#its just the fact that the videos were taken by the same person and they both have such meme potential 😭 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dingusfreakhxrrington · 1 year

Text

A Test Of Faith

pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader

summary: to test the BAU, a bold unsub abducts one of their members and sends the team on a wild goose chase. with reckless decisions and personal feelings taking hold, will the team be able to save one of their own or will their faith in each other come crumbling down?

warnings: mentions of kidnapping, mentions of drugs, canon-typical violence, mentions of blood, mentions of death, mentions of injury, angst, 3rd person, slight fluff, minor cursing

word count: 7k

a/n: this isn’t proofread so i’m sorry for any mistakes!

part two (coming soon)

read on ao3

friendly reminder that comments and reblogs are just as (if not more than) important as likes!

“Hey, has anyone seen y/n this morning?” Reid asked with a frown as he entered the bullpen, hanging his bag over the back of his chair.

“She’s not here yet, why?”

His face only scrunched up further at Morgan’s words. He knew it was unusual for her to be late to work, let alone skip out on plans at the last minute. “It’s just, we were supposed to get coffee this morning but she didn’t show.”

Morgan shrugged. “Maybe she overslept?”

“Maybe…”

He wanted to believe it because the alternative, which had already begun to play on his mind, was much worse. Still, he couldn’t ignore the feeling that was starting to settle into the bottom of his stomach. That uneasy feeling which had taken hold before he’d even left the coffee shop where they were supposed to meet.

Something was wrong. He knew that even before the box arrived.

It was delivered by courier directly to the office. The only indicator of who it was for was in thick, red marker across the top of the box which spelt out nothing but ‘BAU’. The handwriting was neat but unnecessarily large.

Morgan held the box, inspecting it as Reid and Prentiss peered over his shoulders.

“What is it?” Emily questioned, waiting for Morgan to open the package.

“Nothing good.” All eyes turned to their superior as he approached, holding up a letter written in the same red ink that decorated the box.

Hotchner passed the note to Prentiss, allowing her to read it to the rest of the team. “‘For Agent Hotchner at the BAU. A package will arrive not long after you read this, I suggest you gather your team and prepare for the game’?”

“Game? What game?”

Reid furrowed his brows at Morgan’s question, already trying to piece together what was going on. “You don’t think this has anything to do with why y/n is late, do you?”

“I don’t know, but what I do know is that we’re going to need the whole team on this. Reid, try to get in contact with y/n and find out where she is. Prentiss, gather the others. I want everyone in the briefing room within the next five minutes.”

Just like that, the group dispersed and, within minutes, they assembled again for the briefing.

“Still no y/n?”

Reid shook his head as he pushed his phone back into his pocket. “She isn’t answering her phone.”

“No matter, we’ll have to catch her up when she gets here. We can’t waste any more time, we need to know what’s inside the box,” Hotch sighed and signalled for Morgan to finally open it up.

The team watched on anxiously, worried about the contents of the package they’d received. More often than not, packages with notes such as the one they’d received were a little more than unpleasant.

The one thing that gave them hope, was the fact that no blood seemed to be staining the cardboard from the inside. Although that didn’t mean there wasn’t a victim’s body part inside

“A CD?” Morgan frowned when he revealed its contents, only growing more curious as he checked both the front and back of the case.

It was Electra Heart by Marina and the Diamonds, not that anyone thought that detail was of any particular importance.

“Could just be a case the unsub is using to protect the disc. It’s most likely a video,” JJ gave her input as she reached out for the disc before moving to play it on the screen.

The room was silent as she prepared the video, nervous to find out what was on it.

Would it be a video of the unsub? Perhaps a video of them committing a crime? Murder? Torture? Assault? Something else altogether? Or had it really just been a prank? Was it really just an album?

“Oh god-” Garcia gasped, hands moving to cover her mouth the moment the video began to play, tears already pricking in the corner of her startled eyes.

That uneasy feeling in Reid’s gut only grew stronger, twisting and turning until it became all that consumed him. It had never been this bad before, not even when he himself was the one in danger. He was terrified.

Terrified for her.

There she was. Y/n, the agent who had not been late to work but abducted by their unsub. Taken in the dead of night to become a pawn in his sick game.

She was standing, just barely, with nothing but the chains around her wrists holding her up. Half-dried blood stained her forehead and matted her hair. The video only lasted for fifty-five seconds. Fifty-five seconds of nothing but her hanging there, feet barely on the ground. She was conscious but only just, likely concussed from the wound on her head.

“She’s been struck around the head, likely to incapacitate her before she could fight back during the abduction,” Morgan identified, eyes trained on the video.

“The unsub knows what he’s doing. There isn’t anything in the video that could indicate where she is,” Rossi added as he perched down on the end of the table to examine the paused video further.

Hotch hummed as he too was glued to the screen. “She can’t be far, she must have been abducted sometime since leaving here yesterday and this morning. Most likely during the night.”

JJ turned from the screen, unable to watch any longer. “We left at the same time last night and it’s unlikely she would have stopped on her way home.”

“Can we stop talking about her like she’s some random victim? This is y/n we’re talking about,” Reid snapped, drawing all eyes to him.

Each new comment in the discussion had been piling up until he just couldn’t take it anymore. This wasn’t just some case, nor was it any other victim. This was y/n — their friend.

“Reid, we know she isn’t just any victim but we have to look at this like we would any other case. It’s the only way we’re going to find her,” Morgan reminded, hoping to ease Reid at least a little.

“JJ, play the video again. We need to look for anything that could help us figure out where they are and Reid, I need you to focus. We’re going to need your brain on this.”

The youngest of them nodded, heeding Hotch’s words. This was just a game to the unsub — a game he’d made specifically for the BAU team. They were the only ones who could save her, he knew that.

“Hey, there’s something else in here. Looks like a note, taped to the inside of the box,” Prentiss announced before JJ had a chance to replay the video.

“What is it?” Reid was the first to jump at the new information, hoping it would be a better indication of where their missing friend was than the video.

Prentiss carefully tore the note from the box and began to read it out loud, “It’s a riddle. ‘I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains but no trees. I have water but no fish. What am I?’”

“A map,” Reid concluded after only a brief moment of pause, “It’s a map.”

“A map? I don’t see any kind of map here.” Morgan gestured at the now empty package before crossing his arms over his chest. He knew the wonder boy was right but he still couldn’t understand what the riddle could mean.

Hotch too seemed to be running circles in his head, unsure of what their unsub was trying to point them to. “Does it say anything else?”

Emily looked up from the note with troubled eyes as she voiced the final part, “Find her by midnight and she’ll live. Good luck, Agents.”

As if on cue, Reid vocalised the conclusion he had come to in his head, jumping to his feet like he was about to rush there himself without a second thought. “The Marina.”

“You think the unsub is holding her at the Marina?”

“I think it’s the only indication of a map I can find in all this. Marina and the Diamonds? The unsub didn’t choose that album without reason.”

Hotch hummed, seemingly agreeing with Reid’s deduction, and began to give directions. “Okay. Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi will come with me to the Marina. JJ, I need you and Reid to watch the video again. Look for anything we might have missed in case we’re wrong. And Garcia, I need you to track down exactly who delivered the package and where they delivered it from.”

Everyone got to their feet, springing into action as they would on any other case. They all knew their part to play and knew it was vital in locating their missing team member. Everyone other than Reid, who was less than happy to have been told to stay behind.

“No, I’m going with you.”

“Reid…” Hotch turned to him with a hand to his brow, already anticipating the headache that was to come if he continued to clash with the young doctor.

“No,” he cut him off again, “This is not negotiable. I’m going to the Marina with you.”

With a sigh, the unit chief gave in, knowing there was little he could do to keep Reid in the office. “Okay, Reid you’re with us. Prentiss, you stay here with JJ. Call us the moment you find anything.”

𓆩♡𓆪

Spencer had been restless the entire ride there. His hands were fidgety in his lap, his nails occasionally digging into the skin of his palms. He was stressed and more on edge than the rest of the team, not that anyone had expected any less.

Everyone knew that Reid had had a budding crush on y/n since she joined the BAU. Not that he’d ever acted on it. Morgan teased him about it constantly, comparing it to a schoolboy crush. Only, it wasn’t just a schoolboy crush. Not anymore.

The longer they had gotten to know one another, the closer y/n and Reid became. He felt as though she was the only one who really saw him, not that the rest of the team didn’t care greatly for him. She just understood him better than anyone else.

So, to say it was a simple crush would be a lie. He was in love with her. How couldn’t he be? She was pretty and funny and kind and a great agent. She saw him for who he really was and accepted every part of him. She stood up for him when the team teased him about his rambling. She always listened so intently, never once cutting him off no matter what it was he was talking about.

He was in love with her but now, he feared more than ever that he was about to lose her.

“She’s going to be okay, Reid,” Morgan comforted from the seat beside him, squeezing Reid’s shoulder as if the gesture would ease his fear.

Nothing would ease it. Not until she was safe.

It wasn’t like Reid to doubt himself. He knew he was right about the riddle, he had to be, yet he was still starting to wonder what would happen if he was wrong.

They only had until midnight. There was no time to spare and if he was wrong about this they might just lose her.

“I know,” he lied, trying to mask his true feelings.

Morgan sighed, seeing through Reid’s weak façade. No matter what he said or did, it hadn’t stopped his legs from bouncing or his hands from shaking.

The moment they arrived, Reid was fast to get out of the van. Too enthusiastic about rushing in headfirst to save her. He glanced around, taking in the fresh air as if his lungs had been deprived for hours.

“Spread out and search the area,” Hotch ordered and the team nodded, checking their vests one last time before pulling out their guns for the sweep.

They searched almost everywhere but found nothing. No sign that y/n or the unsub had ever been there. It was just a Marina and none of the boats there were big enough to fit the room they’d seen in the video.

Reid was beginning to believe that he really was wrong, that he had just wasted time they didn’t have on a hunch. Well, he was beginning to lose hope until Rossi called the team over to his location.

With a fast-beating heart, Reid ran as fast as he could manage to see what Rossi had found. He prayed it was her and that she was safe — that it was over.

Disappointment was not quite the right word for his feelings when he arrived and saw she wasn’t there because something was there. Another note, written in that same red marker.

“‘So you figured it out. Well done, agents. I hate to disappoint but your missing agent isn’t here but I hope this gift will help keep you on the trail’?” Rossi read the letter aloud before turning it over to find a USB taped to the other side.

“He’s playing with us.” Morgan shook his head, already growing tired of the unsub’s game.

“Or testing us,” Reid argued, “He’s referred to us as ‘agents’ in every note so far. It’s like he’s-”

“A part of the bureau,” Hotch finished for him, drawing the same conclusion, “Likely an ex-agent or even an ex-recruit.”

Morgan’s brow creased and he asked, “By why us? Why is he testing us? And why did he take y/n? He could have taken any one of us, why her?”

“Because she’s the newest member of the BAU. Maybe he doesn’t see her as an official member of the team yet?” Queried Reid.

“Or he just thought she’d be the easiest to abduct because she’s less experienced,” Rossi added.

“Whatever the reason, we don’t have a lot of time. The unsub must have had base access to use the marina. Reid, Morgan, I need you to speak with the workers here. See if they’ve seen anyone strange and ask for records to find out who owns this boat. We’ll head back to check in with the rest of the team and get this to Garcia.” Hotch held up the USB, knowing Garcia was the safest person to give it to as there was no way to know what would be on it.

𓆩♡𓆪

“Anything?”

“No, you?”

Reid shrugged. “Not much but I did get a name for the boat owner. Rudd Richardson.”

“Did you run it by Garcia?”

“Yeah, Rudd Richardson died three years ago.”

Morgan hummed in thought. “So our unsub is using a dead man’s name?”

“Maybe. Garcia is looking for any other property that is still registered in his name but she hasn’t been able to find anything yet and it doesn’t look like the unsub has taken Richardson’s identity.”

Their discussion was cut short when Reid’s phone began to ring.

“Garcia?”

He shook his head, looking up from his phone in disbelief. “No. It’s y/n.”

Right away Morgan pulled out his cell to call Garcia. If it really was y/n or even the unsub they would need her to trace the call.

“Y/n?” Questioned Reid as he put the phone on speaker, his voice already settling into a tone of urgency.

The line was silent but the trace had already begun, all they needed to do now was keep them on the phone.

After a brief moment of static, a weak voice finally spoke from the other side, “Reid?”

“Y/n! Y/n, can you tell us where you are? Are you alright?” He spoke at a hundred miles a minute, desperate to know she was okay.

Static again as the phone on the other end seemed to move from one ear to another.

The young doctor gulped as another voice began to speak, “She knew you would figure it out… The first clue. Let’s see how quickly you figure out the rest. The sands of time are forever slipping…”

The voice was dark and warped, spoken through a voice-changing device. Its sinister vibrations sent a chill up Spencer’s spine.

“Wait! Y/n!”

“Dammit,” Morgan spoke bitterly, knowing the call had not been long enough to give them any hint on their location, “He’s taunting us.”

“We need to get back to the others. He said this was the first clue, the USB must be the next.”

Morgan sighed. “We have to play his game. Or we may never find her…”

𓆩♡𓆪

“Please tell me you guys have got something,” Morgan asked while looking down at his watch.

There was still time but there was no way to know if the unsub would stay true to his word.

“Nothing yet. The USB locked Garcia out of the system the moment she plugged it in, she’s trying to regain access now,” JJ explained with a sigh before turning her attention back to the files in her hands.

Reid was only growing more anxious and began fishing for anything else that could be of use. “What about the video?”

“Nothing. We’ve watched it a hundred times but there’s nothing in it that could tell us where they are.” Prentiss chimed in as she too walked over with a new batch of files.

“So what do we do? We can’t just sit around and wait for Garcia to get the system up and running again.”

JJ split the files he was holding into three before passing a pile out to Reid and Morgan. “I know you’re worried, Spence. We all are but there isn’t a lot we can do right now. Until she gets back in all we really can do is look at these files to see if anyone fits the profile.”

“Profile? We’ve got a profile?” Morgan questioned as he began to flick through the files.

“Well, Hotch told us you think it’s an ex-agent or recruit but other than that we don’t really have a lot to go on so right now we’re just looking for anyone that sticks out.”

Reid dropped the files down onto the desk with a scoff, “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack. This isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

“It’s better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs.” Morgan shrugged.

“Look, Reid, if you don’t want to look through the files then go help Hotch and Rossi. They’re looking for anywhere she could be being held. Warehouses, storerooms, abandoned homes. Look for anything and everything and start making it down.”

He only grew more frustrated as he listened to Prentiss. “So if we run out of time we’re just going to start knocking on doors until we find her?”

“We don’t really have any other choice right now. Not until Garcia gets back into the system. He’s testing us, right? So this is probably just another test. She’s got this.”

Like Morgan, Reid also had full faith that Garcia would get back into the system but he was worried about how long it would take her to do so. They were on the clock and every second they spent sitting around waiting for her would only bring them closer to their deadline.

So, to try and ease his mind, Spencer decided to go help Hotch and Rossi in the hope that it would help bring them closer to finding y/n.

𓆩♡𓆪

“I’m back in. I’m back in!” Garcia cried out and soon the team were rushing into her office.

It had been no longer than an hour but that was still an hour they didn’t have to spare in the first place.

She tapped away on her keyboard, eyes flickering across the screen at the speed of light as she searched for any trace of what the unsub had tried to achieve by locking her out of her own system.

“He’s watching us,” she announced when her tapping fingers finally began to calm down, “I don’t think I can remove him from the system, not from my end anyway. I had to reboot the whole thing just to get back in. It’s amazing he’s even still here.”

“So he can see everything we do?” Rossi questioned, wanting to know exactly what the unsub was able to do with his access to the system.

Garcia hummed, “Yep. Well, he can see through our webcams but he doesn’t have access to my screen. That was a nasty piece of malware but it won’t give him access to any of my files.”

Just as Hotch opened his mouth to speak, a notification sound rang from the speakers and a message popped up on the screen. It was typed out rather than written but the red colour still prevailed.

‘Well done, Agents. You’ve cracked the code and earned your next clue: I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?’

“Love… the answer is love,” Reid announced with a tightening heart.

“But what does that mean? Love, what kind of a clue is that?” Morgan complained, once again growing tired of the game they were being forced to play.

Prentiss hummed in thought for a moment before asking, “What about wedding venues? A church maybe?”

“Or some kind of date spot? A restaurant?” JJ added.

Before long, everyone was throwing out ideas but nothing was clicking.

Hotch was the first to catch onto the lead again. “Garcia, see if Mr Richardson was married.”

“Okay.” The tech-whiz complied and began tapping away on her keyboard again.

Within only a few short seconds she had her answer. “He married Triss Anderson in 1984 but she died during childbirth over twenty years ago.”

“What about their child?” Morgan prompted, drawing at any loose threads.

Her eyes flicked over the screen again as she searched for the information. “They had a daughter. She’s living here in Quantico, only a few blocks away from here actually.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

𓆩♡𓆪

“No car,” Prentiss stated as they approached the house.

Rossi stepped up to the door while Reid and Morgan peered in through the windows.

“Look’s like no one’s home,” Morgan sighed.

Still, Rossi tried the door. “Miss Richardson?”

When no response came, he banged again.

“You’re looking for Jen?” They turned around to the neighbour, eager to hear what she had to say. “She left for vacation just over a week ago. I’m Michelle, I live across the street. Maybe I can help you?”

“Do you know when she’s supposed to come home?” Reid questioned, worried they had wasted their time.

Michelle thought for a moment before replying, “Actually, now that you mention it I think she was due back last night.”

“So she hasn’t come home?” Asked Prentiss as she hurriedly pulled out her phone.

“No, I guess not. You don’t think anything has happened to her, do you?”

As Rossi began to reassure Miss Richardson’s neighbour, the others quickly headed back to the van.

Prentiss held her phone to her ear, exchanging a worried glance with Morgan as she spoke with the unit chief, “Hotch, we might have another missing person on our hands.”

“Are you Spencer Reid?”

Spencer turned from the van just before opening the door to find a young boy standing behind him.

“Yeah, you know me?”

The child shook his head and shyly held out a piece of paper and pointed down the street with his free hand. “That man over there told me to give this to you.”

As he took the paper, Spencer quickly looked in the direction the boy was pointing but whoever may have been there had long since gone.

“Thank you, kid. Get home safe now, okay?” Morgan had to speak for him while Reid examined the note.

“It’s an address, Morgan. He’s given us an address.”

𓆩♡𓆪

Wasting no time, the group headed for the address on the note. Garcia ran it through the system and found it to be an empty home, one currently up for sale.

It was the perfect place for the unsub to hold them, although Morgan still doubted the nature of the note. It didn’t make sense for him to just give them the answer now. Not after making them jump through hoops to so much as obtain a single clue.

“Reid, wait,” he reached out for the youngest, holding him back from rushing straight inside, “We don’t know what we’re going to find in there.”

“We can’t wait, what if y/n is in there?” Reid was quick to shake him off, desperate to find her.

Morgan sighed as he pulled out his gun. “The unsub could be in there too, just don’t do anything rash.”

Spencer was the first to the door. He stood ready as Morgan exchanged one quick, affirmative glance with Rossi before kicking down the door.

In the blink of an eye, all four agents infiltrated the home and began to cautiously clear each room.

“Clear!” Prentiss called out from the bathroom as Morgan and Reid began to scale the stairs.

She slowly approached the bedroom, knowing it was the last room to check. If they were going to find anything, it was going to be in there.

When Morgan and Reid were close enough behind her to have her back, she reached for the handle and quickly opened the door.

She checked every corner of the room before giving the all-clear but something was wrong. Her voice was quiet, choked even, as she entered the room.

Morgan turned to Reid, not knowing what to do other than keep him away to stop him from looking inside but he was too late, he’d already caught a glimpse of what was waiting for them inside.

“Y/n? Y/n!” he cried as he rushed towards the room, shoving past Morgan who moved to stop him.

In the middle of the empty room was a body. A woman wearing clothes Reid recognised. She was lifeless and stained in blood. When his hands shakily reached out to her, he felt the coldness of her skin on the tips of his fingers.

He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe.

He got back up, unable to bring himself to look at her face – to turn her over and come face-to-face with her void eyes.

Everything was a blur, all of his senses going dull as Morgan moved to further inspect the body.

Emily too was standing near the door as if she were frozen in place with her hand covering her mouth.

Slowly, Morgan rolled the body over onto its back. He was quiet, almost too quiet, before he finally released the breath he had been holding.

“It’s not her.”

𓆩♡𓆪

“Jena Richardson, daughter of Rodd Richardson. A twenty-six-year-old entrepreneur. She was supposed to go on vacation to Europe eight days ago,” Garcia read through the information she had discovered about the woman.

“He chose her for a reason. He did all of this for a reason. Been planning it for a while too.”

Hotch hummed in agreement with Morgan. “He took Miss Richardson before she had a chance to leave for her vacation, she never left. Her bags are likely still inside her home.”

“And when he took y/n, he stole some of her clothes to dress the victim in so that we would think it was her. That’s why he chose the victim… because she looked like y/n,” Prentiss concluded.

The whole team had gathered in the briefing room again, discussing their next course of action.

“There was nothing else on the body or in the house? No next clue? Nothing to tell us where he might be holding her?” Hotch questioned, hopeful that there would have been something — anything.

Prentiss shook her head. There was nothing. Nothing at all. They had searched everywhere. Every single inch of that house but there was nothing there. Nothing but the body.

“Then we’ll have to wait for the coroner’s report, maybe the unsub left a clue for us there.”

“No, we don’t have time to wait. We only have a few hours left. There has to be something we’re missing.” Reid began to pace the room, running through everything they’d discovered so far in his head.

“Reid,” Morgan began, “We’ve run out of options but we still have time.”

The young doctor only began to shake his head, his eyes glaring in disbelief that his team could even suggest to sit around and wait while y/n was in danger. “No, we don’t. We have hours and if we just keep sitting around waiting she’s going to die.”

Just like that, he was storming out of the briefing room and, while Hotch gave new directions to the rest of the team, JJ jumped up to go after him.

“Spence!”

“If you’re just going to tell me to sit tight and wait like everyone else you’re wasting your breath.”

She understood how he was feeling because she knew how he felt about y/n. She knew it was a fool's errand trying to calm him down or convince him everything was going to be alright. All she wanted to do was be there for him when hope began to fade.

“Where are you going?”

He tugged at his collar, his fingers moving to loosen his tie in a desperate attempt to breathe. “I need some air.”

She let it be as he rushed through the bullpen, heading straight for the elevator. If she had left a moment earlier, she wouldn’t have heard the sound of a text coming through on his phone as the elevator doors began to close.

His eyes widened as he read the message, one that had come through from her: ‘It’s funny, isn’t it? Love? When you lose the thing you love, there isn’t anything you wouldn’t do to be reunited with it. That’s what I did, you know. I reunited Miss Richardson with her beloved father. Now I’m giving you the chance to be reunited with the one you love, so long as you come alone.’

Another text came through by the time he reached the bottom of the building. Another address.

𓆩♡𓆪

“Where’s Reid?”

JJ looked up from her paperwork and glanced out into the bullpen. “He’s not back yet?”

Morgan frowned. “No. Where did he go?”

“He said he needed to get some air but he should have been back by now,” she explained as she stood up, realising what had happened, “Shit.”

“What?”

“He got a text before he got into the elevator.”

Morgan was already half out of the room by the time she finished her sentence. “The unsub.”

The two of them all but ran to the rest of their team, already gathering their things to leave as questions started flooding in.

“Reid’s gone after him,” Morgan announced as the rest of the team gathered their equipment and began to head for the door.

“Alone?” Prentiss furrowed her brows, she had hoped he would have known better than that.

JJ stuttered, still in disbelief, “H-He said he was just going outside to get some air.”

Hotch was already pointing Garcia back into her office before she’d even made it through the door. “Garcia I need you to find Reid’s car. Tell us the moment you know what direction he was headed.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Everyone was in hyperdrive, working against the clock to find Reid and y/n before it was too late. They were already in the SUVs, splitting into two groups before they even had any information on where he was going.

𓆩♡𓆪

There he stood, outside a property that they never would have even considered including during their search for it was not empty or abandoned but rather a home. A home that seemed well lived in from the moment he stepped inside.

No one was there. Not a single soul. Yet every surface was decorated with family pictures. A mother, father and son. A happy family.

From the photos, the son seemed to be no older than four and all Reid could do was hope nothing bad had happened to him or his family.

With his gun raised, he slowly made his way through the house until he reached the door he was looking for — the door to the basement.

Quietly, he descended into the darkest depths of the house. The stairs barely made a creak and, by the time he could see into the room, he saw her.

“Welcome, Doctor Reid.”

The man was standing beside her, face half-hidden in the shadows. He had a knife and held it firmly near her stomach in a silent threat.

“Let her go,” Reid demanded, although when the unsub did not budge, he opted for negotiation over immediate violence.

Stepping from the shadows, the unsub revealed himself. Reid recognised him the moment the dull light illuminated his features. He was the father in the photos upstairs but he was older now and more unkept than he appeared in the pictures.

“I don’t know what happened to your family but please, you have to let her go,” he pleaded again, eyes flickering over to y/n.

Other than the injuries she had sustained during the abduction, she seemed okay but he noticed how weak she seemed. Her injuries were not bad enough to be the cause of her drowsy state. The unsub may not have harmed her further but it seemed likely she had been drugged.

“Reid…” she spoke in a quiet voice, her hooded eyes barely open as she looked at him, struggling to lift her head.

The unsub looked between them with a smile as if he was truly happy to see them this way. “Young love, isn’t it so precious?”

“What do you want?”

“Me? No, this isn’t about what I want. This is about what you want,” the unsub looked at y/n as she stood half-dangling beside him and pointed, “Her. You want her, don’t you?”

Reid raised his gun again, finger resting on the trigger the moment the man drew closer to her.

“You lost your family,” he stated, gaining the unsub’s attention once again, “Your wife and son. You lost them, didn’t you?”

Hesitantly, the man nodded. “They were taken from me, just as she was taken from you. In the night while I was away.”

“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to hurt her. It won’t bring them back.”

“Oh, but I do. When I sent my case to the BAU, you turned it down. It wasn’t a serial killer or a professional hit. Just a burglary gone wrong. I was at work when it happened, out late on the job. I wanted to join the FBI, you know? I was a recruit.”

The more he explained, the more Spencer began to understand. The unsub’s connection to the BAU, and the resentment he held for them. The loss of his family had driven him to his breaking point and he blamed them for not finding the killer.

Why had he taken y/n? Well, it wasn’t because she was a newer member of the BAU or because she was less experienced than the others but because somehow he knew. He knew how Spencer felt about her and he wanted to show a member of the BAU the same pain he felt when he lost his family.

“Please, just put the knife down. It doesn’t have to end this way.”

The unsub held the knife tighter than before, raising it to her neck. “Oh, but it does. I want you to do it. I want you to reunite me with them. Send me to them, please. If you refuse, I’ll take her from you just as they were taken from me.”

Reid shook his head, refusing to play his twisted game any longer. “Put the knife down.”

“I hoped it could have been different.”

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the unsub lifted his arm, angling the knife back onto her abdomen as he swung it down.

“No!”

𓆩♡𓆪

“Garcia, you’re sure he’s here?”

The technical analyst hummed over the line. “Positive.”

“I see his car,” JJ announced as she climbed out of the SUV, already rushing toward the house.

The team approached the building with caution, not wanting to rush in and startle the unsub into doing anything rash. They knew Reid was inside but they didn’t want to put him in any more danger.

Only, before they even reached the front door, they heard a gunshot and all caution flew to the wind as Morgan kicked down the door and burst inside.

They cleared each room before reaching the entrance to the basement and, upon hearing footsteps approaching, all guns were aimed at the door. They stood their ground, ready for whatever they were to face but when the door finally opened, all anyone could do was breathe a sigh of relief.

“Reid!” Morgan was by his side the moment he stepped through the door with her in his arms.

Hotch saw the spattering of blood that stained her clothes and looked into his eye. With just an exchanged glance, he knew what had transpired.

The unsub was dead. It was finally over.

Despite Morgan’s offer for help, Spencer carried her all the way outside to the paramedics. He stayed with her still as they lifted her into the ambulance. She was out of it, barely aware of what was going on.

“Go with them, we’ll meet you there.”

Reid offered a subtle nod to his unit chief, thankful that he was allowing him to accompany her to the hospital.

𓆩♡𓆪

Quiet beeps echoed through the room, the sound of the monitor that continued to track the beats of her heart.

Reid sat waiting, hands fidgeting as he bounced his leg.

“The doctor said she’s going to be fine, relax a little,” Morgan comforted with a gentle hand on Reid’s shoulder.

The youngest glanced up at his friend before his eyes flickered back over to her. “I can’t relax. Not until she wakes up. Not until I know she’s okay.”

From the moment the doctor had told them it was okay to wait with her in her room, Spencer had been by her side. The time he had spent in the waiting room before was agonising and he had felt relief when the doctor told them she just needed time to recover. Still, he couldn’t help but worry about her, not when he had been through something similar before. Kidnapped, tortured, and drugged.

He was thankful this unsub had seemed to skip the torture but he could still sympathise with how she was feeling. She had been taken from her own home. He could only imagine how scared she must have been.

When she finally began to stir and her eyes finally fluttered awake, he was on his feet again. “Y/n? How are you feeling?”

Morgan chuckled, “Come on kid, give her a second to wake up before you jump her with questions.”

Spencer was already holding her hand, his thumb rubbing gently across the back of it as he smiled.

“Spence?”

He nodded as she slowly came to, squeezing her hand a little just to make sure she knew he was really there — that she was safe now.

“I’ll go let the others know she’s awake,” Morgan excused himself, leaving the two of them to talk alone.

“What… What happened?”

He gulped and stuttered slightly as he answered, “Y-you were kidnapped.”

She closed her eyes again and nodded, recalling the events that had transpired as well as she could remember them. “You saved me. Thank you.”

With a small smile, he nodded.

It was quiet for a moment and all she could focus on was the warmth of his hand. Soon, he too realised he was still holding her hand and quickly let go as he cleared his throat to speak.

“So, how are you feeling?” he repeated his earlier words, eager to hear how she was holding up.

She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Honestly? Like shit. My head is killing and I think I might still be a little high.”

Spencer was now the one laughing at her remark, thankful that she was well enough to make light of the situation. “Yeah, that’s probably the painkillers the doctor gave you. Must be a pretty bad concussion if your head is still hurting.”

“Yeah, well it could have been a lot worse…”

The mood soured again with her words as the two of them were reminded of just how badly things could have gone had Reid not found her when he did.

“I knew it was going to be okay, you know. When I saw you I just… I knew I was safe.”

Though she smiled, it was her eyes that conveyed all he needed to know. Everything she’d never spoken aloud, everything she wanted to say but could never bring herself to do so. It was the first time he’d truly felt it, the way she felt for him. The first time he’d realised that she cared about him as much as he cared about her.

A test of faith had brought them together, breaking the boundary between them.

Spencer stepped closer again, leaning towards her as he took her hand in his again. With his other, he brushed her hair from her face, fingers lingering on her skin as time froze still.

Their quiet moment together would soon be broken when the door opened and the rest of the team flooded in to see how she was but, for just one moment, they were the only two people in the world.

feel free to let me know if you want to be added to or removed from my taglist!

taglist: @sweetpeapod @regulus-black-223048 @nsxthoughts

#—dinguswritings ⌕#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x y/n #criminal minds spencer reid #criminal minds #criminal minds reid #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fluff

3K notes · View notes

csainz5 · 10 months

Text

Mine || Charles Leclerc #16

pairing: charles leclerc x girlfriend!reader

summary: in which seeing people ship you with other drivers fuels the possessiveness in charles.

author notes: can u tell ive been obsessed with culpa mia. also this is my first charles fic (!!!) i made sm tweaks to the original req im so sorry 😭 deff been in a slump recently bc exams but 🙏 no beta read!! this one is still raw asf lol

req: yes/no.

wc: 1.2k words

————

the air as the weekend approached was filled with an adrenaline of its own. drivers loitering on the paddock, a camera shoved up each one of their faces. most of them were making videos for their teams social media, while others were giving interviews. silly banter & playful hazing surrounded the place as the free practices neared. as calm and laid back as the environment was, a new buzz had taken over the virtual world. it seemed like the redbull fans had taken on a new intrest in a the friendship you and max shared, suspecting it could be more than just friends. you’re shocked as you read through the articles, what could possibly make it seem like you were both in any sense more than just friends? max was like the brother you never had, and you, the sister he had always hoped of having. as much as the articles were delusional, you didnt really care that much about them, i mean why would you be afraid when there’s nothing youre scared of being open to the public? okay, maybe not everything. not the time when you were so drunk you demanded every guy on the paddock to quote “settle it with me on the ring”, not the time when you were the culprit behind the hilarious azerbaijan mix up where you stole the champagne on the podium and replaced it with an empty one, and definitely not the fact that you’re already taken, by a person known to all on the paddock.

—

The morning of the race was always an exhilarating one no matter which team youre driving for, or which team you’re rooting for. the passion, the dedication and the confidence in the each and every drivers persona was enough to fill you in the same mindset. though youve always been a redbull fan, which, i mean is definitely not even surprising considering you probably frequent their garage more than some of their own engineers, youve always held an admiration for all the drivers. even you knew how dominant the redbull cars were, so seeing the rest of the drivers still catch up with less resources filled your heart with pride. you look up at the fan’s waiting impatiently for the race to start with a smile on your face. this, will never get boring, you think.

Lord Percival 👑

can’t find you anywhere near here, don’t tell me you’re ditching me today yet again 😔

a chuckle escapes your lips.

You

i wouldve come over but you’re all the way across rn 😭 i’ll definitely be waiting for you after the race tho.

Lord Percival 👑

wow. way to betray me over text babe

You

okay drama queen 😒

Lord Percival 👑

guess you rubbed off on me then mon jolie

You

ill make it up to you, i always do.

just before you press send, you notice the drivers had already left for their respective interviews. whats the point in sending it now anyways, you decide.

—

the dark looms over the sky as celebrations near. the smell of alcohol, weed and god knows fucking what become all too familiar to you at this point. you reach the party alongside max, which considering he’s your best friend was not out of the ordinary for you, but little did you know, it didn’t help the ongoing rumours one bit. the familiar stench of reporters clogs your mind. what the hell were the doing here? and more importantly why were all of them suddenly taking an intrest in your friendship with max? question after question is thrown at you which makes you realise youve had enough of this. you reach for your phone.

You

screw this party

wanna meet up at our usual spot?

Lord Percival 👑

im always down 🙏

—

you could never get sick of this. the same ride, the same atmosphere, the exact same playlist playing over and over again, the curves of the road as you drive through. because you know, at the end of this journey would be the same thing you look forward to, every time. so you get into you car, and drive the same drive to the same spot, once again. at a pillar reading out “623” you stop by the ferrari you know all too well.

there he was. i could never get used to seeing him like this, you think, dressed up in formals but looking formal in no way whatsoever. shriveled hair, buttons unbuttoned, jewellery he knows how to style in just the right way. his crazed eyes of emerald, gazing into you with an intensity that makes your nerves shiver.

“took you long enough to come here” he says, holding you waist. “it was a longer drive than usual” “is that so?” he says, stepping aside you to rest against his ferrari, right beside you. folding his arms, he continues, pulling a cigarette out of his blazer, “want one?” “please, today was a bitch” “i could say the same for me, really” he reaches towards you, lighting your cigarette. “races in monaco are my favourite” he says, looking up at the sky. “yeah, id imagine so. nothing beats home” “yeah, it’s great to be home and all, but theres also something in monaco that beats the thrill any race could give me” he steps forwards, hands placed beside either sides of you.

he pulls the cigarette from your lips, taking in a puff himself. he brings his lips to your ear, “or rather, theres someone in monaco, who beats the thrill any race could give me” he whispers, blowing the smoke away. he flicks the cigarette aside and steps on it, as he lifts your face up, meeting your eyes with his own. “someone who sighs right when i kiss her here,” he goes on to place a chaste kiss on your mole, right on your neck by your jawline. and like a story repeated enough times, you sigh. “someone who arches her back when i pull her hair slightly like this,” he gently tugs your hair, making a makeshift ponytail and like a telltale, you arch your back, the satisfaction of being right sprawled across charles’s face.

“but of all, the one thing that makes me come back to this place again and again, is knowing that—“ he lifts your hips up, making you wrap your legs around him. “you’re mine.” the second he says that, its like all the dots connected in your head. you never thought charles would be jealous of the rumours, given how he was the one who didn’t want your relationship to be public. “charles, are you jealous?” you ask. “so what if i am?” “well, i for one wouldnt want my boyfriend to be feeling like that anymore” “what do you mean?” you pull out your phone from your clutch, “kiss me” “wait what are you doing?” “i said, kiss me” you say, pulling him in by his jaw. “im conf-“ you kiss him, shutting him up. as he closes his eyes he finds himself to not be able to help himself from drowning into you, well atleast until a flash brings him out of his trance. “im going to post it.” “you don’t have to, you know” “but i want to. i want everyone to know how much you mean to me charles. you’re my favourite person and i would hate to see you be jealous”

——

“i can’t believe you actually did it, jolie” “its the least i could do” you say, pecking his cheek. “but ive gotta say, i definitely wouldnt mind seeing this shade of you more often” “you haven’t seen the end of me yet, mon ange”

#charles leclerc fluff #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc smut #charles leclerc fanfiction #charles leclerc blurb #charles leclerc imagine #formula one #formula 1 #f1 2023 #ferrari #charles leclerc scenario

966 notes · View notes

jellyfiishatr · 11 months

Note

Hi!! Feel free to ignore if you don’t take these request, but could you write head cannons of Miles or Hobie (or both) with an anorexic reader? Platonic or romantic it doesn’t really matter. I’m just struggling a bit rn and thought I’d ask (that sounds so guilt-trippy i’m sorry i don’t mean it that way) Again feel free to ignore!! Have a good day you’re a wonderful author !!

a/n : AHHH it's okay!! I think this is sweet, I hope you're doing alright and that this'll bring u some comfort ♡ have a great day/night anon >_<★!!

☆☆☆

Content : comfort / fluff / headcanons

Content warning : eating disorder / anorexia mention

Miles Morales!!

☆ Miles is definitely an understanding person

☆ when he first noticed you stopped eating so much he didn't think much of it, but when you stopped coming to lunch with him entirely he knew something was up.

☆ he took note of how skinny you were getting, he'd jokingly ask if you were going to the gym without him and you'd laugh it off and say "my bad dude, forgot to tell you haha."

☆ when you'd finally get to telling him you weren't doing so great, he'd start sobbing with you. Giving you a hug and gently caressing your back in a friendly way

☆ he'd do his own research and watch videos on how to help you

☆ when it comes to meals, he's patient with you

☆ he waits patiently for you to eat, whether you finish or not doesn't bother him. As long as you ate, he's happy

☆ he's the type to cover up the calories on any food packaging, drawing over them with a sharpie

☆ Miles is also the type to get you some comfort foods of yours everytime you guys hang out or have a study sesh

☆ overall : Miles is patient and understands from a certain point of how you feel, and he does whatever he can to help you feel better

Hobie Brown!!

☆ Hobie's also an understanding person

☆ he'd notice immediately when you'd stop eating your favorite foods with him

☆ he already had taken note of the fact you weren't as cheery or were getting skinny so quickly

☆ while sitting with him, quietly enjoying his presence he'd ask you, "are you feeling okay?"

☆ and when you started sniffling on his shoulder he wrapped his arm around yours and rubbed your arm gently.

☆ ^"It's alright, you'll be alright." He'd say os a soft tone to you.

☆ he'd be very careful with certain food, making sure to have the labels or the calories covered

☆ he always eats with you, eating slowly so you both finish at the same time

☆ overall : Hobie understands its a long process to feel better, so he wants to make sure he's with you every step of the way.

☆☆☆

(I hope this was well executed!! Tell me if I've gotten anything wrong in this fic anon!!)

#across the spiderverse #spiderman atsv #Atsv #Spiderpunk #Spiderman #miles morales #Miles x reader #miles morales x reader #hobie brown #Hobie x reader #Hobie brown x reader #Spiderman : across the spiderverse

610 notes · View notes

judithhhh · 4 months

Text

spanish (one-shot)

jude x gf! reader

summary : in which jude has a girlfriend who can't speak spanish at all, just like him

When Jude told you about his transfer to Real Madrid, you were totally thrilled at the thought of moving to Spain with him. The two of you looked for a nice home to install in and were fully ready to start this new chapter of your lives together. There was one thing that you forgot to think about though ; you and Jude were absolute shit at spanish. No matter how hard you tried to get used to the new language, no progress was made. This meant that the first few months in Madrid were desastrous apart from Jude's incredible debut at the club. Something simple as doing groceries or driving to a new place became a whole challenge for the both of you. Adding to that, there was the fact that the media and his fans found the fact that you were the worse spanish speakers La Liga had seen in a while absolutely hilarious. You couldn't even count how many clips of you two trying to talk with interviewers or with fans ended up on twitter.

Jude had gotten most of the backlash though. Not only his fans but also his teammates loved to make fun of him for his incompetence in the language. You, a much more private person, had not been seen on social media or out in public as much, meaning that the few clips of your disastrous attempts of speaking spanish were with Jude and not alone. You often made fun of Jude, saying that he was the most lost one, using the excuses that you had taken a few spanish classes back in secondary school so you were obviously better than him. This feeling that you could speak better quickly went away though, when an extremely amusing video of you, and only you, found its way on twitter and tiktok.

The video taking place at the Golden Boy awards, you were dressed in a beautiful black dress and was smiling widely at the camera. The interviewer first asked you questions in english about your opinion on Jude's accomplishments and more about the teams you liked ect... The interview took another turn when someone else came and started asking you questions in the unfamiliar language. Basing yourself on some classes that you took a good five years ago, you responded in the same language and, obviously, it was a shit show. Your sentences didn't add up, you used words in english or french and pretended like they were correct by saying them in a spanish accent, or you just said words, that everyone was pretty sure, never existed. At one moment, the camera panned to the spanish interviewer that looked like he was using every inches of his brain to not laugh in your face. That, of course, made Jude's fans laugh even harder.

You were not aware of this video, and of how shit your spanish was, until Jude came home, one day, yelling your name. You ran downstairs, happy to see him after his training but was greeted by the sight of your boyfriend in tears in front of his phone. You took a step closer to him and your worries went away when you realize he was actually crying laughing.

"What's so funny Jude?"

The boy tried to compose himself but could barely form a sentence in between his fits of laughter.

"You haven't seen the video?"

"What video..?"

He turned his phone around, showing you the interview. Mortified, you couldn't talk or move and just stood there flustered.

"Ain't no way... It can't be that bad babe what the fuck."

"Oh yeahhhh, it's that bad" The boy said looking everything but sorry for you. The fucker was enjoying this.

"You regret making fun of me now huh?"

"I don't regret shit Jude, leave me alone"

"Aww come onnn, don't be mad now"

You ignored him, walking up the stairs and sitting down on your shared bed. Jude was quick to follow you sitting against the headboard before putting you on his lap, facing him. His hands around your waist, he squeezed it as he began talking.

"You know it wasn't that horrible. You're English, people understand that you don't know spanish that well..."

"It doesn't matter baby. Did you see that oh my god, I was like a toddler was trying to speak."

"Well, maybe a little bit"

You groaned, burying your head in his shoulder as the boy started laughing histerically again. The two of you stayed there for a while until Jude composed himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked at you in the eyes before smiling softly.

"You know I love you right?"

"Yeah I know, I love you too"

"Even though you're shit at spanish"

"SHUT UP!"

#football #football imagine #jude bellingham #jude bellingham imagine #jude x reader #football x reader #jude bellingham x reader #hey jude :)

304 notes · View notes

seokminkisser · 9 months

Text

LAVENDER HAZE.

pairing: lee chan x fem!reader

word count: 1.9k words

genre: fluff, suggestive

tags: PININGGGG, reader and chan have a lot of tension, marijuana use, suggestive content and alluding to sex afterwards

a/n: finally got around to writing my stoner chan fic yay! smoke responsibly loves (@sunnylovespickles i hope you enjoy it bub)

yeri was going to be dead meat the minute you found her.

the problem did not lie in the fact that she had decided to ditch you at the hang out, you both had enough trust and faith in each other to mingle and socialize on your own. the problem lay in the fact that she had decided to ditch you to have a very long talk with her ex-girlfriend? situationship?

you didn’t even have time to give her an earful as she left the room giving you her pleading “just give us five minutes” look as doyeon led her away. she was a lost cause.

there weren’t many people gathered at jeonghan’s house but the living room still felt incredibly stuffy. a few people had decided to hotbox earlier and poor you had arrived at the party too late to join, the lingering smoke gave you an incredible case of fomo.

“hi pretty.”

your head lolled back making contacts with the prettiest boy in the room.

“hi channie.”

a lazy grin spreads on chan’s face as he moves around the couch to sit next to you, an arm resting on the backrest of the couch behind your head. you wanted to eat him alive.

“when did you get here?” you ask, your finger tracing the rim of your glass as you look at him. he adjusts himself on the couch, legs spreading a bit wider while his free hand rummages in his jacket pocket.

“like ten minutes ago? had to make the rounds a bit before i could come spend time with the prettiest girl in the room.” he says giving you a sly wink, his rummaging coming to a stop.

your scoff turns into a slight giggle and you hit his arm the minute the last few words come out his mouth. something about chan turned you into a giddy middle schooler even though you hadn’t been in middle school in years.

your relationship with chan was unnecessarily complicated. you were attracted to him on a level you could not even comprehend and you knew he felt the same. he took care of your weed needs and you baked him matcha cookies whenever he craved them. and yet, neither of you had taken any steps to crossing the line that kept your friendship as it was. just friendship.

“you’re such a sweet talker chan, i might get sick.”

“let me make it up to you then pretty,” chan laughs and pulls something out of his jacket pocket, “remember that video you sent me?”

you couldn’t help the squeal you let out as you pluck the three pale pink joints out of his hand. “chan do you know that you are the best and most perfect person i have ever met.” you say as cross your legs, laying the joints on your exposed thigh as delicately as possible.

“yeri better not hear that or she will have my head on a silver platter.” he grins as his eyes follow the movement of your hands resting on your thigh now. at the mention of your best friend’s name you roll your eyes and give chan a big pout.

“aww did she leave you all on your own again? poor baby. but its okay i’m here now and i’ll take care of you.”

you grin at chan and nod. “exactly, you’re here now and you brought me my favorite things.”

his smile reaches his eyes as he poked your arm. “favorite things huh? didn’t know you liked something more than free weed.”

“obviously that something is you.”

“yeah?” he murmurs, his fingertips gently touching your arm as if to test the waters. you welcome his touch, slowly inching your body closer towards him. chan takes this as a sign that he wasn’t doing too much, his upper body turning to face you better. your shoulders are touching and his free hand comes to rest on your thigh picking up one of the joints.

in the process his finger grazes your thigh and your breath hitches. his touch felt absolutely electrifying.

chan leans forward slowly, his lips softly grazing your ear as he whispers, “you gonna let me smoke you out pretty?”

your eyes flutter shut as he presses the softest kiss on the side of your neck.

“yeah, channie. would let you do anything.”

he pulls away, a twinkle in his eye as he stands up. “come on then, think jeonghan’s living room is a bit too crowded for what i have planned for you pretty.”

—

chan could already sense the pretty pout on your face as he leads you into jeonghan’s kitchen. if it were up to him he would have already found an empty room, thrown you in and had his way with you, but he promised to smoke you out and he always kept his promises.

“why did you bring me here channie, i thought we were gonna smoke.” you pout and he turns to you and motions for you to sit on the counter.

“and we will pretty, but i have to make sure you have something to drink and something to eat for after. told you i’m gonna take care of you.”

your pout turns into the prettiest smile he has ever seen as you kick your legs back and forth. “have i told you you’re the biggest sweet talker ever channie?” you smile, your fingers fiddling with the golden lighter on your lap. a lighter he had gifted to you weeks ago.

chan smiles, nodding softly as he turns towards the cupboards as he basically ransacks through jeonghan’s kitchen.

chan thinks it’s okay though because the amount of money jeonghan owes chan on account of his frequent acts of freeloading on chan’s weed stash makes chan’s snack ‘borrowing’ tendencies pale in comparison.

“mhm only for you pretty,” he says, grabbing a bottle of chilled water and a few snickers bars, your absolute favorite. he turns back to you and he is afraid he might melt on the spot.

the dim light in the kitchen illuminated you in a way that made you look absolutely angelic. he could feel his heart skip a beat, then another before his eyes moved to your exposed thighs.

you were softly scratching a nail across your skin, the scratching more akin to a soft caress along your inner thigh. it was a habit you have always had and it was one of the reasons he loved it when you wore short skirts. usually, he imagined it was his own fingers stroking your thigh.

and if god loved him, he wouldn’t have to imagine for much longer.

“come on let’s go outside,” he motions for the door and you hop off the counter trailing behind him.

it’s chilly outside, the warmth of the august air had dissipated and chan led you to the lawn chairs in jeonghan’s backyard. you sat down, legs crossing over each other and chan took the chair next to you, quietly moving it a bit closer to yours.

he hopes it’s not too obvious.

on your lips sits a little smile as you look down on your legs before holding up the golden lighter. “look! i told you i wouldn’t lose it.”

he smiles again, god knows he is unable to not smile around you, taking out the joint and placing it between his lips. “i’m proud of you baby.” he says and he barely catches the way your twinkle at the pet name. but he is so glad that he does.

you hand him the lighter but all he does is lean his head down, an indirect way of telling you to light it for him.

you bite your lip softly, delicately, as you place the lighter under the joint and chan’s head swims with images of biting your lip the same way.

softly.

delicately.

your fingers fumble a bit with the spark wheel of the lighter as you light the joint and you lock eyes. chan does not break the steady eye contact as he takes a slow drag of the joint, taking a slow exhale.

you break the eye contact first, coughing softly as you settle into the lawn chair.

“i can’t believe you actually got me a lavender joint just because i sent you that video. you didn’t have to you know?”

chan takes another drag before handing the joint to you and you take it gladly, inhaling.

“wanted to make you happy, you seemed so excited to try it.” he mumbles, playing with the zipper on his jacket. “and besides, i’ve never tried combining lavender with weed and i also wanted to try it out for myself.”

you nod taking another pull as chan has an inner battle with himself.

should he give you his jacket? it is the gentlemanly thing to do and chan wanted to impress you but he also didn’t want to make you uncomfortable but he is also sure that you wouldn’t have a problem with it but he doesn’t know if he should take it slow and—

“what are you thinking so hard about channie.”

he looks over to you, a dopey smile settled on your face, legs tucked under you on the chair. he shakes his head and you motion for him to come closer, leaning in to whisper into his ear.

“if you want to kiss me, you know you can just do it.”

chan pulls away faster than lightening and you giggle at his reaction, shrugging. “i’m just saying, we have been dancing around each other for weeks now and the lavender in this joint is making me really really high really quickly so i wanna say it before i’m too far gone.”

you giggle again at the blush that started to spread on his cheek and you nudge him with your elbow. “why, you don’t wanna kiss me?” you ask, and chan sees as you start to sober up as his silence might indicate a rejection.

“fuck, of course i want to kiss you.”

“then what’s stopping you?”

at that chan stills. what exactly was stopping him? he wanted you, you wanted him and earlier he had acted to damn confident. where did that confidence go?

“okay channie,” you say leaning in close to him as your free hand comes to rest on his cheek. his breath hitches as your face comes close, the tip of your nose touching his. “i’m gonna kiss you now, okay?”

he nods, slowly as if his body was stuck in a daze and you finally lean forward closing the distance between you.

holy fucking shit.

the minute your lips touch, chan feels fireworks exploding in his chest and he’s scared his heart might come to a stop. he had imagined this moment so many times but reality couldn’t even come even close to his dreams.

your lips tasted like your favorite raspberry lip balm, the sprite you had earlier, the weed you had shared.

you deepen the kiss, tilting your head to the side and chan takes your face between his hands trying to pull you as close as physically possible. a whimper escapes your lips as you let chan lead the kiss and he thinks if he dies right now his soul will be forever damned, damned to a lifetime of kissing you.

you pull away, trying to catch your breath and chan isn’t better off.

“holy shit.”

chan nods in agreement, and you take his hand standing up from the chair, joint long forgotten. “where are we going to?” he asks, standing up with you and you grin up at him.

“you can’t fuck me in jeonghan’s backyard, that’s a bit too kinky for me.”

the moment these words leave your lips, chan's already dragging your laughing figure back into the house and praying to the lord above jeonghan still had a box of condoms in his bathroom.

#svthub #lina’s works #seventeen fluff #seventeen smut #dino fluff #dino smut #dino x reader #stoner svt #lee chan drabble #chan x reader #chan fluff #chan smut

219 notes · View notes

embrosegraves · 2 months

Text

𝕀 𝔾𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕀'𝕞 𝕀𝕟 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖

Pierre Gasly x Fem!Reader You ever get a fic idea that just.. refuses, to leave your brain until you get it done?? yeah that's what this is

Warnings: None :D maybe some spelling and grammar errors, google translated French

Love was different for everyone. It means something different for each different person. Everyone has their own version of love, whether they’re aware of it or not. Everyone displays love differently. For some, love is about spending time with those around them. For others, love is giving things to show the intensity of their affection. There are many ways that people show their love for the people around them and Pierre Gasly is no stranger to many of them.

When Pierre Gasly approached you with the intent to start dating you, you had made it clear that you believed there was no limit to show how you loved. So he formed a plan. For every date, he would bring you a gift. Showing you his budding love with material objects. Alongside the gifts he would give you a note, telling you how much his love was growing. For every holiday, Pierre would make sure to prioritise his time with you. Whenever he could, he would make sure that he was doing everything for you. His favourite way to show his love for you was taking you by the hand and giving a kiss to your temple at every chance he got.

Pierre made it obvious with every chance he had, that he was head over heels in love with you. And while you could not match him gift-for-gift, you could do one thing that he couldn’t. You had decided a while ago, even before dating Pierre, that along with modelling you would start dabbling in music. You had grown up playing the piano, as many of your following already knew, but not many knew that you had also taken vocal lessons as a child. Pierre was also no stranger to your piano playing abilities. Often coming home from a race weekend to hear the soft sounds of the piano in your large living room.

The thing about Pierre is that while he was a very attentive boyfriend, he wasn’t always the sharpest tool in the shed. It was this fact that let you practise and compose the piano melody for his gift even if he was in the room with you. He would sit and listen to you play and figure out what notes worked and what notes didn’t, complementing your playing all the while. The part that was trickiest when making the song, was finding the time to rent out a studio space so you could record the vocal tracks. As much as you could between photoshoots and brand promotions on your socials, you usually planned for your studio time to be when Pierre was at a race that you couldn’t attend. On such occasions you would bring along your mother (if she had the time) or Pierre’s mother.

It was always special (and important) to spend time with Pascale. As much as Pierre joked that his mother was stealing his girlfriend, you never turned down an opportunity to be around the woman. She was one of the most comforting people you could be around. So it felt incredibly special for her to come with you as you poured your entire soul into showing how much you loved her youngest son. It was also your way of reassuring her that he was in good hands and that she could rest easy knowing her baby boy was being looked after. After all, if you had a son you’d want the same reassurance.

It took everything in you to not show her the full song once it was completed. You wanted Pierre to be the very first person who heard the song in its entirety. You also weren’t sure when exactly to show him. It was by pure coincidence that you completed the song two days before your 3rd anniversary. It would be the perfect time to show him. You brainstormed ways to show him the song until you finally decided that you were going to compile a video of clips that showed your relationship with Pierre.

Pierre would get home the night before so really you only had tomorrow and the morning after to make sure it was done. You were a little pressed for time but you were determined to have it ready for your anniversary. When you woke up in the morning you spent hours going through all the videos you had and picking out the ones you wanted to use. Taking a break to have some lunch and make yourself a hot drink about halfway through the day, you soon started to organise and arrange the videos to be exactly how you wanted them. After dinner you spent your time making sure the whole thing would last the duration of the song. Before calling it a night and going to bed.

The next morning, you were quick to get out of bed and make a coffee, knowing that today was your last day to work on Pierre’s gift. Booting up your computer, hot coffee on the desk, you opened the editing software and got to work. You were glad that you had done the majority of the editing the night before as you only had to make a few last minute adjustments. To tie it all off, you added the audio file to play over the video. Not wanting to waste a minute of your day, you quickly saved the finished product and started to tidy up the apartment. On the rare occasion that Pierre would be home without you, he always made sure the apartment was clean for you, so it was only fair that you maintained that cleanliness as much as you could while he was away. Plus it was always nice to come home to a clean space.

Getting into bed that night, you were almost too jittery to fall asleep. Too excited for the day to come. Eventually however your mind and body became too exhausted to stay awake and you fell into a blissful sleep. Only slightly stirring when Pierre quietly climbed into bed beside you. Still asleep, you snuggled closer to him and slept soundly until morning. Pierre’s arms around you, face nuzzled into your hair.

It was Pierre who woke up first the next morning, just as he’d planned. Every big event, Pierre was determined to serve you your breakfast while you relaxed in bed. He went full out as he always did with these things. He made you a full breakfast, a perfectly made coffee and a thornless rose with a sweet note and arranged them all neatly on a tray. He carefully carried the tray to the bedroom just in time to see you sitting up and stretching your arms above your head.

“Bonjour Chérie.” His voice was soft as he knew that loud noises in the morning often irritated you. He placed the tray on your lap and moved to sit down in front of you. “How are you this morning?”

“Hello Darling.” Barely a whisper, you answered him. “I’m doing perfectly today.”

Pierre leaned in and gave you a kiss. “Joyeux anniversaire, Mon Amour.” He gave you another kiss.

“I have something to show you later.” You said after drinking some of your coffee. “A gift for you.”

“You are my gift.”

“I can’t exactly put myself in a box and gift wrap it, can I?”

He laughed. “No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried.”

You spent the morning with Pierre. Talking with each other, laughing and catching up on any gossip either of you might’ve missed. This was your favourite way to spend time with him. Comfortable, at home and just being the best friends a pair of lovers could be. At around lunch time, you had finally managed enough courage to give Pierre the gift you made.

“Mon Amour?” You were sitting at the kitchen island, watching as Pierre finished the dishes he insisted he did.

“Hmm?” He turned the water off and turned to face you.

“I still have something to give you.” You said.

His face lit up with a loving smile. “You didn’t have to buy me anything, Chérie.”

You shook your head, “I didn’t buy anything, I made something. And I did it because I wanted to.”

You stood up and gestured for him to follow you to your shared office. Confused but curious, he wiped his hands dry and began to follow you. You told him to sit down while you dragged a chair to sit next to him. Turning the computer on, you navigated until you found the video file you were looking for.

“You just have to double click on this one.” you said, pointing to the file labelled ‘pour-mon-amour.mov’.

Excited at the idea that you had made a video, Pierre eagerly did as instructed. You were a little nervous about how he would react. You hadn’t ever done something like this before.

The video started with a clip of you recording yourself while at the beach. In the clip, Pierre had come up behind you and lifted you into the air. You laughed out in surprise as Pierre had spun you around in circles. The piano had started playing and soon after, Pierre heard your voice singing.

“Oh I’m obsessed. With the way your head is laying on my chest. How you love the things I hate about myself. And no one knows, but with you, I see hope again.”

The next clip to appear was a video that Charles had sent you. He had recorded Pierre’s reaction to you showing up in the paddock after you had previously told him you wouldn’t be able to make it. Pierre had stopped in the middle of his sentence and started running to you. He had engulfed you in a hug and started rocking the both of you side to side. Squeezing you tightly, he had started speaking in French, telling you exactly how much he loved you.

“When I overthink the little things in my head You seem to always help me catch my breath But then I lose it again When I look at you, that's the end.”

Now the video showed a montage of clips. Small videos of Pierre giving you a kiss on the cheek or spinning you around like a princess. Pierre helping you tie your hair up. A video of you beating Pierre in a game while he just smiled at you. Even a video that Yuki had taken of Pierre laying on his back with you laying on top of him. The two of you just gazing at each other.

“And why do I get so nervous when I look into your eyes? Butterflies can't stop me fallin' for you

And darlin', this is more than anything I felt before You're everything that I want, but I didn't think I'd find Someone who is worth the wait of all the years of my heartbreak But I know now I found the one I love.”

A video of you dragging Pierre to the middle of your open living room to start dancing with each other. He spun you under his arm and then pulled you in closed to start swaying with you cuddled close. Your arms had wrapped around his waist, your chin resting on his chest before you stood on your tiptoes to give him a kiss.

The video continued to show bits and pieces of your entire relationship with Pierre. You were incredibly nervous to look at Pierre as he watched. You could bring yourself to look at the way his eyes were glued to the screen or look at the way his mouth was hung open in disbelief at the whole thing. You had looked firmly at your hands and played with the bracelet that Pierre had given you just that morning.

You hadn’t even noticed that the video and song had stopped until Pierre took your hands in his. You looked up and saw his eyes closed as he brought both your hands to place a deep, lingering kiss to your knuckles.

“Did you like it?” You asked timidly after clearing your throat.

Opening his eyes, Pierre quickly and urgently brought your lips to his. His kiss was almost feverish, as if he was trying his damned best to pour every ounce of love he had for you into it. It took your breath away. As the kiss became more gentle, you both slowly pulled apart.

Catching your breath you looked at Pierre. His eyes bore straight into yours as he whispered. “Je ne peux pas expliquer exactement combien je t'aime. Je ne pourrai jamais assez vous remercier pour cela.” [I can not explain exactly how much I love you. I will never be able to thank you enough for this.]

You wiped the stray tear that had fallen from his eyes. “Joyeux anniversaire, ma chérie.”

I'm literally so in love with this, I'm getting jealous of the fake romances I write lmao

This has been rattling around in my brain for so fucking long you guys have no idea. If you couldn't tell, the song is I GUESS I'M IN LOVE by Clinton Kane.

Likes, replies and reblogs are always welcome <3

#formula 1 x you #f1 x reader #f1 fluff #formula one #formula 1 #pierre gasly x reader #pierre gasly imagine #pierre gasly #pierre gasly x you #pierre gasly fic #pg10 #pg10 x you #pg10 x reader #pg10 imagine #pg10 fic #pierre gasly fluff #pg10 fluff

108 notes · View notes

seventeendeer · 11 months

Text

TF2 analysis - on cultural references, context as characterization, and how to analyze comedy

-taps mic- HELLO, TEAM FORTRESS 2 COMMUNITY !

A while back, I received an ask requesting analysis of one of my favorite video games of all time and special interest of 12+ years, and you know I just had to go and turn that into a several thousand word essay for the reading pleasure of the people.

Because that shit got way too long, I’ve decided to put it into a post of its own. Hopefully a big title and no previous context being necessary will give more people an incentive to read it. I spent a long time on it and I think it’s pretty cool, and I would love some nice attention for my effort. ;w;

The ask I received went a little something like this:

Below the cut, I will be replying to these questions individually. It touches on everything from Cold War propaganda to the media landscape at the game’s launch in 2007 to first-person shooters as a genre - all to gain a better understanding of author intent, expected audience reaction, characterization and themes.

Anon previously requested help writing more accurate fanfiction, and damn it, that is what they are going to get!! and MORE

Introductory disclaimer:

First of all, for clarity's sake: this analysis is going to specifically talk about TF2 as seen through a fandom lens. I'm going to be talking about the game as a piece of media, creator intention, and the fandom's reactions to the game and extended canon - that is, the slice of the TF2 fandom that is interested in the characters, in the world and in doing at least semi-faithful fanworks.

I will not be touching on TF2's wider playerbase or meme culture. I greatly enjoy both, but they are not relevant to the post I made that sparked this anon's questions (I will link this post in the replies, in case anyone is curious).

I also have to disclaim that any references I make to real world history in this post have to be taken with a hard grain of salt. I've done my best to fact-check everything, but I am not infallible! For a better understanding of the historical elements I talk about here, please do your own research, and approach my claims with a healthy amount of scepticism, same as you would any unsourced social media post. (Readers may notice examples I give below primarily feature Soldier, Spy and Scout. This is because I feel I have the most solid grasp on the historical events and media that informs their characters, compared to the other classes. All the classes contain these contexts and meta complexities, but in an effort to not talk out of my ass too much, I have decided to focus on the characters I feel the most confident dissecting.)

>1) What tropes was the game parodying/what cultural contexts would you say are essential to understand, in order to better understand the game?

The characters of TF2 were specifically designed as satiric takes on national stereotypes depicted in American propaganda media during the Cold War. Two easy-to-explain examples to illustrate:

- Soldier embodies the ideal of a "red-blooded American" who is strong, brave, hyper-masculine, hates foreign superpowers, loves the vague ideal of "freedom" and firmly believes America is the greatest nation in the world. He prides himself on having personally murdered nazis in the past, despite actually having accomplished no such thing (comparable to the US taking a disproportionate amount of credit for defeating Nazi Germany in World War 2; at the time, WW2 was a very recent cultural memory that made for good propaganda fodder). He fears, hates and dehumanizes communists (as Soviet Russia was the US's highly-villified opponent during the Cold War). The satiric angle: he is depicted as so brainwashed by propaganda that he has become immune to facts and logic. He is horribly sadistic, brutal, paranoid and xenophobic. The ideal he is based on is portrayed as shockingly and disproportionally violent and illogical to the point of being laughable.

- Spy is based on how the US viewed France during the Cold War: as a weak, cowardly, “unmanly” nation. At the time, France was depicted this way because they were perceived to have surrendered to Nazi Germany early on in World War 2 out of cowardice. Spy is one of the least macho of the mercs, he is ineffective when fighting enemies head on, and his main method of attack is reliant on trickery and “not fighting fair.” The satiric angle: Spy isn't actually much of a coward - he is more intelligent, more tactical and more resourceful than many of the others, and simply doesn’t feel the need to risk his neck when he could be working smarter, not harder. The other characters are portrayed as a bunch of meatheads for picking on him. The negative stereotype he is based on is portrayed as largely unearned and ridiculous. (Though note that Spy is also depicted as an upperclass prick to contrast with Engineer being working class; in that dynamic, Spy is depicted as a pompous asshole, while Engie is depicted in a more favorable light. The characters are multi-faceted and no class is universally “better” or “worse” than the others, but right now I'm specifically focusing on the "Cold War stereotype" aspect.)

Notice how, while these two characters have different nationalities in-universe, they are both based on stereotypes seen through an American lens. Notice the way the American character is based on a comedically deconstructed ideal, while the character from a nation the US did not view favorably at the time is depicted as falsely judged by an unfair and ridiculous metric.

The entire TF2 cast and universe revolves on this axis! It takes old American ideals and prejudices and uses them for comedy, adding exaggeration and caveats to make those ideals look absurd.

It’s a parody of media produced in the US during the Cold War, which contained massive amounts of propaganda. It satirizes the political ideals that were glorified in said propaganda media.

Very important extra cultural context: this satiric depiction of old war propaganda was specifically designed to be instantly recognizable to TF2's central demographic at the time of release in 2007.

Older Valve games like TF2 were very specifically made to appeal to pop culture-savvy, nerdy young adult gamers. This demographic was expected to see the characters and think "oh hey, it's like a funny version of X character type I've seen in movies!"

Because those kinds of movies were still everywhere at the time. The Cold War ended in 1991. TF2 was released only 16 years later. To put this into perspective: the Legally Blonde movie came out 22 years ago, in 2001. Think about how many Legally Blonde memes are still floating around the web today, how fondly remembered this one movie is and how often it’s still referenced in contemporary media. Now consider that media produced during the Cold War was fresher in the cultural memory at the time of TF2′s release than Legally Blonde is for us today.

TF2 was never meant to be seen in a vacuum. It was always meant to be in conversation with old media that it expected everyone playing to be extremely familiar with.

I'll say that again: the cast of TF2 are based on Cold War stereotypes - comedically exaggerated - so they would clearly read as parodies to people in 2007.

Those are 3 different overlapping lenses to consider when approaching the characters.

The characters are more than just funny cartoon men with guns and an unusual amount of differing accents. They are commentary on older media trends.

Now, someone might ask - why did the developers choose this specific aesthetic and tone for their online shooter video game?

The developers have stated multiple reasons, including wanting the characters to be immediately recognizable both physically (they generally look like the stereotypical depictions they're based on) and audibly (the differing accents and regional dialects make it easy to identify which class is yelling in your ear mid-combat during gameplay).

However, I also have another theory:

It's been confirmed TF2's comedic tone was designed to combat a lot of negative aspects of shooters in the genre at the time of its creation. I have seen developers discuss that they were going for a lighthearted atmosphere to discourage player hostility.

I, personally, also think it is extremely likely the developers opted for satirizing old war propaganda partially in order to combat the tendency of other shooters often being war propaganda. Valve has always been a politically left-leaning company, with a history of depicting military-like forces and unchecked capitalism in a negative light (see the Half-Life and Portal series, respectively).

By depicting the cast of TF2 as generally unhinged, illogical and clownish, they were able to communicate to players: "War is dumb, nationalism is dumb, whatever Call of Duty has been telling you is cool is actually illogical and copying it makes you look like like an idiot. That being said, we all sometimes wish we could beat the shit out of other people in the desert with a shovel, so let's get our aggressions out in a safe, non-serious environment with no consequences. Come play pretend you're a murderous sadist blowing up equally unhinged people with us, it's silly, but it's so fun."

I believe everything from the cartoonishly over-the-top, non-permanent deaths to the deserted, remote environments, to the lack of any truly innocent or defenseless characters was all a carefully crafted foundation made to encourage players to make the informed decision to leave their inhibitions and moral hangups at the door. They wanted players to have fun and go nuts engaging in military-like violence, without encouraging pro-military attitudes in their playerbase.

For an example of a game that royally screwed up doing the same thing, just look at Overwatch - it tried to preach a "wholesome" vibe that was completely mismatched with its gameplay. Overwatch tries to justify extreme violence as Okay When Good Guys Do It To Bad Guys, which ... yeah, again, that is straight up modern military propaganda, on purpose or not (and knowing the US military’s tendency to pour money into video games that glorify war, “on purpose” isn’t as much of a stretch as one might think). Paradoxically, TF2 comes out both looking and feeling better to play, because it handles aligning player emotions VS in-game actions much more elegantly. It accounts for common pitfalls in its genre. OW jumps into those pitfalls with both legs and instead ends up looking shallow and nauseatingly twee.

Of course, all of this is personal speculation. Whether or not this was the reading that Valve intended, I do believe it's a big reason why TF2 has remained so profoundly loveable over the years - it uses its writing and art direction to put the player in the perfect mindspace to Fuck Shit Up.

It's a fantastic example of how to carefully and artfully craft something extremely stupid for maximum intended effect. It uses the strengths of comedy as a genre to its absolute fullest.

Unfortunately, because of cultural shifts since the game's release, newer fans do end up missing out on a lot of what makes this game so expertly done. Many newer fans don't come into the game with the base cultural knowledge it expected of its original audience. To gain a better grasp on the characters and enjoy this piece of media as it was intended, I think it will be extremely helpful to familiarize yourself with the material it is referencing.

For an introduction to media produced and influenced by the Cold War, I would recommend the Wikipedia article Culture during the Cold War as a starting point.

(I have skimmed, but not read, the full article; I encourage readers to be especially source-critical when engaging with pages like this that detail themes of history and propaganda - it's a starting point, not a finish line!)

>2) What themes/layers do you feel the fandom has lost sight of, over time? (or never really managed to acknowledge to begin with?)

Some of this is covered in the previous section, but I'll use this question as an opportunity to talk about another thing I feel is overlooked by fans (and, frankly, the writers of the newer comics too), especially when creating fanworks:

The fact that the characters are extremely dependent on their setup and narrative context to be likeable.

Something I think fandom culture struggles with in general is interpreting and handling fictional characters not as real, independent people who exist in a vacuum, but as the sum total of countless moving parts inside a narrative all working together to create the impression of a real person.

In a comedy, characters are especially dependent on presentation to feel like themselves. It is not enough to loyally recreate an arbitrary list of personality traits in order to create accurate fanworks - recreating the sorts of situations they get into, the kinds of people they interact with, and cherry-picking the information they have access to is neccessary for bringing out what makes the characters so charming!

This is especially important when interpreting and handling a cast made up exclusively of characters who are mean people with bad intentions, bad opinions and a complete lack of adequate self-reflection across the board.

Canon makes them all come off amazingly likeable, but this is because the writers were manipulating tone, relationship dynamics, setting, and much more to show off the characters at their most distinct, least detestable and absolute funniest.

Overlooking this aspect of writing comedy characters often leads to a very common pitfall in many, many fandoms out there - following the logic of a character's canon personality to a place they don't like, and getting rid of those personality traits to combat their own discomfort.

Making characters too kind, too understanding, too progressive, etc., is an endless source of micharacterization in fandoms in general, but especially in fandoms of media where the characters are a bunch of dicks in canon.

To be clear, I fully understand where this is coming from. Fans get attached to characters like these because they're funny (and intended to be loved!) - realizing that a character you really like would logically react in an unlikeable way if you put them into certain situations feels bad. No one wants to turn a character they love into something they find they don't love anymore.

But this is where carefully engineering your setup and narrative comes into play.

Example:

A lot of TF2 fans are queer. Queers flock to TF2 because let’s face it, the campy vibes and silly fun masculinity and weird women are like catnip to us.

But a lot of queer fans go into the fandom aspect of the game and find that ... wait, shit, these characters are not exactly pillars of progressiveness. Reconciling some of the extremist political views of the characters with queer narratives, with queer values, seems a daunting task to some. Because what’s a queer fan to do? Portray a character they love in a way that makes them unloveable? Painstakingly depict shitty, uncomfortable characterization in the name of “realism” that ultimately detracts from their own and other people’s enjoyment of the story? That’s not fun. Fandom is supposed to be fun. So, what, do they just portray the characters as miraculously having perfectly amicable social politics by the standards of the larger queer community in 2023?

Some do, of course, for their own comfort, and it’s understandable, but it’s not good storytelling. It’s an excessively shallow way of interacting with media - the fanfiction equivalent of confidently sitting down to write an in-depth, flowery review of a horror movie you watched with your hands over your eyes during all the scary parts. You cannot create fanworks that are even remotely faithful to the spirit of the canon while deliberately ignoring the core themes and author intention of the canon you’re working with. These things are, unfortunately, mutually exclusive. TF2 characters are meant to be wrong about most things politically. Hopefully my reply to the first question in this post adequately illustrates why that’s so important.

But the good news is that bastardizing canon in order to avoid making characters unlikeable also isn’t necessary.

There’s a reason Soldier, in canon mocks his enemies for everything from failing at masculinity to being disabled, yet doesn’t have a single homophobic line:

The people writing his lines figured it would detract from the character. It would hurt real people’s feelings and make the character less fun to play as, so they didn’t include it. No excuses, no explanation; it is simply omitted for the sake of likeability.

(For contrast, notice that the writers did not extend the same kindness to certain other minorities, like fat people - playing as Heavy fucking sucks when you’re fat, because every other class hurls fatphobic abuse at him. This is a fuck-up on the writers’ side; they failed to identify this type of humor as meaningfully detracting from the experience for a significant amount of players, and so ignorantly decided to include it.)

This is what I mean by “setup and narrative context.” I also like to call this “maneuvering”, because it involves selectively portraying a character in contexts and situations where they shine and instill the intended audience reaction, while steering them away from situations where they would logically act in ways that counteract how the audience is intended to feel about them.

Fanworks can absolutely do the same thing! Fanworks can even take the technique further, because they’re not bound by limited time and focus, the way the original work is!

Sticking with the above example of wondering What The Hell To Do when portraying a character who, due to the ideal he’s satirizing, should by all rights be on the wrong side of history in relation to queer rights, let me make a bold statement:

Soldier TF2 is not homophobic. He's a nationalist, a right-winger, a sexist, a xenophobe - but he's not homophobic.

Why? Because he just so happens to never encounter any gay people in canon. They happen to never cross his mind. He's thinking about other shit. If there's a Pride riot in Teufort, he just so happens to be looking the other way.

Soldier TF2 is not homophobic, because he can't think for himself. He's an idea, a fraction of a bigger narrative that he does not exist outside of.

And if he needs to encounter gay people in a fanfiction, don’t just passively follow the logic of his character to that uncomfortable place none of us enjoy going to - use that maneuvering! Make him misinformed, make him misunderstand, give him incomplete information - the character is not only a face with personality traits attached, his soul is also in the context of the story!

Make him homophobic, but he's pretty sure only Europeans can be gay (just look at them!), and it's already so damn sad that they weren't born in beautiful, paradisical AMERICA, so he pities them instead of hating them. Make him think he's successfully being homophobic, but he has misunderstood what a gay person is and thinks it's a particularly venomous type of snake (men who kiss other men are fine, why would he care about that when there are HORRIBLE HOMOSEXUALS slithering around in the desert that he needs to go blow up right now before they bring this glorious nation to ruin). Make him homophobic, but literally "phobic" - he's shaking and crying hiding inside a cupboard, and his newly-outed gay friends have to lure him out with canned meat and a trail of small American flags, treating him like a feral cat that needs a little time and space to get used to people.

That's funny. It's likeable, it's charming. He isn't portrayed as a good person, or woke in a way that clashes with the themes of his character, but with a little maneuvering, he is faithful to what makes him such a legendary character in canon - being a silly caricature that brings us joy.

If Soldier himself needs to be gay? There are ways to make it happen. Same approach. Get creative. Make it silly. Go for thematically appropriate comedic explanations, not cop-outs or realism*.

That is what I think the TF2 fandom is lacking - understanding of how to manipulate context to make a character feel like their own unique, lovable selves.

Characters are not just visuals and personality traits. They are also what happens to them, what they conveniently find out, what they happen to miss.

This is the same for every story, but it is especially important to understand in a comedy. Doubly so in a whimsical, hyper-violent, morbid comedy like TF2.

It's one of the most important layers to be able to recognize, and an even more important one to be willing to try to recreate.

*Unless you feel like doing a deliberate deconstruction, in which case, go ham, sometimes actively engaging with canon means doing some real weird stuff to it to make a certain point on a meta level. This is obviously different from the issues I described above.

>3) "even the newer official comics don't even seem to really "get" the original game" … I've had a nagging sense for years now that the TF2 comics don't really match the game, tonally -- which has admittedly soured my enjoyment of them -- but I've never been able to put two and two together and fully determine why that is. What would you say they've failed to "get" about the work they're based off of?

While I very much love the newer comics on their own merits, I do think they are wildly removed from the game, and lack a lot of depth by comparison.

I believe the greatest failing of the comics, especially the long-form comic, is that the writers do not seem to be aware of either of the subjects I covered above.

They do not handle the satirical aspect well. The newer comic writers don't even really seem to be aware that there is a satirical aspect - they treat the world as just a silly version of mid-1900′s media, with a narrow focus on silver age comics (which were primarily superhero comics, not an easy genre to match with TF2′s more grounded setting - see the comic’s limp attempt at doing a Superman parody with Sniper) + a dash of the Man’s Life magazines (would have been a good match, if not for the fact that it’s primarily used as aesthetics, with no attention given to themes the way the game does with its own media references). They attempt to write parody only, and even the parody aspect is a hollow effort. Crucially, the writers don't seem to have much of an opinion of the old media properties they're parodying, and without opinions to guide a parody, it becomes shallow and lifeless. "Mid-1900′s media was a bit silly, right?" isn't enough of a hot take to justify its existence. It needs an axis on which to spin to feel complete.

Reiterating the point I made in my answer to question 1: the game's satirical aspect circled the point that was "American media made during the Cold War pushed a narrative that was illogical and ridiculously misaligned with reality."

Its absurd humor is grounded in reality and follows a thematic red thread that the comic does not. As a result, the comic (again, primarily later entries) loses a lot of the sting and edge of the game.

Even though the comic attempts to be more serious and "dark" at certain points, the much more silly and easy-going game (and Meet the Team videos, not to mention) comes out looking more mature, interesting and layered, even though many of the layers remain subtextual. The game is fully married to comedy and has no intention of "getting real", but it is loyal to the spirit of satire. It has opinions. It has bite.

In the game and early supplementary material, there is a dread and horror in the subtext that the comics tried to bring to light later on, but the comic writers didn't know what the scary thing behind the curtain was.

The scary thing was - is - the Cold War.

The scary thing is the dread injected into the genre it's satirizing by people who wanted American readers and movie-goers to be afraid. Scaring people into compliance, into finding a sense of safety and comfort in their national identity, was the entire purpose of many, many pieces of media released at the time.

The comic writers didn't notice the subtext and figured they had to make up their own reasons for why the world of TF2 is so utterly fucked.

They didn't understand the cultural context, and they missed the mark entirely.

This also hindered the comic writers' ability to reproduce the game's humor and characterization. Without understanding where exactly the game's humor was coming from or why the characters were so likeable despite being horrible people, they lacked direction. They made the characters at the same time too impassionate, too stupid, too uncaring, and too nice. All together, the characters became less interesting, less likeable.

Example:

- In the game, Spy was not intended to be Scout's father. Spy having a relationship with Scout's mother emphasized Spy's craftiness and intelligence (undermining the enemy team not only through brute force, but through infiltrating their personal lives), and showed off the strengths of his aforementioned "softness" and sentimentality (he's the only mercenary shown to have consistent luck with women). It also emphasized the flaws in Scout's worldview, and his status as the team underdog, and showed a clear contrast to Scout's non-existent love life. Spy came out of the situation funny and likeable because he 1. was portrayed as cool and capable in a way the other mercs aren't, and 2. his softer side is simultaneously humorously endearing, consistent with the rest of his characterization, and highly informed by the satirical aspect of his character in a way that clicks perfectly thematically. Scout comes out of the situation likeable because his ego is balanced out by his bad luck - you can simultaneously see that he's trying too hard and why he's trying too hard. Spy and Scout's dynamic in-game is also fun and interesting, because you have a tough, hyper-violent, wannabe-macho young man who is desperate to gain the respect of both his team and his enemies getting freaking owned by a guy who is nowhere near the impressive-tough-guy ideal Scout strives to embody. The game's satirical points inform the characters and their actions, which gives the comedy depth and nuance, which in turn makes all characters involved fun to watch and easy to get invested in. It is the establishing of and subsequent pointing-and-laughing-at an ideal that produces engaging, character-driven comedy in this situation.

- By contrast, the comics decided that Spy was Scout's father. Spy's motives for getting involved with Scout's mother is no longer about gaining intel on his enemies. In this version of events, his motives are reduced to merely wanting to reconnect with an old flame. This completely undermines the dynamic described above, for multiple reasons: the situation no longer shows Spy as having a particular skillset that sets him apart from the other mercs, he is no longer portrayed as emotionally "softer" than the others (in fact, having left a poor woman to raise and feed 8 kids on her own while he was off enjoying his upperclass life makes him look incredibly cold in a way that is distinctly unfunny; I don’t think the writers thought this part through), Scout's comedic poor luck is no longer on display, and the "macho character is humiliated by the type of guy he respects the least" satirical aspect no longer works. There is an attempt to replace it with a mutual "ugh, I'm related to this guy?" running gag, but it's a very pale substitute for the layered, strongly characterized, thematically appropriate dynamic present in the original game. Spy comes out of it looking like more of a cowardly, cold-hearted fuck-up than a hilariously brilliant tactician with a heart. Scout comes off way too pitiable, because he is not responsible for his own misery here, and the person horribly bullying him and picking apart his self-esteem on the battlefield is his absent father who abandoned him as a child. He's not an objectively badass character who nonetheless fucks himself over in humorous ways trying to chase an ideal that objectively sucks - he's just a regular shitty guy who ended up in bad circumstances because of things outside of his control.

The comic writers didn't understand what Spy and Scout respectively represented in the game, and because of this, they didn't realize they were taking the characters off the rails and making them much less interesting as a result. They didn't realize they were killing off an endless source of comedy that supported the game's satirical angle in a fun, unique, dynamic way.

It resulted in a flat, flavorless subplot. It had some superficial attempts at "heartwarming" moments ...

... but here's my take: if the writers wanted to include more warmth and sincerity in the comics, wouldn't it have been way more heartwarming if Spy started treating Scout as his son even though he wasn't?

Would it not have been way more endearing to see him look out for his girlfriend's child, not because he has any personal ties to him himself, but because he knew if anything happened to Scout, his mother would be devastated?

Why not build from there? Why not make it an active choice? Why not preserve the existing dynamic and themes, and just follow that narrative thread to its logical conclusion?

Spy has an established sentimental side. Scout is desperate for approval. The reluctant surrogate father/son development practically writes itself. It would have been such a good way to explore TF2's themes more explicitly, too!

But again, the comic writers did not seem to realize the game even had themes.

I do like the newer comics. I do think they're really fun, and I did even enjoy the "Spy is Scout's father" subplot in its own way. But this complete inability to identify the game's themes, and thus the source of all its comedy, and thus the red thread defining characterization - it resulted in supplemental material that was lackluster, directionless and unable to scratch the same itch the game does.

They're good comics, but they're hardly TF2 comics.

>4a) … Sheerly out of curiosity, how do you feel Expiration Date holds up, in comparison?

Similar to the way I dislike Spy being revealed to be Scout’s biological father for coming off as a stilted, superficial attempt at being “heartwarming,” I also immensely dislike later supplementary material trying to promote Ms. Pauling to Scout’s recurring love interest for the exact same reason. Expiration Date pushes this subplot way past its breaking point and shows off extremely well why the “jerk characters are secretly a bunch of softies” treatment is so deeply, deeply out of place in TF2.

Back in the early comics, Scout hitting on Miss Pauling was played as a joke at his expense. He was an idiotic, sexist guy incapable of talking to a pretty woman without trying to fuck - she was a highly skilled and deviously manipulative minor character who mostly existed to show off how dangerously competent the Administrator and her people were. Scout acting like an utter dumbass too entrenched in his own limited worldview to notice what was happening right in front of him was important characterization for him, Miss Pauling’s quiet, calculating efficiency was important characterization for her boss, and their clashing personalities set the tone for the dynamic between the entire team of mercenaries and the conspiracy going on right under their noses.

Expiration Date chose to eliminate these layers and invent a completely new conflict for these two specific characters to go play with in a corner, which had nothing to do with their original characterization or the larger plot. Scout is now portrayed as being genuinely in love with Pauling, even noticing small details about her mannerisms and knowing about some of her interests, even though the entire point of their original interactions were that Scout was so busy trying to live his tough-guy-with-a-pretty-girl-on-his-arm fantasy he did not bother to listen to or learn anything about the women unfortunate enough to cross his path, allowing Pauling to carry out her job without causing suspicion.

Instead, Scout’s sexist approach to interacting with women is played for sympathy (”he’s actually a romantic underdog because the lady he likes accurately clocked him as an idiot!”) and inadvertently validated (”once she gave him a chance, she found out he’s actually a pretty okay guy!”).

In the process, Miss Pauling loses far too much of her usual competence, being visibly freaked out over having to perform a job she’s been shown to handle with grace in the past, and being taken aback by what should by all rights be routine weirdness in this world, all so she can have an eye-roll-worthy forced positive reaction to the entire experience at the end of the short, in a weak attempt to justify why she comes to like Scout more despite all the trouble he’s caused for her and wants to spend more time with him in the future.

The romance subplot is only made possible because the characters are heavily edited compared to their past portrayals, is only able to develop in the direction it does by aligning itself with the values of a character who existed to be a laughable, obviously-mistaken caricature, and is only able to distill a happy ending to the whole mess by stripping the other character of personal standards and agency.

Scout and Pauling are frankly two halves of a whole shitshow in Expiration Date, because the writers either didn’t notice or didn’t care about what older works were gunning for - all they saw was that Boy Liked Girl, Girl Did Not Like Boy, and that just wouldn’t stand! After all, everyone likes romance, right?

Scout, as he is portrayed in the game and in the early supplementary material, is one of my absolute favorites of the mercs. I find him incredibly funny, and the way his hyperactive, fun-loving, jokey traits overlap with his intense bloodlust (literally - he’s the class with the most weapons available that cause bleed damage!) and barely-suppressed rage makes him fun and fascinating. The little man has so much unchecked ADHD and cultural trauma he just has to go and kill people about it, which is just so intensely relatable in the “forbidden mood” way TF2 handles so well.

Unfortunately, I get the impression he has in later years fallen victim to the curse of being a skinny young white guy character, making him a target for writers who think every series needs a relatable everyman protagonist for either themselves or the audience to project onto (and who think skinny young white guys are the most relatable people around, for reasons you can probably imagine I’m not personally very fond of).

TF2 absolutely does not need a character like that, and butchering Scout’s established personality in the name of “relatable” and “wholesome” is first of all Some Bullshit, and second of all a lost cause. The character simply has too much baggage as an over-the-top caricature to be comfortably rewired into an author- or audience-surrogate. He’s always going to come out looking like an asshole - whether this aspect of his character turns out likeable or unlikeable is entirely controlled by whether the story itself acknowledges it.

I did find Scout and Spy's dynamic to be quite well done, though, especially if you ignore the "Spy is Scout's father" reveal from the later comics.

The idea that Spy didn't have to go and do all that, but has grown a soft spot for Scout purely because his girlfriend clearly loves her incredibly annoying boy and her happiness is his happiness, is perfectly in-character. Scout has also long been established to desperately crave approval from his teammates, and on paper, the idea of putting him in a situation where he had to let go of some of his macho man dignity, imitate Spy more closely and ultimately win a tiny bit of that approval he's been looking for is interesting and plays well with the game's existing themes.

It's just a shame Scout's motivations ended up being conjured out of thin air, in direct conflict with past characterization, for the purpose of enabling a schmaltzy, tonally dissonant romantic subplot.

tl;dr, I'm conflicted on the subject of Expiration Date. It's funny, it's cute when it's not trying too hard, and seeing the mercs dick around off the clock getting into stupid shenanigans together is something I've always wanted to see in a longer animated format. It’s largely a good time and a fun watch, despite its questionable gender politics and trope-y execution.

However, like the newer comics, it suffers immensely from writers who are simply unable to identify the themes, characterization and comedy style of older material, and thus, in my opinion, falls way, way short of its potential.

>4b) I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on Emesis Blue, should you end up watching it.

I'll be sure to share my opinions if I ever get around to watching it!! I'm super curious about it. As I mentioned in another post, what little I've heard of it seems much more on-point thematically, and even with the characters being so far removed from their official characterization, I really get the impression this is a deliberate, informed choice, in stark contrast to the newer official supplementary material. I’ll be sure to drop some words on it if I ever get around to watching the full thing!

Anyway, that about wraps up my thoughts! If you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking with it, and please do consider reblogging - I’ve spent an insane amount of time writing and re-writing and fact-checking this, and I would love for it to reach just half of all the people who were curious about my initial posts on the subject. :’)

Follow-up questions are very welcome, though to be clear: I’m not really interested in “debating” the subjects I’ve talked about here. I know I posit a lot of hard opinions in this post and not everyone is going to agree with me and that’s fine - if you feel differently, I invite you to simply ignore me and write your own take on your own blog. No hard feelings, I just don’t enjoy those kinds of discussions. (Corrections on any factual mistakes I’ve made are of course encouraged).

#team fortress 2 #tf2 #tf2 analysis #tf2 meta #tf2 comics #soldier tf2 #spy tf2 #analyzing comedy #analyzing satire #deerchatter

155 notes · View notes

nukaberries · 1 year

Note

Ahh im so happy to find a blog that writes new vegas! I got into it recently and its so fun! Sometimes i get tired of hearing the radio especially if im travelling way too much, so i just start singing any song that pops into my head or talk to the companions like they're real pfft

im also way too cheery for my own good lmao, game devs knew what they were doing when there was no push button for running, you know how many times i ran into mines and kept running 🧍🏽

I kinda wanna know how the companions would react to that? A Courier who practically bounces as they walk and if its not the radio or them talking to fill the silence, its them singing as they shoot radscorpions !! Couriers not half bad at singing either! They mostly sing quietly while walking the mojave for obvious reasons but on a night they feel especially safe, they'll be singing so well people will wonder why they're not making holotapes for mr new vegas to play (esp if they say the radio gets annoying at times)im sorry this is long im just excited to see a new vegas writer that hasnt left their blog 🤧

I'm SO late to this one, I'm so sorry! But I'm so glad you're enjoying New Vegas! It's tied with Red Dead Redemption 2 as one of my favourite video games! And I'm exactly the same when I play New Vegas, the radio's never off and I have no spatial awareness. I hope this was worth the wait!! (Sorry again lmao)

Companions React to a Loud/Chatty Courier (Includes: Arcade, Boone, Cass, Lily, Raul and Veronica)

Arcade Gannon Admittedly, he's a little intimidated at first. He agrees to go with the Courier since there's no point in him sticking around Freeside where he's not helping anyone. He just doesn't realise he's taken up with the most obnoxious person in the West. He's not annoyed by any means, in fact, the singing is actually quite a nice change from the radio. The constant talking is a little overwhelming for him at first though, as someone whose trying his best to keep his past with the Enclave a secret. He knows the Courier means no harm, and he feels a little guilty having to shut down their questions about him, knowing that they only mean well. They do bring out a different side to him he didn't know he had and he sometimes finds himself humming along to either the radio or Six's singing.

Craig Boone At first, he's annoyed by the Courier, but it's not like he has anything better to do. They're his best chance at wiping out the Legion, even if their incessant talking and singing is a little too much for him. He doesn't have a problem with them, but he prefers silence to having to begrudgingly answer someone who talks at a million miles per hour. The only time he'll really voice his complaints is when he actually needs them to be quiet, such as if they're trying to stealthily take out enemies, thankfully the Courier seems to know when to turn off their radio and stop singing. Eventually, the constant chatter and the singing - that he'll never admit is actually enough to rival the radio songs - become background noise he learns to appreciate. He'll never join in with the Courier's singing, but he tries his best to answer their questions and respond to their comments.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy Cass is another one who can't stand the Courier's chatter and singing at first, however, she's more than willing to voice this. A few times, she actually hid the Courier's Pip-Boy while they slept, unfortunately for Cass, they'd already memorised all the lyrics to Johnny Guitar and sung that on repeat for most of the day. It was starting to reach the point where Cass was certain they were doing it on purpose. The singing she hated, but the talking? She didn't mind the talking. In fact, Cass actually looked forward to the talking, she often struggled to make friends, considering her problems with whiskey, so it was nice to just make conversation sometimes. Sure, she'd still keep trying to put an end to the singing, no matter how good it was, but the talking Cass could live with.

Lily Bowen The first time Lily started travelling with the Courier, she was thrilled. Everyone in Jacobstown took life a little too seriously and being with the Courier was a refreshing change for her. Unlike most of the other companions, Lily actually loves the singing and the talking. She'll even suggest that the Courier tries their hand at singing on the Strip, the Tops and the Atomic Wrangler are always looking for new acts after all. Lily will even try and sing along with them, before realising her voice doesn't exactly compliment or rival the Courier's, but so long as they encourage to join in, she always will. The talking is just as lovely for her, it's nice to know that the Courier still cares about their grandma, even if they are growing up so fast.

Raul Tejada Never in all his years of being alive has he met someone like the Courier. It was one thing that they managed to deal with Tabitha, but the fact that they did it with Radio New Vegas playing on full blast from their Pip-Boy? Raul wasn't sure whether to be impressed or absolutely terrified. He leans more towards the latter once he starts travelling with them, struggling to keep up with the Courier constantly asking him questions about where he's from and what his life was like before the war and how he turned ghoul. Like Arcade, Raul finds it overwhelming and eventually asks politely if the Courier can calm down a little with all the questions, thankful when they actually oblige. He learns to love the Courier in spite of their loud habits, even being happy to fix their Pip-Boy when it stops letting them connect to the radio stations. It's against his better judgement, but they seem grateful for it.

Veronica Santangelo She immediately bonds with the Courier over their love for Radio New Vegas. Veronica wishes she had her own Pip-Boy so she could listen to the radio in her own free time, since lugging a radio around the Mojave Desert doesn't seem like the best idea. She absolutely loves the Courier's singing too, insisting that they don't forget her once they make it big in some bar in New Reno. She also tries her best to be the Courier's backup singer when wandering the wasteland, however, she accidentally stumbles up on a lot of her lyrics and trying to pronounce "Agua Fria" at the start of Big Iron quickly becomes the bane of her existence. Veronica also loves to gossip with the Courier, about her love life - and the Courier's if they're willing to disclose it - and all her least favourite things about her commanding officers in the Brotherhood. Whenever she travels with Six, Veronica manages to get a lot of off her chest

#fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout companions #fallout x reader #fallout imagines #fallout headcanons #courier six #arcade gannon #craig boone #rose of sharon cassidy #lily bowen #raul tejada #veronica santangelo

212 notes · View notes

matan4il · 5 months

Note

I'm so happy some of the hostages are being returned. I was honestly starting to worry that maybe none were left alive, were smuggled out, or couldn't even be found from Hamas themselves. So, small blessings.

What I loathe is people trying to pretend Hamas is virtuous for this or that 5 prisoners for everyone Israel is even morally equivalent. It doesn't erase every person coming home lost someone brutally before being taken and probably left another person behind as a hostage. It will never erase how they tortured innocent civilians. These people coming home have probably been brutalized for 50 days. The trauma they will carry around breaks my heart. So many families will never be whole again. Pile on the people being returned to Gaza were actual terrorists who tried to or killed Israel's.

Every family has been forever changed in violence they never asked for. But I am grateful for who comes home. Seeing the reunion videos makes me happy. It just doesn't change my opinion of the people who did it. It's actually worse when I see them cheering and jeering at the red cross recovering them.

However.. I can't leave you without some dark humor. My neighbor put up Ceasefire sign with a death toll count at 10,000. When I was walking by, I asked her where she got that number because it's clearly wrong. I'd be happy to explain. She walked in and slammed the door. At least I'm more popular in the neighborhood and have a Ring so she can't egg my house. Although I am considering putting up more Israel flags just to start a sign war. Petty, yes, but if it annoys them, priceless!!!!

As always, I hope you and your family are staying safe. Lots of love!!!! Hopefully, researching for the museum is a nice distraction. Sending prayers, you're feeling OK!!

Hi darling! <333

Oh, I was sure that Hamas would keep at least some alive. Living hostages are worth more than dead ones. At this point, Hamas NEEDS this break in the fighting, and for sure they knew their strongest leverage over Israel would be hostages, so... what worries me is that we don't know how many are live. Fifty hostages is less than a quarter from the people kidnapped, and Hamas has not yet produced a current proof of life for the rest. But yes, I don't think it's possible to see the family reunions and not be moved! (well... so long as you're not de-humanizing Israelis, that is)

The people who have to be told that Hamas isn't humane, a terrorist organization that has beheaded human beings, including babies, raped women of all ages to the point where their bones broke, amputated kids, kidnapped a 9 months old, murdered Holocaust survivors... those people are beyond hope. Still, if you look at a recent released Hamas vid, meant to depict its terrorists as "humane," you can actually hear them instructing the hostage to "keep waving." That says it all.

I'm also gonna mention that one of the hostages released by Hamas tonight had to be rushed into surgery, and her life is in danger even after that.

And that's on top of everything else you mentioned. Yes, every single one of the hostages has either lost a relative, or still has family or friends in captivity, or had their house physically destroyed, and they were all changed forever by 7 weeks of captivity underground, in terror tunnels. I was listening to the testimony of an Israeli kid who was freed by Israel in 1976 from Entebbe, after just one week as a hostage, without being separated from his family, without losing anyone, while they weren't held underground, and he still said he was never the same person again. I can't understand anyone who ignores that. Then again, I also can't comprehend how a human being can look at a poster begging for the release of a baby, but some did exactly that, and proudly.

LOL I love that, thank you for sharing! And NGL, I would love for more Israeli flags on display. Even just the fact that it humanizes Israelis means so much! Thank you for being such an incredible ally, from me, and I'm sure from others reason this, too! Sending you all the love and good wishes in the world, you absolute ray of light! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #antisemitism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish

47 notes · View notes

radioluminescentoblivion · 2 months

Text

Hazbin Hotel: The Corruption of Creativity. Part 1

1. Introduction

Hello everyone, I normally don’t make huge posts like these, but I thought it would be important to make this review and discussion about the latest animated show on Amazon Prime, Hazbin Hotel, and the people behind the scenes who worked on the show, mostly the show creator Vivziepop. Back in 2019 when I first watched the animated pilot of Hazbin Hotel, I was interested to see how this show, if picked up, would go about with its story. Like many people who were still fans of Vivziepop’s work, I wanted to see this show become a good adult animated series. In fact, as the production was going on behind closed doors, I supported viv and her work via Patreon for a time and bought some merch from Sharkrobot.com to help fund her endeavors—I even still have my Angel Dust t-shirt and Hazbin Hotel poster in a black picture frame.

2. Personal Fan Origins

Though I wasn’t an og follower of viv back in her older days on DeviantArt, I was introduced to her work around 2014-2015, that’s when I originally saw her fan-animated Kesha Die Young music video and since then I became a fan of her work and was obsessed with her means of creating very expressive and stylistic characters. Vivziepop was the artist who not only introduced me to the furry community, she was also a big inspiration for my artwork and still is to some extent now, had it not been for her, I don’t think I would’ve been in the position I’m in now to make art or it would’ve taken me much longer than where I started.

But as much as I was a casual fan of her work, I was also a skeptic of her as a person over time. Primarily due to how she would be overly defensive towards criticism, radiate a toxic personality on others and friends of hers, and how she would intentionally and unintentionally weaponize her audience against those that landed on her blacklist. These traits would only become more apparent over time, but I like many others had the mindset of “separating the art from the artist” And while there is some validity to be made on that notion, it makes it all the harder when the person intentionally makes the art inseparable from who they are or they’re still active or alive and will constantly change their position or view on things. I know there’s a much deeper discussion to be had about this notion and how relevant it actually is, but for the sake of this post, I won’t dive into it that much.

Watching Helluva Boss in 2019 onward would prove to be a conflicting experience since the first time watching the first season wasn’t as bad, some episodes had some strong character development, decent action scenes, and enjoyable songs. 2, 5, and 6 were some of my favorites in the series, but around season 2 episode 4, I was losing interest and I began to see the cracks in the show and noticed that the charm had dwindled going into the second season. Episode 6 was where I stopped which is funny because the last episode (at least currently) was episode 7 which I didn’t even bother to give any attention to because I didn’t like the show much anymore: The characters were losing whatever charm they had originally, making the characters I did like lose that vibe I enjoyed and those I didn’t like before I just didn’t care or it made it all the worse, the pacing didn’t get any better as the show was always going so quickly but rarely having time to sit down and digest even when there were scenes that had those moments, and for a show that would have differing times from 10-30 minutes, it made it all the more rushed, the stories were all over the place in a way I had no fun engaging with or could get behind, sometimes plot points like D.H.O.R.K.S’s evidence of demons would be revealed but never brought up again or have the same impact on the show, and some of the songs were forgettable (though I did enjoy Cotton Candy).

After I stopped giving HB a watch I decided to be patient and wait for when Hazbin Hotel would drop, and on January 18th, 2024, the first episode would drop to present the new show to the world.

3. Hazbin Hotel Review (Spoilers, Obviously)

Summary -

Hazbin Hotel is an adult animated series about the daughter of Lucifer named Charlie Morning Star, a demon princess seeking to rehabilitate sinners in a less violent way to combat overpopulation in hell. Along the way, she manages to get support from the enigmatic radio demon named Alastor who helps Charlie and Vaggie bring in sinners in an attempt to redeem their souls for a price while trying to be as cooperative as she can with the odds stacked against her.

When I first watched the premiere of the show, I wasn’t really blown away or impressed by it, which isn’t a bad thing since not a lot of shows have a strong start with their early episodes in the season. Where it did get interesting however was around 4-6 when it started to focus more on character development and give some time for the main cast to shine and maintain some consistency with the story, though this has its limits. There were also some decent songs, some funny dialogue, and even some sprinkling of action around the end. Unfortunately, in the later episodes, it started to fall back to where the show lost its touch. So let me get around to the pros and cons of Hazbin Hotel:

The Good -

As someone who felt burnt out from Helluva Boss, this is an improvement as far as comparing viv’s older work goes, which is a slight benefit.

Performances are great as far as voices go, especially when you have people like Keith Davids in your line up, though I would be a little more positive on the casting choices if it didn’t also come at the cost of the old cast, I genuinely believe they should’ve been given additional voice roles if not main ones for the show, so that sucks.

Songs can be hit or miss in this show, with More Than Anything (both the first and reprise) and Loser Baby being the better examples and the rest not sticking out to me as much, either because I don’t think they had as much impact or they felt out of left field. I think it would’ve been better to not have every episode with a song number unless it was a grand introduction to something (i.e. Poison, Loser Baby, More Than Anything). Though I don’t expect this to be a popular opinion so whatever

The visuals are fairly competent with few to no issues that caught my eye, my only critique would be that due to how fast everything feels it can be hard to follow what's all happening, not to mention having the background and background characters look as eye-catching as the main cast can throw people off of where they should put their focus on. It's not as terrible enough where I loathe it, but it could make some contrast of who/what you should pay more attention to.

The Bad -

The story loses track of the main premise of Charlie trying to redeem sinners and her relationship with Vaggie. The side plots don’t interest me as much aside from Angel Dust and Husk having some empathy for each other slowly through the series, and the other main cast aren’t nearly explored as much. Idk the best way to describe it, but it seems that most of the focus of the side characters isn’t where it should be (the hotel’s residents) and more so on those outside the hotel, which I think would’ve worked better in the second season rather than just the first. If season one was just focusing on the residents, Charlie and Vaggie more than the other characters, I wouldn’t mind that. I think the only exceptions to this would be the hell overlords discovery of how to fight back and Lucifer helping Charlie with the hotel. But back to the main cast, Charlie and Vaggie’s moments of romance and bonding seem few and far between, which sucks since this is supposed to be about them right? RIGHT?! The potential is just wasted.

Not every song is needed or has a place in every episode, though that could be because I wasn’t feeling them as strongly compared to the ones mentioned. Not much else to say there that hasn’t already been said.

Characters don’t appeal to me as much aside from Niffty and Sir Pentious (they’re the best) and unfortunately, the characters I should care about don’t get enough time to shine due to how this show is hastily paced—which leads me to my next negative.

Pacing is absolutely atrocious, for episodes that last 30 minutes, it feels like everything has happened yet also little has happened in such a short period of time (which is insane to me) Viv has had pacing issues in the past with her work which is concerning to me, mostly because she wasn’t always this speedy with her series, there were times she had more breathing room for her older works for instances like the Son of 666 and Timber, even the short Bad Luck Jack (which I liked) suffered from this in ways. Idk what exactly happened, but it seems like viv’s workflow has just gotten worse over time, and her artistic magic, patience, etc has just vanished.

Jokes? For what attempt of humor was there, it was very little. Once in a while, there was a joke that stuck the landing or made me chuckle, such as Charlie and Alastor swearing unexpectedly, only because it’s so out of left-field you wouldn’t expect it, so the joke works. Or when Niffty and Sir Pentious act their usual awkward selves in front of others. But everything else is just not funny to me because the majority of the humor is either sex or profanity jokes that don’t have that great of build-up or go for something more than just “haha adult words” which ironically makes it more juvenile than adult. I don’t mind stupid humor, but make it funny and not because you want to say “fuck” for the sake of it. Even if it’s just for casual talk, it's overly excessive. It doesn’t hurt to find humor in other ways even if those don’t land either, it's better than just resorting to profanity and sex.

Additional Comments -

When it comes to Vivziepop’s older works, it’s better than Helluva Boss but weaker than her shorts or animated music videos (fan-made or original), the strongest elements within the series lie within the hump of the season and fall short from the beginning and end. Though as annoying as that is, it pales in comparison to the other elements in the show.

Heaven’s methods of carrying out exterminations every year to dissuade the populace of hell from rebelling is just a very dumb thing to do when there are so many other ways to shatter the morale of a persecuted people or nation without lifting a single sword that would’ve been better implemented and create a larger divide between heaven and hell and less costly as well. Perhaps this is just to further showcase how arrogant and incompetent Heaven is, but I have my doubts on that.

Alastor as a manipulative radio host works well between Charlie and Vaggie, though I wish they wouldn’t have explained his ties to the disappearances of hell’s overlords so soon, it just takes away from his mysterious nature as this eldritch being. That part to me would’ve worked later on. (Yeah, I’m also aware they did something similar in the pilot too, which brings up another issue I have)

Continuity between the pilot and the first episode is pretty murky, it doesn’t help matters when the plot of the pilot and the series episodes get collaged in so haphazardly. If I never heard of Hazbin Hotel or Vivziepop’s work before, I’d kinda be thrown off a bit and try my best to catch up on what’s going on. I don’t expect an expose of how everything works, but an organic flow of how things come together would’ve been nice. For instance: the pilot itself feels more like an episode one than the actual episode 1 of the first season. I know the point of the pilot isn’t as strict in its rules, since it's supposed to sell an idea to a network or distributor. Hell, The Amazing Digital Circus does something similar to how Hazbin Hotel does with presenting a first-episode introduction into the world and characters, only it does it far better and it hasn’t even gotten its first episode out yet, but I don’t want to compare apples to oranges on two different shows. The point is, the first episode should’ve had a better flow to it or at least maintained something more consistent like the pilot did.

But by far the most glaring problem in the show isn’t part of the show itself believe it or not. But to keep this short, I’ll leave that for part 2.

4. End of Part 1

Originally when I watched the series I gave this a 7/10 on IMDB because I came at this from a perspective of how I would judge the work based on viv’s prior craft, this gave it a point above Helluva Boss, primarily with pacing, and direction of what it should be about and where to focus the story and characters. That being said, I was being very generous and didn’t also factor in on how it stood on its own two feet, and to be honest? It's not that good. For the first season of a new adult animated show, it’s too rushed, and not fleshed out enough in areas where it needs to be, The majority of the characters I have little interest or investment in, and despite having its moments, it's not enough to keep me hooked to know what happens within the next season.

This would bring it down to 1 point for that to a 6/10, I know some fans would put the blame on Amazon, A24, or Bento, but here’s the thing, other shows have had episodes with similar limited space and time to tell their stories yet do a far more superior job in doing so than this, from what I understand, Amazon seems pretty open for a studio big or small to do as they please with what resources they have to get out what they can regardless of the restraint of episodes to be made, thereby making studios try their best to work harder on making a show work with such little episodes, so I see this mostly as a personal thing with viv and her team than just amazon.

Now I would just leave it at that and move on, but I’m afraid this is where things get more muddy and grim.

#longahpost #review #critique #vivziepop #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critical #vivziepop critique #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin spoilers

34 notes · View notes

chawarin-panich · 4 months

Note

i'm sorry p'aof has said WHAT about earth???? the fuck is that? i thought the talk about jimmy being too clean was about him being a dermatologist and having well taken care of skin/babyface because of that? that's absolutely disgusting what

I had to summon the powers of discord because dear god it is so hard to find things nowadays but here: https://www.tiktok.com/@an_emstan/video/7206713833757494534?_r=1&_t=8iadCWiW1WT

(this is one of two times - in addition to which there is also a video of Earth saying that he has asked P'Aof to be given roles where his character is richer like its all in good fun and he loves P'Aof but god like its hard to watch regardless)

this is obviously an extremely nuanced issue and im not saying we should cancel p'aof because at the end of the day he was still the only person who didn't discount earth's talents just because of the color of his skin.

In fact Aof saved Earth's career (not only should we NOT cancel him he's miles better than literally anyone else in the industry) but he has still typecast him - in a weirdly flattering way. Earth must always be this silently suffering ruggedly handsome hero (and yes ruggedly is code here for lower class/dark skinned). An archetype that Aof obviously and unironically LOVES.

Of course, Aof also never directly talks about skin color but also like iykyk - clean skin in Asia is an extremely extremely loaded concept especially in south and south east asia where there is a very wide range of skin colors in the local population to begin with.

Where Aof gives himself away is his explicit discussion of class. Because guess what else is intricately tied to colorism in Asia - that's right classism! The same man saying that Earth is perfect for working class roles and its so hard to style Jimmy for working class roles - there can only be one meaning here.

Sorry to ruin the fun you were having with Aof's obsession with Jimmy's light skin (because you didn't know thats what it was) but i was turning into a little husk watching everyone celebrate this. Like when the video first dropped I kept my silence hoping it would just die down but no I waited and waited and it's still so popular so there was only the option of killing it with fire

#aof noppharnach #last twilight #tale of a thousand stars #nani answers #nani's hot takes #i use the previous tag for posts that im not willing to brooke arguments over esp if i know that the take is controversial #this take is controversial due to how widely beloved aof is but his colorism is undeniable at this point lol

25 notes · View notes

wooahaes · 2 years

Text

punch drunk love

pairing: non-idol!hoshi x gn!reader

prompt: this post my slightly-drunk ass wrote yesterday while drinking.

word count: 2.5k

warnings: alcohol + food warnings. reader gets drunk and confesses they wanna kiss soonyoung. skinship (a hug + little kisses onto his hand + later cuddling). hoshi gets called tiger playfully and also teased for it. not proofread at all.

daisy’s notes: oh to have a cute man to get giggly drunk with and then get taken care of. also if miso soup is not good for u, i blame my quick research that i spent barely five minutes doing. the title is from a shinee song that you can listen to riiiiiiiight here hehe its basically about falling HARD for someone like... get punched by tht feeling, yknow? literally from one of my fave shinee albums/repackages tbh <3

Soonyoung was the kind of person who was different when he drank. His friends always would say that he, the same person who was much more extroverted around the people he trusted most, would become at least ten times louder than usual when he had enough alcohol in his system. A little less self-control (enough to keep him from blurting certain things out, though--or maybe that was because his friends had his back, especially Jihoon and Wonwoo), but a lot more fun. Sometimes it got him teased, like when he came home drunk and Jihoon took one-too-many videos of Soonyoung shuffling around the apartment every single time without fail. There was at least one video of him cradling a bag of frozen shrimp to his face, liking how cold it felt until Jihoon finally pulled it away from him with a “see what I put up with?” that was nowhere near as sharp it seemed. At least, it wasn’t for anyone who knew the friendship the two had. Sometimes it also resulted in him trying to press kisses into his friends’ faces, typically ending up rejected (or, in the cases of some of his friends, pushed toward pressing kisses on the back of their hands). He was a very happy drunk, and he knew that. It made him a bit of a handful.

Which is why he felt like he was getting a taste of his own medicine while he was with his friends at Seungcheol’s apartment, not drinking but just having a good time nonetheless. In fact, they’d just been talking about maybe busting out the drinks when he got your call. It was late enough, no one who had work in the morning had to join, things would be fine. But the moment your name popped up on the screen and Seungkwan had caught sight of it, he hushed the entire room and told him to pick up right now.

So he did, turning it onto speaker without thinking when you let out a long, giggly “Soonyoooooung!”

“Hi?” He said. You were... never this giggly.

“Hi!” You said, already cracking up over nothing. “I missed you!”

Soonyoung rose up from his spot on the couch, starting to walk away before the rest of the group could start dogging him over that. He waved them off--no, you had no reason to miss him because you’d just seen him the other day and talked to him that morning. “Are you okay?” He didn’t go too far, the group still attentively listening.

A very long hum sounded out as you mulled over the question, making a show of it. “Yes! Because I’m talking to you.”

Were you... slurring your words? “Are you drunk?”

“No! No! I’m not drunk!”

You were definitely drunk. “Are you at home?”

“Maaaaybe.” You giggled again. “You gonna come get me, tiger?”

Soonyoung immediately took you off speaker when he heard someone--Vernon, maybe--crack up at the way you said that. “Are you home alone? I thought you were going to spend the night with your friends--”

“We did. Online. We played games and had drinks.” You giggled. “Soonie, you should join us next time.” And then you gasped. “Oh my god. We should have game night with your friends!”

Soonyoung took one look at his group of friends and knew that it was a bad idea. “Just stay home, I’m coming over. Do you have water? You need to drink water.”

“I’m fiiiine,” you started giggling again. “You don’t have to come. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself just fine--” And then he heard a soft, “ah, fuck,” as you bumped into something. “I’m fine! I just ran into my chair--”

“Just... sit down until I get there,” he sighed. “Okay? I’ll be there soon.”

“Okie dokiiiie,” you giggled. “My cuuute tiger best friend...”

He hung up before he could hear you say anything else, heat rushing straight to his face. He didn’t know you considered him a best friend--you were definitely more than just a ‘regular’ friend in his opinion, sure, but at least part of that was because he harbored a crush on you. He’d always hold you in high regard. He returned back to his friends, already knowing that they heard half of that conversation.

“I’m gonna go,” he nodded toward the door. “Before they break something.”

“Go get ‘em, tiger!” Joshua called out when he was halfway to the door, loud enough to be heard over the rest of the group wishing him farewell.

The sound of everyone else calling him tiger was the last thing he heard after he had slipped into his shoes and made his way outside to catch a taxi. He was never living that one down. Within the next half hour, Soonyoung had made his way up to your apartment and let himself in--not wanting you to move and potentially bump or fall over something while clearly inebriated. When he walked in, you were curled up on the couch, watching a YouTube video--cats, he thought, but he couldn’t tell without leaning in further. No water bottle nearby, no food--just several empty bottles of alcohol that looked to have been untouched for a while.

“Is this all you had to drink?” He said, counting them off. Definitely enough for you to be this drunk. When you said nothing, he turned back to see you just... smiling at him.

“Hi, tiger,” you giggled, reaching out for him. “Can I pleaaase have a hug?”

Soonyoung obliged, stepping over and wrapping his arms around you. He used the opportunity to pull you forward until you were sitting up completely, waving a hand in front of your face. The slight delay in your reaction made you bust out into another fit of giggles, hand reaching up to take his own.

“Were you busy?” You asked, suddenly pouting. “I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t,” he said, taking your face into his hands. “No more drinks tonight.”

“But I’m already out.”

Of course you were. “Did you have a good time?”

You gasped, eyes lighting up as you nodded eagerly despite the way he was cupping your face. “It was really, really fun! We should play with your friends, Soonie!” You giggled, “I know there’s a lot of them so you’d have to take turns, but--but it’d be really fun! Please? I wanna drink with you and your friends and have a really really fun time. We could do karaoke, or...”

“Have you had any water?”

You shook your head. “You told me to sit here until you got here.”

Even though you were drunk, you had a point. “Did you eat?”

You nodded. “I ate dinner first! I’m responsible.”

Cute. He gently pat your head. “I’ll see what I can do, okay?”

Soonyoung wasn’t the best cook, but he could always call one of his friends. He’d made ramen before. He could do it again, and maybe not mess it up by missing an ingredient. He guided you to the bathroom after you loudly voiced your need to go, just to make sure you didn’t bump into anything on the way (you weren’t “newborn deer” bad, but Soonyoung wasn’t taking any chances) before retreating to your kitchen. Was ramen fine for you? But ramen had a lot of calories and sodium...

He called Mingyu. Mingyu had already been drinking, but not enough to be out of it. Miso soup. Something about the water in it and protein and being a light enough food--Soonyoung didn’t listen to the full spiel as he started looking up places that could deliver. He could get water into you in the meantime and maybe get something for dinner since he missed out on chicken with his friends.

Was this retribution for all the times he got drunk and needed his friends to take care of him--which, on a few occasions, included you? Jihoon would probably cackle if he came home and swore off drinking if it meant people had to put up with him when he was like this. You were his friend (slash-crush), sure, and he was more than happy to take care of you during your rare night of drinking... but was he ever worse than this? Barely able to walk and needing attention? He found a place that delivered and put it in as fast as he could, going back to find a glass to get you water.

You came back in, waving him off when he came to make sure you weren’t about to trip over yourself on the way to your dinner table. He sat down across from you, an eye on his phone for any updates on the food.

“Soooonie,” you cooed at him, playing with his fingers. He’d left one hand, palm-up, on the table for you to do so. “You’re so nice to me.”

He just smiled at you. “Of course I am. You’re my friend.”

“Yeah,” you said, “but you’re so good. And cute. Did you know you’re cute? You’re really cute,” you said, already giggling again. You were playing with the bracelet around his wrist now. “You’re sooo cute.”

“I ordered food, by the way.”

You gasped as if that was the best thing you’ve heard all day. “And you’re so nice!” You said, “I knew calling you was a good idea.”

He smiled. “Why did you call me?”

“My friends told me to call my boyfriend to come take care of me,” you said. “I told them I don’t have a boyfriend. I have a boy friend.” You said. “Like. Like two words. You’re my boy friend.”

He was going to die. You were going to be the death of him, weren’t you? “I’m your friend, yeah.”

“And they said “no, no, your boyfriend,” and I said “who?” and they were like... that guy. The one you always talk about. And I was like “oh my god! Soonie!” and so I called you.”

The heat traveled to his face again. “You talk about me?”

“Yuh.” You smiled, taking his free hand in your own. “I like talking about my super cute favorite tiger. You’re so cuuute and nice...” You pressed a little kiss against the back of his hand. “I love you so much.”

“I know,” he said.

“No! No! Not like that!” You whined, now pouting at him. “I don’t love you like that.”

“I know, we’re friends--”

“I wanna kiss youuuu,” you giggled again. “Soonie. Do you wanna kiss me?”

He stared at you. “What?”

“I said,” you leaned in, speaking to him in a stage whisper, “do you wanna kiss me, too? I can keep a secret.”

How drunk were you? Soonyoung reached for the glass of water, gently pushing it into your hands. “Can you drink this for me?”

“Will you answer my question?”

“Yes,” he lied outright. He watched you take a long sip of water, making a complete show of it before carefully setting down the glass. Drunk you was so... giggly and exaggerated compared to sober you. “Let me get you some more--”

You gasped loudly. “You lied to me!”

“I’m getting you more water--”

“Soonyoung,” you whined. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna kiss me... I get it... I’m not your type...”

He sighed, saying your name. “That’s not what I--”

“I know I’m not as cute as a tiger...” You pouted at him. “Is it because I’m not a tiger?”

Oh my god. You were ridiculous. Soonyoung was swearing off alcohol for the next month at the very least. He didn’t need to blab all of this to whoever was closest to him. Someone knocked on the door and Soonyoung gently took your face into his hands.

“I wanna kiss you, but not like this,” he told you, “okay?”

That put the stars back in your eyes. He quickly left you to go answer the door, accepting the food and paying for it--adding a generous tip for the fast service. He could take the slight hit to his bank account. He’d be fine as long as he came back to you. He refilled your water before dolling out the food, breaking apart the set of chopsticks that came with his meal.

“Soonie...”

He looked up, taking a bite of his own food as he waited for you to respond.

“Can I have some?” You’d been staring at his meal, thankfully having already had some of your soup. “Please? I’ll share if you want.”

Oh, the lengths he went to to make you happy. He offered up a piece of broccoli, watching you happily accept it from his chopsticks. He’d give you other things he knew you’d like before telling you to finish your soup first before he gave you anymore. Soon enough, he’d watched you finish off your little bowl and down the water for the second time that night.

“Do you feel better?” He asked you. You nodded, already looking like you’d fall asleep anytime soon.

“I don’t want you to leave,” you said quietly. “I like having you here.”

“I won’t,” he said. “Come on,” he gently pulled you up. “Let’s go to bed, okay?”

You walked on your own, already sobering up little by little considering you were fully aware of needing to brush your teeth. Soonyoung went ahead and cleared off the glass bottles from your coffee table, clearing away the trash from the takeout, before he walked you back to bed. Thankfully you were dressed cozily for your night with friends. You took his hand, gently tugging him over to your bed. He watched you slide over, making room for him.

“Please?” You said. “I wanna cuddle...”

He sighed, obliging as he pulled off his hat and left his belongings on your dresser. Soonyoung slid into bed, letting you snuggle up close to him. Shit. He was going to slip away after you dozed off, but you decided to lay your head on his chest and wrap an arm around him. If he wanted to, he could have pulled away and told you to be mindful of his own space--but... He liked having you close. Jihoon could testify to the way Soonyoung would drape an arm around your shoulders, or let you use his shoulder as a pillow, or the way the two of you cuddled whenever you had movie nights together--the two of you were close. He liked being close to you.

He texted Jihoon that he wouldn’t be home tonight. When Jihoon sent back a single “?” in response, he snapped a picture of where you were asleep with an arm draped across his chest. He joked that he was being held captive. Jihoon pointed out that he could see his smile, you liar--he was happy right where he was.

His last message made his heart sink into his chest: tell them tomorrow.

He would. Soonyoung felt a little weird using your drunk confession as an excuse to confess his own feelings, but... It was hopefully something you said and meant. He wanted to kiss you, too, and more. He wanted to take you on cute dates to restaurants and parks and anywhere you wanted to go. As long as he was with you, Soonyoung would be happy. And laying there, having taken care of you the same way you cared for him when he was sick or drunk, he felt like things were right. Like he belonged right there with you.

He just hoped you felt the same.

#wooahaes.fic #seventeen imagine #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #svt x reader #svt imagine #svt x you #hoshi x reader #hoshi fluff #hoshi x you #kwon soonyoung x reader #kwon soonyoung fluff #kwon soonyoung x you

524 notes · View notes