#its hilarious and his movements are ridiculous yes but

[undyingghoul]

Five Days of Ghouls: I Burn For You

Hello hello! I would like to officially welcome you all to my take on a little October fic prompt: Five Days of Ghouls! I made my own prompts for each Ghoul and I'll post them for anyone else who would like to participate! As of today, October 1st, through October 5th a new fic with one of the Ghouls will be posted with a separate fic being posted on the 31st, aka Halloween! With each new fic the tags will be updated. And now, for today's fic, we have Dewdrop! I hope you all enjoy this little series! ------------------- Prompts: Dew- "I Burn For You." Mountain- "You are my earth." Rain- "My love for you is like an ocean… It's endless and deep." Aether- "I can feel my energy thrum when you are present." Swiss- "I feel every element thrive when with you."

Pairing: Dewdrop x GN!Reader Warnings: None Title: I Burn For You -------- Oh, how Dewdrop loved you. Whether he was staring down at you during a concert or spending quality time with you, he always felt a smile creep onto his face and a gentle purr rumble from him. He loved you so much, more than he could verbalize or show with actions. Dewdrop was zoning out again and you waved a hand in front of his masked face, snapping him out and bringing him back to reality with a small shake of his head. “Dewdrop? Are you listening to me?” You asked with a small smile. The fire Ghoul’s tail flicked behind him steadily and he nodded a bit. “Yes, sorry, I must’ve zoned out…” He sighed before sitting up straight. “What were we talking about again, my love?” You chuckled a bit and shook your head before looking back at him. “We were talking about Halloween and what the plans were! Or I was at least until you zoned out on me you silly Ghoul,” You teased him, causing his tail to shiver with delight. He quickly moved his hand behind him and smacked his tail in hopes to stop its shivering. When it didn’t he fully turned around and latched onto his tail, cursing under his breath and falling over as he struggled with his tail. The sight before you was certainly something to see and you couldn’t help but start to laugh. The big tough Dewdrop was fighting with his tail because it shivered and it was the most hilarious thing you’ve ever seen. This even beat the time you two went roller skating with the others and he wiped out and took down Swiss, Mountain, and Aether with him. Dewdrop, now fully wrestling with his tail, paused to look at you when he heard your laughter and his tail only shivered more. In one quick movement, his head snapped toward his tail and he chomped down on it hard. You watched him do this and doubled over onto the bed with laughter as tears streamed down your face. The fire Ghoul looked at you with a mouthful of his tail and you started to wheeze. Unbeknownst to Dewdrop, he looked ridiculously cute and funny and it just made you die laughing. Your arms wrapped around your stomach as you cried out in laughter. “I-I can-can’t breathe! Hahaha!” You managed to get out and it wasn’t long until the lights were covered by Dewdrop’s form hovering above you. A small chitter left him as he peered down at you and he grabbed you, holding you to his chest as purrs rumbled from him. Feeling the purrs you started to calm down before completely stopping your laughter, leaving you gasping for breath. “Satanas almighty… I thought you were going to die for a second with how hard you were laughing,” Dewdrop chuckled. “I thought so too, you were fucking hilarious! Fighting and wrestling with your own tail and then biting it? That’s top-tier funny, Dew!” You shot back with a playful smack to his shoulder. You felt something curl around your waist and looked down to see his tail had made a home there, for the time being, still shivering with delight. You looked back at Dewdrop and smiled. “Did you give up on your shivering tail?” You teased and he let out a small growl. “Yeah, Yeah… Save it for your comedy hour why don’t you?” He huffed as he nuzzled you gently, the purr growing louder and his body heating up slightly. These were moments you always enjoyed with him and you gladly returned the nuzzle. You leaned back into him and smiled gently, noticing the change in his body heat. You chuckled softly and pressed a kiss to his jawline. “You’re heating up, my darling,” You said. Dewdrop nodded. “Yes, I know,” He answered. “Why is that?” The fire Ghoul smiled a bit and rested his head on yours. “It’s simple. I burn for you, sweetheart.”

#dewdrop x reader #nameless ghoul dewdrop #dewdrop ghoul #the band ghost #ghost band #five days of ghouls

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 61

Nord VPN Again? Oh boy ... Sam once again trying to get a French accent to work ... MacBooks? Oh yeah ... XD ... actually that's fucking hilarious ... everybody rlse is dying at the poetic irony and I'm with them ... wait, was that a Holy Grail joke, Matt? And ... "Matt ... Mac to you." ROFL

Yup, I loved firs ep of Candela Obscura ... more to come end of month? Nice. Looking forward to it.

"The three moods of Matt" ... snort ...

Awwwww ... Travis wishing the others good luck before the titles ... that's so sweet ... :3

Oh ... the tension, the tension! Here we go ... so nervous ...

Already set up and ready to go ... ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

OF COURSE Orym is first out the gate ... this wee man and his ridiculous MIN-MAXED stats ... ACTION SURGE GO!!! Yeah ... wait ... TUG O WAR? How ... oh SWEET ROLL Liam! Kick that ass! And the Fancy Boots! Nice ...

Ashton going full Rainbow Dash ... scary and adorable both ... 23 to hit? Wow ... throwing knife ... 9 damage! First blood!

Indomitable? Oooooooh ... oh ... hmmm ... ouch ... wait, PARALYSED?!!! Gah!

Rage! Yes! Deni$e power in! Do it, girl! And she STILL can't hit? Hmmm ... hold action? Yes! Do that!

Form of Dread! Yeah, Laudna! I love that shit ... unhinged Jaws ... AH YEAH!!! HELLO BEES AGAIN!!! XD Damn right that guy starts screaming! Poisoned AND he falls down the stairs? Sweet ...

WHOA!!! Earth Elemental? Awesome! Oh and ... wow, AND it's being supercharged by the Solstice too! Crazy! BOOM!!! Trash that door! Yeah!

Yes! The way is open! GOOOOOOOO!!!

Fuck, this thing is doing unhinged amounts of wreckage all on its own ...

Prism! Oh yeah, this should be impressive in a scary way like always ... a SIMPLE Chromatic Orb? REALLY?!!! XD ... 23! Wow ... and now tome for MATH ... 25 Force Damage! Broken concentration ... YES!!! Our boys are FREE again!

Dinios hating being called "Daddy" ... XD ... especially a LEATHER Daddy ...

Gah! The soldiers! Hmmm ... how long before they start shitting themselves? Oh, and they're already freaking out, at least ...

NO!!! Not the nerdy girl! Back off, you asshat!

Ouch ... Orym takes a hit ... oh, Silvery Barbs! Nice one, Laudna!

Emily: "Damn, how many guards ARE THERE?"

The vial of blood? Hmmm ...

Bor'Dor's turn ... "I don't wanna ride an ox!" XD Wait ... he's seriously gonna climb onto the Elemental? Yeah ... that didn't work at all ... he has no more movement, so he just turns to the townsfolk and shouts: "STORM THE GATE!!!" instead ...

No! Not the Judicator! Aaaaaaaah!

GO OFF DENI$E!!! Nice! Way to Crit, Aimee! Second hit ... 18! Wait ... that DOESN'T HIT?!!! Seriously? Fucking magic ...

Oh fuck, and now it's gonna hit right back ... Ow! Fuck! Bonus action ... SMITE?!!! AHHHH!!! Oh fuck ... NICE SAVE, Aimee ... and then OW AGAIN!!! And the hits keep coming ... Condemnation? WHAT?!!! Fucking uppercut ... oh fuck that was AWFUL ... and now she's PARALYSED?!!! Fuck ...

Angry mob! Crowd crush! Do something, civilians! Wow, they really were largely useless ...

Yes, Orym can salvage this debacle! And the freakishly agile halfling is an acrobatic BADASS!!! Hit! Yes! POW! And his wisdom beats hers so NICE!!! And he gets to reroll that missed attack? Nice ... oh, and Orym is just OWNING this fight! Beautiful ...

Ashton powers through and uses the Elemental as a springboard ... 20! Yeah! Batter the soldier? Yeah, do it! Boom! Oh yeah ... FUCK!!! Fill Gallagher on the guard! Ouch ... znd now they have some murder blood! Nice! Znd now he just keeps on swinging ... "You are SO FUCKED!!!" Oh yeah, Taliesin is just throwing fucking ROCKS tonight!

What us she doing? Oh shit ... scary manifestation ... a Guardian of Faith? AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Freaky glowing giant spectral guard! Ah!

Still frozen, Deni$e just curses them all out ...

Okay then ... is it Laudna to the rescue, then? Come on Marisha, do something awesome ... dos Eldritch Blasts at the Judicator! And ... well, at least the first one hits. Nuts ...

So ... Abbadina to the rescue then? Casts Blight in Kiro ... well OKAY!!! Yeah girl! Oh fuck, yeah ... that REALLY sounds PAINFUL!!!

Holt fuck ... Guardian versus Elemental! Boom! Utkarsh: "Let them fight!"

"Stand near for protection"? Hmmm ...

Wait ... "enlarge" Mother and have her carryDeni$e into the sky? Really? Matt: "You could TRY." Oh boy ... and so instead Emily has an even MADDER plan ... oh, this is gonna be fantastic or gods-awful ...

Shit roll for the first half ... oy ... and yet STILL 23 damage? Not bad, then ... and WOW that does some fucking DAMAGE ... but not on the Guardian ...

The pillars are protective? Oh ... is THAT what the Elemental meant?

The laxatives are kicking in! Yes! Nice! Shit yourselves into incapacity! Their armour is FILLED!!! Cue some truly vile and thoroughly hilarious diarrhoea humour ... XD

So they're poopy but still trying to attack? Hmmm ...but they're all poisoned do it's just PATHETIC ... wow, and they are just rolling shite (pun entirely intended).

Bor'Dor's turn again ... here we go at last, then? Let our boy kick some arse ... and so he's gonna try and STAB HER IN THE NECK and shoot her in the back WITH THE CFOSSBOW at the same time ... Luck? NAT 20!!! NICE!!! He crits so he gets to DOUBLE the damage ... fuck ... nice one, and Kiro us now FUCKED UP!!! And ANOTHER 20?!!! Holy shit ...and he gets the HDYWTDT!!! Beautiful! Oh yeah, she is SO dead ...

Prism: "You should have said - Dawnfather? More like GONE-Father."

Silvery Barbs TURNS THE HIT INTO A MISS!!! YES!!! Nice one, Laudna!

NOOOOOOO!!! Leave the Dead Girl alone! Oh thank fuck ...

And now Deni$e can move again ...

Oh crap ... and the mob are just running headlong into a slaughter ... oof ... Bor'Dor is horrified and i don't blame him.

Oh boy, when the whole table starts leaning in YOU KNOW it's getting heavy ...

Orym pulls Bait & Switch on Prism and protects her ... wow, and she just FALLS IN LOVE on the spot, clearly ... :3

Throat slash? Yeah, go for it ... botched roll? Crap ... and the second misses too ... yeah, she's Raging but she's still rattled ... oh, the whip? Okay ... 21 hits! Finally! Wait ... on, so she DID hit both times? Holy fuck ... love Ashton's sweet Dunamantic powers ... and that guy is DONE!!! Yesssssss ...

Wait ... is Laudna LOSING IT? Delilah? Oh fuck no ... whoa ... a Hound of Ill Omen? HOLY SHIT ... and that is TERRIFYING ... and BANE!!! Yessssss! Go off, girl! Cue Dark Knight Bane impressions around the table ... XD

The night mare Hound is gonna SHRED that Judicator 13 piercing damage! Yes! Fuck him up!

Mirror Image? Oh NICE SAVE Marisha!

Abbadina wants them ALIVE? Marisha: "Perhaps she should have clarified that before."

She tries to trash the Judicator ... damn, not quite ...

Elemental attacks the guard ... Nat20? Oh yeah he just gets PASTED ... ouch ... and now unconscious, he shits himself ... yup ...

And then the Elemental bitchslaps the Judicator ... Nice!

Oh shit, what's THIS?!!! Is that a fucking ANGEL?!!! Seriously, Matt? And it attacks Ashton AND Prism ... BOTH hit? NOOOOO!!!

Fuck that's a lot of Radiant damage ...

Fiery Castigation? What the FUCK?!!!

Orym is restrained AND taking Radiant damage? Fuck ...

Oh gods yes ... SUMMON THE DEMON!!! DO IT NOW!!!

Summon Greater Demon ... and she does it so it DROPS ON THE ANGEL ... holy shit ... AND Matt has the correct miniature too ...

Oh yeah, ten foot drop onto the angel and it's punching all the way ... this is gonna be hilarious and HORRIBLE and I'm all the way here for it ...

The demon has Initiative ... AND it's up next! Wow ... irony ...

Reckless Attack! Yeah! Big hit on the first, but the rest miss ... hmmm ... less spectacular than expected ...

Soldier attempts to intervene, sees what's happening, shits himself ON THE SPOT znc just HIDES. And then thd rest very much follow hid example ... oh yeah, they bolting ...

Bor'Dor casts Lightning Bolt on the Judicator. "You hurt my friend!" POW!!! Only half damage, but ... 7? Eh ... so unfair ...

He backs off. Smart move. Boy is FREAKED ...

Hound mauls the Judicator! It fudges the attack on Ashton at least, with an assist from Prism ...

NOW we're checking on how messed up we all are? Really?

The mob returns, cutting off retreat ... Best not do anything more, folks!

Second Wind! Nice ... Orym gets dome hit points back ... Seedling! Miss, miss ... HIT!!! Yes ... Goading Attack! Nice ...

Ashton charges the Judicator ... 30? Oh that DEFINITELY hits ... it's looking fucked up, at least it's STARTING to work ...

Deni$e flanks the Judicator for advantage ... sneak attacks? Nice ... 16 damage on the first ... 14 on the second ... and then she disengages ... smart ...

Eldritch Blasting the Judicator ... one hit ... 10 damage ... hmmm ... then she sets the Hound on it again ... NAT20?!!! SWEET!!!

Abbadina realising she's out of her depth ... wait, MASS CURE WOUNDS?!!! Holy shit! Unfortunately Deni$e is out of range ... bugger ...

Elemental blows its attacks on the Judicator ... crap ...

The Angel casts some freaky beam spell znd Matt rolls a SHITLOAD of dice ... Taliesin: "Oh, that is NOT a good sound!" Fuck! Abbadina takes a hit ... and now the Elemental is OUT OF CONTROL!!! Crap!

Like any good wizard, Prism I'd going to go big rather than go home ... the book turns into THE GLAIVE FROM KRULL!!! That is SO fucking sweet! Both the Angel AND the Judicator take serious hits. NICE!!!

Bloody hell, Emily is folling MAD nice right now ...

Yup, Demon is FUCKING THAT ANGEL UP!!!

Last soldier tries go shoot Prism but he is a MESS ... thank the gods for disadvantage right now ...

Bor'Dor using the pillars to enhance his abilities ... hmmmm ... "Fuck it, just GO!!!" Oh yeah, this is gonna be AWESOME, I just know it ... Lightning Bolt at 4th Level on the Angel ... NINE D6? Bloody hell ... 25 damage! Fuck ...

The Judicator attacks Ashton ... Dreadful Misfortune? Oh, that sounds NASTY ... bollocks ... it tries to attack ITSELF and MISSES!!! FUCK!!!

FOUR Attacks of Opportunity? TWO of them get the HDYWTDT on the Judicator ... oh thank FUCK, finally ... so the Hound and the Demon TRASH the fucker, and then they FISTBUMP!!! Awesome ... and then thd Hound dissipates ... awww ... znd now the Demon is CRYING over that bromantic bonding moment ...

Wait ... A MID COMBAT BREAK?!!! Are you KIDDING ME?!!!

Back into it, then...

Orym is OVERWHELMED ... so he just runs to the Demon and CLIMBS ONTO ITS BACK!!! Bloody hell, you mad Little Man ...

Ashton is TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH the Elemental ... oh boy ... and it grabs him ... and YEETS HIM AT THE ANGEL!!! VALIDATION!!! YES!!!

Taliesin was gonna go Reckless anyway so he does BOTH attacks ... and he rolls a CRITICAL HIT!!! Oh shit ... a BRUTAL Critical! Holy fuck ...

THIRTY POINTS OF DAMAGE!!! He fucking SMASHES those sings on the ascent! AND 26 TO HIT ON THE WAY BACK DOWN!!! Bloody hell ...

Fifty feet to the ground? Ouch ... yeah, Ashton just FACEPLANTS ... fucking hell ... he's conscious, but prone, and A MESS ...

Deni$e us now ON THE DEMON along with Orym ... wow ... and now they're BOTH holding their actions.

What the hell is Laudna doing ... oh THAT is NICE!!! I like that. And then she fireballs the ceiling above it? Okay ...

It's the Elemental's turn? Oh boy ... it's climbing the pillar! Okay, then ...

Counterspell! Nice save AGAIN Laudna! That was almost AWFUL ...

Prism giving the Demon a cute little pep talk is SENDING me ... and then she NAT1's the Chromatic Orb ... oof ...

Up the Demon goes ... all right, here we go ... ATTACK!!! YES!!! Fuck him up!

Orym hits on the first but misses the second ... Deni$e gets her first hit in ... BEAUTIFUL!!! Yeah ... here we go ... 25 damage ... one more attack ... misses! Argh ...

Demon is now trying to GRAPPLE the Angel! Roll good, Em! YES!!! THAT'S IT!!! And the Angel is DOWN!!! Sweet!

And now we're all singing SOAD's Chop Suey ... I'm living my best life tonight, I really am ...

Okay, so what is Bor'Dor gonna do THIS time? Oh my gods ... he marches up to the Angel, grabs its head and casts Inflict Wounds at 5th Level! Bloody hell ... dice maths ... 36 points of Necrotic damage and he gets the HDYWTDT!!! Oh my gods!

He kisses its forehead, whispers: "Enough." and KILLS IT. Badass, totally ...

So that's that ... okay ... and thd second Judicator just WALKS AWAY?!!! Holy fuck ... and then the Elemental just crushes the Demon into a little sphere! Nice and clean ...

Orym has a look at the dead Judicator's face under the mask ... or not. That is NOT coming off, clearly ...

Laudna trying to stare Abbadina down in her fading Form of Dread and she's just totally unfazed ...

Yup, as reckonings go this is actually pretty chill ...

Is there ANYTHING left to loot? Lots of coffers with a shitload of coin ...

Oh, the Angel's sword? Okay ... in the Hole with that then ...

Way to bring down the house, Abbadina. Nice little victory.

Ashton stops Prism short of starting to toss money out of the Hole to the people around them. Yeah, that's about right.

Orym is having something of a crisis right now, it seems ...

Okay ... so ... I'd this gonna turn ugly now? Oh no, they're just leaving. Thank fuck for that ... and yeah, this kid CLEARLY needs a good talking to.

Yes, come on, GET WITH THE HEALING already. Thank fuck ...

Ah, NOW it's a party. That's more like it.

Wow ... Bor'Dor's having MASSIVE PTSD from killing the Angel now ... yeah, reckon that WAS a bit much for him.

So they're giving the cash away, then? Yup. That's probably the right move. And Abbadina's totally making a big show of this too. Well, this is a pretty magnanimous gesture from our crew ...

Oh yeah, this old girl is TIRED.

Doesn't Orym ALWAYS look UP to Laudna? XD

Laudna really is just GOING THROUGH IT right now, and Orym gets it. Damn it guys, you're gonna make me cry if you keep this up ...

I love these two so much, I really do ...

Utkarsh: "Make a perception check ... SURE, I've got jerky." XD

So, what ... is this the start of some full-blown UPRISING?!!! Against Vasselheim? :/

Orym: "I don't know an Eidolon from eyeliner." Prism: "Oh, well I could show you how to do that, I think you'd look really fantastic in it."

Wait ... is Deni$e FLIRTING with Abbadina now? Ah ... no, she just doesn't want her disappearing on them. So she tucks her into her bed so much she turns the Goliath into a burrito ... XD

Ashton: "That was literally my worst nightmare." Laudna: "What? Pick a part of the evening. Yhe shi tin armour?" Ashton: "Weirdly, that wasn't my first shit in armour."

Bor'Dor goes looking for Orym, she's hiding in a tree. Utkarsh rolls BALLS. "Okay ... I THINK about going to look for Orym."

Does Orym believe in the gods? Of course he does, because they exist. He just doesn't CARE about them. He only cares about his family, and his friends.

Oh yeah, Bor'Dor is having a full on existential crisis over this whole situation ...

Go wash your hands, damn it! No pinkeye!

Old Magic. Old ANTI-Magic.

So it's basically some kind of religious land grab? That is fucked up ...

Ooh! Breakfast! Goody ...

Oh, does Abbadina maybe know something about Ashton's ... condition? No. Seems not. Hmmm ... the Spirits? What the hell's THAT all about ...

Marisha: "Marisha AND Laudna both chuckle at that."

Okay, getting to the Scrying! Here we go ...

Yeah, STRAIGHT to check on the rest of the Hells ... snow? Hmmm ... oh, is that Deanna? Okay, here we go, then ... and FRIDA ... znd there we go! There they are. Chetney, Imogen, Fearne, FCG ... everybody's alive ... but then we already KNEW that ... XD

And now they know they're on SEPARATE CONTINENTS right now ...

She knows who could help? Okay then ... Hevestro? An ARCH druid ... hmmm ...

Abbadina: "If you could somehow make everyone in Vasselheim shit their britches, there is no amount of gold we could offer that would make up for it." LOL

Pieces of hair? What's THAT all about?

Oh for the gods' ... is that dwarf who I think it is? Oh yeah, that is TOTALLY Dariax ... oh wow, is Deni$e PINING?!!! Wait ... oh my fucking ... DORIAN!!! Hey! OM-fucking-G!!!

Bor'Dor doesn't have anything of his brother's? Awwww ... trying his dagger then ... hmmm ... oh, so this is Bor'Dor's home? Cute ... but nothing more than a snapshot, really ... it's sad, really.

I vote for the canyon. Vasselheim sounds less than really overly wise. Especially after what they just did ...

An eidolon guide? Ooh, bonus! A cougar? Awesome! Cue jokes about sexually predatory older women. XD

Heading out into the day, then. And that's that. All for the night. Good place to call it, definitely ...

Gods know this was an EXHAUSTING episode. I'm glad we're in a good place now.

#critical role #crit role campaign 3 #campaign 3 spoilers #crit role spoilers #campaign 3 episode 61 #matt mercer #marisha ray #laudna #travis willingham #chetney pock o'pea #laura bailey #imogen temult #liam o'brien #orym of the air ashari #ashley johnson #fearne calloway #taliesin jaffe #ashton greymoore #sam riegel #fresh cut grass #aimee carrero #deni$e #utkarsh ambudkar #bor'dor dog'son #emily axford #prism grimpoppy

[novelmonger]

I just finished Trigun Stampede, and it's left me feeling so disappointed, because it could have been...so much more.

To be fair, I have to acknowledge that the storyline is distinctly different from both the first anime and the manga, and while it retains certain similarities to both storylines, it's kind of its own story--and not a bad story, either; it was engaging and interesting in its own right. I especially liked how it handled Vash and Knives's history, what it did with Wolfwood's backstory, and how it wrapped things up at the end.

But the point is that my disappointment with Trigun Stampede has nothing to do with which anime is a closer adaptation of the manga. (I'm due a reread of that anyway; there are a lot of details of the Trigun Maximum portion that I don't remember very well.) When I compare the two animes, I just...enjoy the first one so much more.

It's all very subjective, of course, but here are some of my thoughts:

Where's my girl Milly? :( Why'd they take her out? Did they really think Roberto was a good substitute for silly Milly, the giant girl with the huge gun and the innocent voice, who comes across as an airhead but is actually really sharp? I'm sorry, I'd much rather have her in the party than a jaded, world-weary alcoholic who honestly feels like a less-interesting Wolfwood most of the time. Also, having Milly around meant that Meryl could take the role of the straight man most of the time, whereas the Roberto-Meryl duo is like...two straight men. Just doesn't have the same spark as Meryl and Milly :/

Vash is so much less goofy in this one, he's practically a different person. I mean, yes, his heart is the same, and in a lot of ways the goofiness is a mask and something Vash uses to keep himself from despair (better to laugh than to cry and all that). But it's still a huge part of his personality, and a huge part of what I love so much about Trigun in the first place. I love how the first anime will switch back and forth between being utterly hilarious and dead serious. Trigun Stampede, on the other hand, is almost entirely serious. As a result, the serious moments don't have the same impact as they would have if they came at the tail end of a string of ridiculous hijinks. I probably wouldn't think of that if I hadn't seen the first anime and knew how the story would feel with that kind of tone, but there you are.

There's so much less time to get to know the characters. You can really tell that Trigun Stampede's primary target audience is people who are already fans of the story, because they don't let the story breathe in the beginning. I really got the sense that we're supposed to already know who these people are and why we love them, rather than getting introduced to lovable characters for the first time. I have to wonder whether I would care about any of them if I didn't have tons of episodes where I'd gotten used to them and their quirks and had the time to really learn what they're all about.

WHERE IS BRILLIANT DYNAMITES NEON?! HOW CAN YOU BRING IN THE BAD LADS GANG WITHOUT THEIR FABULOUS LEADER?!?!?

Okay, I'm going to say it: I hate the animation. Sometimes it looked really good (particularly everything with the plants), but other times--especially when it came to character animation, particularly facial animation--it was so...sluggish? It was like the mouth movements couldn't keep up with the voicework, and every movement a character would make would take twice as long as it should, like they were moving through water or something. I'm certainly not against CG animation in anime, but I've seen it done so much better than this. I didn't know such a stylized art style could veer into the uncanny valley, but that was the feeling I got over and over again while watching this anime. It was so distracting that sometimes I found myself staring at their faces without reading the subtitles, and had to back up.

Oh, that reminds me: I'm sure there's a whole host of reasons behind them changing Vash's voice actor, but...I'm sorry, Masaya Onosaka is Vash the Stampede to me. He did such a good job with both the serious and the goofy sides of the character. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka did a great job; I have no complaints with his performance. But...he's just not Masaya Onosaka. It's probably a good thing that this iteration of Vash wasn't as ridiculous and all over the place, because I'm not convinced Yoshitsugu Matsuoka could have pulled it off.

The new character designs were okay for the most part. Not my favorite, but generally not a problem (though I'm not a fan of Meryl's outfit; it makes her look like a kid somehow). The only real problem I have is that Vash's floppier, softer hairstyle makes Wolfwood's nickname "needle noggin" just...not work very well. It was clear why he would give him such a nickname when Vash's hair was sticking straight up like a shock of wheat, but this way? Doesn't look like needles at all. His hair isn't noticeably spikier than anyone else's.

There weren't really any surprises or suspense in the story, because everything was shown in a fairly straightforward way. Not necessarily a problem, I suppose, and it makes sense that they have to cut to the chase more quickly when they've only got 12 episodes to work with. But I missed the way the first anime would just drop hints, show a little bit of a flashback, then move on for another episode or two. Particularly when it came to the nature of what, exactly, Vash is. They basically tell you right away in the first episode what's going on, rather than letting you wonder and slowly piece it together over time. I don't like that.

All in all, Trigun Stampede just doesn't hold a candle to the first anime. Now I'm off to rewatch that one, and then probably reread the manga.

#trigun #trigun stampede #no spoilers #i'm sure plenty of other people have said all of this before #but i wanted to get my thoughts down

[spiderdreamer-blog]

Superman: The Animated Series: The Top 10 Episodes

P. self-explanatory, I’d imagine. Multi-parters will count as one episode Let’s get rolling!

FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS

“In Brightest Day”: This one’s admittedly here more for the historical importance. It’s a solid episode on its own, with a much-abbreviated mashup of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner’s origins serving as the main thrust, and Kyle is a very likable protagonist in his first day on the job, especially against a formidable threat in Ted Levine’s arrogant, well-essayed Sinestro. But what this represented to the larger DCAU is hard to understate, with the Green Lanterns and Guardians of Oa introduced, as well as the soaring musical leitmotif that will also go on to represent John Stewart in Justice League. Of the hero team-up episodes, this is definitely on the higher end.

“Speed Demons”: Speaking of which, this also has a great deal of importance in introducing Wally West as the Flash to the DCAU. And the episode is a ton of fun, especially with the mix of personalities and TMS’ animation bolstering the speedy movements of our heroes and environmental effects. The main reason it’s here and not on the list proper is that it’s fairly light and fluffy as these go. Weather Wizard gets a lot of mileage out of Miguel Ferrer’s confident sneering villainy and going as far to attempt to murder his nebbish brother, but he’s ultimately just kind of A Guy here, and the frivolity is indicated all too well by the ending tag as Superman and Flash cheerfully resume their race. It came close, but it can’t quite go the distance.

“Little Girl Lost”: Another important episode, this introduces Supergirl as well as Granny Goodness and her Female Furies on Apokolips. Nicholle Tom of The Nanny fame makes for an immediately winning Kara, sympathetic in her desire to roam free and tough enough to make her a credible heroine. As said in the main post, the legendary Ed Asner is hilarious and menacing in equal measure as Granny, just the right edge of camp, which Apokolips should always have to one degree or another. It doesn’t make the main list because I think it is a LOT of material to cover even in a two-parter, and I wonder if having Supergirl start in a more mundane adventure could’ve been beneficial. Still, what’s here is fun, and we get enough of Ironside’s Darkseid to tease us further, especially his darkly funny exit: “Teach Granny the price of failure.”

“Monkey Fun”: This is pure Silver Age ridiculousness, and I mean that as the highest compliment possible. Titano the giant space-irradiated monkey is one of Supes’ goofiest threats, and to see him get battered around like a children’s toy is remarkably funny. It’s also a good episode for Lois, as we learn about her military father Sam and childhood with Titano (few things can tug on the heartstrings like a little girl being devastated at a pet being taken away). She even gets to save the day in her own fashion.

“Legacy”: Yes, this is another series where the finale doesn’t end up on the top 10. No, I don’t know how this keeps happening. Mainly I quibbled with putting it there because while they’re excellent episodes, there is a clear sense of unfinished business. We wouldn’t fully answer the questions raised by the story until Justice League Unlimited, especially in regards to characters like Hamilton. And the final note is bittersweet, but hardly definitive. Still, this is some of the best action and drama in the series, especially the iconic Timm-boarded throwdown between Superman and Darkseid, which features just as many great lines as punches.

Other Miscellaneous Favorites: “My Girl”, “Fun and Games”, “Brave New Metropolis”, “The Hand of Fate”, “Knight Time”.

THE TOP 10

10. “Two’s A Crowd”: This feels underrated by a lot of fans tbh. Stan Berkowitz gives us a clever premise in Supes having to rely on Parasite’s absorbing abilities to tap into the mind of Dr. Earl Garver, who’s holding the city ransom via a bomb that he’s hidden. But it’s not quite that simple, and the twists it takes with Garver and Rudy Jones interacting are very well done. Garver benefits hugely from the vocal presence of the legendary Brian Cox, who brings his typical brand of egotistical intellect and confidence to what could have been a generic madman, relishing Berkowitz’s hammy dialogue with gusto. It’s a good showing for Brion James as Jones too, who has his own opinions about getting crowded out of his body, and expressive TMS animation is the cherry on top; while they were always great with action scenes, their character acting is a great boon to this episode in particular.

9. “The Main Man”: Sometimes two-parters in this series feel like butter scraped over too much bread in terms of thin plots getting padded out by action scenes (this would also be an issue at times in the first two seasons of Justice League before the Unlimited rebrand). Thankfully, that’s not the case here, primarily because we have such a surplus of character work. As noted in the main post, Brad Garrett is terrific as Lobo, a character who should never be taken completely seriously, and his comedic crassness matches well with Tim Daly’s increasingly impatient straight man. (Credit also to Harvey R. Cohen for giving Lobo a distinct musical identity with bitchin’ electric guitars) It also does have a genuinely intriguing plot, with the creepy Preserver as a formidable foe and Superman having to use his wits to get out of the situation; my particular favorite moment is him briar patching a group of thugs. Also features the iconic scene where Clark sarcastically confesses to being Superman to annoy Lois.

8. “The Way of All Flesh”: This is a fascinating episode because it takes a premise that would have been an outright tragedy in Batman: The Animated Series and tweaks it to fit this series’ tone. Corben is never anything less than a brutal asshole intent on killing Superman and clearly has no regrets on that score. But the struggle with his dwindling senses is nevertheless compelling, and Malcolm McDowell gives a stellar performance as Corben rages against his loss of humanity. Add in some great TMS-aided fight scenes and one of my favorite cold-blooded Luthor moments (”And just what makes you think there’s anything of him left to find?”), and you’ve got a classic.

7. “Solar Power”: There’s a bit of a pattern with my favorite episodes in terms of Superman having to rely on more than just his powers to solve the problem, and this fits in well here. Edward Lytener, who first debuted in the episode “Target” as a stalker/burned source of Lois, returns to take vengeance on Superman by becoming Doctor Light Luminus and creating a device that turns the Earth’s yellow sun rays into red ones to put Superman on a normal human level. It’s clever plotting, and Robert Hays gives a fantastically smug performance as Lytener, relishing his attacks and holographic tricks (it resembles the kind of stuff Mysterio puts Spider-Man through on the regular at points); he also has one of my favorite big “NO!” deliveries ever.

6. “Mxyzpixilated”: This has a great Looney Tunes vibe, with Superman baffled and confused by Mxyzpltk’s braying jackass routine, but ultimately turning the tables and becoming more of a Bugs Bunny type trickster than I’ve ever seen him as before. It’s another one where Tim Daly gets to shine with deadpan deliveries, such as a moment where a stunned Mxyzpltk blusters that his friends will remain animals if he doesn’t play along: “They don’t seem to mind.” Very funny stuff, with an immensely satisfying ending.

5. “Ghost in the Machine”: Much like Harley Quinn’s introduction in Batman, Luthor’s bodyguard Mercy Graves proved compelling enough in her creation here that she crossed over into the main DCU comics. And it’s easy to see why, with Lisa Edelstein giving her a fantastic don’t-fuck-with-me vocal edge and proving to be incredibly competent. This is a rare showcase for her and Luthor’s relationship, with us learning that she believes that Luthor taking her off the streets made her what she is. It’s more than a little sad, especially with the final moments playing out as Superman looks on. We also get Brainiac and Luthor interacting, which has fantastic dividends here with the tycoon oddly vulnerable and his protestations having little effect on the brutally efficient A.I. (plus it pays off down the line in a very unexpected way in Unlimited).

4. “The Last Son of Krypton”: As said in the main post, this is a top-tier pilot movie, especially part 1 with my favorite depiction of Krypton’s destruction ever. But the other two parts are equally good, with Jason Marsden giving teenage Clark genuine teenage angst without going over the top in part 2, and some truly kickass TMS action in part 3, plus a final scene that says everything it needs to about Superman and Luthor’s relationship.

3. “Apokolips...Now!”: The first part of this is quite good, bringing in Jack Kirby’s New Gods elegantly and giving us the backstory on them and Darkseid. But it’s part two that everyone remembers and gets it on the list, with Darkseid’s invasion of Earth offering dark action scenes with a genuinely operatic atmosphere. The stakes have never been higher, illustrated all too well by the death of Dan Turpin, which still shocks me to this day in its swift brutality. It becomes a loving tribute to Kirby and his work, and this would carry forward in the DCAU to even greater ends.

2. “The Late Mr. Kent”: I’ve never been fond of the idea with either Batman or Superman that one persona is fake and the other is “real”. To me, both should be true to some extent even if they ‘mask’ plenty. And this great episode illustrates why Clark Kent is necessary to him; he belongs in this world, not separate from humanity. The plotting is ingenious, making us wonder how Superman can get an innocent man off death row while appearing to die himself as Clark, and it’s a terrific showing for Lois as she takes up Clark’s quest as a way of honoring him, as best shown in a wonderfully played moment where she admits that she respected and liked him even amidst all the teasing. It features possibly the most chilling ending I’ve ever seen in a Western kid’s cartoon that still gives me goosebumps.

1. “World’s Finest”: Let’s see. Beautiful TMS animation? Check. Thrilling action scenes? Check. Snappy dialogue and outstanding character interactions? Check, double check, triple check. This isn’t just one of the most important episode of the DCAU historically, it’s one of the most purely FUN, barely seeming like it’s straining for effort in bringing all these characters together. Batman and Superman’s initial wary partnership is played just right, with hostility giving way to camaraderie as they save each other by turn and give the promise of more in the future. Even better might be Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane having a genuinely spicy romance, something that feels so obvious but is so rarely played out, and Conroy and Delany feel like an old-school movie star couple in their vocal stylings. And of course there’s the villains, as Luthor and Joker’s deal is inevitably, hilariously doomed to fail, and we get to watch two masters of the craft in Clancy Brown and Mark Hamill go at it like prizefighters. (Also hey, remember when the Joker was threatening AND funny instead of validating every weirdo edgelord on the Internet?) I never get tired of watching this one.

#superman: the animated series #stas #dcau #media analysis #reviews #lists

[elijahs-wife]

congrats on 700! your sleepover sounds fun so i thought i'd join and request a lil blurb from the prompt list! can i get one for #14 (“am I your lock screen?” “you weren’t supposed to see that.”) with either loki or scott lang??? :)

@tripleyeeet thank you for participating!!💞 this is the first time i’ve EVER written for loki (its,,, fucking hard lmao) and i spent like 3 days writing and re-writing this so,,, this is the best you’re getting lol

pairing: loki x female! avenger reader

warnings: um. nothing except some second hand embarassment maybe

wc: almost 900

You hate to admit it, but you’ve got a major dependency on coffee. Its the only way that early mornings could be bearable to you—you’re barely human before the caffeine, your movements slow and your patience for other people threadbare. Today is no different. When you finally get to the kitchen after navigating the stairs in your sleep-deprived state, you’re surprised to see Loki there as well, but you don’t have the energy to comment, not yet. You have priorities. Setting your phone down on the kitchen island, somewhat close to Loki, you go to finally pour yourself a cup.

The kitchen is quiet at this time, with all of your colleagues already off in the other areas of the tower, occupied with their busy schedules, until Loki breaks the silence. “It would appear that someone is sending you a message. Messages,” he corrects himself as your phone buzzes on the counter at least another three times.

“Oh. Could you check who it is?” you ask him, nonchalantly stirring creamer and sugar into your coffee until the realization of what you just allowed to happen hits you, oh fuck oh fuck, no— but it’s too late and suddenly you’re very, very much awake. “It’s from ‘Sammy’,” he reads out the contact name, completely deadpan as usual, until he notices. Shit. His signature smirk is growing at an alarming rate as he turns your phone around, showing you what you already know is there—a picture of Loki you took last week.

It was after dinner and everyone was loosening up before the weekend, getting tipsy—even the elusive God before you was sipping his special Asgardian mead. He was more relaxed than you’d ever seen him, actually smiling and engaging in conversation with Thor. Evidently, Thor had just said something hilarious because Loki started to laugh—his head was thrown back, raven hair tumbling over his shoulders, carefree—and he was beautiful, otherworldly, and you couldn’t help yourself from capturing the moment with your phone. And now here you are, caught red-handed by Loki himself.

“Am I your lock screen?” he asks with a wicked grin, and you wish the ground below you would just open up and swallow you whole, anything to escape this horror.

You huff and sigh, letting your face fall into your hands as you cringe. “You weren’t supposed to see that.” You don’t think you’ve felt this embarrassed since you were in middle school. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken the picture without telling you, that’s really creepy.”

He nods his head slightly. “Creepy, yes,” he agrees somberly, “however, it is quite an excellent picture if I say so myself. I don’t blame you for being unable to restrain yourself.”

Despite your embarrassment, you roll your eyes exaggeratedly at his hubris, until you hear him actually laugh out loud, making you snap your head back up. “I’m joking,” he chuckles, “God of Mischief, aren’t I?”

He’s walking towards you, long deliberate strides, and you feel yourself getting more flustered with each step he takes. He’s staring, but his gaze is soft and gentle, not harsh and unapproving like the way he regards almost everyone else in the tower. He’s almost too close, your noses mere inches apart, a simple movement away from touching. A silly part of you worries that he’s taking in every flaw, every imperfection on your face. “I don’t mind the picture,” he murmurs. “But why me?”

For a moment, you wonder what you can tell him, a believable lie, anything but the truth. Because the truth is your most absurd, ridiculous secret—you like Loki. He’s been the secret object of your affection for weeks now but saying it out loud would only cement the fact that nothing would ever come of it. He’s a God, for fuck’s sake. So with a shrug of your shoulders and a muttered “it’s a nice picture,” you turn away from him, pretending to revert your focus to your cup of coffee that was getting colder by the second, when you jump at the sound of his voice in your ear. “You’re lying.” It feels like velvet, rich and deep, seductive. Ignoring your previous attempts to avoid him, he leans with his back against the kitchen counter so you have no choice but to face him.

“I can always tell. I am not just the God of Mischief,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest, brows furrowed as he gazes at you, searching for the truth. You swallow nervously under his scrutiny—part of you wants to tell him more than anything, another part is deadly scared of humiliating rejection, and yet another part is screaming that if you don’t tell him right now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.

So you look him dead in the eyes, those perfectly green eyes and you want to be confident, but your anxious half-smile gives you away. “Perhaps I like the subject of the photo,” your voice comes out as just more than a whisper. You see his hand moving up out of the corner of your eye, then feel it touch your cheek ever so lightly—his fingers are smooth and cool like marble and they send chills down your spine, the best kind of chills. There’s that wicked grin again.

“And perhaps I like the photographer.”

#sleepover at tays💗 #blurb #loki x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki drabble #loki blurbs #loki fluff #idk what else to tag lmao #sjkfbsk kinda hate the ending but what can ya do lol

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

All fans are equal but some are more equal than others. NOT.

There’s been quite a few people in the fandom lately getting very stressed, feeling they’re obligated to constantly be on the defensive re: their fandom choices.

Apparently, whoever has a different opinion about a character or a ship must be said character’s/ship’s stan i.e. overzealous and/or obsessive, i.e. not an objective viewer. Even worse, they must be a dreadful person, who condones a number of moral offences that said character/ship perpetrated (or is thought to have perpetrated). Because, of course, the only acceptable reason for appreciating/enjoying a fictional character or dynamic is their morality. And, by that reasoning, fans who support the correct character/ship must be better fans and better people.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the notion of the objective fan. An “objective” fan is called a “viewer”. You and I, Riverdale friends, we are not just viewers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have created blogs and dedicated hours of our lives to a fictional couple from an extremely mediocre show. We are still undoubtedly capable of critical thought and objective analysis but we are also aware of our own emotional investment in the show. (Or, at least, one hopes). As a fandom, we engage in activities that exist independently of the show. Fandom is a space of free expression. No one gets to play the higher moral card here. Needing to loudly tell everybody how wrong they are? That’s not the sign of an objective viewer. That’s the sign of a viewer who is also extremely invested, just for different reasons than I am.

Are we seriously holding the morality card over people’s heads for a show that used a poc woman’s pregnancy (Toni) as the means to retroactively establish trauma for a white male (Kevin), all the while touting it in every media possible as a woke response to the BLM movement?!

Are we seriously holding the canon card over people’s heads for a show that treats its 5th(!) season as a tabula rasa?! If the Lodges new backstory in 5x12 shows anything, it’s that s5 is not a time-jump. It’s a reboot.

There are so many people “enlightening” others on their inability to understand canon …

Seriously? That’s the hill you’re willing to die on? Canon Riverdale? You think that people don’t understand what they’re watching? That they’re interpreting canon incorrectly?

No, but seriously: canon for a TV show consists of what the characters say, what the characters do and how the actors portray them. Does this really apply to Riverdale?

Let’s take Donna for example.

Canon explicitly tells us Donna did what she did to avenge her grandmother. At the same time none of her canon actions were against the people who were actually responsible. So, riddle me this, fandom friends: why did Donna do what she did, as per canon?

Let’s try this another way:

Donna is a psycho bitch. Both in terms of Riverdale’s canon (the writers’ intention) and real-life criteria. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is deranged.

On the other hand, her character is (like a lot of Riverdale’s characters) an inconsistent caricature. Canon uses ridiculous dialogue and a lot of the Bonna scenes are cartoonishly enemies-to-lovers tropey. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is hilarious.

This doesn’t mean that Bonna is a canon couple. It does mean, however, that a Bonna crackship is based on Riverdale’s campy and over-the-top canonic writing.

A viewer who thinks Bonna is disgusting is not more “objective” or more “correct” or more “true to canon” than a viewer who thinks Bonna is funny. Nor are they a better person for it, and this cannot be stressed enough.

Similarly, who is canon Cheryl?

1. Cheryl is an absolute bitch: if a privileged student was calling an actual homeless boy a hobo in your real-life school, you would neither think her a queen nor use “hobo” affectionately in your tags, comments etc.

2. Cheryl is a deeply traumatized person: her father killed her brother, her mother killed half the town and forced her in conversion therapy, she attempted suicide and more.

(Note #1: this more does not mean more than the other Riverdale characters).

(Note #2: nor is it an excuse for her rudeness, affectionately called “mood for chaos” by the writers).

3. Cheryl is also a caricature of the archetypal mean girl who’s there for laughs and meta comments. She’s not to be taken seriously.

4. Cheryl is lgbtq+ representation …

5. … who canonically shits on other lgbtq+ characters.

6. Cheryl is one half of Choni, who are canonically presented as an uber couple.

7. Choni is also, as per canon, a couple with an acute power imbalance (cough!gaslighting!cough) that visually very clearly panders to the male gaze.

But most importantly:

8. Cheryl canonically is not the sum of her parts. The different facets of her character do not intermingle in any meaningful way.

Was Betty kissing Archie specifically a sore spot for Jughead?

Canonically no [2x14]. But, also, canonically yes [5x03, 5x10].

Are there seriously fans that are astonished that Betty is making some highly questionable choices while investigating?! Did they just discover Dark™Betty/Killer Genes Betty? That is canon Betty! Was it ok before because she was then smooching Jughead instead of giving him the cold shoulder? Honestly, the only newly outrageous part of s5Dark™Betty is the fact that she still believes in “killer genes” despite having spent 4 years at Yale …

As for liking/disliking Betty and morality …

Look, I’m going to be very honest: I am NOT particularly enjoying s5 Betty. And it’s not because of b*rchie.

S5 Betty has 99 problems but the sexcapades ain’t one.

For me, it’s the fact that she’s turned into s1 Alice 2.0. But surely that’s not news either? Ever since the first info about the time jump, everyone and their mother have been speculating about the teens becoming their parents …

Just because Jughead is better written (and written to be more likable), it doesn’t make him more worthy of redemption. Just because the writers are keeping Betty’s redemption “secret” (insert eye roll) for their big reveal in the season’s penultimate episode, it doesn’t mean she won’t have one.  

Simply put, the writers have made Jughead more likable. He’s still the underdog. He’s the only character in Riverdale actively trying to deal with his trauma, since the very first post-time jump episode (working at Pop’s explicitly to fend off the debt collectors). He has scenes with a new and extremely likable character (Tabitha). He has the only new plot line (the Mothman). Said plotline is narratively already tied to both his unknown past and the town’s destruction by Hiram. His behaviour is explicitly explained, even as his recent trauma remains unknown. He’s transparent.

In comparison, s5 Betty is traumatized but not the underdog. Her trauma (TBK killer) is both known to us and a repetition of previous storylines, which makes it narratively less exciting. She is completely disconnected from any other storylines. She comes out as being judgmental and self-interested: telling Tabitha Jughead’s not her business while previously accepting his help? Berating Polly for lying while not keeping in touch and lying about her own life (TBK)? Please note: I’m not saying there isn’t a reason behind her behaviour, just that it comes out in a negative way.

You don’t like Betty’s current behaviour? You don’t consider trauma a good enough excuse? Cool.

You feel sorry for what she’s going through? You consider trauma to be a valid explanation for her behaviour? Also cool.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig, either for Betty’s trauma or Jughead’s. Because, even though Trauma™ is s5’s actual mystery plot, narratively speaking, trauma never affected the plot of the past 4 seasons, nor s5 trauma will affect future plots, once revealed. And you know what? That is also cool.

None of the above is better.

And just because I’m not enjoying Betty right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want her to overcome her current situation or that I won’t cheer for Bughead like a River Vixen on fizzle rocks, once they reunite.

This thing though, where people are made to feel as if they owed anyone in the fandom an explanation about why they like the things they like, because, somehow, their preferences are a reflection on their character or their cognitive abilities to read a TV show? This is a joke.

There is no “wrong” way to consume any show, let alone Riverdale, with its fractured format, its short-term memory and its see-sawing characters.

Look, everybody’s here for their own reasons. For most people this is a place of escape. No one’s escaping better than the other, because of how they enjoy their teen TV show ... 

#Riverdale writers negativity #fandom negativity #fandom entitlement

[blookmallow]

rating spirit halloween’s new animatronics for 2021

or at least what’s showing as New Arrivals on the site for me. looks like we got 15 new arrivals listed here and im HYPE about them so here we go

the caretaker

pretty standard reaper character with a Gravedigger theme to it. hes... fine? nothing about this particularly stands out to me, but i dont dislike it at all. i like his gravestone. would be good for a graveyard set. i guess ill give him... 6.5/10

mr. dark

at first glance he also just looks like a standard reaper character (or voldemort. he definitely looks like voldemort now that i think about it) but it turns out he SPRINGS UP RIDICULOUSLY TALL LIKE A CURSED WACKY INFLATABLE TUBE MAN and the spring motion in the video is actually really fucking fast so, while this isn’t a lot different from other jumpscare animatronics, i gotta give him credit bc i guarantee this would have scared the fuck outta me in person. according to the site he’s almost 9 feet tall at his full height 

i expected him to jump out and scream but i did not expect. That. i feel like if you put him up on a stage or something to make him loom over people even more he’d be very menacing indeed. would also be really good if you put him behind something so you don’t see him until he's suddenly There

i like him, 8/10 springy spook man 

click for more 

grave grabber

pretty much just a zombie but he’s cute i like him. i like the green eyes. i dont know what it is about him in motion but the video makes him kind of endearing to me for some reason and i dont know why. 6/10

ophelia

at first for some reason i thought the monster’s name was ophelia but i think that’s supposed to be the name of the victim? i think the idea here is “girl haunted by a Nightmare” but the fact that the monster itself is so small and doesn’t actually have a body for the most part makes this unintentionally hilarious to me 

like. it. it’s so small. it’s just a little shoulder demon. it’s so cute 

psst. hey do we have any more cheetos

anyway i like how the girl’s eyes move back and forth but the sounds she makes are uncomfortable and she just looks so. stiff and solid and there doesn’t seem to be any movement at all other than her eyes and the monster peeking out so it’s just kind of weird to look at. it’s an interesting concept but the execution is just strange and unintentionally hilarious. 7/10 bc i still think its really funny 

someone should buy this and mod it into chrona and ragnarok 

harriet hustle

WE DID IT KIDS WE FINALLY GOT A FEMALE CLOWN ANIMATRONIC im so happy i could cry i wish my store had her set up i want to meet her  

i love how they have her hanging upside down like this, it makes it so much more visually interesting than the figures that just kinda stand there looking spooky, even though she doesn’t really Do much (she just swings and her head moves around a little, just laughs, doesn’t have spoken lines) 

i love her outfit i love her hair shes SO cute i love this little murder gremlin i love her i love her 

im still waiting on spirit to give us a female clown figure that isn’t “creepy little girl” (ive commented before on how their only female figures tend to be either the Old Hag or the Creepy Little Girl and not a lot else) but i absolutely love this all the same 20/10

this one is fun too because we also have: 

henry hustle

according to the description he’s actually harriet’s dad!! we have an evil clown father and daughter duo here and im LIVING for it

i dont think ive ever seen spirit do characters that are related to each other like this that’s so cute,

apparently his wife/harriet’s mother left them and ran off with the ringmaster. he’s a single father clown trying to raise his evil daughter clown and i support him wholeheartedly

there doesn’t seem to be any more animatronics on this storyline, we don’t have the mother here and the only ringmaster animatronic they have is the rotten ringmaster who was released previously, but i doubt he’s the homewrecker ringmaster in question. he Could Be. imagine if your wife left you for That. we dont even know if henry’s wife was also a clown or not. spirit halloween clown lore going on here

anyway i absolutely LOVE this clown, he does something INCREDIBLY STARTLING AND UNEXPECTED which i dont want to spoil for you. go watch his video and see what he does its great 

my absolute favorite type of halloween animatronic is the “does something completely unexpected” category and this one is ALSO a clown and a GOOD clown at that

and he’s got this great vintage clown style i really like, i love scary clowns like this that actually look like they could believably be a real guy and not just some kind of mutant Clown Monster 

and hes got cards!! card suit motif!!! i love it i love him this is a great clown 20/10 for him too

w. raith 

we have this one at my local store and listen to me. im completely obsessed with this ghost

it’s pretty much just a ghost but it’s SUCH A GOOD ghost. especially in this photo here with proper spooky lighting and everything. i would absolutely LOVE to see this in a haunt attraction, it looks SO good even in bright store lighting. i feel like this under the right lights and in the right environment could look SO fuckign cool  

the shredded rag look!!! the ethereal glow!! the weird jellyfishy movement!!! the classic wooOoO oO o o ooo noises!! this may perhaps be the ideal ghost. it is without flaw. a perfect specimen. i fuckign LOVE this ghost i want it so badly but i do not have the space or the money for this thing 15/10 w. raith my beloved. my true love. maybe one day 

buzzsaw

at first i was slightly disappointed to see that this guy didn’t have an actual name, but then in the description apparently his name is Bill “Buzzsaw” Jackson and his backstory is he tried to be a wrestler but it didnt go very well so he grafted weapons in place of his hands. i guess. you know, to be better at wrestling. i dont really understand it and i definitely would not have gone with “disgraced former wrestler” as the concept for this guy  

but anyway we have mr jackson at my store right now, he’s Big, i like him. he doesn’t really move very fast and doesn’t jump at you, he just kinda swings his saw around. for some reason he just seems friendly to me and i dont know why. makes me think of like an uncle dressed up for halloween rather than an actual murderer guy. i dont know i cant explain it but i like him hes my friend 8/10

wacky mole

this guy’s also at my store this year, i didn’t know his name was wacky mole fsdgjsdg

he’s listed as a new arrival, but i thought i remembered seeing him before, and the description says he’s a returning fan favorite, so. i guess this is a re-release 

anyway pretty standard Scary Monster Clown. his teeth look like candy corn. i like it but i think they should just Be candy corn. i like his colorscheme and his silly giant buttons. light up eyes are always a nice touch. he doesnt really stand out but hes overall a pretty good clown. 7/10

grim

good ol’ classic skeleton. he’s pretty nicely modeled though and i highly recommend watching the video for this guy because he moves REALLY well for a spirit animatronic, he’s got a way wider range of movement than most of them do and his head moves really nicely. one of the benefits of a skeleton animatronic is you don’t have to deal with lip movement, so his jaw movements match with his lines a lot more realistically. i like the animated glowing eyes too, it really gives him a lot of personality. he’s really interesting to watch. like, it’s just a skeleton, but it’s a really really good skeleton, so, 8/10 

BEETLEJUICE!!

i love love love franchise character animatronics and spirit has so much great beetlejuice stuff this seems well suited to them but looking at it............. hm. hm

he just looks so. stiff and his face comes across like, deer caught in the headlights to me. it Does Not look very natural but it looks slightly better in motion (he just swivels from side to side and says a few phrases but it somehow looks less. shellshocked when he’s moving) 

maybe not the greatest execution but maybe he looks better in person and im still hype to see him so 8/10 regardless 

night stalker

we have this guy at my store too, im still not really sure what’s going on with his arms (did he just rip loose from them and leave them behind? did someone do this to him? i dont know) but i love a good spooky scarecrow. love his Wiggles. hes a pretty good boy. 6.5/10

here we have another pennywise, it pretty much just pops out at you, but it’s still pretty good. i like the full size one they had before better, but this one’s slightly cheaper and would be easier to integrate into a haunted house attraction since he comes with a built in set piece. it looks good but doesn’t do much. 7.5/10 i guess 

GHOSTFACE!!!!

FUCK YES I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

please. please spirit halloween set him up in my store so i can see him

anyway hes got kind of the same issue beetlejuice has where the figure just. looks kind of stiff, and he looks more like a spooky ghost decoration than like, A Person. he doesnt seem to have any lines or anything either, he just kinda pops out. but then again i guess whenever we see ghostface in person in the movies he doesn’t usually talk anyway. i dont really know how id make this better but it seems a little underwhelming somehow. still hype to see it though. 7/10 i guess 

now if we could just get a jack torrance and a bela lugosi dracula id be content 

i would LOVE to see Red from Us but i doubt they’d do one. my other horror beloved is norman bates but i know if they made one of him it’d just be him in a dress waving a knife around (not that i wouldn’t still be hype to see him, but, y’know) (anyway. tangent. moving on) 

mr. howle 

it’s. a werewolf. he howls. that’s....... about it 

it’s a very nice looking werewolf, it’s a well designed figure and definitely looks very imposing, but it’s... just a werewolf. there’s not really anything particularly interesting or creative here. its a perfectly good werewolf. i dont have anything to say about this. 6.5/10 

i also just am not a werewolf person so maybe someone out there who has a greater appreciation for werewolves might like him more 

#spirit halloween #spirit 2021

[awhilde]

kaeya as your boyfriend!

seeing all these hc’s for genshin is making me sob like god damn all these enemies to lovers for childe and lumine is making me simp for him. also i’ll never shut up about kaeya his yoho in the manga reminds me of oikawa and that just throws me into a whole other world of hurt

&& this is potentially the last piece of genshin content that i’ll post in a while bc i don’t just want to write purely abt genshin however !! if someone asks for it who am i to say no?

neways,,, kaeya as ur boyfriend!

the beginning of your relationship would have originated with his confession to you

despite being a huge romantic, kaeya confessed to you with no prior planning, nothing spectacular like a mysterious note leading to a tree caked in snow despite the rest of the world enveloped in a still night

in fact, kaeya hadn’t even come to terms with his true feelings when it occurred, he simply knew that he found you fascinating and of good company. besides, you easily bounced back his roundabout way of talking and your banter provided him good humour

so when the two of you were casually patrolling the streets of the city on the lookout for potential hazards, he’d dropped the bomb mid conversation when you guys were talking about your family

“yeah, i totally get that.” you had said in reply to his advice. “i’m just anxious i guess, on what i should do. after taking so long, is my brother even still alive?” after a shaky inhale, you laughed off the suddenly sombre atmosphere. “sorry, i didn’t mean to bring the mood down. i suppose i just felt a bit alone in this whole situation. its like no one is taking my brother’s disappearance seriously and its being overlooked because of all this dragon business.”

kaeya hadn’t been sure as to what to say for he felt slightly guilty for forgetting the reason why you ended up here as well. he felt an odd pang in his chest at your crestfallen expression, more so at how much you tried to cover it up with a smile.

he’d suddenly turn from walking beside you to standing in front, gauging your expression and successfully halting you in your step

he’d confess with a smile, clearly not expecting a response and solely in hopes of letting you know that he cared for you and you weren’t alone. he wouldn’t be nervous ion think, he knows his worth and would be completely comfortable with only being your friend. he’d let the news comprehend in your mind before turning around, wishing you a goodnight and a slight pun about how the early bird gets the worm

oh boy, kaeya’d would have never expected you to return his feelings but you did anyway, replying in a similar, quiet tone, expressing the emotions that you felt around the ice man and only THEN did he blush. he’d hid the majority of his reddening face behind his palm, looking off the right slightly to try and hide his face from you. the fluistered look on his face sent you out of this world

neways, the night ended in a limbo between awkward, flustered glances and timid silence, and finding the situation hilarious because well,, it just was to you two

the day after that, your relationship was relatively the same

except, kaeya no longer hid his lingering looks at you anymore which made 1). you blush and 2). everyone suspicious

but i mean they called it so,,,

everyone, that is, except paimon who exists only to be the biggest cockblocker you’ve ever met. no like seriously, did almost drowning cause the last sliver of common sense to escape from her?

regardless, paimon was on your ass every. single. time you and kaeya talked whether it be in private or within a group

like that one time when kaeya managed to get you alone in the library, having not had the opportunity to talk to you privately all day

he had stood a little too close to you (bc kaeya is a : dom and towering over you is something he would find pleasure in doing) as you talked. clearly, he wasn’t paying attention to your attempt at small talk instead opting to inch you closer to the wall with a smirk

you’re not completely dense, you knew exactly what he was doing but he was hot so you let it slide, finding the situation kinda addicting to be in

“anyway, amber was telling me something about cleaning up the aftermath of stormterror, something about barricades and the like, are you going to be helping us this time?” you had asked him, eyebrow raised over the book you had clutched to your chest

kaeya smirks and steps closer again, causing you to back away slightly. “and if i don’t?”

“go ahead and find out yourself, pretty boy, see how well that turns out.”

the bored challenge in your voice disappears when he closes the gap between you two, placing a forearm easily above your head and tilting your body in that respective direction, easily caging you in

“caring for me? where did your tsundere act go?” he whispered, breath tickling the hairs framing your face. by now, you were sure it was obvious that you were blushing

your eyes flick to his lips and back to his eye, his own catching the movement and you swore his lips stretched further into that smirk. his face edges closer to yours, a still silence in the form of an inhaled breath tense in the air and just as kaeya’s lips touched your own

the door to the library slams open

kaeya immediately brings his head up and checks behind his shoulder, body still encasing yours but this time in order to protect you

and you can’t see because,, well,, kaeya’s body was obstructing your vision so you turn to look around him but he moves that way too, protecting you from the intruder’s sight

but well, you didn’t need to see the person to know them because their voice was a dead give away

“kaeya!” paimon exclaimed and you hear kaeya’s short huff of exhaustion. “have you seen name? she said she was around here but,,, paimon hasn’t seen her anywhere. why are you looking at paimon like that?”

convinced that she wasn’t a threat, kaeya sighs and leans his forehead against yours. you giggle slightly

paimon finally sees you, at least your figure anyway and gasps. “wait a minute, is that a girl paimon is seeing? kaeya, what are you doing with this girl? unless,,, omg are you cheating on name?”

and without looking at the floating human, kaeya tells her to leave in a firm voice. clearly, he didn’t like any of this bullshit

and paimon gets a little scared before she huffs, telling him that she was totally going to tell you what he was doing

and the door slams after her with extra intended force and with the help of a few icicles

kaeya opens his eyes and gazes longingly at you, frustrated and annoyed at well,, being cockblocked. the moment of intense sexual tension is over and being flustered is well past you know. besides, you kinda wanted to clear up the misunderstanding before paimon spreads some nasty rumour. and sure, kaeya couldn’t care less about his reputation, but you cared about his

so you laugh at his misery and give him a quick peck on the lips before ducking under his arm and exiting the library

kaeya would be a little stunned at your move on him, but he was well aware of your cheeky side. for the rest of the day, he would declare war on you, trying to get you flustered again (bc its funny and cute). he’d do things like cooling his skin when you accidently touch him, standing way too close to you in group discussions and !! breathing down your neck (bc mans has cold breath) and just generally looking at your direction  

you’d fight back bc he’s being ridiculous, winking when you caught him staring, squeezing his hand when he walks past and jokingly avoiding his attempts to get you in private

bc i mean, there was a dragon terrorising the world so romance shouldn’t be your first priority

a shame that kaeya thinks he’s all that and confident in his abilities that he’s like yes i can juggle saving the world and winning over my girlfriend in my sleep wym

when this silly “fight” is over, you finally let kaeya drag you into an alleyway, pressing you up against the wall and kissing you without words

and you smile into the kiss bc frustrated kaeya is so cute

and that’s the relationship, just a mix of pure fluff (bc kaeya really does care for you a lot), stupid banter and sexual tension!!

wow!

#kaeya #kaeya x reader #kaeya x lumine #why is kaeya so hot but so weak? #manga kaeya has me feeling some typa way #kaeya fluff #genshin #genshin impact #genshin kaeya

[imaginedhaven]

Reluctantly Rooming: Part Ten

Link to Masterpost

It took a while to get back to this, but here we are! I hope you guys enjoy.

Today’s prompts:

Character A waking Character B from a nightmare

and

Aelin falling asleep in Rowan’s room

~*~*~

As her movie ended, Aelin stood and stretched with a yawn. Rowan had long since relocated to his own room, but thanks to the odd hours she worked at the bar she knew she’d likely be up for at least another hour or so. Since their truce had begun, though, Aelin had taken to spending her last few waking hours in her own room, reading or doing something else that would generate less noise than the television would.

She quietly folded the blankets she had nestled into, knowing that leaving them where they were would only serve to drive Rowan up a wall. She’d already done quite enough of that, however unintentional the earlier kitchen fire had been. Once that was done, she tucked her shoes into the corner of the room beside his and then crept up the stairs.

She had just changed into her nightclothes when she heard a crashing sound from across the hall.

Aelin frowned. Rowan was asleep, and she had locked everything up before coming upstairs, and last she’d checked she hadn’t left anything in a precarious location.

Gods, had someone broken in?

She wouldn’t rest until she’d investigated. She had to know they would be safe. With that in mind, she grabbed the first object with decent heft that her hand landed on and carefully opened her door.

As she was passing Rowan’s room, she heard a clattering sound, as though a desk or dresser drawer had been upturned and its contents scattered. Gods, had they made it up the stairs already? Was Rowan—?

She had to know.

Knowing the element of surprise would be about the only thing she had going for her at this point in the night, Aelin flung the door open, letting it slam into the wall as she charged into the room and then paused with a frown when a seemingly-empty bedroom was all she saw. What on earth…?

Green eyes peered at her from across the bed, then narrowed. “Aelin Galathynius, what on earth are you doing in my room, brandishing… is that an umbrella?”

She looked down at what she had grabbed, flushing when she realized he was indeed correct. “I heard noises,” she said, voice sounding weak to her own ears. “I thought…”

“Never mind what you thought, just…” The top of Rowan’s head disappeared beneath the side of the bed, and a hand emerged to make a dismissive gesture.

Something gave Aelin pause, though, and she played his words back in her mind. His voice had been rough, rougher than she would’ve expected from having just woken up, and his eyes had been red and almost…

Haunted. His gaze had been haunted, and not even the surprise of seeing her had cleared the emotion entirely from his expression.

Instead of leaving, she vaulted herself over the bed to sit beside him. She had been right about one of the noises, at least; the top drawer of his nightstand lay beside her, its contents scattered except for a frame that rested in Rowan’s hand. Curious, she nestled herself against his side and peered closer.

Inside the well-worn frame was a picture of a woman. She had soft brown curls and warm honeyed eyes to match, and she was giving the photographer a soft, secretive smile as her arms wrapped around herself as if in an embrace. “Who is she?” Aelin asked quietly before she could think better of the words.

Rowan’s tone was harsh as he responded. “No one. Not anymore.”

She frowned, glancing up at him. Maybe she’d asked the wrong question. “Who was she, then?”

He sighed, setting the photograph aside before staring down at his hands. “Her name was Lyria. She was my wife.”

Aelin blinked, stunned. She’d had no idea he’d ever even been in a serious relationship, let alone married. “What happened?”

“She died,” he replied simply.

Before she could think better of it, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shoulder. There were no words she could think of to say to such a thing, but for all that Rowan’s career involved selecting exactly the right words for any given situation, she had a feeling he would prefer her silence now.

As she’d suspected, Rowan finally sighed again and wrapped an arm around her to return her embrace. Finally, she heard him speaking, his voice soft and distant. “I was away on a business trip. She hadn’t wanted me to go, but I couldn’t turn it down, not that time. She didn’t tell me why she didn’t want me to go, either. I came back to our apartment to find the whole building had burned to the ground. A kitchen fire, they said. And she… She’d been planning to tell me she was pregnant.”

Realization dawned in Aelin’s mind. “That’s why you were so worked up this morning. When the fire alarm woke you up.”

From her position, she didn’t see him react, but she could feel him nod once. “I thought I was still asleep, at first. I wasn’t there when it happened, but in my dreams it all happens right in front of me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

“And the noises I heard…”

“I knocked over the drawer,” Rowan admitted. “You probably figured that out already.”

“No, no, before that,” she replied with a frown. “Your drawer isn’t big enough to make the crashing sound I heard.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

Aelin lifted her head from his shoulder to glance at their surroundings. Nothing else was out of place except for the sheets on his bed, tangled around his foot. “You fell out of bed. Didn’t you?”

Rowan scowled. “You’ll never find out.”

“That’s a yes, then. Come on, let’s get you back into bed. I know you’ve got an early morning.” She stood, carefully detangling him from the sheets before tucking them back onto the bed.

“I presume you have a plan for making sure I actually sleep,” Rowan drawled.

“Of course I do. I’m going to sit on the corner of your bed and talk to you until you fall asleep out of self-defense. It’s worked every time I tried it in the living room.”

“Gods help us all.” The reply was teasing, though, some of the light finally returning to those green eyes, so she decided to allow it.

“Come on, get up.” True to her word, she sat on the corner of the bed, gaze fixed on him expectantly.

With a groan, Rowan finally stood before sliding back into the bed. His eyes narrowed as she deftly tucked the sheets in around him before sitting back down. “So that part wasn’t a joke, then.”

“Did I laugh when I was saying it?”

“That would’ve ruined the joke.”

“I laugh at all my own jokes. I’m hilarious. You should laugh at more of them than you do.” At Rowan’s skeptical look, she sighed. “Light on or light off?”

He frowned, clearly considering the options. “Light off,” he finally said. “I won’t sleep with it on. I’ve tried.”

Aelin smiled and stood, turning to face him as he suddenly coughed. “Something wrong?”

“Did I interrupt you with all this? Where’s the other half of your… outfit?”

She looked down at herself, confused, only to be met with the sight of the pink satin and creamy lace of her favorite nightgown. Oh. She hadn’t thought about what she’d been wearing when she barged in. Still, it was best to own it, and so she grinned up at him. “There is no other half.”

His frown deepened. “Do I dare ask what you’re wearing underneath it?”

She pretended to consider his question, one finger tapping her chin. “Ordinarily I’d say you have to buy me dinner first, but you have been doing all the cooking for weeks, so I guess I can allow it. Your answer is nothing.”

She couldn’t quite catch exactly what he growled, but soon she found herself clutching soft plaid flannel and realized he had tossed a pair of pajama pants at her. “Either leave or put them on,” he said with a scowl.

On any other night, she would’ve protested that she could wear what she wanted. But he had revealed so much of himself to her tonight, and with one glance in his direction it was easy to see how much that had cost him. Just for tonight, it was only right that she comply.

Besides, the pants were unfairly soft, and she couldn’t deny she would love the feeling of soft flannel on her legs.

Once she settled the waistband on her hips, she had to bend over and cuff the legs a few times so that she could actually walk. She was positive she looked absolutely ridiculous, but she’d been right about the softness of the material and therefore she decided she didn’t care as much as she probably should’ve.

Before he could make fun of what she was sure was a comical sight, she flipped the light switch and plunged the room into darkness before making her way back to the bed.

This time she did actually lie down, but she kept a respectable distance from him and stayed on top of the covers. It’s only practical, she told herself. Might as well get comfortable, if this is going to take a while.

Rowan turned to face her, or at least she thought he did; it was just a little too dark to tell for certain. “What are you doing?”

“Getting comfortable. If you’re so sure it’s going to take you so long to go to sleep, I might as well be in a position that won’t hurt my back.”

If she could’ve seen his face, she was positive she would’ve been met with the image of him rolling his eyes. “Whatever you say.”

She grinned, even though she was sure he couldn’t see her either. “I’m going to need you to say that more often.”

He huffed out a soft laugh. “Don’t make this weirder than it already is.”

She paused to consider his words. Perhaps he was right, and this was a weird boundary they were blurring. Still, it felt right. “I don’t hear you telling me to leave.”

“I suppose you don’t.”

Before she could come up with something to ramble about until he fell asleep, she heard the sound of his breathing even out. While she’d been sure he would eventually fall asleep after all, she was certainly surprised he’d managed to do so this quickly. Perhaps it was for the best, though.

She shifted slightly to see if the movement would wake him or if she could safely leave, only for his hand to reach out toward her and gently clasp her own.

Message received. It seemed she was staying after all.

She found it was perhaps too easy to drift into a dreamless sleep beside him, their fingers carefully entwined even though the rest of their bodies stayed on their own sides of the bed. Just one more thing that was probably weird, but felt entirely too right.

~*~*~

@ireallyshouldsleeprn @queen-of-glass @fangirlprincess09 @sassys-world @morganofthewildfire @superspiritfestival @perseusannabeth @sis-it-dont-add-up @jlinez @julemmaes @emilyoftheshadows @thegoddessofyou @mymultiversee @swankii-art-teacher @rowansfirebringer @livsdriverslicense @courtofjurdan @danibutterr @woollycat22 @rowaelinismyotp @sleeping-and-books @acciowests

#haven writes #rowaelin #reluctantly rooming

[whentheynameyoujoy]

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

[trainsinanime]

Zoé can never replace Chloé (and she’s not meant to either)

There’s still quite a bit of dialog in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom about the question: Is Zoé supposed to be a replacement for Chloé? I felt like examining that a bit further. The key to figure this out is to look at what Chloé’s role in the story is, and how it does and does not overlap with what we’ve seen from Zoé so far.

For example, is Chloé’s role to be the mayor’s daughter? I would argue no. Being the mayor’s daughter is how she gets her (considerable) power over the class, and thus, a large part of her ability to influence or create stories. You could just as easily imagine her getting that power from elsewhere, e.g. by her father being Monsieur Damocles or some school superintendent, or just a really rich political donor, and it wouldn’t change Chloé’s role at all. Alternatively, there are characters who are in similar positions of power and privilege, but don’t actually use it. Adrien and Kagami are both rich, and Gabriel seems to have at least an indirect connection to André, so you could easily make stories about Adrien abusing that power and privilege if you really wanted to - except it doesn’t fit his character and his role in the story at all.

Is Chloé’s role to be the carrier of the Bee Miraculous? Again, I don’t think so. The bee miraculous is a result of how Chloé acts. Its power of telling people what to do is tailor-made for her personality, and by that I mean pre-possible-redemption-arc personality if that makes a difference. The story does not really need to her to have the bee miraculous specifically. Any would do. The bee was created for her because it fits her established personality best. This is in general how the show works: It’s ultimately never that Marinette has a certain miraculous and has to find a wielder for it; it is that the show wants to highlight a certain character, and gives them a specific power-up that matches their established character and the plot of the episode (except arguably for Alya, where the only link is “orange”, but that’s a different post). The story works just as well if Chloé got a different miraculous, or a different way to get a glimpse into the superhero world, because the point of her getting this is to tell us more about who Chloé is as a person, what she really wants, and how she acts when she both gets and loses it.

Is Chloé’s role to be a close friend of Marinette’s? Clearly not. That may change in the future, maybe, who knows, but so far, when Chloé is important in a plot, it is often specifically because she dislikes and resents Marinette.

Ultimately Chloé has a very simple role. It is literally the same as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, Cordelia Chase in Buffy, Libby in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and many, many others like them. Almost every teenage TV show has someone like them. Chloé is here as the school life antagonist, as a counterpoint to Hawkmoth. Some author (I remember it as being Marjorie Liu, but I’ve never been able to find the quote again) once said that the fun the thing about writing teenagers is that everything has equal importance: Tomorrow is the big dance, and also the world is going to end, and both things are equally important. Miraculous Ladybug follows that scheme strictly, and in it, Chloé’s job is to make the „big dance“ part of this challenging.

A fun thing is that the show generally tries to link the problems she causes to the superheroics, because that makes for a better story. The obvious case is when she is the akumatized villain herself. But there are also for example things like Darkblade, where the show uses the situation with Chloé to draw explicit parallels even though her situation isn’t really linked with D’Agencourt’s at all. A few times Chloé’s role is to literally just show up, upset someone for no reason until they become Akumatization material, and then leave again, such as in Frozer, Stormy Weather 2 or Frightningale. And sometimes the superhero plot is all about Chloé’s actions and also a hilarious homage to every single zombie movie trope ever (Zombizou). Either way, Chloé exists to cause problems - and by extension, episode plots - on purpose.

Another aspect of that is that she helps Marinette grow. Sometimes she is simply motivation for Marinette to go out and be a better person (Darkblade), but she can also appeal to Marinette’s darker instincts so that Marinette can then reject them, or at least feel bad about her actions, such as in Animaestro.

Zoé, who is friendly and passive, and whose stories are all about her relationship with Chloé, is as far from a replacement as you can possibly get. Yes, Zoé has taken over the bee miraculous, but that was part of a plot that was all about Chloé as a person, and not at all about Zoé herself. And it doesn’t really matter, because Chloé isn’t here to get the bee miraculous, the bee miraculous is here to tell a story about Chloé.

Now, yes, Zoé may seem like she has taken over from Chloé if you look at it from a hypothetical end point: Throughout parts of season 2, it looked like Chloé might do a standard grade 1 redemption arc, become nice, a friend to Marinette and a member of the team. There were hints that Chloé might be interested in that, and hints that Marinette might be open to the idea, and then the show went very hard in another direction. Zoé is indeed very, very roughly the kind of person that Chloé and parts of the fandom thought she deserved to be. 

But that isn’t actually a replacement of Chloé, because the role of Chloé is not to become redeemed as quickly as possible. The point of a redemption arc, or in fact any arc, isn’t the endpoint, it’s the way there. That’s why people read 100,000 word enemies-to-lovers stories despite the fact that eventual result is already literally there in the tags. Miraculous Ladybug doesn’t need "mayor’s daughter who looks good in yellow and is nice" and takes shortcuts to get there; it needs - and most importantly clearly wants - an interesting story about Chloé specifically. You can’t replace Chloé in a story all about her personality and her relationships with people with anyone except literally Chloé herself, and certainly not with someone who is noticeably nicer.

(This does not mean Zoé is pointless; it means Zoé’s role is something else entirely. Maybe someone who pushes Chloé to be better? We’ll see.)

Now, will this story be told well? As of right now I’m honestly giving it 50:50 odds, and my guess is that it will both feel drawn-out and rushed at the same time in the end thanks to the "occasional large dumps of plot" technique of storytelling the show generally uses. We’ll see. But I am certain that the story will be told at all. If the show writers didn’t want to, they could have literally sent her off to America, that was literally a plot point in the season 3 finale.

So: Zoé as a replacement for Chloé? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

And final thought: Once more, I want to point out that literally all Chloé-related salt is true if and only if you insert Lila instead at the right place. First, she is the obvious replacement for Chloé. She makes Marinette’s life more challenging when not in costume, and she is very good at that because she’s specifically designed to push all of Marinette’s righteous fury buttons. Lila is literally an explicit counterpart to and partner of Hawkmoth. And finally, she’s the character the creators don’t seem to like at all, or at least don’t seem to know what to do with, considering how little she appears and how she’s gotten no development whatsoever. We really need a "justice for Lila, turn her into the meaningful dastardly villain she deserves to be" movement in the fandom.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb meta #Chloé bourgeois #zoé bourgeois

[alolowrites]

Everyone’s Got a Sweet Tooth!

Summary: Bakugou hates sweets. You don’t think this is true and begin a mission to discover his favorite candy. After all, you are the brilliant Candy Master who won’t stop until Bakugou’s sweet tooth is satisfied.

Author’s Note: Hello everyone! I’m so glad I was finally able to write a full fic for Bakugou; it’s been so long. Originally, this was supposed to be for the bingo event, but had trouble fleshing out the story’s direction. I really wanted to write this story since the plot was hilarious to me, idk why. 

Please enjoy!

10.30.21 UPDATE: HI!!!!! I went back and edited the heck out of this baby since it’s my favorite Bakugou story I’ve written. I hope it is now decent lmao. Happy Halloween!! 

Word Count: 2.4K+

“Katsuki, what is the meaning of all this?!”

“The hell are you talkin’ bout?”

“This!” 

You marched with purpose and plopped down on the couch where he sat. Bakugou remained unfazed, clicking on the remote control. He mindlessly surfed through the channels with an attention span of an HR recruiter combing through a mountain pile of resumes. Stupid sitcoms, fake ass “reality” tv shows, QVC advertising their products like it's Black Friday all day, every day. Bakugou frowned—why does he pay so much for these useless channels? 

His eyes teared away from the screen as the phone waved frantically on his left. 

You huffed. “According to Maximus Heroes, you—and I quote—‘bleeping hate sweets!’”

Bakugou clicked his tongue. “Damn idiots censored my words.”

“That’s not the point!”

“Then what is?”

“That you hate sweets!” 

You viciously smacked a pillow at him, ignoring his yells. Bakugou snatched the weapon with a growl. For a soft pillow, it felt like a firm foam roller. You stood up and paced around, arms flailing in the air. 

“How can my boyfriend say such a thing?!” You pointed at your signature black top hat. “Do you know who I am? I’m the lovable Candy Master, CEO of the Candy Basket Factory!” 

Bakugou shrugged. “So?”

“So, you can’t say you hate sweets!” You gripped your chest, sniffling a bit. “I feel as though I’ve been betrayed.”

“Would you sit your ass down?” 

Bakugou tossed the pillow at you and crossed his arm; he was too tired to deal with this nonsense. Somehow the QVC channel looked more appealing now. You begrudgingly plopped on the couch, a small pout growing on your face. Bakugou snuck a glance and sighed, tossing the remote aside. 

“Are you seriously so upset about this?” Instant regret flooded through his mind as he remembered that ridiculous day. “It was a freakin’ answer to a stupid question in a stupid celebrity article.” 

“…maybe…”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. You took off your signature hat and examined it; the hat was firm yet soft and had three peppermint candies artistically attached like a beautiful brooch. You moped silently for an eternity until an exciting idea rushed into your mind. Bakugou jumped as you squealed, his mouth ready for snarl, but you beat him to the punch. 

“I got it!” Two hands eagerly cupped his sharp cheeks, your whimsical eyes meeting his feral ones. They did nothing to damper your beaming smile. “You don’t hate sweets; you just haven’t found your favorite candy!”

Bakugou grabbed your wrist yet didn’t pull them away. Another giggle rang throughout the living room as you shot up from the sofa. A specific look crossed your face—one that both irked and frightened Bakugou to no end; he was through dealing with your shenanigans. 

“Whatever you’re thinkin’ about, the answer is no!”

“Too late! The mind is churning,” you piped, taking a cheerful step toward the doorway. Spinning on your heel, you gave a hat tip to Bakugou and declared, “I won’t rest until that sweet tooth of yours is satisfied!” 

Yup, it was too late. Bakugou had no choice but to go along with this dumb idea. Closing his eyes, he slammed a pillow over his face and screamed.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Ground Zero’s hero agency was buzzing with life. Phones rang off the hook, yet all were answered to avoid the voicemail machine. Interns carried endless stacks of papers, their dying arms begging for relief and fingers stinging from brutal paper cuts. The afternoon shift sidekicks clocked in their arrival while the morning ones yawned out the door.

Everything ran like a well-oiled machine, just how Bakugou liked it. He took great pride in this, hiring only the best and brightest. However, none of them held a candle against him—the number two pro hero. Unfortunately, being a prominent hero brought lots of reports he needed to sign.

And he was not excited about this.

“Um, sir?”

“Damnit, Small Head,” Bakugou growled, halting his pen’s movement. Fiery eyes glared at the man peeking around the ajar door. “If you bring me another paper to sign, I will stab this pen in your damn eye!”

“I-I assure you that I bring no reports, sir!” Kioshi, Bakugou’s personal assistant, waddled inside the office, fixing the tie that was strangling his neck. He slid a peculiar package toward his boss and bowed his head. “You have a special delivery from the Candy Master.”  

Bakugou scrunched his eyebrows. On his desk was a white box with an orange ribbon wrapped neatly in the upper left corner. A tiny card sat underneath it, and with closer inspection, had his first name written across in gold letters. Bakugou shooed Kioshi away, waiting to hear the door close to ensure absolute privacy.

At first, Bakugou had a mini stare-down with the gift. When it didn’t burst into flames, he sucked his breath and snatched the card. Bakugou turned it around to read the following message:

Everyone knows you got a sour attitude, but only I get to see that sweet side of yours. Figured these treats might do the trick. I made them just for you!

Enjoy,

C.M

P.S. These are an ~exclusive~ batch from my top-secret collection! So hush-hush!

Bakugou snorted at your writing, tossing the card aside and opening the box. His eyes narrowed at the vibrant gumdrops nestled above the black tissue paper. White sugar lightly coated the green and orange candies, each twinkling under the natural light that shined through his large window. A smirk curled on his lips; the whole package reflected his hero costume.

“Let’s see how good these are.”

Bakugou ate the green gumdrop. It was chewy and sour, the lime flavor making him twitch a bit. The sweetness kicked in ten seconds later. Bakugou tried the orange gumdrop next, and the acid was strong too but enjoyable. He soon devoured the entire box in one sitting.

Once that was done, he marched out of the office to start his daily patrol. It didn’t take long for a stupid thug to cross his path. Bakugou slammed him against the concrete wall, hauling him up with just one hand. The man trembled in fear but stopped squirming and cocked his head to the side, dumbfounded. 

Bakugou growled. “What the hell are you looking at?”

“Your tongue...it got weird colors, man.”

“Eh? The fuck are you talking ‘bout?” 

Bakugou peeked at his reflection on the store’s window. He recoiled when he saw the horrible swirls of green and orange covering his tongue. A vicious scowl crossed Bakugou’s face, his iron grip tightening around the thug’s collar. The guy’s high-pitched yelps fell on deaf ears. 

“Fuckin’ gumdrops!”

They were crossed off the list.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

“I don’t want it.”

“But, sir, the gift—”

“I know who it’s from, and I’m telling you no.”

“Sir,” Kioshi gripped the massive, cherry red treat in his hand. A black ribbon with long strings almost reached the floor. The assistant sighed. “It’s just a lollipop.”

“Do I look like a fuckin’ baby to ya?” Bakugou crossed his arms, refusing to budge on his childish decision. The irony made Kioshi roll his eyes mentally. “Give it away or something. Now get out.”

“Yes, sir…”

Lollipops were crossed off the list.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Another day, another gift Bakugou received from you.

They came sporadically and kept the hero on his toes. He never understood why you sent the gifts directly to his office; you both lived in the same apartment for crying out loud! Worst of all, he could never get a single hint on what candy he would receive next. Every time he asked—or more accurately, demanded—you shot him a coy smile and purred, “Ah, ah, ah! It’s a surprise!”

Bakugou wanted to rip his eyeballs out.

However, he reluctantly played along with your stupid game. Whenever Kioshi entered his office, Bakugou masked his slight interest with the usual scowl. If the assistant didn’t bring candy, then Bakugou blamed him for interrupting his private time. The anger was worse if Kioshi brought more reports for him to sign.

Kioshi was thankful for the days when a new candy gift arrived.

Unfortunately, the last three gifts were complete failures. The first was the strawberry licorice, which dangled in Bakugou’s hand. He took a few bites and complained that he was eating a rubber wheel. Next was a bag of colorful gummy worms. Bakugou shoved a couple in his mouth and swore he felt one of them move on its own. Finally, there was the lemon green jawbreaker; it was the size of a baseball. One look and Bakugou shouted over the phone: “You tryna give me dentures?!”

All three candies were crossed off the list. Still, you didn’t give up and sent another gift to Bakugou. He read the simple message on the card:

Chew and blow to your heart’s content, babe!

Love,

C.M

P.S. I promise this won’t change the color on your tongue, haha!

Bakugou opened the sleek, rectangular box and found a bubble gum packet inside; there were three thin pieces. He slipped one in his mouth, surprisingly pleased with the bold raspberry flavor hitting his taste buds. Bakugou skimmed the card again and did as instructed—he chewed.

Typically, an ordinary bubble gum would lose its flavor after five minutes. But the flavor in your gum only got juicier; it encouraged Bakugou to continue chewing. He then blew a tiny bubble before popping it in his mouth. Not bad, he thought as another bubble expanded in front of him. His chews became more aggressive, and the bubbles more prominent than the previous ones. Stupidly, he puffed out a massive bubble, and it grew…

…and grew…and grew until there was a loud pop.

Bakugou’s roars shook the entire building, spilling cold tea all over Kioshi’s shirt. 

Bubble gum was crossed off the list.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Everything was going well down at the Candy Basket Factory. People lined up outside for the magical tours that ran every hour. Kids bounced off the walls as if they were on a sugar rush while their parents felt a migraine pounding on their heads. Inside the factory, the ceilings were high, and the walls were vibrant like the sun. Laughter rang from every corner as employees chit-chatted about their daily lives; they were relaxed yet efficiently worked to the same drumbeat.

A soft smile crept on your face. You were glad everyone was happy; it was the driving force behind your factory’s joyful spirit. Eventually, that spirit would leave these doors and touch billions of people’s hearts with your precious candies.

Just as you closed your eyes, someone barged into your office and barked your name. You chuckled, spinning the leather chair around to meet a furious Bakugou. His nostrils flared like a bull, and his menacing eyes looked ready to kill. However, the gum’s blobs stuck on his porcupine blonde hair squashed the pro hero’s intimidating aura.

“You—”

“—I’m so sorry, boss!” Nozomi panted into the room, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. “I tried stopping him, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“It’s quite alright, Zomi!” You chirped without breaking Bakugou’s intense eye contact. “I can handle him. Please let everyone know I’ll be busy with an important meeting.”

Nozomi bowed and closed the door behind her. Bakugou wasted no time complaining, his hands slamming on your desk. 

“Quit sending me your cavity-infested garbage! I’ve had it with this fuckin’ game.”

“Oh, come on, babe!” You rolled forward and rested your chin on your gloved hand palm. “Can’t I just send my dashing boyfriend some sweet gifts? Get it!” You jokingly slapped his forearm. “Because candies are sweet? Man, I crack myself up at times…”

“You’re insufferable.”  

You winked at him. “But that’s what you love about me!”

Bakugou gritted his teeth and looked away. A light blush tainted his cheeks; he hated how right you were. You walked around the desk and stood beside him, wiping off the fairy sugar dust on his shirt. He probably barged through the sample stand near the entrance, scaring off the poor intern. 

“Alright, alright.” You gave a gentle pat. “Sorry for going a little overboard with the gifts. I was just excited about finding your favorite candy! I don’t want you hating them.”

Bakugou’s anger subsided. “Why is this so damn important to you?”

“Because I love spreading endless joy through sweets.” 

The answer was simple and innocent. Bakugou blinked and was taken aback by the gentleness in your eyes. 

“Candy makes everyone happy,” you chirped. “Knowing someone’s favorite candy helps me bring their smile back whenever they’re upset or lost. Can’t have the world be all mopey now, can we?”

Your fingers hovered above Bakugou’s head. The gum moved under your command and floated in the air. You flicked it into the trash bin with ease, and Bakugou murmured a quick ‘thanks’ under his breath. After ruffling his hair, you suddenly remembered something sitting on your shelf. Bakugou stared at the small pyramid of chocolate truffles coming toward him.

“I made these babies a few minutes ago,” you said, eying the plate with a proud grin. “Normally, I do a taste test and then send the gift if it satisfies my expectations. But, I got a feeling you’ll love them.”  

Bakugou’s face was unreadable. You gave him a gentle nudge and encouraged him to take one. He sighed before picking a chocolate truffle; it was warm and soft, the cocoa powder dusting his fingertips. After suspiciously staring at the truffle, he ate the entire thing in one go. His eyes widened as all the flavors exploded at once. The crushed red pepper flakes, the hints of rich cinnamon and orange zest, and the bittersweet dark chocolate made from the finest quality found on Earth all danced perfectly together with every bite. 

“So…” You placed the plate on the desk, watching Bakugou swallow the truffle down. “What do you think? Give me your honest opinion! Don’t sugarcoat it, haha! I’m on fire today!”

Bakugou turned away. “I’m leaving.”

“No, wait!” You hugged his bicep with a pout. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop. Just tell me if you liked the chocolate truffles.”  

“They’re good.”

Your smile grew. “Good enough to be your favorite?”

“Sure,” he smirked, shoving another truffle into his mouth. You cheered on the spot after weeks of constant failures. Of course, some of the complaints were nonsense which didn’t surprise you. Bakugou was a picky bastard; the lollipop fiasco served as a great example. You were glad he thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate truffles.

Before you walked away, Bakugou pulled you close to him and crushed his lips on yours. He caught you off guard, but the surprise was certainly welcomed. You soon melted into the kiss after tasting the rich dark chocolate and spices on his lips. Bakugou’s arms snaked around your waist as your hands gripped his broad shoulders.

“You know,” Bakugou’s hot breath tickled your right ear, sending shivers down your spine. “I think I got a new favorite candy.”

“Is that so?” You hummed, a coy smile plastered on your face. 

“Let’s hope it satisfies your sweet tooth then, Ground Zero.”

“Oh, it will.”

After all, you were the one and only Candy Master.

As always, thanks for reading!

10.18.20 UPDATE: Story’s sequel, Gold Coins and a Gold Heart now uploaded. 

#bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #bnha x reader #bakugou katsuki #bnha imagines

[galaxywhump]

Never Alone

[Masterlist]

Timeline: set after Thorns

cw: discussion of death - murder and suicide, slavery whump, forced relationship, creepy/intimate and possessive whumper, noncon touching and kissing, swearing, alcohol, referenced alcohol abuse, gaslighting, begging, brainwashing, conditioning, hand gagging, creepy comfort, hopelessness, food mention.

~~~

On SV-240 even waking up has become a statement of I don’t want this, I don’t want to be here, I’m going to get out of here, a fight to keep the heart and mind free of the pleasant feelings of waking up well-rested. 

Above all, Wren dreads the day when he wakes up happy.

Today is, to his relief, far from that day.

He groans and squeezes his eyes shut when light explodes under his eyelids, and his ears ring from the slightest movement when he curls up further and hides his head between his shoulders.

“Sweetheart?”

“Fuuuck, leave me alone”, he mumbles, Daniel’s voice grating on his ears even more than usual.

“Hangover, huh?”

“Take a wild fucking guess.”

“Told you”, Daniel says in a playfully scolding manner, taking away all the weight of what had happened the day before.

“Please?”

He needs it. Just once he wants to ruin himself, drink until all he feels is the burn of alcohol and he wakes up the next day in the familiar pain of a hangover. Just once he wants to regain the worst part of himself.

So he begs.

“But we’ve taken such good care of your problem, sweetheart. Do you really want to ruin it now?”

“N-not ruin.” You never let me drink anyway, asshole, let alone too much. “Just this one time. Please, I… I need some more. Just tonight.”

“You’re going to regret it tomorrow”, and Wren’s first thought is torture, punishment for daring to ask for something that ridiculous, and he finds himself thinking that more alcohol would still be worth it.

“I know.”

And then, for once, Daniel agrees - unusual, Wren notes bitterly, given that the request wasn’t benefitting him in any way.

“Do you want to get up?”

“No.”

He just wants to stay here, sleep the day away like he would on Earth, alone - even though he knows that the last part is impossible. The first two alone would still be nice, though.

Daniel lays one hand on Wren’s shoulder, and this time he succeeds at opening his eyes to look at him, immediately paying the price of a sharp pain flashing through his head before giving way to dull throbbing.

“See, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid”, Daniel sighs, moving his hand up and down Wren’s arm. “Now you’re out for half a day at least.”

“It’s not like I had any plans anyway”, Wren mutters, averting his gaze.

“That doesn’t mean you should sabotage yourself like that, sweetheart.”

“What, are you playing my therapist now? Leave me alone.”

Daniel sighs again - it’s a heavy sigh that makes Wren’s blood boil, worried, as if Daniel cared about anything and anyone other than himself.

“I’ll bring you breakfast. And water. It should help a bit.”

Wren nods and follows Daniel with his gaze as he gets up from the bed and leaves the room; once he’s alone he fixes his gaze on the wall, trying to fight down thoughts that fill him with unease.

It’s more than he’s even gotten. On Earth he was always alone, left to deal with hangovers on his own. There was never anyone to take care of him, or even just call to check on him, to care.

He just wishes it was anyone but Daniel being kind to him, being by his side, kissing him, waking up before him and bringing him breakfast, saying the three words he’s not sure he even remembers ever hearing before.

He just wishes he had any point of reference. Anyone to have given him all the firsts.

Maybe that was the point, one of the factors that made his price so high. He was a blank canvas with insecurities and issues for Daniel to take advantage of. He had made himself that way, an easy target, not missed by anyone-

Stop. It doesn’t matter.

My name is Wren Rackham. I was kidnapped. I’ve been here for… over a year. I’m still fighting. I’m not broken.

And I’m never going to be.

Daniel comes back, carrying a tray - and Wren can’t help but wonder if it’s the exact same one he once was made to hold up - careful not to drop it, giving Wren a gentle smile that he doesn’t return.

Sitting up makes every muscle in his body protest - he hasn’t had a hangover that bad in years; he supposes that was to be expected after forcible quitting.

“There you go. Need anything else?”

“Yes, I need you to leave me alone.”

Daniel raises his eyebrows as he hands Wren the tray, and shakes his head.

“No need to be so rude, you know. But I’ll blame it on the hangover, and we can move on, alright?”

Wren glares at him briefly, and doesn’t comment further when Daniel sits down on the bed instead of leaving. Doesn’t matter. He’s through despairing every time his requests go unheard… or at least when those requests are this minor.

Being left alone isn’t minor. I’m just giving it up.

Doesn’t. Matter.

Once he’s done with eating, now taking his time drinking the water he was given, reveling in the feeling of no longer being completely parched, Daniel moves closer to him, and there’s touch, as always, a hand on his shoulder, the other brushing his hair away from his forehead, and it’s yet another thing Wren should be disgusted by but isn’t. It’s too frequent for him to care every single time. 

Brainwashing. It’s brainwashing. I should fight it.

“Feeling better, sweetheart?”

He gives a tentative nod in response, focusing on the thoughts, trying to rationalize with them.

I know it’s brainwashing. And as long as I know that… I should be okay. I’m fighting. And that’s what matters.

“I just want you to know that I’m always here”, Daniel says, and Wren shivers, hoping that that will be blamed on the hangover too. “Whenever you have a bad day, like today. I’m here to make it better.”

“You’re failing”, Wren mutters, and Daniel laughs, hiding his face in Wren’s neck, sending another shiver of disgust and fear radiating from the spot, which only gets stronger when Daniel wraps one arm around him, and, just like so many times before, he’s trapped by the casual contact. He flinches away from the touch, but the hold just gets tighter, keeping him in place with a silent threat even when Daniel laughs again.

“You’re hilarious, sweetheart.” 

A moment of silence, stillness, interrupted only by the clink of the glass as Wren sets it on the nightstand and crosses his arms, staring straight ahead. 

“But I’ve been thinking…”, Daniel starts again, amusement fading from his voice, and Wren uses a tiny opening to snark:

“Tragic.”

That doesn’t get a laugh. Daniel exhales into his neck before pulling back, to plant a brief kiss on Wren’s cheek.

“We have so many years together ahead of us”, he whispers, and Wren’s heart pounds with enough force to cause pain, “but… I’ve been thinking about the day when I can’t take care of you anymore. When I’m too old, too weak.”

He’s been thinking about that day too - the day when, if everything else had failed, if escape had proven impossible and all he can do is wait, he finally gains the upper hand.

It’s been at the back of his mind for a while now. Not plan B nor C, closer to plan Z, really, but it has been a small source of hope nonetheless, and - which he now realizes was a mistake - he believed that Daniel wasn’t thinking that far ahead.

“I’m trying not to think about it. What matters is the here and now.” Wren flinches under another kiss. “But I don’t want you to be on your own when I’m gone. I don’t want you to be left all alone on this planet, sweetheart.”

Wren closes his eyes and swallows heavily, his heart knocking against his ribs, its beating echoing in his hungover mind, his entire body frozen in horror and anticipation, it’s too much, too much, he wants to be alone today, he wants to be alone in all those years.

“So when that day comes”, the words finally come, one after another seeping into Wren’s ears, fueling his panic, and his breath hitches when Daniel’s fingers, feather-light, brush over his neck. “I’ll make it quick.”

The words click, the world stops, and Wren is falling.

“Painless”, Daniel continues, his every word careful, solemn. “And then, sweetheart, when you’re gone - and only when I’m sure you are - I’ll join you.”

“No.” Wren’s voice is choked, bordering on a sob, the word carrying all that’s tearing him apart, and Daniel pulls him closer, brushing through his hair with his fingers in a crude caricature of comfort.

“Shh. No need to be scared. It will take years before we’ll have to do it, so try not to worry about it, okay?”

“You’re- you’re fucking insane-”

Daniel covers Wren’s mouth with his hand, muffling his words which turn into a whimper, despair taking over the weak attempt at a snark.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I know it’s unexpected, but you’ll get used to that thought eventually, I promise.”

And Wren closes his eyes and sobs, overwhelmed, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, I’m going to escape long before that, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t argue, can’t rationalize the two nightmarish thoughts.

That of spending decades upon decades more in this hell - and that of never, ever escaping it, bound to Daniel until death.

Having his life taken from him once again, this time in the most literal sense.

 Next

taglist: @faewhump @inky-whump @whole-and-apart-and-between @garbagewhump @slaintetowhump @whatwasmyprevioususername @moose-teeth @procrastinatingsab @insanitywishes @special-spicy-chicken @redstainedsocks @luminouswhump @untilthepainstarts @lonesome--hunter @spookyboywhump @ohmywhump @renkocchi @whump-only @ihaventwritteninsolong @legallylibra @rose-whump @muddy-swamp-princess @one-stop-whump-shop @girlwithacoolcat @wildlywhumping @oliver-zophie-rose @mnmlover2002 @itallcomesdowntopain

#slavery whump #creepy whumper #intimate whumper #defiant whumpee #forced relationship whump #death mention #suicide mention #murder mention #noncon touching #noncon kissing #begging #alcohol cw #alcoholism cw #conditioning tw #brainwashing cw #creepy comfort #food mention #daniel rooney #wren rackham #in which daniel drops a bomb #this one i've had planned for months #and i'm pumped about finally getting to post it #my writing #sv-240

[crowdvscritic]

round up // JANUARY + FEBRUARY 22

The start of the year feels like a good time to remind you these lists aren’t ranked but my favorites from this time period in the rough order I experienced them. (The only ranked list linked here: my best of 2021, which is the piece I work hardest on each year.)

At the start of the year, I am also in the mood for silliness. My threshold for burnout is low, and some of the best medicine is laughter, thrill, and spectacle. What I read, watched, and experienced was so full of it I had to share it with you, too! Get to scrollin’ to make sure you find every bit of laughter, thrill and spectacle you’re looking for in this dreary time while we’re waiting for Spring. 

January + February Crowd-Pleasers

1. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (2022)

I appreciate that HBO Max listened to my notes on the Friends reunion and made this just a nice sit down with people I love watching together. What a warm hug!

2. Hawkeye (2021)

Is Hawkeye the greatest entry in the MCU canon? Nope, but it sure is a fun time. As a big fan of Jeremy Renner, Christmas, and (mild spoiler alert!) Florence Pugh (spoiler done!), this was just fun, action-packed treat.

3. Beyond Van Gogh Exhibit

Going to an art exhibit with no the original art is an odd setup, but the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit (touring across the U.S.), finds new ways to make Vincent’s work come alive. It’s like walking through a painting, and it animates the movement Van Gogh’s painting implies. I still recommend you see the real stuff, but it’s pretty nifty to see his thick brushstrokes in detail. 

4. Triple Feature — Early ‘90s Spoofs: Hot Shots! (1991), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), + Wayne’s World 2 (1993)

The Hot Shots! movies (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10) spoof Top Gun and Rambo to the nth degree, and Wayne’s World 2 (Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 7.5/10)  spoofs everything from Double Indemnity and The Graduate to Thelma and Louise and the “YMCA” video. If that’s not your jam…are you broken?

5. Double Binge — Netflix Murder Comedy Series: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window + Murderville (2021)

Netflix dropped two murder comedy shows in consecutive weeks, and since the seasons were so short and sweet, they were easy-peasy binges even for someone who would rather watch a movie than a show. In one, Kristen Bell spoofs every incompetent Jessica Fletcher whose substance abuse makes her an unreliable busybody. In the other, Will Arnett invites celebs like Ken Jeong and Kumail Nanjiani to help him solve murders in an improv version of Murder, She Wrote. So yes, these were specific and hilarious Venn diagrams of my interests. 

6. SNL Round-Up

You know the drill: Just click and laugh! These are the skits from Studio 8H that have made me laugh most in the last few months.

“HomeGoods” (4709 with Paul Rudd)

“The Christmas Socks” (4709)

“Biden Spider-man Cold Open” (4710 with Ariana DeBose)

“Urkel Reboot” (4710)

“Weekend Update: Elmo and Rocco” (4710)

“Cinema Classics: Gaslight” (4711 with Will Forte)

“Now I’m Up” (4712 with Willem Dafoe)

“Please Don’t Destroy - Good Variant” (4713 with John Mulaney)

“Subway Churro” (4713)

7. Double Feature — Nickelodeon Reboots: Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) + iCarly (2021)

I turned on the Dora live action movie (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6.5/10) on a whim and was pleasantly surprised—who knew this would be a self-aware comedy poking fun at the ridiculousness of children’s program and paying homage to Indiana Jones? If I had children—which I realize is a weird thing to say after admitting I watched this—I suspect Dora would be a refreshing addition to the non-stop movie rewatches.

As for iCarly, is it weird to say I’ve enjoyed reruns of the original series more as an adult than I did when I was in the target demo ? Yep, that’s also weird, but I’m blaming it on my intense desire for silliness. (To its credit, most episodes aren’t more juvenile than SNL—they’re just smoothed down for children.) The reboot is just as bombastic though it’s more grown-up, and Spencer (Jerry Trainor) is still GOAT. Now someone explain to me why the Lizzie McGuire reboot can’t happen!

8. Marry Me (2022)

My current best movie of 2022 because I’ve only seen two of them. That said, I feel excellent saying that about a mash-up of Notting Hill and The Proposal that made me smile the entire time. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6/10

9. Double Feature — Unlikely POTUS Comedies: Dave (1993) + Head of State (2003)

In Dave (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10), Kevin Kline is a doppelgänger for the President, and when the Commander-in-Chief becomes incapacitated, Kline’s normie steps in to cover his responsibilities. In Head of State (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10), Chris Rock is a D.C. alderman who is promoted to a Presidential candidate when the nominee dies. Plot twist in both movies: They might be better at the job than the politicians!

10. Red Eye (2005)

Is it too much to ask that more movies be 85 minutes? Wes Craven says no! He directs a taut thriller about Cillian Murphy terrorizing Rachel McAdams on an airplane, and while there are shades Scream, I appreciate the less-gore-more-mind-games approach. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

11. The Warriors (1979)

Another month, another movie that inspired Stranger Things, another affirmation the Duffer Brothers have great taste. The Warriors was an inspiration for the season 2 episode “The Lost Sister” (an episode I probably enjoyed more than many), and this movie is that punk rock gang vibe to the max. What’s a Coney Island gang to do when they’re framed for a crime and every other gang in New York is out to get them? And by every other gang, I mean a Baseball Gang, a Mime Gang, an Overalls Gang, and a gang that prowls in a trashed school bus. It’s a teen rebellion adventure but also about the challenges of growing up with less than. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

12. Wordle + Taylordle

Choo choo! I’m all aboard the Wordle train, and the Taylor Swift version is another Venn diagram of my interests.

January + February Critic Picks

1. Best of 2021

As promised at the end of December, my Best of 2021 is wrapped! After squeezing in 10 more contenders in January and February (including CODA, Cyrano, C’mon, C’mon, Passing, The Tender Bar, and Tragedy of Macbeth, all of which I recommend), I narrowed down the the year to my top 10 films for ZekeFilm. 

Bonus: You can read full reviews for Belfast, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and tick, tick…BOOM! after seeing where they land in my top films of the year.

2. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)

Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing make what’s retro modern in this classic musical. Read my ZekeFilm review of the new Blu-ray to see what feels dated and what still feels thoroughly modern. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

3. Double Feature — Women Going Through STUFF in ‘40s Romances: Cat People (1942) + My Reputation (1946)

In Cat People (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10) , a Serbian immigrant (Simone Simon) fears she will turn into a vicious feline if overtaken with passion. In My Reputation (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10), a new widow (Barbara Stanwyck) falls in love again and her neighbors are overtaken with gossip. Strong female leads and actresses anchor these moving stories, and they only take 73 and 94 minutes! Bonus: Stanwyck’s melodrama is example of a recurring theme of I’m noticing in ‘40s films: women just trying to live their best lives but society won’t let them. You know I had to make a Letterboxd list!

4. The Essential Directors: The Art and Impact of Cinema's Most Influential Filmmakers by Sloan De Forest (2021)

My new Christmas tradition: asking for Turner Classic Movies books and reading them over my winter break. In this year’s edition, I dug into directors I’m familiar with (Howard Hawks, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg) and ones I’ve never met before (Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, Josef von Sternberg). The book recommends 440 films to understand these filmmakers, and I’ve only seen about 40% off them—as per usual, my watch list is never complete!

5. Good Reads

A miscellaneous collection of pieces on how trends that only last 4 days might not be trends, why some TV shows should be movies, the generational and political divides in the Christian faith, decision-making, Oscar nominees, and just calling it a day on your writing.

“The Year of Garbage Internet Trends,” Vox.com (2021)

“Your Bubble Is Not the Culture,” TheAtlantic.com (2022)

“Why Are Movies So Long Now?” Variety.com (2022)

“Dear TV: Stop Making Two-Hour Movie Ideas Into 10-Hour Limited Series,” TVline.com (2022)

“The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism From Itself,” NYTimes.com (2022)

“How to Figure Out What You Want,” AestheticsOfJoy.com (2022)

“Kirsten Dunst, Nicole Kidman and More React to 2022 Oscar Nominations,” Variety.com (2022) - A lot of gems in here, like Kirsten Dunst and Benedict Cumberbatch flexing they've already seen all the nominees, Jane Campion rooting for Lady Gaga, and Andrew Garfield loving "Timmy Chalamet becoming the king he’s always meant to be" in Dune.

“Revising Your Writing Again? Blame the Modernists,” BostonGlobe.com (2013)

6. The Mission (1986)

Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons are European missionaries to South America in the 1750s, but when politics get tense between Spain, Portugal, and the Catholic Church, their jobs become more than spreading the Gospel to the native tribes. Soon—yes, this historical epic is only two hours—they are the last line of defense between political rivals trying to take the people’s homes and make them slaves. The extra complication: De Niro and Irons don’t agree on the Christian response for protecting God’s people. You can find this on my Letterboxd list of essential films about the Christian faith. 

7. Double Feature — ‘00s Crime Thrillers: Insomnia (2002) + Michael Clayton (2007)

In Insomnia (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8/10), Al Pacino is investigating a teen’s murder in the round-the-clock summer sun of Alaska, Hilary Swank is the local detective on the case, and Robin Williams might be the killer. In Michael Clayton (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10), George Clooney is a fixer for a Monsanto doppelgänger, Tilda Swinton is its legal counsel, and Tom Wilkinson might be the source to a major scandal for the company. Though the settings and crimes vary, the story of two films is the same: Do the ends ever justify the means? 

8. Fight Club (1999)

That twist was spoiled for me years ago, but this film still left me unsettled and unsure why something so violent and unstable has become a pop phenomenon. Fight Club may not be for Taylors, but I also had to read reviews from Roger Ebert and more critics to absorb what I just watched, which is always a sign I just watched something full of crunchy ideas and effective filmmaking. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

9. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)

An exception to my belief that movies weren’t a thing until 1934! Buster Keaton is still a hilarious charmer almost 100 years later, and the gags are still a gas. Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 9/10

Also this January + February…

Kyla and I kicked off season six of our podcast SO IT’S A SHOW?, all about pop culture references on Gilmore Girls. 

In our first episode focused on a Michel reference, we watch the ’80s sitcom character he compares himself to, Benson

Lorelai says “they screwed up Bewitched!” The movie, that is. We investigate: did they? 

Since we Millennials were wee children at the beginning of the Iraq War, we research ousted CIA agent Valerie Plame and whether Rory should use her as inspiration for her DAR espionage

Lorelai is cleaning out her VHS tapes, but first, we need to check out one of the longest-running prime time dramas in history, a family sitcom, an ‘80s show that turned into a movie franchise, a Hallmark movie that would never be made today, and some Super Bowl commercials.

These were busy months at ZekeFilm! In addition to the reviews I shared above, I wrote about inexplicable-Best Picture nominee Don’t Look Up and watched the oldest movie I’ve ever seen!

Photo credits: Beyond Van Gogh, Good Reads. Essential Directors my own. All others IMDb.com

#Round Up #Harry Potter Reunion #Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwart #Harry Potter Return to Hogwarts #SNL #Saturday Night Live #Thoroughly Modern Millie #Marry Me #Red Eye #Hawkeye #wayne's world #Hot Shots! #The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window #Murderville #iCarly #Dora and the Lost City of Gold #The Warriors #Dave #Head of State #Beyond Van Gogh #Fight Club #My Reputation #Cat People #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Steamboat Bill Jr. #Michael Clayton #Insomnia #The Mission

[lov3nerdstuff]

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 7.18}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 4k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

______________________________

The way back to the castle was quick and they arrived just in time for dinner, but still made their ways into the great hall separately like they usually did. All the way, Robin couldn't help smiling to herself, not even as she sat down with her friends, who resided at the Slytherin table today. 

It took them two seconds to notice her unusually good mood and another to comment on it, but Robin just explained that she'd had a nice day in Hogsmeade and an enjoyable walk back. Jorien snorted in return, Cas frowned, and Simon did both at once, while Michael and Gideon simply didn't know Robin well enough to be aware of the fact that she hated shopping, and designated Hogsmeade days even more. Jorien was quick to explain that fact to them however, and Robin just shrugged it off with another smile. She did add then that she'd mostly enjoyed intimidating a shop owner to accept her terms of a bargain –she did not give details on either though– and her friends finally agreed that this already sounded a whole lot more like the Robin they knew.

Dinner was mostly amicable chatter and talk about tomorrow's tutoring then, as well as a ridiculously serious discussion between Jorien and Gideon about an incident they'd all heard of somehow –involving two sixth years, a dark hallway past curfew, some certain body parts and an enlargement charm– which resulted in second-hand embarrassment for Robin, Michael and Simon, and a giggling fit for Cas. Honestly, Jorien was all facts and no emotion sometimes, Cas just didn't possess a sense of shame, and Gideon obviously went to great lengths to win an argument, no matter how ridiculous it was. The other three just had to bear it out. Robin cringed at the mental images the discussion was giving her, but on the other hand she found it entertaining to see Jorien winning the argument with such an ease. It made her feel proud of the girl, if nothing else.

Finally when dinner was over and the group once again among the last to leave, the boys decided that they would tag along for tutoring in the morning, mainly for the sake of getting help with a charms and herbology assignment on Simon's and Michael's end respectively. Robin absolutely didn't mind going over some NEWT topics as well if they wanted her to, and while she immediately placed the disclaimer that she was only a year ahead and might not even be of any actual help to them at all, the five people in front of her simply laughed at that statement. Obviously neither of them believed her to be 'just a year ahead' for real, and while she felt very much flattered by their confidence in her, she also wasn't quite sure if she would actually be able to meet their ridiculously high expectations. Oh well… an issue for another day.

From there, the girls made their way down to the dungeons like every night, with Robin coming along for half of the way, and upon their usual question about her plans for the evening, she told them that Snape and her were in the process of experimenting with some new substances and she thus couldn't say when she would be returning to her dorm. A beautiful way to shape the truth, she thought, and the girls did as they ought to by shrugging it off as another ordinary night of her work. They did her the favour of taking her winter robes back to their room though, when Robin bid them goodnight and went ahead to let herself into the office.

"Don't get settled, we aren't staying." Snape said the moment she closed the door behind herself, and the smirk was back on her lips in no time, but it was dimmed down again when she saw the annoyed frown on his face that accompanied the statement.

"What's the matter? Change in whatever plans you made?"

"Indeed." He grumbled, picking up a stack of notebooks, and then ushered her straight back out into the hallway, where he followed before locking the door to the office. "Poppy is out of calming draught and pepperup potion, and she believes it to be of vital importance to stock up on both tonight. Idiotic, if they would ask me, but unfortunately no one ever does. So lab work it is."

Robin only groaned under her breath and rolled her eyes while her feet carried her towards the lab on autopilot already, with Snape following right behind her. So much for excitement… making both potions and having them ready for delivery would take hours! But it was their job after all. Actually, it was his job and she just couldn't be bothered to stop doing it together with him.

"I hope she at least knows that she owes you for making us do this on a bloody Saturday night." Robin sighed when she finally dropped her backpack in its usual corner in the lab, then pulled her wand out of her sleeve, put her hair up into a messy knot, and finally rolled up her sleeves all in the usual practiced movements. When her eyes lifted from her arms up to Snape however, to see why he wasn't answering, she found him still standing with his back to the closed door, observing her in rapt serenity. The sight sent a pleasant shiver down her spine, but she refused to let it distract her from the task at hand as she moved towards the tables to set up for the impending work. "If you just keep standing there like a pillar of salt we'll never get this done, you know… And I was actually kinda hoping we would get to continue with whatever plans you've made once we're done here."

"We certainly will." He finally replied as he snapped out of his freeze, lips curling into a not-smirk while he mirrored her actions and rolled up his sleeves as well. He had started doing that more often ever since summer, whenever they had practical work to do in the safe solitude of the lab, and Robin felt a certain pride in the knowledge that he was comfortable enough around her by now to do so. Now was no different, and she smiled to herself as she was about to get started.

"Which one would you like me to make?" She asked while he was still setting up next to her. "Any preference?"

"Your pick."

"Again? You're being suspiciously gracious today, and I'm not sure if I want to know why… I'm not dying again, am I?" She sent him a small smirk, but went straight on. "I'll do the calming draught then. Pepperup always makes me sneeze like crazy."

"I know. It is ironic, really."

"Very funny, yes, absolutely hilarious." She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, but smiled nonetheless as she got started picking out the ingredients. For these kinds of potions, the infirmary's stock and all the ones taught in class, she had long passed the point of needing instructions at all.

The brewing was a running routine by now, and even if Robin had been hoping for a different pastime for tonight, she still found herself enjoying the work as always. It wasn't the most interesting thing to make standard type potions, admittedly, but just working in the lab together with Snape never failed to be a delight in its own right. Before long they were at the point of simply having to wait while the potions simmered quietly in their cauldrons, and while Robin went to write the labels, Snape started grading the notebooks he had brought. Occasionally he grumbled to himself about whatever idiotic thing some student had written in their essay this time, and Robin always found herself amused by his annoyance. There was little else to do than listening to his remarks after all, seeing as writing labels was a repetitive process she might as well have charmed her quill to do by itself. But then she would be left without anything to do at all, and that wouldn't be an improvement either. Thus she just dipped her quill into the inkwell once more with a silent sigh, when suddenly the comfortable calm of the lab was disturbed by a harsh and repeated knocking on the door. That almost never happened.

Robin jumped a little, but stayed sitting on her stool while Snape grumbled to himself again and went to snap at whoever was bothering them with tangible annoyance radiating off him in an invisible cloud. The very second Robin lifted her gaze from the labels to him however, by chance more than intentionally, something in her mind clicked together at the sight of him almost having reached the door. Without a second thought she dropped the quill and bolted, barely still barging in between Snape and the door before he could open it. Her momentum had her back crashing against the wood in a loud rattle, and she found herself once again standing chest to chest with him, trying to catch her breath as she looked up with wide eyes. His scowl had disappeared entirely, only to be replaced by genuinely shocked surprise. Bloody hell, his face was so close to her own… not even a breath away now. A second passed in silence, and her eyes flickered down to his lips ever so briefly, but she just couldn't help it. Her heart skipped a beat, adrenaline running through her veins like sweetest poison, and she finally remembered why she had brought herself into this situation in the first place.

He still looked like a deer in the headlights when Robin wrapped a reluctant hand around his forearm, then dropped her gaze down to the minimal space between them entirely as she carefully rolled his sleeves down again. It took him a few seconds to catch on to her gesture, but then he helped her by closing a few of the buttons at least before repeating the process on the other side himself at a much faster pace. The entire moment didn't last longer than a few seconds, even though it seemed to span enteritis in Robin's mind, and once the task was accomplished, Snape took a step backwards for Robin to move away from the door to allow him to open up at last.

Bloody hell… Robin's heart was still jumping out of her chest, and her insides had liquified entirely as she went to sit back down on her stool. That had been a very close call on two ends, and she took deep breaths to regain some composure at least while resting her forearms on the tabletop. The area where she had dropped the quill was covered in tiny black speckles, as were her forearms, but for some miraculous reason the labels had been spared at least. Good… things were good. Slowly her heartbeat calmed down to a normal pace again, and her brain started working like it ought to as well. When she finally was in a place of mind to pay attention to what was happening at the door, it was thrown shut already though, and Snape returned to his place next to her at the table in silence.

"What was that about?" She asked as calmly as she could, studying how the frown stayed on his face even as he was sitting down next to her again.

"Nothing of importance." He answered quickly, but then sighed as he seemed to think better of it. They were past the point of only sharing important things with each other… long past it, actually. "Pomona informed me that she would like to keep a small group of fifth years in the greenhouse after curfew tomorrow evening and I gave my approval."

"Ah." Robin replied under her breath, but didn't know what else to say on the issue and thus merely let her gaze drop to the labels again, without picking up the quill though. For a few seconds it was quiet, but she could tell by the tension surrounding them that he wanted to say something, and she would give him all the time he needed to do so. Pushing him never worked in her favour anyway, but giving him space usually did.

"Thank you. For keeping an eye on me." He finally started, in a calm tone now but still with a frown on his face. "Such carelessness on my part has never happened before, and it certainly will not be happening again."

"You were caught up in your thoughts, that happens to everyone at some point. It's not worth being upset over now. And of course I'm keeping an eye on you! It's what we always do, both of us. You know that." She returned a soft smile, reassuring and calm and affectionate in that way that was only reserved for him. "I'm just sorry I jumped at you like a maniac."

It took a few seconds, but then his frown loosened up slowly and the not-smirk returned to his lips. "I didn't mind that, actually."

Robin's smile turned into a smirk as well, and then she just had to laugh. "Of course you didn't… You're insufferable, you know?"

"That would be my line."

"Well, I'm stealing it now. We're both insufferable, that's just the way things are." She said with a nonchalant shrug, turning back to pick up her quill and write her labels with a lingering smirk now, and out of the corners of her eyes, she could see that the same expression was gracing his features as well, as he went to continue grading the essays.

They finished their work in the usual calm contentment, first the grading and the labels –while occasional mocking some dunderhead students– before finally bottling the finished potions. It was shortly before midnight when they were done at last, when the bottles were neatly boxed up to be delivered. They spontaneously decided that Robin would be the one to take them to the infirmary, while Snape wanted to clean up the lab and return the notebooks to the office. Moments later she was as good as gone, carefully balancing four smaller cardboard boxes in her arms as she quickly made her way through the dark castle and towards the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was delighted as always when Robin staggered through the heavy doors in an attempt not to drop everything, and whispered many thanks while helping her sort the boxes into the storage shelves. Robin took note of the fact that by now the entire stock had her handwriting on it indeed, and it probably had been that way for a while. She smiled at the realisation, not without a certain sense of pride, and after bidding the matron goodnight, she was leaving again already.

On her way back down to the dungeons though, Robin almost ran into Morgan, who obviously was assigned to patrol the castle tonight. She was just rounding a corner when he suddenly stood right in front of her, but he was luckily looking into the other direction, which gave her enough time to jump back around the corner and hide away in one of the darkest alcoves. Thank heaven or hell for her by now decent ability to move silently, which she had somehow made a habit of practicing ever since she started spending every night in the lab or the office. Over the years she had gotten quite good at it, not as good as Snape obviously, but good enough for Morgan to walk past her now without having noticed her presence. Thank God… Only once she couldn't hear his doorstep anymore, she finally dared to move out of her alcove and continue her way down to the dungeons almost in a run. She really wasn't up for another nightly encounter with Morgan, especially not if he was actually patrolling the castle tonight. She would just have to be careful, and keep an eye on her surroundings.

And yet, just when she hasted along the last hallway in the dungeons before finally being back at the office, she made the mistake of looking back over her shoulder when rounding the last corner and promptly ran into the familiar wall of black. It had been a while since that had last happened, and this time, instead of letting her tumble down to the floor in her immediate loss of balance, his arm was around her waist in an instant, keeping her upright and securely on her feet. At first Robin let out a startled yelp, but after the second it took her brain to register that she knew that arm around her as well as the scent that was overwhelming her senses now, she didn't even need to look at Snape for her body to relax already.

"Didn't we say we would meet at the office?" She finally asked, barely above a whisper but with a smile in relief and a scowl in feigned complaint nonetheless. His arm disappeared from around her, unfortunately, and he took a step backwards to inspect her with a curious frown.

"We did, but you were taking longer than expected, which usually means that either something or someone has happened to you. I merely wanted to see if you were alright." He said in a quiet tone, glancing down the dark hallway that stretched into blackness behind Robin.

"I'm good… but only barely." She sighed, and his eyes found hers again within a second. "I almost ran into Morgan, he's patrolling tonight. Had to hide for a while until he was gone."

"That would explain the delay. I take it then that he didn't see you?"

"No, he walked right past me. But knowing him, that might just have been part of his game. So I was somewhere between panicking and in a haste to get back here."

"Understandable. Let's see to it that we stay out of his way." He said, then the subtle not-smirk returned to his lips. "We still have plans for tonight after all, and I don't want him, or anyone else for that matter, to interrupt those yet again."

Robin's heart skipped a beat upon his words, and once again the anxiety was making way for suspense and excitement. But at the same time, the spark of amusement in his eyes made her smirk in return. "Since you refuse to tell me what we will be doing, you'll have to lead the way. If you don't wanna stand in the hallway all night, that is."

With an exaggerated eye rolling but the same not-smirk, he motioned for her to come along, stopping again a few more steps down the path to retrieve Robin's backpack from the office first, but much to her surprise they then continued on to make their way through the dark hallways until at last they arrived in front of his rooms. Her heart skipped yet another beat, and she tried not to grin like an idiot while he unlocked the door and then let her go in first. This was an interesting development of things… one she certainly didn't mind in the least. She'd been wondering ever since Thursday night when she would get to come back here, but she honestly hadn't expected that moment to arrive so soon. With the biggest smile on her face she dropped down on the sofa and watched him light up the fireplace before taking off his robes and coat and neatly folding both pieces over a chair. It left him in that linen shirt he had also been wearing on Thursday night when she'd come here unannounced, and when he went to roll up the sleeves of that now again, Robin couldn't help but watch in amazement. At some point that gesture had become ridiculously attractive, just like the whole act of him taking off the many layers of black, and she didn't know if it was the gesture itself that had her marvelling or the level of comfort it represented. Both, probably. Her heart was soaring either way.

"You sit there like you have been summoned to the headmaster's office." He finally said, in a taunting voice, while moving about in search of something. "You've never been shy in a space of mine before, so just get comfortable already, will you?"

"If you insist." She chuckled, and toed off her boots first before crossing her legs on the sofa, when suddenly an idea struck her that made her smirk again. Placing her bag in her lap, she first dug out the bottle of firewhisky and set it down next to her, then went to dig deeper. So deep, in fact, that she finally had to stick her head in too, to find what she was looking for. The sofa next to her dipped down, she heard glass rattling, and finally her hand touched what she was looking for. With a victorious smile, she pulled out one item after the other, and set them all down on the ground beneath her before finally surfacing out of the bag again and putting it aside. She was met with Snape's undoubtedly humoured and slightly defeated expression.

"Of course you have a record player in your bag… Why am I even surprised at this point." He sighed to himself, while Robin went to kneel down on the floor to set the whole thing up.

"You like Queen, don't you?" She grinned up at him, but picked out the according record anyway, without waiting for an answer. Half a minute later the music started floating around them at a moderate volume, even though Robin was rather sure that there were multiple silencing charms placed on the room. Still didn't mean it was necessary that they'd have to shout over the music to talk. Then she moved the entire setup to the nearest wall, thus out of the way, and finally sat down on the sofa again, with her legs crossed like before. "There, now you've got proof that I'm comfortable enough to seize the silence. Better now?"

"Indeed." He nodded, while handing Robin an empty glass. "Even though half of the school would likely consider it a sacrilege to play muggle music inside the castle."

"Oh come on, you can't honestly tell me that they wrote their music without the help of magic!" She grinned in return and traced the edges of the glass with her fingertips. "Besides, I don't remotely care about anyone's opinion on my taste in music. Well, actually I do care about your opinion on mostly everything… Do you mind muggle music?"

"No. I only mind bad music."

"See! Can't argue with good taste." Robin shrugged with a smirk. "Talking about taste, what's with the empty glass?"

"I thought we would continue our experiments from earlier today." The smirk was on his face in an instant, fully mirroring hers for once, even if with a touch more mischief to it. "I have a few more liquors I would like you to try. If by the end of it you still choose to go with firewhisky, I won't lose another word of complaint."

"Alright, sounds fair enough. But you gotta try them with me, yes?"

He held up his own glass while quirking an eyebrow at her in reply, then summoned the first bottle from one of the shelves. Robin couldn't help grinning to herself, then down at her glass. This was going to be a very interesting night, no matter what happened from here on, that much at least was for sure. And quite honestly, she already couldn't wait for whatever was to come.

______________________________

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[t-lostinworlds]

Hidden Agenda (Tom Holland)

A/N: ITS ABOUT FUCKING DAMN TIME LOL. Christmas was almost a month ago now but ha, better late than never right? no? okay, sorry heh. At least it’s long-er right? still no? yup. Anyhow! I hope you guys enjoy this one! x

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: You were planning on spending Christmas alone but Tom presses that you spend it with him and his family instead. He just so happen to “forget” to mention it to them that you were just his best friend, and not his girlfriend.

Warnings: Nada but my usual typos

Word Count: 8.1k+

Masterlist in Bio

-:-:-:-:-

"Bye guys. I'll see you all soon." Tom bid his last goodbyes as you waited just by the door of a mutual friend's house, the party still in full swing but the two of you have already decided to call it a night.

"Let's just walk yeah?" He turned to you with a smile, offering his arm for you to hold, which you did, gladly.

It was the 23rd of December and the city of London was still as alive as ever, given the fact that it was nearing midnight. The wind was cold with a sprinkle of snow here and there, coating the streets lightly with white. People were all bundled up in layers as they walked under numerous twinkling lights, small chatter and laughs echoing about with the hum of the carols that each open store plays, and nothing could ever scream Christmas more than this.

"You're going back home tomorrow right?" Tom asked, your bodies close together, side by side in an attempt to stay warm. "Nope." You simply answered, not even bothering to give any further details. You didn't have to.

"You're still not in good terms with them?" You shook your head no, sparing Tom a glance to see a frown written on those lips. He didn't need to tell you who he meant since you already know 'them' means your family. You two are close, so naturally, you tell him everything. Well, most of everything.

"What're your plans for Christmas then?"

You shrugged, sighing as you shot him a small smile. "I don't know. I'll probably just stay back at the flat and watch a movie, order take out and eat ice cream. Maybe wear a Christmas hat and jumper for it to be special and not just my typical night." You joked, but Tom lips didn't even twitch as he only stared at you with furrowed brows, frown still intact.

"What, alone?" You looked at him curiously, the concern written on his face only growing to which you only responded with a small nod. "Well, yeah—"

"Yeah, that's not happening." Tom scoffed with a shake of his head. You turned your head fully to look at him confused. "What'd you mean?"

"You're spending Christmas with me."’

He stated casually, almost bluntly as if he didn't have any plans for the holidays whatsoever, his voice firm in a way to tell you that he's already made up his mind.

"You're going to be with your family Tom." You stated, as a matter of fact, since he has already told you what he was doing tomorrow, so him spending Christmas with you doesn't exactly add up. Tom only squared his shoulders, eyes looking straight to avoid your confused gaze.

"Exactly."

It took you a minute to understand what he was trying to say, his proposition slowly registering in your brain before you halted your movements, stopping right in front of him to try and get your point across. "No no no, I'm not going to crash your holiday plans with your family Tom. I'm going to be fine at the flat."

Tom only raised his one messy brow, hands in the pockets of his coat and when he gets in this stance, you know very well that he was ready to argue. "Well, I sure as hell won't let you spend Christmas alone Y/N."

You crossed your arms over your chest to counter him, a frown on your lips as you are not exactly keen on being an intruder to a family celebration, especially if it was this last minute. "I'm not just showing up uninvited, I really don't want to invade."

Tom only chuckled, walking closer to you with a reassuring smile, the corner of his eyes crinkling as his hands landed on your shoulder comfortingly. "You won't. I'll text mum a heads up and we'll go down there together. Trust me, they'd be glad to have you. They've been dying to meet you."

Granted, you haven't met the Hollands.

You've known Tom for so long but you still have yet to meet his family. It was a case of your busy schedule combined with his that you haven't had the chance to go whenever an opportunity pops up. You have met Harry since he's with Tom mostly, but that's about it. So going with him at their house during Christmas, with it a very last minute plan, it was making you a bit nervous, and by a bit, you mean a lot.

You pouted at him, still a bit wary of this idea of his. "Are you a hundred percent sure they won't mind?" Tom flashed you that charming grin, all confident and bright, the one that never fails to make your heart flutter even if you so badly don't want it to. "Completely sure."

"But Tom—"

"Y/N, I really don't want you to spend Christmas alone and we can stay out here in the cold and argue for as long as you want, or you could just say yes right now and spare us the time because you very well know I don't easily back down." He cuts you off with a knowing smile, arms all crossed over his chest to let you know that he was up for the challenge, just like he always is.

You groaned with a roll of your eyes because you just know, deep in your bones, that you weren't getting your way with this, especially when it was crystal clear that he's already made up his mind. He would just keep pushing until you say yes, or either way, he'll drag you down there no questions asked.

Thomas Holland is just stubborn that way.

"Glad to see that you care about how I spend my holidays." You grumbled, your heart fluttering at his concern of not wanting you to spend Christmas all by yourself, a glimmer of hope shining through, your mind playing its daydream as to why that could be.

"I'm your best friend, of course I care." And just like that, the small hope was snuffed out seconds later, a light sting in your heart that you tried your hardest to ignore, but you also can't say you aren't used to it by now.

You shook your head with a timid smile to mask what you truly felt about his statement, letting out a sigh as you looked at the boy in front of you who sported an all-too proud grin on his face. Of course he knows he's winning this. "Fine, fine, I'll go. But you'll come with me early tomorrow for a last minute Christmas shopping. I don't want to show up empty handed."

Tom's face lit up like a Christmas tree at that, his smile only getting wider as he offered you his arm again. Even if you wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug smirk of his, you took his arm nonetheless, a small chuckle escaping out of the boy as he wholeheartedly agreed.

"Deal."

*     *     *

To say you were nervous would be an understatement.

Your hands were clammy, your heartbeat rapid, and if the look on your face wasn't an enough dead giveaway, your not-so-steady breathing would surely do the trick.

Tom was right beside you as you two walk up to their front door, and he can practically see you physically shake with nerves. You can feel his eyes bore a whole on the side of your head, a look of concern but mostly amusement written on his face.

"Hey, you're going to be fine. I'm sure they'll like you. There's no need to be nervous Y/N." He chuckled, swinging his arm over your shoulder as he pulled you in for a side hug. You only nodded with a sigh, Tom squeezing your arm in comfort as he placed a soft kiss on top of your head.

It was so funny, borderline hilarious how anxious you were feeling on meeting his family. The excitement is there of course but this nagging voice inside your head just seems to overpower everything. It was somewhat of a want for them to approve of you and like you in a way, which doesn't even make any sense or prove any point as to why you want their approval. The thought was just ridiculous given the fact that you aren't even his girlfrien—

"Y/N! Hello darling, nice to finally meet you."

Too caught up in your thoughts that you didn't even notice that you've already reached the door, a lovely woman was standing right in front of you as she opened it wider and pulled you in for a warm and welcoming hug. "Nice to finally meet you too Mrs. Holland." You greeted with a bright smile once you pulled away, her hands grabbing yours as she gave it a squeeze.

"Oh please, call me Nikki. I've heard so much about you already since Tom just won't shut up. He's quite fond of you this boy, I mean it is the first time he's ever brought a girlfriend home."

Your eyes widened in shock once your brain processed the word, your head slowly, almost dramatically turning to look at a red-faced Tom as you try and find some kind of explanation. He met your eyes briefly before he shook his head, your brows furrowing even more when he turned back to his mother, cleared his throat and only said, "Mum it's cold out here."

"Oh! My bad, come in, make yourself at home sweets." You weren't given the time to ask Tom questions as you were ushered inside seconds later. The confusion only consumed you more the longer you wonder as to why Tom didn't bother and correct his mother.

What on earth is this boy doing?

"Look who's here." Nikki announced the moment you reached the living room where most of his family was situated. The loud chime of her voice made three sets of eyes turn to you, all faces sporting wide grins that did nothing but made you feel at ease and comfortable in so little time. Tessa was quick to run and jump at Tom, his voice raising an octave as he greeted his precious girl. You, on the other hand, turned towards the sound of your name.

"Y/N! Glad to see you again." Harry was the first one to stand up and greet you with a warm hug. "Hi Harry, how are you?" You grinned, ruffling his mesh of curls that only made him chuckle. "Never better."

His twin brother, Sam, was the next to introduce himself followed by their youngest, cute little Paddy, freckles and all.

"Ah, so this is the girl Tom won't stop talking about." You felt your cheeks heat up at the sentence, turning around to see Tom's father walk in just seconds later.

"Dad—"

"Hello Mr. Holland." You ignored Tom and turned to the father of the family with a sweet smile, in which he returned graciously.

"That's too formal love, just call me Dom." He greeted with a warm hug. Once you pulled away, you caught a glimpse of Tom just watching with a sheepish grin on his lips, making the confusion in your brain grow even more.

You felt really flattered by the fact that Tom has told his family about you. It makes you feel, somewhat special in a way but of course, being as guarded as yourself, you tried your best not to think much about it. You are pretty sure he's talk about all his friends to his family in the same way he talks about you.

Though you are still very curious as to why Tom's mother thought you're his girlfriend, because that's just far from the truth. But it seems like you can't get him alone to ask. That or he's purposefully avoiding you and your questions, you don't know which is which as of yet.

"Oh Tom, I'll help you with your stuff. I believe you two are sleeping in the guest bedroom." Dom butted in and gave Tom's shoulder a pat. He was about to walk out of the room but your voice stopped him.

"We will be sharing a bedroom?" The words slipped out your mouth before you could even stop it, your brows knitted together, your eyes searching Tom's to which he avoided so evidently. "Well, you two are together and I do trust Tom not to do any funny business." Dom simply said, playfulness laced in his tone.

Well, guess that makes it that most, if not all of his family think you're his girlfriend.

"Seriously Dad?" Tom groaned, palm rubbing on his red face, you found it quite adorable if being honest, maybe even more if you weren't raking your brain for answers as to what the hell is going on.

Dom only chuckled as he gave Tom's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm just messing with you. Come on son, your bags won't carry themselves upstairs." Tom nodded with a sigh. He only spare you a quick glance, shooting you a shy smile with his cheeks all flushed and pink.

You were waiting, just waiting for him to say something, to tell his dad that you weren't together, to correct him too but it never came. It was like he wants them to think that you are in fact together, which isn't the case at all, and you could only think as to why.

Well you're not correcting them either.

Huh, touché.

Of course a part of you was enjoying the moment, you've had feeling for Tom for a while now. With him being so sweet, kind and caring with a side of charm, talent and sexiness, how can you not? So his family thinking that you're his girlfriend? It was pure bliss.

You do hate the way it makes you feel hopeful though. Hopeful that there was something more about this, feelings wise. But you just know he doesn't. If the countless of girls he's been pining for wasn't enough proof, then him saying that he doesn't feel anything for you to Harrison, was.

You didn't mean to eavesdrop on their conversation that night, you just happened to walk in his living room to hear your name, and you got hooked.

"Don't believe anything they tell you." Tom warned playfully, his voice taking you out of your train of thoughts. You furrowed your brows at him confused to which he only gestured behind you, his finger pointed accusingly at his brothers. You turned around to see all three boys smiling innocently at you, though the mischievous glints in their eyes says otherwise.

Oh you were getting some good gossip tonight.

"Come on Tom, how bad can it be?"

*     *     *

Your laugh was the first thing Tom heard when he walked back inside the living room, a smile making its way onto his lips to see you glowing with joy. Even more so when he saw Tessa situated comfortably on your lap, the precious dog looking up at you sweetly as she listens to whatever you were saying, the way your hand stroked the back of her ear was enough to make her stay right where she is.

The sight alone melted Tom's heart ten times over.

"What are the four of you talking about?" He asked with a brow raise, his brothers looking at you and then back at him before stifling out little chuckles. "What are you telling her boys?" Tom presses even more, dread slowly consuming him on the thought of what his brothers could've spilt this time.

"Don't worry Tom, they're just confirming what I already know." You responded with a wide grin, leaning back on the couch, all calm and smug.

"And that is?"

"That you're really stupid, especially with girls. God the things that you've done." You answered nonchalantly, shaking your head at him teasingly. Tom's cheeks turned a deep shade of red as a number of horrible and embarrassing stories crossed his mind and he was sure the boys told you one, if not all of those said stories.

"Whoops time to check the turkey." Sam was quick to stand and exit the room, chuckles coming out of him to which Tom could only do nothing but watch him disappear.

"I'll help and set the table. Paddy come on." And just like that all three boys were out of sight, leaving you with a curious yet adorably embarrassed Tom. "Seriously, what did they tell you?" You stifled out a laugh at his distressed state, Tom only jutting out his bottom lip in response as he slowly made his way to stand in front of you.

"It's nothing. Just things you did when you were younger. They quite exposed you if I'm being honest but nothing too bad." You answered to try and reassure him, but still, Tom wasn't having it, but he also knows you weren't going to tell him anytime soon either so he decided to just let it go, even if it was bugging him a lot.

"Wow, we just got here and you've already taken over my family." Tom sighed as he plopped beside you on the couch, his eyes glancing down at the dog who rested soundly on your lap, not even bothered by Tom's presence. "You too Tess? This is just outrageous." He protested, arm resting just behind you as he shot you a playful glare, bottom lip all jutted out and you couldn't help but laugh. You shrugged with a wide and proud grin of your own. "What can I say, I am quite the charm."

"Yup, you definitely are." Tom whispered under his breath but he doesn't really realize most of the time when he's speaking out loud, so of course, you heard.

There was a slight change in his tone, a difference in the way he said it that made the butterflies in your stomach go haywire, a certain look on his face that made your brain grow curios but your heart grow hopeful.

Silence rang in the air as none of you decided to speak after that. Tom knows you heard what he just said, the faint blush in his cheeks just screams it, and it was only a matter of seconds for it to grow awkward until you realized that you've got your own questions for him.

"Tom, why does your whole family think that I'm your girl—"

"I got the yearbook!" Paddy came out of nowhere with a toothy grin, book in hand to which you assumed was Tom's, judging by the way he groaned in utter dismay. "You guys really love to embarrass me."

Paddy only giggled as he made his way beside you, handing you the yearbook to which you thanked him for. You turned to Tom to see another mortified look on his face, and you could do nothing but laugh at his reaction. A smirk was plastered on your lips, all teasing and smug as you patted his leg in feign support.

"Hey, that's what brothers are for."

*     *     *

Dinner was well underway.

The beautiful sound of laughter accompanied by the glorious and delicious smell of the full plates made you feel all warm as you look around the dining table surrounded by a happy family. Tom was sat right beside you, eyes all crinkled as he tried to contain his amusement at bay due to something his Dad had said.

You were holding your end of the conversation as well as his family asks you whatever question they had in mind. It was the typical ones, what you do with work and school, favorite marvel movie – not choosing Spider-Man just to get on Tom's nerves – the usual jazz. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Tom did something cute from the outside looking in, but questionable to you.

"Hey, look at me." He mumbled as he patted your arm softly, making you stop your conversation with Sam to turn and look at your best friend. "Hmm?" You hummed, Tom only smiling at you as his hand took hold of your chin to keep your head in place. The middle of your brows creased, your heartbeat picking up its pace as you stared right at Tom's brown orbs all confused, but you didn't have to ask no more as he brought his napkin up to gently, almost lovingly wipe the gravy that was on the corner of your lips.

"There." Tom flashed you one last smile before turning back to his Dad as if it was nothing, him missing the way you let out the breath you were holding as you tried your best to keep the butterflies from causing any more havoc.

"You two are such an adorable couple." Your head snap back at Nikki who had such a proud grin on her face, looking at you and Tom so adoringly and you didn't want to be the one to ruin it for her, so you just smiled at her shyly, your cheeks all hot as you looked at Tom with the corner of your eyes, the boy still oblivious of the consequences of his actions.

It was such a mundane thing, what Tom just did, and he's done it before too, but somehow, in front of his family, it felt like there was some hidden agenda to it, and you suddenly felt uneasy.

*     *     *

The festivity was now moved back to the living room, the main lights now dimmed replaced by the glow of the Christmas tree as the TV played Elf. Everyone was scattered everywhere with the young boys on the floor wrapped in big and soft comforters, both parents cuddled on the edge of the couch, while you and Tom sat next to each other on the other end.

You tried your best to focus on the movie, but it was becoming a hard task as your mind processed other things instead. Along with Tom's arm resting over your shoulder, pulling you closer and closer to his side as his fingers played with the ends of your hair? It wasn't easy to stay focused.

Even more so when he—out of nowhere—turned his head to place a soft kiss on your forehead, his lips gentle against your skin as it lingers for more seconds than normal. Your eyes snapped up to meet his to which he was quick to avoid as his brown orbs were back on the television. You were staring at him intently, only breaking your gaze once you caught Dom and Nikki whispering in each other's ear, not so discreetly pointing at the two of you.

You placed your eyes back on Tom, your brows furrowing in concentration and curiosity as if you'll find answers on the dips and valleys of his face.

What is this boy trying to prove? Does he actually have a hidden agenda?

Tom tore his eyes from the TV screen to look down at you seconds later once he felt your burning glare on him. "What're you staring at?" He mumbled, the smirk on his lips slowly growing as you only rolled your eyes at him and stayed quiet, looking down at your hands once you felt your cheeks heat up.

And here you were, back on your never ending train of thoughts, more fuel added to the fire when Nikki and Dom bid their goodnights, the phrase "love birds" thrown about to which you and Tom only responded with timid smiles, the boy beside you still not bothering to correct them at all.

That's when the theory as to why finally hits you.

Everything could be just a big misunderstanding but a part of you can't help but think that maybe the reason why Tom has been acting the way he is the moment you arrived at their doorstep, is to actually make his family think that you are in fact his girlfriend.

Maybe his family has been pestering him to get a girlfriend to the point where it was getting on his nerves. Maybe this has been his plan all along the moment he invited you to spend Christmas with him, to show off to his family so that they'll stop asking questions, so that they can finally stop pressing about his love life. If so, then that would absolutely suck.

A heads up would have been slightly better because if that really was the case, then you just feel utterly used and downright played.

And just like that your mood was quick to switch.

"I think I'll go and get some sleep too." You grumbled as you pulled away from his grasp. You were fast to stand to your full height that it made the middle of Tom's brows crease with worry. "You alright?"

You flashed him a tight-lipped smile, avoiding his eyes as much as possible as you nodded. "Yeah, just tired."

Tom had his thinking face for a second, the one he wears whenever he suspects that you weren't exactly telling him the truth. You were glad though that, that said face only lasted a few seconds. "Okay, I'll be right up in a few."

Once you've said goodnight to the boys, you were quick to turn on your heel as you rushed upstairs, shutting the bedroom door behind you with a long sigh.

You were going to make the most of your time alone, to think and to breathe at least, to have a much needed space given the fact that Tom would most likely show up in a couple minutes and there would be nowhere to escape him.

Perks of sharing a bedroom. Sarcasm greatly intended.

*     *     *

Lying down alone in bed has always been one of your places to think, or in this case, overthink.

You were torn, still not clear as to what you'd conclude this situation to be. If you've just made a big deal out of the whole situation when it wasn't at all; or that there's definitely something going on and you just know nothing about it. But either way, you can't help but be hurt.

You could try and pretend to actually be his girlfriend and just live in the moment, this has been your dream for so long after all. But you also can't stop thinking about how you're playing yourself if you do exactly that.

If you let him use you for his own gain, then you're just setting yourself for heartbreak in the future.

Your feelings for Tom shouldn't in anyway make him have a pass on lying. What you feel for him should never make him able to get away with everything, especially with the risk of him taking advantage of it. Maybe he knows what you feel, maybe he doesn't, but that still doesn't give him any right to drag you into whatever he's planning without confronting you about it first.

It could've made a difference if he talked to you about it, asked this whole thing as a favor instead of just playing you right into his trap.

Could this actually be the reason why he suddenly thought about bringing you home with him? If so, then he probably doesn't care if you were to spend Christmas all alone.

You were hurt for sure, but you were also very angry, hence why you aren't fully rational with the situation at hand.

You and Tom have never slept in the same room ever before. Same house sure, all the sleepovers can vouch for that, but you've always had your own space whenever that happens. You two have shared a few clothes, and a few stuff but none of you has crossed too much into the other's personal space. Being best friends, it has its perks but it also has boundaries for it to stay that way, which is why you also have never shared a bed.

You weren't exactly sure if you're ready to make tonight the first, especially with the whole 'his family thinks you're his girlfriend' thing going on. You also weren't sure if your heart could really take it, being so near to him in an almost, too intimate setting with your emotions and all.

Having feelings for your best friend is stressful as fuck.

As much as you want him to sleep on the floor, you couldn't find it in you to let it happen. You were definitely mad at him, but just because, you still couldn't let him sleep on the cold, hard floor. So, you opted on placing a pillow in the middle of the bed, a make-shift wall to separate your side and his. It wasn't much, but it was something at least, a needed distance for you not to cross dangerous territory.

The things you do to spare your heart.

You were staring straight at the cream-colored walls, gears in your mind still turning when you heard the door open and then shut, the lock clicking just seconds later, but you stayed still, no movement, no noise.

It was a few minutes of him doing whatever it was he was doing as he walked around the room, into the bathroom and back. You couldn't see him as you tried and pretended to be asleep, your eyes faintly closed; only hearing his footsteps coming closer until you felt the other side of the bed dip. You can definitely feel his eyes on you, just staring, observing, and he was silent for a moment, until he lets out a deep sigh.

Tom knows you, of course he wasn't falling for your little act. "I know you're still awake."

"Oh yay, do you want a cookie for noticing?" You grumbled, still not bothering to turn around. Your back was facing him, but you can just picture him running a hand over his head, a little frustrated maybe, but nothing you can't handle.

"Are you mad at me?" You couldn't help but roll your eyes, your snark getting the best of you because he knows what's been happening the moment you two arrived, so it's only fair that he comes clean with it. "I don't know Tom, should I be mad at you?"

"I don't know too Y/N but judging by this barrier? You definitely are."

You couldn't stop your eyes from rolling again, just out of habit, even though he can't see it. You didn't even try to hide your annoyance as you exclaimed enthusiastically. "Great job! You want another cookie?"

"Y/N, stop with the damn cookies and just tell me what's up." You can hear it in his voice that he was getting riled up, and you want nothing more than to annoy the living daylights out of him, but when he gets heated, you tend to feed off of it too.

"Fine. I'll tell you alright." You tore the blankets off of you in haste, standing back on your bare feet as you glared at Tom who was sat across you, frown written on his lips with a little hint of annoyance still present all over his face.

You crossed your arms over your chest in mere attempt to look intimidating, trying your hardest to not get too distracted since the fucker didn't even have the decency to put a shirt on. "Maybe you should've given me a heads up when you're going to use me as a decoy girlfriend to appease your family."

Tom's face visibly softened at your words, a sigh was heard from him as he lowered his head to avoid your eyes. You stayed quiet and just waited for him to say something, it was after the count of ten—in your head of course—when he looked back up at you with an expression you can't quite read.

"Look, mum just assumed that you are. I definitely am not using you as decoy and I didn't tell them that you're my girlfriend." He reasoned, nervous hand coming up to rub on his shoulder, unconsciously flexing his bicep along the way and you hate how one little thing could affect you so much. You took a breath, replaying that you're mad at him over and over inside your head.

It was rare for Tom to ever lie, and when he does—in most cases—you would be the first to notice. He wasn't lying sure, but you still weren't convinced that he was telling you the full truth.

"But you didn't correct them and say that I'm just your best friend either." You pointed out as you narrowed your eyes at the boy. It was clear in the way he looked away that he was cornered, no more cards to show except for one that Tom wasn't ready to play just yet. Lying wasn't an option either so he tried to shift the conversation instead. "Well, neither did you."

You blinked, completely taken aback by his choice of tone, an accusing one that is. "Oh don't you dare try and pin this on me now Thomas."

Tom knew that his whole name coming out of your lips was warning enough, but being the idiot that he is, of course he decided to poke his head inside his ass some more instead of just being straight up and honest with you. "I'm just saying, you could've told them we weren't together but you didn't so this isn't all on me."

The glint in your eyes made Tom swallow the lump in his throat. But when you spoke with gritted teeth, that's when he knew he might actually have screwed things up. "Unbelievable. You knew how nervous I was to meet your family! How could I ever possibly tell them off? Fuck it, you know what? Don't bother me until you're ready to tell me the truth."

"Y/N—"

"If you do as much as cross the tip of your finger over this pillow I'm going to end you." The threat in your voice was clear and Tom could do nothing more but watch as you climb back in bed, pulling the covers over you rather harshly as you kept your back turned on him.

He laid himself down with a deep sigh, both hands finding its way on the back of his head as he stared up at the ceiling, stealing glances at your form every now and then. His frown only got deeper as the clock ticked by with you still paying him no mind. The silence in the air grew longer, even deafening to the point that it was driving him nuts.

Tom was well aware that you were still up because your breathing wasn't as steady as it should be when you're actually asleep. He knows you like the back of his hand, just as you do about him. Your every quirk, every habit, he notices every single one of them. It was easy for him to know what's been bothering you—well, in most days—and it's definitely easy for him to notice if you're pretending to be asleep, especially if he was just so close.

You had every right to be upset because he was so obviously beating around the bush. He knew fully well how much you hated it when someone isn't being completely truthful right up to your face or otherwise. To add to that, he just had to get in your nerves some more by pushing some of the blame on you too.

Tom wanted nothing more than to smack himself upside the head. He does deserve it.

But one thing for sure was that he shouldn't let this argument reach the morning. He just has to suck it up, gather all the courage he could muster and tell you the whole and honest truth, no matter the consequences. Even if he was putting your friendship at risk.

Slowly, Tom sat up as he leaned back on his arms, eyes casted at the girl who lay just beside him. "Y/N?" Silence. "I know you're still up." More silence.

Come on Tom, you can do better than that.

Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood fully up, quietly rounding the corner and walking towards your side. Tom was right when he suspected that you weren't asleep when you moved quiet abruptly. It was like your motion sensors were on high alert as you were quick to turn around before he could even reach you, keeping your back on him to purposely avoid him.

Crouching down so that he was almost the same level as the bed, Tom lifted a hand up to poke your arm gently, and when you didn't swat him away, he took that as a good sign.

"Y/N, just hear me out please." Tom softly cooed, finger running up and down your arm with a feather-like touch, soothing away your anger in mere seconds. He couldn't stop his smile from growing when he felt you slowly relax, and Tom knew it was only a matter of time before you finally give in. He always took so much pride on how you can't resist him for far too long.

"What do you want?" You grumbled, still not going through the hassle of turning to face him, but only because you know how close he just is. If you did as much as roll on your other side, your face would only be an inch or two from his own, and you aren't sure if your heart can handle that proximity.

"Just want to talk." You spared him a glance over your shoulder, seeing nothing but puppy-dog eyes staring right back at you with his full pout in play. "Please?" Tom added, and all you could do was groan in utter defeat, just knowing that he won't stop unless you talk to him. His stubbornness is one of the reasons why you're here, right at their house during Christmas, in the very first place.

You sat up and moved back until you were near the headboard, crossing your legs as you watch him sit on the space in front of you, right in arms-length.

Tom stared at you for a moment, head tilted to the side with a look you can't quite comprehend, but it did bring that certain flutter you feel in your heart whenever he looks at you, but this time, more intense. Even more so when he suddenly whispered, almost like a breath, his voice soft and gentle, tone laced in pure endearment when he said:

"God you're beautiful."

The warmth in your heart was quick to rise and spread to your cheeks. You willed yourself to think nothing more of his comment than just a poor attempt to distract you. "Tom, spill."

Tom shook his head with a shy chuckle, eyes casted down for a quick second before it was back on yours. "Right uhm, first off, I promise you, I didn't plan this at all. I was just as shocked as you were when mum called you my girlfriend. This was never my reason as to why I invited you here in the first place. And second..."

Trailing off his sentence, Tom slowly moved closer towards you. The sudden change in the atmosphere only made your heartbeat quicken, and when he reached out to take both of your hands in his, all your nerves were on an all-time high. "I didn't correct them and say that you're my best friend and that we're not together or that you're not my girlfriend because... I was uhm, because I really want, no, I don't want you to be." Tom's voice faded as he spoke the last part of his sentence that you didn't quite catch what he said nor did you understand. His eyes were now casted down at his fingers that were gently fiddling with yours, nervousness very clear in his touch.

You furrowed your brows at him, frown on your lips as you softly said. "You're not making any sense." This made Tom throw his head back with a groan, hands letting go of yours as he rubbed them on his face frustratedly. His eyes were shut tight as he mumbled to himself, but the fact that he was so close, you still heard it nonetheless. "Dammit why am I so bad at this?"

"Tom, why didn't you tell them I'm not your girlfriend?" You asked to try and pry the answer out of him, asking him the question that's been hanging over your heads the moment you arrived. Both his arms fell limp on his sides, and when his eyes met yours with a different glimmer coating them, you were nowhere near prepared by his confession.

"Because I enjoyed it okay? I liked the way it sounded when mum called you my girlfriend. I felt so happy just seeing you get along with my brothers instantly, even when the only thing they did was embarrass me. And when you didn't say anything? I was taking every chance that I could to soak it in while it's still there, to pretend to be your boyfriend because maybe it's the only chance that I'll ever get, even if it's not real." You stared at him in shock, words stuck in your throat as your brain still tried to process what you're actually hearing.

Tom's heart was hammering against his chest, loud and fast as he leaned closer, his shaking hand reaching out to hold your face, palm soft against your cheek, thumb stroking your skin ever so gently.

Your eyes blinked as if his touch brought you out of your thoughts. Confusion was written all across your features, a nervous chuckle escaping Tom as he continued, heart and soul poured into his words. "I was enjoying the moment because I don't want you to be just my best friend anymore Y/N, I want you to be more than that. I've had feelings for you for so long now and seeing you tonight with my family only just confirmed that I am hopelessly and deeply in love with you."

You shook your head at him, eyes closing as you tried to get a hold of your sanity, still unable to believe the actual words that came out of his mouth. Because Tom telling you that he loves you? Your best friend? The person who you've been in love with after all this time? It just seems too good to be true. "Don't even try and lie to me Tom."

"Why would I lie to you about this?"

"I heard you telling Harrison you didn't have feelings for me." The slight shake in your voice made Tom's heart ache a little. You were doubtful and Tom knows it's because you were scared of that he was just telling you this just because. He understands why, he knows about your past relationship, of course he understands. But he could never, in a million years lie to you. He never would.

"I was in denial because you don't feel the same way and knowing Harrison, he was for sure going to say something to you if I admitted to him my feelings then. I was scared that it'll ruin our friendship and fuck, maybe I just did right now and I'm just—"

"What makes you think I don't feel the same way?" You cut him off, so many mixed emotions rushing through you in a span of a minute. You were still suspicious, that’s what so much heartbreak can do to you, but that only starts to fade away once you think about who's in front of you. You trust Tom with everything that you are, and that always outweighs every doubt in your mind.

"Because when you—wait, does that mean what I think it means?" The realization that grew on Tom's face made him look ten times more adorable, hopeful eyes looking at you with that bright, charming smile slowly making an appearance.

You bit the insides of your cheeks to stop yourself from grinning, wearing the best poker face that you could to try and seem unfazed. You weren't giving him the satisfaction just yet. "Tom, answer my question."

He shook his head no with a sheepish grin. "But your question is suggestive. Why would you ask me that question if—"

"Yes, I'm in love with you too, you idiot."

Tom was quick to shush your giggles as he pressed his lips against yours, his hand finding its way on the back of your neck to keep your head in place. The kiss was everything you could have ever imagined it to be, so much longing and passion poured into it that it could only make your head spin and your heart grow.

You were consumed in nothing but bliss as his mouth molded yours, his hand finding your waist as he gently pushed you down until you laid flat on your back. Tom situated himself between your legs as soon as you wrapped them around his waist, your arms snaking around his neck to pull him even closer, a soft groan leaving him at the feeling of so little space between you two.

"You have no idea how long I've been daydreaming about this..." Tom whispered, his lips leaving yours as he slowly trailed down, placing a peck on your chin before his lips found its way down your neck. "...about kissing you..." You gasped as he gently nibbled on the skin, trailing even further down to your collarbone as he softly growled. "...all of you."

"I think I do." You breathe out, hand running up and down the back of his neck as he continued to litter you with kisses, some gentle, some... not so much. "Yeah?" The grin in his voice was clear as day as he looked at you through his lashes with a dark glint in his eyes, his hands sneaking under your shirt, fingertips touching you in a way that made goosebumps erupt on your skin.

"Hmm, I've been doing the same." You hummed. Tom's lips hurriedly made its way back on yours as he kissed you hungrily this time, teeth nibbling at your bottom lip before his tongue slipped its way in your mouth. You ran your hands down his bare torso, feeling every bit of muscle, from pecks to abs. It was ridiculous how your simple touch could turn Tom on so much, the blood rushing down that made his sweatpants grow tighter. "I wanna love on you."

You let out a soft moan when he suddenly rutted his hips once, only once to tease you and to tell you just how much he wants you. But as much as you want him too, you couldn't seem to forget about where exactly you two are. "Not tonight Holland. Your parents are right downstairs and your brothers are right across the hall."

Tom only chuckled lowly at that, burying his face back on the crook of your neck as he nipped at your soft spot, earning a gasp from you. "Guess we have to stay quiet then."

"Tempting, but I don't think I can, especially when it's you." You admitted coyly, Tom pulling away at your words as he supported himself on his forearms, eyebrow raised at you with the cockiest grin you've seen him wear. "Oh? Is that so?"

"So next time?" You smiled at him shyly, heat coating your cheeks as you brought a hand up to cup his face. Tom chuckled with a nod, leaning towards your touch like a puppy as he hummed. "Whatever you want love."

He pulled away from your grasp as he sat up, the sudden absence of his touch making your frown. Tom only flashed you a reassuring smile, grabbing the pillow-barrier just beside you and throwing it across the room, the space on the bed now bigger than before. "Won't be needing that anymore." His comment earned a hearty laugh from you, the sound melting Tom's heart as he looked down at you with pure adoration.

"You, my love, are the Best Christmas gift ever." Tom sighed as he leaned down to place a sweet kiss on your lips, snuggling himself back in your arms, face buried in the crook of your neck with an awfully wide smile that he can't seem to wipe off, not that he was complaining.

"Great, because I actually forgot to buy you anything." You teased, hand running up and down his bare back to which Tom could only sigh in pure content. "That's alright, you are more than enough."

"God you're such a cheese ball."

"I've finally got you after so fucking long, my cheesiness isn't going to run out anytime soon darling."

And after a few more giggles, teasing comments, lots of kisses with a sprinkle of 'I love you's here and there, the two you slowly drifted off with smiles on your faces, happy and grateful to be finally in each other's arms.

Christmas at the Holland's went way better than you thought it would.

-:-:-:-:-

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