times by a guy who is actually a backup quarterback. The Eagles lost Jason Peters and Mike Wallace and missed a field goal and just didn’t seem like they were ready to play.

The glass half full outlook would focus on a second-half comeback that fell just short. Nick Foles showed some good things and some bad things as he finished with 334 yards and a touchdown pass. Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor looked like their normal selves as the rest of the offensive pieces struggled to impact the game.

And of course we’re still looking at the return of Carson Wentz and Alshon Jeffery, maybe this week for Carson, which will go a long way towards getting this team back to where it needs to be.

So I’m not gonna do the knee-jerk “woe is me” thing and lament a road loss that really could have been a lot worse. I’m not gonna do that after week two. Let’s pull up our big boy pants and look at the game.

1) No safety help

Let’s just start with the first play of the game, when DeSean Jackson smoked the Birds on a 75-yard touchdown.

I don’t have the all-22 video yet with the super-wide angle, but what happened here was that the Eagles actually started in Cover-2 and disguised a corner blitz:

What you’re looking at here is that Rodney McLeod comes down to pick up Mike Evans, since Ronald Darby (yellow circle) is blitzing. Malcolm Jenkins slides back into the middle portion of the field and Jalen Mills stays on DeSean, so really they slide into Cover 3 with a single-high safety and Jenkins is responsible for helping over the top.

I’m really not sure why Jenkins tried to undercut that route, or why he came in so shallow. He told reporters after the game that it was his responsibility to cover the middle third of the field.

2) More secondary breakdowns

The second touchdown can mostly be blamed on a poor tackle attempt from Darby, though Jordan Hicks got beat in coverage.

I’m not sure if Hicks was to blame for the third score, or if McLeod was responsible for Chris Godwin here, but you can see Hicks turn around and look at McLeod after the catch as if to say, “I thought you had him?” –

I’m not sure whose responsibility that is there. Corey Graham is also in the mix as the Birds are in dime here trying to match up against Tampa Bay showing trips right with a receiver on the left and Jacquizz Rodgers coming out of the backfield.

This game did remind me a bit of the Seattle game last year, not because Fitzpatrick was scrambling like Russell Wilson, but because the Eagles do have some coverage issues when teams send out four and five receivers at a time and keep their quarterback upright without extra blockers on the line, which is what happened in the play above.

For what it’s worth, Jim Schwartz doesn’t speak after games, so we’ll hear what he has to say on Tuesday. As far as specifics on each play, the players didn’t really get too much into that. Maybe we get some more from them later in the week as well.

I’m not sure anyone in the secondary had a great day, though Jenkins deserves credit for the big forced fumble and I do think Mills was on the receiving end of a facemask on the fourth quarter matchup with Evans where he was flagged instead:

Lmao pic.twitter.com/uKy5XoeK9I

— Brian Coulter (@PhilaBCoulter) September 16, 2018

I guess both guys were guilty of an infraction there. Looks like a pair of facemasks.

But anyway, Mills is a 7th round draft pick, so I don’t know what people expect of him. He was elevated to a starting role on a Super Bowl winning team because Leodis McKelvin and Nolan Carroll and Byron Maxwell were not the answer. Jalen has had some good games and some bad games, but to expect him to be Ramsey instead of Mills is not accurate.

3) Don’t blame us

People say the defensive line didn’t do enough to pressure Fitzpatrick in this game, and maybe that’s true. They finished with eight QB hits and two sacks, which is about half of the 15 hits and 4 sacks they put up against Matt Ryan last week. Fitzpatrick was a little more uncomfortable today after the Saints barely touched him last week.

But in reality is that the line was fine, and limited Tampa to 43 rushing yards on 22 carries. Only 9.8% of Tampa’s 436 yards came on the ground, and the irony of the Buccaneers hitting quickly on some of their scores was that they gave up the time of possession battle to the Eagles by a 12 minute gap, holding the ball for just 24 minutes compared to the Eagles’ 36.

Point being – the defensive line was relatively fresh throughout the game, even in the South Florida heat. And they DID make Tampa more or less one-dimensional, holding the Bucs to just one rushing first down on the day. If you’re looking for a spot where the defense could have been better, Schwartz could have dialed up more pressure or come up with different ways to get to Fitzpatrick and/or make him uncomfortable.

4) Play calling

Ups and downs from Doug Pederson, who didn’t use nearly as much shotgun this week.

Here’s what I wrote down on my notepad while my dad and uncle and cousin yelled at the TV:

44 passes out of the shotgun (a lot in the 4th quarter while chasing the game)

7 passes from under center

13 runs out of the shotgun (including the direct snap to Agholor)

8 runs from under center (two quarterback sneaks and the option/toss to Smallwood)

(two more under center sets were wiped out due to a holding and tripping penalty on the second drive)

So I think Doug mixed it up pretty well. I don’t know why Nick Foles wasn’t pushing the ball down field more, but I have a strong hunch that the departure of Mike Wallace really took away the Birds’ ability to stretch the defense. Shelton Gibson should theoretically be able to do that, but he finished with zero grabs on two targets.

As far as run/pass option, I only noted three or four instances where they might have used it. Again, I’d have to go back and look at the film to watch how the line sets their blocking schemes on those plays, because it’s very hard to tell when a play actualyl has a run option vs. just being a simple play-action motion. I feel like the Eagles got away from their RPO package on Sunday and showed more play-action coming from under center sets.

5) Personnel decisions

Sort of going hand-in-hand with the above entry, I wasn’t huge on the running back rotation. I am, of course, biased towards fellow Mountaineer Wendell Smallwood because I’d for him to do well, but I need to see more of Corey Clement as an offensive staple. I don’t care what he does on special teams; I need Clement to carry the ball more than six times per game. And if Jay Ajayi was okay in the second half, then get him back out there, too. This feels a lot like the early parts of last season, when LeGarrette Blount wasn’t getting enough snaps and the Eagles were trying to figure out what exactly they had in the running game.

Also, here’s a picture of me searching for Dallas Goedert on Sunday afternoon:

Josh Perkins is a fourth-string tight end behind Ertz, Goedert, and the injured Richard Rodgers. Kamar Aiken is a sixth-string wide receiver behind Jeffery, Agholor, Wallace, Mack Hollins, Gibson, and maybe even DeAndre Carter. He was just re-signed to replace Markus Wheaton, who was signed and then waived after week one. So I don’t know what the fuck the Eagles are doing with the receiver depth chart right now, but obviously the preseason means jack shit since Goedert and Gibson both looked more than capable out there and are now invisible.

RE: the Perkins playing more than Goedert, here’s Martin Frank at Delaware Online:

Pederson gave a convoluted answer about why that was the case, basically saying he wanted to adjust just one role instead of several once players like Wallace and Ajayi left the game.

“Listen, it’s a complex thing when you start moving bodies around,” Pederson said. “And without getting real specific with the game plan … one part that goes down, then you have to adjust everybody else.”

And more Pederson via NJ.com:

It’s complicated because you (the media) don’t know the plan. When you don’t know the plan or the formations, where we move guys and have guys specifically in the game plan, when one guy goes down, it shuffles the whole thing. So we can keep it real consistent by just moving one part and many parts.

Yeah, I get it. I guess. You’ve got some young/new guys out there who might not be 100% comfortable with the play book or even ready for a too much pro-level action. And Perkins used to be a receiver back in the day before he converted to tight end. So if you’re not ready for Gibson, Goedert, or Carter to step in, you give the snaps to Perkins and a veteran like Aiken instead.

Shrug. Guess we’ll get more from Doug on that later.

6) Whiff

Remember how some Eagles fans used to call Asante Samuels Asante “Samuels” instead? Kind of like Alshon “Jefferies.”

Anyway, Ronald Darby paid homage to the former Eagle corner when he totally whiffed on what seemed like a rather straightforward tackle on the second Bucs touchdown:

Not a great effort.

HOWEVER –

Credit where it’s due. He did a really nice job later on Jacquizz Rodgers in the open field on that 3rd and 4 in the 4th quarter. I will try to give credit where I can if I’m gonna rag on a guy for something else.

Here’s Asante in all of his glory:

via GIPHY

7) Fumble?

It didn’t mean much at the time because the Eagles looked like they were cooked at halftime, but they lost a possession on the Nick Foles fumble that looked almost like a forward pass to me.

On the play, the ball travels about five yards forward as Foles gets cleaned out by Kwon Alexander coming unblocked through the line:

.@kwon knocks the ball out of Foles on this hit. Play ruled a fumble. pic.twitter.com/QVZKxzrYxg

— AllThingsBucs (@AllThingsTBbucs) September 16, 2018

Am I blind? Am I missing something here? Even if he’s being tackled that looks like forward motion from the arm and the ball clearly travels forward.

Maybe they just didn’t see anything that could conclusively overturn the ruling on the field. It’s hard to say if the ball is spinning out of his hand at or during the tackle, or if he still has control of it as his arm goes forward, but it definitely looks like his elbow is at least parallel with his body, which would suggest that he’s coming forward with it.

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

8) Doug’s best call?

Going for it on 4th and 1 in the second quarter, for sure.

I also didn’t have a problem with him going for it on 4th and 4 on the first drive of the second half? Why not? You’re down 20-7 at that point and you’re looking at a three and out to start off the quarter, so you might as well take the risk from midfield. You’re trying to get back into the game instead of punting to a team that can find the end zone with one deep ball.

I know a lot of people were talking about the clock management in the 4th quarter, but I honestly didn’t have a problem with Doug running the ball there. They saved three timeouts and still had the two-minute warning with Tampa starting their final drive at 2:41 on the clock. You still needed the defense to get a stop, and they didn’t get a stop, they allowed two first downs and committed a neutral zone infraction.

9) Doug’s worst call?

I didn’t like the 3rd and 11 draw play before halftime. That felt like something out of the old Andy Reid playbook. That’s not the aggressive Doug Pederson we saw in last season’s NFC divisional round game against Falcons.

Also wasn’t a big fan of the screen he called on the final drive of the second quarter, after the drive featuring the draw play. The Eagles had just connected with Ertz on a big play down the right sideline, then Doug went with a screen that lost five yards and forced the Eagles to burn their second timeout.

10) The Barber Brothers

I gotta be honest; I didn’t hear ALL of the broadcast because I went home to watch the game with family, so I didn’t entirely focus in on Kenny Albert, Ronde Barber, and Tiki Barber.

I did laugh when they tried to cut to Dean Blandino early on, which was derailed by technical difficulties. As a general rule, I think all Dean Blandino hits should be derailed by technical difficulties.

One thing I do like is that double box on reviews, where they play a commercial in the big box on the right while keeping the field camera in the small box on the left. It doesn’t necessarily add anything to the broadcast, but it keeps me attentive and makes more sense than cutting out entirely, which causes people to get up and walk to the fridge or whatever. It’s a way for them to shove another commercial into the game without totally ditching the action.

As far as Tiki’s outfit, he  kind of looked like a mix between fly fisherman and coal miner. I couldn’t really hear his hits, but Ronde I thought did fine. I didn’t sense much homerism from him, if any. He even said “maybe I was wrong” on the pass interference non-call against Agholor in the third quarter, so good on him for being cool and not attempting to bullshit us.

I also swear I heard one of the trio pronounce the word “Aliquippa” as Ali-queepa, which was weird, but I have context for that line. I also have no desire to re-watch Fitzpatrick slicing and dicing the Eagles like Joe Montana.

But we’re gonna have to to. The all-22 coaches film should show us why the Birds’ secondary struggled so much.

The post Getting Torched by Ryan Fitzpatrick – Ten Takeaways from Buccaneers 27, Eagles 21 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Getting Torched by Ryan Fitzpatrick – Ten Takeaways from Buccaneers 27, Eagles 21 published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[purplesurveys]

1028

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - What was the last thing you watched on TV? The last TV show I watched was Friends, but the last thing I saw on TV was the evening news, as is always our companion when having dinner.

2 - Do you have the heating or air conditioning on at the moment? I have the fan on, like always. I just turn on the aircon in the evening because I want to be comfortable after a long day and when trying to fall asleep.

3 - When was the last time you did something to help someone else? Andi was having a dilemma about an already-secure job offer for a position they don’t 100% like vs. a job they know they would enjoy a lot more but isn’t guaranteed at all. I helped weigh out the pros and cons with them, but I didn’t necessarily stick to a position as I didn’t want to dictate a choice for them.

4 - If you have a job, have you been busier or quieter since the whole COVID thing hit? I was a student, then was unemployed, then got hired throughout this COVID fiasco so far. For the first two, life had been quiet for me and I really hated feeling like having no contribution at home. My plate is definitely a lot fuller now and I’m glad I have things to do and earn for myself while doing so.

5 - Do you spend more time on your own or with others? Are you happy with that? On my own. I think it’s best for me at the moment.

6 - Do you know anyone who has been diagnosed with autism? Yes.

7 - Have you had your wisdom teeth removed? What about your tonsils or your appendix? None of these. I’ve had a tooth removed, but it wasn’t a wisdom tooth.

8 - Are you scared of needles? Very. I hate most sharp things, and I am an embarrassment whenever I’m at the hospital and need to be pricked with something.

9 - Do you dress more for comfort, fashion or practicality? I try to strike a balance between comfort and fashion, but sometimes I’ll prioritize comfort and sometimes I’ll prioritize fashion. But practicality is definitely barely in my criteria when picking outfits.

10 - When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? I think it may have been February. I only smoke with other people and I’ve never bought my own pack.

11 - Would you rather drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate or water? In the grand scheme of things, water. But right now, a hot chocolate sounds heavenly.

12 - Do you have a lot of ornaments around your house? Yes. We also have our Christmas tree already up, so that has also boosted the amount of ornaments we have.

13 - Do you own more books or DVD’s? Books. While I have a number of DVDs, I never really an avid collector of them. My dad introduced me to torrent websites at a young age so that’s how I’ve been getting movies for the longest time.

14 - How often would you say you took surveys? Throughout the quarantine I had taken surveys daily. But with me now having work and usually being too exhausted by the end of the day, I think I’ll be back to taking surveys only on weekends now like how it was when I was in school. 

15 - Have you ever worn a uniform to school or work? Yes, I had to wear a uniform in my old school.

16 - Who was the first person you had a sleepover with? Are you still in touch with that person today? It would have to be either Angela or Gabie. Yes, I still talk to both.

17 - When you were growing up, did you have any friends who were almost like family to you? Katreen’s and Angela’s families were second families to me. For a time back in grade school, Katreen’s mom actually used to pick me up alongside Katreen every Friday and then I would stay at their place until around 9 PM, when my mom would get back from work and pick me up. They did such a wonderful job making me feel like family, and I hope they’re all doing well today.

18 - Could you cook an entire Christmas or Thanksgiving Dinner entirely on your own with no help from other people or recipe books? Yes but it would not be edible.

19 - Do you cook from scratch or do you rely more on ready meals or frozen food? I rely on people in my family who can actualy cook, ha.

20 - What’s your favourite type of fast food? Is it something you eat often? KFC would have to be my favorite. Those 11 herbs and spices don’t fuck around, man. It’s not the cheapest of fast food options, so I don’t get to have it a lot and it’s usually tradition for me to get KFC only when I feel like I deserve a reward for an accomplishment or after a grueling week.

21 - If you’ve been under a lockdown or stay-at-home order, what did you find the most difficult about it? Not having been able to see my friends, go out as a group, and stay out late. Also, not getting a normal college graduation and being unable to spend my last semester as a college student just being a dumb college student doing dumb college student things.

22 - Do you still buy or read any magazines? I’ll sometimes read the online versions of magazines especially if one of them comes out with a compelling article, but I don’t follow any of them religiously.

23 - As a teenager, what did you spend most of your pocket money or allowance on? I went out with friends on the weekends, so my savings mostly went to food and Uber (back when we still had Uber, and back when none of us could drive yet).

24 - Do you have much of a sweet tooth? I have my moods for sure, but I love savory a lot more.

25 - Are there any common “popular” foods that you don’t particularly like yourself? Have people ever told you you’re odd/strange for disliking that particular food? Fruits. I get judged for it all the time, but I honestly live for the reactions hahaha. To this day it’s still my go-to fact to say whenever I have to share something about myself. There’s also sinigang, but that is such a universally-loved food and is such a huge source of pride for Filipinos that I just keep it to myself because people get genuinely annoyed/offended when they hear that I don’t like sinigang LOL

26 - Likewise, are there are any commonly hated foods that you love? BALUT

27 - Would you rather eat pizza or pasta? Pizza. Easy.

28 - Do you own a lot of store loyalty cards? I just have the one for my gas station, so no.

29 - When was the last time you read a newspaper? I had to view a newspaper article for work yesterday, but I have not read a full newspaper in years.

30 - What kind of noises can you hear around you right now? There’s the fan in my room and construction outside our house.

--

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - Do you have a car? How long have you had it and how much did it cost? Yeah but it’s technically not mine; my parents made the purchase and they gave it to me as a high school graduation present. They’re also the ones who take care of and pay for its maintenance, like taking it to oil changes; so literally my only contribution has been to drive it HAHAHA. I’ve been driving it since 2016 and I’m pretty sure it cost them less than a million bucks. It was probably around P800,000–900,000.

2 - Who was the last person to send you a message on Facebook? Andi was checking up on how I’ve been. I appreciated that.

3 - What did you have for breakfast this morning? I haven’t had it yet but I will probably skip it. I might make myself coffee, though.

4 - Do you have any scented candles lit at the moment? I never have any scented candles.

5 - When was the last time you left your house? When will be the next time you go out? Yesterday afternoon. There was nothing left to do for work and my superiors hadn’t been asking me to do any tasks anymore, so I went out to get myself Starbucks before my shift was actually over, haha oops. I might be going out next Tuesday to pick up my new card from the bank.

6 - Does anyone in real life follow your survey blog? If so, does it make you think twice about some of your answers? If not, are you ever paranoid that someone will find your blog and read your answers? No. My sister has been wanting to make a survey blog but she just never got around to making it because she thinks she’ll end up being inactive; but that’s about it on the irl people front. If she ever makes one, I’d prefer we didn’t follow one another as doing so would make things awkward.

7 - When was the last time someone stopped talking to you? Have you made up with that person since? Gabie doesn’t speak with me regularly anymore. We’re not on bad terms so there’s nothing to make up, but she has told me it’s out of shame that she doesn’t initiate conversations with me these days. 

8 - Who was the last person you argued or bickered with? I haven’t had an argument with anyone in a while.

9 - Do you have anything planned for the rest of the day? If you’re about to go to bed, what are your plans for tomorrow? Catch up on surveys as I haven’t done them all week, anddddd figure out what to do with my embroidery kit as I’ve run out of the provided thread :(

10 - Did you have any e-mails in your inbox the last time you checked? It’s the weekend so no, I haven’t received anything new.

11 - What time did you wake up this morning? Did you have to set an alarm or did you wake up naturally? It was 7:08 AM when I had checked. I just woke up naturally.

12 - When was the last time it snowed where you live? Probably when it was still a part of Pangaea or something. We don’t get snow on this side of the world and the nearest place that does is probably like South Korea, which is not near us at all.

13 - Does it bother you if you’re wearing odd socks? Like, mismatched ones? No, I find it cute actually.

14 - Is there anything small that bothers you way more than it should? Right now. I had sent out an event invite to certain media last Thursday for work, and one of them replied only by 6 PM last night. I only saw it by 9:30 and replied, then she got back with a question by around 9:50 PM, and at that point I decided against replying because it was already nearing 10 PM and I didn’t want to be rude. I want to reply today but it’s the weekend and I don’t wanna be the jerk that brings up work on the weekend, but I also don’t want to leave her hanging because I had technically cut our conversation short. 

OK I spent the next 30 minutes thinking about it and I ended up replying hahaha. It just didn’t sit well with me to blow her off for the weekend when her last message was a question for me. So I answered her for her clarification, but I just made sure to let her know there’s no pressure for her to get back to me this weekend.

15 - Would you rather read a book, watch a film or play a video game? Watch someone play a video game, tbh.

16 - Why did you last attend a doctors’ appointment? Because my fever wasn’t going away and I wanted to get rid of it so bad.

17 - Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? The person from Pizza Hut who took my order, I think? lol

18 - How many different colours have you dyed your hair over the years? is your hair your natural colour at the moment? I’ve never had it dyed, so it has always been black.

19 - Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks? I have moods for both, but as a whole I think I’d go for savory.

20 - When was the last time you got up to use the bathroom? A couple of hours ago.

21 - Do you spend more money on shoes or clothes? I spend more often on clothes but they aren’t always necessarily expensive. I don’t buy shoes often, but when I do they’re usually quite expensive, so. I’m not sure how to answer this question, but it goes two ways for me.

22 - Are you glad that Biden won the 2020 elections? I’m glad he won but at the end of the day he’s still just the lesser evil. I won’t really know anything until I see him and his moves in office, so I’ll have to wait until then.

23 - What kind of things do you do to try and save the planet? I segregate, turn off the faucet when it isn’t being used, never turn on my bedroom light, and before Covid I’d pick up trash I’d see at the mall.

24 - Are you, or have you ever been, vegetarian or vegan? I haven’t been either but I do opt for vegan options when I see one on the menu.

25 - What was the last thing you threw in the bin/garbage? A cotton bud.

26 - How many times a week do you exercise? Do you think that’s enough or should you really be doing more? I never do. I know I should probably do so, but eh.

27 - When was the last time you had to cancel or re-arrange plans you'd made? What was the reason behind it? LOL well...I’m currently having to rearrange and revise and adjust my entire life plans because of this stupid breakup.

28 - Have you ever had to wear braces? Yes. But I’ll have to avail them again because I did a terrible job keeping my retainers on.

29 - What cut of jeans do you prefer? Mom jeans that are a little more loose than skinny jeans, but aren’t too baggy.

30 - If you’re planning to spend the day at home, do you get properly dressed or just wear pyjamas? I wear my usual getup of a t-shirt/tank top and shorts.

--

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - What’s the biggest argument you’ve ever had with a family member? Did things ever go back to how they were beforehand? It was an argument with the entire family, sans my sister who stayed silently watching during the whole thing as she hates conflict. We had just flown back to Manila from a vacation and we were all just tired and impatient and hungry, my mom found a way to shift the blame on me as per usual, some words were exchanged, and my brother ended up slapping me and it was on hell on earth from there. Things weren’t ok for a whole week, but slowly life went back to normal without us ever acknowledging it because we’re dysfunctional as fuck. The one thing that never ended up changing is my dynamic with my brother, with whom I stopped speaking permanently after what he did.

2 - Have you ever experienced some kind of natural disaster? A lot; my country is a big hot spot for typhoons, so we don’t really have a choice but to go through several of them every year. Sometimes it’ll get bad enough for us to make it to international news because our government doesn’t really do anything to help out victims.

3 - If you have pets, do you feed them human food or do they just get regular pet food? If they do get human food, what’s their favourite thing to have? They both get human food. I’m not sure what Cooper’s favorite is as Nina primarily feeds him; but Kimi is most obsessed with chicken.

4 - Have you ever been in a physical fight? Who won? Just play wrestling matches with my cousin when we were kids. He always won as he was older and a lot bigger than me.

5 - What were you lighting the last time you used a lighter or matches? I don’t light stuff up on my own because I’m scared of fire, but the last time we used matches was for lighting up our emergency candles because of the power outage from last week.

6 - What’s the weather currently doing where you are? It is annoyingly humid. I had to open my windows and roll up my window blinds today, which I hate having to do because it makes neighbors able to see my room and what I’m doing here -_____- I feel like I’m giving away my privacy every time I have to have the blinds up just to have colder air in.

7 - The last time you got up from your seat, what did you go and do? Before doing this I came from bed. When I felt like doing a survey I just got up and headed to my work desk.

8 - Name five things you’ve done so far today: Received a package for something I bought online, made myself a sandwich, ate cheese-flavored corn chips, watch a half-season of Friends, and bought another embroidery kit online (I’ve been calling it ‘cross-stitch’ this whole time but apparently that is wrong, whoops). Not a very productive Saturday, but it’s honestly ok considering I’m left exhausted from the past week.

9 - What’s the mode of transport that you take or use the most? I drive myself.

10 - When was the last time you got caught in a rain or snow storm? Were you dressed for it or did you end up getting soaked? Start of the month. I was driving to take Cooper to the vet when it suddenly started raining super hard, but it was only upon arriving at the clinic that I realized there wasn’t any umbrella in the car. Had to make a quick dash from the car to the nearest shade, all the while keeping Cooper under my jacket so that he stayed dry. I was soaked as shit but he was kept dry, which was all that mattered.

11 - Did your favourite Disney film come out before or after you were born? I have two favorites: Toy Story came out three years before I was born, but Tangled came 12 years after my birth.

12 - Are you a fan of musicals? No, I never saw the appeal.

13 - What the last thing you spent money on apart from necessities? My favorite coffee from Starbucks. It’s a win-win situation for me at the moment: my mom is asking for a Starbucks planner for Christmas, which means all I need to do for her gift is to keep ordering coffees from there until I’ve collected enough stickers to be entitled to a planner, heheh.

14 - Are there any sequels to things that you prefer to the original? Ooh, I’m not the biggest fan of movies that come in multiple parts so I don’t know if I have any picks. I can name covers that I like than the original songs, though.

15 - How often do you lose the remote control? I haven’t really sat down in front of a TV to watch shows since high school, so I haven’t temporarily lost a remote control since then.

16 - When was the last time you had problems with your internet connection? Last Thursday and Friday but only because the power went out.

17 - What games do you play on your phone, if any at all? I play 1010 the most, but I’ve got tons of other games that are just sitting in my menu just in case I’m suddenly in the mood to play them.

18 - Aside from family, who was the last person you spent time with? How do you know that person? I dunno, I guess the people in my work meeting video call yesterday afternoon? It was my first meeting with that particular team as the newbie at work, so I don’t actually know all of them that well yet.

19 - Are you currently warm, cold or just right? I am hot and irritated by it.

20 - Do you prefer showers or baths? When was the last time you had either? Showers; my last one was yesterday. My last bath was...no clue. Two years ago, maybe?

21 - Do you spend a lot of money on your appearance? I used to spend a lot on clothes, yeah, at least before Covid. But right now there really has been no point in upgrading my wardrobe, so I haven’t been buying any new pieces.

22 - When was the last time you spent more than £100 on something? Was it a necessity like a bill, or a treat for yourself? I have never spent ₱6,408 in one sitting, whether it be for myself, for a necessity, or for someone else. That’s crazy and will probably take a couple more years before I see myself making transactions that huge.

23 - Would you rather swim in the sea, a lake or a pool? Seeeeeeeea. I always feel at peace in the sea, and ugh I miss it so much.

24 - Have you ever had a zoo keeper experience or anything where you’ve been able to go behind the scenes and look after/feed the animals? I wouldn’t call it a zookeeper experience, but we went to some sort of animal park in Bali that let me carry and interact with all sorts of animals.

25 - Would you ever want the responsibility of being a politician or a similar position of power? Probably not. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it.

26 - How many times a week do you go to the grocery store? My parents go at least once a week to buy groceries.

27 - When was the last time you got a takeaway coffee or drink? Last night. Being able to earn money and spend it on myself and never have to ask from my parents anymore has been one of the highlights of my year so far, aaaahhhhh

28 - Do you quote films or TV shows as you’re watching them? If I love the film and memorize a chunk of the dialogue, yes. The movie I quote the most as I watch it is most definitely Titanic.

29 - What’s something your parents do that really annoys you? My dad doesn’t really do anything that annoys me. My mom doesn’t knock.

30 - If you had to quarantine for two weeks tomorrow due to testing positive to COVID, would you be able to survive on the things you had in your house? Yes. I’ll be locked in my room but my dad will probably be bringing me food, just the way he did when I got sick last May and had to isolate myself.

#survey #surveys #multiple ones so feel free to chop it up

[junker-town]

By benching Eli Manning, the Giants have now completely lost their way

Eli Manning deserves so much better than Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese.

Just when it seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, the New York Giants compounded a lost season by losing their way. As a lifelong Giants fan, every moment of this 2-9 fiasco — one that began with legitimate Super Bowl hopes — has been painful. And yet, nothing compared to Tuesday’s decision to bench Eli Manning.

For 14 seasons and 210 consecutive starts, through Super Bowl trophies and six-win slogs, Manning has been the constant for the Giants. Some weeks he’d hit every receiver in stride; other times he’d hit the back of their heads. But that, like his goofy facial expressions, just made him more endearing. He wasn’t perfect. He was Eli.

And no matter the obstacle, he found a way to play. Manning separated his shoulder during the 2007 opener in Dallas and was supposed to miss the next month. The following Sunday, No. 10 was back under center. In 2009, he played through most of the season with torn plantar fascia and notched the first of six seasons with at least 4,000 yards passing. Somehow, in a league built on violence, Manning endured.

Now the Giants are rewarding his durability by turning him into a scapegoat. The Giants have long held themselves up as a model franchise, one that resisted the temptation of emotional decisions and prized loyalty and commitment. Just look at their rivals to see the difference: The Eagles, Cowboys, and Jets have started 12 quarterbacks apiece since 2004; Washington has started 10. The Giants had been different, but not any more.

Benching Manning is just the latest example of bad judgment by head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese.

Those two failed to address a woeful offensive line that needed to be fixed if the team wanted to return to the playoffs after last year’s 11-5 run.

The results shouldn’t be surprising. According to Next Gen Stats, Manning averages just 2.53 seconds to throw per attempt this season, which is less time than all but four opening day starters. When he isn’t forced to rush a throw, no one is open. Manning has operated for most of the season without his top three targets — Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, and Sterling Shepard — because of injuries. A successful play these days is one where Manning doesn’t end up in concussion protocol. Yet this mess is somehow his fault?

McAdoo couched the move as a chance to evaluate Smith and rookie Davis Webb, but get real: Smith has produced more than enough evidence that he is not a starting-caliber QB and Webb was a third-round pick last April. This isn’t exactly Aaron Rodgers waiting behind Brett Favre.

Nor is this a good environment to be evaluating passers. It’s like trying to decide whether you like coq au vin when it’s been prepared by a 4-year-old over a campfire — there are no rational conclusions to draw from anyone playing in this environment. That the Giants think they can gain any meaningful knowledge about Smith or Webb shows the same critical thinking skills that led them to believe Ereck Flowers could be a foundational left tackle or that McAdoo was fit to lead a team.

That’s the other illogical aspect of this whole debacle. McAdoo, the man primarily responsible for the decision to bench Manning, would inspire a riot from Giants fans if he coaches another year. And that was before he opted to start Smith. Yet he’s being allowed to make a decision that, at a minimum, tarnishes the relationship between the franchise and its quarterback, and might forever alter Manning’s legacy.

I’m reminded of a conversation I had with former NFL QB Chris Simms last winter

Back when I worked at Bleacher Report, I would see Simms at the office. We were discussing the Giants and how they seemed to run only a handful of pass patterns — all slants and shallow crosses. I had assumed that was McAdoo’s way of scheming around the team’s porous O-line. Quick passes helped make up for the fact that the linemen couldn’t block.

But Simms said that wasn’t the case: This was McAdoo’s offense, and it was as bland as any in the league. Simms told me McAdoo did nothing to aid his line in pass protection, nor did he utilize sophisticated route combinations to create space for his receivers. It was just the same, antiquated version of the West Coast offense that most of the league had long since abandoned. And it played to none of Manning’s strengths.

Watching this season, it became clear that Simms was right, and the results have followed. So maybe it isn’t surprising that McAdoo would make such a short-sighted decision. And Reese hired McAdoo, so maybe he’s not capable of thinking clearly either.

But John Mara should know better. He is the guardian of the Giant Way. He learned the value of stability from his father and celebrated four Super Bowl victories as an outgrowth of that philosophy. He has been around this franchise long enough to know what Eli means to Giants fans, to recognize that even if this move were strategically valid, it would still lead to a PR nightmare.

Yet Mara allowed this to happen on his watch. And predictably, New York exploded in anger. Fans burned up talk radio lines to bash the move. Former Giants, from Tom Coughlin to Sean O’Hara to Justin Tuck, lashed out publicly. The future has never looked so bleak. And to what end? A chance to play Geno Smith?

Manning’s days in New York may not be done. Ownership-willing, the Giants will have a new GM and a new coach next season and, if they don’t take a QB at the top of the first round, Manning could be back in his old job at age 37. But after fighting back tears on Tuesday afternoon, how can he ever look at his bosses the same way? How can he trust the Mara family? How can he view himself as a Giant for life?

This is not the way to treat a man who has given so much to this franchise for so long. Eli Manning deserved better. And we Giants fans won’t let them forget it.

[afriedbreaddragonposts]

Federal G11 English Chapter 18 A Dream Within a Dream

Federal G11 English Chapter 18 A Dream Within a Dream Class 11 English Notes for FBISE includes solved exercises, questions, MCQs, important questions, grammar, Writing, and chapter overview. Q.1) What idea does the parting of beloved bring into Poet's mind? Answer: The parting of the beloved brings the thought of loneliness and dullness in the mind of the poet. He considers life meaningless and boring due to the absence of the beloved. It is just like a dream for the poet as nothing is permanent. He believes that their union is also like a dream. Q.2) What is the theme of the poem? And how is it developed in the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream?' Answer: The theme of the poem put focus on the major feelings of frustration, hopelessness and sorrow. These elements are quite evident in both the stanzas of the poem as in the first stanza the poet is feeling depressed due to the departure of his beloved that represents the mortality of this life and love as well. Similarly, in the second stanza, the poet has the feeling of sadness as he is unable to hold the sand grains in his hands, this shows that life is near to end and he has no power to cease it. Q.3) What metaphor does the poet use for his inability to hold reality and fleeting times? Explain. Answer: In order to show his inability to hold reality and fleeting times, the poet uses the metaphor of slipping sand grains. This metaphor represents the reality of human life that no one has the power to control time and other things that happens in anyone's life. Hence, man is helpless either to cease time or life that is slipping from his hands every passing moment. Q.4) What is the tone of the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream?' Illustrate it with references from the poem. Answer: Throughout the poem, the tone is melancholic as the poet expresses his feelings and emotions of sadness, despair, loneliness and helplessness in 'A Dream Within a Dream.' He is sad due to departure of his beloved and transient nature of love, life and time. Phrases that highlights the desperate tone of the poem are 'parting from you', 'hope has flown away', 'surf-tormented shore', 'while I weep', and 'pitiless wave.' Q.5) What type of imagery is used in the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream?' What feelings does it evoke in you? Analyze. Answer: The imagery of sight and touch are used by the poet in the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream.' While reading the poem, the readers get to know about the feelings and emotions of the poet that are well-represented through the imagery of sight and touch, for instance, 'kiss upon the brow', 'hold within my hand', 'grains of the golden sand', 'tighter clasp', and 'pitiless waves.' The imagery evokes the sympathetic feelings in the heart of the readers towards the poet. Q.6) Pick out the examples of alliteration from the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream' also describe its rhyme scheme. How does these poetic devices contribute to the music of the poem? Answer: The alliteration used by the poet in 'A Dream Within a Dream' are 'days dream', ''hope has', 'see seem', 'dream within a dream', 'hold within my hand', 'grains of the golden sand', and 'while I weep.' The rhyme scheme of the poem is AAABBCCDDEE FFGGHHHII. Both alliteration and rhyme help in creating the rhythm of the poem that gives the musical touch to the poem. Furthermore, the rhyming words emphasize the last beat of every line. In both the stanzas, a sequence of three lines in a row rhyme together that contributes to the music of the poem as well. Q.7) Why does the poet call life a dream within a dream? Answer: The poet calls life a dream within a dream because of the uncertainty of life and transient nature of love and flying time. He is of the opinion that there exist a void between our expectations from life and what life actually offers to us. According to the poet, life itself is a dream and what happens in our life is also a dream. Due to this reason, the poet calls life a dream within a dream on which man has no control either on the fleeting times or the incidents that happen in his life. Q.8) What did the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream' make you think of? And how did it make you feel? Evaluate. Answer: The poem 'A Dream  Within a Dream' gave a clear message to the readers about the temporary nature of love and life. This poem made us think of the reality of life that nothing is permanent in this world and everything comes to end whether it is our loved ones or life. It also strengthened the point that man is quite helpless against the forces of nature. After reading the poem, the readers felt sympathy and remorse not only for the poet alone but for the whole of humanity. Write a summary of the poem 'A Dream Within a Dream.' Answer: Summary: In this poem, the poet at the time of parting from his beloved one, makes a kiss at her hand and says that she is quite right in saying that his life has been a dream and all his days that are passed also the part of that dream. He believes that whatever we see is a dream. But he is also of the opinion that everything is 'a dream within a dream.' The poet is standing at the ocean holding the golden grains of sand in his hands that are slowly and steadily slipping from his palms. At that moment, he lets out a sorrowful cry asking God that why is it not possible for him to save even a single grain of that sand? At the end, the poet is quite uncertain about his own theory that whatever we see or seem is a dream within a dream or not.

Grammar Federal G11 English Chapter 18

A. Underline the adverbial phrase in each sentence. 1. We hope the package will arrive within the hour. 2. My sister reads books almost as quickly as you do. 3. The news reports the metro will be closed for a week. 4. Your pen writes better than my pen does. 5. Nawab takes the bus on Tuesdays. 6. Jamal and Maryam will arrive by train. 7. The dog digs under the fence. 8.Mom helps me with my homework more often than Dad does. 9. Asma found her purse that afternoon. 10. We flew our kites on the big hill. Answer: 1. We hope the package will arrive within the hour. 2. My sister reads books almost as quickly as you do. 3. The news reports the metro will be closed for a week. 4. Your pen writes better than my pen does. 5. Nawab takes the bus on Tuesdays. 6. Jamal and Maryam will arrive by train. 7. The dog digs under the fence. 8. Mom helps me with my homework more often than Dad does. 9. Asma found her purse that afternoon. 10. We flew our kites on the big hill. C. Find out the adverb clauses in the following sentences. 1. Even if it rains, I will come. 2. When you have finished your work, you may go home. 3. You can put it wherever you like. 4. I did not buy that watch because it was expensive. 5. You must go whether you hear from him or not. 6. He speak in such a low voice that few people could hear him. 7. Since you have apologized, we will take no further action against you. 8. I have not been well since I returned from the hills. 9. He was so weak that he could not stand. 10. As he was not there, I spoke to his mother. Answer: 1. Even if it rains, I will come. 2. When you have finished your work, you may go home. 3. You can put it wherever you like. 4. I did not buy that watch because it was expensive. 5. You must go whether you hear from him or not. 6. He speak in such a low voice that few people could hear him. 7. Since you have apologized, we will take no further action against you. 8. I have not been well since I returned from the hills. 9. He was so weak that he could not stand. 10. As he was not there, I spoke to his mother. D. Underline the adverb phrases in the following sentences and use them in new sentences. 1. She lives in a palatial home. 2. Is there water on the moon? 3. She ran into her room. 4. They chatted for a while. 5. She performed the task with great skill. 6. The desert stretched towards the north. 7. The gun went off with a loud noise. 8. The fishers went sailing over the sea. 9. He lay beside the heap of corn. 10. She whispered in his ear. 11. He fought with all his might. 12. He shouted at the top of his voice. 13. It must be done at any cost. 14. Much water has run under the bridge. 15. Without pausing to consider he struck the blow. Answer: 1. She lives in a palatial home. 2. Is there water on the moon? 3. She ran into her room. 4. They chatted for a while. 5. She performed the task with great skill. 6. The desert stretched towards the north. 7. The gun went off with a loud noise. 8. The fishers went sailing over the sea. 9. He lay beside the heap of corn. 10. She whispered in his ear. 11. He fought with all his might. 12. He shouted at the top of his voice. 13. It must be done at any cost. 14. Much water has run under the bridge. 15. Without pausing to consider he struck the blow. Adverb PhrasesSentencesin a palatial homeMy aunt lives in a palatial home in the city.on the moonWhat one can see on the moon?into her roomAfter being scolded by her mother, the girl ran into her room. for a whileIn the absence of his mother, the baby was quiet for a while.with great skillHe completed his drawing with great skill.towards the northThe river flows towards the north.with a loud noiseThe bomb blasted with a loud noise.over the seaThe storm blew over the sea and land.beside the heapThe sheep is grazing beside the heap of hay.in his earI whispered in his ear during the lecture.with all his mightThe thief ran off with all his might.at the top of his voiceThe lost girl shouted at the top of her voice.at any costWe will do it at any cost.under the bridgeMy car is parked under the bridge.without pausingShe has the ability to talk for hours without pausing. F. Each of these proverbial sayings contains as adverb clause. Identify the adverb clause in each sentence. 1. While the cat's away, the mice will play. 2. A lie travels around the world while truth is putting her boots on. 3. If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. 4. Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. 5. Never look down on any body unless you're helping him up. 6. You have to kiss a lot of toads before you find a handsome prince. 7. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. 8. Life is what happens when you are making other plans. 9. As soon as you forbid something, you make it extraordinarily appealing. 10. Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else. 11. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. 12. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. 13. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. 14. When in Rome, do as Romans do. 15. Don't cross the bridge till you come to it. Answer: 1. While the cat's away, the mice will play. 2. A lie travels around the world while truth is putting her boots on. 3. If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. 4. Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. 5. Never look down on any body unless you're helping him up. 6. You have to kiss a lot of toads before you find a handsome prince. 7. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. 8. Life is what happens when you are making other plans. 9. As soon as you forbid something, you make it extraordinarily appealing. 10. Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else. 11. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. 12. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. 13. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. 14. When in Rome, do as Romans do. 15. Don't cross the bridge till you come to it. Read more: - Federal G11 English Chapter 1 Responsibilities of the Youth - Federal English Notes Chapter 2 Class 11th His First Flight - Federal G11 English Chapter 3 Good Timber - Federal G11 English Chapter 4 From Mother With Love - Federal G11 English Chapter 5 It’s Country For Me - Federal G11 English Chapter 6 Mother to Son - Federal G11 English Chapter 7 Choice of Career - Federal G11 English Chapter 8 Wasteland - Federal G11 English Chapter 9 The White Lamb - Federal G11 English Chapter 10 The World Is Too Much With Us - Federal G11 English Chapter 11 The Importance of Family - Federal G11 English Chapter 12 The Blanket - Federal G11 English Chapter 13 Ozymandias - Federal G11 English Chapter 14 A Long Walk Home - Federal G11 English Chapter 15 University Days - Federal G11 English Chapter 16 School Vs Education - Federal G11 English Chapter 17 What You Do Is What You Are Read the full article

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